youtube.com is unblocked!

After being blocked for almost five months, youtube.com is once again accessible in Thailand. Excellent. It's unblocked because youtube.com themselves have agreed to filter 'offensive' videos from Thai visitors.

'roundabout dog' Mohammed

These drawings of Mohammed as a dog, by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, were recently removed from a group exhibition and have since been published in two newspapers.

Mohammed is portrayed as a 'rondellhund' ('roundabout dog'), stylised canine sculptures which appear on Swedish roundabouts and roadsides. The exhibition, The Dog In Art, took place in Tallberg, Sweden, and the images were removed on the opening day. The excuse given was that the drawings, like the Danish cartoon caricatures of Mohammed, might be too provocative. They were published in the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda on 18th August. Three Swedish Muslim organisations are now claiming that publication of the cartoons constituted an incitement to racial hatred, and the claim is being investigaed by the Swedish Chancellor.

Thai papers receive police warning

Thai police yesterday wrote to the Thai Rath and Bangkok Today newspapers, warning them that their front-page pictures of scantily-clad women were inappropriate. It's scary that the police can intimidate the press in this way.

Computer Crime Act enforced

The new Computer Crime Act, introduced on 18th July, criminalises the use of proxy servers and the publication of subversive web content.

The Act has been used to arrest Phraya Phichai (a pseudonym; his real name has not been revealed), webmaster of propaganda.forumotion.com, a forum which included anti-monarchy comments. His website has, of course, also been blocked. Indeed, the contents of the site seem to have disappeared as well, and don't appear to be archived online, though a new forum has been established at propaganda2.forumotion.com (which is also blocked).

Simpsonized

To promote The Simpsons Movie, Burger King's simpsonizeme.com website will create an automatic Simpsons version of anyone.

11th Thai Short Film & Video Festival

The 11th Thai Short Film & Video Festival (thaishortfilmfestival.com) opened on 17th August with The Anthem by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and closed today. Screenings took place at the EGV Grand Discovery cinema in Bangkok.

I went to Spoken Silence yesterday, a themed evening of films about the repressive social and cultural environment following last year's coup. There were twelve films in the programme:

Bangkok Tanks
(a transcript of a superficial Windows Live chat, accompanied by off-air coup footage from CNN; directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit)

Silence In D Minor
(filmed through a green tarpaulin which acted as a filter, ending with a CNS announcement inviting youth participation; directed by Chalida Uabumrungjit)

The Duck Empire Strikes Back
(Thaksin's ousting through the metaphor of a rubber duckie; directed by Nutthorn Kangwanklai)

Letter From The Silence
(shots of a letter about a taxi driver who committed suicide in 2006 by driving into a tank; directed by Prap Boonpan)

The Love Culprit
(a story told in voice-over followed by a melodramatic karaoke video featuring tribal dancers; directed by Sanchai Chotirosseranee)

3-0
(intercutting between a woman trying to cross the road, another woman exercising, and a boy's physiotherapy; ending with a peaceful anti-coup demonstration; directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong)

Fake World
(actors filming TV commercials, featuring the over-acting and ridiculous sound effects common to Thai TV; directed by Tanwarin Sukhapisit)

งานเฝ้าระวังความฝันของบุคคลที่น่าเชื่อว่าฝักใฝ่การทำลายศีลธรรมอันดีของประชาชน
(static shots continually going in and out of focus; directed by Manutsak Dokmai)

When The Movie Listens
(a man sitting and looking into the camera, as if waiting for someone to speak; directed by Tulapop Saenjaroen)

Man With A Video Camera
(a montage of scenes from daily life, including a pro-Thaksin rally, inspired by Dziga Vertov's Man With A Movie Camera; directed by Jakrawal Nilthamrong)

หนีนรกโพธิ์พระยา 2526
(a young girl answering unheard questions, and boys playing with toy guns; directed by Paisit Punpruksachart)

Middle-Earth
(a male couple sleeping next to each other, naked; directed by Thunska Pansittivorakul)

The Spoken Silence films were, for the most part, metaphorical rather than overtly political, though several of them included found footage of coup-related events. They were often literally silent (only Fake World featured actual dialogue), even encouraging the audience to provide the soundtrack (The Love Culprit invited us to sing along to the karaoke; When The Movie Listens was an experiment in audience participation, asking us to speak as the actor listened).

Unfortunately, as evidenced by my synopses above - and notwithstanding the Silence theme - not understanding Thai meant that there was a lot I missed out on. My central motivation for attending, however, Thunska's Middle-Earth, was as outstanding as I'd expected: a beautiful, tender, and ultimately playful film. The directors of each film took part in a Q&A session after the screenings.

Some of the titles listed in the official schedule may be incorrect. For example, The Duck Empire Strike Back is probably a misprint of The Duck Empire Strikes Back, and Bangkok Tank is surely a misprint of Bangkok Tanks. Letter From The Silence is listed as Letter From The Silience (and indeed the entire programme is listed as Spoken Silience, instead of Spoken Silence); these titles could be puns on 'lie' but are more likely misprints for 'Silence'.

referendum results

The official results of yesterday's referendum on the Thai constitution: 'yes', 57.81%; 'no', 42.19%.

'no' campaign demonstration

Campaigners for a 'no' vote in tomorrow's Thai referendum staged a demonstration outside Siam Center in downtown Bangkok this afternoon.

The consequences of a 'yes' vote are clear, but if the vote is 'no' the consequences are much more flexible and hence uncertain. Is that a fair choice?

Also, government spin is vilifying and restricting the 'no' campaign, while linking a 'yes' vote with ideal values (democracy, monarchy, and patriotism). Is that a fair contest?

In reality, a 'no' vote is a vote for democracy; it is a rejection of the 2006 coup d'etat, a rejection of military dictatorship.

28 Days

House Rama cinema (RCA, Bangkok) is currently in the middle of its 28 Days festival, screening over 200 films throughout August.

The festival includes 28+1, a daily screening introduced by a Thai film-maker. The highlights are: Wisit Sartsanatieng introducing Pan's Labyrinth on 21st August, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang introducing Paradise Now on 24th August, and Nonzee Nimibutr introducing Audition on 25th August.

Guardian Monthly folds

Guardian Monthly, a glossy magazine launched by The Guardian late last year, has been closed down.

Thaksin Where Are You?

Thaksin Where Are You?, by Sunisa Lertpakawat, sold out its initial print run in a matter of days, though it's still available to buy from online booksellers like se-ed.com and dokya.com in Thailand. The book itself is essentially a superficial Thaksin fanzine.

Al Jazeera memo

A transcript of a 16th April 2004 conversation between Tony Blair and George W Bush was leaked to the Daily Mirror newspaper on 22nd November 2005, though publication of the memo is forbidden under the Official Secrets Act. During their conversation, Bush (perhaps in jest) suggested bombing the headquarters of Al Jazeera TV, and Blair dissuaded him.

The Simpsons Movie

I've seen every episode of The Simpsons, and was eagerly awaiting The Simpsons Movie (directed by David Silverman). In pre-production for over a decade, they kept telling us; the script tweaked right up to the last minute, to make absolutely every line as funny as possible; a creative team composed of the very best writer-producers from the show's entire history.

OK, so we should know better than to believe all the publicity, but the build-up The Simpsons Movie had led us to expect a comedy masterpiece on a par with the greatest Simspons TV episodes. Well, it's entertaining and funny, but not quite laugh-out-loud funny. There are a few great jokes, such as the Fox ticker and Bart's "doodle", but overall the result is average rather than awesome.

Kubrick exhibition in Rome

The Kubrick exhibition, previously held in Germany, Australia, Belgium, and Switzerland, will open in Italy on 5th October, appearing at Rome's Palazzo delle Esposizioni until 6th January 2008.

Zelig

Woody Allen's Zelig is one of his most technically accomplished films. It is structured as a 'mockumentary', purporting to examine the case of Leonard Zelig, whose personality disorder is so severe that he automatically assumes the physical characteristics of those around him in order to fit in. This provides opportunities for commentary on individualism, social acceptance, and self-expression.

It is the illusion of realism, though, which is most striking. With its analysis of one man's case-history, its recreated faux-documentary clips, and its earnest narration, the film resembles nothing more than Ed Wood's Glen Or Glenda?. (The comparison is one of structure and style rather than quality, of course.)

Allen recreates 1930s film footage with impressive accuracy. His 'documentary' clips are convincingly grainy, scratched, and age-worn. The costumes and acting styles are also authentic-looking, making this one of the most successful fake documentary attempts since the March Of Time sequence in Citizen Kane. (Can a film be compared to both Glen Or Glenda? and Citizen Kane at the same time? Apparently it can.) Only occasionally was real period footage utilised, for example when Zelig is inserted into the background during an Adolf Hitler speech; this technique predates Forrest Gump.

Zelig is above all, a great comedy. The advanced college course, the disagreement with Freud, and the $600 Hebrew lessons are all classic Allen jokes.

Festival Of Classic Movies

Many thanks to Apex Lido, the cinema in Siam Square, Bangkok, for their wonderful series of all-time classic films over the next few days, Festival Of Classic Movies (an extra addition to this year's Bangkok International Film Festival).

Here are the highlights: Casablanca (Sunday at 12pm), North By Northwest (Monday at 12pm), Ben-Hur (Monday at 8pm), The Maltese Falcon (Tuesday at 12pm), Gone With The Wind (Tuesday at 8pm), The Adventures Of Robin Hood (Wednesday at 12pm), and The Good The Bad & The Ugly (Wednesday at 8pm).

Candy Shop (demo extract)

An extract from a demo version of a new Madonna song, Candy Shop, has leaked online. The song will be included on her forthcoming studio album.