Showing 1-10 of 88 results
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Evil of election
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/03/2012
» Politics is a poison that eats the soul _ especially the soul of a mangenue who dips his foot in the acid water completely believing it's a fountain of hope. The Ides of March, George Clooney's fourth film as writer/director, says that much, which is not much, given the time of cynicism and embittered tussle we all (and not just the US citizens in their election year) are inhabiting. The machination of the plot and escalating disillusionment of the Ryan Gosling's character, a visionary press secretary turned rookie viper, have just enough stings to keep us involved, yet this liberal's guilt trip treats the dark side of democracy with such cerebral knowingness. Politics hurts, and when it does it kicks the guts _ I wish the dagger had been more ruthless and visceral.
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Davos, Tokyo and clueless Tinglish
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/03/2012
» 'In general, every country has the language it deserves." So said Jorge Luis Borges, wordsmith, polyglot, a man fascinated by what letters and languages can do. Goethe, with his proto-Romantic genius, was much less kind when it comes to being monolingual: "Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own."
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South may stay the loneliest planet of all
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/05/2012
» It is better late, proverbially speaking, than never. Nine months after she won the election to become prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra last Sunday visited the deep South for the first time since she took office. Surrounding her at a Pattani barracks - for the well-dressed dignitaries wouldn't be so foolhardy as to step out of the fenced quarters - were high-profile ministers and generals. The visit was on April 29, a day after the 8th anniversary of the harrowing siege of the Krue Se mosque, on April 28, 2004, in which soldiers killed 108 people and left dozens more widowed and orphaned in multiple places including Saba Yoi district in Songkhla and Krong Penang district in Pattani. At Krue Se alone, 32 people were killed.
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Enlisting agony
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/08/2012
» Two weeks ago, Alfred Hitchcock got a little help from bleary-eyed, worldwide critics to stare down Orson Welles. "King Kane dethroned," this page headlined the news that Vertigo finally unseated Citizen Kane, the champion of the past 50 years, to take the top spot in a once-every-10-year poll to find the Greatest Films of All Time. Such cinephilic pursuit, done by sedentary experts, is not remotely as stimulating as Bolt's or Phelps's photo-finish performances of recent memories, but greatness, like election, has to be justified at an appropriate interval, for public benefit. The canon needs to be reinforced, and here we're lulled into the land of the list.
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Learning from the glorious US election circus
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/09/2012
» Naturally, I can't vote either for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. I have no stakes, at least not a direct, constitutional one, in the upcoming US presidential election. I don't play stocks (that's the verb right, "to play"?) so the number of new jobs created in the US that gets reported sometimes with panic and sometimes with relief has nothing to do with my financial well-being. I never lived in the US _ the longest stretch I spent in that country was a seven-day work trip. In short, American politics and especially American elections shouldn't have concerned me.
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As the storms rage, try anger management
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/09/2012
» The world was so full of rage in the past week that I felt exhausted and small. The Chinese were so mad at the Japanese. The 47% "victims" according to Mitt Romney's strange world view, were enraged by Mitt Romney. The red shirts were infuriated by the Truth Commission's report. The pro-army camp was infuriated by the Truth Commission's report. Motorists were furious at the cold-hearted downpours, and the sky was so furious at everybody that it kept spitting water. Isn't hell supposed to be some sort of fire and not liquid - hot and not chilly?
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Out of Isan
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/10/2012
» In the Northeastern province of Khon Kaen, a young man returns home from Bangkok and the ghosts, dust, dreams and unrequited romance of his past visit him. Meanwhile, the television reports on the convulsive riots in the capital fuelled by, among other things, the bottled hurt and long-locked anger of the Isan populace.
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Airing new agendas
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/10/2012
» The 27-rai compound of low-rise, industrial-chic grey buildings on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road is a picture of calm authority. Nearly 900 people work here in the offices, studios and control rooms of the country's only public television station, the non-profit, four-and-a-half-year-old, largely admired if sometimes embattled TV Thai, better known as Thai PBS.
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Voting booths are open in new romantic divide
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/11/2012
» Days ago, while the celebratory confetti over President Barack Obama's second term hadn't yet rained down in Chicago, someone in Bangkok put a rhetorical question to a group of politically inquisitive friends: Would you love and marry a tall, rich, cool, smart, loving, caring, adorable, well-dressed, milk-fed, Javier Bardem-lookalike (for men, substitute the actor's name with a Victoria's Secret supermodel) and - here's the kicker - a staunch Romney-Ryan supporter?
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Some like it hot, but we'd prefer to chill
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/11/2012
» The Israelis like it hot. Hamas likes it hot. The "BB" lovebirds Boonchai and Bongkot, naturally, like it hot. The southern insurgents, painfully, like it hot. The 3G bidders like it hot. The British tabloids, fantasising about Barack Obama's flirtatious eyeing of our LOL prime minister, like it - or wish it - hot. The anti-Yingluck Facebook brigade, taking their cue from the tabloids and elevating the initial fantasy into a sexist smear campaign, like it hot. Marilyn Monroe, who liked it very hot way back in 1959, would be turning in her grave.
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