The Bangkok curfew has now been lifted!

Thank goodness for that, maybe we can get back to normal living again now!

This means that the long-running political protests and violent military crackdowns of this year are all now officially over, and therefore Thailand has returned to its peaceful normal self.

So, it is now officially safe for tourists to return here. Please come back and enjoy the real Thailand once again!!

Shrek 4 online games and wallpaper

The latest 3D animated movie from DreamWorks, Shrek Forever After, is released today. The film is the final part of the Shrek series and is also known as Shrek: The Final Chapter and Shrek 4.

I'm not sure if it's any good (it has received mixed reviews so far), but I want to see it because I really liked the first three Shrek films.

Here are six excellent free Shrek 4 Flash online games for you to play:

  Shrek Shreds

  Shrek 'N' Slide

  Shrek: Concentration

  Shrek: The Battle of the Belch

  Shrek: Eyeball Dropper

  Shrek: Ogre Baby Word Scramble

Two Shrek Forever After wallpaper backgrounds are also included with the games, one of Shrek and one of Rumpelstiltskin.

You can find everything above, together with lots more related fun and games, in this awesome website: Free Shrek and Other CG Movie Online Games

(See also here)

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - update #5

Last night the Thai army stormed the Red Shirt Protestors camp in central Bangkok to finally bring an end to the political protests. It was an extremely violent end though, with a further 5 people killed including an Italian journalist, plus dozens of people seriously injured.

Red Shirts fleeing the army onslaught set fire to many buildings in the capital throughout the night, as a final shocking statement of protest against the current government. The Thai Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Thai TV Channel 3 (which is currently off air), two shopping centers including the massive Central World center, two banks and many other buildings have all been burned, with Central World now being reported as having been completely destroyed.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders have been caught and arrested, and the protests are now finally over.

Bangkok is now under a night-time curfew every day until further notice.

What an awful, awful series of events.

Update on May 22, 2010 at 12.30 PM: The official total number of casualties from the political protests and military crackdowns has now been given as 85 people killed and 1,378 injured. Absolutely disgraceful! Many of the victims were innocent bystanders! Of course, there'll now be an official inquiry into what happened, but that will really just be a government "whitewash" of the whole affair - no-one in power will get any blame or be punished, only the Red Shirts. The rich and powerful always win here!

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - update #4

Fighting between civilian protestors and the armed forces continued in Bangkok last night and on into today, and official reports say that the death toll has now risen to 30, with an additional 232 injured.

After reading international reports from respected sources such as Reuters, the BBC and the ABC (because most news sources here are biased in favour of the authorities and do not always tell the whole truth) it appears that many of the fatalities were unarmed civilians who were targeted by the army as part of a deliberate "shoot to kill" policy sanctioned by the government (who, not surprisingly, deny it - they say only armed "terrorists" are being targeted, but foreign reports clearly contradict that).

Everyone I know here is in total shock about this. This is not the Thai way of doing things. It is a gross violation of human rights, surely? I hope the United Nations quickly does something to stop this nightmare.

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - update #3

Very sadly, last night 16 more people died in Bangkok in yet more clashes between the red shirt anti-government protestors and the army. Additionally, more than 140 people were injured, some critically. At least three foreigners were among those injured.

This entire situation is rapidly becoming a national tragedy for my country - the total death toll from the past two months of political protests, which have pitted civilian protestors against police and army forces in increasingly violent street battles in the capital, now apparently stands at 45 (although this is difficult to accurately confirm due to conflicting sets of information from different official sources), plus at least 1,100 injured. These are shocking statistics by any measure.

The protests started out very peacefully in March, but things quickly changed on April 10th when the first fighting between protestors and security forces took place, resulting in 26 deaths. A week ago there was a glimmer of hope that there would be a peaceful end to the trouble, but that does not look likely now or any time soon, not after last night's terrible events.

See this news article from the Wall Street Journal from earlier today for a full report on what happened:

Protesters battle Thai security forces

(If you wish, you can read all my posts about the recent troubles in Thailand by clicking on the Thai Political Trouble 2010 label below this post - reading from my first post through to this one you will clearly see how things have changed from safe, peaceful protests at the start to the totally different and deadly situation now.)

Our Blogging 4th Anniversary

This coming Monday will mark the 4th anniversary of mine and my husband Peter's blogging, in this blog and Peter's England, Thailand and Other Things, MarioSonicGames.com and WordPress blogs.

Admittedly Peter has done most of the blogging (he started his first blog in 2006, and I only started last year), but I have contributed 10% of our current combined total of over 350 posts.

Here is a list of my personal favourite posts in Peter's blogs (newest ones first) - for my favourites from my own blog, see the "Recommended Posts" section in the sidebar on the right:

The England, Thailand and Other Things blog:

• Today is Dan Dare's 60th Anniversary!
• Pac-Man, plus Mario Pac-Man and Sonic Pac-Man
• Disney's The Princess and the Frog online games and wallpaper
• The Matrix online games and wallpaper
• South Park online games and wallpaper
• Avatar is now the number 1 movie of all time!
• Disney's A Christmas Carol movie is released today
• Astro Boy goes 3D after more than 50 years in 2D
• Updated list of wallpaper backgrounds in my websites
• Hanna-Barbera online fun and games
• Tom and Jerry online fun and games
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince online games
• Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs online games for you to play
• Play Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen games online
• Play Pixar's UP games online
• Play Power Rangers games online
• Star Trek 2009 movie - watch trailers, play games online and get wallpapers
• Play Pinball games online
• Play Monsters vs. Aliens online games
• Play Mario, Sonic, Nintendo and Sega games online
• Play SpongeBob SquarePants games online
• Play Pokemon games online
• Play 10-Pin Bowling games online
• Play Disney's Bolt online games
• Play Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa online games
• "Naruto" online games and "Ben 10" online games
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and the other Narnia stories
• WALL-E, and other Disney/Pixar movies
• So, GTA IV is released at long last!

The MarioSonicGames.com blog:

• Free Mario and Sonic games to download
• Mario and Sonic Scene Creator and Character Designer online art games
• Mario and Sonic game releases due in 2010
• Super Mario shooting games
• Flash online games that run directly within this blog
• Mario Pac-Man, Sonic Pac-Man, Pac-Man Pac-Man!
• New Super Mario Bros. and new Pokemon online games
• Megaman and Pokemon animated GIFs / sprites
• Mario and Sonic animated GIFs / sprites
• Play Nintendo and Sega Flash games online
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl - one year on
• Play new Super Mario Bros. Flash games online
• Play new Sonic the Hedgehog Flash games online
• Giant-size Mario and Sonic wallpaper pictures
• Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 8
• Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 7
• Crash Bandicoot, the 3rd platforming hero (after Mario and Sonic)
• Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 6
• Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 5 (With a Summary of Parts 1 to 4)

I hope there's something in there of interest to you!

(See also here, here and here)

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - a further update

Unfortunately the situation in Bangkok seems to be escalating towards further very serious violence after a number of shootings and clashes between protestors and security forces during the past 24 hours.

Foreigners have been warned to stay away from all the central areas of Bangkok for their own safety.

See this news article from the BBC earlier today for more information about what is happening:

Deadly clashes erupt in Bangkok

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - an update

Oh dear, yesterday I was saying that there looked to be a possible peaceful solution to the political troubles here in Thailand, and then last night there was serious violence in Bangkok once again, with 2 people killed and many more injured.

Sadly this brings the casualty totals to 29 dead and almost 1000 injured since the recent political protests started in Bangkok almost 2 months ago.

I hope things do end peacefully very soon, it is all having a terrible effect on the whole of Thailand.

See this news article from earlier today for more details on what happened last night:

New Thai violence kills 2, mars compromise moves (The Associated Press)

Thailand political unrest, May 2010

There has been a little bit of progress over the past few days towards reaching a peaceful solution to all the political troubles here in Thailand, but there still remains much to be done.

See these recent news articles for more details:

Peace plan stalls in Thailand (ITN)

Wrangling as Thai protesters refuse to quit (Reuters)