Cuteness, and the past being not so foreign

[vilakins]

Some links. I suppose I should make a hairy great Terminal link icon, but this one is of a beautiful Amur leopard which does match the first link and shows you what an adult looks like.

Adorable Amur leopard cub. She looks so astonished at the world in the second photo. :-)

And now for some from the How to be a Retronaut site which zoefruitcake told me about.

Smiling Victorians - candid shots of happy Victorians.
Colour film of 1920s London - fascinating stuff. It's amazing how much more real and immediate the past looks in colour.
Coloured stereo views of Japan from about 1895 to 1910. They're meant to be used in a viewer, but they've animated the two views to give an idea of the 3D effect.
USB Typewriters for a steampunk keyboard! And speaking of that, Steampunk stormtrooper!
Classic photos redone in Lego. My favourites are the moon walk and Maradona's 'hand of God'.

For more of the past in glorious colour, feast your eyes on these amazing photos of the Tsarist Russian empire which I posted about a few years ago; click on the links in the Exhibition Sections. One of my favourites for its stunning colour is The Emir of Bukhara in the Ethnic Diversity section.

Comments

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the lovely links!

I'd seen some of the Russian pics before. They're simply amazing, aren't they? The Emir of Bukhara has served as a costume reference for the Persiafic *g*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They seem so immediate! I always have the impression of sombre and dull colours from most old photos, but there's all this amazing, brilliant colour. The Emir is just beautiful! I have no idea how they got such brilliant dyes back then, but I know chemical ones were just coming in.

I love the Persian and Arabian styles, and I do have the impression of sumptuous colour for their cultures because of the wonderfully descriptive stories I read as a kid. China and Japan too, with their delicate art and beautiful silk.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

The robes would probably be so shiny because silk takes colour really well and the dyes shine brilliantly. It was one of the few fabrics they could get to look really shiny and vibrant back before industrial colours (although, yeah, they started to become popular around that era). And the posher your robes, the more important you were--they put so much rich detail and work into a good robe that kings used to give them as gifts to people who had done well (even back in the 1001 Nights, heroes often get rewarded with shiny new robes). And the stuff that went into them, man... there are still some expensive sari fabrics made today in India where they've woven *peacock feathers* into the fabric, with brilliant results.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sari cloth is absolutely gorgeous. I love the colours and patterns.

I still have an Arab caftan I bought in Israel. It's black with brilliant gold, orange, and white embroidery. I also have some beautiful Island cloth which I've worn as a sarong.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

That is a truly beautiful icon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

quarryquest made it, and I couldn't resist it.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Great links! I was sucked into the Retronaut site and thought I'd never come out. :^)

Pity they didn't also include the plain 2 image stereo pics- once you know how, it's very easy to just look at them and see the 3-D much clearer than the animation.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I agree. I find the flickering annoying, but the photos fascinating. They're gifs so you could download the ones you like and do that yourself from the layers. I may for the ones I like best. :-)

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought of that, thanks, good idea-- I *did* think to look among the links and hunt until I found this:

http://www.t-enami.org/

Which includes some 3-D pics from this photographer. I'm still scrolling down, checking it out- most of the pics are single image, so far.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's a great record of a past world, like the Russian site.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

That site is full of links, too. I only started to check out *one*, a Flickr group, and got to a subgroup which is all 3-D.

I <3 3-D pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/collections/72157613882959896/

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sadly I'm not good at them as my eyes cross rather than diverge. I found the ones the wrong way round on that site worked really well. I'll have to make my own.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I was totally sucked into the Retronaut site when I first found it, and I've now looked at every single page

[elmey.livejournal.com]

That leopard cub is irresistible. Hard to imagine we're on the verge of destroying the whole species.

One of my prize possessions is the "Photographs for the Tsar" book. It's such an unexpectedly immediate view of the past. I'm thrilled to find the pics on-line, but they make an even stronger impact when you're leafing through the book.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've had the site bookmarked for years, but I may have to buy that book. I suppose it costs heaps, and then there's freight, but wow.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I took a quick look at amazon usa--the book is long out of print, but they have new copies available for some reasonable prices. Mine is old enough to be a first edition (though who knows if there was more than one edition) and was given to me for some work related reason--I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it was. I made sure I ended up with it when it was time to clear out the bookshelves at work.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks; I ordered a used one. :-)

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the links!
Of course I was swooning here over that Adorable Cub:-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Isn't it the cutest thing! The adults are beautiful too.

I saw a preview of an XBox Kinect game calle Kinectimals that lets you play with virtual tiger, lion, and cheetah cubs--and I AM SO GETTING IT WHEN IT COMES OUT even if it's aimed at kids!

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Oh wow - I'm working my way through the hostory ones with great glee.

And have to admit that I now want to icon a couple of the lego ones...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

There's so much to look at there!

Now that's an idea. I think I'll use the Maradona one for a soccer/sports icon. :-D

[luinielle.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the links - the retronaut site is quite fun.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Did you look at the Russian ones? Just incredible: crisp, and as if they were taken yesterday.

[luinielle.livejournal.com]

That was the first one I looked at after reading your post. :o) They are really incredible - I liked the Emir of Bukhara photo you had pointed out and also the one of the old gentleman on the canal in the 'transportation' section.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's the people I find the most interesting. The buildings and scenery are beautiful but most of them really could be taken yesterday.

He's so dignified, isn't he. There's an interesting rainbow effect on the water too because Prokudin-Gorskii had to do three exposures and of course the water moved.