I’m quite excited at the moment, about these five things in particular.
Lost Season Three
I got hooked on Lost earlier this year. At first I wasn’t all that interested in the show as it seemed like just another fad. I hadn’t got into a TV series in any depth since the X-Files, and even then the more recent episodes became rather tiresome.
A friend of mine left Thailand and gave me the DVD sets of the first two seasons. I think I kept them for around two months before I decided to actually put the first disc in and start watching. I wasn’t even sure what it was meant to be about, other than a group of people crash landing on an island. It all sounded a little cliché, but after watching the first episode I was hooked instantly. I was definitely not expecting all the mystery of the island and the seemingly supernatural elements of unfolding events. It’s bloody brilliant.
There is always something intriguing going on, and there are always questions that I am just dying to have answered. More often than not the questions are replaced with more questions and answers are few and far between, but this makes it all the more enthralling.
At the end of the second season I was really left thinking ‘what the f-ck?’ The third season began on October 4, and the first episode was awesome. I am still no closer to finding out what is really going on, but I am hooked already and will probably explode with anticipation at the thought of the rest of the season. People who don’t like Lost need their heads checked.
Kurt Angle in TNA
I have no shame in admitting that I am a fan of pro-wrestling. The fascination began at an early age, some 17 or 18 years back, watching wrestling shows on ITV in the UK. Once I got onto WWF, or WWE as it’s now known, there was no turning back. It’s entertaining and I have no quarms in owning up to that.
Most recently the WWE’s product became a little dull, so I started watching TNA wrestling instead. TNA is a four-year-old company that has been making waves and attempting to move in on the monopoly WWE has at the moment. TNA’s product is interesting and, if I’m honest, I prefer the lower budget feel of the TV shows and pay-per-views.
What I love most about TNA at the moment is that Kurt Angle just jumped ship from WWE to lead the way for the only rival company on the scene. It’s the biggest thing to happen in pro-wrestling since WWE acquired WCW. It’s got me excited anyway.
Back to school
I’ve reached a point in my life where I need to make some decisions about what I want to do with myself. I’ve been In Thailand for almost a year-and-a-half now and career wise I don’t feel like I am really going anywhere. I have gained a lot of experience but I think that if I ever want to progress from the depths of amateur journalism and writing then I need to take active steps to do so.
For this reason I have decided to go back to school. I have a real desire to begin learning again and to read my MA. I am currently looking at options in the States. It seems like it is going to be a long process of applying for courses and looking for scholarships, but ultimately this is my goal at the moment and it has given me a new sense of direction and something to aim for.
Reading
Just recently I’ve started reading again. I used to read avidly as a youngster, but then something happened when I got to secondary school and I seemed to resent the very idea of picking up a book. How foolish I was.
Since coming to Thailand I have discovered reading again. It started with Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code.’ I enjoyed it so much that I finished it within a couple of days. It was a great read, not amazingly written admittedly, but it was certainly enjoyable.
More recently I came across ‘In Arcadia’ by Ben Okri. It was recommended to me by a friend who I used to work with at Business Day. I fell in love with Okri’s intricate way with words. It was unlike anything else I had read before. The narrative was at first written entirely in the first person, but then, out of nowhere, it reverted to the third person. The transition was so smooth that I didn’t even notice it and had to go back and reread the book to see where it happened. Only a true craftsman can create that sort of beauty with literature.
I now wish I had spent less time playing Dreamcast and more time getting into Orwell.
DJ Premier in Bangkok
It was recently announced that there will be a DJ festival in Bangkok at the end of November into early December. It’s only being held at two venues, QBar and Bed, so it isn’t much of a festival, but one of the guest DJs will be DJ Premier. In terms of hip hop producers, I have always preferred RZA to Dr Dre, but somewhere between the two I rate DJ Premier. He’s a great beat maker and I can’t wait to see what he brings to Bangkok.
Also appearing at the festival will be Doc Scott and Jazzy Jeff. It promises to be an exciting week.