Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Climbing the one-inch barrier
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/02/2020
» Hollywood gasped with embarrassment and sudden realisation when Bong Joon-ho, the director of Parasite, said in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes: "Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to many more amazing films."
Paper-thin alibi for kids' day gun play
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/01/2018
» The irony must have been lost on him and on everyone around him. This Children's Day -- the day of machine guns, tanks and rocket launchers -- Thai kids will also get to take pictures with our cardboard prime minister, 10 standees in fact, in various poses and costumes deployed around Government House as special attractions.
You can't beat Facebook; just ask the kids
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/05/2017
» Perched somewhere between stupidity and malice, we threatened to block Facebook. In trying to do so, we announced to the world that we believe in censoring the global stream of information, in stymying a new, collective consciousness. Apparently, we failed. Spectacularly. Not that it was the most surprising thing on this earth.
The late, late show
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/06/2016
» Normally prime time for television is 8-11pm or thereabouts, the period when the family gathers to watch news and series while having dinner. So it will come as a surprise to many that for Muslim audiences during this month of Ramadan, prime time for television is closer to a graveyard shift -- 3-4.30am, deep in the night while most people are asleep -- as families wake up for the pre-dawn meal before a full day of fasting.
Overhauling our Newspeak vocabulary
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/03/2016
» Since we’ll be stuck with the regime for another 20 months or so (a conservative guesstimate) it’s time to update our glossary of post-coup Newspeak. From “mafia” to “public broadcaster” and “Patriotic pop culture”, almost every day we see an exciting addition to the dictionary of surreal meanings in our life under the marvellous junta.
Web warriors unite for an F5 rebellion
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/10/2015
» This past week ultra-royalists converged at the US Embassy while ultra-malcontents converged on the F5 button. How the world has changed, and how sad that some people are still stuck in a medieval fortress, trying to fend off invaders with hot oil and poisoned arrows?
Learning to love shooting from the hip
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/08/2015
» Maybe some Thais dig PM Prayut Chan-o-cha the same way some Americans dig Donald Trump.
The iron grip will tighten, so the stars say
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/12/2014
» Dear Leader, born March 21, 1954. A Pisces, our Dear Leader was born in the Year of the Snake, and zodiacally destined for valour, patriotism, decisiveness, songwriting talent, unconstitutional dignity, offbeat humour, banana-throwing antics (to the cheers of reporters) and occasional outbursts of temper when those same reporters don't ask him glorifying questions.
Autocratic filmmaking is our forte
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/12/2014
» In the week Sony censored itself and shelved the Christmas Day release of The Interview, a comedy about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, I'm reminded of this slim book on my desk which I sometimes flip to random pages. One has this: "In the capitalist system of filmmaking the director is called 'director' but, in fact, the right of supervision and control over film production is entirely in the hands of the tycoons of the filmmaking industry who have the money, whereas the directors are nothing but their agents."
Hushing up harsh facts into oblivion
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/11/2014
» You've heard the news, and you know what they're talking about even though they're not talking about it. Or maybe you don't know, but you think you do, and as they keep talking about it in codes, in murmurs, in paranoid whispers shielded by cupped hands, you're not sure if they're really talking about it. About what? Those policemen who fell from grace straight into the gutter, among other things. But what do you talk about when you talk about something people don't want to talk about, or not in public: you burrow into the deep stream, into the silo of speculations and rumour mills. You do it and I do it, and we contribute to our descent into an anti-knowledge society.