VERISIMILITUDE – serves a warning for all writers

Harry Nicolaides , an Australian author jailed in Thailand for allegedly insulting the crown prince, arrived back in Australia this week after being freed following a royal pardon. He had been working as a lecturer at the university in Thailand, was arrested in August last year and sentenced to three years in prison.

The excerpt from VERISIMILITUDE which is sited as the contentious piece and caused him to be jailed is below:

“From King Rama to the Crown Prince, the nobility was renowned for their romantic entanglements and intrigues. The Crown Prince had many wives “major and minor “with a coterie of concubines for entertainment. One of his recent wives was exiled with her entire family, including a son they conceived together, for an undisclosed indiscretion. He subsequently remarried with another woman and fathered another child. It was rumoured that if the prince fell in love with one of his minor wives and she betrayed him, she and her family would disappear with their name, familial lineage and all vestiges of their existence expunged forever.”

His book “Vermisilmilitude” was first published in 2005 with a run of seventy copies, with only half a dozen actually sold.  Interestingly there is a copy of the book available online. It is badly scanned but bears the library stamps of non other than the Royal Library of Thailand.  I have only read the first chapter and it seemed a pleasant enough descriptive narrative of a young Thai girls family life in modern day Thailand.

Les Majeste carries a severe penalty within Thailand. Perhaps Harrys own press release did him little favours within the court hearing – especially as he was working within Thailand and must have been aware of the tight laws surrounding the Royals.

“Savage, ruthless and unforgiving, VERISIMILITUDE pulls away the mask of benign congeniality that Thailand has disguised itself with for decades and reveals a people who are obsessed with Western  iffluence and materialism and who trade their cultural integrity and personal honour for the baubles of Babylonian America.”

After reading the press release, perhaps I aught to have continued my reading – it obviously got alot better after the first chapter.

However, this example serves a warning for all writers. Once in print – or online – its out in the public sphere and cannot be retracted. Freedom of speech may be a right within your own country, but care needs to be taken if visiting other cultures and commenting on their society and lifestyle.

For more details on the case click here.

After reading all of this – are you more likely to take care of your opinions? Not voice the messages you hold inside?

Tim Tam Slam

I thought I’d write about something a little lighter today – the time honoured break away from writing where you go for a nice cuppa. Let me introduce you to a sugar rush experience called the Tim Tam Slam. I would hazard a guess that there aren’t too many Aussies who have not at least heard of a Tim Tam Slam; indeed most of us have o.d’ed on this technique at least once.

Ordinarily the Tim Tam slam is a social or party trick enjoyed by all until someone is sick.

It involves sucking a hot beverage – usually a milky coffee or a Milo ( sort of like a hot chocolate.. but not really – you have to be Australian to appreciate it) through the biscuit and then at a critical point, dumping it into your mouth. Firstly to dispel any misconceptions about the honourable Tim Tam. They comprise of two chocolate malted biscuits which have a very light chocolate cream filling between them. They are then coated in a thin layer of milk chocolate. Arnotts have introduced many varieties over the last few years, including a disturbing Chilli, Chewy Caramel, double dipped dark and a strawberry cream.

For the purists such as myself, the original is the only one to use to execute the Tim Tam Slam. To my knowledge there isn’t anything like them; though my UK friends used to try and trick me into eating penguins – which are so not like a real Tim Tam its not funny.. for one thing the biscuit is too dense.. but don’t get me started.

How to Slam a Tim Tam

Firstly, cold biscuits are best – pop them in the freezer for a bit before hand if you can.

Bite a diagonal piece off opposite ends of the biscuit

Dip the bikkie into your drink and suck on the other end – like a straw

When you taste your drink its time to tip your head up and dump the Tim Tam in your mouth.

Ideally it collapses inside and the chocolate remains solid on the outside – until its in your mouth. Again if you are using some of the other varieties, the melt rate will be different. I would imagine that the double dipped one would stick together a lot longer as well.

Its hard to explain – other than what I have just done,  so I will let Natalie Imbruglia demonstrate – on UK TV host – Graham Norton show. She uses tea – which I think would be gross – but I guess whatever floats your boat.

So – what are you waiting for? Isn’t it time to get a cuppa and try this out?