O-Negative (backstory-o-rama)

Sakuntala - the beauty Peun flatters Foon with

Episode 7 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 6) starts with the kids at an art museum getting an art appreciation lecture. They are all bored to death. When the lecture ends the teacher tells them to pick one of the artworks and write an essay  about why it is beautiful.

As the students spread out Peun naturally ends up next to Foon. Considering his interlude, during the last episode, of fantasizing over Prim because of the t-shirt gift he needs to do an enormous amount of groveling to get back into Foon's good graces. He tells her that he threw the t-shirt away, which she thinks was stupid and then he tells her he cares for her but she's noncommittal.

Finally, in desperation he starts spouting poetry. Oh Peun, you silly boy. After going on about fair skin, jasmine and the eyes of a lion she realizes he's comparing her to the legendary beauty Sakuntala. I must say, for this being nothing but a oddball soap opera I sure am having to Google a lot of stuff. Anyway, she seems to fall for his flattery although she still maintains some distance.

Elsewhere Art has hooked up with Prim. She notices he is done with his assignment and wonders why he hasn't handed it in yet. He tells her he is keeping her company and besides, he is keeping himself busy. With that he gives her a sketch he did of her. She is quite pleased by it and his attention.

Go invites the O Group to his new bar

We cut to outside the museum, where as they leave Foon turns down Peun's offer of a dinner and a movie, claiming she's busy that night. Right after that the other kids come out. Chompoo tells them that Go messaged her and said he had a new bar and that he invited them to visit. Prim wants to know if they're all going.

All of them, including Foon who is suddenly not busy, want to go. The look on Peun's face is pretty funny. He looks surprised that she lied about being busy. Apparently he hasn't watched the first six episodes where she has told lies at the drop of a hat.

No offense Go, but your bar is a dump

When the kids get to Go's bar they discover it is an empty room on the 2nd floor. Chompoo teases Go about it, asking him if he is planning on having his customers sit on the floor drinking shots. Go explains his plans for the bar and says he needs some helpers. He wants the O Group to paint a mural on the wall and in return they'll get a life time 10% discount and their own special table.

The kids agree and the rest of the episode is, for the most part, going to be them telling stories about their past as they draw the mural. First we flashback to Peun and Art at a cram school. They are preparing for their college entrance exams.

Peun wonders why the nice lady gave him a chocolate bar

They're in a drawing class that is being taught by Aum. She's attractive and obviously interested in Peun for more than just his drawing progress. She hovers him and blatantly flirts with him. She ends up giving him a chocolate bar. Art points out to Peun that she is obviously interested in him and they could easily go out. Peun scoffs at that, saying he doesn't really like her.

However, at the end of a later class Art sees Peun and Aum leaving arm and arm. Their relationship doesn't last long, because we next see Art in the class alone. Aum is pestering him about where Peun has been. In fact, she pesters him so much that he ends up dropping the class as well.

So, Peun is a highschool kid and she is his adult teacher and her behavior doesn't raise an eyebrow? Well, apparently not. We return to the mural painting where the kids discuss Peun's story. Chompoo thinks he just slept with Aum and then dumped her. Peun claims that's not true, that he didn't like her. Then again, Foon is listening so Peun is spewing a fair amount of BS to try to impress her.

Meanwhile Chompoo has looked up their cram school and she realizes she went to the same one, but she was in a different class. They're eating as they talk about that coincidence when Go starts joking about Chompoo eating all the food. He then hems and haws a bit before asking Chompoo if she likes him. In Asian dramas telling somebody of the opposite sex that you like them is saying that you want to have a relationship. Chompoo sits there not knowing whether Go is joking or not, the kids are amused and an embarrassed Go heads out to buy Chompoo more food.

Chompoo tries to kill her sister

Chompoo's flashback starts at the cram school where she throws her drawing away when she leaves. He parents don't approve, so she has to keep the cram school secret. At dinner it becomes apparent that her father favors her sister Som O. He gives Som O the good pieces of food while he offers nothing to Chompoo.

After dinner the two sisters are in their room. Chompoo is trying to study while Som O is dancing around practicing a cheerleading routine. She ends up bopping Chompoo in the head with  her pom-pom. Chompoo jumps up angrily, and soon the two of them are fighting. Som O, being a little tattle-tale, yells to her dad that Chompoo is fighting with her.

In the next scene the Chompoo's dad is yelling at her while Som O stands behind him smirking. Chompoo ends up getting tossed out of the house so her sister can cheerlead practice in peace. Poor Chompoo is shown sitting on the curb outside her house under a street light trying not to cry as she reads.

We cut back to bar where the kids commiserate with Chompoo. Art then says he thinks he knows why Chompoo's dad is so harsh. He points out that Chompoo comes from a Chinese family and that the Chinese place great value in the first born. He jokingly says being stuck with the likes of Chompoo as their firstborn would frustrate anybody.

Foon then asks Art if he stayed in the class after Peun quit. He says no and seems a bit irked that, thanks to Peun, he had to quit after paying for the classes.

Tum gives Art some food

 We flashback to him drawing at the Foundation. Tum comes up and gives him some bananas from a left over temple offering. Art hungrily eats them. Later he calls his mom from a pay phone. He just wants to talk to her. After the call he checks his money and decides to take a train to visit her.

She is happy to see him, but concerned that he has enough money. She feels bad because she can't support him better. They have a talk where she questions him about his situation. He draws portraits -- I guess for tourists -- for living expenses. He only can draw three a day at most because his hand cramps if he draws more, and he has to end by midnight so he can catch a bus. His mother is upset, but she says nothing.

The next day she's prepared a parcel of food for him for his train ride back to Bangkok. He's depressed as he returns. Back at the bar the girls are impressed he made it into college without the benefit of a cram school. Foon and Prim compare notes and discover they both attended the Phra Sumen Fort cram school, but they didn't know each other at the time.

Trouble in paradise

We get Prim's flashback first. He father drops her off and we see her drawing with Foon sitting a little way off. A fellow comes up with a bag of cookies and asks Prim to give them to Foon and ask for her phone number. Prim says OK, then opens the bag and starts eating the cookies. The fellow protests and she just points out he should have approached Foon in the first place.

We cut to Prim's parents waiting for her. They don't seem entirely happy and Prim's mom eventually accuses her dad of turning her into an alcoholic back in their college days. Yeeps! This conversation has taken a turn for the worse mighty fast. Her dad then mentions somebody called Weera and Prim's mom wonders if he's talked to him yet. He says no because Weera said his kid being sick. Prim's mom is disgusted.

Prim joins them and they drive to get food. Prim and her dad are jovial enough, but her mom is silent and obviously unhappy. While they're waiting for the food an old beggar lady approaches them to buy some candy. The dad does, while Prim's mom gets their order and walks off in a huff. She is even angrier.

All that remains is Foon's flashback. She's finishing up her session at the Phra Sumen Fort cram school when a young fellow walks up. He flirts with her and she flirts back. I do believe we have our first Ong-art sighting.

[Episode 8]

The mysterious Ong-art makes an appearance

Desi Old Black engine at work

Villagers fire up a Desi Old Black engine and connect a belt driven contraption (I have no idea what it is doing) to it. The young boy in the beginning seems to be delighted that he is being filmed helping.

The Release from Deception

Click image to enlarge

Il Disinganno (The Release from Deception) is an 18th century sculpture by Francesco Queirolo. It features an elaborately carved net that the main figure is freeing himself from, allegorical of a man freeing himself from sin. It took Queirolo 7 years to carve the net from marble. The intricacy of the net's ropes and knots is truly a remarkable achievement.

O-Negative (I see dead people)

Just don't try to kiss me again bro

Time for Episode 6 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 5). The series is actually based on a movie and so, as you can imagine, there seems to be a fair amount of padding to spread the two hour run time of a movie into a full season. This episode is probably an example of that.

We start with Art and Peun on the roof of the freshman workshop. Peun finally gets around to telling Art about his secret relationship with Foon. Art, aside from being relieved that Peun isn't going to try any more of his kissing experiments, doesn't know what to say. Finally, Art just suggests that, if it bothers Peun so much, that he slow down his relationship to Foon.

Of course the problem with that advice is that Foon is actually the one aggressively pursuing the relationship. Later she calls Peun. He tries to ignore her call, but his resistance lasts about 15 seconds.  The be fair to Peun, that's about 10 seconds longer than the average guy would last if Foon were throwing herself at them.

Anyway, he agrees to meet her at a location that Art is also going to be at, but he doesn't tell her that fact. He does tell Art she's coming, who seems a bit disgusted by his friend's lack of a backbone.

A romantic rendevous

They meet at the coffin donation window of the Poh Teck Tung Foundation. Coffin donation is an act of charity that provides poor people with proper burials. It seems like it would be a morbid place to go on a date, but Foon is quite pleased by it when she gets there. They decide to donate. First they make a wish over the money and then upon receiving a receipt they are told they can make a prayer in front of the venerable monk.

Before they pray Foon wants to wash her hands and on the way to the rest room she runs into Art who is wearing a uniform. Peun also walks up. Naturally she continues her nutty and increasingly ridiculous secrecy act by claiming that she just ran across Peun there by chance. As usual Peun looks like a whipped puppy and Art just looks embarrassed by it all.

When Foon excuses herself to leave Peun says he'll walk her to her car.  She knows he is upset, so when they get away from Art she comes up with another excuse for her behavior. This time she claims she's worried that Art would 'tease' them. Peun tells her Art is his friend and that he already told Art about them and for her not to worry, that Art won't say anything.

Art knows how to impress the ladies

The next day we join the girl's on the roof of the freshman workshop building where they are having hotpot again. Foon has told them about Art's job and they are waiting for the two boys to join them so they can ask him about it.

To clarify things before continuing, most of Thailand's first responders to traffic accidents and crime scenes are volunteers. Art is a volunteer with the Poh Teck Tung Foundation's team that supports emergency services. If you're interested, there is more about these volunteer teams at: In Pictures: Thailand's emergency volunteers.

Chompoo asks Art if he collects dead bodies. He says no, that he takes pictures of them. He teases Chompoo that he takes pictures of people who died poorly and acts like he is going to then take her picture. Without missing a beat Chompoo off-handedly points out that he's already taking pictures of Prim. Art and Prim's flustered reaction to Chompoo so casually mentioning what they thought was their discrete interest in each other is nicely done.

Prim asks about the pictures he takes and Art tells a story about photographing some guy who had been chopped up by gangsters. Chompoo loses her appetite as he tells the gruesome story of the guy's innards spread all over the apartment.

Prim says she would like to ride along on a call. Naturally this leads all of the kids being peer-pressured into agreeing to also ride along, although Chompoo is squeamish at the idea.

Art photographs Bo and Tum

The next scene is at a temple where Art is photographing two new characters: Bo and Tum. In a conversation with them they hint at some of Art's backstory. They ask him if he's called Ms Sirilak lately. He says every day, but if he calls on the weekend she won't answer because she's off meditating in the forest. Who knows what that's about, so just file it away as a plot point.

Art tells them some of his friends are coming, including some coeds. When Chompoo arrives early the two start slobbering all over her, telling her she is cute as they deliver one cheesy pickup line after another. They scare her off, but eventually the other kids come and she rejoins them.

They're sitting at a table when an emergency call comes in about an accident between a car and a motorcycle. They climb into the back of the rescue team pickup and race to the scene with the sirens blaring.

In actuality volunteers get some training before going out

When they get to the accident scene Chompoo and Foon are too scared to leave the pickup. Peun seems to use the two girls as an excuse to hang back as well, but Prim goes to help if she can. They give her a towel and tell her to compress a leg wound to stem the bleeding. She's fine until the ambulance takes the patient away, then she nearly faints when the adrenalin wears off.

We cut to a scene of the girls shopping in an outdoor market. Prim gets side tracked looking at some T-shirts while Foon and Chompoo continue on.

Later Prim is alone at the freshman workshop. Peun comes and Prim gives him a bag. Inside is a gift, a t-shirt like the ones she was looking at. Peun is thrilled. That night while wearing it he messages Prim telling her how much he likes it. He then starts liking a slew of her Instagram pictures. I'm not sure Peun is putting as much thought into this as he ought to.

The next day Foon and Chompoo are sitting in the school cafeteria when Peun shows up proudly wearing the t-shirt. He tells them that Prim gave it to him. Chompoo starts teasing him that he and Prim must now be an item. While Peun looks pleased, Foon looks absolutely stricken.

The hissing sound you hear is the air leaking out of Peun's ego

Art and Prim walk up at this point. Chompoo is still going on about Peun and Prim being an item when Art tells her Prim bought him one of the t-shirts as well. It is now Peun's turn to look stricken. Prim adds to his embarrassment when she tells them that she bought t-shirts for Bo and Tum as well. She had gotten blood on all their shirts and that's why she got the t-shirts.

Foon has cheered up considerably and she jokingly tells Prim she thought that she liked Peun. Prim laughs and says no, there is nothing between the two of them. Peun, his ego now stomped flatter than a pancake, is totally mortified.

We cut to a Art and Peun talking in a stairwell. Peun is admitting he feels like a complete fool. He'll get no argument from us on that point. Peun the declares that he's settled on the fact that Foon is the girl that he likes. Art is his usual noncommittal self and suggest to Peun that maybe just staying friends for now will lead to less emotional disaster down the road. That would be pretty good advice if we weren't in a soap opera. Sorry Art, but we need stupidity and emotional disaster for this story to progress.

The episode ends with Peun at home taking off the t-shirt and tossing it into the garbage. Jeez Peun, was that bit of drama-queenery really needed?

[Episode 7]

I Took A Pill In Ibiza

Get ready to face the consequences this weekend with BILLbilly01 and Violette Wautier.

Impermanence

Image from Mannequin Madness

(click to enlarge)

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
     And the tide rises, the tide falls.

A home made claw machine

Lord, but this is one complicated assembly made out of cardboard, syringes and plastic tubes. Of course, if you want to build one and make it even more realistic you'll need to make the claw's grip weaker so the stuffed toys keep falling out of its grip before you can get them.

O-Negative (Foon further scrambles Peun's brain)

One of Chompoo's stranger flirting techniques

We've gotten to Episode 5 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 4). The previous episode ended with a Senior trying to get Foon drunk to take advantage of her. Before we see if he succeeds, we jump to the rest of the kids who are partying with Go and another Senior.

Chompoo is also quite drunk and she and Go are teasing each other. He jokingly calls her a pain in the neck, so she climbs on top of the picnic table to stand on top of his neck to show him just what a pain she can be. However, she gets sidetracked into doing a silly food preparation dance (don't ask) which the Seniors record on their cell phones.

In the next scene Art, Peun and Prim are taking drunken Chompoo back to their cabin. She's so drunk she can barely walk. She is happily babbling about how she loves them all right before she throws up on Art. They get her back to the cabin and are trying to clean Art's shirt when it occurs to them that Foon isn't there.

Concerned, the two boys set out to find Foon. When they find her Guide (that's the Senior lothario's name) is literally pouring booze straight from the bottle into Foon's mouth. Art is angry, and is ready to head over and deliver some rough justice, but Peun stops him and says he'll get Foon. Foon is glad to see Peun and grabs onto him. Guide claims he was trying to tell Foon to go back and go to sleep, but Peun isn't buying his line. Guide even starts to follow Peun and Foon until he sees Art glaring at him and decides discretion is the better part of valor.

If three is a crowd what are four?

Back at the cabin, when Peun puts Foon to bed she pulls him down with her and asks him to stay for a while. She's very drunk and she rambles a bit. She then kisses Peun before rolling onto her side and passing out. To say Peun is left frustrated is an understatement. Plus, entertaining for us but even more of an obstacle for Peun, when the camera pulls back for a wide shot we see that Chompoo and Prim are sleeping on different mattresses in the same room.

We then cut to a scene that is very odd to an American viewer. Peun is sitting on the beach, both worked up over the kiss and baffled by Foon's secrecy. Art joins him and, sensing Peun's conflicted mood, asks what's wrong. Peun just looks at him and then he slowly leans in as if he is going to kiss Art. He stops and Art asks him what the hell he was doing. Peun says he was seeing if he could kiss Art. Art is all "WTF?" while Art muses whether you can kiss somebody you have no feelings for.

Wait until Chompoo's Mom and Dad see these videos

The next morning we join Prim, Chompoo, Go and another Senior at breakfast. Chompoo is hungover and doesn't remember much  of the night before. So, it was her second time drinking and already she's blacking out, wonderful. Go and the other Senior are teasing Chompoo with the video they took of her last night, threatening to post it to the internet.

Foon eventually shows up. When she goes to the buffet to get her breakfast Guide arrives as well. He tries a bit of flirting with her, but that ends quickly when Peun and Art arrive and flank her. Again, one look at Art is enough to convince Guide to beat a hasty retreat. Foon is relieved to be rid of Guide and thanks the two.

On the bus as the head back the two boys are sitting together and Foon and Prim are also together. Chompoo is still wildly out of control and dancing in the aisle. Art is laughing over the number of embarrassing pictures he's taken of Chompoo to tease her with. Foon suggests he get closer to her to take more. When Art gets up to do that, Foon moves over to the seat next to Peun. After a bit of chit-chat she tells him she remembers last night. He asks her if she is sure that she remembers everything. She answers by kissing her finger tips and then touching them to Peun's lips.

Houston, we have a problem

Later Foon and her parents are in a restaurant having diner. Her Mom wants Foon to make some time next month because Mrs. Mam, who is the mother of the mysterious Ong-Art, called to say he's on summer break and Foon's Mom wants to get together with them. Foon tries to beg off, saying she may have to submit projects during the summer, but her Mom is adamant and points out that Ong-Art misses Foon and wants to see her. She also adds that Foon should give him a Skype call.

In Asian dramas families are a lot more involved in their children's romantic life, so Foon's Mom pushing Ong-Art is probably going to be a problem for her. I think we now see why she's being secretive with Peun -- she wants to keep that relationship hidden from her mom.

After a brief interlude in a pottery class Foon and Peun sneak off to go shopping together. Peun asks her why they are doing this secretly and Foon, as usual, doesn't give him a straight answer. They end up at a street vendor where they buy some food and have a good time being playful with each other.

Meanwhile the other kids are at the freshman workshop. This is a building loaned to them  in an earlier episode by the Female Drill Sargents. In a nice play off of Peun and Foon's secret date, Prim catches Art trying to secretly take a picture of her. She's amused by it and teases him while he's embarrassed and tries to tell her he was just randomly pointing his camera around.  

Chompoo is onto Foon and Peun

The kids at the freshman workshop decide to eat some lunch. Over a hotpot Chompoo tells Art and Prim she thinks that Foon and Peun are secretly seeing each other. Demonstrating that the word 'perceptive' should never be applied to either of them, Art and Prim are doubtful. Chompoo texts a picture of their lunch to Foon and Peun and invites them to lunch to establish that they are together.

Peun arrives first, when questioned by Chompoo he admits he was shopping with Foon. However, when she arrives she makes light of that fact, and further lies that the whole time they were together Peun was texting other girls. Peun is shocked and hurt by her continued denials over their relationship. Later he confronts her over them, and the episode ends with her giving no clear answer as to why or how long the deception needs to continue.

-----------

Thai University Hazing - I got curious over the hazing shown and searched Google for information about it. It is a month long freshman initiation to university life called rub-nong. It is based on the SOTUS system (Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity, and Spirit) and it is intended to help incoming freshman make friends and adjust socially to school life.

Due to abuses it is surrounded by a certain amount of controversy. The show seems to take a very benign view of it. Aside from pushups, a lousy breakfast, embarrassing dances and a lot of screaming  there is little to the hazing as it is shown in O-Negative. In reality there is much more humiliation involved. There is an ongoing debate in Thailand over the practice. The Nation Thailand opinion piece Time to end hazing culture in universities is a good discussion of the SOTUS hazing issue.

[Episode 6]

Physical Culture

Click any image to enlarge

Physical Culture was a magazine about physical fitness and health that was first published in 1899 and continued until the 1950s. Its covers, which featured attractive and athletic models, were considered indecent by many. In 1909 an obscenity conviction it received was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Of course  by today's standards there is nothing scandalous to be seen. What is interesting are the articles teased on the covers. Some of the topics are antiquated, but many are the same type still pushed by health and beauty magazines.

These pictures, and those after the jump are from Magazine Art. There are more at that link. Also, Ball State University has a number of their issues archived. Their archive includes not only the covers, but the inside pages as well if you're interested in reading some old-timey health advice.

Have a Happy Easter

Painting Easter Eggs by Mykhaylo Chornyi
(click image to enlarge)

O-Negative (beach blanket bingo)

My Shelter at Home recapping chore brings us to Episode 4 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 3). I picked the above promotional poster to start this recap because I've been looking at it and wondering... is it my imagination, or is Art picking his nose in it? I don't think I actually want an answer to that question.

Anyway, this episode starts with Professor Buddy's class in the park drawing the scenery. Art and Peun are sitting together in one spot, Prim and Foon in another. Peun and Foon are texting like mad and, at the same time, Foon is still trying to keep their budding relationship secret from the others. I've got to say, the longer this plot line goes on the sillier it gets. I mean, Art and Peun are supposedly long time friends, in what universe do 20 years old guys who are friends not discuss the girls they are chasing?

Elsewhere Chompoo shows up wearing a school uniform instead of the regular clothes like the rest of the kids are wearing. She tells Prim and Foon that it would be too hard to explain to her parents -- that they would just think she was skipping classes if she wore regular clothes. Then Chompoo gets to her real problem. The school is having a Beach Hazing this weekend and she wants to go to it, but is worried her parents won't allow it. Wait - now she thinks hazing is fun?

The girls suggest asking Professor Buddy to help, but when she asks him he thinks that having Go, who was one of the Senior Drill Sargents, talk to her parents is a better choice. Chompoo is a bit skeptical of that idea, but she doesn't have a lot of options.

You're not the only one who is wondering about that

In the next scene Peun has gone home. His Mom and Dad are eating diner and the mysterious dorm room business resurfaces when she says that, had she known he was sleeping there that night, she would have cooked him food. So the kids are staying in dorms? Who knows, but trust me on this, that is going to be far from the biggest puzzle of this episode.

Later, when he's in his room, his Mom comes up to talk to him. Her and his Dad had looked at his drawings, and she is mainly curious of the picture of Prim. She asks if she is his girlfriend. He says no, just a friend. She's not exactly buying that, and when she finds out that Art drew the picture and Peun took it she seems even more confused.

After she leaves the kids get on group chat to discuss what their theme for the Beach Hazing will be. Eventually Foon notices that Peun has been quiet so she calls him and asks if he's mad at her. He confesses that he is bothered by her lying about coming to class together when she drove him. She gives him some song and dance about how it would reflect badly on her character if people knew they drove to school together.

I don't know about that. Korean and Chinese dramas are often chaste to comically ridiculous degrees, but I'm not getting that feeling  about Thai dramas at all (this is the first Thai drama I've watched). Would Peun actually buy that excuse? Well, he does in this story, although she mollifies him by offering to drive him to school again.

Go tells Chompoo's parents a bunch of BS

What the bus trip actually looks like

The next morning they all meet at the school to board the bus. Chompoo latches onto Go and talks him into convincing to her Mom to let her go on the trip. Go tells her Mom a bunch of BS about how well behaved the kids are, there will be no alcohol or drugs, and that the boys and girls will be separated. Apparently Chompoo's Mom is an idiot, because she believes Go and gives Chompoo permission to go on the Beach Hazing trip.

We see a bit of the bus ride and I feel sorry for the poor driver. The kids are wild, with Chompoo as possibly the most out of control as she happily dances in the aisle.

When they get to the beach, as soon as they get off the bus the Seniors revert to their Senior Drill Instructor mode and order them to drop their bags and line up. The freshman are upset because they thought hazing was over. You would think that the fact that the event was named the Beach Hazing might be  a clue, but not with this group of Einstiens.

They get even more nervous when the Seniors tell them to put blindfolds on. They get led to a spot where the Seniors stop them, deliver an ambiguous speech, and then tell them to take their blindfolds off. When they do the Freshman are impressed and touched by what they see. Chompoo is even moved to tears by it, although admittedly Chompoo blubbering isn't a rare sight.

The Freshman gaze in wonder at what they see...

So, what did the Freshman see?

Beats me. Incredibly, after lingering for a long time with several reaction shots, including a long pan where we are shown the backs of what they are looking at, we cut to a shot of the beach at night and we are never shown what the Senior's surprise was nor does anyone mention it again.

However, we do find out what is the O Group's theme. When they introduce themselves they're dressed as primitive tribesman, with spears, shields, face paint and, as an odd touch,covered with leaves and branches. The only other group spotted is dressed in pajamas as a theme.

We cut to O Group sitting together. Art shows up with a guitar. Violette Wautier, the actress who plays Prim, is a Thai singer so after a bit of Compoo comic relief she starts singing. Peun and Foon sit back to back slyly holding hands, but soon Prim has Peun join her in singing a duet. Peun gets into it a little bit too much and pretty soon the hand holding is done and Foon is looking distraught. Art doesn't look to thrilled by the development either.

Except for two people there are smiles all around

The singing is interrupted by the need to attend the ceremony of Announcing the Beach Hazing Royal Court. Naturally, this being a soap opera after all, Prim is chosen as the Queen and Peun as the King. Neither Art nor Foon is thrilled by this, and salt is further rubbed into the wound when the Seniors tell the Royal Couple to hold hands as they walk.

Foon gets so upset she leaves, telling Chompoo she is going to sleep. However, on the way back to their camp some Seniors spot her and call her over. One fellow is drooling over her and he challenges her to a drinking contest. Gee, I wonder what his intentions are? Apparently she is stupider than she looks, because she agrees to the contest and is soon guzzling down drinks. We end the episode with the Senior leering at her as she drinks.

[Episode 5]

The spider and the fly

Time After Time

Get  ready for an out of sync weekend with Boyce Avenue featuring Megan and Jaclyn Davies.
  

From my ranch to your kitchen

These are videos from the YouTube channel De mi Rancho a Tu Cocina. A Mexican woman, I couldn't find her name, cooks some tasty looking food. The recipes seem authentic, although the ingredient quantities are not given so duplicating them in your own kitchen may be difficult.

If you don't understand Spanish turn on captioning. In some of the videos you may need to also go to 'Settings' and turn on auto-captioning and select English.

O-Negative (Chompoo gets knocked silly)

Foon reinforces the stereotype of Asian women being bad drivers

Episode 3 of the Thai TV show O-Negative (Episode 2) starts with the kids in their rooms at night text messaging questions about the next day's class to Prim, who has emerged as the de facto leader of the group. The scene is quite curious because in Episode 2 they clearly stated, although never showed, that the kids stayed in dorms during the week. Well, it looks like that all went out the window, who knows -- maybe their dorm set was too expensive.

Prim eventually decides to create a group chat room so she doesn't have to answer each person individually. As they're all goofing off in it Foon texts Peun privately and ends up calling him. She's flirting up a storm with him and offers to drive him to school.

The next day Foon picks up Peun. On the drive to school she says she doesn't have her driver's license yet (huh?) and admits she's kind of a bad driver. She soon demonstrates that fact when, in the midst of their flirting he tells her she's pretty and she gets embarrassed and takes her hands off the wheel to cover up her blushing face. Hilariously they have a shot of the car swerving into the other lane as Peun needs to grab the wheel. Regardless of their near death driving experience they both get a good laugh out of it. Ah, young love.  

That'll boost their confidence for sure

When to two arrive at school Chompoo notices and asks if they came together. Surprisingly, Foon lies and says they just met. Peun looks confused by that, but they are quickly off to their painting class. We don't get the teacher's name, but she is an attractive and well dressed woman who obviously doesn't suffer from a lack of self esteem. 

At least -- unlike Professor Buddy -- she actually teaches them something before having them pair off to do portraits. Foon and Prim, now the best of friends, pair off while Chompoo gloms onto Peun  before he can get away. Art is the odd man out in the class and so he says he'll do a self portrait.

After class we're back to the hazing torment. The Senior Drill Sargents tell them that tomorrow will be the last day of hazing, but there is still one group that has to perform. Also, if that group fails the hazing will continue. They call the three members of the final performing group up: Art, Peun and Chompoo. Hey, with Art as part of the team what could possibly go wrong? 

As an aside, it took me a while to figure out why these three were getting punished, than it occurred to me that they were the three caught trying to runaway on the first night. The show can be confusing like that at times. I don't know if it is sloppy writing, scenes left on the editing room floor, or Thai story telling conventions I'm missing.

Chompoo starts her journey towards turning into a falling down drunk

That night they take Chompoo to her first visit to a bar. She is nervous about having a drink because she is afraid her Dad might find out, but they talk her into it. She gets the hang of drinking pretty fast and, after guzzling down several drinks, she is soon up and wildly dancing at the table with Foon and Prim.

When they leave the bar Foon drives Chompoo home. Chompoo tries to sneak in, but her Dad catches her. Luckily for Chompoo her Dad is a bit of a dunce because he never notices that his daughter is drunk. However, he does scold her for being out so late.

Meanwhile Prim, Art and Peun have taken a taxi together. They stop ay Prim's house first, where her Mom is at the gate waiting for her. The boys introduce themselves. She asked if they've been drinking, but is obviously not bothered by the kids having a fun night out. When the boys leave she asks Prim which boy she likes better. Prim protests neither, that they're just friends. Her Mom seems skeptical and amused by the answer.

Also, the Mom mentions to Prim to tell her father that she is back. This is the second or third time he's been mentioned, but we've yet to see him. I suspect that is a plot point of some sort.

The plot thickens

We cut to Foon in her room. She's text messaging Peun to wish him good night and sweet dreams. He seems a bit distant, no doubt because of her earlier lie to the others about just meeting him before class, but she is quite happy. Then she notices a package on her night stand. What's this? She opens it and inside is post card from London signed by somebody called Ong-art who says he sent her this gift because he was thinking of her. The gift is a bottle of perfume. Hmm... I sense another apex of a soap opera polygon.

The next day the freshman are all in a class room and planning what to do for the Senior Drill Sargents. Art is on the phone. A guy snaps at him to get off the call and help. Art does hang up, but he says he won't be at the hazing today because something important came up. Art bailing on hazing again? Knock me over with a feather.

If looks could kill

The kids are all pleading with Art to come. Finally the guy who told him  to get off the phone starts swearing at Art and insulting him. Chompoo is trying to hold the guy back but he gets free and pushes Art. Art retaliates by punching the guy and in the process Chompoo gets knocked down. She ends up on the floor, bleeding with a dazed look on her face.

Prim is livid. She charges Art, pushing him and screaming, "I'm pushing you, are you going to punch me?" I dunno Prim, considering Art's track record of clobbering coeds I'm not sure I would be in a hurry to encourage him. She pushes Art into a pile of chairs before Peun gets between them and restrains her.

At the hazing Art missing naturally infuriates the Senior Drill Sargents. Peun and Chompoo try to do the performance by themselves, but poor Chompoo is crying and shaking uncontrollably from being screamed at and they screw up their dance. The Seniors are telling the class they are a pack of losers who are being disowned when, you guessed it, Art finally shows up. Now the three of them do the dance (you see parts of it in the teaser in the Episode 2 post). They nail their dance and the Seniors approve.

So, hazing is over, right?

Wrong. The Senior Drill Sargents ask them if they know what day it is. Nobody can answer, so they drag poor Chompoo back out and start screaming in her face asking her what day it is. She's on the verge of having a nervous breakdown when one of the Seniors turns to the group, spreads his arms and asks, "what sort of a girl doesn't know it is her birthday?"

With that the now smiling and friendly Seniors bring out a cake, tell the group that it is Chompoo's birthday, and invite everybody to sing Happy Birthday to her. When the cake comes out, as it slowly registers on her what's happening, Chompoo comes out of her state of abject terror until she finally melts with delight at being the center of attention.

The portrait that is sure to cause problems

In the final scene Art is handing in the portrait he did. He didn't do a self-portrait at all, instead he did a portrait of Prim. Oh Art, you love struck little puppy! Luckily for him Prim seems to have calmed down and was actually friendly to him when Chompoo's birthday cake came out.

The teacher hangs the picture on the wall where Peun eventually sees it. He's admiring it and he notices that Art drew it, so he asks Art if he can have it. Art says sure, although it isn't clear exactly how he takes Peun's request. That said, I'm sure we can all guess what Foon's reaction will be.

[Episode 4]

Chicken Attack

Iron Ian does a touching cover of the Takeo Ischi masterpiece Chicken Attack. 

Struggles against isolation

Copying propaganda posters (click to enlarge)

We are all lost, so lost, vulnerable and insecure. We are separated from love at birth, we are separated from God, from each other. All we want, all we yearn for is to connect. ― Kamand Kojouri

O-Negative (the kids put on a skit)

I'm a cool cat. Do you dig me daddy-O?

Episode 2 of O-Negative (Episode 1) gets the kids to the second day at the School From Hell. Surprisingly, instead of just getting screamed at by the Senior Drill Sargents, they actually have a class. All five of them are in the same beginning drawing class which is taught by Professor Buddy, who is a hipster sort of a hepcat. He doesn't really teach them anything, just tells them to do a pencil drawing of some cubes and cones he's set up.

The kids spread out to draw. Peun makes sure he is sitting next to Foon, and Art sits next to Prim who is oblivious of him gawking at her. Meanwhile Chompoo is more or less a third wheel  as she tries, none too successfully, to get one of the boy's attention.  

Aside from Prim and Foon continuing their feud via dirty looks, the only thing we learn is that Art is apparently a great artist. Or at least Professor Buddy thinks he is, because he positively gushes over how wonderful Art's cubes and cones drawing is. This fact dully impresses Prim, so maybe there's hope for our man Art after all.

The ridiculous 'College Bus' song and dance

After lunch it is back to the Senior Drill Sargents and their hazing. Because of their fight the night before, Prim and Foon are dragged to the front of the class and told they need to cooperate to put on a performance. Sensing a chance to score points with Foon, Peun raises his hand and volunteers to help. The Senior Drill Sargents are inclined to say no, but Peun pulls the 'we're friends' card and, considering all their blithering about Unity the day before, they have to agree to Peun helping. Peun then drags Art up to help as well.

The four of them can't think of a performance, so they decide the guys will sing the 'College Bus' song and the girls will randomly dance around. Yea, it's as bad as it sounds. After about a minute of their act the Senior Drill Sargents scream at them to knock it off and tell them it is the worst performance they've ever seen. Amen to that. They're told to come back the next day and try again with a better idea.

Somehow the four of them rope the rest of the freshmen into helping. In a rare burst of believability for this show, the group brainstorms and decides to do a skit that's a mash-up of a popular TV show or movie. It is easy to believe that college freshmen would actually do that. They all then get busy learning their lines and making props and so forth.

The next day, when they show up to hazing to do their skit they discover that Art isn't there. Naturally the Senior Drill Sargents blow a gasket over this and, after a lecture about friendship, it is back to the boys doing pushups while the girls have to hunch over in their weird squat. The kids are told in no uncertain terms that without Art there will by no skit, and with no skit there will be nothing but misery.

We cut to Prim, Foon, Chompoo and Peun trying to talk Art into doing the skit. His excuse for not being at hazing is that he has a part-time job. Really Art, you're tossing Unity overboard for a bit of filthy lucre? Have you no shame?

After getting badgered for a bit Art finally snaps and more or less tells them if they're stupid enough to do the hazing that is their problem, not his. This insult gets Foon upset, so she slaps him. In a pretty shocking scene Art responds by slapping her back. In fact he slaps Foon so hard she staggers and nearly falls to the ground.

"Ve haf vays of making you talk..."

When Art is next seen he is in the Senior Drill Sargents' interrogation chamber. It is dark, except for a slide projector shining the word 'FREE' on him. Needless to say, his inquisitors are not happy with him smacking a coed around.

Meanwhile in another room a pissed off Foon is sitting, with a red mark on the side of her face from Art's slap. Peun is trying to calm her down and talk her into helping to get his friend Art out of the jam he's in. Prim is having none of it and Chompoo is blubbering her eyes out, but Peun gradually wears Foon down with his appeals.

We cut to Art still standing in the interrogation room. Foon walks up next to him. She takes responsibility for the fight by saying she started it by slapping Art first and asks them not to punish Art. The Senior Drill Sargents are not impressed, pointing out that regardless, guys slapping women around is frowned upon. She hoists them on their Unity Petard by saying Art is her friend and so Art gets off with just a warning.

Emotions run amuck in Champoo's cranium

The next afternoon we finally get to the skit. It is a parody of Pixar's Inside Out. Chompoo is viewed through a set that looks like a TV. She is crying and going on about how sad she is that she has to go to the hazing. In her cranium's control room Foon is the Sad emotion and Prim is the Happy one. Happy reprimands Sad and goes to the keyboard and types away. Chompoo immediately cheers up and then babbles some kiss-ass claptrap about how wonderful the Senior Drill Sargents are.

Art enters last, comforts Chompoo a bit and ends his speech by telling her when hazing is over he's going to rip the moustaches off the Senior Drill Sargents. The male Seniors aren't amused, but the Female Seniors get a yuck out of that. At any rate they pass, only to be told that they now have to shed blood. This is just a Senior Drill Sargent joke though, because what it really means is the five of them have to go and donate blood.

On a ferry on the way back from the blood donation they check their slips and realize they all have  type O blood. Chompoo suggests they name their group the O Group. Art, ever the rebel, scoffs at this and points out O is the most common blood type and probably everybody else on the ferry shares it. However, in the end he agrees to the group's name and there are smiles all around.

I'll end with the Thai teaser for the show. You'll recognize many of the scenes. As for me, I'm looking forward to the scene where they're on the beach dressed as bushes. Before watching it be sure to get your box of tissues ready, because all the angst, heartbreak, drama and scenery chewing teased in it will likely get you blubbering worse than Chompoo does at the drop of a hat.

[Episodse 3]

Max Zorn's packing tape art

Click any image to enlarge

Max Zorn is a Dutch street artist who uses packing tape as his medium. He also creates works on plexiglass that are backlit. Much of his work has a mid 20th century feel to them. You can buy his work at his Tape Art by Max Zorn website.

These images, and those after the jump are samples of his work. There are many more examples at his website.

I Want to Hold Your Hand

Get ready for a subversive shelter in place weekend with Shane & Emily.

O-Negative (love can't be designed)

The main characters of O-Negative
(L-R: Chompoo, Art, Prim, Peun and Foon)

A while back I reviewed a couple of Russian TV shows: Vyzhit Posle and Sparta. A side effect of watching these show was clips of East Asian dramas and romcoms started showing up in my YouTube feed. Like a fool I clicked on them and before long I was hooked on the insanity of East Asian TV shows.

The one I'm talking about today is the Thai TV show O-Negative (love can't be designed) and is available on Netflix. I have no idea if it is a soap opera, a comedy or what. The Netflix blurb describes it as "Five schoolmates who share a blood type navigate the vagaries of friendship, love and university life." Um... shared blood type as the premise? Well, OK.

We start with our 5 main characters at their computers nervously waiting for news that they got accepted into the art department of a university. They are:

• Prim - presumably she is the good girl. Curiously, the actress is of Belgian descent so she looks European.
• Foon - is the spoiled rich girl who is treated like a princess by her parents. They buy her a car as a present for getting into college. 
• Chompoo - she's a bumpkin (I think) who has strict parents. She joyfully dances around singing that she's going to be a boy chasing bitch now that she's on her own. 
• Peun - who appears to be a bit of a goody-two-shoes doofus and is friends with
• Art - who I think is supposed to be a rebel of sorts.  

They all get accepted and the next we see them is at orientation. They're in a large lecture hall checking each other out. Chompoo comes in and sits with the two boys and tries to strike up a conversation with them, but they're both too busy googoo-eying Prim and Foon to pay much attention to her.

A teacher comes in welcomes them, tells them they are adults now and reminds them that the main purpose of art is to foster unity (err... what?). He then says they can break for a session of getting to know each other and to make new friends.

Note to self - turn cellphone ring to mute if ever in Thailand

They're all gathered outside, presumably making friends and whatnot, when some older students, led by a long-haired guy and a bearded guy, run up and start screaming at them like Marine drill sargeants to form up in lines by gender. As the new and confused students are trying to do that Chompoo's phone dings.

Well, that must be a social gaffe of epic proportions in Thailand because the two drill sergeants fly into a rage and start ranting about how they're all in it together and also something about unity (I'm sensing a pattern here). The guys are instructed to drop and start doing push-ups while the girls have to sort of crouch in a rather odd position as punishment.    

We then cut to the boys marching down a street at night. The drill sergeants instruct them to stop and ask for the gays to fall out and form their own line. As we're puzzling over that development we get our answer to it when the next scene shows the boys all in some sort of bath house pouring buckets of water over their heads. Apparently, I guess, it was just to keep the gays from ogling them during bath time. Oh yea, it all ends with another unity talk for some reason or another.

Meanwhile, after the girls take their showers Foon is looking for her missing hair dryer. She decides, for absolutely no reason, that Chompoo must have stolen it so she dumps out the contents of Chompoo's bag, breaking poor Chompoo's phone in the process. This infuriates Prim, who storms over and dumps out the contents of Foon's bag. This looks like this is going to lead to a cat fight, which us male audience members hope involves hair pulling, clothes tearing and the nearest mud puddle. Alas for us, a female drill sergeant steps in and breaks them up, reveals that she had the hair dryer, and -- you guessed it -- she gives a lecture on unity.

A pack of Unity Deniers get caught

Later that night the two boys decide they've had enough of this nonsense, so they plan to sneak out and runaway. On the way out they hear a girl blubbering. It turns out to be Chompoo, still clutching her broken phone, so they agree to take her along. The three make it about five feet before they find themselves surrounded by drill sergeants who point out, none to tactfully, that running away violates their precious Unity Principle. So much for the great escape.

The next morning they are all gathered for breakfast. First the drill sargeants mock to two guys as a couple of crybabies who tried to run away, then they hand out breakfast which is a Styrofoam fast food box with plain rice and what looks like fried rat meat or something equally as unappetizing. While this is going on Foon's parents show up with a bento box of gourmet food for her. Roh-oh. I'm sure you can imagine the browbeating poor Foon gets over her lack of Dining Unity.

It's a good thing her potential love interest was there to catch her

The last activity of the orientation session is the 10 mile run. It ends with one of the most beloved Asian drama tropes -- the girl somehow flopping into the arms of her potential love interest. Usually it is the girl tripping, but in this situation Foon fake fainted (we see her peek at him while they're fussing over her) into the arms of Peun. Asian romances favor love quadrilaterals over love triangles, with each member of the main couple being pursued by a different suitor. I'm guess Peun and Prim will be the main couple, with Art and Foon chasing them.

After the run all of the students go home where, surprisingly, they just treat all this yelling and screaming as hazing by older students. It also looks like the story writers are setting up the domestic situations of the characters so they can develop what ever ridiculous backstories each has.

I'll watch this show, which had an entertaining first episode. I have no idea how often I'll post about it, but it is shelter in place time so's it's not like I have a lot to do anyway. If it keeps being amusing I'll write about it more.

[Episode 2]