LOS ANGELES — Maybe it was destiny for a movie with a pile of poop as a central character.
“The Emoji Movie” has received Hollywood’s most famous frown, the Razzie Award, for worst picture of 2017, making it the first animated feature in 38 years to earn the top dishonor.
“Leading this year’s list of movie-misfires is the emoticon-based, talking poop opus,” the Razzies said in a statement announcing the recipients, saying the film came in a year when “Hollywood’s recycled trash heap attained an all-time high” and saw a “toxic-level lack of originality.”
The annual awards bestowed on the worst the movie business has to offer were announced Saturday in their traditional spot, the day before the Academy Awards.
“The Emoji Movie” landed four of the 10 Razzies given out this year, also taking worst screenplay, worst director, and worst screen combo, which was given to “any two obnoxious emojis” from the movie.
shows Gene, voiced by T.J. Miller, center, in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘The Emoji Movie.’ Image: Sony Pictures Animation
Tom Cruise’s attempted reboot of the “Mummy” franchise landed him worst actor. He now has no Oscars after three nominations, but two Razzies. Cruise and Brad Pitt won for worst screen couple for 1994’s “Interview with the Vampire.”
Tyler Perry took worst actress for “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween,” the director’s 10th time donning a dress and playing his signature white-wigged matriarch.
Kim Basinger took worst supporting actress for “Fifty Shades Darker,” putting her in the special company of Faye Dunaway, Liza Minelli and Halle Berry as actresses who have won both a Razzie and an Oscar.
Mel Gibson, who last year won the “Redeemer” award for getting an Oscar nomination just a few years after getting a Razzie nomination, is back at the bottom again as far as the Razzies are concerned, taking worst supporting actor for “Daddy’s Home 2.”
“Baywatch,” won the inaugural “Special Rotten Tomatoes Award: The Razzie Nominee So Bad You Loved It!” The award is the result of an online poll held in conjunction with the review site Rotten Tomatoes.
The rest of the Razzie Awards are determined by what the organization says is over 1,000 voting Razzie members 27 countries and from every U.S. state except Montana.
Nick Rhodes of the band Duran Duran in 2011 in New York. Photo: Jeff Christensen / Associated Press
LONDON — It’s the time of year when film enthusiasts turn into industry experts to handicap the Oscars race — and Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes is no different.
Rhodes takes his Oscar predictions seriously — so much so that he has been putting them on the band’s website for about a decade, with detailed commentary.
“I love to watch movies. I’ve always watched them since I was a kid and it’s very much part of my agenda to see things. It’s part of the fabric of pop culture. A big part of it,” Rhodes said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.
Rhodes started doing predictions with Katy Krassner, the content director of the Duran Duran website, about 15 years ago for fun.
“We’d have a chat about it before the Oscars and just talk about who was likely to win and how the Academy (was) going to vote strategically and all those, all those things. And she said one day, ‘Why don’t we just do this for the website? I think the fans would probably really like it. It’s a little different, little quirky,'” he recalled. “And so we did one and it became very popular.”
The tradition was created, and they’ve been doing it for about 10 years. The predictions are written in the third person with fun banter, and an audio version is also done for the website.
Rhodes and Krassner break down who they think should win, then talk about who they think will actually take home the prize.
“I think that it’s pretty obvious that people do vote strategically. I mean there’s always the delineation between best director and best film. Well why wouldn’t it be the same person? Because if the best film wins surely the director who directed that in theory must be the best director,” he said. “But I think it gets split down into these micro-categories now doesn’t it?”
Like many film experts, Rhodes predictions the best picture Oscar will go to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
The Oscars will be handed out on Sunday night in Los Angeles.
Then-candidate Yingluck Shinawatra strikes a gong on May 27, 2011, in Maha Sarakham province to signal the start of her election campaign in the Isaan region.
Anti-junta protesters are focused on not just pushing for speedy elections as promised but also attempting to end the vicious cycle of coups.
Both are difficult, but the latter is much more challenging as it would require concerted and sustained efforts – and an understanding of the bigger context.
It’s one thing to mount pressure on the junta in a bid to oust them – or at least honor their own word on when general elections will take place.
Junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha broke his word for the fourth time in four years on Tuesday when saying a vote wouldn’t be held until February 2019, at the earliest. And even that was not written in stone. What is clear now is that Prayuth’s word is unreliable.
Back to the issue of ending the coup cycle.
A leaflet distributed at the latest protest one week ago at Thammasat University focused on amending the junta-sponsored charter and returning the army to the barracks.
In a climate where Prayuth holds absolute power to override to executive, legislative and judicial branches, it sounds like wishful thinking.
That doesn’t mean these objectives shouldn’t be pursued when an elected government comes to power.
But it would be a big mistake to think that these measures alone would suffice.
Little has been said about how to engage Thais who repeatedly welcome or even call for military interventions. As long as there exists demand for military coups from a significant portion of society, it’s likely they will be supplied in the future.
To engage or neutralize citizens who act as cannon fodder for military interventions is thus necessary for Thailand to become a post-coup society.
There’s a need to convince people to think that military junta is the lesser of the two evils, compared to corrupt and abusive elected governments. This requires sustained efforts to tackle issues beyond elections such as ensuring that political parties, particularly big ones, are not under the influence of one or a few and more answering to the people, which includes people who have decided not to vote for them.
As long as a significant sector of the population feels that the power of the people is only valid on Election Day, and politicians regard their electoral victories as blank checks to do whatever they like, Thailand risks inviting more interventions in the future.
If people feel that there’s little or nothing they can do to influence big party politics that happen to be under the power of a single man, as people see the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra Pheu Thai Party to be, there shall be demand for more coups when these people get frustrated and feel they cannot count on anything else.
Corruption and nepotism committed by elected politicians, perceived or real, can never be overlooked. It must be taken seriously and to simply say the junta is no better when it comes to the issue won’t cut it.
Thailand needs a concrete long-term plan to elevate its electoral politics to the point where it will never be regarded as more evil than military rule. This requires building faith and trust in electoral politics, with detailed, measurable criteria, and it has to go beyond the mere of holding of free and fair elections.
BANGKOK — The Department of Special Investigations, or DSI, said Saturday it would look into a foreigner claiming to be one of its agents who threatened a news editor to remove a story about the recent arrests of Russian and Belorussiansocial media personalities in Pattaya.
Thierry Perenon, who identified himself as a Frenchman working as a DSI “special agent” in the resort city, emailed the editor of Khaosod English saying he must delete the storyabout the group, who claimed to have information proving Russian meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election.
“I am special agent of DSI. If you know what is best for you you will delete this case from your website. You would not want DSI after you, [sic]” Perenon wrote. “Take care of your family remove the story.”
Video of the arrest shows Perenon was present during the Feb. 25 arrest. The DSI, akin to the United States’ FBI, was not involved in the arrest.
After making a series of implied threats, Perenon went on to say the editor could be detained or worse if he refused to remove the news.
Photo: Thierry Pol / Facebook
“Family should be very important for you more than a story, [sic]” Perenon wrote. “Remember where you are.. remember the government you are under. 12 days detained… 12 more….”
Perenon, who posted photos of himself in DSI and police uniforms on his social media profile, named deputy DSI chief Korrawat Panprapakorn as his supervisor.
In a phone interview, Korrawat said Perenon misrepresented himself, as he’s only part of a “foreigner network program” in Pattaya – a group of volunteers who help send tips about potential crimes or transnational gangs to the DSI – and not a sworn officer. Volunteers have no legal authority, he said.
“The program is to protect people who make an honest living,” Korrawat said. “If these people misuse their association with the DSI or conduct themselves in inappropriate way, I do not condone it. They should be exposed.”
Khaosod English editor Todd Ruiz declined to comment for this story.
Perenon on Saturday replied to an inquiry to double down on his claims of working for the DSI and threatened legal action for reporting his statements.
“So yes I have all the evidence in this case police reports, photos, Only police officers have police reports which you see by my facebook I am one. And you see I was there to arrest with Special Branch, [sic]” Perenon said.
Perenon said he was carrying a gun at the time of the arrest and made an implied threat against a reporter.
“You can see the 11mm under my shirt,” he wrote. “[M]aybe one day you can see it for real.”
Asked why he wanted the articles removed, he said “your news is fake.”
Photo: Thierry Pol / Facebook
Perenon further wrote that “English reporters can have bad problems” in the country.
“So I have nothing else to say to except keep your family safe. Thai Police, Army, Russia FSB,” he wrote.
On Wednesday, Khaosod English published an interview with Alex Lesley, a Russian self-styled sex guru who had been arrested alongside his other “instructors” in Pattaya two days earlier.
At the time of their arrest, the guru – whose real name is Aleksandr Kirillov – was working with Belorussian model Anastasiya Vashukievich. Known on Instagram as Nastya Rybka, her affair with a married Russian oligarch and Putin ally mixed up in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in US elections has inflamed the Kremlin.
Kirillov told Khaosod English on Tuesday that the detainees would trade valuable evidence about Russian election interference to American authorities if they could help keep them out of Russian hands.
As of Saturday, all 10 were being held at Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center. They are pending a trial on charges of working in Thailand without work permit and face deportation.
After this story was published Saturday, Perenon wrote from the same email address to threaten legal action.
“I am now going to make a police report against you for Slander/libel and computer crimes … You don’t see my Porsche and Mercedes? My Police friends? My movie star friends ? and who are you? Are you a idiot? I will just say you made this email address yourself to slander me and DSI and Santibaan for your fake news. You don’t know who I am how I make money and you see my influential friends…” he wrote.
Soon after, a man identifying himself as Perenon contacted Khaosod English by phone on Saturday afternoon to deny sending the messages.
He said he had talked to his DSI contacts and was on his way to the Pattaya police station.
A reporter promised to call the police station at 5:35pm to verify his identity. Police at the station said Perenon was in a long queue to file a report and could not put him on the phone until just after 6pm.
During that time, frequent emails from the same email address stopped arriving after one sent at 5:34pm. When Peregon was asked repeatedly to identify who he spoke to today at DSI, he refused to answer except to say they were “very big.”
He consistently used language similar to that of the emailed messages:
“If you look at my Facebook I’m meeting with DSI, with every big boss in DSI.”
He continued, “I never sent nothing mister that is the problem, I never send email I never send a message never [unintelligible]. Nothing.”
Asked if he has been impersonated, he said, “There is somebody who is in internet who is very very good in Internet. And make something for me. And make something fake. You understand fake?”
Asked how the impersonator could have attached police evidence and arrest reports to his emails, he said, “You make it yourself.”
Within minutes of the call ending, fresh emails began arriving from the same address, apparently also from Perenon, saying “police report at CSD slander/libel computer crimes act criminal and civil.”
Update: This story has been updated with additional information.
Ailing radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, center, arrives for medical treatment at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Dita Alangkara / Associated Press
JAKARTA — Australia on Saturday urged Indonesia against any leniency toward the ideological leader of the Bali bombers as the government considers house arrest or other forms of clemency for the ailing radical cleric who is now in prison.
Wiranto, Indonesia’s top security minister, said Friday that a meeting of security ministers and police will make a recommendation on Abu Bakar Bashir’s treatment to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
“Clemency, pardon, house arrest or just hospital treatment. It will be discussed in the near future and will be reported to the president,” said Wiranto, who uses a single name.
Bashir, who turns 80 in August, was treated in a Jakarta hospital on Thursday for pooling of blood in the legs, a common condition in the elderly known as chronic venous insufficiency, and later returned to prison.
Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Thursday that the government plans to place Bashir under house arrest so he can be cared for by his family or transfer him to a prison near his hometown, Solo in Central Java, according to local media.
His numerous sympathizers hope Jokowi will grant him a permanent release due to his poor health, a move that would help mend fences between hard-line Muslims and Jokowi ahead of a presidential election in 2019 but alarm allies such as the United States and Australia. Jokowi’s approval ratings remain high with the broader Indonesian public.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s office on Saturday described Bashir as the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners including 88 Australians.
Bishop’s office said in a statement that Australians expected justice to continue to be served to “the full extent that Indonesian law allows.”
“Abu Bakar Bashir should never be allowed to incite others to carry other future attacks against innocent civilians,” the statement added.
Bashir was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011 for supporting a military-style training camp for Islamic militants.
The firebrand cleric was arrested almost immediately after the Bali bombing. But prosecutors were unable to prove a string of terrorism-related allegations. He was instead sentenced to 18 months in prison for immigration violations.
Jokowi’s spokesman, Johan Budi, said the president will review the case, and house arrest is “possible under the law.”
He said a suggestion to pardon Bashir came from Indonesian Ulema Council chairman Ma’ruf Amin and would require Bashir to apply for clemency.
That appears unlikely as it would involve Bashir recognizing secular authority. After being sentenced in 2011, he said he rejected the conviction because it was based on “infidel” law.
Law enforcement officers search a wooded area for a suspect involved in a shooting at a Central Michigan University residence hall on Friday, March 2, 2018 in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Photo: Matthew Dae Smith / Associated Press
MOUNT PLEASANT, Michigan — More than 100 police officers, some heavily armed in camouflage uniforms, searched neighborhoods near Central Michigan University on Friday for a 19-year-old student suspected of killing his parents at a dormitory and then running from campus.
The shooting at Campbell Hall happened on a day when parents were arriving to pick up students for the beginning of a week-long spring break.
Police released a photo of James Eric Davis Jr., urging the public to call 911 if they see him but also warning that he shouldn’t be confronted. Hours after a campus lockdown, police started a “slow, methodical removal” of staff and students who were ordered to take shelter in campus buildings, Lt. Larry Klaus said.
“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” Klaus said of Davis.
The university identified the two dead as his mother Diva Davis and father James Davis Sr., a part-time police officer in the Chicago suburb of Bellwood. The shooting occurred around 8:30 a.m. at a residence hall at Central Michigan, which is about 70 miles (112.6 kilometers) north of Lansing.
Klaus said video at the dorm suggests Davis fled on foot after the shooting. He was wearing a hoodie but had been shedding certain clothes while on the run.
“This has been a tragic day. … The hurting will go on for a while,” said university President George Ross.
The search was focused on Mount Pleasant neighborhoods near campus. Officers in camouflage knocked on doors and checked possible hiding places, such as yards and porches. In the surrounding community, students and staff in the Mount Pleasant school district were told not to leave nine buildings.
Klaus said Davis was taken to a hospital Thursday night by campus police because of a drug-related health problem, possibly an overdose.
The Davis family is from Plainfield, Illinois, about 38 miles (61 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Davis Jr. graduated from Central High School in 2016, said Tom Hernandez, a spokesman for Plainfield School District 202.
Bellwood Police Chief Jiminez Allen released a statement Friday night praising Davis Sr.’s work.
Davis’ “contributions to our community positively impacted everyone he served and served with,” Allen said.
The shooting occurred on the last day of classes before a weeklong break. Parents who were trying to pick up students were told instead to go to a local hotel where staff would assist them while the manhunt was ongoing.
A student, Tyler Whipple, was driving through campus when his route was blocked by police cars at the scene of the killings. He had to catch a flight to Florida.
“These roads are kind of spooky right now,” Whipple said.
The school posted an alert Friday morning on social media about shots being fired at Campbell Hall. An automated phone message was sent to students.
Halie Byron, 20, said she locked herself in her off-campus house, about a 10-minute walk from the dorm. She had planned to run errands before traveling home to southeastern Michigan.
“It’s scary thinking about how easy a shooter can come into a college campus anywhere – a classroom, a library. There’s so much easy access,” Byron said.
BANGKOK — Following word thatSam Smithis coming to town, music fans have another English talent to look forward to performing Bangkok in May.
Best known for “Lightning Bolt,” “Two Fingers” and “Trouble Town,” Nottingham singer-songwriter Jake Bugg will play Bangkok for the first time, promoter Bec-Tero entertainment announced Friday afternoon.
Instead of the usual stage at Impact Arena, the May 1 concert will take place downtown in a more intimate and classy venue: Scala Theatre. Tickets are 2,600 baht and go on sale March 17 at ThaiTicketMajor.
Bugg rose to fame in 2011 at 17 when he was invited to perform at the Glastonbury Festival. The 24-year-old recently released his fourth album, “Hearts That Strain” in August.
Laborers at work at steel market in Yichang, China. Photo: Chinatopix / Associated Press
BEIJING — China on Friday expressed “grave concern” about a U.S. trade policy report that pledges to pressure Beijing but had no immediate response to President Donald Trump’s plan to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The report Thursday accused China of moving away from market principles and pledged to prevent Beijing from disrupting global trade.
“The Chinese side expresses grave concern,” said a Commerce Ministry statement.
The ministry said Beijing has satisfied its trade obligations and appealed to Washington to settle disputes through negotiation.
However, there was no immediate response to Trump’s announcement that he will increase duties on steel and aluminum imports. Chinese officials have threatened to take “necessary measures” to defend their country’s interests.
Beijing faces mounting complaints from Washington, Europe and other trading partners that it improperly subsidizes exports and hampers access to its markets in violation of its free-trade commitments.
“The United States aims to hold countries that break the rules accountable for their actions,” said a White House statement on Thursday.
Junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha is the aorta nourishing a heart comprised of faces from across the red-yellow political divide in T-shirts worn by members of the newly registered Phure Chart Thai Party, which extols national reconciliation as its main objective.
BANGKOK — Mongkol Samerpap arrived to the Government Office Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road at 3am on Friday morning to make sure no one stole his name.
His Thai Nation Power Party was among the first of 42 new political groups to put their names down to signal their intent to field candidates in the next election – and clamor for attention on what was effectively its first day of campaigning.
Most arrived early in the morning on the first day new party names could be registered to insure they weren’t taken by others, as registration with the Election Commission was on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some arrived well-prepared with their policy platforms detailed in leaflets while others chose to collar reporters and outline them verbally.
The Thai Nation Power Party’s main issue is pushing for a 5,000 baht monthly stipend for the elderly and free education through to the undergraduate level, said party co-founder
More severe punishment for violating the already-harsh lese majeste law was a central plank in the newly registered Siam Democrat Party platform.
“The monarchy is above everything. We will demand that PM Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha be more serious about those defaming the monarchy,” said Nopparut Vorachitkul, the party’s secretary general.
Nopparut Vorachitkul of Siam Democrat Party says the monarchy could be better protected by making the lese majeste law more severe.
Nopparut said, adding that the lese majeste law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment term might have to be made more severe.
“Cases should also be sped up, so they will set an example to others,” said Nopparut, who wore a suit jacket with a tag containing an image of the king.
Other policies laid out by new parties included reconciling social divisions, fighting corruption, offering fresh alternatives and making various reforms.
Forty-one parties were registered as of 1:30pm, and registration will continue on working days today onward. To be certified to contest the election, the parties must meet other minimum requirements, such as having 500 members spread out in four regions of the country.
All new parties will have to seek permission from the ruling junta to convene their first general meeting. This would have to be done through the Election Commission, acting commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn.
It’s unclear how long it will take for the commission to make such approval. Existing parties will be able to re-certify themselves next month.
Nopparut, a former elected member of the opposition Pheu Thai Party which was overthrown by the military four years ago, said he is willing to be patient. He said the military must take security issues into consideration first.
Watcharin Srithaporn, a co-founder of Phure Chart Thai Party meanwhile said his party is all about national reconciliation.
He said the party can work with any other so long as they work toward reconciliation. The party doesn’t rule out supporting an unelected MP as future prime minister, a reference to the speculation that junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha will seek to stay on as prime minister after the election he most recently promised will happen next February.
At this stage of the game, after nearly four years of military rule, it seemed premature for anyone to stake out any potentially controversial positions on who should serve as prime minister.
The Ruam Jai Thai Party, which also registered today, likewise would not rule out supporting an outsider PM candidate, saying it was too early to take a position.
“It’s up to the situation at the time,” party leader Noppadol Amornwech said.
Noppadol did seem to hint support for Prayuth, as he said the party wants a prime minister who will “make people happy,” a call-back to the early days of junta rule when its operating slogan was “returning happiness to the Thai people.”
The reincarnated Palang Dharma Party – now the New Palang Dharma Party – said they’d wait and see, but promised to promote a “Buddhist” version of democracy.
A Singaporean warehouse event is coming to Bangkok for the second time later this month to rock the capital’s clubbers once again.
Escape 56 returns to Thailand headlining with Italian house duo Alessandro Parlatore and Marcello Giordani, or Marvin & Guy, who since 2011 have been releasing groovy disco tracks on prominent labels such as Hivern Discs, Life and Death and Permanent Vacation. During the first quarter of 2018 the two have been on tour, lighting up cities such as Tel Aviv, Barcelona, and Sydney before stopping over in Bangkok.
The first event in Thailand was held in November 2017 at Viva Thonglor and featured Berlin techno pioneer Roman Flugel. It was made all the better by the state-of-the-art Funktion-One Soundsystem he used, which proved great for the crowd – so great in fact, that authorities ordered the sound levels be turned down.
“We had faced a real challenge and issue with the sound levels and had been informed by the local police to lower the levels an hour before closing, we tried to our best to control the situation, but it was out of our hands in the end,” organizer and DJ Sunju Hargun said.
Escape 56 BKK Feat. Marvin & Guy (Life & Death / IT) will take place 9pm through 4am on March 16 in Shade & Shadow Event Space (above Nineteens Up Bar) in Soi Silom 19 and will have local DJs Slum Disco Sound System, Stargazer and Giant Swings Hidemasa Mitsui supporting. Tickets are 700 baht and can be bought online.
