RIFLE RANGE BOY

Managed to warp through Hong Kong (the sweet smelling harbour in Cantonese) in less than a day. It is a city that is pretty confused. On one hand, you have its citizens dressed to the nines with the latest winter collection keeping up with the latest trends set in New York, Paris and Milan with furs and boots, on the other hand, they do not fit into a typical metropolitan citizen category with language being their handicap. Even magazines are bilingual trying to write on something quite Continental like making a new cocktail. You have yuppies (young urban professionals) waiting in line to barge into Louis Vuitton and Cartier flagship stores to lay their hands on the trendiest merchandise, and you also have the boat people and their humble what can hardly be called an abode in Aberdeen area! And everyone is working till late trying to make lots of money. And they try to sell the trades and tours which are nothing more than flashing of the fetishism of capitalism and the evil past of ...

Sudden fear (1952) Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is a rich heiress who is also successful play writer in New York. She is overlooking a rehearsal of her latest play, 'Halfway to Heaven' when she commented that the auditioned actor, even though presented his dialogues succinctly, was not macho enough for Myra. The said actor, Lester Blaine (Jack Palance), goes off but not without giving a piece of his mind that even Casanova (from a portrait that he saw) had a deformed face and rough features. Another actor takes over the role and the play goes on to be a hit. Myra goes off on a long train ride to San Francisco on a well deserved break. At the railway, she bumps into Lester. Even though Lester had apparently forgotten their previous encounter and had moved on with life, Myra felt that she owes him an apology. The banter goes on to drinks and laughter. Lester even extended his ticket from Chicago all the way to her destination. Jack Palance One thing lead anoth...

Perched on a collection of rocks amidst the hostile winds and seas of the South China Sea, Macao may seem like a morose land with a grey skyline. Without fertile agricultural land, it had to depend on other source of economical dependence. What other way to make money than to deal with money itself, like use money to beget money, like gambling. Hey wait, the Jesuit forefathers who set sail to spread the good word of the God, established this land of the foundation of Godliness, gambling being one of the cardinal sins. The sin would be halved if all the remnants of the ruins are conserved and shown to the world to lure heritage status and to lure divine help needing tourists from whom we will suck their money. Not to forget our pre-Portuguese seafaring ancestors and Ah-Ma temple with the sea protecting goddess. The mysticism just makes Macao more mysterious. Even its name was erroneously derived when the visitors landed at the local Fujian tribes were seen pacifying their newb...

We have heard again and again of two parties complaining about each other, each trying to justify their actions over the other. Each party would tell their version what they perceive as the truth and the actions would seem to be only natural thing to do. We, the listeners, would be roped in so as that be a yes-man so just that to legalize their actions. We would be left in conundrum as to where the real truth lies. Both parties seem to telling the truth and seem to have act on the best of interest of both parties. At the end of the day, if the action was carried with no malice intended, there would be in no feud in the first place. The easy way out of this wrangle would be implement the no-fault or the Act of God clause. It seems that Man is always quick to blame God on everything and is an easy punching bag for fallacies of Man. The truth is always in the middle, perhaps the party involved would meet each other midway before they reach a point of no return.

Kapurush - O - Mahapurush (The Coward & The Holy Man; Bengali, 1965) This is a collection of two stories, one on a triangular love affair and the other on the gullibility of the public and blind faith. Kapurush The topic of love triangle has been dealt with by the Indian silver screen umpteenth times with varying success from 'Sangam' to 'Saajan' to 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' and till the end of time. What make this different is the simplicity of story and the excellence of direction and acting, minus the razzmatazz of an Indian wedding and melodrama. Storm in tea-cup? Amit Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee who has been seen in many of Ray's films) is a screenwriter who is stranded in a small town when his car stalls. Bimal Gupta, a tea planter offers him a place to stay the night. Back in his bungalow, Roy, discovers that Mrs Gupta is actually (surprise, surprise) his old flame whom he did not have the courage to sweep her off from her guardians when they sent...

Sailing through the tumultuous undulating wavy ocean of life and trying to make sense of this entity called life, I venture deep into the crevices of my non dominant right brain trying to find an explanation to the many bizarre every day happenings. I am only left more confused than I ever was. Why do we do the things that we do? In fact, this concept has been argued by modern man for aeons  People do evil stuff which seem unthinkable to others. Instances like the Holocaust, Khmer Rouge genocide and of late the Indian brutal rape-murder incident fit the bill perfectly. Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt, a critical thinker of a generation ago, sitting through the Israeli trial of Adolf Ikemann and his role in the holocaust, argued that, people who push the button in these heinous crimes are just like you and me. They do not have the personification of evil of you and I have in mind. They are fastidious law abiding citizens leading mundane lives dedicated to do the ...

Thandavam (Dance: தாண்டவம், Tamil; 2012) I never really fancied Vikram (a.k.a. Chinaaya Kennedy) and his over the top overacting. One friend told me to view as it is supposed to different from his previous flicks. Unconvinced, I gave it a go anyway, but I beg to differ with his opinion. It is the same broody guy carrying the whole world's worry on his shoulders (like in Anniyan). And he is blind on top of it (like in Kasi). And trust the Indian masala to extrapolate the technique of echolocation, which was devised to help the visually handicapped to move around without knocking into things by hearing the echo of their voice, to be used instead by a blind ex-intelligence officer to become a vengeful killer! (A walking blind killer machine) It starts with a 2011 New Year bomb blast in Tower Bridge London. A year later, people are seen leaving flowers at a monument erected to commemorate the dead. So is a blind man, Vikram, who is seen playing the organ in a church later....

The Girl (2012) This controversial film produced by HBO and BBC put the legendary Alfred Hitchcock in a bad light. It is the product of the interview of a down and out actress Tippi Hedren whom Hitchcock introduced in 'Bird' (1963). Hitch's fascination with blondes continues after Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergmann and Kim Novak. In comes Tippi  Hedren a blonde with Nordic roots, a single mother, a model with a child. After an unpleasant encounter with Vera Miles who became pregnant during Hitchcock's earlier film, he is happy with her single status. Tippi, on her side is smitten for having a chance to work with a director of his stature. He promises to elevate her career to that of Grace Kelly, who stopped acting after marrying Prince of Monaco. Shooting of 'The Birds' commences (no pun intended). Slowly, Hitchcock starts controlling her dressing and even her make-up. We, the viewers, can see that Hitch is made to look like sexual predator, have long stares at...

This is an interesting documentary about the life and times of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his army of freedom fighters in the Indian National Army. RS would be interested to note that Sikh soldiers were a hit amongst the German girls. There is a story of a Indo-Austrian child and a mysterious death which intrigues many conspiracy theorists. He is said to be the mysterious leader who had no qualms to shake hands with the devil for Independence of India.

And they were always meant to be so... Unfortunately, we have always used statistics to generalize. Cancer of the lung had always been associated with male smokers. Of late, young non smoking ladies have also been struck by an aggressive form of this dreaded neoplasia. The last thing that you would expect to be stricken by this malignancy who be a young mid 20 fit non-smoking male who does not indulge in unhealthy activities. A pious individual with his whole future paved right in front of him with a new job and a soon-to-be bride awaiting to dream of matrimonial bliss and all the dreamy memories that come with it. It makes it worse when you have seen the boy grow right in front of your very eyes stricken by this infamously deadly crab. Armed with a chest full of hope and passionate divine mercy the family is throttling along, praying for a miracle with diligent medical advice. About twenty years ago, through the course of my work, I came in contact with a family who never really go...

Thanks RS for input! Grand-Prize Winner: The Explosion! The subject's name is Busaba, a well cared for Indochinese Tigress whose home is at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand. I had taken many portraits of Busaba previously and it was becoming more and more difficult to come up with an image that appeared any different to the others. Which is why I took to observing her more carefully during my visits in the hope of capturing something of a behavioral shot. The opportunity finally presented itself while watching Busaba enjoying her private pool then shaking herself dry. In all humility I have to say that Mother Nature smiled favorably on me that day! (© Ashley Vincent/National Geographic Photo Contest) First Place, Places Category: The Matterhorn, 4,478m, at full moon. (© Nenad Saljic/National Geographic Photo Contest) Viewers' Choice for Places: Iceberg Hunters - Chipping ice off an iceberg is a common way for the Inuit community to retrieve fresh drinking water while ...

Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi (Shirin-Farhad made it, Hindi;2012, ) Ferhad Pastakia is a 45 year old goody two shoes Farsi man who is living with his over-domineering and constrictive mother and grandmum. He has cordial relations with his aunt and cousins. The only problem is that everybody is trying to get him married desperately. He feels that his chances are getting slimmer as he gets older and the ladies he is introduced to are getting younger. And the embarrassing problem to the prospective brides is that he is employed as a sales assistant in a ladies' undergarment shop, which is not a problem at all to Ferhad. A chance meeting of a 40something customer, Sherrin Fuggawalla who happened to be a secretary at the Parsees' Trust Association just clicked the right button. After a few dates, Farhad brings her to meet her mother, just when she discovers that Sherrin was instrumental in destroying a certain illegal water tank in their ancestral home. Ferhad's mother g...

Argo 2012 This film won many praises mainly because it is an American movie that over glorifies the American efforts to save its citizen from its 'evil' enemies. In the process, it made genuine helpers mere bystanders. It narrates  a secret mission apparently to rescue six of their embassy staff who managed to escape their captors during the takeover of the American Embassy back in 1979.   Ben Affleck (the director and producer) stars as a CIA agent who masterminds an escape plan for the embassy staff by entering Iran as a Canadian film maker looking for a location for his movie, Argo, a space fantasy film. He manages to enter and contact the escapees. The suspense of escaping from the menacing Iranian militia amidst the last minute cancellation of their ticket and the heart throbbing excitement at the immigration exit point forms the highlight of the movie. The camera shots were not typical of a feature film but that of journalistic filming, like how it would...

Moonrise Kingdom 2012 Of late, I have come to hear all about a director, Wes Anderson, with his different approach to filmmaking and direction. Well, I agree but I do not enjoy it. This film, is a coming of age movie about a disturbed 12 year old orphaned boy who has difficulty adapting himself with the other foster kids and another disturbed girl who hates her mother after seeing her intimate with a police officer (Captain Sharp, Bruce Willis). The boy, Sam Shakusky, runs away from his scouts' camping site with the plan to elope and subsequently his new found love, the girl, a 12 year old Suzzy Bishop, whom he met at a show. This quirky film is set in the year 1965 on an island paradise. Sam's disappearance alerts the Scout Master (Edward Norton), Captain Sharp, the fellow scouts and the Bishops on a manhunt. They are eventually tracked down after some drama but they escape detention and rush off to be married by another scout master! A storm brews. After some masala k...

Metropolis (Silent, 1927) Director: Fritz Lang This silent film is a treasure that was lost in the annals of time, and the reel of films was recovered piecemeal in Argentina. It was written by a husband and wife team of Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang, who later separated due to a difference in political ideologies.  In essence, it portrays a futuristic time (2026) when a city built by Joh Frederson is divided into two social classes. The ruling party enjoys a cushy life on land whilst the oppressed robotic-like workers live deep underground, literally working themselves to death to keep the evil machines in working order so that life as they knew in Metropolis, the city, can function. The film references many biblical events, although many of these religious innuendos can be construed as a pure figment of our own interpretation of the story. The copy I watched had some exciting director's comments explaining cryptic messages hidden in the story. Metropolis ...