#amelia describes egypt

[team-ramses]

Can you find/share a quote that describes where Abdullah meets Amelia in her dreams? I think it’s the cliffs above Deir el Bahri and they look to the east - she describes a sunrise at one point I’m pretty sure.

I’m playing Assassin’s Creed Origins which takes place in Egypt in Cleopatra’s time and I wanted to visit some Peabody locations 🙃

Yep, Deir el Bahri!

"As I neared the top of the cliff I looked up to see a tall, familiar form silhouetted against the pale blue of the early-morning sky. I was in Luxor again, climbing the steep path that led to the top of the plateau behind Deir el Bahri, and Abdullah was waiting. ... Instead of vanishing into the depths of sleep, as he and his surroundings had done before, he turned and walked away. He did not stop or look back as he followed the long path that led to the Valley where the kings of Egypt had been laid to rest." - He Shall Thunder in the Sky

I haven't posted from post-Ape books yet, but whenever I post a quote where Amelia is describing a place in Egypt, I use the tag "amelia describes egypt" (it's very clever lol).

[teamramses]

The sun shone from a cloudless sky, brightening the flamboyant tarbooshes and gold-trimmed vests of the dragomen gathered round the steps of the hotel; the scent of roses and jasmine on the carts of the flower vendors was wafted to my appreciative nostrils by a soft breeze. Even the rolling of wheels and the shouts of the cabdrivers, the braying of donkeys and bellowing of camels fell pleasantly on my ears because they were the sounds of Egypt, hallowed by familiarity and affection.

Amelia Peabody in The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters

[tamayokny]

lara: [describing her painting] you and me riding a t-rex in egypt.

amelia: and where’s daddy?

lara: at work.

[dealbrekker]

Hey, I'm wondering if you have any good recommendations for books, movies or series? I followed you for soc and you seem to have a lot of other interesting fandoms and interests.

I like fantasy, but I don't want the world to be too different from our world. I like mysteries and paranormal stuff mostly but I can't seem to find any good ones lately. More realistic ones are good and I think that I need to read or watch more stuff like that.

I prefer if it has some of my favourite tropes like found family. Not too much romance or anything else.I read mainly YA but I really need to expand my taste more. I prefer series to be quite long but still bingeable. Movies are always good.

If you want to help me then that would be wonderful and I want to say thank you even before you answer.

Hello! I'd LOVE to give you some recommendations! I went through my goodreads and my own bookshelves to see what I have that match your interests and have compiled the following list!

Books/Series:

The Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters: these are my most favorite books by my most favorite author. They're historical fiction/mysteries set in the 1880s to the 1920s Egypt. There are 20 books in the series. They're fantastic if you want a brilliant main character who is sassy, fun, smart, and crazy intelligent. There is some romance peppered in throughout, but this is extremely well done and isn't the main point of the books. Nothing explicit in the least either. Along the way more characters are introduced and become part of the found family trope. This series was started in the late 1970s. I highly recommend all of Elizabeth Peters' books, as well as those under her other pen name, Barbara Michaels. The first book in the Amelia mysteries is called Crocodile on the Sandbank. Not YA.

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs: I'm a couple books behind in this paranormal/suburban fantasy series, but love it so much. There are currently around 11 books or so. Again, there is some romance, but the mysteries and supernatural elements are at the foreground. Werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, the fae, and more feature. Mercy is a certified badass mechanic and coyote shapeshifter. First book is called Moon Called. Not YA.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Now these you probably know and have possibly already read. Supernatural/paranormal YA series heavily featuring the found family trope. Beautiful and weird and just delicious. These books, for me at least, are more about the characters than the plot. First books is The Raven Boys.

The Constellation Trilogy by Claudia Gray: YA sci-fi! I'm not big on sci-fi but this wonderful trilogy is a fantastic way to dip your toe into the genre. It has one of my favorite characters I've come across in recent years, Abel Mansfield. He is the most darling, socially awkward Android you'll ever meet. First book is called Defy the Stars.

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. This isn't YA but the main character is an 11 year old chemistry prodigy. She's fun and whip smart and has a nose for solving murder cases much to the local Inspector's chagrin. I think there are 9 or 10 in this series so far. The first is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Strange the Dreamer duology by Laini Taylor. Exquisite. Just gorgeous. The books read like a dream. Fantasy but not too fantasy. I'd consider these on the cusp of YA and whatever is above YA. The characters are in their mid to late teens, but it's a bit like SoC where the writing lends itself to an older audience. The first is Strange the Dreamer.

The Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown. This is also a YA leaning more toward adult. Loosely I'd describe the first book, Red Rising, as Hunger Games on Mars. I've only read the first 3 books, but UGH the characters. UGH the action. Definitely has Found Family going on in it. If memory serves it can be a little graphic in the action and violence but isn't the worst I've ever read. More sci-fi that isn't too sci-fi.

Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Okay so here is where I deviate. This is higher fantasy than what I've recommended thus far. It's sprawling world building at its finest. That being said, it's still really humans, just on a different world where the plant and animal life is different. These are very long books, but just phenomenal. The cast of characters are incredible, the plots engaging. If you want to read this series, give it the time it deserves. Ive only read the first 2, and there are 4 currently. Sanderson has tons of other books and series that take place in the same universe, if I'm not mistaken, but I've only read the Stormlight Archive books so far. The first one is called The Way of Kings.

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Same disclaimer as the last one. More high fantasy. Tbh, I havent read these in a long, long time, but very much enjoyed them. A bit more complex as far as the magic, but the plot and characters are amazing so I wanted to mention them. First one is called The Name of the Wind and there are only 2 so far.

Shows:

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (on acorn TV and possibly bbca): 3 seasons of utter delight. Fun and flirty and moving. Takes place in the 1930s I believe, in Australia. Follows Phryne Fisher as she bursts her way into solving murders much to Inspector Jack Robinson's dismay. These two are AMAZING partners, no matter how reluctant. This is also a book series, but I haven't read them and have actually heard many people say they prefer the show

Lucifer (on Netflix.): I'm behind and I'm upset that I'm behind. Follows one cheeky devil as he assists a reluctant Detective Chloe Decker solve crimes (I am starting to see a theme in my own interests 😆). Funny but so emotionally moving as Lucifer navigates his way through his own humanity

Prodigal Son. Season 2 starts in January. It airs on Fox so I'm not sure off the top of my head where you can find season 1 readily available. Highly recommend. Follows Malcolm Bright, a serial killer Profiler for the NYPD. His father is a very famous serial killer, and he often gets tips from dear old dad to aid in his cases. Malcolm has tons of ptsd and trauma to work through, so the show touches upon these themes heavily.

Movies:

To be perfectly honest, I'm not a movie expert of any kind. I just watch what looks interesting to me. But my all time favorite movies are the 1999/2000 The Mummy and The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Just pure joy when I watch. Fun and so very quotable.

I also adore the Thin Man series from the 40s starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Those 2 are absolutely relationship goals. So fun and sassy. A husband and wife crime solving team with a sassy dog named Asta.

This was so fun to put together for you! Let me know if you have anymore questions about anything I listed! Take care and happy reading/viewing!

[missielynne]

Blurb, Cliffhanger, Cover, and Prologue :)

Blurb (How many books are you reading right now?): 2

Cliffhanger (What book(s) are you reading currently?)   When He Was Wicked and Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. (No. 1 of the series I like to think of as Eloise and Phillip in Egypt, the Amelia Peabody Mysteries.) 

Cover (Recommend a book for me?) Well, as you can tell by the way I describe Crocodile on the Sandbank, I would definitely recommend it and all the others in the series (there are several and they are awesome) to any Phillip and Eloise fan.

Prologue (Describe the book you are currently reading using only emojis?) On my desktop computer rather than the app, but I would say...heart, mummy, umbrella, pyramid.

[peabodyandemerson]

The Last Camel Died at Noon

- Completed August 20, 2020 -

4 stars. Murder! Political intrigue! Treasure maps! Lost cities! The Peabody Emersons go on an exciting adventure in the Sudan! 

I thought I might list my thoughts on this one in a Pros and Cons list!

First, I’d like to note that I have never read King Solomon’s Mines, the classic adventure romance that inspired this particular tale. I do wonder what connections and inspirations I missed because of that fact! Now, my thoughts:

PROs:

Okay, yeah, I actually liked Ramses in this one! Can you believe it? I reckon he was less troublesome and conniving this go around. He’s always had useful and admirable qualities, but they were usually outshined by his annoying ones. I particularly loved the part where little Ramses was chasing after the cat with outstretched arms.

Amelia’s desire to start a full scale rebellion and the scene where she and Emerson save the toddler and mother from harm.

“I would greatly dislike being eaten by a lion”

There’s quite a lot of action in this one. I was a little shocked Emerson literally killed a man (actually several men?), but couldn’t help myself by being slightly amused by Amelia being extremely turned on by it. Messed up, but hilarious!

I don’t know if this should be counted as a “pro” necessarily, but we know how Amelia “talks big” but sometimes stumbles in her attempts to be physically intimidating. Amelia kills like two guys in this one, I’m pretty sure. It was in defense of her husband and child, but I mean...wow. I suppose I may have misread it and she only incapacitated them, but there was a lot of bloodshed in that chaotic chapter.

We barely got to know Nefret, but she seems resourceful and quick-witted. She basically saved the whole family in the end with her quick thinking. I thought it was cute that she grabbed some artifacts for the family to study as well.

CONs:

I am actually sad the camels were poisoned. Poor little, uh, large fellas. 

Emerson literally said he couldn't believe Willie Forth “allowed” his wife to travel with him when he scoffed at the idea of “allowing” Amelia to do anything. Like, bruh.

Speaking of my boy Emerson, I don’t love that he “allowed” himself to be “entertained” by the Sheik’s “dancers” (I hope you like my overuse of quotations) because if he was embarrassed that his wife knew he was there, that admits it’s something he feels guilty about, and thus should not be around. Yeah, it may be an unpopular opinion, but to me being faithful to your spouse means mind and body. Eyes, hands, and heart.

Use of the ‘n’ word and the term “savage”

In meeting Nefret, Peters described her as basically naked and Emerson and Ramses were just standing there staring at her? And she’s 13! Kemit/Tarek (a grown man) said “who can see her and not desire her” ...y’all that’s gross.

Disappointed and a bit disgusted how Amelia talked to Amenit. We all know how horrible and harmful European-centric beauty standards can be. Amelia offering to lighten Amenit’s skin, dye her hair and eyes was heart-breaking. Amelia went so far as to say Reggie would be lying if he said he found her beautiful the way she was. That’s just heartbreaking and needlessly damaging to a young woman of color.

Once again Peters seems to describe overweight people in a needlessly cruel way, frequently calling them disgusting and using language that describes them as being somehow grotesque and monstrous. I was quite disappointed particularly in Emerson’s “horror” at seeing Mrs. Forth in her present form, as if not being “young and hot” as she once was, was somehow a horror to behold. He didn’t really need to tell us how “exquisite” she was when young anyway. Like how is that relevant. I don’t really like how female beauty is emphasized, I guess. I thought the same thing when Peters wrote that Nefret’s “courage and beauty” had won over Emerson and Amelia. Like what? Courage is commendable, but beauty? Something that is subjective and uncontrollable? She’s just a child! What if she was, oh I don't know, covered in zits and gangly? Would that make her less beautiful and somehow less worthy of love? I mean, come on. I really don’t want to think that Emerson instantly fell in love with this 13 year old half naked girl at “first sight” anyway. Did Peters not realize how that sounds? I know that’s not what she meant, but it doesn’t sit terribly well with me. I hope Ramses won’t act creepy towards her in future books. I do have some fear he will grow up to be James Bond-esque, and I can tell you now I won’t like a character that sleeps with every girl he meets.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the cons, I did honestly enjoy this one. It was probably the best book since Curse of the Pharaohs even though I was, at first, a little disappointed it didn’t actually take place in Egypt. I don’t consider it a pro/con matter, but Emerson and Amelia’s love life is a bit unbelievable to the point of being ridiculous, but it gives me something to aspire to in my own married life! They are still a delight after six books, and I’m only mildly annoyed by their unattainable level of happiness together ha! I’m still trying to space these books out a little, so I’m not sure when I’ll read the next one.

Also, did Emerson hint at Willie Forth’s father having raped Mrs. Forth? I’m a little confused on that point and what lead him to that supposition.

[biblioncollection]

Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys | Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards | Travel & Geography | Audiobook full unabridged | English | 1/5 Content of the video and Sections beginning time (clickable) - Chapters of the audiobook: please see First comments under this video. Amelia B. Edwards wrote this historical travelogue in in 1873. The book describes her travels through a relatively un-visited area in the South Tyrol district of Italy. The Dolomites are a part of that most famous of mountain chains, the Alps. In this book, the Writer and her friend and companion, L., travel from Southern Italy, having over-wintered there, to visit the Dolomite district. Her chatty style, dry sense of humor, accuracy of facts, and sympathy for humanity set her works apart. The slice of Victorian British life presented is quite captivating. She would later travel throughout Europe and Egypt at a time when most women didn't leave home. Later she was to become one of the pioneering Egyptologists of the age. This is her first travelogue. This is a Librivox recording. If you want to volunteer please visit https://librivox.org/ by Priceless Audiobooks

[selfportraitsofcolor]

Mahmoud Said / محمود سعيد‎ Self Portrait Egypt (1919) [Source]

Wikipedia says:

Mahmoud Said Bey (Arabic: محمود سعيد‎) (April 8, 1897 – April 8, 1964) was an Alexandrian judge and modern painter.

Mahmoud Said was born in Alexandria, Egypt son of Muhammad Said Pasha, a Prime Minister of Egypt. Queen Farida of Egypt was his niece and she described him as “a quiet, gentle, oppressively timid man”.

After receiving his high school diploma, he went on to law school, receiving his degree in 1919. Between 1919 and 1921 he traveled through Europe, ultimately studying at the Académie Julian. He returned to Egypt and worked at the Mixed Courts of Egypt until his father’s death in the 1950s.

Between 1919 and his death in 1964, Said was a prolific oil painter. In Alexandria, his first trained for two years with Italian painter, Amelia Casonato Da Forno from 1912, and later with Arturo Zanieere from 1916. He often shared the studio of his good friend, the Greek painter, Aristomenis Angelopoulos (Αριστομένης Αγγελόπουλος).

[electronicthesaurus]

@imnotafan tagged me to name my ten favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms and tag ten people to do the same. Its an optional activity folks so only if you want to.

1. Cassandra Cain - she’s my batgirl. Her run as Batgirl introduced me to comics. I checked them out from the library when i was about ten and have been in love/hate with them ever since.

2. Princess Leia Organa - Ummm. She’s Princess Leia, duh.

3. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - if you haven’t seen this show go see it. It’s about finding your own way, being a single mother, finding acceptance, fighting the good fight, holding your ground in a relationship against societies expectations and much more set in the Old West. Also Jane Seymour.

4. Amelia Peabody. Kick ass egyptologist, doctor, and linguist, solves murders, an equal partner with her husband, and all of this in beautiful described and researched (on the author’s part) 1880ish-1920ish British held egypt. Also they find a whole hidden civilization that worships the old gods, and steal a kid, who ends up marrying their son who ends up a spy in WWI. I swear to god the whole series is a trip.

5. Harry Crewe from the Blue Sword by Robin McKinely. Magical destiny horse girl with a prophecy sword and a cheesy romance. Its dope go read it.

6. Holly Short from Artemis Fowl. - She’s a 300lb gun crazed marine made of pure muscle in a 4ft tall petite auburn haired fairy with a literal cupid smile. In other words 50lbs of crazy in a 5lb bag.

7. Emma Winchester from Supernatural - She is literally in one episode called the Splice Girls, the daughter of Dean and an Amazon, and Sam kills her in the end, but i love her in fandom. Dean deserves children, he loves them, and a kick ass daughter with literal battle-blood fever would be perfect, and by god with fanfiction they will be together.

8. Five from Dark Matter - that poor green haired girl just wants her family to be together, but she’s also brave, and will rise to any occasion to protect it, “KIll them all” classic, just classic, proving she belongs in their little ruthless band of ner do wells.

9. Jess Bhamra from Bend it like Beckham - Oh lord do i understand this girl. My parents weren’t immigrants, but many of my friends parents are, and i certainly understand balancing happiness with family expectations of what’s appropriate. Over and over i’ve hugged friends as they went through similar situations as Jess.

10. Pai from Whale Rider - I must have watched this movie five times in theaters, and i still own a copy. Rise to the occasion and take your birthright Pai, speak to the old gods and bring your people forward.

I never talk to anyone on the website so Idk if I can tag ten, but I’ll give it a shot. @theanticlare @partypenguin @sonicskullsalt @housered ummmm, that ‘ll do. I guess. Have fun.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Movie Preview 12/6/2019  - PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE!

You may have noticed by now that I didn’t have a Box Office Preview over at The Beat today, but that’s only because there wasn’t much I had to say about the sole new wide release, PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE (STXfilms) which is clearly trying to capitalize on the success Warner Bros. Animation has had with its LEGO movies. Playmobil is a pretty known brand, and this one features the voice of Daniel Radcliffe as secret agent Rex Dasher, as well as the voices of Anya Taylor-Joy and Jim Gaffigan. The movie looks fun for sure, and it is the only release this weekend, although the weekend after Thanksgiving is notorious for bombs, and STX dumped this here into 2,300 theaters after moving something else.  STX’s UglyDolls movie earlier in the year also bombed with just $20 million and with a much bigger push, so I’m not sure I can see this making more than $6 million this weekend either. It won’t help that some theater chains are only charging $5 for ALL tickets… we’ll see if that helps or hurts.

Also, Focus Features will expand Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters nationwide, though I’m not sure into how many theaters, plus Amazon Music will push Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, starring Shia Labeouf, into significantly more theaters this weekend. The former seems like a better than the latter, since Honey Boy – which is great, mind you – averaged just $2,101 theaters in 186 theaters this past weekend.  Even if it expands to 500 theaters or more, I can’t see it making more than a million this weekend. Dark Waters did better in about half as many theaters, so it’ll be interesting to see how wide Focus will take it. Either movie will only need to make about $2.2 million or more this weekend to get into the top 10, but Haynes’ film starring Mark Ruffalo will really have to be VERY wide (2,000 theaters or more) to stand a chance.

LIMITED RELEASES

There are a LOT more limited releases this week, as we get into the month where studios try to get all of their “awards-worthy” movie theaters for enough time to be eligible for that year’s Oscars.

Amazon is releasing the historical drama THE AERONAUTS (Amazon), reuniting Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne from the latter’s Oscar-winning The Theory of Everything. This time, she plays balloon pilot Amelia Wren and he plays scientist James Glaisher who go on an adventure to take a balloon higher than ever before so he can do weather-related scientific experiments. Sounds pretty exciting, huh? Actually, it isn’t bad, directed by Tom Harper, whose previous movie Wild Rosecame out earlier this year. This is a perfectly fine historic drama with lots of exciting shots up in the air since most of it takes place in the balloon as the two try to survive against the odds. This is definitely a movie I’d check out a second time but it will also be on Amazon Prime in a couple weeks in case you miss it in theaters or it’s not playing near you.

Fortunately, there are also a number of semi-cool genre films this week, some better than others.

Opening at the Metrograph in New York and L.A.s’ newest Alamo Drafthouse and the Frida Cinema is IN FABRIC (A24), the horror film from Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy), who will be at the Metrograph for most of the weekend to do QnAs and introduce the movie. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a lonely woman who starts dating again and is coerced into buying a red gown at a London department store which might be cursed with an unstoppable evil force.  It’s another fantastically original film from Strickland that will probably be lumped into the current wave of “elevated horror” that so many filmmakers hate being lumped into, but it’s also good to know that it’s actually a movie in two halves (kind of like Trey Edward Schults’ Waves), as Ms. Jean-Baptiste only features in the first half and then the second half is another person who encounters the dress. And boy, that department store is one freaky place with Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie as what could only be described as a creepy mannequin come to life. In Fabric will be On Demand starting Tuesday, December 10. My latest interview with Strickland will be up later today over at The Beat.

There’s also Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi film LITTLE JOE (Magnolia), starring Emily Beecham as a single mother scientist who is working on developing a new species of plant at a company that will offer therapeutic qualities if fed properly and spoken to. As the plant grows, she realizes that it’s also creating different emotions in those that encounter it. The movie also stars Ben Whishaw, Kerry Fox asnd Kit Connor and will open at the Quad Cinema in New York, as well as in Philadelphia and other cities this Friday.

DANIEL ISN’T REAL (Samuel Goldwyn) is the new film from Adam Egypt Mortimer, starring Miles Robbins (Halloween) as Luke, a college Freshman who had an “imaginary friend” named Daniel as a kid who his mother (Mary Stuart Masterson!) forced him to lock up. As Luke starts dealing with a world away from his mother, Daniel returns, this time in the form of Patrick Schwarzenegger, who has deadly intentions for Luke and those around him, including a wild artist named Cassie (played by Sasha Lane). It opens in select cities.

Jennifer Reeder’s teen thriller KNIVES AND SKIN (IFC Midnight), which premiered at this year’s Berlin and played at Tribeca is an attempt to create a modern-day River’s Edge based around the disappearance of a teenager named Carolyn Harper. It stars Marika Engelhardt, Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper and will open in select cities and On Demand.

James Frey’s controversial 2003 novel A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, which was once sold as a “memoir” but then, like the work of JT Leroy, turned out to be more fiction than fact, except that this was learned about Frey’s novel after it was made a part of Oprah Winfrey’s prestigious Book Club. Anyway, Frey’s novel has been adapted to the screen by the husband-wife team of Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as the latter plays a young man dealing with his addiction. Haven’t had a chance to watch the movie, but it should be interesting going by the Johnsons’ previous together.

Getting a one-week Oscar-qualifying run is Céline Sciamma’s critically-praised drama PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (NEON), which has been playing a number of festivals since Cannes. It’s about a painter who travels to a remote island, commissioned to paint a widow still in grieving for her dead husband, but without her knowing.

Also opening at the Metrograph is Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family (1091), a film set in Mexico City where there aren’t nearly enough ambulances for the city’s population of nine million residents. The Ochoa family runs one of the city’s privately-owned ambulance services, taking nightly calls while trying to beat rival EMT crews to the scene.

I’ve heard good things about Naomi Watts’ performance in Alistair Banks Griffin’s thriller The Wolf Hour (Brainstorm Media) set in New York City in 1977 where a citywide blackout is causing fires, looting and the Son of Sam murders are plaguing the city. Watts’ June shuts herself inside her grandmother’s South Bronx apartment but someone keeps ringing her doorbell as visitors keep showing up to make her even more paranoid and fearful. The movie also stars Jennifer Hele, Emory Cohen and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (who co-starred with Watts in the excellent film Luce earlier this year.)

Pantelion Films will release En Brazos de un Asesino (Pantelion) this Friday. Directed by Matias Moltrasio, it stars (and is co-written by) Cuban-born actor William Levy (who appeared as himself in Girls Trip!) playing Victor, the “world’s most handsome man” (not too much ego there, Señor Levy!) who is also a cold-blooded assassin, killing for money. When he goes to collect from a drug lord, he encounters the beautiful Sarai (Alicia Sanz) who has been held captive for years and uses  Victor’s arrival as a chance to escape. This actually sounds kind of fun, even though Pantelion rarely screens their movies for critics sadly.

Beniamino Barrese’s doc The Disappearance of My Mother (Kino Lorber) follows model-turned-activist Benedetta Barzini, a muse to Warhold, Dali and others in the 60s, who now in her ‘70s just wants to get as far away from the camera as possible, only allowing her son Beniamino to film this deliberate journey into obscurity.

This week’s film from Bollywood is Ashutosh Gowariker’s Panipat (Reliance Entertainment), a film set in 1761 as the Maratha Empire has reached its height and the Commander-in-Chief of the Hindostan army, Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kpoor) has to fight  off the invading forces of Afghanistan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) leading up to the Third Battle of Panipat.

Other movies out this week and mainly on VOD that I don’t have time to write more about include:

Code 8 (Vertical) Grand Isle (Screen Media) Beyond the Law (Cinedigm) A New Christmas (Cinedigm)

This week also sees a couple re-releases including the excellent doc APOLLO 11returning to IMAX theaters and the Anime Promaregetting a “redux” release into theaters on Sunday, December 8 (the subtitled version), and then on Tuesday (English dub) and Weds (English dub in 4DX).

LOCAL FESTIVALS

Not really a festival but not exactly repertory either, Film at Lincoln Center will debut a new one-week series called Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers, running from Friday through December 11, which features a lot of work from this year and a few years back from Brazilian filmmakers, many which haven’t really been giving much U.S. distribution.

STREAMING AND CABLE

On Thursday, Netflix is debuting its new sci-fi thriller series V-Wars, based on the books by Jonathan Maberry, starring Ian Somerhalder (Lost, Vampire Diaries) as Dr. Luther Swann, a geneticist who is trying to put a stop to a virus that’s creating mutations across the planet. You can read my interview with Somerhalder over at The Beat.

Also, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story will hit the streaming network on Friday with its fantastic performances by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern and Alan Alda. This is a must-see... in case you don’t ever planned on getting married... or divorced.

The third season of Amazon Prime’s Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will also debut on Thursday, while HBO will release the season finale of Silicon Valley on Saturday, making it the next HBO series to end this year after Game of Thrones and Veep, giving people even less reason to subscribe. You can watch the Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron comedy Long Shot on HBO this Saturday so there’s that.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This week’s Noah Baumbach in Residence offerings are his 2013 film Frances Ha, starring Greta Gerwig, and then Gerwig’s own movie Lady Bird. Both are already sold out. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph  is a good one, Fritz Lang’s 1953 movie The Big Heat, while Playtime: Family Matinees  will show Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). The Academy’s monthly series continues on Friday night with Kryzysztof Kieslowki’s 1991 film The Double Life of Veronique with a conversation and “musical discussion” with the filmmaker and Oscar-nominated composer Nicholas Brickell, who also scored the recent Netflix film The King.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Just one week after many people will have seen Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman on Netflix, Film Forum is putting a spotlight on the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s documentary work with “Scorsese Non-Fiction,” running from Friday through December 17, including some of the filmmaker’s better-known work like The Last Waltz (1978) and the Rolling Stones movie Shine a Light through some of his lesser-known documentary work.s If you really want to spend some time with Scorsese than maybe check out 1995’s A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies, which runs longer thanThe Irishmanat just under 3 hours! Scorsese’s 1974 short doc ItalianAmericanis also playing quite a number of times with 2001’s The Neighborhood. Personally, I’m kind of interested in seeing his 2011 doc George Harrison: Living in the Material World (also about 3 hours long), because it was recently the anniversary of Harrison’s tragic death. (The Film Forum will also use this as an opportunity to play some of Scorsese’s non-doc work like Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Baby Dol land more.) This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is the 1956 musical The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner… that’s a good one!

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

The Weds “Afternoon Classics” matinee is Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter (1955), starring Robert Ludlum, while Friday’s “Freaky Fridays” offering is Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining (1980). The Weds and Thursday double feature is On Dangerous Ground(1951) and Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall  (1956), and then this weekend’s “Kiddee Matinee” is Joe Dante’s Gremlins. Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs screens Friday at midnight, while Saturday’s midnight offering is 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuad, starring Chuck Norris and David Carradine. The Monday Matinee is Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, and then Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut will screen Tuesday and Wednesday night.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Friday will be a special Brian De Palma double feature of Sisters (1973) and Blow Out (1981), while Saturday will be a screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999).Sunday are two MORE double features, an afternoon pre-CodeJoans Crawford/Blondell double feature of Our Blushing Brides (1930) and Footlight Parade (1033) and then in the evening is a TERRY GILLIAM NIGHTS OF KNIGHTS double feature of Monty Python and the Holy Grail(1975) and Jabberwocky (1977).  The Aero will be showing the excellent Varda by Agnès for the next week or so, which is all the repertory you’ll need!

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

The Terrence Malick retrospective continues with a preview screening of Malick’s latest A Hidden Life with actor Valerie Pachner (who I met last night and she’s wonderful!) appearing to give an introduction. Friday is the “Brad Pitt version” of Voyage of Time and The Tree of Life: Extended Cut, while Saturday is Malick’s Song to Song and Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey as well as To the Wonder. In other words, all of Malick’s most recent films with multiple screenings through the weekend including Knight of Cups on Sunday. On Monday night you can see Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas as part of “Martin Scorsese: Four Tales over Four Decades.”

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1993, sadly already sold out, then “Weird Wednesday” is something called Blue Vengeance from 1989. Also next Wednesday is this month’s “Out of Tune” musical, Adam Sandler’s animated Eight Crazy Nights from 2002.

MOMA  (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Film continues this week with a few more screenings from the 1920s including Walt Disney’s early film Plane Crazy from 1928, plus Robert Wiene’s classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on Friday afternoon. Vision Statement: Early Directorial Works finishes on Thursday afternoon with Bong Joon-ho’s first film Barking Dogs Never Bite from 2000. (Plus there will be a screening of Parasite with director Bong in attendance, so who knows? Maybe he’ll pop in to say a few words after this one, too.)

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Spy Games will screen Brian de Palma’s Mission: Impossible while Late Night Favorites: Autumn 2019 is David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The IFC Center also begins its annual theatrical run of Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life, playing three times a day with Donna Reed’s daughter Mary Owen introducing a bunch of the screenings.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

Continuing the Roxy’s “Nicholas Cage-athon” with David Lynch’s 1990 film Wild at Heart, co-starring Laura Dern,

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This Friday night’s midnight movie is Penelope Spheeris’ 1985 movie The Boys Next Door.

Next week, we’re back to normal with three or four wide releases including Jumanji: The Next Level, Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell and the horror film Black Christmas. Plus the Box Office Preview will be back at The Beat!

[team-ramses]

The air was cool and clean. The sun had just risen above the eastern cliffs and the morning light spread slowly across the landscape like a wash of watercolor, turning the gray stone to silver-gold, the pale river to sparkling blue, the dull-green fields to vivid emerald.

Amelia Peabody in The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters

[biofunmy]

A Nile Journey Into the Past

Huddled on a chaise on the upper deck of the Orient, the dahabiya that I had chosen for a cruise down the Nile, I sipped hibiscus tea to ward off the chill. Late in February, it was just 52 degrees in Aswan, where I had boarded the sailboat, but the scenery slipping past was everything the guidebooks had promised: tall sandbanks, curved palms and the mutable, gray-green river, the spine of Egypt and the throughline in its history.

I’d been obsessed with Egypt since childhood, but it took a cadre of female adventurers to get me there. Reading “Women Travelers on the Nile,” a 2016 anthology edited by Deborah Manley, I’d found kindred spirits in the women who chronicled their expeditions to Egypt in the 19th century, and spurred on by them, I’d planned my trip.

Beside my chair were collections of letters and memoirs written by intrepid female journalists, intellectuals and novelists, all British or European. Relentlessly entertaining, the women’s stories reflected the Egyptomania that flourished after Napoleon invaded North Africa in 1798. The country had become a focal point for artists, architects and newly minted photographers — and a fresh challenge for affluent adventurers.

Their dispatches captured Egypt’s exotica — vessels “laden with elephant’s teeth, ostrich feathers, gold dust and parrots,” in the words of Wolfradine von Minutoli, whose travelogue was published in 1826. And they shared the thrill of discovery: Harriet Martineau, a groundbreaking British journalist, feminist and social theorist, described the pyramids edging into view from the bow of a boat. “I felt I had never seen anything so new as those clear and vivid masses, with their sharp blue shadows,” she wrote in her 1848 memoir, “Eastern Life, Present and Past.” The moment never left her. “I cannot think of it without emotion,” she wrote.

Their lyricism was tempered by adventure: In “A Thousand Miles Up the Nile,” Amelia Edwards, one of the century’s most accomplished journalists, described a startling discovery near Abu Simbel: After a friend noticed an odd cleft in the ground, she and her fellow travelers conscripted their crew to help tunnel into the sand. “Heedless of possible sunstroke, unconscious of fatigue,” she wrote, the party toiled “as for bare life.” With the help of more than 100 laborers, supplied by the local sheikh, they eventually descended into a chapel ornamented with dazzling friezes and bas reliefs.

Though some later took the Victorians to task for exoticizing the East, these travelers were a daring lot: They faced down heat, dust, floods and (occasionally) mutinous crews to commune with Egypt’s past. Liberated from domestic life, they could go to ground as men did.

Wolfradine von Minutoli wrote of camping out under the stars by the pyramids. Florence Nightingale, then 29 and struggling to gain independence from her parents, recalled crawling into tombs illuminated by smoking torches. Nightingale, among others, was struck by the otherworldliness of it all. Moved by the fragmented splendor of Karnak, the sacred complex in Luxor, she wrote to her family, “You feel like spirits revisiting your former world, strange and fallen to ruins.”

Taken with their sense of adventure, I wanted to know whether the Nile journey had retained its mystique. Would I feel the presence of these women along the way? And could modern Egypt rival the country that they encountered?

As in the Victorian era, there would be unknowns: Political upheavals and terrorist activity are realities in Egypt. The country’s tourist industry reached a nadir after the 2015 attack on a flight from the seaside resort of Sharm el Sheikh; more than 200 people perished.

Violence has continued to flare: In December, a bomb destroyed a tour bus near the pyramids in Giza, killing four people. A second bus bombing in May injured at least 14.

But risk, I decided, is relative. The State Department’s advisory places Egypt at Level 2 out of 4 (“exercise caution”), along with China, Italy and France. And though still fragile, the country’s travel industry (which recorded 11 million visitors last year, up from 5.4 million in 2017) is rebounding.

Aboard the Orient

Dozens of double-masted dahabiyas and river cruisers now ply the Nile, but I was drawn to the low-key Orient — a charming wooden sailboat, it has a capacity of 10 people but I was joined by only four. Instead of a cinema and floor shows, we had backgammon and intermittent Wi-Fi. (The cost of the three-day cruise, including my single supplement, was $964.) On the upper deck, I could lounge on oversize cushions and watch storks skim the river. In the salon, a low sofa and carved armchairs were perfect for dipping into vintage National Geographics.

My cabin was compact, with twin brass beds and floral wallpaper. The river was close; I could have pulled aside the screens and trailed my fingers through the current. (Not that I did; early travelers praised the “sweetness” of Nile water, but trash bobs on its shores and bilharzia, a parasitic disease that attacks the kidneys, liver and digestive system, is a risk.)

Before 1870, when the entrepreneur Thomas Cook introduced steamers (and declassé package tours), a cruise on the world’s longest river was a marathon. Journeys lasted two or three months and typically extended from Cairo to Nubia and back.

Just getting on the river was a trial: After renting a vessel, travelers were obliged to have it submerged to kill vermin. The boats were then painted, decorated and stocked with enough goods to see a pharaoh through eternity.

Published in 1847, the “Hand-book for Travellers in Egypt” advised passengers to bring iron bedsteads, carpets, rat-traps, washing tubs, guns and staples such as tea and “English cheese.” Pianos were popular additions; so were chickens, turkeys, sheep and mules. M.L.M. Carey, a correspondent in “Women Travelers on the Nile,” recommended packing “a few common dresses for the river,” along with veils, gloves and umbrellas to guard against the sun.

With my fellow passengers, I spent the first afternoon at a temple near the town of Kom Ombo. The structure rose in the Ptolemaic period and was in ruins for millenniums. Mamdouh Yousif, our guide, talked us through it all. A native of Luxor, he used a laser pointer to pick out significant details and served up far more history than I could absorb.

Celebrated for its majestic setting above a river bend, the temple was nearly empty. Reggae music drifted from a cafe and shrieks rose from a neighborhood playground.

Dedicated to Horus, the falcon god, and Sobek, the crocodile god, Kom Ombo has a separate entrance, court and sanctuary for each deity. Inside are two hypostyle halls, in which massive columns support the roof. Each hall was paved with stunning reliefs: Here was a Ptolemaic king receiving a sword; there, a second being crowned. A mutable figure who was both aggressor and protector, Sobek was worshipped, in part, to appease the crocodiles that swarmed the Nile. Next to the temple, 40 mummified specimens — from hulking monsters to teacup versions — are enshrined in a dim museum, along with their croc-shaped coffins.

Defaced by early Coptic Christians, damaged by earthquakes and even mined for building materials, Kom Ombo was in disrepair until 1893, when it was cleared by the French archaeologist Jean-Jacques de Morgan. Now, it’s inundated in the late afternoon, when cruise-boat crowds arrive. As we were leaving, folks in shorts and sunhats just kept coming, fanning out until the complex became a multilingual hive.

Back on the Orient, my cabin grew chilly and I wished, briefly, that I had made the journey in the scorching summer. An early supper improved my mood, as did the winter sun setting behind silvery-gray clouds. Since I’d brought a flashlight, I was only mildly annoyed when we learned that our generator would stop at 10 p.m. The darkness was nearly complete, but silence never set in: Creaks, thumps and splashes resounded through the night.

In the morning, we headed north to the sandstone quarry and cult center of Gebel Silsila. With their rock faces still scored with tool marks, the cliffs have an odd immediacy — as if armies of stonecutters could reappear at any moment.

The compelling part of the site is a hive of rock-cut chapels and shrines. Dedicated to Nile gods and commissioned by wealthy citizens, they are set above a shore lined with bulrushes. Eroded but evocative, some retain images of patrons and traces of paintings.

In Edfu, an ode to power in stone

After lunch, we traveled downriver to Edfu, to Egypt’s best-preserved temple. Tourism has made its mark in the agricultural town: Cruise boats line the quay, and the drivers of the horse-drawn carriages known as calèches stampede all comers. Begun in 237 B.C. and dedicated to Horus, the temple was partially obscured by silt when Harriet Martineau visited in 1846. “Mud hovels are stuck all over the roofs,” she wrote, and “the temple chambers can be reached only by going down a hole like the entrance to a coal-cellar, and crawling about like crocodiles.” She could see sculptures in the inner chambers, but “having to carry lights, under the penalty of one’s own extinction in the noisome air and darkness much complicate the difficulty,” she wrote.

Excavated in 1859 by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, the temple is an ode to power: A 118-foot pylon leads to a courtyard where worshippers once heaped offerings, and a statue of Horus guards hypostyle halls whose yellow sandstone columns look richly gilded.

Feeling infinitesimal, I focused on details: a carving of a royal bee, an image of the goddess Hathor, a painting of the sky goddess Nut.

Mr. Yousif kept us moving through the shadowy chambers — highlighting one enclosure where priests’ robes were kept and another that housed sacred texts. Later I thought of something Martineau had written: “Egypt is not the country to go to for the recreation of travel,” she said. “One’s powers of observation sink under the perpetual exercise of thought.” Even a casual voyager, she wrote, “comes back an antique, a citizen of the world of six thousand years ago.”

Our dinner that night was festive: When someone asked for music, our purser, Mostafa Elbeary, returned with the entire crew. Retrieving drums from an inlaid cabinet, they launched into 20 exuberant minutes of song.

The night quickly deteriorated, however. Gripped by an intestinal upheaval, I bumped my way back and forth to the bathroom. In the morning, I was too ill to visit more tombs and temples. The chef sent me soupy rice, and Mr. Elbeary kept me supplied with Coke.

Watching the river in bed, I realized what was missing: While 19th-century voyagers rode camels into the desert and ventured into villagers’ homes, we had seen little of local life. Before the cruise, I had sampled the chaos in Egypt’s capital. With a guide from the agency Real Egypt, I spent an afternoon exploring the neighborhood known as Islamic Cairo. Heading down a street lined with spice stalls and perfume shops, we had passed Japanese children with sparkly backpacks, Arab women chatting into cellphones tucked into their hijabs and old men arguing in cafes. We stopped to watch Egyptian girls draping themselves in rented Scheherazade costumes; after snapping selfies, they happily vamped for me.

A trip to Giza was nearly as diverting. Though I didn’t find the monuments inspiring — the Pyramids looked like stage flats against the searing-blue sky — others did. I was standing by the Sphinx when I overheard a man angling his phone toward its ravaged face. “You see me?” he asked, ducking in front of the camera. “That’s the Sphinx. It’s one of the most famous monuments in the world.”

Roman emperors and Egyptian gods

The next day I roused myself for our final outing. We had docked at the town of Esna, and from my window I watched an ATV driven by a boy who looked to be about 7 just miss a herd of goats.

The others were waiting, so I followed Mr. Yousif through the streets at warp speed. Built during the reign of Ptolemy V and dedicated to a river god, Esna’s temple was conscripted by the Romans and then abandoned. Only its portico had been excavated when Nightingale visited. In a letter to her family, she said, ”I never saw anything so Stygian.”

Now partly reclaimed, the temple is 30 feet below street level. Beyond the portico is a hypostyle hall whose columns are inscribed with sacred texts and hymns. Still traced with color, they blossom into floral capitals. On the walls are images of Roman emperors presenting offerings to Egyptian gods.

On our way back to the boat, Mr. Yousif led us through narrow streets where children were racing about. Two little girls, one in a bedraggled party dress, followed us, whispering. A succession of boys darted into our paths to say, “Welcome, hello, hello.” From a closet-size barber stall, three men called out; a merchant in another stall held up his tortoiseshell cat.

Exploring Luxor’s riches

After a celebratory breakfast the next day — crepes, strawberry juice, Turkish coffee — our cruise ended. A driver from the dahabiya company was waiting to take us to Luxor, about an hour away.

Though it was little more than an expanse of fields dotted with mud huts, in the early 19th century, dahabiyas made lengthy stops in Luxor. Near the town is one of the world’s largest sacred monuments and across the Nile is the Valley of the Kings.

In the afternoon, I set out for Karnak. Founded chiefly by Amenhotep III and originally dedicated to Amon-Re, the complex was modified and enlarged by rulers, including Ramses II.

In the 19th century, its pylons, halls and courts were still mired in detritus: Nightingale was unsettled by the temple’s “dim unearthly colonnades” when she visited on New Year’s Eve in 1849. “No one could trust themselves with their imagination alone there,” she wrote. With enormous shadows looming, said Nightingale, “you feel as terror stricken to be there as if you had awakened the angel of the Last Day.”

Though it’s now besieged by tourists, the complex is still haunting. An avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leads to an imposing first pylon; beyond is a hypostyle hall where 138 pillars soar into empty space.

Wandering without a guide, I lingered over details: the play of light on a broken column; the base of a shattered statue that had left its feet behind. On the way to the necropolis across the river, I thought about the desecration described by Victorian travelers. Jewelry, cartouches and body parts were all on the market, and Amelia Edwards, author of “1,000 Miles Up the Nile,” was among those who were offered a mummy.

After casually expressing an interest in an ancient papyrus, wrote Edwards, she and a companion had been “beguiled into one den after another” and “shown all the stolen goods in Thebes.” Inevitably, they found themselves underground with a crumbling object in “gaudy cerements.” (She rejected it.)

Sheltered by limestone cliffs and set off by a limitless sky, the Valley of the Kings has been brought to order: Vendors now sell their wares in a visitors’ center, and tourists can hop an electric train to the burial grounds.

One of the most spectacular tombs in the royal warren belonged to Seti I; it was known to Victorians as “Belzoni’s tomb.” The entrance was breached in 1817 by the Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni who removed the sarcophagus of Seti I and sold it to a collector. In 1846, Martineau visited the chamber that had held the sarcophagus and reported, “We enjoyed seeing the whole lighted up by a fire of straw.” With its brilliant paintings set off by the flames, she said, “it was like nothing on the earth.”

It still is: The deepest and longest tomb in the necropolis, the resting place of Seti I is adorned with astonishing reliefs. Scenes from texts, including the Book of the Dead, lead from one spectacular enclave to another. On the day I visited, the crowds were elsewhere and the silence was profound.

The pharaoh who eluded the Victorians, of course, was Tutankhamun. Cloaked in obscurity for 3,000 years, his tomb was unsealed by Howard Carter at a time when the valley was believed to hold no surprises. In January, conservators completed nine years of restoration that revived the intimate enclosure.

Though most of Tutankhamun’s treasures are in the Egyptian Museum, his outer sarcophagus is still in the burial chamber. Stripped of its bandages, his corpse, blanketed in linen, now lies in a glass box — a desiccated figure blanketed in linen. Only his blackened head and feet are exposed, but he looks exquisitely vulnerable.

Surrounding the remains of the boy king are murals depicting him as a divinity; he enters the afterlife in the company of Anubis and Osiris and Nut. Set against a gold background, the images temper the pathos of his remains.

In the end, the tomb lost for so long is a reminder that in Egypt, the past continues to evolve. Perspectives can shift; voices can change. And something astonishing may be just around the corner.

Michelle Green has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books and other publications. She is the author of “The Dream at the End of the World: Paul Bowles and the Literary Renegades in Tangier.”

Sahred From Source link Travel

from WordPress http://bit.ly/33D3P3R via IFTTT

[teamramses]

Although I enjoy the bustle and busyness of the metropolis, Egypt is my spiritual home, and as I breathed in the insalubrious mixture of coal smoke and moisture I thought nostalgically of clear blue skies, hot dry air, the thrill of another season of excavation.

Amelia Peabody in The Ape who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters

[edarabia]

Falcon British Nursery celebrated the culmination of One World Week with a fantastic International Day for the students and parents. The Falcon parent representatives’ suggestion was based on focusing learning around the topics of diversity and tolerance. The parent reps believe that this is the only way to teach the next generation about how to peacefully co-exist with one another which is why it was such an important event on the nursery school calendar. The principal, Ms Amelia Brown, explained that the UAE is described as the ‘Oasis of Tolerance’ and that is why the school was so appreciative of our International Day. Participating parents took part of that grassroots education program regarding mutual respect, cooperation, and compassion, just as Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum regularly speaks of the openness and tolerance of the UAE and the requirement of eliminating ignorance and fostering nurturing minds. Seeing artifacts, tasting food and hearing children’s music from different countries helped teach our Falcon children that we are all one race – the human race – and wherever our home country is, we all have special something to add to the world. Every region of this world has something to add to the rich tapestry that is cultural diversity and that is what we wanted the children to experience during One World Week and International Day. In the words of some of the children “We are all same, but different.’ This is why it is so amazing to be brought up as a child here in the UAE. Children raised in the UAE have the privilege of being exposed to their parents’ culture as well as the culture of the UAE’s residents or citizens. The football field was transformed for the day into a fun celebration of bunting and flags and each country had its own table to decorate. The children loved moving from country to country, stamping their mini passports and using their senses to explore what each area showcased. Being located close to Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and catering to over 200 students aged 0 to 4 years old, Falcon British Nursery has close to 30 nationalities learning in the nursery school and on International Day many of these students were represented including children from the UAE, Iraq, South Korea, Germany, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Philippines, India, Croatia, Jordan, Lebanon, Ukraine, New Zealand, UK, South Africa and USA. Parents and children alike took the message of tolerance home. One World Week is celebrated from the 22nd to the 29th October and includes United Nations Day on the 24th October. The common purpose of One World Week is to share understanding about global issues and to recognise we can all make a difference. Falcon British Nursery, the only UK accredited Nursery school in Abu Dhabi, was proud to be part of the initiative.

[jobs-in-dubai-uae]

Falcon British Nursery celebrated the culmination of One World Week with a fantastic International Day for the students and parents. The Falcon parent representatives’ suggestion was based on focusing learning around the topics of diversity and tolerance. The parent reps believe that this is the only way to teach the next generation about how to peacefully co-exist with one another which is why it was such an important event on the nursery school calendar. The principal, Ms Amelia Brown, explained that the UAE is described as the ‘Oasis of Tolerance’ and that is why the school was so appreciative of our International Day. Participating parents took part of that grassroots education program regarding mutual respect, cooperation, and compassion, just as Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum regularly speaks of the openness and tolerance of the UAE and the requirement of eliminating ignorance and fostering nurturing minds. Seeing artifacts, tasting food and hearing children’s music from different countries helped teach our Falcon children that we are all one race – the human race – and wherever our home country is, we all have special something to add to the world. Every region of this world has something to add to the rich tapestry that is cultural diversity and that is what we wanted the children to experience during One World Week and International Day. In the words of some of the children “We are all same, but different.’ This is why it is so amazing to be brought up as a child here in the UAE. Children raised in the UAE have the privilege of being exposed to their parents’ culture as well as the culture of the UAE’s residents or citizens. The football field was transformed for the day into a fun celebration of bunting and flags and each country had its own table to decorate. The children loved moving from country to country, stamping their mini passports and using their senses to explore what each area showcased. Being located close to Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and catering to over 200 students aged 0 to 4 years old, Falcon British Nursery has close to 30 nationalities learning in the nursery school and on International Day many of these students were represented including children from the UAE, Iraq, South Korea, Germany, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Philippines, India, Croatia, Jordan, Lebanon, Ukraine, New Zealand, UK, South Africa and USA. Parents and children alike took the message of tolerance home. One World Week is celebrated from the 22nd to the 29th October and includes United Nations Day on the 24th October. The common purpose of One World Week is to share understanding about global issues and to recognise we can all make a difference. Falcon British Nursery, the only UK accredited Nursery school in Abu Dhabi, was proud to be part of the initiative. via Edarabia.com

[steenpaal]

Nefret Emerson - Wikipedia

Nefret Emerson (née Forth) is a fictional character from a series of historical mystery novels written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody.

Nefret is introduced in The Last Camel Died at Noon, in which the Emersons set off into the Sudan, to find out whether Willy Forth, an old acquaintance of Emerson, is still alive after setting out years earlier, with his pregnant wife in tow, to find a mysterious hidden oasis. After being stranded in the desert without water, transportation or guides, they are rescued by one of their servants, who leads them to a lost civilization in a far-off valley. The settlement seems to have developed from a lost tribe of Cush and preserves many of the customs and lore that Amelia and Emerson have only read about.

In the midst of a power struggle between two brothers and claimants to the throne – one good and one evil – the Emersons find that Willy Forth and his wife did make it to this land, and that they left a daughter, raised entirely within the culture of ancient Egypt, and now thirteen years old. Willy Forth is dead, but to their astonishment they find his wife also sheltered by the inhabitants, demented and obese. The good brother ascends the throne, and decides it is best for Nefret to return with the Emersons.

Nefret's last surviving relative is her grandfather, Lord Blacktower. Knowing the old man's reputation for depravity, the Emersons convince him to let them adopt Nefret. (Emerson even darkly speculates that it was the old man, not Willy Forth, who fathered Nefret with his own daughter-in-law, though he has no proof.) Eventually, Lord Blacktower dies and leaves her a large fortune. She decides to do her best to learn about and live with English culture, but (to Amelia's secret satisfaction), she stands out as an independent, intelligent, bold and (to Amelia's dismay) mischievous woman.

Ramses Emerson, meanwhile, is smitten with Nefret from the moment he sees her, which evolves into a mature love over the course of several stories. After some monumental misunderstandings between them, he and Nefret are finally married after the events of He Shall Thunder in the Sky.

Thanks to her fortune, Nefret goes to medical school, becomes a surgeon, and opens a clinic in Cairo for prostitutes and poor women.

Ramses and Nefret have two children, twins Charlotte ("Charla") and David John, and at the end of Tomb of the Golden Bird it is revealed that Nefret is pregnant again.

In the Vicky Bliss series' final installment, The Laughter of Dead Kings, it is revealed that main character John Tregarth is the descendant of the youngest of Ramses and Nefret's three children, an as-yet unnamed daughter. It is also mentioned that the children "bred like rabbits," and that at the time of Dead Kings, over eighty people are descended from Ramses and Nefret's offspring.

Nefret is described as slim, with red-gold hair and a beautiful (though untrained) singing voice. She is adept with knife, bow, and medical kit. Her name means "beautiful" in the language of the civilization where she was raised. Her Egyptian nickname is Nur Misur, "Light of Egypt".

References[edit]