Some people just never learn

Aon

Channel 3 actor ''Aon'' Sarawut Martthong is the latest Thai star to turn up in an explicit videoclip that he would rather no one else had seen.

Unlike the videoclip of female singing duo Four Mod which surfaced several weeks ago, this one Aon took himself - so has no one else to blame if his keepsake should have slipped into the public domain. Using his cellphone camera, Aon filmed himself in the company of a woman friend. He lost his cellphone, and the clip came back to haunt him when someone copied it onto video disc.

Street vendors nationwide ended up with copies of the clip. The five-minute video has also turned up on the internet. Police are now cracking down on the trade, after Aon laid a complaint saying his privacy was invaded.

Media outlets published still images from the clip, of a man they say looked like Aon. They remarked that he was not wearing protection. Just don't ask Aon to join campaigns for safer sex.

The same day, Aon, who made his name in a sitcom called Taewada Satu, called the media to admit it was him.

Aon said he wished to take sole responsibility for the affair, admitted the leak had hurt relations with his girlfriend, and pleaded with the media not to ask him about it again. He met the girl in the clip while overseas.

''It was just a wild moment in the past. We were just having fun, and I did not think too much about it. But now it is having an impact on me in the present.

''I come here not as an actor but as someone with younger and older people in my life who probably wonder what is going on. I feel very sorry to have disappointed you.''

In tears, he prostrated himself, to ask for society's forgiveness. Aon, who filed a complaint with police, said he had not shown much interest when illegal clips surfaced of other stars. RS Promotions singing duo Four Mod were filmed secretly while taking a shower at a hotel in Khon Kaen last year.

That clip was also copied to disc, and did brisk trade in illegal-CD markets. Aon said that when his own affairs were exposed he felt differently.

He felt too shy to go out in public, but wanted his complaint to help other entertainers who had their private affairs made public on illegal CDs. His bosses at Channel 3 had been supportive, so he didn't think his work would suffer - just his pride.

 Female fans say the news is not all bad. They say the videoclip has scotched rumours that Aon is gay. ''We are pleased to have him back,'' they say. -

2.

Tata, Prem

Superstar Tata Young could be ruthless and immature in love, says the father of socialite ''Prem'' Busarakamwong, the man she was once engaged to marry.

 Banjong Busarakamwong says, however, that Tata also had her charming side and at the time he would do anything for her. Prem and Tata, engaged in a lavish ceremony last November, saw each other for four years.

Tata called off the engagement in August, and at the request of Prem's family has since returned the 100 million baht engagement dowry.

Banjong says the couple's biggest argument occurred when Tata found another woman's phone number in Prem's wallet. He can't understand the fuss, as Prem may have accepted the number out of courtesy.

Banjong, a wealthy kick-boxing promoter, says he had warned his son that entertainers could be fickle. Tata could go all out in pursuit of love while she was interested - but then drop it just as quickly when the love grew old.

Tata, he says, also liked to dominate a room - until he told her that such self-indulgent behaviour had to stop.

''I told her, Ta, when you talk to people, let other people talk too. You can't just be the only nang aek [actress] in a conversation and treat other people like they don't matter. But she's a sweet person. She called all her friends and apologised.''

Banjong, whom Tata called 'Dad', sounds taken by the superstar's charm himself. Once, they visited a piece of farmland he owns. Tata suggested they go camping there at New Year. Banjong - who says he planned to build there anyway - put up a house, camping area and pool just so they could stay there one day. -

3.

Is fortune teller Mor Krit Confirm blessed with special powers, or can anyone recognise a kathoey's voice - especially one as famous as Nong Poy Treechada, winner of the 2004 Miss Tiffany's kathoey beauty pageant?

Mor Krit, 22, famous for calling the fortunes of Thai celebrity couples, put his powers to the test when he was asked to describe a person whom he could not see and whose identity he was not told.

Television host ''Woody'' Wootithorn Milintajinda called Nong Poy, who spoke to Mor Krit, real name Sukrit Patumsriwiroj.

He picked correctly that she was a kathoey - but many Thais are unconvinced. ''I recognised her voice as soon as I heard it,'' viewers said on webboards. ''That challenge was too easy.'' Will Mor Krit be invited to take a new test? Watch this space. -

4.

Four, Mod

''Come take a look...come, come, come...look, look, look!''

That's the hook from a tune by RS Promotions duo Four-Mod, chosen to promote their new album Go Go Go. Hundreds of people have ''taken a look'' at Four and Mod after a video clip of them having a shower was published on the internet and sold as an illegal CD.

The furore over that videoclip has not yet passed, but their promotions company has released an MV of ''Like a Look?'', the girls' new take on a tune by rock duo Lift-Oil. In the song, a girl asks a man to look into her heart.

A cynical attempt to exploit publicity over the clip, or a mere coincidence? The pair cried before the media, and laid a complaint with police to stop sales of the clip, taken when they stayed at a Khon Kaen hotel.

The hotel's owner says he is now looking for a new buyer, as customers are shunning Khon Kaen's equivalent of the Bates Motel.

Mod's Mum admits that given all the fuss, the choice of song looks odd, but the singing duo deny they are trying to cash in on the publicity. The song was chosen to promote Go Go Go before the clip surfaced, they say.