Rome's now Ohm: If bad luck stalks you, try a disguise

Attention, all TV fans: Actor Patchata “Rome” Nampan no longer exists. No need to panic – all we’re saying is that he’s changed his name to Attcha “Ohm” Nampaan, a near-complete overhaul, right down the nickname.
Rome – uh, Ohm – says senior people he respects had said his name “might not be good” for his career or his personal life, so he’s been reborn.
The actor – whose popularity peaked with last year’s hit series “Rak Nee Je Jad Hai” on Channel 3 – has faded from the limelight despite remaining an audience favourite. The reason was that a couple of things in his personal prompted him to cut back on the workload. Most recently his dad was sick and he wanted to take care of him. And last October there was a minor sensation when he appeared to be high on drugs at a commercial event – it turned out he was leaning too heavily on sleeping pills.
Regardless, he’s still very much missed on the small screen, and now, with his father doing okay and the pills back in the medicine cabinet where they belong, Ohm is geared up to return to acting. Stay tuned – he’ll be back on the screen again in no time.

The scales of injustice

Losing a job because you’re too hefty might be acceptable among fashion models (though these days we doubt that, too), but the challenge is now before plus-size TV host Chalermpol “Jack Fanchan” Thikamporntheerawong to slim down or make room (as it were) for someone else.
Jack recently accepted that challenge from his “Tuen ma kui” co-host, Vuthithorn “Woody” Milinthajinda, who’s also his boss and has become something of a fitness nut both on and off the screen.
Woody has been frank in his disapproval of the way Jack let his body go. The sidekick is up to 125 kilograms and Woody wants that down to 100 – or else. We wondered if the boss was seriously thinking of sacking Jack if he stays large. Then Woody saved everyone from further wondering. “By the end of this year, if he can’t bring it down to 100, he’ll be fired,” the stern-faced health buff declared.
Jack bravely vowed on the show, for all to hear, that he’d definitely reach that target but, as of Monday – a week after the gauntlet was thrown – he was surely feeling the heat, because his weight remained absolutely unchanged.
And this isn’t the first time Woody has put the show’s fans on edge and Jack’s career in the balance. In July 2013 Jack felt obliged to accept a bet with Woody that he couldn’t shed 10kg. Woody was prepared to reward him with Bt100,000 if he succeeded, but he ended up keeping the money.
Now, with that poor track record to haunt him, Jack’s job is on the line.
Woody, young man, isn’t there a kinder, less melodramatic way to encourage Jack and other people to lose weight?