• OPINION

  Thai idols fall in line with orthodoxy

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/09/2018

  » Poor coup-makers, no one wants to see them on TV. At 6pm sharp when the theme song begins, there's a rush of hands to the remote control. Not that you can escape them. The true mark of dictatorship is audiovisual dictatorship: They beam their images on every TV and radio channel, monopolising your sensory reception, like a sci-fi movie, or like a spoiled child demanding your full attention. At 6pm every day for the past four years, the hands clutching the remote have reached for the only possible button. Off.

• OPINION

  Religious fervour serves no god well

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/04/2018

  » Aformer rock musician has embraced the role of online preacher and denounced, above other things, rock music. In fact, he objects to most kinds of music, deeming it against Islam. Weerachon "Toh" Sattaying, once the high-pitched frontman of the band Silly Fools (love the name), has over the past six years quit his former lifestyle and became a born-again Muslim. Bearded, skull-capped, fiery-eyed and charismatic, Weerachon runs a dry-aged beef business and hosts an online religious programme that has cultivated quite a following.

• OPINION

  Paper-thin alibi for kids' day gun play

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/01/2018

  » The irony must have been lost on him and on everyone around him. This Children's Day -- the day of machine guns, tanks and rocket launchers -- Thai kids will also get to take pictures with our cardboard prime minister, 10 standees in fact, in various poses and costumes deployed around Government House as special attractions.

• OPINION

  Graft nosedive comes as no surprise at all

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/01/2017

  » 'We're disappointed," said Sansern Poljeak of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Sir, we're more disappointed, as citizens who pay tax without fail, to the government to help the NACC battle corruption.

• OPINION

  Toon and Pai, the tale of our two Jesuses

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/12/2017

  » Let's say, modestly, that Toon Bodyslam is Jesus Christ.

• OPINION

  Movies shine light on dark Thai truths

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/12/2017

  » Last week, I watched a South Korean film called A Taxi Driver. Based on a true story, it's the account of a cabby who secretly drove a German journalist to cover the 1980 pro-democracy demonstration in Gwangju, a dramatic uprising that toppled Maj General Chun Doo-hwan, the ruler of the country at the time.

• OPINION

  Breaking into song on the big vote day

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/08/2016

  » Tomorrow is the day. Are you ready? Really, are you ready?Keep calm, get dressed, put on your Sunday smile, and head out to … No, not the referendum booth, or maybe later. First you really must go to the Scala Theatre in Siam Square, where for the first time in Thailand in decades, The Sound of Music will play on the big cinema screen with its historic overflowing of saccharine -- and with one of the strangest anti-dictatorship sentiments ever shown on film.

• OPINION

  Learning to speak govt's language

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/08/2017

  » The Newspeak is the Oldspeak. The New Testament is the Old Commandments. When they say the clock strikes 13, it means the clock strikes 13. The writing isn't in the law but on the wall.

• OPINION

  In our Oscar worthy Blah Blah Land

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/02/2017

  » The bonbon labelled La La Land is likely to rule the Oscars come Monday morning. While in our Blah Blah Land the drama is bitter, the song muted and the sky inclement.

• OPINION

  Singing along in poll wait purgatory

  News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/01/2017

  » Splendid 2017 begins with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha gifting us the year's first new song. Saphan, "bridge", his sappy ballad is called.

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