Shakespeare and Me: The Anniversary of a Genius

Today is the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeares death and I am here to celebrate this wonderful person's works and his influences in my life. Just as I am sitting down with a cuppa and watching Shakespeare Live! From the RSC, I thought I would write a few words on some of my memories of this famous writer (I don't know him personally but you know).
On September 22nd of last year, I was honoured and very, VERY lucky (it was a struggle, honestly) to see Hamlet in the Barbican, London with none other than my absolute idol, Benedict Cumberbatch leading this marvellous performance. This is still the best day I have ever had and although I had a love of Hamlet from watching the DVD I have at home of David Tennant (another fav) performing it for the RSC, this gave me life like I didn't know plays like this could. So many wonderful people have played this iconic role but seeing it live and in front of me was an adventure and an absolute honour. To this day it affects me and I guess every other Shakespeare play has done this to an extent but this was special. I'm not going to elaborate my admiration for Cumberbatch but I got very emotional that day and I will always remember it. The words, the stage and the emotion was so real and with Shakespeare it will always be like this at some point. I mean, who didn't sob at Leonardo DiCaprio's and Claire Dane's portrayal of Romeo and Juliet in a fabulous Baz Luhrmann film, Romeo+Juliet? If you answered "No" then you are lying to me and yourself, but that's fine. I'll forgive you. 

What a beautiful prince.

Also, I recently tweeted a poignant quote that I came across and it was said by the character Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing that personally resonated with my circumstances. The quote goes "I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me." and honestly, at this moment in time, this is a true fact. With feelings and thoughts, I tend to find quotes very useful in both justifying how I feel and helping me express it which is why songs are helpful and lyrics can be quoted annoyingly to my friends. However, when I found this quote taking a quiz about which character I am from the works of Shakespeare, I immediately fell in love and I felt empowered with just this one line. Many writers can write good words but for someone who wrote more than 400 years ago to be so relevant in todays day and age is something truly remarkable. If this doesn't open you up to how influential Shakespeare is to me, I will now tell you my cats name is Benvolio, after Romeo's cousin in Romeo and Juliet. I know, my cat hates me for it but the plays have fabulous pet name inspirations. That is a fact.
After this ramble I will leave you with another quote that applies to those who write or even read but mostly for those in some sort of love:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,   

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A sort of way of immortalising myself in this blog and trying to be my own Shakespeare by ending with the wonderful Sonnet 18. Thank you for reading and see you in my next post about Doctor Strange and the fandom feels.
Over and Out,

A Spontaneous post on "Blue Valentine" and the feelings involved

A few days ago I watched Blue Valentine and I ended up thinking too much about my own personal life and the one I wish I had and it got me thinking about how films can affect us in such an emotional way. Personally, I get really affected by certain films and I want to know if this happens to other people as well.

One example of this the romantic comedy Love, Rosie which affected me in a way I never wanted any movie to do. I somewhat despise romantic comedies as a film student but this one had me thinking that this can definitely be my guilty pleasure. Maybe it's because we relate so much with what is on the screen and adapt it to your personal life. Not saying that (maybe spoilers maybe, highlight with cursor if you have watched this film) I have been in love with my best friend since forever and before getting into University I fell pregnant with some random bloke but I could relate to aspects of this film such as Rosie's friendship with Alex, how there are many decisions to do with life to be made and so on.
With Blue Valentine, I guess I thought the same way but also more emotionally than I did with Love, Rosie. I know that Blue Valentine is what I assume reality would look like in film and it is also critically acclaimed. Some scenes are said to be improvised but I compared it to what it is like being young and in love (not that I know anything about that pshh). Maybe that's what it is, we look at these films and it reminds us what our life should be like and also, especially with Blue Valentine, what it should be like in the future and that is terrifying.
As this film has a non-linear look at a relationship it highlights the couples present feelings and also compares it to how it was before. Without spoiling it, this film makes you think so much and I love it and maybe even hate it at the same time especially because it made me cry whilst in a class full of film students who seemed unaffected by the story in it. Although these two films I have mentioned fall in two different categories of how "good" a film is, they both affected me in some way. So the question here is: Do films affect you emotionally? Which ones and why? Do let me know so I don't feel bad about all the tears.
I hope you enjoyed this spontaneous post (even though I said next post will be on a Friday. Don't trust me, I'm WILD!) and I hope you have a lovely week.

Over and Out,

On turning 20

On the 25th March, I, Anne-Marie Dames, turned 20. I have been alive for 20 years and it scares the crap out of me daily. I am now fully responsible for what I am doing and it is a reminder that I am one year away from graduating and oh my god what am I going to do?
Despite my daily existential crisis, I had fun on my birthday. I usually get super duper excited to celebrate my own birthday because I want people to have fun and enjoy themselves in my company. This year I had a lot more company than I expected and it was lovely. I can't express how grateful I was for all the people who came and just hung out with me on this day. However, with every birthday comes the awkward singing and cake bit which happened in my house fortunately and it's the only part of the day I do not enjoy as much.
There is something about birthdays that makes me extremely happy and content with life despite maybe not being all that ok with it. It is a day that celebrates my life and I am happy with it, even with its little bumps and bad times. I am getting older and I am starting to feel it and I have a whole world of experiences to touch. It's terrifying but so nice to know that I still have a life ahead of me and things will be changing over the next couple of months and years and so on. Things will get better and it's ok that I will change. Everyone does.
As the years go on I have realised that my love for birthdays never changes and that my philosophical and nostalgic thoughts become more prominent. I do try. Anyway, before I ramble forever about how emotional I am about 1-uping my age, here is 20-year old me with no make-up and a bed head. Also embedded below is a playlist of music that has made me who I am today. All the music in it has been stuck in my head at some point or I listened to it for really long periods of time because that's what teenagers do (let's all pretend I sounded like Moriarty).

I will be updating this playlist as soon as I remind myself what songs I am nostalgic over. As far as regular posts go, I will be releasing a post every Friday from now on alternating between feelings, films and random topics.

Thank you for reading my thoughts but for now over and out,