Kiss kiss, bang bang
The Tommy gun roars into life in my grip, spitting bullets at a paper gangster pinned to a wall of sandbags 50 metres in front of where I sit, hunched over a desk, cold metal cradled against my cheek. It will be 24 hours before my hearing fully returns.
Billed as the ultimate anti-bandit gun in Prohibition-era America, ‘the gun that made the ‘20s roar’ was also the weapon of choice for Chicago mob boss Al Capone, whose first use of the Thompson in 1926 killed a bootlegger, a politician and an assistant state attorney. Today, however, it is mine.
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Council of Ministers Spokesperson Censured UN Special Expert
Some readers may remember that on 20 October 2011, I documented three quite different press statements – all issued on the same day, all related the Khmer Rouge Trial, from the following sources:
- The Office of the Council of Ministers, Royal Government of Cambodia, Press and Quick Reaction Unit
- Lars Olsen, Legal Communications Officer, Public Affairs Section, United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials
- United Nations Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Ms. Patricia O’Brien
Now we have a similar, though different case. The Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Office of the Council of Ministers distributed a press release on 24 January 2012, publishing the same text also on their website:
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Animated film festival to draw cartoon-loving crowds
Traditional animation, far from dying a death with the advance of its high-tech counterpart, is experiencing something of a renaissance. In 1995, when Pixar launched the first ever feature film made entirely with computer-generated imagery (CGI), sceptics were quick to sound the death knell for its predecessor. But in recent years, often with the support of CGI animators, hand-drawn works by the likes of Japanese manga artist Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away; Howl’s Moving Castle) and French director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville; The Illusionist) have gained critical acclaim and, even more notably, been given nods at the Oscars.
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Review: Top Cat in the Alley
Part diner, part dive bar, joints like Alley Cat simply don’t exist elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The fact that they celebrated their sixth anniversary last year is significant in a town where bars close quicker than a speeding motodop. It’s a cafe with character – and characters. Step forward owner Mark Eastty and lugubrious front man Dallas, responsible for the trademark Top Cat mural and Tex-Mex desert landscape. They give the venue a sense of drama and permanence. The diner booths are wonderfully flexible – the largest can accommodate 10, or two sprawled flat-out at quiet times.
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Retirement Plans
Retirement is a word that many of my clients tell me they cannot relate to. They can’t relate to it because they cannot envision themselves in a “traditional” retirement mode of perpetual golf, naps on the beach, and no more work. But to a person, they want financial independence at some point in their future; financial independence defined as the ability to make choices regarding their personal path because they have accumulated sufficient assets with which to replace the income currently provided by their business, their employer or both.
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About Law Enorcement
There is some follow-up news to the last blog here, from 1 January 2012, on Royal pardons. I had quoted a report saying that Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had stated on 29 December 2011: “There is the law and only prisoners who have served two thirds of their jail term can get a royal pardon from the King.”
But contrary to this law, a Russian citizen was set free, a man with enormous financial resources, who had been convicted for sexual abuses affecting young girls from the age of 6 to 16, more girls than in any other court case in Cambodia so far.
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Get your runners on for charity fatty!
With Christmas dinners barely digested and New Year’s resolutions still fresh in the mind, it’s time to don tracksuits, bug your mates for sponsorship and get signed-up for as many charity sporting events as possible.
February 18 and 19 will mark the fifth and possibly final year of the Kep Trio Sporting and Fundraising Event, which involves a 10km bike ride and a half- marathon, 10km run/walk and 3km run/walk .
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Band Profile: The Fumes
The Lowdown:
The Fumes started out as a group of teachers from International School Phnom Penh with a shared taste for the rock of ages. Currently in its third incarnation, the band hopes to provide Phnom Penh with an eclectic education in the history of rock music. Influences range from the ‘60s to now, including The White Stripes, Green Day, Violent Femmes, Garbage, The Killers, Talking Heads, The Pixies, and The Kinks.
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Naturae Cafe @ The 240
Many of the Phnom Penh venues frequented by a large number of expats have a tendency to multitask. Cafes come complete with a small craft boutique, restaurants have their own art gallery. The exemplar par excellence of this trend is The 240. Upstairs, it is a boutique hotel, downstairs there is a shop specialising in organic and ecologically friendly food and cleaning products, this blends seamlessly into a café area, ambling gently out into the bijoux, leafy, courtyard.
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Filmmaker Screening of Davy Chou's "Golden Slumbers"
![](http://mail.expat-advisory.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumbnail_meduim/southeast-asia/cambodia/article_images/filmmaker-screening-davy-chou039s-quotgolden-slumbersquot_goldenslumberspic7800x450_january-19-2012-302pm.jpg "Filmmaker Screening of Davy Chou's "Golden Slumbers"")
The 1960s and early 70s were a golden period for Cambodian culture. During this period, Cambodia developed its own distinctive rock’n’roll style, infused with the hypnotic rhythms of traditional Khmer music. Cambodian cinema also flourished, with large crowds drawn to cinemas around the country to watch Cambodian films. Then the Khmer Rouge came to power and this flowering of culture was torn out like a weed. Actors, directors artist and musicians were systematically murdered, only a precious few managed to flee the country.
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