Weblog » Archives » July 2007
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Beautiful Scala Cinema a point of history
Khrungthep has no shortages of new cinemas: every mall has one and all of them feature digital sound, stadium seating, and all of the amenities you would expect from any megaplex cinema in the United States. In fact, th… -
Avatar doesn't capture it, says Tawn
Tawn returned home from his company trip to Beijing on Monday evening. The flight was supposed to arrive about 9:35 but Tawn SMS'd from Beijing saying they were sitting on the tarmac and would probably arrive about 10:1… -
Joining the Simpsons fray
Well, I wanted to resist the marketing and not write anything about The Simpsons Movie. But then Sheldon posted a picture of his Simpsons avatar and being a Simpsons fan, I thought it would be funny to see what Tawn and… -
Polygamy makes for an interesting movie topic
Oh, the film festival is almost over. Thank goodness. As much as I enjoy watching films, the films I've watched have been about 40% "ho-hum", 30% "okay" and 30% "oh, that was pleasant". It is hard to say if it is just… -
Luminous photos this Friday at Tamarind Cafe
The Bangkok International Film Festival is going well - I'm twelve or thirteen films into it and have several more to go. There's still plenty going on in town besides movies. One of those things of note is a photo exh… -
Public arts makes a big splash in Khrungthep
On display at the surprisingly (or not) empty high-end Gaysorn mall, affectionately called Gay Zone by the local Silom crowd. A sign I spotted at a nearby construction site this evening which blocked the sidewalk. I th… -
Remodel shows little physical progress
After attending the homeowner association meeting (see below) we went upstairs to take a look at the progress on the remodel. As expected, there wasn't a whole lot accomplished this week. Right: An interesting moth on… -
Homeowner association scandal: 1 million baht stolen!
This weekend I took some time out from watching films to attend to condominium issues. Saturday morning there was a homeowner's association meeting at Raintree Villa. Wanting to do our civic duty, Tawn and I showed up … -
Festival mixes disorganization with decent programming
The Bangkok International Film Festival got off to a start Friday after a glitzy and glamorous Thursday night gala opening. Some of the highlight films are attracting a large crowd, but many of the screenings I've atte… -
Gross National Happiness: another way to measure growth
Thursday evening there was a panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondents' Club on the topic of Gross National Happiness. Featured speakers included Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley, Home Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, pictur… -
Emphasis on ASEAN films in Bangkok Film Fest
This evening is the opening night of the Bangkok International Film Festival. An event sponsored by the Tourism Authority, it has historically been disorganized and a bit of an embarassment, even when over funded like … -
Looking for a Thai rabbit to flake coconut
I make meusli. And in a country where coconuts are such a bountiful product, I've grown tired of having to buy imported shredded coconut to add to it. Despite the prevelence of coconuts, I have yet to see shredded (fl… -
A weekend of showtunes
Sorry for no update for a few days. It isn't that there wasn't anything happening. Rather, I wanted to leave the entry about the end of the English teaching at Bangkhonthiinai at the top of the page for a few extra da… -
English teaching at Bangkhonthiinai to end
For nearly a year, I have been driving 100 km every Wednesday to volunteer as an English teacher in Bangkhonthiinai, a tiny town in the province of Samut Songkhram. At the end of August, the volunteer English program w… -
Raintree remodel underway; OSHA violations found
Monday afternoon, Tawn and I stopped by the Raintree Villa juristic office to drop off the official plans, the timetable for construction activities, and a list of how many contractors would be working each week, and to… -
What if it turns out your condo isn't in an urban oasis after all?
There are a tremendous number of condominiums (condominia?) being built here in Khrungthep. It seems that not a single day passes without some new project being announced. They are sprouting up faster than, well... thi… -
Should insurers or patients and their doctors decide about masectomies?
Note: Apologies in advance to non-US readers as the following entry is very US-centric.Michael Moore's recent documentary Sicko hopes to ignite a much-needed debate over the failing health care system in the United State… -
Attempt to recreate Zachary's Pizza tasty but not spot-on
Zachary's Chicago Pizza is a Berkeley, California institution. The lines at their College Avenue and Solano Avenue locations can be long as they take no reservations, but the wait is worth it. Their "stuffed" pizza - … -
When expats read about other expats
The expat experience can be interesting because every expat brings their own unique lens to life in a new place. Recently, I've really enjoyed reading entires from my friend Peter. Peter was born in Guandong, China and… -
Rainy days in Bangkhonthiinai lead to reduced attendance
Because of conferences, teaching at Bangkhonthiinai this past week was postponed until Friday instead of the usual Wednesday. Ken and Kobfa joined me and it was raining the entire drive down and continued to drizzle, no… -
Dance charity event descends into ping pong ball chaos
Setting out in the midst of one of the fiercest rainstorms I've seen, Tawn and I headed up to The Esplanade shopping center Saturday night to meet Brian, Roka and Ken for dinner, followed by a performance at the Thailand… -
Alpha testing ITS4Thai's product
Stuart has been living here in Khrungthep for about five years and recently set up his company ITS4Knowledge. ITS4K's first project is to create an e-learning platform to enable foreigners to easily and conveniently lea… -
The doctor who gave Big Pharma the shivers
Wednesday morning, July 4th. Independence Day in the United States. But as I'm not in the United States, I take it as a regular work day and will instead take some local holiday in exchange. Not to be completely unpat… -
The Capra-esque Democratic nominee acceptance speech
Credit to Tae for originally posting this on his blog. After reading it and thinking about it for a day and a half, I decided I'd like my readers to see this, too. Sorry to the readers who overlap our two blogs. (Pres… -
Fancy a paternalistic path back to democracy?
I read an article in the Nation (local English-language newspaper) about the process for the approval of the draft constitution which is currently being finished by an "independent" Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) a… -
Paris apartment with a view available from Ryeroam
Fancy a home to stay in during your trip to Paris this summer? Somewhere comfortable, well-located, fully furnished, with a nice view, and reasonably priced? Our friend Ryeroam, who is moving into a new home in the Pa… -
Meeting with Ble moves condo remodel forward
Saturday morning we met at the new condo with Ble (pronounced "bun") and his contractor, Guang. The objective: review the next steps that need to be taken to get our renovation underway.Below is the floorplan of the con… -
Drinks with a view
Saturday evening Tawn, Vic and I went for dinner at T Restaurant, a seafood restaurant owned by one of Tawn's former United Airlines colleagues' family. We ate very well, as always, with huge grilled prawns and a whole …
christao408
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- Name: Chris
- Country: Thailand
- Metro: Krung Thep
- Birthday: 11/16/1970
- Gender: Male
- Member Since: 8/2/2004
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