Entertainment
From the Beatles to Elton John: Oldest DJ’s storied career
Ray Cordeiro considers himself the luckiest radio DJ in the world.
In a storied career spanning over 70 years in Hong Kong, Cordeiro has interviewed superstars including the Beatles and Elton John, and even received an MBE — an order of the British empire for outstanding achievement or service to the community — from Queen Elizabeth.
Cordeiro, who holds the Guinness world record for the world’s longest-working DJ, retired last month at the age of 96.
“I’ve been talking all my life about music and all, and I’d never thought that I would retire. I never thought that I was getting older,” he said.
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Cordeiro was born in 1924 in Hong Kong and is of Portuguese descent. His musical tastes as a child were influenced by his brother who was 10 years older and collected records from groups like the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters.
Back then records were breakable, Cordeiro said.
“When he’s not home and I played his records, I had to be very, very careful, because if I broke it he would get awfully angry,” Cordeiro said. “I grew up with his music.”
In his youth, Cordeiro worked as a warden at a local prison and a clerk at an HSBC bank. His love for music eventually led him to pursue a career in radio, where he joined public broadcaster Radio Hong Kong, now known as Radio Television Hong Kong.
It was during a three-month study course in London with the BBC in 1964 that Cordeiro landed the interview that kickstarted his career — with the Beatles, the biggest band in the world at the time.
He had some free time after the end of the course before he had to return to Hong Kong and didn’t want to “sit around for two weeks doing nothing.”
“So I said, why don’t I grab the chance of finding some peeps, some pop groups or singers that I can interview and bring back (tapes) to Hong Kong,” he said.
During those two weeks, Cordeiro traveled to venues where groups were performing and interviewed them afterward.
The Beatles had become wildly popular and Cordeiro wanted to interview them the most. Armed with a notebook and a pen, he went to the offices of the band’s record label, EMI, to ask for an interview with the group.
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By a stroke of luck, he was told to return the next day for an interview, with EMI loaning him a tape recorder for it. He bought a magazine with a picture of the Beatles on the cover and took it with him to the interview, and got all the members to autograph it.
“Altogether I have some 26 signatures of all the Beatles, and it’s probably worth a fortune,” he said.
After pandemic pause, Avengers swing, soar into Disneyland
Now that it’s getting safer to assemble, the Avengers are at last descending on Disneyland.
A Spider-Man ride that lets visitors blast bots with virtual webs from their bare hands and a show of strength from the royal guard of Wakanda are among the highlights of the new Avengers Campus at Disney’s California Adventure Park, whose debut was paused for about a year by the coronavirus pandemic before it opens to the public Friday.
The Avengers Campus seeks to be an immersive experience that allows guests to become super-heroic across a series of rides, shows and eateries from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“We’re excited to finally open up the gates and let everybody in,” Scot Drake, a portfolio creative executive with Walt Disney Imagineering, said at the park Wednesday. “We had 70-plus years of stories and amazing characters to pull from, 23 epic films, and for us it was, ‘What is the best way to get our guests right in the middle of those stories, right in the middle of the action?”
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Central to that aim is “WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure,” which combines classic ride structure with an array of cameras that capture guests’ body motion and allows them to play Peter Parker.
They’re asked to help onscreen Spidey Tom Holland fight an outbreak of small, smart and powerful Spider-bots, creations that he and a team of inventive teens developed but lost control of in an old building donated by Tony Stark.
The experience resembles the videogame competition of Disneyland’s Buzz Lightyear ride, but the action and the tech behind it are in a different galaxy. With no equipment necessary (though enhancement gadgets for the wrist can be bought next door), riders can blast swarms of the little spider-bots (which can also be purchased next door), and a couple of not-so-little ones.
“What was really important to us was to try and make the interface disappear so the guests just had the superpowers themselves,” said Brent Strong, executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering. “So in order to do that we did a whole bunch of invention to try and make the technology as un-obvious as possible.”
Journalists got to take the ride for a few spins Wednesday. With each pass the experience changes, as guests start to master their web-slinging and figure out they can do more than just blast away with their powers.
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“You can start to grab on to shipping containers, open doors, grow things and shrink things,” Strong said. “We’ve hidden a million Easter eggs and fun little surprises in there.”
Elsewhere, majestic music blasts to announce the marching arrival of the Dora Milaje — the royal guard that protects T’Challa in “Black Panther.” With their leader Okoye, the shaven-headed women of Wakanda twirl their spears and explain their principles to give wannabe warriors in the audience a lesson in the fighting arts.
The show includes something rare for a day at Disneyland: a moment of silence for the dead. While Okoye tells the crowd she seeks to honor fallen kings and ancestors, the ritual, in a time of many such moments, feels like an acknowledgment of the many deaths during the pandemic that kept the park dark for more than a year. (It also feels like an acknowledgement of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, whose death last year stunned the world.)
Disney’s two Anaheim parks reopened with restrictions on April 30 and will reopen at something nearing normal on June 15.
The new section was also built to incorporate “Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!” a drop-tower ride with funky tunes in place since 2017.
The storytelling on the Avengers campus even extends to the food, including an outlet of the Shawarma joint that Iron Man suggests his allies hit up after the Battle of New York depicted in 2012′s “The Avengers.” It was open for sampling Wednesday and as Tony Stark promised, it is, indeed, good.
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Another Avengers Campus is planned for Disneyland Paris. The California version will have major additions. Other heroes, including Thor and Iron Man, will make appearances, and Doctor Strange will work his wizardry in his Ancient Sanctum several times a day.
Some of those heroes, in Marvel’s movies, are dead, and for those who follow the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with near-religious precision, it can be tough to tell what time period the campus is set in.
The creators say don’t overthink it.
We’ve summoned heroes from across all of space and time,” Strong said. “Time is a lot more squishy than any of us think. Trying to put a specific date to it can be challenging. But to us, Avengers Campus is here and now.”
Jolie says judge in Pitt divorce won’t let children testify
Angelina Jolie criticized a judge who is deciding on child custody in her divorce with Brad Pitt, saying in a court filing that the judge refused to allow their children to testify.
Jolie, who has sought to disqualify Judge John Ouderkirk from the divorce case, said in the filing Monday that he declined to hear evidence she says is relevant to the children’s safety and well-being before issuing a tentative ruling. The documents don’t elaborate on what that evidence may be.
“Judge Ouderkirk denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial, improperly excluding her evidence relevant to the children’s health, safety, and welfare, evidence critical to making her case,” according to the filing in California’s Second District Court of Appeal.
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The actress also said the judge “has failed to adequately consider” a section of the California courts code, which says it is detrimental to the best interest of the child if custody is awarded to a person with a history of domestic violence. Her filing did not give details about what it was referring to, but her lawyers submitted a document under seal in March that purportedly offers additional information.
Jolie sought a divorce in 2016, days after a disagreement broke out on private flight ferrying the actors and their children from France to Los Angeles. Pitt was accused of being abusive toward his then-15-year-old son during the flight, but investigations by child welfare officials and the FBI were closed with no charges being filed against the actor. Jolie’s attorney said at the time that she sought a divorce “for the health of the family.”
Her new filing says the judge has “refused to hear the minor teenagers’ input as to their experiences, needs, or wishes as to their custody fate,” citing a California code that says a child 14 or over should be allowed to testify if they want to.
Three of Jolie and Pitt’s six children are teenagers, 17-year-old Pax, 16-year-old Zahara, and 14-year-old Shiloh. The oldest, Maddox, is 19 and not subject to the custody decision. They also have 12-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox.
In response to Jolie’s filing, Pitt’s attorneys said, “Ouderkirk has conducted an extensive proceeding over the past six months in a thorough, fair manner and reached a tentative ruling and order after hearing from experts and percipient witnesses.”
Pitt’s filing said the judge found Jolie’s testimony “lacked credibility in many important areas, and the existing custody order between the parties must be modified, per Mr. Pitt’s request, in the best interests of the children.”
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It says Jolie’s objections and further delays in reaching an arrangement would “work grave harm upon the children, who will be further denied permanence and stability.”
It’s not clear what the current custody arrangement is because the court seals most files. When the divorce process began, Pitt sought joint custody and Jolie sought primary physical custody — meaning the children would live more than half the time with her. But changes have been made that have not been made public.
Peter Harvey, a lawyer for Jolie who is close to the case but not directly involved, said the actress “supports joint custody” but the situation is complicated and he can’t go into detail because the court proceedings are under seal.
Divorce lawyers for both sides declined to comment on the new filings.
Harvey told The Associated Press that Jolie’s family struggles have prompted her to take a more active role in changing the law’s approach to custody issues.
“Ms. Jolie has been working privately for four and a half years to both heal her family and to fight for improvements to the system to ensure that other families do not experience what hers has endured,” said Harvey, a former attorney general of New Jersey who has been working with Jolie on policy issues.
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Jolie has sought to disqualify Ouderkirk, a private judge she and Pitt chose to maintain their privacy, arguing that he has an improper business relationship with one of Pitt’s attorneys.
She said in Monday’s filing that if the tentative custody decision is made final by Ouderkirk, she will appeal it.
Jolie, 45, and Pitt, 57, were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. They had been married for two years when Jolie filed for divorce. They were declared divorced in April 2019, after their lawyers asked for a judgment that allowed a married couple to be declared single while other issues remained, including finances and child custody.
Best Bengali Thriller Movies in 2021
Despite the ongoing pandemic, there are some Bengali thriller movies for you to enjoy in your free time. You can definitely have your due joys with your friends and family by getting some thrilling experiences. But the numbers are not as much as the usual time. You literally can count them out. However, the last year was not so comfortable for movie crews. Still, everyone is hardly getting options to be in gatherings as well as go to work. The domestic production houses have been trying their level best to bring movies to you considering this situation. Here are some best of them for giving excitement to your leisure times.
Best Bengali Thriller Movies to Watch during Eid Vacation
Pratidwandi (Crime Thriller)
- Released Date: January 01, 2021
- Movie duration: 1h 51m
- IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
The story of this movie is about a kidnapping case. A fugitive drug dealer Damani, Govinda, a political leader Maya, and Doctor Gupta have been doing business for a long time. Doctor Bakshi’s friend Sukumar Sen went insane in avenging his lost girl. Subsequently, Doctor Bakshi goes to a private investigator Siddharta to find his son who gets kidnapped from school. This Siddharta again is an ex-lover of the political leader Maya.
The director Shaptashya Basu has tried to tie these strings in the movie. There must be a connection between all of these relationships. Shashywata Chatarjee, Rudronil Ghosh, Shayoni Ghosh, Saurav Dash have created a thrilling background by playing the mysterious characters. Eventually, you will get some usual surprises at the end.
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Tangra Blues (Musical Thriller)
- Released Date: April 16, 2021
- Movie Duration: 2h
- IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
Joyee is a young composer of Kolkata. A musical band of young slum kids often fascinates her. The bandleader and an ex-gangster, Sanjib Mondal, changed her life magically.
Sonali Bendre, Kirron Kher, and Sajid Khan were in an audition for the reality show, India’s Got Talent. They presented there in the first place by chance. But things got changed within a few moments. Their performance was rousing and people were on their feet. Then Mandal came to introduce his band of slum kids. The kids discontinued their studies due to financial problems. His broken Hindi accent signaled his unfamiliarity with the place and familiarity with miseries.
Supriyo Sen tailored perfect underdog story here with some thrilling journey. Slum kids’ band reached the finals if only to bow out from there. The loss did not change their popularity at all.
Janowar (Crime Thriller)
- Released Date: January 14, 2021
- Movie Duration: 1h 17m
- IMDb Rating: 8/10
Janowar the Beast is a crime-thriller web film of Bangladesh with a tragic true incident. The director, Raihan Rafi, has tried to stage the horror of the robbery, gang rape, and murder case of 23 April 2020.
Though Rafi has improvised the original event to shape the film, it still followed the main story. Rahul Elina Shammi who played the mother, Rashed Mamun Apu who played the head of the bandits are notable role-plays here. The child artist Ariya Arittra played Hawarin gave an extraordinary performance. Their acting made the story real by far.
If you consider from the point of view in filmmaking, it gives a positive vibe of the growth of Bangladeshi filmmakers. You can definitely enlist it in your top chart of Bengali thriller movies.
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Troll (Psychological Thriller)
- Released Date: January 21, 2021
- Movie Duration: 1h 49m
- IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
Troll is a Bangladeshi psycho-thriller web film. Actually, the word, troll, goes among the friends as a funny meaning. But it comes up with a dangerous insight in this movie.
Director Sanjoy Samaddar has featured the popular TV actors Ziaul Faruk Apurbo and the new star Tasnia Farin. He shows that what is a game for one may be death for another. The trailer may mislead you in the instant. But it will give you some real twists when you watch the full movie.
It has broken the traditional way of Bangladeshi filmmaking. Apart from the protagonist characters, Shatabdi Wadud also gave a great performance here. It’s a real pleasure that the domestic genres start to evolve finally.
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Magic (Psychological Thriller)
- Released Date: February 12, 2021
- Movie Duration: 2h 5m
- IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
The story begins with a boy Indra, who is in a melancholic state. But he is very much fond of magic. He got magical changes in his life when he fell in love with a girl named Kriti. The interesting part is that after falling in love, Indra starts to think that he had some connection with Kriti in his previous life. And, the film takes a drastic turn from there.
Director Raja Chanda has made this film by blending romance, suspense, and thrills. Ankush and Oindrila are the main characters.
Though Magic didn’t totally well judge its genre, you won’t get lavishly or cleverly mounted magic tricks. This film rather has focused on social drama and is rooted in reality.
Read 10 Best Adventure Movies Released in 2021
Chakrabyuh (Suspense Thriller)
- Released Date: March 19, 2021
- Movie Duration : 2h 10m
- IMDb : No Rating Yet
Three girls get abducted from Kolkata in broad daylight. One is the daughter of a well-known MP of the city, one is the daughter of an industrialist and the other is a well-known journalist. Police start to look for the kidnapper.
Strange thing, the kidnappers are not asking for any money! Even they are not saying their demands. Meanwhile, the three girls were kept in a tent in the deep forest by the kidnappers. Trying to escape did not work. But in a short time they realize, they were abducted for a protest. ‘Chakravyuh’ comes on the screen to tell about this protest.
The Director is Pertho Sarathi Joardar and the notable characters are Saheb Bhattacharya, Rupsha Mukherjee, Shabnam, Sudipta Chakraborty, and Rajesh Sharma.
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Flyover (Mystery Thriller)
- Released Date: April 02, 2021
- Movie Duration: 2h
- IMDb Rating: 4.8/10
Flyover features the popular Kollywood actress Koel Mollick. It tells the story of a character named Bidisha, a journalist who is writing a story on traffic rule violations. One night, she gets arrested for murder. Subsequently, the movie tries to project the journey of Koel Mollick’s character as a courageous woman who can prevail against the odds.
However, Director Abhimanyu Mukherjee's 'Flyover' is a remake of the original Kannada language film 'U-Turn'. But a few scenes have been omitted in the Bengali remake. So if you already watch U-Turn, you can’t expect anything new here. Other than that as a new audience, you can give it a try along with your Bengali Thriller Movies.
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Pilling Up
Apart from the above list, a couple of movies out there with some remarkable audiences. But this list can be a great deal of your shortlisting best Bengali thriller movies. After all, checking on the movie rating has becomes luxurious a little this year. Having this well-sorted list is certainly capable of making your movie nights full of fun!
10 Best Adventure Movies Released in 2021
If you are adventurous by heart, you must keep your eyes on the best adventure movies released in 2021 for sure. Whether you are stuck in even quarantine or not, you get yourself out through the streaming by all means. After all, everybody likes to be adventurous. And as a big fan of adventure movies, you must know this genre comes with a package. Action, comedy, romance, fantasy, and sci-fi always involve the daring journey of the quests. Eventually, these movies get enough elements to impress anyone. Moreover, the impression has been growing due to technological progress over the decades. Let’s see how much has 2021 given us until now.
10 best adventure movies of 2021
Several studios have already exploded the box office despite the current pandemic situations. These 10 movies of them can surely make your day.
1 | Zack Snyder's Justice League
You must recall the resurrecting Superman from Justice League in 2017. This time the director Snyder just made some necessary corrections and presented his creativity.
He has fixed up the rapid ins and outs of Steppenwolf. Besides he has developed the Pozharnov battle and worked on some visual effects as well. Finally, the mysterious epilogue scene with Joker has brought total justice to the DC universe.
As a whole, the 2021 version has filled every gap in the 2017 version.
2 | Raya and the Last Dragon
The dream shaper studio- Disney has tailored this fairy tale of a brave girl- Raya who brought her entire community back from deadly petrification. This spellbinding screenplay preaches to trust each other rather than mutual rivalry.
You see a lot of magical stuff like flying and shape-shifting dragon but deep down it’s a story of sacrifice. You find this animated movie as a wonderful presentation of adventure in addition to action and comedy.
All in all, you can enjoy the time of quarter to two hours with your friends and family.
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3 | Godzilla VS. Kong
It is the most anticipating movie this year. After all, your favorite beasts are going to face each other for the first time. The movie was growing suspense with a human expedition. Men were going to look for a great source of energy in the very deep inside the earth.
They took Kong with them to find the location. In the middle of the journey, they encounter the angry Godzilla. Now, why is it angry? What will be the result of the expedition?
Including the answers to these questions, this monster movie waits for you with the ultimate climax at the end.
4 | Finding Ohana
Finding Ohana is for those of you who have been missing the traditional treasure hunt movie for a long time. It tells you the story of two siblings on a quest to find a long-lost treasure. Gradually, they end up uncovering a worthless historical object.
Although there is not to expect much from this Nextflix movie in this 21st century, you can have a good adventure movie lately. As this is a teenage adventure, you can enjoy living in your memories for 2 hours.
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5 | Flora & Ulysses
This is another of Disney’s superb creations that worth your searching for the best adventure movies released in 2021. This live-action screenplay portraits a wish come true story around a 10 years old girl.
You certainly can measure the level of its humor by the slogan- No tights, no cape, no problem.
Here the girl’s name is Flora and she experiences some interesting changes in her life after getting along with the superhero squirrel-Ulysses.
6 | Strawberry Mansion
This is basically a surrealist film that draws a dystopian future. Government charges tax for dreams where advertisers invade dreams.
The concept is quite interesting where the movie creator lets the dream auditor fall in love with his client. He gets himself in a sudden dream during the exploration in her dream rather than continuing his assignment.
Eventually, he pays for the inevitable consequences. Strawberry Mansion is, in fact, a blended form of contemporary cultural and political situations.
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7 | A Writer’s Odyssey
If you wish to change your taste, A Writer’s Odyssey would then be a good choice. The main story is simple. A father is off to a dangerous path to find his long-lost missing daughter.
He took the task of killing a novelist. But it is not as easy as he thought.
Rather it would get out of control when the story inside the novel mixes with reality. There are lots of actions, giants in this Chinese fantasy. As a result, living in parallel worlds for 2 hours would be quite enjoyable.
8 | Space Sweepers
Now let’s get into a sci-fi adventure. After possessing a spaceship, the crew members found a 7-year-old humanoid robot girl. They learned that the space guards claims her and the girl is just not a robot.
Over time, the exciting information about the girl started to come out. Though they planned to hand her over for a ransom at first, gradually they began to involve in dangerous business.
Space Sweeper certainly got some suspense for you but you can’t expect the feel of the Gravity movie (2013) here.
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9 | Without Remorse
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse shows you the story of revenge. This is the Jack the ripper universe film, so you can expect a one-man army action movie here.
It starts with a Navy special soldier avenging the murder of his pregnant wife. Later he gets amid the conspiracy of the top two superpower countries.
10 | Below Zero
Below Zero is a Spanish cop vs terror movie. On a lonesome road, an unknown terrorist attacked a prisoner transfer van. The officer in charge of the van attempted to show great heroism to get out of this ambush.
But this is not the end. Because the officer realizes that there is still some reckoning with the unknown foe. He should be ready for that accordingly.
Hence, this non-English movie can give you a lot of gunfights and fistfights. Just hold the edge of your seat and be prepared to digest the excitement.
Bottom Line
So far, we have discussed the best adventure movies released in 2021. These movies have already made their way to blockbusters. The first quarter of 2021 has well and truly ensured that. The second quarter is waiting for even more stunning adventure movies. Until then happy streaming!
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Nat'l Award-winning singer-composer Habib ties the knot for third time
Habib Wahid,one of the nation's most popular singers and music composers, recently got married again.
‘Mainkar Chipay’: First Bangladeshi original launched on ZEE5 Global
ZEE5 Global, the largest OTT platform for South Asian content, on Monday released its first Bangladeshi original “Mainkar Chipay.”
ZEE5's first Bangladesh original to release next month
ZEE5 Global,the largest OTT platform for South Asian content, announced its first four Bangladeshi originals created by top directors Abrar Athar, Shihab Shaheen and Anam Biswas.
Govt launches Ayub Bachchu’s digital archive ‘AB Kitchen’
The government launched the first-ever digital archive for an artist through a website featuring rock legend Ayub Bachchu on the day of his second death anniversary on Sunday.