sub f{print(($/,"* "x5,'*',"="x15,$/," *"x5)x3,($/,"="x26,$/)x3)}
      123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_12345678
[download]

and it prints the same as the example

                - Ant
                - Some of my best work - Fish Dinner

Actually, it doesn't.

@s=('*'," *"x5,"="x15,$/);print((@s," *"x5,$/)x3,@s,($/,'='x26,$/)x3)
[download]

and that's a nice round 69! :)

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

sub f{print((($/,"* "x5,'*',"="x15,$/," *"x5)x4)[0..22],($/,"="x26,$/)
+x3)}
      123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_1234
+567
[download]

67... and yours can go to 66...

print((@s=('*'," *"x5,"="x15,$/)," *"x5,$/)x3,@s,($/,'='x26,$/)x3)
123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456
[download]

                - Ant
                - Some of my best work - Fish Dinner

@s=('*',' *'x5,'='x15,"\n");@t=(' *'x5,"\n",@s)x3;@u=("\n",'='x26,"\n"
+)x3;print@s,@t,@u
[download]

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

I think your code produces a picture that's a little bit different from the original question.

Here's one at 83:

@s=("*"," *"x5,"="x15,"\n");@p=((@s," *"x5,"\n")x3,@s,("\n",'='x26,"\n
+")x3);print@p
[download]

Looks like the rest of you are taking what I made and running w/ it.

I think this would exemplify the core philosophy of the Free Software movement. i.e. Take a good idea and refine it.