10 Second Rule Website

We're just about to launch the website for the band, where you'd be able to find music, pictures, info, etc. You will also be able to vent ur views on the band. It is built entirely on blogger and is still very much a work in progress. But pls feel free to venture into the unknown and let us know what you think. www.10secondrule.co.nr

GIG!

10 Second Rule's first live performance will be on the 3rd of August at Onyx alongside HollowpointHalo, Power Cut Circus, Paranoid Earthling and Anil Balasuriya. We will also be releasing a 10 track album entitled "Monsoon Sunday 2: Storm" on the night. Doors open at 8:30-9 pm methinks. For those of you who are not familiar with venues and who will be down in CMB during that time (i.e. RD) Onyx is at the Taj Samudra. Be there...somehow!

More 10 Second Rule Music

I've added 2 more songs from my band 10 Second Rule; "Lord Help Me" and "Still". Pls listen in on the flash mp3 player which can be found at the top right-hand corner of this page!

Rajpal at it again?

Kaiser Koyabashi (on getting beaten up) and Pradeep Jeganathan (rambuttans in jelly i believe) also found here.

Rajpal Abeynaike and the last 24 hours

Over the last 24 hours I've been acknowledged, abused by and apologised to by Rajpal. The reason for this post? Just to make sure the blog sphere (and the ever intrusive and secretive Lakbima Reporter) is kept abreast of what went down. Chaar~max, a friend of mine, asked me to deal with Lakbima news about a post of his that had been published in last Sunday's paper without his permission. We decided that the best course of action would be to ask for an apology and an explanation as to why the author was not contacted for permissions. I called up Lakbimanews and asked to speak to the editor. I was put through to the business editor, Ashwin Hemawaththegama is the name I believe, to whom I explained the situation. He took my number down. When I asked why they did it, he got abusive, told me to fuck off and hung up. I called back an hour later and asked to speak to Rajpal, and I was promptly put through. I explained what had happened and I told him that we were considering a few options, including taking legal action and also giving publicity to their ways through other media, including other newspapers. He got abusive and told me to publicise it in New York and the Great Wall of China (why he chose those two places still dumbfounds me). Again he swore at me and hung up. I called back another hour later and told him that I thought the line got cut mid conversation. I asked him why the permission of the author was not sought. He said that since the article was on a public domain, ie the www, it was usable by anyone. At this point I asked him whether he steals articles off sites such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/ without their permission. He didn't reply. I then brought his attention to the fact that there was a disclaimer on Chaar~max's site stating that the material was not for commercial use. He said he had looked through plenty of blogs and had not paid attention to any licenses or disclaimers. How convenient. He lost his cool again and started shouting at me, at which I kept saying "all we want is an apology". Again he told me to fuck off and hung up. Later yesterday, he posted a comment on a few blogs. Here's an appetizer of what he said: " we tried to contact you, but it’s not possible in most of the blogs. We did contact some of the others though, who left contact e mails" - then why did he tell me that if it's in the public domain, he doesn't care who wrote it? "It’s not as if any stuff was published without credits" - with all due respects, giving the name of the author of the article with the article is all well and good when the author is part of the team of journalists working for the newspaper, but when it is taken off a blog, or a website for that matter, sufficient credit is given only when a link to the website is provided. "As for that one abusive caller…hh, well.. its difficult to tolerate that..to put it succinctly. Can we keep the abuse out of this?" - if I was abusive, why did he bother to apologise to me? Last night, while I was having dinner, I got a text, the transcript of which is provided below. "I think it was a bit of a heat of the moment thing. sorry about that. vil it b possible 2 talk 2 u 2morrow past 2pm. Rajpal." I replied very abruptly "Call me.i'll see what I can do". This morning he messages me again. "in fact why i wanted 2 call u was 2 see if u can write fr us direct under yr psuedonym or name. if u do v vil pay u handsomely. Raj" which was quickly followed by "make that 'v will pay u reasonably'" I ignored the first, replied the 2nd and told him that I don't discuss anything over texts and if he needs to talk to me he knows how to contact me. So, after having lied profusely on his comment, he texted me apologising for his phone conduct and promising to call me today. I still await his call, but not with baited breath. I'm positive he is unable to keep to his word. Blogs are where some ppl write in order to vent. Some of those ppl, and I admit not all, do not want their work published, especially in the mainstream. Sri Lankans are taken for a ride by their own kind almost all of the time. But I'm not one to put up with it, especially when it's my friends or I who are taken on the ride. Rajpal, let me remind you, you don't get respect. You earn it.

"unusual relationships"

So the coach (Aruna Shantha) and captain (Chandima Akarawita) of the Sri Lanka women's volleyball team were fired yesterday. Who gives you may ask? I personally don't. But the reasons for dismissal are hilarious. The national women's coach has been banned for 10 years from all activities pertaining to the sport while the captain has lost her status for a period of 2 years. So it must be a serious breach of conduct don't you think? Well, yes and no. The coach was found in a player's room, which, for obvious reasons, is out of bounds for a male when the whole the team is a bunch of females. Now I think it was fair that he lost his spot. I mean, if he wanted to get a fuck, he didn't need to go on tour for it. By letting his hormones get the better of him while on tour, he lost out on his professional judgment and thus should be penalised. Well done volleyball association. Now the captain? Read this. "Chandima lost her status for maintaining an “unusual relationship” with a team-mate Devika Kapilakumari who was severely warned and discharged." What a bloody laugh! What I don't understand is why bring out the players' sexual orientation, which, in effect, should be personal anyway! The reason for the discharge should have been the same as the coach. Why go to extra lengths to disgrace the players and then name them as well? "Unusual relationship"? Bollocks I say! A little tact would do them good.

10 Second Jam Session

After a lapse of 2 weeks, we managed to find time to get together for a jam in our trusted joint in Dehiwela. Since we're all working class, the sessions have to be in the night, and this joint is the only one we know of that'll let us play as loud as we want at that time of the night. The place is not the greatest. It does have air-conditioning which is a big plus. Viran (the owner) has also done a bit of a DIY sound-proofing which adds to the ambience. The room is actually quite small but is big enough for the 3 of us + KP (KP came along to watch us and we ended up making him play percussions on a bass! haha. (yes we're still short of a bassist)). The drum kit could've been a lot better though, considering there's only half a high hat left (the last time we came the other half was there but almost falling off). But, we don't complain. We can't afford to. So we set up quite quickly, as we play only for 2 hours on one night per week, and had to make the best of our time. We breezed through a 7 song set that included 5 originals and 2 covers (including All these things that i've done - The Killers). We were mucking up in style on maybe 2 songs. Decided to change things around and it sounded great! I decided to do a few things differently to see if it'll add a new flavour to some of the songs. Played around with my amp and put a little delay on the solo for Rain Come and I loved the sound I got. That's probably a change that'll stay! This is definitely turning out to be a good thing. We're thinking of putting more songs out within the next week or so watch this space!

Jazz Sunday?

I've been dying to go for ages. But each month something always came up. I heard that this time it had been postponed from the 1st of July to this coming Sunday (due to the CR - Kandy match). Can anyone confirm that?

HTML help needed!

Bloggers, I need some help! I'm working on the website for 10 Second Rule, which i'm gonna have hosted on blogger, so that it's a band blog rather than a band website. The problem is i'm having HTML woes. I don't know the language at all, so I can't troubleshoot. See, the issue is, I've uploaded the above picture as my header. On IE7 it sits perfectly, all centred and in the right place. But in firefox, as u can see above, the header jumps the container by about 5px (the grey bits being outside the container). How can i fix that? If any of you can help me, i'll give you the required permissions to the blog in order to rearrange it for me. If you can tell me here, i'd still be grateful! Pls help! Pls comment if you can help!

A tribute to buffets...

A lazy Sunday afternoon is only truly complete when you sit yourself down at a nicely laid table and tug at the starched napkin, in preparation to feast for two hours. I hadn't done this in quite a while. But yesterday was THE day. The Blue Waters Sunday buffet is out of this world. I can't even remember all the types of food that I guided into my salivating mouth, but my tummy sure does when it is still trying to process the hefty quantities, nearly 24 hours later. So smoked seer and mutton korma apart, our table conversation revolved around buffet manners and etiquette. The girls, being all prim and proper, were not prepared to dig in with their fingers when needed. The boys, on the other hand, were adamant that a little farting and burping is required when stuffing yourself with copious amounts of food. See, the theory behind that is, when you swallow a mouthful, you swallow with it air which is already in your throat. So when the air gets into your tummy, it takes valuable space that could well have been attributed to food. So in order to make more room for the yummy food that the chefs took all morning to prepare, which would, in effect, go to absolute waste if we don't stuff more than what our tummy's can hold, we need to fart and burp a little to get rid of the wretched air in our stomachs. Comprehendo? So Salads, bread, 2 servings of main course, a hefty dessert and 2 hours later, we were sprawled on beach chairs, unable to move, stuffed to the brim with food and no air, only to be told that tea was to be served in 10 minutes.