Stickman Bangkok packs it in after two decades

[saakura]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Just the ageing old time mongers and deviants are likely to miss him.

[Jeremy50]

15 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

I think you have misunderstood my post. His style was highly formulaic, forged from the styles of U.S. 50's magazines and never moved on. I was referring to the odd style of writing. So, I don't understand the relevance of your post to mine.

 

I don't know if he condoned under-age, but he certainly informed people about it. You can argue the toss. My point was as the world evolved he had to drop the references.

 

My whole post was about his writing style and to a lesser extent, content.

Yes, I know all about the Trink style and of the origins of the language and the quotes that he used. I merely wanted to infer that it would have been completely wasted and lost on today's Bangkok 'nightlife scene' which has neither the scope or excitement that it once had long ago. It's a different place. The nightlife has certainly lost the bucolic sense of 'romantic' possibilities that underscored Trink's column, and made it [with it's eccentric charm] so poignant and relevant to that era, or to earlier ones, but not today's.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Jeremy50
grammar

[jmccarty]

In the case of Thailand night life reporters, the less said online and through media, the better! For the many many years of business owners delivering to what the market drives, airing laundry only makes the General shut it down.

[samsensam]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Interesting comments from someone who obviously didn't know him or anything about his private life. And still doesn't.

 

Stickman's use of English; coherence, lexicon, grammar and structure do indicate he is not educated to a high level and/or is simply not in possession of a talent for writing. he relied on reporting on, promoting and condoning the sex industry for his success rather than insightful, well structured and entertaining writing.

 

[tomacht8]

6 hours ago, jmccarty said:

In the case of Thailand night life reporters, the less said online and through media, the better! For the many many years of business owners delivering to what the market drives, airing laundry only makes the General shut it down.

I can only agree.

Go to the beginning of the Stickman page it was interesting, with a free download from Stephen Leather´s Private Dancer and his first Night Live Guide (aka, where to find the girls).
On the other hand, one does not have to write about where the girls (still) dance naked or where there is an invitation to participate in the stage show.
Thailand's cunning police reads this too.
 

[Carib]

Now let`s see. The now closed topic has 9 pages mostly filled by the ones who never read him, didn't like him, thought he couldn't write, hated him, thought it was all rubbish and so on. We are on page 5 of the new topic now and still discussing and ranting about a person who according to the lot has done just about everything wrong. I say that is pretty impressive, for a socalled loser..... 

[morrobay]

8 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

Too many tourists

but fewer and fewer Farangs as as you said the gig is over for them and will not last that long for those who have temporary replaced them.

How does that " temporarily replaced them " apply to these millions of all kinds of Asians in Pattaya these days? 

[impulse]

9 hours ago, expatoz said:

Ok An American in Bangkok is better anyway... 

 

http://www.anamericaninbangkok.com/

 

Can't make any judgment on the comparative quality until I've had some time to peruse it better.  But it's a completely different genre from first glance.

 

Thanks for the link, though.

 

[PatOngo]

To quote the "Niteowl" Bernard Trink.................I don't give a hoot!

[billbush]

Nice to hear. I guess Thailand needs expats only not  "sexpats"  or sexpat promoters.

[berybert]

'Thailand has changed , nothing is as good as it was'.

Once you start sounding like your parents then its time to <deleted>.

 

[jacko45k]

Hard to report from so distant a place using no-here-say. Always felt the time was limited when he left BKK. But a decent sport and good luck to him.

[chrisinth]

18 hours ago, irishken said:

The gig is perhaps up for you and other long term expats who have giving up but Thailand has so much to offer that it's history is not going to be decided or its best times past in the 80's 90's and 00's. 

 

Every new new visitor doesn't know what it was like back then so it's all new to them to make their own memories just like you did. Just check YouTube for the 1 million vlogs about Thailand (all with the soundtrack to the movie the beach)and you'll see plenty of happy experiences 

Agree with what you say about changing times and people's experiences in the moment.

 

However, if the vlogs, and indeed You Tube were around in the 80's & 90's to the extent they are now, comparing what was happening then to what it is now, I think a lot of people's eyes would be opened................. 

 

But unfortunately we can't live in the past, but for the ones that were there we can at least remember the good times as they were.

[soalbundy]

11 hours ago, amvet said:

Stickman  was a fun guy until his wife/GF left him then he became just like so many on here who gripe about Thailand and Thai women. 

He would have been OK if all he was interested in was sex unfortunately he bought the story of the beautiful Thai lady in love with the uneducated

low class English speaker. 

I was referring to Trink, I have never read Stickman. Many people, especially as they get older, are psychologically wounded, they identify only with the house they live in, the car they drive, their monthly income without seeing that there is so much more to life, they have become incompetent to live and drown the pain with alcohol and women. Take a look at a picture of yourself as a 6 year old and look in the mirror now and see how the joy of life has been squeezed out of you (not you personally). i have found it a great pleasure to throw the conditioning that life has pushed on to me overboard never to resurface. Wise words of the week, I take credit cards and cheques.

[PremiumLane]

Old dudes whose bar girl wives have ripped them off are upset,  where can they publish their sonnets of love and deception now?

[Xobtsiwt]

10 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

Are you kidding? Bangkok was a completely different city in the 1980's to what it is now. Cheap, dark, and very sleazy, with ANYTHING goes bars, and many more of them, plus many other types of girl venue too. Long time the norm, girls all skinny and no tatts, and polite, the list could just go on about how different it was. Trink certainly never condoned under-age, though it was all apparent  in many places.

 

Stick was OK, but really he missed the wild years IMO. His writing improved over the years, and his pictures were great.

That's a good approximation of my memories too.

[JAG]

I agree 100% Stickman had BAD BAD taste in women...I called the girl of the week the dog of the week...He pulled these girls from Bangkoks top GoGo bars and he could not find better girls??
Hell a blind man could have made better picks I think.....
At first I thought he was just on a bad streak but the unattractive girls of the week went on for years and years....

I rather assumed that particular feature of his column was paid for by the relevant bar or agency...

[Bangkok Barry]

11 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

I don't give a hoot! 

 

'Nuff said.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

'Thailand has changed , nothing is as good as it was'.

Once you start sounding like your parents then its time to <deleted>.

 

Even nostalgia has gone downhill

[amvet]

12 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Interesting comments from someone who obviously didn't know him or anything about his private life. And still doesn't.

OK, I'll bite.  His wife left him and he all of a sudden turned negative about Thailand.  Why do you think he had the change of attitude? 

[Bangkok Barry]

16 minutes ago, amvet said:

OK, I'll bite.  His wife left him and he all of a sudden turned negative about Thailand.  Why do you think he had the change of attitude? 

Again, you know nothing about him or his private life. How about change of attitude being caused by changes in Thailand, which makes it less appealing to many. I don't need to list the many reasons why, which range from increasing violence, poor attitude towards foreigners especially but not limited to the authorities, rising prices/poor exchange rates, to the lack of freedom of speech (TV among others has to censor itself). I know some of these things happen elsewhere too, but we are talking about Thailand.
Long-timers know the place has changed in many ways and often not for the better. There is a change of attitude in Thailand which in turn leads to a change of attitude by foreigners. Nothing to do with personal relationships. In fact, with the increased number of foreigners in Thailand has come an increased number of idiots who spout off without having a clue what they are talking about and make statements without any foundation whatsoever. That causes disillusionment too.

 

[davidst01]

I have no respect for a ghost writer who is out of touch with the land of smiles living in the nanny state of NZ. 

 

Its the same for some travel writers for example 'Ben Groundwater' who writes for the Sydney morning herald. I hear that he doesn't actually travel much. 

[Bangkok Barry]

6 minutes ago, davidst01 said:

I have no respect for a ghost writer who is out of touch with the land of smiles living in the nanny state of NZ. 

 

Its the same for some travel writers for example 'Ben Groundwater' who writes for the Sydney morning herald. I hear that he doesn't actually travel much. 

 

I think you misunderstand the term ghostwriter. Stick wrote all his own copy. A ghostwriter is someone who gives the credit of authorship to someone else.

[Bangkok Barry]

25 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

 

Another fun area in Bangkok that I forgot to mention went the way of the dodo in the mid-90's and that was over near the Ari BTS. Used to be a good few go-go bars there and it catered for a more local clientele. Close to Victory Monument and we'd often head there for Thai food and whisky after.

 

Nearby, in Saphan Kwai, entertainment providers still exist. so I'm told.

[maxcorrigan]

22 hours ago, toxicfume said:

The era of Trink and Stickman have ended. Times are a'changin. Welcome to the era of My Mate Nate....

True, God Help Us!

[balo]

The mafia is taking over , or the boiler room boss. AD outed him and he'snot happy about that.

 

 

[irishken]

6 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Agree with what you say about changing times and people's experiences in the moment.

 

However, if the vlogs, and indeed You Tube were around in the 80's & 90's to the extent they are now, comparing what was happening then to what it is now, I think a lot of people's eyes would be opened................. 

 

But unfortunately we can't live in the past, but for the ones that were there we can at least remember the good times as they were.

Their is no doubt about it that i would have loved to have seen what it was like back then and i always find myself watching the old videos of Thailand are on Youtube. 

I first came to Thailand in 05 and i think it might have just caught the end of what some might have considered the good old days.

I flew in Don Mueang airport and when i left 6 month later, Suvarnabhumi was open. I can remember taxiing after landing and thinking,why the hell are they playing golf beside the runway.

I got to stay in the last wood cabins on Chewang Beach on Samui called  Charlies huts and loved them, but my ex girlfriend couldn't put up with lack of hot water so we only stayed in them for a week or so. 

I can remember reading forums back then and old timers saying,its not as good now as the 60's,70's,80's.

In twenty years, it will be the 00's,10's,20s the expats will be looking back at.

 

But now i'm glad they more indoor play areas for my kids and more family activities. Would i love a solo holiday without the family,hell yeah but that's never going to happen but i'm only 37 so i've still plenty of memories to make over there. 

[bannork]

4 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

To all those posters denigrating the sex-pats you have to understand they were the trailblazers. It wasn't your backpackers eeking out a journey on their Mum and Dad's credit cards while on a year out from uni, it was your down and dirty sex-pats, the leftovers from the Vietnam War days, the offshore workers, the mariners, the military and intelligence personnel assisting the Thais against the Khmer Rouge... It was the single white men that braved the long haul flights to emerge from the plane clad in colonial style garb, pith helmets under their arm, mopping their brows with a hankerchief in the humidity on the Don Muang runway. 

 

Sukumvit was built on the backs of these brave pioneers. 

 

Another fun area in Bangkok that I forgot to mention went the way of the dodo in the mid-90's and that was over near the Ari BTS. Used to be a good few go-go bars there and it catered for a more local clientele. Close to Victory Monument and we'd often head there for Thai food and whisky after.

Hey, we had no credit cards back in the 70s and 80s,. It was all money saved from working back in the West in manual jobs and factories. The dirty sex pats were here first but they were unable to get off the bar stools and out of Patpong and Sukhumvit. They were to, put it bluntly, seashell struck.

Meanwhile  us dirty hippies were exploring all the backwaters, staying in 20 baht dormitories and getting close to nature with the geckos, lizards and cockroaches. Actually the song remains the same, a frog popped out of my fridge on the farm just the other day.

Edited August 24, 2017 by bannork

[impulse]

3 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

To all those posters denigrating the sex-pats you have to understand they were the trailblazers. .......It was the single white men that braved the long haul flights to emerge from the plane clad in colonial style garb, pith helmets under their arm, mopping their brows with a hankerchief in the humidity on the Don Muang runway. 

 

Sukumvit was built on the backs of these brave pioneers.

 

Help me out here.  Are you crediting them, or blaming them for Sukhumvit?  And closer to home (though I live near Asoke) for the way so many locals have come to loathe the White Man?

(On an aside, I was new to China, waiting for my plane when I heard an oilfield worker complaining very loudly about everything related to the locals.  With about 90% locals around the gate.  Being on an oilfield assignment myself, I figured out why my employees -all engineers- were so negative toward us)

[impulse]

14 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

If you ventured up to Thong Lor you'd get a nosebleed, nothing up there except coconut trees and snakes.

 

The coconut trees may be gone...

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by impulse