Thailand Voice

Today marked the start of the protest weekend by the anti-government Red Shirts in Bangkok and according to reports, blogs and twitteres on the scene it has been, compared to the hype and the fear-mongering prior to this day , rather quiet on the streets. Even though many places of… Read full story >>>

Little bits and pieces of Tony Jaa’s Ong-Bak 3 ( องค์บาก 3 ) continue to eke out here and there. Last month, there was the Ong-Bak 3 teaser released as an extra on the Ong-Bak 2 Blu-ray in the U.S. Now there’s a teaser poster, which Twitch has . Go on… Read full story >>>

Please contribute your updates, obervations, analysis and opinion on the red protests in Bangkok. Read full story >>>

GreenWave Thai Online Radio is broadcast in the Thai language and available 24 hours a day. GreenWave online radio brings the best of Easy Listening with Thai Pop and Thai Charts. Broadcast from Bangkok it is also available within Thailand on 106.5FM Read full story >>>

  Recently Global Post Thailand Correspondent Patrick Winn and I got the chance to visit the headquarters of the Lao Brewery Company (LBC), the brewers of Beerlao. For those not familiar with the brew, Beerlao is figuratively and literally the beer in Laos, commanding a staggering 99% market share. It’s… Read full story >>>

Thailand was a poor country at the end of the Second World War: it became a mid-income country by the 1980-90s because of its adoption of a version of the East Asian Economic Model – that is, export-oriented manufacturing of products… Read full story >>>

As mentioned in last week’s post about the Singapore DVD , Jija Yanin’s sophomore action effort Raging Phoenix is being released in the U.K. The date is now set for April 12. Amazon.co.uk has a page ready. No details about special features yet, but DVD… Read full story >>>

If you asked most blog writers to name their favourite post they’ve ever written and then asked them the same question one week later, there is every chance you’d receive two different answers. I think you would if you posed that question to me. … Read full story >>>

Beyond reasonable doubts: Thaksin’s “Judgment Day” has become another unforgettable event in the Thai political history. After weeks of being second guessed by academics and political pundits, nine judges of the Supreme Court spent almost eight hours reading their historical verdict which was broadcasted nationwide. … Read full story >>>

Yuthlert Sippapak is among the “outside producers” working with entertainment conglomerate RS Public’s new Film R Us production company. He says he has two projects lined up. First will be The Cult Maker , a documentary featuring Yuthlert’s Killer Tattoo star, veteran … Read full story >>>

Raging Phoenix , the sophomore star turn by “Jija” Yanin Wismistananda, is out on DVD in Singapore. MovieXclusive has it Jija portrays a dour young loner socialite who is rescued from kidnappers on bladed-pogo-stilts by a group of guys led by Kazu Patrick Tang, who mix hip-hop dance moves, Muay Thai… Read full story >>>

posted Shop-house Fire yesterday. Read full story >>>

The Nation: Although the Bhum Jai Thai Party has highly value its coalition alliance, the Democrats appear unappreciative of its loyalty, House Speaker Chai Chidchob on Wednesday.Chai reminded the Democrats that his son and faction leader Newin Chidchob might go back to the Thaksin camp just as the same way as when he… Read full story >>>

Erawan Erawan National Park Often more resembling a bank holiday weekend at the public swimming pool than a tranquil beauty spot, Erawan is still one of most stunning places in Thailand. Each of the seven tiers of the waterfall are quite swimmable, complete with carnivorous fish, cooling turquoise colour waters and thronging masses of local… Read full story >>>

AP: Thailand's economy bounced back in the fourth quarter, posting year-on-year growth after 12 months of contraction amid a recovery in exports, private investment and household spending.Southeast Asia's second-largest economy expanded by 5.8 percent in the October-December period from a year earlier, the National Economic & Read full story >>>

The Shadow of the Naga ( Nak Prok , นาคปรก ), the “monks with guns” drama that is finally seeing a release on March 18 after sitting on the studio’s shelf for three years, will have two ratings — 18+ with “pop up” warnings whenever the thieves-dressed-as-monks do something … Read full story >>>

Though Asian films are in the spotlight this year, the Berlinale has been quiet for Thai films. It’s the accompanying European Film Market where the Thai action is. Sahamongkol Film International is there with a big crew headed up by… Read full story >>>

Hong Kong actor Shawn Yue will play a businessman working for a drug company in My Best Bodyguard , an action thriller that stars Princess Ubolratana, production company Oriental Eyes announced recently . Yue has previously starred in such films as the Infernal Affairs trilogy, Initial D , Dragon Tiger Gate and… Read full story >>>

In reaction to a lack of Asian films on one most-pirated list , Wildgrounds has compiled a ranking of the eight most-pirated Asian films of 2009 . At No. 2 is Tony Jaa’s Ong-Bak 2 with 41,793 downloads. It’s between John Woo’s Red Cliff at… Read full story >>>

Some of HM the King’s speeches are open to interpretation, but the below excerpt from a DPA article from HM the King’s 80 birthday speech in 2007 is fairly clear: On a serious note, King Bhumibol used his birthday eve speech to admonish the navy Read full story >>>

Three items involving Tony Jaa: Twitch has more on Vanguard (急先锋) the dream project by Hong Kong producer Raymond Wong that would see a match-up between Jaa and Donnie Yen. More speculative casting mentions South Korean soap-opera starlet Song Hye-kyo and English-born, Brooklyn… Read full story >>>

With the opening ceremony still a week away, the SEA Games in Laos kicked off on Wednesday with the first football match, held to coincide with Lao National Day (Dec 2). In sublime irony, the first big game featured not Laos but its two much bigger neighbours and rivals, Thailand… Read full story >>>

Shadow of the Naga , the “monks with guns” movie that premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival , finally has a release date. It’s penciled in on Pantip’s 2010 calendar to open on February 4. Selected for TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema program by programmer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, Shadow of the Naga got a decent reception in … Read full story >>>

Fireball , Thanakorn Pongsuwan’s bloody and violent blend of Muay Thai and no-holds-barred basketball, hits Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray on January 18. Check it at Amazon or Play.com . Details about specs or extras are thin on the ground, but… Read full story >>>

Tony Jaa’s Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning is coming to Blu-ray and DVD in the US. The release is set for February 2. Amazon has a listing . Extras are said to include HDNet: A Look at Ong Bak 2 , behind-the-scenes, making-of, interviews with cast and crew including Tony Jaa and… Read full story >>>

Krungthep Turakit quotes the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs as stating that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now using a foreign passport in the name of Takki Shinegra, so they are needing to amend requests to foreign countries to also seek the return of Takki Read full story >>>

Former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej died yesterday morning. He had been Bangkok Governor, Interior Minister, Transport Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and finally became Prime Minister last year. BP wrote a biography on Samak’s time up until 1992 here. Matichon has a reasonably… Read full story >>>

TwitchFilm.net and Deknang have stunning first images from Bang Rajan 2 ( บางระจัน 2 ), Thanit Jitnukul’s sequel to his 2000 battle epic, which is being produced by Phranakorn Film . The stills follow a teaser that was posted last month . It’ll be the biggest thing done yet by … Read full story >>>

The Nation in an editorial: Rumours spread like wildfire, and some information recipients are ready to buy into hearsay without much consideration for the facts.Thailand has recently fallen foul of a series of rumours, many of which have turned out to be intentionally leaked to serve particular purposes. It would be fun only … Read full story >>>

Along with Emmanuelle in Bangkok , another movie from 1976 that the Thailand Film Office would probably rather people forgot about is Hot Potato , an exploitive action vehicle for martial-arts star Jim Kelly that was filmed in Chiang Mai. Only reason I mention Hot Potato now is because it’s making the rounds on Cinemax… Read full story >>>