Showing 91 - 100 of 103
Think youknow what's happening in theworld aroundyou?
Guru, Sumati Sivasiamphai, Published on 21/09/2012
» Well, Guru doesn't and we need your help! See if you can answer these amazingly difficult questions and win yourself the joy of being right!
For inspiration and perspective, look to the Paralympic Games
Life, Usnisa Sukhsvasti, Published on 27/08/2012
» Now that all our Thai Olympians have come (back) and gone (home), carrying with them their medals as well as an assortment of prizes that range from cash to pick-up trucks and aeroplane tickets, the buzz and excitement has died down.
Mars landing, Olympics give us inspiration
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/08/2012
» I was startled when a radio host said the most stupid thing of the week. It was the morning after Curiosity had landed on Gale Crater, Mars, and beamed its first images back to Earth - those grainy, low-res black-and-white pictures that looked, at first glance, like ultrasound images of a womb, which, in a way, is what Mars probably is. The Nasa scientists cheered, just like they did in 1996 when they discovered the possibility of fossilised bacteria in a meteorite believed to be from the Red Planet. As we watched and wondered, as we pondered humanity's effort to make ours a less lonely planet, as we read about the unmanned explorer doing cosmic services for man - the Thai radio host spit into his microphone: "Are those pictures even real?" Then, "Well, why are they doing this? Why did they go to Mars?"
Indecision proves costly
News, Published on 03/07/2012
» Re: ''Nasa decision shortsighted, seminar told'' (BP, July 2).
Exams a necessary evil, or pure humbug?
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/06/2012
» Most people would probably agree that taking exams is an unpleasant experience. There can be few things worse than that horrible sinking feeling when you look at the question paper and your mind goes totally blank. You know you are doomed.
If the world is a stage, is Europe a background actor?
News, Published on 14/06/2012
» Speaking recently at Chatham House, Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council, used a theatre metaphor to refer to Europe's role on the world stage. He said: "Faced with the new play of global interdependence and global governance, we [the European Union] need a presence in all the world's regions."
Hot and maybe a little bothered
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/05/2012
» It was Oscar Wilde who observed: ''conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative''. He might have had a point, but it means there have been a lot of unimaginative folk in Thailand lately. I can hardly recall a conversation in recent weeks without a reference to the heat. It definitely has been ''a bit on the warm side''.
Judges all of a flutter over use of Twitter in court
News, Published on 18/04/2012
» Twitter is increasingly putting reporters on a collision course with judges, who fear it could threaten a defendant's right to a fair trial.
With Dickens, it was the best of times
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/02/2012
» As a nipper in England, I often went for walks with my father. If rain was threatening he would say: ''We'd better take a 'gamp', and would pick up an umbrella in the doorway.''
Deserving of top honours
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/01/2012
» On screen and in headlines, Iran the provocateur du jour, is causing a stir. As Israel fumes, as Bibi Netanyahu ponders a pre-emptive strike, as the US watches with hawk-eyed severity over Teheran's nuclear ambition, and as an alleged Iran-backed Hezbollah rabble-rouser was arrested in Bangkok and a spectacular arsenal of bomb materials uncovered - as the quivers in Hormuz Strait are felt throughout Earth, an Iranian film cruised past contenders to win the Golden Globe. Worldwide punters now believe A Separation will become the first Iranian title to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Never mind the sanctions, an Iran-scripted drama has had Hollywood (and Washington) in thrall. So catch it now: A Separation is showing on one screen in Bangkok, at House RCA (I hope it'll stay there for a few more weeks.) It won't give you a crash course on the latest nuclear grumble; the politics of the film is smaller in scope yet larger in humanity, for it concerns class, marriage, religiosity, and the heart-aching struggle to uphold justice in the court of God and by the rule of law. At the centre, the film is about a separation of a couple, called Nader and Simin, but at heart this is a complex drama of moral quandaries that inflict bourgeoise Teheranians and speak of other kinds of seperation, physical and spiritual, visible and clandestine, in a society heaving with pride, prejudice and doubt. In short, it's closer to home than the belligerent rhetoric of the nuclear war.