HA HA HA

Yesterday, I declared phone independence from Fee, buying a sleek little Nokia cell phone. As a fun little bonus, each phone merchant has an array of telephone numbers, so you can choose the path of your new telephonic life.

I knew the stars must have been aligned when I spotted a series of 555-XXXX numbers and couldn’t resist my chance to grab a piece of Hollywood.

In addition to being the designated prefix of the Silver Screen, 555 happens brings a smile to Thais. The number ‘five’ in Thai is ‘haa’ (with a falling tone, but that’s beside the point); therefore, ‘555’ is a nice little chuckle. Seems that ‘555’ is the ‘LOL’ of Thailand.

So, now the open question – what phone numbers do they call in Thai movies?

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (or) THE REAL REASON WE'RE HERE

Fee ducked down to Bangkok at the beginning of this past week, managing to steer clear of the protests and bus/train slowdowns, for a 2-day Palliative Care conference at Chulalongkorn Hospital. A good kick-off to her research year, and a chance to reintroduce herself to a few of the organizers. She even made new friends at the lunch counter. (Thais are good at cutting the 'cafeteria dining = middle school insecurity' connection.)

On the ongoing events in Bangkok, we’ll sidestep direct political talk on this blog, but for those interested in the fascinating world of Thai politics – a world in which the PAD ( People’s Alliance for Democracy) is calling for appointed rather than elected seats of parliament) – we suggest a look at the Sovereign Myth and New Mandala Blogs.

While we’re on the links, here is a terrific food blog – mostly about Bangkok street food, but posts from the rest of Thailand as well.

THE COLOR OF PALO ALTO

Last Thursday we went to hear a talk by the American artist Samuel Yates. The event was put on by the land foundation, the group that I’ll be working with this year, and took place at the artist Kamin’s studio. Ajarn Kamin (or ‘Teacher Kamin’, he sometimes teaches at CMU), along with Rirkrit Tiravanija, started the foundation. Kamin’s studio is a nice big barn space, strewn with small sculptures and large paintings and other works-in-progress (he is quite prolific).

Samuel Yates most recently finished the ‘Color of Palo Alto’, which comes at the end of line of work dealing with beauracracy. Whether dismantling an MG and filing the car parts in a tower of file cabinets, painting with human remains, or transplanting the soil from a purchased cemetery plot, often his artwork is accompanied by a hefty amount of legal documents.

At one point, it began to rain quite heavily outside, and Kamin placed a few buckets under some leaky spots in the roof, high above. As a precautionary measure, an umbrella was opened, then placed above Mr. Yates laptop, and the presentation continued with the absurd casualness that made me think of Jacques Tati.