Woody Allen Interview

Woody Allen is one of my heroes. His films of love, comedy, and the way in which city people in the modern world deal with relationships and sex, have always given me inspiration. It is hard for me to realize that he is 72 now, as in many ways he will always be an eternal 40 for me -- experiencing a midlife crises that seems to have lasted 4 decades.

No matter what, Woody's films make me feel something, usually a sense of tragic comedy about life itself. The way his characters over ponder and yet under think, would certainly describe a large number of people in my life and certainly describes ME.

I have always believed that Woody's movies got me through the really hard times in my life, such as my divorce back in the early 90's and my own midlife crises which I experienced about 8 years ago. There is just something in his simplistic genius that can really get to me and make me laugh, sigh, and at times cry. And all that without any special effects, amazing!

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE AND HEAR HIS 13 minute INTERVIEW. IT'S REALLY GOOD!

Another Letter about ECHO POOL

Michelle Harris/now Hansen and her husband. I'd really like to share her letter to me about Echo Pool, mostly because she is struggling, and most proudly I might add, with her husband's cancer. Echo Pool was fueled by loss, my loss of my father, but I believe Michelle has taken on her husband's illness with the kind of strength and tenacity that true love deserves.

Dear Jonathon,
Hello there. I hope this email finds you doing well. Things are okay here, I have just been thinking that I never got back to you after I ordered your books! Life gets in the way! Your book has been traveling with me many places; The Sea of Cortez, Vegas, Nebraska, a week long trip on the Western slope and through hours of sitting beside Dan at Chemo. I have read it numerous times, always getting stuck right around the time that you go to the massage parlor place. :) Call me a prude! hahaI have enjoyed it immensely, and when we are going somewhere that reading is appropriate, Dan says, " Where's the book?" This is a wonderful memory, that I will not soon forget.A lot has happened since we last spoke, I'll just list it all in order of events, as to not go off on tangents. I hope that you had a Merry Christmas, and are looking forward to the New Year and all the beauty that it has to offer.


*Engaged in Mexico Nov. 2, 2007 Dan and I at sunset on a deserted island.(I did the ugly cry)*We became GodParents(remember my little cousin Katie? Yup)


*Married in Denver Dec. 3, 2007 We avoided all chaos and snuck off to the court house.


* Another chemo failed Dan, and his cancer moved throughout his vital organs


* Four days ago he had a stroke


* Bailed him out of the hospital yesterday, he said, "we barely got out of there alive!" Gotta love the humor


*Spent Christmas wrapped up with our pups at home...never again we said, would we spend Christmas in the hospital...so we said that we were leaving with or without their consent.

Here are the things that we are looking forward to:


*Rehabilitation


*Radiation that HAS to work to maintain some timeline beyond two weeks


*Our Wedding Reception January 19th, 2008 to be the event of the year, with black and white attire That is all we have so far, we are at that point that everyday is what we are living, it is amazing to live in the moment...for today. There it all is my friend...heavy I know, but hey the good out weighs the bad by a long shot! So, when I haven't been up for four days, I would love to tell you my favorite parts of your work, if you don't mind. :)

Don't be a Stranger!Warm Regards,Michelle Hansen (Better than Harris....has a nice ring to it!)

An HONEST Assesment of ECHO POOL

I received this email this week regarding my novel ECHO POOL. I have been getting more responses lately and will begin publishing many of them. Please SEND ME FEEDBACK, good or bad, because at least I know its alive out there! I'd also love to publish a photo of you with your review if you could think to send one along. This one comes from Malaysia.

Hi Jonathon,
To quote a line from the movie 40 days and 40 nights: “Dude, you are action packed with issues.”
But then again, who isn’t?
I thoroughly enjoyed your book. I felt it started off a bit slow, but the more the book progressed, the more you came into your writing element. The combination of hilarious situations with personal flashbacks made it a great read. Knowing you a bit, I had a fictitious non-fiction sensation the whole time I held the book in my hands.
Growing up in a fairly liberal European country where Catholicism is dramatically losing its influence on the general population, hearing stories of the American Bible belt has always fascinated me. The few attempts you had with your parents as an agnostic, or better said a critical thinker, to discuss certain aspects of Christianity must have been for both parties equally frustrating. People are afraid to chat about anything that might upset there daily routine or what has defined their whole life. Insecurity isn’t a trait humans cope well. Nonetheless, I never felt either of your parents gave you a religious overload (correct me if I’m wrong).
My father has never played a role in my life. The decisions he had to make in bars or pubs (straight or on the rocks) where much more significant to him than his son. That neglect has shaped me into who I am today, with all the positive and negative characteristics. Reading your book, I felt extremely envious of you. I’ve spent plenty of time analyzing my psyche and perfectly know what I really seek. Actually implementing that self reflecting knowledge is another story though. If I can say one day I was half the person your father was, I will be extremely pleased. I would’ve loved having a father like you had. I’m crying while I’m writing this, as I was when I read the last few paragraphs of “Echo Pool”.
I remember once sitting at an open air food court with an American friend of mine in Bangkok. We were enjoying the delicious Thai food accompanied with a few drinks talking about our plans of our upcoming visit to Vietnam. Drinks were being served by lovely Heineken waitresses. Suddenly, a few Dutch graduate students asked us if we wanted to participate in a survey. Basically, they were doing research on what they called the degrading working conditions many Thai girls have to work in. While I read the questions, I got frustrated by how western centric they were. They never realized that what these girls were doing at the open air food delight was a highly sought after job for many Thai women. Too often, westerners try to implement their values and norms on different cultures. But who says they are right? Who says they are wrong? What I’m ultimately trying to point out is that this book needs to be read with an open mind, trying to take in Thai customs and realities. A fervent feminist would probably be appalled by certain aspects of your book. Having lived in Thailand for 3.5 years, I was able to understand many of the cultural baggage you brought up. I personally believe you did a good job trying to explain in a literary manner what the Thai psyche is about.
Yeah you were right in your descriptions, I forgot her real name, but Arraya was hot. Superficially, any normal man would have you declared insane. Sensibly, you made the right decision, although I would’ve handled it differently. The lack of interesting and deep conversations was one of the reasons why I eventually left the country. Beauty rocks your world at first, but any earthquake subsides shortly after. Shallowness in a serious relationship doesn’t last unless selfishness is what one seeks. The defining picture of your parents is that they grew from passionate lovers to friends for life. That blend allowed their marriage to blossom and turn into an out of this world recipe. Any educated individual is going to look for that ultimate goal. Research has already pointed out that relationships with educated women/men have more chances of survival. I’m too arrogant and curious to let my life being dictated by a sex queen. Mind blowing orgasms aren’t the same as waking up next to an extraordinary woman.
How is “Golf” doing? Whatever happened to Arraya? Did your mate ever come back to Thailand after the German diplomatic disaster? In my opinion, that individual did not represent his country in a mature diplomatic manner. God complex perhaps?
I just came back from a 3 week cycling trip around Laos. The long break did me good to sort of put everything in perspective of what has happened over the last year-and-a-half in Malaysia. Culturally and personally it has been an amazing experience, but it’s time to leave. Next Friday, I’m moving to Vietnam for at least one year. Honestly, I’m a bit South East Asianed out, but the money is good in Vietnam. All I care about at the moment is saving up so that I can do my masters. I’m wondering if perhaps I want to return to an individualistic society. Australia has a certain appeal. Great outdoor activities, fantastic weather, the west… Wait and see I guess.
Kristof

KRISTOF IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS, he tells me he is the good looking one. He is a competitive tri-athlete and in the kind of shape that makes the rest of us keep our jackets on if you know what I mean.

Broken Glasses and Pockets

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2008 is HERE and it seems like I'm still making plans for the 1999 count down, it was going to be the end of the world as I recall it, but here we are 8 years later still hanging around doing much of the same old stuff.
This year's New Years Eve was sort of a bust for me because I did everything wrong. I always spend New Years Eve with the same group of friends, its a 6 year tradition that I love keeping up. But somehow I just got off to the worst start with this year's festivities.
First all of us failed to secure reservations, I was in town and should have done it, but I was sort of nervous about trying to please all my friends, so I left it to everyone else. In a panic similar to mine, someone booked us at an Italian restaurant close to the count down area of Central World. Now this was a fine restaurant we arrived at, but I -- not knowing the down town area at all as I tend to avoid it 364 days a year -- found myself walking into a place that might as well of been in the hills outside of Los Angeles. It not only was completely western, an Italian joint, but it didn't even offer Thai food.
I got off to a real shity start when I lifted my bottle of wine to show my friends and then turned to ask how much the cork fee would be. Now this is Bangkok, wine in restaurants is still somewhat rare, so most places don't mind if you bring your own wine and they charge you a little 100 baht or something to open it, and often by the end of the night they just let it slide all together if you order enough food.
"It's 1000 baht to open it."
"Fuck me, really?" I said like an idiot. The waitress looked at me as if I had climbed off my bus stops' bench and slithered in doors for the first time in weeks. "Well the bottle was only 600 baht, I think we can order cocktails instead."
But I continued to blunder. Not knowing what part of the city we were going to, I hadn't stopped off to get any CASH (idiot alert) so of course on this street there was NO ATMS. I had about 2500 baht in my pocket and when I looked at the menu I realized I wasn't in Lad Prao anymore. Even a plate of dry bread, four little slices, was 250 baht. The food was 400 to 700 a dish and this is Thailand, you don't order what you want and pay only for what you eat, we order and share the food like a family. It's what I love about eating out with Thais. You order lots and lots of little dishes, everyone takes a bite or two and then when the bill comes we just split it per person.
I'm sure my shoulders must have been sinking when I did the math and realized my lovely wife was going to have to watch me do the dishes for us to get out of there.
OH BUT IT GETS WORSE.
The place was very POSH you know, so we had these kind of Tom Petty Alice in Wonderland couches we were sitting at, it was stuffy and I couldn't talk to anyone. I had gotten off to a bad start so I decide to push our tables together and so we could at least sit close enough to hear each other. BUT, the table I thought was one long rectangular table turned out to be 2 small square ones. They were covered by a black table cloth and when I tried to pull the two of them I pulled only one and the other stayed put. A table full of wine flouts, water glasses, two plates, and one tall glass candle holder teetered upon the cloth for a moment and then -- as if someone turned on the gravity full blast -- it all came down smashing to bits upon the marble floor...
Well now that I had destroyed 12 or so dishes and increased the price of our meal to DOUBLE I sort of lost the spirit of New Years. Thank God for Pat and Golf who are close enough friends to put up with me even when I get into a morbid FUNK.
But I have a theory, that every bad NEW YEARS EVE will bring a MAGICAL New Year. Yin and Yang you know. It hasn't begun well, but 2008 just may be the year of my life. Or, will it be like so many broken dishes, just SMASHING.

Sait Kaset IP CAMP 07

Once a year the Satit Kaset Teachers say goodbye to friends and family and the luxury of Bangkok and take our students to CAMP. It is a challenging experience to say the least as 24 hour exposure to teenagers is an over load for even the most devoted educator. It is fun, but can be a bit much. This year was one of the most rewarding of these journeys. The students we teach are sheltered, spoiled, and for the most part CITY KIDS. They really don't know much about anything beyond shopping malls, sky trains, and their family compounds, so it is fun to see them taken out of their element for a while.

Everyones a CRITIC

Siminoe is in pieces after a negative comment about ECHO POOL.
Well the old saying goes, "Everyone's a critic." I knew while writing ECHO POOL that this book was a bit personal and was a very introspective project. I also purposefully used a literary style in the development of the narrative, which is not exactly popular in the new millennium. So who would have guessed Bangkok Book House would want to publish it. In the end I think it was a good situation for both of us. I have written something different than their usual novels about Sukamvit, sex trade, Russian Mobsters, and burn out SEXPats, and lets face it these are not the only stories to be told in Thailand. But readers who are expecting this from my novel, just because it was published by Bangkok Book House will not get that kind fo thrill from my work.

I bring this up because, since the books release about 3 months ago, I've been really surprised at how positive the feedback has been about the book. People seem to find so much of themselves in the book, especially people from small towns and who have lived in the Kingdom of Thailand for a while.
BUT, of course there will be those who don't like it. So I finally got a negative review of the book and I must say for a few minutes I was really disappointed and felt completely rejected. It is hard to feel, especially perhaps after all the positive strokes and well dones, to feel someone really didn't enjoy the novel.
Anyway, this criticism was written on a chat service called Asia Fiction, which was created to help promote Asian writers like myself. I would really like it if, and yes even if you didn't like the book, people could go onto this site and leave their impressions of my book.
Please click on the title above and visit the site. You will see the negative criticism and you can respond to it. Avenge me! Avenge me! Avenge me!

The Cobra and the Origami

It has been said that when two men argue and need to find a physical way of settling their dispute that it is childish. I must disagree. In fact, I believe it is a natural thing for conflict to occur between coworkers and at times it is necessary for these conflicts to be resolved in a physical manner. Childish? NO. Nature, like two tigers clawing at each other over the meet of a slain cow.
So many have asked how the grudge between Ajarn Year and Ajarn Ken began, well it was something like. "You suck at that," A said and then B said, "well but I'm better than you." "Well but your only better than me at that." "No, I'm better than you at lots of things." "No your not." "Yes I am." "No your not." "Yes I am."
And so the calm cool headed guy in the room suggested a test of strength and stamina to settle the dispute. 10 laps around the track should decide who has some willpower. So the two decided to get it on. Then before anyone at Satit Kaset could stop it, nearly every school in the high school wanted to come out and yell and scream for their ajarns.
In the end it was a bonding moment for the entire building. Some of the oddest things happen when you work with young people.

Big Husker News

Hey http://www.siminoe.com/ would like to get behind a real important movement in Nebraska and that of course is the drive for a championship of one very deserving member of our grid iron team.

Lincoln – Nebraska cheerleader Anne Marie Rye will represent the Huskers and the Big 12 Conference in the final round of this year’s Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit contest. Voting for the final round begins on Saturday, Dec. 1 at midnight and will run through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21. No registration is necessary to vote and there is no limit to the number of times a person can vote. Want to vote, click on the title above and place our vote. I might add, don't look at the University of Cincinatte girl, because she might change your opinion, but instead stay focused and vote.

Oh and in some other Nebraska news Bo Pelini has been named the new head coach of our beloved HUSKERS! God speed Bo Pelini, we need a championship in 2008! This selection is really a good one as he is a defense first style of coach. Lord knows we need defense after the season we just had. Good luck!

Sneezes and Coffee

I have been, on occasion, accused of being rude because I cover up when someone sneezes around me. "Don't make them feel bad," one of my friends might say.
Well, they shouldn't make me feel bad! You know I love to roam around and enjoy a coffee in the multitude of coffee shops here in Bangkok. I enjoy writing or reading while enjoying the company of my fellow Bangkokians; however, I just wish if people were sick they would stay the hell home. What right do I have to cover up? Well what right do they have to be out in public, especially in a place of consumption, with their nasty nasal sickness.
Yesterday I dropped by one of my favorite coffee houses to grab a cup of ice coffee for the road. I love this place, in fact I finished ECHO POOL sitting in this joint -- which is why I won't bring up the name -- but my experience was ruined by the sniffles and then spray of the coffee girl there.
It was a horror for me watching the girl make my coffee, her fingers glistening from some mucus as she went about scooping, pressing, and poring, and then I heard the sniffley raspy sounds of her trying to contain and restrain her bodily fluids. But I tried to act friendly and calm. Then, just as she finished the drink she dropped down, in an effort not to sneeze in my drink, and let out a blast of sinus fluids into her hands. She had succeeded in missing my drink and it was very nice of her to put in such effort. Feeling relieved I glanced over at a beautiful young lady entering the coffee house, but when I looked back I realized she had fished her mucus infected fingers into the bowl where the straws were and jabbed a contaminated straw into my drink.
"Fifty five baht."
I paid her. I stayed silent. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of the straw being jammed, no doubt contaminated, into my drink. I took the drink, walked into the parking lot, found the first trash can I could find, and tossed it away without a sip.
Should I really have drank it?
Come on food workers, I know you need your pay, but if you're sick could you please just STAY HOME and get better! Don't prove yourself the dedicated employee and spread your illness to everyone you serve.

Holiday Gift Direct to YOU

The holiday GIFT giving time of year is upon us. If you are giving Honica gifts, Christmas gifts, New Years gifts, or just good will presents, there is no hotter item out there than the gift of a good quality read. So http://www.siminoe.com/ has decided to make it easy for you to get a copy of Echo Pool sent DIRECTLY to your loved on. Simply click here http://fiction.siminoe.com-a.googlepages.com/echopoolpurchasepage and make your payment, and we will send you a copy of Echo Pool directly from Bangkok within 24 hours of your order. This copy can be signed by the author and it can have a small note written in the book telling the recipient exactly who wanted them to have it. A truly ONE OF A KIND GIFT for this magical time of year. Don't worry, it should arrive in plenty of time for the holidays and what a surprise the recipient will receive when they pull this wonderful novel out of their mailbox. Allow about 5 days for it to arrive. So support Jonathon Siminoe's literary effort, while making the holiday season for one of your friends or family members. ECHO POOL, so you can remember as well.

Thailand FIRE SHOW

Fire shows certainly do not originate from Thailand, but they are becoming very popular. I really enjoyed this one in the misty mountains to the East of Bangkok. It was a great show on a cool, well cool for Thailand so like 80 degrees, evening up out of the city. Key to happiness in working in Bangkok -- GET OUT OF BANGKOK ON THE WEEKENDS and BREATH!

Fashion is in Fashion

My school here in Bangkok has a very creative feel to the place. I really love working here because it allows students to try new things and creative ideas. This video was created at Satit Kaset International Progam. The models are both students and teachers. The designs were from both students and our art teacher!

Henry Miller Rocks

Yo, this is HENRY MILLER and he was a writer who lived to write and wrote to express life. I have always really loved his work. I guess as a teacher of writing and a writer myself, I am often thinking about the process of writing. What is really important? What is really quality? What is from the heart and what is produced from the brains ability to form and craft.

I think Henry was a man who had the carnal nature which drove him, selfishly, to chase the things which made him happy. He was a man obsessed with the moment -- the great one -- the human ones. And in this obsession he found brilliance.

Students often ask me, "how can I become a better writer." The answer is simple. "Read and write more often! Then LIVE and find stories to write about by living."

I know ECHO POOL is primarily autobiographical, as I practice what I preach and write about what I know and what I have experienced. I think I learned a great deal of this philosophy from Henry.

If you want to learn about his life, travels, and loves, check out this film! Then READ HIS WORK! Click the title for a link to this film and how to see it. I promise you'll see a side to a writer that you aren't expecting!