Oh, the Iconage!

[rejectomorph]

I got distracted from my project to write entries about my user icons, but this is an appropriate day to make this one. It was on the evening of May 6th, 1937 that the airship Hindenberg burst into flames and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, bringing the age of airship travel to an abrupt end. It isn't difficult to see why I chose this particular icon. It is a dramatic example of things going terribly wrong, and instantly recognizable as such, making it highly appropriate for certain kinds of entries -- especially those about computers and the Internet. There are a lot of frames available from the film taken that day, including some which have been luridly colorized, but I chose a classic black and white. My stolen original isn't too big, so I'll post it without a cut:



The Hindenberg

I was always fond of the airship's smaller cousin, the blimp, and used to see them frequently as a child in Los Angeles. My parents remember seeing full sized dirigibles, which were all gone by the time I was born. I liked hearing the story of the time the Shenandoah flew directly over my mother's neighborhood in Culver City one day in the 1920's, and always wished I could have seen one of the aerial behemoths in person. Maybe someday, some rich eccentric will build one for himself, and I'll get my wish. These days, it's hard to believe that such things ever existed. I'd love to see something the size of the Empire State building floating in midair.

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There were nice clouds today, bringing a few moments of shade to the earth now and then. It truly looked like spring. I've missed that.

Comments

[rhodamine.livejournal.com]

many are the times ive stood on a manhattan street corner in the scorching summertime, only to find myself slowly swallowed in a huge, cool shadow cast by a blimp. met life. good year. fuji. there are zillions around here, especially during sporting events like us open and other foot/base ball related bizness.

i too would like to see a true zeppelin, though. im a stamp collector and have a postcard and an envelope that were carried cross-atlantic by the graf zeppelin. they bear zeppelin-themed stamps and also cancellations in german and english, stating "graf zeppelin". they rule. i look at them sometimes and thrill over the tiny inconsequential piece of history im holding. i daydream about what it would be like to fly on such an airship.

the graf zeppelin had a piano made of magnesium on board. the only metal strong enough to keep the strings from going out of tune but light enough to ride on an airship.

[rejectomorph]

Blimps were common in Los Angeles, too, but they never make the long trek to the northern California backwater where I live now. One of the impressive sights I remember from my childhood was the massive hangers in which the Navy had once kept it's airships. They rose from the bean fields of Orange County like immense cathedrals without spires. It was impossible for civilians to get very close to them, but even from a distance of a mile or so, they dominated the landscape. Most of that area has since succumbed to development, and I don't know if the hangers are still there or not.