Sometimes...

... life's just worth living. It really is...

Shortest Fairy Tale In The World

I was reading this post by Hijinx a while ago, which contains three short stories she had written. I liked them. She has some talent despite her claiming otherwise just to be modest, I think. Anyway, that reminded me of another short story I've heard which is the shortest fairy tale in the world and perhaps the best as well.

එකමත් එක රටක ඉතා ලස්සන රාජ කුමාරියක් ජීවත් වූවාය. දිනක් ඇය ලඟට අසු පිටින් පැමිණි කුමාරයෙක් ඔයා මා කසාද බඳිනවාදැයි අසුවේය. තරහෙන් ඔරවා අහක බලාගත් කුමරිය ගත් කටටම බෑ කීවාය. ඉන් පසු කුමාරයා චිරාත් කාලයක් සතුටින් ජීවත් විය.

Loosely translated;

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess. One day, a prince came to her on a horse and proposed to her, but she refused point blank. Then the prince lived happily ever after.

Brilliant!

Happy Weekend fellas!

My rebuttal to Mark Richardson's opinion on Murali | Sri Lanka Cricket

No, not really mine.

It's written by Mr. Dinal Gooneratne - well OK I really don't know him but he seems to be a top bloke. Anyway, follow the following link and it's worth reading and a real diplomatic go get lost to that useless prick Mark Richardson.

My rebuttal to Mark Richardson's opinion on Murali | Sri Lanka Cricket

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Facebook is more important than Shakira's body

And I promise this is not blogstituition, as there have been some talk going on about it lately. Will show you the solid facts right now and prove my point.

Up until very recently, until mid June to be precise, this is the post that got me most hits from Google search. Just go ahead and Google something like Shakira's Body and my post comes right up there. And you'll be amazed how many people want to know about her body anyway. I used to get - I still do - at least 5 or 6 hits a day, usually more from Google for that post. These girls, I tell you. They can't just stop comparing can they? Do we men ever - and I mean EVER - go type something like Brad Pitt's Body on Google. We are content with who we are, aren't we? Round is a shape, after all.

But in June I put up these two posts. This and this. And hell, those two posts get WAY more hits that Shakira. Well, the post about her. I don't know how many hits she gets, really. Anyway, just go here and have a look if you're not sure - this is one of the places where I go to, to get my daily dose of laughter as well. Sometimes you wouldn't believe what people have to search for! Just right now I can see there somebody wanted to know What's going to happen to you this year? quiz and ended up here. I can only tell that he/she is going to be pissed after reading my post. But that was totally OK compare to this: facebook status messages to fuck with your boyfriend. Jeez these girls! I feel for the poor guy.

A bit unrelated, but some guy (or girl) Googled can i look at my mom's computer remotely? and ended up here! I don't know whether to laugh or not.

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For those who haven't seen it already, Dee has put up her Video Collage yesterday and it's really nice. Go and have a look fellas.

Why Are Aussies Being Hated So Much?

It was the 9th of June this year. The day after Sri Lanka kicked Aussies out of the ICC T20 World Cup, in grand fashion. I wake up, and log in to FB. Lo' behold, my homepage is showered with status messages, link and comments about the match from Well done Sri Lanka to Get lost Aussie fags, and there was even one saying Well done SL for winning the greatest cricket match!. Really? A T20 match? Why? The funny thing was half the people who had put 'em up don't usually watch a match if their life depends on it, and knows shit about cricket. Alright, still let's say it's OK to put a message. But the thing is, on those days - before and after - we played a shitload of matches and nobody bothered to put up a message. We won better, harder matches in more grand style, but nobody gave a shit. But here, all hell breaks loose. Why?

It's because Aussies lost - not because we won.

It always amuses me the fact that how much people love to hate them. Seriously, if Aussies lose a game somewhere, even if it's not against Sri Lanka, people still take notice. Of course it is a common thing in all sports that people love to see underdogs win, but here it's not just that. Why, I wondered many a time.

For one, and perhaps more than anything else it is because they are true champions, me thinks. Everyone envied them, and even might have admired, but mostly secretly. I remember back then in Sri Lanka it was almost seen as a crime to support Aussies or say something good about Warne. But hell, I LOVED their cricket, the way they played and the fact that they'd play so fucken hard to win. Steve Waugh was, and is, my favorite. He was a real gentleman off the field, but a goddamn bastard on it. He'd play as hard as he could and a bit more, would sledge, let his bowlers bowl bouncers after bouncer at batsmen, and take many on his body just to save a game. What would he have not done to win one. They played aggressive, good cricket and took cricket to a new level where every one's still catching up - or rather trying to catch up. Now they have fallen to the 4th place in ICC rankings, but that's just because they've failed to maintain the standards they themselves set. Not because others went past them - they'd have a hard time doing that I'm sure.

I'm sure all the other teams wished they could play the way Aussies did, and since they couldn't, they and their fans hated 'em. I've talked with many Sri Lankans who hated them asking why and nobody has given me a satisfactory answer thus far. Some would say they brought spirit of the game into disrepute. Hell, I still am having hard time understanding so as to why cricket is considered the gentleman's game. Gimme a break. This is a game where English - so called gentlemen - bowled at Bradman and Co's heads to win the Ashes. At a time protective helmets are yet to be invented. Some bowled under-arm to prevent opposition winning. A certain Charlie Grippith of West Indies injured more people with his hostile bowling than the number of matches he played. A long history of drug cheats. Ball tampering. The list goes on. Or others would say they sledged. Really? Tell me a team who doesn't? It was just the fact that they were too good at it. Sledging was always a big part of cricket - it's just it wasn't made to look such a big deal back then. Hell I think cricket would be poorer without sledging. It certainly makes a cricketer tough bastard, which is essential in particular to be a good Test player. Test cricket is not for the faint hearted. If they sledge, get back at them instead of crying about it. Arjuna did it so well that they completely stopped sledging him. Sachin hit Warne and Co all over the park mercilessly, they never sledged him again. That's the way to respond to it - not whining about it. Or sledge them back, like Sanga does. It's no big deal, do whatever you want on the field and sort them out before you come off it.

Back in the 70's and even 80's, Windies had a similar team to that of the Aussies during the last decade. They too dominated the world cricket back then, like the Aussies did lately but they were never really hated the way Aussies were. Why? Were they particularly nice and all compared to the Aussies? Perhaps a bit, but not much. They too were arrogant and aggressive. They too played hard and took it to the opposition. They too were bastards, to put it simply. But why weren't they hated so much? I think it has something to do with the era they played in. Aussies were actually unfortunate to have their best team in an era of information, where cricket is seen live, there are millions of new sources and people saw things as they happened. Back in the day, only the people who went to the ground saw what happened, and still they couldn't really hear what players talked. No microphones, no close up videos. Disputes were there, but you had to wait till the next morning, until it was published on paper to know what happened, and usually things are died down by then. Not anymore. Now people know things as they happen, and one wrong word you say and you're doomed. Media and journalists played a big part in this making cricket a bit too professional game these days. And what with being the best team on earth and all, Aussies were at the centre of attention, and one word out of line and they were practically crucified. That was the difference, and boy it is a huge difference.

Today, Aussies don't get the credit they deserve for taking cricket to a new level, because of the way they did it. Or rather, because the others couldn't do it the way they did it.

Pity.

Another Weekend Goes By...

In between getting stoned, playing some badminton and a midnight bowling session, not to mention a lot of sleep, weekend went past before you know it. Or I should have said before I know it. It was fun, but seriously, it's time we have three day weekends. Bowling was the fun bit. We had two teams and the agreements were made as to losers would buy ice cream to the winning team. Of course we won and had ice cream. At midnight.

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England regained the Ashes, and PR is being a Kalu Suddha with pumped up over it and all. On a serious note though, I will miss Freddie Flintoff. Of course he would continue to play ODIs and T20s, but it's not the same as in Tests. I'm going to miss his brutal and brilliant spells, the ones that make you all awed and inspired. I love his pose too, the one he so theatrically gets into after getting a wicket. Cricket seriously needs some more lager than life characters like him.

Talking about cricket, Dilly's two knocks were amazing too. Hope he'd make sure that they are not one offs and continue doing the same. We are seriously one opener away from being the best Test nation.

Also I feel for the Aussies. I know lot of people don't like them, but I loved their cricket. They played hard. They played to win and they took cricket to a new level during the past decade or so, and nobody still haven't been able to match them. They are not the #1 ranked team anymore because they have fallen short of the very standards they set - not because others went past them. It'd take a special team to match what they had done in the past decade.

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I watched New York, a new Hindi movie by Yash Chopra. I think so. It was a pretty OK movie. No stupid songs where the guy and the chick run around trees and such, nor there were dishum dishum type fight scenes. It talks about how people of Asian descent - specially Muslims - got harassed after 9/11 in detention centres like Guantanamo Bay. How they were systematically rounded up and harassed and all. The plot was good and the movie was watchable except for the climax. I mean, why do the Indians fuck up all the good stories in the end? They surely try to make things a bit too dramatic and fail miserably. Hope the ending was better.

I downloaded it from here, a Sinhala fellow blogger and he provides the links to torrents as well. You must check it out if you haven't already. Good place to find torrents, without having to go through torrent sites and all the comment to check if they are not fakes.

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Happy Week ahead fellas!

How to use a Time Machine

Clever, I'd say.