REGULARS
A look back to 2006
For the past few years at this time I like to have a look back at how the speculative funds, I recommended at the beginning of 2006, performed by year-end. Parts of this article are similar to last year except of course fund performance, which is given to the end of 2006
Into February now and by this time most expat's heads are back to normal and facing the reality of another year. Probably if you're like me, the New Year resolutions are already history but we could restart them from Chinese New Year or perhaps Songkran would be better.
If we are lucky enough to be in a position to have a portfolio of savings, then this is the time you should really have a good look at it. It has been my experience that after a long good relaxing holiday that when I finally get back in the groove of living I have always been more relaxed and decisive about the decisions I make.
After all what is the point of having a portfolio of savings? To most people it determines, not the quality of life, but certainly our standard of living. We take an income from it and hopefully that income goes higher every year and our standard of living improves every year- Just as happened to most of us when we were working. Of course if our portfolio is not working very well then urgent action should be taken to make sure that it does. Just as if you were an employer and a worker was not productive then you would have replaced him or her.
For most people living in the Hua Hin area that made a conscious decision to retire here that was, in retrospect, a pretty adventurous decision. People like you are generally not the type to keep all your savings in the bank and settle for a little interest. More than likely you are prepared to take some chance with your capital as you realize that over time inflation despite being at record lows for a long period has not gone away and is still a threat to our standard of living. Most of you will probably have a balanced portfolio and dependant on age and risk tolerance will have a certain amount of your investments in speculative investments. That part of your portfolio should at least have equalled the following performance. If not, think seriously about change because this has been an outstanding year for growth as the following figures show.
The following are all Swiss based funds. Last year I recommended readers to go for these funds. If you took my advice then let me know about it because you will have been a big winner. In the future, I will combine my recommendations to face-to-face interviews with investors for obvious reasons. (One of course could be egg on my face if things go wrong.)
The first column shows year to date performance when I recommended them to you.
The second column shows performance for the year to December 31st.2006.
Fund Name
Merrill Lynch Emerging Eur. +71.90% +39.34%
Merrill Lynch Japan Opp. Fund +60.75% +1.00%
Fidelity Agg.European Fund +38.54% +17.76%
J.P.Morgan European small caps. +43.41% +36.13%
J.P.Morgan Latin America Equity A +75.39% +39.34%
Vontobel Far East Equity fund +33.60% +18.61
Fidelity Funds American Fund +28.74% -1.14%
Sector Funds
Pictec Biotec +29.50% +4.83%
Merrill Lynch World Mining +66.40% +33.74%
Performance As quoted in “OBSERVER” End of 2005
Performance End of year 2006
Despite poor performance by Fidelity in America and the continued unpredictable Japanese market, the balance of these recommendations has shown remarkably good performance. These are actual performance figures for the past year, double-checked and certified.
Look around for advice. Don't think that just because the “Observer” in Hua Hin is a long established provincial monthly magazine and deals mostly and very well with local issues that you wont get great advice here. Keep an open mind. You could have paid Goldman Sachs or J.P.Morgan big bucks for advice and let me ask you if their recommendation would have been better than you could have read here. We're not called “Money Wizard” for nothing.
Also it is important to stress that this is not a general recommendation for all investors. It is only a recommendation for part of your portfolio and a face-to-face meeting is recommended before taking any action. With that warning however, if after viewing these figures you are still not prepared to take a chance with some of your portfolio, I'm sorry to have wasted your time
For those with financial savvy, and especially for those who followed these recommendations last year, I would love to hear from you.
Your comments appreciated to info@swissinvestcenter.net
Mag's Page
Spotted a few weeks ago in a well-known Sunday newspaper was an article by a female columnist on a subject dear to our hearts. The sudden disappearance of our favourite cosmetics.
This will strike a chord with all normal women. We expend a great deal of time - not to mention cash - searching for the perfect colour, texture and finish of whatever product it might be. Nice packaging helps, but more importantly the lid of the compact should ideally outlive the contents.
Only one thing is more annoying than the premature collapse of a compact, tube or jar, and that is to go for a replacement only to find the product has been discontinued.
It had happened to me shortly before reading the above Sunday article. Having found a particularly good Boots blusher and used it to oblivion I was shocked by the absence of the whole flippin' range. You know the feeling. Wandering around Boots in a bemused and disbelieving state. Trying another branch before the reality finally sinks in.
Someone up there has decided that we don't want Rose Truffle Beige Crème Stick anymore. Oh how wrong they are!
And don't even THINK about approaching an assistant for help in finding a suitable alternative. They give you a pitying look while mentally calculating your potential spending power/ gullibility/ level of desperation (Mostly spending power).
No. At such low points in your life it is safer to retreat and take time to re-consider the situation.
Thinking about it though this is by no means a new phenomenon. A few of you ladies out there might just recall Pink Peril. Not to be confused with Pink Witch - which was a make of bicycle - Pink Peril was a shade of lipstick universally worn in the ‘60s. Don't ask me who made it because the brain cells don't reach that far back, although a friend thinks it might have been Miners. All we needed to know in those days was that it was sold in Woolies and was easily affordable out of 5 bob a week pocket money. The cheap plastic tubes nestled beside Panstick and it was just always there, like Saturday Club and the Archers. Until one day it was no more, and we were forced to begin a search, which for most of us has lasted a lifetime.
Now of course we understand that it is all to do with Marketing and Big Business. Change and spending are forced upon us by the simple tactic of discontinuing the products that we like.
Many of you will remember compiling your wedding gift lists, which always included tableware in a particular design by Royal Doulton or Denby. We were assured that our chosen design would be available for years to come, and preceded to accumulate the obligatory 12 piece place setting plus tea service plus tureens plus a gravy boat complete with its own little saucer.
At first the odd broken plate could be replaced straight away. Then it had to be ordered and took a couple of weeks to arrive. Gradually though the orders took longer and longer to fill, until we began scouring the sales for ‘seconds' until finally our prized pots were no longer produced.
With hindsight it was maybe a blessing in disguise because, lets face it, we had become sick of the sight of the stuff and were ready for a change anyway.
Makeup doesn't quite work like that though. Granted we probably wouldn't want Pink Peril in these days of more subtle/creamy/age defying/uplifting/SP15 products anyway, and we certainly wouldn't want vibrant pea green ‘60s shadow. But it would be nice if products stayed on the shelves for at least a year. It's the whole hassle of finding something else as a matter of urgency isn't it?
My own search led to some half price offers in Marks and Sparks where some cute little pots of ‘crème cheek colour' caught my eye. The colour looked right until it hit the cold light of day and morphed into a shade of deep rose mud. Not that it really mattered because on application it disappeared completely anyway.
Then a friend flashed her faithful old Body Shop powder blush compact. Perfect. A good colour, hopefully not too expensive, and brush included. The very next day I rushed into Body Shop and..... yes, you've guessed, it was discontinued.
So the search continues. Earlier though I mentioned that old faithful Panstick. Any of you still using the cement-like cover all substance can rest assured that it is now in its 60th year and shows little sign of giving up the ghost. Apparently it is loved by makeup artistes who no doubt have the training and skill required to apply it properly.
More on built-in, and accidental, obsolescence next time, meanwhile Happy Shopping!
d'Geek
Toyota Alcohol Detection system
Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption.
Cars fitted with the detection system will not start if sweat sensors in the steering wheel detect high levels of alcohol in the driver's bloodstream. The system could also kick in if the sensors detect abnormal steering, or if a special camera shows that the driver's pupils are not in focus. This would cause the car to be slowed to a halt.
The world's No. 2 automaker hopes to fit cars with the system by the end of 2009.
I-Phone
Apple has confirmed its move into the telecoms industry, unveiling the long-awaited iPhone. Users will be able to download music and videos with the phone, demonstrated by Apple boss Steve Jobs at the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco . Mr Jobs praised the phone's design and told the audience the “magical device” would “revolutionise the industry”.
The phone, which will cost from $499 (£257) for the 4GB model to $599 for the 8 GB one, will be launched in the US in June and Europe later this year, although Asian consumers will have to wait until 2008.
With the iPhone, it seems that Apple may have surpassed the expectations of even its most demanding fans. The immediate reaction was one of delight that Apple had combined a widescreen iPod, mobile phone and Internet device in such a slick and stylish gadget.
Most excitement is being reserved for the new user interface, which allows users to touch the screen to make calls and listen to music. Some experts though question whether the phone will be compelling enough to make a real impact on the market. Others are concerned that the hefty $499 price tag is just a little too much to pay even for the latest iconic Apple design.
The touch-screen came about as a result of Steve Jobs frustration with existing mobile phones' usability. The new designs means users simply need to touch an icon on the iPhone's 3.5-inch screen to make a call. If another call comes through, users touch a second icon. A third icon allows them to merge the calls into a three-way conference call. Few doubt that the touch-screen technology could have the same impact on the phone market as the motion-sensitive controls of Nintendo's Wii console seems to have had on the games market.
But others point out that it is not the first time Apple has dabbled with touch-screen technology.
“Apple had its first go with its Newton PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Other companies like SonyEricsson and Nokia have also had a go at touch-screen devices and the arena is littered with casualties. It is apparent that the usability of the touch-screen and how well the keyboard's predictive functionality works will be crucial to the device's success. Smaller innovations such as the phone's accelerometer, a movement sensor, which automatically detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape and changes the contents of the display accordingly also catch the eye.
An immediate problem that Apple must face is the legal action taken by Cisco Systems over the iPhone name; Cisco Systems is suing Apple for trademark infringement in a US federal court, for using the iPhone name. “We think Cisco's trademark lawsuit is silly,” Apple spokesman Alan Hely said. “There are already several companies using the name iPhone for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) products. We are the first company to ever use the iPhone name for a cell phone, and if Cisco wants to challenge us on it we are very confident we will prevail.”
Cisco, which has owned the trademark since 2000, said it thought Apple would agree to a final document and public statement regarding the trademark.
“Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name,” said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice-president and general counsel, in a statement.
The firm has owned the name since it bought Infogear Technology in 2000, which registered the name. Infogear had previously used the name for several years, said Cisco.
Cisco, which supplies networks, said it would seek to stop Apple from “infringing upon and deliberately copying and using” the trademark.
Jon Noh, a spokesperson for Cisco said: “This issue is not about money, and it's not about the phone itself; it is about Cisco's obligation to protect its trademark in the face of Apple using it without our permission.”
Cisco's Linksys arm has employed the trademark since early 2006, and in December it launched its own phone, capable of connecting to the Internet, called the iPhone.
Pocketsize solar power
People capture only a tiny fraction of the energy the sun produces every day--1/10,000 of its output, according to NASA. Solar panels on your roof can cut down your power consumption. But even with government incentives, they typically take years to make up the initial upfront cost. What about small-scale solar? Can the sunlight on your windowsill make a dent in your energy bill and help the planet?
The answer is yes. There are several solar-powered electronic rechargers for your cell phone, iPod or laptop. And for the culinary-curious, solar ovens can replace polluting charcoal briquettes on the barbeque. That's not to mention solar fans, lights, radios and backpacks.
Solar Style sells a couple of solar chargers. It offers a $55.99 kit that includes adapters to different cell phones but also works with digital cameras, game machines and digital music players. A full charge in the sun, either indoors or outdoors, takes between six and eight hours. A charge from an outlet takes four to five hours. Folded up, it looks like a regular cell phone. But when you pop it open and put it in the light, Solar Style's $30.99 charger plugs into a handset to give it a power boost. The company sells its chargers as an alternative to lugging around battery packs looking for an electrical outlet.
Solio, whose motto is “Plug into the sun,” sells several solar chargers for on-the-go gadget totters. The Solio Universal Hybrid Charger, which comes in many colours, including pink, can work from the wall socket or by soaking up the sun. One hour of sun time gives you one hour of playtime on a digital music player. As a bonus to the green buyer, the $99.95 charger is 100 percent carbon-neutral, as the company offsets its energy use by planting trees in protected bio diverse forests.
Rather than wire up your driveway or yard with lights, solar garden lights such as these can absorb energy from the sun during the day, then store it in rechargeable batteries for the evening, when they power LED lights. These lights cost $15.95. And if you need to start a fire but don't have a match, there's the Solar Spark Lighter for $11.95. It uses a parabolic shape to generate heat in one spot.
You can power up your electronic devices while on the move. Solar bags, like this Voltaic Solar Backpack, generate a charge for gadgets inside the bag. A light indicates when the bag's at work generating a charge. Prices range from $199 to $249.
If you're tired of replacing batteries on your portable radio, Soltronix has a $44.95 solar-powered headset that can operate in as little as 30 percent sunlight.
To get power for larger devices, like laptops or video cameras, you need bigger portable power products. Brunton, a company that specializes in outdoor gear, has a foldable, thin-film solar panel. The Solaris 26, priced at $399, has a maximum output of 26 watts. It can fold up be 11 inches by 8.5 inches and 1 inch thick.
ARTS & CULTURE
Constructivism and Bauhaus
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural movement in Russia from 1914 onward (especially present after the October Revolution), and a term often used in modern art today, which dismissed “pure” art in favour of art used as an instrument for social purposes, namely, the construction of the socialist system. The term Construction Art was first used as a derisive term by Kazimir Malevich to describe the work of Alexander Rodchenko in 1917. Constructivism first appears as a positive term in Naum Gabo's Realistic Manifesto of 1920.
The artists of the movement were influenced by, and used materials from, industrial design such as sheet metal and glass. Often these materials were used to create geometric objects.
As a part of the early Soviet youth movement, the constructivists took an artistic outlook aimed to encompass cognitive, material activity, and the whole of the spirituality of mankind. The artists tried to create art that would take the viewer out of the traditional setting and make them an active viewer of the artwork. Most of the designs were a fusion of art and political commitment, and reflected the revolutionary times.
Vladimir Tatlin formed the movement, and later prominent constructivists included Manuel Rendón, Joaquín Torres García, Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo. The basis for the new movement was laid by People's Commissar of Education Anatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky with the suppression of the old Petrograd Academy of Fine Arts and the Moscow College of Painting in 1918. The focus for Constructivism in Moscow was VKhUTEMAS the school for art and design established in 1919. Gabo later stated that teaching at the school was focused more on political and ideological discussion than art making.
Kazimir Malevich also worked in the constructivist style, though he is better known for his earlier suprematism and ran his own competing group in Vitebsk. The movement was an important influence on new graphic design techniques championed by El Lissitzky.
The canonical work of Constructivism was Tatlin's proposal for the Monument to the Third International (1920) that combined a machine aesthetic with dynamic components celebrating technology such as searchlights and projection screens. Gabo publicly criticised Tatlin's design saying either create functional houses and bridges or create pure art, not both. This led to a major split in the Moscow group in 1920 when Gabo and Pevsner released the Realistic Manifesto that asserted a spiritual core for the movement. This was opposed to the utilitarian and adaptable version of Constructivism held by Tatlin and Rodchenko. The Constructivists main political patron was Leon Trotsky but after 1921 his support began to decline - the Communist Party could not afford to support a pure art movement, and as early as 1918 Pravda had complained that government funds were being used to buy works by untried artists. To distance themselves from Gabo, Tatlin and Rodchenko began to use the term Productivism.
In 1921, a New Economic Policy was set in place in the Soviet Union, and Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, and others made advertising for commercial enterprises. The poet-artist Vladimir Mayakovsky and Rodchenko worked together and called themselves “advertising constructors”. Together they designed eye-catching images featuring bright colours, geometric shapes, and bold lettering. The lettering of most constructivist designs is intended to create a reaction, and function on emotional and substantive levels.
A number of Constructivists would teach or lecture at the Bauhaus, and some of the VKhUTEMAS teaching methods were taken up and developed there. Gabo established a version of Constructivism in England in the 1930s and 1940s that was taken up by architects, designers and artists after World War II
In the 1980s graphic designer Neville Brody used styles based on Constructivist posters that sparked a revival of popular interest.
Bauhaus is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany that operated from 1919 to 1933, and for the approach to design that it developed and taught. The most natural meaning for its name (related to the German verb for “build”) is Architecture House. Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture.
The Bauhaus art school existed in three different cities (Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932, and Berlin from 1932 to 1933), under three different architect-directors (Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 to 1933). These changes of venue and leadership meant a constant shifting of focus, technique, instructors, and politics. When the school moved from Weimar to Dessau, for instance, although it had been an important revenue source, the pottery shop was discontinued. When Mies took over the school in 1930, he transformed it into a private school, and would not allow any supporters of Hannes Meyer to attend.
Gropius in the conservative city of Weimar founded the school in 1919, as a merger of the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts (Grossherzogliche Kunstgewerbeschule) and the Weimar Academy of Fine Arts (Grossherzogliche Hochschule für Bildende Kunst). Most of the contents of the workshops had been sold off during World War I. The early intention was for the Bauhaus to be a combined architecture school, crafts school, and academy of the arts. Much internal and external conflict followed.
Gropius argued that a new period of history had begun with the end of the war. He wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap, and consistent with mass production. To these ends, Gropius wanted to reunite art and craft to arrive at high-end functional products with artistic pretensions. The Bauhaus issued a magazine called “Bauhaus” and a series of books called “Bauhausbücher”. Its head of printing and design was Herbert Bayer.
The early Weimar Republic largely subsidized the Bauhaus. After a change in local government, the school moved to Dessau in 1925, where the civic atmosphere was more industrial and progressive. After the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, a school of industrial design with teachers and staff less antagonistic to the conservative political regime remained in Weimar. This school was eventually known as the Technical University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and in 1996 changed its name to Bauhaus University Weimar. In 1927, the Bauhaus style and its most famous architects heavily influenced the exhibition “Die Wohnung” (“The Dwelling”) organized by the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart. A major component of that exhibition was the Weissenhof Siedlung, a settlement or housing project.
Mies succeeded by Meyer, and then in turn Gropius. Under increasing political pressure the Bauhaus was closed on the orders of the Nazi regime in 1933. The Nazi Party and other fascist political groups had opposed the Bauhaus throughout the 1920s. They considered it a front for communists, especially because many Russian artists were involved with it. Consequently, many Weissenhof architects fled to the Soviet Union, thus strengthening the effect. Nazi writers such as Wilhelm Frick and Alfred Rosenberg called the Bauhaus “un-German,” and criticized its modernist styles.
The paradox of the early Bauhaus was that, although its manifesto proclaimed that the ultimate aim of all creative activity was building, the school wouldn't offer classes in architecture until 1927. The single most profitable tangible product of the Bauhaus was its wallpaper.
During the years under Gropius (1919–1927), he and his partner Adolf Meyer observed no real distinction between the output of his architectural office and the school. So the built output of Bauhaus architecture in these years is the output of Gropius: the Sommerfeld house in Berlin, the Otte house in Berlin, the Auerbach house in Jena, and the competition design for the Chicago Tribune Tower, which brought the school much attention. The definitive 1926 Bauhaus building in Dessau is also attributed to Gropius. Student work amounted mainly to inbuilt projects, interior finishes, and craft work like cabinets, chairs and pottery.
In the two years under the outspoken Swiss Communist architect Hannes Meyer, the architectural focus shifted away from aesthetics and towards user requirements. But there were major commissions: one by the city of Dessau for five tightly designed “Laubenganghäuser” (apartment buildings with balcony access), which are still in use today, and another for the headquarters of the Federal School of the German Trade Unions (ADGB) in Bernau bei Berlin. Meyer's approach was to research users' needs and scientifically develop the design solution.
And then Mies van der Rohe repudiated Meyer's politics, his supporters, and his architectural approach. As opposed to Gropius' “study of essentials”, and Meyer's research into user requirements, Mies advocated a “spatial implementation of intellectual decisions”, which effectively meant an adoption of his own aesthetics. Neither Mies nor his Bauhaus students saw any projects built during the 1930s.
The popular conception of the Bauhaus as the source of extensive Weimar-era working housing is not accurate. One single project, the apartment building project in Dessau, falls in that category, and it's fair to say that developing worker housing was not the first priority of Gropius or Mies. It was the Bauhaus contemporaries Bruno Taut, Hans Poelzig and particularly Ernst May, as the city architects of Berlin, Dresden and Frankfurt respectively, who are rightfully credited with the thousands of socially progressive housing units built in Weimar Germany.
The Bauhaus had a major impact on art and architecture trends in Western Europe, the United States and Israel in the decades following its demise, as many of the artists involved fled or were exiled by the Nazi regime.
Gropius, Breuer, and Moholy-Nagy re-assembled in England during the mid 1930s to live and work in the Isokon project before the war caught up to them. In the late 1930s Mies van der Rohe re-settled in Chicago and became one of the pre-eminent architects in the world. Moholy-Nagy also went to Chicago and founded the New Bauhaus School under the sponsorship of industrialist and philanthropist Walter Paepcke. Herbert Bayer, also sponsored by Paepcke, moved to Aspen, Colorado in support of Paepcke's Aspen projects.
Both Gropius and Breuer went to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked together before their professional split in 1941. The Harvard School was enormously influential in the late 1940s and early 1950s, producing such students as Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, Lawrence Halprin and Paul Rudolph, among many others.
One of the main objectives of the Bauhaus was to unify art, craft, and technology. The machine was considered a positive element, and therefore industrial and product design were important components. Vorkurs (“initial course”) was taught; this is the modern day Basic Design course that has become one of the key foundational courses offered in architectural schools across the globe. There was no teaching of history in the school because everything was supposed to be designed and created according to first principles rather than by following precedent.
One of the most important contributions of the Bauhaus is in the field of furniture design. The world famous and ubiquitous Cantilever chair by Dutch designer Mart Stam, using the tensile properties of steel, and the Wassily Chair designed by Marcel Breuer are two examples.
The physical plant at Dessau survived the War and was operated as a design school with some architectural facilities by the Communist German Democratic Republic. This included live stage productions in the Bauhaus theatre under the name of Bauhausbühne (“Bauhaus Stage”). After German reunification, a reorganized school continued in the same building, with no essential continuity with the Bauhaus under Gropius in the early 1920s.
In 1999 Bauhaus-Dessau College started to organize postgraduate programs with participants from all over the world. This effort has been supported by the Bauhaus-Dessau Foundation, which was founded in 1994 as a public institution.
American art schools have also rediscovered the Bauhaus school. The Master Craftsman Program at Florida State University bases its artistic philosophy on Bauhaus theory and practice.
Eternity
Award winning Thai artist Naret Yamaharn returns to the Rotunda Gallery with his latest exhibition “Eternity”. Naret's large-scale paintings, both abstract and figurative continue to follow themes of change and the cyclical nature of life. Seasons change from winter to spring, reflections appear and shift across the surface of a river and tree branches spread elegantly across his canvas.
Naret works in oils, his painting range from bold abstract mark making to refine and almost surreal images. He is preoccupied with movement and adjustment in nature and life. This exhibition subtly dominates its surroundings and shows an artist at ease in his use of materials and themes. The idea of “Eternity” is approached with confidence and subtlety.
Naret has been widely exhibited in-group and solo exhibitions during recent years and his paintings have a place in many private collections.
The opening reception will be on February 1st, 2007 from 6 pm – 9 pm.
The exhibition runs from 1st to 27th February at The Rotunda Gallery, Neilson Hays Library, 195 Surawong Road , Bangkok . Tel: 02-233-1731. Opening hours are: Tue – Sun 09:30 - 17.00.
THE TICKET 
Surf FM chart
This month we have a new addition to the team; from 10 am to midday daily, Janos (aka ‘Ze German') will be taking over the controls and providing you with a varied selection of top tunes (hopefully no Scorpions or Oompah Bands).
We have noticed a huge increase in listeners tuning in to our Internet stream, averaging 120 a day and rising. Our listeners are not just from Hua Hin and Thailand but also from as far a field as Buenos Aires , Rome and Cairo .
Surf broadcasts on 102.5FM from 6am to midnight, playing a wide selection of musical styles along with news from the BBC and Radio Thailand . Phone in your requests on 032-522990 or Skype us by adding ‘Surf102.5' to your contact list.
Surf FM presents our top 10 selection of Rock Classics.
1 Black Sabbath Paranoid
2 GirlSchool Please Don't Touch
3 Motorhead Ace of Spades
4 Led Zeppelin Heartbreaker
5 AC/DC Highway to Hell
6 Deep Purple Hush
7 Siouxsie And The Banshees Spellbound
8 Spear of Destiny The Wheel
9 The Cramps You Got Good Taste
10 Don K Dick The Purple One-Eyed Monster
Movie Reviews
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER
You may have to search for this movie, all we can say is watch out because it might be good from the rumours we have heard. It may be a few years old.
Let us give you the outline:
A Thai western set in the 1950s. Yes, that's right. Not sure if it is a homage, a serious re-creation, a wacky camp-fiction or what. But hell, aren't you intrigued?
The movie is colour saturated and is basically a gay cowboy movie where no one onscreen is homosexual.
Confused already, well we are also. We have not seen it yet and are bursting to see it. So if anyone can enlighten us as to where we can see it get in touch.
Here are some of the review comments:
New York Magazine:“... a jaw-dropper: a delirium-inducing crash course in international trash.”
The Village Voice: “A flamboyantly kitsch mélange of genre anachronisms and new-school ‘tude ...”
Hollywood Reporter:“... way too long to extend such a silly joke.
Cast: Chartchai Ngamsan, Stella Malucchi, Supakorn Kitsuwon, Arawat Ruangvuth, Sombat Metanee
DREAMGIRLS FACTS
Based on the Broadway musical, this ‘60s-era story follows three young singers as they try to cross over to the pop charts.
Basically the story of the Supremes but with the disturbing bit cut out (Florence Ballard, died miserably in the 1970s)
There are tears and love, incredible costumes, big wigs and lots of songs.
It might be a little long but there are some good performances, so worth a watch.
Cast Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Keith Robinson, Hinton Battle (more)
Director(s) Bill Condon
SPIDER-MAN 3
Not much information on this at present as it has yet to be released, but it appears to be following the same format, the same director and the next baddie.
Could be good, could be bad but will probably have some entertaining effects. Watch out for updates, the American release is on May 4 2007.
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church , Topher Grace, James Franco, Dylan Baker
Director: Sam Raimi
Book Reviews
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
by Lionel Shriver
The son of Eva Khatchadourian, Kevin, murders seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker, and a teacher. As Kevin is only fifteen at the time of the killings, he received a lenient sentence and is sent to a prison for young offenders in upstate New York .
Telling the story of Kevin's upbringing, Eva addresses herself to her estranged husband through a series of letters.
Can be a little hard going for some over the first couple of chapters however this is a difficult subject to tackle. Ultimately you will need to make your own mind up on the questions posed, particularly about what is happening in America today.
Paperback, 500 Pages
Publisher: Serpents Tail
ISBN: 9781852424671
SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
50 momentous, thought-provoking speeches from a wide range of countries and different eras. Including biographies of each speaker, the history of why each speech was significant and what happened as a result.
There are black and white photographs showing these key figures in time. This book will enlighten readers on the major events of our times.
Hardback 224 pages
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 9781905204168
PLANET EARTH: A FRESH LOOK AT A SPECTACULAR WORLD
by Alastair Fothergill, David Attenborough, Jonathan Keeling, Vanessa Berlowitz, Mark Brownlow, Huw Cordey, Mark Linfield
As you would expect from BBC Books, this is full of spectacular pictures with absorbing text.
This covers the whole expanse of the planet from the Deep Ocean to the Open Plains; the Deserts to the Jungles.
Partly coffee table book and partly absorbing read.
Hardback 312 pages
Publisher: BBC Books
ISBN: 9780563522126
NEVER LET ME GO
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro is always worth reading and his observations are slightly disturbing.
Throughout you will be slightly uncomfortable that something lurks around the corner, but Ishiguro's work never spills over into science fiction or fantasy. His writing is terrifying because it is all-believable.
The plot will make you feel uneasy - not ‘slasher' stuff, just a sense that this is not quite the world we know.
If you like your books to be ‘candy floss' time fillers, then this may not be to your liking. But give it a go; it might be a rewarding experience.
Paperback 276 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 9780571224135
Rally Review
The Dakar Rally is notorious for being the toughest in the world, as well as for many years being the most controversial due to the number of deaths and environmental issues.
The 2007 rally finished on 21st January, with the results as follows;
The 2007 Dakar Rally was the 29th running of the event. It started in Lisbon , Portugal on 6th January and ran through Europe and Africa until 21st January 2007.
The race began in Lisbon , Portugal , and passed through Spain , Morocco , Western Sahara , Mauritania , Mali and Senegal . The total race distance is 7,915 km, of which 4,309 km is timed special stage. There was a rest day in Atar , Mauritania on 13th January.
The 2007 event has been marred by the death of South African motorcyclist Elmer Symons on the fourth stage between Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate, who was competing in the rally for the first time. The second death occured on the 14th and penultimate stage when French motorcyclist Eric Aubijoux suffered a fatal heart attack 15 km from the finish line in Dakar.
As of December 2006, there were 250 motorcycles, 187 cars and 88 trucks registered for the event. The 29th Dakar Rally broke all previous records of having the highest number of competitors (525 teams) from various countries like China , Thailand , Mauritania , Mexico , and Slovenia . In all, 42 nationalities were represented. Many competitors were experiencing the Dakar adventure for the first time. 38% of the bikers and 10% of the car racers.
The three major competitive classes of the Dakar are Motorcycles, Automobiles (ranging from buggies to small trucks) and Large Trucks.
Many vehicle manufacturers exploit the harsh environment the rally offers as a testing ground, and consequently to demonstrate the durability of their vehicles, although most vehicles are heavily modified.
In 2003, examples in the car class included the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, the Volkswagen Race Touareg, and the Nissan Navara. Mercedes Benz M, BMW X5 and BMW X3, Hummer H1 and Hummer H3 sport-utilities were represented but did not appear in the leader positions. Jean-Louis Schlesser built a series of custom dune buggy vehicles for the race, and has won with them several times. American (“Baja”) style pro trucks have also made appearances, but they have seldom won.
Trucks include Tatra, LIAZ, Kamaz, Hino, MAN, DAF, PERLINI, Mercedes-Benz Unimog, Renault Kerax, SCANIA, IVECO, GINAF.
In the 1980s, a strong rivalry between DAF and Mercedes-Benz led to vehicles which had twin engines and more than 1000 hp (750 kW). Later Tatra, Perlini and Kamaz took the race up.
KTM is the most popular and currently leading motorcycle. At the present, the main competitors in the car class are Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Nissan, and in the motorcycle class are Yamaha and KTM. After 2000, renewed competition started in the truck class between DAF, Tatra, Mercedes-Benz and Kamaz.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RALLY: The race has been subject to criticism from several sources, generally focusing on the race's impact on the inhabitants of the countries through which it passes. The environmental impact of the race has been another issue.
The rally was criticised for crossing through the disputed territory of Western Sahara, without consulting the Polisario Front, which is considered representative of the Sahrawi people. After the race officials began asking for formal permission from the Polisario from 2000 onwards, this has not been an issue.
After the 1988 race, when three Africans were killed in collisions with vehicles involved in the race, PANA, a Dakar-based news agency, wrote that the deaths were “insignificant for the [race's] organizers”. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano called the race a “vulgar display of power and wealth in places where men continue to die from hunger and thirst.” During a 2002 protest at the races start in Arras, France, a Green Party of France statement described the race as “colonialism that needs to be eradicated”.
Some local residents along the race's course have said they see limited benefits from the race; that race participants spend little money on the goods and services local residents can offer. The racers produce substantial amounts of dust along the course, and are blamed for hitting and killing livestock, in addition to occasionally injuring or killing people.
Curling
With the World Championships imminent, we look this month at another less known, but ancient sport - Curling.
Curling is a precision team sport similar to bowls but played on a rectangular sheet of prepared ice by two teams of four players each, using heavy polished granite stones which players slide down the ice towards a target area called the house. Points are scored for the number of stones that a team has closer to the centre of the target than the closest of the other team's stones. The level of precision and complex nature of the strategic thinking required to win has led curling to be referred to as “chess on ice.”
The game is thought to have been invented in late medieval Scotland, with the first written reference to a contest using stones on ice coming from the records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrew, in February 1541.
The curling sheet is an area of ice 146 feet (45.5 m) in length by 14 feet 2 inches (4.318 m) to 15 feet 7 inches (4.75 m) in width, carefully prepared to be as close to level as possible. A key part of the preparation is the spraying of water droplets onto the level ice. These water droplets are called pebbles. Due to the friction between the stone and pebble, the stone turns to the inside or outside, causing the stone's path to ‘curl'. The curl can change during a game as the pebble wears. The surface of the ice is maintained at a temperature near 23°F (-5°C).
On the sheet, a 12 foot (3.7 m) wide set of concentric rings, called the house, is painted near each end of the rink. The centre of the house is marked by the junction of two lines that divide the house into quarters and is known as the button. The two lines are the centre line, which is drawn lengthwise down the centre of the sheet, and the tee line, drawn 16 feet (4.9 m) from the backboard and parallel to it. Two other lines, the hoglines, are drawn parallel to each backboard and 37 feet (11.3 m) from it.
The rings that surround the button are defined by their diameter as the four-foot, eight-foot, and twelve-foot rings. They are usually distinguished by colour. The inner rings are merely a visual aid for judging which stone is closer to the centre; they do not affect scoring; however, a stone that is not at least touching the outside of the 12-foot ring (i.e. more than 6 feet from the centre) is not in the house and therefore does not score. Twelve feet behind the button are located the hacks, which are the points the players push off from.
EQUIPMENT: SHOES
When curling, players need to wear specially designed shoes. The sole of one shoe has a thin strip of Teflon or another type of smooth surface, called a slider. This enables curlers to slide out of the hack when delivering a rock. Left-handed curlers wear this shoe on their right foot, while right-handed curlers wear it on their left. The other shoe has a thin layer of rubber to maximize traction on the ice. Another piece of footwear is the gripper, which can slide on and off the shoe with the slippery surface. This is also usually made of rubber. This piece of equipment is needed when a player is sweeping, and needs traction with both feet.
EQUIPMENT: BROOMS (OR BRUSHES)
The curling broom is used to sweep the ice surface in front of the rock. Aggressive sweeping momentarily melts the ice, which lessens friction, thereby lessening the deceleration of the rock, while straightening the trajectory of the rock. The broom can also be used to clean debris off the ice, although this is often done in vain. The skip will also hold a broom at the opposite end of the rink from the delivering player to show the deliverer where to aim the rock.
In earlier days, brooms were made of corn strands and were similar to household brooms.
EQUIPMENT: CURLING STONE (OR ROCK)
The curling stone, or rock, weighs a maximum of 44 lbs. (19.96 kg) and is fitted with a handle on top allowing it to be rotated as it is released. If the handle is rotated across the body (clockwise for a right-handed thrower, counter-clockwise for a leftie), the shot is said to be an in-turn, and if rotated away from the body (counter-clockwise for a right-handed thrower, clockwise for a left-handed thrower), it is an out-turn. The handles are colour-coded to differentiate one team's rocks from the other's (usually, one team's rocks are red and the other's are yellow).
The bottom of the rock is not flat, however, but concave with the actual surface in contact with the ice (“running surface”) being only 1/4 to 1/2 inch (6 to 12 mm) wide along the rim of the concave bottom. This narrow running surface allows the pebble applied to the ice to have an effect on the action of the rock. On properly prepared ice, the rock's path will bend (curl) in the direction the front edge of the rock is turning, especially toward the end of its delivery. The degree of curl depends on several factors, including the preparation of the ice and the flattening of common paths to the house during the game. Ice on which the rocks curl well is said to be swingy.
SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT: A special handle for stones, called “Eye On The Hog”, has recently been developed, which integrates electronics to ensure the stone is released before it crosses the hog line. The handle is coated in metallic paint; the circuitry detects the relative charge of the thrower's hand contact to determine if they are still in contact, and a linear field is established at the hog line to indicate its location to the internal sensor. Lights at the base of the handle indicate whether contact was sustained past the line or not. Not only does this remove the chance for human error (eliminating the game's most frequent cause of controversy), but it means there is no need for hogline officials as well. The downside for the technology is that the equipment currently costs around $650 a piece, which multiplies quickly with the amount of rocks and sheets of ice in a tournament. Therefore its use is found mostly in high-level national and international competitions such as the Winter Olympics.
Although the rock is designed to be delivered by players grasping the handle as they slide down the ice, a special “delivery stick” may be used by players incapable of delivering the rock in this fashion. Such a stick is designed to attach to the handle so that it can be released without requiring the player to place a hand on the handle in a crouched position. This allows the game to be played by players with disabilities, as well as those unable to crouch comfortably.
GAME PLAY: A competitive game usually consists of ten ends. Recreational games are more commonly only eight or even six ends. An end consists of each player from both teams throwing two rocks with the players on each side alternating shots, for a total of sixteen rocks. If the teams are tied at the completion of ten ends an extra end is played to break the tie. If the match is still tied after the extra end, play continues for as many ends as may be required to break the tie. The winner is the team with the highest score after all ends have been completed.
It is not uncommon at any level for a losing team to terminate the match before all ends are completed if it believes it no longer has a realistic chance of winning. Most competitive tournaments require eight ends to be completed before allowing a losing team to concede in this manner. Competitive games will usually end once the losing team is “run out of rocks” - that is, once it has fewer stones in play and/or available for play than the number of points needed to tie the game in the final end.
In international competition each side is given 73 minutes to complete all of their throws. Each team is also allowed two 60 second timeouts per ten end game. If extra ends are required each team is allowed 10 minutes of playing time to complete their throws and one added 60-second timeout for each extra end.
There is a lot more to the game of curling than at first sight, and too much strategy, tactics and skill to be able to do justice to it here. If you are interested to find out more then visit the World Curling Federation's website (http://www.worldcurling.org/), which also has details of upcoming events and reigning champions. Below is the various World Championships taking place in February and March.
AirAsia aims to X long-haul rivals
By Daivid Fullbrook – Asia Times Online
Tony Fernandes, the flamboyant founder of Malaysia's low-cost airline AirAsia, is set to launch his fifth airline this July with the aim of introducing cheap-ticket competition to the long-haul market now dominated by state-controlled Malaysia Airlines. Formally announced on Friday, the new carrier, AirAsia X, also aims to poach passengers from other Southeast Asian long-haul carriers and could eventually alter the economics of the region's broad aviation industry.
AirAsia X will fly routes longer than four hours to places in Asia, Australia and Europe, starting with the United Kingdom and the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Tianjin. AirAsia X is expected to order up to 20 wide-body Airbus A330s or Boeing 777s this month and will commence services with two to three aircraft. Boeing's 777 is fit to carry more passengers and cargo over longer distances than Airbus's A330, but the latter is cheaper to lease or buy.
Fernandes made his name by introducing to Malaysia five years ago the showy no-frills type of airline pioneered by America's Southwest and later EasyJet and Ryanair in Europe using narrow-body airliners such as Airbus's A320 and Boeing's 737. Ticket prices rise as takeoff dates draw near, often on par with incumbent full-service carriers, but most fares are significantly less, for the first time bringing air travel within the budget of the country's middle and lower classes.
Fernandes is a rabid adherent to the low-cost business model, which aims to cut every cost without compromising safety and squeeze efficiencies by training staff to do many different jobs. Low-cost, no-frills flights have thrived on short-haul routes in the deregulated, open skies of Europe, India, Indonesia and North America.
Many analysts and airline executives are sceptical that the same model will work on long-haul routes, partly because for trips longer than four hours cost advantages are eroded and indeed may be even more expensive than full-service airlines flying wide-body aircraft. “They will save on other things such as using secondary airports. However, faster turnarounds deliver very little benefit on long-haul routes, unlike short-haul services,” said an aviation analyst in Kuala Lumpur.
Qantas Airways, a full-service Australian airline, had a go this decade when it started Australian Airlines, which aimed for low costs while offering some frills, but it fared poorly. Its long-haul services were recently relaunched under the Jetstar brand, Qantas' short-haul no-frills carrier that operates in Australia and Singapore. Last year, Oasis began services from Hong Kong to London's Gatwick Airport applying the low-cost, no-frills philosophy. It is still flying, but whether it is at a loss is unclear because the carrier is privately owned.
High-flying ambitions
Enter AirAsia X into the competitive picture. Fernandes owns half, Kamarudin Meranum, executive director of AirAsia, holds 30%, and Raja Azmi, AirAsia's former chief financial officer the rest of the carrier's shares. They will use their AirAsia experience to ensure that AirAsia X is a lean and efficient operation that exploits the Internet and the latest airline-management systems. They are ambitiously aiming for costs of 1.9 US cents per seat-kilometre flown.
Even if they fall short of such a slim target, AirAsia X will have a substantially lower cost base than the notoriously inefficient Malaysia Airlines (MAS). AirAsia X's costs should also be lower than both Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways, the two major Southeast Asian long-haul carriers.
FlyAsianExpress, or FAX, another airline started in recent years by Fernandes, is licensing the AirAsia brand from AirAsia and will operate the AirAsia X services. FAX now serves routes to remote towns and villages on the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo under contract with AirAsia. Licensing the brand to FAX avoids mucking up AirAsia's balance sheet or upsetting shareholders because AirAsia X is clearly a riskier business bet. Startup costs will be higher than those of a short-haul carrier because it is using larger aircraft, and losses incurred while recouping initial investments will likely be higher than for short-haul carriers.
AirAsia X's official launch did not go into details about the carrier's planned on-board service. Some changes to the short-haul product will probably be necessary because flights will be up to 12 hours in duration. Legroom, which is tight on short-haul no-frills carriers, will likely match economy class on other long-haul carriers. Business class is probably out, which makes operations simpler and therefore cheaper.
AirAsia X could provide meals, but given Fernandes' low-cost zeal, it is more likely to sell a wide range of food, drinks and entertainment when services take off in July. AirAsia typically charges three to five times the price on the ground for in-flight food and services, which accounts for 12% of the carrier's revenues. AirAsia X then will likely be a sort of flying mall compared with AirAsia's flying corner shop.
Ancillary income is particularly important because profits of AirAsia Group, listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, have been thin, paling beside those earned by Southwest and Ryanair. Between July and September 2006, the first quarter of AirAsia's financial year, unaudited profits after tax, financing and depreciation were a meager RM5.7 million (US$1.6 million) from revenues of RM239.6 million. Profit for that same period in 2005 was RM8.7 million on revenue of RM186.3 million.
It is still early days in Southeast Asia, where international flights and airline ownership are heavily regulated. Most no-frills carriers in Europe and North America started only after regulators cleared the skies of red tape. Southeast Asia's market has a long way to grow, as it remains an overwhelmingly poor, developing neighbourhood, whose economies are on average expanding at double the rate of Europe. AirAsia is a chance to buy in early, which is why fund managers hold big chunks of stock.
AirAsia X's fortunes, however, may not necessarily mirror those of AirAsia. For starters, AirAsia X will be reaching into developed markets. For another, its bigger jets may earn significantly higher revenue from cargo than AirAsia, which could prove to be more important than ancillary sales. Taiwan's EVA Air and Korean Air, for instance, earn at least 40% of their revenue from cargo. The new budget carrier can already tap into the brand recognition generated by AirAsia's sponsorship of Britain's Manchester United, arguably the world's most famous soccer club.
None of this bodes well for MAS, which at last finally began to turn around under a new chief executive. But its comparatively high costs and inefficiency will leave it hard pressed to match AirAsia X prices and still turn a profit, meaning losses and route cuts could be in the cards. AirAsia X will almost certainly fly to airports near many of the big cities MAS serves, with its UK flight likely to land either in Luton, home of EasyJet, or Manchester.
AirAsia's fast-growing regional network will provide more and more connections to feed traffic in and out of Southeast Asia's big cities and potentially into AirAsia X. That is surely a threat to Thai Airways because its passengers are overwhelmingly tourists, who tend to pick low-ticket price over service. Singapore Air is less at risk because it is renowned for its high-end service and tends more to business travellers.
“I certainly think it's a very good idea, looking at the macro-picture, improving the connectivity they already have in ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and bringing passengers over from Europe and the Far East,” said an aviation analyst in Kuala Lumpur.
And while countless others will doubtless pour cold water on AirAsia X's prospects, if anybody can pull it off it is most likely the enterprising Fernandes and his trusted management team. One thing is certain: the travelling public will be cheering him on.
Useful Telephone Numbers for Hua Hin
Railway station
032-512 770, 032-511 073
Bus station of Hua Hin
032-511 654, 032-512 543
Bus station of Prachuabkirikhan
032-601 901
Bus station of Pranburi
032-621 443
Hua Hin Hospital
032-520 401
Dog Rescue Center
0-1981 4406
Wild life Rescue Center (Tayang)
032-458 135
Department of Land Cha-am office:
032- 430 846-7
Department of Land Hua Hin office:
032-536 164, 032-512 407
Department of Land Prachuabkirikhan:
032-611 211
Department of Land Pranburi
032-622 199
Local Government (Hua Hin)
032-521 340, 532 471
Local water supply
032-511 677
The Power Board of Hua Hin
032-512 215, 032 513 165
Observer office:
032-531 078
Red Cross.
032-512 567
San Paolo Hospital
032-532 576-85
Polyclinic International
032-516 424, 032-516 425
Shell Cooking Gas
032-511 144, 032- 515 620
The Communication Authority of Thailand
(Hua Hin)
032-511 351
Rotary Club of Hua Hin
0-1916 6637
Meeting every Thursday 8.pm
at Hua Hin Grand Hotel & Plaza
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