pacman

'It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so fucking what?' —Stephen Fry

I saw this quote back when he said it & I thought then that it was excellent. I am so sick of self-interested twits using their "offence" as a reason to stop something. Or someone enjoying themself. As if they have the only opinion that matters.

Democracy allows us all to share our opinion but it alone should never be a reason to infringe upon the rights of others. I think Stephen Fry's quote will live on long after he does.

A new phone, a new camera & a new laptop! Blimey! Obviously there's no recession in your corner of Ireland...

Finally got the courage up and splashed out on the SG3 at the weekend.

You made the right choice. Technology is moving so fast & none move faster than Samsung. At least you will be on the cutting edge for a few months.

Another new girl just started.

Suay mak mak with a farang father. No risk.

Are you sure that the English word for rice gruel is 'chow'? Or even the Chinese word? There's no rice gruel in a plate of Chow Mein whatever it is. Be it chicken, prawn, etc.

And does it actually 'curdle'? I have eaten the Chinese dish Congee many times & all they do is boil the rice till it falls apart. It is my favourite breakfast in Asia & I order it with goong (prawns) in Thailand. I doctor it up with the Thai spices you find in any local Thai place. A spoonful of the chilli in vinegar, a sprinkle of the dry chilli flakes & a touch of the other one. I can't think what it is for the moment, the only one I don't add is the sugar. it is the tastiest breakfast to be found anywhere.

You had my mouth watering with your description of the duck. Cooked properly, it is such a good meal. I know a few places where I can get Roast Duck Soup & Roast Pork Soup. And sometimes I have them together. Not two bowls that is, I order both meats in the one bowl. Bloody lovely.

You seem to be quite excited Paccie.

Not at all. I plead guilty to being very curious though. You couldn't make up a picture like that but someone did.

Why?

What a picture! Unbelievable! They're either Monks or prisoners going by their haircuts.

Is this some sort of humiliation process forced on inmates when they misbehave? I doubt they would have such sneakers in jail & this would certainly be a violation of their human rights. Not that that is a feature of Asian justice.

And if they are Monks, what has this to do with getting closer to Buddha? Some of them appear to be giving their next-in-line a good rimming. I just can't get over the purpose of this at all.

Would someone please explain.

Feeble jokes!! Most of us are guilty of them from time to time. Jim is one of the better joke tellers but I can put your mind at rest Ken & assure you he's no racist.

I have used the phrase "smells like an Afghan's armpit" but I grew out of that a long time ago. It somehow doesn't seem so serious if the line refers to someone we aren't going to run into. Now there are so many citizens here from that vexed country, I wouldn't dream of offending them, even if it is only a feeble joke.

I have friends who describe their working day as "I was busier than a Baghdad brickie". That term never attracts negative comments probably because a bricklayer from Iraq might take some pride in the fact his work ethic was held up as the yardstick for hard work.

However, should those same friends ever say they smell like a Baghdad brickie, I will correct them.

It is a serious topic & under the stewardship of our webmaster, this is one place I feel free to comment on it without fearing the ire of the Thought Police. And I am glad that Ken specified that he objects to the schoolyard style racist comments because there are occasionally times where racial stereotypes need to be employed to make a point. And sometimes, they are the essential ingredient in some very funny jokes.

And the world would be a whole lot poorer without them. Did I tell you the one about the Kiwi & the sheep?

I had a load of wine from your neck of the woods from Swan Valley as I recall - very good stuff. I actually really rate the EV Olive Oil from there as well. Shame they don't get their act together and export it.

I am sure I read that some of the EVOO is now being exported, I have no idea where they are sending it but I could find out, I have friends who own an olive tree farm. And their product is very nice, I have been invited to help with harvest & one year I'll make it.

The Swan Valley produces some excellent wines though I prefer the wineries down south. Summer time in the Valley can be brutal on the vines, high temperatures don't help the wine making process. Though the big wineries have vineyards in the cooler regions & blend a lot of wine to maintain the quality. Houghtons & Sandalford are two that come to mind. Do either of those names ring a bell?

Just in the last 2 weeks I read an article about the phrase "the whole nine yards" & how nobody seems to know what it refers to. The earliest references are quite recent, iirc the 50s.

I did read about the origin of this term once. It's from the military & the 9 yards refers to the length of a machine gun bullet belt. It might have been a Bren gun but I can't recall. Anyway, no prizes for guessing what was meant when the gunner was ordered to "give 'em the whole 9 yards". Ouch!

So yes I am a nerd!

You're in good company...

$15 will get you a decent Australian Shiraz. We boast 100's & 100's of labels producing value wines. And nearly all of them have screw caps these days, such a reversal from less than 10 years ago.

I would happily sit down to a $15 bottle of red but I wouldn't arrive at a dinner party with it. Not at my age with the company I keep. Or sometimes keep. I am surrounded by wine snobs. Perfectly nice people of course but the natural progression that comes from them being upwardly mobile & seeking out better & better wine.

I do benefit from their pursuit of fancy labels, I get them served up every time I dine with them. And I have to reciprocate with commensurate wines which does get expensive. But I have been winning lately, some of my closest friends have discovered a taste for French Champagne which gets served in addition to the nice red or white. And they don't count that as part of the wine offering, they serve it up as an aperitif.

A few flutes of Dom or Krug before the serious stuff gets served. It's all very nice but they are becoming quite disdainful of any lesser drops that I have had the temerity to arrive with. And 2 Buck Chuck! OMG! They would faint.

I do understand that paying too little won't get you anything that nice but paying too much is more of an indulgence because of the law of diminishing returns.

Wine is an interesting subject & something I have enjoyed most my life but I am worried that this thread could get very boring very quickly. I don't think anyone wants to hear my opinion on some wine unavailable to where others on the forum are living.

When will he return to making movies that can be loved by more than just the critics?

I realise your question is rhetorical but why worry? He won't keep making 'art' movies if nobody goes to see them. Or rather, he won't get the funding. And you infer that the critics & the public are mutually exclusive, as if no one agrees with what the critics like. That is an assumption that box office receipts don't support.

Though I acknowledge that the major studios can get a big audience for a load of crud thanks to their relentless promotion & advertising. It's in the area of Art movies that the cream gets the chance to rise to the top. And now The Master has been released, we'll soon see if it is going to fly.

I think the subject matter alone will drag in a crowd, it's made me curious enough to see it, I think Philip Seymour Hoffman is a wonderful actor who adds gravitas to anything he appears in. I do hope it isn't pointless & pretentious but if its only sin is to be an art film, I think I am in luck.

On the subject of obscure movies, I recently saw Beasts of the Southern Wild. Its about the strange inhabitants of the bayous of Louisiana & a young girl living with her father. It's another of those divisive art films that is either loved or loathed. Personally I rated it as one of the years best films.

DT might disown me over liking that film. I suggest he checks it out. With an open mind.

Chris sounds like a charmer. Good move to not challenge him, some of these guys you don't know how they will react.

As long as he is spending money & not abusing the locals, they will tolerate him. If he starts upsetting the locals & makes any of them lose face, they won't put up with him. I doubt he would have any idea of what problems he could face if he gets too angry.

Leave him be Ken, he can be responsible for his own destiny. Asians can be very tolerant of idiots but they won't accept bullshit. I would hope his wife would be his warning system but is he smart enough to listen to her? Doesn't sound like it going by your description.

Would he really physically attack you if he caught you holding hands with a femboy? What a dickhead!!

Sorry but I disagree. Japanese is an Asian Language and is far more simple to learn than say English.

I personally find Japanese the easiest of them to pick up

Thank you gentlemen for clearing something up for me. I always considered Japanese to be a difficult language to learn with its strange pronunciations. So many English speakers struggle to make themselves understood with their accents & poor diction.

Many years ago I was in Bali & was in a restaurant with a group of people I met at my hotel. A group of Japanese sat down next to us & were talking loudly in Japanese. A guy at my table started speaking to them in Japanese. He wasn't fluent but he had quite a conversation with them. They all joined in & there were questions being asked & answered.

When he finished I asked him how long had he lived in Japan. Or had he been studying the language a long time. He said neither. He visited there once several years earlier for 6 weeks. He had picked up the language during that trip. I was incredulous. He did say to me that he had the ability to remember everything said to him. And though he hadn't heard Japanese since his visit, he said it all came back to him when they started speaking.

I wish I had a memory like that.

OK. I know nothing about the guy & I am not his advocate. And I don't particularly care.

I was curious about his line "I can't walking".

How does one interpret that? Or is this part of his spiel to engender sympathy? Or is his English so bad, he has no idea what he is writing? Seems an odd thing to add to a post.

hello

i cant walking ..i have much free time

Here's a rhetorical question - if this guy spends all day in a wheelchair, should we cut him some slack?

Just asking, that's all...

Well pacman, joke or no joke, Puccini and Rossini are 2 of my favourites.

I love opera & these two are favourites of mine as well. Excuse my little joke with Sam, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

Pacman and I went to dinner one night at some eatery on Beach road and they had this live opera singer. Pacman was delighted. I was horrified and couldn't stand it. It was loud and intrusive. Couldn't have a conversation. I ended up leaving.

The restaurant is the Hof Brau Haus & the singer is a formally trained tenor from Italy. Enzo is his name & he sang many roles on the circuit back home in Europe. He had a falling out with the opera hierarchy & finished up managing this place in Pattaya. He plays drums in the house band during the evening but always gets up to sing some of the great arias.

On the night I took Sam there, it was his birthday & his wife handles the mixing desk. It was a packed house & she took it on herself to raise the volume level. Sam was right to leave, the noise level was ridiculous. In many visits before & after that night, it was never as loud again.

I do recommend you visit the place Ken the next time you are in Pattaya. The Italian food is good, they brew their own beer & the opera starts sometime around 9.30pm. Introduce yourself to Enzo & tell him we know each other. He's a lovely guy.

Ken, I am quite conversant with Sam's taste in music. I recommend you take him to some Opera. Then you can watch his eyes light up in delight as the tenor belts out some Rossini or Puccini.

If karaoke, I am sure he's up for a rousing chorus of Nessun Dorma. It may take a little trouble on your part to organise it but if his reaction is anything like the one I received, the effort will be more than worth it.

Would I lie to you...

Holy Motors.

Now that is one obscure movie. And totally weird. Devoid completely of any plot, it is a series of metaphors that will leave you wondering long after you leave the cinema.

It is a French production by Leos Carax. He has a reputation for making eccentric films. Eccentric doesn't begin to describe this film. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it. I don't pretend to understand it, all these little stories appear not to have anything in common, yet I was very satisfied at the end of the movie.

I don't know what that says about me but I loved it. As for recommending it, no I wouidn't. I think this film is too divisive. On review sites, there is a huge gulf between those who loved it & those who didn't get it. They thought it was shite. But the very things they complained about are the same things I thought were so clever. Clever? Hmmm, that probably is a poor choice of words, they were the things I found the most thought provoking.

I doubt this film is available anywhere in Asia, hell, it is only on here in one Art House cinema. It had some good press when it came out, since then I haven't seen a single reference to it. Definitely one for the cognoscenti.

If anyone has had the pleasure (?) to have watched it, I welcome their comments. BTW, it probably earned itself an X rating in the US, it is definitely for grown-ups.

Last night I sat down with red wine and the Collingwood - West Coast game on cable, and ate this thing in my bedroom in front of the TV. My goodness, what decadence.

Decadence? Is that what you call it? The Eagles lost, I call it bloody disgraceful...

It was a damn good game though, the Pies are a dogged side. We love to beat them, hate to lose.

And boiled chicken sounds so bland. In the hands of a skilled cook, it can be wonderful. I have Soy Chicken Rice every weekend. And it is always good. And there is always a queue of people waiting to order it. What the Asian cooks can do with chicken & their noodle dishes is a wonder.

Ahoy Ken. From one hunkered down body to another... thank you. I also am enjoying your village life.

And I want you to know how much I appreciate the history & cultural lessons you keep supplying us with. Too much information is never enough in my book. And your amusing little tales where your stream of consciousness wanders off down side sois... good stuff, no chance of being bored reading one of your posts.

I am reminded of an incident involving a friend who was shopping somewhere in the US. LA I think. This was many years ago, he's a generation older than I, anyway, he was looking to buy a tie. He was stopped by a big man who told him to leave the section. Being from out of town & not used to such an intervention, he naturally asked why.

"Because Mr Sinatra doesn't like to be bothered while he's shopping". And there standing behind him was Frank. The bodyguard wasn't going to take no for an answer so my friend went to another department while Frank picked out his ties.

Of course we know what happened to Frank when he was in Australia & upset a female journalist. He was on a plane home a day later no doubt fuming over the lack of respect he was shown. The union leader who led the attack on him later became Prime Minister. And a very successful one at that, he won 5 elections from memory.

And Ava? She must have been quite a gal. Not as stunning as Rita Hayworth IMO but more available... if you know what I mean.

And I share your appreciation of Indian food. They have become so popular here in Oz they have overtaken Thai restaurants as the 3rd or 4th most popular cuisine. I go to one place every week for the Goat Masala & Jeera Pulao & whatever else we order. But the goat remains a constant. Most Indian places offer it but at our favourite place, it is sublime. Subtle, aromatic spices with enough chili heat to give it that lovely kick on the tongue.

Sorry for the little diversions of my own, I don't mean to hi-jack your thread. Like Kahuna & others, I look forward to your updates. If I can borrow a line... more please Professor.

I have to say the most and I mean the MOST romantic and awe-inspiring places I have experienced are Lago Como in Northern Italy and Verona. Sen-fucking-sational!!! Nothing compares to it or at least not in my global experience. The weather, the history, the smells, the wine, the food, the view, the quiet at sunset with distant church bells ringing across the lake, and the soothing surrounding heart beats of whispering lovers in love. This area during the right season with the right partner can be the "crack" of places on earth to inhale.

Ahh Verona...

I'm with you Sam, it is one of the nicest places one could ever visit. Big enough not to be a village but not so big like Milan or Rome. With a huge Roman Amphitheatre still standing in the middle of the place, it just reeks of old worlde charm.

The one thing that stays in mind from several stays there is being part of the evening passeggiata. This is the Italian custom where the locals get dressed up to go out for their evening stroll. And there are 1000's of them, all wandering around exchanging greetings, stopping to chat, eating their gelato, it embodies everything that is positive about civilisation.

I just wish it became de riguer in other countries. It is such a bonding exercise for the entire community. Including old people who have lost their partners. I think of them in other places where they don't talk to their neighbours from one week to the next. Here they can see everybody, catch up on the latest gossip, have an hour or two of socialising for no cost & go home in complete safety.

If that's not civilised, I don't know what is.

What I don't understand are the people that chase these dreams with blinders on in the most unlikeliest of places, or those that are clearly trying to shoehorn their square selves into the round hole society and culture have prepared for them, never stopping to consider why they are unhappy and what they could do about it. What's worse are those that dream about doing it, but for whatever reason, can't or won't.

I'm not condemning them, judging them, or ridiculing them; I just think it's a bit tragic, really. But such is the human condition.

Excellent post 4:17, very nicely put.

The above quote struck a chord with me because it is a sentiment I have long observed. I can never understand how seemingly intelligent people can live their lives with such little oversight. Lemming-like, they lock themselves into unhappy lives with a wife they don't like, a job they can't stand, children who may or may not be a blessing & the prospect of death, their only escape.

That of course does not apply to the many who wouldn't have it any other way. The guys who have never stopped loving their wife & have a totally fulfilling work life. Lucky them. But I refer to the many conversations I have had with guys who yearn for more. Who quiz me about every part of my visits to LOS & live vicariously through the heavily censored information I choose to share.

In the past 10 years, several of these men found themselves single. And within two or three years, they all had remarried. I have asked them what happened to their dream of a better life. They think they have found a better life. It isn't my place to suggest they haven't, I know now that what they talk about wanting & what they will settle for are two different things. Either they lack the courage to move out of their comfort zone or they have separated their fantasy world from a self-imposed obligation to conform to society's norms. Or maybe their need to be in love trumps all other considerations?

I don't have any special claim to the truth & I can't say they did the wrong thing. But I can see them one day having that moment of clarity when they come to realise that they can't live their life over again & the choice they made wasn't so clever.* And then it will be too late.

Carpe diem.

* I must add that I wouldn't be criticising them if they had married some super model with 10 million bucks in the bank. These are grandmothers with lots of debt & physical ailments.

Thanks Lung, you can't make this stuff up. And what better qualification can an army captain have than a gold medal? That'll make the enemy sit up & take notice.

I am in favour of shooting noisy house guests though, it would make dinner parties much more enjoyable. Anyone making a racket... BANG... instant peace.

"Now what were you saying before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Imagine if all gold medalists had that authority? Amazing Thailand.

Be intrigued no longer my friend.

God bless ya BB. I wasn't bothered, I was just being "sensitive". Or doing an impersonation of a sensitive soul.

There is no harm in being extra cautious while actually being in Los.

Amen to that.

Cheers pal.

Cheers BB... (Joking.)