Joel Quenby

MAMEE & THE MASSEUSE
Butterfly Man was envisioned as a big budget pic but Kaprice Kea couldn't find the cash. No matter: the actress he discovered turned out to be solid gold ... More

PANDA WITH A PUNCH
He says he was relieved to discover he had cancer. He gets in the boxing ring with men half his age – and surprises himself by sometimes winning. They call him the 'crazy foreigner' ... More

BACK FROM THE BRINK 
For the hotel owner puttering around his resort's grounds in a golf buggy, an ominous harbinger came in the form of a panicked phone call from Phuket saying simply: "'The water's up' — and then the phone went dead" ...  More

FORTUNES AND GLORY
From miraculous animals to mystical pendants via lucky numbers, magical totems and voodoo tattoos, most Khmers are fanatically superstitious. The culture is riddled with folk illogic ... PDF

 THE THOMAS MORE TOUR
 To coincide with the opening of the Tower of London cell where he spent his final 15 months, we take you on a whirlwind tour of the haunts of England's best-known martyr ...  More

  DON'T BELIEVE THE TRUTH 

Ever since the first two albums, every new Oasis record seems to offer increasingly diminishing musical returns — but can the Gallagher brothers buck the downward spiral with their sixth long-player? ... More – plus an interview with Gem

  ASIA AND THE TRAMP 

Raffles Hotel in Phnom Penh recently announced, somewhat belatedly:  “On April 18, 1936, Charlie Chaplin, one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era, was checking-in”...  More 

TECHNO FEVER 
Minimalist techno legend Dave Clarke vents some spleen on the Napster-pioneered emergence of downloading ... More

 THE WAY HE MADE THEM FEEL 

 The public outpouring of grief will quickly give way to forensic  analysis of the bizarre minutiae of Jackson’s self-styled life; I can offer my brief but  unforgettable experience of his rabidly devotional fan-base ... More

ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL
Saturday is supposedly the more upbeat day but a cursory listen reveals that Japanese trip-hop guru DJ Krush is turning in a soporific K-hole of an opening set ... More

 A RETURN TO FORUM

After five years on extended hiatus, the intra-governmental Mekong Tourism Forum, a cooperative platform for tourism stakeholders, makes a welcome comeback ... More