Poet Lost

It was 25 years ago today when the world lost John Lennon. I wasn’t even born at that point, but it only serves to highlight the timelessness of the man and his music. Twenty five years on and he continues to inspire a new generation. I can’t add more because everything that needs to be said has been said.

RIP John Lennon (1940-1980)

Thank you.

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you are probably aware that I set up a bulletin board a few days back. Sadly, I had to take it off because it needs quite a bit of diskspace and I have only 20MB with this account.

Considering the limited resources at hand, I’ve decided to host a website instead. The new site ‘Postlost - Theena Kumaragurunathan musing about the mundane‘ will be an online archive of creative writing work and essays that I worked on.

The design of the site is, I admit, very simplistic, but its the best I could do with my limited knowledge of HTML and web design software. Overall, I am happy with the way it turned out though. Right now, only the home page is functional, but I will be additional pages everyday. Suggestions for improving the design from experienced web developers would be welcome.

I recently completed an assignment for my International Relations class on the French Revolution and its impact on the spread of the democractic form of government. I was quite happy with the way it turned out, considering that I worked on the entire assignment 24 hours before it was due.

I am not sure when the grades for the assignment will be released, but I would like an opinion from people who are experts on the subjects. Any students of political science, history or international relations out there who read my blog on a regular basis? If so, I would really appreciate your input on my paper. It can be found here

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Two news reports - one good, the other scary - caught my attention today. The latter honestly gave me a mini heart attack. Asian Tribune posted a story on the ‘Acquisition of nerve gas and other lethal chemical weapons by the LTTE‘. Excerpts that stood out for me:

Eastern sources which revealed this information to “Asian Tribune” and has now confirmed that this special task force is in possession of chemical weapons with instructions from the LTTE leader to use these weapons only against Karuna cadres. This specific instruction was given to the cadres, because the foreign power which provided these chemical weapons to the LTTE has reportedly obtained from the Sri Lankan rebels an assurance that they should not use these weapons against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

And then this:

There are suspicions that a West European country closely aligned with the LTTE and which espouses LTTE’s causes may be the offender. This West European country, it is said, might have provided these chemical and other modern weapons to the LTTE via another East European country under a bi-lateral agreement with that country with special secret instructions for onward shipment to the Vanni based Sri Lankan terrorist organisation.

I haven’t seen this covered in the local print media, so I don’t know whether this is journalistic excellence on the part of Asia Tribune or simple fear-mongering. Either way, I was, and am still, very concerned. I like to hear the everyone’s thoughts as well.

If anyone has come across any mention of this in other media channels, please be kind enough to mention the source. A link would be great too.

At the other end of the spectrum is this piece of news on Lankannewspapers.com.

Apparently a group of people representing ex-pat Tamils in UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada Denmark and Norway have called for the total ban of the LTTE in Europe. In addition - and this is the part that I love - they’ve rejected the LTTE’s claim as the ’sole representative of the Tamil people’.

Being a Tamil myself, I’ve heard tales of ex-pats being asked to ‘contribute’ for the ‘Tamil cause’. The ones who don’t are blacklisted and will endure the wrath of the respective LTTE body in that country.

Yep. Apparently that is how you become a sole representative of a demographic.

My heart rejoices in the knowledge that there are people who still stand up for their rights instead of being brainwashed sheep.

I applaud you good sirs.

I’ve been working on a Bulleting Board (BB) / forum lately for the simple reason that there is a dearth on quality BBs dedicated to SL. Lankansoc is probably the one exception, but its mainly made up of expatriates and Lankan students in the UK.

The BB is finally live, but still very much in a testing phase. You can find it here. Sri Lanka Assorted Bullshit (or SLAB) aims to be a place for quality discussions free of wannabes, extremists and idiots of any kind.

If you happen to be any of the above, don’t bother visiting.

Sorry for the silence, but I’ve been rather busy at work. My studies also have demanded more attention; thus, I have little time for blogging.

I had to however post today on an event that could have huge implications on Sri Lankan cricket. News of Sanath Jayasuriya’s axing from the Sri Lankan squad for the test series against India finally brought home the realization that the man’s career is in its winter years.

Throughout the recent Indian one day series, he has looked a mere shadow of his former self. Injuries to the sholder haven’t helped matters. In a way, his dropping could be a blessing in disguise. What he needs right now is to get back into the right mental frame of mind, and to be physically fit, before the season’s real test begins: a trip to Australia. This, of course, is under the assumption that he will be selected for that series in the first place.

Of equal, if not more, concern is the other big surprise that has come about from the current series. Chaminda Vaas replacing Mahela Jayawardene as vice-captian looks, atleast on paper, to be one that is merely a reactionary move following the terrible performance of the team in the current Indian series. But Cricinfo’s Charlie Austin gives a frankly disconcerting report on some of the events that might have led to the Jayawardene’s domotion and Vaas’ subsequent promotion.

I’ve been following Austin’s reports for over a year now and I am well aware that his access to the Sri Lankan team is relatively high. His relationship with the players - especially with Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan - is something that even most local reporters don’t enjoy. Therefore, his analysis of events, sometimes, carries with it a hint of team dynamics and the social structures in place. This is one of the few times I can recall being perturbed by his report.

Its no secret that since 1996, Sri Lanka cricket has been a tool for politicians and power hungry businessmen. In light of such events, it was remarkable that the team itself suffered very little; of the three South Asian cricket super-powers, Sri Lanka has always prided itself as a united team with little or no squables. As a loyal fan, I can only hope and pray that will still be the case in the future.

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine when she mentioned the (in)famous Da Vinci Code, and inquired if I had ever read it. Well, I certainly have read it, and I made it clear that I didn’t think much of it.

That reminded me of the review I wrote on 17th October 2004 - a day after I compleated reading Dan Brown’s ‘novel’. I’ll post it here for those who are curious:

Its less than 24 hours since I completed reading Dan Brown’s novel, and I wanted to write what I thought of the book.

First things first. What is this book all about? The Da Vinci Code is a novel, and as novels go it should not be treated seriously. Unfortunetly, this book does something that most works of fiction rarely touch upon - the divinity of Jesus, the truth of the Holy Grail, and how Leonard Da Vinci supposedly hid codes in some of his great paintings - codes which would reveal the ultimate secret of Jesus. This secret, the novel claims, is something so powerful that the Catholic Church would do anything to stop it from being exposed. Okay, so after reading of such a plot, readers would forgive themselves for having bitten the bait and purchased it.

I am not a Christian. I do not claim to understand some of the Bibical references in the novel. I am no art historian either. I have always been intrigued by the enigma that is Leonardo and his work, but I know nothing more than the fact that Splinter (the rat in Ninja Turtles) admired him and named the eldest of the Turtles after him. Therefore, you won’t find me questioning Brown’s claims.

I do, however, read. And reading is something that I enjoy; something that I savour. A good book for me would leave a permenant imprint in my mind. When I pick a novel to read, I expect a few things - well rounded charachters, good diolouge, an original plot and most importantly I need great prose dammit.

Brown’s novel only gave me a plot. As I mentioned earlier, the plot is the very reason that I wanted to read it. The plot wis the very reason that I kept asking my friends if they had read it. The plot is the very reason that these same friends purchased the novel for themselves. And the plot is the reason that I almost purchased it myself. (Fortunetly, I didn’t. Thanks to Tweety for giving me a copy) The plot is the only reason I can attribute for the novel’s phenomenal sucess.

Hey Jesus wasn’t a divine entity, dude! I read this awesome novel from this Brown guy. And don’t even get me started on what the Mona Lisa is all about. You just have to read it.

Conspiracies have a way of enticing us to do stupid things, don’t they? Where am I going with this long diatribe? Hang on, I am getting to it.

Brown’s greatest skill is the same skill possessed by Sidney Sheldon, Daniel Steele, Barbara Taylor Bradford, James Patterson and hell even Mario Puzo (But he wrote the Godfather. He is forgiven). They have the ability to write tales are pre-concieved for the modern reader who has little time to waste on reading novels with grace, charm and are heavy. Instead we want something that is light, fast and is unputdownable (Cliche, I know) That is exactly what Brown has given us. Something that is fast and unputdownable.

From the moment I started this novel there were two voices in my head - one pushing me to get back to the novel; to hell with all the work that have piled up over the week. The other telling me that this was nothing more than pulp fiction, cleverly masking behind “impecable research”. Unfortunetly, the former won.

Brown’s charachters -Robert Langdon, Sophie Neveau, Sir Leigh Teabing, Silas and Bishop Aringarosa - are two dimensional and easily forgettable. Langdon likes nothing more than symbols so he could start off his various lecturtes. I call them ‘lectures’ because his diolouge throughout the novel resembles one - even when he is being chased by the French police and a mad monk. Neveau likes nothing better than cracking codes. Teabing, the most ridiculous charachter is also, strangely enough, the most colorful (What do you expect with a name like Teabing?) as he plots the downfall of the Catholic church - at least he gets the best diologue throughout (”Robert, you brought me a virgin?”, “If you step into my plane, inspector, my lawyers will have your testicles for breakfast”).

The Da Vinci Code is many things to many people. For me, it is a I will never read it again. For people who want a better plot, better writing, and a more unforgettable read, do yourselves a favour: seek out ‘Mission’ by Patrick Tilley. I believe that it is now out of print and very hard to get. I was lucky enough to find a copy in the local library. I know what I will be reading next. It won’t be any offering by Dan Brown.

Genius, the old adage goes, is forever. Anand Vasu at Cricinfo, it seems, couldn’t agree more. And who can blame him? Yesterday, six months since he last played an international game of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar showed the world of cricket why, with the exception of Brian Lara, he has no match.

Following the text based commentary on Cricinfo, the sense of excitement at the ground was almost tangible; the prospect of Sachin returning – the Sachin of old whose shot-making rendered experienced writers almost wordless - was too much for Indian cricket fans.

‘God is back’, a journalist was supposed to have said yesterday.

Indeed.

Welcome back, Sachin. The world of cricket missed you.

If there is one thing I love about broadband Internet access, it is the freedom to download and tryout a variety of new (and free) software. One of my recent favourites is the new Google Desktop search tool. Much like its predecessor, this is a very good search tool indexing media files, documents, emails, and chat transcripts. Finding files is now only seconds away, which is not always the case when using Windows native search function.

Version two of Google Desktop, however, goes beyond the realms of search. Gone is the cute little icon that sits on your system tray, waiting for you to double click when you are trying to find a file in your local machine. The new version comes with a sidebar that integrates the search function with a RSS newsreader, a email indexer that provides previews to emails that you’ve received (text only) and Google’s own News index.

What it ultimately means is that the user has access to a world of information at his/her fingertips. You can customize the sidebar so that the information that is presented relates directly to your area of interest. If you look at the screenshot below, you’ll notice the Newsreader (under ‘Web Clips’) holds information relating to cricket. That is because I’ve loaded the RSS feeds of Cricinfo and BBC Cricket into it. Every time those pages are updated, I’ll be immediately notified. Its also a great way of keeping updated with your favourite blogs.

The email archive is a funny tool that I haven’t still worked out. It does a good job at indexing email that you receive on your computer, provided that you use a local email client such as Outlook or Outlook Express. The client also has to be opened for the index to be updated immediately. Once its updated, and assuming that the email is in text format, you can preview the email simply by clicking the respective item. This doesn’t happen all the time though and its something that I am looking into.

The email tool is also supposed to archive your Gmail. According to the index status page on my sidebar, it is still in the process of archiving mine. That makes it two months and counting.

The search function itself works like a charm and is well on its way to making the native search function of Windows obsolete (Of course a certain Bill Gates will make sure that doesn’t happen). The searches are performed at super-fast speeds and are very accurate. Also if you know your way around using Google search operators such as ‘filetype:’ etc, the process becomes even easier. I’ve only encountered problems with the searching of video files, which supposedly works, but apparently not for me.

Oh well, nothing is perfect I guess.

Click here for larger picture.

An interesting report on Cricinfo. According to recent polls, members of the Australian cricket team regard Brian Lara (55%) as the most dangerous opposition batsmen, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar (25%) and Rahul Dravid (20%).

Freddie Flintoff was voted as the most dangerous opposition bowler ahead of his Lancashire team mate Muttiah Muralitharan.

Hardly any big surprises there except for the inclusion of Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan. His record against Australia isn’t impressive when compared to his career stats. This is, I suspect, partly due to Darrel Hair, John Howard and few drunk Aussie supporters heckling the poor guy; you can only do so much when you are cheat/freak/thrower/chucker in their eyes.