Ah, the good old days - when every sign-in to the board resulted in the broadening of my mind or the gleaning of some new kernel of knowledge...  YimSiam

Clubland, by Frank Owen - the story of the mid-late nineties New York club kid and party scene, centering on the extensive effort to indict and convict Limelight and Tunnel owner Peter Gatien on drug-dealing charges, and the high profile killing of a club drug dealer by the public face of the club scene, Michael Alig.  Took me back to some unhealthy but still often fun days back in New York on the tail end of that scene - there was a lot of crap going on, but at the core, dancing to the music was a good time... and that's what I'll try to remember.  

YimSiam

2 minutes ago, Mekong said:

I honestly don’t know how I would have coped if I had still been drinking but fortunately, for me I am now teetotal 

Dont get me wrong, I am not sanctimonious declaring everyone should, not wrong with it, it just wasn’t right for  me 

I talk big and enthusiastic, but I'm a year sober day-after-tomorrow (god willing...).  So yeah, I get what you mean.  Drinking my way through the past six weeks would have been a disaster, no doubt.  But still...  I get a chill of recognition, a little joy in hearing that the fridge doors are back open, somewhere...

PASSENGERS 

With the girl from those teen Hunger Games movies and a Chris Pratt, this sci-fi action flick lands with a deadening thud.  Looks expensive, and she must cost big bucks to get in an action flick, but this movie sucks - no chemistry to speak of, and while the plot premise is kind of cool, the developments are just stupid and poorly executed.  Couldn't bear to watch it straight through, but it's been popping up repeatedly on MBC whenever I turn on the TV, and I think I've seen enough of it to speak authoritatively at this point...

YimSiam🙂

On 4/29/2020 at 6:02 PM, zzzz said:

Netflix movie, #1 in USA, called “Extraction.”  It’s a real tear jerker with a classic cathartic moment when the hero dies, then a nice denouement. 

I think the kids these days would suggest that one deserves a 'spoiler alert' at the beginning, zzzz.   🙂 YimSiam

Beer is back, there is light at the end of the tunnel... or at least if the light is an oncoming train, we'll all have a little buzz on by the time it reaches us.  

Best wishes to those in LOS who can now grab a libation at the local shop - as dismal as things may be, I do still wish I was there!  It has been too long - two damn years, a new world record for me by a country mile... Tragic, really. 

The great Brian Dennehy a few days again - not the virus, apparently - brilliant character actor on screen who was reportedly outstanding in major stage roles as well - totally formative figures in my youth, the First Blood sheriff, the pilot in Never Cry Wolf, and so on.  Just always seemed like a guy you'd love to be friends with.

On 4/16/2020 at 11:19 AM, Shibuya said:

Where can you go for a daytime drink and pool now? 

That was the charm of Queen's Park, wasn't it.  Mid-morning onwards, you could make your own modest fun; that's often the way I like it.  Amazing to see that taking it down to the grown, then tilled the soil, full Carthage style!  (I write from Tunisia, Carthage is still a fresh memory to some here...)  

Not much of a praying man except when the monthly is late to arrive, but I'll be praying Bangkok and the party life get back on our wobbly legs sooner rather than later - being locked down all this time has definitely rekindled the dying embers of the fire that once burned inside... I'm very ready to toss that one lit match onto the gasoline-soaked pile and bring that fire back to life... 

Slaying the Dragon - a history of alcohol and drug addiction treatment in the US from 1700s to present... A bit much, this one, only for the obsessive connoisseur I think.  Seems to go round and round with basically the same shit over and over again.  Short version: nobody really knows what they're doing, but they keep trying, and nothing is perfect but sometimes it all seems to work a little bit.  Not recommended.

It's probably been about 10 years since I earned that eternal 'board sponsor' badge, I suppose my membership is nearly due for renewal.  I think I may be permanently blocked from Paypal for trying too many purchases from very dubious locations, but you never know.  

On 4/13/2020 at 4:01 PM, Mekong said:

This is exactly what caused my Heart Seizure 8 years ago, I tried to stop 100% straight away and it nearly killed me. 

Me too.  Came out of a heavy binge period in November 2018, stopped completely - and within 24 hours was in the hospital with an MI, got stented up but the hallucinations got so bad a day later that I was convinced the hospital was run by a murderous mafia that was stealing my blood in order to set me up for murders they planned on committing, voices in the head, voices from the walls, the works.  Yanked out the cannula (if that's what it's called) from my arm, grabbed my stuff in a plastic bag and marched out of the hospital AMA, in my shorts and shoes and a down winter jacket, and hailed a cab.  The injection site bled like a motherfucker since I was all full of anticoagulant and so on, looked bloody murder... Ah, yeah I remember: that's why I didn't have pants on, I was bleeding all over the place and used my pants to stanch the bleeding.  What a fucking mess.  Didn't help that it was in an Arabic speaking country, and I don't speak shit for Arabic... The thing about that kind of DT paranoia stuff is that once it gets going, it's not like you can tell your doctor that you're having hallucinations that he and his staff are trying to kill you - because you don't recognize the hallucinations as unreal, they seem real as day... Also with those real withdrawal periods, I don't sleep at all - two nights with no sleep is par for the course in those grim times.

Went back to drinking after the heart attack, but had some bad times over the next few months, and finally got myself into rehab and made a real effort to clean up - 11 months currently without a drink - hopefully these 100k Thais will not have to go as long as that, and this thing will be over soon!

Thought I wouldn't survive drinking, but then it was the stopping almost killed me... Word to the wise: stop with medical supervision!  And whether you're a drinker or not - if you think you *might* be having a heart attack, go get checked at the hospital, it takes a few minutes, and makes all the difference.  I waited a long time, and by the time I decided to go get checked, I could barely turn the steering wheel...🥴  Delay could've killed me, and it definitely resulted in a lot more scar tissue in this ticker than is good for me.  Was 45 when it happened, too young; made me doubt that it could be a heart attack, since I didn't seem to be high risk (just a drunk, smoker, about 20 or so kg overweight, no exercise to speak of, KFC-and-shawarma diet, and years of substances behind... but other than that, not a high risk...).

YimSiam

Bill Withers, Ain't No Sunshine fame - not the virus: NY Times is keeping a thread on those: https://www.nytimes.com/series/people-died-coronavirus-obituaries

SPILLOVER, Dan Quammen - the story of zoonotic diseases that spillover from animals to humans.  As with so many of the virus tales, it's a great drama with just the write superficial science on top - unless of course you've had your fill of the disease genre for the time being...

1 hour ago, migrant said:

There is sunlight on soi Nana??

Christ, the world really IS ending!

Just Mercy

Story of Bryan Stevenson, death penalty lawyer in the US south.  Relentlessly formulaic Hollywood telling of one case in an impressive career - good to see an actual good guy get some credit once in a while.  It's long at over two hours (I think: maybe it just felt that long) but no one walked out in the Tunisian theater I saw it in, which surprised me- even got a good round of applause as credits rolled...

Note to self: don't be black down South...

YimSiam

Down in a fiery helicopter crash, with his daughter - Kobe Bryant.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-26/aircraft-slams-into-hillside-explodes-in-flames-near-calabasas

Virtually skipped off at the end... wonder what the whole story is, might have to look it up.  Brutal indeed.

As an American and Texas resident, I can attest that bullets are about as common as Tic-Tacs these days, and easier to purchase -- losing track of a couple of rounds in your carry on is about as unusual as finding an old mint in the bottom of your bag, or an orphaned sock in the dryer... Suvarnabhumi should be more understanding!

10 baht for toilets!  That's it, the last straw!  No more Thailand for me, that's just to rich for my blood, er, piss...  I can piss for free at my local McDonald's, and ogle girls at the local mall, and satisfy physical urges at the Asian spa down next to Bed, Bath and Beyond...

Ah, who am I kidding... I'll be coming back even after Immigration just takes my PIN at point of entry and drains my savings directly...  Come heart attack, stroke, hip replacement or worse, I'm captive market for the Thai smile, no matter how faint and unfeeling it may become...

YimSiam

Triple Border - Ben Affleck and co rob a drug baron, seems a fool-proof premise enough for a movie, looks good on location, but absolutely crap overall.  Supposedly crack military special forces team turns out to be clumsy, dumb and incompetent novices.

The Irishman - Better to go back and watch Goodfellas again, or the G'fathers, just another mafia story (of dubious origins) told well enough be messed up by CGI to make de Niro, Pesci and others look thirty or so years younger in the face, while supported by 70-year-old bodies...  Getting good reviews from everyone but me though, so - fuggedaboutit!

Succession, first season

About half-way through - it's gotten enough attention that I imagine there must be something to it, though I'm yet to be fully persuaded at this point.  Would probably do better to watch one of the King Lear adaptations, as neither the comedy nor the drama part of this show have emerged as of yet.

YimSiam

On 11/24/2019 at 7:45 PM, Coss said:

Primal (2019)

Nicholas Cage, started well enough, Famke Janssen, wasn't she beautiful once?     Movie is meh...  far too much shooting for the plot premise. If it's a rainy day and there's nothing else in the movie box. 2 from 5 stars.

Not exactly classically beautiful maybe - but she was sexy-hot in that Run Lola Run film ... had the glow of youth then, even though she was already 23-24...

Thanks.  Guess I'll tell her give it a go and see how long it works, and if it all goes south, I'll house-sit the place for a few months til she gets sorted.  That's what friends are for!

Thanks for comments - I also have two passports, but not issued by the same state.  In the case of my friend, she has two passports issued by the same country, to facilitate frequent travel, one passport with embassy for visa issuance in some country, while she's off traveling to another.  Both US passports, but with different numbers.  Think they are counting you as a single individual, or might there be room to increase the time spent in LOS by rotating?  (As I understand there are limits on the 30 day visit stamps within time periods?)

I guess she'll find out - but with a condo and life in Bkk, she doesn't want to find out the hard way!

YimSiam

Denny's Bar, eh?  Home of the "Moons Over My Hammy" special, I assume.  (Sorry - that one is for Americans who appreciate a failed breakfast-menu joke only...)