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Bookazine Book Review: Letters from Thailand
by Lang Reid
This book was originally published in the Thai language
over 30 years ago and won the SEATO prize for Thai literature for its
author, “Botan” (Supa Sirisingh) then a 21-year-old girl. Twenty years
ago it was translated into English by Susan Folop Kepner and has been
revised by her in 2001 and re-released this year by Silkworm Books (ISBN
974-7551-67-5).
 The
book, while fiction, is based on a real-life family - that of the author
herself. The protagonist, Tan Suang U is an amalgam of her father and
uncle, while the daughter, Meng Chu, is really herself.
The “letters” are written over a 22 year period and
come from Tan Suang U to be sent to his mother in China. Unfortunately,
the letters were intercepted by the postman, and since they contained
money being sent home, none were delivered. An all too familiar experience
in the Third World.
By the time you have got to read letter number 3,
written from Bangkok, you find that the description is truly that of
Thailand seen through alien eyes. As aliens ourselves as farangs, it comes
as a surprise that the ethnic Chinese were also thought of as aliens, and
they looked upon the Thais as a people apart as well.
The initial letters are written using 1945 as the time
line, and it is interesting to see the Chinese mentality at that time
considering that education for the daughters was a waste of time. The
women were also given the leftovers from the men’s table, it being
considered that since the men did all the “real” work, the women could
wait.
I had to laugh at the letter which began, “Please
forgive me if I say that women are impossible to understand.” A cry
which binds all men together, Chinese or any other race that I have ever
met. Sorry ladies. This was in letter number 8, and by this time you have
already become part of this Chinese family, the book draws you in so well.
The conundrum that Tan Suang U meets as his son grows
up in a “foreign” land is very poignantly explored. The father knowing
instinctively, but without true reason, why he wants his child to be
Chinese. He writes, “I don’t want any make believe Thais in this
family.” Following this up with, “I want him to be able to move freely
in both worlds, Thai and Chinese, but as a Chinese.” Further on the
letters to mother reveal the indecisions that occurred in the family as
they grappled with the problems of being, and maintaining, a Chinese
entity in Thailand - even such basic rites as funerals which are
celebrated so differently.
The review copy was made available by Bookazine, 1st
floor Royal Garden Plaza, next to Black Canyon and Boots. It retails for
495 baht, but at more than 400 pages of small typeface (for those over 40
years of age it is too small) it does not represent bad value. From the
point of view of understanding ethnicity, both Thai and Chinese, it is
brilliant. Get it, you will not regret it!
Movie Review: Bad Company
By Poppy
Anthony Hopkins (Gaylord Oaks) plays a CIA agent
heading a sting operation; he’s trying to purchase a nuclear bomb
that’s up for sale from Russian black-market arms dealer (Peter Stormare).
The plot revolves around the suitcase-sized, high-tech bomb and the
efforts of the CIA to keep it out of the hands of anti-U.S. suicide
bombers.
 Chris
Rock (Kevin Pope) is an agent killed in the film’s opening sequence
saving the life of CIA agent, British-accented Gaylord Oaks (Anthony
Hopkins). Pope has a twin brother Jake Hayes (Chris Rock) who’s poor and
living in New Jersey. Predictably, he turns out to be a fast-talking,
chess-hustling, ticket-scalping, part-time DJ from Jersey City, decked out
in phony jewelry who is the mirror-opposite of his refined,
self-sacrificing, Harvard-educated sibling. He grew up in foster homes so
he’s street-wise even if he can’t speak French. His girlfriend wants a
better life and more money so she breaks up with him. He tells her,
“Poor people get married too.”
The agency kidnap him, offer him money, and give him a
crash course in spying. He’s then forced to play an unwilling part in
the dangerous operation.
Chris Rock obviously got no help from director Joel
Schumacher. He can’t seem to figure out whether he’s scared, mad, or
sophisticated. He can play Hayes OK, but when he plays Pope he just stands
very still and talks slower.
You get a romantic turn when Pope’s girlfriend
mistakes Hayes for her boyfriend and practically falls into his lap, but
this just makes him realize how much he loves his own girlfriend.
You have to ask yourself should a man Anthony
Hopkins’s age battle a raging terrorist in a speeding car? I think he
would have been better served not accepting this role.
If you have two hours to kill then this is the movie
for you!
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast:
Chris Rock ... Kevin Pope, Jake Hayes
Anthony Hopkins ... Gaylord Oakes
Gabriel Macht
Garcelle Beauvais ... Nicole
Adoni Maropis ... Jarma
Mott’s CD review:
Greg Lake In Concert - King Biscuit Flower Hour
by Mott the Dog
**** 4 Stars Rating
Recorded on Guy Fawkes Day November 5th 1981, this
concert was certainly full of fireworks. Recorded during the world tour at
the Hammersmith Odeon, England, for his first solo album (simply titled
“Greg Lake”). The show presented Lake on a London stage for the first
time since the demise of his previous band “Emerson, Lake and Palmer”.
With its massive American radio audience, the King
Biscuit Flower Hour gave Lake’s fans in the states a chance to hear him
with this powerful guitar driven band, before they started their American
leg of the tour. Now, gladly, it’s out on CD, a concert to be cherished.
 It was imperative for Lake to have a solo band as good
as the one he was able to assemble for the tour this album comes from.
After all he was rising from the ashes of E.L.P., one of the most
successful bands in the history of music. At the time of their break-up,
E.L.P. had gone out with a whimper. With this band behind him, Greg Lake
re-emerged with a blinding bang.
Lake was able to assemble a crackerjack line-up that
included guitar virtuoso Gary Moore (fresh out of one of his many stints
with hard rock legends Thin Lizzy and at the onset of his own solo
career), sensational Alex Harvey Band and Rory Gallagher drummer Ted
McKenna, very talented and very mercenary keyboardist Tommy Eyre (he
jumped bands so often that he had played the Reading festival eight
different times with eight different bands), and the marvellously
monickered Tristram Margetts on bass. All five had worked on Lake’s solo
album along with members of Toto, ex King Crimson drummer Mike Giles, and
Bruce Springsteen sidekick Clarence Clemmons on sax.
First as a founding member, lead vocalist, writer and
bassist for King Crimson, and then as a superstar for a decade in E.L.P.,
Greg Lake was among the pioneers of the Progressive Rock Movement. From
the bombastic crunch of “21st Century Man” to the acoustic simplicity
of “Lucky Man” at the time he launched his solo career, the voice of
Greg Lake had been a staple on both top 40 and album-orientated radio.
Though the tour was used primarily as a way of
promoting his solo album, Lake was not afraid to utilize the best elements
from his past or his fellow band members. He was able to re-invent a few
of the E.L.P. and King Crimson classics. He even did a re-make of the old
Miracles hit “You Really Got A Hold On Me”.
From their opening medley of “Fanfare” and “Karn
Evil 9” through to the ethereal impact of “In The Court Of The Crimson
King”, this Biscuit performance exhibits the scope and depth of Greg
Lake’s contribution to contemporary music.
As in any real live album (no chance of overdubs here)
there are a couple of minor flaws - the odd burst of feedback, a couple of
notes that go off the mark, but then again that’s what Rock ‘n’ Roll
is all about.
Of the four tracks from the solo album, the stand out
track is “Love You Too Much”. It was co-written with none other then
Bob Dylan and an all-out belter it is, too. A fine concert on a fine night
by a fine band.
Musicians
Greg Lake - Vocals, Guitars
Gary Moore - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Tommy Eyre - Keyboards, Vocals
Ted McKenna - Drums
Tristram Margetts - Bass
Track Listing
1. Medley:
a) Fanfare For The Common Man
b) Karn Evil 9
2. Nuclear Attack
3. The Lie
4. Retribution Drive
5. Lucky Man
6. Parisienne Walkways
7. You Really Got A Hold On Me
8. Love You Too Much
9. 21st Century Schizoid Man
10. In The Court Of The Crimson King
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