Category: Television

The Nicks

Recently, I randomly stumbled upon a netflix series that premiered sometime in August 2022. I had been looking for a pick me up. Somehow, some where between the end of November and way into December I found myself in some kind of a Television rutt.

For someone who does atleaat one hour of television per day, I realised that I hadn’t done much of it in four weeks.

The series I found seemed just right, slow tempo and not too dramatic to usher me back into screen viewing.

The moment it started, I knew it was going to be a bad ending for nick.

Nick was a guy who loved and stood by Ingrid and supported her through everything but Ingrid always kept a burning torch for Murphy; some guy she had a one time thing with six years ago… and Murphy suddenly starts working at the same place as Ingrid.

Nick is handsome, kind, loving, considerate and very rich. He gets to find out about Ingrid and Murphy in the worst way.

I feel so sorry for Nick and I wonder why even off screen, we find the Nicks who always seem to get hurt by the Ingrids who have their eyes set on the Murphys.

Pairs

George Clooney and Julia Roberts have always seemed like a beautiful pair for me.

My favourite Hollywood pair remains Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, I fell in love with the pair in the movie The Wedding Singer and then in  50 First Dates and then in Blended  but I really loved and enjoyed the humour and chemistry between Clooney and Roberts  in Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve.

As a movie lover, and especially a lover of period dramas, romcoms and the likes, one thing that draws me to a movie is the pairing of the hero and heroine.

Only a few days ago, I came across another poster with the names Clooney and Roberts smiling back at me. I didn’t hesitate to click on it.

I must admit that the movie didn’t stand out as much as I expected it to but I totally connected with the emotions and unspoken thoughts Clooney kept sending out in the movie. He played a divorced dad who had to work hand in hand with his ex-wife (Roberts) to prevent their daughter from getting married to a Bali local.

The pair who never seem to see eye to eye on any matter must learn to work together on this one thing they both agree on. Clooney’s character calls out to me as he seems to be a person who is in touch with his feelings and is also honest with himself as well.

Overall, this new movie ‘Ticket to Paradise’ is okay and can be viewed on a calm evening with friends or alone.

A few other pairs that drew me into a movie are:

  • Julia Roberts and Richards Gere – Pretty woman
  • Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut – The Brothers
  • Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield  – The Photograph

Some pairs didn’t sit well with me are:

  • Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds – The Proposal
  • Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry – Fools rush in

One on-screen pair I still can’t place in my head but totally love is the Renee Zellwerger and Collin Firth from Bridget Jones Diary, maybe the mix with Hugh Grant and then Patrick Dempsey just made my head spin.

Have you any on-screen pairs you love? Share them with me, I would love to know.

Good Old Things

When I was about 19 years old, my “cousin” Gosha, in a bid to bond and create a deeper relationship with her dad began making trips to the town where I lived. Her father, who for reasons best known to him back then, had moved from the city where his family lived to the town where we lived, had a small apartment, somewhat like a bachelors pad; and so Gosha always stayed with us for the duration of her visits.

Gosha was and is a conversationalist; she can talk and listen for hours. She also is an arguer. She had my sister all to herself when it came to arguing though, you can definitely count me out of that. How they enjoyed it and laughed while at it, I still wonder. I loved the conversations. We would talk and laugh so loud, I remember my dad shushing us around 2am one night.

During one of those conversations, we began talking about old movies and Gosha recommended one; Gone With The wind. She said it was a must watch. About a year later, when she came for another visit, she returned with a video cassette of the movie. We promised to see it but we never did because no longer had a video cassette player as the world had migrated to Video CDs.

About a year ago, 20 years later, I suddenly started to crave old movies; I began feeding this craving one movie after another. I started with ‘The Sound of Music’ 1965; you could see the excitement on my sons face when he heard me singing along with Maria and the von Trapp family singers.

Next, I saw ‘The Godfather I’ 1972, then ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ 1961 and then ‘Coming to America’ 1988. One afternoon, while driving home, wondering what old movie to see next, I remembered Gosha’s ‘Gone With The Wind’ 1939. I finally got to see it… 20 years later and It was worth it.

Gone with the Wind is a beautiful movie, it tells a tale of a spoilt but strong and determined lady who must face problems brought forth by The Civil War and her participation in The Reconstruction as well. It does not exclude her love affairs and how they all played out.

After Gone with the wind, I made a list of popular old movies that I had not seen yet and then I began viewing them one after the other. I have graded them with stars, just in case you want to give it a go as well.

  • Father of the Bride 1950 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Anastasia 1956 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Roman Holiday 1953 ⭐⭐
  • Casablanca 1942 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Mary Poppins 1964 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • It’s a Wonderful Life 1946 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • An Affair to Remember 1957 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Palm Beach Story 1942 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have got a few more I would like to see, but I have not made time for them yet.

  • It happened one night 1934
  • Chances 1931
  • 12 Angry Men 1957
  • Vertigo 1958
  • Double Identity 1944
  • Imitation of Life 1959
  • Sunset Boulevard 1950
  • The Apartment 1960

Also, in the memory of Olivia Newton John, I decided to watch Grease 1978.

Is there any good old movie you think I need to see?

Anastasia

I was raised by a catholic mother. She made sure my siblings and I went through all the processes required to be a “full catholic” ; baptismal classes, baptism, communion classes, first Holy communion, confirmation classes and confirmation. I didn’t get to complete my own process, I didn’t get confirmed and because of that, I have only one English name while my sisters have two each.

They have two because upon confirmation, a person is usually given a new name, different from the one given at baptism. This name is supposed be a name of a saint. Although lately, I have heard some confirmation names that don’t sound any bit like any Saint I have heard of. I guess everything is changing these days, even church rules.

In 1988 I was baptised and I was given the name Anastasia. I loved it with all my heart. Somehow, some time in my path to disvover myself, I began to dislike the name. I shortened it to one of the cool versions I had heard and then I became Stacey. Hmmmm.

I have found my child self once again lately in some things I have been participating in, and one of the things that this found child misses is the name Anastasia. I love the name all over again.

As it is, our minds work in line with the universe. The universe perceives and receives our thoughts and words and it sends similar things our way… and for some time now, I have been seeing a lot of things about people called Anastasia, but the one that caught my attention the most is a certain fake Anastasia, Anna Anderson Alias Franziska Schanzkowska. She was known as an imposter.

She gained popularity by claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.

The real Duchess Anastasia was assumed to have escaped an assassination of her entire family. She was the youngest daughter of the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He reigned from 1st November, 1894 to 15th March, 1917.

Movies tell the best stories, so I will recommend you look this up and enjoy.

Anastasia : The mystery of Anna

You can watch this movie on :

  • Amazon Prime video
  • Apple TV
  • Showmax
  • And a few other streaming services

The movie has a number of Emmys and Golden globes.

If you are a reader, I will recommend the book titled ‘The Riddle of Anna Anderson’ by Peter Kurth

Is there something you thought you didn’t like but lately, seems to appear on your “I miss you” list?  What steps did you or have you taken to get it back? Or is it too late?

I’m wondering about my Anastasia and how I can reconnect with the name and the girl again. I miss her.

Adapted for television

The first time it happened was with Robert Ludlum’s ‘The Bourne Identity‘. I remember feeling a big wave of confusion and disappointment. This was about 20 years ago.

Then it happened again. It literally ruined the book for me. I watched the entire Hulu TV series ‘Little Fires Everywhere’, regretting every minute of it. I had just finished the novel with the same title a few days earlier. Shortly after I started reading it, I had found out that it had been developed for television…and so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to give it a shot. Like I said, I regret that decision.

Being my usual curious self, i decided to find our why these adaptations needed to have these changes at all. It turns out, reading and viewing are two completely different things and must be presented differently. One point I agreed with was the fact that if a book was to be made exactly as it was written, it would be boring for many because people watch television for entertainment and not to be bored.

Lately I have learned to take adaptations with an open mind, I have seen a few unnecessary changes in some adaptations but i must admit that I have come accross some very interesting ones too.

No matter how open my mind has become, I seem to have a problem with a particular change I have encountered in a Television adaptation. The creators of the beautiful TV series ‘The Chosen’ thought it would be wonderful idea for Simon the Zealot (one of Jesus’ disciples) to be the brother of the man by the pool of Bethesda. In as much as this makes for a good twist, it seems to be messing with my head. I found myself searching high and low for any clue to where this may have been mentioned previously in the Bible. I guess I will have to live with it.

I have made a small list of some of the books that have been made into movies that I really liked;

  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
  • The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
  • The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
  • Normal People by Sally

Read some or watch some, either way you will love them.

Which ones have you seen or read? What do you think about them?

FATHER OF THE BRIDE

As a TV screen lover, I have a dislike for things I consider to be unnecessary sequels and repeated titles of movies and TV series. I hear you…asking what I mean by unnecessary sequels. I won’t explain, however, I will mention a few examples… Sex and the City 2, Dirty Dancing; Havana Nights and The Blues Brothers (2000).

As a huge Andy Garcia lover and fan, I jumped at the movie Father of the Bride 2022 the moment I saw the cast. Ordinarily, after seeing the “first” Father of the Bride and its sequel staring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, my mind may have conditioned itself to be unreceptive to any other movie with that title because I would have assumed that nothing else could be better. I decided to do a little research about the brand new version and I was pretty surprised to find in my search that what I thought was the first ever ‘Father of the Bride’ was in fact the second film with the title.

The first ever was a 1950 film starring Elizabeth Taylor as the young bride. It was a film based on a novel of the same name, written by Edward Streeter. I immediately made a note to see this first edition and also read the novel. I have done the former and I loved it. The father of the bride (played by Spencer Tracey) made the film really interesting with his sense of humor and wit.

The second film was released in 1991 with Steve Martin Playing the role of the father of the bride. This particular production had a sequel in 1995 (Father of The Bride Part II). I learnt that it was a remake of the 1951 film; Father’s Little Dividend. Father’s Little Dividend is a sequel to The Father of Bride (1950).

In the latest film, Garcia plays a very reluctant and hesitant father who must come to terms with the fact that his daughter is not only getting married but is also moving away to Mexico. Although he is not as funny as the previous fathers of the bride, his character and charm will draw you into this film.

All three versions are beautiful and tell almost the same “father of the Bride” story and I must admit that I am undecided about picking my favourite. One thing is for sure, Garcia still has that charm in him and I really got a good laugh throughout this latest movie.

I would recommend all three any day.

2022
1991
1950

The Chosen

The Chosen

Growing up, I saw and enjoyed the movie Jesus of Nazareth. I thought The Chosen would be the same kind of story so I assumed it had nothing new to offer. I assumed wrong.

The Chosen is a Christian TV series. It is a detailed account of the life of Jesus Christ. The chosen has two seasons so far, each season consisting 8 episodes. Each episode runs for at least 30 to 64 minutes.  It tells the story of a life of Jesus Christ. It is the only account of Jesus that has been related in an episode based multi-season version. The series is created by an American film maker Dallas Jenkins. Jenkins also happens to be the director and a co-writer of the series.

Jenkins tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of people who had contact with him and also followed him.

You can watch The Chosen TV series free of charge on the designated App; The chosen. The show is also available on a number of streaming platforms. The series was produced with the help of crowd funding and there will be a need for addition help because the series is intended to be a seven season series. It intends to tell the entire story of Jesus through all the Gospels in the Bible; Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Chosen series is watched all over the world and subtitles have been provided in over 20 languages. These include Spanish, German, French, Russian, Polish and Portuguese. In addition to the subtitles, there are audio dubs for the chosen drama series in Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese.

Where can you watch The Chosen? :

  1. The Chosen app – the chosen app is the designated medium for streaming the series. The app is available on the Apple or Google play store. Also in the app is an option that allows you to pay it forward to people who don’t have a chance to watch it. Paying it forward is made possible by purchasing a pay it forward package available on the app.
  2. Amazon prime video –Amazon prime video allows you to buy or rent a movie or series and the chosen is definitely not an exception. A monthly subscription is required to have access to their services.
  3. YouTube – the show has been made available on YouTube on its official channel and other unofficial ones too.
  4. Facebook – you can find some good bits of the chosen on its official Facebook page.
  5. Youversion Bible app – full episodes and also short clips of the chosen are available on the Youversion Bible app. The Youversion Bible app can be downloaded from Google play store or the Apple store

Places you won’t find the chosen:

  • Netflix – The Chosen has not made its way to this streaming service yet.
  • Hulu
  • HBO Max

The Chosen has raised so many questions as to whether the story is a true account as it is written in the bible. I think the creator has tried to portray the story to give the modern day people a clearer picture and a better understanding of some of the stories in the bible. The aim of the creator does not seem to be defeated as many people continue to stream the series every day.  The number of people who have downloaded the chosen app has since risen over 100 million.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Will there be a season 3 of The Chosen? Yes, the third season of the Christian drama series will premier in the year 2022. The exact date has not been announced but it has been confirmed to surface before the year ends.

One heart, two feelings

The Euro 2020 tournament couldn’t hold in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. It was rescheduled to hold in 2021 and it did. This is a soccer tournament organised by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), it is referred to as UEFA European Championship. I was very preoccupied during the group stages so I didn’t catch the matches, but I wasnt going to miss anyone from the quarter finals.

Right from the very moment England qualified for the the semi finals, I was super excited and couldn’t wait to watch the game. I love the English team and I have always been a fan. They were scheduled to meet Denmark. Denmark, that’s where the problem was. At the beginning of the tournament, Denmark’s midfielder Christian Erikson slumped and was confirmed to have had a cardiac arrest. This affected his team mates emotionally and it affected their performance. My husband narrated how they miraculously made it from the group stage to the round of 16. It was a good story, a kind of story that would be told really well if they were to win the championship.

So here comes the day and I’m torn between the team that I love and the team that I’m feeling emotional about. My son didn’t understand my situation so I took my time and explained it to him. He smiled at me and said “sorry” and then he drew me a picture. He’s at a stage in his life right now where he draws everything.

This is me, as illustrated by my 8 year old son, SonTer

At the end of the day, at the end of the game, England won. There’s always a story for everyone. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 qualified for their first ever major final in 55 years.

The character Michael Scott

For many years I kept putting off the plan to run the series ‘the office’ until early this year 2021, I decided it was time. I paused the 10th episode of the 6th season to write this. I’ve asked myself one question over 20 times, “Is Michael Scott a human being?” I know he is a fictitious character but I can’t help but wonder, do we have Michael Scotts in real life? Nothing he does is normal. As a leader and a manager, you would expect him to be more coordinated and hardworking but no, he hates work more than anyone I’ve ever seen. This makes me wonder how he got to the managerial position in the first place.

Gotcha

Michael Scott is however very caring and very emotional. His feelings are easily hurt but he forgives easily and doesn’t hold grudges. The only person who isn’t lucky enough to enjoy the care is his HR representative, Toby. Michael believes Toby is anti fun. When I first started watching, I often felt sorry for Toby, I think a wild animal comes alive in Michael when he sees Toby. For Michael every minute must be fun. He could waste an entire day playing games, having office parties or simply acting foolish and he would see nothing wrong with it. For him, work can wait but fun can’t.

A typical day

No one listens to Michael. Sometimes wonder if he has any self respect. The entire staff has no respect for him and it seems as though he doesn’t care. There have been a few times when he did oppose some rudeness, just a few times. I’ve watched him do and say lots of stupid things. Are there people that could be like Michael Scott? It’s very possible. Would I be able to be around such a person? I laugh at Michael and he amazes and entertains me, but if I had to deal with him in real life… would I handle it well? I wonder.