Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Stay positive
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 21/09/2016
» 'Smile. No matter how bad today is, tomorrow is going to be better." This is just one of a number of encouraging quotes one can find on SabaiJai, a mobile application developed by Khon Kaen University's Department of Computer Science and Khon Kaen Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital, which was launched earlier this month on the occasion of this year's World Suicide Prevention Day.
Threading her way through Islam
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 08/09/2016
» The painting looks computerised, yet there are imperfections as if it was made by hand. Looking closely, the forms on the work seem abstract, yet from afar, they are clearly human figures kneeling down as if praying. Entitled Jamaah 2, an Arabic term loosely meaning the act of doing good in congregation with the community, the work is by Thidarat Chantachua, and it was the winner of the 2015 UOB Painting of the Year Award in the Established Artist Category.
Drink up 'cos the generals won't go away
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/07/2016
» So this is it then; come next Sunday we're off to the polling stations for the referendum vote. That familiar locale, a school, a temple or a mosque temporarily converted into a theatre of democracy; where we performed our duty as active citizens in the Feb 2, 2014 election which was later made null and void.
Out of the sunlight
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/04/2016
» Every use of the word "sunlight" in Duncan Macmillan's play Every Brilliant Thing, was replaced with "sunset" by director Pawit Mahasarinand in his Thai adaptation, which has just finished its run at Chulalongkorn University's Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts last week.
Loud paintings
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 13/01/2016
» Echoing the title of Paphonsak La-or's solo exhibition "Silent No More", his opening reception at Lyla Gallery in Chiang Mai on Boxing Day last year was buzzing with locals and those who had made the trip from Bangkok. Milling around, everyone in the exhibition room couldn't possibly have avoided the huge 7m-long centrepiece that comes with a shade of blue paint that is neither gloomy nor reassuring in the background. While there's a sentence in the middle, "This image is no longer available", the bottom text reads, "Love which was woven in our society leads to a great tragedy and sorrow".
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.
The voice of the northeast
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 17/03/2015
» By the haystack next to a rice field, Yothin Kijbai sung out in high-pitched, rhyming Isan verses that he apparently knew by heart. Dressed in a light blue costume adorned with glittering sequins, the 68-old-year is not a madman but a well-known "comedy molam".
Trainwreck from top to bottom
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 03/03/2015
» Perhaps what one remembers best about a third-class train ride in Thailand is the shower you take afterwards — the lumps of dust coming out of your nose, the grimy water running off your body and how washing your hair three times isn't enough to take the odour of metal away.
Finding fortune
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 11/08/2014
» Philippus Albertus Van Wyk was born into a very wealthy farming family in South Africa's Pretoria, but money didn't give his life meaning. The 39-year-old is now a volunteer teacher at Baan Koh Payam School, a local Prathom school on Koh Payam, a two-hour boat ride off Ranong province, and says he has finally found his purpose.
Lessons in letters
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 14/10/2013
» Before receiving an official phone call from the judging committee or the competition organiser, Angkarn Chanthathip learned he had won this year's SEA Write Award from a post "some Facebook friend made". It wasn't on his Wall, but randomly in the Newsfeed _ perhaps the most un-poetic mode of modern communication.