Burn the City (Android Game)

Found this pretty nice game today which is jus 1 USD (there is a free version also). Market link is here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.JoshOClock.BurnTheCity It is a physics game similar actually to Angry Bords but to be honest this here is much beter, from the theme of the game to the graphics, sound and also gameplay. At least in my opinion. Check it out.

Best of Bangkok restaurants by CNNGo

Some places I didn;t know yet are on this list such as "Salt" which sounds pretty interesting: http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/eat/year-review-bangkoks-best-new-restaurants-052925

Hidden Agenda Ekamai Soi 10

There is a cool chilled out restaurant/bar on Ekamai Soi 10/6. As the name suggests its a bit hidden away from the bustle of Thonglor and main Ekamai roads. Check it out. Here are some images and more info of the place although the site seems not to be updated: http://your-hidden-agenda.tumblr.com/

Is the flood coming to Bangkok or not?

Thailand flooding update, November 2, 2011: Front page of today’s Bangkok Post

Worst Flooding in Decades Swamps Thailand

Follow the link below to see some images of the worst flooding crisis in Thailand in decades.

Worst Flooding in Decades Swamps Thailand - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic:

'via Blog this'

Flood-hit Thailand declined offer of help, says US Navy

Unbelievable:

WASHINGTON: The US Navy has withdrawn several ships sent to help with relief efforts in flood-hit Thailand after receiving "mixed" messages from the Bangkok government, a defence official said on Monday.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and other ships were deployed to the area on October 16 for potential disaster relief work as Thailand faced massive flooding from monsoon rains, said Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander John Perkins.

But the US military never received a formal request from the Thai government and the three-ship aircraft carrier group along with a fourth ship, the USS Kidd, were released and left the area on Friday, said Perkins, spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii.

"We are ready to help but we haven't got a request," said a US defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"There were two channels (in the Thai government)," the defence official told AFP. "One was saying 'Yes' and one was saying 'no.'"

The Thai capital on Monday was bracing for advancing and seemingly unstoppable floodwaters after residents in areas deemed most at threat were urged to leave.

Other parts of the country have been plagued by three months of heavy monsoon rains that have killed more than 350 people in Thailand and damaged the homes and livelihoods of nine million people......

Flood-hit Thailand declined offer of help, says US Navy - Channel NewsAsia:

'via Blog this'

Google StreetView comes to Thailand

During a press conference this afternoon, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Google announced a partnership for “Promoting Thai Tourism through the use of Google Street View”. Street View in Google Maps lets you explore places through 360-degree street-level imagery, whether you’re looking at locations in your town or across the globe. With Street View, you can check out a restaurant before going there, find beautiful places around the world to visit on your next vacation, or check out neighborhoods when you’re looking to move. For Thailand, they are hoping that the street view pictures of tourist attractions will help boost tourism.

A fleet of specially equipped cars will soon be heading out onto the streets of Bangkok. The Google cars have 15 lenses taking 360 degrees of photos. It also has motion sensors to track its position, a hard drive to store data, a small computer running the system, and lasers to capture 3D data to determine distances within the Street View imagery. It normally takes at least a few months to process the collected images before they appear online. It is estimated that it could even take two to three years to have a comprehensive map of Thailand with street view coverage. More information and samples of street view can be found at google.co.th/streetview.

Yet another shopping complex

On the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 42 across from Ekamai a new construction site can be seen.

I would bet it will be another shopping center. Pretty crazy considering the amount already here in Bangkok but nevertheless a welcome addition as its 5 minutes from where I live.

Google+ Invites

Follow the below link to be able to sign up for G+ if you haven;t done so yet. It's great: https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DOIGjlX-E_aA%3AMon16mlalSY

Govt sincerity on protecting the monarchy questioned

Govt sincerity on protecting the monarchy questioned: Supachai Jaisamut, a senior MP from the opposition Bhum Jai Thai Party, said the government's brief policy regarding the monarchy was mostly copied from the Constitution, without any detail as to how to deal with many websites with content insulting to the monarchy. He said the websites were claimed to be the work of people in the red-shirt movement, which in turn is linked to the ruling Pheu Thai Party. "The government must have a policy that decisively deals with the problem and the government has to make it clear it has nothing to do with the red shirts who insult the monarchy," said Supachai, who is also the Bhum Jai Thai spokesman. He called on the prime minister to make it clear that none of her Cabinet members would try to interfere with the justice process in a bid to help red-shirt figures facing legal action for allegedly insulting the monarchy.

Appeals Court acquits Pojaman

Appeals Court acquits Pojaman No big surprises here. The government changes and high profile people who had been sentenced under the previous government are set free again. Now I don't want to make any judgement but this is definitely not a country where the courts decide freely and without any external influence.

DTAC to go ahead wIth 3G launch thIs week

DTAC to go ahead wIth 3G launch thIs week And the last operator starts 3G finally. its about time. Now I just hope that they are able to manage the data capacity and not have every single 3G service slow down to a near still stand. Then the whole 3G thingy in Thailand wouldn't make much sense anyway.

Google brings games to Google+ -- Engadget

Google brings games to Google+ -- Engadget Luckily Google lets you completely remove any game related updates from your main stream. Great decision. I hated that on Facebook.

Facebook Messenger APK for Android phones

Facebook Messenger just released their separate Facebook Messenger app. Unfortunately only on the US Android Market. But as with most Android apps you can already get the APK and install it anyway, even when you are outside the US.

Here is the link to download it:

http://mobileplanet-waryam.blogspot.com/2011/08/facebook-messenger-10-v10-android-apk.html

ISAN DANCEHALL3 THIS SAT 13/08/11 @ COSMIC CAFE

ZUDRANGMA H.Q. RECORDS STORE, PARADISE BANGKOK & TIGER BEER
proudly presents...
ISAN DANCEHALL 3
Far Out/Far East Sound System Culture
With an emphasis on music built for sound systems, outside parties and
the worldwide dancehall, from Kingston to Ubon, from Accra to Khon
Kaen, join the journey through tough basslines, heavy percussion and
music designed to move any crowd from around the globe. Isan Dancehall
- get ready for the Afro/Asian Soundclash.....
..........................
PARTY INFO:
Date: Saturday 13th August 2011. 09pm - Late
DJs: Maft Sai, Masa Niwayama
Music policy / File Under: ISAN ROOTS, RAGGAE & DANCEHALL.
Door: 250 Baht + 1 Tiger Beer
Where: COSMIC CAFE, RCA BLOCK C
ZUDRANGMA HQ RECORDS STORE
7/1 Sukhumvit Soi 51
Open: Monday - Sunday 2pm till 9pm
Transport : BTS Thonglor Station
Tel : +66 (0) 88 891 1314
www.zudrangmarecords.com

Club Soma Party 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' Coming Up This Thursday @ LED #2

Club Soma is in deep sorrow at the death of our icon...Amy Winehouse. We want to do a free night party for our beloved dead rockstars. And we do our tribute to them in our own style. 'Dance to their music'. So here we are the indie-rock dance tribute party! Let their music live with us and show your rock n'roll spirit just do the D.A.N.C.E.!! Also this party is gonna be our last time for a while coz our team is going away. We'll miss you all. So just show up and dance with our Soma indie-rock hits. Come as you are and dance to Joy Division yeah!!

คลับโซม่าขอแสดงความเสียใจก​ับการจากไปของร็อคสตาร์ที่ร​ักเอมี่ ไวน์เฮ้าส์ หนึ่งในไอคอนประจำปาร์ตี้ขอ​งพวกเรา มาร่วมกัน tribute ให้เหล่าร็อคสตาร์ที่เสียชี​วิตไปแล้วด้วยการเต้นกับเพล​งของพวกเค้ากันดีกว่า งานนี้จัดฟรีให้ทุกคนได้มาร​วมตัวกันเต้นถวาย แสดงความรักของเรากับดนตรีอ​ินดี้ร็อค พร้อมเลี้ยงส่งสมาชิกทีมโซม​่าที่จะไปผจญภัยในต่างแดนกั​น (ปาร์ตี้เป็นครั้งสุดท้ายแล​้วจ้า เพราะจะไปเที่ยวกันนาน มากินเหล้าเลี้ยงส่ง พุด พี่ส้ม ดุ๊กดิ๊ก กันหน่อย) โปรโมชัั่นพิเศษเหล้า เบียร์ราคา 120 บาททั้งคืน และชอทแค่ 99 บาท!! งานนี้เราจัดเพลงฮิตของโซม่​ามาเปิดเท่านั้น เพื่อจัดหนักส่งท้ายให้ทุกค​น แล้วเจอพวกเราใหม่อีกสองเดื​อนจ้า

Club Soma 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'

The Indie-Rock Dance Tribute

11th August 2011

9.30PM – 2.30AM

At LED #2 RCA (a small club next to LED)

Music by our Soma DJs

DJ Dookie

DJ Somarang

DJ Nosebleed

Visual by Puttisak

Dresscode: Black / Rockstar in morning

FREE ENTRY!!!!!!

**Plus all drinks only 120 BAHT & Shots only 99 BAHT all night long!

Tatt.ly temporary tatoos

Tatt.ly is a pretty cool idea. It is an online design shop for temporary tattoos. I have a real tattoo and I like real tattoos a lot too but this is still a great idea. You can submit your own designs and choose from the ones available. It looked to me that there aren't a lot online yet but I'm sure this will change over time.

Subtitles (English) for Thai Movies

English subtitles for Thai DVD Movies for download. When buying Thai movie DVD's in Thailand of Thai movies, about 90% of them will come without English subtitles, only a very few have English subs. This is for the reason that if distribution rights to Thai movies are to be sold in other countries, they do not want to have cheap Thai DVD copies flooding the import market. By not including English subtitles, for most people, this will render Thai DVD imports useless. There are some movies that do include English subs though but not many (Update 2011: There are more and more Thai DVDs released with English subtitles these days which is positive, so we should see more DVD subtitle rips this tear).

By offering the English subs here I do not want to encourage any download of illegal copies of Thai movies. Especially in Thailand a DVD can be had as low as 50 Baht (less than 2 USD) and a new title normally goes for around 150 Baht (around 5 USD). So I encourage everybody here to support a movie industry that actually prices their products the right way and encourages people buying them. Because they are cheap I buy a lot more DVDs in Thailand then I do anywhere else. Beware that it is not easy to find these subtitles and that some were created by movie fans so sometimes you might find a title that does not fit 100% (the words do not fit 100% to the picture). The reason is mostly that the subtitles were done for a different version (A Hong Kong DVD of a Thai movie might be cut a little different than the Thai or US version of the DVD). That being said, the subtitles here are the ones that I ALREADY tested with the Thai version of the DVDs or that I extracted directly from DVDs I bought using Subrip.

So if you have a Thai DVD of a movie listed below, everything should work just fine. If not, subtitles can still be changed to fit any DVD version with software such as Subtitle workshop which I might do a tutorial on in the future. Be warned, this is for advanced users. For displaying the subtitles you just need a media player that lets you select external subtitle files and display them on top of your DVD video. The easiest way is the free VLC Player. All you have to do is start VLC player, open the DVD with it and when the movie starts playing you just drag and drop the subtitle file onto the video picture. Voila, the English subs start displaying. Another media player that springs to mind and is good with subtitles is bs player. The free version is all you need.

Important Note:

I have collected these subtitles from many different online sources so it is very hard to credit the right people. if any of these subtitles was created by you, please let me know so I can credit you properly. Thanks.

The below list will be updated over time so you should bookmark this page and come back to see if something new arrived. List of English subtitle files for Thai movies:


#
13 Beloved aka 13 Game Sayong aka 13 Game Of Death Subtitle
4bia Subtitle

A
Ahimsa Stop To Run aka Ahingsa-Jikko Mee Gam Subtitle
Art of the Devil English Subtitle
Art of the Devil 3 (Long Khong 2) Subtitle

Thai Ghost Movies: The Horror, The Horror

What is it with Thai ghost films? With the flimsy plots, undeveloped characters, gratuitous gore and cheap special effects, its enough to make any movie critic keel over in agony. Yet, the punters keep coming back for more. Thai horror films do most of the time out-gross comedies and period dramas in the kingdom’s box offices. It’s hard to deny that Thai filmmakers are quite adept at the ghost flick genre. The chilling music, the manipulated thrills and grisly spills – it all makes for a fun, adrenalin-filled evening.

Aside from some notable exceptions like The Shutter and the well-researched Nang Nak, Thai horror films don’t usually stand on anything resembling legs in terms of cinematic value. But they sure do scare the hell out of the viewers, and isn’t that the point? Those of you who turn to jelly at the mere sight of blood may ask, why the obsession with the macabre? Is watching the slaughter of innocent people in the most blood-curdling manner some type of depraved idea of fun? Well, to horror-buffs, the answer is yes, but not because they are sadists. On the contrary, compassion often drives horror-enthusiasts to sympathize with the victims. This empathy felt with their fear is what leads to that sought-after blast of adrenalin. In academic jargon it’s the sadistic versus the masochistic. And it is this masochistic search for the ultimate ad-renalin rush that keeps horror fans glued to their cinema seats.

In Thailand and throughout much of Asia, the popularity of ghost films must also be analyzed in context of the pervasive belief in spirits, or phi, as well as the animism present in Buddhist and Southeast Asian cultures. In a country where amulets and spirit doctors are as readily available as cigarettes, ghost stories have long been part of the local tradition. Thai horror movies are often a mixture of folktales about ghosts, or mae nak, and old beliefs such as phi kraseu, or ghosts who refuse to die, possession or witchcraft. And the audience sucks it up like a vampire at a blood bank.

The horror genre in Thailand saw a resurgence after the enormous local and international success of Nonzee Nimibutr’s Nang Nak – a remake of the time-worn story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong. In the years that followed, many critics contended that Thai ghost films took a turn for the worse. That is until the release of Shutter in 2004. Directed by Pakpoom Wongpoom and Banjong Pisanthanakun, The Shutter’s simple plot of a photographer seeing ghost-like images in his photographs captivated local audiences. In recent years, the popularity of films that make up the "New Asian Horror" genre has begun to influence Hollywood, evidenced by remakes of Asian hits The Ring, The Eye and Shutter. It is clear then, that a fear of ghosts and spirits is universal, making this genre a killing at box offices worldwide (bad pun intended).

Also, check out some Thai Horror movie posters here.

Thai Movie Posters: Same Same But Different

The following article was posted on another movies site of a friend before but I was allowed to repost this here as the other site will soon be put offline. Many people don;t know much about Thai movies and therefore also not much about all the funky movie posters that were created by many Thai artists. There is some awesome stuff out there and some of those posters sell on ebay for quite some money now. But it is very hard to find any originals as there was never anybody trying to conserve these pieces of art. There were basically no people in the past who kept or collected them and many have disappeared. Enough bla bla. Enjoy the article and what is probably the biggest accumulation of Thai movies poster art on the Internet. So here it goes:

Whether adorning the cinema wall, shouting from the world’s largest billboards or peeking from inside a plastic sleeve, movie posters have always been uniquely different in Thailand.

The descriptive, exaggerated style of painting used to promote the first Thai movies has long been loved by film buffs, but has only recently become regarded as part of Thailand's cultural heritage. Characteristically, there is an abundance of detail, with the film’s heroes always dominating the painting. A package of smaller images is added around their picture, showing some events of the film to attract film goers.

They do the thing where they have a mass of as many characters as they can. It’s a sort of pastiche, which is almost like a collage because they've cut out certain parts.

A lot of the time, Thai posters would sexualize things beyond what actually happened in the movie. There is a famous old Thai film, where there's a woman lying almost diagonal across a first step. I guess it's a racey movie at the time, but nothing close to that happens in the movie.

The only time a homegrown movie could compete with a Western picture was if it was sensationalized in the poster to the extent that they often took events far further than the actual movie.

They would go over the top. The idea was that if the audience was wandering by and they had to choose between a Western movie and a Thai movie, the Thai movie had to offer, promise and deliver more in terms of the advert than the Western film because of the preconception that it wouldn't be of high production value.

Today, it is a common sight to see reproduction vintage Thai posters being picked up by backpackers from street stalls around Kao San Road. It’s not surprising that they might be drawn to the country’s unique use of the medium. In the West, audiences are used to seeing film posters with one or two primary images, usually the leading actors, a neutral background and not much else.

Shinawatra's likely return good for Thaksin Inc but not for Thailand

All dressed up in riot gear and nowhere to go. Such was the plight of two dozen Thai police officers stewing in boredom last weekend near one of Bangkok's busier nightlife districts.
Thai elections tend to be anarchic affairs for the keepers of order, with protests often deteriorating into violence. This time was different; tear gas canisters sat unused after the victory of allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

...

Much is forgiven when an economy scores high growth rates. In 2010, Thailand grew the fastest in 15 years. Yet stability matters, too. The longer Thailand goes without it, the further it falls behind China. Just a decade ago, Thailand was a democratic oasis in a region of autocrats. Today, it's a political basket case.

That gets at a bigger question: why is Asia's democratic process so messy?

Thailand is Exhibit A; political demonstrations last year alone led to 91 deaths. What Thailand and its 67 million people prove is that elections aren't enough, says a report from the United Nations Development Program, titled Understanding Electoral Violence in Asia.

In recent decades, a view developed that untroubled contests were the ultimate prize. Yet, the report says, ''seeing elections as a test of democratic development, rather than a goal in themselves, provides a better conceptualisation of the processes that are needed to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections''.

read full article:

Shinawatra's likely return good for Thaksin Inc but not for Thailand

Thai Transformers in New York

CNNGo had this nice article online about a Thai artist hat recreates Transformer Autobots with recycled car parts. Apparently some people are going to pay big bucks for those now:

With the box office success of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” in the United States last weekend, it should come as no surprise fans are rushing to check out a series of Autobot statues created by Thai artist Anchalee Saengtai.


Museum chain Ripley’s Believe it or Not! recently acquired some of Anchalee’s remarkable Transformers, all made of recycled car and truck parts, for several of its attractions around the world.


The Autobot art pieces come in 6-meter-tall and 2.5-meter-tall versions.

Fittingly, Anchalee's Autobots are made entirely with old auto parts.
They’ve been appearing in a few U.S. museums over the last few weeks, but Anchalee’s work is expected to get a huge boost this Friday when her 2.5-meter version of Bumblebee will be unveiled in the Ripley's Believe It or Not in Times Square, New York.
Created entirely from recycled junk car parts, the Bumblebee figure weighs more than 450 kilos and features arms and legs that move.......

Steve Aoki is coming to Bangkok again - this time at LED club (Ex 808) on RCA

Steve Aoki, scheduled to play July 28th at Led Rca.  As promised we promised a surprise, we are offering everyone who attends this event a Heineken Open Bar from 9.30pm till 10.30! Pre-Event will be available starting July 8th at total reservations by visiting www.totalreservation.com or by calling 028335555.  Tickets will also be available at the door all night on the day of the event.

World pet Angel, swimming course for your dog in Bangkok

In tree starved Bangkok (or any outside activity for dogs that is), I could imagine that World Pet Angel is actually a good business idea. It is kind of a Spa for your dog. They also offer swimming courses for your doggie, including life vests for dogs. It is pretty funny, nobody in Europe would ever take your dog to something like this but in bangkok I am sure there are enough customers.

http://www.worldpetangel.com/main.htm

Ensogo Thailand: Deals website for several Thai cities

Just found this website for some Thai cities that offers daily deals on what looks like mostly food.

http://www.ensogo.com/en/bangkok/

UPDATE: Actually I was wrong, there are not that many food deals available on Ensogo, more other stuff, it is very mixed. Just have a look.

Reuters Q&A: "How will Thai election outcome affect listed companies?"

The stock market jumped 4.7 percent on Monday and was steady on Tuesday. Here is a look at some likely stock market winners and losers under the new government.

WHICH SECTORS WILL WIN FROM POPULIST POLICIES?

Puea Thai plans easier access to credit, a jump in the minimum wage plus price subsidies that should spur consumption. This should boost the retail and property sectors.

Top convenience store chain CP All , whose shares hit a six-week high on Monday, retailer Big C Supercenter , Siam Makro and building materials supplier Home Product Center should benefit.

Puea Thai promises zero-percent mortgages, exemption from transfer and mortgage fees and a 50 percent cut in business tax for first homes priced below 4 million baht ($130,000).

Property firms will benefit as the policies will both boost demand and cut costs. Top homebuilder Land & Houses is among top picks and its shares hit an eight-week high on Monday.

Developers that focus on medium- to low-priced homes such as LPN Development , Supalai , Pruksa Real Estate and MK Real Estate could benefit the most.

Stronger demand and populist spending in rural areas should boost spending on house renovation, helping building material firms like Siam Cement and Siam City Cement .

Puea Thai is also expected to implement a policy of returning tax to first-time car buyers, which should stimulate demand and benefit car parts makers such as Somboon Advance Technology and AAPICO Hitech .

However, a big rise in the minimum wage will push up operating costs in labour-intensive industries. Hana Microelectromics , Star Microelectronic and Cal-Comp Electronics may be affected.

"If they try to introduce a 30 pct increase in six months, I think it's going to be very difficult for many, many businesses," Richard Han, chief executive of integrated circuit packager Hana, told Reuters.

"It will be a huge amount to absorb in that short space of time because manufacturers cannot improve their productivity to absorb that cost," he said.

read full Q&A here

The New York Times on Thai elections: "Shinawatras Pull Off Another Political Magic Act"

Once again the Shinawatra clan has pulled off an unlikely feat: One of the wealthiest families in Thailand has convinced the poor and politically disenfranchised that it understands their problems, feels their pain and will fight for their rights.

The paradox of a billionaire family winning Sunday’s election by championing the have-nots — a notion that flabbergasts its adversaries — was on full display here in San Kamphaeng, the Shinawatra family’s hometown.

In grubby market stalls and ramshackle shops, residents flew red flags that advertised their support for Thaksin Shinawatra and his younger sister, Yingluck, who is now in line to become Thailand’s first female prime minister.

“We are so happy and relieved,” said Somboon Kamduang, a 55-year-old resident who scratches out a living selling peanuts and beans in the market and singing in restaurants at night.

...

As Chinese immigrants who arrived in northern Thailand in the early 1900s, the family’s forebears were outsiders. But the family grew deep roots in the community, married local villagers, bought land, planted orchards, lent out money and soon became the overlords of the area.

Bangorn Auppara, 76, a resident who once worked for the Shinawatras, says the secret to the family’s success has been a mixture of hard work, resourcefulness, and “stinginess.”

The family became powerful in the area, she said, partly by lending out money and confiscating land when the borrowers could not pay back.

It’s hard to find someone here who has a bad thing to say about the family, partly because so many people in San Khampaeng work for them or rent property from them.

Most the buildings in town are owned by the various branches of the Shinawatra family, said Penphan Supittayaporn, 58, who sits behind the counter of the Shinawatra silk shop, one of the family’s businesses.

read full article here

Thai Election headlines

Thei Newspaper Election headlines with translations over at 2bangkok.com

Is Sony Releasing the PlayStation 4 in 2012? [RUMOR]

The net is abuzz today about rumors of the Playstation 4 being produced in 2012 already. Sony has always stated in the past that he PS3 will be their top product until 2014 or 2015. The guess here is that another rumor was recently posted that said the next XBox will be introduced at next year's E3 exhibition. So Sony surely has to follow as they will be last in the Next Gen game again. Nintendo already annonuced their next system this year at E3. After how the Wii crushed the competition last time while being released much earlier will for sure alse be something Sony will not want to have happening again:

Is Sony Releasing the PlayStation 4 in 2012? [RUMOR]

Thailand Election Results Graphic

Congratulations to Phua Thai Party for clearly winning the Thai elections. The below graphic still show the problem that Thailand has been facing for a long time: The nation is still very divided between North and South:

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing...

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing...: "Update : For our international readers, this post is also available in French , German , Italian , Japanese , Portuguese , Russian and Span..."

Thaksin Shinawatra - Talk to Al Jazeera - Al Jazeera English

At below link you can find an interview with Thaksin Shinawatra by Al Jezeera. Pretty touch interviewer. Although I think Thaksin is doing much better in interviews now than he did in the past (I think he has learned a lot) I don;t think he did very well in this one as he doesn't admit any wrong doing nor does he admit using his power to benefit himself....then again if he would do that then that would mean he admits that he was in the wrong and that the Thai government was right in taking the money from him and the military was right in stating a coup a couple years back.

Thaksin Shinawatra - Talk to Al Jazeera - Al Jazeera English

Silly Fools - Great alternative band from Thailand

Following are some videos from the Thai band Silly Fools, probably the best and most successful alternative band ever to exist in Thailand. They still exist today but since they parted with their lead singer (Natapol Puthpawana ("Toe")) and a Korean/American (Benjamin Jung Tuffnell ("Ben")) took its place they are not the same anymore.

They started out as a real alternative band with some pretty hard music. Just listen to one of their first albums "IQ 180" and you'll get some pretty hard alternative rock. Later on they became more commercial and softer which made them much more successful (without selling out, they really have some great songs on all their albums):

"Hey" from one of their earliest records:



"Kee Heung" also from an earlier album. This was one of their biggest hit:


"Num Lai" from a more recent record called "King Size". This also was a big hit:


"Kon Tee Ka Chun", great song:

Da Jim Rap Thai (hip hop) - DAJIM

Da Jim (the name is awesome :) is pretty old school in Thailand. He was one of the first doing this kind of music and to be honest he is not bad at it although his time is really over in terms of popularity. here is one of his most famous tracks

Thai Rap Bigfoot Ftt - NorthSide Gang

Thai Gansta Rap. Could be worse.

GT Gutterball Fixie Bike 2011 / Pretty nice

In and Out Burger: No, not in Bangkok

So a friend of mine went to California recently and I told him to pay a visit to In and Out Burger if he sees one. It is the talk of the town (still) and everybody who has eaten it says its really the best.

So here is an image of what everybody is talking about. Doesn't look too spectacular but I guess you never know until you tasted it:

Interesting interview with Thailands current finance minister Korn

Exclusive: We’re doing terribly in polls – Thai Finance Minister Korn | Asian Correspondent

A Dummy's Guide To Thailand's General Election 2011

A primer to the upcoming Thai elections posted by the Bangkok Post:

A Dummy's Guide To Thailand's General Election 2011

Very useful: How To Iron A Shirt

Will the july 3 elections in Thailand really be a right race?

Abhisit Targets Fewer Than Half Seats in Thai Election as Popularity Slips - Bloomberg

The BTS Skytrain operator considers a unified ticket system for skytrain, ferries, public buses...

The below is an article from the Asian News Network. Now in general a unified ticketing system is a good thing but I think the most important linkup is strangely enough left of the article below: a link betwen the MRT and BTS systems. I wonder why and they have been talking about his since years...actually since the MRT opened up. So I really wonder whats holding them back to link up MRT and BTS. They both use smart card systems so it would just be a thing of changing the computer system, no additional or new machines required. Whereas with ferries and buses, who will pay for tall the new ticketing machines required? Here is the article:

The Bangkok Mass Transit System, the operator of the BTS Skytrain, expresses its support for a common ticket system for the skytrain, subway, ferries and public buses.

The Bangkok Mass Transit System, or BTS, Director Anat Arbhabhirama expressed his support for a common-ticket system between all forms of public transport system in Bangkok.

The common-ticket system has long been one of the development plans or campaign promises made by political parties hoping to win votes of city residents.

Anat said the BTS is more than ready to join the common-ticket system. Such a system would allow commuters to use one card to pay for all types of public transportation in the city, inclusive of the skytrain, subway, ferries and even public buses.

More WikiLeaks cables on Thailand

Bangkok Pundit lists a few Thai cables that have recently been released on Wiki Leaks:

More WikiLeaks cables on Thailand | Asian Correspondent

Hugo - Bread and Butter

Didn't know until now that his guy whi is called "Hugo" here is apparently Thai and grew up in Thailand (and England). I googled him and yes, i was actually able to find several songs in Thai from him. This is a pretty cool song from him and it was featured in a Victoria Secret Commercial which probably means he will have sold quite a bit of this. Anyway, its a great song:

Cool Android HTC Advertising in Belgium

HTC put up an army of tiny Androids in Antwerp, Belgium as advertising. Prettty cool if you ask me.

Masqed Crusader for Android

I wonder how good this works. And if it works at all.

Masqed Crusader for Android | AppBrain.com

Alcademics.com

Found this great blog Alcademics.com which is apparently written by somebody who apparently likes alcohol :) In fact it's creator is a "cocktail and spirits" write by profesion. The blog has many very interesting articles online and some great insights into all things alcohol. Go check it out.

Awesome Fixie Tron bike: Star Track x adidas x TRON

I want this fixie. Awesome design:

Star Track x adidas x TRON | Jun 2011 | PEDAL Consumption

E3 2011: Hands-on with the Nintendo Wii U Hardware

Nintendo has introduced its Wii U console, the next generation Wii so to say that features some crazy controllers that are sort of tablet computers by themselves:

E3 2011: Hands-on with the Nintendo Wii U Hardware

Not really digging the new Central Chidlom food court

I used to have lunch here every day, and we'll almost. Then came the redecorating and now it's just not as good anymore. Just the booth that sells the Massaman curry is still there which is good. The rest is so so. Shame on you Central.

L-Lingo Thai: A cool new app for learning Thai on an Android phone

Finally a proper learning tool for Thai for Android smartphones. L-Lingo is actually available for many different languages.

The free version of L-Lingo Thai is here and the paid for version can be found here.

All the other apps I tried are pretty useless (at least o me) phrasebooks for travelers. This here is a great way to learn some new words. It is an Adobe Air app, so you need Air installed also. It runs prettty smooth on my Sony Arc phone. There is loads of lessons in the paid version, overall 65 different ones. In each one you get a mix of different exercises to do. You might have somebody speak a Thai sentence and then get a choice of images to choose from the right answer.

Or you might just get a Thai sentence without sound (to learn to read) and then also choose the answer from an image. There are other types of quiz questions available. You can choose if you want to see Thai letters (if you can read Thai already0 or if you want phonetics (for beginners).

i thin kits a simple app but has lots of content and overall is well worth the 15 USD it costs. Thats on the upper side for Android apps and Im not sure how much they will sell at hat price but language apps tend to be more high priced and for the amount of content you get this is an OK deal.

2 new Thai movies over at cHinKy's mOviE sPoiLer: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story and Yamada : The Samurai of Ayothaya

Thai-Movie: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story

Set along the hustle and bustle of central Bangkok, 30 year old Mei Li approaches the doorsteps of spinsterhood with dread. One day, Mei Li accidently meets Bangkok Transit System eployee Lung, who makes her heart flutter instantly. She wonders to herself why such a cool guy would toil away in a odd night time job, but she also believes he is the ideal man for her. Mei Li then decides to take the iniative for the first time in her life and go after her dream guy. Unfortunately for Mei Lei, she has zero experience in wooing a man and her neighbor Pluen soon takes interest in the same guy!

Yamada: The Samurai of Ayuttaya

Based on a true character, the movie tells the story of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese warrior who settled in Ayutthaya in the 16th Century and became a soldier in King Naresuan’s army. After the battle with Burma, Ayutthaya remains in a state of unrest after a group of mysterious men stage a campaign of terror and robbery. Yamada investigates and finds that the men are actually rogue Japanese samurai. He then has a score to settle with his own countrymen.

March of Heroes - iPhone/iPad/Android Game using the Unreal Engine

Hard to believe that his is running on a phone. Amazing how quickly smartphone processors and games are progressing, much faster than PC games right now. If they keep up the pace it won't be long until smartphones will run very similar stuff than a PC.

Shoot the music festival in Hua Hin short movie "Cat"

A short film called "Cat" that was shown at the Shoot the Music festival in Hua Hin. The whole thing was orchestrated by Pen-Ek, one of Thailand's most famous and best directors.

Kaoklai vs. Mighty Mo: Best KO ever at K1

Kaoklai, after Buakaow the most famous Thai fighter at K1 was fighting Mighty Moe from New Zealand in this match. The difference in body size is crazy but this fight took a bit of an unexpected end. Absolutely fantastic KO by Kaoklai, you won't see something like this every day. Just watch the whole thing...

Google +1 could be pretty good if people start using it

Since yesterday Google has opened up the new "Google +1" to all websites online, not just their search results like before. I started using it now, I also saw it popping up as an option here on my blogspot Blog. So the fight has started to take over what the Facebook Like button started. But I think Google could turn this into something just as big or even bigger.

One of the advantages I think Google has is that they can deeply integrate it into their Android mobile OS which is now the most popular smartphone OS in the world. Also, they can integrate it into Chrome. Here is an extension that one can use in Chrome:

http://goo.gl/A91Im

Chrome is quickly gaining popularity and is already one of the biggest browser platforms, for good reason. It is quicker and more minimal than IE or FireFox and significantly faster. I am really curious how the Google +1 project will turn out. I hope it will do well so we do have an alternative to Facebook Like.

The purpose of all this of course are customized social search results. If you +1 any website and your friends search for this topic they will see the pages the you +1 before before other results. Over time this could be very useful.

Best Japanese restaurant in Silom area

Bangkok has loads of Japanese restaurants and many expensive ones. So it is nice to find this jewel hidden away in Silom Soi 6 (it is very close to the Suriwong side, more far away from the Silom side of the soi). If I read right its name is Yamazaki and it is in a townhouse. This place is managed by Japanese people and they are also still standing in the kitchen and actually cooking the food.The interior is nice and cozy. You are presented a menu that has several items on it but its far away from those menus where you have thousands of choices.

If you go during lunch time you will see that a lot of Japanese who work in the area will stop by here. In fact, I was shown this place by a Japanese friend of mine, otherwise I would have not found it. Yamazaki opens until 14:00, then closes and reopens again at 18:00. I made the mistake several times to come in between so be aware of this.

They offer a few dishes but he ones they offer they do right. The specialty is obviously "Tonkatsu", fried pork steak. Now forget he stuff you get at Fuji and the likes. You simply cannot compare it. It is just delicious! And the size is large. You can choose between medium and large size and I suggest you start with the medium size as it is really big. Together with the Tonkatsu part you get a small bowl with Sesame in it that you have to grind first before mixing it with the Tonkatsu sauce. You also get salad together with he Tonkatsu....but you have to inquire about the salad dressing if you want some.

I suggest o order a Sake here. You will get it in a square wooden cup, overflowing into a wooden plate...not sure how to call that but I never got it presented this way in Bangkok. Must be Japanese style. Best part is the price, a medium Tonkatsu set with a soup is under 200 Baht. Highly recommended!

Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right (Revisited) Full Length

Weezer - Paranoid Android Cover

Nice cover by Weezer of this great song from Radiohead.

Twitch tears Hangover II apart

I kind of saw that one coming. The trailers looked just too similar to the first part...Now I do not share the opinions of all movie critics but Twitsch is a site I can almost always trust. They are really good and the reviewers most of the time have the same opinions about movies than I have. So here is the review of Hangover II.

And its bad....The movie is not supposed to be funny at all and just copying the first part..in a bad way. I probably still watch it but now I am not expecting much anymore.

Chainfire 3D = Pretty awesome: Play any game on your Android

This here:

https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.cf3d

lets you play Tegra 2 games on any Android device. Well at least you should have a 1Ghz processor but it works flawless.

Chainfire3D is an intermediary OpenGL driver. What does that mean? It means that Chainfire3D sits between your apps and the graphics drivers, and can intercept and/or change commands between the two. It has some built-in functions, and can be further extended with plugins to provide extra functionality.
!! Chainfire3D is for 1ghz+ devices only !!
!! ROOT is required for this program, as well as a writable /system partition. S-OFF is also required on HTC devices !!Features include reducing texture size and quality to reduce memory use and potentially increase game performance, as well as increasing memory use potentially increase performance."

ISAN DANCEHALL THIS SAT 28.05.11 @ COSMIC CAFE on RCA brought to you by ZudRangMa Records

DJs Maft Sai & Chris Menist (Paradise Bangkok) shift focus with their latest project, 'Isan Dancehall'. With an emphasis on music built for sound systems, outside parties and the worldwide dancehall, from Kingston to Ubon, from Accra to Khon Kaen, join their journey through tough basslines, heavy percussion and music designed to move any crowd from around the globe. Isan Dancehall - get ready for the Afro/Asian Soundclash.....


..........................


PARTY INFO:
Date: Saturday 28th May 2011. 09pm - Late
DJs: Maft Sai, Chris Menist
Music policy / File Under: ISAN ROOTS, RAGGAE & DANCEHALL.
Door: 200 Baht + 1 Beer
Where: COSMIC CAFE, RCA BLOCK C

Fpse for Android: best PSX emulator yet

Just bought fpse yesterday on the Android market and it is a great emulator. Most games run very nicely on my Sony Arc phone so you don't even need a new dual core phone. Single core is enough. It is also much beter than the free psx4droid where I couldn't find a single game that runs.

As psx4droid was already removed from the market because of obvious legal reasons I can very well imagine that fpse will go the same way sooner or later. So it would be a good idea to download it as long as it's there!

Fuji Feather 2011 Fixed Bike

Thinking currently of getting a new fixed bike. It has been too long and I kind of like the new Fuji Feather. 20000 Baht in Bangkok. Thats 657 USD or 467 EUR. It is a beauty:

Sony's Managers apologizing for stolen Playstation network user info

I had to post this apology from Sony's top managers. Just look at he image below:

I think that is pretty funny. Not that it helps the victims much but at least they apologized. And I heard that there will be additional presents made to all affected users that will give them free access to the Playstation network or specific content. Le's see how that plays out.

Having said that, it is pretty unbelievable that after this went down, today it was just announced that the Sony network has again been breached. Apparently Sony Online Entertainment networks were hacked and credit card information was stolen from more than 12000 members. Sony definitely has a security problem when this can happen 2 times within such a short time period.

Din Tai Fung in Bangkok Open Now at Central World

I mentioned Din Tai Fun before in this post here. It is the single most famous Taiwanese restaurant that has now finally opened its long awaited Bangkok branch. Never understood why it took them so long as Din Tai Fung is already available in nearly all other Asian countries ..... would make sense to me to open in food crazy Thailand much earlier. Anyway, here are 2 more images of Din Tai Fung in Bangkok. You can find it on the 7th floor at Central World right next to AKA restaurant. It's hard to miss.

Thailand's new Film Rescue Unit Launched

The Thai Film Rescue Unit was launched to protect old Thai film. There are already cases where some old classics of Thai film were just thrown away and now there is no proper copy left. When you go for example to the Thai Film Database and go to some older movies you will realize that here are hardly any images or any other info left for some movies. This might sound strange but this sometimes just means that no copy of the movie exists anymore as there was never really any film archive that secured the old film.

On Monday, Thai Film Archive Director Dome Sukvong and Minister of Culture Nipit Inthrasombat launched Thailand's first Film Rescue Unit, a squad of archivists who'll go around the country to retrieve unwanted film rolls and home movies, which are believed to exist in abundance. They will bring those films back to the headquarters in Salaya for preservation and archiving. Later, the films or fragments of films will be shown to the public, and these homemade videos by various citizens will prove to be a visual document that's as important as books and journals in the National Library.

"There are so many films that people want to throw away - something shot by their fathers or grandfathers and locked away somewhere in the houses," said Dome. "We have been campaigning for the people to understand the importance of visual documents that exist in their own homes. They're the cultural heritage of the country.

"Today, we prefer to transfer films to digital storage, but digital devices are not stable and the quality of the picture is incomparable to good old film."

The Film Archive has long sent out teams to hunt for films, but a limited budget meant the operation was not properly sustained. Since the Film Archive gained the status of a public organisation two years ago, it has upgraded its mission preserving, restoring and distributing moving images, historical and contemporary.



You can read the whole article here

Formula of Memories by Megumi Endo Exhibition @ Nospace Gallery RCA

Formula of Memories by Megumi Endo

13-15 May 2011, 7PM-11PM

Opening Party: Friday 13 May 2011, 7PM

Megumi Endo is a Japanese artist based in America. She has exhibitions in several galleries in Portland Oregon and San Francisco California during 2007-2009. 'Formula of Memories' is Megumi Endo's first-time official art exhibition in Bangkok Thailand. It will be show at Nospace Gallery RCA from 13 to 15 May 2011, 7PM-11PM.

More Information about artist 'Megumi Endo'

www.gz-la.com

More Information about the exhibition 'Formula of Memories'

www.nospacebkk.com

Thailand Caught on the Thaksin Rebound (WSJ)

WSJ article about Thai politics, Thaksin, elections:

Mr. Thaksin's re-entry into the political arena since early April has taken two forms. The first is a series of policy proposals such as lowering corporate tax rates, stimulating domestic demand and promoting innovation through greater political freedom. As good as those might seem in theory at least to some people, coming from Mr. Thaksin the ideas are gimmicky, dilettantish and often cynical. His late conversion to the cause of political freedom fools no one, and his thoughts about fiscal policy are rooted in a superficial understanding of Thailand's competitiveness problem.

As is typical of Mr. Thaksin, then, these proposals fail to amount to a coherent program of government or a formula for addressing Thailand's most fundamental problems of social division, inadequate human capital, and diminishing confidence in leading institutions. They serve as a reminder that during Mr. Thaksin's 2001-06 premiership violence in the Muslim south spiraled out of control not least because of his profound lack of interest in the processes of government.

Tony Jaa and Jeeja making new movie Tom Yam Goong 2 together

After Tony Jaa had a falling out with his studio after Ong-Bak 2 and 3 he went to become a monk for a while. Now he is back and at a press conference announced that he will be making a second part to the movie Tom Yam Goong. Even more surprising is that it will be the first movie that he will make together with Jeeja, Thailand's female version of Tony Jaa so to say. Well, let's just say she is also a pretty awesome martial arts film star and probably the biggest female shooting star. Although I have to say after her excellent debut "Chocolate" all other movies have been pretty mediocre. Let's hope this one will be better. Here is an miage of the press conference courtesy of WiseKwai's film journal:

Twitch Film also has this to say:

Missing elephant jokes aside, this is big news for Jaa with the original Tom Yum Goong - released as The Protector in North America - marking both his last true hit and the beginnings of his troubles. It was immediately after Tom Yum Goong that Jaa essentially declared Pinkaew unnecessary and unwanted, announcing that he would direct his next film himself. Pinkaew was deeply insulted and the relationship between the star and the director who built his career degraded to the point where they weren't even on speaking terms. Pinkaew would go on to groom Jija Yanin in Chocolate while Jaa would crumble badly under the pressure of directing Ong Bak 2 himself, eventually losing control of the badly over budget and over schedule project.

But Tom Yum Goong 2 will reunite the entire Tom Yum Goong / Ong Bak team with Jaa in the lead, Pinkaew directing, Rittikrai handling fight choreography and Chocolate star Jija Yanin also handed a significant role - the first time Jaa has ever shared the stage with another marquee fighter. Like the upcoming Chocolate 2, this film will be shot in digital 3D.

So there we have it: Chocolate 2 is actually already in the making so this should also be interesting to see if it can top the first Chocolate. Unfortunately it says production of Chocolate 2 is just starting in May....as the choreographers are the same as for Tom Yam Goong 2, this means the new Tom Yam Goong will still be quite a while ahead of us.

More Hangover Part II Videos

I already posted the first trailer of highly anticipated movie The Hangover Part II here. Now there have been a couple more TV spots (4 overall) released which are posted below:

Din Tai Fung: Famous Taiwanese restaurant opens in Bangkok

Finally! Last time in Taipei I was invited to the most famous Taiwanese restaurant there is, Din Tai Fung. They make xiao long bao, a Taiwanese style kind of dumpling. You also get other dishes at Din Tai Fungus but xiao long bao is what they are famous for.

Now there are branches of Din Tai Fungus all over Asia but I noticed to my surprise not in Bangkok yet. Seemed to be the only country in Asia without one. That's about to change. When eating at Aka today with 2 friends of mine from Taiwan, we noticed a big poster next to it from din Tai Fung announcing the upcoming opening of their first Bangkok restaurant branch. Great news. I will be there when it opens. Its really delicious stuff. Highly recommended.

New Cold Cut ice cream branch open at Central World

First time that I tried Cold Cut ice cream was today. I heard great things about it. Im normally not into the creamy style of ice cream and prefer the fruity Italian style Sorbet ice. I ordered the Apple Pie ice cream medium size. The taste was delicious especially if you like the milk ice cream.

The staff will take the ice cream, then cut it up first on a work board and mix it up with nuts, chocolate,  cookies and lots of other ingredients of your choice.

My advice is go for the small size. Its more than enough.

Chill Chill at Whittard tea

I really love the Whittard tea shop at Siam Paragon. Located right next to a kind of pond on wooden planks it makes you feel like lounging outside next to a lake. The seats are also super comfy and the iced fruit teas are delicious.

Bangkok Skyline from the Columns

The is a picture taken from the huge terrace of the upperfloor suite of The Columns serviced apartment. Its located on Sukhumvit Soi 16 right next to Foodlion.

Singha Selling Rice with Beer

Left: After introduction of the new good rice, what do you plan marketing?
Left Middle: The old formula that is widely used in the showbiz?
Right middle: What is the old formula?
Right: Selling rice altogether with beer.

[Singha Corporation, the largest beer seller of the country, has launched its new investment in the rice market. The newly introduced product is the 'Pun Dee' or good quality rice pack. The cartoon jokes that the marketing for the rice will involve selling the rice and beer together.]

source: Singha Selling Rice with Beer

Pissed off at HTC (at least in Thailand)

Today I went on a journey to Fortune Town in Bangkok to service my HTC Desire HD. All I wanted to do was exchange the volume button, a tiny piece of plastic on the side of the phone.

I had to find out that the spare part costs 117 Baht and the service charge to install it 1300 Baht!!!! Absolutely ridiculous. And also they didn't want o just sell the spare part to me. Because my phone was bought in Taiwan, not Thailand. This is bullshit. I am very disappointed at this.

Other companies, such as Sony, i could go to any Sony shop everywhere in the world and they would be able to  send it in and have it repaired for the same local rates as anybody else. That is good service. HTC still has ways to go, no matter how successful they are at the moment with their smartphones.

The Sony Arc is sweet

I pretty much forgot about Sony as a decent mobile maker but their newest Android lineup is pretty sweet. The Sony Arc is pretty much the most sexy smart phone currently. Its super thin, has this nice Arc curve shape, a great screen, the nice large 4,2 inch screen I love so much and a decent 1500 battery.

That means Im gonna swap my Desire HD for the Arc next month. :)

Greyhound Cafe Central Chitlom

I never really liked the food at Greyhound although their restaurants are always designed very nice. Friend convinced me to try again for lunch at Central Chitlom. I tried "Kao Soi " this time.....and although it qas alright I'm still not really convinced.

Where did this happen?

I woke up with this nice little thing in my leg after last week's Songkran Thai new year party..... I have absolutely no idea where or when this happened. I felt no pain whatsoever except this Morning. How could I miss that???

Paradise Bangkok at Cosmic Bar

Always love the flyers of these parties in Bangkok. The organizers are doing something different so go and support them. Coincidentally, Cosmic Bar, the place where the party is held at, is a very cool little place on RCS Road, so this should be good fun.