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LE SALON DES TANGO
BY ANTONIO PINEDA

The motorcycle taxi whips down soi 49, winds past Samitivej Hospital and deposits me at the entrance to a small sub-soi. A plaque against a wall marks the residence of His Excellency Don Felipe Frydman,  Argentine Ambassador  to Thailand. Felipe greets me at the door, a mirror by the entrance reflects red-white orchids flanked by lit candles.

An elegant crowd of tangueros sip cocktails in the tastefully decorated residence. Le Salon Des Tango is in full flower, a room looking out onto the patio throbs to the erotic strains of tango as couples dance and flirt. The walls are festooned with paintings by important  Expressionist Argentine painters Segui and Antonio Berti. Felipe escorts me to a corner and proudly shows me a sculptured bust of the immortal Olympian Victor Hugo crafted by Rodin.

Waiters in white jackets dispense red wine and empanadas, a small puff pastry from the old country filled with meat and vegetables. The wine has an exquisite bouquet of berries, flowers, and oak. Marcello Schwartz, an Argentine film maker now residing in Barcelona arrives, accompanied by his best friend David Blanco, a Catalan film director whose star is on the rise.

Marcello and I have spent the day working on a commercial film shoot organized by Dr. Ric Lawes of Location Thailand Films. The morning shoot took place at a training school for flight attendants, the premises were fitted out to simulate the interior of an airplane. Ric contends it is impossible to hire an airplane for the shoot and this facility offers the best value.  In between takes I read from my book du jour. a bio of French writer-philosopher- Simone de Beauvoir by Carol Ascher. The afternoon shoot takes place in Bang Na where a cafe has been set up to represent a location in Rome. The rico suave crowd at the dance party are in good nick as the room begins hotting it up.

I recognize a tango from the ancient gallery, La Historia de un Amor, a title popularized by the legendary actress-singer Libertad Lamarque. My mum and dad, God bless their immortal souls, loved this song. San Francisco possessed many Spanish language cinemas, tickets were 25 cents, mum and dad would take us en familie to  the cinema during the Golden Age of South American Cinema. I remember seeing the Libertad Lamarque vehicle that spawned the song.

The period also was my first exposure to the films of Sartre, Bunuel and Cocteau. It was an era when poetry and philosophy were  major influences in film, culminating in the New Wave of  Godard and Fellini. It is arguable that film culture has since been emasculated by franchise cinema, that art has been sold down river by crass vulgarians, but young avant garde film makers like David and Marcello who venerate Bunuel and Godard are prepared to take their literary and philosophical influences to film festivals world wide.

The guests of honor, Julieta Biscione and Roberto Castillo , take to the dance floor and dazzle the hip crowd with tango magic.They trained in Buenos Aires with Carlos Rivarola, Gloria and Eduardo, and Gustavo Naviera.The tangueros have performed in dance spectacles  Tango Emotion, Magic-Wine ana Tango, Tanguera, and Como Tango.

Their talents have been showcased in Paris, Madrid, Miami, and Budapest. They are gracing Bangkok with their artistry for two months, teaching and performing, then are off to a tour of Korea. The audience bursts into applause as they conclude their performance, the other dancers take to the floor, Carlos Gardel sings an ancient tango , Felipe partners a smashing Thai lady cheek to cheek.

Marcello and David Blanco are in the dining room , the table is set with a buffet of chicken, tortilla Espanola, spinach quiche, salad and other delicacies. I load up on the food and wine , David laments he must fly to Barcelona at midnight the following day to finish editing his film. Marcello will be shooting and editing his feature film here in Bangkok through January.

Felipe is in his element as well turned out guests continue to arrive, the wine continues to flow, and the dancers sway and hold court .Spanish and French, the languages of love and culture, echo and re-echo , I join Omar and a dashing blonde Estonian lady outside for a cigarette by the swimming pool.  A bar is placed at the back of the garden. We are living large in paradise.

At midnight I turn into a pumpkin.The film shoot and wine take their toll, it has been a long and eventful day. I bid our gracious host Felipe  a la prochaine, Marcello and David say their adieus , and we segue out , the party sizzling and burning on into the night. The midnight air is sultry and sweet, like a beautiful woman, a gentle wind sways the leaves on the branches of the trees that overhang the soi.  Marcello and David hop a taxi going west.

Melancholy and mellifulous strains of tango breathe in my brain as i hail a taxi and head east, bonhomie courses in my blood, romance languages sing in my synapses, the stars above  navigate the sky as the moon shines its eternal light oer Krung Thep- City of Angels.

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, nightlife, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

GNO NAIROBI RESCUE MISSION TO HELP BARACK’S BROTHER GEORGE HUSSEIN ONYANGO OBAMA

excerpt from blog entry by by I. Humphrey

Folks, remember you read it here first. Howard Shrine scoops Howard 100’s Lazy Langford, and the world news media.

Robin Quivers and her GNO (Girls Night Out) charity is spreading it’s wings, and expanding their mission — a mission that was formerly confined to helping the women of Eritrea — to now include a Nairobi rescue mission to help Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s half-brother, from the same father, George Hussein Onyango Obama.

George Obama is living a life of misery, and deprivation in a tiny Nairobi hut. He subsides on less than one dollar per day, and has to defend this minute domain with his fists. Barack last saw his brother in 2006. You can read more about George’s plight by CLICKING HERE.

26 year-old George Obama

Robin Quivers will personally spearhead the mission, and has already outfitted the GNO girls with Gucci safari outfits. Robin is also flying over her two jet skis to assist in the rescue effort. Luckily, Eritrea is only a short elephant ride from Nairobi, and Robin will be able to visit the Eritrea women, too.

Robin is bringing George Obama a new wool hat, and a Sirius Stiletto Radio. George is really looking forward to owning a new hat. Unfortunately, George lives on less than one dollar per day, and will be unable to afford to activate his new radio. Robin hopes to adopt George Obama, and bring him back to the United States. Robin’s plans include employing George to babysit her cats, and perform landscaping duties at her Hamptons mansion. However, at Howard Shrine we suspect the installing of the handsome, young, 26 year-old, ebony, hunk at her home has more to do with her sexual needs than her humanitarian leanings.

We wish Robin well, and Godspeed on her rescue mission. Robin has been quoted as saying, “In light of Barack’s awful neglect of his half-brother, I may have to switch my support to John McCain.”

For Howard Shrine Spews and Views, this is I. Humphrey saying, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother, Beyaaatch!”

posted by I. Humphrey at 7:37 AM

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Synopsis
Inyaki Andoni Goigochea comes to Madrid to seek his fortune. The young Basque is rounded up by corrupt Spanish police in a sting operation.He is tortured by rogue police who specialize in ripping off drugs dealers as a lucrative entreprise. In prison Inyaki is radicalized by ETA. On his release he tracks his torturers and blows them up with a car bomb.ETA claims the kill. Inyaki resurfaces in Argentina.

The philosopher Frederick Nietzche refuted the role of nationalism and race as a manifestation of the alleged master races. ETA utilizes the antecedents of the Basque culture ie language, cleanliness of blood lines, and the creation of a Basque state to fuel the conflict with Spain. The Franco regime galvanized the conflict by the use of torture and repression, ETA continues to wage war agaist the percieved injustices of the Spanish state.

I wrote Down and Out in Bangkok to expose the fault lines of this seismic conflict. The story is based on truth not fiction, These characters and events exist, as a society we have been too blinded by political obfuscation to percieve universal truths.It is the duty of the writer to reveal such. Chapter 13 set in Argentina is a powerful testament to the historicity of terrorism.

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The death of the Spanish dictator Generalissimo Franco in 1975 ushered in extreme changes in society. The political compass swung from extreme right to left, and from the ashes of fascism emerged the phoenix of a new art movement, La Movida Madrilena.

This glorious epoch intrioduced new faces and injected modern values in Spain. The premier flamenco dancer in Iberia was Antonio Gades. The country aped the western penchant for sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

A young actor, Antonio Banderas, son of a policeman from Malaga, came to Madrid to seek his fortune. Pedro Almodovar, a young experimental film maker, was beginning to create intriguing portraits of the new society, utilizing super-8 film as his medium of choice.

Spain evolved from a repressive, conservative society into a liberal and modern culture with a vibrant night life in the grand tradition of La Dolce Vita. Cannabis became the intoxicant of choice, young people demanded the right to party, Meditteranean enclaves like Ibiza, Benidorm, Marbella and Torremolinos exploded in a torrent of sun, surf and sex.

Once again in the guise of bespoke poet, attired in blue silk suit  matching shirt and tie,  I cross the threshold of the Foriegn Correspondents Club in Bangkok to attend  the screening of Almodovar being hosted by Leika Shankar, the title is High Heels. My tailor will do anything for money.

I liasie with film maker cum agent Kaprice Kea, he introduces me to a young Argentine film director Marcello Schwartz. Marcello now resides in Barcelona, but is in Bangkok to shoot a feature film. The Rioja begins to flow. Producer- director man for all seasons David Winters  arrives with Lady X, a member of Papillon, a band David is chronicling in a documentary, in collaboration with Capital TV queen bee Raine Grady.

David is now in pre-production for the film Chasing The Dragon . The star is action hero Wesley Snipes. Best known for his work in film titles like The Money Train and the vampire trilogy Blade, Wesley will bring his athletic and charismatic skills as a martial arts star to the Land of Smiles.  The production will be casting in September.

The film will be shot on location in Thailand as was his last motion picture The King Maker. Hollywood actor  Ron McCoy graces our table next with his loveley lady , Ae.  Three Starlets  make a glorious entrance and join us. Meena was featured in the motion picture, Croc. She introduces her smashing friends Didi and Ann. All eyes in the house fix on these beauties as they join our entourage. Are we having fun yet mes cher amis. No baby, I would rather be in Singapore being caned and flogged for being a political dissident and cannabis activist.

La Movida Madrilena challenged the status quo. Les Joglars, an underground theatre in the tradition of The Living Theatre tore down the walls of hypocrisy. Antonio Banderas worked in the early Almodovar films and attracted world wide notice for his sexually charged performance in , Tie Me Up Tie Me Down.

This film caught the attention of Madonna, who championed the career of the new Latin Lover. Banderas inherited the mantle last held by the great Gilbert Roland, last in a lineage that began with Valentino and Navarro.

Roland worked with Valentino in the eponymous bullfight epic Blood And Sand. Gilbert is famous for having tied on  a cummerbund for Valentino for the bullfight scene. Roland possessed a rugged physique . craggy good looks, a matinee idol pencil thin moustache and drew women like a magnet while being admired by men. Banderas embodies all the same attributes.

Almodovar is an unusual director best known for his revealing portraitures of women. He is often accused of being anti-male. Yet it is important to realize that Spain is a very macho society.Indeed the origin of the word machismo is attributed to Spain. His cinematic voice is unique and personal, the success of his films a tribute to his intelligence.

Ms Shankar introduces the film and a pretty representative of the Spanish Embassy, Loreto,  explains to the audience the significance cultural and political, of La Movida Madrilena. Loreta comes to our table, I introduce her to David, they converse re a future project David has on song, a dance spectacular set in Spain that would return him to his roots as a dancer in the classic film, West Side Story. Loreto introduces me to Jaime Fa, an attache with the Spanish Embassy.

We sneak out to the terrace for wine and cigarettes as the film rolls. Jaime and I engage in an animated debate re my novel in progress, Down And Out In Bangkok, which explores the subject of ETA and tne conflict for Basque independence.

Marcello joins us and diverts the conversation to the feature he is casting, the shoot will begin in October. Jaime and I both remark that the film scene in Thailand today is analagous to Spain of decades ago when Almeria was the capital of the genre known as spaghetti westerns. Both enjoy low production costs and exotic locales as well as high production value

Kaprice rings my mobile. He has escaped with Meena, Didi and Ann to a party at a new venue, Glow.  He invites me to join them. Leaving in my wake a trail of Rioja and good craic as the Irish say  I roll deep as the film credits signal the conclusion of the film.

On the street a light drizzle falls, the night sky is overcast, the air cool and moist from the monsoon rain. I hail a taxi and instruct him to take me to Glow, for the night is young, red wine is singing in my veins, and I have long to go before I sleep.
PEDRO ALMODOVAR AND LA MOVIDA MADRILENA
BY ANTONIO PINEDA

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, film, filmfestival, hdtv, nightlife, sxsw, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: 2 Comments

“Laid back”. That’s how Mashable top dog Pete Cashmore described Austin, Texas in an interview with AustinLifestyles at the Summermash party at Buffalo Billiards in the heart of Austin’s 6^th Street live music district.  Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins of Mashable described Austin as “comfortable and intimate, you had no problems striking up a conversation.” 

Mashable put together a list of Austin’s most important technology blogs and AustinCast.com – sister site of AustinLifestyles.com – wound up on that list in some pretty great company.

Here’s the list with a few excerpts from the blog entry at Mashable:

1. Austin 3.0 - A website designed to give the “younger Austin Geek a place to see what is going on in Austin.”
2. Austin Startup - Austin Startup is simply a news site that chronicles the goings ons and creation of new tech sector business in the Austin area.
3. AustinCast - This site is a frequently updated hub for video and audio interviews of local area movers and shakers in the technology scene. He’s published over 100 video interviews with the likes of Veronica Belmont, Pete Cashmore, Zadi Diaz, Cali Lewis, Lindsay Campbell, and Leah Culver as well as a number of local heroes to the Austin scene.
   
4. Austin360 - This is the official New Media offering from Austin’s reigning Old Media institution, the Austin-American Statesman.
5. GeekAustin - Probably one of Austin’s oldest tech blogs, LinearB’ and Orion have been chronicling the gaming, business and tech communities of Austin since 2000.
6. Michelle’s Blog - . . . she’s a very active leader and figurehead to the new, young Austin Tech community, and has her hands in just about everything.  Her personal blog reflects all the myriad of ventures she’s involved in there.
7. Josh Dilworth - Josh is over at PR group Porter Novelli, based in their Austin office. Amongst all his many work related projects like SXSW, he has quite visible presence amongst those in the online Semantic and AI community as well as an avid participant in a number of widely used social media tools. I was recently a guest on a podcast of his, Falken’s Maze.
8. John Erik Metcalf - John Erik Metcalf is a major figure in the Austin scene as well, as he’s a co-founder in one of the town’s two co-working spaces: Conjunctured
9. Social Media Club Austin - The site describes itself as “part think tank, part curiosity, all new media” and is a repository for all that is going on in the “business networking event” scene for the Austin area.
10. Some Assembly Required - a self-described “business development and networking blog” authored by Thom Singer.
11. The Jeff Beckham Weblog - Jeff is an Austin area blogger who focuses his posts on the evolution of media, specifically in relationship to how the Internet is forcing transformation on not just media industries but “the word itself.”
12. Door64 Blog - The blog for Door64, the forum and community portal for the Austin-area tech community.

If you an Austin area blogger and want to be added to the OPML file email Mark at Mashable to be included in the next version of the list.

Download Now! (OPML) (import this into your favorite feed reader)

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BY ANTONIO PINEDA

I lord it up at the wrap party  producer Raine Grady hosts at Ali Baba a hip venue in Pattaya. The shoot by award winning  British director Lab Ky Mo has gone down a storm.  Locations varied from the fashionable Peppermint A-Go Go  to the Orchid Massage Parlour and the sexed up strets of Pattaya. The table is laden with the finest viands and spirits, the cast and crew of the film title, Monks and Mamasans grace the table.  Raine is a striking Australian woman who is the ace face behind Capital TV and the popular tv show title BLING, which highlights the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  She possesses  violet eyes in the tradition of Liz Taylor and has a background in ballet and Highland dance. A fine Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile is lighting up the house. Lab and the principal players, Brendan Mackey and Geoffrey Giuliano hit the set. Brendan was featured in NINE DEAD GAY GUYS, the debut award winning indie film by Lab Ky Mo, a young Brit film maker who teaches screenwriting and film at  the London College of Art and Print near Elephant and Castle in London. Brendan is one of the bright young faces of cinema, and the recipient of a RADA scholarship sponsored by the great actor, Anthony Hopkins. Everyone is in high spirits, i share a toast with Bunny, a cool Thai film actress. I eat like a lion and drink like a fish. At midnight I bid the cineastes adieu, and prepare myaself for the obligatory visa run.

I board the Air Asia cheapo flight to Singapore with 500 US dollars in pocket. I should have everything sorted out in 36 hours. I present myself at the Thai Embassy in  Singapore, fill out the requisite forms, and stand in line. This Embassy has a reputation for being rude and devoid of politesse. I hand the woman behind the counter my paperwork, momey and photo. She demands i show her 1200 singapore dollars or no visa. I show her my bank book in Bangkok and my assets on hand. She demands to know my profession. I respond that I am a novelist, poet, and film actor. She contends I am fabricating the aforementioned and denies me a visa. Dude this bitch needs to be spanked. I have forgotten this is a city built on conformity and social order that worships financial discipline and denigrates art, high philosophy and human rights. Pot smokers are legally subject to being caned, a few ounces of pot will get you executed. Dada is death signs are posted everywhere. The Japanese, another conformist society have a saying. The nail that sticks up must be hammered down. The non conformist in society must be repressed. The Spanish culture of a century ago named this sort of person a CONTRAPELOS, literally against the hair, a person who sttod out against conformist society by combing and flaunting their hair against conventional morality. She gives me a proper tongue lashing and tells me not to darken their door until I conform to their standard, returns my application and fee, as all the other wankers in the queue snicker at my distress.

I hit the street. I am well screwed. I can not go back to Bangkok. I can not go anywhere else  on limited cash flow. I am on the mean streets of Singapore. I contact my soul brothers at United Air via the internet. They graciosly arrange for me to fly back to San Francisco on companion tickets, passes the airline issues to employees for family and friends. My marching orders are to proceed to the airport at midnight and crash on the floor until 7AM . I hang out in downtown Singapore all day and make it to the airport at the witching hour. Time to crash on the floor til morning. I celebrate this august experience with a poem.

Singapore, city without sin
cast ye the first stone
whip and cane all ye who smoke pot
Dada is death, execute the infidel

Down the path of hellfire
there is no respite for the wycked
cane the buttocks stroke by stroke
keep the city free of sin

Everyone should be like we
no pardon for I and thee
shut up and pass the whip
and dont you dare to trip

The lady behind the check in counter gives me a seat on the flight to Tokyo. A connecting flight  to San Francisco awaits me. I land in Tokyo, fresh out of luck, the connecting flight is overbooked. Two flights to SF go by without an available seat. I am condemned to another night of porridge. Dude this suffering for your art is getting old.  The next night I luck out and ride the hobo jet set rails to SF in business class, compliments of my UA sponsor Sal Castro. I arrive in SF looking like a refugee from a hobo camp. I smell like I just got out of prison.

San Francisco affords me the chance to crash at the crib of the celebrated art curator and founder of the Blotterati Art Movement , Mark McCloud, otherwise known as McFly. My Family and supporters come to my rescue with enogh flow and lolly to get me back to Bangkok. I had been being considered for a bit in the Jean Claude Van Damme casting and Ric Lawes  of Location Thailand Film  had me up for an Australian commercial. These chances went down the toilet thanks to this brouhaha. Dude that bitch needs a spanking. The Sf poet Joe Shakarchi pays us a visit. McFly gives him an extended tour of the Blotter Art  MUseum. Joe regales us with news of Beat poet Michael McClure. I first met Michael via my association with the Straight Theatre in SF back in the days of flower power. We did a show at the Avalon Ballroom. Michael performed a reading of his Ghost Tantras. Also on the bill was another gifted poet, Ed Bullins, an African American playwright well ahead of his time.

McClure was one of the legendary participants at the Human Be-In, along with his fellow Beat Allen Ginsberg. The torch of the Beat culture was passed on to the counterculture. Michael also had his theatre piece, The Blossom, part of his Billy The Kid trilogy performed at the Straight Theatre. He was instrumental in introducing me to Jim Morrison, the rock poet and lead singer of The Doors. McClure gained fame and notoriety when his production of The Beard was staged, first with yeoman film and stage actor Richard Bright, and then recieved its most contreversial staging with  the mercurial Richard Pryor. The play takes place in eternity, perhaps an allusion to Sartre and his legendary play, No Exit. The characters are Jean Harlow and Billy The Kid. The denouement caused a furore, the play ends with Billy The Kid engaging Harlow in an act of cunnilingus.

After a week in SF the underground got me enough lolly and UA companion tickets to return to Bangkok. Attired in my tailor Lucky Rickeys best blue suit with narrow red and white pinstripes, I cut a dashing figure as the stewardess escorts me to my seat in business class and fetches me a glass of champagne. As the plane soars through the clouds I am consumed by one poetic thought. Dude that bitch needs a spanking.

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Tony on flickr on SaffronSicko’s photostream.

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These are my links for July 27th through July 28th:

• chrisbrogan.com - one of the best social media and marketing sites on the web. It’s a must daily read if you’re a social network addict, like me.
• Social media camp at the Thistle Cafe 300 W 6th street in Austin - social media camp at the Thistle Cafe on 6th street the same day as the Mashable event.
• Austin 3.0 - If one were to look at the slew of Tech events happening this week, you?d think we were gearing up for SXSWi. Instead, it?s 104 degrees outside, and it?s just another eventful week in Texas; it?s time for our mid-summer stretching exercise.
• AgencyTool Web Design Dashboard - best web design, development, marketing and website maintenance resource I’ve every seen. Excellent! Five Stars. *****
• Web 2.0 Mashup: Best of the Internet Today -

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These are my links for July 21st through July 25th:

• Ad Revenue Sharing Communities & Forums | Social Web Tools - social communitys that share revenue with their users
• Leveraging Social Media by springnet - Connie Reece and Paul Terry Walhus present “Leveraging Social Media” at SEOforSMB in Austin Texas on July 17, 2008.
• Deanna Zandt randomdeanna / Linkwad - Short-n-sweet Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and the Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. Interview at http://austincast.com/blog/
• | LivingSocial - recommended by MichelleMMM on del.icio.us
• 50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing | chrisbrogan.com - 50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing
• How to Be Interesting | Copyblogger - Be wrong: The world is full of people trying to do the right things. It?s become so common that many of us are bored by it. We long for someone that is willing to do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, be the wrong thing

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These are my links for July 13th through July 16th:

• Five Ways to Build Your SMB Via Social Media Marketing : Online Marketing for Marketers - 5 primary strategies for building small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) via social media marketing. This post is a summary of my presentation, for those that couldn?t make it to Austin.
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Services Portland Oregon | Anvil Media, Inc. - Search Engine Marketing for High Performance Companies Anvil Media, Inc. (Anvil) is a search engine marketing (SEM) agency specializing in search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) management, search engine marketing public relations (SEM PR)
• http://seesmic.com/#/video/iXR1hYyDEF/watch - boiling down the basics of SEO
• The Definition of Social Media Marketing: How to Find the Best Social Media Consultant » techipedia | tamar weinberg - The main characteristic [social media marketers] need to have is a genuine curiosity/interest in social media, particularly on how it influences human relationships and business practices.
• Search Engine Optimization for Small Business - SEO Blog: Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing :: Get Page One - And the co-founder of our humble SEO company, Brian Rutledge, will be talking about search engine optimization for small business at the SEM for SMB conference in Austin, TX. More on that later!
• Video SEO for SMB?s: What Does Standing Out Online Really Mean? - consumers typically visit an average of nearly five Web sites (4.8 actually) before deciding which attorney to select. When lawyers added video to their respective Web sites, however, this number decreased fairly substantially, to 1.8.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - seo blog aggregation. Guy Kawasaki’s alltop seo page. SEOmoz, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable, SEO Book, Search Engine Journal, Matt Cutts, SEO Noobs, Google News Inside, SEO Blackhat, SEO by the Sea, Search Engine Watch, Stepforth SEO, etc

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HIGH ART AND UNDERGROUND BANGKOK RADIO
www.ubradio.net
BY ANTONIO PINEDA

Once again it is time to resume the guise of bespoke poet. I suss out my vestuary designed by my bespoke tailor in Bangkok Lucky Ricky. Black silk suit and shirt are complemented by blue tie. I am back in black, bespoke spake Zarathustra. quoth the poet evermore. I roll out into my hood, hop the BTS train to the end of the line and stand at the pier overlooking the river waiting for the boat that will take me to the Hilton Hotel on the other side.

The boat pulls up to the quay. A blue flag with the Hilton logo on the stern flutters in the wind.The dusk casts its spell over the Chao Phraya River, the clouds hang low over the water,  other craft cross our path, the boat is chauffered by a bloke in a faux sailor suit, as the boat cuts through the waters until we dock on the port of the Hilton. Night descends upon the splendor of the Bangkok skyline as I traverse the market place nearby redolent with flowers and handicrafts being hawked by the vendors.

Next to the requisite 7-11 stands the VER Gallery. Reinhardt Frais, a prominent collector and figure in the Bangkok art scene greets me upstairs. He introduces me to the artist Pier Luigi Tazzi. His influences are in the sculpture and paintings of 15 century Florence, French Impressionists, Gauguin-Picasso-Van Gogh, Papuan carvings and Japanese art. This bloke is rolling deep in the street . I am down by law with his rap.

The underground film maker Antoinette Aurell and I spark a conversation re her work. A tall striking woman of Japanese and American descent, she is working on the film title Crone. Agnes Varda, Vivienne Westwood, the iconic fashion model Verushka and other feminist intellects are explored in her film in progress. Jason Rosette a film maker originally from Ohio who trained in film at NYU hits the set. We met at the Bangkok International Film Festival where he was pimpimg his film title, Susan Hero. Jason lives in Cambodia where he is prominent in organizing the Cambodian Film Festival. Jason bears a striking resemblance to John Cougar Mellencamp, the rock star from Indiana.

We repair to the dock outside where Tassi has prepared his performance art installation, It consists of several brass braziers which are lit ablaze, the flames flicker and flare in the night  spreading an evanescent glow as the winged stars course overhead. Jason and I decide to continue the party at the UBC live podcast at Khao San Road. We hit the road and catch a taxi.

The taxi drives paralell to the river, crosses a bridge and deposits us in front of the scene of the crime, We enter the Espresso Bar. DJ  Apple greets us, and I order a dish of Pad Thai. Upstairs in the studio proper Dj Manow, managing director of Underground Bangkok Radio is setting up the broadcast. Daryl  hunches over his computor, rapping and toasting he begins his intro, a lovely Thai girl in a white dress emerges from the shadows. DJ Magick Muffin is the star of the show. She is charismatic and a breath of fresh air after the usual dude check me out DJ dominated scene. DJ Magic Muffin smiles as she dances behind the turntables. The audience claps and dances in place.Good cheer spreads, a posse of her women fans and admirerers come on the scene like a sex machine, the joint is wired for sound, and it is once again time to turn on, tune in and trance out.

Last week the broadcast featured DJs with a Gallic twist, Serge rocked the house, followed by Baptiste and Will. The French Connection had bottles of vodka on ice. The house party was warm and convivial. The French know how to live baby. DJ Magic Muffin sexed up the set with her brand of twisted musique electronique as DJ Manow flashes among the cogniscenti and Daryl utilizes his Brit cool to pump up the volume with hip voiceovers. Apple breaks out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red. Jason pours me a stiff one , courtesy of DJ Apple who runs this wonderful enterprise. Jason contemplates filming this underground experience for a future project.

DJ Magic Muffin has the house party in the palm of her hand. The crackling beats are hooked up to speakers on the sreet. The Bangkok night resounds with alectronic music, trendy, young and tricked out they wander into the orbit of its spell, and the house party gathers momentum.Manow and Magic Muffin are outside at a table on the pavement smoking cigarettes. I join them and thank her for a great night of music. She kisses my cheeks. Like Clint Eastwood said as Dirty Harry, make my day. Jason  joins us and takes photos with his digital camera to commemorate this event. The UBC broadcasts are attracting the most creative elements in the City of Angels, as the broadcast winds
down the crowd threatens to take the party to a hip venue in the hood.

This is a movement whose time has come. The music is as far away from middle of the road radio as one can get. The hip intelligentsia is fed up with the mindless pap available , and want to rock down the road of good musical taste.  Like all generational youth movements they possess their own sense of fashion, music and art and do not want to be dictated to by the Big Brother is watching you New World Order. Time to roll back to my crib. I have an underground indie film shoot in Pattaya to prepare for. I bid adieu to the crew of the bold and the beautiful. Jason and I exchange ideas for a film shoot, the beat goes on baby. I jump into a taxi and ruminate on the words of the poet. Bespoke spake Zarathustra.

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, film, filmfestival, movie, nightlife, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

These are my links for June 28th through July 9th:

• ContentRobot | Blogging & WordPress Experts - awesome wordpress site with plugins and themes
• FlyCamOne2 Micro Video Camera for RC Aircraft from Hobby Lobby! - FlyCamOne2 Micro Video Camera for RC Aircraft from Hobby Lobby!
• Josh Highland : Internet Superstar - classic social lifestream webpage, a guy who lives in Redlands, CA
• TweetDumpr - This is a hideous tool that can be used to export your entire Twitter timeline to a CSV file, readable by any spreadsheet application (Excel, Numbers, etc.). Exported data includes the tweet plus a timestamp of when it was sent.
• Technology Review: Social Networking Is Not a Business* - In less than two years it has created the underlying structure for more than 20,000 social-networking sites–”mini-Facebooks” with an aggregate of 300 million page views per month. You’ve probably never heard of it.

|| tags: Uncategorized author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

I am honored to announce that I have been invited to attend the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival on June 27 to launch my own documentary produced by John Patrick Patti, and directed by Robert Dunlap: “Xaviera Hollander - the Happy Hooker, Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary”.  From July 29th to August 1st this documentary will be shown on  West Hollywood International Film Festival.

After  years of hard work, editing, and re-editing , adding new music scores and slaving  away to make this documentary a success, my director  Robert Dunlap, producer John Patti  and I myself  are proud to say that our film won THE AWARD AS BEST  FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AT THE PHILADELPHIA FILM  FESTIVAL  on June 29.

We have been invited for two more “red carpet treat” Film Festivals, including the one in West HOLLYWOOD, starting July  25  and ending  August 1. More details to follow.

Links:

www.philadelphiaindependentfilmfestival.blogspot.com/2008/06/liberating-movements-of-men.html

www.expatica.com/nl/life_in/interview/The-other-Sex-and-the-City_-The-Happy-Hooker.html 

 www.expatica.com/nl/life_in/int_life/Re_introducing-Xaviera-Hollander.html

 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xaviera_Hollander

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, film, filmfestival, movie, sex, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

JADE DRAGONS WANDER THE WASTELAND

Sea lion dreaming in the surf
the roaring waters seduce dreams
clouds float,drift oer the turf
the rough and ready shore screams

Jade dragons wander the wasteland
tread, breathe fire on ivory sand
as turquoise dawn its soul reborn
and the gods do mans follies scorn

Empire of ecological immolation
hold earth in necrophilic passion
quest for wealth and its temptation
plunge humanity into  aberration

Sadism and its disordered appetites
inflicted, whipped upon the planet
earth raped by capitalist catamites
who drive into its throat a hatchet

Base philosophy of market forces
usurps the art of mans divinity
oil, precious metals courses
through the veins of unholy trinity

Dragons,soldiers of Divine Intelligence
like the sea lion will become extinct
an augury of deviant grandiloquence
Hermes prophecy of doom intact

The grass with diamonds of morning dew
dragons consume and devour
sea lions fish and mate in Auroras hue
as man prepares his final hour

Renascent high philosophy must rise
from the tomb in which it is interred
ride the dragon capture the prize
velvet panthers revenge conferred

Earth will soon be mined and spent
victim of of dark latent desires
the invert demanded pleasure in rent
for their sins may they burn in forbidden fires

|| tags: poem author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

Starting today, I’m going to start a series of reviews, accompanied by screencasts, of reviews of social networks, social bookmarking services and social media sites on the Spring.  You can see my initial list there which I’ll be modifying as this series goes along.

Listal is a social networking site where you can find people who share your tastes in movies, books, music or games.  Lists and collections are shared via a simple url like (in my case) http://springnet.listal.com and they give you widgets to plug in to your blog or website.

The site stands out for it’s tight integration of tagging, friends, finding others, forums and messaging.  The “explore” feature is hot, it lets you scan through reviews of movies, tv shows, books, games, dvds, and music. 

|| tags: Uncategorized author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

XAVIERA HOLLANDER THE HAPPY HOOKER
BY ANTONIO PINEDA

Last summer i was invited to read from my novel in progress by Mila Jansen at the Hemp Bar in Amsterdam. I crashed at the crib of my dear friend Michael Burke on the Johannes Verhuylstraat, not far from Leidseplein, in the heart of the city. Xaviera graciously invited us to a literary luncheon at her place. Michael and I set out on bycycles, over the bridges and canals, under an unusually clement and warm Dutch afternoon. Xaviera has represented for decades a formidable combination of Eros and Logos. She has published a dozen books , been transposed into film , and her ouevre cultivated modern feminist authors like Erica Jong and Camille La Paglia.

Xaviera welcomed us inside, introduced me to her husband Philip, who took me aside to show me his cannabis plants. An eclectic mix of artists, authors, and the occasional sex worker graced the table.The magick puff preceded the luncheon, the wine flowed and the bonhomie enlivened the conversation. Xaviera graciously accepted a copy of my lysergic noir novel. Her abode also serves as a bohemian style Bed and Breakfast. She entertains her international guests and admirers with sexy stories from her past served with a dollop of humor.

The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival  will screen  a documentary film directed by Robert Dunlap re her work. The provocative title is, Xaviera Hollander, The Happy Hooker, Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary. Xaviera will attend the screening and answer questions from the audience.She will also sign and dedicate her latest book co-authored with Katje van Dijk with the delicious title, The Happy Hookers Guide to Sex-69 Orgasmic Ways to Pleasure a Woman, published by Sky Horse Publishing.

Xaviera will be making two more book signing appearances at the Passional Boutique and Delicious Boutique. Her debut publication, The Happy Hooker, published in 1971 sold 16 million copies, its humor and zest for life continues to atract converts. She resides part of the year in Marbella, Spain, produces English Theatre productions in her houses in Amsterdam and Spain , and is always reinventing herself.

A musical based on The Happy Hooker is being made by Warren Wills and Dick Hansom. It will be a sexy, saucy celebration of the period 70-75 in NYC, the story of Tart with a Heart set against the backdrop of love, lust, and a dose of mystery and intrigue. She remains an icon of Sexual Freedom and Epression to men and women world wide.

The literary luncheon has gone down a storm. The magick puff makes the rounds as we enjoy the coffee and Cognac . I invite Xaviera to my reading at the Hemp Hotel, she politely declines as she has other plans, but promises to send her posse to represent her. Ever the perfect hostess she accompanies us to the door and kisses us good bye. We mount our bycycles and ride back to the hood, warm and tipsy from the feast of friends. It is far too easy for the Establishment to marginalize her place in literature. Polite society finds her ouevre threatening. Yet high culture and philosophy exists to challenge the Status Quo. Guillame Appolinaire understood that pornography had its place in literature proper. French tradition in literature and art reserves Eros dominion to be celebrated in the arts. Perhaps that is why on the bicentenary of the great Victor Hugo, or the centenary of Jean Paul Sartre , millions of French nationals take to the streets of Paris to celebrate the contributions of these extraordinary free thinkers. America does not manifest the same interest.

William Faulkner was perhaps the most respected author in America of the first half of the 20th century . He was lionized by European writers like Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene, Simon Beauvoir, Camus and Sarte. In the USA however his literary star was confined to a smaller readership. Hollywood provided him with financial gain, his screenplays for the noir classics, The Big Sleep And To Have and Have Not raised the rent. His international stature as a litterateur resulted in the Nobel Prize in 1951. He and other American writers like Thomas Wolfe ,Sherwood Anderson  and Willa Cather did not recieve the respect due them in their own country.

Harold Pinter in the UK defines the process of poet, dramatist, screenwriter and intellectual for the last half of the 20th century. His screenplays for Joseph Loseys productions of The Servant and The Go Between remain classics to this day. His theatre pieces promulgated a renaissance of modern British theatre. He never stopped writing poetry and expressed his strong political views on the dystopian nature of the new world order. Like Faulkner he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He has acted in theatre and film. This renaissance man grew up poor in the East End of London and fought his way to the top , but never forgot the contribution made by literary outlaws to the evolution of art and the opposition to dark government forces.

I am ready to roll to the Hemp Bar. Michael and I strike out into the night on our trusty bycycles. The Hemp Bar is a cosy venue, notable for the inclusion of hemp beer, wine, spirits and of course plain smoking cannabis on its menu. Mila Jansen greets us,  she is a pioneer in the free cannabis movement, a striking woman who made the concept of a Hemp Bar cum Hotel  into reality, and the audience assembles,  as the sweet scent of cannabis wafts through the room. Mila has assembled a crew of Amsterdams bohos and intellos, charming scallywags and underground artistes.  True to her word, Xaviera has sent a posse of her people to grace my reading. Eddie Woods the poet holds court. High above the Amstrdamned, the ambiance is sly and fly, this city of progressive, liberal thought loves art and Eros. The reading is full on and goes down well, afterwards we socialize and mill about, smoke and talk trash , it has been a night to remember. Michael and I navigate our way back to the crib as the fog rolls in like pea soup.

I board the black and yellow train to Schipol Airport at the Central Station.  I reflect on Xaviera and her body of work, as well as the influence she has had on society. The film directors and producers Martin Zweiback, Michael Sorenson  and Allan Sussman  all contacted me to relate the influence Xaviera wielded over them in  their halcyon youth, liberating them from the repressions of bourgiose society.  Xaviera is notable for her dignity, humanity, and sexuality, The train speeds throgh the city and deposits me in the subterranean bowels of the airport. I check in, board the plane to Bangkok. Amsterdam represents a totally autonomous zone. These zones are defined by the pirate enclaves in the Carribean that were kingdoms unto themselves, Paris in the 1920s at the height of the surrealist revolution, and San Francisco in the 1960s during the flaming apogee of Flower Power. Autonomous zones existed as laws unto themselves, by nature they explored freedom of expression and sexuality. They were the by products of free thinkers and extraordinairy social times, political confrontation and metaphysical exploration. Some new world order always appeared to crush, supress and drive these movements underground. High above the Amsterdamned I soar, chilling on vodka-tonics, musing over the wonderful people and events of this magickal city.

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, nightlife, sex, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

These are my links for June 16th through June 27th:

• bub.blicio.us - social networking blog, really smart content
• Summize Conversational Search - another killer app du jour for twitter, conversational search
• All I Ate Today - clever little food app somehow connected to twitter
• austinlifestyles’ bookmarks on del.icio.us -
• Derbyshire Writer?s Guild - - Crysty Shih is now heading this major fanfic site for jane Austen aficianados
• Social Media Club Austin - You’ll find a number of social media types hanging out at Cafe Caffeine as part of the Jelly! Austin co-working scene. Come join us.

|| tags: Uncategorized author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

Irresponsible agriculture and ruthless deforestation
the poet searches to define his times and social fabric
the train with defined social order has left the station
human behaviour controlled by government rubric

Eve sacrificed Adam to possess secret knowledge
the fall from Eden in the shade of vernal leaves
leaving humanity balanced on the knifes edge
the past bathed in a golden light memory siezes

Tis time to reshuffle historys stacked deck
to cease setting dogs loose to hunt and kill foxes
whores, bums, gangsters,the odd redneck
ride the train drinking with bent pols in first class boxes

In place civilization with its eternal cycles
of love, war, birth, death and ressurection
driven by dreams fired in the kiln of circles
beware your soul the train has left the station

The trains destination a gilded city of sin
backwater ports full of vice and cocaine
duped in the dives you have been taken in
you are destined to forever ride the train

Shanghaied aboard The Flying Dutchman
never to touch land , never to rest
seduced and abandoned by Fates courtesan
we sail a mare incognita of our own behest

Aimless the wind furls the ships sails
it soars  and flies on the wings of a falcon
strange voices are heard as the train rides the rails
Shanghaied and damned by Fortunes Fountain

The forces of Eros can not be contained
lust for empire Logos trumpeted and proclaimed
beware the netherworld of damnation
beware for the train has left the station

|| tags: asia, bangkok author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

BY ANTONIO PINEDA

Bangkok author Richard Rubacher and I roll off the BTS train at Siam Station and wend our way to La Scala, venue for the Bangkok International Film Festival. We go to a desk where Umberto, a charming bloke from the Italian Embassy, issues us VIP passes. La Scala is a marvelous piece of movie theatre architecture. Luxurious and well appointed in the style of the ancien regime, we ascend the stairway and repair to the Segafredo Espresso bar, as Retorno a Sorrento plays over the sound system replicating the atmosphere of a Fellini movie,  Richard and I oorder double espressoes and kick back.

The elegant foyer begind to fill up with a hip, trendy crowd. We engage Charles Vincent, an official from the Belgian Embassy in cinema talk. The wine bar is now open. Italian wine ,  full bodied and tasting of berries and flowers, is the orderr of the evening.  I swish it to my palate, a most excellent vintage, and head to the pasta booth, organized by Andreas Bonifacio who is running the show. The pasta is served with a light pesto sauce, my wine glass is refilled as is my plate, my cup runneth over as Andreas informs me his catering service is run in conjunction with Zanotti, a high end celebrity circuit restaurant favoured by the in crowd. La Mer aka Beyond The Sea plays in the background evoking memories of the late Bobby Darin who popularized the French song in America.

His Excellency the Argentine Ambassador Felipe Frydman makes a dashing entrance. He is in good form, he and Richard talk Tango as they are both avid Tangueros.I encounter Mikhail V  Baranov, Minister Counsellor Deputy Head of Mission from the Russian Embassy.We hit the velvet gold mine as he and I mine the cultural skies. Alexandre Pushkin and Anna Akhmatova provide the first course of this delicious repast. We exchange info re her romance with Modigliani in Paris, and her friendship with Pasternak,Brodsky and the young Yvegeny Yvtushenko. Andre Voznesesky, the poet immortalized by the Beats in America whom I had the privilege of seeing read his ouevre at the Fillmore in San Francisco back in the day. Voznezensky and Yvtushenko were published by City Lights in the pocket poets series in booklets titled Red Cats. Balletomanes to the core we discuss Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alexandre Godunov. The film producer Martin Zweiback and his lovely lady Virginia join the party. Martin regales us with stories of working with Katherine Hepburn. We are rolling deep in the street baby, the brain cells are hotting up.

I hit the wine bar and my agent Kaprice Kea introduces me to Helen a loveley lady from the Bulgarian Embass. I inform her Sofia formed the location for the opening chapter of my noir novel, The Magick Papers. The foie gras complements the vino rosso and nobody here is in pain. We enter the theatre proper. The Italian Ambassador, Ignacio Pace opens the festival and introduces the film to be screened titled I Am Emma.  Emma Sonno Io was ditected by Francesco Falaschi.  Emma sufers from a bi-polar disorderin check with medication, one day the medicine runs out with disastrous effects.

The highlight of the Festival was the screening of the Martin Scorsese film, My Voyage in Italy. A journey through Italian movie history, it is an informative introduction to Italian cinema. Scorsese explores his own formation as a filmmaker, and pays tribute to great Italian films and filmmakers. Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Fellini, Antiononi, are all part of this moveable feast, Titles like The Bicycle Thief and La Strada  from the school of neo-realism. La Dolce Vita, La
Aventurra,  Umberto D and more sre a cinematic passion as Scorsese offers up sensitive and intuitive insights into the evolution of high cinema. Itis a must see for all lovers of cinema as Paris is for all lovers haute cuisine and romance. So mes cher amis I bid you all adieu from Bangkok til me meet again and take a trip through the parameters of culture and La Dolce Vita.

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, film, filmfestival, movie, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

These are my links for June 15th:

• Qik On IPhone: Qik Video Streaming Finally Comes to iPhone - Wow! When I was interviewing the geekalicious Cali Lewis at SXSW I asked her what she was most excited about and she started bouncing up and down and shouting to Neail. Qik! Qik! Bring me Qik. Quick!
• Summarized SEO Tips from SMX Advanced - Part 2 - Search Engine Guide Blog - The SEO panel provided a few examples of the great widgets and applications they use to make their life easier. Here are a few, including my own favorites: * SERPH: track the ?buzz? of yourself and your competitors using this handy social search
• Future Jets Owner Gary Vaynerchuk Brings Thunder to Austin ? Damon Clinkscales - @damon Fortunately, I brought my Flip Ultra and I captured 60 minutes of pure Gary for your viewing pleasure. Keeping with the tradition of WineLibrary TV, these videos are unedited.
• Not An MBA » fiercely independent - InnovationCamp #1 is two weeks from today! Being a first, there will inevitably be loose ends, chaos, and some pesky problems on the day. Without risk, though, there is no reward? @juliegomoll
• Austin Coworking - An interview with Drew Jones - LaunchPad Coworking Blog - Drew: Austin is the perfect community, and GSD&M Idea City is an awesome space for Innovation Camp. Julie and I share a GenX/Boomer fascination with the creative energy that is out there among designers young and old. June 28 @juliegomoll

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THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Beware the dog days of summer
when good and evil are kissing cousins
sky bright with the winged horse of thunder
the honeysuckle beckons and threatens

She resides in the genetic lacunae
drinks in the bars of Hollywood Boulevard
wild pagan fecundity her animae
glassy filaments of brain evoke a communard

Long ago, gallant lover on a black stallion
when her pride and honor were still intact
around her neck  glowed a gold medallion
seeds of their fall planted in a bloody tract

She lost touch in a quest for sexual fulfillment
her dusty heat of red pomes and white flowers
brought dark laughter sans contentment
Furies  possessed with cruel and evil powers

He was blacklisted from the Hollywood Hills
broken on the rack reserved for the intello
she lost her soul on bourbon, powders and pills
he decayed in cormorant Times braggadocio

He was imprisoned by American religious salvationism
sanctimonious self righteousness, extraordinary rendition
for detestation of cant, they accused him of terrorism
to be interrogated and broken in some secret prison

She sold him out for silver and thrills to forces of espionage
he was doomed by the power politics of adultery
the revenge of The Organization Man with state patronage
the tigress flexed her paws, luminous death has no mercy

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

These are my links for June 4th through June 12th:

• Themes - Tumble-hybrid Deuce is a cleaned up version of the original Tumble-hybrid theme. Please follow the directions outlined in the original Tumble-hybrid post to install and use this theme.
• The Life of an Internet Bedouin ? Damon Clinkscales - Future Jets Owner Gary Vaynerchuk Brings Thunder to Austin “I?ve been tracking Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary TV ever since the day that Dan Benjamin told me about the sale of Corkd to this sorta zany character with a wine show on the web.” - Damon Clin
• springnet > Tweeterboard : Conversation Analytics for Twitter - dashboard, gets love, gives love, box score, links
• LaunchPad Coworking ? Coworking in Austin, Texas - Austin Launchpad coworking gets green light from the City to build. Sept 2008 is start date. @juliegomoll
• Alltop, all the top stories - Guy Kawasakis daily news aggregator

|| tags: Uncategorized author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

These are my links for May 27th through June 2nd:

• PR 2.0 - As much as media and blogger relations drive traffic and increase your user base, we can?t overlook the importance of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, DIGG, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Ge
• Uniting Austin’s Startup Community | Startup District - Austin’s startup district forming and creating a coworking space in East Austin, Texas
• One Egg, One Hundred Baskets: Social Media Leverage - Social Leveraging squeeze goodness out of the tools that are free strategy acts as platform wrangler drags big names of social media, networking and aggregation together. create one page/blog post that hits on social aggregator ften different directions.
• WiiiZZZ - What has been listened to and shared today no Twitter . . .
• Tim’s Quicktime VR Panoramas : QTVR - @timpatterson picked a digital camera, an inexpensive Fuji FinePix A205, and decided to get back to creating Quicktime VR panoramas for fun and he has a Google Map of all my QTVR locations in Austin!

|| tags: Uncategorized author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

UBRADIO.NET–UNDERGROUND MUSIQUE ELECTRONIQUE
DJ AMNESTY ROCKS THE HOUSE
BY ANTONIO PINEDA

I contract a motorcycle taxi outside the Grace Hotel in Bangkok to take me to Khao San Road, the Bohemian sector of town. The motorcycle rages and swerves through traffic, it is a sultry eve , the rainclouds above dark, thunder booms signalling the advent of rain. We cross Khao San Road, continue on until we are at the door of musique electronique genius DJ Manow. He greets me and welcomes me to his crib.

DJ Manow is taking me to witness the first live broadcast of Underground Bangkok Radio. DJ Amnesty, a cool Brit dude is the featured artiste on location at the Sri Poom Expresso Bar. The broadcasts will promote the talents of the best young Thai and international DJS representing the best elements of the electronic music scene. DJ MANOW leads me down the road in his hood, past the Blues Bar and a brace of hip restaurants until we hit the site of the broadcast. The scene of the crime is chilled out downstairs, DJ Apple a cool Thai bloke is behind a turntable. We ascend the circular stairway to the second floor.

DJ Amnesty is setting up shop for the two hour broadcast. The studio is remarkable for a collection of 1940s radios and tv sets encased in old mahogany woodwork of yore. A large window overlooks the street, on view is the cool street vibe. The players arrive on the set. Daryl is in the house, a hip Brit who is on the UB Radio team. The Mellow Mushroom Crew headed by Mark Weinstein join DJ Manow, bottles of Chang and Heiniken appear on the tables. Pierre a minamalist DJ from India talks trash and DJ Amnesty kicks the show into overdrive. He consecrates the event mixing and rapping, doing voiceovers as the flow of avant garde house-trance-minamalist-trip hop burns the airwaves.

Blue lightning flashes outside as rain crashes against the windows creating a percussive effect as the raindrops add a naturalistic beat to the raging dance music on air. Downstairs an eclectic audience is gathered around the bar seeking refuge from the monsoon rain. Amnesty is toasting and roasting, the electronic music scene in Bangkok is attracting name DJS from all over the world. Venues like Culture Club, 808 in the RCA complex, Q-Bar, Bed Supper Club and a host of others are bringing it on.

The internet is changing the face of underground music and now the elements are in place to substitute the bland commercialism of middle of the road, predictable radio with the saucy sounds of the real deal beats. Amnesty is rolling deep now, deep in the street, the bass line is thumping, drums sound in the night, orchestral effects in the background as he pimps up the backbeat.Undeground Bangkok Radio will bang out music in perpetuity and the internet site will feature access to the best music downloads and information on the planet.

Pirate radio of long ago is brought to mind. The inaugural broadcast winds down as Amnesty gives a shout out to his fans and listeners and busts a move while playing AMBUSHED. We pop outside for a smoke. The air is cool, the rain fizzles to a stop, the players discuss the merits of Chicago legend Frankie Knuckles who is gracing Bangkok with his presence.Knuckles started as the main man in THE WHAREHOUSE, a NYC venue where he made his bones, his influence has spread world wide, young DJS and technocats are blazing new frontiers as they turn on, tune in and trance out.Time to blow this honky tonk. I thank Amnesty and Daryl, check out with Manow and the Mellow Mushroom Crew and jump into the taxi, spinning out past Victory Monument back to my Bohemian crib.

Tango, Tangoing: Poems & Art

While the ostensible subject here is dance, Mong-Lan is brilliant at suggesting layered, ever-shifting perspectives, meanings, and voices.  These complex poems are, at times, aesthetic mediations, dissections of human relationships, internal monologues, and political inquiry. That Mong-Lan succeeds at such an ambitious project in writing that is visually striking, musically complex, unabashedly erotic and deeply intelligent, is testimony to her very great poetic talents.  This is a marvelous book, one I’ll return to again and again. –Kevin Prufer

Tango, Tangoing: Poems & Art
Poetry and Pen and Ink Drawings
of Tango Dancers by Mong-Lan
Valiant Press, Spring 2008
Ask for it at your favorite bookstore, or go online and order directly from bookstores such as Amazon.com
ISBN: 978-0-6151-8800-3

|| tags: Thailand, asia, bangkok, blog, blogging, culture, expat, nightlife, thaiblogs, travel author: A Pineda comments: No Comments

TANGO, TANGOING, POEMS AND ART
ILLUSTRATIONS AND POEMS OF MONG LAN
WRITTEN BY ANTONIO PINEDA

Born in Saigon Mong Lan fled Vietnam on the last day of the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. She recieved her Mater of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona. She was the recipient of a Wallace E Stegner Fellowshipfor two years at Stanford University, and was a Fullbright Fellow in Vietnam. She is beautiful and complex. Her skills are as poet, writer, painter, photographer, and Argentine Tango dancer.These obsessions offer valuable insights into her manifestation of the creative process

Her paintings and photographs have been exhibited at diverse venues such as the Capitol House in Washington DC, galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and in public exhibitions in Tokyo, Bali, Bangkok and Seoul. Labyrinthine influences create a literature rampant with the vortex of the dream stste and the Byzantine architevture indiginous to the poet. She has taught creative writing and poetry at the University of Arizona, Stanford University, and the University of Maryland. Her poems have been translated into Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Serbian, Spanish, Tamil, and Vietnamese.

The  Tokyo Tango Journal, about the dynamic Argentine Tango scene in Tokyo was created and published by Mong Lan. Her paintings and drawings illustrate the visionary acumen and poetic vision endemic to Tango. The Tango scene in Bangkok is booming , she brought her talents as poet and dancer to Bangkok. We met for the first time at the Bangkok International Film Festival at the screening of the Argentine award winning film XXY. We next interacted at her memorable poetry reading at the Tamarind Cafe, a night still savored and remembered by the intelligentsia of Krung Thep-City of Angels.

Tango possesses elements of mystery , sexuality and excess, exploring the art of surface and symbol. Those who read the subtext of symbol do so at their own peril. The verbal ricochet of poetry merges with the ephemeral sensuality of dance. The cultivation of aesthetic pleasure is found in exaltation. High art is contrarian and dissident by nature.Mong Lan may find definition in a favorite aphorism, behind the image, the imagination. The surrealist aphorism which which was the cultural manifesto to their artistic revolution was , the only thing forbidden is to forbid.

Her latest volumme of poems-,Tango, Tangoing, Poems and Art reflects her training in Buenos Aires with great dance masters. It is a fully illustrated publication of 132 pages of scintillating poetry. Literature is the highest art form, noble and severe.The real and unreal explore the perameters of life and art.Mythopoetic forces can not be denied but must be indulged and exalted. Incarnations of Erotica and high philosophy reign supreme in the congress of the sacred and profane revered by true poets and litterateurs.Argentine writer Borges calls it …the voluntary dream of creative inspiration.The femme boheme at war with bourgeois convention.

A writer is prone to dramatize his or hers fragm