Showing posts with label bangkok. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bangkok. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Spalding Gray: Swimming to Cambodia (video)

WritersBlocPresents.com, Laemmle Theatres, Wisdom Quarterly


"I hadn't had a perfect moment yet. And it's very important for me to have perfect moments in exotic countries like that... It kind of lets you know when it's time to go home..."

"Look, I got a vision of myself by now as a kind of wandering bachelor mendicant poet, wandering all the way down the beaches of Malaysia eating magic mushrooms all the way as I went until I reach Bali and evaporate in a state of ecstasy in the sunset!"

"But I wasn't telling Renee that. But she could see that my will, or what was left of it, was beginning to vacillate.

"And we fell into a fight on the way to the party in the Gulf of Siam. And we were fighting all the way, and we got there, to the Gulf of Siam, and it was exquisite, you know?


Gulf of Siam (Thailand)

"Unlike The Hamptons, where you have a boat, and a bigger boat, and then a ship, and a bigger ship, and desire, and the carrot, and the carrot, and the carrot, and desire, and desire, and desire, and desire.

"There was nothing to buy out there in the Gulf of Siam. I mean it was like one big piece of calendar art.

"I just said, 'Look, look, look, Renee, look at this beautiful sunset!'

"...I might be able to have a perfect moment right now."


Spalding Gray's "Talking Cure" is not only one of the best one-man performances but actually one of the best films ever. "Swimming to Cambodia" is a Jonathan Demme-directed performance film (before "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia" but after "Stop Making Sense"). The film is a performance of Gray's monologue ("Talking Cure") which centers around themes like his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in "The Killing Fields" and his search for a perfect moment.

"Swimming to Cambodia" was originally a theatre piece on which Gray worked for two years, and it won him an Obie award. The opening shots depict Gray walking toward The Performing Garage in New York. He goes in, walks past the audience, and takes his seat behind a table. On the table is a glass of water, a microphone, and a notebook. Behind him are two pull down maps. One is a map of Southeast Asia and the other is a diagram of the bombing of Cambodia, which Gray tells the viewers was called Operation Menu.

Spalding Rockwell Gray (1941-2004) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist, and monologist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved notoriety for writing and acting in the play, which was adapted into a film.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Bangkok is drowning

Irwin Loy (TheWorld.org, Nov. 2, 2011)
Climate chaos affects all Earthlings like rescued pets in Bangkok (Irwin Loy/Theworld.org)

Some of those stranded in Thailand’s calamitous floods are family pets. A group of volunteers has been heading into flooded Bangkok neighborhoods, rescuing frantic cats and dogs. Irwin Loy went along with one pet rescue team. Comment

Monday, October 17, 2011

Thailand is drowning in climate chaos floods

Wisdom Quarterly, Los Angeles Times
Old prayer flags are replaced in the Himalayan foothills at Swayambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal (framework.latimes.com).

Praying for climate peace in the midst of chaos is not helping Thailand, which is currently drowning in unseasonably backlogged rains. Due to chaotic climate change -- exacerbated by the US and China, solar irregularities, and the general warming of the solar system (according to some) -- there is too much rain in some places and too little in others. Parts of Africa have drought -- so we attack them. We use drones, and it does not appear in the news often enough to notice.

A man rows a boat past a giant reclining Buddha statue submerged by a flood in Ayutthaya, Thailand (framework.latimes.com).

Climatological changes spur social changes since the "Arab Spring," "American Fall," and growing occupation movements around the world have food insecurity as their primary cause. That insecurity is not due to low yields yet. That will come. Now it is all about rampant speculation, commodities trading, driving up prices to cash out. The bankers and war profiteers actually affect the planet down to the soil. Rain, human tragedy, drought followed by flooding, it is almost as if a butterfly at Monsanto, Inc. test farm caused a monsoon/cyclone over Bangkok. We really are more connected than we (as non-mystics) ever realize.

Drowning in Bangkok...before the storm (Reuters/Seattle.ibtimes.com)

Worst flooding in decades threatens Bangkok
Los Angeles Times
Bangkok residents are facing the worst monsoon flooding in decades could hit Thailand's capital. Authorities have been warning for days that water overflow from the north could combine with more rain and high tides to inundate the low-lying metropolis, which is home to 9 million people.

More than 280 people have been killed since a series of tropical storms began hitting the country in late July. “Bangkok may face some problems in areas that are on the outer sides of the irrigation dikes… but inner Bangkok has extremely high defenses,” she told reporters, according to Reuters. More

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Amazing Thailand: Buddhism in Bangkok

German iReporter Holger Bauer at Wat Bowon Niwet (CNNgo.com)
"Amazing Thailand: A Photographic Tour 2010" Day 2: Blessing Buddha statues, Golden Chedi at Doi Suthep Temple, Chiang Mai, Thailand (DocBudie/Sayid Budi/Flickr).

"My passion is to show how fascinating Bangkok looks off the tourist tracks and how Thais manage their daily lives."
- Holger Bauer

Wat [Temple] Bowon Niwet Vihara Rajavaravihara, a Buddhist temple off most tourists' radars, is located on Thanon Bowon Niwet and Thanon Phra Sumen, close to the backpacker's [paradise] of Khao San Road.

This stunning temple, [with] small canals (khlongs) and plenty of trees and flowers, provides visitors with a rare piece of calm in otherwise buzzing Bangkok.

But beautiful as the grounds are, be sure to visit the monks' retreat, which is made up of tiny, beautiful kutis with terraces surrounded by flowers. Visitors are allowed in, so you can sit with the monks as they study and have a talk, or just watch them go about their daily lives.

Many events take place at Wat Bowon Niwet, including Buddhist holidays, funerals and -- a highlight -- the inauguration of the new novice monks.

Also within the huge Wat Bowon Niwet compound is the Buddhist Thammayut Nikaya University, where the dean is more than happy to let visitors follow a lesson in one of the classes. Entrance is free... More

7 best Bangkok templesThailand goes from amazing to miraculous | CNNGo.comA great big mini-guide to Koh SamuiRandom bizarre video of the week: Laura and Dolly go to Bangkok

CNNGo Bangkok

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Sisters in Buddhism: Women's Conference

Sanitsuda Ekachai (BangkokPost.com)
Female novices at the Sathira-Dhammasathan Buddhist Meditation Center in Bangkok. Novices keep ten major precepts rather than the hundreds of rules protecting fully ordained monastics (telegraph.co.uk).

Has the male Sangha's stern frown on female ordination stopped women's determination to pursue a monastic life [in Thailand]?

Everyone dropping by the Sathira Dhammasathan Nunnery and Dharma Center this week will realize how the male Sangha's attemptsto keep women down are ineffective and irrelevant.

For a whole week starting Sunday, June 12, the lush greenery of the Dharma center will be enlivened by different shades of the saffron robes of Buddhist nuns interspersed with the white robes of novices or ten precept nuns. The soothing sounds of their chants will fill the air with a message of peace and sisterhood.

They will be coming to Bangkok from around the world -- female monastics, scholars in Buddhism, social activists -- for the Sakyadhita International Conference. There they will discuss the practical application of Buddhism incontemporary society, review the barriers Buddhist women face in developing their full potential, and share recent studies of interest for Buddhist women.

The pursuit of knowledge is definitely not the sole reason why they are traveling across the globe to attend this biennial meeting.

Female ordination in the Theravada Buddhist tradition was unthinkable just three decades ago. But it is now a reality. There have always been white-clad ten precept novices. Yet, the bhikkhuni (fully-ordained female equivalent of a Buddhist "monk" or bhikkhu) may still face many obstacles. This is in addition to the institutionalized gender discrimination Buddhist women routinely face. But there has been progress.

Working against the odds in this male-dominated world requires lots of inner strength. The Sakyadhita conference is where women can come together to celebrate all that is possible and to fortify their determination through connecting with the positive energy of others in the same cause. More