RIFLE RANGE BOY

Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (Documentary; 2016) Director, Screenwriter: Dinesh D'Souza, Bruce Schooley Even though this partisan documentary did such a fantastic job criticising the Democratic Party and probably aided the victory of Donald Trump and his Republican Party, it received a flurry of negative reviews in the mainstream media. Despite having the honour of being one of highest grosser of all time, the film was nominated and made a killing at the Raspberry Awards for the worst Director, Film and Actor. The presentation starts with D'Souza starting his jail sentence for misuse of political funds (when he did his first film, 2016: Obama's America). As he mingles with the hardcore criminals in prison, he realises that the modus operandi of the gangs that control the jail is the same as the crooks that control politics in America, especially that of the Democratic Party. Just like the design laid out by a schemer who was a fe...

America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014, Documentary) Director, Written: Dinesh D'Souza, John Sullivan At a time in our country when leaders from the ruling party tell non-dominant races of the nation, the so-called 'newcomers', not to comment on the political running of the country but to just continue paying the tax without raising an eyebrow on the turn of events, I thought this documentary was an eye-opener. Only in America an immigrant who still remembers his time in his original country and after 30 years of residence in his newfound country writes and makes documentaries about the greatness of his new home but condemns the opposition to the concept of America. He further goes to prison for hurting the people in power. This is Dinesh D'Souza, the filmmaker known for making political documentaries and of one of the highest grosser in the history of USA. His previous flick, 2016: Obama's America (produced 2012) remains the second highest grossing...

The Man in the High Castle (Seasons 1 and 2) They say that there is no entity as time. It is just a construct made by Man. Life works just fine when the purpose of your living is laid bare for you to follow, and Nature does not put obstacles in your path. It may work just fine if you live in a utopia, a paradise, a land of make-believe! In reality, Nature had to be tamed. The element of predictability needs to be made clear to avert eventualities. This is where time comes in handy, to put a perspective on the cyclical nature of things. Everything in Nature has a mathematic equation to put them in place and time is a denominator. We have heard of Manzanar, the concentration camp built to place American-Japanese after Pearl Harbour. And the American-German Bund movement which existed before WW2 to promote Nazi in a favourable light. That was it! After World War 2 ended, they were passé. Imagine an alternative universe where the Germans and the Japanese won World War 2! Well, t...

First, they said, "Seeing is believing. Don't believe anything until and unless you see it with your very own eyes!" Then it was, "Don't believe everything that you see! The mind can play tricks on you!" They showed two arrows of the same length with one everted ends and the other with inverted ones to prove their point of view. Remember the pool of water when you are stranded on a desert only to realise that you have plunged yourself into a sand dune when you thought you had reached a wadi, an oasis. You knew he meant more than what you heard him say the world is a mirage, a Maya, a smokescreen coordinated by the puppet master. Then they said that a responsible and noble band of brothers wants to set the record straight. They want to record news as it is, from the field as it happens unbiased. You were promised truth right from the horses' mouth. They wanted history to be written as it should be. You thought you knew everything and you were happy. ...

W. (2008) George W. Bush had the unenviable record of being the US President with the lowest rating ever, at the end of his second term. His tenure marked the making the world a hostile world to live in and the unleashing of the genie of destruction from the Middle East. Somehow I could not help but compare W as a President to Truman. Truman was not the first choice for Vice President but was chosen over the left leaning pacifist Henry Wallace. W was made President after a controversial election. When FDR died four months into his VPship, Truman was left asking himself, whether he was man enough to be the President? Like Truman, W had a disturbing past. Harry Truman grew up as a recluse and a nerd for being small, book-wormish and with thick glasses. Because of this complex, probably, Truman turned out to be a 'gung-ho' leader who threatened the whole world, especially the Soviet Union, with his new found toy, the Nuclear Bombs. W had always grown under the shadow of his b...

Snowden (2016) The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 letters penned by the founding fathers, John Jay, James Madison and Andrew Hamilton under the pseudonym of Publius to cajole the American public to ratify the American constitution. The essays are said to be very foresighted in its outlook. It admits that man, being man, can never be unbiased. He is forever swayed by emotions, lust, greed, power, control and all the traits that makes him human. Hence, he cannot be entrusted to be a just leader. Checks and balances had to be put to ensure continuity of the sovereignty of the nation. They suggested that the fall of great empires in the past due to it absence and placing of too much power on the elite few. The common man too had a duty to partake in the running of his country. Maybe the placing of too much of emphasis on the idea of nation and less on humanity, some 'well meaning' group of people or vested individuals took the concept of nation security and fear of losi...

The birthplace of Jane and Benjamin Franklin. Jane would live here for most of her life while Benjamin would leave to pursue his apprenticeship. (brainpickings.org) Heard a podcast recently on one of the American founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. As is well known, he emerged from a humble beginning, of a son of a poor candle and soap maker, to propel himself away from the clutches of poverty, to pull himself up with his boots strap even though he could not afford boots. Benjamin, a polymath, later became a printer, a master inventor, a diplomat, established the mail service and had a hand in drafting the Declaration of Independence. He was self-taught. Together with his favourite sister, Jenny (out of 16 other siblings), they used to teach each other. Then, Benjamin left his home to work in a printing press run by his brother by a twist of fate. One thing led to another, and he left the job. He later managed to establish himself as a printer. In his printing compa...

The Untold History of the United States (2012, Documentary) Written, Directed and Narrated by Oliver Stone In essence life on Earth never changed. The animalistic yearn for power, blood and control never left us even though we left our nomadic ways, our parchments and dressed in 'modern attires'. This documentary, coming from a controversial filmmaker, Oliver Stone, is a must watch for history buffs who believe that history is not just a dead subject about dead people. After all, history is supposed to regularly discussed, dissected, analysed and argued with the understanding that history repeats itself. One who does not appreciate the follies of history is bound to repeat its indiscretion. This set of documentary comprise 10 regular one-hour episodes and two prequels which cover almost a century of the rise of the United States of America after it had tamed the Wild West and its southern neighbours in the late 19th century to hail as the only remaining...

Revenant (2015) This brutally graphic movie reminds me a lot of 1971’s ‘Deliverance’ where the American wilds were the backdrop. Only, this time, it is the freezing sub-zero outdoors, and survival is not only from the harsh, brutal forces of Nature, but danger lurks from barbaric acts of Man. Set in the turbulent times of America when nature is raped, wildlife is pushed to the brink to extinction and the serene lifestyle of the Native-Americans is disturbed as the Western frontier is conquered, a group of poachers who trade in pelts is attacked by a band of Natives. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), an excellent trekker, is part of the hunting group. He has a half-breed son with a Pawnee woman, who we later discover had died before the beginning of the story. While fleeing from his attackers, Glass is severely mauled by a bear and is seriously wounded. As he was slowing down the party, in the harsh weather and it seem sure that Glass would die, the Captain appointed (and paid) ...

Shadows (1959) Director: John Cassevetes Another John Cassevetes' direction. This is his early effort at an independent un-main stream production. This is actually a remake of his own film which he had earlier made in 1957 which was unscripted and did poorly at the box office. The remake, however, became a legend. On the exterior, it appears that the US of A, the land of opportunity is the land of dream where everyman is born equal and free. They have a legislation to prove the effect to. In practice, however, the issue of race is not so black or white. The problem which reared its ugly head and let the nation into a gruesome civil war fail to settle the score even today. It is evident from the the turn of events when a certain whiter than white lady, Rachael Dolezal, was exposed recently to be passing off as a black to head an association to help coloured people in America. Racheal Dolezal So when this issue came to fore, the usually issue frenzy US media stations went...

A Japanese balloon bomb (Fu-Go)  photographed in New York,  July 2, 1945.  Associated Press I always thought that American soil was infiltrated only once by the Japanese, in 1941 at Pearl Harbour. And the second, of course was 9/11. No, wrong. That was indeed another successful bombardment of USA, not in the fringes of the country but at its belly! It fact it was kept hush hush for many years. After the 1942 humiliation of the Japanese by the US bombers led by Colonel Doolittle who flew past the royal palace, the Japanese wanted to get even with the Yankees. They wanted to get even with their foes. In spring of 1945, a pastor went on a picnic with his pregnant wife and 5 lads. While emptying the luggage, before he could alert his family an explosion killed all 6. They had been fascinated by a balloon contraption. Many similar devices were seen all over Oregon. Panic set in the local community. They were fearing for the worse. Like 9/11. they thought en...

Selma (2014) This movie did not garner much publicity even though it earned many accolades to its belt probably because it is a black movie made by blacks about something close to the blacks.  It tells about a tumultuous time in America which they have not come in terms with. The relationship between the slaves and the slave-owners which had gone through many rough patches, again and again, all through the civil war, black rights movement and even to date with the rampant cases of police racial profiling as in Ferguson incident. In 1964, the right to vote in the southern states was made extremely difficult by the Little Napoleons of the civil service. Without the right to vote, the blacks do not get a right to stand as jury in court, and without that, a black convict is not deemed to get a fair trial. Martin Luther King Jr, a Nobel prize winner in 1964 for Peace, argues with President LB Johnson and Governor Wallace of Louisiana towards this end. As a political statement, pe...

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...

Thanks SK for invaluable contribution. The earliest photo of Abraham Lincoln. [1840] The first photo of The Beatles with Ringo Starr as the drummer. [August 22, 1962] The first McDonald'srestaurant in San Bernardino. [1948] The first public Jewish religious service in Germany since the advent of Hitler held by American troops during the battle of Aachen. [1944] Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar for the first time. [1967] Jim Henson creating his first Kermit puppet. [1950s] The Wright brothers' first flight. The photo was taken so that people would believe them. [1903] Glenn Burkes and Dusty Baker, of the LA Dodgers, perform what it believed to be the first high-five. [2 October, 1977] Henry Ford poses on the first car he built, the Ford Quadricycle. [1896] Hannah Stilley, born 1746, photographed in 1840. She is the earliest born individual captured on film. Leola N. King, America's first female traffic co...