Now what?! (6)

And if you've just joined us: it's time to guess that brand again. If you know what Western brand is in this Thai bottle than hit your buzzer!

It could be anything from a drink to a creamy sauce or a personal lubricant. But is it? If you are right you take home everything behind door number one.

And the answer is as always... in...the...comments!

[Insert jingle here]

With the end of term exams out of the way I can afford to spend a little time on what I think are the best albums ever. Forget the winamp randomizer. That only does mere tracks anyway. And there's always room for an extra list on the web. So here goes... One album per artist only (argh) and none of those three-and-a-half-nice-tracks-jobs either. Thirty real killer albums!

30) Talking Book, Stevie Wonder
29) L.D. 50, Mudvayne
28) Live at the Marquee, Dream Theatre
27) Live and in Living Color, Tower of Power
26) Countdown to Extinction, Megadeth
25) Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting
24) Alive in L.A. , Lee Ritenour
23) Adam's Apple, Wayne Shorter
22) Coltrane Jazz, John Coltrane
21) Anniversary, Stan Getz
20) Mood swing, Joshua Redman
19) Synergy, Dave Weckl Band
18) Three Sides Live, Genesis
17) Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morisette
16) Starfish and the Moon, Bill Evans
15) A Go Go, John Scofield
14) Far Beyond Driven, Pantera
13) Live at Winterland, Jimmy Hendrix
12) Vine, Chris Cheek
11) Get In, Benjamin Herman
10) Another Standard, Bob Berg
09) The Forbidden Zone, Tom Coster
08) Morph the Cat, Donald Fagen
07) Thick, Tribal Tech
06) Lateralus, Tool
05) Alive in America, Steely Dan
04) Prime Directive, Dave Holland
03) All Blues, Miles Davis
02) Flood, Herbie Hancock

And finally.....[insert drum roll]

01) Perceptual, Brian Blade

Stop the press!

I always read The Bangkok Post and The Nation. Especially the letters people send in and especially the ones written by frustrated teachers. Lately they were frustrated about all the cheating going on and the fact that no one did anything when they went and shot their mouths off, slammed doors and got red faced.

So I decided to weigh in on the matter and wrote an email to the Bangkok Post. It looks like they published it (scroll down). Now all I've got to do is find a copy of the real paper issued today. Or maybe it's in tomorrow's paper. If I find one I'll scan it of course. Text 'postbag on' for hourly updates as this story develops...

Update: there it is, in today's paper (click to enlarge):

Random Schmandom

When I moved to Thailand I knew one thing: I was not gonna leave my CD collection behind. So I put over a thousand CDs on a hard drive. And when I got here I wanted everything to be rated. So I left winamp on 'random' for most of the time and rated and rated. That is two years ago by now. And the result is stunning. This is what my personal Top 30 looks like and it has an unlikely number one (click to enlarge)...

It's Joshua Redman's 'Headin' Home'. From the killer album Mood Swing, granted. And a funky tune at that. But number one... Oh well. The facts don't lie. Of course the randomizer is not all that random. And some tunes have a high play count because I use them as practice material (Dream Theatre!), but still there it is on number one. What can you do? Steely Dan is somehow way down the list. How did that happen? And it's not even 'Peg' or 'Babylon Sisters'. At least some of the tunes from what I consider my favorite albums are there; 'Actual Proof', 'Evenrude Fifty', 'Platina' (the highest Dutch entry) and the best version of 'Stolen moments' ever. But where is Tribal Tech, or Coltrane, or Dave Holland? Behind a Diana Krall X-mas song? I don't dare look. While I do: go play will you? For all you sax heads here's the sheet music for 'Headin' Home'. Enjoy.

Khon Kaen: the basic survival map

Here's a message for all you touristic types: part one of the free downloadable and printable maps of Khon Kaen has arrived. I repeat: part one of the free downloadable and printable maps of Khon Kaen has arrived. Mind the gap. Proceed to luggage terminal 4. Don't get lost!

(Don't forget to click for the larger version: way easier to read).

(And yes, there are more hotels, hospitals and stuff in Khon Kaen: these are the ones I know).