I should have mentioned long ago that noted Microkhan ally Nathan Thornburgh has launched a new project near-and-dear to my heart: Roads & Kingdoms, a site that operates under the hard-to-resist motto “Journalism, travel, food, murder, music.” The first several weeks’ worth of posts have focused exclusively on Burma, where Nathan and his co-creator traveled […]
A brief Veterans Day special today, as I try and dedicate a strong eight hours to the book. I was planning on directing your attention to this excellent site, which honors the men and women of the 335th Station Hospital in Tagap Ga—the Burmese hamlet where so much Now the Hell Will Start action goes […]
Tags:Burma·Kachin Rangers·Kachins·OSS Detachment 101·Veterans Day·World War II
I have mixed feelings about Ross Dunkley, the Australian who co-founded the Myanmar Times in 2000. It’s impossible not to admire his moxie; rare is the publishing soul brave enough to open a new information venture in a totalitarian state. But Dunkley obviously had to make some bargains to earn that opportunity, and that meant […]
Tags:Burma·business·dictatorship·journalism·law·Ross Dunkley
Just one of those dour days here in Atlah, with the brain creaking along so slowly that the firing of each synapse sounds like the bursting of a soap bubble. Classic ZZ Top will have to see you through for the moment. And if you have a few spare moments over lunch, it’s worth checking […]
Though I find myself laboring on Labor Day, I sincerely hope that you have avoided a similarly wretched fate. And if you live in New York City, I hope you’ll carve out some time tomorrow evening to swing by Brooklyn’s Union Hall to check out a rare live appearance by your humble narrator. I’ll be […]
Tags:Adult Education·Brooklyn·Burma·New York City·Now the Hell Will Start·tigers
One of the creepiest things about Burma’s ruling junta is its insistence on creating the trappings of prosperity, even as the vast majority of the nation grapples with desperate economic circumstances. Take the recent Yangon Auto Show, which followed the Western blueprint to a T with scantily-clad models draped across shiny new vehicles. Yet the […]
The sitter’s deathly ill and the Grand Empress is at JFK picking up a shipment of lacey undergarments (slightly NSFW), so Microkhan Jr. is our sole responsibility ’til his afternoon playdate. That means no time for words o’ wisdom this morning, an announcement we make with heavy hearts. Hope to get back to y’all once […]
As we went digging into our pocket for some change this morning, we came up with a piece of currency sure to give the vending machine a case of indigestion: a 20 shilling coin from Kenya, a souvenir of our recent East African jaunt. Before tossing back the useless money in frustration, however, we noticed […]
Tags:animals·Burma·coins·currency·economics·Ivory Coast·Kenya·North Korea·politics·Roman Empire·Turkmenbashi·Turkmenistan
A pal of ours is on jury duty this week, and reminded us of one of the great pleasures of the process (at least in New York): getting to view Enter the Jury Room on your first morning. Narrated by the late Ed Bradley, the short film is surprisingly witty and informative, especially for those […]
Tags:Burma·crime·Ed Bradley·Enter the Jury Room·law·Medieval history·movies·trial by ordeal
A valued Friend of Microkhan informs us that GMC is running a new crop of ads that refer to the Burma Road, where the company’s trucks did fine work plowing through the monsoon muck. This campaign obviously harkens back to one from the thick of World War II, when GMC touted its vehicles’ performance in […]
Not that we’re insensitive louts or anything, but we generally fail to get riled up by charges of religious blasphemy. As such, we really can’t say we understood the recent, rather obscure to-do over the photo above, in which a Burmese film star named Min Maw Kun was accused of disrespecting Buddhism. No, what made […]
It took us well over a week, but we finally got around to finishing Harp of Burma last night, while sitting on the 2 train back from Brooklyn. Yes, a week-plus is an awful long time to tackle a so-called children’s book, one which clocks in at a measly 132 pages. But such is life […]
Tags:anthropology·Burma·cannibalism·Harp of Burma·Japan·psychology·World War II
The missus isn’t due back from Vega$ ’til late tonight, which means we’re in extreme-parenting mode for one more day. Genuine posts up soon; in the interim, please enjoy the above vid of Burmese construction workers showing off their Eto’o-like skills. We wonder if any of these blokes are currently living the dream in the […]
Tags:Burma·housekeeping·soccer·sports
“Harrowing” is probably the only word to describe the above trailer for Burma VJ, a new Danish film that consists largely of illicitly shot video of the 2007 protests. As we know from first-hand experience, Burma is one of the toughest reporting gigs around, which makes the proliferation of disruptive media all the more important […]
The handsome logo at right belongs to Zeya Shwe Myay FC, one of eight teams that will soon compete in Burma’s National League Cup, the nation’s first-ever professional soccer league. Matches kick off this coming Saturday, with the early money on Mandalay’s Yadanarpon FC as the prohibitive favorite; the team is owned by a drinking-water […]
Tags:Burma·corruption·National League Cup·politics·Sagaing Division·soccer·sports·Zeya Shwe Myay
Today’s edition of NtHWS Extras brings us the amazing tale of Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave, arguably one of the most selfless and impressive American expatriates of the 20th century. There is nary a peep about Seagrave in Now the Hell Will Start, primarily because he’s not the sort of bloke you can just casually mention […]
Tags:Burma·Gordon Seagrave·medicine·Now the Hell Will Start·NtHWS Extras Month·World War II
Lost amidst the week’s more high-profile news was something quite significant, at least for those of us keen on Asian affairs: a (relatively) high-level State Department official dropped in on Burma, in order to feel out the ruling junta’s openness to dialogue. Stephen Blake made a rare visit to Naypyidaw, the junta’s somewhat creepy jungle […]
Tags:Burma·Emma Larkin·Naypyidaw
The Nagas of the India-Burma border region are especially dear to my heart, seeing as how they play a pivotal role in Now the Hell Will Start. They were always gracious during my travels through the Patkai Mountains, despite facing myriad problems of their own (beginning with a tenuous security situation). And a big part […]
The handsome squab pictured at right is none other than Burma Queen, a charter member of the Army Pigeons Hall of Fame (PDF). Back in 1944, this brave pigeon helped save an entire battalion of Allied troops, by racing 320 miles with a key SOS message. She was only five months old at the time—not […]
