Don't Think I've Forgotten (Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll) Is a new documentary featuring the music of Sin Sisamouth & Ros Serey Sothea,Yol Aularong, Pen Ran & many more! http://dontthinkiveforgotten.com Check out the site, complete with trailer and MP3 music! Donations to complete the project are appreciated. http://dontthinkiveforgotten.com/support The documentary's team includes John Pirozzi, Jonathan Del Gatto, Nicholas Simon and Bradley Bessire, among many others. Postscript: Andy Brouwer and Jungle-Blog also give it a mention. (image courtesy dontthinkiveforgotten.com) Tags: Cambodia,rockandroll

Building Peace (click to enlarge) This one's for Sasha and her crew; I should have webbed this up ages ago. If you're in Siem Reap, give it a look.

Not in the News 1. Cambodia Community Information Center Cambodia's popular Khmer language portal is still offline. Few foreigners seem to have noticed, but this site has been THE Khmer language web portal for the last few years. No word from Open Forum on when it gets back up. 2. Tep Vong, Great Supreme Patriarch Think those watching the palace have a tough job? Try Buddhist politics. Which of course shouldn't / don't exist, depending on who you talk to. There's been a lot of speculation about Mohanikay/Dhammayuth interaction since Tep Vong's elevation to national representative for both sects, but so far all's quiet on the Wat front. Probably a good thing. 3. Blizzard hits The Shop Pochentong Dairy Queen has beaten out 'The Shop' as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal take-out of choice. Judges and staff are mighty fickle with food. 4. Google Maps Cambodia But it missed a few spots. Wobbly satellites? 5. Toad Wine After the 'drunk monk' streaking episode, Toad Wine has become all but unfindable. Snake Wine, sure. But Toad Wine? I'm still looking. Either demand has risen, or was hard to come by to begin with. 6. 'Taste of Life' available for purchase (- by NGOs only) BBC has finally crumbled and is selling sets of Taste of Life, the popular soap opera, to nonprofits. Here's hoping we can see a commercial release someday. There are only so many Dolph Lundgren VCDs that can clog up the video stores here. 7. Invasion of Thai Teachers (not) Imminent Despite a coup and visa regulation changes, Thailand-based English teachers so far don't seem overly concerned. 8. Fine Hagar Soy Products are Tasty Is this a good example of an NGO - to - commercial entity project? Or did they start off too big? Class, discuss. (And can I um, get a few more cartons? Thanks.) 9. Sexy new Installation Discs for Khmer Language Programs Click to see Microsoft Office, And kudos to the person who designed the Linux disc! Make it look like a product, not a giveaway, and people will eat it up. [cheers to Traactivity / KhmerOS] 10. Evictions ...are at an all-time high but organizations and communities are at a low in coordinating responses. Is there any kind of information clearinghouse? Not so far as I can tell. As per Tonle Bassac, we're finding out many areas that are being moved are divided communities. The only thing they're united on? They don't like being dumped out in the boonies. Tags: Cambodia

Ang Choulean: How Was Cambodia Born? A Lecture/ Discussion (in Khmer) by Dr. Ang Choulean at Reyum Institute on Thursday, October 26 2006 at 5:30pm.. Nokor Kok Thlork or - How was Cambodia born? This event is part of a series of Reyum's public education program supported by : The Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation. If interested, please contact Reyum Institute #47, Street 178 Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel/Fax : 023 217 149, reyum@camnet.com.kh, www.reyum.org Tags: Cambodia

Tight Grip on 3G Phones If you want to see someone from the States go from zero to angry in 5 seconds flat, just mention gun control. It's an issue that strongly divides people. The USA is the world's biggest arms dealer. Is it any wonder it's awash in guns? There's a lucrative weapons industry with a big lobby. A popular bumper sticker on cars of gun enthusiasts: "You'll Take My Gun Away When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead Fingers" But we're not talking about weighty issues today. We're talking about something light as a feather that fits in your hand. And something Southeast Asia is just as passionate about. Cambodia sports at least two magazines specifically devoted to mobile phones, each costing no more than 4000 riel ($1). How can they afford this? Like music magazines, they are heavily subsidized by advertising. Years of war have resulted in Cambodia leapfrogging landlines to mostly mobile service. As a foreigner I've come to the conclusion that a) urban Cambodians will always dress better than me (regardless of the heat) and b) virtually any Khmer person who has a phone will have one more tricked out than mine. (I haven't upgraded in four years. ) Phones are a very sexy personal accessory. So how does an urban Phnom Penhois earning $100-$200 a month afford a $400 phone?

1. Gift from family - nice phone but often they're low on calling credit.
2. Bought with credit - if necessary it can be sold and the simcard kept.

Young people will do virtually anything to have the latest phone, even if they can't afford to use it regularly. That's why I knew the proposed ban on 3G phones would be revoked. Sure, many Cambodians turned in their guns after years of war, but You'll take my 3G phone when you pry it out of my cold, dead fingers! To save money? People pocket their precious totem and call via a street phone stall. I know people with phones worth hundreds of dollars, but I never recognize their call until I hear their voice. Street phones? There are some rather lonely looking Camintel phone booths that you can use via a prepaid card - they work pretty much like public phones in Australia and that's no coincidence. Apparently during UNTAC the Australians were heavily involved in setting up telecommunications infrastructure. The booth of popular choice though is one that has a phone for every mobile carrier. It's an intriguing model of small enterprise. The proprietors buy high denomination phone cards and pass some of the savings on to their customers. Muhammad Yunus recently won the Nobel Prize for his Grameen Bank loan approach, and has pioneered a 'village phone' system for Bangladesh's most remote villages. So far as I can see, Cambodia is closing the gap; the 'village phone' model is already being implemented here, adhoc. Tags: Cambodia,phone

BETTY FORD AND GT FALCONS cancelled again... Betty Ford and GT Falcons gig @ FCC is canceled for tonight. Largely due to some positive developments that will be announced come next show.

Lire en Fete 2006 Being a geek in a developed country isn't that hard. But being a book geek in a primarily agricultural country like Cambodia is a hard slog. You have to be determined to seek out that knowledge and then follow through. The revolution of 1975 left few intellectuals remaining; you'll find that present-day Khmer publishers, printers, writers, librarians are a determined group. Strategies are wildly divergent. The publishing world is not lucrative. But they're in the game for the long term. (above - Book Federation) These are people who get sentimental that Cambodia's finally gotten ISBNs -International Serial Book Numbers. (Kind of like 'Hey, we're finally on the map.') I take a lot of inspiration from that simple determination, and am proud to call many of them my friends. Added to this are a new crop of young publishers and a lot of enthusiastic readers. Stir and you've got this year's Lire en Fete (19, 20, 21 October, French Cultural Centre). Below: some moments from the trilingual craziness yesterday. (More to follow.) Come by and check it out for yourself! Tags: Cambodia,literature,books,libraries

Bokor In Blue Elizabeth Briel is back in Siem Reap to pack up her gear! She's moving to Hong Kong. Her current show is for one week only: October 16-22, Cyanotypes at Chiili si-dang, Siem Reap (Next to Moloppor Café, east of river) Take a look before these ethereal images disappear! Tags: Cambodia,photography

Canned Goods The Bophana Center (formerly Hanuman Center) is archiving, documenting and digitizing heaps of old film footage (above) as well as archival documents related to them. Many of these films were collecting dust in France, in legal limbo. Now they will have a chance to be shown to the general public: click below for their latest newsletter in English. Sept-Octobre newsletter Postscript: More details on the center from Andy 'Scoop' Brouwer: http://andybrouwer.blogspot.com/2006/10/rithy-panhs-dream-is-realized.html including the new Bophana web site! http://www.bophana.org Tags: Cambodia,film

Puttin' on the Dog Mongkol and crew meet Sovanna Phum & Sandglass on tour in the States to see Story of the Dog. (Click for video & photos.) And on a related note, Julayne takes a new culinary adventure. Woof! (photo courtesy Monkol) Tags: Cambodia,puppets,cuisine

New in the Noosphere I've been slowly updating the Global Voices Wiki, which keeps getting spammed due to having minimal safeguards. http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/wiki/article/Cambodia Meanwhile, Planet Cambodia is serving as a good unspammed resource. Kudos to whoever set that up. http://planetcambodia.blogspot.com I've been noticing an increasing number of Christian blogs relating to Cambodia, usually by missionaries. Some are quite tame, others use jargon that puts me off a bit. ("Prayer warriors")? The web itself was predicted by controversial Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as the 'Noosphere'. No general objections to religion, I'll read anything that has good style and content. (A lot of these newcomers could do with a spell check at the very least, though.) But I'm not a big fan of dogmatism and intolerance. If you know of any religious blog focusing on Cambodia - Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Baha'i, Hindu, Shinto, Cao Dai, Zoroastrian, etc. - pass it on (see 'contact' above) and I'll add it to the list. I think a little writeup is due on some of the more intriguing and entertaining ones. Tags: Cambodia

[Not] Coming to a News Stand Near You With the Khmer Rouge Tribunal lurching along, a new generation of mobile-phone-wieldling, karaoke-loving, job-hunting Khmer twenty-somethings are getting a dose of history as the Extraordinary Chambers gear up. "The Tallest Man in Science Fiction" (Geoff Ryman) puts his own spin on the present tense in 'Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter', now out in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It's a 'What If' story, a fantasy that churns contemporary Cambodian youth culture with the relentless pressure of the past. While there will doubtless be interested readers, it would be a hot potato for any local publisher, so don't expect a translation into Khmer any time soon. There has been talk of translating The King's Last Song, but at 400+ pages it would be a huge undertaking. The novel is still available at Monument Book$ and via Amazon. Interview: http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/11294-geoff-ryman-interview-in-four-parts.html Tags: Cambodia,literature,fantasy

Little Phnom Penh is my Stateside touchstone with Cambodian groups. The Anaheim Corridor in Long Beach is changing fast - over the last twenty years we are seeing Khmer businesses slowly migrating away. But 'The LBC' is still the city with the largest Khmer population outside of Cambodia. Every metropolis seems to have a Chinatown that is marketed as a tourist attraction. I'm all for a Cambodia Town, Khmerville, or whatever they want to call it. A simple label and a marketing campaign can change loads. And finally, someone's giving it an organized attempt; this idea has been floated around for many years. From the Long Beach Press-Telegram: News article: http://presstelegram.com/news/ci_4460252 Opinion Piece: http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_4467342 [tipoff courtesy KI-Media] Tags: Cambodia,immigration

Publicity Stunt? [courtesy Camerado:] Smackdown Action!! World Wresting Event of the Century Henry Kissinger v Jason Rosette Sunday, October 29, 2006, 2pm Angkor King Plaza Hotel Food Court 77 Monivong Boulevard RSVP via email: rosettevskissinger@yahoo.com more details at www.camerado.com Tags: Cambodia,wrestling,politics,film

Hug Me Dolls I was feeling pretty happy that I’d found some locally made Christmas presents that were appropriate for my nieces, so I bought a ‘Hug Me Dolls’ T-shirt while I was at it. People practically tackled me the first day I wore it. "Hug Me!" the logo commands, and people are drawn to Obey. No complaints here. I had to know more, so courtesy of entrepeneur Jet Odrerir: When did you first come to Cambodia? January 2001 was my first trip here. Spent four event filled weeks going from Kep to Kampong Sahm to Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Jammed with some bands, met lots of people, loved it. What drove you to create your own line of dolls from scratch? While here I looked for a doll for my then nine year old daughter. The best I could do was one of those wooden, Thai marionettes. I've been self-employed most of my adult life so the seed was planted for a new project. I came back every year and continued to look for a truly Cambodian doll but never found one. I started rough designs in 2002. How'd you start it up, and get the ball rolling? In 2003 the housing market in the States was leveling off so I sold my house and decided it was the perfect time to get a new project going. I knew a few people in the tourist trades who gave me some numbers, introductions. I hired a Cambodian woman that spoke English well and started combing the markets for what I needed and continued to work on design. Who designed the cool logo? I had a rough idea and various scraps of paper scribbled on by many friends at many bars. Then a Spanish graphic artist named Jose pulled it all together for me. Funny enough, I was spending months trying to get the face of my dolls just right and at the time they were all embroidered by people (now they're done by computer). Nothing seemed to work out and they were very elaborate and detailed and someone told me, "Why not make them just like your logo?" I did and it seems to have been the right move. Simple and cute. When did the first doll go on sale, and what was the reaction? October 2004 I worked my way into a few shops which surprises me now, looking back. The dolls had a long way to go and sales that first year reflected that. (More importantly, did your kid like it?) My daughter had sentimental attachment to the first few and still has a couple prototypes though the dolls I produce now are now vastly better. And, well, she's almost 15, hanging out with friends, playing drums, etc. Doll days are over for her. Sigh. You're partnering with some different groups like Kroma, NYEMO and NCDP. How'd that come about? How do both sides benefit? Well before I even lived here I was starting to come up with the concept/general design and being that there are so many NGOs here I thought that it would be perfect to give work to them by working on my sample designs. It was, umm, interesting to say the least to deal with some of them but luckily I'm working with some very fine ones now. The benefits for those working with/for the NGOs are that they are being paid a livable wage, learning new skills and are working in a healthy environment (from their literature...). These are the basic missions of the ones I work with and without something to make and sell (I am basically buying items from them) they would merely rely on donations to keep any empty shell program afloat. The benefits for me are that I don't have to manage a large work force or hire and fire depending on the demands of the season. I'm in charge of every aspect of the business so I'd rather be designing something new or making sales calls than trying to explain in my pigeon Khmer why a collar isn't correct. It's an NGO oriented economy here, as a small business owner have there been special challenges? Or do dolls defuse it all? I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by "NGO economy". I do know that if I can't sell my dolls then I'm going to lose the thousands of dollars that I've put into the business. Many people told me at the get go to form an NGO and get some grants and have a salary to be my safety net but then you are not in control of your own ideas and I'm not ready for that. And as far as challenges go everyone's heard that "to make a small fortune in Cambodia, start with a large one" or have government connections. The obvious stuff. Any strong reactions, positive or negative? It's been over two years that I've had them in shops and the vast majority of strong reactions have been positive. I keep hearing how kids want to pull them out of their bag and start playing with them. And I also have a continued strong response from certain 'markets'. I feel weird just saying that but there's not really another way to say it. Most strongly negative reactions come from people that just don't really 'get' dolls and that's their loss. This is primarily a value added product for the export/expat market, what's local demand looking like? Any product can be considered value-added if it is originally grown by the farmer and increased in value "by labor and creativity." Got that when I was trying to get an exact definition. The local market has been limited to two things so far; price or 'getting' dolls. Things have been on the tough side for the folks here the last four decades so you can see huge gaps in what they have caught on to and what they haven't. Computer shoot-em-up games they can do. Team sports? Very limited by money and lack of green spaces. Picture phones and sporty scooters are plentiful but not so much things requiring imagination. Kinda like America. Except that there's a huge history of playing with dolls there, as well as many other countries, that does continue, while here many people look at you funny and say, "OK, so what's it for? What does it do?". Unfortunately, many of the locals that do like the dolls couldn't afford what it costs me to make them much less my mark-up and the consigning store. I'm hoping that my next line of dolls will be more in their price range because the girls that really like them like them both because they're cute and because they represent Cambodia. They will definitely cost less as they will be smaller and won't have the extensive embroidery, hand-made silk, etc. There will be more dolls eventually. Where do you see the market going in the future? Can you handle some competition? Well I hope anyone who decides to jump in the doll pool with me does some market research! There are cheap, acrylic Caucasian dolls available along with the Popeyes and Poohs out there and some dolls available at various NGOs but nothing like I have. The only market expansion that will really happen will be from increased tourism, market saturation and international sales, the latter being hampered by the high cost of shipping to and from Cambodia. Can I handle some competition? Well gas stations sell more gas if they're located across the street from each other. And if/when the cheap knockoffs come out I can tell you from experience that I'll be able to handle that kind of 'competition'. A cheap version would obviously be a cheap version, they're not like making t-shirts, and the same people looking for quality made dolls using Fair Trade practices will still purchase mine. People who stay at Raffles aren't lured lakeside by the prices. By God I made it! Jet Odrerir Jet [at] hugmedolls [dot] com Tel: 012 240 019 www.hugmedolls.com Tags: Cambodia,dolls

Hand Crafted High Tech A rusty hand painted sign advertises software treats on the cheap. These fellas will hook you up with the latest MP3, ringtone or download that you need. Wedged in an outdoor line of book stores and haircut places, it's a simple approach that caters mainly to high school and college students. You'll find a place like this near most big high schools in Phnom Penh. It's cobbled together in the morning and disassembled in the evening. When it rains? Scramble for plastic sheeting. Tags: Cambodia,music,mp3,ringtone

Betty Ford and GT Falcons Rescheduled for 23rd at FCC. Tags: Cambodia,rockandroll

POV Map I got an email titled POV Map, which sounds exciting. Perhaps a detailed trail of where mystery figure Heng Pov has been? I click immediately and find a collection of info about Cambodian income distribution, from the Poverty Mapping Project of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Let's face it, most people choose hot gossip over hard data. Guilty as charged. [Thanks to the Arcturan Embassy for tipoff.] (Image credit: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN),Columbia University. Copyright 2005, The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.) Tags: Cambodia

Phnom Penh Post @ Cantina Too skint to buy the $150 Phnom Penh Post CD-ROM? (I'm surprised it isn't hacked, cracked and on sale in the Russian Market by now... not that I would advocate such a thing.) Well, Hurley's Cantina now has a set of bound volumes of the Phnom Penh Post, dating back to its early early days. Open for lunch as well as dinner, you can be one of the first to stain the pages with guacamole. If your hunger is intellectual, not gastronomical, no sweat. Just pull up a barstool and peruse the news. (Bonus points if you can embarrass the bar owner with quotes from his old articles.) Cantina:#347 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tags: Cambodia

"Personal Information Technology Workshop" Virak, Lux, Kalyan Keo, DeeDee and Chantra among others are lending a hand to get college kids wired up. Some students are getting a handle on email, others are jumping in to start weblogs, most just want to soak in some new skills. Some pictures from last weekend's seminar at the University of Technology and Management: Chantra takes the microphone. Over 110 participants! On a rainy day! More at Traactivity, and if you missed it? Click for handouts and info. (retroblogging this on Oct. 05) Tags: Cambodia,weblog

Don't Fear the French Some art stuff all through the weekend and beyond: Right now: Chin Vanchear, Say Vesna, Mao Sovit (above left) and (above right) Lem Lorn are exhibiting some really engaging paintings at the French Cultural Centre, from RUFA/PHARE art schools. (Why is it so few people check these exhibits out?) Don't fear the French, you don't have to speak, just walk in and take a look, the art is right inside the main hall. You'll be impressed. Go on! Thursday: October 5 Artist Talk/Slide show: Vandy Rattana on photography in Manila, Sopheap Pich on his Norway residency, and Erin Gleeson on the Singapore Bienniale. 339 Sisowath Quay, 3rd floor (above internet cafe). 6:30 - 7:30pm, discussion follows in English and Khmer. Friday: October 6th, at 6.30pm, John Vink Discussion + book signing + slide show @ Popil Photogallery. Text is in French, talk is in English. Also Saturday & Sunday Sovanna Phum does classical and folk dance. Saturday: Tini Tinou circus fun in Battambang October 07 to 13. Click for larger program. (Yes, it's in French. Deal.) Also, don't forget, the yearly book festival, Lire en Fete, is coming up starting on October 19th. If you want to be involved, now is the time to apply. Application form: French, Khmer. from What's On. Tags: Cambodia

Stone and Saw Chanthou Oeur is working as an artist in residence at the Andres Institute of Art, in New Hampshire. Click for article at 'The Broadcaster' (then scroll down). http://www.nhbroadcaster.com//ci_4417052 (photo credit: Steve Jusseaume) 'He will exhibit his work and read poetry at the opening of the first Cambodian art gallery in that city, the Khmer Art Gallery.' A Cambodian art gallery in Philly! I'll try to dig up more details. More links: http://www.providence.edu/art/cambodian/oeur.html www.kraychakraoeur.mysite.com Tags: Cambodia, sculpture

Extreme Khmer is back! Episode 2: Wat Phnom. Extreme Khmer's intrepid team of reporters covers various points of interest at Wat Phnom, the central historical and tourist feature in Phnom Penh. http://www.studykhmer.com (Caution: big download - if you're trying it in Cambodia, check your connection!) Tags: Cambodia,khmer

. . .