Period Dramas: my favourite films and television series

I love a good period drama. Nothing quite like snuggling down on a cold night with a bowl of popcorn, a copious amount of chocolate and a cat or two for some good ol' period drama time. This post is just a little list of my favourite period films and television series, you've all probably watched or heard of these by now, but maybe it's time to get them back out for your next movie night?

Films:

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

If you haven't heard the name Pride and Prejudice before now I will have to assume that you've been living under a rock (I'm joking.. but seriously?). Pride and Prejudice is often considered the creme de' lá creme of period dramas. Set in the beginning of the early nineteenth century Pride and Prejudice is based upon the novel by Jane Austen and directed by Joe Wright. This film focuses on the Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) and how her and her family deal with issues of marriage, romance, misconceptions and morality. A must watch if you want to get into your period dramas! 

Marie Antoinette (2006)

I love this film so much. I know it's not exactly and accurate depiction of Marie Antoinette, but that will not stop my love for this film. Directed by the whimsical Sofia Coppola this film stars the adorable Kirsten Dunst as none other than Marie Antoinette and loosely follows the story of her life as Queen, in the years leading up to the French revolution. Ensure gal pals and cake are in easy reach when you watch this film, the cakes and other delicate pastries will have you drooling with envy... along with the incredible set designs and flawless gorgeous costumes!

Atonement (2007)
Oh look, another film directed by Joe Wright starring the stunning Keira Knightly (the third being Anna Karenina, another period drama you might want to check out?) and James McAvoy (Side note: who else is really getting seriously excited for X:MEN Days of Future Past!? I know I am!). Atonement is a romance drama film, so if you're not into romance maybe you should skip this one (along with Pride and Prejudice). Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is a thirteen year old aspiring novelist caught up in the complicated relationship between her elder sister Cecillia and Robbie Turner. A film about romance, war, crime and it's consequences, this is another staple in the period drama category.

Becoming Jane (2007)

We wouldn't have Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice to cry over if it wasn't for Jane Austen. Becoming Jane is a film based on the life of Jane Austen (portrayed by the beautiful Anna Hathaway) and her early life and journey to becoming one of the worlds most renowned writers. We learn of her complicated relationship with Thomas Langlois Lefroy (portrayed by James McAvoy- is it just me or do James and Keira Knightly constantly make appearances in period dramas?) and what influences her to begin her fulfilling career. A perfect mix of romance and inspirational girl power this film is not one to miss.

Television:

Parades End (2012)

If you're watching this series please have a box of tissues or two at the ready. Parades End is a miniseries (only five episodes) based on the novels by Ford Maddox Ford. Christopher Tietjens (portrayed by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch, though I promise, that is not why I love this series so much- though it is a contributing factor) is an old fashioned man married to the bitter Sylvia (portrayed by Rebecca Hall who then went on to be cast in Iron Man 3 and Transcendence alongside Johnny Depp!). Typically enough, Christopher's world is turned around when he stumbles upon the young Valentine Wannop (portrayed by Australia's own Adelaide Clemens), a young suffragette during the beginnings of World War 1. I feel as though this short description does not give Parades End the love that it deserves, but I wouldn't want to spoilt anything for you, you'll just have to go and watch this short master piece for yourself!

Downton Abbey (2010 - )
I couldn't not have Downton Abbey on this list. I'm ashamed to say that I'm quite late to join the Downton Abbey following- as I only started watching from the very beginning at the start of this year, but I'm so glad that I made that wise decision! With four seasons to get emotionally invested in it's no surprise so many people have gotten obsessed with this series. The beautiful landscape of Yorkshire and the incredible architecture of Downton Abbey will have you longing to move to the English countryside. I promise you won't get bored with this series and it really is as addictive and emotionally captivating as everyone says!

So are you ready for a movie night or what? What's your favorite period drama?- film or other wise! I would love to hear some recommendations!

Thank you for reading, love Maddie xoxo

General chit-chat & meeting Benedict Cumberbatch!

Hey there everyone! Long time no talk!

Sorry we've been a bit MIA the past two weeks or so... a lot has been happening! (This is going to be a lengthy post so prepare yourself with some sweets or something and get comfortable).

Firstly, we've both been crazy busy and overwhelmed with university assessment. As much as I would love to have a post up on this blog every single week, it was not possible for us at this time (sorry guys!). We've only got one more day of university before our mid-semester break (which is only for a week :c ) but hopefully we will blog a little more regularly soon! 

We also turned eighteen on the second of April. I felt quite a few mixed emotions but  had a generally lovely day! I didn't party or go out or anything (eighteen is the legal drinking age here in Australia) because we both had uni that Wednesday and I had uni all day the following Thursday. It still feels pretty weird to be considered an 'adult' but I'm not sure if I will ever get used to that feeling. 

I usually always spend my birthday or an occasion such as Christmas with this dreaded feeling of guilt. Our mum loves giving gifts and spoiling us and she gets very excited and I always feel horribly guilty for the entire day because I always feel like I don't deserve her kindness! This year things were a little slower and calmer which was lovely and Tayla and I were lucky enough to receive tickets to what OZ Comic-con called "The Cumberbatch Experience" that was to be held in Sydney on the 12th and 13th of April! I was so excited! Whilst we didn't have very good seats at the time (meaning I would miss out on a photo/autograph token) I was still over the moon to be able to see Benedict Cumberbatch in real life! I've been a fan of his since the first season of Sherlock (I'm a hardcore Cumberbitch, if you will) and could not believe this was happening! Literally two months before I had been re-watching Sherlock season three with my parents and we were chatting about how I would probably never get too meet him!

Fast forward one week to Wednesday the ninth of April when my dad received a call from OZ Comic-con. Turns out they double-booked our tickets for the Saturday session and as we had booked our tickets first they wanted to move us to the Sunday session with improved seats and free tickets to OZ Comic-con in Sydney in September (remember this was just an event held by OZ Comic-con.. not actual Oz Comic-con)! Naturally, we agreed and I could not wait until we flew out on Saturday for the event! 

On Saturday the 12th we woke up bright and early (4AM to be exact) to get ready for our 6:30AM flight to Sydney. I love travelling but I hate flying and I could not wait to get off of that plane and onto Sydney soil. Once we arrived we ventured into the city for a day of shopping and relaxing. I'm not going to lie, Tayla and I went quite crazy in American Apparel and ZARA, simply because they are two stores we don't have here where we live. We eventually returned to our hotel room for our nanna-naps before venturing back out for dinner that night. With out bellies full and out coats wrapped tight (it was freezing in Sydney) we returned to the hotel and I fell asleep almost instantly. 

Then it was the big day! Tayla and I stuffed our faces with delicious pancakes after waking up pretty early with excitement for the day. We packed up our things before jumping in the car we had rented for the weekend and then made our way to The University of New South Wales which is where the event was held. Once we had our tickets we made our way inside where a lovely volunteer directed us to our seats. We were so surprised to find out that we had been placed in the VIP area (thank you Comic-con!) and were in the fourth row! Because we were in the VIP area, photo and autograph tokens were sold to us right away so we didn't have to worry about missing out on the opportunity to meet Benedict! The morning was pretty slow as each row (rows A through to V) had to have a turn at buying tokens until they were sold out and the same process was used for photos and autographs.

When it was our turn for photos I looked like a right mess! I couldn't stop shaking and when the line was close enough that I could see him I nearly flipped out and I was blushing like the crazy lady that I am. When he finished up with the person before us, he turned and smiled at Tayla and I before asking if we were twins (this always happens when we meet a celebrity at a convention... even with Oliver and James Phelps!) and we laughed before shakily replying with yes. He smiled again (swoons) before he motioned for us to take the photograph. I have got to say that the man smelt lovely. Not to be a creeper but I guarantee you would do the same when you have a photo opportunity with a celebrity. He is also a lot shorter than I expected (some of my friends would definitely be much taller than him) but his cheekbones and eyes were perfect! He also had seriously amazing skin... I was so tempted to ask about his skin care routine and the photos from the event do not even do it justice (he is also a lot paler than he appears in photos)! We had the photo and I felt like my face was going to rip in half with how hard I was smiling (his hand was on my hair *heavy-breathing*). He thanked us for coming and we in turn thanked him for coming to Australia before we were asked by security to move along for the next person.

We then had a fair few hours to wait before the autograph session. The OZ Comic-con organisers had organised various youtube videos and interviews of Benedict (frequently featuring Tom Hiddleston) to play in the theatre whilst we waited but having already watched these interviews and videos before (I just can't help myself) I was pretty bored. After a long wait it was autograph time! Unfortunately only one person was allowed per autograph token (we were not aware of this when we bought our token) so Tayla was kind enough to let me go and get Benedict's autograph. I lined up with the other people from row D and I started getting all nervous again (it sounds so silly but I couldn't help it!) and the line was moving a lot slower than the photograph line. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with all of his fans and he honestly looked so overwhelmed and delighted by the response he was getting from everyone. By the time it was my turn I placed my autograph-paper-thingy on his table where he looked at my name (our names were placed on sticky-notes so we didn't have to try and tell him how to spell them) and he looked up at me. He must have noticed that I was holding the photograph that we had hours earlier because he asked where my sister was. I told him that the volunteers wouldn't let her come with me and his smile dropped and he said "I'm so sorry Maddison" and I nearly screamed/passed-out/melted into a puddle right then and there. I told him it was okay and he signed my autograph before looking back up at me and asking how I'd enjoyed the day. I told him it had been amazing before asking how he had enjoyed his day. He smiled and said "It's been tiresome but fantastic, thank you for asking. You're the first to ask today" I'm sure he would have been asked that many times throughout the rest of the day but because I was in the fourth row it really was a possibility that I was the first to ask him. I blushed like crazy and smiled before he thanked me again for coming and I was asked to move along by security. 

The wait for the panel to start was even longer than the wait for autographs. The autographs ran over time (because he wanted to get through everyone and made sure no-one that bought a token missed out) and it wasn't until 5pm before he was finished (my autograph would have been at about 2pm). He had a quick fifteen minute break (the poor guy must have been so tired after posing for over 1000 photos and signing over 1000 autographs all weekend) before the panel began. The panel was amazing (I apologise if some of my quotes are wrong or in the wrong order but I was a little over-excited and didn't pay as much attention to the questions he was asked as I should have). He entered from a door towards the back of the stage and he had his iphone right up to the microphone where he played a Daft-Punk song whilst dancing to his seat. The crowd loved it and he got everyone up dancing before telling us that we had just taken part in some illegal dancing (the gifs are all over Tumblr right now if you're interested some great footage can be seen here and the back of my head is in it!). Soon the lady in charge brought him out a glass of wine and he goes "YEA! Thank you so much. I haven't had a glass of that for..uh..these two weeks!" We all laughed before he got onto the first question which was about preparing for his role as James in Third Star. He answered in depth and we already noticed that he can get distracted and go off topic very easily but his answer was very thoughtful and he thought about what he would say before saying it. I found that the majority of his questions were similar to the first and were about his various roles and how he approached them. We were lucky enough to get his doing his famous Alan Rickman impressions (more than once actually) and he also did a little Khan and Smaug which had the crowd going wild (he normally hates doing his Smaug voice in a panel). He also told us that his favourite childhood movies were the Ghostbusters, the original Star Wars trilogy and Indiana Jones. He also shared with us that the famous 'riding-crop' incident (a fan supposedly sent a riding-crop to him after the first season of Sherlock) and he admitted that he later found that it was sent from Tom Hiddleston as a practical joke. He was asked what the most embarrassing song on his phone was and he sang the beginning of Puff the Magic Dragon under his breath. The last of what I remember really well was him talking about his role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game (I'm so excited for this film as I think Benedict Cumberbatch working alongside Keira Knightly is a winning combination). He mentioned that he personally thinks that Alex actually took his own life (this film is based off of a real person for those of you that don't know) and he has attempted to portray that in this film. He didn't swear as much as I expected (watch videos of him at other panels and you will understand) and he really was generous with his lengthy, detailed answers. He was eventually told to have one more question and he managed to get three more questions answered before the organiser told him that he really did have to leave. You could tell that he was very genuine and he really did want to spend as much time as he could with his fans. 

All in all the experience was amazing! I still feel like it never happened and I also can't believe that it did. I'm so envious of the VIPs that got to go to the meet and greet and have dinner with him afterwards, but I was so lucky to get to meet him in the first place. 

Sorry for such a lengthy post about me fan-girling over a middle-aged man and I'm sure this was a lot of nonsense to those of you that either aren't a fan of Benedict or if you simply don't care! 

Thank you so much to those of you that read this post! Talk to you all soon, love from Maddie xoxo.