Well... not yet, or else we'd be really fed up with it. If you're OD'ing on cement, take a look at this, a technique dating back from Renaissance Italy (and inspired by even older techniques) that offers the kind of painterly abstraction that we like in bare cement but with an added smoothness, depth and richness. Made from natural ingredients and applied by hand, the result is both timeless and elegant without being too rough or flat (like a plain, painted wall).

Currently, the only people we know who can do it here in Bangkok are Jean-Jacques and Carole Ferron from Modern Stone Age. 08-9048-8451 or caroleferron@mac.com.

Cupcake beanie, bacon band-aids or Juno hamburger phone? They're all at www.fredflare.com.

Press relase from Niu's below. I haven't been there yet (don't even know how to pronounce it: is it Nee-oohs or Noo-ees?), but now have another reason to visit with Marco Camarata, supposedly, now in the kitchen. He's an awesome chef, one of the best in town -- how he stays that thin, though, is beyond me. We should all be thankful that he just moved to another district (near our office!) and not another city.

We all know that Bel Guardo never did the business its founders had hoped. Bangkokians never accepted the location -- in Singapore, maybe, but here we're not comfortable spending that kind of cash in a shopping mall unless we're shopping. I haven't had the chance to speak to Marco, so you'll have to wait for gossip on his parting.

So Chef Ian is back from New York and Marco has moved out of his dream restaurant... who's next?

For the average BK reader (20-30-something Thais), our parents' fondness for Pattaya is baffling. Don't they see the scum, the slime? Don't they feel the dirt, the danger? To us, "the beach" means Hua Hin, Phuket, Ko Chang and Ko Samui (though less and less so), not "Sodom by the sea." Sure, we get it (we're not prudes), but we don't feel comfortable there — and we're not just talking about the pollution levels in the sea. 

We can't attribute the generation gap to the fact that they haven't actually been there lately. Because few of us have either. The difference is that people like my father remember Pattaya as it was as recently as 20 years ago, when you could swim in Pattaya Bay, seafood dinners were cheap (none of this lobster thermidor nonsense) and "Walking Street" was a road, not a tourist attraction, that ended at the splendid Siam Bayshore hotel and a fisherman's village.

Even further back, our family had a house here (between sois 3 and 5!), and my uncles and aunts spent weekends and school holidays swimming and skiing. So it's understandable why "Pattaya" still conjures up Thailand during the carefree days of their youth, not the seedy stereotype of today. They honestly think, without a trace of irony, "good, clean fun."

Old enough to (barely) recall the quiet stretches of sand and clear blue water (There probably were beer bars in those days, but I don't remember seeing any), I'm also young enough that I wouldn't use adjectives like "good" or "clean" to describe Pattaya. Well, maybe not until now. 

It's a familiar story in the media, and it's nowhere near the family-friendly destination as suggested in some reports, but Pattaya IS changing — dramatically — for the better. This is especially apparent in the north, and it certainly helps if you're 19 floors up looking out the huge bay windows of your sweet suite on the executive floor of the Amari Orchid Resort & Tower.

With the Dusit jutting out into the water on one side and what will eventually be a Holiday Inn shooting up into the sky on the other, the Amari occupies an enviable park-sized plot. At its center is an immaculately groomed garden dotted with palm trees, with two swimming pools and cozy cabanas for two scattered about, including several on a hill that slopes down toward the beach, Henry J. Beans and the Amari group's showcase restaurant and bar, Mantra.

TBC....

The organizers of this year's EU Film Festival have picked a cracker of a headliner this year in the Ian Curtis biopic, Control. Shot in color then converted to black-and-white, the film was directed by Anton Corbijn, best-known for his gritty, spot-colored celebrity photographs, album art and music videos -- in particular for Depeche Mode but also U2, Nirvana, etc. It's the Dutch lensman's first full-length film, a smart and, arguably, safe effort ("safe" because, even if the bits between the music were crap, which they're not, we'd still watch it til the undeniable end). 

Of course, Depeche Mode and New Order (Joy Division after Curtis' death) may not be the most attractive points of reference for the hipster generation, who "know" that music didn't really exist before the Killers or Muse or the Arctic Monkeys or Daft Punk -- and who has the patience to endure 90 minutes of retro B/W? But if you're into music for more than the superficial reasons (everyone else thinks this band is great, the lead singer is hot, etc.), kids, trust me: watch this. At the very least you'll be better prepared for your next quiz night.

Actor Sam Riley does a mean Ian Curtis, from the spot-on look and onstage twitching to the pained vocals on the soundtrack. But perhaps even more extraordinary is that the band you hear performing Joy Division songs "live" is in fact the actors playing Joy Division. Originally the plan was for the actors to fake it, with the original recordings dubbed in, but after a couple of weeks of practice they sounded as good as they looked. Or that's the story, anyway.

Here are the details from the British Council:

European Union Film Festival 2008

27 Nov–7 Dec (Bangkok), 11–21 Dec (Chiang Mai) SF World Cinema, CentralWorld, Bangkok The Vista Kadsuankaew, Chiang Mai Control (In English with Thai subtitles) Bangkok: 6 Dec at 18.30hrs Chiang Mai: 20 Dec at 18.45hrs Tickets: 02 268 8888 (BKK), 053 894 415 (CM) As part of the EUFF 08, the British Council presents Control, the biography of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, from schoolboy days to his suicide at the age of 23. Married young, the fears and emotions that fuel his music slowly begin to eat away at him. With epilepsy adding to his guilt and depression, desperation takes hold. The film won British Film of the Year from London Critics Circle Film Awards 2008 and Best British Independent Film from British Independent Film Awards 2007.

Let’s get this out the way I have fully embraced Apple’s never-ending drive to make all our lives simpler. I love my iPod and if I could afford them I would definitely splash the cash on an iPhone and a shiny Mac book. But my problem is with their latest gimmick on iTunes, the Genius application. Designed to create a playlists for you, all you have to do (once you’ve downloaded the software) is click on a favorite song and it will then it does the rest, pulling our twenty five tracks from your collection that it says match. It will also go further and recommend songs to you available on  the iTunes Store (even though it's notoriously limited when it comes to anything that's a little off mainstream which also limits your choices). All well and good you might think except it demonstrates absolutely no creativity at all and simply picks a load of songs from the same musical genre. Now I might be lazy but I am not that lazy that I can do that search myself. What’s more I distinctly don’t want to listen to 25 songs in a row that are all country, blues, or alternative. The joy of music (and my iPod) for me is the ability to go from classical to hip hop and from rock to soul in the space of a single song. Indeed I am old enough to remember the days when I would spend hours putting together compilation tapes (yes tapes, I am that old) of eclectic tracks that I could then play to my friends and wow them with my ability to (sometimes) effortless blend musical styles. They would do the same and so we would get to learn about different musical styles and artists we would otherwise never have heard of. It’s what still makes the great DJs great, picking the best in music regardless of who, where and when it came from. Definitely something that’s even more important today when so many just seem happy to plug in their pre-programmed iPod and stand back while it churns out hip hop only playlist. So, the point of this rant is thanks iTunes but no thanks we don’t need you telling us what we should listen to let us all explore for ourselves and keep the spirit of the home DJ alive.

"Dear BK, Bangkok is mapped as one of the gay-friendly cities and it tends to be like people describe. So, instead of saying old words like "Muang Thai, Muang Pudh" (Thailand is a Buddhist land), some may slightly change it to "Muang Thai, Muang Tood" (Thailand is the land of gay). By the way, in your latest issue about gays, you seems a bit (over) excited about how risky Thai gays are to infection with AIDS. It's good to talk about HIV and how to protect against it. But it is such a cliché for me to focus on AIDS along with gay folks as the main feature in the gay issue. I think gay people right now are no longer seen as close friends with this disease. They know how to handle and protect themselves. To be honest, I know you have the purest mind to warn Thai gay folks but concentrating on gay people, matched with HIV is like waking and stirring up the seemed-to-be-dead bias against gay people in this country in which gay is tolerated but not fully acceptable. As you know, AIDS is not only associated with gays but also straight or whatever genders you wear. I am not saying that AIDS can not be mentioned in the gay issue but featuring other aspect of Thai gay like the explosion of Thai gays’ identity, culture or the newly established Thai Queer Archive may spice up you gay issue and make it more interesting being a lifestyle magazine, not the abridged and simplified version of NGO reports. By the way, other stories about gays like interview and nightlife guide can give me a refreshing pause after reading your main feature."

Response:

Welcome to the land of "tood." In a country where gays aren't accepted, many gay men are still using derogatory words such as "tood" which is close to "dood" meaning ass, and the word gay supposedly encompassing the whole LGBT population, is unacceptable. Writing a cover story for the gay issue talking about a pertinent issue, and the reaction being that of anger, and why-dont-you-do-more-stories-about-gay-lifestyle when it has been done too many times, is ignorance. "Gay" is not a lifestyle, it is who you are. And the fact that we are still saying "tood" and "katoey" to encompass a diverse population is appaling. Yes, writing a story about HIV/AIDS linked to gay men will inflame biases, but the bigger crime is not talking about issues which matter, no matter how controversial or inaccurate the statistic is. Sadly we only have a few statistics and studies to go by, and we need more studies and accurate research to get the whole picture.  The fact is Thailand was heralded as the country that battled the HIV/AIDS epidemic with flying colors, but because of our honor, we now bring shame. Thailand is no longer getting enough funding for HIV/AIDS and the consequence is that the number is starting to creep up again, not only in the gay community, but also in the straight community. And the fact that we shouldn't talk about it because we would inflame bigotry, is a crime in itself. Lives are being lost because no one is talking about it. BK Magazine is one of the few publications willing to put ourselves out there to talk about a controversial issue. Spoken about with controversy and an open mind is journalism. We realized that such a story about HIV/AIDS among MSMS is dangerous but we would rather talk about it and save a couple of lives. Yes,  we welcome your mail, your arguments and disagreements, yes, we welcome the controversy,  because with discourse, the issue becomes alive and we get to talk about it and through it all, we will hopefully get some action. We have problems. No one talks about the gay community unless its about "lifestyle." It is "queer eye for the straight guy here", where the gay population only benefits the straight population by being non-threatening and non-sexual. But how about the straight population aiding in the voice of the "katoey" community, how about us all talking about the fact that HIV/AIDS is still rampant here within the gay community, how about us all uniting to save our brothers. Enough with  bigotry, ignorance, delusion, and the word "tood" wake up and smell the fact that our country is suffering because there is no dialogue.

Ken Hom is known to most of the BBC-watching population. This celebrity chef has lived, worked and traveled throughout Asia, America and Europe (his currently residence? Good ole Paris) spreading his expertise. People are following his recipes, watching his shows, reading his cookbooks and of course, using his utensils!

His newest project is close to home and according to him, is the perfect example of what most of today's Thai population is all about—modernity, diversity and the merging of cultures. And although he (like many others) isn't particularly fond of the word, the cuisine is basically a "fusion" of the East and West, starting with the name itself: Maison Chin a.k.a. The Home of Chin.

Maison Chin is the Bandara Suites latest F&B Project and is marketed as "modern Asian cuisine." So at the launch, we were treated to a delicate selection of bite-size tapas (like the salmon! yum!) during the cocktail hour, followed by a full five-course dinner with wine.

We loved the Australian wagyu beef carpaccio smeared with tamarind chutney and sesame dressing and the pan fried South American snow fish in rice paper parcels with coriander and sweet sun dried tomato relish (he called this one, "The dish that best represents BK"). For dessert, they whipped up a light coconut panacotta (well at least it seemed light when we were eating it) which was served with fresh berries and tropical fruits.

And although five courses might sound like too much, it didn't leave us feeling gross. That can be credited to the fact that most of the dishes were made using good ingredients and preparation techniques that didn't produce heart attacks on plates. Let's just say, if Ken Hom has been eating this kind of stuff and looks the way he does at 60+ then we (following his palette closely) might not have to resort to liposuction after all.

This time around I was honored again with a VIP ticket to go see my fave designer, Tipayaphong at Elle Fashion Week.

Tipa is all about fabrics. He would pick the ones with the most unique prints and textures, making his dresses look like they are alive.

But this time, that can only be said for the women's collection. Tipa ditched his expertise in men's stylish suits and went all out with...underwears.

Briefs, shorts, bikinis, most of the time, the male were  half naked, letting it all lose on the runway. When the show started off with a female model being chained to a chair who later tied up a male model and gently dragged him around on a leash, I knew the show would be different from the last collection's speakeasy vibe.

The show wasn't a let down. I found myself two dresses that I aim to save up for. But comparing it to the last show, it lacked that extra touch. Tipa kept things smooth and slow, with beach-sounding backing track that supported the model's extra slo-mo strut. I was a little disappointed as I was expecting to see a whole glamour show again, but I mean, how could you trump a tango show, a cabaret, and a catfight that the last show brought?

I was there at Com World 2008 last weekend, should say it was quite a disappointment. In the royal hall, it looks just like market or zones we can find in IT shopping malls. Not many big brands as I thought.

When I entered the hall, I feel like I was in Pantip Plaza. Shops were selling labtop bags, gadgets, Chinese mobile phones, computer cases and computer parts. When I walked to the HTC booth, such a big surprise. From what I saw in the newspaper and website, I thought the company would come. But there were only four or five small booth, which after I asked are retail mobile shops. I asked if they have example HTC phones for me to try, they said I have to buy it first. I asked what premiums do I get if I bought one, they said...... a charger. Wow...how good to get a charger as a premium. This mean if I buy it normally, I won't get the phone charger.

One good thing about the event is that you really were browsing new models of labtops, gadgets and computer parts and not thinking about buying them yet. Well, that's suppose to be the reason why they have Com World.