Kelly Slater Buys Thai Stick
Published on Apr 12, 2015 by Luke Hunt
Film rights to Thai Stick, a scholarly work on the illicit marijuana trade between Southeast Asia and the West coast of the United States in the 1960s and 70s, have been recently acquired by perhaps the greatest ever competitive surfer, American Kelly Slater. Media stereotyping has often linked surfing with the smoking of weed and while Slater does not smoke marijuana he certainly supports the de-criminalization of the product in the U.S. and doubts whether it should even classified as a drug.“It’s a plant and it’s beyond ridiculous that people have somehow decided making it illegal was the right thing. The end result is generally users going to jail who cause society no harm,” he recently toldsurfing publication Swellnet.“I don’t....
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Adios, Cantina. Viva Hurley!
Published on Mar 28, 2015 by Luke Hunt
One of Phnom Penh’s most legendary venues closes tonight. Cantina, the restaurant-cum-watering-hole and brainchild of Hurley Scroggins III, will shut its creaky, iron gate on the riverside late tonight for the last time – probably after midnight – and end a memorable and historic chapter in the life of this fair city.Read more from Michael Hayes in The Phnom Penh Post..
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Wrap: HIV Tragedy, a Sufi Poet and a Granny on Drugs
Published on Jan 4, 2015 by Luke Hunt
In a small village in Cambodia’s west, a tragic tale of international significance has caught the local authorities off-guard. An unlicensed doctor has been charged with causing an outbreak of HIV and murder after lax practices resulted in at least 201 people contracting the potentially fatal disease.Read more from Luke Hunt in The DiplomatBelievers of All Faiths Celebrate Sufi PoetAs conductor of 20 of the world’s most accomplished whirling dervishes, and 30 of the greatest Sufi musicians, Fahri Ozcakil holds one of the highest spiritual positions in Turkey. But despite his high status, Mr Ozcakil remains resolutely humble.Read more from Dan Boylan in The NationalAussie Drugs Granny May Have Been Fooled By LoveAn Australian grandmother facing execution on drugs charges....
Kathleen O’Keefe: 1960-2014
Published on Dec 14, 2014 by Luke Hunt
To journalists working across Southeast Asia in the 1990s and 2000s, the name Kathleen O’Keefe was the stuff of legends.In 1992, the Medford native, along with her then-husband Michael Hayes, a Wellesley native, moved to war-ravaged Cambodia to launch one of the bravest free press publishing experiments in recent journalism history: Cambodia’s first, modern independent newspaper — The Phnom Penh Post.Read more from Dan Boylan in the Boston Herald..
Boxing's Great Leap Forward
When boxing great Manny Pacquiao put Chris Algieri on the canvas for a sixth time at the Venetian Cotai Arena in Macau, 15,000 fans leapt from the edge of their seats. Pacquiao’s status as one of the fight game’s greats was secured and victory raised the tantalizing prospect of a showdown with Floyd Mayweather – the world’s highest paid athlete.The smart money, however, already had their victory, and with an eye on China promoters were already counting the cash as a hopelessly outgunned Algieri struggled to his feet.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Diplomat..
