Paris When It (doesn't) Sizzles

So off I headed to Paris for a city break last week (this explains my absence on the blogging front), and yes, the city is just as beautiful in your mind as it is in reality, but tres froid in February, hence my titular description. This gave me plenty of excuse to dive into warm cafes to grab a hot chocolate and stare out over the bright but chilly mornings/afternoons/evenings, but made it somewhat difficult to walk around (outside) to all the places planned (we did it anyway, just had to brace ourselves a bit). Still, I am not complaining!

But, as I am trying to kid myself that I am some kind of tour operator, I have compiled a list of 4 things to do in Paris (perhaps in the cold, or in the warm spring/summer time) that may be slightly off the beaten track - and by that I mean, I am expecting you, my well traveled and intelligent reader, to travel to go up the Eiffel tower without my written prompting. This list of 4 are perhaps things that may be overlooked, but a mon avis, are well worth a visit.

1. Visit the 'Shakespeare and Company' bookstore.
As you probably know, I love reading, I love beautiful books (and ugly ones too), and I also, as is probably expected, love bookstores. This is the most fabulous bookshop I have ever been into - it's jam packed with books, some expected titles, old books, Parisian books etc, which are all arranged in a higgedly piggedly (yet orderly) fashion across this 100 year old bookshop. And a bonus is that the books are in English, and that the bookstore has Shakespeare in the name. Plus, it's a stones throw from the Notre Dame (just cross the bridge, and why hello there bookstore)

Photograph, taken by me (copyright Alexandra Butler, thanks)

2. Spend an hour or longer walking round  the Pere Lachaise Cemetery - the largest cemetery in Paris, and it's gorgeously gothic, full of amazing gravestones/statues - it's eerily still, highly atmospheric and it's a great place to soak up the time-old atmosphere and feel the life that has been present in Paris for centuries. Plus, there are famous graves, such as Oscar Wilde's, Jim Morrison's, Victor Noir's, and Edith Piaf (the latter of whom, sadly I didn't find when I was there).

3. Take a (guided) tour around the Paris Opera House.
My love for The Phantom of the Opera soared - be sure to visit box number 5 to see the plaque which notes that this is the Phantom's box.  The guided tour is interesting, full of little facts and creates a picture of what it was like when the Opera was first opened in 1875 - the aristocrats swanning around in their finery, into the magnificent halls, up the stairs. Indeed, the building both inside and outside is spectacular and it well worth a visit, and the show definitely begins before the auditorium...

4. Visit the Marais in Paris, and especially the Jewish quarter - it's such a lovely walk, and definitely gives you a more intimate feel of Paris,. The little cobbled streets are lined with boutiques, shops, cafes, with old shop fronts and it is full of the hustle and bustle of daily life - definitely not one to miss.

Traaa...la...lalalala - music

I confess, I am not particularly into music. Not that I don't like it, I just never really give much time to it - I can't listen to voices singing whilst I work (if you want good instrumental pieces I have a shed load), meaning my overall knowledge of general music (old and new) is fairly limited. Sorry! (In my defence, when I am at home I substitute listening to music to other home-y activities reading, writing, watching films, baking etc.)

However whilst writing my blog, I have started listening to music, so I wanted to share some of these (judge me as you will) - think of it as my blogging playlist...

-The Lumineers (particularly like Stubborn Love)
-The Cults - Go Outside (it's fabby fab fab, and the music video with Dave Franco is beautiful, a mon avis)
-Daughter - Landfill, Candles, Youth
-Billie Holiday (she and the crackly recordings transport me to 1920s New York)
-Amanda Seyfried - Little House
-The Killers - everything and anything, they're my all time favourite
-Lana Del Rey
-Of Monsters and Men - King and Lionheart

As per, if I think of anymore (and I will, probably), I'll add 'em!

Happy listening and happy weekend folks!

Love Letters

Yes, I thought it was time to jump on the band wagon and write something about the big ol' 'Valentine's Day'.  

I was thinking about the past, and how Valentine's Day is arguably not the same as it was; it's just not as romantic to receive a love 'email' instead of a love letter. But I feel that it's rare that people send letters nowadays (unless it's a bill or a spot of advertising with a 'personal' touch), and I confess there is a big part of me that wishes I had been alive before the internet had taken over. I mean, do people ever send letters S.W.A.L.K? Do people even have a special pen that they always use when writing to their favourite people? Do people even have letter writing paper?

To each of these questions, I would sadly answer 'no'.

So, on hypothetical terms, I was thinking about the ultimate letters that a person could receive. Who would you like to receive a love letter from?

And if we're talking hypothetically, then there are no limits - so, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Che Guevara, Heath Ledger just dash a letter off my way right now. I mean, there are plenty of living people who I would welcome a love letter off too - any woman who would reject a love letter off Ryan Gosling is a fool (I joke, naturally there is no accounting for all tastes).

But anyway, even if this years' Valentine's is going to be as dry as an old prune, with you sitting at home watching some mediocre rom-com wishing you were in the film, not watching it (and crying your eyes out), with only your Ben & Jerry's ice-cream for company, take comfort in the fact that there are many people in the world, who would have written you a love letter, had they been alive right now, or had the internet not made us all apathetic towards writing love letters on special writing paper, specially for you, their special person. Plus, a girl can dream, and I think my hypothetical letters would beat any other letters.

Anyway, my point, in some roundabout way is: don't dishearten (no pun intended) - perhaps, just perhaps someone will prove me wrong, and there will be a letter waiting for you in the post room tonight, that is heading right for your door tomorrow morning.

Stately Homes!

I love a bit of history, and recently (ish) I went to some good ol' stately homes. This, for me, is one of the points about England, about what it is to be 'British' - the heritage, learning about real people in the past, the grandeur and nostalgia of the good old days, and the sadness that comes with how they don't make 'em like they used to.

So here is a short snippet - Alexandra's guide to some (2) stately homes...

 

-Rushton Hall-

-Kedleston Hall-

I went to these over last summer and a bit afterwards. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes you can 'feel' the history there. Plus it's like being on a film set, like something out of 'Pride and Prejudice', or 'The Duchess' - the latter, incidentally, is not only one of my favourite films (as is P&P), but was also filmed at Kedleston Hall (if you've seen it, it's the scene in the round room, where Georgiana is given her children's letters). It will come as no surprise from my animated way of typing about this, that one of my all time favourite places, in the whole world, ever, is a stately home...Blenheim Palace.

Welcome to my world! 

Photos: I took these, copyrighted Alexandra Butler, thanks.

T G I Friday!

So after a week that felt, much like all the other weeks, to drag on (and on and on), the beautiful day of 'Friday' is finally here!

What is so great about Friday?
1. Staying up late, with no regrets as Saturday roles in (unless you do something on a Saturday morning, sorry)
2. You're allowed, as your end of the week treat, to eat what you like. Throughout the week we attempt to resist the cake, the creamy coffees, or hot chocolate...well, Friday is the exception (and yes, you will probably undo all your week's resistance, but who cares?! It's Friday!)
3. That feeling not only of relaxation, but (hopefully) anticipation for what promises to be a good weekend...

So I was thinking, what other 'feelings' such as the 'Friday feeling' are there?

-Well there is that 'Christmassy' feeling - you know, the tree's up, mince pies are bought, yule tide made (if you do that sort of thing) and Bing Crosby is casually playing in the background.

-That 'going-on-holiday' feeling. I think that is basically 'excitement' but I find it starts building as you're booking the holiday, packing, taxi-ing to the airport, feeling like a right diva in your holiday gear (even though it's 5am, it's still dark, and you feel a bit sick from not having had breakfast - but lo! this can be rectified by a fry up breakfast in the airport)... For me, the anticipation is part of the holiday experience.

Hm..what other feelings of this kind are there?

Well, if any more come to me, as always I'll add them to here. But for now, have a jolly good weekend folks!

A day in the life of...

I was thinking, on this rather windy, wet, occasionally snowy day, what it would be like to have another person's life. Now, I don't mean a celebrity's life, I mean a fictional character's, and I started considering, who, for a day, I would want to be.

Of course, there are just so many books (many many of which I have neither read, nor heard of), so I am working from my own limited knowledge, but I came up with a sort of shortlist, of character's lives I would like to have for a day (an exciting, eventful day that is, not the day where they stayed in and watched TV or the equivalent in their world)...

-Harry Potter. He is a wizard. And the boy who lived. All round protector, hero, survivor, popular character (minus the few who hate him - I am referring here to He Who Must Not Be Named, the handful of Death Eaters, the Malfoys etc. But other than this, everyone loves Harry). Plus he goes/went (depending on which book you want to look at) to Hogwarts. I therefore conclude that there is little that is not great about Mr. H. J. Potter. (N.B. He is, incidentally, not all-time my favourite character in the books - my heart belongs to Sirius Black)

-Bilbo Baggins (From 'The Hobbit'/'The Lord of the Rings'). Adventurer, Hobbit, lives in the Shire (I SO want to live there), friends of dwarves, men, elves...owner of magic ring that prolongs life and makes one invisible (I'll skip over its corrupting powers, its evil and the potentiality of death associated with it)

-Mary Boleyn ('The Other Boleyn Girl') - her life may be quite awful in some parts, not to mention her awful sister (no offence Anne), but a day in the Tudor court? Yes please. Meeting Henry VIII (from afar)? Yes. Going to Hever Castle? Yes. Huge, extravagant jousts/parties/balls? Right on. Surrounded by men (probably in tights) prancing around and writing poems for you? Ok, well maybe not that bit, but you get my drift.

-Nick Carraway ('The Great Gatsby') friends with, Mr Gatsby, but turns out better in the end (if you've read it, you'll know what I mean), big parties, admittedly less swarve that Gatz but more genuine, less fixated with the past, lives in New York etc.

I know there are more, but times up (need to go and sort out my baked potato in the oven) - I'll add more when more come to me...

Travel

I probably made a mistake not selecting a particular topic to write about on this blog - instead I chose A LOT. So (I keep using that word) I am trying to keep all the saucers spinning (if that's a good metaphor to use), by writing about something else (other than films and an introduction).

Travel...

I have traveled to a few places, and I do think I have been lucky to visit some places that I have visited (as in I appreciate where I have been and what I have done) but there is still much left to see and discover. I feel a bit greedy in that sense, I just want to see all the little corners of the world. And people watch as the stroll by, whether it be by boat on the Urubamba River, or watch them stroll by the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, with cute Parisian elegance, or watch the cyclists rush through the streets on Hanoi...

I have an idea of some places I would like to go, and my list is nowhere near exhaustive, but here are 5 places I want to visit in the near future (in no particular order)...

1. Laos, and (if I was a millionaire) go for a few days on the Orient Express, seeing the sites, and then hop off to stay with the real folk of the country, perhaps in a home stay

2. Venice - town(?) or city(?) or land mass upon the water. Either way, take me there!

3. Brazil, for the parties, the cities, the carnivals

4. New York. Need I say more? (And also Chicago, I have heard a lot but never seen with my own wee eyes)

5. Turkey - especially Istanbul - East meets West, the buzz, the atmosphere (I am big into atmosphere)

There are many more, but that is just a flavor of the bigger list that I want to tackle. They are quite far ranging, stretching continents and cultures. Yes please!

Hard Work

Ok, so I am still new to blogging, and I can't say that I am picking up quite how it all works (I am fairly awful with technology), so I thought I would just start writing - which is why I set it up in the first place.

I wrote in my first post that I would write about films, which I think will be my predominant focus. What is it about a film/film that makes them so great? Why have they become so influential?

I think, at the heart of it, there lies human's love of stories. My prehistoric knowledge is quite poor, but I know they used to tell each other stories in between wearing furred loin cloths and hunting mammoths. And films have evolved from that - filling in the gaps of ordinary people's lives. At least, that's how I see them.

So I saw 'Lincoln' at the cinema a week or so ago. You have to hand it to Spielberg, that man is amazing. Regardless of whether a person likes his films or not, there is something about the cinematography that makes his films so wonderful to watch. There is a scene in the film (no worries, this is not a spoiler) in Lincoln's office, when he and his politco friend (William Seward I believe) are smoking their fat old cigars, and there are plumes of smoke rising in the background. It's so atmospheric.

I sound like a geek/boring, but it's little things like that which make a film visually brilliant. I can list other directors who do that too - Joe Wright, for example, or Terrence Malick.

At any rate, it's just interesting to think: what actually is it that makes a good film? Likewise with acting, you can't pinpoint exactly what is so good about a performance, and yet it just is. I suppose we all search to be good at something, and be at standard where people can't work out what it is that makes that something so good. I suppose the only ingredient that is definitely needed is hard work.

Post Number 1

I have been meaning to set up a blog for some time now, and I have finally gotten around to it. I think the first thing to clarify is the title - why 'in spoken'? It came to me the other day (sort of an epiphany...but not particularly profound), and it's the opposite to out spoken (as you may have guessed). You see, I am not particularly out spoken, so this blog is unlikely to have cutting edge articles gunning for an argument. My posts, as 'in spoken' tries to suggest, will be thoughtful, honest, and hopefully interesting (otherwise stop reading now...)!

I will write about anything and everything (sort of), but my starting base is films, books, art, music, travel, life - the usual kind. Enjoy!