|
|
Ranaweera bags art
award for ‘Pahan Puja’
Artiste and Kandegedara Maharachchimulla
Senior School Instructor in Art Chandana
Ranaweera was awarded the highest prize at
the 120th Exhibition of the Ceylon Society
of Arts for his collage creative painting "Pahan
Puja" (offering oil lamps). This painting
was also selected for the cover of the
special number of the magazine published by
the Cultural Department in 1999.
Ranaweera has also won many awards at art
competitions and has held nine one man
exhibitions to date.
A night of entertainment for the whole
family
For the music enthusiasts of the 60s and
70s era, yet another chance to swing to the
melodious voices of veteran Sunil Perera of
the Gypsies together with Mariazelle, Ronnie
(Thattaya) and Damayantha will come alive on
November 11 (pre poya) at the BMICH Banquet
Hall starting at 7.30pm.
A presentation by the retired Senior
Police Officers Association together with
the DK Promotions in aid of the Police
Hospital ‘An evening with Mariazelle, Ronnie
and Damayantha with guest performance by
Sunil Perera of Gypsies’ would no doubt be
an eye catching event for the year, not to
be missed by the entire family.
"This would be the last sing a long
concert for the year and plans are afoot to
give the best of entertainment for the
audience and those who wish to show their
singing talents would get the opportunity to
sing for the backup music," Damayantha
Kuruppu of DK Promotions told The Sunday
Leader.
Backup music will be by the ‘Vision’ and
each table will be given a songbook from
which the audience could select and sing to
the rhythm of the band. The concert would
have three segments where the popular
Sinhala and English pop songs would be sung
by the artists followed by the sing a long
performance and the third and the final
segment would be the ‘biala’ fiesta by the
one and only Sunil Perera with Mariazelle,
Ronnie and Damayantha where the audience
will have the opportunity show their dancing
talent till mid night according to the
Organizing Committee.
Tickets are priced at Rs.700 and are
available at Torana Liberty Plaza.
So do not miss the great opportunity you
get once in a while where you get the chance
not only to show their vocal skill but also
your hidden dancing talent.
Express Musical Night
E.L.W. Recreation Club of Express
Logistics Worldwide (Pvt)
Ltd; will present ‘ Express Musical Night’ a
grand musical show on November 8 at Bishops
College Auditorium stating at 7pm.
The star-studded lineup includes Annesley
Malawana, Mariazelle Gunethileke,
Dharmaratne Brothers, Ivor Dennis, Keerthie
Pasqual, Christopher Paul, Shanika
Wanigasekera and Ronnie Lietch.
Musical backings would be by Annesley
Malawana and Super Chimes while dancing
sequences will be by Pradeepa Ariyawansa’s
dancing troop and Bevil Palihawadana will be
the compeer.
So do not miss this great opportunity,
which would no doubt be thrilling event for
the young and young at heart alike.
Tickets are available at Torana Music Box
Liberty Plaza.
• Movie Review:
Horton Hears a Who
Synopsis: On the fifteenth of May, in
the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day,
in the cool of the pool. He was
splashing...enjoying the jungle’s great
joys...When Horton the elephant heard a
small noise. With his signature evocative
and rhymingtext, writer and cartoonist Dr.
Seuss, an American treasure whose books have
delighted generations of young people, opens
one of his most beloved tales, Horton Hears
a Who! Now, over fifty years since Seuss,
whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel,
published this perennial favorite, the
makers of Ice Age and comedy giants Jim
Carrey and Steve Carell, bring it to life in
a way never before experienced. For the
first time, a motion picture transports
audiences into Dr. Seuss’ incredible
imagination, through state-of-the-art CG
animation.
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! is Seuss
as you want to experience his work at the
movies - and as it was meant to be seen. The
film, like Seuss’ book, presents an
imaginative elephant named Horton (Carrey)
who hears a faint cry for help coming from a
tiny speck of dust floating through the air.
Although Horton doesn’t know it yet, that
speck houses an entire city named Who-ville,
inhabited by the microscopic Whos, led by
the Mayor (Carell). Despite being ridiculed
and threatened by his neighbors, who think
he has lost his mind, Horton is determined
to save the particle...because "a person’s a
person, no matter how small."
Horton’s eight-word explanation for his
actions embodies an idea both simple and
profound, and which means so much, to so
many. The film provides more food for
thought, having Horton explains to his
skeptical friends: "If you were way out in
space, and you looked down at where we live,
we would look like a speck." Then there’s
Horton’s code...his motto... that, "an
elephant’s faithful 100 percent" - pointing
to his honesty and determination to never
abandon his mission to find a new home for
the speck that houses the incredible world
of Who-ville. These philosophical
declarations point to Seuss’ unique ability
to take complex issues and boil them down
into understandable thoughts that anybody,
at any age, could understand.
It all comes together through the vision
of a master storyteller, the magic of
computer animation, and the special alchemy
of three generations of comedy stars -
Carrey and Carell are joined by the
legendary Carol Burnett, as well as
cutting-edge talents Will Arnett, Isla
Fisher, Amy Poehler , Seth Rogen and Jonah
Hill - to create an all-audience comedy
event.
Dark is the new black!
I n
Paradise Lost, Milton said that in hell "No
light, but rather darkness visible served
only to discover sights of woe".
There is something very Miltonic going on
at your local multiplex at the moment;
darkness visible is what popular cinema
yearns for.
Everything is dark nowadays. There’s The
Dark Knight, the latest, madly successful
Batman movie; it’s nothing to do with the
camp silliness of the 60s TV show or even
the relative gaiety of the Tim Burton
movies. This Batman returns the film
franchise to the crepuscular gloom of the
original comic book: it does what it says on
the tin - it’s dark, dark, dark.
The Joker is a homicidal psychopath given
to threatening people with knives and guns.
The whole thing is so dark you can hardly
see your hand in front of your face.
Dark is absolutely de rigueur for
superhero movies nowadays.
Spider-Man is relentlessly angst-ridden
and the first X-Men film actually began at
the gates of Auschwitz.
Or there’s Harry Potter, something else
for which the brightness dial is twisted
resolutely anti-clockwise.
When that franchise first started, it was
quite a jolly experience: now it’s dark -
because Harry has grown up, you see.
Then of course there’s James Bond. When
Roger Moore had the job - and indeed when
Sean Connery did - you would get the odd
quip, the flirtatious interlude with
Moneypenny, and each and every violent
encounter would be topped off with a
nonchalant wisecrack; it was virtually an
action movie tradition.
But in the new 007, Quantum Of Solace
starring Daniel Craig, there are no jokes,
no smart remarks. Bond is just a ruthless
killer, driven by rage.
Grey area
Once again, pop culture’s great dark
shadow has fallen.
Dark is a term of approval, even of awe,
shorthand for a vaguely defined, cloudily
understood quality that is thought to
improve a film franchise, and make its
pre-dark manifestation look silly and
babyish. It isn’t pessimism exactly, but a
self-conscious super-cool cynicism and a
deadpan refusal to be shocked by its own
increase in violence.
Dark equals grownup; dark equals sexy,
dark equals real. Dark is the new black.
Or is it? One can’t help but thinking
that these movies aren’t really dark.
You want dark? Rent a DVD of Ingmar
Bergman’s Cries And Whispers and afterwards
read aloud Philip Larkin’s poem Aubade.
There - that’s really dark.
A couple of lines of Aubade will make
Christian Bale’s Batman whimper with fear,
or it would if he’s got any sense.
Dark indulgence
One can’t help thinking that "dark" is a
fashion accessory driven by the movie
world’s preconception of its grungy
demographic: the tickets and DVDs are bought
by boy-men aged from 12-24 who dress in
"dark" clothes and play "dark" computer
games in their dark bedrooms.
This is a fan base whose psychological
angst is to be indulged.
"Dark" is becoming a convenient alibi for
a lack of tonal variation, a lack of light
and shade. In real life, there is happiness
as well as sadness, triumph as well as
disaster.
These things are no less real for
happening scarcely, or at any rate, more
scarcely than we would want. But they are
there, and they have to be represented, for
the bad things to mean anything. But "dark"
is a luxury we can afford in the good times.
When the sun is shining and the birds are
singing and property prices are climbing
then "dark" is fascinating.
But when you’ve lost your job and your
stakeholder pension is valueless, ambiguous
mean’n’moody superheroes who may be
super-villains aren’t necessarily what you
need.
Perhaps bright and jolly films will come
back into fashion and the caped crusaders
will go back to zooming around in silly
outfits and say things like "Holy Recession,
Batman, our life savings in Iceland have
vanished, we need to cheer this place up".
The "dark" mode may slipping away into
eternal night.
• music Review:
John Legend’s Evolver
E ven
when soul singer John Legend is proposing
one of the traditionally worst ideas in
romance — sleeping with his best friend — he
still makes a pretty convincing argument.
"Not just my homegirl, time that I take you
home, girl," he sings on the pristine
piano-and-808 ballad "Cross the Line."
Legend has all sorts of eyebrow-raising
ideas on his third album, "Evolver." There’s
a smoky dub reggae tune, a sleek break-beat
single and a sense of randiness that most
fans didn’t know Legend had in him.
"Evolver" is still grown-man party music
though, and it should go a long way toward
preserving his urban-boho reputation while
breaking free of any NPR&B stasis in his
songwriting.
"Green Light" is Legend’s first proper
club single and should be utterly ubiquitous
this winter. There’s a double-time drum
loop, darting electro-funk synths and a
rarely- sighted rap cameo from Andre 3000.
It’s the sound of removing one’s Burberry
scarf for a little necking in the back of a
cab.
Legend’s still a most conscientious
lover, and his rakish tricks come in the
guise of a fine falsetto or piano run. But
the urgency of "Evolver" is apparent on
"Quickly," where he implores "The globe is
warming, my country’s warring / kiss me —
like the world is quaking."
If it’s truly the end of days, there are
probably worse ways to spend it than being
seduced by John Legend.
Michael Jackson reunites with Jackson 5
Michael Jackson is to take part in a
Jackson 5 reunion tour, his brother Jermaine
has said.
Jermaine stated it would be "a family
affair", with sister Janet the opening act.
"And of course, the original Jackson 5...
Michael, Randy and the whole family... we’re
in the studio, we’re planning on being out
there next year."
But Jermaine has said similar things
before, in 2003 and again last year, and a
tour has so far failed to happen.
"This has been a long time coming for the
Jackson family to get back together,"
Jermaine said. Rumours of a reunion have
circulated for years. The last time the
original members performed together was at a
concert in 2001 to celebrate Michael
Jackson’s 30 years in music. But Michael has
kept a low profile since being cleared of
child abuse in 2005. He worked on a charity
single for the victims of Hurricane Katrina
later that year, but it never materialised.
He was also working on a new album, with
current US stars such as Akon and John
Legend writing songs for him, but the status
of that project is unknown. If a Jackson 5
tour did take place with Michael, it would
be a major draw for fans, and a massive
money-spinner for the brothers.
The Jacksons - featuring Tito, Marlon,
Jackie, Jermaine, Michael and Randy - found
fame in the 1970s with hits such as I Want
You Back, ABC and Shake Your Body (Down To
The Ground). Michael’s success eclipsed that
of his brothers in the 1980s, while sister
Janet also rose to prominence.
• book Review:
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
I n
his debut novel, Aravind Adiga takes on some
hefty issues: the unhappy division of social
classes into haves and have-nots, the
cultural imperialism of the First World, the
powder-kegged anger that seethes among the
world’s dispossessed, and entrapment. But
his skills as an author protect the novel
from becoming one of those horrible didactic
stories in which characters and plot are
little more than mouthpieces and vehicle for
delivering Great Truths. The White Tiger
entertains and gives pause for thought. This
is a good combination.
The plot centers around Balram Halwai, a
laborer born and raised in a small village
utterly controlled by crooked and feudally
powerful landlords. The village is located
in ‘the Darkness,’ a particularly backward
region of India. Balram is eventually taken
to Delhi as a driver for one of the
landlord’s westernized sons, Ashok. It’s in
Delhi that Balram comes to the realization
that there’s a new caste system at work in
both India and the world, and it has only
two groups: those who are eaten, and those
who eat, prey and predators. Balram decides
he wants to be an eater, someone with a big
belly, and the novel tracks the way in which
this ambition plays out.
A key metaphor in the novel is the
rooster coop. Balram recognizes that those
who are eaten are trapped inside a small and
closed cage—the rooster coop—that limits
their opportunities. Even worse, they begin
to internalize the limitations and
indignities of the coop, so that after
awhile they’re unable to imagine they
deserve any other world than the cramped one
in which they exist. Balram’s dream is to
break free of his coop, to shed his feathers
and become what for him is a symbol of
individualism, power, and freedom: a white
tiger. But as he discovers, white tigers
have their own cages, too.
Of course, it’s not simply the Balram’s
of the world caught in the rooster coop.
Adiga’s point seems to be that even the
world’s most privileged suffer from a
cultural and class myopia that limits
perspective and distorts self-understanding.
The White Tiger is a good tonic with which
to clear one’s vision and spread one’s
wings.
|
|
|
|
