the black lullaby

Alright, so this weekend I discovered that anyone who says their weekends in Colombo are dull are probably lying or they’re simply too lazy to get out and have some fun. Here’s a quick glimpse into what my weekend was like in Colombo (for a change, since I seem to be out of the city more often than not).

It all started with an impromptu conversation with a very close friend about having an ice cream at Carnival. I was on my way out of the office to meet up with my friend when a colleague asked me to come play with him at the Inter-Agency Pool Tournament, which was being hosted by Leo Burnett. I really didn’t want to play because even though I’m alright with pool after a few drinks, I didn’t think I was ‘tournament’ material. However, because there was no one else to go play with my colleague I said ok. So after a quick ice cream at Carnival with my friend I dragged her along with me to Leo.

We decided to walk half way and I have to say that taking a walk along the streets of Colombo at 6.30 pm is most interesting. I believe that we’ve gotten too used to the cab services and the tri shaws that roam about freely and we don’t take in enough of the city, which has a rather remarkable personality after dark.

Anyway, we got to Leo and hung out there for a bit before the opposing team arrived to take us on. We were playing Men’s Doubles and I was ecstatic when we won the first game, especially since I played the winning shot (it really was a good shot). However, we lost the next too games and therefore were eliminated from the tournament, but I have a t-shirt that says I played so yippee! (Yes, little gestures like that make me very happy)

Afterward I hung out with my friend before we decided to go out. The plan was to do something relaxing and not really go out partying. So not long after, we hooked up with the rest of our gang who by that time were already at the Jaic Hilton listening to the music of ‘Flame’. It was a very chilled gathering but unfortunately the kitchen at the Jaic was closed and we were really very hungry. So we cringed and begged and pleaded and finally the waiters felt sorry for us and said they would toss some pasta together. But it wasn’t just any kind of pasta, it was sea food pasta and it was quite yum. The UBR at the Jaic clearly rocks for having done that. Respect!

So after the food, there was no way in hell we could have gone home so we went to Sugar instead. Now I have to say that I’m not particularly fond of Sugar because once you’re in there it’s like you’ve been thrust into a video game in which you have to try and avoid the various people who keep walking up and down aimlessly. Every time you start dancing someone decides to walk past and there isn’t a whole lot of space to use so you’re always getting tossed around and someone is always spilling their drink on you or glaring at you because you accidentally touched their butt while someone else was pushing you aside to wish his long lost cousin a happy birthday.

A few tequilas later, it didn’t matter anymore. I was just going with the flow and a new friend arrived every five minutes so it was that much nicer. But I was amazed at the amount of people I ran into that night. I met people from school, people I had worked with in the past, people I work with currently, people I’ve gone to bed with, people who I’ve wanted to go to bed with, people who’ve wanted to go to bed with me, people who I’d met at church camps, people I’d met through other people on trips, people who’ve dated my exes and the list goes on and on…

The dancing continued until four in the morning by which point I’d danced with almost everyone there! I spent most of my night dancing with a Surgeon and then I was dropped home by a Lawyer, interesting combination I thought. But I woke up early the next morning because I was having photographs of myself taken.

Got to the photographer’s place at 10.30 and he was still asleep so I read ‘The Concept of Law’ or tried to read it because almost every other sentence in the book was ‘What is law?’ Soon I had a nice home cooked lunch and began the shoot, which I must say went off very well, can’t wait to share the pictures with everyone. We tried out some amazing shots with swords and masks and various poses in a sarong and a suit. Very cool.

So was done with that and got back home late in the afternoon and got stoned out of my mind before watching ‘The Rise of the Lycans’. Tripped on it insanely and was quite intrigued at how much the gothicness of the thing appealed to me, it was like celluloid seduction! Fascinating. Have to say a few things about the movie:

I didn’t think that it lived up to the hype that came before it, although I believe the link to the first movie was very strong. I found it fucking amazing that Rhona Mitra and Kate Beckinsale actually looked so similar and that made the entire story of Victor liking the new girl because she reminded him so much of his daughter Sonia so believable. I enjoyed the movie but I wanted more of an entrancing adventure, especially because it was supposed to be the way it all began.

Moving on… after the movie I showered and went out for drinks with the adopted family. Decent Saturday evening conversation that ended with dinner at Agra. Let’s talk about the food there. Simply delectable. It was as though each dish catered to a different taste bud and you could taste the culinary craft with each bite you took. I love that place and I recommend it to anyone who likes Indian food.

After a fabulous night’s sleep I went out for a good old Sunday afternoon lunch at the adopted grandparents house. We discussed politics and theatre and the rise and fall of mankind in general before sitting down to a lovely meal followed by ice cream!

After lunch I had time to kill before the evening plan so I started watching ‘True Blood’ – an HBO Original Series starring Anna Paquin on how Vampires now freely roam among normal people and how the Japanese have created synthetic blood for them so they no longer have to kill humans to survive (trust the Japanese to have come up with synthetic blood!). I finished the first three episodes and I will be home early this evening to watch more because it’s the kind of series I could get hooked on. This also makes me strangely question my vampiric inclinations… Hmmm…

So after that, I headed out to the British School to watch Encounters. Here’s what I thought of both plays. The first one, the Waiting Room, was considerably boring. This is in no way a reflection of either Adam’s or Ranmali’s performance because they are both actors I respect very much. But I did feel that the script was slightly predictable all the way to the end, until it was revealed what they were really waiting for.

Although, I have to say kudos to Adam for having essayed the role he did. I was telling my adopted mommy, who I was with at the play, that I had questions as to whether or not Colombo was ready for my second book and its content, but after watching last night’s performance I believe they are. I think it took a lot of guts to play the role of a gay man to a predominantly Muslim audience, or so it seemed last night. The way in which it was both played and received was commendable.

The second play, Love Letters, didn’t quite reach me at the beginning. But as the story continued and as more and more of the letters were read I began to get more and more involved in the play. By the end of the play, in that hour and a half, I’d lived through the lives of two very different people whose relationship was based, primarily, on the letters they wrote each other. During the first half of the play I believed that Adam and Tracy’s acting skills were wasted simply sitting in comfortable chairs and reading those letters with their slight change of expression in responding to each others’ notes now and again. But as the play progressed I realized the power of ‘less is more’.

I don’t know whether it was because the presentation of the play reminded me a little of ‘Chatroom’ or whether the story of two friends who had a kind of love for each other none of them could properly express unless they wrote it down spoke a little too closely to my heart but by the end of the play I was in tears and I couldn’t stop crying even after I walked out of the auditorium.

I’ve always known that all we have with us in this world is very temporary but to have it displayed so vividly through a simple reading of letters made my heart tremble. To have Melissa speak of visiting her grandmother in one letter and then ten or fifteen letters later (with a lot of time having passed in between) to hear that her grandmother had passed away, it was a gentle reminder that nothing lasts forever.

A simple production with a subtle element to it that made me think so deeply about life and how much of it we waste waiting and craving and not acting on what we feel. I’d like to thank the Performing Arts Theatre Company for a wonderful evening of theatre, hope to see more soon.

Right… so that being done, we headed to Sakura for dinner, nothing new there since we eat there almost every other week. By the end of the night I was ready for Monday morning the way one ideally should be (I don’t know how that is, I’m just saying it because it feels nice to say it).

Back at work now but I have to say, if all my weekends can be as fun as this one, then it would make the week all the more worth it with all its stresses and trials and ridiculousness.

Have a great week everyone…

B.

He comes out of an alcohol induced coma and the first thing he sees is the lightning on the wall. He studies the room carefully, his eyes searching for his own breath in the darkness. There is lightning once again. This time the flash enables him to see all the books around him. The room he is in is a library of some sort. He steps out of the bed and makes his way to one of the shelves, the cold outside makes him feel naked, even though he is clothed from neck to toe.

His eyes have now adjusted themselves to the darkness and so he reaches for one of the books. He knows the writing. It isn’t his, but it is about him. He recognizes the words, each and every one of them. He knows the story, it is his own. He scans the room again and it dawns on him. These are all the chapters of his life spread out before him. There is more lightning, it is harsh and stings his eyes when it flashes through the windows. He covers his ears quickly because he knows that an ungodly sound of thunder is to follow. It does. A book falls off one of the shelves. He walks over to it and picks it up and then, begins to read it.

***

What does not matter to you will continue to not matter through every season that changes. Through the hot and the cold, the light and the dark, the good and the bad, that which means nothing will continue to mean nothing. But that which does mean something takes control of all your emotions. When something that matters to you is taken away, the world, according to you, begins to change. Your mornings and your nights start merging and it becomes difficult to tell between what is right and wrong.

I know these things because I’ve had something that mattered to me taken away once. No. Not taken away. I lost it because of my foolish ways and my immature beliefs. I understood what it felt like to hate and it consumed me. My tongue was dry with a thirst for blood and in my mind the devil had created his workshop.

The funny thing about love and hate is that they don’t exist without each other. For to hate someone you must love them first. Hate is as much an offspring of love as Lucifer is of heaven.

But as we all find out in time, love builds where hate destroys. I’ve loved and hated in equal measure and I have held on to the kind of pain that no one should feel. But… in letting it go I’ve also discovered a kind of freedom and beauty that makes me whole, at last.

***

There was confusion upon his lips. He remembered this chapter of his life. He remembered it all too well. But he did not remember the last paragraph. Where had it come from? Its presence on the page somehow completed the chapter. But that was the thing. This was the one chapter that had always remained incomplete. He had grown certain that that was how it would be forever and ever. But now, it was complete. There was a smile on his face and he didn’t know why. There was happiness in his heart. He couldn’t understand it. The storm outside was slowly passing. He could hear the sun preparing to rise in the distance. The happiness inside his heart grew and grew and grew until he thought he was dreaming. He wasn’t.

He understood at last that he had forgiven and had been forgiven. He walked over to his bed once again and looked out the window. The rain was slowly ceasing. He gazed into the gloomy sky and said: ‘thank you’ and then lay back on his bed. It was then that he noticed a yellow rose on his pillow with a note attached to it. He picked up the rose and quickly read the note. There came yet another smile that occupied his face with no intention of leaving anytime soon as tears of joy rolled down his cheeks.

The note read: ‘you are welcome’.

And it’s called the Young Lions Television Championship. Let me tell you a little bit about this. A few weeks ago, the advertising people of Colombo decided to send 3 people to compete in two interesting challenges at the Cannes Film Festival. Nice huh? Well anyway, the challenges are as follows. Each country will first host a local challenge to decide on who will represent them at Cannes. Then the winners fly to Cannes to compete with selected individuals from other countries.

The two challenges namely are… The Young Lions and Roger Hatuel. The second one is more for marketing people but I was very skeptical when my bosses nominated me from my agency to partake in the Young Lions Challenge. So the beginning was a bit tough because I didn’t have a partner. I’d decided that I didn’t want to take part in the challenge and given up on it completely when a friend from another agency called up and asked if I wanted to partner her, she is an art director and I’m a writer so the combination worked.

Throughout that day however, there were more challenges. She decided to go with someone else, I decided once again that I didn’t want to do the challenge and all was good. But later in the same day, she sent me a text saying that we were on. So I thought, what the hell? Right…

Things have been interesting since then. I soon learned that we had to compete with six other local teams, making the total challenge between 7 teams, which meant that we now have a one in seven chance of winning this thing. The odds sounded good and I got more interested. Then on Friday, the seven teams were summoned for the brief… basically we were asked to come up with television scripts to make marketing people understand the importance of advertising and why it works. So it became a bit more interesting.

So my partner and I began brainstorming and before too long we cracked an idea and went on to develop scripts. We handed them in on Friday and got ready for round two.

Saturday – we were called back to the Taj and each team was asked to pick the name of a Creative Director from a bowl. Luck of the draw and all. The seven Creative Directors watched as were told how to conduct our meetings with each of them. From the corner of my eye I studied all seven of them. Here’s a bit about them…

Sujoy – the first time I met him was when he spoke at a Creative Director’s meeting after last year’s Cannes Awards. You see he won his first Cannes last year. However, our scripts had certain local elements to them, so I was concerned as to what Sujoy could add to it.

Anusha – I’ve known Anusha from around and I’d heard a lot of her work. I’ve done voicings for her and I’ve socialized with her. But I didn’t know how we would discuss work with her, should we pick her.

Digby and Rajeev – both very interesting personalities, both full of spunk and spark of their own, both very talented. But again, there was concern as to how we would take them through what we had done and what they would add to it, no offense to them, simply our insecurities of not having spoken to them on work before.

C – the woman who introduced me to the advertising industry. I was handpicked by her and mentored and I owe 85% of what I know to the woman. She was my boss for five years and I knew of the kind of value she would have added so that was cool.

Soruban – the Executive Creative Director of LOWE, where I’m currently employed at. Soru was also my first ever Associate Creative Director when I joined JWT all those years ago.

Russell – who was my boss for two short months when I was at GME, he is someone I have a lot of respect for and admire. I know of his visual thinking and of how much he can bring into something as simple as what we’d done. I secretly hoped we’d pick him.

The teams were called to pull out the names and voila! I pick Russell!!!

After a serious session with Russell, we knew how to sharpen our script, as did the other six teams after having consulted with the CDs they had picked. Then, they brought in seven directors into the room. One of them would direct our commercial for us off a handycam. We had already arrived at the next step.

I looked at them once again, from one to another. I saw Praboda (Probe) and realized that I would be real lucky, should I pick his name because we’d worked on so many things in the past we had a good understanding in terms of television productions.

The stars must have been in the right place that day because I was shocked to open the piece of paper I’d picked out and see his name on it.

So the next part of the challenge is to produce the scripts we’ve come up with. We have until 12 noon on Wednesday to hand over our finished commercials and as we speak, all seven teams are out there trying to be the lucky winners who go to Cannes.

What else has to happen before we know who wins? I’ll tell you. So once we hand the commercials in then we present them at an event called The Green Chillies Festival on Thursday the 30th of April. People who come for the event get to vote for their favorite commercial and we get to hear the first comments on our commercials from the public, meaning our peers and fellow industry mates.

Then on Friday the 1st of May we will meet a panel of judges who will view our commercials for one last time and jot down their comments, with scores. Finally, on Saturday night, the 2nd of May, the winners of Sri Lanka’s first ever Young Lions Challenge will be announced.

So now… I’m really excited about all of this and fully inspired and hoping against all odds that my partner Megan and I will win. But hope is all we can do for the challenge is still at hand. The competition is all very good and it will be as interesting as ever. Who wins will depend on the idea and the execution of it in the end.

Here we go… will keep you updated on more developments. Wish me luck!

B.

Hello all, so it’s the weekend (again) and I’ve got good news.

My second book, “Living Their Lie” will be launching on the 26th of June 2009. Will keep those of you who are interested updated with more details i.e. venue, time, etc.

So the date is the 26th of June and that’s all I know so far.

Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend.

B.

In the year 2007 the story of King Henry VIII was given new life in the form of the Showtime Original Series – The Tudors. Not only has the show proven to be historically accurate but it’s also been applauded for its great entertainment value. The Tudors has just begun its third season and this year will see King Henry go through wives numbered three, four and five.

The original cast of the Tudors include Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry, Sam Neil as Cardinal Wolsy, Natalie Dormer as Lady Anne Boleyn – later Queen Anne of England, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Katherine of Aragon Queen of England – later Lady Katherine and Jeremy Northam.

The video you are about  to see was created by Showtime to promote the very first season of the show and to introdue its main cast.

Before Rome, before Six Feet Under, HBO launched a spectacular series called Carnivale. The show was set in the 1930’s and captured the essence of dark bohemia with every breathing moment on every episode. Two storylines ran simultaneously, one was of a travelling circus with its unique brand of freaks and the other was of a preacher who was dead set on taking the word of God out to the world. The only time the two stories came into contact was when the preacher and a simple boy at the carnival met in their dreams. Both of them have untouched pasts that are both dark and horrifying.

An outstanding cast that also consisted of Clandy Brown and Clea Duvall came together to make this the show’s two season run a successful one, although viewers believed it should have run for at least another season. One of the most talked about things of the show was its opening title sequence. The use of the Tarot fused with incidents relevant to that time frame is simply marvelous. Have a look.

The HBO hit series ROME was aired for two very successful seasons and had to be pulled off air due to budget restrictions. However, while it was on, it was one of the most talked about shows on TV. The production was a combined effort by both the BBC and HBO. The video you are about to see is the opening title sequence of the show that starred Ray Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, Indira Varma with Polly Walker, Lindsay Duncan, James Purefoy and Ciaran Hinds.

This video was from Dancing with the Stars, the fabulous show on ABC that raked in huge amounts of ratings and featured some of the best talent around. This video features Wade Robson and an amazing dance troupe shaking their booties to the song ‘Hi’ by Psapp.

It basically introduced the new season of the show and it was one of the most popular promotional videos of last year. Have a look.

Next up is the ABC Fall Lineup Promo for 2008. The video was launched in September of 2008 to highlight the most happening shows of the ABC Network. The shows that were featured include Desperate Housewives, Private Practive, Ugly Betty, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars amongst others.

The naughty housewives are back at number six with yet another stunning clip. The promotional video done for the fourth season of the hit series Desperate Housewives that stars Terry Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and Nicolette Sheridan was all about the new housewife who was arriving in town.

As the season began it was revealed that the new entrant – Katherine Mayfair – beautifully portrayed by Dana Delaney – was not new to Wisteria Lane but was part of the original set of residents at Fairview who’d left town a long time ago. Although the clip doesn’t feature Dana Delaney as Katherine Mayfair, it gave us glimpses into what was to be expected during the fourth season.