Showing 1 - 10 of 18
A misdirected war
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 03/03/2021
» Growing up in the US state of Maryland, Thai-American artist Raj Bunnag learned about drugs during middle school. Fortunately, he came through that period unscathed, unlike many of his Latino and black friends who were arrested for drug use which changed their lives completely.
The year in art
Life, Published on 25/12/2017
» Outstanding Thai artists of 2017, all of them edgy and some downright disliked by the junta.
Human traffic
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/11/2017
» Edmund Yeo started writing the film Aqerat before the word "Rohingya" would make world news headlines -- entirely for a distressing reason. Now the Malaysian film, which had its premiere in the main competition of the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival this week, has proved prescient as over 500,000 of Myanmar's Rohingya minority have fled violence for Bangladesh in one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in years.
Supply and demand
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/09/2017
» During the era of the Raj, India was the leading poppy grower. It was sold worldwide as a treatment for hysteria in women and hyperactivity in children. Only China refused to have anything to do with it because it was addictive, but two opium wars taught them how to take it.
Smuggling Thai culture by film
Life, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, Published on 23/06/2017
» A group of Chinese fans of Thai actress Davika Hoorne shouted her nickname -- "Mai! Mai!" -- as she slowly walked out from the gate at the arrivals hall of Shanghai International Airport. They had prepared bouquets of colourful flowers and a large bunch of 999 red roses for the admired star of Phi Mak Phrakanong and 20 Mai U-Turn Wai Huai Jai Return (Suddenly Twenty).
The Black Hand
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 06/06/2016
» The US has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of people behind bars than any other country in the world. It also has the greatest number of lawmen. It has long attracted organised and individual crime, especially in its big cities. Perpetrators figure that crowded metropolises are ripe for the picking.
Tough-guy protagonist adds another layer
Life, Published on 28/09/2015
» 'Grain, meet the railroad," Jack Reacher tells himself, after he's picked the latest sinister little Nowheresville in which to spend a book's length of time. He appears to have gotten off a train in the middle of wheat country, for no better reasons than he liked the cryptic name of the town, Mother's Rest, and that he's got foolproof instincts for sniffing out trouble. Lee Child's Reacher series has hit Book No.20 with a resounding peal of wisecracking glee ("Are you going to be a problem?" "I'm already a problem. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"). Everything about it, starting with Reacher's nose for bad news, is as strong as ever.
Right vs Justice
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 09/02/2015
» It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks of the North Yorkshire Police is as well known in the UK in this day and age as London private detective Sherlock Holmes was a century ago. Less so in the US with its plethora of shamuses. But crime thriller fans the world over rate him as one of the best.
Sleuths & demons
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 25/08/2014
» A cinema buff since puberty, I would often visit neighbourhood theatres in the Big Apple that showed double features. One had A-level stars, the other B-level. Often as not, the B-level offerings were more entertaining, British as well as Hollywood. US Republic and UK Hammer studios were on about the same level.
A fascination with the past
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 02/06/2014
» Journalism is often a good preparation for a writing career. Yuwadee Maneekul, nom de plume of Yuwadee Vatcharangkul, is a former writer/editor at the Nation Group and her writing on culture and history has won praise from archaeologists and academics. She has published three non-fiction books to date and two novels: Kud Ahdeed Ko Rak (Digging Up The Past And Finding Love, 2007) and the recently released Jueng Rien Ma Puea Sarb (For Your Consideration). Both novels feature characters working in the field of archaeology who have to address problems to do with conservation, an area that the author feels is deserving of “more public and state attention”.