RIFLE RANGE BOY

Rumpole of the Bailey (1978-1992) I do not remember this show to be shown over the Malaysian airwaves when I was young. Perhaps, it was too cerebral to my liking then. With all the witty tongue in the cheek cynic speak and verbosity, I do not think any normal youngster from the Malaysian schooling system eating rice and sambar  from the culturally challenged neighbourhood of Rifle Range Flats would appreciate this kind of English court drama. After reading John Mortimer's biography, I decided to give his creation a try. 'Rumpole of The Bailey' kind of of British presentation is the reason why the British TV shows used to be something of a hit amongst the literate circles of the yesteryear. Now, with age and the intelligence to appreciate the finer nuances of the language, I find this offering totally absorbing. It tells the courtroom escapades of an eccentric aged barrister, Horace Rumple who works in courts, The Bailey as it is referred to (after the street it is loca...

Trial and Error (a.k.a. The Dock Brief, 1962) Just because one had toiled many hours in a particular field and has the academic papers to show it, it does not mean that he is a master in that field. He cannot demand due respect just because of that. Respect needs to be earned. This is another film made from John Mortimer's play. It showcases two of Britain's greatest offering to showbiz - Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough. It mainly takes place in a prison cell and an imaginary court room. A pessimistic prisoner, Herbert Fowle (Attenborough), stand accused of murdering his wife. He admits killing his wife, all because she is full of laughter. Her laughing stitch had reached an unacceptable point of annoyance that he could not stand it any further. Wilfred Morganhall, a down and out lawyer who is hardly seeked upon for legal representation is assigned by the courts to defend Fowle. He instructs his client to plead innocence. The sequence of events is narrated in flas...

There have been many of so-called 'trial of media' of late. Somebody would commit a crime. He would be caught on tape doing it or after the fact. The widespread use of CCTV and dashboard cameras makes every action digitalised whether we like it or not. Then the uploading to social media and hence the floodgates would open. Every netizen who cannot even string a straight sentence would suddenly metamorphose into a law savvy opinionated caring human who cares for humanity and would go all out to ensure that justice is meted out. If only the truth can be whipped out so easily! MGR whipping the villain MN Nambiar into submission as the missing twin emerges from oblivion to reclaim his share of the estate from his  conniving deceptive relatives in 1967 blockbuster 'Engal Veetu Pillai' (see pic below too). The vilification and character assassination would ensue. Details of his employment, home address and even information deemed private, like vehicle owners...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/magazine/01-brown-sisters-forty-years.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=1 Photographs by NICHOLAS NIXON The Brown sisters have been photographed every year since 1975. The latest image in the series is published here for the first time. . 1975, New Canaan, Conn. Text by SUSAN MINOT OCTOBER 3, 2014 Nicholas Nixon was visiting his wife’s family when, “on a whim,” he said, he asked her and her three sisters if he could take their picture. It was summer 1975, and a black-and-white photograph of four young women — elbows casually attenuated, in summer shirts and pants, standing pale and luminous against a velvety background of trees and lawn — was the result. A year later, at the graduation of one of the sisters, while readying a shot of them, he suggested they line up in the same order. After he saw the image, he asked them if the...

Four Horsemen (2012) Written and Directed by: Ross Ashcroft This is another independent multiple award-winning documentary that looks at the depressing economic structure that rules the world. It tells us that we are in a mess. Nobody actually knows how the economy works. From the early twentieth century, we have experimented with various models of economies (traditional and neo-conservatives) and political ideologies (right, centre, left, socialism, communism), but nothing seems to work. The title refers to the biblical 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation, which indicates the days of the Last Judgement. They ride on horses of different hues, white, red, black and pale, each representing Conquest, War, Famine (or justice as he seems to carry a scale perhaps to measure grain or mete justice) and Death respectively to open four of the seven seals of God's hand. Thinkers have postulated that empires only last 10 generations or 250 years. At the end of a fallin...