RIFLE RANGE BOY

The Ballad of Narayama (1983) In many scriptures, folk tales and legends, many protagonists after finishing their feats on Earth, they would just disappear into oblivion, away from the limelight. Hang Tuah, after reaching an impressionable age when his reflexes took a decline, is said to have just wandered into the jungles of Mount Ophir (Gunung Ledang) to wither away. Some say that he embarked into a journey of self-discovery and meditation to age away and go back into the ashes of Nature. Of course, the romanticised version dictates that he went in search of the elusive drop-dead sultry temptress, Putri Gunung Ledang and they lived happily after in the clouds of ecstasy. Siddharta Gautama and King Krishna are also said to have taken similar path of withering away after realising that their work on Earth was over. winner film tells the story of inhabitants of a remote mountain area in Japan. Their way of life is so simple. They live in harmony with nature and its inhabitant. Day to ...

The first question that people ask when they see the cute insert of my baby picture at the corner of the cover of my book is, "Oh, you look so cute as a baby." And the standard reply is "and we all grow ugly after that!" We all see pictures of little children and videos of baby birthdays and such, we never fail to appreciate how cute our offsprings are and perhaps see how well or badly they have turned out eventually. Babies are made small, helpless, cute and cuddly for a particular reason - survival! A small, visually pleasing object has a better chance of being protected in times of adversity than an ugly repulsive one! That rule probably does not apply to his flesh and blood. For his mother, the maternal instinct would guarantee his safety no matter what - she would run into a burning building or jump into a lake even if she knows next to nothing about staying afloat. Like Amma used to say, "To a crow, her chick is still a golden chick." P.S. The c...

Dambulla Golden Temple They say they had great powers and wisdom. Legend has it that one of their kings, Ravana, had literally brought Lord Shiva to his knees when the king had conquered the Indian subcontinent all the way to what they thought was edge of heaven - Mount Kailash. Only when the mighty Lord thumbed his big guy did he plead for clemency and hence was born the Shiva Thandava stotram which is still muttered by His devotees till today. The island has so much of history and feats in engineering and architecture but what has it become? A third world country with chaotic traffic system filled by traffic etiquette wanting horn blaring drivers and three wheeler 'tut-tut' taxis who treat the road as a war zone where only the fittest and lion hearted survives! A nation with such a long high culture is now wallowed in poverty and has to play dance monkey to the tunes of tourists from supposedly developed nation to conjure out foreign exchange for their liveliho...

Thanks RS for his kind contribution. Testing football helmets in 1912 The Titanic in dry dock 1912 Carl Akeley posed with the leopard he killed with his bare hands after it attacked him, 1896 The smallest shop in London – a shoe salesman with a 1.2 square meter shoe store, 1900. A beggar running alongside King George V’s coach. England, c. 1920 Allied soldiers mock Hitler atop his balcony at the Reich Chancellery, by Fred Ramage, 1945 13 June 1944: An English brewery donates a sizable amount of fresh beer for the troops fighting in Normandy and a unique delivery method is created, strapping kegs to the underwings of Spitfires being shipped to forward airfields.Flying at 12 000 feet chills the brew to perfection An aerial view of the WWI Loos-Hulluch trench system in France.     British trenches are situated on the left of the photo, and German trenches on the right – in the middle of the two is no man’s land. July 22, 1...

Over the last weekend, the family was deeply engaged in a debate on the appropriateness of a video clipping that went viral on the cyberspace. A thick in the middle kind of a middle aged man was filmed on a handphone whilst a girl, who may be the victim, went on a rampage accusing him of outraging her modesty while seated in a flight. He had apparently touched her after slipping his hands through the space between the seats. The debate was whether what the victim did was right or the accused deserved such a shaming. The victim who is from the generation who wishes that their mobile devices were attached to their body had the clarity of mind to record the whole event soon after the said crime was committed. She raised an alarm and drew fellow plane passengers to her seat as she started confronting the perpetrator with artillery of piercing questions. The accused on the receiving end sat slouched in shame covering his face. There is a second clip where the accused is in better spiri...

Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) It is a decent attempt at a psychological thriller. Just like the 1960 film 'Psycho', they created excitement when they announced during the trailer that the cinema doors would be closed once the movie had started - no place for late comers, creating curiosity amongst movie-goers then. The idea of newcomers to a new town, a missing child, a few goofy characters, a collection of lifeless dolls and mental illness is an excellent plot for a chilling drama. Unfortunately, the music and the melodrama components failed to bring in the scream factor. It, however, kept to its storyline without appearing ridiculous even though the finale was a little unbelievable for a person with schizophrenia to hide his disease so well. The story starts when Ann leaves her daughter at a kindergarten on her first day. As she is in a hurry, she leaves her in the care of the school chef to be handed to the school teacher. When Ann returns in the afternoon to fetch her d...

Everybody wants to change everything! Not everything changes for the better for everyone! Just a century ago, life was simple. When things became complicated and hard to deal with, help usually came from the community. Various strata of people from the society with various expertise came forth to offer would contribute their 2 cents worth to solve it. Slowly when problems became more abstract and less tangible, the snake oil salesmen and religious men filled in the gap. When diseases were considered incurable and terminal, people started looking at it as God-sent to punish the non believers and those who strayed from the true teachings. Paradoxically, these ostracised victims were cared for individuals who had surrounded all their worldly freedom in the way of the Lord. These God's men even went as far as to educate natives to the marvel of culture of the Western civilisation with the fringe benefit of the words of the Lord thrown in for good measure. It was a time wh...

Boyhood (2014) The interesting thing about this film is that this movie was made over the span of 12 years using the same cast who met annually to make shots. This set-up seem especially important in this coming-of-age movie as the theme is about growing up and the protagonist was a child at the beginning of the movie and goes to college at the end. Over the years, we can also see the adults changing their appearances. It is basically about a boy growing up through the years as his mother goes through 3 broken marriages and he deals with 3 different father figures. The mother, Olivia (Patricia Arquette), becomes a teenage mother with a drifter. She becomes a single mother of two and steps again into 2 unfulfilling marriages. Olivia herself empowers herself through education and became a lecturer. The boy, Mason, grows up discovering about life and his adulthood through his biological father who pops up every so often. from 2002 to 2014

The Birth of a Nation (1915) Yes, this silent film is 100 years old. It is the oldest movie that I have seen to date. It a 3hour long movie which drew a lot of flak from those who disagreed with some of the historical facts depicted here, especially as Ku Klux Klan is shown in a favourable light. It shows the most important single event that affected what would eventually transform into the biggest nation in the world one day - the Civil War and the aftermath. It is an intense saga of brethren of a nation who are divided by their need to use slaves but united by their Aryan roots. The first half of the movie dwells into the nation engulfed in Civil War. Two families are torn apart as collateral damage of the war. Brothers are fighting each other and are held as war criminals. The real drama starts after Abraham Lincoln is assassinated when his post-war plans are hijacked by carpetbaggers and profiteers. This is the time of Reconstruction after the war. The black slaves, who...

 John & Mary (1969) Another movie whose screenplay was written by John Mortimer. This 1969 movie did not particularly hit it big in the box office even though two of its main stars, Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow had just carved a name  for themselves after 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Rosemary's Child' respectively. This neo-art movie takes through the ritual of courtship of modern man. It shows us the art of fornication which is quite comical which looking like the art of war. The parties involved look like prey and predator. The only thing different is that each party wants to be the holding the upper hand and dictating terms. It also looks like a psychological warfare involving kidnappers and negotiators in a hostage situation! John (Dustin Hoffman) is with his friend in a bar frequented by pretty lasses looking for a one night stand. A somewhat reluctant John who is still nursing a recent break-up with his girlfriend, a flamboyant model, meets Mary (Mia Farro...