Old readers of my blog will know about my escapades in France. It was a time I had not much money (not that I have much now, but then I had not much of my dad's money, now I have not much of my own, it makes a difference) and France being France and with me in it I had to try:
1) Le Vin - The wine. So, I used to go to this grocery store opposite my dorm and buy a different variety every couple of days. Ok, every weekend. I am not a alchoholic. 6 euros for some very decent wine. So, not a very expensive pursuit to have. Yeah, there is stuff for 200 euros, but I wouldn't be allowed to enter those stores. I would atleast invite some very condescending looks. So peace. Maybe, I should review this sometime. Sometime. Beer and Wine review. I am guessing it would be very popular.
2) La Parfum - This is an expensive habit. One bottle of those chemicals sears a 50$ hole in your wallet. So, I thought, 'Hmm..Me in France..France=Parfum..So..why not some Parfum'. So, whenever I went to the mall, I used to drop by this store called Sephora (excellent store, amazing range, about 60m of wall space, just perfume, the US sucks) and try out the colognes. The aim was, try out all the colognes and eventually purchase. The best. Le meilleur. Which one did I buy:
Givency pour Homme by Givenchy -> Pour moi. But forcibly 'donated' to bro.
This kind of started it. Since then I have found a number of excuses to gift my friends and myself perfume. So, I bought -
Polo by Ralph Lauren -> My bro
Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani -> My other bro. And to a friend. Actually, my brother kindly decided that I should give it to him when I accidently broke the Givenchy bottle (which I had given him btw).
L'Eau Bleu by Issey Miyake -> Pour moi
Eternity by Calvin Klein -> Pour moi
A result of all these purchases and extensive trials (and tribulations) of other sundry brands has given me this extremely vague ability - I know an embarassingly large amount of information on perfumes. Woody, sharp, fruity, fresh. Day, casual, formal, night. I can tell any cologne. I can give expert advice. "Ahh..Hmm..You should go for a blah". I am fully aware that this a totally useless skill. Now, if I could name female perfumes - ahhh!
1) Le Vin - The wine. So, I used to go to this grocery store opposite my dorm and buy a different variety every couple of days. Ok, every weekend. I am not a alchoholic. 6 euros for some very decent wine. So, not a very expensive pursuit to have. Yeah, there is stuff for 200 euros, but I wouldn't be allowed to enter those stores. I would atleast invite some very condescending looks. So peace. Maybe, I should review this sometime. Sometime. Beer and Wine review. I am guessing it would be very popular.
2) La Parfum - This is an expensive habit. One bottle of those chemicals sears a 50$ hole in your wallet. So, I thought, 'Hmm..Me in France..France=Parfum..So..why not some Parfum'. So, whenever I went to the mall, I used to drop by this store called Sephora (excellent store, amazing range, about 60m of wall space, just perfume, the US sucks) and try out the colognes. The aim was, try out all the colognes and eventually purchase. The best. Le meilleur. Which one did I buy:
Givency pour Homme by Givenchy -> Pour moi. But forcibly 'donated' to bro.
This kind of started it. Since then I have found a number of excuses to gift my friends and myself perfume. So, I bought -
Polo by Ralph Lauren -> My bro
Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani -> My other bro. And to a friend. Actually, my brother kindly decided that I should give it to him when I accidently broke the Givenchy bottle (which I had given him btw).
L'Eau Bleu by Issey Miyake -> Pour moi
Eternity by Calvin Klein -> Pour moi
A result of all these purchases and extensive trials (and tribulations) of other sundry brands has given me this extremely vague ability - I know an embarassingly large amount of information on perfumes. Woody, sharp, fruity, fresh. Day, casual, formal, night. I can tell any cologne. I can give expert advice. "Ahh..Hmm..You should go for a blah". I am fully aware that this a totally useless skill. Now, if I could name female perfumes - ahhh!
18 comments:
I got a tiny bottle of Calvin as a gift from my sis.. one wiff and I was down with fever for a week.. that stuff is strong and I am allergic to it.. fruity smell...
Oh great one ! which parfum would you recommend ?
.. pick by the slender stem, notice the full body, gauge the intensity, the blush, swirl, inhale the aroma, tilt and hold to the lips .. douceur de vivre ... romancing the Caberet Sauvignon Bordeaux ...
Woo hoooo @ Ramani
c'est magnifique!! French wine n parfum!!
For me, French wine anytime triumps over Scott whiskey or German beer (dont like whiskey-beer anyways)... Special nights with close companion and wine extraordinaire... recipe for everlasting memories!!!
... and perfumes I love!!! Never very fond of jewelleries, but perfumes wow me and have delightfully collected a selection: Chanel No.5, Paco, Addiction, Poison, Nina Ricci, Samsara, Givenchy, Opium, Talisman ...
... But dont French "Impressionists" painters impress you ??? Chicago Art Museum has a fantastic collection of masterpieces by Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Degar, Marisot, Caillebotte ... I've visited it so many times, almost memorised their arrangement ....
here's raising to ...
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite ...
*intern
Scott or Scotch?
nice blog! came here blog hopping
A perfume expert! Hah! Put it on your resume! And use it to impress girls..
-SP
[vc] Axe etc are ok but cheap perfumes in shady bottles = very intolerable..it reminds of some very irritating classmates i had in school who used to dump half a bottle of it on themselves before coming to class...
[intern] wow..you sure know a lot..wine is great..though essentially you are getting drunk..you get drunk feeling classy and refined..
I have sampled poison, opium and chanel no 5....mostly unused bottles from my mom that i have much misused..
Actually, painting. That's a topic I would like to write about sometime. I haven't been to the Chicago Museum. I have been to the Met and a fair number of ones in Europe. All the painters that you mention are French.
The most conspicuous characteristic of Impressionism was an attempt to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and colour. This was a movement that come out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This school was followed by the modernists who concentrated on abstraction. Capture the essence of the picture versus a faithful reproduction of all details. Cubists. Picasso.
It is interesting to note that, before impressionism, there was a version of 'modernism', i.e. abstraction. Van Gogh's work for example. His broad wild brush strokes tried more to capture emotion than details. The eternal question. Facts or feelings. If you have the time read 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone. It's a biography of his life much recommended to me by my grandfather. Another book : 'Agony and the Ecstacy', again by Irving Stone that documents the life of Michealangelo. Both are wonderful.
Along this same line of cyclic trends, there is an observation that was made on Skirt lengths. They seemed to go up and down every decade or so. Longer. Shorter. Every generation want's to be differeent from the previous. So long becomes short and short becomes long.
[kickasso] thanks!
[SP] heh...i could put it on my resume..the question is getting girls..then getting them to read it he he he he
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism
Some links.
WoW Ramani,
That's a commendable commentary on Impressionists n modern painters. Thumps UP!!!
Actually, I had written a series of SMALL compositions on "Chicago"; covering briefly its history, architecture, gang-wars, music (blues/jazz), movies ... and in the process "Art Institute of Chicago"; which is famous for collection of painting by French Impressionists!!!
So I had studied a bit on art ...
You highlighted some features of IMPRESSIONISM ..
Just to add:
- It was a break from tradition; in the sense prior to this; there was "Academic Art"; typified by large, formal paintings depicting biblical, mythological or historical event. But mpressionist choose informal outdoor subjects and scaled down the size of the work ...
- The name "Impressionism" comes from attempt to capture the impressions of light falling on objects and colors produced by this light ... (Classic example: Monet's water-lilies!!!)
- Another feature is small "noticeable" brush strokes ...
Then ofcourse; "Impressionist" as art form developed in France (in around 1860-90's) and different painters had their own unique styles, like Monet more popular for waterlilies; Degas for Ballarinas; Toulouse-Lautrec for Moulin Rouge; Gauguin for Caribbean women .....
After Impressionism, came other art-movements like:
- Expressionism (Van Gogh - Dutch);
- Cubism (Picasso -Spanish)
- Surrealism (Salvador Dali - Spain)
- Abstract (Jackson Pollock - American; Klandensky - Russian)
... and many others ...
*I
Ramani,
that post of yours (on artists) really made me happy ...
You mentioned VanGogh and Picasso..
.. two of my fav. painters.
I've collected a lot of picture-postcards of Gogh's famous paintings ... sunflowers, starry-night n ofcourse self-portraits. I read somewhere that when Gogh coudnt afford models for his paintings he started his series of self-portrait ....
... but its Picasso I find most versatile and most innovative; his Blue-period; rose-period, cubism...
... amazing...
*I
Ramani,
that post of yours (on artists) really made me happy ...
You mentioned VanGogh and Picasso..
.. two of my fav. painters.
I've collected a lot of picture-postcards of Gogh's famous paintings ... sunflowers, starry-night n ofcourse self-portraits. I read somewhere that when Gogh coudnt afford models for his paintings he started his series of self-portrait ....
... but its Picasso I find most versatile and most innovative; his Blue-period; rose-period, cubism...
... amazing...
*I
oops.....i double clicked,
plz delete privious n this post!!!
[intern] i know little bit here little bit there :D. you do know quite a bit! i remember seeing some gaugin painting of some dark girl. i always wondered why a french guy would paint carribean women..hmm..
Salvadore dali is quite famous..I think he kind of sold himself out to photography..there is a photo of him jumping..with a few cats and bucket water...great photo...
i don't know so much about Picasso..but Van Gogh I do..
Well, he was poor for much of his life. He lived in poverty. I hardly think he used models. Even the models he used were incidental. The 'Potato Eaters' is one of his famous early works. It's a bunch of people eating their dinner. These were actually farmers who lived close to where he was. He could scarcely afford real models.
The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam has the most amazing collection of Van Gogh paintings. They have collected most of his work. A full building, devoted to Van Gogh and his life and work. Wonderful place!
You would note that after the 1700's no one really touched upon religion and religious subjects. Maybe because the culture changed. At an early time a lot of art was commisiouned by the Church. Then by Kings. Hence portraits. After, that by the common man who was looking for beauty. Thats my 2 pence. Maybe I am talking crap!
Since you mention Art Institute of Chic and the musuem, I must go for it the next time I go to Chicago.
Comeon Ramani, that was brilliant!!! What makes you think you're talking crap ??? Infact that was quite an enlightening bit on Van Gogh, and I admire you for having seen his originals in Amsterdam ... The most interesting way to learn is to see it ... and since you're in Illinois, I'll highly recommend The Art Museum of Chicago ... It has two halls devoted to Picasso !!!
But when in Chicago ... quite near Art Museum (5 minutes drive) is the Adler Planetarium .. which is AWESOME!!! Another bonus it's cafeteria with one of the best views of Lakeside Chicago!!!
*I
Oh Acqua di Gio is cool. I just bought it like 3 weeks back :)
-Moz
[intern] thanks for that intern. i am seeing this after a long time. totally forgot you had commented here. i am going there this weekend. hmm...i need to find out where all these museuems are...i need to take your advice on Chicago..I would eventually like to go to all these places..
[moz] hi moz. yeah it's nice. hmm..for interviews huh?? :D
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