gkinbkk

The bloke that slammed his Porsche into a Fortuner last night at 270kmph must be a contender for the crown...

Lots of guys advertising on Craigslist

Mine loves it...was a big fan of doing Lamb Chops on the BBQ in Oz when we could afford it. Does a really good roast but we only have it once every 2-3 months given the cost of a decent leg out here. Loves the Londoners Lamb Shanks. Always complains about the cost of poor quality chops here too.

In short, an aficionado

^what always puzzles me is the people that ditch True for Astro when they're paying more and not getting as many channels.

We pay 300b a month for Astro. The programming is marginally better but the rugby coverage is a little worse giving that Astro only broadcast Setanta programming blocks rather than the full Setanta channel. Wife loves Asian Food Channel(not on True) and TLC which is an additional extra on True, like the Disney channels.

I would happily switch back to True IF they improved the SD picture quality, got serious about HD and offered the service at a reasonable price. Having lived in both Australia and Singapore I can easily say that both countries had better and cheaper pay TV offerings

Yawn......

PORTNOY, SHEEHAN, MACALPINE, SHERINIAN - EUROPEAN AND ASIAN TOUR 2012

Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan, Tony MacAlpine and Derek Sherinian will join forces this fall embarking on an extended tour of Europe and Asia.

The virtuoso band will play an all-instrumental set consisting of material from each of their solo records and their previous collaborations as well as classic instrumental covers and extended solo spots.

Mike Portnoy formed the lineup to perfom at two drum events at the NAMM show last January. Due to overwhelming response that band has decided to take their show on tour.

"I knew when assembling this lineup that it would be a magical musical experience that would be a blast for us as well as the fans! I can't wait to play again with these tremendous musicians and share the experience with you all at these special shows!" says Portnoy.

OCTOBER

17 - Opole, Poland

18 - Wroclaw, Poland

20 - Bucarest, Romania - Jukebox Club

21 - Zoetermeer, Holland - Boerderij

25 - Tel Aviv, Israel - Reading 3

26 - Kiev,Ukraine - Bingo Club

27 - Moscow, Russia - Izvestia Hall

28 - St. Petersburg, Russia - Glav Club

31 - Beijing, China

NOVEMBER

2 - Shanghai, China

4 - Taipei, Taiwan

6 - Manila, Philippines

8 - Bangkok, Thailand

10 - Fort Gate, Singapore

Saw them a few years ago in Singapore. Paid for a seat down the front and of course as soon as the concert started, all the kids just climbed over the barrier and jammed down there with 'security' powerless to stop it. None the less it was great for about 90 mins, tiring at 2 hours and at 2.5 hours I thought I would head back to the pub. Have to say Mike Portnoy comes across as a complete douche and I'm looking forward to seeing Mike Mangini as the band loses nothing by having him there.

Portnoys new band, Flying Colours, I'm on the fence about........although I do love Steve Morse

The Thunderdome is in woop woop , north Bangkok, traffic jam central...go early!

Who knows, maybe Rush will pop by one day.............

Last day tomorrow

Went last night. I enjoyed it, plenty of interesting things to see. Hated parking the car but I guess thats to be expected. Agree on the models...for the most part ugly and overdone.

Wouldnt go on a weekend, not that stupid!

Might go to look at an Isuzu but you'll always see other interesting things in your budget so the effort is worth it if you are buying a car. I came away thinking about the new Ford Territory and some of the Volvos which I certainly wouldnt see at the local car dealers.......

Havent read the full 29 pages so apologise if I repeating whats already been said.

In business:

1. We have a clear plan and we intend to execute to that plan

2. Sorry Mr Customer the price you want to pay or insist on paying for our goods and services is way below cost and I'm going to have to walk away from this particular deal

3. Don't worry, I won't bother you on leave

4. It was my fault, I'm fully accountable and I take full responsibility for the massive screw up that occured

5. The foreigners that work in our Bangkok office are all exceptional professionals and I would never point the finger at them

6. let's work through lunch so we can get out of here early

7. I would never surround myself with incompetent people to make me look good

8. Sorry Mr Customer, its Songkran/New Year/Whatever holiday and my key people are out on leave so I cannot revise my proposal until the following week

9. I fully understand why our Employee Satisfaction numbers are the lowest in the region and here is my 10 point plan to rectify the situation

10. Thanks for the information/white paper/proposal/presentation etc. it was really useful and I appreciate all the effort you put into it. When we win the deal I will be sure to give you the appropriate recognition for your contribution

So, how was it?

I'm finding the air pollution especially bad at the moment. It seems to be the season to clear land by burning it off and coupled with the insane heat we've been having, down our way on BangNa Trad it is not very nice. Sat was unbearable until the storms came in the afternoon. Spent most of the day inside with the aircon on to get away from it. Took the dog for a walk around 3pm and even she looked at me with a 'you must be f&^king kidding' look.....

I tried their duck once, but it was mostly soft skin and bones.

I don't mind too much about the skin (but I would very much prefer crispy skin), but I hate getting served chopped bones - this is a recurring problem with chicken and duck in Thailand.

Interesting. I like the MK Duck because I've never come across bones in it!

We go regularly. Our young kids love it and I don't find it outrageously priced, not that much more than eating in a fast food restaurant.

Didn't like it many years ago when I first tried it, must have assimilated since then.......

I saw one of those old guys with the ponytails walking around Silom last year, thought at the time he must have got lost on the way to Pattaya.

On closer inspection it was Jimmy Page......

Between 5-10% higher on speedo than actual seemed to be the norm for all the cars I've ever driven back home in Europe.

Correct.

I worked for one of the distributors in the Auto industry in Australia for a while and this is a widely accepted fact. Subaru up to 10% is one of the worst but most around 5%

For something completely different try Sundowners at Imperial Queens Park on Soi 22

All Farang band. Kind of an odd collection of older guys but they would easily one of the better bands in Bangkok....mostly classic and 80's rock when I was there......

The Office in 33 is best for AFL.

All the other places have it on as a courtesy, The Office does it properly WITH sound.

Much longer Super 15 season as well as the general availability of Setanta might upset the apple cart a little though given that Australia Network still does not have any distribution in Thailand.....

I'm a man with simple tastes.......

I'd really love Speights from NZ to be available here. Not a great beer but a very nostalgic taste.

They have started selling it in Singapore so I dont see why we cant have it too!

Wife ALWAYS checks the receipt, especially in Tesco, because its almost always wrong. Double charging is common as are the price differences but I would say that often it works out to our advantage. Anyway, everytime we spot something wrong we go to the service counter and they adjust or refund without question.....

The problem is that the kitsch gets a bit tiresome after a few songs.

I agree.

I think they are extremely good at what they do but half of a set is enough for me.

But what do I know. At O'Reillys I was definitely in the minority......

Their sausages and bacon are of a good quality, but everything else lately is severely lacking and standards are dropping

Couldnt agree more.

The last order we got, both the pies and sausage rolls were not a patch on what they were a year ago. Definately smaller yet more expensive and less gravy in the pies making the meat a bit dry. Sausage rolls were extra greasy and also smaller while being more expensive.

I'm in 2 minds as to whether to order any more. They're not horrible but they could be better. Shame there's no real competition in BKK......maybe an opportunity for someone....

Also I have had a few occasions where I have been told my taxi can't go into the soi and requested that we turn around, I got out and walked the short distance to my apartment and there were a lot of semi official looking men running around making sure no one was driving around until whoever it was had passed through the area. However, they were not police, so I didn't really understand who it was or what was going on.

Imperial Queens Park on Soi 22 frequently has Thai VIPs visiting and also the bomb squad is located in the basement of that hotel

I like Check Inn but calling what they have a 'band' is a bit far fetched?! Really its just Filippino singers doing karaoke. But it sure does feel like you are going back to the 70s when you go in there!

I checked out the Imperial Queens Park. All Farang band of older guys who obviously know what they are doing. Actually I would say for the most part they were absolutely smokin'. They did a version of Black Magic Woman where the guitar player and drummer went to town displaying thier ability and it was pretty amazing, or so the 6 people in the bar thought anyway! There really is nothing like this anywhere else in Bangkok and how its not packed every night is criminal or perhaps its just criminally underpromoted. Well worth checking out IMO...... they seem to start early, around 730 and the early stuff is all the slow stuff but later in the night they get into the rock stuff which for me was MILES better.....

Sundowners Imperial Queens Park.... from 730 to 9 the all Farang band is kinda easy listening (Toto/Commodores are 2 artists I can recollect) then from 10 onwards they kick it up a notch......really good musos and there is NOTHING like it anywhere else in BKK. ONly downside is that it seems pretty quiet in there. I guess no one knows about it!

Lindy Fralin is WAAAAAAY too boutique for Music Concept.

I know Rock Planet in CW carries Lollar pickups ( a set of Dirty Blondes on a Strat is about as good as it gets IMO) maybe they can help you with the Fralins.

Also another very good alternative is Bare Knuckles from Pedals Park in Times Square.