Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

This is IMDB's summary of the plot:

"Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent."

I won't add anything further about the plot, since I'm afraid to spoil for those who still haven't seen it.

What I first of all didn't like about this movie was that all of the things that happened would in reality have been highly unlikely to occur. There were one "miracle" after the other, and it never seemed to end. I also didn't like the fact that Dustin Hoffman played one of the parts since we've seen him in waaaay too many other movies before. It was difficult to think his previous characters aside.


What I did like however was the raw portrayal of the 18th century low class life. They didn't leave anything out! In fact, the beginning of the movie totally grossed me out. I think it's important that we understand that the 18th century wasn't all about beautiful dresses and highly decorated interiors which is exactly what I think this movie shows us. They even made the higher class society seem "dirty". I also liked that the for me totally unknown guy who played the main character actually was pretty talented.I also found it a positive thing that he wasn't beautiful since beautiful actors are always such distractions. haha And no, Edward Cullen from Twilight is NOT one of those. :P

I advice you to see this movie if you haven't already. It's very different.




Image source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396171/mediaindex

I'm still alive! >__<

I'm so sorry for not having written any blog posts the last couple of months or so. O_O I just want to let you know that I'm still here.

Porcelain

I came across this website called Nymphenburg where they sell these amazing porcelain figures. You simply have to check it out. Not that you can afford them, the figures are Extremely expensive!

Pasta = Pretty boy

Well, almost. The term "Macaroni" is not only referring to pasta but also to highly fashionable and somewhat effeminate young men during the 18th century. This way of life was partly (or entirely - I'm not sure) a result of the "Grand Tour" of Europe taken by young European wealthy men. (The Grand Tour tradition started sometime during the 17th century.) According to these men anything that was à la mode or fashionable was "very macaroni". But being a macaroni came with a prize. They were the subjects of satirical lyrics and drawings, and below you can see some examples. Not very nice ones if you ask me. >_o

The Dandy is the Macaroni's successor and is much more masculine in his manner.





Images:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/What-is-This-my-Son-Tom-1774.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Macaroni_1773.jpg

Fanny Hill

You must see it! It's hilarious. It's definitely cne of the most charming 18th century themed movies I've seen. I should warn you though, if you don't like to watch people who's dressed in 18th century clothing get it on, it's probably not for you. ;)

Read more

Image: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_02/fannyDM0910_468x514.jpg

LadyMerandaBoggre

That's the nickname of a lovely and extremely kind and talented artist on DeviantArt that I've had the priviliege to get to know a little bit. Her comments to my artworks always make me smile and since she and I share the same interest in Swedish 18th century history we always have lots to talk about. Her knowledge always amazes me and it's interesting to read what she has to say. She has enlightened me many times. Not only does she know a great deal about 18th century history, she's also a wonderful artist. I've featured some of her artwork below, and I strongly recommend you visit her DA page whenever you have the time. You won't regret it, I promise.

Oh Bellman! How wonderfully you must have played that cither.

The cither (or cittern) is reminiscent of the famous lute which was very common during the 18th century. One who mastered the cither was Carl Michael Bellman, a Swedish poet and composer, who is considered to be one of the most important cultural persons in Swedish history. I wonder, how famous is he outside the Swedish borders? Maybe you non Swedish readers can enlighten me?

What Bellman is most famous for is the songs and epistles of "Fredman" which includes themes such as sexual pleasures and drinking. More or less he sang about the life of a common man in Stockholm during 18th century. He eventually died from bad health at age 55.

There are probably lots of other important stuff I should mention here, but I guess Wikipedia is better than me at giving a more structural and informative view. I'm just here to entertain. haha
In short, I simply adore the works of Bellman and will always admire him.

For all Swedes who read my blog, here's the offical homepage of Bellman where you can listen to his songs. Even if you don't understand Swedish you can give it a try by clicking the "Text&Musik" button, choosing the title of the song you wanna listen to and finally clicking the "LYSSNA"button. Not that difficult. ^^

Image: http://www.librarything.com/picsizes/92/fc/5a4df70988318f1477660208a3c9e2e8.JPG