• OPINION

  The paradox of pity

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 21/05/2018

  » Thais are notoriously hopeless when it comes to the songsarn factor. Translated to English, the word means to pity or feel sorry for -- a trait ingrained in Thais as much as to be sabai sabai and never on time.

• OPINION

  Black Panther is stylistic substance

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 19/02/2018

  » Having been in a movie black hole of sorts for the past few months, I was completely oblivious to what the movie Black Panther is, when my best friend suggested we go see it. The only thing I knew was that it would be a Marvel movie featuring a cast made up of a majority of African-Americans and Africans. This, of course, is rarer than a blue moon, and was enough to pique my interest. Fine by me. In fact, I would be most intrigued to watch a superhero film where the black guy isn't the sidekick or someone likely to get shot within the first 12 seconds.

• OPINION

  Heaven Sent for Southeast Asian talent

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 16/08/2017

  » Laughs that come from close to home will be launching on our screens in exactly one month's time. HBO Asia will be premiering its first comedy drama series, Sent, on Sept 17 exclusively on HBO. Let's tune in and support this work of Southeast Asian talent so the big conglomerate continues to produce stories about Asia -- featuring local talent but with Hollywood standards.

• OPINION

  Education begins at home

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 08/09/2015

  » Only a few days ago, a Hungarian childhood friend sent me a YouTube link of the "Hitler in Thailand" segment on Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. She was curious if its content, that Thai students used Hitler as motifs and themes, was true, to which I had to cringingly admit that it was. Then, last Friday, Coconuts Bangkok published an article discussing why it seems that international kids who grow up in Thailand don't speak Thai. It appears to be the same kind of problem that emerges from two opposite poles: that Thai-educated kids don't know anything about the Western world, and international school-educated kids don't know anything about their own country. 

• OPINION

  A culture of mindless excessiveness

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 06/08/2015

  » Just a few weeks ago, I discovered Ik Junoon (Paint It Red), an infectiously catchy song that played in the 2011 Bollywood flick Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. I've obviously been in a black hole of sorts to miss this instantly popular song and hit road trip movie, but it still wasn't the song that left the most lasting impression. Only when I actually looked at the YouTube screen as I was listening to the music was I blown away by the visuals that accompanied the ambient house music. 

• OPINION

  The real cost of a higher minimum wage

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 03/06/2015

  » With the growing economy, there are a large number of new condominiums and office building projects popping up around the city, whirring with labourers like numberless worker ants in the pit. In such a climate where Satan himself would feel at home, one cannot help but feel sorry and blessed at the same time — sorry for the workers in such conditions and blessed that you are not one of them. One might ask whether the 300 baht minimum wage justifies the working conditions that these poor souls face and one would be right and humanitarian to think as such.

• OPINION

  Filling in the pages of history

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 30/04/2015

  » I roll my eyes so hard I can practically see the back of my brain. My 16-year-old tutee, Jag, hasn't the faintest idea of the difference between World War I and World War II. I don't think I'm going to let him off the hook — by this age he should at least have some rough idea about two of the most crucial turning points in modern history.

• OPINION

  You can always go Downton

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 15/01/2015

  » On Monday, Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey fame won her first Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a series. I started to squeal, scream, cry and do a victory dance in my head as if I had just won the award myself. But because I was at work, I dutifully simmered down and continued with my enchanting office life. 

• OPINION

  With abundance comes indifference 

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 03/12/2014

  » When you come from a third-world country but grew up in the West, or any other country "better off" than your own, far too long for your own good, the comparing game begins. Sometimes, it brings about a seed of discontentment with your current existence, although most of the time it's just a lot of whining. There is clearly lots to moan and gripe about in Thailand, to the point I sometimes find Kuwait more attractive by comparison. 

• OPINION

  Robbing from the rich, but giving to whom?

  Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 26/09/2014

  » Life has meaning again, now that Downton Abbey has returned to our TV screens, its fifth season beginning last Sunday. Its otherworldly visuals continue to draw me in, with the upstairs goings-on of the aristocrats and the downstairs drama among the servants still as captivating as ever. I actually have to remind myself every time I watch an episode that people from another continent in this world of ours actually lived like this less than 100 years ago: that cooks had to dine separately from the rest of the servants in a stately home; that members of the upper class changed clothes as often as five times a day; that it was inconceivable that a proper lady or gentleman would have to perform actual work to earn a living.

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