Old Blog Entries (archives)
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Tasty Media Links for 9/1
Ursula K. Le Guin reviews Margaret Atwood’s semi-sequel to Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood. Oryx and Crake was just some of the freshest writing I’d seen for quite some time and some scenes were kind of reminiscent of the Earthsea novels now that I think about it. But was it Science Fiction? Aside from Atwood’s protestations, I sure think it was – and it was SF of the best kind: The kind enjoyable by people who don’t read SF. ////////////////////////////// Roxanne Shante, the first really popular female rapper, gets a doctorate and gets Warner Music to pay for it. It’s not hard to see what they were…
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Further thoughts on web usage
Facebook has become my outlet for posting the kind of silly stuff I sometimes felt self-conscious about posting here. It’s reeealy easy for me to post on FB in full-on brainfart mode. Cruuuuise control. Is it just me, or is Facebook comprised of 30% lurkers, 20% game/quiz addicts, 5% people you regret friending at some point, 5% aspiring bloggers
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Another music site for Max
Tone Matrix chill chill chill UPDATE 4/15/09: Also, BallDroppings is the dope unko.
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Flash Files for Max
I’m hosting copies here: Drum Console (from Wham Rap ’86) Daft Punk Soundboard (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger) And finally, the BEST flash videos ever, The Offspring’s DORAEMON and Yellow Ledbetter Deconstructed
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I AM THE WALKING DOOD AGAIN TODAY
Just thought I’d amend my statement from the other day: NOBODY WALKS IN THAILAND –> THAIS GENERALLY AVOID WALKING AT ALL COST Because, obviously, I am in Thailand, and I am walking. Also, the only other guy I saw walking on my way home today was an illegal Shan. I usually walk home from my university’s (Rajabhat Mahasarakham University) campus through another university’s (Maha Sarakham University) secondary campus, and then down a four lane highway to the entrance of our community. People offer me rides all the time, even if they don’t know me. They stop to ask what’s wrong. As in, did my car break down or something? And…
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Obamazushi
Serious rolling skills. Nam should hold a makizushi contest for her students in this vein.
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New Snakeskin Head Drum
On the way to my uni’s sports day a couple weeks ago, we stopped off at a famous temple (from the ancient “kao noi ka mae” story) where they sold various trinkets, sticky rice baskets, and musical instruments at a series of stalls on the dusty temple grounds. After testing out this drum and hearing how nice it sounded, my coworker and I debated about who should buy it. He said he had too many drums already, so I bought it. The man who sold it to me didn’t say who made the drum, who killed the snake, or if it tasted delicious, and I didn’t ask. Just having a…
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I Saw the Queen of Morlum (and Molam and Mawlum and Morlam)
Her name is Banyen Rakgan, and here I must quote Wikipedia: “Banyen was the first national mor lam star, whose appearances on television in the 1980s brought the form to an audience beyond its northeastern heartland. She bridges the gap between traditional and modern mor lam, normally appearing in traditional clothing, but using electrified instruments and singing luk thung and dance influenced songs.” The basic story of how I found myself ten feet away from Banyen performing live is simple: It was serendipitous. //////////////////// I work at Rajabhat Mahasarakham University. There are many Rajabhat universities located all over Thailand. A few days ago I went to the Rajabhat in Ubon…
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Props Mr. President
Too good not to share on this historic day:
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Big C Mahasarakham
In November 2008, Thai superstore Big C opened a branch store in Maha Sarakham, just a few minutes down the street from us. Life hasn’t been the same since, mostly in good ways since we pay less for more and no longer have to venture downtown to the small Tesco with shitty parking inside the SermThai department store. Also, there were certain things – such as sporting goods and bicycles – that were only sold at ridiculous markups at small stores until now, so watching said shops close up forever is satisfying on some very small, very human level. On the flip side, traffic on the main street in front…
