Showing 1 - 7 of 7
PM's plan to end gridlock is pie in sky
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/08/2018
» In three months, the angels will return to the clogged thoroughfares of Lost-Angel-ist. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, one who's never shy of making the impossible still impossible, has set his sights on, gasp, fixing Bangkok traffic, which is like untangling the Mobius strip or finding the end of Ariadne's thread. The soundbite-ready part of the PM's order is that he wants to see "tangible results in three months", which promptly sent related authorities scurrying in all directions to make it real.
Taking an axe to 'Land of Smiles'
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/02/2018
» By now it must be obvious: "The Land of Smiles" is a myth. The biggest myth, wrapped in a legend hidden in hogwash. In Thailand, a smile won't get us anywhere, only an axe wielded in rage does. I bet in a few days a new bumper sticker will appear: "Watch Out, Axe Lady In Car".
Regime trawl for small fry no joke at all
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/01/2018
» The big fish hardly ever gets caught, not here. Only the small, the trivial, the nonsensical fish, the clownfish especially. As in school, or in prison, the bullies never bully the big kid. They only confirm their sense of power when they go after the small guys, the nerds, even the girls.
Journey into darkness
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/04/2017
» Aiman (Firdaus Rahman) is a young correctional officer recently transferred to a top Singaporean prison. At work he becomes fascinated by the menacing aura of a veteran hangman Rahim (Wan Hanafi Su). Soon the old man nearing his retirement begins to groom Aiman as his successor, but there's a deeper secret that binds the fate of the two men in a more disturbing way.
Alternative screenings this weekend
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2016
» As the multiplexes are dominated by the big Thai film Fanday, two screenings this weekend should provide alternatives for Bangkok moviegoers. First, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago will play at the Scala on Sunday at noon, then a set of nine short films addressing the issue of legal reform will be screened at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre at 3pm.
Desolation row
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/08/2016
» Ripping through lonesome plains and highway desolation, two Texan brothers set out to rob banks that, technically, have been robbing their family for years. Tanner and Toby (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) are siblings at different ends of the spectrum: the first a wild coyote, a jittery flask of criminal energy; the second a melancholic fox, handsome, sad and serious.
Take good care of Mr Bean's right to insult
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/11/2012
» Without a wink, Mr Bean is asking for the right to insult. At Westminster, the King of Caustic Put-Downs and (sometimes, like at the Olympics) the Grand Duke of Fart Jokes, launched a campaign to object to a section of the Public Order Act that, he says, has fostered intolerance and advanced "the creeping culture of censoriousness" by outlawing insults. Startling - for Mr Bean operates in England, the fertile hotbed of sardonic wit, televised mockery and creative foul-mouthedness. Try Southeast Asia, my Duke, my Blackadder, my Johnny English - and you'll choke and churn, roil and run riot. Do less than what you've been doing, and here you'd meet a fate much worse than an Elizabethan dungeon in the Tower of London.