RIFLE RANGE BOY

La Luna (2023) Director:  M. Raihan Halim It is not just confined to one religion; it so happens that Islam is the reference in this film. Leaders of any religion, way of life, or cult take it upon themselves to be the de facto spokesperson on how the religion should be practised. They want to have the final say as if they had an audience with the Almighty, who whispered the secrets of life in their ears.  To the young and restless, they give the impression that their lifelong purpose in life is to screw up everybody's happiness. Just to show who is the boss.  Take this example. Occasionally, at the temple I sometimes frequent, there will be public service announcements of some good news or achievements. Naturally, the congregation would display their pleasure and admiration by clapping. That was the most natural thing for us humans to do. "But no!" said one elder, who raised his hands angrily to stop them from clapping. Strangely, a few minutes later, everyone was seen e...

The Affair (Miniseries); 2014-19. Season 1-5 (53 episodes) Some men justify their polyamorous activities by saying that it is the norm. They assert that monogamy is an artificial construct that society conjures to determine ownership, responsibility and financial commitments in exchange for pleasures and the encumbrances emanating. Society has constructed a cookbook recipe of how society should be lived - a monogamous one, sex within the confines of marriage and condemnation of fornication. In defence, Casanovas insist their actions be in sync with the demands of Nature. The male seedlings are produced in abundance with the sole purpose of choosing the best of the offspring. Hence, they are just helping Nature sow their seed far and wide, aiding the production of the best species to flourish. There must be a reason why oestrus cycles are glaringly absent in our species. With such effective health awareness, screening, treatment and contraception at their disposal, they look at unplanne...

The Great (2020) Miniseries Seasons 1 -3. There may be better places to learn about Catherine the Great, her supposed greatness and Russian history than this miniseries. With the liberal use of the creative licence and the need to lure viewers to the miniseries, the moviemakers have taken the liberty to mix and match events haphazardly. There is plenty of exhibition of flesh in different stages of undressing. A European history student may cringe at how historical figures are interchangeable at will here. For the records, Catherine II was not Russian but Sophia of Prussian origin. She was not of aristocratic breed. Sophia was married off to Peter III at the age of 17. She embraced Orthodox Christianity, learned Russian, and was immersed in its culture. Unlike what is depicted in the series, Peter III was not Peter I's son but his grandson. Peter I (Peter The Great) was the one who established the Russian Empire. After Peter the Great's unceremonious demise, his second wife, Ca...

Malu apa bossku? Apparently, all the things I may have learnt from childhood may be wrong after all. Sometimes, I wonder whether I thought the wrong thing or may have been hoodwinked to believe obviously wrong things. Perhaps values changed while we were napping. I always assumed that when one loses any of his properties via public auction, he is said to have lost not only his wealth but also his dignity. The mark of a true man is his ability to acquire wealth and provide for his dependents; his inability to retain his finances is a colossal failure. At a time when pride was everything, abscondment and suicide were standard outlets. My legal eagle friends remain nonchalant about their clients or opponents declaring themselves bankrupt or their properties auctioned off. To them, that is a cost of doing business. Overlooking the inconveniences of bankruptcy, it remains a legitimate 'get out of jail' sort of card. Nothing Earth-shattering, they say, and definitely no shame. ...

American Fiction (2023) Screenplay & Direction: Cord Jefferson It seems that we have not changed much since our days as cavemen. Imagine living exposed in a world so hostile we would have tried to understand the unusual things around us. We continued compartmentalising the living and non-living things amongst us even when we became hunter-gatherers, farmers or city dwellers. By compartmentalising everyone in boxes, we thought we had our defences up to remind us which one of them was friends and which were potentially harmful. Gone are club-carrying or sabre-rattling days, but these classifications helped somewhat. The Chinese viewed anyone non-Huns as barbaric. So did the Greeks, Persians and Arabs. During the mercantile era, the dark-skinned were labelled as God-sanctioned slaves.  In the USA, post-Civil War America assumed that the emancipated slaves were ill-prepared to fit into modern society. They expected them to remain the subservient ones. They were prevented from getti...

Shakuni, Master of the Game (2019) Author: Ashutosh Nadkar That is the essence behind the Mahābhārata. It is not supposed to give a 2-dimensional view of things. It should make us realise that good and evil are a spectrum. One man's good deed can be to another's detriment. One man's version of the truth is another's untruth. I suppose, in the same way, Shakuni, the archetypical villain of the epic saga, could have his version of what actually transpired in his lifetime. He would have his version of what happened between the two noble families, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. This book goes on to tell exactly that; Shakuni's actions, reactions and justifications of all the things that he allegedly connived in eventually leading up to one of the bloodiest wars in history amongst brothers, cousins and uncles. Shakuni gives the lowdowns and dirty secrets of the family his beloved sister was married to. He claimed he was not handicapped as per common misconception. He was...