Thursday, January 28, 2016

Original Drawings

Below are two versions of one of my original graphite drawings.

The subject is a portrait of a young Al Pacino.

The first is the original on white paper
by James Elmer (circa 2005)

This second is a variation with a sepia tint
by James Elmer (circa 2005)

It is reported by Ask.com that Al Pacino is of Albanian ancestry:

Alfonso Pacino is Albanian. His family is originally from Kruja, a city in Central Albania. Hundreds of thousands of Albanians left Albania from 1571 - 1912, escaping occupation from the Ottoman Empire. These were largely Albanian Catholics. An approximate figure of those Albanians that left Albania for Italy is thought to be 1.2 million. Pacino's surname in Albania is Pacini. The full name in Albanian is Alfons Pacini.

The Italian government moved to nationalize the ethnic Albanians living in Southern Italy in the regions of Calabria, Puglia, Alexandia, Sicily and Naples from 1621-1913. Therefore, the names of the Albanian community living in Southern Italy were changed in order to unite Italy as one. Many family names added letters such as "O" or were changed in their entirety to fit the Italian national identity scheme. Records in Albania show that in 23 October 1801, 203 Albanians from the region of Pac, Kruje left Albania from the Port of Durres to travel to Southern Italy.

Other famous actors of Albanian origin include among others Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci (Albanian surname Peshki), John Belushi, Jim Belushi, Victor Gojcaj and Eliza Dushku.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

The World's Largest Annual Mass Human Migration: Chinese New Year

The World's Largest Annual Mass Human Migration

By Caitlin Dempsey

The largest annual mass human migration occurs each year during the Chinese New Year. This important Chinese holiday is responsible for the largest surge in travel as millions of Chinese move around the country to be near friends and family for the celebration.

What is the Chinese New Year?

Also known as the Lunar New Year, the celebration is an important Chinese holiday ringing in the start of the first day of the year of the Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year coincides with the Gregorian calendar each year anywhere between between January 21 and February 20, falling on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

Largest Mass Annual Human Migration

The forty-day travel period surrounding the New Year (which is considered the most important public holiday in China) and is known as "Chunyun" and means "Spring Festival Transport". Chinese officials calculate that well over 3 billion passenger trips are made as a result. In 2014, there will likely be 3.6 billion trips made: 3.2 billion by car and buses, 258 million by train, and 42 million by bus. The mass movement of travelers puts a strain on the Chinese transportation system will many more travelers than available seats on buses and trains. See: Travel statistics for Chinese New Year

Travel Map for the Chinese New Year

The map shown with this article is pulled from Baidu, the Chinese search engine that is responsible for 'Baidu Migrate'. The heat map pulls locational data from smartphone users in China who access Baidu maps and other locational apps in order to show patterns of migration during the Lunar New Year travel period. Many Chinese laborers use this time of year to return back to their inland rural birthplaces from the more urban areas of China where they work. The holiday period also falls during the winter break of college students in China who often study at universities far from their hometowns. See: Baidu Migrate Map

Hajj

By comparison, the migration of travelers far outnumbers the annual celebration of Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Hajj is considered to be the largest gathering of Muslim people in the world. The annual pilgrimage to Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and every able-bodied Muslim is required to make the trip at least once. This annual mass migration to Saudi Arabia involves the movement of over three million people a year.

Whether traveling by train, plan, or car, the celebration of the Chinese New Year is responsible for the largest annual mass human migration in the world with billions of passenger trips generated to move Chinese travelers closer to friends and family for this important annual festival.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo - Movie Review

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
(2015 - November 12 [English Subtitles])

Drama, Romance
2 hr. 46 min.
Rated: Not Rated | I would consider the film a PG-13 due to violence, death and fight scenes. There is romance that it is tastefully presented without nudity or vulgar innuendo. There are traditional Indian bare midriff costumes on the women. The film is about the contrast of choices to do either good or evil.

Grade: B+ | This film is panoply of costumes and settings coupled with an abundance of singing and dancing. The story is not exceptionally original but it is BIG on moral values. It is sort of an Indian variation on the Prince and the Pauper story, played out with adult characters. with the major theme being that of honor and doing what is right no matter the cost. It can be a bit difficult to follow the story due to flashbacks and all the unfamiliar names and trying to keep up with the subtitles while still trying to catch the action and the splendid visuals. The costumes, sets, music and cinematography are first class. Since I don't speak the language It is difficult to judge the acting quality, the delivery of the dialogue and it's nuances, however, Salman Khan is a huge star in India and I've seen him in other movies and find him very charismatic and charming. I think the acting is on par with many of Hollywood's offerings, Musical or otherwise. It is refreshing to be able to take the entire family to a film without fear of foul language, vulgarity, horrible role models and gratuitous nudity. PRDP is the long awaited reunion of Salman Khan and director Barjatya who haven't made a film together in 16 years.

Director: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Writers: Sooraj R. Barjatya (story), Aash Karan Atal (dialogue)

Stars: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh | See full cast and crew

Rewiew by:
Navbharat Times ~ Times Of India

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo makes you cry - and cheer for superb Salman!

Story: Performer Prem and Prince Vijay share the same face but totally different worldviews - as Prem handles Vijay's family, foes and fiance, whose view wins this royal battle?

Movie Review: Straight away, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is Salman Khan's triumph. Salman simply blows the top off the theatres with a double role that makes you laugh, gasp, sigh - and cry. Prem Dilwale, Ayodhya's Ram Leela artist, admires Princess Maithili (Sonam) and her charitable work. Prem decides to meet Maithili at the coronation of her fiance Prince Vijay (Salman) in Pritampur. But Vijay's fallen prey to a conspiracy by his wicked brother Ajay (Neil) and relative Chirag (Armaan). As Vijay suffers their violent assault, Pritampur's Diwan (Anupam) asks Prem to play Vijay's part - and protect Maithili.

Photogallery

But what happens when Maithili is drawn to Prem? And when Vijay wakes up?

Salman performs with superb finesse, skillfully creating a caviar-chole bhature cinematic contrast. His Vijay is tense, terse and taut, radiating machismo but no gentleness, loneliness with king-sized ego. His Prem is luminous with life, cheekily cheery - teasing Diwanji as 'virgin Bapu' - then deepening, like sugar stirred into kheer, in silent gazes of hesitant love. The acting is ace - this year is Salman's finest yet in cinematic grace.

Sonam carries off her princess beautifully, a stylish cross between Gayatri Devi and Coco Chanel, conveying a girl wrapped in delicate chiffon, but with a free, passionate soul. Deepak Dobriyal delights as Prem's dost Kanhaiya, Armaan works a violent swagger well while Neil sulks as a sour prince whose gimlet has way too much lime. Playing bitter sisters, Swara and Aashika have one of the film's sweetest moments - with a brother who stops being a royal pain.

There are slight drawbacks. Some unconvincing sequences - a feudal football match, giggling flood relief, dancing halwais, action atop a plyboard mahal - could've been trimmed. But the film captures the gold-rimmed goggles and mothballed notions of a mofussil maharaja. And alongside tradition, it presents modernity too, in a princess who chooses her own prince - and an aam aadmi more regal than royalty (whose feather redefines Mughal-e-Azam's love scene).

Ghee-soaked in goodness, PRDP is gift-wrapped with a simple line.

With family, stand strong - but also bow.

Because nothing hurts like your own blood - and nothing heals like it too.

In-depth Analysis

Our overall critic’s rating is not an average of the sub scores below.

Direction 3.5/5

Dialogues 3.5/5

Story 3.5/5

Music 4.0/5

Visual appeal 3.5/5

The Music

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo Movie Songs Juke Box With lyrics: click here

Behind the Scenes

The Cast

Salman Khan Sonam Kapoor

Prem / Vijay Maithili

Anupam Kher Neil Nitin Mukesh

Diwan Ajay

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Revenant - Movie Review

Rated: R | Common Senses Media says: Parents need to know that The Revenant is a revenge Western full of brutal, punishing violence. The main character (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) overcomes crippling wounds, hunger, cold, and pain to find the man who killed his son; he's often shown in great agony. Characters are also shot with arrows and guns, mauled by bears, and fall over cliffs. Blood, gore, and wounds are shown, as are dead bodies (both human and animal). A woman is raped. Language is also very strong, with uses of "f--k," "s--t," and more. There's a brief moment of full-frontal male nudity and some whisky drinking is shown.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

Writers: Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro González Iñárritu (screenplay) (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu) , Michael Punke (based in part on the novel by)

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter | See full cast and crew

Inspired by true events, THE REVENANT is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. THE REVENANT is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker, Academy Award® winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel).

I found this film to be a torturous, self indulgent, masturbatory, vehicle to showcase the increasingly tiresome over-acting of the grandiosely overrated Leonardo DiCaprio. I know, a lot of people are enamored by this "actor" but I couldn't wait for the excruciating experience to end.

The cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, this revenge Western isn't terrible, but its grandiose treatment is dulled by a dull, flat story. Lubezki's previous work includes The Tree of Life, Gravity, and Birdman (3 other dull, tedious, vacuous films) -- his work behind the camera gives THE REVENANT a fully immersive, dimensional look, with impressive long takes and striking sense of physical realism.

Initially, it's easy to be carried away by the visual spectacle but is all too soon apparent that Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu really doesn't have anything enthralling to say here, and the drudgery of sacrificing 2 hours and 36 minutes becomes as cold a reality as the settings of the film. It is simply a long attempt to add weight and profundity to an uninteresting pulp Western. Some of the story turns are so predictable and insufferably familiar, the supporting characters are thin stereotypes, i.e. Tom Hardy.

Watching the cast trudge through icy water when a step to the left or right could have left them with dry boots and feet in their frozen surroundings, what sensible person out in the ice and snow would deliberately get their feet soaked when it is necessary, sheer stupidity on the part of the director.

Would someone, please, tell me how many times must we be subjected to Leonardo DiCaprio's 30 foot high, pitiful, scared and bloody face, looking sad, cold, pensive, and revengeful? Cutting or even shortening some of his close-ups could have cut 30 minuets off of the relentless boredom of this film and when you add in such a high level of sheer brutality The Revenant leaves a very strong aftertaste of unpleasantness.