Last night I decided to re-watch 1958 movie A Night to Remember. It's on Youtube. There are many comparisons to Cameron's 1997 Titanic, even several scenes are almost duplicates of each other, but I think ANTR is the better movie, though Titanic is more visually stunning, as befits that ship. They are both good movies, each in their own way.
I went to a Nature Conservancy event in Naples FL in late '90s, & where the speaker was Titanic discoverer Bob Ballard. Ballard described how he found the ship, (look for the debris trail, which was bigger than the ship, and let the trail lead you TO the ship), & his career in oceanography in general, which is very interesting. His was one of the top two lectures I ever heard, simply thrilling. I remember the feeling of inspiration and fascination I felt to this day, 20 years later. To hear it first hand just as the movie came out was amazing! It really was one of the top moments in my memory bank.
The James Cameron movie, I remember how I felt leaving the theater, also. Sitting there and then emerging from the darkened theater into the Florida sunshine you felt like you had gone through it. Watching the 1997 movie Titanic was an experience, not passive entertainment or a mindless diversion. Watching Titanic in the theater was an event.
So I've been drawn in, reading this book exclusively and obsessively. I finally had to quit last night around 11:30 as my eyes wouldn't focus any more! I've only got about 40 more pages so I expect to finish it today. I found another documentary on the Titanic called Ghosts of the Abyss, a behind the scenes look through James Cameron's eyes of his own journey to the spot in the cold North Atlantic. I'll watch that tonight.
I am almost finished with Rachel Janovic's book You Who? which I'll review on The End Time. I am also reading Barbara Hughes' Disciplines of a Godly Woman, and I've got one more devotional to go on Sinclair Lewis' Love Came Down at Christmas. Yeah, I'm a little late on the Christmas advent devotional.
I've received two Amazon gift cards for Christmas gifts and I am withstanding the temptation to buy more books. So far...
The weather guys are predicting a massive amount of rain coming. We're supposed to get absolutely drenched for the next week, sigh, so I will be using the oven to warm the apartment and make granola and roasted broccoli, and on top of the stove, chili.
Here are the Titanic and other shipwreck resources I mentioned:
Book - Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
Movie - A Night To Remember (Youtube)
Movie - James Cameron's Titanic (for rent on Amazon Prime)
Documentary - Ghosts of the Abyss (It's an about page)
Book - Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea: The History and Discovery of the World's Richest Shipwreck by Gary Kinder
Book - The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex. A First-Hand Account of One of History's Most Extraordinary Maritime Disasters by Owen Chase, First Mate
Article - Sunk: The Incredible Truth About a Ship That Never Should Have Sailed (Bounty replica)
The raising of the Costa Concordia is fascinating in itself. I understand it was the world's biggest ever feat of its kind.
Documentary NatGeo - The Raising of the Costa Concordia (Youtube)
Father Browne's story: Photographer of the last days of the Titanic, and his providential recall to shore in Queensland, this saving his 1000 photos of the passengers and shipboard life we'd never otherwise know about.
2 comments:
I am haunted to this day by the scenes in Cameron's Titanic of the band playing while the ship sank, the elderly couple in their bed who simply cling to each other, and the poor folk below deck. I don't remember movies very well, but these images were burned into my consciousness.
Me too, Grace To You...I had to stop several times to withdraw from the haunting and melancholy buildup in my heart.
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