RIFLE RANGE BOY

Islamic State (2014; Vice News) This documentary is the product of the field work of a Vice News journalist who managed to gain permission to follow the Press Officer of Islamic State, a certain Abu Musa. The officer draped in Arabic garb, spotting a reggae-type of a hat in place of the keffiyeh, donning unashamedly Ray Ban shades and wearing an ala-Castro beard minus the moustache. The crew follow them in a battle weary town of Raqqa in Iraq. The whole movement of IS seems to be working towards the dream of one particular individual named Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi. Al-Baghdadi is a demigod whose charismatic speeches appear to recruit more and more followers for his course. Youngsters, pre-teens and teenage boys, speak passionately about their willingness to shed blood and give their lives for the honourable path of their fight. The Vice News cameramen follow the soldiers on their field trips across the Iraq and Syrian borders. All along the way, roadshows are held to lure new rec...

Tomoyuki Yamashita @ Tiger of Malaya 1885 -1946 His name rhymed with dog, so we call him one. Maybe because he tried to live up in the shadows of his brother who was a Valedictorian and school head prefect, Anjing-san wagged his tail around the teachers in the beginning of year for him to be thrown the bone of the unenviable post of class monitor. Our last three doggone years of primary school were filled by his tyranny. Looking like General Yamashita of World War 2 infamy with his physique and hair cut, he fitted the role of a loyal bulldog very well. With his iron-fist style of leadership, he managed to instil morbid fear in our young fragile chicken hearts. During the brief moments that the teacher would leave the class to run errands, Anjing-san would morph to the front ready to pounce as he jotted down names of 'trouble maker' students on the class board for the teacher to peruse. He made it appear as if he had a special one to one divine relationship with the ...

Another pastime that I occasionally indulge in is T-shirt watching. Some of the things written on them could be quite entertaining. Of course, some of them could be construed as sexual harassment if uttered by an individual. As it only written and not uttered, nobody gives a second look. Actually it is meant to be looked again and again! T-shirts with messages like 'Wish these were brains', 'Hammer says "You can't touch these"' would fit this bill. My favorite must be 'My girlfriend went to Vegas and all she got me is this lousy T-shirt'. Not to forget the abbreviations of the word ' F ornication U nder C onsent of the K ing' purposefully spelt as the abbreviations of ' F rench C onnection U nited K ingdom' to  give a false sense of grandiosity to its wearer. Grandiose feeling by its wearer who is awed by his the fact that he is not wearing a garment but a statement. A statement that he dares to be different and fight against t...