martial law finally lifted in Bangkok

It's been a long, long wait, but martial law has finally been lifted in Bangkok and forty other provinces. It remains in force to various degrees in thirty-five provinces.

Martial law was declared when the coup was staged on 19th September 2006. Then, after a long wait, 'Prime Minister' Surayud announced on 28th November 2006 that he would submit a request to the King that martial law be lifted. Finally, after another inexplicable delay, it was confirmed on 27th January that the King had approved the decision.

Thaksin's CNN interview

Thaksin gave an interview yesterday to CNN's Dan Rivers in Singapore. It was broadcast at 7pm yesterday evening... although not in Thailand, where the CNS deemed it potentially damaging to national unity.

In the interview, Thaksin denied any involvement with the new year's eve bombings and announced that he has no intention of returning to politics.

Sweet & Savage

Sweet & Savage by Mark Goodall is the first book-length study of Mondo cinema. Mondo films, starting with Mondo Cane in 1962, are sensationalist documentaries, often featuring exotic tribal rituals and/or Reality TV clips of bizarre/violent imagery.

This book discusses Mondo thematically, with chapters devoted to shock scenes, sex, animals, and rituals. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay, followed by detailed critiques of selected Mondo films.

The book's main asset is its in-depth film reviews. Milestone Mondos such as Mondo Cane and Africa Addio receive extensive and original discussion. However, while the key films are covered in-depth, there are many films given only cursory mentions or even omitted altogether.

Before Sweet & Savage, the only previous book to present a detailed account of Mondo cinema was Killing For Culture. This earlier title [which is one of my all-time favourite film books] included a chapter giving a chronological history of Mondo cinema and another chapter concentrating on death in Mondo films.

Killing For Culture has almost 100 pages devoted to Mondo, approximately one third of the book's total length. Sweet & Savage has only 160 pages in total. Sweet & Savage provides original insights into the most successful Mondo films, though it does not have the sheer density of research displayed by Killing For Culture.

bombs in Bangkok

Yesterday evening there were 6 bomb blasts in Bangkok, the first of which exploded next to the bus terminal at Victory Momument. After the news broke, the new year's eve countdown outside Central World Plaza was cancelled. It was very lucky that the event was called off, as there were two explosions outside Central World just before midnight.

The police and the Council for National Security (the new name for the oh-so-democratic Democratic Reform Council) are blaming opponents of the military coup for the explosions.