Brand New Your Retro: Rise And Fall And Rise of SuperrZaaap’s Tavisrut Burapat

By

-

6 August 2016, 15:46

Bringing back that ‘80s nostalgia, legendary French DJ and producer Thibaut Berland aka Breakbot touches down Tuesday in Bangkok for the first stop on his Asian tour.

Fresh off the success of his the release of his second album “Still Waters,” the producer known for his ‘80s-inspired grooves will perform with his full band at GMM Live House in CentralWorld. The event will have an ‘80s prom theme, so those of you that didn’t grow up in that decade like I did should Google “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or “The Breakfast Club” to get a feel for the music and fashion of that era.

Admittedly, I was a nerdy kid with big glasses and spiky hair back then. I yearned to go out with my older brother, who was allowed to hang out with his friends chatting up girls in nightclubs. As time wore on, I swapped my glasses for contacts, grew long hair and got involved in electronic music. I would like to think my sense of fashion improved.

This is where we get back to Breakbot the Frenchman by way of 2008 and designer Tavisrut Burapat, who then with his creative partner Sarila Chatrakulchai started their own brand of streetwear called SuperrZaaap.

Notes from the Underground - Mongkorn 'DJ Dragon' Timkul Tavisrut saw SuperrZaaap grow to two shops in CentralWorld and a flagship store in Siam Square, but it was the events they started hosting that really put the brand on the map, like the Smirnoff x SuperrZaaap Science Fiction warehouse party created in 2009. The rave saw a whopping 4,000 neon-clad ravers in attendance.

As a wiser man once said, shit happens for a reason. On May 19, 2010, Tavisrut’s two stores in CentralWorld were torched when the military crackdown on street protests culminated in some people looting and burning down part of the mall. He lost everything.

Tavisrut rethought his approach and got back to work. Now at 32, he’s running a brand communications company called Wav Collective, and doing stuff like bringing Breakbot to Bangkok.

Tavisrut was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to talk about SuperrZaaap, his philosophy about what he does and how losing his business to arsonists changed his work philosophy.

Mongkorn Timkul: You’re definitely not scared to take risks but this Breakbot gig is huge af. The whole band will be performing here. Looks expensive, did you get help from sponsors?

Tavisrut Burapat: (Nervous laughter) I’ve got a lot riding on this gig, as I’ve put up the money for it myself. I haven’t had much luck getting outside funding for this project, so I’ve got to handle this on my own. I guess it’s going to make or break, but the cool thing about is I met up with Thibaut in France last year and he promised me that Bangkok would his first stop in his Asian tour. So I’m really excited about this.

MT: How is your approach to organizing events different from other collectives?

TB: Well for example, for our Science Fiction gig with Smirnoff we wanted to create our own world. So I created it through a short science fiction story where the characters were people on my team like the DJs and VJs. As for merchandising, I think it’s nice for partygoers to have something unique to remind them of the gig and the good time they had.
MT: You started all this with a brand. What came first for SuperrZaaap, making clothes or events?

TB: We set out wanting to design clothes that would suit the music that we were into at that time, but the brand grew into something much bigger when we decided the best way to promote our brand was through organizing our own raves.

MT: After your shops at CentralWorld burned down, how was your life changed?

TB: When I was 24 I started the business with only 250,000 baht. It was a gamble but to me it was all or nothing. When our shops burnt down during the riots, I lost everything. I thought the better way was to focus my energy on event organizing instead. Trying to build a strong scene is more difficult. I went to see your gigs years ago, and it really inspired me to do what I do. Making something that has substance and quality is more important than thinking of just making money. I hope can inspire others to follow.

A reveler at SuperrZaap's lucha libre-themed 2009 'Ready to Rumble' party. — A reveler at SuperrZaaap’s lucha libre-themed ‘Ready to Rumble’ party in 2009.

MT: Do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur?

TB: I don’t really think of myself as a businessman or entrepreneur, because not all of my projects … have made money. But no matter what, I kept going after whatever the outcome. So I’d like to consider myself an artist above all else.

Indie boys and girls will be out in full force Aug. 9 when Breakbot and his band make their Bangkok debut. Tickets are 2,500 baht at the door, oh, and don’t forget to dew up your neon gloss and hair in proper ‘80s fashion for this special event.

In the words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

Until next time, Dub be good to you.

Be Fair Even to the Unfair and Accept Referendum Outcome* (*If It’s Clean)

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

-

6 August 2016, 14:33

Election Commission staff demonstrate casting ballots for the August 2016 referendum at a school in Ubon Ratchathani province.

One of the biggest dilemmas facing those opposed to the coup makers is whether to participate in tomorrow’s referendum on the controversial junta-sponsored charter.

It must be stated outright that the process leading up to Aug. 7 referendum has fallen far short of free and fair. Public campaigns for or against it have been criminalized, punishable by 10 years imprisonment under the Referendum Act passed by the junta’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National Legislative Assembly.

Spreading anything deemed as “distorting” the charter is also a crime. As I pen this commentary, 20 people have been put behind bars for these absurd “crimes.”

Two dozen symposiums and seminars critical of the charter have been banned in recent months.

Junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha also insists that instead of resigning, he will remain and be in charge of drafting a third charter draft if this second version is rejected.

All these factors, not to mention the undemocratic nature of the charter itself, such as ensuring that virtually all of the 250 senators will be appointed by the junta, are enough reasons to reject the charter.

But some have already denounced the whole process as a sham and called for a boycott of the polls.

A group calling itself “Civilians Reserving the Right to Reject Results of the Unfair and Unfree Referendum,” led by political activist Jitra Cotchadet, submitted an open letter Thursday to the National Human Rights Commission calling for a new draft vote, saying the current one fails to meet international standarRds. They want people to be able to choose between either the 1997 or the 2007 charters, both invalidated by different coups.

Yet these people’s stance will ensure that there will be no consensus even after the results come out, no matter how.

This is an understandable stance, and in fact the Referendum Act also bizarrely and unfairly criminalizes anyone calling for a boycott of the Sunday’s referendum.

Yet these people’s stance will ensure that there will be no consensus even after the results come out, no matter how.

For those who will vote No against the junta-sponsored charter tomorrow, they should be fair enough to accept results that may not be to their liking, so long as there’s no clear evidence comes to light that major rigging of the polls took place.

If you are a boxer and don’t like the rules and regulations, you can’t enter the ring and denounce the outcome. If you enter the ring despite the unfair rules, you should grudgingly be willing to accept the results.

As much as the whole process is evidently unfair, as reflected by the calls by international bodies and foreign governments for the junta to allow freedom of expression in public debate and unhampered deliberation, those against the junta must decide whether to boycott or try to vote down the charter.

If they participate in the voting tomorrow, they should be fair, honest and honorable enough to accept whatever results as long as the voting and the counting process is transparent and clean. This doesn’t mean they have to force themselves to accept the junta as legitimate.

The referendum cannot be about about whitewashing the junta, which lacked legitimacy from day one, starting May 22, 2014, and will continue to be illegitimate even after tomorrow, no matter the results. It’s about respecting the voices of the tens of millions of voters who will be able to exercise their right to vote, in relative freedom, as to what they think of the charter draft and the junta itself, however.

Be fair even to the unfair military junta, for two wrongs cannot make a thing right or fair.

Millions of Thai citizens will speak tomorrow, and no matter which side of the political divide you stand, let us try to respect and listen to those voices and make sense out of it, regardless of whether you or I like it or not.

Pokemon Go is Here and You Can Play It Right Now

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

6 August 2016, 11:16

BANGKOK — As voters prepare to cast their ballots in Sunday’s referendum that will either endorse or reject a new constitution, a wild Pikachu appears!

After debuting in the West and some parts of East Asia last month, the worldwide phenomenon of Pokemon Go finally arrives in Thailand on Saturday morning, ending the torturous wait for Thai Pokemon fans, some of whom have already set up online communities just for this day.

“IT’S HEREEEEEEEEEEEEE,” admin of Pokemon Go Thailand FanClub announced.

The game was also made available in 14 other Southeast Asian nations on the same day, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Singapore.

In the augmented-reality game of Pokemon Go, the players, known as Pokemon Trainers, seek out and catch Pokemons, or “pocket monsters,” with their mobile phones at real world locations.

It remains to be seen whether this virtual quest will play any distracting factor for tomorrow’s referendum, which seems met with apathy from many voters who say authorities have kept them in the dark about the charter.

And one thing for all Thai Trainers to bear in mind: Even if you encounter an exceedingly rare Pokemon in the polling station tomorrow, please don’t whip out your phone to catch them; it’s illegal to use your phone as you cast your vote, with a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

The game is available for iOS and Android.

Library of Rebels: Reading Room Conspires With Contrarian Greats

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

-

5 August 2016, 18:37

‘The Little Library of Contrarians.’ Photo: The Reading Room / Facebook

BANGKOK — Aung San Suu Kyi’s former aid and political prisoner Ma Thida will be among the world’s rebels to call a Silom mini-library temporary home, along with the likes of the Sex Pistols and Bob Dylan to Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche.

With August comes the fourth round of The Reading Room’s Sleepover Project, and writer-director Prabda Yoon will take over the space by filling it with films, music and books from those contrarians, including a special appearance by Ma Thida.

Stepping into the fourth floor Reading Room, expect to hear growling punk from the Sex Pistols or The Velvet Underground while checking out books written by linguist-political activist Noam Chomsky, anti-totalitarian author Christopher Hitchens and many more will be available at the library.

On Aug. 16, listen to Ma Thida who will participate in a discussion from 7pm to 9pm.

Movies by transgressive directors will screen weekly. The schedule will be posted online.

The Little Library of Contrarians runs Wednesday through Aug. 28 at The Reading Room. The library-gallery-shophouse on Soi Silom 19 is open 1pm to 7pm, Wednesday through Sunday.

Relating stories:

Get in the Game: Reading Room Gets Serious About Play

SEA Art Crew Explore ‘Discomfort’ at Silom Library

Paradise of the Blind: Prohibited Prints Under Assault at ‘Reading Room’

Outside the Usual Circles, Interest Seems Low in Sunday’s Vote

By

Khaosod English

-

5 August 2016, 18:34

Students pose during a get-out-the-vote campaign Thursday organized by local officials in Korat.

BANGKOK — Throughout much of the nation, one would have little idea its future hangs in the balance come Sunday.

Several randomly selected residents around the kingdom said this week they’re either not interested or unaware of Sunday’s charter referendum despite attempts to drum up interest and turnout by the military government and Election Commission.

“I know almost nothing about the referendum,” said Rangsinee Thongsuk, who sells used cars in Chiang Rai city and was one of two people there to say they knew little to nothing about Sunday’s vote.

Rangsinee said voting one way or the other would make no difference as the nation is trapped in political turmoil. She said she will decide just by Sunday whether to cast a ballot.

Kanok Visawakul, also from Chiang Rai, said although he knows the referendum is happening, he knows little about the actual contents of the proposed constitution written by junta appointees.

Not far away in Chiang Mai, Pipob Udomittiphong, a political commentator on social media said many people in his area have little interest or knowledge about the charter referendum.

Some just don’t care, like Somked Namnuan, a driver east of Bangkok in Prachinburi province.

“I’m not interested in it because it’s very hard to understand,” he said. “It’s very complicated.”

Down in the south, Ekapol Masusuk on Koh Phangan in Surat Thani province, said he is fully prepared to participate and exercise his rights.

“Personally as far as I follow the news, this should be the best charter for this country and the majority of people,” said the 56-year-old businessman who holds a graduate degree in political science from the Surat Thani campus of the National Institute of Development Administration, or NIDA.. “Because only a minority of people and some groups of politicians dislike it. So I think this charter is quite good.”

Ekapol said much of his knowledge about the charter and referendum process has come from social media.

“But overall, considering the intention of the drafters, I think it will benefit the people and the country a lot,” he said.

He suggested both the government and the Election Commission go even further in the future.

“For clarity, and in order to deter distortion from those who mean bad, those in charge of drafting the charter should have disseminated details and information straight to every household more than they have.”

More Arrested in Connection to Referendum Letters

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

-

5 August 2016, 17:46

Former MP Tassanee Buranupakorn, at far right, is brought by police commandos and soldiers Tuesday to police headquarters in Chiang Mai province for questioning.

CHIANG MAI — Two days before a referendum in which voters will accept or reject a new constitution, the crackdown on any opposition to the charter continues with two new arrests Friday.

Police said they arrested a pair associated with a group of former politicians and bureaucrats in Chiang Mai who allegedly “misrepresented” the charter draft in undelivered letters to supporters. Eleven people, including a former MP and a mayor, are already jailed and awaiting trial on the same charge.

Politicians Charged for ‘Distorting Constitution’ in Private Letters

The two new suspects are Tewarat Rinta and Netitat Apiratimai, who worked as a driver and secretary for jailed mayor Kachen Jeakkhachorn, respectively.

Police will interrogate Tewarat and Netitat before sending them to a military court for a custody hearing within 48 hours, Chiang Mai police commander Montree Samboonnanond told reporters Friday.

The other 11 suspects were denied bail Thursday.

All the suspects stand accused of “distorting” the charter in the batches of letters, which were intercepted and seized at post offices before they were delivered. The authorities have never disclosed what the letters said.

For the alleged crime, they face severe charges of insurrection, conspiring against law enforcement and violating the draconian referendum law, which vaguely criminalized any attempt to “mislead” the public to vote for or against the constitution under penalty of a decade in jail.

Diluvium: Muralist to Paint Murals For the End of the World

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

-

5 August 2016, 17:43

BANGKOK — An Australian graffiti artist will unleash monsters of the apocalypse onto Bangkok later this month.

Benjamin James Knock, aka Knock, will take aerosol cans of spray to paint onto a gallery wall for “Diluvium,” a Latin word for the muck left behind. Knock said for his second show in Thailand, he wanted to depict the world’s sudden changes, from rising waters to erratic tectonic plate shifts.

“It’s happening as we speak,” Knock said. “These works are my interpretation of such events, and the aesthetics behind the energy I’m trying to depict.”

Apart from his vibrant murals, Knock said he will also show a light and sculpture installation.

After putting on Diluvium, Knock said he will wander Bangkok to paint murals on city walls.

Diluvium will run Aug. 13 through Aug. 30 at Midnice Gallery on Soi Chok Chai 4, about four kilometers east of MRT Lat Phrao.

Desperate Man Threatens to Leap From Bridge With Toddler Son

By

Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

-

5 August 2016, 16:58

Peerawat Klomkliang gestures as he threatens to jump from a pedestrian overpass with his 3-year-old son on Friday west of Bangkok.

BANGKOK — A distraught man threatened to leap into traffic with his 3-year-old son from a footbridge Friday afternoon in western metro Bangkok.

After 20 minutes negotiating, police were able to convince Peerawat Klomkliang, 27, to climb back to safety from his perch over Phutthamonthon Sai 3 Road in Nakhon Pathom province.

“He was motivated by an issue with his girlfriend,” said local police officer Capt. Pimpisarn Thamronglaohaphan.

Pimpisarn said the man did not possess any weapons and the incident ended without anyone getting hurt.

Peerawat’s 26-year-old girlfriend, Wasinee Unhawong, said they often fought. Before this afternoon, Peerawat previously sent her Facebook messages threatening to jump from the bridge with their son.

Wasinee said she couldn’t contact him until he turned up later on with the child on the bridge.

Police released him without charge to sort things out with his girlfriend.

Clickbaiters Are Mad at Facebook For This 1 Weird Trick

By

Associated Press

-

5 August 2016, 15:35

NEW YORK — Facebook is taking another stab at ridding users’ news feeds of “clickbait,” the links and headlines that ask readers to “guess what happened next” but don’t provide any useful information, tempting people to click if they want to find out anything.

The world’s largest social media company last tried this in 2014, when it announced that it was improving users’ news feed to help them find what was “interesting and relevant” and weed out “spammy” stories.

It looks like that didn’t work as well as it should have.

Facebook Inc. said on Thursday it is now using a system that identifies phrases commonly used in “clickbait” headlines. These range from “… and his reaction was priceless!” to “… What happens next is hard to believe.”

It will also consider items “clickbait” if a headline exaggerates information or is misleading. For example, Facebook notes that the headline “Apples Are Actually Bad For You?!” is misleading because apples are only bad if you eat too many of them every day.

From there, Facebook built a system that determines what phrases are commonly used in clickbait headlines that are not used in other headlines.

“This is similar to how many email spam filters work,” wrote Alex Peysakhovich, research scientist, and Kristin Hendrix, user experience researcher, in a blog post.

Links from websites and Facebook pages that are consistently posting clickbait will appear lower in users’ news feeds, so they are less likely to be seen. If a site stops posting such headlines, though, Facebook’s software will learn this, too, and the links will appear higher up.

Will this new system work? It’s possible, though just as some spammers continue to evade spam filters, some clickbait factories are likely to continue getting around Facebook’s anti-clickbait formulas.

Malaysia Confirms MH370 Course Was on Pilot’s Simulator

By

Associated Press

-

5 August 2016, 15:17

A school utility worker mops a mural April 8, 2014, depicting the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 at the Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino High School campus east of Manila, Philippines. Photo: Bullit Marquez / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has confirmed one of the pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had plotted a course on his home flight simulator to the southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed.

It’s the first time Malaysia has acknowledged the route was on Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s simulator. Australian officials overseeing the search for the plane last month said data recovered from the simulator included a flight path to the southern Indian Ocean.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, who made the comments Thursday, also cautioned there were “thousands” of destinations on the simulator and no evidence to confirm that Zaharie flew the plane in that area.

Hot News

LATEST NEWS