"Sing With Malith and Shihan" on Sirasa

As announced during Sirasa's 8th Anniversary bash, the first two programs of "Sing With Superstars" will be telecast during the weekend.

Saturday July 1st 11am - Shihan Mihiranga
Sunday July 2nd 11am - Malith Perera

Spider-Man 3 - Trailer

Check out the Spider-man 3 trailer at Apple - visually impressive and very dark. (Firefox users may have to download the required plugin Apple Quicktime)

For those of you who can't be bothered with all that, here's something from YouTube:

Sri Lanka President Laughs Away Proposal to Turn Off TV Transmissions by 10 PM

Sunday, 25 June 2006 - 11:04 PM SL Time

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked his Minister of Power and Energy to drop a proposal to turn off TV transmissions by 10 PM as a measure to save energy.

The President compared the move to the ban on eating rice on Tuesday and Friday by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party government allied with the traditional leftists during the 1970-77 period, when the current President was a junior MP.

The President requested the Ministry not to produce humorous proposals like this and to take steps to minimize the waste of electricity by the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power and Energy has appointed a task force and a committee to implement the national policy on power conservation and to take follow-up action. The task force and committee have been entrusted with the task of finding solutions to problems in the implementation of energy conservation programmes.

Link to LankaNewspapers.Com

How Doctors Got Into the Torture Business

Posted Friday, Jun. 23, 2006

Soldiers are trained to kill and doctors to heal. At least that's how we usually understand those two professions. But wars can often distort reality, and the war on terrorism has turned into a test case. An inspiring example is that of Colonel Kelly Faucette, M.D. He recently wrote about caring for a new patient at the intensive-care unit of the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq. The patient was a terrorist insurgent, a man who planted hidden roadside bombs to murder civilians and Faucette's fellow soldiers. Faucette wrote in his local paper: "Something inside me wants to walk up to this guy ... and just clobber him." But Faucette didn't. Instead he healed him before sending him to a jail, and by that act of healing he helped heal Iraq.

That's the America I know and love. But it is not, alas, the only face of America in this war. One of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's first instructions for military interrogations outside the Geneva Conventions was that military doctors should be involved in monitoring torture. It was a fateful decision — and we learn much more about its consequences in a new book based on 35,000 pages of government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The book is called Oath Betrayed (to be published June 27) by medical ethicist Dr. Stephen Miles, and it is a harrowing documentation of how the military medical profession has been corrupted by the Bush-Rumsfeld interrogation rules.

One of those rules was that a prisoner's medical information could be provided to interrogators to help guide them to the prisoner's "emotional and physical strengths and weaknesses" (in Rumsfeld's own words) in the torture process. At an interrogation center called Camp Na'ma, where the unofficial motto was "No blood, no foul," one intelligence officer testified that "every harsh interrogation was approved by the [commander] and the Medical prior to its execution." Doctors, in other words, essentially signed off on torture in advance. And they often didn't inspect the victims afterward. At Abu Ghraib, according to the Army's surgeon general, only 15% of inmates were examined for injuries after interrogation.

Link

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... Krrish?

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) -- Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound -- look, up there in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... Krrish?

Thanks to a fusillade of television promos, huge billboards and countless merchandising spinoffs, India is set to get its first homegrown superhero when "Krrish" opens at cinemas across the country on Friday.

Movie insiders say the film is set for huge success because not only can the eponymous hero tackle villains and save the world, but he can also do so while singing and dancing -- a talent Hollywood superheroes such as Batman and Superman have kept hidden under their supercloaks to date.

The $10 million film, a costly production by Bollywood standards, is a sequel to the 2003 blockbuster "Koi...Mil Gaya" (I Found Someone), considered Hindi cinema's first major science fiction film.

In it, an E.T.-like alien comes to earth and is saved by Rohit, a kind but dim-witted youth. Before returning home, the alien transforms the nervous, cocooned Rohit into a powerful hero who avenges his tormentors and wins, of course, wins the girl.

"Krrish" tells the story of Rohit's son, Krishna, who is born with all his father's superpowers and more, but is unaware of them until he follows his lady love, a television reporter, to Singapore from his pastoral idyll in India.

There he meets with Siddhant Arya, a megalomaniac scientist on the verge of changing the future forever.

Between Arya and his destructive dreams stands Krishna who must transform into Krrish -- the suave superhero in a black leather ensemble and a half mask -- to save the world.

But "Krrish," played by Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan, is no Superman. He is more.

Well-built with a heart of gold, blessed with special powers that make him fly and a superhuman intellect, he also breaks into song and dance to woo his beau.

"I have made Krrish from my heart because I know he is one superhero who is going to find a permanent place in your hearts," said Rakesh Roshan, the film's director and Hrithik's father.

The father-son team has been an Indian success story -- both with the critics and at the box office.

Hrithik, whose Rambo-like physique and dancing skills make him a hit with young women, attained superstar status with the phenomenal success of his debut film, "Kaho Na...Pyar Hai (Say You Love Me), in 2000.

A string of flops followed, but his father resurrected his career with the blockbuster "Koi...Mil Gaya."

Krrish promises to be even bigger if the slick Web site, http://www.krrishthemovie.com, is anything to go by.

The movie boasts spectacular special effects and -- in true Bollywood fashion -- also some song and dance.

"The response has been mind-blowing," said Tushar Dhingra, chief operating officer of Adlabs Cinemas, a leading chain of multiplexes.

"It's the first time I have seen this kind of advance booking for any film," he said.

The movie premiers on Thursday in Singapore, where much of it was shot.

Link to CNN

Trailer from YouTube

TV & Radio Sri Lanka (Blog)

TV and Radio Sri Lanka blogs on CBNSat, LBN and Comet Cable include updates on the recent license dispute which lead to the temporary closure of CBN and LBN.

Seed Magazine - The Gay Animal Kingdom

From the JUN/JUL 2006 issue of Seed:

Joan Roughgarden thinks Charles Darwin made a terrible mistake. Not about natural selection - she's no bible-toting creationist - but about his other great theory of evolution: sexual selection. According to Roughgarden, sexual selection can't explain the homosexuality that's been documented in over 450 different vertebrate species. This means that same-sex sexuality - long disparaged as a quirk of human culture - is a normal, and probably necessary, fact of life. By neglecting all those gay animals, she says, Darwin misunderstood the basic nature of heterosexuality.

Read the complete article.

Nike attacked over Rooney 'warrior' picture

Drenched in blood-red paint and screaming a war-cry, this chilling image of Wayne Rooney was last night condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and church groups.

He may yet turn out to be the saviour of England's World Cup campaign, but the Christ-like pose of the striker in a new Nike campaign yesterday provoked fierce condemnation.

Complete article at Daily Mail

LankaNewsPapers.com - Annual suicide toll over 5,000

As disturbing as it is to read the article on the annual suicide toll in Sri Lanka, the replies left by readers include a strange mix of statements on politics, terrorism and suicide bombers.

Lewis the Cat

From CNN - Lewis the Cat Gets Home Detention

Lewis appears to be a very interesting and rather psychotic feline - he even has his own page at MySpace and entry at Wiki. As an animal lover, I am glad the cat's life was spared after his owner was arrested and charged following a series of attacks on neighbors.

My own cats are a bunch of lazy but cunning couch potatoes who mercilessly bully my other pets (dogs included) during meal times and sleep for at least 18 hours of any given day. But at least they never had me arrested......

(Images from Wiki)

List of Fictional Expletives - Wikipedia

Fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Battlestar Gallactica, The Simpsons and Buffyverse will find some very familiar words in Wikipedia's list of fictional expletives :

- ass-tard From Andy Weir's webcomic Casey and Andy, a portmanteau of "bastard," "ass" and "retard," and used in the same way as its source words.

- bleep - from Larry Niven's Known Space stories; the bleep used to censor profanity eventually turned into a swearword itself.

- d'oh - famous phrase coined by Homer Simpson from the popular series The Simpsons

- frack - from Battlestar Galactica. Similar meaning to "fuck", but the usage by children in a 1978 TV show might suggest that it doesn't carry more social weight than "rats" or "darn" in the universe of Battlestar Galactica.

- fucktard - from B3ta; contraction of "fucking" and "retard"; meaning a fucking retard.

- Holy flerking shnit - Phrase used by Kang of The Simpsons in one of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. Derived from "Holy fucking shit."

- joojooflop - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "One whole joojooflop situation"

- zark - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; seems to be a substitute for "fuck"; almost certainley a blasphemy on the Great Prophet Zarquon. The full Zarquon is also commonly used.

The CAP Movie Ministry

According to its website, The CAP Ministry is "The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet! We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family!"

CAP reviews and classifies movies based on a scorecard format (aka the CAP Analysis Model) - WISDOM
Wanton Violence/Crime (W)
Impudence/Hate (I)
Sexual Immorality (S)
Drugs/Alcohol (D):
Offense to God (O)
Murder/Suicide (M)

Here are a few links and extracts of recent movie reviews:

X-Men 3 - The Last Stand
Offense to God (O)

unnatural/unholy powers to control others and things, including weather, frequent and of varying intensities

unholy transformation/shape shifting, repeatedly

unholy resurrection

pro-evolution

demonic appearance, repeatedly

unholy healing, many

calling righteousness evil [Isa. 5:20]

The Da Vinci Code

Sexual Immorality (S)

statue nudity, repeatedly

full rear and side male nudity with full frontal nudity, genitals masked by lighting, repeatedly

woman in men's room

picture nudity

prostitutes

talk of anatomy

below navel skin threatening exposure of that which follows

intercourse - covered except for back of female

man in towel only

When I see statements like "woman in men's room" and "man in towel only" classified under Sexual Immorality.....well.....I really have no words.

Bill Gates' E-mail to Employees

Links: Bink and Neowin


From: MSBILLG
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 1:41 PM
To: Microsoft and Subsidiaries: All FTE
Subject: My Transition Plans

I wanted to take a moment to share some of my thoughts, as well.

As Steve's mail indicates, I've decided that two years from now, in July 2008, I want to devote more time to the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Right now and for the next two years, my full-time job is here at Microsoft, and my part-time job remains the Foundation. Beginning in July 2008, I will switch that, to be full-time at the Foundation, while remaining involved with Microsoft as Chairman and an advisor on key development projects on a part-time basis.

To prepare for this change, we have a well-thought-out transition process. Again, I will continue at Microsoft full-time for the next two years, but over the course of those two years, my day-to-day responsibilities will shift to a team of incredible technical leaders who are already doing amazing things at the company.

I feel very lucky that we've got extraordinary technical leaders at the company, like Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie, who can step up to assume the roles that I've played. I've known Ray for the last 20 years, and he has created some of the most important developments in the industry. Craig and I have worked together for nearly 14 years, and he's been a technical visionary and a leader on policy throughout his career. With Ray and Craig stepping up, I feel very confident that the technical stewardship of Microsoft is in very capable hands.

And I feel the same way about our business leadership. Our core businesses are strong and we have a clear vision for how we will meet new challenges and opportunities. We just had our first $12 billion quarter, and we continue to generate almost a billion dollars in profit every month. We are about to launch breakthrough versions of Windows, Office and Exchange, which are already generating a lot of excitement.

Six years ago, Steve and I made a major transition when he stepped up to be CEO. He's done a fantastic job by every measure, whether it's the people he's brought in, the new ways he's running the company, or just the objective results - like doubling our revenue in six years. Steve has driven us to make bold bets on things like Xbox, Real Time Communications, business applications, IPTV, and many others including the Live platform. Steve is the best CEO I could imagine for Microsoft - he is changing the company in ways it needs to be changed. He is bringing in new leadership at all levels. And, he is focused on the long-term - making Microsoft a great company not just today but for decades to come.

With Steve's organization of the company into three divisions led by our incredible presidents - Jeff Raikes, Robbie Bach, and Kevin Johnson - we've laid a solid foundation for greater autonomy, agility and entrepreneurial spirit in our product groups. And with the great addition of Kevin Turner as our COO, our leadership team has never been stronger.

Our deep technical strength is one of the key reasons I believe Microsoft is well-positioned for great success in the years ahead. I'm very pleased that in addition to Ray, Craig, David and Rick, Steve has asked J Allard, Bob Muglia, and Steven Sinofsky to play an expanded role in shaping the company's business and technology strategy. And when you consider all of our remarkable Technical Fellows, Distinguished Engineers, all of the brilliant researchers working at our MSR labs around the world, and all the technical people in the business groups, I can safely say that our technical talent has never been stronger or deeper.

Obviously, this has been a very hard decision for me. Microsoft will always be a huge part of my life, and I'm lucky to have two callings that are so important and so challenging.

On a personal note, I know that my work on global health and education issues at the Foundation would never have been possible without the enormous success of Microsoft, so I want to thank you and all of the employees past and present who have contributed so much to this company.

For these last 31 years, I've had the best job in the world. I've worked with some of the brightest and most passionate people in the world. Together, we've built a great company whose products have empowered people around the world.

We're only at the beginning of what software can do, and I'm excited about the impact that Microsoft can have. I'm going to take an extended vacation this summer with my family, but I'll be back in late August and I look forward to working with all of you for the next two years and beyond, to make those dreams a reality.

Thanks.

Bill

News Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com

Billboard: Saying "like" makes you sound dumb

BoingBoing

I now expect similar billboards to pop up in the future, advising against the use of words such as "So", "Anywayz" and "Totally".

List of problems solved by MacGyver (Wikipedia)

I used to be a big fan of MacGyver and was fascinated by a list of problems solved by MacGyver at Wikipedia. The list is incomplete but reading it makes me want to watch those episodes all over again.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself

YouTube provides unlimited hours of entertainment. I recommend accessing the site via a high-speed internet connection.

Here are some of my favorite clips:

Frank Caliendo Impressions
Stand up comic - very good at impressions.

Comic Soccer
Features a montage of clips, with background music to boot.

Indian Beatles
Shammi Kapoor prances around to Bollywood's version of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". No words to describe it, seriously.

Scene from Aladdin (dubbed)
A brief conversation between Aladdin and Princess Jasmine.

Sirasa 8th Anniversary - Performances by SSS Contestants

Brief and rather superficial review of performances of the singers I like: (in the order of their appearance on the programme)

Darshana Pramod - "Rudhuru Thuru Wadulea"
B-o-r-i-n-g - the boy needs to select more upbeat songs. This is not a song one would listen to intently at 9am - that said, I am definitely not a morning person!

Malith Perera - "Ananthayata Yana Para Dige "
Sang the song very well. Malith now looks like a sumo wrestler in comparison to what he used to be. During the interview Malith mentioned his ever-present black cap would be taken off in a few months. A phone-in caller also commented on his weight (he looked a tad embarassed - I don't blame him) and said "than Malith lassanai". I keep forgetting that "chubby" = "cute" here in SL.....



Amila Perera - "Sithin Ma Nosalee"
Excellent song. Amila was verbally challenged during the interview as usual but pulled off a good vocal performance. His phone-in caller showered him with compliments and received a few blank stares and half a smile as a "thank you". But I stick to my previous statements regarding Amila - he has the most outstanding voice of all the contestants and he selected a song that showed it off. He also decided to highlight his eyes with light brown contact lenses - thanks to my sister for pointing this out....I would have missed that one for sure...



Shihan Mihiranga - "Mama Ahawwa Horen" and "Ada Thaniyen Ma"
Of all the songs Shihan sang on SSS, As Deka Piyana and Mama Ahawwa Horen were IMO (in my opinion) quite awful and he had to choose one of them, didn't he? I didn't like his original song either - the lyrics are immature. But on a more positive note, all those nasty buggers who called Shihan a "ponce" or "girly" should either retract their statements or hit themselves on the head with a hammer. Think about it - anyone who turns up for a live performance at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning wearing white silk pyjama pants and a long sleeved cream/yellow batik shirt, thick iron necklace, and two chunky wooden bangles surely must have balls of steel ;-)



Videos of all performances (including Ajith Bandara, Madhawa and Theekshana) on Saturday 10th of June, can be downloaded from Lankan Music - thanks to Sandun.

Color illusion - Spanish Castle by John Sadowski

Check out this color illusion by John Sadowski - very cool stuff!!

The Naked and the Dead........

From Yahoo News

Tue Jun 6, 8:25 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - There's a time and place for everything, local Australian governments have ruled as they move to stop brothels opening near cemeteries.

Local governments in the northern state of Queensland have called on state authorities to establish an exclusion zone banning brothels opening within 200 metres (220 yards) of cemeteries.

It follows a decision by a council in Ipswich, just outside the Queensland capital Brisbane, to reject a proposal for a brothel to be built across the road from the local cemetery.

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Tuesday that cemeteries were places for quiet reflection by families who should not have to put up with "a brothel going on next door."

"It's totally inappropriate. There's a place for brothels and a place for cemeteries and we don't believe the two mix," he said.

Right - neither do I!

Sirasa Super Star - Winner's Album Release

Sirasa aired a few trailers about the SSS Winner's album release and a "Sing Live" (whatever that means) program with six of the SSS contestants (Ajith Bandara, Malith Perera, Shihan Mihiranga, Theekshana Anuradha, Asela Eranda and Nishantha Nanayakkara).

The program will be on Saturday June 10th 2006 at 8am.

UPDATE 2 July 2006 - the album release (originally on June 24th) was postponed and the new release date is July 21, 2006.

X-Men 3: The Last Stand - Movie Review

The Big Question about X-men 3 prior to its release was: Can Brett Ratner Pull It Off? After two extremely successful prequels, was The Last Stand going to be a stunning closing chapter for the X-men trilogy?

Replacing Bryan Singer was a tough act - but Ratner does what he does best - packing an unimaginable amount of action into a 100 minute movie. It was entertaining and fast moving - though a tad disappointing for die-hard comic book fans of the X-Men. Elaborating on this would mean revealing a few spoilers, so I won't ;-)

The Good:
* Wolverine is back - 'nuff said.
* Kelsey Grammer does a surprisingly good job as Beast.
* Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut - "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!".
* The unexpected death (sort of unexpected - the spoiler was leaked on the internet two weeks before the movie was released) of a central character


The Bad
* Angel has about two and a half minutes of screen time.
* Due to all the action sequences, there are hardly any time to focus on complicated relationships that were a core feature in X-Men United (I missed the Dark Phoenix-Scott-Wolverine arc).
* Wolverine has a grand total of about three excellent one liners in The Last Stand.
1) "Who's the furball?" (regarding Beast)
2) "Let's see you grow those back." (after kicking a mutant in the nuts)
3) "Don't get your panties in a bunch".
He should have been given a lot more than that!
* Unsatisfactory closure/departure for at least three characters (Rogue, Cyclops and Mystique).

For those who have not yet watched the movie - hang around until the final credits stop rolling - there is an extra scene at the end!

Out of the three movies, my favorite will always be X-Men United. Awesome, awesome flick!!

Mathaka Mandira Thana - by Iraj Featuring Malith Perera and Samitha Mudunkotuwa

Malith Perera has teamed up with Iraj and Samitha for Mathaka Mandira Thana (made available by Nalaka526 at ClubLK). I'm not a fan of the song - I expected Malith's debut to be outstanding and this song doesn't highlight his voice. And Samitha and Iraj? I'm not even going there......

UPDATE 7/10 - Malith sang this song on Sing With SSS this weekend as a solo and it was quite good.

UPDATE 9/17 - Watch the Video of Mathaka Mandira

Fifteen Things You Didn't Know About The Da Vinci Code

There was some noise about the Sri Lankan president banning The Da Vinci Code movie (rather weird, considering the book has been available in the country soon after it was released in 2003/04) without the Censor Board's knowledge . Now it seems like none of the distributors in SL were planning on screening the movie in the first place, due to it's high cost. So what's all the fuss about? There are so many pirate copies of the movie circulating in the city today - those who want to watch it will watch it anyway. Apart from appeasing a particular religious sect, what exactly does the ban accomplish?

The following article on the Telegraph site makes more sense!

Way of the world
By Craig Brown

Fifteen Things You Didn't Know About The Da Vinci Code

1) The book was originally entitled The Da Vinci Cod. It revolved around a cod with an enigmatic smile that was depicted sitting on the table at the Second Last Supper, an event ruthlessly suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church for 2,000 years.

2) The film of The Da Vinci Code has been roundly condemned by many Christian organisations. This puts it in a long line of films condemned by various pressure groups. They include Chariots of Fire (1981) condemned by the Central Office of Fire Prevention, The Sound of Music (1965), condemned by the Royal Society for the Tone-Deaf, Titanic (1997) condemned by the Iceberg Defence Committee, and Gone with the Wind (1939), condemned by the WSGBSL (Wind and Strong Gusty Breeze Supporters League). This survey strongly suggests that condemnation serves only to increase popularity.

3) Halfway through his research, author Dan Brown changed the book's title to The Da Vinci Cold. Apparently, he had unearthed ancient documents in a secret vault that proved beyond doubt that Mary Magdalene had a bad cold when she introduced herself to the Gospel writers: her real name, it transpires, was not Mary Magdalene but Mary Madeleine. Eminent cryptoloists have since discovered that the name "Dan Brown" is an anagram of "And now br…" - which strongly suggests that he, too, was experiencing a cold while typing his manuscript.

4) It is conservatively estimated that The Da Vinci Code novel has already been read by well over 10 million Britons. This amounts to more than six billion pages of The Da Vinci Code. Smear tests taken from these pages further suggests that they have absorbed more than 3,000 tons of sunblock, 2,760 tons of pure chlorine, and more than 800 million gallons of pina colada.

5) In his 10th draft, the author changed the book's name yet again, this time to The Da Vina Code. The plot now revolved around a female television presenter - Da Vina - who, back in the mists of time, was given her own chat-show by the ruthless secret society, code-named "The BBC", founded hundreds of years ago by the sinister control-freak Lord Wreath. No one ever set eyes on Da Vina's chat-show - or, if they did, they never lived to tell the tale.

6) Forty-three per cent of readers of The Da Vinci Code now sincerely believe that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were secretly married, and subsequently gave birth to a very long and very, very secret line of descendants. This compares well with the 29 per cent of James Bond readers who are convinced that a secret Caribbean island fortress is home to the ruthless, power-crazed Dr No, who employs a series of fiendish tortures in order to safeguard his privacy.

However, this proportion remains marginally lower than the 46 per cent of Batman viewers who believe that multi-millionaire Bruce Wayne rids Gotham City of master-criminals by donning a top-secret bat costume and switching to his alter ego, aided by his excitable young companion, Robin, the Boy Wonder.

7) Watch and listen attentively, and you will be able to spot a number of small but key errors in The Da Vinci Code.

8) For instance, the secret underground passage linking Simpson's-in-the-Strand to Madame Tussaud's and guarded by bull mastiffs is lined with red, not green, velvet.

9) And if you press the third bedknob on the left in the master bedroom of Queen Mary's Dolls House in Windsor Castle, the floor of the room in which it is housed will slide open to reveal a spiral staircase down to a nuclear bunker populated entirely by murderous albino monks, BUT the chief monk is called Simon, not Silas.

10) And some experts also argue that the Taj Mahal is in fact not situated at the far end of the Mall, the Mall is not in Paris, and Paris is not the capital of Italy. But Da Vinci Code aficionados remain convinced that this is all part of a much larger cover-up spanning the entire world, civilised and uncivilised, masterminded by the Duke of Edinburgh, in league with the Vatican and Derry and Toms.

11) In the film, French actress Audrey Tautou plays an investigator called Sophie Neveu, who turns out to be the last living descendant of Jesus Christ. Her character is in fact modelled on our own Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair, who is himself, some argue, a direct descendant of Sgt George Dixon. Dixon presided over Dock Green for many years; though he made numerous arrests, he failed to uncover the subterranean hideout of 2,000 Meringovian hit-men, situated immediately beneath the serving hatch of the village pub.

12) The Mona Lisa plays an important part in The Da Vinci Code. It turns out that if you look really hard at her left hand, you can see that she is secretly holding a Colt 45 semi-automatic shotgun, hidden beneath the folds of her cloak.

13) Next month, a major court case against author Dan Brown opens in London. He is accused of plagiarising original conspiracy stories. The joint prosecution has been brought by Mr Lee Harvey Oswald and Nessie.

14) The mystic, sage and prophet Nostradamus - himself a direct descendant of Conan the Barbarian - predicted the phenomenon of The Da Vinci Code more than 500 years ago, in this spookily prescient quatrain: Millions hungry for nonsense will swim across rivers/ And venture through fire to read the code of Davi Nci/ But later, in those days that see the release of the movie/ The same millions will find cause to sense/ A turkey.

15) The content of Dan Brown's next book is not known, but strong rumours abound that it will be an exposé of popular heroine Snow White, best known for her charitable work among dwarfs. Explosive new evidence unearthed by the author suggests that Snow White had a long-standing affair with leading dwarf Grumpy, that the affair culminated in the birth of a secret love-child, and that the love-child grew up to become the Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain.

If Only I Could Speak Czech....

A meeting of dentists (of all people) turned into a fist fight between two Czech politicians during the weekend. A video of the incident is available at the BBC web page - it's a must-see!


After years of watching our ministers' antics, this one does appear to be pretty tame.

The Eagle Cam - Wildlife via Web Cam

The much viewed Eagle Eye Cam is now up and running again. It takes awhile to load but is absolutely worth the wait! Do note the time difference - the web cam is set up in British Columbia, Canada - if you see a black screen and just hear the noises of the birds, it's because it's past midnight in BC!!

Other web cams of eagle nests can be found at WDFW and NFW web sites.

Songs by Amila Perera (SSS)

Two songs performed by Amila Perera (Sirasa Super Star) - Hiruge Lowedee and Dineka Ransalu Paladaa - are available at Lanka1st.

Please note Rapidshare (where the files are stored) does not allow both songs to be downloaded simultaneously - there's a time limit of one hour between downloading the two songs.

X-Men: The Last Stand - Win Tickets to the Premiere in Singapore

The program Office Blocks on Sun FM is offering tickets to the premiere of X-Men: The Last Stand, in Singapore. Good luck for those who try their luck!

Trailers for X-Men 3 can be viewed at Yahoo! Movies.

Yahoo! Mail Beta

Finally received the option to use Yahoo! Mail Beta - and let me say, it rocks!! Since YMB was previously offered to only US mail account users, I had to wait nearly six months after signing up for the service.

If you like using MS Outlook, you will like Yahoo! Mail Beta - it may take awhile to load on a dial up connection but if you use ADSL you should not have a problem.

Here are some sites that reviewed YMB quite comprehensively:

The Unofficial Yahoo Web Log

PC Magazine

CNet News.com

Nil Mal Wilen performed by Ajith Bandara, Amila Perera, Dharshana Pramod, Malith Perera and Shihan Mihiranga

The complete version of Nil Mal Wilen (as seen in the Cream Soda Ad above) can be downloaded from Mediafire.

Many thanks to Nishshanka for sending me the song!

Tribute to Sanath Jayasuriya - Daily Mirror's Sports Weekly April 7, 2006

Sanath Jayasuriya was featured on the front cover of the Daily Mirror's Sports Weekly and instead of a lengthy article, the following poem appeared:

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,    
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance    
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:    
I am the captain of my soul.