Thailand Voice

Kongkiat Komesiri’s gory crime thriller Slice ( Cheun ) continues to collect accolades and positive reviews. I just noticed that Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter caught Slice in Rotterdam , and her review is now posted . Here’s the intro : In the slasher-thriller Slice , a cop-turned-convict tracks down a serial killer by … Read full story >>>

I’ve noticed little coverage of a recent BBC World Service poll which concluded that “four in five adults questioned regard internet access as their fundamental right” . From an Asian stand-point the research is interesting. Asia is well represented, of the 26 … Read full story >>>

ThailandVoice.com has an excellent collection of useful information about the rally, as well as links to blogs, Twitter accounts and newspaper articles worth monitoring for the latest news about the political rally in Bangkok this March. Read full story >>>

They say you can tell a lot about a person by their handwriting. If that’s the case, then the monk who drew this fancy script on the taxi ceiling is a perfectionist and an appreciator of beauty. The lines are exceptionally fluid and graceful and the letters and forms are extremely precise and… Read full story >>>

Recovered from his traumatic experience reviewing the ouevre of Sompote Sands , Todd at Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill once again braves the grave dangers of old-time Thai cinema with a look at Insee Daeng: Insee Payong ( อินทรีแดง ตอน อินทรีผยอง ). With… Read full story >>>

I’m not sure what was the biggest problem, traffic congestion or bronchial catarrh. I’ll spit it out, I think the day was more full of lot ( cars ) than snot but either way I didn’t make it to Suvarnabhumi airport on time. I missed my flight back to the UK. Mai… Read full story >>>

I have flirted with the idea of broadcasting for nearly my entire life, but have not had the chance to sit in front of a mic until Sunday. So now you can hear me ramble on for more than an hour about my list of the top 10 Thai films… Read full story >>>

I’ve been trying to access Wikipedia all evening Thailand time. I get no response. Other sites are fine. Fortunately I could access a cached version of the page I wanted from Google’s search engine. Is Wikipedia down everywhere? Read full story >>>

German director Detlev Buck’s romantic drama Same Same But Different premiered in Cambodia last weekend. It was screened at the Cinelux in Phnom Penh, ” a splendid Art Deco building from the 1930s “. The Southeast Asian Film Studies Institute has a photo of the movie’s banner, draping … Read full story >>>

Asian Movie Pulse has a poll running that lists Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Nymph among eight contenders for Best Asian Film of 2009. It has the spooky forest romantic thriller alongside Taiwan’s No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti by Leon Dai, Japan’s Love Exposure by Sono Shion and Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea… Read full story >>>

When Slovenian film programmer Nika Bohinc was in Bangkok at the end of July and early August for the Lav Diaz Retrospective , she handed a Slovenian film to World Film Festival of Bangkok programmer Pathompong “Big” Manakitsomboon. A month after that meeting, Nika was dead, killed along with her boyfriend Alexis Tioseco in … Read full story >>>

Director Tsai Ming-liang is the recipient of this year’s Lotus Award for cinematic achievement from the World Film Festival of Bangkok. He was handed the award by Culture Minister Teera Slukpetch in the opening-night ceremony on Friday. Tsai made his remarks, which were translated by festival director Victor Silakong. … Read full story >>>

Thomas Fuller in the New York Times has an interesting article on why the ethnic Wa in Burma use Thailand as a route to smuggle heroin and other drugs to Hong Kong and elsewhere instead of China. Now, of course we … Read full story >>>

The basics of this story are that Cambodian leader Hun Sen appointed former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor and Thaksin accepted. Current Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government then recalled the Thai Ambassador from Cambodia and the Cambodians responded by recalling their Ambassador NOTE: The other day BP criticized the … Read full story >>>

A review of Yos Santasombat (2008), Flexible Peasants: Reconceptualizing the Third World’s Rural Types. RCSD, Chiang Mai University. [This review appeared recently in Chiang Mai University's Sangkhomsat , 20 (2).] Like many scholars who study contemporary rural society, Yos Santasombat is seeking to define a new type of peasantry. … Read full story >>>

Anocha “Mai” Suwichakornpong’s debut feature Mundane History has generated good buzz at the Pusan International Film Festival, where it premiered on Sunday in the New Currents competition. It has two more screenings on Thursday and then will hopefully be awarded when the festival closes on Friday. The Hollywood Reporter’s Maggie Lee has a review . Here’s… Read full story >>>

In yesterday’s cabinet meeting the proposal of creating the new district Galyani Vadhana in Chiang Mai province was approved, so the Ministry of Interior can now continue to set up the new district. The date the district will officially come into existence is… Read full story >>>

Staying in Ralph and Mee’s house in the mountains was magic. Waking up to a sea of clouds made the long journey worthwhile. Papa cooks breakfast in his bamboo house nearby, and Mama and her sister enjoy the meal in their bamboo house. A walk to their tea garden washes away … Read full story >>>

Our judicial guardians have always been sure to control what is said about them which is very worrying given their increased powers in the Constitution . They will go after anyone who criticizes their decisions. Their new found willingness to use contempt of court seems to have started… Read full story >>>

More than a week after film critics Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc were gunned down in their home in Quezon City, Manila, police have rounded up one suspect in the killing. The Inquirer has the story ( cache ). Looking at the senselessness of the … Read full story >>>

Matichon had an interesting editorial two weeks ago (August 27, entitled “คนเสื้อแดงปรับแผน”) on the red shirts and the invoking of the Internal Security Act. Have summarised the major points below:Suddenly, the red shirt leaders announced that they were postponing their August 30 rally to… Read full story >>>

The Toronto International Film Festival starts on Thursday, September 10, and as the days tick closer to what’s become North America’s premiere film event ( but not without controversy ), the excitement over the fest’s killer lineup is palpable. I can feel it, even from Thailand. Given … Read full story >>>

A few days ago, ISIS (Chulalongkorn University) held a forum entitled “The Military in Thai Politics: What’s Next?”. The keynote address was by former Chula political scientist Suchit Bunbongkarn.* In addition, there were presentations by Aurel Croissant and Paul W. Chambers … Read full story >>>

It’s been a while since my last update, not that I’ve been short of stories recently. Last week, what is usually a routine and enjoyable trip to Future Park , a shopping mall in the Northern Bangkok suburb of Rangsit, became a story which … Read full story >>>

Ponyo (also known as Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea) is the latest film by master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. The title character (loosely based on The Little Mermaid) is a fish who longs to be human after falling in love with Sosuke, the boy… Read full story >>>

This is looking at the brains area of our school; this building houses our Director, Brother Sakda. Today there was a meet and greet happening and all the school prefects were on duty as the van pulled up. You know these special guests must be important and popular when… Read full story >>>

Tetsaban Phana has posted a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) on its website. It provides an interesting series of snapshots of how they see themselves and the community. I don't know whether this analysis is required of every tetsaban… Read full story >>>

It figures. The first English-friendly DVD release for Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s moody marriage drama Ploy is from Singapore. And of course it is an edited version because there’s sex scenes that Singaporeans aren’t allowed to see. MovieXclusive has it . Richard Lim Jr. reviews it. Here’s an … Read full story >>>

Happy birthday to Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The filmmaker turns 39 today.Seems as fitting a day as any to dust off another excerpt from the recent book about Apichatpong, and this ties in with something else going on, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which starts tomorrow… Read full story >>>

Revenge Tragedies filmmaker “Oom” Pornpatchaya Supannarat gave a press conference on Wednesday in an effort to end the controversy that has ensued since media reports last week falsely said she’d won an award at the Cannes Film Festival.Daily Xpress, which was among the media outlets picking up the inaccurate report… Read full story >>>