Review: Disney’s Secret of the Wings

Let’s just kick this off by saying: Diana Prince and Leia Organa aside, I am not too keen on the prospect of bringing the whole princess thing into my house. But I am down with the Disney Fairies. Why? Because they’re all friends, they have specific jobs that they’re good at, and they have to work together to make the seasons, or the world tumbles into chaos. To me, they’re similar to the X-Men, in that each one of them has a very specific power, or “talent,” that they use in very particular ways. Plus, Tinker Bell is spunky, curious, makes mistakes, and learns from them.

Vivi is three now, and so we were new to the first three Tinker Bell movies. Which is like being new to reading Game of Thrones. You just plow through them, and don’t have the agonizing wait of several years in between installments. Ah! The benefits of being a late adopter! But then you catch up, and suddenly you’re forced into an agonizing wait for the next one to come out.

Using this analogy, you could say that Tinker Bell: The Great Fairy Rescue was our A Dance With Dragons. We. Have. Been. Waiting. For. Secret of the Wings.

Film Review: English Vinglish

Cast: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Priya Anand, Mehdi Nebbou 

Director: Gauri Shinde 

The protagonist of English Vinglish stumbles upon a word she has never heard before – judgmental. She runs to her niece and asks: does it mean ‘mental’ judge? No, the girl tells her, it means jumping to damning conclusions about a person on the basis of flimsy evidence. 

That is precisely what Ms Shashi Godbole (Sridevi), Pune-based mother of two, is constantly subjected to by her corporate executive-husband, Satish (Adil Hussain), and her school-going daughter.

That, crucially, is also what debutante director Gauri Shinde’s well-meaning screenplay unwittingly heaps on the rather simplistically etched central character. 

This film hinges on an idea that only reinforces the phony notion that a woman, no matter how gifted, must speak fluent English in order to truly assert herself. 

Tame superficiality is indeed the biggest bane of English Vinglish, which, for the most part, is otherwise reasonably watchable, especially owing to a charming performance by Sridevi, back on the big screen after a 15-year hiatus.

ඔබ ආයෙමත් ඇවිදින්

ඔබ ආයෙමත් ඇවිදින් 

සිත හදා ගත්තා විතරමයි

ඔබ ආයෙමත් ඇවිදින්

උන්නු දා පෙර අත පොවන්නට බැරි දුරින්

නින්ද මට නැති දවස් තිබුණද කොයිතරම්

නුඹ නොදැක සිටි දිගු කාලයේ

සිත හදා ගත්තා විතරමයි

ඔබ ආයෙමත් ඇවිදින්

දෑස අග මල් පිපී සැලුණත් කොයිතරම්

එක මලක් වත් සුවඳ නැති විය ඔබ තරම්

නුඹ නොදැක සිටි ඒ කාලයේ

නෙත කඳුළු මැකුණා විතරමයි

ඔබ ආයෙමත් ඇවිදින්

ගායනය: අමරසිරි පීරිස්

අප හමුවූයේ අහම්බෙනි.මා එකල වෙසෙසක් නැති සාමාන්‍ය තරුණයෙක්මි. ඔබ සුකුමාර සැප වීන්දින සුර කුමරියකි. ඔබේත් මගේත් පරතරය අහසට පොළොව මෙන් විය. ඔබ දෑසට වශී වී ඔබ අත ගැන්මට කල පැතූ පැතුම් වල බර මහ මෙරක් වැන්න.මා රැය නොනිඳා පහන් කලේ ඔබ වෙනුවෙනි. වහලේ රීප ගැන්නේ ඔබ වෙනුවෙනි. කුසගින්නේ සිටියේ ඔබ ලබා ගැනීමටය.නමුත් ඒ සියල්ලම වැරදී ගිය අතර ඔබ මා හැරදා දුරු රටකට යන්නට ගියේය.ඔබ නැතිව පාළු වූ ලොවෙහි වාසය කිරීමට මම ටිකින් ටික පුරුදු වූයෙමි.ඔබ මා ජීවිතයේ දුටු මල් අතර පියකරුම මල විය.ඉන් පසු මා දකින ලද මල් සියල්ල ඔබ හමුවේ නොවැදගත් ඒවා විය. එවන් ඔබ නොදැකගත වූ දිගු කලේ දී මගේ සිත හදා ගත්තෙමි. ඒ නොවිඳිනා දුක් විඳීමෙනි. ඔබ වෙනුවෙන් හෙළු කඳුලැලි මා නවතා ගත්ත මහත් වැරිනි.ඒ කඳුළු වියළී ගොස් වැඩි කලක් ද නැත. අහෝ!ඔබ නැවතත් පැමිණ ඇත. මා විසින් මහත් වෙරින් ගොඩ නගන ලද පවුරු පදනම් ඔබ සිඳ බිඳ දමා ඇත.දැන් නැවතත් ඔබ පතනු හැර කුමක් කරන්නද?

Sri Lanka named the Best Travel Destination in the World for 2013

Lonely Planet , the world's largest and most respected travel guidebook and digital media publisher has named Sri Lanka, the number one destination in the world to visit in year 2013.

The travel guide book highlights the emerging new popular places to visit in Sri Lanka including the newly opened up East coast and less travelled paths in the western coast as well : "North of the capital Colombo, on Sri Lanka's west coast, Kalpitiya and the Puttalam lagoon are eco-tourism hotspots with bird watching and kayaking. Near Dondra Head, on the south coast, mighty blue whales are regular visitors from January to April while land-based wildlife thrills include the leopards and elephants of Yala National Park, and the more rugged and remote Wilpattu National Park, open once more after being closed for more than two decades"

Serenity returns to Serendib

Dubbed Serendib - the origin of the word serendipity - by seafaring Arab traders centuries ago, Sri Lanka has been anything but serene in recent decades. Battered, tragically, by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and wracked by a civil war from 1983 to 2009, many areas of South Asia's most compact country have remained off limits to even the most intrepid traveller. Now the bitter conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels is at an end, investment is again fuelling the tourist industry and visitor numbers are steadily increasing. Prices are affordable. Indeed, Sri Lanka is emerging as one of the planet's best-value destinations.

North of the capital Colombo, on Sri Lanka's west coast, Kalpitiya and the Puttalam lagoon are eco-tourism hotspots with birdwatching and kayaking. Near Dondra Head, on the south coast, mighty blue whales are regular visitors from January to April while land-based wildlife thrills include the leopards and elephants of Yala National Park, and the more rugged and remote Wilpattu National Park, open once more after being closed for more than two decades during the civil war.

The gloriously arcing beaches of the nation's east coast are now challenging traditional southern favourites. Arugam Bay's sandy crescent is one of Asia's best surf spots and further north, Uppuveli and Nilaveli near Trincomalee stretch for several pristine kilometres. Fast-forward five years, and both beaches will definitely be accorded "where to go next" status in glossy travel magazines. Why wait that long?

Life-changing experiences

Explore the glorious labyrinth of Galle's 17th-century Dutch fort. In past centuries, the Unesco-listed colonial town was a prosperous hub of global trade and now boutique hotels and an emerging arts scene instil a cosmopolitan allure. Further north, you can discover Sri Lanka's imposing ancient cities, emerging from a verdant landscape. All around the country, tuck into great-value local cuisine including grilled seafood, spicy kottu (roti chopped and mixed with vegetables) and multi-course mini banquets of different curries at family run guesthouses. Indian and Thai cooking may be world-renowned, but Sri Lanka's time in the global gourmet spotlight can't be far away.

Courtesy : The Independent

2013 වසරේ සංචාරය සඳහා වඩාත් සුදුසු රට ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාව The lonely planet සඟරාව විසින් නම්කර තිබේ.

කාසි නැත්නම් ආදරෙත් පරාදයි!

ගැහැනුන්ගේ ආදරය කිරීමේ කලාව

ඇගේ මීන චංචල දෑස දෙස ඔහුට තවත් නිමේෂයක්වත් බලා සිටින්නට බැරි විය.දේදුනු දෙකක් වන් ඇහිබැමිවලට යටවුණු ඒ දිගටි දෑස මතට නැවී “ආදරෙයි”යැයි කියන්නට ඔහුට නොනිත් ආශාවක් උපන්නේය.ඔහුගේ ආදරය ඈ පිළිගනිවීද?ජීවිතයේ දිගු ගමන යන්නට ඇයගේ සහය ලැබේවිද.මේ කිසිවක් ඔහු දන්නේ නැත.විසඳාගත නොහැකි වුණු ගැටලුවකට මැදිවුණු ඔහුගේ දෙඇස් ඈතින් පෙනෙන කඳු පංති අතර නතර විය.එවිට ඔහුට මැවි මැවී පෙනුණේ සීතල මීදුමට හසුවුණු ඇගේ නාරි ලාලිත්‍යයයි.එතැනින් දෑස් ඉවත් කරගත් හෙතෙම මෑතින් පෙනෙන ගහකොළ දෙස බලා සිටියේය ඔහුට එකවර ඇගේ සියුමැලි දෙතොල් සිහිගැන්විණි.දැන් ඉතින් විසුමක් නැත.බලන බලන හැම අතම සිටින්නේ ඇයයි.අසන හැම හඬකමරැඳී තිබෙන්නේ ඇගේ සිනහවයි. උසුලාගන්නටත් බැරි තරමට පොහොසත් ඔහුගේ ආදරයට සතේ අතේ නැති දුප්පත්කම බාධාවක් වේදැයි කියා යළිත් ඔහු සිතුවේය.ආදරයෙන් උමතු වුණු ඔහුගේ දෑස් මත අවසානයේදී ඉතිරි වුණේ හිරු බැස යන අහසේ ඉහිරුණු රත් පැහැය පමණි. 

ගැහැනියකගේ ආදරය දිනාගැනීමට පිරිමියකු ධනවතකු විය යුතුමද?සල්ලි තිබූ පමණටම කෙනකුගේ ආදරය දිනාගත නොහැකි යැයි කීවේ කලකට ඉහතදීය.දැන් කියන්නට සිදුව තිබෙන්නේ එහි අනෙක් පැත්තය.සල්ලි නැති තැන ආදරයක් ද නැති බවයි.එසේ කියන්නේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මුල්කර ගත් වෙබ් අඩවියකි.අන්තර් ජාලය ඔස්සේ පවත්වනු ලැබූසමීක්‍ෂණයකින් අනතුරුව වෙබ් අඩවිය කියා සිටින්නේ පිරිමියකුගේ අතේ මිල මුදල් යහමින් ගැවසෙන්නේ නැත්නම් ඔහුටකාන්තාවක් සමඟ ප්‍රේම සම්බන්ධයක් ගොඩනඟා ගන්නටත්,එය සාර්ථකව පවත්වාගෙන යන්නටත් බැරි බවකි.සමීක්‍ෂණයට තොරතුරු ලබාගත්තේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ජාතිකයන්ගෙනි.38%ක්ම පිරිමින් කියා සිටියේ තමන් තම සහකාරිය සමඟ සබඳතා පවත්වාගෙන යන්නේ තමන්ගේ ආර්ථික ශක්තිය පදනම් කරගෙන බවයි.එය කාන්තාවන් සතුටුවන සීමාවක නොතිබුණහොත්,ඒ මත ඔවුන් අතර තිබෙන සියලු ආදර සම්බන්ධතා ඇනහිටින බව ද ඔවුහු කියා සිටියහ.

The Vow: Heart-tugging teaser

In his big screen feature debut, The Vow Michael Sucsy deals with a bittersweet amnesia story which seems to be Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook and ‘The Wedding’ rolled into one.

Based on a true story this is an achingly romantic tale of Leo, a young man who tries to woo back his young wife, Paige. The opening scenes project the two newlyweds emerging from an old cinema on an enchanting, showy night and getting rammed from behind by a truck. The accident leaves Paige flying through a windshield and in hospital, fighting for her life. While on her bedside Leo recalls their first meeting and the screen zooms to a flashback. Thought there is noting special about the romance, viewers are drawn towards the fun-filled scenes of how the lovebirds marry in a in a gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago where Paige is a student and are being chased out by the guards who were unaware that such an event is taking place.

Back in the present, peace is shattered when Paige’s long-absent parents enter the scene. They fuss around her and use Paige’s memory loss as an excuse to bring her back into their lives.

Sri Lanka to enter the Satellite era on Nov. 22

Sri Lanka’s first communication satellite will take to orbit on November 22 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China and it will be positioned over Sri Lanka, beginning a new era in communication.

The launch will take place around 9:30 p.m. local time and the satellite will be positioned above the country in the Geo-Stationary orbit at 87.5 degrees East in just seven minutes. It will be operational for commercial purposes in the region by early June 2013.

Bad news stories ‘alter women's stress response

Bad news stories, such as those about murder, seem to alter the way women respond to stressful situations, according to a small study.

Women produced more stress hormones in tests if they had read negative newspaper stories.

The study on 60 people, published in the journal PLoS One, showed there was no equivalent effect in men.

Experts said the findings showed “fascinating” differences between the sexes.

Researchers in Canada compiled newspaper clippings of negative stories, including accidents and murders, as well as neutral stories such as film premieres.

Domestic violence, a social and health problem

Domestic violence also known as family violence, battering and spousal abuse is defined as inflicting physical injury by one family member on another. However, this form of violence is not restricted to physical harm alone and could indeed include harming the psychology of the victim too.

Dr. Kamanie Dassanayake, a doctor in psychology and natural medicine said ''domestic violence is a pattern of physically, sexually and /or emotionally abusive behaviour used by one individual to maintain power over or control a partner in the context of an intimate or family relationship. Abuse in relationships is very common and affects at least one quarter of all relationships.

If anyone feels they have a problem in controlling their anger and tend to be abusive towards their partner or children, they should check out the resources provided. As there is help available for them.

Otherwise, the damage they do for their loved ones cannot be recovered in the long run.

Victims of domestic violence are often displaced from their home and may have small children in need of services. Social workers, helpers or law enforcement officials help victims to file police reports, receive services, find work and locate to a safe place to stay. Anyone who helps them assists victims with the day to day decisions to remain safe and avoid future domestic violence.

ඉවසයිද මන්දා මා දුන් රිදුම්... තනියෙන්ම වින්දා දුන් දුක්‌ සුසුම්...

ධනයට, බලයට, සැප සම්පත්වලට ඇති ආශාව නිසාම ආදරයට පයින් ගසා මිරිඟුව පසුපස යන තරුණියන් අද අප දැස්‌ ඉදිරියේ අනන්තවත් ඉන්නවා. මේ අය හරියට පහන් දැල්ලට පෙම් බඳින පළඟැටියෙක්‌ වගේ... තමන් යන්නේ විනාශය කරා බව ඔවුන්ට හැඟෙද්දී ප්‍රමාද වැඩියි.

ඉවසයි ද මන්දා මා දුන් රිදුම්

වෙන්වීලා ආ දා වෙනතක්‌ බලන්

උන්නාට මා රහසේ තුරුලක හෙමින්

මට ඉන්න බෑනේ මතකෙට හොරෙන්...

ඒ වගේ මිරිඟුවක්‌ පිටුපස ගිය යුවතියක්‌... තම පෙම්වතාවත් අමතක කරලයි අද වෙනකකු හා ගියේ.

මම ඔයාට රිදවූවා... ඒවා ඔයාට ඉවසන්න පුළුවන්ද කියලා... මම දන්නෙ නෑ. මම ඔයාගෙන් වෙන්වෙලා ආ දවසේ ඔයා කොයිතරම් දුක්‌ විඳින්න ඇත්ද... මම අද වෙනකකුගේ තුරුලේ හිටියත්... මට බෑ අපේ ඒ ආදරණීය අතීතය අමතක කරන්න... ඇය ඔහු අමතමින් කියනවා.

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

Endless love

A courageous or foolhardy move from director Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco (1997), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(2005)) to adapt Gabriel García Márquez’s El amor en los tiempos del cólera, which has already established itself as one of the greatest modern romantic novels?

Well, there’s no doubting Newell’s competency behind the camera, which translates visually into a sumptuous feast for the senses, but whether Ronald Harwood’s screenplay captures all the intricacies of the love, lost and regained, that’s at the heart of the incredibly rich and detailed prose of the original, is another matter, and one that will doubtless be fiercely debated by the book’s devotees.

The setting is 19th century Columbia – young romantic Florentino Ariza (Unax Ugalde) spies young maiden Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) promenading through the plaza and is forever, hopelessly smitten. Captivated by her beauty, he resolves to remain a virgin until they can be together but – oh, misery! – following a heated exchange of letters and a long-distance barrage of telegrams, after Fermina’s father (John Leguizamo) has taken her in country to stymie the relationship, Florentino is casually rejected, with his beloved citing the temporary insanity of youth. Enter successful young doctor Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt), who wins fair lady’s hand – and we cut to an older Florentino (now played by Javier Bardem) who, while still forever betrothed in his heart to his amour perdu, eases the pain of his heartbreak via sex with lots and lots of women. A dirty job, but somone’s got to do it…

Accusations of, ahem, ‘chick-flickery’ may follow, but they are misplaced – despite perhaps a mistake being made in the casting of Mezzogiorno as Fermina (her looks are simply not captivating enough, which somewhat undermines the original credibility of Florentino’s amour fou, particularly when one sees the ravishing beauty of many of his conquests), Bardem’s performance is a text-book account of the perils and pain wrought by the heart, and is thus the lynch-pin for a film that manages to avoid popcorn stereotypes.

The near two-and-a-half hour running time may seem extensive, but kudos, in fact, that so much of the novel’s original thrust remains, because a 12-hour mini-series adaptation would still have faced criticism over what had been removed.

Hearts of stone need not apply, but for the rest, the film can be seen as a qualified success, parts of which do resonate in the deepest places.

First test flight in Mattala

A test flight successfully landed at the country’s second international airport in Mattala yesterday a Civil Aviation Ministry official said. This was the first test flight to land in Mattala. Work attached to the Mattala airport is in full swing now under two phases. The first phase is nearing completion .

Under the first phase, 98 percent of the construction of the runway has been completed . Besides, the construction of the passenger terminal is in progress and it has been scheduled to be completed by year end, the official said.

The project was launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 27 , 2009. The new airport will be a boon to the local aviation industry while being a catalyst for the economic development of the southern province through the enabling of international trade, tourism, vocational training and employment.

The new airport will be geared to support both international and domestic travel, air-sea cargo transshipment in conjunction with the Hambanthota sea port and will be the alternative to BIA.

The entire project will cost 200 million US dollars. Under the first phase basic aerodrome facilities, runway, apron, taxi way, passenger and cargo terminals are constructed. Besides,infrastructure facilities including access roads, accommodation for officials, fuel farm, sewerage treatment plant, water supply facilities, meteorological building, fire building, catering facility and car park are in progress. Under the second phase of development a full length parallel taxi way, a flying school, an airport hotel and recreational facilities are to be constructed.

Abraham Lincoln's letter to his son's teacher

He will have to learn, I know, 

that all men are not just,

all men are not true.

But teach him also that 

for every scoundrel there is a hero;

that for every selfish Politician, 

there is a dedicated leader...

Teach him for every enemy there is a 

friend,

Steer him away from envy,

if you can,

teach him the secret of

quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that 

the bullies are the easiest to lick... Teach him, if you can,

the wonder of books... 

But also give him quiet time 

to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,

bees in the sun, 

and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him 

it is far honourable to fail 

than to cheat... 

Teach him to have faith 

in his own ideas, 

even if everyone tells him 

they are wrong... 

Teach him to be gentle 

with gentle people, 

and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son 

the strength not to follow the crowd 

when everyone is getting on the band wagon... 

Teach him to listen to all men... 

but teach him also to filter 

all he hears on a screen of truth, 

and take only the good 

that comes through.

Teach him if you can, 

how to laugh when he is sad...

Teach him there is no shame in tears, 

Teach him to scoff at cynics 

and to beware of too much sweetness... 

Teach him to sell his brawn 

and brain to the highest bidders 

but never to put a price-tag 

on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears 

to a howling mob 

and to stand and fight 

if he thinks he's right. 

Treat him gently, 

but do not cuddle him, 

because only the test 

of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage 

to be impatient... 

let him have the patience to be brave. 

Teach him always 

to have sublime faith in himself, 

because then he will have 

sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,

but see what you can do... 

He is such a fine fellow, 

my son!

Maternal depression affects language development in babies

Maternal depression and a common class of antidepressants can alter a crucial period of language development in babies, according to a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Harvard University and the Child Family Research Institute (CFRI) at BC Children's Hospital.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study finds that treatment of maternal depression with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) can accelerate babies’ ability to attune to the sounds and sights of their native language, while maternal depression untreated by SRIs may prolong the period of tuning.“This study is among the first to show how maternal depression and its treatment can change the timing of language development in babies,” says Prof. Janet Werker, the study's senior author. “At this point, we do not know if accelerating or delaying these milestones in development has lasting consequences on later language acquisition, or if alternate developmental pathways exist. We aim to explore these and other important questions in future studies.”

End Of Watch

There’s nothing in David Ayer’s cop drama End of Watch that you haven’t already seen, but the film has moments so riveting that you might not care too much. Ayer has done the macho police thing before: He wrote the momentous Training Day (2001), in which a very angry Denzel Washington played a crooked cop, and he wrote and directed the problematic-but-compelling Harsh Times (2005), in which an even angrier Christian Bale played a crooked vet trying to become a cop. The characters in End of Watch match the ones in those films for sheer jacked-up explosiveness, but this time, the boys in blue are never actually dirty – though they are rowdy, arrogant, and occasionally even stupid. Gone are the moral complications and ethical gray areas of Ayer’s earlier work: Ably played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, young partners Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala always stand on the right side of the law, in between bouts of jawing at each other or talking about their girls. And in a movie world where cops are always expected to be compromised in some way, these guys are refreshingly old-fashioned.

Perhaps needless to say, it’s that do-the-right-thing attitude that causes our heroes some trouble, as they get a little too in the way of a Mexican drug cartel that’s taken foothold in the slums of Los Angeles. But who can blame them, when the cartel is doing inexplicably evil things like chopping people up and leaving their body parts rotting in pools of blood and filth in abandoned buildings?

GOOD PARENTING & CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. R. A. R. Perera MBBS(Cey) M.Sc.Psych.(Col)F.R.A.C.G.P.(Aus)

Consultant Psychologist

Police Hospital, Colombo.

Most children show isolated psychological symptoms at one time or another and to a considerable extent, these are a normal part of growing up. However, some children suffer from psychological disorders that interfere with normal development. Accordingly, one of the first tasks when a child is referred to a psychologist is to assess whether the child has a disorder.

In this context, a psychological disorder can be defined as behavioural or emotional symptoms that are so prolonged or so severe as to cause suffering to the child or to others, social restriction or impairment of normal development. Some symptoms, such as fire-setting or deliberate self-harm, are so extreme that they need only occurs once to be regarded as abnormal. Most symptoms are only abnormal, however, if they persist and if they are seen in several situations, and should be regarded as a disorder only if they lead to impairment.

Diagnosis/assessment – 1. Age and sex appropriateness, 2. Socio-Cultural settings, 3. Duration, 4. Pervasiveness, 5. Type of symptom.

Impairment – 1. Suffering to the child, 2. Handicap to the parents, 3. Social impairment, 4. Interference with development.

Emotional Disorders

Most emotional disorders of childhood are exaggerations of normal development trends. The on set is usually during the developmentally appropriate age period, For example, it is normal for infants to show a degree of anxiety over separation from people they are attached. When this anxiety becomes severe, or persists in to later childhood or adolescence, it is termed separation anxiety disorder, similarly, when stranger anxiety disorder is justified. In adolescence, specific fearfulness, though less common, usually takes the form of school refusal or adult type neurotic disorders, such as social phobia or agoraphobia.

Anxiety disorders are among the commonest psychological problems in childhood and occurring in about 3% of 10 years olds. Genetic factors are important. The parents are often anxious and communicate their anxiety by behaviors such as over-protectiveness. Some cases of anxiety, particularly specific fears, are precipitated by stress.

Chinghiz Aitmatov - (Guru Geethaya)

Treading on overused territory - The Forbidden Kingdom:

Running along the familiar territory of a dozen martial arts movies in which the helpless victim turns underdog, Rob Minkoff's Jackie Chan and Jet Li starrer The Forbidden Kingdom is no exception. This martial arts epic comprises many time tested clichés yet provides an enjoyable watch for kung-fu fans.

The movie begins with the legend of the immortal Monkey King imprisoned in stone by the evil Jade War Lord. Many years later the Monkey King's fighting staff comes into the possession of Jason Tripitikas, a nerdy kid in Boston who also happens to be a die hard kung-fu fan.

While being beaten up by bullies in the back alley Jason is transported back to ancient China where he is expected to return the staff to its rightful owner.

During his quest he meets martial arts expert Lu Yan and is aided by the vengeful Golden Sparrow, a mysterious monk who has his own allegiance to the Monkey King and an orphaned female warrior seeking revenge against the warlord for killing her parents.

Lu and the monk becomes Jason's kung-fu teachers and prepares him for battle as they journey to the warlord's far away kingdom. Although he seems hopeless at the art at first glance, Jason gradually learns how to take command and even manages to scare away the bullies who had him under their thumb back at home. The team even has to battle with a white-haired witch named Ni Chin who is seeking a means of becoming immortal, before facing their final opponent, the evil Jade.

These kind of storyline has existed since cinema began and it seems a shame that the team could not come up with a novel twist to the tale. Not only is the ending predictable but so is the beginning and middle. Make a few alterations to some scenes and introduce new characters to the stereotyped martial arts movies and you will get a picture of what to expect even before you have watched the The Forbidden Kingdom.

Chan manages to earn a few laughs as the drunken martial arts teacher, Lu Yan. Despite his serious avatar Li too manages to dish out some memorable moments.

Taking Lives A Disappointment

One positive thing that can be said about D. J. Caruso’s (The Salton Sea) Taking Lives is that it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy of every thriller out there. Perhaps it’s because the movie, for the most part, appears more concerned with telling a story than twisting its narrative into a pretzel. But the movie voids a lot of good will with a cheesy ending. This is just the kind of denouement I was hoping Taking Lives wouldn’t sink to, yet it does.Jolie, who has rarely been better, plays FBI profiler Illeana Scott, a Washington D.C.-based Sherlock Holmes who is on special assignment in Montreal, helping her old friend, Captain Leclair (Tchécky Karyo), hunt down a serial killer. The presence of an outsider is welcomed by one of Leclair’s men, Duval (Jean-Hughes Anglade), and despised by another, Paquette (Olivier Martinez). Meanwhile, Illeana immediately gets results, interviewing murder witness James Costa (Ethan Hawke), who puts her on the trail of Martin Asher (Kiefer Sutherland), a man thought killed 20 years ago, but whose mother (Gena Rowlands) now believes to be alive and in Montreal.

There is a twist of sorts in Taking Lives, but it’s less preposterous than has become the norm for this genre. Also, since the story is more about Illeana’s character than the whodunit aspect of the crimes, the surprise revelation doesn’t come across as the work of a cinematic P.T. Barnum. There is a car chase, but, rather than being the film’s action centrepiece, it is presented as a necessary plot device that’s short and to the point. Plot holes exist, but they are relatively well camouflaged. Nevertheless, the ending reeks of having been re-shot at the behest of displeased focus groups. It’s silly and contrived, and far below the standard established by the previous 85 minutes. Maybe I’m wrong – perhaps the fault lies in the source material, a novel by Michael Pye (which I haven’t read). Perhaps Caruso filmed what was originally in Jon Bokenkamp’s adaptation. Regardless of how it ended up on screen, however, the closing act represents Taking Lives’ Achilles heel.

The movie has two evident assets. The first is the location. American movies rarely take place north of the border (although plenty are filmed in Toronto, but the city is almost always standing in for New York), so the use of the French Canadian scenery represents a pleasant change-of-pace. The shift away from a New York or Chicago makes the film visually less formulaic. There are also some nice stylistic touches, including one legitimate scare that shocked me out of my seat.

ඉරුවාරදයට ඉරේ බලපෑමක් නෑ (Migraine)

කොළඹ ජාතික රෝහලේ

කායික රෝග පිළිබඳ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය

ප්‍රදීප් කුමාරසිංහ

හිසරද පිළිබඳ කතා කරන විට ඉරුවාරදය නිසා ඇතිවන හිසරදය විශේෂයෙන් සඳහන් කළ යුතුය.

ඉරුවාරදය (Migraine) නම් රෝගී තත්ත්වය ඇතිවන්නේ රුධිර නාළ හා සම්බන්ධ මොළයේ තිබෙන රසායන ද්‍රව්‍යයක ඇතිවන ප්‍රතික්‍රියාවක් නිසාය. ඉරුවාරදයේ දී ඇතිවන අපහසුතාවය හැර එයින් භයානක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් අත් නොවේ. එසේ වුවද මෙය ඉතාම කරදරකාරී රෝගී තත්ත්වයකි. එසේම මෙය ඉතාම සාර්ථකව පාලනය කළ හැකිය.

ඉරුවාරදයේදී ඇතිවන රෝග ලක්ෂණ මේවාය.

* ඇස් පෙනීම අඩු වී යාම.

* සමහර විට දීප්තිමත් එළි පෙනීම.

* දැඩි විඩාපත් ගතියක් නිදිමතක් දැනීම.

* වමනයට එන ගතියක් කෑම අරුචියක් දැනීම.

* එළිය ඇති තැනක සිටීමට අපහසු වීම.

ඉරුවාරදයේ දී ඇතිවන හිසේ කැක්කුම මතු වන්නේ සතියකට දින 2 ක් හෝ 3 ක් විය හැකිය.

ඉරුවාරදය ඇතිවන රෝගීන්ගේ 60% ක් 70% ක් පමණ අවස්ථාවල දී හිසරදය ඇතිවන්නේ හිසේ එක් පැත්තකය; වම් පැත්තේ හෝ දකුණු පැත්තේ ය.

සමහර ඖෂධ නිසාත් ඉරුවාරදය ඇති වෙනවා අධික රුධිර පීඩනය ඇදුම පාලනය කරන බෙහෙත් ඒ අතරින් ප්‍රධානය.

ඉරුවාරදය සඳහා ද ඉතා ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ ඖෂධ අද ඇත. ඒ මඟින් ඉරුවාරදය ඉතාම හොඳින් පාලනය කළ හැකිය. ඉරුවාරදය ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන්ම ඖෂධ කාණ්ඩ දෙකක් ලබා දේ. ඒ ඉරුවාරදය වළක්වා ගැනීමට ලබා දෙන ඖෂධයන් සහ රෝග ලක්ෂණ අඩු කිරීම සඳහා දෙනු ලබන ඖෂධයන්ය.

එසේම ඉරුවාදරය නිසා ඇතිවන හිසේ කැක්කුම බොහෝ වේලාවක් පවතී.

එය පැය හතරේ සිට දින දෙකක්, තුනක් දක්වා වුවද පැවතිය හැකිය.

වෙන ඕනෑම හිසරදයක් මෙතරම් වේලාවක් පවතින්නේ නැත.

ඒ හැර ඉරුවාරදයට ඉරේ බලපෑමක් නැත.

Silumina - 

Sepala Ekanayake - The man who hijacked a plane to meet his love

Remember Sepala Ekanayake? He was the Sri Lankan who gained international notoriety when he hijacked an Alitalia Boeing 747 with 340 passengers on June 30, 1982, in midair between New Delhi and Bangkok all for the love of his son. The hijack drama ended peacefully with Sepala obtaining his demands. 

Sepala Ekanayake was born on June 3, 1949, in the village of Karatota in the Matara District. Educated at the village school and Yodakandiya Vidyalaya in Hambantota, he was a revolutionary even as a child. 

In 1972 Sepala went to West Germany in search of greener pastures. . While in Germany, Sepala Ekanayake cultivated a friendship with an Italian girl called Anna Aldrovandi. They married in 1977. In 1980 they went to live in Modena Italy and had a son who was named Free Ekanayake. 

In the meantime, Sepala lost his Italian visa and requested the Italian authorities to issue a fresh one. But their advice was for Sepala to go to Sri Lanka and obtain a visa from the Italian Embassy in Colombo. When he came to Sri Lanka, however the Italian Embassy here asked him to wait for six years to get a visa. 

Having failed in every attempt to re-join his wife and son in Italy, Sepala became a very angry and frustrated man. His plan was to hijack an Italian passenger plane and put forward his demands to the Italian authorities through the pilot. 

On the 30th of June 1982 Sepala Ekanayake went to New Delhi airport with a number of accomplices and waited for the Alitalia Boeing 747 from Rome on its way to Tokyo. When the plane landed Sepala made himself comfortable in a rear seat. 

After taking off from New Delhi airport when the plane rose to the cruising level of 35,000 feet Sepala put his plan into action. First he sent a letter to the pilot, in which he gave the reasons for hijacking and the demands. The first demand was to bring his wife and the son to the Bangkok airport and the second was a ransom of 300,000 US Dollars.

Sri Lanka ZINDABAD, enter T20 final

Pakistan suffer 16-run defeat:

Magnificent bowling by Anjelo Mathews 2 for 27, Ajantha Mendis 2 for 27 and Rangana Herath 3 for 25 helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 16 runs and enter the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup final at the R.Premadasa Stadium,under lights, yesterday.

Once again it was the cool and calculated captaincy of Mahela Jayawardene that brought about a memorable victory for Sri Lanka. He handled his bowlers cleverly and placed fields that the Pakistani batsmen could not penetrate. He was rightly adjudged the man of the match. In reply to Sri Lanka’s 139 for 4 in 20 overs, Pakistan could manage only 123 for 7 in 20 overs.

In their quest of 140 for victory openers Mohammed Hafeez and Imran Nazir put on 31 before Nazir was beaten and bowled by a beauty from Ajantha Mendis for 20 in 21 balls with 3 fours.

Vice Captain Anjelo Mathews coming on to bowl his second over rocked the Pakistanis when he had the wickets of Nasir Jamshed for 4 and Kamran Akmal for 1 to leave them at 57 for 3.

Then Rangana Herath bowled Shoaib Malik for 6 and Pakistan was struggling on 64 for 4. Umar Akmal the most dangerous batsman in the Pakistani side was dropped a sitter by Lasith Malinga at deep mid on and that was the drop that nearly let the Pakistanis off the hook.

Herath had two more wickets that of Mohammed Hafeez for 42 and next ball bowled Sahid Afridi for no score to leave Pakistan tottering at 91 for 6.

Tillekeratne Dilshan who usually plays the role of hero, this time round was guilty of playing the role of villain, crawling to 35 runs in 43 balls which put the advantage of winning the toss to no avail and made the Sri Lankan batting pedestrian.

From evening the cricket crazy spectators were streaming in and when the first ball was bowled the stands were bursting at the seams. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene ended his streak of losing tosses by winning this all important toss and was all smiles as he said ‘we’ll bat’. The wicket was the same on which the women’s semi-final was played, but it got a rolling over before the men’s semi began.

The wicket looked good for batting, with the ball coming nicely on to the bat and a score of anything over 150 or 160 could be a winning one.

Sri Lanka made one change from the team that played the winning one against England at Pallekele bringing in left arm spinner Rangana Herath and benching Akila Perera.

Pakistan left out all rounder Abdul Razzaq and gave left arm medium pace bowler the left armer Sohail Tanvir a bowl. Razzaq’s dropping was inexplicable. The Sri Lanka openers could not get going and give their side the belligerent start that is so vey essential in this style of game, with the first six overs only producing 34 runs.

With Tillekeratne Dilshan in shackles – scoring only 19 in 30 balls at one stage, it was left to Jayawardene to push the runs. He played his usual signature cover shots and the reverse sweep intelligently, but playing it too often skied a catch to Hasan at short fine leg. He made 42 in 36 balls with 7 fours and was out at 63.

Sri Lanka then lost Kumar Sangakkara for 18 in 11 balls with 3 fours, Tillekeratne Dilshan for 35 in 43 balls with 3 fours, Jeevan Mendis for 15 in 18 with one four. It was left to Thisara Perera to come in and bludgeon two fours off an Umar Gul over to finally take Sri Lanka to 139 for 4, which was not formidable a score. Perera had 11 in 7 balls with 2 fours and Anjelo Mathews 10 in 6 with one four. They put on 21 in 12 balls which was the only bright spot in the Lankan batting.

Sri Lanka 
M. Jayawardene c Hasan b Afridi  42 
T. Dilshan lbw b Gul   35 
K. Sangakkara c Malik b Hafeez  18 
J. Mendis st Kamran b Ajmal  15 
T. Perera not out   11 
A. Mathews not out   10 
Extras: (b3, nb1, w4)    8 
Total: (for four wickets, 20 overs) 139 
Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-84 , 3-117, 4-118.
Bowling: Tanveer 3-0-11-0 (w1), Hasan 4-0-26-0, Ajmal 4-0-33-1 (w1), 
Afridi 4-0-28-1, Hafeez 2-0-12-1 (w1), Gul 3-0-26-1 (nb1, w1) 

Pakistan 
Mohammad Hafeez st Sangakkara b Herath 42
Imran Nazeer b A. Mendis  20 
Nasir Jamshed lbw b Mathews   4 
Kamran Akmal c Jayawardene b Mathews  1 
Shoaib Malik b Herath    6 
Umar Akmal not out   29 
Shahid Afridi b Herath    0 
Sohail Tanveer st Sangakkara b A. Mendis 8 
Umar Gul not out    2 
Extras: (lb2, w9)   11 
Total: (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 123 
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-55, 3-57, 4-64, 5-91, 6-91, 7-113.
Bowling: Mathews 4-0-27-2, Kulasekara 3-0-15-0 (w2), Malinga 4-0-19-0 (w7), 
A. Mendis 4-0-27-2, Perera 1-0-8-0, Herath 4-0-25-3.

Daily News by Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted: Not something you would crave for

After the enjoyable Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, it is truly tragic to see the turn of events that takes place in its flimsy sequel Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. The movie relies on low character development, insignificant action and bland jokes.

The action begins directly where the 2008 sequel has left off. Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippopotamus are struck with homesickness in the African wilderness. They romp through the casinos of Monte Carlo searching for the penguins so that they could all return to their Central Park zoo life. Unfortunately they soon have an animal control cop Chantel Dubois hot on their trail.

Faced with the crisis of not being able to fly to New York the animals stumble upon a circus that is on a tour across the world and realize that one of their stops is at their hometown.

The biggest let down of the movie is that all the characters seem to look alike. They all possess comical, eager-to-please-wide-eyed-looks. Even new additions like Stefano the sea lion and Gia the jaguar do not possess any unique characteristics. Directors Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath and Conrad Vernon should have taken note of this fact and etched different traits and features to the animations. Dubois’ character especially seems rather silly and is presented with the hope of bringing comedy rather that weaving a decent storyline.

Leadership qualities

You might wonder why we are discussing the subject of leadership once again. Leadership is a one single word but the amount of things covered under this word is enormous. The four pillars of an organization are Leadership, Management, Command and Control. They are important for every leader and manager to understand because they directly drive the organization. Used properly, the business will grow; used improperly, the business will sink which is why we discuss about the leadership once more and there will be many discussions on this subject even in the time to come.

Just because people are in leadership positions does not make them leaders. People are often placed into leadership positions well before they are ready to lead. But regardless, people will still look to them as their leader and expect them to lead them in the right direction. Certain Leaders whom I know were placed in the leadership before they were ready. The problem in this situation is that they did not have a chance to develop before they started to lead.

In my view, a leader is one who leads and his ability to influence and at the same time motivate all the people around him and to control their minds and achieve all of the desired objectives is what is meant by leadership. So, in order to lead it is very much important that one should have certain leadership qualities in him. A leader is a person who in fact walks the talk. He leads a group of people by motivating them.

As a leader, each and every word that he speaks and each and every action that he takes in fact should convey a certain message to his people. But it rarely happens in Sri Lanka. No one is a born leader.

Here again we have seen certain people as born leaders. However, this fact is often argued that leaders are always born natural and not made. Even if we take this as a truth, still one fact remains that most of the leaders learn leadership qualities over a period of time. Some of the most important qualities of a leadership are the ability to handle pressure without actually losing your focus. A good leader would always rise against the highest tide facing it boldly.