Yesterday I wrote about the opposition JVP May Day rallies. These are some photos from marches on the other side of town, near Town Hall, led by the government and presumably paid for by you and me. They seem to bus people in (in government buses), clothe them in propaganda t-shirts and presumably feed and perhaps libate them as well. I generally enjoy the May Day floats and stuff, but I do rather dislike the use of public funds for what essentially amounts to a partisan political rally.

May Day is International Workers Day, which has taken on a distinctly commie tint. In Sri Lanka the JVP traditionally goes all out on my street, but this year I noticed that the government had also bused a lot of people in to have their own demonstrations. I assume they always do that, I just noticed it. JVPers were mocking effigies of Mahinda in Dehiwela and people were wearing ‘Mahinda: Our Hero’ t-shirts near Town Hall. May Day floats are fun and I watched them go down my street. I’m not so happy about the government spending my money to have their own demonstrations, however.

Recently, certain people protested outside a mosque in Dambulla, under the false aegis of Buddhism. They are, of course, deeper in attachment to transient identity than Buddhist practice would encourage. My friend Navin Weeraratne recently went to Dambulla to get some pics and talk to people, and he tells a great story on Facebook. I’ve included a few pics and his captions here. Each image is clickable back to the original Facebook page.

These are some random photos from around. Above is a poster on a wall in Dehiwela. It say ‘Party For Us’. I presume this is some sort of political party rather than a bouncy castle party. Though I don’t really know. I have no idea what this poster is for. Besides awesome.

I got this on the Badulla bus, I think it was about 50 Rupees. It’s pretty awesome. A Chinese knock-off of, I think, this product, this static book creates what looks like a movie image when you drag the attached film across the page. It’s pretty cool.

Today is 4/20, or International Marijuana Day. Marijuana is great, one of the least toxic and most rewarding drugs. The fact that this plant, which you can pluck from the ground in Tanamalwila, is illegal is a misnomer at best and an ongoing tragedy in reality. Seriously, it’s a plant, it’s good for sick people, it’s an essential ingredient in traditional Ayurveda, and it supports great music and art. It also good economics and social policy, as the California video above shows. Today, on International Marijuana Day, everyone should just chill.

Star Wars is a deep part of modern culture, despite George Lucas repeatedly disinterring it an molesting the body in public. See (for an example of culture, not necrofilmia) this children’s book about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. It’s a series of touching vignettes about how life coulda been, if Anakin Skywalker had stuck around to raise his kid. Here’s a money quote: “It is pointless to resist my son. It’s bedtime.”

It’s becoming a forlorn trope that comic-style heroines will fight (or at least pose) butt-first. This is kinda silly, as you can see above, where the Avengers are readrawn to have the males take similar postures. It’s not really a fighting stance.

This is a waterfall near Kitulgoda. I don’t remember how to get there and I’m not especially inclined to give directions. It’s a small village growing into a town and everybody seems to know where this is. On this Avurudu day, seems like everyone came. The waterfall is about 12 feet high, but what makes it notable is that it empties into what seems to be a bottomless pit. You can stand on the edges, but then it just bottoms out. I couldn’t see, feel, or even imagine bottom. There are stories of people being caught in eddies, unrecoverable bodies, etc, but everyone was jumping in anyways. Me too.

Whitening creams are evil, but this is a new low. Whitening creams have rapidly gone from the face to body to armpits and now… to the vagina. As in, if your vagina isn’t white enough, your husband won’t love you. It’s horrifying. These whitening creams can be extremely damaging to skin and now they’re marketing them for use, like, directly on a rather sensitive orifice. Madness.