RIFLE RANGE BOY

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) The saga of clash between the human and their supposedly inferior evolutionary cousins, the primates, which started in the late 60s continue in the times of our children. My son, DA, had been pestering me to view this 8th offering of this franchise even before its release. And there I was enjoying the advancement of cinematography and make up of a 21st century film. What started as philosophical movie in 1968 with Charlton Heston had slowly evolved to impress the masses. At a time in the future, the world as we know is almost annihilated of its inhabitants after an viral epidermic befalls mankind. Man quickly succumbs to this ailment in mammoth proportions. The world looks a scene from a Discovery Channel's "50 years after Man". Roads are abandoned, public amenities are left to rot and the world is an empty place (almost). We are brought to a thick lush jungle where a large colony of apes and other primates swing from tree to tree...

Sand in my face, no bed of roses, no stroll in the park, no pleasure cruise... Go fly kite? Now that the general elections are imminent, all the political parties have engaged into turbo gear to bulldoze their respective opponents. I managed to catch one such political lecture recently when organizers, in the pretext of ushering in the new Tamil year thought they should rather usher in a new dawn by inviting candidates from the formerly opposition camp to ventilate their views and promises for the upcoming elections. Even though the function was a predominantly Tamil event with Tamil issues on the limelight and Tamil language was used by the master of ceremony, the mixed crowd had no issue staying till the end. Certain leaders from a overtly religious based political party had no qualms in partaking and wishing the organizers well wishes. Are we becoming more tolerant or is it a ploy? As expected, corruption and wastage issues was the mainstay of the series of lectures. One part...