May 2022 - My Review : What I’ve seen, What I’ve read, What I’ve been writing about, What I’ve listened to, etc.
Every month, I write down, save and collect, all what I’ve seen, what I’ve read, what I’ve written about, what I’ve listened to, etc.
Now, I also share this whole into a monthly review, just like this one.
Who knows ? It can be also an inspiration for yourself.
Have a check !
PS : A special thank you to Matt from the World of Matt Parker aka @theworldofmattparker, for having inspired me this structure of article (What I’ve seen, What I’ve listened to, What I’ve read about, etc.) , which he uses too, in particular for writing and sharing his monthly newsletters.
What I’ve seen …
MOVIE | “ My Best Friend’s Wedding ” (1997), by P.J Hogan
Personal note :
I watched this movie on one of those evenings and nights, where I just want to try to relax and get away from it all with one of those so-called “feel good” movies.
For that, what better, for some and some, like me, than to go on and find a romantic comedy film. And like others, I retain and dedicate a very special tenderness and nostalgia for the Anglo-Saxon romantic comedy films of the 1990s.
This decade of films, in particular in this genre, had really had and really left something special . Something that today would seem difficult to reproduce and yet, how good it would be. I always feel nostalgia when watching or thinking about those films, but also, I feel both a certain fascination but also lightness and fun, depending on the genre and the story. Among those films of the 1990s, and in particular among the Anglo-Saxon romantic comedies of that decade, and then of the early 2000s, I am always delighted when I can discover or rediscover a film, in particular with ... Julia Roberts!
The actor Dermot Mulroney is also endearing and funny, but I would say even more, on the masculine side: the actor Rupert Everett and his character of George. The film isn't excellent or always hectic, but it fulfills its dose of "feel good", and also, tough not only, its dose of sadness, heartbreak, and nostalgia. Last but not least, a film where you can also discover or rediscover some songs and musics, and that's a very good note too!
Synopsis :
Three weeks before her 28th birthday, New York City food critic Julianne "Jules" Potter (Julia Roberts) receives a call from her lifelong friend Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney), a Chicago sportswriter. Years earlier, the two agreed that if they were both unmarried by age 28, they would marry each other. Michael tells her that in four days, he will marry another girl recently met (Cameron Diaz). Realizing that Michael is the love of her life, Jules resolves to sabotage his wedding. Another of her friends, George (Rupert Everett), is her confident. But …
Main casting :
Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett
Music by :
James Newton Howard
Country : USA
Languages : English, French
+ My favourite scene, and especially a “feel good” moment, from the movie !
When George sings for Jules “ Sing a Little Prayer ” … What an amazing and joyful performance !
Are you also a nostalgic person from some movies of the decade of the 1990’s ?
SERIES | “ En Thérapie ”, season 2 ( 2022 )
Personal note :
"En Thérapie" is a French series, by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache.
A first season was released in 2021. A second season, in 2022.
Shortly after their respective release, I watched them both.
"In therapy" is also a series inspired by an initially Israeli series, BeTipul (בטיפול), by Hagai Levi.
There is also an American adaptation: "In Treatment"
Regarding the French series, and regarding its contextual links with real events and facts, to summarize :
Season 1 chronologically focuses on the period following the attacks in Paris in 2015.
Season 2, chronologically, focuses on the period following the first confinement of spring 2020 linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
In both seasons, a peculiarity of this series is that it essentially takes place behind closed doors, in “ huis-clos ”. Most of the time, the scenes and exchanges take place in the office of the main character, the psychiatrist, Dr Philippe Dayan, but not only. For example in season 2 and this is the element that fascinated and interested me the most, a new character integrates the story, another psychiatrist, a woman: Claire, played by the French singer and actress, Charlotte Gainsbourg , whom I found really fascinating in this role and this interpretation. I also enjoyed and have been touched by the role and interpretation of probably the youngest character, the child Robin, whose parents are separating and who, moreover, being or feeling like overweight is the victim of bullying at school ( which make it one of the social topics treated by the series). At first, his relationship with the doctor, the psy, is mostly wary and distant, then, being already a child, for his age, particularly mature, insightful and sensitive, we see him open up more and learn to build himself of what he thinks are only weaknesses or faults in his young journey.
Synopsis :
Paris, spring 2020, during and following the confinement, Dr Philippe Dayan welcomes four new patients: Inès, a lonely forty years old lawyer, Robin, an overweight teenager victim of school bullying, son of the couple of Léonora and Damien from season 1, Lydia, a student who has come to share a dark secret concerning her health, and Alain, a business leader caught up in a media turmoil. The season also develops the complicated daily life of the psychoanalyst, Doctor Dayan, who is divorced and sued by the family of one of his former patients. He also met Claire, a renowned analyst and essayist, and seeks her support for his trial.
Main casting :
Frédéric Pierrot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Clémence Poésy, Eye Haydara, etc.
Music by :
Yuksek
Country : France
Languages : French
What I’ve listened to …
MUSIC | My May Playlist
Each month, I collect and share in a playlist, all the songs and musics that I have been able to listen to during that period. Among these songs and musics, there may be some that are unconditional and timeless tunes for me, and that, often, I may have been listening to for years. Or if not, that have quickly become part of my emotional and musical heritage. Others are songs and musics, which I listen to more periodically, but which remain regular listenings, although spaced out in time. Finally, there are songs and musics that I discover or (re-)discover. For example, in my playlist of the month, I like to include songs and musics that I have discovered or rediscovered thanks to the use of my Shazam application, which I can brandish at any time, as soon as I hear a few notes of music that I appreciate, that speak to me, which touch me too in any way. This can happen when I'm watching a movie, a series, an advertisement, when I'm on the street, in a taxi and that the radio is on, for example.
What I have read about …
BOOK | “ Sur le bout de la langue ” by Olivier Sorin
On the tip of the tongue …
Not only a writer, Olivier Sorin is a contemporary French writer.
" Sur le bout de la langue " (2021) which can be translated into English literally as: "On the tip of the tongue" is his third novel, which has been published, after: " Le nombril de Solveig " (2020, “ Solveig's navel” ) and " Les parallèles finissent toujours par se croiser ” (2018, “ Parallels always end up crossing").
Following my reading of " Le nombril de Solveig " (2020, “ Solveig's navel” ), a few months earlier, “ Sur le bout de langue ” has been my second reading of Olivier Sorin.
The story is very touching. Above all, the more we venture into it, the closer also we get to the end. Many emotions and dilemmas are felt and transcribed. Some subjects of the novel, being part of the elements of the story can be considered as taboo. Yet they are still real and existing. Concerning one of these taboos, it is however quickly overtaken in a certain way by the great and sincere connivance, complicity and attachment between the two main characters, who moreover, often each one of their respective sides, suffer a lot, wonder and wander a lot. Before, … a possible equation of life possibly common and more fulfilled.
Anyway, I was touched by the characters, especially by each of the two main characters, a man and a woman. At the same time by their respective stories, their respective thoughts, dilemmas and fears but also, by their common story, which tries throughout the novel to make its way in the path of life and choices.
During most of my reading, which I partly shared via some of my Instagram stories at that moment, a music accompanied me: "Fly" by Ludovico Einaudi. For anyone who could possibly also read this book, I would also recommend listening to this music as an accompaniment. It left me with a special memory and experience, and an immersion in this reading and this story, even more deeper and more human.
In this reading and this novel, which I literally devoured ( a clearly different and longer experience for the first one) and that has literally devoured me, I highlighted a lot of passages.
Different passages.
But these many and different passages all having in common I think that they can be extrapolated from the story told.
These many and different passages all having in common I also think : to invite us to question ourselves more deeply, more instrospectively ourselves on what they evoke to us of life, our life history, our own life stories, our experiences or our experiences finally not lived, postponed, abandoned, our feelings, of our doubts also, of our questions. Passages, words and sentences, which cannot left indifferent, which cannot fail to be reread and as well, at the very moment that they are read, but also afterwards, and then be thought of again. This is according to me one of the powers of transcribed words and thoughts.
I cannot share here all these passages, far too numerous and long for some, but I can at least share some and some excerpts. Translated into English so that they can be more accessible also.
What I’ve been writing about …
Where I’ve been to …
An afternoon in the countryside
A visit to Onyx
A “ salon de thé ” for the birthday of my beloved sister
Discoveries
Artist | Emmanuel Nwogbo II
Emmanuel, alias @nigerianexpert is a Graphic Designer, a Visual Artist, a Visual Storyteller and a … James Bond Enthusiast !
And who is a James Bond Enthusiast too !? … Pina ! And many of you I know too !
So I just think that if you do not already know his work, whose about the James Bond universe, you should also really appreciate it !
Emmanuel Nwogbo is a Nigerian-born Visual Artist who now calls Montreal home. Emmanuel grew up in Lagos, the largest city in Africa. The rich culture and heritage combined with the vibrant energy of one of the world’s cultural epicentres exposed him to the arts at an early age through colorful afrobeat musicians such as Fela Kuti, Lagbaja and more.
This fascination for pop culture led him to pursue Visual Art and Visual Communication Design, and then a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Design at NSCAD University in Halifax. After emigrating to Canada, Emmanuel discovered his love for storytelling through digital collages and photo manipulation. His digital riffs are informed by his interest in 20th Century art movements such as Pop Art, Surrealism, and Dada. These styles reverberate through Nigerian culture and have inspired Emmanuel to continually explore and experiment with the interconnectedness between art, culture and materiality.
In 2018, his exceptional creative and technical skills were showcased through a special project - 365 days of James Bond Characters Art and Design Challenge. He created daily digital posters that paid homage to a different James Bond movie character each day. This venture was a nostalgic nod to fond childhood memories of watching classic James Bond movies with his father, examining how the beloved blockbuster franchise has adapted to ever-changing social norms across twenty-five movies spanning over half a century. This series earned Emmanuel the 2019 Coast Halifax Reader’s Choice Award for Best Visual artist in Halifax. (…)