Monday, February 1, 2010

The 2009 Lankanosphere Awards - The First One - Best Overseas Blog

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome officially to this, the fourth annual Sri Lankan blogging awards. It's all just a bit of fun, presided over by me and a smattering of guest judges, some of whom are real and some whose input is just that little bit made up.

The awards are broadly based on the blogs listed on Kottu, the first port of call for most people seeking Lankan and Lankan related blogs in. I don't understand Sinhala so sadly need to exclude blogs written in the language as well as those in Tamil. Sorry about that, but I blame my parents.

The best overseas blog is seen from the perspective of Sri Lanka being the home base as such. In other words it's for the best blog written and published from outside Serendib. Previous winners have gone on to, well, nothing really.

The esteemed nominees are:

1. Mahasen does blogging - This gentleman, a Mr Mahasen Bandara, lives in the US and is a vegetarian. Apart from those obvious faults he's responsible for a very delicious and eclectic blog. His photography is usually spectacular, sometimes a bit better than that, and whether it's people or landscapes, Lankan or American the pictures make me feel those butterfly things. Which is good. He writes about politics, life and things in general, sometimes in Sinhala but mostly in English.

2. Just About Anything - Or JapSach's place as most of us call it. JapSach is a bloke, called Sach who currently lives in Japan, though I don't know how he got that nickname. For a few years he's regaled us with anecdotes and observations about his life in the land of the rising sun. He tells us of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of his Japanese existence. My Dad used to have a Triumph you know, he often tells us his tales of riding around Sri Lanka. He's (Sach, not my Dad) also got the coolest clock this side of Colombo Fort. It's not because of the size though, more the quality.

3. Rice and Curry - This blog, by an American Sri Lankan who calls himself Skiz, is a bit of a specialist one, as it's all about food. Skiz travels the world eating things and learning how to cook them. He pays particular interest to Sri Lanka and her food and wears his passion for all things foody on his sleeve. On the negative side he does possess one of those very suspicious looking moustaches as favoured by Sri Lankan Presidents and their rivals. Check out this post, which shows the programme he made with Anthony Bourdain in Sri Lanka. Mmmm....

4. DD - Old DD's heady mix of diasporic yearning, political comment, text and fonts that go all over the show and so nearly make sense at times is infectious and readable in its own strange way.

5. Darwin. - The blog written by everyone's favourite parasitologist and second favourite domestic goddess (after Nigella of course) deserves a mention. Sadly it's only open to invited readers so there's no point including it in the awards. I just wanted to tell you that it's still as good as ever, and gloat a bit that I'm one of the select few. Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh.


With no further ado I'm pleased to announce that the winner, the 2009 Lankanosphere Best Overseas Blog is........








............Just About Anything.



Our guest judge, Tiger Woods, had this to say about Sach and his blog.

"As I travel the world playing golf, living the millioniare lifestyle and sleeping with models and porn stars things can get quite sad and depressing. When they do I always glance at Just About Anything and it cheers me up and puts a bit of joie de vivre back into my day. It's a well deserved accolade and I congratulate Sach from my top secret sex addiction clinic place."

Congratulations Sach, we await your speech.

RD

14 comments:

Dee said...

Love Sach but I think your spectrum of overseas blogs are tad limited RD... lots more are unlisted, some even featured on Wordpress (like Vindi's blog) and too many to name.
No sours grapes here, just my opinion :)
cheers!

Lady divine said...

yaaay! Congrats Sach!!

Great work RD

and rofl at the last comment.:D

Mahasen said...

:D Thank you very much for the nomination and that wonderful praise about my photos!

However, I gave up two things in my life last year, of which one disqualifies me from this nomination.

1.) Living in the US
2.) Vegetarianism

however, I regret neither :)

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Dee - Thanks for the comment. I agree that my selection is a bit limited, but it is centred around the blogs that I read regularly and entirely subjective.

Mahasen - Yes, I'm aware that you're now in Sri Lanka, but your blog deserved a nomination anyway!

Sach said...

Ladies and gentlemen,

First let me thank The Drummer for organizing this event just like the last few times, and it is indeed an honer to be here, let alone being nominated. And to actually win is just beyond awesomeness! Thank you RD!

Then I must pay a special tribute to my family for being with me and for keep encouraging me all this time. Without you, this would not have been possible. OK, actually they don't know that I have a blog but I felt it was inappropriate not to mention them, hence the mention. Thank you mom for supplying ample amounts of material for posts though unknowingly of course.

OK a big thank you to all my loved ones, friends who kept reading and encouraging me. Last but not least, the whole Lankanosphere - it's great to be a part of you, and you rock, like a Sri Lankan rice and curry! Really.

Cheers everyone!

P.S :
Almost forgot Mr. Woods. It's nice of you to take time off your lavish activities to read me, and to be acknowledge by someone who's great at more than one sport is wonderful. Thank you sir!

P.P.S :
I think a certain drummer is responsible for that nickname. Go figure!

ViceUnVersa said...

Congrats to Sach!

As usual I can see RD that I am again the maid, never the bride.

There is always next year I guess...

GDMRD!

ViceUnVersa said...

PS: Surprised that 'go to sri lanka' didn't even make the shortlist!

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Sach - Nice speech, I like the thank you to your Mum in particular. Try not to let the award go to your hed now!

DD - Sadly it was the constant changing of name/identities etc that prevented you from winning.

Sach said...

RD, indeed I shall make sure it doesn't happen!
:)

And thanks everyone for your wishes!

Gadgetgirl said...

congrats to all winners.

Anonymous said...

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Serendib_Isle said...

Well done Sach, congrats. I liked the speech too.

Now RD, how come I didn't get an invitation to the event? Totally missed the awards ceremony! ;)

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

It's still going on SI, and you're most definitely invited.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Hey,
Congrats Sach! Weldone :D