Posts tagged Atlantic Ocean
Flagler College announces anniversary celebration to commemorate 125th anniversary of the Hotel Ponce de Leon
Oct 12th
January 10, 2013 marks the anniversary of the opening of the Ponce in 1888. The celebration will include events focusing on the architectural, artistic, recreational and sociological impact the hotel has had on modern society, as well as showcase its historic and architectural highlights.
In conjunction with “Celebrating the Legacy: 125 Years of the Hotel Ponce de Leon,” the college has taken on the final restoration of the hotel, the Solarium. The domed Solarium rises from the center of the building and is flanked by symmetrical roof terraces and twin towers that pierce the St. Augustine skyline. These dramatic outdoor spaces afford unparalleled views of the city, the nearby Intracoastal Waterway and Bridge of Lions, as well as the Atlantic Ocean.
The Solarium served as a place where hotel guests gathered for conversation, enjoyed entertainment or watched activities taking place in town. It has been closed for more than 20 years, and the restoration is expected to be completed in 2013.
The anniversary celebration will honor the legacy of Flagler’s entrepreneurship and community-building. The founding partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, he launched a resort empire along Florida’s east coast with construction of the Ponce. The Spanish Renaissance Revival hotel incorporated the talents of New York architects John Carrere and Thomas Hastings (New York Public Library) and Bernard Maybeck (Palace of the Fine Arts, San Francisco), interiors and 79 stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, murals by George Maynard and steam power and electricity by Thomas Edison. The Ponce’s twin towers serve as an anchor to St. Augustine’s historic area.
“Celebrating the Legacy” will include: an opening day tour with period re-enactors leading guests through the Ponce on the same day the hotel first opened its doors; an exhibit of beautifully preserved original blueprints of the Ponce; a “Celebrating the Legacy” exhibit on the hotel’s construction, sports, leisure and arts; a community lecture series by Flagler professors; and a gilded age speaker series.
For more events and details about the celebration, go to www.ponce125.com
Source: Flagler College
“Amelia” You Won’t Be Enthralled
Oct 29th
You Won’t Be Enthralled
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
AMELIA is the story of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to perform a number of flying accomplishments in the Twenties and Thirties, and she is played stunningly by two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank.
Unfortunately, if the film were a jet airplane, it would have to be called a flameout, whereas everyone involved with it and many in the audience were hoping that it would soar to wonderful and exiting heights.
Part of the reason is that we know how the story ends, and so there is hardly any suspense at all.
Another part is the construction of the film. It jumps back and forth in time and setting without warning, so that the audience is disoriented along with being dissatisfied.
As a matter of fact, the opening scene takes place in June 1937 in Miami, Florida, at the beginning of Earhart’s ill-fated attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world.
Then we jump back to April 1928 in New York City and see the preparations for Earhart’s first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in which she didn’t fly the airplane, but was just a passenger, although she was named the “commander”
of the flight over two men who did the actual flying.
Now, some of these jumps are identified by titles for the audience, but others aren’t, and scenes from Earhart’s final flight keep being thrown into the somewhat chronological story at this point.
We see Earhart’s relationship with publisher and promoter George Putnam, played by Richard Gere, and the first time he asks her to marry him, she says, “I don’t want to get married, George. I’m not the marrying kind.”
However, they do get married, only without the part in the marriage vows about “obey.” Earhart says that she can’t promise that.
We also see Earhart’s relationship with flying instructor Gene Vidal, played by Ewan McGregor, the father of Gore Vidal, who appears in the film as a young boy.
Also, many shots of beautiful scenery are thrown in that have nothing to do with the story but just look pretty.
All in all, the film is too melodramatic, but without much drama and certainly without any suspense.
AMELIA might teach you something you didn’t know about Earhart’s life, but you won’t be enthralled with it, whereas I wanted to be enthralled.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Amelia – Movie Trailer
Oct 23rd
Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in director Mira Nair’s biopic tracing the life of famed aviator Amelia Earhart — who made history in 1932 by becoming the first woman ever to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip made the aviatrix a national celebrity — with help from her publicist George Putnam (Gere), whom she fell in love with and eventually married. Their union was tested, however, as Earhart developed feelings for contemporary Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor ), and the couple’s marriage faced the ultimate tragedy years later, as Earhart’s fierce independent spirit spurred her to attempt to fly around the world — a venture that infamously shrouded her in mystery, as the pilot simply vanished after crashing into the Pacific Ocean. Christopher Eccleston and co-star in the Avalon Pictures production.