Here's what happens when you pack Cosplayers on a Bus

So we packed a bus full of cosplayers and volunteers over the weekend. Here's what we did.

Trolling

To be fair, Shayne never asked anyone for help.

Posing

Dat hot pink. 

Volunteering

Our volunteers helped with snacks and milk at the Sri Jinananda Children's Home.

Reading

We also got books for each of the kids, and did some reading with them. 

Loafing

Do people still use that word? Am I dating myself? We went to the Asus ROG qualifier at Crescat, and got in the way. 

Flirting

Seriously, who doesn't want to touch Devaka's hair?

Gaining

He did alright.

Shooting

Always be nice to the guy with the camera. He decides how people are remembered. Anjana, I am always nice to you. Always. 

More pictures here.
We visited Anim8 to collect the Lanka Comic Con Banners from CEO Dinesh Rajawasan. Then we headed over to the Sri Jinananda Childrens Home in Colombo 06.

The Cosplayers and Volunteers spent time playing with the kids and sharing a snack and new reading materials. The children were delighted, they already knew and could easily identify Geek pop-culture icons like Spiderman, Batman and Iron Man. Surprisingly – they even knew the Winter Soldier.

“We know you- you’re Captain America’s friend, who fell into the water and Captain America saved you” declared one 8 year old. When asked about what kind of books they wanted to read, another pointed at Batman and said – “We want to read books about people like that”.    

The final stop of the day was at Crescat Boulevard, where the “ROG Masters” gaming event was being held by the Lanka Comic Con 2017 title partner Asus. Visitors to Crescat were pleasantly surprised by the Cosplayers and many selfies were taken.

The day also saw the Debut of the “Tuk-Tuk Hero” the live action mascot of the Lanka Comic Con.

The Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017 will be held on the 26th & 27th of August 2017 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) from 10a.m – 6p.m.

The Sri Lankan Sci-fi Novel "Numbercaste" just dropped, and it's hot

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, who hit number 1# on Amazon's short story rankings, will be doing a panel at the Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017, about his new book 'Numbercaste', modern digital publishing, and writing fiction.

'Numbercaste' is about a world where Big Data; gamification; and our loss of privacy gives a social media company power over all our lives. Like any good science fiction, it is a world you can see happening. What's unusual is that it leaves you wondering if that would be a good or a bad thing.

I got hold of Yudhanjaya, and asked him what he thought. 

When Facebook Wins

Why did you write Numbercaste? It has no spaceships. 

It's right in the fields that I specialize in. Politics, tech crazes, media - and honestly, I felt I had this story to get out into the world. Hopefully people like it. 

What do you make of the Numbercaste world? Do you agree with what Number Corp achieves, or does it scare you? 

I think the Numbercaste world is real. I think it's not just going to happen, but this is how humans seem to work - power, connections, social importance. We live in a world where Instagram fame translates to a million dollars; where, the Kardashians are famous for being famous. And China really is trying to pull this off. 

It both scares and excites me. It's exciting because there is real potential here. It's a shadow system that, if done right, can hold people accountable ... It's terrifying because the social order that it imposes may not be something we all agree with, but is inevitable anyway.

Early cover version. People test these, these days. 

Early cover version. People test these, these days. 

How close are we to that world today? Do you see it as a possible future, or an inevitability? Is there a company you think is contending for that kind of power? 

Very. Very close. I think there are two companies that can really pull this off - Facebook and Amazon. Facebook controls opinion and information access for almost 2 billion people. We live in a world where opinion often counts more than facts (which scares me). Amazon, well, it's the monopoly to end all monopolies. When everything from your reading preferences to your groceries are dictated by a single worldwide company . . . I think Zuckerberg and Bezos are the proto-Julius Commons. The infrastructure is already in place.  

The other avenue would be the credit-rating agencies like Experian, Moody's and so on. The amount of data they have is incredible: and the amount of direct impact a bad credit rating has on someone's life is incredible. On a large scale level, a bad credit rating can already undermine a country's economy or send an airline into bankruptcy. All of this has been happening, and can only increase.

On Writing Science Fiction

Your very first story went to 1# on Amazon's short story rankings. Was it all prawn toast, or did you try some new marketing? 

I honestly think it was a bit of both. I just emailed it out to people - I asked whoever was interested to drop me their mail and I'd send them the PDF. I figured this would let me really identify who actually read my writing.

I was surprised when over a hundred people started messaging me, sending me their emails, asking me to put it up on Amazon - close friends, a hard core of people who read Icaruswept, and so on. And so, now that I had the beginnings of a mailing list, I took their advice. I went through Pronoun, and set it up to go out to every single store they offered. I figured it'd sort of float around and die. 

We write English fiction in a country where barely anyone reads Sri Lankan authors, let alone sci-fi. Our markets and readerships are scattered throughout the world.
— - Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

I had absolutely no idea that it would go so far. For the next few days I was honestly just jumping up and down in excitement, because this thing was zooming through the ranks. When it hit #10 I realized it was time to get serious about this. And so I started playing a bit smarter. I mailed those hundred and fifty-odd people, asking them to leave honest reviews if they had the time. They did. The response was phenomenal, especially on Goodreads.

Then I teamed up with about twenty other sci-fi writers and put it into several bundle offers. That got me up the rest of it and kept me in the #10 orbit for a good week, which is cool because that list updates every hour. 

I never paid for any promo, just relied on people's goodwill, and the fact that I had something that people seemed to enjoy. So 90% prawn toast, and that last top 10 was a bit of reaching out, playing the indie game a bit. 

You're not keen on print publishing, are on an E-book writers forum, and started a group to help local writers publish on Amazon. What's so special about digital publishing? 

Trad pub has its advantages, but each book has a high unit cost. The entire publishing industry, since the Gutenberg Press, has been build on the fact that some people can afford this and some can't. Those who can become gatekeepers.

With digital, the cost of replicating a book drops to almost nothing: just a few hundred kilobytes of storage space. The cost and delay of transmitting a work drops to almost nothing. Whereas print, by default, imposes geographical limits, digital just nukes all that. 
The gatekeepers start vanishing.

I think for us, as Sri Lankans, this is really important. We write English fiction in a country where barely anyone reads Sri Lankan authors, let alone sci-fi. Our markets and readerships are scattered throughout the world. And now you and I can go live across the world with the click of a button and be read from Colombo to Colombia. 

Print, by default, imposes geographical limits, digital just nukes all that. 
The gatekeepers start vanishing.

I had realized this on a theoretical level before, but I think this really hit when a student from the University of California mailed me. Their professor had apparently come across TSSRW and they were discussing it informally in class- and this was three days after I hit that publish button. I don't think it could ever have propagated that far and that fast without digital.

Why hard science fiction? So few people do that anymore. You could just write garbage and get away with it.

I like it. I admire it. Hard sci-fi is a brilliant learning experience, especially when writing it. Numbercaste made me learn about the blockchain, cryptocurrencies, cryptography, network effects, the works - expertise that now gets me invited to speak in startup and research circles, because I had to spend serious time doing serious research. TSSRW made me spend an entire day trying to understand the mathematics of singularities.  

Don't get me wrong, I love my WH40K (Ave Deus Mechanicus!) and I love soft sci-fi as well - LeGuin and Atwood, I think, are two of the best examples of that. I just try and write what I like to write. 

You're known for doing a lot of writing in this town, but not fiction. Why the big change? 

I realized that all the political writing had done was turn me into a giant ass, so I guess I was really looking for ways to keep writing. I'd done fiction before. When I was 14, I read Stephen King's Dark Tower series - amazing story, that - and I got to the point where he explained that he'd started writing it when he was 19. I thought, right, I can do this too, and over the next two years I sat down and cranked out The Waste, a 130,000 word monster set in a half-magic half-tech world. I'm really glad that never got published, because it was horrible: I have the manuscript on my desk and the cat sleeps on it sometimes. 

I realized that all the political writing had done was turn me into a giant ass ... I think making stuff is a lot more difficult, but also a lot more fun.

A couple of years later I ended up working on an indie RPG called E.C.H.O. with four of my best friends. It was very story-based, very dystopian, about a supersoldier who comes home after a great war.

I had a blast doing this stuff. Some time ago I basically figured out that this was what I really wanted to be doing, creating something with words rather than just critiquing. I think making stuff is a lot more difficult, but also a lot more fun. 

Will you be talking at your LCC panel about modern ways to launch a creative writing career? 

Hopefully, yes. But I'm no expert, so the best I can do is pass on what other authors have taught me. 

 

Surviving Big Data

Ever since the first credit card company launched, we’ve been tracked.

As China's influence grows, do you think their authoritarian version - which they're already making - would affect our lives here?

I think China will stick to China. We're heavily in debt to them, but in terms of culture and technology, we seem to be close to India - Huntington's classification of civilizations comes to mind. I'm more concerned of what the US might come up with. After all, Western media holds so much sway over the rest of the world.

 

How could a person protect themselves from the "Number?" Is it already too late for people to 'opt out' of social media? 

I think it's too late for that. Ever since the first credit card company launched, we've been tracked: and indeed, you have cases like Target's shopping recommendations algorithm figuring out a teenage girl was pregnant even before their family knew.

Going forward, I think there will be two ways to deal with this. The first is to use social media wisely, and understand what it can do for us. The second would be to do what Europe is doing - upholding strong 'right to be forgotten law', keeping legislature in check that tries to prevent digital discrimination. This could swing either way, so the next ten years are going to be really, really something to see.

It's like that old Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times. 

It’s terrifying because the social order that it imposes may not be something we all agree with, but is inevitable anyway.

Why Three Languages Matter

Just because Sri Lanka is tri-lingual, doesn't mean we're any good at it. 

Being language-friendly is more than just having a few translated signs up. It means people can see their language, hear it, and not have to speak anything else to get what they need. There have to be panels in their language, with guests they can talk to, without a translator. Anything less, and you're insincere, or just haven't really thought about it.

So we're going to try.

Sinhala

Our Sinhala language partner, Aniwa.lk, is going to conduct two Sinhala language panels and moderate a third. The first will have Sinhala language science fiction writers, and the second will cover fantasy writing.

They're going to moderate a presentation by Sinhala miniature painting artists, who will show off their work and talk about their unusual careers.  

In addition, Aniwa.lk is providing translation support for various events at Lanka Comic Con. 

If you've seen our Sinhala language articles going up, that's Scarlet Cat translation services. Scarlet Cat will be translating all our articles - including this one. They will also be helping with the signage you'll see at the event. 

Tamil

Sorry we have nothing significant to show for Tamil language, this year. We don't have the resources or the networks. Hopefully by next year, we will be in a better position to do so.

However, we also want to work with just one other language, for now. 2017 is our first big attempt at language support, and we'd rather make our mistakes with one, rather than two. Once we have some post-event data, we can see how we want to scale what worked, and expand into Tamil.

Worldwide Culture 

We're getting more than a few international visitors this year, and I don't just mean diaspora Sri Lankans. They've all shown the same attitude: they want to share what they know, help how they can, and celebrate what they care about. 

Welcoming other languages is how we can practice this at home.  

 

ත්‍රිභාෂාත්මක වීමේ වැදගත්කම

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ භාෂා තුනක් භාවිත වනවා නම් තමයි. ඒ වුනත් ඒ කියන්නේ අපි ඒ භාෂා තුනම , හොඳින්ම දැනගෙන සිටිනවා කියන එකනම් නොවේ.

බහු භාෂා හිතෛශී වනවා කියන්නේ, පරිවර්තනය කළ සංඥා හෝ පුවරු කිහිපයක් ස්ථාපනය කරනවා කියන එක නම් නෙවෙයි. ඇත්තටම බහු භාෂා හිතෛශී වෙනවා කියන්නේ අප වගේ රටක ඕනෑම කෙනෙක්ට අවශ්‍ය දෙවල් කරගන්න හා ලබා ගන්න ඔවුන්ගේම භාෂාවෙන්ම කියවන්න, ඇහෙන්න හා කථා කරන්න පුළුවන් වාතාවරණයක් ලබා දෙන එකයි. ඒ වගේම ඒ දේවල් කරගන්න හෝ ලබා ගන්න ඔවුන්ට හුරු භාෂාව විතරක් පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන් වාතාවරණයක් තියන එක හුඟක් වැදගත්. ත්‍රිත්ව භාෂා ව්‍යක්ත සහභාගිත්වයක් ඇති සාකච්ඡා මඬුළු ස්ථාපිත කරන එකේ පරමාර්ථය විය යුත්තේ, එම අවස්ථා වලට සහභාගී වන අයට පරිවර්තකයෙකුගේ සහය නොමැතිව එම මඬුල්ලේ සාමාජිකයන් හා සාකච්ඡා කරන්න හැකි අවස්ථා බිහි කරලීමයි. ඒ සම්මතියට අඩුවෙන් හෝ අල්පයකින් පමණක් ක්‍රියා කරනවා කියන්නේ ඒ අවශ්‍යතා ගැන අවංකව සිතා බලා නැති බව හා එය එතරම් වැදගත් කරුණක් නොවන බවයි.

ඒ නිසා අපි එය ඉටු කරන්න පුළුවන් තරම් වෑයම් කරනවා.

සිංහල භාෂාව

අපගේ සිංහල භාෂා හවුල්කාර අනුග්‍රහකයින් වන Aniwa.lk විසින් සාකච්ඡා මණ්ඩල දෙකක් සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් හසුරුවනු ලබන අතර, තෙවැනි සාකච්ඡා මණ්ඩලයක සිංහල භාෂා නියෝජිතයින් ලෙසද මැදිහත් වනු ඇත.

ඔවුන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් හසුරුවනු ලබන සිංහල ක්ෂුද්‍රරූපි චිත්‍රශිල්පීන්ගේ දර්ශනයේදි, ඔවුන්ගේ මේ අසාමාන්‍ය වෘත්තීය කලාව ගැනද ඔවුන් වැඩි දුරට සාකච්ඡා කරනු ඇත.

මීට අමතරව Aniwa.lk විසින් ලංකා කොමික් කොන් උළෙලේදී නොයෙක් අංශවලට අවශ්‍ය පරිවර්තන සහයද ලබා දෙනු ඇත.

ඔබ මේ වනවිට අපගේ වෙබ් අඩවියේ පළවෙමින් පවතින සිංහල ලිපි කියවා ඇත්නම්, ඒ ලිපි අපට පරිවර්තනය කර දෙනු ලැබුවේ ස්කාලට් කැට් පරිවර්තන සේවාවෙනුයි. ස්කාලට් කැට් සේවාවන් තුලින් අපගේ මේ ලිපිය ඇතුළු සෑම ලිපියක්ම පරිවර්තනය වනු ඇත. ඔවුන් අපගේ ලංකා කොමික් කොන් උළෙලේ ඔබ දකිනු ඇති සංඥා පුවරු පරිවර්තනය කිරීමටද සහය වනු ඇත.

දෙමළ භාෂාව

දමිළ භාෂාවෙන් නම් මේ වසරේ දැනට සුවිශේෂි නියෝජනයක් නැති වීම ගැන අපි මහත් කණගාටුව පළ කරනවා. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සම්පත් හා සම්බන්ධීකරන ජාලා දැනට නැති වුනත්, ලබන වසර වන විට, ඊට අවශ්‍ය සියල්ල සුදානම් කරගන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වනවා.

වැදගත්ම කාරණය වන්නේ අපි එක අතිරේක භාෂාවකට පමණක්  දැනට අපේ අවධානය යොමු කිරීමයි. විශේෂයෙන්ම 2017 වසර අපගේ ප්‍රථම බහු භාෂා හිතෛශී වෑයම වන නිසා, එක අතිරේක භාෂාවක් භාවිතයෙන් ඇතිවෙන අත්වැරදීම් තුලින් ඉගෙන ගැනීම, අතිරේක භාෂාවන් දෙකකින් ඉගෙන ගැනීමට වඩා පහසු නිසාය. උළෙල අවසාන වූ පසුව අපිට ලැබෙන දත්ත විමර්ශනය කිරීමෙන්, භාෂා හිතෛශී වන්න අවශ්‍ය කාර්යක්ෂම පිළිවෙත් මොනවාද යන දැනුම ලබාගන දමිළ භෂාවද ඉදිරියේදී හරියාකාරව නියෝජනය කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වනවා.

ජාත්‍යන්තර රසිකත්වය

මේ වසරේ බොහෝ අන්තර්ජාතික ආගන්තුකයින් අපිත් සමඟ එකතු වනවා. ඒ කියන්නේ ඩයස්පෝරා අමුත්තන් පමණක් නොවේ. ඒ හැමෝම පැමිණෙන්නේ එකම අභිප්‍රායකින්: ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුම බෙදා හදා ගන්න, පුළුවන් අන්දමින් සහය වන්න හා ඔවුන් ආදරය කරන කලාවන් සහ ගීක් සංස්කෘතිය සමරන්නයි.

සෑම භාෂාවක්ම හදවතින්ම පිළිගැනීම අප තුලින්ම හුරුපුරුදු කරගැනීම ඉතාම වැදගත් වන්නේ මේ නිසාය. 

 

மூன்று மொழிகள் ஏன் முக்கியம்

இலங்கை மும்மொழிகளைக் கொண்ட ஒரு நாடாக  இருந்தபோதிலும் மூன்று மொழிகளிலும் அவர்கள் மொழிதேர்ச்சிக்கொண்டவர்கள் என்று கூற முடியாது. 

மொழியுடன் நட்புக் கொண்டுள்ளமை ஒரு சில மொழிபெயர்க்கப்பட்ட ஆவணத்தில்கையெழுத்திடுவது மாத்திரமல்ல மக்கள் தமது மொழியை பார்க்கலாம் அதனைக் கேட்கலாம் ஆனால் அவர்களுக்கு தேவைப்படுகின்றஏதாவதொன்றை பெற்றுக்கொள்வதற்காக கதைக்க வேண்டியதில்லை. அவர்களது மொழியில் தனிப்பட்ட குழுக்கள் இருத்தல்வேண்டும். அவர்கள் ஒரு மொழிபெயர்ப்பாளர் உதவியின்றி வருகை தந்திருப்போருடன் கதைக்க கூடியதாக இருத்தல் வேண்டும். இதனை விட குறைவான எத்தகைய சேவைகளும் நீங்கள் வாய்மையற்றவர்கள் என்றே கருதப்படும் அல்லது இது பற்றி நீங்கள்சிந்திக்காமல் இருந்திருக்கலாம்.

நாம் இதனை பரீட்சித்துப் பாரக்க முற்படுகின்றோம்.  

சிங்களம்

எமது சிங்கள மொழி பங்காளரான ANIWA.lk இரண்டு சிங்கள மொழி குழுக்களை உருவாக்கி ஒரு மூன்றாவது குழுவினைஉருவாக்கவுள்ளது. முதலாவது குழுவில் சிங்கள மொழி விஞ்ஞான புனைக்கதை எழுத்தாளர்களும் இரண்டாவது குழுவில் கற்பனைஎழுத்தாளர்களையும் உள்ளடக்கும். 

நாம் ஒரு சிங்கள நுணுக்க ஓவியக்கலை  கலைஞர்களைக் கொண்டு இதனை முன்வைத்துள்ளோம். இவர்கள் தமது படைப்புக்களை காட்டி தமது வழமைக்கு மாறான தொழிலைப் பற்றி கதைக்கவுள்ளனர். அத்துடன் லங்கா காமிக் கான் ன் பல்வேறுபட்ட நிகழ்ச்சிகளுக்கு மொழிபெயர்ப்பு துணைச்சேவைகளை ANIWA.lk வழங்குகின்றது.

ஸ்கார்லட்

காட்    எங்களது அனைத்து படைப்புக்களையும் நீங்கள் காணும் அடையாளக் குறியீடுகளையும் மொழிபெயர்ப்பு செய்வதற்குஅதனது துணைச்சேவைகளை வழங்கியுள்ளது. நீங்கள் சிங்கள மொழிக் கட்டுரைகளை காண்பதாயின் அது ஸ்கார்லட் காட் மொழிபெயர்ப்பு சேவைகளேயாகும்.

தமிழ்

மன்னிக்கவும் இவ்வருடம் தமிழ் மொழியில் குறிப்பான ஒன்றை காட்ட முடியாதுள்ளது. எம்மிடம் இது தொடர்பான மூலவளங்களோஅல்லது  வலையமைப்புக்களோ இல்லை. 

பெரும்பாலும் அடுத்த வருடம் இதனைச் செய்வதற்கு நாம் தயாராக இருப்போம். எவ்வாறாயினும் தற்போதைக்கு நாம் இன்னொரு மொழியில் மாத்திரம் பணிபுரிய விரும்புகின்றோம்.  2017ஆம் ஆண்டு மொழி உதவிதொடர்பில் நாம் ஒரு பாரிய முயற்சியை ஒரு மொழியில் மாத்திரம் மேற்கொள்ளவுள்ளோம். இரு மொழிகளில் தவறுகளைசெய்வதனைவிடவும் ஒரு மொழியில்  மாத்திரமே தவறுகளை செய்வோம்.

நிகழச்சியின் பின்னரான தரவுகளை பெற்றதன் பின்னர் எவ்வம்சம் சிறப்பாக செயலாற்றியுள்ளது என்பதனை அறிந்த பின்னர் இதனைதமிழ் மொழிக்கு விஸ்தரிக்கவுள்ளோம்.

உலகளாவிய கலாச்சாரம்

இவ்வருடம் நாம் சிறிது அதிகரித்த எண்ணிக்கையான சர்வதேச வருகையாளர்களை பெறவுள்ளோம். இவர்கள் புலம்பெயர்ந்து வாழும்இலங்கையர்கள் மாத்திரம் உள்ளடக்காது. அவர்கள் அனைவரும் ஒரே அணுகுமுறையை காட்டியுள்ளனர்:  தாங்கள் அறிந்தவற்றைபகிர்ந்துக் கொள்வதற்கும் அதனை எவ்வாரு செய்யலாம் என்பது தொடர்பாக உதவுவதற்கும் தாம் கவனஞ் செலுத்தும் விடயங்களைகொண்டாடுவதற்கும் தயாராக உள்ளனர். 

பிற மொழிகளை வரவேற்பதன் மூலம் இதனை வீட்டிலிருந்து எவ்வாறு பயிலலாம் என்பதனை இது காட்டுகின்றது.

සියර්: ඩෙත් සයිට් - ශ්‍රී ලාංකික අධ්‍යක්ශකවරයෙකුගේ විද්‍යා ප්‍රභන්ධක ත්‍රාසජනක රූපවාහිනි කථා මාලාව

සියර්: ඩෙත් සයිට් කියන්නේ විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධනාත්මක වෙබ් නාට්‍ය මාලාවක්. එහි රඟපාන්නේ ජෝයි අන්සාහ් (ද බෝන් අල්ටිමේටම්) සහ ක්‍රිස්ටියන් හවර්ඩ් (ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර් : අසෑසින්ස් ෆිස්ට්) යන ශිල්පීන්ය.මෙහි තිර රචනය අධ්‍යක්ෂණය හා, නිශ්පාදනය යන අංශ තුනම කළේ සඳුන් සෙනෙවිරත්නයි.රේ මාර්ටන්ස්ටයින් හා උදාන ෆොන්සේකා යන විධායක නිශ්පාදකයින් සමඟ එකතු වූ ඔහු ග්‍රයින්ඩ්අවුට් ප්‍රොඩක්ශන්ස් යන නමින් ඔවුන් හඳුන්වන ශ්‍රී ලාංකික නිශ්පාදන හා බෙදාහරින ආයතනයක් තුලින් තමයි මේ කථාමාලාව එළි දැක්වෙන්නේ.

වීඩියෝවට යොමු වීමට මෙතන ක්ලික් කරන්න. (නැත්නම් ඉහත රූපය ක්ලික් කරන්න.)

වින්දනය හා වෘත්තාන්ත කලාව මනුෂ්‍ය ස්වභාවයයි
— සඳුන් සෙනෙවිරත්න

විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධ වෘත්තාන්ත කලාව

කුඩා කාලයේ සිට චිත්‍රපට නිර්මාණ කලාවට ලැදි වුනු සඳුන් කියන්නේ "වින්දනය හා වෘත්තාන්ත කලාව මනුෂ්‍ය ස්වභාවයක්", කියලා."එහෙම තමයි අපි අප වටා සිදුවන දේවල් හඳුනාගන්නේ". 

සඳුන් ඔහුට හැඟෙන දේවල් එළි දක්වන්නේ, චලන රූප මාධ්‍ය තුලිනුයි.හොලිවුඩ් ප්‍රභේදයට අයත් චිත්‍රපට ඔහුගේ වෘත්තාන්ත කලාවට වඩාත් සුදුසු බවත්, ඉතා විනෝදාත්මක හා වැඩි රුචික ගම්‍යත්වයක් ඇති මාධ්‍යක් ලෙසත් තමයි ඔහු දකින්නේ.

"මම විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධක රසිකයෙක්," ඔහු තවදුරටත් පැවසුවා, "ඒවා තුලින් අපට අනාගතය වගේම මානව වර්ගයාගේ සීමාරහිත විභවය විශ්ලේෂණය කරන්න පුළුවන්".

සියර්: ඩෙත් සයිට් කියන වෙබ් නාට්‍ය මාලාව, න්‍යශ්ටික වියසනයෙකින් පසු කාලීන සංස්ථාතික ලෝකයක බිහි වුණු මනෝ ඝාතකයෙක් ගැන වෘත්තාන්තයකි."මට අවශ්‍ය වුනේ සුළු වියදමකින් විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධන වර්ගයේ උසස් තත්වයේ, ත්‍රාසජනක සටන් කලා, දෘශ්‍ය කලා ඇති,  චලන රූප නිශ්පාදනයක් කරන්න පුළුවන් කියන දේ ඔප්පු කරන්නයි", සඳුන් අපිට පැවසුවා. "මගේ අරමුණ, මෙවන් නිර්මාණ ලංකාව තුල ලාංකේය සම්පත් භාවිතයෙන් හා ලාංකික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර කලාකරුවන් එකතු කරගෙන නිම කර, ජාත්‍යන්තර භූමිකාවකට රැගෙන යන්නයි.

හොලිවුඩ් රංගන ශිල්පීන්

ඔබට ඩෙත් සයිට් කථා මාලාවේ නලුවන් දැක පුරුදුයි කියලා සිතුනානම් ඔබ නිවැරදියි.

"මම ප්‍රධාන නලුවා ලෙස තෝරගන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වුනේ, එම චරිතයට අදාල වන සටන් කලා හැකියාවන් තියෙන් කලාකරුවෙක්," සඳුන් අපට පැවසුවා."අපි සිනමා ශාලාවකදී 'ද බෝන් අල්ටිමේටම්' නරඹද්දී දැකපු මැට් ඩේමන් ගේ හා කොන්ත්‍රාත් ඝාතකයෙක් ලෙස චරිත නිරූපණය කළ ජෝයි අන්සාහ්ගේ මොරොක්කෝවේ වහළවල් උඩ තිරගත කරන ලද සටන් කලා ශෛලිය දැක්කා. අදටත් ඒ සටන් කලා දර්ශනය තමයි අපි දැකලා තියන හොඳම ශෛලිය. අපට දැනගන්න ලැබුනා, 'දෙශ්' කියන එදිරිවාදි චරිතය නිරූපණය කළ රංගන ශිල්පියා ලන්ඩන් වල සිටින බව. ඉතින් අපි ඔහුට කථා කිරීමට තීරණය කළා. අපේ පිටපත කියවපු ඔහු ඒ වෘත්තාන්තයට එකතු වීමට මහත් උද්යෝගයක් පල කළ අතර, ඔහුගේ සටන් ශිල්පී කණ්ඩායමත් එකතු කරගෙන සටන් කලා දර්ශනය ඉතා සුළු  වියදමකින් කරන්න පුළුවන් වන ලෙස රචනා කිරීමටත් දායක වුනා.

මේ බෝන් අල්ටිමේටම් සටන් දර්ශනයයි.

 

අන්සාහ් විසින් ජෝන් කුසැක්ගේ 'ද නම්බර් ස්ටේශන්' චිත්‍රපටයේ වීරවර චරිතයට ප්‍රතිවිරුද්ධ දුෂ්ටයාගේ චරිතයද 'ස්නෝවයිට් ඇන්ඩ් ද හන්ට්ස්මන්' වැනි චිත්‍රපට වල සුළු චරිතද රඟපා තිබුනා. ඔහු විසින් මහත් ප්‍රසිද්ධ 'ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්: ඇසෑසින්ස් ෆිස්ට්' යන වෙබ් වෘතාන්ත මාලාවද ඊට අනුගාමිව නිර්මාණය වුණු රූපවාහිනි  ටෙලි මාලාව වූ 'ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්: රෙසරෙක්ශන්' වෘතාන්තයද තිර රචනය හා අධ්‍යක්ශණය කළ අතර, එහි රංගනයෙන්ද දායක වුනා.  'ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්' තිර රචනයේ ඔහු 'අකූමා' යන ප්‍රධාන දුෂ්ට චරිතය නිරූපණය කළා

සියර්: ඩෙත් සයිට් කථා මාලාවේ එදිරිවාදී චරිතය වන 'කානෝ' චරිතය රඟපාන ක්‍රිස්ටියන් හවර්ඩ්ද 'ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්: ඇසෑසින්ස් ෆිස්ට්' හා ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්: රෙසරෙක්ශන්' යන කථාමාලා වල 'කෙන්' යන ප්‍රධාන චරිතයට පණ පෙව්වා.

ස්ට්‍රීට් ෆයිටර්: ඇසෑසින්ස් ෆිස්ට් 2014

තවත් දුෂ්ට චරිතයකට රංගනයෙන් දායක වන සුවයුකි සාඔතොමෙ,  'ඔලිම්පස් හැස් ෆෝලන්' චිත්‍රපටයට අනුගාමී වූ 'ලන්ඩන් හැස් ෆෝලන්' චිත්‍රපටයට ජෙරාර්ඩ් බට්ලර් සමඟ රංගනයෙන් දායක වී තියෙනවා.

සම්මේලන චාරිකා

සියර්: ඩෙත් සයිට්, ෆීනික්ස් කොමික් කොන්, ඇතන්ස් හී ඉන්ටර්නැශනල් සයි ෆයි සිනමා උළෙල, සිඩ්නිවල ෆැන්ටෑස්ටික් ප්ලැනට් වැනි බොහෝ විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධක සිනමා උළෙල වල දැනටමත් දර්ශනය වෙලා තියනවා. මේ වසරේ ලංකා කොමික් කොන් උළෙලේදීද මෙය දර්ශනය වනු ඇති අතර ඔබට ග්‍රයින්ඩ්අවුට් කැල හමුවීමටද අවස්ථාවක් ලැබෙනු ඇත. ග්‍රයින්ඩ්අවුට් නිශ්පාදක වරුන් ස්වාධීන චිත්‍රපට වේදීන්ගේ සාකච්චා මඩුල්ලකටද එහිදී සහභාගී වනු ඇත.

විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධන තුලින් අපට අනාගතය වගේම මානව වර්ගයාගේ සීමාරහිත විභවය විශ්ලේෂණය කරන්න පුළුවන්
— - සඳුන් සෙනෙවිරත්න

Hitler Talks About Cosplay at Lanka Comic Con

Cosplay Contest

Lanka Comic Con will not hold a cosplay competition at the Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017. Hitler will tell you why, above. 

We were not too keen to hold it last year, for the same reason, and after the results from 2016, we have decided to go with our gut. 

Other parties (vendors and partners) have talked about holding  their own cosplay competitions at the event and that's fine.

Edit: There will be a ramp for cosplayers to walk. There will be two walks on each day, morning and evening. ALL cosplayers get to walk - there is no shortlisting.  

Safety

We are going to have a lot more space that last year, which will do a great deal to reduce the chance of accidents. However, please be considerate with your cosplay props. Ask a friend: "do you think this is too dangerous?" If they pause before answering, then that means yes, it is. 

Also, at the event, be careful with your props. If you run around waving a sword - the made of metal kind - we will confiscate it and give it back to you at the end of the day.  

If we think a prop is just too dangerous, period (metal wolverine claws), it does not matter how they're handled. We'll make a decision then and there, whether or not to ask you to put them away, or keep them with us until you go on stage. 

Harassment

If you see someone being harassing or inappropriate, tell a Comic Con volunteer or organizer. We're going to have volunteers going around specifically asking people if they have been harassed, or seen other people being harassed. Please don't wait till the event is over to put it in the feedback form: we need to know as soon as you see it, or experience it. No one gets to harass anyone, at Comic Con. 

Attire

If you're a guy wearing spandex, make sure your bros are properly concealed. If not, we'll tell you at the ticket booth -- but, we'd rather not have to. 

 

That's pretty much it. See you all soon! 

Special thanks to Jeevan Sukumaran for helping with the Hitler video, and WWHD? advice.

The Bus Mob is This Weekend.

On Saturday (the 29th) the bus mob gets going.

If you want to see the mob:

Please scroll down to 11:30am, Crescat Mall, the ASUS, Republic of Gamers, Qualifier. We'd love for you to join us at Crescat for pictures and games. It will also be the last chance to get the All Access badges for the Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017.

If you're cosplaying, a guardian, or media traveling with the mob: 

Edit: The bus mob is now full. 

Media, please use this link, instead.

 

9am, St Theresa's Church

Thimbirigasyaya, Colombo 5. Media, cosplayers, and cosplayer guardians, please meet here by 8:30am. The bus is leaving at 9am, sharp. 

If you do miss the bus, please try and meet up with us, at one of the stops. 

9:15am, Anim8

We drop by Anim8, our print partner, to pick up our banners. You can also ask the owner, Dinesh, if it's true that he can drag a Nissan Patrol behind him, just for fun (it is, but you want to see the video).  

9:30am, Cruising 

We be rolling. They be hating. 

10:30am, Sri Junarathna Orphanage, Bambalapitiya

The orphanage said the kids like chocolate eclairs and milk from a specific shop. So, we'll be picking those up (in character), and taking them over. We're going to spend some time with the kids: you judge a community by how it treats its most vulnerable members.  

 

 

Please indulge me, though. I will never have another chance, to reference this: 

 

 

 

11:30am, Crescat Mall, the ASUS, Republic of Gamers, Qualifier

We're finishing up at Crescat Mall, at the Republic of Gamers (ROG) event. We'll be having some games and competitions, and this will be last chance for people to get All Access badges to Lanka Comic Con. 

That's pretty much it. See you on the bus. 

ලංකා කොමික්-කොන් පිටුපස: අකිල වීරසිංහගේ ටුක් ටුක් වීරවරයා

පසුගිය වසරේ අප විසින් 2016 ලංකා කොමික්-කොන් වෙනුවෙන් නිල ලාංඡන තරඟයක් පැවත්වූවා.එහිදී අකිල ඉදිරිපත් කරපු ලාංඡන නිර්මාණයට අපි ගොඩක් පැහැදුනු නිසා, අපි එය ලංකා කොමික් කොන් උළෙලට නිල වශයෙන් භාවිතා කළ යුතුම බවට තීරණය කළා.

මම 'ටුක් ටුක් වීරවරයා' ගැනත්, එම නිර්මාණ සංකල්පය බිහිවුන හැටි ගැනත් අකිලගෙන් විමසුවා. "ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම කියන්න ඕනේ මේ උළෙල මම වඩාත් ආදරය කරන දේවල් සමරන අවස්ථාවක් බව," අකිල මට පැවසුවා. "ඒ නිසා ඒකට මම කිසි යම් දෙයකින් හරි උදව් කරන්න අවශ්‍යයි කියල මට හිතුනා". "අනිත් එක මම ග්‍රැෆික් නිර්මාණ ක්ෂෙත්‍රයට අලුත් නිසා මගේ හැකියාවන් එළි දක්වීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයත් මේකට මුල් වුනා".

අකිලට අවශ්‍ය වුනේ මෙම ලාංඡනය දකින ඕනම කෙනෙකුට එහි ඇති සැබෑ ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය හැඟීම එසැනින්ම දැනෙන්න අවශ්‍යයි කියන එක. අකිල සමහරක් ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් වගේම මෙරටින් පිට හැදුනු වැඩුනු කෙනෙක්. ඒ නිසා නිතර නිතර ලංකාවට ආපහු පැමිණි හැම වෙලාවකම ටුක් ටුක් රථයක ගමන් කිරීම එවන් ලාංකිකයන්ගේ දෛනික චාරිත්‍රයක් හා සමාන දෙයක්.

“මම ලංකාවට පැමිණි හැම වෙලාවකම වැඩියෙන්ම උනන්දුවෙන් පෙරටු බලන දෙයක් ආධාර කරගෙන මේ නිර්මාණ‍ය කරන්න ඕනේ කියලා තමයි මම තීරණය කළේ. ටුක් ටුක්, ත්‍රී වීලරය, ට්‍රයිශෝව කියන මොන නමෙන් හැඳින්වූවත්, මෙහි ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය බව නිශ්චිතයි.”
— අකිල වීරසිංහ - ග්‍රැෆික් නිර්මාණකරු
මුල් කෙටුම්පත

මුල් කෙටුම්පත

 

 

පළමු සංස්කරණය 

අකිල ඔහුගේ මවගේ උපදෙසට සවන් දී ඔහුගේ මුල් සංකීර්ණ නිර්මාණ අදහස අත්හැර, වඩාත් සරල වර්ණ ඇති කැලිසේයාවක් නිර්මාණය කරයි.       

 

 

 

ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද නිර්මාණය

ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද නිර්මාණය

 

දෙවන සංස්කරණය

පසුව ඔහුගේ මිතුරා වන සින්තුජාන්ගේ යෝජනාව මත මුල් කෙටුම්පතේ සිටි පුද්ගලයාගේ රුවට, බූට් සපත්තු, අත් වැසුම් හා ඇස් වලට වෙස් ආවරණයක් එකතුකර, එම පුද්ගලයාව සුපිරි වීරයෙක් ලෙස මතු කර දැක්වුවා. තරඟය ජයග්‍රහණය කළේ මේ නිර්මාණයයි.      

 

 

 

 

නව වර්ණ හා අකුරුවර්ග වලින් සම්පූර්ණ අවසාන පිටපත

නව වර්ණ හා අකුරුවර්ග වලින් සම්පූර්ණ අවසාන පිටපත

 

තෙවන සංස්කරණය

අන්තිමේදි අකිල කොමික් කොන් උළෙලේ සාමාජිකයින් සමඟ සාකච්චා කර, ලාංඡනයේ අකුරුවර්ගය වෙනස් කළ අතර එහි වර්ණ යෙදුම ජාතික කොඩියට ගැලපෙන ආකාරයට වෙනස් කරන ලදී.    

 

 

 

නිර්මාණාත්මක මුල් අවධිය

මුල් ළමා අවධියේ පටන්ම අකිල චිත්‍ර ඇඳීම කළා. ඔහුගේ දෙමව්පියන්ගේ දිරිගැන්වීමෙන් චිත්‍ර කලා පංති ආරම්භ කළ ඔහුගේ උනන්දුව තවත් පුළුල් වුනා. පෑන්, මාකර්, පැන්සල් වලින් ඇඳි ප්‍රතිරූ, දිය සායම් දර්ශන හා ග්‍රැෆීටි චිත්‍රද ඔහු අඳින්න පටන් ගත්තා.

පසුගිය සිව් වසර තුල අකිල ඩිජිටල් නිදර්ශක හා නිර්මාණ අංශවල කාර්ය කරන්න පටන් අරගෙන තිබුනා. විශ්ව විද්‍යාල විනෝදාංශයක් ලෙස පටන්ගත් මෙය දැන් තව තවත් වර්ධනය වෙලා. අකිලගේ තවත් නිර්මාණ දැකගන්න හෝ ඔහුගේ නිර්මාණාත්මක සේවාවන් ලබාගන්න ඔබත් කැමති නම් ඔහුගේ ෆේස්බුක් පිටුවෙන් අකිලත් සමඟ සම්බන්ධ වෙන්න.

Translation services: Scarlet Cat Online

 

Red Dot Geek: How Sri Lanka Finally Got a Comic Book Store

If you've ever been to a comic or game store, you know it's more than just a place to buy things. You'll see the store manager arguing with the Annoying Guy (about an unknown movie with dead actors). There's the teenagers in the back who are always too loud and don't really buy anything. Then there's the person with the nice job, who would rather spend more time in the store, instead. Comic book stores are community anchors. Each grows the other. It's a good deal. 

I love the blockbuster superheroes. But, if you want to get to know their characters, you’ve got to read the comics.
— Sulakshana Soysa, Red Dot Geek

As such, its surprising that Sri Lanka developed a comic book culture, at all. Comics at regular book retailers have always been expensive, and with limited selection. Marvel and DC movies mainstreamed comic book IPs, but not reading them. Piracy created access, but also consumers who didn't like paying.

Could a comic book store start in Sri Lanka, and succeed?

Sulakshana Soysa, founder of Red Dot Geek,  thought so.

 

"We Should Start this in Sri Lanka"

"I love comics," said Sulakshana. "I love the blockbuster superheroes. But, if you want to get to know their characters, you've got to read the comics." As a comic book reader, Sulakshana didn't much care for the challenges involved. "They were hard to find, and always expensive," he said. "The latest comics weren't available, at any cost."

Like many readers, Sulakshana would have to buy his comics online, or go abroad. In a comic book store on one such trip, the idea came to him and his partner. "We thought 'wow, we need this. We should start this in Sri Lanka.' "

They discussed the idea between themselves, and did their research.  In 2016, they saw their moment. "DC Rebirth was about to happen," said Sulakshana. "The reboot of the DC universe. It was now or never." 

And so Red Dot Geek was launched.

 

Overwhelming Community Support

One of the first thing that strikes you about Red Dot Geek is how popular they are in the community. Here's their satisfaction score, on Facebook:

Even the trolls are nice to them. If you read the testimonials, you can see why.

Early this year, Red Dot Geek took another big chance, and brought Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) to Sri Lanka. Community members volunteered at their booth, and they invited Lanka Comic Con to coordinate activities with them. with them.   

"We're still taking risks," said Sulakshana. "But we think it's worth it because so many people are helping us. We're always thankful."
 

A Brick and Mortar Store

Sulaksana's biggest priority is opening a brick and mortar, retail store, in Colombo. Him and his partner (who has asked to remain anonymous) are also planning more FCBD-style giveaways, like Halloween Comic Fest.  

Red Dot Geek has also broadened it's range to action figures, board games, and posters. You can meet Sulakshana and the rest of the Red Dot team, at the Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017. 

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Lanka Comic Con Wins US Grant to start Nonprofit Comic Book Press

Work In Progress from the upcoming Extra Ordinary

Work In Progress from the upcoming Extra Ordinary

The Lanka Comic Con Trust has been awarded a grant by the US State Department, to start a nonprofit, comic book press in Sri Lanka. It will be an art and literature platform for local creators, in all three, national languages.

"I wanted to create a sustainable comic book industry by offering printing at close to cost as possible," said Thilani Samarasinha, who came up with the idea for the press. 

Cost Kills

I wanted to create a sustainable comic book industry by offering printing at close to cost as possible.
— Thilani Samarasinha, head of Lanka Comic Con

You see at lot of "Issue 1" comics in this town, but you don't always see them reach "Issue 2." Cost is the biggest challenge for local writers, artists, and comic book storytellers. It means creating is something they see looking back in the mirror, while getting ready for work.  

But what if that changed?
What if the cost of printing was brought down, dramatically?

"I looked up the prices of printers, their specs, whether they could handle both volume and the right quality," said Thilani. "I went to Pettah and talked to paper suppliers, getting their bulk rates. Even my useless husband came, complaining."

Gradually she built a business model, for low cost, sustainable printing. The numbers worked, it just needed the equipment and supplies.

The American Center 

Joshua Shen of the Office of Public Diplomacy helped us here. He liked the idea: he felt that after so many years of conflict, young Sri Lankans could use comics to to help bring communities together. He pointed out they could help, we just needed to apply and go through the process. Whenever we got discouraged, he urged us to keep working at it. 

None of us have ever written a grant before. It was a bit like this: 

Extra Ordinary

The first comic the Lanka Comic Con Press will be producing is a Extra Ordinary, a supernatural story set in modern day Sri Lanka.

Work In Progress sketches fromExtra Ordinary

Work In Progress sketches from
Extra Ordinary

"I love comics by the big publishing houses, but they're about cultures that are not my own," said Thilani.  "I wanted to write something about who we are. Contemporary, but about our history and culture."

Thilani was also keen to make sure that Extra Ordinary be written in all three languages, to make it a a properly 'Sri Lankan' comic. Translation services will also be on offer from the Lanka Comic Con Press. 

"There are a lot of new comic artists in Sri Lanka now," said Nimesh Niyomal , the artist for Extra Ordinary, who previously did The Grey Walker. "But they are being pushed to digital because of costs. I feel a comic needs to be on paper." 

"Nimesh, is a a total professional," said Thilani. "And he too wants to see a body of original, local comics, by other Sri lankan writers and artists." 

I feel a comic needs to be on paper.
— Nimesh Niyomal
Diana, by Nimesh Niyomal

Diana, by Nimesh Niyomal

We are hoping to have Extra Ordinary ready in time to launch at the Asus Lanka Comic Con 2017, but if not the creators will be on hand to talk about it. And of course, the Lanka Comic Con Press. 

We're not ready to go public with the pricing yet, but expect a dramatically cheaper structure, allowing for both retailer and distributor margins, while maintaining a low price for the reader, and high quality printing. 

Today, I am a very proud, useless husband.