All posts filed under: Art, Music & FIlm

Beyond Black Ops: Laos in Video Games

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

November 15th marks the anniversary of Operation Commando Hunt. The goal of the operation was to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and coincidentally very close to the 73rd birthday of the AK-47, which was on November 13th. November 13th is also the anniversary of the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. This is a small point of trivia to note as we saw the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Cold War on November 13th, which has a mission in Laos set in 1968. This will be another entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops series, which began in 2010. Some of us will be watching with interest in the zombie option for many of the maps. One trailer seems to confirm that players will be able to fight zombies during the Vietnam War-era with weapons of varying realism levels. Players in the past have been able to modify many variables in these games, but not …

The Lao Wave: A New Music Scene in Laos

Published by Timothy Singratsomboune

The music scene of Laos is hot with a capital ຮ right now. Every week, a Lao artist is releasing a fresh music video.  Many of these music operations – such as Mao Mun and MMR – are noticeably small, and still rely on social media like TikTok and facebook, instead of company websites. However, what they lack in corporate size, they make up for in heart. Some social media stars like BigYai Seehalad and Sophana have used their vlogging careers on YouTube to drive their music success. The tone of much of their work is that of everyday friends who just like making fire songs together. These artists even attach the lyrics and music files to their YouTube videos, which allows fans to make their own versions and join in on the fun (and/or the free promotion). This social media marketing, mixed with Lao music’s very unique flavor, is working. The music videos popping out of Laos are hugely popular. This Summer, Gx2’s song “ໃສ່ໃຈໄດ້ແຕ່ມອງ” (sai jai dai tae mawng – using your heart, …