Tribute to bomb victims earns Sek praise at last

AMONG ITS MANY other blessings, Facebook always (that is to say, constantly) bestows upon us tidings from rock star Seksan “Sek Loso” Sukpimai, who’s addicted to the sharing site and whose posts are surely addictive for his millions of followers.
Having spent the better part of a year putting grimaces on his fans’ faces with incessant posts about his crumbling and then dissolved marriage, Sek more recently evoked dubious smirks by promoting the Loso smartphone that he’s having made in China for distribution soon across Southeast Asia.
This week, though, he offers something much more thoughtful and, at last, praiseworthy.
Shaken as we all were by the horrendous bomb attack in downtown Bangkok, Sek has written a song titled “Heartbroken on Ratchaprasong”, which he uploaded to Facebook on Tuesday and invited everyone to share around. It’s his way of expressing condolences to the people injured in the blast and the families of those killed.
Just back from a visit to Laos, Sek was quick to join in Thailand’s national mourning. Mulling the tragedy, he sat at his piano and wrote “Heartbroken” about the unexpected departure of a loved one. It’s so well-written and produced that the reception has been tremendous.
As well, Sek announced that he’d refrain from posting anything more on the social media for two days, his version of a minute’s silence. Coming from a guy who seems to live his life on Facebook, that’s also quite a tribute.
Sunny learns to draw
We’re still hearing more about what went on behind the scenes in the making of the romantic comedy “Freelance Ham Puay, Ham Pak ...Ham Rak Mor” (“Heart Attack”). This is the one in which “three-million-baht actor” Sunny Suwanmethanon portrays freelance artist Yoon, who gets a nervous rash and consults a doctor (Davika “Mai” Hoorne), promptly falling in love with her.
Usually picky about the jobs he takes, Sunny was “itching” (get it?) to land the lead role in the GTH movie after hearing that the director would be indie hero Nawapol “Ter” Thamrongrattanarit. He was even willing to audition.
Among other challenges posed by the role (as reported here earlier), Sunny had to shave his head and learn actual graphic-art skills.
“I really wanted to work with Ter and Mai because I like their work so much, but I when finished reading the script I still had no clear picture of Yoon in my head,” he says.
Ter put him through a series of workshops to get him in character, including teaching him how to look like he actually knows how to retouch photos like a pro. Sunny, who’s no doubt quite gifted at holding a mobile phone, instead had to learn, for example, how to use a mouse pen.
Fortunately his teacher excels at this stuff – this is what Ter used to do before he switched to making movies. He must have been quite a taskmaster, allowing Sonny no leeway for mistakes. Let’s see if we’re convinced when the film hits theatres on September 3.