iPhone photography: Black Swan

Perfectionism and passion in Black Swan, a film about ballet, competition and nervous breakdown, now playing at the Grand in Stockholm. Here’s a quote about creativity from the movie that I find inspiring:

iPhone photography: Cinema Grand

Speaking of passion, I love old movie theatres! The atmosphere, the details and the anticipation that the cinema environment builds for the film. Grand opened in in 1933 and was the creation of architect Björn Hedvall and artist Gunnar Torhamn. The Grand has become known for being the cinema that prime minister Olof Palme visited with his wife just before he was assassinated in 1986.

iPhone photography: Film stars. Baker, Crawford, Garbo and Wong

The doors to the auditorium are adorned with film stars in intarsia. Symbolising four continents; Josephine Baker represents Africa, Joan Crawford America, Greta Garbo Europe and Anna May Wong symbolises Asia.

iPhone photography: Statue. The Grand. Stockholm.

This statue in the auditorium comes to life as the lights get dim, and casts dramatic shadows on the piece.

iPhone photography: Curtain at cinema Grand

The globe on these cinema curtains continues the theme of international film that runs throughout the design of the movie theatre. Who is the figure holding the spotlight? Could it be Theia, the Titan goddess of sight (thea) and shining light of the clear blue sky (aithre)? The mother of Eos (Dawn), Helius (the Sun), and Selene (the Moon). The goddess of light?

iPhone photography: A bare tree and blue sky.

There has been four hours of sunlight in November… no wonder I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather! I was sort of glad to get it in black and white today, just to know that I wasn’t imagining it! SMHI (the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) reported that so far, there have been four hours of sunlight in Stockholm during November. The average apparently is 54 hours of sunlight.

But today it was sunny and the sky was blue! So in one single day there was more sunlight than there has been for the rest of the whole month!

Tomorrow a rain and snowstorm is predicted, and the rest of November is expected to be scarce on sunlight, so of course I had to go for a long walk today! I took lots of photos with the camera in my mobile phone, most didn’t come out very well as I was perusing birds, and they don’t tend to pose and smile at the camera!

Today the French theme took off again. First a stop at the absolutely wonderful café and restaurant Petite France, (check out the baker Sebastien Boudet’s delicious blog Un peu, beaucoup, passionement, à la folie) for café au lait and croissants, Pain au Chocolat. Then past the City Hall, through the Old Town ending up at the cinema Victoria and Coco Before Chanel (to see a movie trailer click here).

What an inspiring day!

iPhone photography: The Victoria Cinema

The Skandia Cinema, Stockholm, Sweden

Yesterday I watched Julie and Julia (here’s a link to the trailer) with my mum. It’s a delightful, witty and sensual film about passion, obsession and lots of butter!

New York blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams) spends a year cooking and blogging her way through Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. This meant that Julie had 365 days to cook 524 recipes from the classic cookbook that introduced the French cuisine to America documenting the process in her blog The Julie/Julia Project.

What I adore about Julie and Julia is the joie de vivre, the zest for life, the passion that infuses Julia! I’m so fed up with artists in film and literature portrayed as tormented, miserable, paying a price, victims of their past or current times, that it was refreshing with the description of Julia Child’s creativity as a passion for life. A joy. Julia loves cooking, she loves her husband, she loves writing, she loves Paris and she loves life. First and foremost. Then she becomes famous. That’s delicious, sublime! As Julia would say: Bon appétit!

Melting butter