Adventures With Tom: Sunscreen
Anyone with an internet connection is unlikely to have been able to avoid becoming aquainted with Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s hit single from the 90s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”. The song and video, which begins with the line “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’97: Wear Sunscreen”, makes regular outings across social media. The words were originally and erroneously attributed to author Kurt Vonnegut and a commencement speech he never gave at MIT. In fact they first appeared in a column entitled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young” penned by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich.
Dublin Literary Awards: Kan Jitpakdi-Ryu
Citylife has been hosting the northern chapter of the Junior Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand for 10 years. Each year we send letters out to as many schools as we can in the north asking Thai nationality students between the ages of 14-18 to send us an 800 word essay on a theme which changes annually. This year’s theme was World with No Boundaries. This month we are featuring the essay “World with No Boundary” by 17-year-old Kan Jitpakdi-Ryu, who came third place in the northern regional finals. The winners from central and southern regions competed in Bangkok last month, with the national winner being awarded two return plane tickets to attend the Senior Dublin Literary Awards Ceremony in Dublin, Ireland.
A Dream to Reforest our City
The Pgazkoenyau people (ปกาเกอญอ) high in the mountains of northern Thailand have a simple motto from which they live their lives. “Just plant a tree where you are.” This Karen hill tribe lives in the forest, and every aspect of their lives revolve around nature, even their sacred birthing ceremony involves a tree.
Old Roots New Ambitions: How two sisters introduced the world to traditional Northern Thai massage
It’s always fascinating to see how businesses evolve with the ebb and flow of trends and technology, only the most adaptable, those with the firmest foundations, leaders with the greatest visions, thrive. Leading up to our magazine’s 25th anniversary next month, and with a touch of nostalgia, we were skimming issues past, when we came across an advertisement for one of our earliest clients, International Training Massage School (ITM), and realised that this traditional business is alive, well, and as far as we know, booming.
Bring Back Vinyl With NEO Entertainment Gallery
When you hear the words vinyl, record player, or the crackling sounds of yesteryear, you may consider them passé and soon to be obsolete in this digital audio world. Surely these are things you only hear down in your grandparents’ basement or in a museum. You may even reminisce fondly over DJs of the 90s, scratching away over tracks played on minidisks and what not. But did you know that right now, vinyl and record players are making a huge comeback, a format favoured by young and old. Pressing factories are re-opening and a new era of modern and high-tech vinyl is on the rise.
Editorial: June 2016
Tha Pae Gate is a public area used for many events and occasions; political rallies (when we were allowed to have them), cultural shows, public gatherings and of course the ubiquitous markets. It is also the unwitting stage of a deep divide which reflects many other issues we as a city are facing today.
2016 Round Square Conference
Round Square is a worldwide network of innovative schools in 40 countries across five continents. One of its founding schools in the 1960s is Aiglon College in Switzerland, today an international boarding school for boys and girls ages 9-18 from over 60 nationalities and offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.
A Permanent Chiang Mai Home for Contemporary Art
This July will see the north of Thailand’s first contemporary art museum opening in Sankampaeng. A fitting home for one of the country’s largest private collections of contemporary art. Chiang Mai has been producing arts and crafts for over 700 years, and for the past few decades, has been home to some of Thailand’s most exciting artists.
Mickey Mouse House
“I never thought it would get this big, but here we are…” These were the words spoken to me when Naren ‘Oak’ Panyapu opened the door to the north of Thailand’s very first independent Micky Mouse memorabilia museum in Lamphun. Walls were covered in glassed off shelves that were stacked to the brim with rows and rows of Mickey Mouse figurines, toys, plushies and wall hangings. “I first starte … Continued
Science for Aesthetics: DIAA aesthetics and anti-ageing clinic opens
Art and science, like opposing magnets, can come together to create extreme beauty. From the days of Da Vinci when the two disciplines coexisted and built upon one another, to today’s modern inventions as seen all around us, art and science are not polar opposites, but complementary.
Born a Threat: Highlanders with no Citizenship
Imagine being born in Thailand but having no national identity. Imagine going to a Thai school, with Thai friends, eating Thai food but not being recognised as Thai. Imagine your application to be a person with rights and civil liberties just left on the desk of a provincial officer for twenty years, collecting dust. Imagine the lives of over 100,000 highlanders living in Thailand – a home that still sees them as a threat to national security.