AFTER 21 YEARS as an actor, Thanakorn “Au” Poshyananda has found the pinnacle of his career – not in a leading role but as the father of the hero – in a remake of “Tam Rak Khuen Jai”. Interestingly enough, Au played the lead in the original series 18 years ago.

Now in his 40s, Au brings a great deal of charm to the character, sparking renewed interest in his personal like. So okay – he runs a Japanese-food restaurant with a pal, he doubles as staff photographer on the TV show, and he even creates the title credits.

Au tells Dichan magazine that he long wanted to work behind the camera and, after appearing in a few series, he took a film production course overseas. Producer Yuwadee Thaihirun kidded him about spending a fortune doing that when he could have learned everything he needed to know right on the set here at home.

Au still hasn’t decided which role on the crew he prefers, but he enjoys editing and photography. In fact he’s good enough with a still camera that he’s planning a solo exhibition in Ratchaburi, his home province. Some of the shots will be from the set of “Tam Rak Khuen Jai” and others from his travels.

Not by Baitoey

It’s not that sexy luk thung singer Baitoey R Siam has delusions of grandeur. She just likes to pretend she’s living “la vida expensiva”. Pardon our Spanish, but she of the extremely short shorts has been making stuff up again online.

Instagram is Baitoey’s sharing platform of choice and, after a trip to Hokkaido, Japan, that’s where she posted a photo of what she called the Otaru Music Box Museum. All well and good until a fellow Instagrammer named “travelinglens” left this comment: “Hi. This is my photo and telling @Baitoeyrsiam to give credit.” Mr travelinglens had taken the picture. Baitoey just “borrowed” it.

One other thing: It wasn’t a picture of the music-box museum in Japan. It was the famous Bow Bridge in New York’s Central Park – covered in snow, so at least the season was right.

Ignoring the misidentification for the moment, Baitoey “explained” that everybody does this on Instagram – posting other people’s images they like. She does it to beautify her stream and “inspire” her followers and she lacks the skills to produce her own photos. From now on, though, she promises, she’ll be more careful about crediting sources.

This episode recalls another one a couple of years ago when Baitoey was posting pictures of luxurious hotel suites where she’d ostensibly stayed. They were just scalped from the Net too. And there were shots of her holding expensive handbags. One was a posh Yves St-Laurent job she appeared to have just bought at a mall. But according to an eyewitness to the moment of “purchase”, Baitoey had merely asked permission to pose for a picture with the bag – and never did but it.

It’s all rather amusing, but also confounding. Baitoey can afford this stuff – and photography lessons too – so why is she always pretending?