BjornAgain

The powers to be have obviously been scanning these pages and calculated the future growth based on all the @Olddaddy pending business ventures!

For pure enjoyment, then the spy franchise that never was. By that I mean Philip Calvert in Alistair MacLean's When Eight Bells Toll. Came out in 1971 just as the Connery years were finishing. Similar character backgrounds, i.e. Royal Navy officers, both action heroes with a comic witt, both successful with the ladies. Talks existed in terms of a follow up movie, however Alistair MacLean wasn't interested. He had envisaged future novels with Calvert, but the film wasn't as big of a success as he and the producers had hoped, so MacLean continued writing other characters instead. Hopkins was considered and screen tested for the role of Bond post Connery, but missed out. Shame, as EON's next offering was Mr. Eyebrow himself, Roger Moore, which took the JB franchise in a somewhat different comic direction.

I made a right prat of myself in 2003 on the way back from the World Cup in Sydney, as made a stop over in Singapore. Walked in through the front door of Raffles, semi saluted the Indian guard in full regimental dress as I passed, walked into the lounge bearing left expecting the cacophony of people talking and laughing, only to find the area was as quiet as a library. Said in a somewhat loud voice, "Where's The Longbar gone?". It's now at the back of the hotel; Sir. To which I then said, "What, you mean the staff quarters". It had been 26 years since I was last there. Had a great evening drinking Slings and throwing monkey nut shells on the floor.

Wet face towels always available at CockA2. For peanuts, then you can't beat The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. If you know, you know!

Lee Kuan Yew's philosophy on this, "for the top job you need to pay top dollar, otherwise you'll have corruption".

In a shortlist: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) The Father (2020) Blade Runner (1982) Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) For pure entertainment, comedy and popcorn appeal, then: Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl (2003). Movies primarily are for entertainment, enjoyment, relaxation, dramatic events ( horror), education and social interaction, by that I mean discussion. Leaving the Movie Theatre with friends our immediate action is to discuss, good, bad, crap, interesting, not as good as his/her's last one, best movie ever etc. Really great movies make you think. 1) 2001: A Space Odyssey. Adapted from Arthur C. Clarkes's short story The Sentinel (1948), Kubrick's vision was to trace the story back to the dawn of man, the leap from primitive ape to weaponised ape and the exponential growth in intelligence, kick started by external interplanetary forces. An idea adopted by Ridley Scott with the Alien prequels and franchise. The middle part is the journey (think Greek Odysseys') to meet the intelligent entity, with some of the most amazing cinematic effects to this day, bearing in mind it was made 1968, so before we landed on the moon. The movie was shot in 70mm, so the quality and clarity of the in-picture action on a wide screen made the experience breathtaking. The third part is where the magic really happens. Certainly as a 16 year old when I first watch it on TV, I hadn't a clue what was going in, with each subsequent viewing the picture's meaning becomes clearer. Underlying the visuals is the music, both Johann and Richard Strauss, György Ligeti, Aram Khachaturyan and the suggestion at the time from the music consultant on the movie, namely Patrick Moore, the use of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra forever associated with space flight. Despite Oscar nominations for Director, Sceen Writing and Art direction, it only recieved one for Special Effects. Kubrick joked at the time the movie should have got the award for costume, however this went to The Planet of The Apes, as most of the academy was under the impression the apes were real! 2) Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The story is simple, but in my opinion the most likely incident to connect us to other lifeforms. Voyager 1 was launched 2 years before the movie was made, and is currently 15.4 billion miles from earth and still exploring further and further out into space. No OTT laser shoot-outs, for the younger generations to get excited about, yes there's plenty of dialogue, but intellectually one of the most thought provoking Sci-Fi films. 3) The Father. A tour-de-force in acting by Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. Directected by Florian Zeller and adapted from his stage play of the same name. This film makes you think all through the movie. In a nut shell it's about old age. 4) Blade Runner. A perfect symmetry between visuals and Vangellis's music. The images have shaped countess Sci-Fi movies, TV series and printed media since it's release. It's the bible for making Sci-Fi. 5) Once Upon A Time In The West. Breathtaking, slow, memorable, great acting, and Enio Morricone's immersive score. Sergio Leone's direction, camera work and setup is what you see throughout Quentin Tarantino's work, his greatest inspiration. Much as I love QT's work, best to watch and learn from the master. Sergio is quoted as saying "I make silent films", hence the reason why the camera lingers on it's subject so you take in all the details, facial inflections, breathing etc. He forces you to study the scene. Hence in the initial shooting of the boy at the beginning of the film, you don't see the shooters face, he's dressed in black, so must be the villain. As the camera follows him over about 3 minutes it slow turns round to focus on the deep blue eyes of Henry Fonda, who despite his age of 63 at the time of making the movie, had never played the bad man. Found out recently, both Morricone and Leone went to the same junior school, and it wasn't till after they first collaborated together that either of them knew. Propose the same question in a years time, and the selection will be slightly different. Rewatching old movies I watched in my youth I'm finding completely different films and experiences. Great way to wile away retirement.

With the demise of Hakkasan last year loosing their Michelin stars at both the Mayfair and the original Hanway Place restaurants, which was then closed within months after the 2024 announcements, London lost 2 of it's best Chinese / Asian fusion eateries. The Mayfair resturant still exists, but current reviews are showing the resturant is slipping. Will be over next year, so will make a point of visiting AngloThai. Did notice the options for Thai wines / spirits are limited, also a bit of a surprise was the omission of Cornish wines, given John Chantarasak's Cornish upbringing after his family left Thailand. Still, the menus and wine lists look interesting. Cheers @reader for the article.

On duty at Table 16 watching all those that enter.

Also add M2M and Candy Bar in terms of hybrid shows. Plus the midnight pool-side show at The Venue can often show a revealing outline or two! For pure slease, then you can't beat Nice Boys over in Sunee.

Guido confirmed he is looking at both Jomtien or Bangkok as options for a new resturant.

Happy to report, the cat was on duty last night.

One of the first decisions that Lee Kuan Yew made in 1959 was passing English as the first language "to maximise economic prosperity". Which coming as a former British Colony was already widely spoken. For Thailand to prosper it needs to embrace the international arena more, as currently it's reputation is one based on tourism, rather that manufacturing or service industries. To conduct trade you need to communicate, which on a 1:1 basis can be executed via mobile phone translation Apps, an experience we are all familiar with, yet in the commercial / business world a common language is a necessity, and it's called English. The other key point the capital needs to address is the physical logistics of moving about. Bangkok is sinking at approximately 2cm per annum, that's before you factor in any rising sea levels due to Global Warming. With an average of 1.5m above sea level, you don't need a large abacus or calculator to work out this should be the big priority. Historically Bangkok had the solution, ie the klong, yet as European influence grew in the 19th and 20th centuries, the former "Venice of The East" gave way to the mess of roads we have today. With the drive for EV, this will compound the issue further, as EV vehicles are on average 30% heavier. Is there a solution to make Bangkok more liveable and more like KL or Singapore?. You could charge 106,000USD for the right to own a car on a 10 year license, tax imported cars double their initial retail value, ban petroleum based scooters and only allow e-scooters like they do in Singapore. Would the Thai populus support this? It would certainly make Bangkok more pleasurable to visit. Brainstorming ideas is one thing, but implementing is another, enforcement is a third. Culturally Thailand is good at the former but only on their own, but the changes required and their enforcement is where the issue lies, it's not going to happen, certainly not in our lifetimes.

Had an issue last year, in that my Landlord applied for my TM30 whilst I was out the country. So technically invalid. My Landlord used a friend who works at Soi 6, who ensured my Landlord this was still valid. Landlord obviously believed his friend, after much insistence on my part, my Landlord applied for a new TM30 and was fined 1600THB for not applying within 24 hours of my Visa stamp in my passport. What was interesting, I know my landlord rents another property, so despite passing on details for how to register for the Online system and request for free, he insists on paying his friend. I know he was loosing money, as my Lease Agreement had a clause I was liable for 400THB per additional TM30 after the initial move in, he was paying his friend 500THB each time.

Down to the law. In Thailand there is The Hotel Act and The Condominium Act. In short, The Hotel Act covers short term rentals, whereas The Condominium covers the organisation of a Condo. There is no clause in the Condo Act covering rentals, however this is traditionally covered and the Rules and Regulations of the Condo, and administered by the Juristic Person / Officer that all owners have signed up to. Condo owners can short term rent (less than 30 days) their Condo, however, this would be regulated under the Condo Rules & Regs, and whether the owner has obtained a Hotel License. A Hotel License can be applied for an individual room / unit as well as the whole building. Some Condo's have done this to cover all units, thereby allowing individual owners to short term rent their unit. If you check on AirBnB for Thailand there is a category for Hotels that cover the traditional Hotel as well as 'Hotel Licensed' individual units. The other point to check, is whether your AirBnB owner forfills their legal obligation in submitting a TM30 within 24 hours of your arrival to Immigration informing them of your new temporary address.

If you don't have an Internet connection, then the Thailand Tourist Police can be contacted on 1155.

Wan Lai Naklua doesn't officially kick off till tomorrow, however about 30 minutes a go a convoy of 9 Utes just drove past my condo over in Pratumnak with a couple of the filled big blue water barrels and 3 or 4 fully loaded squirters in the back with the music blaring. Watched them take out a couple of scooters from the safety of my balcony. Half-a-dozen bottles of rosé in the fridge, F1 from Saudi Arabia starting tomorrow. Enough snacks to open a corner shop. Best of luck to those venturing out.

You are so right.

Is the Ministry implying the rack-mounted server wasn't up to the job? DellEMC servers are incased in 2mm thick steel cases, which are the same the world over and used by countless SME'S as well large Enterprises and datacenters, including those used by the government. Dell is the world's largest server manufacturer, shipping about 2 million units a year. To me the concern is the lack of rackmounting, as the server is sitting on a shelf, with additional equipment free standing above it, with what looks like a mouse to improve airflow. Plus the equipment below is also free standing and stacked on top if each other. You can gauge a lot by looking at an organisation's IT.

You'll be hard pressed to beat Barra Airport on the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The world's only commercial airport that has a beach as the runway. For those of you that remember the Crompton Mackenzie novel Whisky Galore!, based on the sinking of the SS Politician in 1941 off Eriskay, or the subsequent films, this is only 5km away, with people today still finding the odd bottle!

Would second the use of a Password Manager, especially as we use more and more online services. That way you can use passwords of greater lengths, as well complicating the password by using combinations characters, symbols, numbers and mixing of uppercase and lowercase. Also the use of more than one e-mail account, so keep your Banking / Insurance / Government activity from your online purchasing, as well forum's such as this. Also Geographic e-mails accounts, ie my Thailand activities are separate from my UK and Australian activities. Also don't use facial unlock, as anyone who grabs your phone can unlock it by pointing it at you before doing a runner. Same for a patten unlock, as it's not difficult to workout someone's code from a brief visual check of their slime-trail! As the podcast said, you'll only need to remember 1 password, plus whatever you use to unlock your phone, PC or tablet. If you only use a 6 character password made up of uppercase, lowercase letters, this is a 52 character string of letters (26 + 26), or 1 in 19,770,609,664 chance of cracking your password. Sounds like a big number, however would take a PC (Intel i5) a few hours to workout your password. More modern PC's are almost immediate.

Funny how you create an image of someone from their writings. I had you as someone with much shorter hair!

Absolutely, that's why I'll be heading down under in July for a month of good humoured Aussi banter, and stuffing you guys at Rugby.

Not sure if you have a PC, if so would recommend Music Match Jukebox (MMJ). I still use it to manage my old iPod Classic (2008). Allows you to store in .mp3 format, as opposed to Apple's preferred AAC format. So totally bypasses iTunes and any imposed licensing. Just uses an iPod to USB cable. MMJ was discontinued in 2007, but you can still find the software online. Works okay on Windows 10, not tried it on Win11 yet.

When I say living room, it was living room to us.

Remember back in the early '90s, I was on a stopover at Bangkok International Airport, as it was known. Now Don Mueang. Had 9 hours to kill before flight down to SYD. So went to the on-site Hotel. Sign outside said Discounts Available. Whilst booking my room enquired into their discount. Bloke spoke to his colleague who was checking in another solo traveller, we looked at each other, but decided to remain solo!