Danny, thirtysomething. He/Him Lots of Scifi and way too much media. Turns out I make a lot of gifs! Not a DW Rewatch Rewatch (S5/Sarah Jane),Snowpiercer, Deutschland 89 (S3), 1980s Project. Various other media like too much Current Trek, Expanse, Walking Dead.
you wanna see some badass shit from the early 20th century?? The Lumière brothers created the first full color photograph… in fucking 1903! So these dudes dyed potatoes (in red, blue, and green), mashed them down into just pure fuckin’ starch, and used these dyed potato starches as filters to block out/let in certain wavelengths of light. They coated one side of a glass plate with the starches and sensitized the other side with a mixture of gelatin and light sensitive materials (silver nitrate) and loaded these plates in their cameras.. This is a really simple explanation of the process and I may have missed some things
A few of my favorite autochrome photos:
that last one is literally a LOOK
yes!
but lets not forget sergei prokudin-gorskiy, who developed a similar process in 1902, published in 1903 and then toured russia to take hundreds of color photographs:
AND the guy developed color slide processing as well. as a person fairly familiar with modern b/w processing at home, but never EVER stepping into color (negatives or slides) territory, i’d say, BAMF to the highest degree.
Here are a few more Prokudin-Gorskiy / Gorskii shots, and a reminder once again that these aren’t recently colourised BW images but original colour photos taken about 120 years ago. Many colourised pics don’t look this good. Some modern colour pics don’t look this good (as I know all too well. “Delete image Y/N? Y!”)
This is Leo Tolstoy, author of “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”.
Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara…
…and his Minister of the Interior.
A Type B-15 steam locomotive…
Another of those peasant girls with guest-gifts of berries…
The Church of St John the Baptist at Staraya Ladoga…
…and a Sergei Prokudin-Gorskiy self-portrait.
Unlike some current selfies ;->
he’s not dominating the image, so here’s a closer shot.
I like to imagine that they both knew each other back at the Academy. And by “knew each other” I mean Gaila managed to annoy and impress Spock into something akin to friendship.
Eartha Kitt spoke four languages and sung in eleven.
She auditioned for the Katherine Dunham school of dance on a dare, made it up as she went, and received a full ride.
Eartha Kitt left to Europe, yes, where her career wasn’t impacted by American black balling, and where the people loved her; and when she finally returned to American media it was as a star in the Broadway musical Timbuktu. MIND YOU, Queen was so iconic that the audience gave a standing ovation the moment she appeared on stage. 10 years of nothing, and these people are falling over her before she opens her mouth.
Eartha Kitt came from nothing, her family used to sell her to people in their county like a work mule. Her mother chose a man over her, and she went to live with a relative who abused her, until she was rescued by another relative who took her in in Harlem. Eartha Kitt lived her youth feeling rejected by everyone around her, and she STILL built herself up.
Eartha Kitt was the voice of Disney villain Yzma in all works that she appeared in (even recording a villain song that never aired as a result of script rewrites called ‘Snuff Out the Light’), she was Madame Zeroni in the ‘Holes’ movie adaptation. For clarification she was the FIRST Catwoman, and she sang the ORIGINAL Santa Baby.
Eartha Kitt was one of the first stars to embrace the concept of sex positivity, and owning the rights to one’s own body and sexuality. She stood up for LGBTQ people because quote
“We are all rejected people, we know what it is to be refused, we know what it is to be oppressed, depressed, and then, accused, and I am very much cognizant of that feeling. Nothing in the world is more painful than rejection. I am a rejected, oppressed person, and so I understand them, as best as I can…”
Eartha Kitt is one hundred percent my hero, a testament to the belief that we never have to be victims of our circumstances. We can be icons regardless of our origin.
