"Ever been to Wisconsin?"

15 years ago that line produced an uproar of laughter that rippled through the audience. Of course, being native to Wisconsin, we all understood what Jack Dawson was referring to and took pride in the fact that he hailed from the ever frigid, Chippewa Falls-- "The Chippewa Falls Dawson."

I'm dying to know if the audience of 2012 will have the same reaction to that line? I am really curious if Titanic is going to captivate another generation with the same impact that it had on me.

Of course, April 14th, 2012 marks a somewhat auspicious occasion for this blogger. As you know, that marks the 100th anniversary of the last time the R.M.S. Titanic saw the light of day.  In honour of this occasion, the momentous James Cameron film will be re-released.

The original theatrical release of this film was a really big deal for me. My best friends and I were the perfect age to be entirely besotted. USA Today even commented on the affect this epic had on the 14 year old girls and I can say with certainty that I was proudly a part of the hysterical & historical Leo-mania.

Yet all of the hype surrounding the new release has opened the flood gates of memories. As I "go back down the main stairwell", I recount what my life was like the last time Titanic was in theatres.

• I was President of my chapter of The Unofficial Beanie Baby Club. I know, I can't believe it either. What a dork! But someone had to step up to the plate or else there would have been CHAOS!  Do you know how many tags were at risk from being removed PEOPLE!
• Any time that wasn't absorbed by my presidential duties ("Presidential flashcards?") would be spent making dollhouse furniture. I would spend hours hot gluing straws, marbles, broken jewelry, and noodles together as I constructed a doll house out of straws, marbles, broken jewelry, and noodles. 
• No sum of money would have made me miss an episode of Wishbone or The Rosie O' Donnell Show.
• And, most obviously, I could not go five minutes without talking about Titanic.

Naturally, I have maintained a meticulous record of these facts as Beanie Baby Club Presidents often do.
Here is an excerpt from this so-called meticulous record dating back to 1998.

My favourite movie: Titanic (The title is even written in crayon, yet the font is blocky in order to represent the steel riveting of the ship. Outrageously dorky on so many levels.)

My favourite song: "My Heart Will Go On" (duh?)

My favourite thing to do: Pretending and kickball...(Who'd have thunk? What a weirdo!?)

Names I will name my children: If it's a girl, Rose. If it's a boy,  Leonardo.(Wow. Good thing I wasn't expecting.)

Now, I would like to present unsolicited thoughts on the movie when it originally hit the silver screen in plain ol' 2D. Mind you, I wrote this January 25, 1998. (hahahaha, I so wish I was kidding. Like I said, this movie was a really big deal.)

"I could tell you the whole plot of the movie, act it out, or repeat the dialog, but I would rather watch it any day. This is the best movie I have ever seen. I saw Titanic three times in a movie theater (No crap. Where else would I have watched it?!?! Burger King?) and cried every time. I have so many favorite parts (This was back in the day when I didn't pretentiously spell favorite with a "u").  I have the biggest crush on Leonardo DiCaprio (I'm sure I was thinking, "Oh man, this is really gonna win him over!") my mom says I'll probably name my first boy Leonardo and I probably will. I think he is sooooo cute (That's right--with 5 "o's"). I think Kate Winslet is a beautiful actress and very good at that. I think they make a cute couple and kinda thought they might be secretly ingaged  (with an "i"...as in idiot.), but they arn't (This is just embarrassing on "soooo" many levels.) Anyways, my favorite parts are: Jack is on the bow of the ship looking out at sea (ya got that?). Rose comes up behind him and [says] "Jack, I've changed my mind." and he tells her to be quite and close her eyes and step up on the railing (EEEEEE!!!!).  Then he tells her to hold out her hands and he holds her up there and tells her to open her eyes and she's flying (run on-sentence, much?). 

The sunset is just beautiful and then he wraps his arms around her and they kiss for the first time. Then the sunset fades and the ship has seaweed all over it and they start to fade away and you relize (UGH!) it is the sunken ocean liner."

There's more, but I fear I may never recover from all the humiliation if I were to divulge any further.

I even drew a portrait of them on January 9th, 1998 and signed it like Jack Dawson would sign it. Don't worry, they're still wearing their clothes.

But, when I think about it, not much has changed.

This was drawn just the other day (2012). I'm fully aware that they don't have hands. I'm not finished at this point.

And there's no use in acting like seeing Jack Dawson's costume in person wasn't a big deal. If I remember right, I may or may not have started crying. Truth be told, I also happen to cry when I talk about Justin Bieber, so maybe that's not saying much about this costume encounter. 

The Titanic Movie website has been relaunched as well. It's got a lot going on, but I liked the screen captures that they offered--this being one of them.

And here are a few of the more grittier images from Period Films &c.  There are some really great scenes here. My goodness. Nevermind, they're all great scenes.

And since I live by the rule that one can never have too many screen shots from Titanic on their blog, here are a few more. The bottom image is one I especially love and can be found on shelf-life.ew.com
along with other rare photographs from the film.

Just think, exactly 100 years ago from today, people were preparing to board one of the most notorious ships history has ever known.