Ruwini JAYAWARDANA
As the breeze of victory sweeps across the isle and people of all
nationalities celebrate on the streets, Yal Devi, the train which used
to journey along the tracks from North to South lies ready to trace her
tracks of more than three decades once again.
While our own Yal Devi is waiting on the edge, ‘Yal Devi’, a timely
production reflecting the positive current situation in Sri Lanka, has
completed shooting and is waiting for release.
‘Yal Devi’ is the first Sri Lankan movie made in USA and made
available for public screening.The movie was shot in Los Angeles,
covering Malibu beach, Hollywood, Ventura and San Diego areas.
With two original songs, one in Sinhala and the other a Tamil duet,
along with Sunil Edirisinghe’s ‘Ane Yal Devi’ track, the 150 minute
movie stars a mixture of professionals and novices, Sinhala and Tamil
along with two Americans.
 The story is an attempt to give a balanced view on the ethnic
conflict in the country while bringing out activities of the LTTE in a
significant manner. Conscription of child soldiers, fund raising
activities within Tamil diaspora, and manipulation of Westerners to
their benefit run along with the plot. The story also touches upon the
aspect of how a temple can be a saviour to the expatriate community in
USA.
The story in short: The train, ‘Yal Devi’ (the `Queen of Jaffna’),
that used to connect the Northern and Southern cities of Sri Lanka is no
longer running her full journey after becoming a victim of a bomb blast
carried out by the LTTE terrorists. The origin of the ethnic conflict
has spilled over to those settled in Los Angeles.
Manoj, a Sinhala youth fell in love with a Tamil girl named Savithri.
Savithri’s family had settled in the US after escaping from the Sinhala-Tamil
riots which had disastrous effects on the community in Sri Lanka in July
1983.
The initial sympathy extended towards the LTTE by Savithri’s father,
Yoga, eventually became an economic drain for the family. However Yoga,
who still holds a grudge against the Sinhalese tries to manipulate the
local LTTE supporters to break the relationship between Manoj and
Savithri.
Most importantly, taking the story as a metaphor for the overall
peace in Sri Lanka, will ‘Yal Devi’ speed along the rocky mountains and
valleys to reunite the North and the South soon?
Nilma Dole
 You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the awesome animated movies in
town. Liberty and Majestic are whipping up some delicious 3d-animated
action to spice you up this year!
Ice Age 3-Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary), Ellie
(Queen Latifah), Eddie (Josh Peck), Crash (Seann William Scott) and
Scrat encounter a dinosaur population which survived extinction in its
tropical paradise, which existed below the thick earth layers until now!
Meanwhile, Crash and Eddie are up to their usual crazy selves.
Manny and Ellie have since become an item and are going to have their
first baby, and Manny wants everything to be perfect when his baby
arrives. Diego is tired of being treated like a Housecat and ponders the
notion that he’s being too laid back. Sid is jealous of Manny and Ellie
and he starts to wish for a family of his own, so he steals some
dinosaurs eggs.
But Sid gets captured by a crazed dinosaur, which leads his herd to
try and rescue him. While dodging danger and dinos left and right, the
herd meets up with a relentless, one-eyed dino hunting weasel named
Buck. Scrat also meets a fiesty female squirrel named Scratte.Get a load
of the action at Liberty Cinema next month when Ice Age 3 freezes the
town!
Aliens vs. Monsters
 Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteor on the day of her
wedding to weatherman Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), absorbing a substance
called quantonium and growing into a giantess. Alerted to the meteor
crash, the military arrive and capture Susan.
She is labeled a monster, renamed “Ginormica” by the government, and
sent to a top-secret prison facility headed by General W.R. Monger
(Kiefer Sutherland) and containing other monsters: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen),
a brainless, indestructible gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh
Laurie), a mad scientist with the head and abilities of a cockroach; the
Missing Link (Will Arnett), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid; and
Insectosaurus, a colossal grub that is even larger than Susan.
The monsters are forbidden to have any contact with the outside
world; while the other monsters have been living contentedly with this
lifestyle for the past 50 years, Susan feels incredibly isolated and
wishes to return to her old life.
Winners should email [email protected] or fax to 2429227 to
collect their tickets!
Gamberetti literally means shrimp and Harpo’s kitchen dishes out this
tantalising seafood pizza consisting of prawns, roasted bell pepper,
mushrooms and mozarella.
In the early 90s, shrimp was considered as a food known to be high in
cholesterol and in 1996, an American study declared that even though
this was true, shrimp didn’t adversely affect production of cholesterol
in the body.
 Shrimp is a versatile food since it can be added to the serving tray,
boiled, grilled, sauteed, roasted, stir-fried and baked adding flavour
to a simple sauce. In addition to this, it can be a great garnish to add
to the presentation to your pizza.
Shrimp is known to be low in fat and calories especially when
flavoured in a low-fat marinade. It also offers beneficial doses of
omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12 and niacin making them mineral-rich,
supplying iron, zinc and copper. With the variety of shrimp on offer,
the best shrimp has a firm meat with a sweet light briny aroma.
Harpo’s Pizza serves the freshest shrimp which makes their Pizza con
Gamberetti dish a delight.
Winners
1. S. Jayasinghe, Colombo-07
2. N. W. Kannangara, Angoda
3. S. Soysa, Negombo
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