So I searched the net and checked for what in blue blazers this was and came across this very interesting new concept I never knew existed in Sri Lanka. As the website mentions, PechaKucha 20×20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.

This is definitely an interesting concept in which 8 finalists chosen by the coordinators of this gathering “saskiafernandogallery” will speak for 7 minutes as whole on the subject which best describes their creativity. Born from Japan Pecha Kucha was always seen as an informal and fun gathering where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, and thoughts in the Pecha Kucha 20×20 format.

Four out of this times 8 finalists

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds, where 20 images are shown, each for 20 seconds. With Pecha Kucha now happening in over 400 cities around the world we have discovered that most cities, not just in Colombo, have virtually no public spaces where people can show and share their work in relaxed way.

The atmosphere at the event is urban, chic, and chilled out with the warehouse space filled with relaxing benches, a beer Stand and a ‘Kade’ themed food stall. The focal point is the large screen where the presentations are made and what finally brings this evening together is the exposure of undiscovered creativity from all industries: arts, fashion, photography, and design.

If you are into this or think its a great way to spend a restful Sunday why don’t you head on down to the Warehouse Project in Maradana on Sunday the 23rd at 5.00 p.m. Tickets priced at Rs. 100. Heard that folks? 100!!!!!!

If you want to show some additional support check out their facebook page and like it. Hell we all need all the support we can get these days anyway

The title that celebrates everything about women will once again crown a confident and glamorous young lady to represent Sri Lanka at the prestigious Miss. Universe 2011 pageant. The applications for the Avirate Miss. Universe Sri Lanka opened on the 15^th of May 2011, calling all single young women between the ages of 18 and 27 to come forward to represent their country at the 60 anniversary Miss. Universe Pageant.

The finals of the Avirate Miss. Universe Sri Lanka pageant will take place on the 11^th of July 2011 in Colombo. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation will telecast the finals on the same day from 10 pm onwards. While beauty is definitely a key criterion, the women who will represent Sri Lanka will have to be savvy, goal-oriented and aware. It also takes a lot of courage and determination to be a winner, all key attributes that will set Sri Lanka’s representative apart from her fellow contestants from across the globe.

“There is a lot of work that goes into making a suitable candidate for Miss. Universe and we do our best within the short time we have to the main pageant in São Paulo, Brazil in September,” says Miss. Universe’s Sri Lanka representative, Mrs. Rosita Wickremesinghe.

The contest calls for all those beautiful and confident young women out there to join in and make their mark on the world stage of beauty and enjoy the trimmings of the crown as a goodwill ambassador representing Sri Lanka. This includes undergoing training sessions of personal makeovers and thereby gaining confidence to and walk tall at the finale on the 11^th July 2011. Amongst the 12 finalists, one beautiful and glamorous young woman will be crowned Avirate Miss Universe Sri Lanka. The winner will be flown to exotic Sao Paolo Brazil, for three weeks courtesy of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka Organization. Avirate Sri Lanka’s flagship designer clothing retailer has partnered with the event as the title sponsor and will design and produce all the contestant’s wardrobes, including the winning contestant’s evening gown that will be worn on the international stage. She will undergo a month of training in preparation for the main pageant, which will involve many hours of grooming for the final of Miss Universe on September 12^th 2011.

Contestants from more than 80 countries around the world will travel to Brazil for almost a month of activities leading up to the live telecast. They will be judged in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview, as they vie for the coveted title of Miss Universe 2011. This is the first time in the 60 year history of the Miss Universe contest the pageant will be held in Brazil.

Mexicana, Ximena Navarrete, Miss Universe 2010, will crown her successor at the conclusion of the telecast. During her reign, Navarrete has travelled the world as an advocate for HIV/AIDS education, research, and legislation. The next Miss Universe will continue this work.

Will Sri Lanka produce its first ever Miss. Universe in 2011?

Thus far Sri Lanka has produced one winner in a world class beauty pageant over three decades ago. This is a rare opportunity, for another young woman from Sri Lanka to bloom on the world’s premier stage, surrounded by the glitz and glamour and enjoy the many rewards that follow, including brand endorsements, promising career opportunities in the fashion and beauty industry and extravagant prizes. All the contestants making it to the final round will also end up winners, for they will receive valuable training and undergo grooming sessions by experts in the field of beauty, nutrition, social etiquette and communication skills in preparation for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Universe contest which will act as a launching pad for other opportunities, in the multi dimensional field of fashion and beauty. Attractive cash prizes and other rewards are also on offer for the 12 finalists.

“Being a beauty queen is not as easy, it does not just happen. Of course one has to have the raw material of being of a certain height, weight and texture of skin, but there is a lot  of work that goes in to making a person worthy of a title” said Brian Kirkoven  who is in charge of choreographing the show with years experience in grooming and training models.

Brian went on to say “It helps when beauty is combined with brains, which I find is not unusual or rare, most girls chosen to the final event are very intelligent, smart and quick witted. Also they are not all from Colombo or cities, some come from far off towns and they pick up the ropes fast, which speaks for their intelligence”

Avirate Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Universe 2011 pageant is a challenging opportunity for young women between the ages of 18 and 27 and for application procedure and details visit www.misssrilanka.lk ENTRIES CLOSE 8^TH JUNE 2011

Let me begin with the fact that the parking for the cinema is all the way in the very corner of the other side of the actual liberty parking lot. When we reached the ticket counter we were told that the tickets will be purchased by them online as they didnt have the tickets yet so regardless of us coming there on time we had to pay the online price to watch it. Secondly the guy behind the counter writes our ticket numbers on a piece of scrap paper and signs it, so anyone who wants to forge their way through just take a paper and write the seat numbers and just scribble a signature.

When we walked in it was a tiny space. A claustrophobic person would have a few issues settling themselves there. The path way or aisle which you need to walk through to get to your seats is unbelievably tiny so a slightly larger person better hope to god your sitting right in the middle. At the beginning of the movie the food was crap. They had pop corn, minute maid and tipi tip. The food stall was bare and they hadn’t stocked up. When the movie began the screen was split in two and we were watching the movie in doubles which took them sometime to fix which was very annoying. The quality wasn’t that great but once the movie started that changed.

They had about 6 separate air conditions that were put on full blast in that small room so half the people were shivering and trying to warm themselves. When asked to reduce the A/C the boys just ignored and walked away. The intermission was an agonizing half an hour. I am not sure if they had an issue or if they were just incompetent but everyone kept turning around and staring at the control room waiting for the movie to begin again.

On the good side the movie was amazing, obviously and the story and everything about it definitely was worth it. The screen is much wider than the one you might find in savoy 2 and as its a new cinema you don’t get the constant piss smell all over. The seats were comfy and had cup holders and all but i wonder how long it will last that way. The list of upcoming movies were old like the adjustment bureau and rango which in my books aren’t worth paying the same amount for to watch, specially in a smaller screen.

The liberty lite facebook page is not one bit professional or informative. I would much rather you visit ticketslk.com and check for information than their facebook page. They dont answer any questions and the person handling it has no idea how facebook works and never answers the question at hand. They also delete anyone who writes a review on the page to make it helpful for others. I would advice the team behind it to learn to be more professional and handle themselves better and be more mature about their actions. If they keep deleting everyone who says anything bad about the place they will never be able to increase on the number of fans. By the looks of the movies they are to bring they will have to shut down quite fast anyway.

Every time I see a remake of an English film into Hindi, all I do is roll my eyes and think “gosh there they go again, copying Hollywood’s work and making it Bollywood”. For me that’s what they are known for because every single time I see some dumb Hindi trailer on TV it’s just like every English movie we have seen. Is it that they aren’t creative enough to come up with their own script? I think not, especially since there were movies like Black, Pa that came out.

Anyway that was not the basis of me writing this post. It seems, that we have certain people in this country who walk around like they are the queen of England, all because either they are in some ridiculous magazine or because they own it. Yes, I know everyone reading this nailed it and guessed which magazine I am referring to. First of all it was a direct copy of the Hello magazine in the UK and secondly since we don’t seem to be able to find interesting people, oh wait let me rephrase that, since we cannot find scandalous news to publish like they do abroad, the local Hi magazine is based around taking pictures of people who go for parties and to clubs.

That concept really gets old dear editors, or do you promise people that you will put their pictures in so that they purchase the magazine? When I was recently at the salon I read their magazine after some time and it hasn’t changed a bit. There’s still a horde of pictures of teeny boppers, out and about and all of our lovely editor’s high society friends all posed up for the camera. And then there was the “editors” pick of the best dressed women of 2010 and boy didn’t I laugh like crazy. It was even funnier that most of the women who were at the salon laughed along with me at what a ridiculous choice made.

I have to agree that some women rightfully deserved the spot as they truly were glamour queens in my books, but sigh…. There was one young lady (I won’t mention names)  whom I have come across quite a few times who is in a lot of peoples books a clear example for the phrase (money cannot buy you class or style) who was highlighted in the magazine. A lot of people who has seen her would never note her as a “best dressed” candidate as she is, just downright “goday” and dresses like a grandmother and nothing like her age. The tragic part of this whole thing is that I know that the “editor” and this girl are good friends and they party out quite frequently. So dear editor, is your choice biased then?

So what is the outcome of this magazine? NOTHING! We read articles about women, who were probably born here or whose parents are Sri Lankan and they live in the states and they tend to be rich and powerful. We don’t want to read about people who have lived there all their lives and made it big somewhere in Timbuktu.  As Sri Lankans we want to read about people who have lived here, studied here or abroad and made it big here and made our country proud. We don’t want to read about some person whose half Sri Lankan, lived all their lives in the states and made it big there. I mean like we care!

So my advice dear editor, drop the act, stop prancing around town acting like a teenager and behave your age first of all and also try your level best to produce a magazine with some substance.

My love for books will never cease. I make it quite clear with the ever increasing number in my bookshelf. Even though this review is old since i have kept putting it off, I finally decided I will try to do it some justice and finish it off. When you first read the first few chapters of the book, in no way shape or form are you prepared for what is to come. The book is actually based around two distinct characters although, they do highlight Lisbon Salander more because of her very disturbed past and very popular tattoo.

Lisbeth is one of a pair of sleuths. Her partner is Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist with Millennium magazine, in Stockholm, who is hired by an aging industrialist named Henrik Vanger  to investigate a vanishing. Forty years ago, his niece Harriet went missing from the island where he lives, during a meeting of the Vanger clan. Henrik believes that she was murdered, and he suspects every member of his scowling family.

He believes there is noway that Harriet could have left the Island the day she went missing and believes that one of his relatives did the deed. With this in mind his been hiring investigators and even unearthed the entire island looking for her. Mikael was requested to write Henriks autobiography and in the mean time also investigate on the murder. During this cross section Mikael bumps into Lisbon and they both begin the investigation together.

What you find out of is that theres a serial killer on the loose in the island and also that it has a lot of to do with a nazi who believes in killing jewish women. When I mean kill, I mean brutally raping and making them suffer. The story takes the reader around a very twisted world where it first begins with Lisbons very tragic and yet heart wrenchingly tragic rape which she gets back on her feet from and takes her revenge in a way that only reminds me of the movie “I spit on your grave”.

This book was one of the most interesting reads I have had in a long time. Even though it did remind me a bit of Agatha Cristie I believe it had that fabulous twist that no one expected. Its another harsh hit at us in terms of what animals the Nazis and their followers were. The brutal reality of what Jewish people had to go through and how politics plays a hand in everything.

I recommend this book to everyone because its such a fantastic read and everyone should definitely get their hands on it.

As a person who loves her food, I think we need a really good food festival which can cater to everyone. Not just the 5 stars or the somewhat expensive places. We need one location in which we can eat from the wade guy from galle face to probably hot butter cuttle fish from chinese dragon. Hawkers street which is conducted by the CMC on a monthly basis started off with a lot of potential but then just died down because they just continued it for the sake of doing it. I think the following venture from the guys from Lanka Event Management is definitely going to be a success as they are doing it with the intention of continuing it annually.

Taste of Colombo is the upcoming Colombo Street Festival, organized with the intentions of making it an Annual International Event that will attract the tourists, local community and also local businessmen. The event is produced by Lanka Event Management team; the event management arm of Lanka Hotels and Travels (Private) Limited which is a subsidiary of Lanka Ice Holdings.

Taste of Colombo is much different to a standard food festival as it brings together the National Taste in terms of history, heritage, arts, crafts and culture. This venture is set forth with the intentions of promoting local tourism to the international customer while creating a gathering place for the local community as well. The event will be held for three days and is open to the public, both local and foreign, absolutely Free of Charge.

Invited approximately 75-100 different food vendors ranging from star category hotels, leading restaurants, catering services, bakers, pastry shops as well as street stalls to participate at this year’s inaugural event. There will also be an equal representation of stalls showcasing traditional trade along the lines of batik, handloom, paintings, wood carvings, handicrafts, masks, tea, spices, ayurveda and travel agents …etc. A special segment of cultural activities such as a mini-perehera, puppet show, traditional dances and drum acts, papare band and street drama (veedi natya) is also lined up on a daily basis to ensure that the foreign patrons are treated to a complete array of local tastes including entertainment as well.

Not forgetting our love for the game of Cricket as well, there will be two giant screens playing the Finals of the ICC World Cup on the last day of the festival which will convert into a complete street party. For more information visit their website www.tasteofcolombo.com or visit their facebook group.

It was another one of those days where I remembered that a friends wedding was looming closer, and yes it is actually tomorrow and i had a dilemma. For days i have been complaining about getting my eyebrows and all the girly stuff done but i never got some free time. Today i dashed to the only place that was close by and i could rely on (or so i thought). I went over to Ramani Salon at Cinnamon Grand and asked for the girl who usually does my eyebrows because i find that very important. And they give me the devastating news that shes quit. So i asked for another and she goes oh shes not here either and i was like “can someone bloody do my eyebrows”? since i was desperate i wasnt thinking too clearly and i just didnt bother asking who was available.

I understand to some of you this would be a petty and stupid topic but it just annoyed me a lot and i was in a constant bad mood because of this situation. So some dark girl who cant speak english comes up to me and it was clear she was a trainee so i just followed her. Now this girl didnt even know how to use the thread or tweezers!!!!!!!!!!!!! and she took 5 FREAKING MINUTES to actually remove ONE HAIR!!!! i was losing my patience and when she was done i looked at her and i was like huh???????????????????? thats like how i walked in!!!!!!! you have done nothing and “she goes shall i do your upper lip too?” i was like HELL NO ill go somewhere else… and so i paid her Rs. 300 to actually not do ABSOLUTELY anything to me.

One of my friends was a bridesmaid at her cousins wedding and she came down from abroad for it. So she decided she needed a hair cut and went to Ramanis at Cinnamon. Half way through she was in shock at what he was doing to her hair and she started to cry and she was like “stop touching my hair” they pretty much ruined it and later all she said was “imagine going through all that and then having to pay them rs. 3000 bucks for it?????????????”

The quality at Ramanis is dropping so fast that Ramanis is going to close down pretty fast. The prices are outrageous, the employees have absolutely NO SKILL or talent. I mean shouldn’t they have some code where you just dont let some two bit trainee ruin the clients???? have they no regard for their reputation????

As far as i know DONT go there for anything. The lady in the next lane does a better job and is a lot cost effective too and atleast you feel good about your self. This is just rubbish. I was very disappointed and shocked today and worst of all ANGRY!!!

Last night I had the sad misfortune of attending the so called “glitter and glow” freshers night at ACBT. Now I know what goes on in everyones head the minute they see the initials ACBT and I don’t blame you. Its a sad pathetic excuse for an institution.

Now supposedly last night was a freshers/graduation party. It was held at Lavinia breeze and the tickets were priced at Rs. 1000 per person (god knows why any normal human being would pay that much to go there was beyond me)

So what did I see the minute i walked in? a sausage fest. there was about 200 guys and about 30 girls.. as always its not like I expected anything different. But the thing was it was organized so poorly that I pray to God that the people who did it dont ever get jobs as event managers.

Now the student council at ACBT prides themselves for their “coolness” one guy walks around with his shirt sleeves rolled up all the way to his shoulders and thinks his the coolest guy to walk the earth. They harp on about how its college life and how its the “coolest” (their words not mine) and the best thing to happen to any human being. The same guy who rolls his sleeves up keeps asking every girl for their facebook names (stalker alert)

So yeah back to the party. The music was horrendous.. just a lot of noise you cant dance to or listen to.. ofcourse it was all guys on the dance floor as they were all drunk and it didnt matter to them if they were dancing to nanda malini at that stage. So the theme glitter and glow nothing glittered and everyone got a arm band that glowed.. now that my friends is pure creativity (notice the bloody sarcasm?)

So then the buffet was opened up and people hounded around it.. now for paying 1000 bucks you expect a bit of good food… atleast thats what you expect from Lavinia breeze. There was rice, noodles, chicken, fish and potatoes. OMG!  and the best part was the food ran out in 15 mins and they said no more food so for majority of the people who paid Rs. 1000 and didnt get to even eat last night.. well thats what you get for going for a pathetic party that every former student who has been to one warned you in saying “DONT EVER GO”

So how does a night finish in these kinda sausage fests? One guy dashing a bottle and threatening some guy and a bunch jump in to stop it and some other random guy not wanting to be left out, breaks his glass too and another fight occurs… ahhh good old college days.. and this is what the student council is so proud of.

The night was an utter disaster and i kick my self every second for going for that shit and next time they need to get some creative people with better ideas to do a proper event. Its not rocket science. Its a stupid party for a bunch of kids. How hard is that?

I love food, but then again who doesn’t? When Urban Kitchen first opened up I was very impressed. It looked like a food court with a lot of class to it. The first time I ate there I was amazed at the quality of the food. The service was excellent and the waiters were so friendly and the food was simply delicious. Some time back waffle introduced  rice ball and I to the chocolate cupcake they had there and it was simply divine.

I don’t exactly remember when it was opened but i guess its been a couple of years since its been in existence. The last time I visited UK was a few weeks back. It was a Sunday and there was hardly a crowd which was quite surprising to me as I always remember the place being packed.

So rice ball and I were accompanied by two of our friends “brown bread” and brownie. We found some comfortable couches and relaxed into them. Since we were famished after an eventful day of pictionary we ordered some wine, a pizza, fried calamari and another chicken dish which I don’t remember as it was quite forgetful. It took us half an hour after we were ready to order for the waiter to take our orders. They completely ignored us even though we got the attention of three different waiters and each one kept saying they will take it soon. My patience was on a very very thin line as I was getting angrier every second i got hungrier.  It came to that point that rice ball walked up to the manager and went can you please take our order since everyone else is ignoring us. The shocked manager didn’t really know what to do with himself and since he was a very friendly person he made sure we were looked into immediately.

The pizza came out in a mere 15 to 20 mins and we were quite impressed. It tasted quite delicious and riceball and brownie were quite happy with their meal. Now while this was happening BB and I were waiting and waiting and waiting for our food. I mean how long does friend calamari take to fry? I have made it at home and it doesnt take too long. After one hour of waiting I couldnt take it anymore and brownie went up to the head chef and told them in the most politest way that we were still waiting for our food.

So when we finally got it, it all looked very appetizing. And then we tasted it. My calamari was RAW! it was like chewing rubber. To be honest rubber would have been easier. So after all that wait I got raw food. We returned it and ordered the safest option. A pizza. Atleast I knew that would be cooked.

All in all I had a terrible experience there, specially for someone who loved their food and always promoted it. Its weird how no matter how many wonderful times you have in one place, one bad experience can put you off completely.

So if I was to rate UK I would give it a

1/2 out of 5 for service

2 out of 5 for food

Rice ball loves music from the 90′s and so i have to torture myself and listen to it every morning. Don’t get me wrong i love the music too.. just dislike the station. I mean i get it they say that this is the latest phase in radio where they keep their audience captivated with their silly chatter and antics, but it comes to that point where all you want to do is scream STOP and SHUT THE HELL UP!

Shaq and shey are talented individuals, specially in what they do. My honest opinion is that there will never be a duo like Shaq and Mark but thats just old and stale news.

So today like every other day i got into the vehicle at 7.15 and saw the dreaded 89.5 tuned into the radio. So while we were driving i had to listen to Shaq’s sad pathetic story about how he never got the chance to put together his marvel comic cards.. and as always when Shaq cant do something its a scam. So yeah Marvel comics was playing a huge joke on the world and they wanted people to buy their cards when there was no actual prize. Great work Shaq aren’t you a master mind.

So all this time i had only heard one song being played mind you. Then there was a lady who tried some 90′s quiz to win a ARPICO mattress. I mean i get it that its expensive these days but come on….. So in her first question she answered it in less than a few seconds but Shaq oh great great Shaq keeps asking her on and on and on the same bloody question. All us listeners are losing our patience at his complete and utter stupidity. I mean Ask the question, get the answer and ding ding ding we have a winner! how bloody hard is that?

So 5 agonizing questions for that lady was 15 to 20 minutes of hair pulling, nail bitting, eye ball popping pain for us. Its not coz i wanted to kno the answers.. i could care less if she won the mattress or not, but i just wanted it over with coz listening to Shaq keep on going “are u sure? positive? ur sure? very sure? if you got another try whats your second guess? sure? want to change it? how sure are you?” i mean KILL me already. Its just MADNESS.

So yeah even after all that she didn’t even win.. got some lame goody bag with probably lots of gay merchandise Shaq himself hand picked from his gay land of talentless gayness! And the best part of all this was that i got off at about 8.15 and i had the liberty of listening to 2 songs the entire time on Yes fm. Now thats fantastic work my friends.