Showing 1 - 10 of 10
A national blindside for contemporary art
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 08/08/2016
» Ten million baht was the sum that 81-year-old Waraporn Suravadi, the caretaker of the Bangkok Folk's Museum, needed to buy the plot of land next to her museum, which was to become the site of an eight-storey building. That construction project could potentially spoil the view and atmosphere of the museum -- a well-preserved war-era teak house that displays rare and valuable items dating back more than 100 years, to the reign of King Rama V.
A simulated freedom is our best hope
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 30/06/2016
» So, David Cameron in the UK is quitting and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha won't. Then came along Lionel Messi and England manager Roy Hodgson's sudden decisions to retire from their international duties. But one should not bring all this up again; all is settled at home, the man stood his ground.
Who’ll show the elephant out of the room?
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/04/2016
» There's this huge elephant in this room, of which no one -- neither the military government nor the general public -- talks about out loud, and it's one of the most likely explanations why the regime has held on to power as long as it has.
In search of a healthy society
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 25/04/2016
» The success of Ratchanok "May" Intanon, Thai badminton star who recently won the Singapore Open and became world No.1, is an exception, obviously. The 21-year-old is slightly built, but according to a recent comment by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, success in sports has nothing to do with size but is due to the lack of conflict in the athlete's country.
A calendar for the 99.3%
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 08/01/2016
» New year is for new beginnings. This is as much a cliché as it is true. While it is just a new day, we carry the illusion that comes with Jan 1. The past is suddenly forgiven and forgotten, a clean slate: new hobbies, new goals, new habits, new lives, and, of course, new calendars. Now, the first week of January is already over, and if you are still in search for the right calendar to guide you through the year, there's never a more fun place to search for one than our beloved country, Thailand.
A road map to nowhere
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 15/09/2015
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently admitted that when he wrote the line "We are asking for a little more time" in the song Returning Happiness To The People, he didn't think it through. Obviously, he didn't.
Let's get ready to bike for mum
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 11/08/2015
» It all started with a short, reluctant, just-off-the-soi bike trip to buy some eggs for my mum, last month. It was the smile with which she received me at our doorstep as I cycled up to 12mph, some 250m down the soi without cracking a single egg that gave me the idea that I, albeit among the most under-exercised of Bangkokians, might be up for the Bike for Mom event on Sunday.
Eccentric relief from bitter reality
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 04/11/2014
» Like any good fantasy book and film, or post-evening news soap opera, theatre is another means of escape from depressing reality. And our present reality is indeed depressing. How many months have we now been under our dear leader's monopolised rule? Sure, what has happened in these past couple of months has given a generous amount of material to journalists. But what's the point of writing about the junta again? It will only become my fifth Thinkbox that yet again fails to reach his revered eyes and ears.
Same show, different stage
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 20/06/2014
» Contemporary stage performance Hipster The King, which finished its run at Democrazy Theatre Studio yesterday, reminded me of the situation Thailand is in right now.
Booze sorry now?
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 24/07/2013
» Refraining from alcohol is never a bad thing, and it's delightful news that earlier this month the Cabinet set up a national campaign for this three-month Buddhist Lent to be the national alcohol abstaining period.