BjornAgain

Does remind me of an incident from my younger days. Was on a long weekend rugby tour from the Gatwick in the UK to Toulon in France. About 30 of us, so needless to say, a few were sunk waiting to be called. Our Entertainments Officer briefed everyone as to their duty. In the early days of Squeezy Jet (aka EasyJet, ie the same carrier as in the video), apart from the few that paid for front row or the over wing legroom seats, the rest of the plane was free for all. So everyone was tasked to get an aisle seat. As the the plane started to accelerate from the end of the runway, the command "Oars out" was shouted, having rolled up the in-flight magazine, everyone stuck their hands out holding their magazine, and when queued all bust out into the theme song from Hawaii-Five-O whilst rowing as the plane took off. All the passengers and crew had a laugh, in fact most of the passengers joined in on the singing, once airborne, normal service was resumed.

I would strongly support this concept, I worked in the UK and Australian music industries in the early to mid 80's, and artists and bands from that era are still top of my playlist. As those artists have matured I've followed their careers, most have 'retired early', but a few are still producing great music into their 70's or older. I would argue Peter Gabriel's I/O album of last year was his best ever, admittedly 12 years in the making, but still pushing boundaries, unlike the Strolling Gnomes who continue to flog a dead horse. The other thing with the 70's and 80's artists and bands is their musicianship when playing live, a revenue that's maintained many a lifestyle. Having worked the pubs in the early 80's there was choice galore for live music, today, hardly ever. Music shows still dominate TV, however in the UK now there's only one show giving artists a break, namely 'Later...', the Simon Cowell shows are heavily produced, so that whatever talent, emotion, songwriting and performance conform to their format rather than the direction the debuting artist wishes to promote. Having said that, I try and keep my ear to the ground, but not much grabs my intention.

One of those illogical Thailand things. You can't find bleach in the Supermarket within the normal toilet cleaning isle, you have to look in the clothes washing isle under clothes staining. Same % of sodium hypochlorite as in the west for household bleach (3 to 8%). This version 6%. Just tarted up my shower, so as @Olddaddy says above, or to quote from Sweet Painted Lady off the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album, "And we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds. "

The only place I know is Q Resort 24 Hours. Just tried to access their website but no connection. Location is:- You can book 24hour via the usual Booking Sites. So not sure if they've gone up-market or not and ST no longer an option. If you're local, suggest pay a visit.

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.