Showing 1 - 10 of 103
No longer feeling under the weather
Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/05/2024
» Being woken up by a thunderstorm in Bangkok on Tuesday morning was a most welcome experience. I had been visibly wilting in the heat for a couple of months, but finally dear old Jupiter Pluvius came to the rescue in splendid style. Just the sound of raindrops falling on the leaves felt comforting and the thirsty birds chirped in with a chorus of thanks.
An uninvited guest for breakfast
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/04/2024
» Last Monday morning breakfast was abruptly interrupted when my dog on his daily sniffing patrol came charging into the living room and began barking agitatedly at the sofa on which I was sitting. Although the hound regularly enjoys a healthy bark in the garden, he knows the house rules for indoors… strictly no yelping. So this blatant breach of barking etiquette had me a little concerned.
Western chip subsidies help China
News, Published on 11/01/2024
» If there is one certainty about the coming year, it is that geopolitical rivalries will persist. For the European Union, this will translate largely into an effort to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, especially of critical goods. For the United States, the focus will be on maintaining military supremacy by denying potential adversaries -- namely, China -- access to relevant technologies. Both approaches overlap in an important area: the chips industry.
Making Asean more relevant to youth
Oped, Published on 31/08/2023
» International Youth Day is celebrated annually in August. Growing up as a young person in Singapore in the 1980-90s, I was more in tune with the arts, music, and literature of American and British influences than I was with local and regional popular culture. I was also more familiar with Western-based landmarks, for example the Eiffel Tower, than I was with those in Southeast Asia, such as Borobudur Temple. That was how oblivious I was of the region I was living in.
Will gentrification respect city's people?
Oped, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/06/2023
» We've lived for over a century in the shadow of grandeur: near the Customs House, known to Thais as rongpasi. "We" means my maternal family and the community of Haroon Mosque. Each day before sunrise, the muezzin's sing-song call rings through the neighbourhood, carried on the river wind towards the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the French Embassy and Assumption Cathedral.
For children, food should be equal
Life, Arusa Pisuthipan, Published on 01/05/2023
» Food -- how it is prepared and consumed -- can be a reflection of social status. A commonly available ingredient cooked in lower- or middle-class kitchens can be seen as mediocre, but the same thing prepared by a renowned chef and served in a star-studded restaurant can be a symbol of wealth.
No need for blows in martial arts row
News, Published on 19/12/2022
» Khmer traditional martial arts, or "Kun Lbokator", was among this year's 22 new inscriptions to Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH), as announced at the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was convened from Nov 28 to Dec 3 2022, in Rabat, Morocco.
Women, life, freedom, and the nascent Left
Oped, Published on 13/10/2022
» Four events centring around women have made headlines over the past month: Giorgia Meloni's electoral victory in Italy, Queen Elizabeth II's death and funeral, the release of the film The Woman King, and the widespread protests in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Amini by the country's morality police. Taken together, these four stories highlight essential features of the political terrain.
Leave race out of it
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 26/09/2022
» It's easy to get upset when the movie you've paid tickets for turns out to be not as good as you expected. It's also common to see people get mad when a film adaptation of their favourite novel doesn't do it justice, whether due to plot changes or miscast roles. I mean it's OK if you aren't happy and complain about it to your friends and family. However, don't you think it's a little overboard to go online and slam the movie on social media, or even join in with other angry netizens and start mocking and bullying the actor who portrays the role that you don't approve of?
'Beach' case settled at last
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/09/2022
» A ruling has finally been handed down for a court case related to the production of the Hollywood movie The Beach. A Supreme Court verdict on Tuesday ordered the Forestry Department to restore Maya Bay, which was environmentally damaged during the movie's filming that began in November 1998.