Generating worlds, exploring them, losing the thread.
There are rogues, and there are rogues. There follow reports of close encounters with two very different species of actor in the current Thai political maelstrom:
Squeakish-clean candidate for office.
Useful additions to the many perspectives on the troubles? Colorful, anyway.… Read more
Culled from today’s e-mail Inbox:
Ow, ow… Oh.
But this (Why_Moms_cannot_do_yoga4) evokes nice sensations whichever way you’re coming at it.
A fun sequence of sensations (Don_tLookAwayWhenI_mTalkingToYou).… Read more
“Looking at Thailand, indeed looking at several other Asian countries, it would be easy to conclude that democracy has served us poorly. In Thailand, we now often refer to our own political system as ‘Demo-Crazy’ to reflect our apparent fondness for demonstrations… But in thinking about the future of Asia, one is reminded that political and social developments are just as important as economic development.” (Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij)
In today’s Bangkok Post (“Bridging income gaps… Read more
Photos by the lovely Ms. Plug
Bangkok remains relatively calm. Misleadingly so, perhaps. Forget about lavish tides of good sense in the coming days, if not years—not that we had to wade through much of it in the past, here or anywhere, come to that. Dourness rools, OK!
The beast of unreason has been let slip, and it’s time for civil folk to look askance at strangers in the street, to avoid the shadows and to watch their asses. But … Read more
It’s a glorious morning in Bangkok, one so far unmarred by columns of smoke or rattle of gunfire. The Bangkok Post has run A NATION MOURNS as its front-page headline. I’d be interested to know what it is people believe we should be mourning, at this point.
One candidate: the fact that—Thai or otherwise—we’re human, all too bloody human. It’s really sad to see how reliably, everywhere and throughout history, demogogues are able to lead crowds of nice people into … Read more
New penance for starving writers: black-pepper oatmeal cookies (from Scotland, culinary capital of the universe). I have them with sencha tea.
My companion du jour says they aren’t sweet, aren’t delicious and are way too expensive (only available at Villa, in Bangkok). Neither has she any use for hair shirts or unheated garrets.
Actually, in Bangkok all garrets are unheated, at least by human design. Same goes for the penthouses, for that matter. What do starving writers and gouty moguls … Read more
It’s been hard to focus on work, what with the pace of events, the phone calls and the temptation to check the Twitter and e-mail universe every minute or so for breaking news.
Yesterday I also kept finding myself drawn to the roof of our apartment building for a panoramic view of events. (These photos were taken by the lovely Ms. Plug, a downstairs neighbor and freelance photographer who joined me.) What with the spotter plane soaring around the Baiyoke … Read more
The gloomier prognostications regarding the prevailing civil disorder in Bangkok have missed the mark, it seems. Though things do still look a tad bleak.
How bleak? That depends on who you talk to. It seems the US Embassy is offering to help repatriate families of expat residents. Not the Fall of Saigon, just yet, but it bespeaks unease in some quarters.
An old friend and long-term Bangkok resident just told me how he’s been thinking about Phnom Penh, and how … Read more
My friend and fellow scrivener Steve Van Beek lives in the area currently cordoned off by the security forces—right there in the middle of both the political heat and Bangkok’s worst heat wave in years. He’s waiting to see whether a repairman can get through to fix his ailing air-conditioner.
In passing, Steve also tells me the expression “to be on the fritz” dates from the very outset of the 20th century, and probably derives from the sound of … Read more
Here’s something from a collection I call “Leary’s Laws.”
“Things are always going to get worse, and we just have to take what friggin’ solace we can from that. What it means, we’re always living in a golden age, at least looking back from any time in the future.”
(Leary, in Yawn: A Thriller, by Collin Piprell)
So go ahead and take what solace you can from that. You might also want to stock up on canned … Read more