Culture ONE Review - Let's start from the beginning. The idea of outdoor festivals in SE Asia is not new. ZoukOut in Singapore shows us every year how it's done very well and the Global Gathering showed us how not to do it. But apart of those two there are no equal events around. So Club Culture picked up the idea last year to have one in Bangkok. And the idea was born.
There were 4 stages: the Culture ONE Main Stage (David Morales, Stanton Warriors, Andrew Chow, Spydamonkee, Soundelement and Duke'o'Phive), the Amnesia Stage (Marco V, Brian Cross, Toni Varga, Galacticsoul, Tay and Oum), the Godskitchen Arena (John OO Fleming, AJ Gibson, Sabaii Sabaii, Bank JJ and Electrobacillus as VJ) and the Dudesweet Arena (The Filthy Dukes, Twilight Actiongirl, Slur, Cyndi Seui, Dome Pakorn Lum and Dudesweet). Between all stages there was enough space not to interfere musically. The spaces were filled with bars, a food court, a massage area and an arts and games area.
The music was all together on a very high standard and there was something for everyone. An in-depth on the different DJ's will follow. Everything was done with much care of the details and well organized but as we all know if the atmosphere is not right, the whole thing is not as much fun as it could be. The atmosphere at Culture ONE was just amazing! People dancing everywhere and enjoying themselves. It was a huge success and we're looking forward to the next ONE!! Wishful thinking would give us an event like this every month but we hope that we don't have to wait a full year to the next one... [via BangkokRecorder]
Sierra Tangos
- Pattaya Rag Quiz sponsored by Club Blu (opens in just 11 days)
I will post questions most days from my Jan 19 post until Jan 30. You should e-mail your answers to me at pattaya.rag@gmail.com . You can e-mail me each time there are questions are you can mail me one time with all answers before midnight (Thai time) Jan 31. The questions will be sequentially numbered so you will know if you've missed any. Include in the mail the name you want to be known by if you win. I don't want to use a mail address to identify the winner. The winner will be announced on Feb 1.
The prize for the most correct answers is a free 'barf' in Club Blu so it will be of most interest to residents and regular visitors to Thailand. Here's the next question:
Q7. The famous Berlin, East to West border point (1961-1989) was known by what name ?
Note: Barf covers the barfine only and not ST/LT fees. Also, it's up to you to get your choice to say "yes".
- Hammer Disco After Dark Asia Dance Competition is tomorrow night - well early hours (1.00am) of Wednesday morning to be exact. Top tottie expected with girls from 12 clubs involved.
- Thai flight attendants are demanding that a television series that allegedly portrays them as sex-obsessed bimbos not be aired, the Bangkok Post reported Monday. The high-flying soap - The Air Hostess War - apparently provoked uproar in the industry after it opened with a three-day run last week. The show features heated flirtations and petty revenge among the attractive cabin crew, complained the Thai Airways International labour union. The show's opening scenes of vicious squabbling between flight attendants over a handsome pilot was humiliating and demeaning, said Somsak Srinual, acting president of the union. [via Earthtimes]
- Another was it just me moment - looking back at the number of Christmas cards I received in Pattaya this year would suggest to me that my family and friends all decided to disown me at the same time or something went wrong with Postman Pat. That said, this is the first Christmas since I started Pattaya Rag so maybe being disowned by my family is not beyond the realm of possibility.
The most likely option to me is Postman Pat misplaced my mail. Now whether that's cause he thought there was money in the envelopes or simply because he couldn't be faffed to deliver the extra load I don't know. All I do know is a good number of cards went missing.
Anybody else suffer with this problem or was it just me?
- Baht at 10-year high, still rising - the Baht appreciated to another 10-year high in Monday trading sessions, as exporters continued dump the US dollar upon concerns that the baht will continue to strengthen. Dealers said the Baht hovered at around 33.03-33.05 to the dollar, the strongest in the decade, due to a continued dumping of the greenback by the exporters, who viewed the US government-initiated measures to cope with the sub-prime lending crisis failed to draw positive response in the market. [via Bangkok Post]
- Former glam-rock star Gary Glitter, currently serving a prison term in Vietnam for child molestation, is being treated for heart problems in a local hospital, Vietnamese officials confirmed Monday. "Glitter was admitted to our hospital with acute diarrhea," said Nguyen Huu Quang, the director of the hospital in Binh Thuan province, near the prison where the 63-year-old British singer is serving out his sentence. "While we were treating him, we found out that he also has a cardiovascular disorder." [via Bangkok Post]
- Spooner's article on Brit deaths in Thailand may have been short on facts but one crime that is on the increase, (according to media reports and my own eyes), is assaults on farangs by gangs of Thais with the Walking Street being a particular 'black spot'. The following from Pattaya People is a case in point:
Whilst wandering along Walking Street two tourists were seriously beaten up on 20th January. Pattaya Police were told of the incident and went to the scene at Soi 15 off Walking Street. There they found Mr. Briid Caopug and Mr, Mati Pilie, both aged 41 from Estonia. They were both lying unconscious on the ground outside of a bar being treated by the Sawang Boriboon team. An eye witness told the police that the two men were involved in a fight with about 5 Thai men who apparently worked at nearby bars.
Ed. My take on this has always been that the dog packs of Thai guys are looking for any opportunity to get back at farangs for our buying/abusing their women. The resentment that builds up probably leaves a short fuse that can be lit by the smallest infraction by a farang. On my last visit to Walking Street I witnessed the very same thing and when it was over, the Thai dog pack slipped away, laughing and joking into the alleys. I also believe the BIB know exactly who the culprits are. They have plain clothes police mixed in with the Walking Street crowd so catching the pack members should be easy. That's if they give a toss, which they don't. Lynch mob justice is clearly alive and well and residing in Pattaya.
Just in: One of the Estonian men died from the attack. See Pattaya City News
- Access Blocked Websites Using Proxy Servers - there may be times when you might want to use an anonymous free proxy server so you can safely surf the net without your information being available to hackers, spammers and scammers…. or anyone else, for that matter!
Web proxies are used for hiding your IP address and by-passing work, school or other web filters. For instance, if Facebook or Myspace is blocked on the computer you are using, you can easily gain access by using a web proxy.
HideMyAss - free and speedy proxy service. Use it to hide your IP address and get through network filters. HideMyAss is part of a Privax proxy network, so if it’s blocked, there are several others you give a try. There is nothing to configure, just type-in the address of the website you want to visit and press ‘Go’.
Proxy.org - extensive directory of free proxy servers. There are well over 15,000 Proxy Servers on the Web. As of this writing, Proxy.org claims to have 4,718 working proxies available for you to choose from, so that might be a pretty good place to start.
GlobalPandora - Finally, free and simple way to access a US-only Pandora interactive web radio from outside US. If you haven’t tried it before, give it a try now.
[via MakeUseOf]
Ed. If you could give me a proxy and the bandwidth to access HBO's Free Downloads then I'd be a very happy bunny indeed.
- I want one - miss your younger Etch A Sketch days? Relive the childhood fun of Etch-A-Sketch® by drawing on your television! Simply plug the controller into your TV and explore 4 activity modes: Cool Drawing Tools, Trace A Pic, Super Sketch and Connecting The Dots. The image you draw with the controller magically appears on the screen and you just shake the controller to make the image magically disappear from the screen! You can pick up this for an extremely early Christmas present for $12.98. [via Coolest Gadgets]
- The Visible Body - not what you think but still awesome
- This is the best voyeurs vid I've ever seen. The girl's doing her usual web cam belly dance routine but then she does something quite amazingly unique. I promise you, you'll tell all your mates about this one
- Maxim Magazine took their lovely ladies to the tourist resort of Pattaya in Thailand. Here is a quick interview with Miss Maxim France Chiara Boisseau and the ever energetic Miss Maxim UK Rachel Cordingley
- If you see a Scouser on a bike, why should you never swerve to hit him? It might be your bike.
- What do you say to a Scouser with a job? Big Mac please.
- How do you make a scouser run faster? Stick a video player under his arm
- I would'nt say my wife was cold but everytime she opens her legs a light comes on!!!
- A three-year-old boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath. "Mom", he asked, "are these my brains?""Not yet, " she replied
