These COVID19 Days (YEAR 2020)
Tag Archive: Photography
Happy New Year & Happy New Decade
So the Roaring 20’s are here again, now in a Newer Century!!!!! Happy New 2020 & an even Happier New Decade ahead!!!
When it comes to movies to be released this year (Year2020), I’ll take into consideration that a movie isn’t made in a day & into account that no Zero Year exists (21st Century started from Year 2001)!! Thus, any movie released this Year, Year 2020, still belongs to the 2010’s (as far as I am concerned, at least). When it comes to movies, books, fashion trends, pretty much the arts related activities, whatever comes out this year, in a sense shall end the 2010’s, at the same time inspiring the next decade (which in every other sense has already started, it’s Year2020). Past Examples; 60’s didn’t feel like the 60’s till Hollywood’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) came out; it’s Year 1966 (and not 65′) that’s considered the half way mark that turned the late60’s over a brand new leaf never ever witnessed before, globally speaking (we live in, or are suppose to be, in a better freer world today, thanks to modern open-minded thinking that relinquished blind stoic rules and regulations of the past); and Love Story (1970) still feels very 1960’s, yet forming a catalyst to the 70’s styles yet to come!! In Bollywood, the 70’s didn’t feel like the 70’s till Haré Rama Haré Krishna (1971) came out, laying a stronger foundation to India’s already existing Hippie culture, and Qurbani‘s (1980) Bollywood Disco tunes (Pakistani Pop Singer, Nazia Hassan’s “Aap Jaisa Koi”, composed by India’s famed Music Producer Biddu, will always be my favourite Indian Disco number) happen to be a celebration of Club Music of the times (70’s & early 80’s); whilst globally (though more specifically among American youth) Fame (1980) perfectly ends the 70’s decade meanwhile serving as an inspiration for the 1980’s decade!! Mera Naam Joker (1970) took six years to make (between 1963 & 1969), and covers the Essential 60’s decade (although the story line spans a couple of more decades). Boyhood (2014) took twelve years to make, capturing the whole of the noughties (the 1st decade of this century, i.e. 2001 – 2010) and enters into the early 2010’s (2011 – 2013)! Manzil (1979), was filmed in the begining of the 70’s, when Amitabh Bachchan was a virtual unknown (the Big B rose to prominance with Zanjeer, 1973), but due to various reasons the release got delayed, ultimately being released at the very end of the decade, in 1979! Thus, without going into drastic extremes, I feel movies released in an Year eding with a nought (0), ought to be regarded as a movie belonging to the previous decade! So basically, Year 2020, specifically movie wise, is a transition from the 10’s & into the Nouveau Roaring 20’s. Some 2020 releases (especially if set today itself, although, unlike the previous century, there is no definite unique look that differentiates one decade from another, other than technological advances of this digital age) shall feel very 2010’s, whilst others could end up defining the whole decade of the 20TWENTY TWENTIES20’s!!!!
Of course, one unique look that came out in recent times (though only seen on celebrities) would be one that helped change gender norms, blurring lines between masculinity and femininity!! Young Straight male actors (like Timothée Chalamet of Call Me By Your Name; 2017; fame, for instant) have dared to experiment with the androgynous look, thus not stereotyping the effeminate look on a male attributed only to transgender people. Cisgender men and women (gay or straight), immaterial of their sexual orientation, can now try out blending styles that in the past were catered to just one specific gender, or attributed as a reflection of their sexuality!!!
Why not? We are all Equal!! We are all human!! Who made these rules in the past, anyway?? Go Crazy, Go Gaga, if you wanna!! Nobody has the right to judge!!!
New Look for the 20TWENTY TWENTIES20’s
I’ll be honest, the 2010’s haven’t been good to me, health wise and other wise! As it is, all my life, I’ve suffered on my own, survived on my own, and still surviving!! My stress and depression has worsened over the years. As we speak, my head is pounding, my eyes tried; yet I persevere, I go on!! Despite going through a lot, I decided I shall somehow work on a Blogpost today, no matter what! Despite everything, I shan’t give up that easily!!!
So here’s to a better future, than the past (especially better than my recent past) !!!! Looking forward to a better year & even better deacde ahead, and wishing everyone the same. Here’s to the 20TWENTY TWENTIES20’s!!!!
Wonder if Flapper Dames will make a come back, or with a 21st century twist (as gender lines blur further), even Flapper Dudes!!!! Maybe have a modern take on famed The Charleston, jazz music and have swell time this coming decade, all round!!!
Today, also happens to be Nudin‘s Official Birthday🐾!! FOUR Years Old!!! It’s (Atta’s) my Maternal Grandfather’s 100 Birth Anniversary, as well!! Haven’t witness a real Birthday Party/New Year Celebration in a while. The last time I actually did something to usher in the New Year was; when on 31st December 2006, my friends & I, Down Under, went to see the fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and welcomed Year 2007 (one of the rare better years of my Adult life, comparatively).
Wishing all my fellow Bloggers, #Twitterians, et al, a very Happy New Year & Great Decade ahead, once more!! Keep on Blogging (a note to self, as well).
Nuwan Sen
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#NuwanSensFilmSense
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#NSFS👁️♡❤️💙💚🧡🍑🍑🍑♡👁️
Quote of the Day, from my 2019 Calendar!
Quoting Doris Day
– Doris Day
(1922 – 2019)
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense
Princess Elizabeth on her Wedding Day (Year, 1947)
Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms, turned 93, in Spring, on the 21st of April 2019. Her Official Birthday is celebrated, every year in Summer, on the Second Saturday of June, thus this year, it falls today, the 8th of June 2019!
Queen Elizabeth II, is the longest-living and longest-reigning British monarch, as well as the world’s longest-serving female head of state, oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch, and the oldest and longest-serving current head of state. Long Live the Queen!!! Wishing her all the best, and sharing few pictures of her, below!!
The Queen at 90 (Year 2016)
Annie Leibovitz’s Official Portrait of the Queen with her Welsh Corgis
The Queen at 90 (Year 2016)
Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of the Queen with her Great-Grandkids
The Queen at 93 (Year 2019)
Pictured today, at her Official Birthday Celebrations
Nuwan Sen & Royalty!!!
Nuwan Sen n‘ The British Monarchy!!
An Unexpected Pleasant Surprise!!!
On Twitter, I’ve been taking part in a quite few Film Challenges, for sometime now (but not regular enough). Yesterday afternoon, I was going through IMDB, checking out films I love, from before 1929, when I came across something unexpected. This was for yesterday’s #MayMovieChallenge, hosted by Gabriela(@noir_or_never) of Pale Writer: Classic and Horror films unite!! The Challenge was, to mention a Film made before 1929, that should have won an Oscar. I actually found FIVE FILMS!!!!! Anyway, I also checked Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) on IMDB. AND Wow!!!! What did I see??? I couldn’t believe my EYES👀, when I saw this.
IMDB (i.e. the famed Internet Movie Data Base) has a poster I created some years ago for a Blog Post of mine, posted on their site; front page of this Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince Documentary from 1888!!! I was like Wowza!!! That’s a lovely compliment! Feel really honoured!! Wonder how long they’ve had it! BUT, wait!!
Hmmmm!! ’twas not with my consent though! My Copyright!!!! Ha!! 😍
My Copyright!!!! Ha!! 😍
Of course, am kidding. After all, my Blog is in the public domain; so anyone can use my content (I think🤔). Anyway, it’s nice to see they’ve used it; and to post it on their site. Which means someone (or more than one person) from IMDB, has come across my BLOG!!!! That means there are more viewers for my Blog than am aware of!! That’s a great honour in itself!! 💗
What’s more surprising is, the fact this poster isn’t that great. I don’t have Photoshop or any other cool tools/Apps to create anything artistic (digitally speaking). I just have the ordinary “Paint” icon, on my Laptop (same with my previous Laptops). So there is nothing great about it. But it’s lovely to see it on IMDB!! PLUS, my printed name is quite noticeably visible on it!! 😊 Also see my Post, Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) – A Two Second Documentary, from October 2014.
Of course, I didn’t select, Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince’s (a.k.a. Louis Le Prince), Roundhay Garden Scene, for the Film Challenge (after all, though it’s the oldest surviving film footage; it was never shown on the Big Screen; the 1st Cinematic release was by the Lumière Brothers’, who had their 1st private screening of a projected motion picture, in 1895, for a select audience of 200 people), but I felt Le Prince deserved a Special Posthumous Oscar Award, for his contribution to the Moving Image. His unsolved disappearance (and maybe murder), on the way to demonstrate his scientific invention, in September 1890, is still a mystery.
Speaking of Twitter, I got this e-mail, last week (screenshot above). Although I’ve got only 661 followers (664 as of today) & am following 2,454 Twitter accounts; 8,769 people have seen my Tweets, within the week before last!! Wonderful! On my Blog here, I have 329 followers so far; and 83,320 views, altogether (yup, just decided to check that as well). Not Bad, eh!! 🙂
Meanwhile the Cannes Film Festival is currently under way; and I haven’t been able to follow that properly this time.
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense
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Nuwan Sen (NSFS👁)
Since Audrey Hepburn’s 90th Birth Anniversay (on 4th May 2019), twitter has been abuzz avec Hepburn tweets! I, of course, happen to be among the main culprits flooding Twitter, along with my fellow Twitterians/Audrey Hepburn fans, with Hepburn related tweets! Happily Guilty! So, thought I’d share my tweets, along with some other Twitterians’ tweets, posted on the 4th of May 2019, as well as post the 4th, within this last week, culminating today!
May the 4th Be with You (Tweets Posted on 4th May 2019)
Tweets Post the 4th (5th to 11th May 2019)
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (#NSFS)
If Audrey Hepburn were alive today, she’d be 90 years old! Just imagine! It’s hard to even fathom; a post WWII, modern, youthful, energetic, fun-loving and fashionable, foxy 50’s generation; that gave us stars like Audrey Hepburn, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando, et al; would ever grow old! And sadly most of them didn’t; and some died way way way too young. The era of cool! I remember it like it were yesterday, when we heard of Hepburn’s demise in January 1993, at the age of 63. I was 17 years old. Where did the 1990’s go?? Am already in my 40’s, and it’s Audrey Hepburn’s heavenly 90th Birthday, today!
To mark her 90th Birth Anniversary, Audrey Hepburn’s Birth place, Brussels, Belgium; is holding a special exhibition, titled Intimate Audrey, which began earlier this week; which includes contribution from Hepburn’s older son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer (who put together this exhibition).
I wish I was in Europe, right now. If any of my fellow bloggers/Hepburn fans are in Europe these days, and happen to be in Belgium, do check it out! From whatever media I’ve come across about the exhibition, it looks amazing. The exhibition includes the green “Vespa Farobasso” scooter she rode, in Roman Holiday (1953), my all time favourite movie; Hepburn’s own fashion drawings & humanitarian writings, and the Oscar statuette awarded posthumously for her humanitarian work.
A screen legend, a style icon, a kind human with a Big Heart!!!!!! My all time favourite actress!! Great personalities never really die! They live on, through us, their greatest fans, forever!!💓
❤ Hepburn ❤
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense
Quoting Oprah!
“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher”
– Oprah Winfrey
Talk Show host, Television Producer & Philanthropist
(Born in 1954)
Today also happens to be Oprah Winfrey’s 65th Birthday! Wishing her all the best, in every way. A true leader,and a great human being!
Bookish Nuwan
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Nuwan Sen (Quoting Quotes)
Quoting, 70’s Indian Rebel & Dancer, Protima Bedi
“The world isn’t just what you see outside your window. It’s so much larger, so much grander. We are just microscopic specks in the whole big scheme of things in this universe! How bogged down we get by rules, by what society wants and what people say, when in fact it’s all just timepass. Enjoy the moment, even the grief. Celebrate the joy of being alive. It’s so very very easy to be happy”
– Protima Bedi
Feminist & Odissi Dancer/Exponent
(1948-1997)
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Nuwan Sen (Quoting Quotes)
Richard Burton plays Philip Ashley, in the 1952 film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s acclaimed novel, My Cousin Rachel.
A constantly brooding, suspicious, miserable character, that we rarely see smile. Even his happiness (in rare moments when he seems to be happy) is superficial, taunted by his skeptical nature. His mental state, stained by the loss of his favourite cousin, who raised him, and with the guilt of harbouring lustful desires for a woman who might be the reason for his cousin’s untimely demise, eating away at him; Philip Ashley is never at peace. AND this character is portrayed with pure perfection, by the brilliant British Shakespearean actor, Richard Burton. Predominantly a British star, the UK’s Cornwall set My Cousin Rachel (1952) was Burton’s first foray into Hollywood and it earned him a Golden Globe Award for ‘New Star of the Year – Actor‘ in 1953.
Olivia de Havilland plays the ambiguous character of Rachel, in My Cousin Rachel (1952)
Daphne du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel is about an orphaned kid, Philip, who is brought up by his wealthy cousin, Ambrose Ashley (played by John Sutton in the movie). Ambrose, while away in Italy, meets the widowed Contessa Sangalletti (a.k.a. Rachel), a distant cousin of theirs, and Ambrose and Rachel soon marry. But their marital bliss is short lived, as Ambrose dies of a brain tumour. Yet before his death, he manages to plant the seeds of suspicion on young Philip’s mind, that she’s been poisoning him. Thus, when Rachel comes over to Ambrose’s Cornwall estate, no matter how nice a person she seems to be, Philip is never at peace. He has a love-hate relationship with her; and he suffers throughout, due to the seeds of distrust having taken root in his mind. Even in the end, he is in agony, wondering whether she was guilty or innocent. Something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
I really liked the ambiguous ending, for we never truly find out about Rachel, though we do feel she might be more innocent than guilty. She’s not a perfect person, but she most probably didn’t murder her husband, nor try to to kill off Philip, as he suspects. And as we get to know later, she doesn’t have any intention of taking over Ambrose’s estate, she doesn’t expect a dime. It’s all left to Philip.
With no real interest in making it in Hollywood, Richard Burton joined this project, due to the recommendation of director George Cukor (whom Burton had great respect for). Originally Cukor was planning to direct this cinematic adaptation of du Maurier’s Gothic novel. But when Cukor and du Maurier, read the first draft of the screenplay, they felt it was unfaithful to the novel, and were both disappointed. So Cukor dropped out. However the project went ahead, without Cukor, and the movie was ultimately directed by Henry Koster. The end result, though different to the novel, was excellent; mainly thanks to Burton’s brilliant acting talent, along with the rest of the cast. Even du Maurier was pleased with Burton’s performance, as well as certain shots filmed in the real Cornwall; but felt de Havilland didn’t capture the mystery of the character of Rachel, well enough. Even though I haven’t read the book, I agree, I felt de Havilland’s performance was quite lukewarm. She wasn’t bad, in fact she was interesting enough; but far from great. Then again the character she played was quite ambiguous, and hard to judge. None the less, the film is excellent; Burton Brilliant; and the cinematography by Joseph LaShelle, hauntingly beautiful. The Cornwall setting and the beach play quite an important role in this story, but I noticed it’s not as significant to the plot, as much as it (especially the representation of the beach) was, in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca; the 1940 film adaptation of which (by Alfred Hitchcock, starring de Havilland’s sister, Joan Fontaine) went on to win Oscars, for ‘Best Picture‘ and ‘Best Cinematography‘. 1952’s My Cousin Rachel, was nominated for four Academy Awards, including one for Richard Burton (his 1st Oscar nomination), but it won none. Burton never won an Oscar, though he was nominated seven times, altogether.
Apparently, Olivia de Havilland didn’t get along with Richard Burton, whom she hated. She felt he was coarse, crude, unsophisticated. But then again, growing up, she wasn’t very kind to her own sister, Fontaine. Today, amazingly, Olivia de Havilland, is the one who is still alive. Most notable for her role as the kindly ‘Melanie Hamilton’, in Gone with the Wind (1939), de Havilland turned 102, on 1st July 2018, surpassing younger sister, Joan Fontaine, who passed away on 15th December 2013, less than two months after her 96th Birthday!
Olivia de Havilland, Audrey Dalton and Richard Burton, in a scene from My Cousin Rachel (1952)
Back in my teens, in the early 1990’s, I watched the 1983 BBC television mini-series, based on My Cousin Rachel, which apparently is comparatively more faithful to the novel, and which I loved too. YET, I loved this classic movie adaptation, I saw end of September 2018, online on Youtube, with not that clear a sound, and re-watched day before, even more. Although, if my memory serves me right, I do feel, Geraldine Chaplin in the 83′ version, most probably did more justice to the role of Rachel.
Recently there was another film adaptation of this book, released last year (2017), directed by Roger Michell, and starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin, in the lead. Am yet to see this newer version, which has had some mixed reviews.
My Cousin Rachel (1952)
My Rating: Excellent – 10/10!!!!!!!!!!
Bookish Nuwan
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This Blog Post, is my contribution to the, REGALING ABOUT RICHARD BURTON BLOGATHON, hosted by Gill of Real Weegie Midget!!!!!
Thank you Gill, for letting me take part in this Blogathon, dedicated to a such prolific British Actor of the Stage and Screen!
Nuwan Sen (NSFS)
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