RIFLE RANGE BOY

Continuing my journey of cultural enlightenment saw me seated in the seats of PJLA watching a standup comedy show by the 'Comedy Court' duo of Alan Pereira and Indy Nadarajah. Cultural performances have always depicted the evolving times in life of mankind. It had also helped to change the route of direction of progress of mankind. In India, puppet shows were used to highlight the brutality of the colonists and incite the people to fight for self rule. In China, cultural performances were rendezvous for secret meetings to make plans for mutiny against the mean pompous dynasties. Hence, cultural performances are not always in praise of the Creator or in ecstasy of pleasures of love and life! 'Not Guilty' is a political satirical comedy composing of three sketches cleverly laced with song parodies. In the first segment, 'Who wants to be a Billionaire', they took jibe at a typical Chinaman bookie and the numerous loss invoking ventures by the ruling Government. T...

Mutley (of Wacky Races) At a time when South Africa was shying away from Apartheid, when the loud sounds of 'Gimme Hope Joanna' were heard in every Soweto* and streets of Johannesburg, Malaysia was embracing racism full scale after the 69 mayhem. What better (or worse) place to perceive this transformation than the local universities. In my batch (just like the rest of the varsity), the non-Bumis stuck together for play and work. A handful of upper-class middle Malay students would join us every now and then. That's it- they were no 'bro'! In essence, the Bumis and the nons interacted amongst themselves. The non-Bumi guys in our batch used to refer to each other with the prefix 'homosapiens' followed by a suffix characteristic of their trait or character. There was a guy who spiced his conversation with unnecessary profanity, hence his title was homo sapien vulgaris; homo sapien negroides- coarse features and thick lips; homo sapien sinensis - ...

This is the earliest of the collection of the silent movies that is currently in my possession. When I told one of my friends that I was going to watch a 1925 (released in 1927) silent movie called 'Pleasure Garden', he asked whether it was an adult themed porn flick! Of course not, it is Alfred Hitchcock's directorial debut. Pleasure Garden is the name of the hall where Jill and Patsy were dancing girls. Jill's fiancé, Hugh, who is working in an estate overseas visits her with his friend, Levet. After a brief vacation, Hugh returns to work. Jill's fame skyrockets afterwards and is wooed by a rich prince. Patsy's advice to Jill on being level headed and faithful to Hugh falls to deaf ears and their relationship sours. Patsy is smitten with Levet and decide to tie the knot. Towards the end of her honeymoon, Patsy realizes Levet's true colour. Levet returns overseas to continue his work. Virginia Valli as Patsy  In one of the rather infrequent letters s...

Finally, I got down to read Dan Brown's book 'The Lost Symbol', which I got as a birthday gift (? 2 years ago). Over the years, his books have degenerated from 'off the edge unputdownable' to 'readable' to 'he has lost it'! 'Da Vinci's Code', was a revelation of page after page of facts that satisfied the belly of every conspiracy theorist. In 'Lost Symbols', I did not find it anything new to be excited about. Maybe because it was predominantly American history in the limelight, which I know very little about, and about the symbols found in the American currency notes and landscapes, which are quite alien to me. We have all heard about the conspiracy of the group of stone workers (The Masons @ The Lodge) who established secret symbols to communicate and hide the truth in their endeavour to rule the world. In this book, our hero, Prof Robert Langdon, is summoned (by deceit) to decipher certain symbols to rescue his mentor (Dr Pete...

I think his case should be discussed in Psychiatry Grand Rounds not Forbes! http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-worlds-first-trillionaire Malaysian world’s first trillionaire? By Yow Hong Chieh January 22, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — A Malaysian businessman who claims descent from Javanese royalty has alleged that he has some €5 trillion (RM20 trillion) in savings, which would make him the world’s first trillionaire and the world’s richest man by far.  Perak-born Kamal Ashnawi, who heads Sierra Petroleum Sdn Bhd, disclosed this at a press conference here yesterday where he showed reporters a copy of a bank statement from HSBC London,  Utusan Malaysia  reported today.  The riches were inherited from the Combined International Collateral of the Global Debt Facility set up in 1875 by the world’s royal families, he claimed.  Forbes  magazine lists Mexican telco tycoon Carlos Slim Helú as the world’s richest man, with an estimated...

Downhill (1927) Director: Alfred Hitchcock People may frown and sneer at me watching silent movies. After all the advancement in acting and sound systems, it can be mind boggling to have one sitting through a full length silent movie as if you are living in a world filled with the hearing impaired or speech challenged people! What is important to me in a film is not the glitz of props and razzmatazz of ornaments draped around the actors but rather, I am a sucker for good stories. Of course, a silent movie is not silent. There is an ascending and descending crescendo of musical score. Only the actors are acting, not speaking to be heard. I recently watched one of the oldest silent movies that I have watched - Downhill, a 1927 Alfred Hitchcock directed British film. There is more to silent movies than Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin's antics. As speech expression is a handicap, the players compensate with sometimes, exaggerated, facial expressions and hand gestures. It is int...

I think I am watching way too much TV as evidenced by my frequent reviewing of old movies. At least the tinge of nostalgia is still there in the blog. This 1957 movie was just a mediocre movie when it was released but over time, like wine, aged gracefully and is placed in the archives of American movies as national treasure. Tony Curtis & Burt Lancaster  A good half an hour into the movie, you would be lost as if you had just joined in an ongoing conversation and trying very hard to figure out what everyone is talking about. Then it will unfold piece by piece. It is a drama revealing the dirty insincere world of powerful newspaper owner, his sister with her love of her life and a publicity agent who doubles as one who does his dirty work. J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) is a ruthless newspaper man who literally squeezes everyone in town by their throat. Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), the suave raccoon-eyed versatile hunk, is a down trodden, publicity agent who fell in bad t...

We, the product of the post NEP era, grew literally soaked in an environment filled with the Malay Language and its culture. With limited exposure to the outside world via telecommunications, (the pre-Top of Pops and music video era), we were bombarded with cultural presentations meted out by the sole telecommunications controller of yesteryear Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM). We were exposed to likes of singers of the 70s through 90s Sudirman, JJ, Flybaits , Ramli Sarip, Sweet Charity, Chris Vadham, Ben Nathan, Chris Vadham, Alleycats, Rafeah Buang, Wann (the singer with constipated voice), Search, etcetera . This does not include the exposure to P.Ramlee and his brand of music and humour. We, the Malaysian post NEP generation have been exposed to lots of Malay literature and music throughout outgrowing age and we are quite well versed with the turn of events in the local scene. If not for the ever changing rules and vocabulary set the language g...

Farish A Noor 10:57AM Jan 19, 2012 Over the last two days I have been interviewed three times by three different media publications over the question of where I stand on the latest silly debate in Malaysia, namely the question of whether Hang Tuah existed or not, and whether it ought to be taught in schools. This is, I have to confess, one of the smaller histories of Malaysia that has been in the footnotes of my mind for ages, and I recall how I was once asked by an elderly gentleman during a forum discussion in KL in 1998 if it was true that Hang Tuah was of Chinese origin. Let me state what little I know of the matter, and make my stand relatively clearer: Firstly, I don't know or care if Hang Tuah was Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Eskimo or Serbo-Croat. He could have been a mix of all of the above with a Martian wife and a Venusian mother-in-law for all I care; Secondly, no, there is no record of the keris Taming Sari either, and every antique shop that claims to have one is ...