BK: You’ve just had your movie banned. What happens now?
MS: We have to make an appeal within 15 days. We have to draft a statement. We have to explain that we are not a threat to national security. We are not causing any divides. Why is Macbeth a threat to any nation?
IK: I read Macbeth when I was 15, doing my O-levels for school. All over the world, kids can recite the witches’ chant. So why? It’s absurd?

BK: But this is a particular interpretation of Macbeth. You make the connection to Thailand’s history and politics pretty clear. There’s the scene where someone is beaten by a chair…
IK: Yes, the October 6 massacre. Everyone looks at our film through the prism of Thai politics. Recently, a Shakespearean professor saw the film. And it was so refreshing. Because he saw it from the Shakespearean perspective. And it is about Shakespeare. I’m not doing Shakespeare as a gimmick. I really do love Shakespeare. He is like religion to me. He studies pathologies of the mind. Othello is about jealousy. Macbeth is about megalomania. It’s not just about Thaksin. Thaksin is not the only megalomaniac in this country. Every village has a megalomaniac. This whole country is a victim of megalomania. We live in fear. And this ban proves it.

BK: So it is political.
IK: I’m a filmmaker. I find it very odd that people say, this is not fair to the Red Shirts, this is not fair to the Royalists… We get it from both sides by the way. All this is nonsense. We are talking about a horror movie! A Shakespearean horror movie. This is about fanatics. How Thai society can just erupt into Rwanda 1994. It’s happened before and it can happen again. If the hatemongers and propagandists continue to make our lives insane. Why is it that people are not demanding truth and neutrality from say Newsweek. Newsweek said Yingluck is as great as Aung Saan Suu Kyi, Hilary Clinton. Demand accountability from media outlets. But this is a horror movie. It’s about what scares us.

BK: A political horror movie.
IK: But what does that mean? Political? This is about living in a country ruled by fear. I don’t want to live in a country ruled by fear, under anybody. It is so simple.

BK: If your appeal does succeed, will screening be an issue?
IK: They [move theaters] are terrified. Everyone is living in terror. We don’t know. We’re not fortune tellers. And by then we don’t even know if the country will still be standing. Seriously. Any moment, things can go completely berserk.

BK: Is this movie art for art’s sake, or are you looking for a reaction from the audience?
Manit: We want national self-examination.
Ing K: This film, last film, any film. That’s what it’s about. I’m not fighting Thaksin, Red Shirts, anything. I am fighting the propaganda, all the ads, on the BTS, washing over your brain all the time. We don’t want to show something that makes people feel like they’re not human unless they buy this or live like this, we want something that makes them think and have discussions.

BK: Are censors saying reconciliation is filmmakers’ responsibility?
IK: Reconciliation is such a dirty word.
MS: When we met the committee of censors. That is the first thing they said, “We are in a climate of reconciliation. We feel this film might cause a problem.” What are they talking about? Reconciliation of what? This film will cause what? This film can cause social unrest? This is a film about greed. Reconciliation with who? First you have to ask, what is the problem? Only one side can talk and the other group must shut up. How can they call this reconciliation? Even Thaksin’s brother says, “Don’t listen to the minority. The majority vote is key.” This is not democracy. You have to accept every voice, even voices you don’t like it.
IK: How many people are going to see it? Let’s say it opens at House. 100?

BK: So what are they afraid of [if no one will see it]?
MS: They’re afraid of their boss.
IK: There’s a lot of self-censorship. The censors, just because they’re censors, it doesn’t mean they don’t feel the fear.
MS: We should be afraid, not the censors. If people get angry, we will be held responsible. But they say, “Oh but we are responsible, too.”
IK: People are scared of Thaksin like he’s a boogeyman. Like he’s hardly a human anymore. If he’s going to come after anyone, surely it would be the filmmakers, not the censors.

BK: Well, in that hypothesis, wouldn’t Thaksin hold the censors accountable for letting your film be screened?
MS: Then they are under influence. When you make a judgment, you cannot be under any influence, even if it is fear. Otherwise, you cannot deliver a proper judgment.
IK: And 3 out of 7 of the censors didn’t sign the order.
MS: They took almost 15 days to come up with the verdict. They had a long debate. Some thought giving the 20+ age rating is enough. But the committee has their own ego. They’re worried that film directors will become fearless, that they won’t be afraid of the censorship board. So they give them a lesson.

BK: Would the previous government have approved this movie?
MS: Yes, I think so, because they gave us the money! We had to show the script, we had to show the regicide. But now we’re stuck between both sides.
IK: It’s like we don’t exist. We are not red, not yellow, not anything. We have no media voice. In between, there is a big group that keeps silent. We are in fact the majority.
MS: We explore the dark side of humans. We don’t explore the system, the monarchy, the republic… No matter the system. Megalomania is the source of corruption. We go to the roots. You can change the whole system, but if that thing is still there, nothing has changed.
IK: Whoever rules by fear, I don’t want to live under them. It’s about fear, about horror.
MS: We go really deep into the human psyche. That is why the committee is so uncomfortable. We asked, “How can we change the movie to be acceptable?” They said, “Just improve it.” I don’t know what they want. So vague. But you go there and you see them and you know, they are terrified by our stuff. Petrified. They admitted they couldn’t sleep after seeing it.
IK: You don’t realize that Thai people are living in fear. That is so basic to us at this moment that we can’t even talk about anything if you don’t realize that we do. Everybody. Such fear.

BK: Would you be ready to edit the movie according to the censor?
IK: No.
MS: If they come up with…
IK: I’m not! Are you serious?
MS: We don’t close the door. Tell us what you want. We can change if it will make the film better to make the film better. If it makes it worse, no way.
IK: If it’s their idea of better, which means insipid, less potent. No way.

BK: Didn’t you see it coming, the ban?
IK: No! A 20+ rating maybe.
 

Honda NC700x

B451,000 , 670cc
Finally, Honda’s stunning deconstructionist showroom, designed by VasLab, is set to open on April 26. And with it comes a wide range of their previously unavailable big bikes. This 700cc is a crossover adventure bike, like the Kawasaki Versys, but this engine was designed with fuel economy in mind, making the whole experience rather underwhelming.

Kawasaki Versys 650

B285,000, 650cc
The Versys isn’t the sexiest bike out there, but it’s quite possibly the best bang for your buck. Praised by reviewers as incredibly maneuverable, despite it’s added height, this is a ride that you can actually take up-country and race down Thong Lor.

Kawasaki ER-6N

B250,000, 650cc
Costing a mere B100,000 more than a Honda CBR 250, this bike’s engine is over four times the size. It’s also a great looking ride, with its aggressively-styled all-black features. This baby won’t be much use outside of Bangkok, but the point is to park it in front of trendy bars, not take it to Khao Yai.

Yamaha FZ1 Fazer

B590,000, 998cc
Deal alert: it’s a 1-liter engine and still B110,000 short of our price limit. But Kawasaki also does a Z1000 for nearly the same price (B585,000), so which one should you get? The Kawasaki looks and feels meaner. But the riding position and wind-protection of the FZ1 make it a much more realistic bike for longer rides outside of town. What’s sure is that both these bikes are a ton of fun and make for great all-rounders.

KTM 690 Duke

B628,000, 654cc
The KTM 690 Duke is a seriously insane bike. For one, it’s only got one cylinder. And common wisdom is you don’t do single cylinder bikes above 500cc. But this bike is clearly aimed at those with wisdom issues. It’s for doing wheelies, driving off-road and taking impossibly tight corners: behavior that can only be excused in the countryside or when trying to avoid really bad traffic jams.

Piaggio MP3

B530,000, 400cc
The new three-wheeled Piaggio 400ie from Vespa looks surprisingly like an ATV roadster but it’s actually a three-wheeler, making it narrower than an ATV, handy if you want to squeeze past cars in our city’s mad traffic. The extra wheel should come in particularly handy for stability this rainy season but if you compare the engine size to the price, this is not exactly a cheap toy.

Triumph Scrambler

B700,000, 865cc
We picked the scrambler because it’s so beautiful it makes us want to bite our fist and cry. It’s an 865cc, making it the second biggest bike of this roundup and also the most expensive. As for thrills, the Triumph ironically loses out to the Kawasaki W650, a copy of the original Triumph Bonneville. Only the Japanese knockoff isn’t available here, so you’ll just have to “settle” for the original’s stunning style and slightly ho-hum performance.

Essentials

Kawasaki. At Real Moto Sports. 372 Ramkhamhaeng 146 Rd.
02-7281605-6. Open daily 9am-6pm, closes at 5pm on Sunday.
Piaggio. At Vespario, Suhumvit Soi 55 (Thong Lor), 02-714-7742.
Open Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
Triumph. Britbike. 29/75-76 Royal City Avenue. 02-203-1315.
Open Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
Honda BigWing. Opening Apr 26. Praditmanutham Rd.
www.honda-bigbike.com
Yamaha Rider’s Club. TYM Marketing Co.,Ltd.Yamaha Rider’s Club Branch. 55/61 Ratchadapisek Rd., 02-640-6990.
www.yamaha-motor.co.th. Open Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm
KTM. 2222 New Phetchburi Rd.. 02-318-0100.
www.ktmbangkok.com. Open Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.

How should we drink whisky?
Some people like it neat, because they like the warmth of the alcohol and the feel of the flavors. But when we do our assessments, we bring everything down to 20% alcohol. That’s 50/50 with water, because we feel that at that level you’re maximizing the release of the aromas and the characteristics of the whisky and you’re removing the nose-prickle pepperiness of the alcohol. So that’s how I drink my whisky, with water, at room temperature. If it’s warm, like in Bangkok, you might chill it a bit. Because when you add water, there’s a reaction, it heats it up.

Should we only use younger whiskies with cocktails?
Chivas 12 works beautifully with cocktails, but with something like Chivas 18, I’d use it for classic cocktails. But that’s my view. There are no rules.

Why do whisky blends get such a bad rap?
They’re all great. But they’re all different. People find these differences and some they like and some they don’t. But the ones they dislike are not bad whiskies. When we blend Chivas, we also do Glenlivet [a single malt]. We’re using the same quality of spirit for both. In reality, what you’re getting in a blend is something miles greater and miles more complex than in a single malt because you have all those single malts mixed together.

So why drink single malts?
Because there’s a more romantic story behind them. You can go and see them and touch them and see them being produced.

Can you explain your job?
There are two arts to blending. First, there’s selecting the malts, the different grains and harmonizing them, bringing them together. When I created Chivas 18, I used Chivas 12 as a reference. I didn’t do what I wanted. It’s blended in a tradition, a style that came from the Chivas brothers in the 1800s. It’s similar in style but different in taste. And the second part is maintaining the taste. The whiskies were put into casks 20 years ago. Since then, some distilleries may have stopped producing. That means those [single malts] come out of the blend, and that changes the harmony, the experience. So we look at what other whiskies we could bring in, change the percentages and keep the same taste.

The buzz: The Canon S90 and 95 were the kind of compacts that had even DSLR-toting photo geeks salivating: bigger sensors, RAW (a special file format which allows advanced post-processing), an f/2 aperture at wide angle to shoot with less light, and a ring dial around the lens that made you feel in control, just like big DSLR camera. The S100 is all that and more, with a host of new features: 24mm wide-angle lens, GPS geo-tagging, HD video and an improved sensor.

Sharp: The image quality at ISO1,600 looks like that of a DSLR from a few years back—it’s pretty amazing. That, plus the f/2 lens means you can shoot surprisingly decent handheld night shots. Shot-to-shot times in RAW are much faster, solving a problem that’s plagued previous compacts. Finally, the lens and rear dials are a joy to use for rapid manual adjustments.

Blurry: The long end of the zoom doesn’t let in much light (f/5.9), so that even poorly lit daytime shots can suffer from motion blur. Nor is the camera’s overall speed the fastest on the block. Put the two together and the S100 is less than ideal for shooting kid, pets or wildlife unless it’s in broad daylight.

Verdict: It’s a stellar camera, which displays some of the flexibility hitherto reserved for much bulkier (and more expensive) cameras. But if you don’t have the patience and the skill to use it, you may never notice the difference. In that case, your alternatives are to give up on compacts entirely (save your money for an iPhone 4s) or go for a system camera like the Sony NEX5-N. Gregoire Glachant

Specs: 24-120mm (equivalent) lens range, f/2.0-5.9 aperture, 12.1 MP, ISO 80-6400, full HD (1080p24) movie recording, GPS tagging. B15,900 from Canon dealers nationwide.