I'm back - Jane Austen Challenge Day #4

 After a rather long absence on here I though it's time to come back to my blog and to my Jane Austen challenge!

So here's the topic of Day 4:

 Favourite Austen couple

Without hesitation I'd say

Darcy and Elizabeth!

I like how both unravel their misconceptions about each other and are so fond of each other in the end.

 I actually think they complete one another so very well and make such a perfect couple!

 picture from: images2.fanpop.com 

PS. I noticed that entering "Elizabeth Darcy" in Google, there are a lot of wedding gowns shown in the results :P Very interesting! 

Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey

 picture from: randomhouse.com

I came across this book on amazon some time ago and decided to give it a try, since I'm really interrested in the person of Marie Antoinette. 

Now that I'm done with reading I can just say one thing: This is an absolutely amazing and gripping book!

I've always been interested a lot in the history of the French monarchy and also learned a lot about Louis XVI at school (as the French are really fond of teaching their own history :)... ) BUT this book  gave me an absoluetly new insight in the early lives of Marie Antoinette and Louis Auguste who was to become Louis XVI.
Most films, book and even what is thought at school portray Marie Antoinette as an emptyheaded and thriftless person but after having read this (obviously very well researched novel) I think our picture of her is filled with prejudices. Though I knew that Marie Antoinette was Austrian I actually never thought about what is must have meant for her to have to leave her family and home country to be married to the dauphin of France while being only 14 years old, and that being a stranger to the French court she simply couldn't knew how to perfectly behave acording to the crazy etiquette at the court of Versailles!
I absolutely loved to learn more about her early childhood and live in Austria before she became the dauphine of France, since this is a part of her life that is rarely described. And the first-person narrator also contributed to a deeper understanding of the individual point of view of the young Marie Antoinette.
And of course it also gave me a new perspective on Louis Auguste and the whole court of Versailles!
However, I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of French monarchy!

A little break in Berlin

BERLIN

 

Picture from: berlin-berlin.info

I'm spending a few weeks in the capital, which is the reason why I currently don't post a lot on here ... 

But I shall try to go back to my Jane Austen challenge soon!

 

Changeling - Angelina Jolie in the late 20's

picture from: gfx.videobuster.de

Though from 2008, I never got the opportunity to see this film before...

 So yesterday I finally watched Eastwood's "Changeling" for the first time and was amazed to discover it's a very thrilling film with a very amazing Angelina Jolie!

picture from: ecx.images-amazon.com

I'm actually not a huge Angelina Jolie fan, but she did really well in this role. And I'm still amazed how pretty she looks dressed up in period clothing and with her 20's style make-up! (Though I'm not really fond of these weird flat hats ... :S)

picture from: badpacino.files.wordpress.com

What I didn't like about the film though is that the evil guy had to be from Canada... It's maybe just a wrong impression I got, but it seems like American films always are picking on Canadians. But well, as it's based on a true story I just assume the real criminal was from Canada.

And I also don't like that the end doesn't give away weather she found back her son or not! I'd really have needed certainty after such a thrilling film!! (But from what I read during my background researches it's apparently not sure whether she found him or not in the real case. Though, it rather seems like he was actually killed :( ...)

picture from: cdn.projectc.net

However, this is a really cool film! :)

(Though quite sad and a little shocking as well)

Jane Austen Challenge Day #3

3. Favourite Austen book

As you may  guess my two favoured Austen books are "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma". But having to chose one favourite, I'll definitely choose "Pride and Prejudice"!

"Emma"  was very fun to read for me as I love Austen's ironic narration. But the plot of "Pride and Prejudice" as well as the characters are still my favourites. ♥

picture from ecx.images-amazon.com

Jane Austen Challenge Day #3

3. Favourite quote from the books

For this question I can tell right from the beginning that I can't choose only one favourite quote! 

Austen's novels are so full of wonderful quotes ... 

So I decided that I'll tell you my 5 of my favourite quotes (in no particular order) ;)

1. "Think only of the past as it's rememberance gives you pleasure." (Pride and Prejudice)

2. " A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill." (Pride and Prejudice)

3. " The person, be it a gentleman or a lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." (Northanger Abbey)

4. " One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other." (Emma)

5. "Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us so perfect for one another!" (Emma)

 

picture from: laurenelisecrafted.com

 

Downton Abbey Paper Dolls!

I think there's nothing to add... the pictures speak for themselves!

For larger pictures (to see the funny details) click here!

Jane Austen Challenge Day #2

                         2. Favourite Austen man                       

I guess this is one of the most discussed questions when it comes to Jane Austen's novels! :P

I always was claiming that in contrary to most women, my favourite Austen man is not Mr. Darcy. But I actually had to re-think this opinion...!

When I first read "Pride and Prejudice" I thought Mr. Bingley is a thousand times better than Mr. Darcy. I just loved the way Jane and him fell in love at "first sight" and how cute he was in his awkwardness towards her as he wasn't sure about her sentiments.

But having written a paper for university sometime ago which forced me to deal with "Pride and Prejudice" and the characters of the novel on a deeper level, I had to come to the conclusion that I absolutely didn't understand the character of Mr. Darcy at my first read.

I can't exactly tell in what the difference between my first opinion of him and the second impression I got consists in, but I think I finally understand the real nature and very appealing side of Mr. Darcy. And looking back at it, Mr. Bingley is a rather boring and plain fellow compared to Darcy...

So let's say that even if it wasn't love at first sight between Mr. Darcy and me, I think that now I can totally agree with the majority of women saying that he definitely is the best Austen man!

But I must say that I also like Mr. Tilney and Mr. Knightley a lot.

I admire Mr. Knightley for bearing with such a spoiled girl as Emma and loving her despite of her imperfectness. I actually think he's the only one who's able to make her a better person by sincerely telling her when she acts foolishly and making her rethink her behaviour. 

As for Mr. Tilney, I find him really charming as well, but I'd somehow wished to learn more about him then the book actually is giving away. So I couldn't find anything really exceptional about him in the end...

Jane Austen Challenge Day #1

 Some time ago I came across the Jane Austen Confessions Blog on which I found a 30-day Jane Austen challenge, consisting in 30 questions to answer about your favourites in Jane Austen's books and their film adaptations.

Since I just finished reading "Emma" (which was my 4th Austen book of her 5 main novels) I thought it would be a good moment to start with this challenge.

 I slightly modified the challenge, though. As I don't consider having seen enough different Film adaptations of the books to really pick out my favourites, I'll only take the questions about the actual book. (Which makes it a 20-day challenge) And of course, I'll exclude "Persuasion" from this, as I haven't read it yet.

picture from: janeites.net 

Well, let's start with Day 1:

1. Favourite Austen heroine

This Challenge obviously starts with a difficult question, since there actually  are two young ladies I'd design as my favourites: Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Miss Emma Woodhouse.

The reasons for which I like them are really different, though.

I really admire Elizabet for her firm character, self-confidence, temper and discretion. I'd actually like to have more of Elizabeth's traits in myself! So if I design Lizzy as my favourite heroine, it's because she's the most applaudable character in my opinion.

As for Emma, it's actually the contrary that makes me like her so much: her imperfectness makes her really likeable and human (at least in my eyes) and I find her so very amusing! 

So at the level of entertainment I'd definitely say Emma is my favourite heoine, but reffering to the characters traits Elizabeth is my favourite of all Austen heroines!

Vintage style ads for social media

 Funnily enough, after having posted about old ads yesterday, I saw these vintage style ads for social media on Facebook today! 

I just love how they put our modern applications in an past context and design!

As the text is quite small and hard to read, I re-wrote the text underneath each picture.

found at: cdnimg.visualizeus.com

  "Share abundantly your photographs, experiences and stories with your friends and families. For leisure and labour Facebook is the enchantment "next look" in social team-ups. Eloquent economical and modern examples of communication adequate for our times."

 found at: acedepartment.com

"A virtual locality with a wide assortment of people. That's Twitter! A notorious new mechanism that lets you maintain virtual contact with family and friends no matter where they are. By following or being followed, you will enjoy previously unimagined experiences like sharing incredible amounts of information including videos, photographs etc. Twitter is a truly magnificent tool!"

found at: pull.imgfave.netdna-cdn.com

"Skype has the finest quality for you and your relatives to communicate via internet. The healthiest, most economical and secure way to keep vigorous family bounds miles away. It's more than a telephone. It's a real audio-visual miracle that will put you in contact with a brand new world."

 

found at: fondalashay.com

"Send and watch splendid and captivating films, 24/7. Sports, news, commercials and much more. The most charming and magnificent way to entertain the whole family."

Ads that would never be allowed today

 Being a media student I'm always interested in advertisement... especially old ads!

Today I'm going to present some of my favourite old ads that would certainly never be allowed nowadays, as to their incredible sexism, racism or ethic dubiousness.

Here's the article were those (and more) ads were collected, and these are some of my favourites:

let's start with Sexism

 

this one is my number1 favourite! ;)

  

Racism

 

Tobacco

 

 

Toy-Weapons

 And a few French ones...

 drink beer while breastfeeding!

Vintage style cosmetics!

Once again my daily expedition through the World Wide Web led me to an amazing discovery!

Today I found vinatge style cosmetics sold on a DaWanda shop (for those who may know the Etsy-site, DaWanda is the same in Germany). Those are mainly soaps, lipbalms, bath oils and bodybutter, so nothing I'd essentially need... But the design is so very cute that it's really hard to resist!

Here is the shop 

and these are some of my favourites:

cute lipbalm and lip scrub

  

 soaps

  

more lipbalm

 

 

solid shampoo

 

 

bath oil

  

 body butter

 

solid perfume

 

 

 

yummy Marzipan lipbalm!

The History of Beauty from the Victorian era to the 70's

♥♥♥

Due to my new obsession with the 40's I spent the morning looking for pictures of this era, and eventually found something absolutely amazing and interresting!

The make-up artist Lisa Eldridge made two videos about cosmetics and the history of make-up from the Victorian era to the 70ies. These include her interviewing Madeleine Marsh, author of the book "The history of Compacts and Cosmetics: Beauty From Victorian Times to the Present Day." and owner of an absolutely amazing collection of vintage compacts and cosmetic gadgets!

♥♥♥

Part 1: Beauty from theVictorian era to the 1930's

 

note: I see Madeleine Marsh would agree with my post about compensating things with making yourself feel pretty, as she talks about "that lipstick that would make you feel better and could maybe help you get a job";)

Part2: Beauty from the 1940's to the 1970's

I could spend hours looking around in this room with all this cute little compacts and gadgets!! 

♥♥♥

This is Madeleine Marsh's book:

 

amazon.co.uk

 I want a copy!! Though it's terribly unfair that amazon-Germany sells it for almost the double of price than amazon-UK! I should think about importing it, hehe

♥♥♥

And here's a last video of Lisa Eldridge showing more cute vintage compacts and make-up:

 

   

How cute is that?!