I’d call it; The Origin! When I look at this Mask, I find how real is it just to show the expression of an ancient face.

By Marie Grillot with great thanks and also sincerely to Marc Chartier

via; https://egyptophile.blogspot.com/ translated from French.

This mummy mask is made of painted wood and cardboard. It represents a character with fine features, noble appearance. A magnificent wig “on the back”, textured in relief, advantageously frames her face. The finely braided hair covers most of the forehead and leaves in a gradient towards the shoulders. Two thick strands braided in a more “loose” way are brought along the neck and fall on each side in a completely balanced way. Only the lower part of the pierced ear lobe remains visible. The hairstyle is adorned with a large floral band, which blossoms in warm brown tones drawing towards red.

The face, treated in this same colour is perfectly symmetrical and rather round. The eyebrows, very long and arched, are painted black. The almond-shaped eyes are stretched, and the iris, round and black, stands out against the white of the luminous eye. The line of the eye-shadow extends to the hair. The nose, well-drawn, is of good proportions. The mouth with hemmed lips is closed.

The neck is decorated with a magnificent ousekh (Usekh or Wesekh) necklace. It alternates a substantial number of rows – more or less wide – of blue, green, red pearls, all in a sumptuous and dazzling “roundness” of tones… It should be noted that during the Ramesside period, “the frame cardboard masks have changed: the rear panel has disappeared and the masks consist of a shell protecting only the head and a rounded and extended front panel “.

This 48 cm high mask, dating from the 19th dynasty, comes from the tomb of Sennedjem in Deir el-Medineh. This village, which in ancient times was called “Set Maât her imenty Ouaset” (the “Place of Maât (Truth) in the West of Thebes”) was founded at the beginning of the 18th dynasty under the reign of Thutmosis Iᵉʳ. Surrounded by high walls, extended and enlarged several times, notably under the reigns of Thutmosis III and the first Ramessides, it housed the community of artisans who worked on the excavation and decoration of the eternity homes of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. For almost 500 years, “between 40 to 120 households” lived there in stone houses covered with a palm leaf roof, also have places of worship and their own necropolis.

The tomb of Sennedjem – which will be referenced TT1 – was discovered in January 1886 by ‘gournawis’.: Indeed, “in 1886, Salam Abu Duhi, a villager from Gournah, was granted a concession in an area of ​​Deir el-Medineh close to his home. After only a few days of excavations, Salam and three of his friends made a discovery spectacular: at the bottom of a still unexplored burial well, they found a wooden door whose ancient seals were intact. Salam immediately informed Maspero, who happened to be in Luxor for his annual inspection visit. ” (Hidden treasures of Egypt, Zahi Hawass (!) ).

Gaston Maspero’s correspondence with his wife Louise (Gaston Maspero – Letters from Egypt) gives us the extraordinary “live” adventure. So the great Egyptologist wrote to her on February 2, 1886: “They come to get me to go to the mountains: a tomb that we have been working on for eight days has finally been opened. It is a virgin!

It is a tomb of the XXth dynasty: the wooden door is still in place, and there have already been eleven mummies. “He continued his story on February 3:” The vault is approximately 5 m long by 3 wide. It is vaulted, with a very low vault and painted in the most vivid colours; unfortunately, the paintings and texts are only extracted from the book of the dead. It was filled to the top with coffins and objects: eight adult mummies, two children’s mummies … The mummies are superb, of a beautiful red varnish with very neat representations. ”

Finally, this “family” tomb will turn out to contain twenty bodies: “Nine of them had very beautiful anthropoid coffins, single or double, finely painted and varnished. These are Sennedjem, his wife Iyneferti, his son Khonsou and his wife Tamaket, his other children Parahotep, Taashsen, Ramose, Isis and finally, a little girl named Hathor. Rich funerary furniture accompanied them. ”

Eduard Toda y Güell, consul general of Spain in Egypt from 1884 to 1886, a friend of Maspero’s, was given the important task of clearing the grave. In the “Bulletin of the French Society of Egyptology” – 1988, Josep Padro reports: “In three days and with seven workers, (Toda) completely searched the tomb and carried out the transfer of its contents onboard the ‘Boulaq’, the vessel of the Antiquities service. Once the transfer was completed, (he) drew up an inventory of the funeral furniture on the boat, with the objects collected and the mummies before his eyes. Toda also took 15 photos himself in the tomb, with the technical assistance of Insinger, which are engraved after the plates which illustrate his memoir; and he copied and translated the hieroglyphic texts, with the help of (Urbain)Bouriant. ”

As for Gaston Maspero, he made a point of clarifying: “It goes without saying that we bought the fellahs half of their money: it cost us 46 guineas. Once we have chosen all that is good for the museum, the sale of mummies and superfluous objects will bring us at least 60 guineas, maybe eighty, who will go to the excavations of Luxor and the Sphinx. It will have been a good deal in all ways, good from the point of view scientific, since it gave us monuments of which we had no specimen, good from the financial point of view, since not only the objects will end up costing us nothing, but, that we will have earned enough money to practice new excavations. ”

This is how objects from the tomb which, in a way, “duplicated” were offered for sale. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which then constituted its collection of Egyptian antiquities, showed great interest.

So, among the artefacts that went to New York, was this mask, this Khonsu. It has since been exposed there under the reference 86.1.4.

The eternity home of Sennedjem is one of those open to the public in Deir el-Medineh. It is particularly renowned for the beauty of the colourful and particularly well-preserved scenes that adorn its walls.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

” Mummy Mask of Khonsu ” (MET)

Gaston Maspero, Letters from Egypt, correspondence with Louise Maspero, Elizabeth David, Seuil, 2003

” Deir al-Medina ” (IFAO)

Hidden Treasures of Egypt, Zahi Hawass

Pharaoh Artists Louvre, NMR, 2002

” Eduard Toda, pioneer of Spanish Egyptology “

” Eduard Toda i Güell “

” Details of two mummies from the former collection Toda “

” Deir el-Medina, Tomb TT1, Sennedjem “

Josep Padro, “the French Society of Egyptology Bulletin” – 1988, No. 113, pp. 32-45

” An Artisan’s Tomb in New Kingdom Egypt ,” Catharine H. Roehrig, Department of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, october 2004

” Life Along the Nile: Three Egyptians of Ancient Thebes “: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 60, no. 1 (Summer 2002), Roehrig, Catharine H. (2002)

The tomb-builders of the pharaohs , Morris Bierbrier

” Current Research in Egyptology ” 17, Julia Chyla Karolina Rosińska-Balik, Joanna Debowska-Ludwin

or; pride and prejudice

I wish you all a happy, healthy & peaceful new year at first. 🤗💖

I know this title above is from one of the greatest novels in history by Jane Austen. But I’ve dared to use it here because it is a weak point in human history.

I humbly confess that I began this 2020 with some negative feeling, though, I must say it has nothing to do with the Sylvester and celebration etc. It went all in a wonderfully calm way; I have just no new idea about the human!

I have always been a humble man and I know that I don’t know. But I think that it is the most important issue; we must be honest to our own heart and with this, we can acknowledge more and more the existence of the truth.

But as I look forward to the new year I can only see another year with all the same people drowned in their same stupidity and foolishness as the years before. Sorry for that, I never want to spoil your mood in this very beginning of the brand new year; I just wanted to open my heart.

And of course, to share this brilliant article (I’m happy there are some to write about this) with you my adorable friends.

Waiting and hoping for a resolution.💖🙏🤗🙏💖

Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – C.G. Jung

https://www.culturecollective.org/beyond/

My dear friends, as I use and abuse 😉 my free time on Saturdays, trying to do my lovely work; writing, to tell you the story of a permanent fight for freedom which has been going on in certain countries since eternal date.

Actually a wonderful genius friend of mine (as I’m proud to mention it) yassy https://yassy66.wordpress.com/ brought me to this idea, or better to say she had thrown me in my past when I was in Iran and working as Journalist and an actor in theaters.

That is the question; where are the flowers gone?

It is surely not a usual knowing in the western countries in which, the human rights have been “at least” written and mentioned in their constitution, having any full comprehensive idea about what really happened to the people in the countries with a dictatorship regimes, and especially the thinker ones, the chosen ones?!

I can still remember about the Shah’s regime how my father was under observation because of his favour for Mosaddegh (the Prime minster in the ’50s who stood against the young Shah’s favorite’s position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh

And also about the so-called Tehran Spring in 1979 during the revolution. In that time my brother and me, we were working with the newspapers, he was writing and I was photographing.

It was a wonderful time in my life, you might not believe it; full of enthusiasm and excitement and creations.

In this time, thanks to the (at least) short time of freedom, we have known many artists in different categories, like movies. One of them was Costa Gavras, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa-Gavras

A wonderful director and a great creator, and when we have watched his works, we have just thought; look! the bloody regime showed already the situation on our streets in a movie. It’s because, the Gavras’s movies based on the countries which were under pressure, as we felt in Iran exactly the same. But they never understood this and we have enjoyed it at least in the way of having sympathy.

Here I’d like to share with you my friends, two of his masterworks, of course with the music work of another master; Mikis Theodorakis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikis_Theodorakis which goes under the skin I bet!

The first one which we had seen in the movie was the film; Z https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(1969_film) and it describes exactly the situation in Iran on the very same date. We were the freedom seekers and the opposites were the regime’s hiring legionnaires.

I tell you; it will never be the same when, you have once experienced it.

now let’s enjoy the scene of the Master-works.

The interesting issue in the both movies Yves Montand plays the first role, once as a good man and the next as a bad man 😉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Montand

at least but not last; there are always a sad final for the all stories. ❤ ❤

Quote; The regimes come and go, but the police stays for ever…

There’s hardly any doubt that these masters of satire are known for many. Their works were not only comedies for making the people laugh, but they have also lessons in their humourful satires which we’d learn a lot by them. like this scene;

I love them! And I love how they take their memorial ceremonies on each lost friends, like Graham Chapman who left the group and this Earth after singing this song; Christmas in Heaven in the movie; Meaning of Life. (in heaven every day is Christmas) 🙏💖

via; http://www.openculture.com/

The British comedian Graham Chapman delighted in offending people. As a writer and actor with the legendary Monty Python troupe, he pushed against the boundaries of propriety and good taste. When his writing partner John Cleese proposed doing a sketch on a disgruntled man returning a defective toaster to a shop, Chapman thought: Broken toaster? Why not a dead parrot? And in one particularly outrageous sketch written by Chapman and Cleese in 1970,  Chapman plays an undertaker and Cleese plays a customer who has just rung a bell at the front desk:

“What can I do for you, squire?” says Chapman.

“Um, well, I wonder if you can help me,” says Cleese. “You see, my mother has just died.”

“Ah, well, we can ‘elp you. We deal with stiffs,” says Chapman. “There are three things we can do with your mother. We can burn her, bury her, or dump her.”

“Dump her?”

“Dump her in the Thames.”

“What?”

“Oh, did you like her?”

“Yes!”

“Oh well, we won’t dump her, then,” says Chapman. “Well, what do you think? We can bury her or burn her.”

“Which would you recommend?”

“Well, they’re both nasty.”

From there, Chapman goes on to explain in the most graphic detail the unpleasant aspects of either choice before offering another option: cannibalism. At that point (in keeping with the script) outraged members of the studio audience rush onto the stage and put a stop to the sketch.

Chapman and Cleese had been close friends since their student days at Cambridge University, and when Chapman died of cancer at the age of 48 on October 4, 1989, Cleese was at his bedside. Out of respect for Chapman’s family, the members of Monty Python decided to stay away from his private funeral and avoid a media circus. Instead, they gathered for a memorial service on October 6, 1989 in the Great Hall at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. When Cleese delivered his eulogy for Chapman, he recalled his friend’s irreverence: “Anything for him, but mindless good taste.” So Cleese did his best to make his old friend proud. His off-color but heartfelt eulogy that evening has become a part of Monty Python lore, and you can watch it above. To see a longer clip, with moving words from Michael Palin and a sing-along of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” led by Eric Idle, watch below:

Original: http://John Cleese’s Eulogy for Monty Python’s Graham Chapman: ‘Good Riddance, the Free-Loading Bastard, I Hope He Fries’

Become like the Serpent before the devil, the quintessence of everything serpent-like, come over you!

That is the master teaching of the Master of balance; We should be aware of our dark-side, become a part of it to keep the balance there-between.

Here is a brilliant article about Dr Jung’s description of his Gnostic Ring;

by Moe | Carl Jung Archive, Meaning of Symbols

“The serpent is the age-old representative of the lower worlds, of the belly with its contents and the intestines.” – Carl Jung

This picture below is the personal ring of the Great Modern Swiss Gnostic, Carl Jung. The image on his ring is of the deity known as Chnoubis.

Jung himself describes the ring in C.G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters. W.McGuire and R.F.C. Hull page 468:

“It is Egyptian. Here the serpent is carved, which symbolizes Christ. Above it, the face of a woman; below the number 8, which is the symbol of the Infinite, of the Labyrinth, and the Road to the Unconscious. I have changed one or two things on the ring so that the symbol will be Christian. All these symbols are absolutely alive within me, and each one of them creates a reaction within my soul.”

A close up of his ring can be found below.

Here is a close up image of the front and back of Jung’s ring below. (Int-Private Coll._Ex-C. G. Jung_s.n.)

This image on the back appears to be of a dog.

Jung had commented on his ring in C.G. Jung, Visions;

“I have a Gnostic ring which is over two thousand years old-a symbol on the inside indicates that it is pre-Christian-and the snake engraved upon it is not hooded, it is more like the coluber natrix, the ordinary water snake which is found here as well as in more southern countries. In inland meadows it is grey, but near the water, it is a very elegant long black snake with yellow moon spots behind the ears, occasionally reaching a length of one meter fifty and quite thick.”

Karl Kerenyi said Jung, who wore the ring almost constantly for 35 years, wore it because he regarded himself as the pope of the gnostics. Barbara Hannah said he wore it to remind himself of personality number two.

“The serpent is an adversary and a symbol of enmity, but also a wise bridge that connects right and left through longing, much needed by our life.” (247)

“Why did I behave as if that serpent were my soul? Only, it seems, because my soul was a serpent…. Serpents are wise, and I wanted my serpent soul to communicate her wisdom to me.” (318) (This comment comes after a long dialogue in active imagination with a great iridescent snake coiled atop a red rock.)

“I have united with the serpent of the beyond. I have accepted everything beyond into myself.” (322)

“If I had not become like the serpent, the devil, the quintessence of everything serpentlike, would have held this bit of power over me. This would have given the devil a grip and he would have forced me to make a pact with him just as he also cunningly deceived Faust. But I forestalled him by uniting myself with the serpent, just as a man unites with a woman.” (322)

“The daimon of sexuality approaches our soul as a serpent.” (353)

Perhaps the commonest dream symbol of transcendence is the snake, as represented by the therapeutic symbol of the Roman god of medicine Aesclepius, which has survived to modern times as a sign of the medical profession. This was originally a nonpoisonous tree snake; as we see it, coiled around the staff of the healing god, it seems to embody a kind of mediation between earth and heaven. — Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols, page 153

via; https://gnosticwarrior.com/

Yes, tonight is another Yalda-Night, the longest night in the year. The Persians celebrate this night as their culture; ( A Person’s culture and nothing to do with the Arabic Islam!) that is an old Persian ceremony.

It has ever always been a family’s ceremony in a completely form; from grandfather-mother to the youngest being.

Anyhow the oldest one of the family; mostly the grand mom, sits at the head of the community (Family) and as “she” scarf the skin of the nuts and pomegranates ( a hard work!) she began to narrate or recount the magnificent fairy tails, and it was always the best of my memories.

The main Mather is not the nuts and not the warm place in which we, all the family, gather together to get warm, it is to spend the longest night together, with having our imaginations circulate and spread. The Fairy-tails are actually real?; “let’s put the question; what is really real!!”

That is a night for having fun, some experience, some excitement, and some nice imaginations, I love it although, I miss it as well 🙂 ❤

Wishing all Persians, a happy Yalda- Night, in the hope of a free Persia ❤

Hi my lovely friends, that’s Al birthday; his birthday was in 12, 9th but as it was on Monday, I couldn’t write an anniversary for it at this time, though, I think it is not so important; it’s his birthday month and I can write down some of my heart-telling memories about our being together on this Earth 🙂

Oh yes! his birth-star-sign is Sagittarius, and as I know some people who are born in this time, they’re somehow special, very proud and self-confident, and very intelligent.

I really don’t want to exaggerate but he was a genius in compare to other genius people I know, as a child he was a thoughtful child; it began the day after our father died in the very night and mother kept it secret and didn’t tell us! I was seven in age in that time and Al was nine.

Oh yes, she made a great mistake. She was a young woman at that time and as expected, very unskilled, therefore, anxious to do the right decision.

As I look back on this day; can just see a gloomy scene that after we’d woke up in that morning, mother told us that our father had been travelled to Europe, as he’d down sometimes, and sent us to our uncle’s house to stay a while, it was in Summertime’s holiday as my vague memories show me the scene of us; my cousins, Al and me laughingly playing in the big uncle’s swimming-pool but I’d never mention that Al knew already what happened. we were just twenty months apart but he was much older than me to catch the circumstances.

I found it all afterwards, I was really a kid, but forty days after father’s death, I’ve coincidentally read an article in the magazine about the anniversary of my father’s (at first because he was a famous writer and secondly, in Islam, they celebrate the seventh and the fortieth day of one’s death) at once, I got to mother and asked her the matter, she had scolded me and said I’d shut up all! There one can imagine how I’d felt, though, she came to me after I got to a corner to shed tears and shed tears with me.

Yes, I’d a dramatic childhood but it’s another story!

Anyway, my brother Al was a genius no doubt, interestingly, after father’s leaving, he had begun to write, and became a writer, an unknown one, unfortunately, but he was an ingrained writer.

He’d helped me a lot to grow up, as I’m still doing it and thankful to have him all in my life.

A long time ago, I shared one of his short stories in WordPress, and now I re-share it here if you’d like to have a read 😉

https://lampmagician.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/western-life-or-a-new-version-of-eves-story/

With a happy Salut to all dear friends, it is again my lovely day and I want to use every moment of it 😉

here is a wonderful encounter of a Pharaoh (Amenemopé) with the God Osiris; a great image (translated from French) 🙏💖

Another amazing inscription by adorable friend Marie Grillot ❤ 🙏 with sincere thanks to Marc Chartier 🙏

https://egyptophile.blogspot.com/

This breastplate is one of only two that accompanied Pharaoh Amenemope for his eternity. On a heavy gold chain with a length of 46 cm, hangs a gold plate, of square shape (8.8 x 8.9 cm), which is relatively original because this type of pendant marries the most often a rectangular shape.

Jean Yoyotte explains the way the silversmith designed it: “Two gold sheets of the same size fit together dry, adjusted on a thin filling (cement?), The whole being provided with two welded grooved rams on the edge, small rods are used to fix the chain “.

The decoration of the breastplate takes up the architecture of a temple door, surmounted by a grooved cornice, on which is stretched – as in temples – a representation of the winged sun.

The lower part of the pendant consists of a frieze of thirteen repeating patterns alternately: the Djed pillar is reproduced seven times, while the Tit loop appears six times. These protective emblems are respectively associated with Osiris and Isis.

Indeed, the Djed pillar is an Osirian amulet, a symbol of stability, present in Egypt since the earliest times while the “knot of Isis (Tit) is, meanwhile, assimilated to the blood and the magic power of Isis “(Isabelle Franco).

The “table” central scene, evoking a funeral rite, is declined in a frame bordered by a ramesside frieze. If this scene is very frequent in funerary iconography, Christiane Ziegler explains, however, here, the originality: “Of all the pectorals of Tanis, this one is the only one to stage the pharaoh. The decoration, executed in pushed back on the gold leaf depicts King Amonemope offering incense and a libation to the god of the dead Osiris. An identical motif is engraved on the backplate “.

The pharaoh wearing the nemes and wearing a loincloth with a facet is standing, in the attitude of walking. He is facing Osiris who sits on his throne. The god of the underground world, wearing the imposing Atef crown, is represented in its mummiform aspect. He squeezes the whip and the flail on his chest.

Amenemopé raises his right hand and holds an incense casserole in the left. “Between the two partners, a vertical legend specifies that the first is supposed to make the censer and the libation to his father Osiris” (Jean Yoyotte)

In the worship of gods and divinities, the fumigation of incense is, with the libation of water, one of the most important rituals of the Pharaonic liturgy. The main function of fumigation was to “breathe life back into the frankincense supposed to be an emission from Osiris’ body”. This scene is often reproduced on the walls of temples or the walls of tombs, most often performed by a Sem priest or by Pharaoh himself … “. It is also important to note that it is reproduced on one of the walls of the tomb of Amenemope.

Frankincense, rare in Egypt, was mainly dedicated to the worship of divinities and to Pharaoh,; it could be olibanum, terebinth, myrrh, or styrax,… But the most sought after, the most popular, was kyphi (kỳ phi), produced by a mixture of 10 to 50 substances. It should be recalled that “The priests offered Re three kinds of incense every day, one at waking, one in the middle of the day and one at bedtime”. …

Amenemopé is a pharaoh of the XXIth dynasty whose reign, which has been exercised since Tanis, is located around 1001-992 BC. In “The treasures of the Egyptian Museum”, collective work written under the direction of Francesco Tiradritti, one can read that this “successor of Psousennès Ier was buried in the tomb of this last, in a room covered with granite, originally created to accommodate the remains of Moutnedjemet, wife and sister of Psousennès I “.

We can only be surprised that he was buried in a one-room vault when he has his own burial referenced NRT IV (NRT = Royal Necropolis of Tanis). The fact remains that his “real” abode of eternity – the one in which his mummy rested – was discovered in the spring of 1940 by Pierre Montet and his team.

In “Tanis – Twelve years of excavations in a forgotten capital of the Egyptian Delta”, the discoverer recounts this very special day: “The entrance was opened on April 16. His Majesty King Farouk arrived the day before in Sân, where he had made erect a city of tents, was present, as well as Canon Drioton, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and a young Egyptian Egyptologist, Professor Abou Bekr. The vault was furnished much like that of Psousennès: at the bottom a sarcophagus of granite, in the anterior half the canopic jars, the metal jars, a large sealed jar, funerary statuettes, a vast chest in gilded wood which had collapsed by the effect of time and humidity. objects had been put in a safe place the sarcophagus cover was put in their place. Much less opulent than Psousennès, the new sovereign had been content with a single stone sarcophagus and an anthropoid wooden coffin re-clad in gold, the wood was reduced to almost nothing. The gold plates were removed. It is hardly necessary to say that the mummy had suffered enormously. His ornaments less numerous than those of Psousennès nevertheless constitute a very beautiful collection: a gold mask, two necklaces, two pectorals, two scarabs, hearts of lapis and chalcedony, bracelets and rings, a large cloisonne gold falcon with spread wings, canes. ”

In this troubled period of World War II, the artefacts will be brought to safety as soon as possible. Thus, from May 3, 1940, it is in a truck protected by the army that the treasure of Amenemope will take the way to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square … The breastplate will be registered in the Journal des Entrées under the reference JE 86038.

Marie Grillot

• Tanis – Twelve years of excavations in a forgotten capital of the Egyptian Delta, Pierre Montet, 1942
• Tanis the gold of the pharaohs, catalog of the Paris exhibition, Galeries Nationale du Grand Palais, March 26 – July 20, 1987
• The discovery of the Treasures of Tanis, Georges Goyon
• Treasures of Egypt – The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Francesco Tiradritti
• Tanis: treasures of the pharaohs, Henri Stierlin and Christiane Ziegler, Seuil, 1987
• Pharaohs – Catalog of the exhibition presented at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris, from October 15, 2004, to April 10, 2005
• Ancient Egypt and its gods, Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, 2007
• Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology, Isabelle Franco, 2013

prologue:

I just wanna say; I’m jealous! That must not be a yammer though, I have a little tear in my eyes. You know; I have always a hard working day to get my weekend, my lovely weekend with you lovely friends to share my deepest thoughts which I can never share them during my work with the colleagues. they’d never understand it, quote end! And then; as I am working, I have always a look into my Smartphone to know what I’m missing and of course, there come a lot of ideas in my head to work on; and then when I get my favourite day: Saturday, I wake up early in the morning; not wasting time, but after turning on my PC, I sit there in front on monitor and stare on it! Believe me, I really don’t know where and how I’d begin.

And what makes me jealous; It is that some of my friends have a lot of time to read good stuff which I’d dream of 😀 😉

Anyway, I “have to” add the forth part on this journey, because of two meeting which my lady and me have taken part in;

the first was an idea of my wife (as always 😀 ) to visit the studio of making movie by Karel Zeman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Zeman

I knew him from the younger-time in Iran as I was working as an actor on the stages and was much interested in theatre and movies. His works had fascinated me; he had worked with toys and took frames from every single act. You might know it, it had caught my eyes those days how hard work it could be; to bring your uncommon imaginations on the screen to make a movie…

And there are some more pics on this issue;

Another issue was to visit the communism museum. though, it was not so easy to find it but we’d succeed and there are some pics; first begin with the Master 😉

Thank you and good night ❤ ❤

Death on Nile

Certainly, I don’t need to introduce this Dame to anyone. She was and has ever been a Genius in writing such as murder mystery novels and she will always remain the master.

I have not read any book of her but seen almost all the “made of” movies. Of course, I must say that it’s not only Hercule Poirot which had fascinated me, but there’s also Miss Marple too an amazing character.

it’s always fascinating to see how ingeniously and powerfully she creates the moments of the crimes and how variable are the mysteries. Brilliant!

Now in this article by my dear friend and an Egyptologist; Marie Grillot I find out that there is another version of Death on The Nile has been made by Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branagh

I knew he had made a third version of the novel; Orient Express and I’ve seen this and also both older ones, but never heard of the third one on Death on The Nile!

Anyway, it’s nice to read this article (have translated from French) and see the old famous great actors again. Have a wonderful weekend. ❤ ❤

via https://egyptophile.blogspot.com/

Mort sur Nil, 3ème ! (Death on Nile, 3rd!)

While Thomas Cook, initiator of the cruises on the Nile, is shipwrecked, “Death on the Nile” resurfaced! Indeed, after the success of the movie “The Crime of the Orient Express” released in 2017, the Fox – and Kenneth Branagh – decided to adapt the 3rd version of “Death on the Nile”.This novel by Agatha Christie was published on November 1, 1937, in the United Kingdom, the following year in the United States, then in France in 1945.

For her writing, the novelist relied in part on her personal memories. When she is 17-18 years old, she goes to Egypt for the first time with her mother, she cruises in an environment that we imagine easy and luxurious. With her first and second husband, she will return for other stays. In 1923, she was in Luxor while the tomb of Tutankhamun had just been discovered, it would seem that she later met Howard Carter (in 1931 in Luxor).

Flawless costumes, immaculate shirts, starched bow ties, moustache perfectly smoothed and a hairstyle that can only be said, he is steadfastly obsessed by his appearance … A bit precious, politeness “old France” grazing obsequiousness, his eyes sparkle with intelligence. He believes in him even in his doubts … One can not deny that his grey cells function perfectly, that he is a fine psychologist and, it must be said, without much confidence in the human nature of some … If the attention that it brings to small details is sometimes infuriating, the resolution of the enigma proves that they were in no way insignificant, that they participated indeed to weave the plot which he tried to “unravel”. He excelled often but was never better than in the final theatrical as dramatic happening, where, surrounded by all the witnesses and protagonists, he pronounced the final sentence, the outcome of the affair, finally announcing the name of – or – guilty (s)

… If “Death on the Nile” begins in a magnificent mansion nestled in the heart of the English countryside, it is in Egypt and mainly during a cruise on the “Karnak”, a luxurious steamship, that will take place history.

Jacqueline de Bellefort, charming but ruined, commits the irreparable mistake of presenting her “beautiful lover” to her billionaire childhood friend … who will not fail to seduce him …The spurned fiancee continues on the banks of the Nile, the couple now formed by the wealthy Linnet Ridgeway – his ex-best friend – and Simon Doyle – his ex-boyfriend – “rotting” their honeymoon …The boat quickly becomes “the” place where everything will be played, a microcosm bringing together noble ruined, a novelist on the bottle, rich kleptomaniac, the doctor failed or corrupt lawyer, arrived unscrupulous, unconditional and idealistic love, … Each having a ” good reason to blame Linnet …

All this “beautiful” world evolves under the watchful eyes of Poirot and his elegant English friend Colonel Race. Over the Nile, they will be led to see several crimes, the series being “inaugurated” by that of the rich heiress …It is at the end of the cruise, in Ouadi Halfa, that the “little grey cells” of the famous Belgian detective will end this story, more turbid than the waters of the Nile.Agatha Christie will adapt it to the theatre in 1944.

Then it will be worn for the first time on the screen, in 1978, by the British John Guillermin, with a cast of dreams: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Mia Farrow, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, David Niven, Maggie Smith, and second roles totally up to the task …

Peter Ustinov is excellent in Hercule Poirot, with his flawless white suits, his collared shirts, his debonair look sometimes denied by a piercing look …The extreme staging and the performance of the actors bring suspense to its climax …How to forget this sequence shot in Karnak? As Linnet’s and Simon’s couple walk through the hypostyle hall, a block falls from one of the columns throwing them to the floor. The actors seem to emerge, magically, from behind each column to discover the drama … all seeming stupefied … that while the leader is necessarily among them!

Most of the film is on the “Karnak” – it is actually the “Memnon”, built by Thomas Cook in 1904 – whose comfortable atmosphere will quickly become oppressive.
The second adaptation of “Death on the Nile” takes place in 2006: Andy Wilson directs David Suchet in the role of Hercule Poirot, the excellent James Fox wearing the uniform of Colonel Race.

Emma Griffiths is Jacqueline de Bellefort, J.J. Feild Simon Doyle, while Emily Blunt is Linnet Doyle.

The film is then shot on the luxurious steamship Sudan – “survivor” of the Thomas Cook fleet – which belongs today to Voyageurs du Monde.

For the third adaptation, that of the Twentieth Century Fox, according to articles published, Kenneth Branagh will camp “the inevitable Hercule Poirot and will be accompanied by Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Ali Fazal, Sophie Okonedo, Emma Mackey Dawn French, Leslie Rose, Jennifer Saunders and Russell Brand “.

The film will be shot at the Longcross Studios in Surrey West London, and on the spot in Egypt … Of course, we are eager to learn more …The release of the film is scheduled in France, from October 7, 2020. Marie Grillot