Hello everyone! I’m finally on holiday! I can’t believe it! This year has been really intense and stressful, especially at work, and I really couldn’t wait to have some time for myself. I want to relax and be myself for a couple weeks… and maybe finalise a few things.
And hey! At the end of August, I’m going to Oxford to see the exhibition “Tolkien – Maker of Middle-earth”. I’m all over the place with myself! I can’t wait!
And since on the 30th of August The Fall of Gondolin is coming out, I’m afraid this is going to be a very tolkienite month. So bear with me while I fan-girl all the way through. I still remember this is a 1920s oriented blog and I am indeed working on that side too, so don’t lose faith in me.
Besides, I’ll be honest, I don’t feel guilty. Tolkien presents so many themes and subjects that are close to my heart and that I try to include in my own work. So it is not as off-topic as it might sound, right?
Let’s go with the Gang Roundup!
WARNING: If you notice a few awkwardnesses in this post, it’s because I’m testing WordPress new editor Gutenberg. It is pretty awesome, but it’s still in beta version and as all new things, it takes getting accustomed to. For example, I know the first of the videos below looks like broken, but I promise if you click on the red arrow, it will work.
Last month, the author of On a Cold Dark Sea, Elizabeth Blackwell was a guest on this blog with a post about the Titanic and the influence and fascination it still holds on us.
In preparing her post, I had a good look around for images and videos and I found so much more than what I used on the post. Fascinating subject indeed, the Titanic.
So I though I might as well share my other finds with you here. Enjoy!
Titanic departure (real video 1912)
I love era images and I love that the era I’m most involved with already offered film footage. Luckily, already in the 1910s, films were available for big social events like the first sailing of the biggest luxury liner ever built.
Titanic: 103 years later, Passenger Stories Continue to Haunt Us
As Elizabeth recounted in her novel, passengers had a very different treatment – as well as a different chance at survival – depending on the class they belonged to.
This article esplores just that, through the lives of three survivors, each belonging to a different class.
Titanic: 40 fascinating facts about the ship
There are a lot of surprising facts about the Titanic, both known and less so. Some of them may well be urban legends (besides, that’s what a lot of the Titanic lore is made of), but other are just little known facts.
Here you’ll find info about the liner, stories of the passengers and the night of the sinking. It’s a diverse gathering of information. Quite fascinating.
19 Creepy Pictures From The Titanic Before it Sank
An incredible tour of the ship. No wonder it was so famous even before her sinking. This was an entire world recreated on a liner.
25 Fotografie dello Street Style nei Ruggenti Anni ’20
Such a nice collection of ‘street fashion’ from the 1920s and around the world.
I love street photos. They always give me that sensation of everyday life that I seldom find in other kinds of photos. And the 1920s fashion is awesome, so I can really ask for any better than this.
Mary Todd Lincoln, Spiritualist
I knrew that Spiritualism was particularly popular in the second half of the XIX century, but I never knew that Licoln’s wife was so involved in it, and less so that this involvement might have been somehow influential to American history.
This is a fascinating article, well researched, more concerned with the social influence of Spiritualism than whether it was any genuine or not.
So, this is it for this month.
No book section here because I mean to do a separate post for that. You know, it’s summer. No better time to do some quality reading.
So many novels set in the 1920s are coming out, and no surprise, since we’re getting closer to the Twenties again. It’s a fascinating time in history and I’m excited that is receiving this much interest.
6 Comments
JOHN T. SHEA
Thanks to Elizabeth Blackwell and yourself for all this, Sarah! I’ll need to take an hour or two off to savour it. I’ll put it down to research as my WIP is largely set on a huge ocean liner, which hits an iceberg, but survives!
Incidentally, I wonder why the names of the tugboats are all scratched out in the departure video?
jazzfeathers
Of course, John. What wouldn’t we do in the name of research 😉
Hilary
Hi Sarah – enjoy your holiday and then Oxford and Tolkein – wish I was in England now … but still other things to amuse me. Have a wonderful time – cheers Hilary
jazzfeathers
Thanks Hilary. I’ve booked a day of all things Tolkien in Oxford. Can’t wait!
Margot Kinberg
Have a wonderful holiday, Sarah! I hope you’ll richly enjoy Oxford and Tolkien… Thanks for sharing these great links, too. Lots of wonderful things to explore. I’ll be interested, to, to know whether you think the new editor works.
jazzfeathers
I find the new editore as a whole to be pretty awesome… if you don’t need to do anythign particular with it.
If you only write tex with a few elements thrown in, it work pretty good, but if you try to arrange the page as you most prefer, it becomes more difficult. I’m having a hard time creating my Thursday Quotables post this morning, and I might need to switch back to the old editor.