I have a news monitoring app that’s customized to do what I want it to, and to be flexible so that I can change its behaviour as and when I like. It feeds me selected news, from selected sources, on selected topics (keywords, tags, metadata). I don’t watch television or … Continue reading
Wow. What a find. Material for a Master’s Thesis, for sure. A book by an Indonesian writer that exposes Indonesian perceptions of foreigners as they are known. It reflects direct observation, extrapolation from popular media, and a spectrum of preconceptions arising from indigenous ways of being in and seeing the … Continue reading
Since I’m inadvertently serving as ad hoc translator and bridge between mutually-misread populations cohabiting in Bali . . . This news hasn’t filtered through to non-Indonesian-language media yet. For the past several weeks there have been outbreaks of a new strain of bird flu among commercially-raised and traded birds (chickens, … Continue reading
The Yak Awards is a grand orgy of self-congratulatory silliness (see acrobats at the party spelling out YAK in bodies, above), and if you understand that from the get-go, you’ll be a fan of the Yak Awards, just like we are. It’s a small-island phenomenon that’s basically a barrel of … Continue reading
Fish! Fowl! Pussycats! Rats! And murder most foul! Read on . . . Last year I promised to give occasional reports on the contents of the local Indonesian language newspaper, the Bali Post, which I read every morning. I certainly don’t read it for its quality journalism. I read it … Continue reading
A posse of Bali creatives and media folk have banded together to make a television content package for high-end hotels, with fresh, locally-grown features, info and advertising. Mangovision is broadcasting in several top hotel and villa resorts on the island, with more joining all the time. The focus is decidedly … Continue reading
The island of Bali is at risk of sinking into the Indian Ocean under the weight of all of its magazines. I put the latest issues of Bali’s mags on the bathroom scale, and it tipped almost ten kilos. How can an island so small generate so many magazines? And … Continue reading
I promised to give occasional digests of the local newspaper, the Bali Post. Not to renege on a promise, here is a digest of Tuesday’s paper, by no means a more distressing one than usual. The headlines that drew my attention most were: Struggle for Ramadan Gifts Leaves 21 Dead … Continue reading
As promised, here’s a digest of interesting items from the last issue of the Bali Post. Headline on the health page: Don’t Send Your Kids to Buy Your Cigarettes. 37% of all children in Indonesia smoke. The writer ventured that sending the kids to buy smokes might encourage them to try … Continue reading
For those of us who have found ourselves living in interesting places, there is a price to pay. Many prices, actually. One of them is handling the deluge of enquiries from friends-of-friends who get in touch for information on places to stay, what to do, where to shop, and all … Continue reading
Made Wijaya (neé Michael White) is everyone’s favourite Bali pundit, whose witty column Stranger in Paradise has delighted and confounded generations of Baliphiles. His resumé reads: yachtwreck survivor, tennis coach, pouch poser, garden designer, architect, interior designer, hotelier, carrot-topped-Oscar-Wilde-of-the-tropics, hypocrite auteur mon semblable mon frere. He’s a pen-slinger who’s never … Continue reading
Saturday night we went to the Yak Magazine‘s annual Yak Awards party at KuDeTa. It was fantastic fun with free flowing Moet, and vodka shots sloshing out of an ice sculpture at the oyster bar. Trays and trays of kinky canapes kept the usual Seminyak crazies from drinking on an … Continue reading
I spent a chunk of time last year writing the new edition of Bali Chic for Editions Didier Millet. It’s finally out, just in time for the high season in Bali. You can find it at Didier Millet, and also on the sub-site for the whole Chic series, “The Chic … Continue reading