I didn’t write anything here for a while (3 months, to be exact). I was on a mission doing something I mentioned earlier on this blog. Yes, I got back to do theatre again. Yippie!

The play we did was called ‘The Other Land’, inspired by the late Kanokpong Songsomphan’s 1996 S.E.A. Write winning collection of short stories of the same title.

We (I mean B-Floor theatre group) have never done this kind of play before. Normally, we created something based on our own creation. So it was quite terrified at the beginning ’cause we really had no idea how it would be.

The process of work was almost the same. Workshop, Improvisation, Group Work, Solo Work etc. There were 9 actors in the cast which came from different theatre training & background. We basically were devoted to this piece. For me personally, I finished my work at 7 PM, took the skytrain to the rehearsal space, warmed up, rehearsed, finished rehearsing at, at least 11 PM and some day it was up to 1 or almost 2 AM then I headed home….dead in my bed.

So…that’s why I didn’t write anything.

But the result was totally overwhelming. I couldn’t be more proud of being a part of this piece.

ไม่ได้เข้ามาอัพเดทบล็อกเสียนาน เนื่องจากติดภาระกิจสำคัญที่เคยเขียนไว้ก่อนหน้านี้

….ในที่สุด เราก็ได้กลับไปเล่นละครอีกครั้งเสียที

เรื่องล่าสุดที่เล่นไปก็คือ “แ่ผ่นดินอื่น” ซึ่งได้รับแรงบันดาลใจมาจากหนังสือรวมเรื่องสั้นของ กนกพงศ์ สงสมพันธุ์ที่ได้รับรางวัลซีไรท์ไปเมื่อปี 2539 เป็นหนังสืออีกเรื่องหนึ่งที่ทุกคนควรจะได้อ่าน และปัญหาก็อยู่ตรงนี้เอง เพราะพวกเรา (หมายถึงกลุ่มบีฟลอร์) ไม่เคยทำละครเวทีที่นำหนังสือมาดัดแปลงแบบจริงๆจังๆเลย ซึ่งมันก็ค่อนข้างยาก ทำให้สุดท้ายพวกเราก็ตัดสินใจว่า เราจะนำเฉพาะบางเรื่องในหนังสือมาชูเป็นจุดเด่น นำมาสร้างเป็นแรงบันดาลใจ ให้ได้กลิ่นอายที่ใกล้เคียงกับหนังสือมากที่สุด ยอมรับเลยว่า ในตอนต้นๆของการสร้างงานนั้น ค่อนข้างจะหนักใจมากอยู่เหมือนกัน

ละครเรื่องนี้มีนักแสดงทั้งหมด 9 คน ทั้งเก่าและใหม่ผสมกันไปแถมยังมาจากกลุ่มละครต่างๆที่ได้รับการฝึกมาในรูปแบบที่ต่างกันออกไป ทำให้ต้องมีการปรับและสร้างความกลมกลืนในกลุ่มกันใหม่ ส่วนตัวเราแล้วก็ทุ่มให้กับละครเรื่องนี้อย่างเต็มที่ เลิกงาน หนึ่งทุ่ม ขึ้นรถไฟฟ้า ไปถึงที่ซ้อม วอร์มอัพร่า่งกาย ซ้อม ซ้อม ซ้อม ซ้อมเสร็จประมาณห้าทุ่มหรือบางคืนก็ล่วงไปถึงตีหนึ่งหรือตีสอง…ถึงห้องก็หลับเป็นตาย

แต่สรุปแล้ว ผลลัพธ์ที่ออกมาก็ดีมาก ได้รับคำชมจนรู้สึกตื้นตันไปตามๆกัน และเราก็ภูมิใจมากที่ได้เป็นส่วนหนึ่งในละครเรื่องนี้

Here’s the review from Bangkok Post:

B-Floor Theatre’s new stage work reflects pours lights into the fissures in Thai society.

Inspired by the late Kanokpong Songsomphan’s 1996 S.E.A. Write winning collection of short stories of the same title, B-Floor Theatre’s engaging work “The Other Land” (or in Thai “Phaendin Uen”) cannot be timelier. Though they are more than 12 years old now, these tales of social conflict in the three troubled southernmost provinces are still a perfect mirror for today.

For example, in the first scene titled “The Cat of Buteh Krue Sor”, a Muslim woman was mistakenly shot by a policeman who never seemed to be able to adapt himself to a new culture. Her body wrapped in a national flag, she was hailed a hero.

In a lighter scene titled “Waste of Land”, the audience was taken to behind the scene of the shooting of an anti-Communism propaganda film—a reminder to us perhaps that we should never read one newspaper or one TV channel in this day and age.

The evening’s highlight, or climax perhaps, is the last scene “The New City”, in which the citizens seemed to be enjoying the “Utopia”—otherwise known as democracy—at first, and, shortly after, started suffering from more and more requests, rules, regulations, and injustice brought forward by politicians and/or businessmen.

The usually mundane auditorium has been transformed into a theatre in the round and the audiences surround the actions on all four sides. Well complimented by nifty sound design, the actions are right in our face, intimate, and captivating, and, some actions take place behind one section of the audience seats. With limited yet effective use of costume and props, the nine performers in black t-shirts and pants are a unified ensemble with high energy, although some younger members’ movements show lack of physical theatre experience.

My dance reviewer counterpart wished that B-Floor’s veteran members Teerawat Mulvilai and Jarunun Phantachat should also be performing, apart from working, very efficiently here, as, respectively, director and producer.

The 75-minute performance has English translation of all narrations and dialogues, professionally translated, projected on one side of the wall, and foreign audiences will, given also its highly physical nature, enjoy it as much as Thai counterparts.

“The Other Land” is part of the Pridi Banomyong Institute’s “Multi-disciplinary Arts Festival”, comprising visual arts exhibition, theatre, music, and film screening, as part of the Arts and Society 2008 series, in the 35^th anniversary of 14 October 1973. Other plays scheduled for this weekend are Sunthorn Meesri’s solo work’s “Being John Alone”, Bangplay Theatre’s “Maha Nakhorn 2008”, Naked Masks Group’s “The Alchemist”, and Crescent Moon Theatre’s “Sea Beside”.

“The Other Land” continues tonight (October 24) until Sunday (October 26) at 7:30pm at Poonsuk Banomyong Auditorium, Pridi Banomyong Institute, between Thong Lhor Soi 1 and 3 (or five minute walk from Thong Lhor BTS station). Tickets are Bt 250, bookable by calling 089 667 9539. For more, www.BFloorTheatre.com and comwww.PridiInstitute.

written by Pawit Mahasarinand

published in Daily Xpress on Friday, November 24, 2008

photos courtesy of B-Floor Theatre

I just discovered this band from one of my favorite websites.

It’s a song from the band ‘Le Loup’, the Washington DC electro-indie tycoons. The song’s called ‘Shenandoah’ from the album ‘I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas’. I felt in love since the first time I heard this song.

It’s good for a change since every time I go to supermarket or big department store during Christmas, all I’ve heard was songs from Mariah Carey’s ‘Merry Christmas’ album. Nothing against her though. I love Mariah

เพิ่งจะไปค้นพบวงนี้โดยบังเอิญจากเว็บไซต์ที่เราเข้าไปเยี่ยมเยือนบ่อยมากๆเว็บหนึ่ง

เป็นวงจาก Washington DC ชื่อว่า ‘Le Loup’ เพลงชื่อ ‘Shenandoah’ จากอัลบัม I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas ดูจากชื่อเพลงก็ไม่รู้หรอกว่าจะเกี่ยวกับคริสต์มาสหรือเปล่า แต่เดาเอาว่าน่าจะเกี่ยว…เพราะดูจากชื่ออัลบัมนั่นเอง

ฟังแล้วก็รู้สึุกว่า เออนะ ในที่สุดก็มีเพลงสำหรับคริสต์มาสที่ดีๆเพิ่มขึ้นมาอีกหนึ่งเพลง หลังจากที่ไม่ว่าจะกี่คริสต์มาส ไม่ว่าจะไปเดินห้างไหนก็เปิดแต่อัลบัม Merry Christmas ของ Mariah Carey ตลอด

ลองฟังดูนะ

Check it out

Le Loup – Shenandoah

P.S. Shenandoah is “a Native American word. It has several different meanings including: daughter of the stars, an Iroquois chief’s name which meant “deer in the woods”, along with several others.”….I don’t if it’s true, so if anyone knows….tell me please.

Shenandoah เป็นคำอเมริกันโบราณ มีหลายความหมายทีเดียว อย่างเช่น ลูกสาวแห่งดวงดาว หรืออาจจะเป็นชื่อที่แปลว่า “กวางในพงไพร” ของหัวหน้าเผ่า Iroquois ซึ่งเป็นหนึ่งในห้าเชื้อชาติที่เป็นชาวอเมริกันพื้นเมือง คือ Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga และ Seneca(ต่อมามีอีกหนึ่ง คือ Tuscarora มาเพิ่มภายหลัง) ที่ร่วมกันก่อตั้งประเทศขึ้น ก่อนจะกลายมาอเมริกาภายหลังจากที่ยุโรปเริ่มรุกรานเข้ามา

อืม….ลึกซึ้งจริงๆ

อยากลองทำเป็นสองภาษาดู

ขอลองทดสอบเขียนภาษาไทยสักหนึ่งโพสก็แล้วกันนะ

และก็อยากจะบอกว่า จะไม่พยายามเขียนแบบที่วัยรุ่นเขียนๆกัน

อย่างที่มี “อ่ะ”, “มั้ย”, “ช่าย”, “เปงงัยคับ”, “คิืคิ”, “หุหุ”, “อิอิ”, หรือ “แอร๊ยยยยส์”

อาจจะดูโบราณนะ แต่เราว่า เขียนแบบธรรมดาดูดีกว่าเยอะ

จริง”ไหม”?

These fabulous pictures were mostly taken by David LaChapelle, my favorite photographer.

They’re sexy, colourful, loud, fierce, funny, sarcastic and of course very , very gay.

Most of these pictures are quite old. I’ll try to snatch his latest works later.

This song might go well with this slide show,

Chromeo – Tenderoni

Other pictures that were not taken by LaChapelle appear here for just one reason….

the guys in those pictures are soooo damn hot!!!

I’ve discovered this cool lady a couple years ago, since ‘myspace’ booming era.
I first heard her song ‘Creator’ and I immediately put her song on my profile.
By that time, not so many people know this girl.
But now she’s getting all the fame she deserves.
Great music kicks ass!!!

Here’s the video, yo!
Love those backup dancers….cool moves! I’ll try to copy that next time I go clubbing

Here’s another thing I wrote a while ago…not sure I was drunk or not.

The Melancholy of a Dumpster

Put it in. Walk away. No looking back.
Push it. Squeeze it in. Fill it up. No turning back.
All that I am. This is me. Oh yeah go ahead. Please feel free.
No regrets. No apology. Just sew me up. No autopsy.

My body is an undiscovered dumpster. Just a mystery.
Fill with lust. All the rush. Passionately but no intimacy.

Then,

I died all day but at 4 AM, I was born again.
Just one or two hours of rest, was that an entertain?
I waited for you to do it again.
Put it in. Walk away. No looking back.
….exactly the same.

‘Memorial Day’ is a debut film of my director and also my friends for almost 10 years (I think), Josh Fox.

I’ve been informed about this for years and I’m so thrilled that it’s finally done and, moreover, it was the official selection at the CineVegas Film Festival 2008.

Josh came to see me and Thai friends last year and he gave us details about his film. It is, he said, ‘a cross between Abu Ghraib and Girls Gone Wild’. I was not so sure when I first heard about this but later when he tried to explain the idea, I think it was quite….what should I say…cool and weird.

His idea, if I remember correctly, started from the American’s Memorial Day. It’s supposed to be a day which people remember & be grateful to all sacrifices their soldiers have done for them. But apparently, it’s the same day which young folks & college kids are coming out celebrating wild parties on the beach. Sex, drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll, vomits, flashing boobs, liquers,…did I mention sex?…are everywhere. So he combines this idea with the most & current controversial topic at that time which is the American soldiers in Iraq. Especially the Abu Ghraib prison pics & video clips which circulating all around the internet a couple year ago.

The result of his film? Of course, nothing else but controversy. According to what I read on the interviews & reviews, so many people walked out of the theatre…not even half of the film yet.
But, somehow, it gained a recognition as one of the ‘ballsiest’ films in this festival.

the trailer of ‘Memorial Day’ by Josh Fox

Here’s someone wrote about this film in the article at indiewire.com

“I think we found our audience by the end,” said Josh Fox, director of the fiercely controversial feature “Memorial Day,” which premiered last week at the CineVegas Film Festival. It was an apt summary of a prevailing sentiment for many filmmakers in town for the event, which showcased a variety of audacious films that would probably get buried at the country’s larger festivals. For Fox, the statement merely reflected the small crowd left in the theater for the Q&A, which followed a screening plagued by a wave of walk-outs during its first hour.

read more on : www.indiewire.com/ots/2008/06/dispatch_from_l_14.html

And here’s what others said;

“The film begins with a stunningly hypnotic 20 minute montage, which takes us, through fragments in constant motion, into a Memorial Day weekend blow out in Ocean City, a military shore town in Maryland that doubles as a locus for bargain basement tourism. We follow a gang of young women, outnumbered by their slightly older-seeming male companions, as they drink themselves into oblivion, spew casual racism, cry, fight, rape––and capture it all via handheld consumer video. …

For its first half, Memorial Day plays like an art film … [b]ut after a transitional scene, in which the location seems unchanged but characters suddenly appear dressed in fatigues, Memorial Day abruptly moves from the world of weekend warriors to an actual war zone. Our drunken racists and rapists––and their victims––are now charged with capturing and guarding anonymous Muslims, their unquenchable but blasé appetites unchanged.

It seems to be consensus that this is, at the very least, the ballsiest film at this festival, although it certainly has fewer defenders than detractors.”

And here’s another source if you’d like to read more : http://blog.spout.com/2008/06/16/cinevegas-memorial-day/

One of my friends said if he ever makes a movie, instead of the ’so-so’ or ‘it’s ok’ feedback from the audience, he’d rather see people walking out from his film. That would mean something.

Nevertheless, I just want to say to Josh…Well done, my friend. You’ve caused another controversy once again.

I just saw the 1969 Oscar winning film an hour and a half ago.
It’s called ‘Midnight Cowboy’.

I’ve heard about this movie for such a long time, but didn’t have a chance to see it.
But when I finished watching it, I continued crying for about 5 minutes which rarely happened to me.
It was directed by the late-openly-gay director John Schlesinger.
I have no idea why I was so touched.

I’d rather skip through the plot here because it can be seen everywhere on the net.
Although it’s not claimed as a gay movie, many people think that it is because it’s the story of an unlikely bond between two men.
They’re not gay. They love women. The movie shows us so clear about that.
All we see is they help each other through ups and downs, be there in sickness, sharing happiness, caring for each other, think of each other, stealing things (or killing?) just for the other half.

All of these, how could you not think that they love each other way beyond friendship?
Is it possible to love someone without sexual intimacy?

But personally, gay or not gay, I think the overall feeling in this film is too good to point to any sex genres. They’re just two lonely people in a big crazy city. They don’t fit in. The don’t have anything else besides each other.

Is that what we all looking for?

….there….I’m now having a big sigh.

Midnight Cowboy Trailer

Amazing music from the film

During the process of Silent Noise, we also did another performance in the name of The International Wow Company. It’s called ‘Stairway To The Stars’. Imagine how crazy we were trying to do two big, brand-new productions at the same time? Yes, indeed. We were young, full-of-energy & totally out of our minds.

‘Stairway To The Stars’ was, yet again, a collaboration between Thai members, US members & a dance group from Japan led by Lee. The process of work was simple for us Thai. We separated into groups, solo, duo, trio or whatever and was given a task or a certain theme to create & develop into a short piece of performance. Then, we sewn them altogether. Thai members were familiar with this kind of work because we had done this since the very beginning of the company. But, unfortunately, the Japanese didn’t get it. They came from a dance & butoh background so they didn’t have no clue how would we glue all of pieces together and made it make sense. But, the show had already been started and Japanese never gave up. They continued doing it and we had a fight from time to time but everything resolved when the show was on stage.

For me, I had a great time doing this piece. I was lucky teaming up with two great female Japanese dancers, Sawami Fukuoka & Michie (sorry Michie, I really can’t remember your last name…it’s been a long time!). We created a piece which we were aliens. It was so much fun working & sharing weird & funny ideas with these two girls. I remembered when we had to show our piece to other group. We were rolling on the empty, dirty, narrow street. Then, we were dancing on the side way of the main street while other group watching on the other side and people on motorcycles were riding by and taking a strange glance at us like, ‘what the hell you’re doing’. It was such a great memory.

and here’s the contact sheet of all photos I’ve had.

click a link to listen (allow pop-up)