Hopeless romantic or macabre publicity hound?

A Thai television director’s decision to marry his dead girlfriend and post photos and video of the event to Facebook and YouTube is drawing mixed reaction from the public.

Chadil Deffy, also known as Deff Yingyuen, married his girlfriend of 10 years, Sarinya “Anne” Kamsook, early this month as she lay in a coffin in a wedding-cum-funeral at a temple in Surin Province, the Pattaya Daily News reported.

During the ceremony, the 28-year-old groom, wearing a black tuxedo, placed a ring on the finger of his late girlfriend, whose body was lying on a raised platform, dressed in a white bridal dress.

He put photos of himself and his dead bride on his personalFacebook page under an album titled “Corpse Bride.” He also uploaded a video to YouTube.

The couple met while studying at Eastern Asia University 10 years ago and had planned to get married for a while but Kamsook died in a car accident on Jan. 3, according to media reports. She was 29.

A friend of Deffy, Onsiri Pravattiyagul, wrote in anopinion column this week in The Bangkok Post:

The “wedding” was his attempt to right a wrong, however belated the gesture might have been.

As expected, the initial public reaction was an outpouring of sympathy for the “groom” and a wave of sentimental remarks. The romantically inclined were moved by this expression of “true love,” however unconventional. It seemed to hit a nerve with many people. The offline media picked up on the buzz, too, and went to town with the story. Chadil found himself under a spotlight, experiencing an unexpected 15 minutes of fame.

Also as expected, within days, the backlash began — and it wasn’t at all kind. In a heartbeat, Chadil went from being viewed as a hopeless romantic to being vilified as a publicity-hungry opportunist.

Pravattiyagul said Deffy was heartbroken and “wasn’t thinking about the possibility of fame when he decided to put a ring on her cold finger. He merely wanted to make things right, however small or inadequate the gesture might seem.”

Source: MSNBC.

*Taken from Yahoo News.

Two strong earthquakes struck northeastern Myanmar less than a minute apart Thursday night. They could be felt as far away as Bangkok, but a tsunami was not generated.

The first 7.0-magnitude quake was just six miles (10 kilometers) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by another of the same strength but far deeper: 140 miles (230 kilometers).

The quakes struck along Myanmar’s borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of the epicenter.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it was located too far inland to create a destructive wave.