Happy Friday everyone!  We are now steaming full speed towards March. Winter is still making itself felt where I live (lots of rain recently) to places where snow is still falling. The Spring Equinox is not that far off either, but winter has been known to go on after that astronomical end to winter.

Here is some Titanic and related news you might find interesting.

It is not often one sees a negative review of a Titanic exhibition (mostly complaints about cost and crowds), but this is one of them about a Titanic exhibition near Chicago.

Vitali, Marc. “Does It Sail or Sink? Exhibition on the Titanic Launches at Skokie Mall: Review.” WTTW News, 20 Feb. 2024, news.wttw.com/2024/02/20/does-it-sail-or-sink-exhibition-titanic-launches-skokie-mall-review.

There is plenty to see here, but this exhibition is more of a cabin berth than a stateroom. It will refresh your memory of who’s who in the drama, and it should excite the imagination of younger visitors with an interest in the subject. Hardcore history buffs would do better at their local library. One small but significant complaint — I noticed a grammatical error on an information card inside a case in the first gallery. Then I found another mistake. And others. Apostrophes were misused, “then” was used for “than” — that sort of thing. Apparently, the proofreader went down with the ship.

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Over in Bristol (UK), there is a Titanic exhibition going on though not as big as its predecessors.

 “Salvaged Titanic Artefacts Resurface in Limited Exhibition.” Bristol24/7, 18 Feb. 2024, www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/salvaged-titanic-artefacts-resurface-in-limited-exhibition.

A limited exhibition showcasing “never seen before” items salvaged from the Titanic’s wreckage is underway in Bristol. The Titanic Exhibition at Paintworks in Brislington invites visitors to explore Bristol’s connection to the renowned passenger liner, learn about the people that travelled on board and come face to face with items from the wreck site. The display is curated by White Star Heritage, experts in collecting and preserving Titanic and White Star Line ship artefacts, aiming to breathe life into the ship’s story more than 100 years after its sinking in the north Atlantic.

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I have not seen this yet, but judging from all the digital ink being written about it, the creator has certainly gotten a lot of attention. There are actually quite a few Titanic simulations out there (YouTube has a lot of them).  From the witness statements, the sinking was more dramatic than has ever been depicted on screen.

O’sullivan, John. “Recreation of Titanic Sinking Goes Viral With Social Media Users Horrified.” Irish Star, 17 Feb. 2024, www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/titanic-sinking-video-recreated-footage-32144323.

The story of the Titanic is known all over the world. The 1996 James Cameron blockbuster movie was hugely successful at the box office, but does it show what really happened when the ship sank? Science Girl’s simulation suggests that the real sinking was much more frightening than we could ever imagine. Cameron, who made the film, said he only got “half right” how the ship sank, even though he had lots of experts to help him.

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This is certainly good news for Harland & Wolff.  It has had some very lean years that made it look like it might even be shuttered at one point. They have managed to bounce back and this one famous shipbuilder is getting  a contract to refurbish a cruise ship.

M, Frank. “Historic Shipyard Behind Titanic Will Refurbish the Next World Cruise Ship.” Cruise Radio – Daily Updates on the Cruise Industry, 16 Feb. 2024, cruiseradio.net/world-cruise-ship-titanic-shipyard.

The startup recently acquired the 924-passenger MS Braemar from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. Renamed Villa Vie Odyssey, Villa Vie has secured a dry dock slot for a multimillion-dollar refurbishment. The Harland & Wolff shipyard has over a century of history and famously built the Titanic eighty years earlier. It undergoes a 10-week refurbishment program. The company announced deals with various contractors for transforming and managing shipboard functions. The ship was last refurbished in 2019.

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Here is an interesting video detailing the sinking of the Lusitania.

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Finally to close out this Friday, retro is becoming cool again. Some creative individuals are going back and making updated opening scenes of television shows done back in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Using updated special effects and other things, you can make an opening like it would be shown today. Here is one for one of my favorites, the classic Battlestar Galactica.