When imaginations run wild on PCs

By Marisa de Silva

Launched last month, 'Dziner Solutions', a web designing and computer graphics advertising firm was a dream come true for these five young men. The company specialises in animated presentations and custom-made solutions for their clients.

Still teenagers, the brains behind the company are Anuruddha Lihinikaduwa (19), Charith de Silva (19), Dhanush de Costa (19) and Dilshan Pandithasekera (17), all 'ex'-Peterites and Hilmme Azeez (17), an old boy of the Al-Varaka International School, Bandarawela. They are all presently following advanced courses in Multi Media at both APIIT and ARENA Multi Media, Wellawatte.

Not surprisingly, given that the majority of them are old Petes, many of their achievements thus far have been tied up with the school. Prior to their getting off the ground, they were responsible for a multi media presentation during the launch of the St. Peter's College (Colombo) Interact Club website. Their second presentation 'A Different Beat' also in 2000, featured the Peterite Choir and Chorale and showed a montage of images, taking the audience through the history of the choir and chorale with the theme song (A Different Beat) playing in the background. It was a unique concept. 

A presentation to create awareness about the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT), screened at the Infotel Exhibition 2000, was their next offering. It included images of the institute's various facilities and courses offered together with a creative logo. They also designed the banner and posters for the 'Carnival of Music,' 2000 organised by the Peterite Prefects. 'Macro Media Flash' and 'Director' two of the latest software programmes around, enabled them to create these presentations.

So how did they join forces? Dilshan and Anuruddha teamed up first to work on 'A Different Beat' and say they then discovered three other friends with similar interests. "We don't say no or take no for an answer," the boys say.

And each had a reason for deciding to strike out on their own instead of joining an established agency: "I like being my own boss," said Charith while Anuruddha said he believes he has become more responsible for his actions as they would affect the success of the firm or backfire on them at the end of the day. "All the lecturers at APIIT, where I study, said that I should start out on my own. So I did," smiles Dilshan.

Charith seems to have been given the unpopular task of being in control of the finances. Anuruddha says that overheads are high but since the sole investors of this firm have been themselves, they have complete faith in their venture.

Gaining recognition is one of the many obstacles they face. Their lack of experience is the main factor that goes against them. They feel that if they make clients see that although they haven't been around for long, their ideas are fresh and flexible, much progress can be made.

Asked how best they could describe themselves Dhanush says " We're just average guys who like to let our imaginations run wild on PCs." They say that their parents have been a great source of strength and encouragement to them. Their teachers and lecturers too have been of great assistance. 

"When making decisions we try our best to make them unanimous. If at first we disagree, we find out what we don't agree on and try and work on it, until we are all satisfied with the end result." says Hilmme. They meet with and make a presentation of their past work, to each of their prospective clients, enabling the clients to see for themselves what type of work they do. Thereafter, if the client is interested, they could strike a deal.

Their future plans and aspirations include being service providers and hosting their customers' web sites and as Dilshan puts it is "to be the best in the business." They are currently working on a presentation for a Charity Concert to be held in October. Their advice to any youngsters out there who want to launch similar ventures is simple. "The road is not easy but once you've found what you want to do, stick with it, believe in yourself and always see it through to the end."

Jolie femme

Jolie, 26, is Hollywood aristocracy. The daughter of the French actress Marcheline Bertrand and the Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight (the couple separated when Jolie was two), she doesn't conform to the prototype, resolutely choosing challenging roles. The schizophrenic Lisa in Girl Interrupted, for which she won a richly deserved Oscar; the heroin addict, bisexual supermodel in Gia; the car thief in Gone in Sixty Seconds; and the dysfunctional, sexually obsessed wife in Pushing Tin. 

Her latest role, as the computer-generated heroine Lara Croft in the $100m (£70m) action extravaganza Tomb Raider seems a departure, and yet, even here, Jolie managed to find friction. "I think Lara is extremely sexual," she says in between sips from her bottle of Evian. "I felt very sexual during that film.When you are ready to fight, your adrenalin is going, you're on fire. " 

In order to transform herself into the pixilated subject of schoolboy fantasy, Jolie underwent two-and-a-half months of rigorous dieting and physical training, which included lifting weights, gun practice and bungee jumping. As with every project she takes on, Jolie threw herself wholeheartedly into training. "We had a stunt double, but Jolie was 10 times better than her," says the director Simon West. She also perfected a faultless upperclass British accent following intensive tutelage with a dialect coach.

This unreserved approach to life has characterised her off-screen, as well as on-screen persona. Her teenage anorexia, happy bisexuality and on-again, off-again battle with drugs have all been well-documented. She has an impressive array of tattoos, including the Japanese character for death, and five scars from self-inflicted knife wounds. "You're young, you're crazy, you're in bed and you've got knives," is how she explains these in one of her most frequently quoted comments. And few can forget the unabashed kiss she gave her brother, James Haven, an aspiring director, at last year's Oscars. Jolie is unrepentant, "I don't want to live my life hiding or being careful about what I say. I don't want to lose my privacy or my ability to be honest," she says.

Even more headline-grabbing than the damage she has inflicted on her body are her romantic liaisons. At 20, she ignored her parents' advice when she married the British actor Jonny Lee Miller (best known as Sick Boy in Trainspotting), whom she met on the set of the thriller Hackers in 1995. 

At the ceremony, she wrote his name on her shirt in her own blood. The couple divorced after three years. She still describes the relationship as "a beautiful thing" and when pressed about it admits: "There are many things in life to regret, but that's certainly not one of them."

Her "surprise" wedding to actor-writer-director Billy Bob Thornton, 45, was announced in May last year. It was even more of a surprise for actress, Laura Dern, Thornton's then live-in girlfriend, who was under the misguided impression that she and Thornton were still together. The 20-minute ceremony in Las Vegas was performed directly after Jolie had checked herself into the UCLA psychiatric wing for three days to treat "suicidal and confused" feelings. Jolie and Thornton each wear a vial of one another's blood around their necks.

The couple met on the set of Pushing Tin. Jolie later claimed that on introduction it was "love at first sight", but officially the romance didn't start until two years later, largely because Thornton was in a relationship with Dern. He has now been married five times and has three children from his previous marriages.

The couple recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Jolie has recently stated: "I've told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn't kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up."

However, although from outward appearances it would be easy to assume the tone of their relationship is dictated by aggression and provocative passion, Jolie would be quick to contradict this one-sided hypothesis. "My husband is at home right now, writing something for us to do together. We're also talking about buying a ranch, having more strange animals and a beautiful life with the kids.We both want to adopt more children.

Some women have a real need, a real calling to have a child, but I've always been very aware of all the children around the world who do not have parents. There are brothers and sisters who have trouble being adopted or being kept together and, fortunately, we are able to financially take on more than one child and keep families together. A lot of parents can't do that."

"I think you find each other in this world, like lovers find each other and husbands and wives find each other, and are meant to take care of each other. I've visited lots of different countries and refugee camps and I just know that one day, we will adopt."

Action gals

A New breed of action hero has taken Hollywood by storm-hard-bodied babes who turn heads and kick butt with equal style.

The swashbuckling gals are sweeping all before them on the big screen and on TV, from futuristic Cleopatra 2525 to old-fashioned Tomb Raider Lara Croft.

"Young guys used to prefer watching Sly Stallone or Bruce Willis in action," says New York psychologist Dr. Jamie Turndorf. "Now they'd just as soon watch the girls beating up the bad guys. And the battling babes are a hot ticket with gals in search of role models." "Ten years ago, it was the skinny, soft, gentle, almost waif-like type that young girls were aspiring to be," notes San Francisco-based marketing expert Cassie Ederer. "Now it seems to be the opposite of that - healthy, strong and athletic." In other words, the damsel in distress of yore has given way to New Age rock'em, sock'em babes. 

"There was a time when people couldn't even fathom the idea of a woman fighting," says Tessie Santiago, who stars as a female Zorro in Queen of Swords. "Now, people love to see a woman in a position of power." 

As the characters get tougher and tougher, so, too, do their portrayers. Michelle Yeoh, the fearless heroin of Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, completed one scene after shredding the ligaments in her left knee. She had crew members prop her in a wheelchair and shoot her from the waist up. "You just grit your teeth," she says bravely. "Celluloid is forever." Angelina Jolie is another tough cookie, both on the screen and off. While playing pistol-packing Lara Croft in the movie Tomb Raider, she insisted on doing some death-defying stunts herself. In one she jumped off a three-story building with bungee cords wrapped around her ankles to perform a complex midair ballet. Voight crowed: "She did it in one take!".

Tomb Raider stunt co-ordinator Simon Crane was likewise impressed. "I would rate Angelina very highly against all of the action stars I've worked with," says Crane, whose credits include Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart and Vertical Limit. "We've done a couple of sequences that involve stunts you won't have seen a woman do before, and she did almost all of them herself.

Take a look at more gals who are still very feminine.

Jennifer O'Dell

(The Lost World-syndicated)

Jennifer does power yoga and weightlifting to keep her bod fighting fit, a necessity when you spend much of your time onscreen scantily clad. In The Lost World, she plays Veronica, an Amazonian lass who's been living among dinosaurs, lost civilizations and supernatural powers on a mysterious plateau since girlhood.

"I like the action and adventure of it all," Jennifer, 25, says about the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-inspired tale. "In the Lost World, anything can happen."

Lucy Lawless

(Xena:Warrior Princess - syndicated)

Voluptuous New Zealander Lucy, 33, was the spear-carrier for the new generation of women action stars - and the yardstick by which all others are measured. Sword-wielding Xena sliced and diced her way through a mystical medieval world from 1995 until this year. There'll be no new shows, but legions of fans will keep watching her in syndication. And the 5foot-11 Lucy, who performed many of her own stunts appreciates it all. "It's a l-in-10-million chance of a lifetime," she says. 

Jessica Alba 

(Dark Angel - Fox)

Pouty Jessica is a smash hit as leather-clad Max in this futuristic James Cameron thriller. She plays a lab-designed sex kitten with killer karate moves who has escaped her sinister masters and fights corruption. Jessica, 20, beat out 1,000 other hopefuls to win the part. She stays in shape for her gruelling stunts by working out five times a week, as well as biking, rock climbing and martial arts classes. Through it all, Jessica remains every inch a lady - although she admits with a laugh: "I can't walk in high heels."

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