The R.M.S. Titanic hits an iceberg and the 20th Century will never be the same.
Imagine how different 1997 would have been without this megalith of a movie hitting the screens?We might not even have the same Kate or Leo we have today?! Winter of 1997/98 wouldn’t have been consumed by 12 theatre viewings of “TITANIC”!!!
We shudder to think . . .
+TITANIC 4 LIFE +
On a serious note; I’m not sure what it is about this majestic ship that has always captured my imagination. I’m guessing its a mixture of the Edwardian elegance, decadence, and grandeur of the ship – the microcosm of society contained within it – and the hubris of the upper echelon whose powers control the world to this day, and the tragedy that ensued as a result.
There are many many many fascinating details regarding this ship, but perhaps the most stimulating aspect of the Titanic’s untimely fate is that it was predicted 14 years earlier by a pulp novella entitled The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility which I was lucky to read before the film had even been in production.
Talk about psychic premonitions; author Morgan Robertson (also the self proclaimed inventor of the periscope) chillingly predicts much of the Titanic’s destiny with his fictional telling of an enormous “unsinkable” triple screw British luxury ocean liner named the S.S. TITAN which meets its untimely demise on a cold April night in the North Atlantic after it hits an iceberg losing almost everyone on board due to a lack of lifeboats.
CRAZY, RIGHT?! This is 14 years before the infamous disaster! Designs for Titanic‘s sister ship didn’t even go into production until 1908. How was it that Morgan Robertson could right a tale so shockingly similar to the Titanic’s actual events. Was he psychic? Was it planned?
TIME TRAVEL???
The whole thing is absolutely incredible, and definitely worth looking more into.
Writers of ‘HAIR’ Gerome Ragni (L), Galt Macdermot (C), and James Rado (R)
If you know us, you know that our tagline in life and business both is “Escape the Everyday” . . . and as of late, we have been living out this philosophy not only in our day to day conjuring our many style spirits who help us guide our way through our destiny, but journeying into the past performing in Hamilton Theatre Inc.‘s production of “HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”!
Aaron is “Woof” and Paul is an exciting, fun member of the Tribe, and having the chance to bring this iconic piece of art to life has been a rejuvenating, invigorating, and educating experience.
Before production began, we had been doing tons of research on the original show, its history, and the time period it portrays (a tribe of hippies in 1968 New York City) in preparation for designing costumes for the production, which then inspired the decision to be an even more involved cog in the wheel.
For three months our cast and crew have worked tirelessly to ignite the fire that initially made ‘HAIR’ such a phenomenon almost fifty years ago. Here’s some photos from TIME magazine before the original show hit the Broadway stage:
Ironically, the anti-establishment ‘HAIR’ became one of the biggest mainstream successes of Broadway history, and also brought this alternative culture to the masses in a huge way.
Before there was even a barometer of “hippie” style, ‘HAIR’ put its stamp on the vibe with designs by iconic costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge (best known for her Academy Award winning designs for 1974’s ‘The Great Gatsby’).
We use the word “timeless” a lot in this forum, but the word could not be more appropriately paired with this show.
Today, our world is as chaotic and confused as ever; and ‘HAIR’ fights against this conflict with love, happiness, and perhaps, utopian ideals that might never truly win the fight, but at least, keep the fight going.
Tickets are selling fast, so if you are local, do visit the website and order them ASAP. If you can’t see us in person, we encourage you to feel the vibe anyway, and enjoy this wicked quality video of the 1968 West Coast cast of ‘Hair’ performing some of the show’s iconic jams on the “Smother Brothers” show.
The question of time travel is a query as old as time itself.
And while science struggles to bring to the forefront the pure mechanics of it all, lucky individuals throughout the centuries have inexplicably found themselves doing the time warp.
Indeed, countless stories of men and women lost between the vortex of the past, present, and future have erupted throughout history (you might remember our story on the Time Travelling Hipster), making the questions all the more difficult to answer in the end.
Take for instance Miss Charlotte Moberly, the headmistress of an Oxford college, and her strange and most unusual tale. . .
It was August 10, 1901 and Miss Moberly had taken the afternoon to visit the palace of Versailles with her good friend, Miss Eleanor Jourdan, only to curiously find themselves, while wondering through the palace’s vast and elaborately decorated corridors, beginning to see many people dress in clothes of the 18th Century – including what Miss Moberly would swear was the late, great, Marie Anotinette. They recounted feeling dreamy and depressed, and their surroundings as flat and unnatural.
Everything suddenly looked unnatural, therefore unpleasant; even the trees seemed to become flat and lifeless, like wood worked in tapestry. There were no effects of light and shade, and no wind stirred the trees.
It then seems as quickly as they found themselves interacting with these ghosts of the past, they were brought back to the present day, ending off their visit with a cup of tea at the Hotel des Reservoirs, and not mentioning it again until several months later when they began to research more heavily into the incident.
No parties were booked on that day, and they found that many of the landmarks they had seen were in fact missing from the present day layout of the palace. The two would publish their tale in a book entitled An Adventure, which was released in 1911 with much praise by various Paranormal societies.
It is a mystery unsolved to this day.
Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein’s general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.
– Stephen Hawking.
This is just one of many incidents throughout history that people have claimed to somehow slip through the borders of the present to live through the past, and sometimes even the future. There are little to no explanations to how these strange events occur, and perhaps its better off there never be. This phenomenon is known as a Time Slip.
Dating back thousands of years, stories of time travellers run amuck throughout world culture, and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. Who knows how many people have taken the opportunity to slip through the sands of time, and exist completely somewhere else as someone else. How long could this last for?
With future knowledge, these individuals might be set to live their life in a much more bountiful and exuberant way by leaving the present to stake claim on the past. Perhaps this is why man has always taken interest in this idea.
I mean, what better advantage in life would you have if you could simply turn back the clock and erase your mistakes? Stop wars. Cure diseases. But where would we be now if this was to happen?
That’s the thing about the past. We wouldn’t be without it. So to change it, could be very dangerous. . .
Maybe time is a much more powerful entity that can pick and choose as it pleases whom it takes on its journey. Perhaps like any skill, it just takes some practice and training to accomplish. One things for sure, if we were part of the Time Traveller’s Academy, we’d be doing just fine, dressed to nines, looking spiffy in all that vintage clothing the past has to offer.
That’s why we decided to look back, and make it a mission to curate some images of the initiates who may have indeed slipped through the fragile barriers of past, present, and future. For selfish reasons, or style reasons, these are our friends who have locked themselves in the realms of history. What is their mission? What do they hope to find? Will they ever be free?
It’s hard to believe that this photo was taken all the way back in 1938.
I guess, I shouldn’t say “back” per se. Time has been proven to exist on a much more complex framework than the linear notions we have applied to our understanding of this concept – this so called “Time”.
If you look at a snapshot like this, you start to see the layers of time, and that in fact, this past- this 1938 – still exists right now in this moment with us today. It will also exist far into the future, which in turn, is also with us today, and waiting simply to unfold before us.
Everything about them is as relevant today, as it was, and in fact, almost breaks the mould of “normality” in the present sense, and is a look that fashion insiders might like to describe as pushing the boundaries of style to a more laid back, casual-cool. This has always been a preferred style for myself, as it doesn’t require very much effort, but looks eternally good.
It just takes the right nonchalant classic pieces to make it work. Stripes always work (as you can see). Love t-shirts with pockets, also. Finding the right drape is good. You want it fitted, but I like a little slouch in everything I wear for two reasons: 1. comfort, and 2. it just looks damn good that way.
I think my favourite elements, however, are in the hair (wild), and the goggles on the guy to the right of the photograph. Quirky accessories like this, make a look truly rockin’ !
85-year old French movie star Emanuelle Riva, star of this year’s unapologetic future classic “Amour“, is already making history as the oldest Actress to be nominated in her category at this year’s Academy Awards, and might just be going on to make history again if she wins- making her the oldest Actress to win the Best Actress trophy ever (beating Jessica Tandy’s record back in 1990 for the film “Driving Miss Daisy” at the age of 81).
“I am truly happy, touched, and honored to receive, today in New York, a nomination for the role of Anne in AMOUR by Michael Haneke. For me, it is an immense gift, at this stage of my life, to be chosen by my sisters and brothers, for what I do as an actress. I never thought, while working throughout the years in Europe and France, that one day, i would cross the Atlantic Ocean, come to the United States, and be nominated. It is quite surreal for me. Shooting AMOUR with Michael Haneke was a complete joy for me, as I felt an absolute trust in him and we were in complete synch. Michael is the very music of his own film.”
The film is nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Style enthusiasts will be excited to see what Ms. Riva busts onto the red carpet come the big night. But, just because of her age, don’t count her out on making an impression. She is French, after all.
But on top of that, she is a star that has been working in the industry overseas for decades upon decades.
Leave it to the Academy to wait until one of the most talented actresses there has ever been is 85 years old to garner a nomination. One of the first films that ever made a real impact on my style, and on my creative outlook was the 1959 art-house film classic, “Hiroshima, Mon Amour“, which aptly starred the beautiful blonde French bombshell (indeed, she was!).
The film was directed my Alain Resnais (“The Last Year At Marienbad“), and written by the novelist Margeurite Duras, in one of the most incredibly poetic screenplays ever written.
The film is fascinating as it travels in and out of the streets of Hiroshima, shot after the tragedy of the Atom bomb.
The film explores an interracial romance between Emanuelle Riva, a French Actress filming a war picture and her romance with the brilliantly handsome Eji Okada, and the culture clash that surrounds them in the beautiful ruins of the sad Japanese landmark.
The film is groundbreaking for the two as Eji Okada is given an almost European sophistication, not to mention a major dose of sex-appeal (something Asian men were not given in films at this time), and Emanuelle Riva bravely explores a plethora of conditions and situations as her character explores her past.
Emanuelle Riva shows off some major chops in this film – showing a range that could only be described as Award-worthy.
Sadly, the Academy was not up to snuff with their foreign film actresses, so it’s great today to see that so many talents from around the world are accepted into the limelight of fame and stardom no matter their age or race – what matters most is talent. And by gosh, does Emanuelle Riva have that!
She is an actress that deserves to be recognized, and whose beauty we are lucky to have been captured on film over sixty years ago . Granted, she is very beautiful still, even at 85 years of age, but it’s really great to glimpse the actress in her younger years, watching her take big risks and break huge grounds. If it weren’t for her risky performances in the past, there probably wouldn’t even be the possibility of the range we see now for female actors in the industry.
Beauty can be summed up in many ways, but most importantly, it is this attitude of unwillingness to coincide with the expectations of the norms that is the most beautiful aspect of any human being there can be.
Fingers crossed for Emanulle Riva come the big night (if not her, we’d love to see little Quevenzhane Wallis take the prize!).
Take a listen to this fantastic instrumental from the 1960s. We did, and ever since, we sure haven’t been the same…
From France, comes this cool retro beat that will get you on your feet! It’s hard not to dance once you hit play. Your Mojo will be bubbling and you will not be able to sit your ass down!
We had to share this one with you guys! We haven’t found TOO much information about this great instrumental, so we reckon’ maybe one of our readers will be enlightened and can enlighten US. In the meantime, enjoy this tune and some great pictures that danced their way into this post!
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