March 30, 2007
California, Here I Come
This will be my last posting from Thailand. I will be flying back to the U.S. tomorrow after being out of the country for five months. Thanks to mystery science, I will arrive in San Francisco on the 31st of March on what will be one very long day. Fortunately I can fly directly out of Chiang Mai, so I just have two planes to catch instead of three. I am also assuming that four hours is enough time for me to find my way through the Taipei airport. As San Francisco will be my first stateside destination, I thought the poster to my favorite San Francisco movie would be appropriate.
While my study of Thai cinema turned out to be less substantial than I had hoped, it wasn't a total loss. I found a terrific store in the basement of Airport Plaza where I was able to get some good, and not so-good DVDs at bargain prices. I have every subtitled DVD available of the films of Chatrichalerm Yukol, and have begun creating an overview of his films. I'm not sure when or where it will be published. As there is no comprehensive overview of Thai films, I figured the least I could do is help where I can in English language scholarship.
The above photo is from the Chiang Mai Mail, the English language weekly here. I wanted to give readers a better idea of how polluted the air is from the forest fires and crop burnings in this region. For the past couple of days, I've been running the air-con not only to cool my place down, but also to have relatively cleaner air. For various reasons, the government has been ineffective in dealing with this problem. My SO decided that she could not continue her studies here, and is down in Bali which she reports as being quieter and cleaner.
Since I'll be in San Francisco for just a couple of days, I won't have a lot of time for film-going. At this time I plan to be meeting Michael Guillen at the Pacific Film Archive on Sunday to see some early films by Michelangelo Antonioni. Hopefully I won't be too jet lagged to enjoy them. Early Tuesday morning, I will, er, pass over the country and return to Miami Beach. I should be resuming posting that night, if not sooner.
Posted by Peter Nellhaus at March 30, 2007 04:13 AM
Comments
Well, it's been nice having you here. I'll miss your Thai film reviews. I'll be watching for your overview of Chatrichalerm. I'm very interested to know what you think.
Posted by: Curtis at March 30, 2007 06:08 AM
Peter, I hope you have a safe flight and I look forward to visiting with you on Sunday and hearing about your Thai adventure. It's amazing it's already been five months.
Posted by: Maya at March 31, 2007 03:50 AM
Peter, welcome back to the US and have a safe trip! Although I am going to miss your capsule reviews of Thai films that are uber hard to find here, glad you'll be back on American shores and still writing.
Posted by: Joseph B at April 1, 2007 10:43 PM
Peter, welcome back! It's been fun following the world of Thai cinema along with you, and I'm glad to hear the journey is not over yet. And thanks again for BLOODY TIE!
Posted by: Dennis Cozzalio at April 2, 2007 12:15 PM