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Today in Titanic History - with Searching
Today in
Titanic History

Monday, December 2, 2024
1889 - 3rd class passenger Mr Edvard A. Larsson-Rondberg was born to Lars Persson (farmer) and Maria Nilsdotter in Ransbysäter, Lysvik, Värmland, Sweden.

1890 - 3rd class passenger Mr Johannes Halvorsen Kalvik was born to Halvard Gotskalkson Halleland and Severine Nilsdotter Kalvik.

1872 - 3rd class survivor Mr Franz Karun was born to Janez Karun and Marija Treljec in Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia).

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2001: April


In this month's issue:

*News
*Monthly Stuff
*Site of the Month
*Character of the Month: Captain Smith
*Copal's Queue
*Corey's Interviews



NEWS

*B2T News
April 15, 2001 will be the 89th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking. We
will be having a "commemorative" issue in honor of the passengers on the
Titanic. We would like to include fan submissions in this issue. If you
are interested, either e-mail us at admin@back-to-titanic.com or visit our
messageboard. We are looking for any kind of submissions - poems, songs,
artwork, graphics, articles etc. This issue will not be a substitute for
our regular issue that is mailed at the beginning of each month but it
will be a "special" that will be sent out on April 14th.



To anyone that is interested in becoming a member of the B2T Staff...
Please send a brief email telling us why you want to be a member and what
you would like to help us out with to admin@back-to-titanic.com.



A new section has been added under "Monthly Stuff" - Titanic on TV this
month. This is a way for you to keep abreast of all Titanic happenings on
TV.

On April 14th & 15th we will be observing Remembrance Day. Join us in
remembering the lives lost and changed on this date in 1912.



April 20th is our two - year anniversary! In 1999 B2T launched with the
Titanic Fans in mind. You are what have brought us this far! Thank you
to all of our fans whom this site would not last without! Help us
celebrate by visiting our site and going to the messageboards!

Please take time to sign the petition for the Titanic Fan's Edition of
Titanic! We all want to see the cut scenes, behind the scenes footage,
and everything else that goes into director's cuts, but James Cameron has
repeatedly said the theatrical release is Titanic's director's cut. Why
not have a Fans' Edition? The more people who sign the petition, the more
likely our voices will be heard. Go here to sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/titanic/petition.html

*Titanic News
The Titanic Exhibit opened in Seattle at the Pacific Science Center on
March 3. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or at the center.
For additional information visit www.titanicseattle.com. This exhibit is
the one that was in Chicago last summer - so if you have seen this one be
prepared for a repeat of artifacts. This exhibit hosts the 15 ton piece
of the hull, along with 200 other artifacts including jewelry, dishes and
personal effects.

Kate Winslet attended the SAG awards on March 11 in California. This was
Kate's first appearance at an Awards Show hosted in the United States
since 1998. Kate was nominated for her role as Madeline Le Clerk in
"Quills." Kate lost however to fellow dame Judi Dentch.

Kate Winslet is the "Best Dressed Female" from all past Oscar ceremonies
according to a poll at mrshowbz.com. Kate beat out all other contestants,
including Minnie Driver, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchette. Kate was
finally beaten by Laura Linney's gown from this year's Oscars.



MONTHLY STUFF

Wallpaper by Corey

Quote: "God himself could not sink this ship"

URL of this month's wallpaper:
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/dl/wall/waves/apr01_god-himself.jpg

Why Corey chose this quote: This line, in my opinion, sums up how the
majority of the passengers felt about Titanic and it also sums up the
ignorance of man at that time. Cal is the "touchstone" for that ignorance
in the movie and this quote suits him quite well.



*Titanic in April's History
April 2, 1912 - Titanic begins and completes her sea trials in Belfast.
April 3, 1912 - Titanic arrives in Southampton, England.
April 10, 1912 - Titanic boards her first passengers in Southampton and
sets sail at roughly 12 noon. Titanic stops later in the evening to pick
up more passengers in Cherbourg, France.
April 11, 1912 - Titanic makes her final stop to pick up passengers in
Queenstown, Ireland.
April 14, 1912 - At 11:40PM Titanic strikes an iceberg.
April 15, 1912 - Titanic sinks at 2:20AM. The surivors are picked up by
the Carpathia around 5:30AM.
April 18, 1912 - The Carpathia arrives in New York with 705 survivors.


*Titanic on TV this month
April 4 - 9:00 PM EST - Discovery - The Real Jack Dawson
April 8 - 6:00 AM EST - Cinemax - Titanic (1953)
April 9 - 8:00 PM EST - The History Channel - This Week In History
April 11 - 6:30 PM EST - American Movie Classics - 20th Century Fox
Blockbusters



SITE OF THE MONTH BY: JEN

I would like to congratulate Anne from Anne's Story Page, who is the proud
recipient of an award plaque distinguishing her site as B2T's Site of the
Month for April. Her site is great, containing the second largest
collection of Titanic fan fiction on the web! Here is what Anne had to
say:



Jen: What made you become interested in Titanic?



Anne: I first saw Titanic on Memorial Day in 1998. It hadn't looked that
interesting to me, so I didn't go to see it when it came out. Then my
sister reminded me that I owed her a movie, so we went to see it. It was
great! I went back and saw it six more times in the theater, and have seen
it numerous times on video and DVD. I checked out all the stuff about it
on-line, and finally decided to start my own site.



Jen: How long has your site been in existence?



Anne: My site has been in existence since September of 1999. I've really
been doing the most work on it since May of 2000.



Jen: In your opinion, what is the best feature on your site?



Anne: I think that the best feature is the fan fiction. So many people
have contributed so much great stuff!



Jen: What advice would you like to give to other webmasters out there?



Anne: If people are slow to come to your site, don't give up! E-mail
people about it, ask to post their stories, offer to design graphics for
them. It's amazing how many people will respond to that.




Visit Anne's Story Page - http://www.angelfire.com/yt/anneblair/index.html



Become the Site of the Month! -
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/sites/mast/month/





CHARACTER OF THE MONTH: CAPTAIN SMITH

*Quotes
- Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch, let's stretch her legs.
- I prefer not to push the engines until they've been properly run in.
- Yes, like a mill pond. Not a breath of wind.
- What was that, Mr. Murdoch?
- I believe you may get your headlines Mr. Ismay.
- Tell whoever responds that we are going down by the head and need
immediate assistance.
- Four hours!
- Yes... women and children first... yes
- Not to worry, it's quite normal for this time of year. In fact, we're
speeding up. I've just ordered the last boilers lit.

*Pictures
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/apoch_sinking-smith.jpg
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/apoch_smith-wing-bw.jpg
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/dinner_countess-smith.jpg
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/king_smith-murdoch-4.jpg
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/sinking_smith-engulfed-windows.jpg
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/img/tea_smith.jpg

*Graphics
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/waves/char/smith/graphic.jpg

Wallpaper:
http://back-to-titanic.com/dl/wall/waves/char/apr01_smith.jpg

Hotbar:
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/dl/hotbars/waves/smith.bmp

Background:
http://www.back-to-titanic.com/waves/char/smith/bg.jpg



COPAL'S QUEUE

An image map is a graphic that is broken up into different links using
HTML code. To see how it's done, download this template:

http://www.back-to-titanic.com/waves/copal/apr01_crew-map.html

If you click on Captain Smith's head, it goes to smith.html (or it would
if such a page existed). Right click and view the source to see how this
was done.

You may change SHAPE="rect" (for rectangle) to SHAPE="poly" for a polygon
or SHAPE="circle" for a circle.

Rectangles have four numbers, or coordinates. The first number is always
the X coordinate and Y is the second. So if you had "166,32,236,96",
X=166 and Y=32. The next pair of numbers is the X and Y of the next
point. So you are giving the upper left point and the lower right point
and, since you've written that it's a rectangle, the other two points are
implied.

Polygons are noted the same way with X,Y,X,Y,X,Y (and so on) of all of the
points. There is an infinite number of points you can give a polygon.
The last point will imply that it connects to the first point, so no need
to repeat that.

Circles are only two points. You're deciding the center of the circle and
the outer rim (in other words, the radius). Since circles are the same
distance to the rim all the way around, there's no point in typing any
more than that.

You know that you need the X,Y coordinates of all of those points, but how
are you going to know the right numbers? Option #1 would be to guess. A
century later you might have a few shapes made. Option #2 would be doing
the math. All of these coordinates are based on pixels, and so are the
dimensions of your image. So if you want to divide a 200x100 image in
half, your coordinates are 0,0,150,100 for the first rectangle. The
second rectangle is 0,100,200,100.

But what if you want shapes in the middle of nowhere or very precisely?
Photoshop 5.0 has the answer. Photoshop 6.0 users can use ImageReady,
which is achingly simple. But since most people don't have it yet, or
can't afford it, I'll show it to you old school:


Open an image.

Choose the Rectangle selection tool (or a circle if making a circle). Go
to the menu and select "Window | Show Info" or click the "Info" tab behind
the navigator.

You will see four different sets of numbers appear. Most likely they are
RGB, CMYK, XY, and WH. We only care about XY. Press and hold onto the
cross by the XY numbers. Like this:

http://www.back-to-titanic.com/waves/copal/apr01_xy-dropper.jpg

Drag your mouse onto "pixels" and let go. Take your cursor over your
image. The XY numbers change as you drag it over your image. Hold it
still whereever you'd like your upper left corner to be. Write down the
XY coordinates. Move the cursor to where you want the lower right corner
to be and write those XY coordinates.

Back to our HTML, run all those numbers together, separated only by commas
(no spaces). (As in 3,4,63,71) You may actually want to make a selection
to visualize this better. Just make sure you write down the XY while
holding your mouse button down (easy for me being left-handed, but you
guys might have some trouble.

In making images that have many different links on them, make your
selection and "Edit | Cut" that spot. This way you won't overlap shapes.
Netscape will not show links for any shapes that overlap, even a little.
Just remember not to save your image with all of the shapes cut out.

To make more than one link on our example, copy and paste the AREA tag and
paste it before the MAP end tag.

Congrats! You've got an image map.





Have suggestions for a future Copal's Queue?
Wondering how something is done?
Write to copal@back-to-titanic.com.



COREY'S INTERVIEWS

This is my second installment of my interview with Gary Young whom worked
on the digital effects for Titanic.



Did you ever work directly with James Cameron? If so, what was your
impression of him? Would you work for him again?



No I never worked directly with Cameron. He was supposed to drop by our
shop on several occasions but due to his tight schedule never made it. We
were usually overly prepared and frightened upon his supposed arrival. My
impression of James Cameron was that he is difficult to work with for one
reason only - he knows exactly what he wants and can do it himself if you
can't, so you had better not have an excuses and just do your job. To
some this would seem ridiculous, but I could understand that he is a man
of perfection. My boss on the other hand "Don Pennington" had worked for
Jim on three other occasions - building the full size Harrier planes for
TRUE LIES, the full size submarines for THE ABYSS and home smaller props
for TERMINATOR II. My impression was also based on Don's experiences. I
would probably work for him again as long as it wasn't too stressful.



Would you do this job again? Why/why not?



Yes, but under different conditions. The schedule and workload could get
overbearing and at times it seemed unrealistic but than again that is very
typical of Hollywood. There is a saying we use all the time here, "good,
fast or cheap, pick two."

Is there anything you would change?



Yes it would have been nice if Digital Domain, the Titanic art dept and
Pennigtons could have gotten together for a meeting to discuss which plans
for the ship were "The Bible" of the project. The art department in
Rosarito, Mexico built their ship at 90% to size but it was full-scale
meaning that they just took out slices from the ship. Digital Domain
built their ship based on the actual blueprints and some of their own
scaling determined from photo reference. Our boat was started last which
meant we had to find a happy medium between the two ships, which caused
some problems. Not a disaster but a pain in the butt



If you were able to go back in time and view any other part of the making
of the film, what would you like to see being done?



I would have like to have been a bigger part of the overall research.

Did you meet anyone from the cast?



No, sorry. I know it sounds boring but building a miniature rarely has
anything to do with the cast. My friends at Digital Domain however saw
Leo and Kate when they did several greenscreen shots.



What is the first question someone asks you when they've found out you
worked on Titanic?

It must have been fun to work on? I would usually answer: it was A LOT OF
HARD WORK - which anyone in the industry will tell you. Not to sound like
a pessimist but filmmaking on any level requires knowing your craft and
working long and hard at it, very few if anyone gets a real BREAK here
unless your already related to someone famous.



Did you get any "crew" wear i.e. Jackets, shirts etc? Did you take any
momentos?



I bought a crew jacket, t-shirt and a hat plus took photos but taking any
model parts or props is bad for the career. The only momento I have is a
piece of the foghorn platform that fell of the 1/8 scale -60ft boat. I
recovered this from the trash.





Thank you for reading the April issue of Making Waves. Please send any comments, questions or concerns to admin@back-to-titanic ! Please visit www.back-to-titanic.com for a total Titanic experience!





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