Sinking Cruise Ships and Anglophilia

When I was in Mississippi for Christmas, my family and I went to go see a movie (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  It won't win an Oscar, but I really, really enjoy Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, not to mention Rachel McAdams is in it, although I'd call her role a very long cameo.  I'd recommend it for a rental, it was very entertaining and included lots of witty banter.).

Previews shown before the movie included a trailer for the release of Titanic in 3-D.  (Yes, we can see Jack sketch Rose nekkid all over again, but in 3-D!  I will obviously be seeing this in the theaters.)  At first I wondered why the studio would re-release this movie, and in 3-D no less, but I realized that April 2012 will mark the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic.  I found this interesting and gave it no further thought.

Prior to Christmas and hence, I've noticed several bloggers and tweeters talking about some PBS show called Downton Abbey.  Apparently it won like four Emmys in 2011, and while originally conceived as a miniseries, its popularity has ensured that it will be come a full-season drama.  It's a family-centric drama set in Edwardian England--who watches that stuff, right?  Right.  Well, I was home sick earlier this week and since daytime television is absolutely atrocious, I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll watch that PBS show that everyone is talking about."  Since it's a PBS show, you can watch past episodes for free online.  Y'all, this show is good.  Not only does it have all sorts of intrigue, sex, death, and Maggie Smith, but it's different than anything else on TV right now.  I highly recommend you watch it, as I'm hooked.  The first episode starts with the sinking of the Titanic, effectively eliminating the heir to the wealthy Grantham family's estate, Downton Abbey.  Anyway, watch it, it's good.  The second season is just starting on PBS, so if you hurry, you won't be relegated to watching the entire series on your computer.

Lastly, did you hear about the cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast?  The rest of this post is light-hearted, but I don't mention this lightly, it just fit the theme.  ABC reports:

The first course had just been served in the Costa Concordia's dining room when the wine glasses, forks and plates of cuttlefish and mushrooms smashed to the ground. At the magic show in the theater, the trash cans tipped over and the theater curtains turned on their side. Then the hallways turned upside down, and passengers crawled on bruised knees through the dark. Others jumped alone into the cold Mediterranean Sea.   

The terrifying, chaotic escape from the luxury liner was straight out of a scene from "Titanic" for many of the 4,000-plus passengers and crew on the cruise ship, which ran aground off the Italian coast late Friday and flipped on its side with a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in its hull.

It appears that most of the over 4,000 passengers have been rescued, although three deaths have been confirmed.  Naively, I thought that there wouldn't be stories of sinking cruise ships in the year 2012.

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