Stickman Bangkok packs it in after two decades

[Thaidream]

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.    Still listen to it every now and then.

[impulse]

13 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.

 

Pretty sure the converse is even more true.

 

[Thaidream]

No doubt about it.  Funny thing about the song- it was at one time banned in Thailand but was always blaring out loud in the 'entertainment districts'.

[amvet]

7 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

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.

Remember back when Mrs Stickman also wrote a column?  She stopped when she left him.  I remember thinking at the time she could never admit a Thai person was wrong or there were any flaws in Thai culture.  I thought at the time the man who was married to her was in for a rough ride in the long term.  But, of course, you are probably correct it was just coincidence that his wife stopped writing a column, left him and Thailand started going downhill all at the same time.  I'm sure just a coincidence.  I didn't really pay much attention to Stickman, btw.  I read the site for his authors like Dana.  Imagine, Stick getting all that talent for free.  I wonder if he helped Dana in the hospital in Boston at all?  Dana was not in good shape the last I spoke with him. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, amvet said:

Remember back when Mrs Stickman also wrote a column?  She stopped when she left him.  I remember thinking at the time she could never admit a Thai person was wrong or there were any flaws in Thai culture.  I thought at the time the man who was married to her was in for a rough ride in the long term.  But, of course, you are probably correct it was just coincidence that his wife stopped writing a column, left him and Thailand started going downhill all at the same time.  I'm sure just a coincidence.  I didn't really pay much attention to Stickman, btw.  I read the site for his authors like Dana.  Imagine, Stick getting all that talent for free.  I wonder if he helped Dana in the hospital in Boston at all?  Dana was not in good shape the last I spoke with him. 

 

You think maybe Stick got another lady when one relationship went sour? Or is that only restricted to everyone else?

 

A pity about Dana. I didn't enjoy everything he wrote, but what was good was very good. I met him at a Stick Convention, exchanged quite a few emails with him and kept them as they are so 'interesting', and kept his story about a terrorist attack on Walking Street.

[coulson]

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

Send me one link to a blog/ youtuber ranting on about temples, beaches, reefs, sak yant or raising a family that is a fraction as entertaining as sticky.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[SBACM]

Vaya con Dios -Stick

[pattayahenry]

On 23.8.2017 at 0:00 PM, Father Fintan Stack said:

What other tourism was there 30 years ago?

 

i can only agree, in the early 80s the nightlife was totally different from nowadays. most 17year old waitresses at a restaurant would beam from pure joy, if you choose her for a night, shorttime was absolutly unknown. she was far too shy to ask about money, if you took her again next night, she was jumping, like she just got a hollywood contract. where are these times...
and trink is still writing book reviews, last week about isis.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/book/1308343/the-law-is-the-law

 

[Skeptic7]

2 hours ago, pattayahenry said:

i can only agree, in the early 80s the nightlife was totally different from nowadays. most 17year old waitresses at a restaurant would beam from pure joy, if you choose her for a night, shorttime was absolutly unknown. she was far too shy to ask about money, if you took her again next night, she was jumping, like she just got a hollywood contract. where are these times...
and trink is still writing book reviews, last week about isis.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/book/1308343/the-law-is-the-law

 

Spot on! I've made these very points a few times elsewhere. Not to forget...a single "lady drink" kept your "tilac" around all evening. GFE was guaranteed! Of course the ratio of fine girls to guys was 5-10 : 1 Supply far and away exceeded demand. Nowadays it's completely the opposite...guys far outnumber hot girls, "long time" is a thing of the past and as for GFE...FUGETABOUTIT! 

[NCFC]

What other tourism was there 30 years ago?
 

30 years ago most of the guys coming here were the offshore workers. They had their favourite bars and favourite girls and plenty of money. By the 90s the two week millionaires discovered Thailand and the fun scene started to go downhill. Today even the benefits trash end up on Thailand's shores and the scene has truly gone to sh!t

[NCFC]

They used to love us offshore guys in the 80's and 90's especially around Sukhumvit.
 
If you ventured up to Thong Lor you'd get a nosebleed, nothing up there except coconut trees and snakes.
 
 

It was the offshore guys that made Thailand the great destination that it was back then They invented the GFE more than the Vietnam vets did. They had the money and partied hard. The two week millionaires were more money conscious and not so much of a fun vibe. This was the Stickman era. It's disappearing quickly though. The poor are rolling up and the Thais are beginning to despise us now.

[Ulysses G.]

14 minutes ago, NCFC said:

The poor are rolling up and the Thais are beginning to despise us now.

I've been hearing that they are "beginning to despise us" for the last 30 years.  

[lamyai3]

On 8/24/2017 at 7:19 AM, PatOngo said:

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

The biography was very entertaining, as was his weekly column. Right there in the midst of all the serious news you'd find Trink, confirming rumours that they were finally going to construct a walkway from titty twister across to the other side of the plaza. The column got dropped, the walkway never got built... 

[balo]

Thailand is a richer country than 30 years ago , so the young girls don't have to sell their bodies. I call it progress. 

 

 

[thedivezone]

On 23/08/2017 at 1:00 PM, Briggsy said:

You could just reprint any of his old columns from the 80's. Nobody would notice.

 

You could even invent Trink bots to write his column automatically. Burma Shave, TIT, huMAN natURE, Lek at Cowboy 2 is worth a try out, Balloons at Rainbow 3, 1950's New Yorker style............ and repeat the formula.

 

You would have to prime the bots not to repeat his early stuff about underage girls though.

 

Trink's column defined anachronism.

 

(You're not Trink, are you?)

Elbow benders, please note !

[nausea]

Checked today, the Stickman site is still up, seems they have a plan to continue the same format and bring in guest writers. Could work I suppose, depending on the quality of the writers; but you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[amvet]

On 8/26/2017 at 2:56 PM, balo said:

Thailand is a richer country than 30 years ago , so the young girls don't have to sell their bodies. I call it progress.

Germany and South Korea to name just two countries have more hookers per capita than Thailand.  Women sell their bodies because it's easy work and they are lazy.  Wake up! They don't write books about gold diggers meaning fellas who mine. 

[amvet]

On 8/26/2017 at 4:18 AM, NCFC said:

30 years ago most of the guys coming here were the offshore workers. They had their favourite bars and favourite girls and plenty of money. By the 90s the two week millionaires discovered Thailand and the fun scene started to go downhill. Today even the benefits trash end up on Thailand's shores and the scene has truly gone to sh!t

30 years ago I had three Thai lovelies bringing me stinky fish with rancid beer while I listened to terrible music with no AC.  Today I had three Thai lovelies bringing excellent brie on fresh baked bread with chilled freshly brewed wheat beer listening to my custom made music profile on an awesome new entertainment system in air conditioned comfort in my living room with a pool.  Are you nuts?

[Sparkles]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 2:56 PM, balo said:

Thailand is a richer country than 30 years ago , so the young girls don't have to sell their bodies. I call it progress. 

 

 

Tell that to those still on 300 baht or less a day with ever increasing inflation.Wages of outdoor staff at our mooban, soi sweepers ,security 6,000 b mth

[lamyai3]

2 hours ago, nausea said:

Checked today, the Stickman site is still up, seems they have a plan to continue the same format and bring in guest writers. Could work I suppose, depending on the quality of the writers; but you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Wonder if he'll continue under a nom de plume. I guess he'll find he's itching to write something before long. 

[amvet]

16 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

Wonder if he'll continue under a nom de plume. I guess he'll find he's itching to write something before long. 

I don't see why.  His writing was never any good and was only 1% of the written content of his site.  The great majority was done by others for free and posted under reader submissions.  All of his good writers left ages ago as the Western travelers were replaced with Russians and Asians who have a different view.  There is a weird site out of Singapore in Singlish the guys call each other bro and tell strange stories about group mongering and other odd habits they seem to find interesting. 

Edited August 27, 2017 by amvet
add

[lamyai3]

22 minutes ago, amvet said:

I don't see why.  His writing was never any good and was only 1% of the written content of his site.  The great majority was done by others for free and posted under reader submissions.  All of his good writers left ages ago as the Western travelers were replaced with Russians and Asians who have a different view.  There is a weird site out of Singapore in Singlish the guys call each other bro and tell strange stories about group mongering and other odd habits they seem to find interesting. 

Not sure where you get the 1% figure. I'm talking about the weekly column, where his opening piece and news round up and photos made up the vast majority of the content.

 

Whether it was good or not is besides the point - he's been doing it prolifically for two decades, so he will probably find it hard to stop. 

[Watchful]

1 hour ago, lamyai3 said:

Whether it was good or not is besides the point - he's been doing it prolifically for two decades, so he will probably find it hard to stop. 

Below are two quotes from Stick's last column:

 

It was never about the money in the early days and for years I beavered away on this site without any financial reward.  It was a hobby and I did it entirely for fun.  The reward I got was the opportunity to exchange ideas with readers, many of whom I would go on to meet, some of whom would become good friends – and a few of whom I am still in regular contact with today.

 

As much as I like writing this column and running this site – and as willing as I am to continue with it – it’s too much work to do it for nothing.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's interesting how a labor of love turns into "too much work to do for nothing".  I just hope Stick doesn't morph into an e-beggar like so many of the vloggers. 

 

Most of them started out just like Stick - wanting to share their experiences. Thus they were only interested in growing their subscriber base. Once the money starts to roll, however, things quickly change! 

 

Now, they need people funding their efforts or they threaten to quit. Fortunately, once it becomes a commercial enterprise the quality degrades and becomes stale. 

 

I find the most interesting sites and vloggers are those early in the "growing" stage. That seems to be when they are struggling to differentiate from all of the others and are thus somewhat creative and quite entertaining.  

 

Clearly we need "sponsors" for they create that mirage of the "pot of gold" for which the webmasters and vloggers seek. It's just that I prefer not to be one. I prefer those sites and vloggers that are still in that creative/growing stage.

Edited August 27, 2017 by Watchful

[inThailand]

Isn't the end of the Stickman era a mirror image of the expat community? Leaving or dying off and no one replacing them?

[The manic]

Been crap for decades. The Big mango blog was much better....and others...

[Ulysses G.]

On August 26, 2017 at 0:56 AM, balo said:

Thailand is a richer country than 30 years ago , so the young girls don't have to sell their bodies. I call it progress. 

 

 

Some countries do not have a decrease in sex workers as they get richer. Japan would be another example of this. 

[balo]

3 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

Some countries do not have a decrease in sex workers as they get richer. Japan would be another example of this. 

 

I think it would be interesting to see the statistics on that , if it exists. 

Thailand 30 years ago and now. 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by balo

[amvet]

7 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

Not sure where you get the 1% figure. I'm talking about the weekly column, where his opening piece and news round up and photos made up the vast majority of the content.

 

Whether it was good or not is besides the point - he's been doing it prolifically for two decades, so he will probably find it hard to stop. 

I was referring to the total content of his site of which his weekly column was but a small part.

[JAG]

"Video killed the Radio Star", (1980s popular song)!
Facebook killed the blogging star...

[amvet]

4 hours ago, balo said:

 

I think it would be interesting to see the statistics on that , if it exists. 

Thailand 30 years ago and now.

I was here 40 years ago.  No Pattaya.  Hookers in Bangkok and around the American army bases and http://www.snesejler.dk/bill77.htm.

 

Slavery was outlawed in Thailand in 1868 but there still remained a cultural tradition of prostitution in the form of paid wives and temporary companions for both locals and foreigners. 

 

Japan an ally of Thailand in WWII had 100,000 troops stationed in Thailand and there was large scale prostitution.  Thailand being an ally and not an occupied country there were not the comfort stations/girls that accommodated Japanese soldiers in other Asian countries. 

 

Thailand and Australia among others were RR sites during the Vietnam war that of course created a plethora of new wealth for poor farm girls and they began purchasing bars and hotels.  

 

When the Euro folks started to vacation here en masse in the 1980's there was a giant increase in wealth and prostitution. 

 

With wealth in Thailand has come an increase in prostitution.