Ok, it’s really not that hard to grok.

So I decided to split this blog into two, I’ll keep personal and photo related stuff here on blog.luke.org and then all language-related stuff will be moved to goldenland.luke.org. The email subscriptions are totally separate, if you want to receive emails when there are new posts to the language blog, you will need to head over there and subscribe now.

(click image to view full-size version)

This little tidbit was front-page above-the-fold news in the Bangkok Post on Monday. I’m not sure what stands out more: that these people have zero understanding of the Buddha’s message, or that the post reports gives black magic than weather reports. If they were reporting on the possibility of rain tomorrow, the headline would read something like “80% chance of rain reported”. However in the instance of some villagers cursing some thieves to die (Is a Buddha image worth more than human life? Would the Buddha have really approved of worshiping these statues as idols? Would the Buddha have said guffawed if someone claimed that a statue can have magical powers?), the headline reports on it as if the outcome were guaranteed 100%.

The week before my opening, I did an interview on a Thai TV program called artscenetv.net about my show … here are the youtube clips.

“I think art works best in people’s memories. For me, it’s not just the act of going to see it on the wall. I’m not saying it’s bad to do that, although very often it can be disappointing, you know? But in the memory, with all the things you’ve heard about it, all the stories, art becomes this great, rich, flexible, thing.”

- Urs Fischer

Stuff is coming together nicely for the show, the art has been proofed and is being printed, I did a TV interview which should be out soon (I’ll post the link when I get it), and I had two press mentions today. This first link is a scan from the Bangkok Post listing the upcoming gallery shows next week. Their bit about me is rather over-the-top (which of course I like).

спални

The second mention is on the website of Thai Rath, Thailand’s biggest Thai-language paper. You can either see it here

http://www.thairath.co.th/content/life/44473

or check out the jpg archive if it’s gone already (depends on how soon you read this).

(click either image for the full-sized version)

Been busy lately with a bunch of new projects, I’ll announce them here as they start to come together … the first one will be my showing of the 2922 series in Bangkok, done with Eat Me restaurant and H Gallery. The show opens on Nov 10th, and will run until Dec 22. Come to the opening party, and bring all your friends. I’ll post details about the prints as I finalize them, it’s looking like they will be large Giclée prints mounted on Aluminium board. Should look really nice.

Last night I was a guest on Bangkok Radio For Men, a weekly Thai radio program for gay audiences. Originally I was invited to talk about the differences between gay society in Bangkok and San Francisco, but once this news came out they wanted to expert opinion on whether Yoga could make people straight. We covered a few other things, then opened the phones for calls …. most of the calls were from kids complaining about problems in love, and two calls from people whose boyfriends were forced to marry women by their parents. Anyway, my part starts around 24:30 of the first clip and carries through to the second clip.

• http://www.luke.org/BRFM/Aug-3-09_1-2.mp3
• http://www.luke.org/BRFM/Aug-3-09_3-4.mp3

Of course, listening to my voice on the tapes I hear all sorts of problems with my Thai, vowels said the wrong length, a tendency to say แบบ excessively, much in that annoying way that Americans say “like” constantly.

So when I read about a bus being set on fire up the street from me, I had to go check it out (from the safety of my roof at a zoom lens). I took these while listening to gun fire and the Muslim call to prayer that was happening at the same time. I think it’s rather ironic (and probably very politically incorrect of me to say this) that we have fighting caused by a Budhists happening at the same time that Muslims were going to pray. (I guess it’s also ironic that the government is able to kill Muslims in the south, but can’t keep our airport open. )

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/30100432/Protesters-set-fire-to-buses-tires-at-Si-Ayutthaya

Anyway, I’m fine …. staying around my apartment. My only real danger is dying of malnutrition, as I don’t have much more than potato chips in the house. Hopefully the pizza guy can make it through later.

So I am at my mom’s in Niskayuna, NY now and am finally getting caught up on old emails and some outstanding blog postings. I have lots of stuff from Vietnam to sort through and will get it online soon.

About a week ago, I found out that my photography from Ramkamheang University received Honorable Mention in the Hey, Hot Shot contest run by Jen Bekman gallery in NYC. (http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/2008/12/09/hey-hot-shot-volume-iv-edition-ii). There are five winners and 18 of us who made the short-list …. I’m actually really happy about it all. I have sent in work to other contests before, and this is the first that I have had any favorable results. Nice to know that people besides myself and my parents appreciate the work.

I intend to continue the series into 2009, focusing on photographing school classrooms all over South-East Asia … more to follow on that soon.

Part of me thinks it is just plain stupidity, that most people are just dumb and don’t know any better. I mean, most people don’t read much more than USAToday and some gossip magazines, so I guess I can’t expect them to make much of an educated decision about things …

… then again, people could be racist and not fully realize it.

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