WE HEART 1988

P'Ko's legendary birthday party was truly legendary and the interpretation of 1980's sportswear, Jane Fonda aerobics styling without the existence of American Apparel in Bangkok was mind-blowing (Terry Richardson eat your heart out).  Absolutely FAbulous . . .so much spandex, lycra, neon, leotards, unitards, leggings oh and let's not forget the abundance of shiny shiny lame (lam-may) . . . 

Pailin, B-day Boy, Me

Foxy Brown, Jay and Tim

Jane

shiny bums

more bums

Cleo and I

Rudy Khaw

Michele and Tim

ATMO

and the 37th floor rooftop setting with a panoramic view of downtown bangkok . . .We heart the 80's, aerobics and Koko.  Until next year. . . 

Rose Tinted Lens

The world seen through the rose tinted lens of my Dita Ramblers.

Tommy O'gara of Dita said to me that he specifically chose the pink lens for me so the world can be pink and fluffy. It works. . . 

It was a day spent in old Bkk with Cleo and Martin (MMSSON) fabric shopping (in the rain) . . . then Martin acting as my fabric-walla to the shock of security guards . . .

 . . . loafing around Phra Athit road as the sky turned pink and even more so with the lens . . . dinner at Mr. Pas . . . - just as delicious as last time - though we have discovered that it is best and only works if we are the ONLY table.

 

We rolled back to new bkk from old bkk slowly - letting the transformation from old town into the one that we live in, on a day to day basis take over us . . .it is utterly surreal. 

R.I.P. Daul Kim

Lost Astronaut

A lost astronaut roams the streets of New York.. .the Lost Astronaut is artist Alicia Framis, making her New York debut with a performance-installation piece called "Lost Astronaut".  Alicia has dressed up as an astronaut and for 2 weeks, her daily activities are dictated by instructions from artists and authors including Mark Beasley,Shelley Jackson, Rita McBrade, John Menick amongst others. 

"Lost Astronaut [explores] the potentialities of living on the moon through the [activities of an] ironic, fictional… woman astronaut. Left on earth, like all women who were never part of the moon race, she settles into BaseCamp, [where] she will live for the 2 weeks of the biennial in a customized astronaut suit, among drawings and prototypes that aim to both parody and demand women’s presence on the moon."

It makes for an interesting and thought provoking project . . .the contrast and contradiction making fantastic imagery.  The concept behind actually questioning our roles. So my Astronauts in Africa are not too out of this world after all.  

Click here for more on the Lost Astronaut and her schedule.

Winnie the Pooh . . .

Hiroshi Fujiwara's x Medicom's version of A.A. Milne's beloved bear is soooo cute. 

Pooh bear has been transformed and is now black with a cute red t-shirt that has a Fragment logo (Fujiwara's brand) on the back.  And Pooh now eats apples instead of honey . . .it works.  I want.  

Swoon

One of my favourite artists - Swoon - a female street artist -apart from painting, she does installations and performances - she's amazing . . . her work is going to be up for auction at THE BIG PAYBACK, Juxtapoz Magazine's 15th Anniversary Art Auction which is now live and one can bid on www.charitybuzz.com . . . there are works by 140 other artists too.  The show is in LA ... if I was there - would def not miss it.

Corto x Tom Binns

Tis the season for collabos . . .well, I suppose it is always the season for cool collaborations and this is an ILL collabo between Corto Moltedo and Tom Binns . . utterly surreal - totally COOL . .the first one strictly for collectors . . . Binns has not backed down on his punk couture and Gabriel has definitely not stopped making a statement with that C-Star of his. . .

The second one is more practical - . . .the gold dangling crosses and the chain mail and hardware . . it is so utterly rock and a bit goth, yet, minimalist and elegant at the same time.

Talk about oxymorons or a bunch of adjectives that do not seem to work together but in this case works seamlessly.  

The Susan clutches come in 2 designs and a limited of edition of 5 per design and even though they are made for order ONLY and will be ready next season, Corto has sold 3 out of 5 editions of both designs. . . and at 2800 Euros a pop - that's a rather sound investment indeed.

Mundane History

The Opening Film of the Bkk World Film Festival was anything but mundane . . .again, as subtle as her contemporaries and just as still but with moments of "shock" in this case, personal histories or paralysation, far far from ordinary.  It evoked feelings that were buried deep inside me and certain scenes brought them forward and it was like an eruption of emotion, I was completely overwhelmed by these feelings . . . the bathroom scene where I could hardly look for I felt so bad, the constellation scene which was magnificent for its randomness and joy and the last explosion, so surreal and powerful, yet very very real and close to us a the same time. Any chronological order or system was completely and utterly dispensed with, us being taken along on a ride where time, history, past and present are completely irrelevant, the only thing evident was that sadness and pain are synonymous with unequivocal joy.  Anocha Suwichakonpong is one to watch.

Mundane History will screen once more this Thursday at 21.45 at the Bangkok World Film Festival at Paragon.

Letters to Uncle Boonmee

A surreal dialogue -a  personal letter to a hero, Uncle Boonmee, describing Nabua as it is now. . . slow moving, utterly hypnotic, familiar yet distant references . . . reminding us of where we come from and what happened in the past.  A subtle exploration of the idea of memory, the past and the now.  Apichatpong is a master of this art - story-telling . . . I would like to see this short film in the context of his entire installation . . . Primitive very soon.

This film was the prelude to Lheureux's I Forgot the Title and they added to each other - so different yet so similar in the way that it awakens memory, nostalgia and something in our sub-conscience.

The films will be screened once more at 11 am Sunday 15th November at the Bangkok World Film Festival at Paragon.  

I Forgot the Title

A complex, subtle simulacra and homage to Italian cinema and the tradition of cinema.  An impossible meeting of Ingrid Bergman and Marcello Mastroianni . . . referencing Rosellini's Stromboli and Antonini's L'Aventura.  Utterly sumblime with incredible cinematography, I felt hypnotised by the music and the moving images in front of me - perfectly paced.  Christelle explained later that the first time the film was screened at the Beauborg there was a live pianist and in fact the film was a mute film and the sound was another layer, created by the live performance.  Very rich, layered, images that seep through slowly and remain in your mind together with the steady melody of the piano.  

Red Demon and Loy Kratong

On the night of the November full moon, or full moon of the 12th month in the Thai calender (12th Night)I went to my first Likay performance at the Jim Thompson house as Eric Booth kindly invited me along to see Red Demon - an adaptation of a Japanese folklore.

The Red Demon

Likay is a traditional Thai form of theatre - a stage play where there is song, dance and prose. . . meant to be humourous but with often an underlying tone of seriousness (moral lesson even) and in this case a comic tragedy very much in the tradition of Shakespeare with the fool telling the tale. . . it was engaging, funny and haunting as it stood as a symbol very much for what is wrong with nations and humans generally . . .it left us with an overwhelming feeling of catharsis, the kind of feeling that Marlowe or the Bard himself would approve of.  Then again Likay in its pure form did originate in the court of King Rama IV and grew into the popular form as we know it today in the court of King Rama V . . .what was interesting is how it took from local themes, local songs and weaved it into the Likay form . . In this case it was influenced by the south of Thailand and the songs of Java (a nod to the problems in the south perhaps?). . .It was wonderful for the senses and the costumes would make Christophe Decarnin proud and the acting was truly brilliant.

As it was 12th night and the night of Loy Kratong where we go to the river and give thanks to the River Goddess by offering her a vessel or kratong of flowers with incense and light . . .it is one of the most beautiful festivals in Thailand.  

bread kratongs (food for fish)

It also evokes a time past where the river was king and not the streets.. . .we went via BTS - like we were on a field trip to Eric's boat . .the Jim Thompson boat which is usually at The Oriental.  It is not large but is truly beautiful, charming especially in detail.

We were fortuitous to be able to catch the display of fireworks from the boat in time . . .perfect view . . .

then cruised up river where the water would be

 still enough for us to float our kratongs . . . 

a decorative barge

P'Harry

There was definitely water traffic and wonderful barges on display.  We finally did find a spot and it should be no other place than in front of the sacred Grand Palace . . .

a floating lantern and the Grand Palace

My little kratong was definitely a fighter . . .then again everyone's was . . . you set it free and leave your worries behind and give thanks to the river for giving us life.  

kratongs, Warn, P'Eric and P'Mai

my kratong and I

Beautiful really . . . a vessel of hope and humility.

Pow and I felt so lucky that night - we expected to go to Red Demon and find some place to float a kratong not knowing that Eric had planned the most magical journey up river . . . again, like the last time I saw a performance at the JT house, it was a most surreal night. Where life imitates art and you are shown that the simple things can be blissful and between the catharsis from a staged comic-tragedy and the hope derived from the river and light . . life is pretty complete when you go with the flow and have a little hope.

I love "http://weloveyouso.com"

Spike Jonze's film rendition of Maurice Saudek's Where The Wild Things Are was quite easily the most anticipated animation and remake of a children's story EVER (then again it is a beloved story) and the pre-movie merchandising has been incredible.  I loooooove http://weloveyouso.com a blog where the makers of the film has "shed some light on many of the small influences that have converged to make this massive project a reality."  It's wonderful - inspiring in fact and rather cheeky. . .just like the story.

a Carol sandwich (image borrowed from http://weloveyouso.com)

There was a post on the lovely Olympia le Tan and her "Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover Collection" - that's how I stumbled upon this blog . . .  

Some book covers/bags from Olympia 

Hitting on her link opened the doors to another world for me - where so much love and collaboration went into making this movie possible.  

I absolutely cannot wait to watch it - I wonder when the Wild Things will come visit us here in Bankgok . . .very very soon I hope.

KAWS x RxArt x Kiehl's

Talk about branching out into unchartered territory - little collabo between KAWS with non-profit art initiative RxArt and Kiehl's.  Super duper cute - not to mention that the Creme de Corps is awesome.  I swear by it . . . that whole "continued use for 10 days will provide a skin texture heretofore unattainable" sounds ludicrous but is TRUE. It is one of my favourite beauty products EVER.  With this little collabo and 100% of profits going to RxArt's initiative of creating and curating art installations in hospital environments throughout parts fo the USA - I'm even more in love.  What a pioneering little gimmick.