Deadly Bunny and Chuby Penguin : Great Bangkok food blog

I found a really good food blog that lists a lot of restaurants and street food stalls, from very cheap up to very expensive, so you will find from very simple up to luxury restaurants everything. All reviews are accompanied by pricing, great images and lots of info. You can find the blog here.

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WASHINGTON: The US Navy has withdrawn several ships sent to help with relief efforts in flood-hit Thailand after receiving "mixed" messages from the Bangkok government, a defence official said on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