magiclist.py

class MagicList(list):

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        if not isinstance(key, tuple):
            return list.__getitem__(self, key)
        rv = []
        for element in key:
            value = list.__getitem__(self, element)
            if isinstance(element, slice):
                rv.extend(value)
            else:
                rv.append(value)
        return rv

if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = "1:2:3:4:5"
    result = MagicList(s.split(':'))[0,2:6]
    print(result)