"with ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh..."

a few days back I went with my friend BethJean to Long Beach where "The Brit" had a show. We wanted to get dinner beforehand and explore a bit - somehow we ended up going to the HMS Queen Mary...which a very strange place indeed...

The Queen Mary used to take people back and forth across the Atlantic. It even looks a bit like the Titanic though it was built about 15 or 20 years later.  That just adds to the fact that the ship is supposed to be haunted by many different spirits.

There are actually a few places to eat on board. We went to the Chelsea Chowder House...

After eating we went off to take a look at the rest of the boat. Despite my photos there were actually a fair amount of people on board.

 

We discovered a display case of toys that belonged to one-time passengers of the ship. Allegedly a few of the ghosts seen on board are children so I was a bit creeped out by these little dolls in particular.

It is a really interesting place to visit but I don't think I'd stay at the hotel - yes, they rent out old passenger cabins as hotel rooms.  While I did not get to look inside an actual room, the hallways gave me goosebumps and reminded me a little too much of The Shinning...

 

If you happen to find yourself in Long Beach I think it's worth going to have a look at the Queen Mary for yourself.

post title from William Wordsworth

Happy Sunday!  

anna may wong

Anna May Wong acted along side some of Hollywood's heavy-hitters during the 20s and 30s (think Douglas Fairbanks, Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich), received great acclaim for her onscreen performances, she even has a star on the Walk of Fame and yet she remains fairly unknown today.

 

 It seems that, despite the fantastic reviews and the accolade, Hollywood was reluctant to give her any honest to goodness starring roles. Even occasionally losing out on Asian roles to her white American contemporaries, her career was clearly a struggle. None the less, she was most definitely a pioneer in her field; the first Chinese American film star and the first Asian American to achieve international stardom at the time. Anna May seems to have taken her work very seriously. For example, when asked if she would ever marry she said: "No, I am wedded to my art."  

She continued to act here and there until the early 1960s but died at only 56 years old. I found out about Anna a while back and had been meaning to do a post on her for months and months but sort of forgot about her. This seems to be a common theme in her world. For more about her visit the anna may wong society.

Below are my favorite images of Anna May (photo-cartoons)

great, aren't they?

(images from flickr)

vintage vogue

MyVintageVogue is an amazing little site full of fabulous magazine eds & images from the 1920s on through the 1960s. Here are a few of my favorite Vogue Magazine shots from the 1920s & 30s section...

1920s:

1930s:

Some of the 30s shots are so modern looking  - they could be from a stylized Vogue 2009.  I could really spend hours flipping through the images on this site...aren't they  incredible!?! I may have to post my favorites from the other eras in the very near future. They're just too good not to!