the Blacklight Arrow

Loves

David Blacker — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:53:09 +0000

So. Tagged again by DD. This time it’s love; something I’ve been told lately that I know very little about. And to avoid the usual barrage of “how come I’m not mentioned” and “who’s that one about” that these things usually spark, I’ll avoid the whole whole thing and treat you to some of my [...]

The Transformer

David Blacker — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:33:04 +0000

Spotted this sexbomb at the Colombo Car Show last weekend — and no, I don’t mean one of the show girls, though they weren’t too bad either. The Cobra caught my eye almost immediately, hidden away behind the usual junk of pimped up Subarus and Mazdas, its cockpit shrouded against the light drizzle outside the [...]

Out in the Wilderness — Dayan Jayatilleka on Pleading the 13th, Being a Hippy, and Getting Sacked by Boggles

David Blacker — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:23:01 +0000

Sri Lanka’s soon-to-be-ex-Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva took time off from his busy schedule of sipping martinis, getting up the Americans’ noses, and fighting on the Western Front, to have a little chat with us. This is his first interview since the Foreign Ministry announced that he has been recalled from Geneva, [...]

Reading with Both Eyes

David Blacker — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:10:21 +0000

I keep thinking about balance a lot these days. Not just physical balance, obviously, though I think about that too on some nights, especially when I’m walking out of a bar. I’m thinking more about a mental attitude. About keeping everything in the air, and not dropping any of the balls. I think it requires [...]

Into the Top Ten?

David Blacker — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:22:40 +0000

I had mixed feelings when I read the following statistics. It was like walking into a Lambo showroom and asking for the specs of a Murcielago, knowing what my annual salary is. The SL Army’s current strength is around 200,000. That’s almost double the size of the British Army (109,000), and larger than most western [...]

Peace in Five

David Blacker — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:32:38 +0000

Was tagged by the End on this Five Words About the SL Situ that RD started. I can’t really put my thoughts into five words. It’s a bit too complex for that. At least for me. So instead, I’ll give you five pictures. You can attach whatever words you think suit them. And to keep it [...]

Nineteen ’til I Die

David Blacker — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:12:06 +0000

Last night it rained. And I stood under my parents’ porch and smoked. The deluge of water on the tin sheeting drowned out everything — traffic, the neighbours, the sound of the TV. Just me and the rain and the dark, like it had been on that first night in December 1990. I stepped out [...]

Drop in the Price of Chillies in 2009

David Blacker — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:08:01 +0000

I was hoping for a fairly uncontroversial ad awards this year, following on the heels of 2008’s scam issues; however that doesn’t look likely. Everything seemed very low key at first. There were no embarrassing judges telling us our work was shit in the forums. There weren’t any catfights between CEOs and C-oh-ohs over whose [...]

Lies and a Tiger — How a Diaspora is Killing its Own

David Blacker — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:50:07 +0000

As the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam grinds inexorably towards certain defeat for the self-proclaimed representatives of the Tamil nation, there seems to be no great fanfare, no glorious last stands. This revolution dies not with a bang, but with whimpers and cowardice. And lies. For a year the Tamil diaspora, spread [...]

For This All that Blood was Shed

David Blacker — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:51:17 +0000

In the closing days of March and the first week of this month, April, the SL Army outflanked, cut off, and destroyed the Charles Anthony Regiment of the LTTE, in one of the most decisive battles of the war. For almost a year, the SL Army, sweeping across the Wanni from west to east, [...]