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SiPgoes53 – The April Recap

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April is over and it’s time for our monthly #SiPgoes53 review. Last month we explored Robin Williams, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Einstein, and Ching Shih. It’s time to look at your entries that caught our eyes on Instagram.

(If you want to join in the SiPgoes53 series you can still join at your own pace and leisure. Just tag along and creatively explore our handpicked 52 humans. One every week.)

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Week 18 – Carrie Fisher

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This week, our human being is no one else than Carrie Fisher, the big screen incarnation of Leia Organa. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you might notice that assigning this week to her might not have been a coincidence.

The Hollywood Star

Carrie Fisher is most well known for her iconic role as Princess Leia in Star Wars movies. Daughter of a famous singer and a famous actress, it’s no surprise that she made her Broadway debut at the age of 17 and a year later in Hollywood.

Besides Star Wars, she never really had any other leading role as an actress. She had a few other major appearances, including one as the wife of Tom Hanks and one with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. She also appeared in the cult movie the Blues Brothers.

In addition to acting, she was also involved in scripts of movies such as Hook and Sister Act (we will probably talk later in the year about that one).

The woman

But Carrie Fisher is a prime example that the life of a Hollywood star isn’t always all glamorous. She was suffering from bipolar disorder and was relying on drugs to medicate its effects and feel “normal”.

Although traces of cocaine and heroin were found in her body, the exact cause of her death, which occurred in December 2016 after losing consciousness in a plane, couldn’t be exactly determined. But it reminds us how mental disorders and social pressure can have a terrible impact on someone’s life.

May the 4th be with you Carrie.

PS: We are planning to do a group blog post featuring photos from different toy photographers to celebrate Carrie Fisher on Saturday. Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, if you have a toy photo (about Carrie Fisher or Princess Leia), old or new, you can leave a comment to be part of it.

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Week 17 – Ching Shih

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For many of you, Ching Shih might be among the most obscure human beings on our list.

The Pirate Woman

Ching Shih is a Chinese pirate woman who terrorized the seas of China in the early 19th century. She can be considered as the most successful pirate ever. Not only she commanded the biggest pirate crew, but she also died as a free old woman.

My Elvish Ching Shih
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Week 16 – Einstein

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Albert Einstein… Is it really needed to present (the one who’s probably) the most famous scientist? If so, here’s a brief insight into his life.

The Scientist

Einstein was a theoretical physicist who revolutionized physics with the theory of relativity. One of Einstein’s goals or dreams was to have a single scientific theory that could explain all physical phenomenon. In particular, at the beginning of the century, classical physical laws couldn’t explain a recently discovered phenomenon: electromagnetism.

This is what led him to state the theories of special and general relativity which reconciled Maxwell equations (electromagnetism) and classical Newtonian mechanics.

It is quite a coincidence that the first image of a black hole was revealed last week… Indeed, the idea for the existence of black holes roots in Einstein’s theory of relativity. (Credit: Event Horizon Telescope, CC BY 3.0)

For much of his life, Einstein dreamed and tried to find a way to unify physical laws. Although known from the general public as a genius, he often ignored new theories and was laughed at by mainstream physicists. He never managed to find said a theory. Nowadays, finding a theory that explains everything is still the major challenge in theoretical physics.

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SiPgoes53 – The March Recap

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March is over and spring is on its way. Last month we explored Elon Musk, the woman of your choice, Bjarke Ingels, Hedy Lamarr, and Socrates. It’s time to look at your entries that caught our eyes on Instagram.

(If you want to join in the SiP goes 53 series you can still join at your own pace and leisure. Just tag along and creatively explore our handpicked 52 humans. One every week.)

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Week 15 – Simone de Beauvoir

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After exploring Socrates two weeks ago, this week we’re looking at another philosopher. This time though, she’s quite the opposite of Socrates (and not because she’s a woman).

Indeed, while Socrates is known as the founder of western philosophy, Simone Bertrand de Beauvoir is known for being a key figure of existentialism, a modern way of thinking, sitting at the top of the evolution of western philosophy.

A Philosopher, A Teacher

De Beauvoir, originally a teacher, never considered herself a philosopher. Even though some assume that she developed the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre who she met while studying in Paris. The two shared a lifelong relationship.

A Feminist

She wrote many novels, essays and biographies dealing with either politics, philosophy or social issues. Still, for many Simone de Beauvoir will be a key personality for the feminist movement. In 1949 de Beauvoir published a treatise called “The Second Sex”. Today this is known to be the works that started the sex-gender distinction. Before that, the the role of women were defined historically and by society. She wanted women to be free of this role-thinking and to become independent and self-determined.

This And More

But only reducing her life to being a writer, a philosopher or a feminist wouldn’t be enough. She also wrote many travel diaries from the U.S.A, China, Cuba or Italy. She was also a founder and editor of the political magazine Les Temps Moderne.

SiPgoes53

As often the human beings we explore have multiple facets that can lead images. Here again, Simone de Beauvoir can be explored through different angles. Either as a simple human being with a personal life, or through her own achievements and the impact they had on modern society. Which one will you choose?

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Week 14 – Robin Williams

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For the first week of April, our human being is Robin Williams. Comedian and actor, he has played in many iconic films.

The comedian

He started as a stand-up comedian in the Bay Area during the 70s. Then began performing on TV and in movies in the 80s. It’s with Good Morning Vietnam, for which he got a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor, that he became a renown actor. He won and got nominations to the Academy Awards for many of his appearances in movies in the next years. Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting.

Other well-known roles in Hollywood blockbusters include Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Flubber, the Bicentennial Man or Night at the Museum.

Besides his career as a standup comedian and an actor in live-action movies, he also performed as a voice for animated characters. Most notably, he is the iconic voice of Aladdin‘s Genie. He also gave his voice to the robot of one former attraction at Disneyland, the Timekeeper.

The man

Besides being an incredible comedian, Robin Williams also had a life with struggles. Before becoming a movie star, he developed an addiction to cocaine. Following the trauma of the death of John Belushi from an overdose, Williams decided to stop drugs. He started cycling and developed a passion for it. Later he admitted it saved him.

However, in the 2000s, he started drinking again. He was also someone suffering from severe depression which led him to end his life in 2014.

Robin Williams in SiPgoes53

To me, Robin Williams is one of those iconic actors from the 90s. It’s one of the persons on our list that yells “nostalgia” at me. As much as I love Dead Poets Society (try to not cry before the end of the movie), if I had to choose a single of Robin Williams’ roles for toy photography, it would be Hook.

Directed by Spielberg (another human being of SiPgoes53), the film act as a sequel to Peter Pan. Williams portraits an adult version of Peter who has forgotten about his past life, is married, work and has children. However, he has to go back to Neverland to save his children kidnapped by Captain Hook, portrayed by another fabulous actor, Dustin Hoffman. A wonderful critique of adult life and a story about how much we need to keep our inner child alive.

In addition to the great cast (which also includes fabulous actors such as Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, and Maggie Smith) and a beautiful soundtrack (composed by no one else than John Williams), the movie is visually stunning. It has that kind of atmosphere screaming “Adventure!” that makes me want to play with my toys in front of a camera.

But what will you create this week? Will you also take inspiration from one of Williams’ roles? Or maybe the more serious aspects of his life? Or you will look for something more remote, like the name of his daughter inspired by a famous video game princess?

In any case, don’t forget to tag your photos on social media with #SiPgoes53 and #SiP_Robin_Williams!

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Meet Ade

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About Me

​I live in the northern English county of Cheshire. I am in my early 40’s and married. I have one grown up step-son and two grandchildren. Currently working for the local National Health Service (NHS) Management Accounts team. Outside of my toy photography, I am a fan of science fiction/fantasy movies and books. Currently working my way through Garth Ennis comics.


I first picked up a camera back in 2012 when coming across David Rupp who had an online photography site. Despite living in the United States we have become close friends. He encouraged me to pick up a camera and over the course of 18 months undertook a project called ‘Across the Pond’. Each week we would have a theme and every Sunday would exchange the pictures we took and comment on them. Despite not being very good, David was a great source of encouragement and helped me develop as a hobby photographer.

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Week 13 – Socrates

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This week is special.
We are already Wednesday and we did not introduce our guest of the week.
We started the week with announcing the survivors of our creative contest SiP Apocalypse, had to recover from Floating Bricks (more on that later this week) and we failed to proper introduce our oldest human being from the SiP goes 53 list.
Socrates.

Socrates lived in the 5th century BC in Athens.
He is known as one of the fathers of both classical Greek and modern Western philosophy, and he is our person of the week.

Discover Socrates Life …
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Week 12 – Hedy Lamarr

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Born in 1914 in Austria, Hedy Lamarr (her real name is Hedwig Kiesler) is a famous Hollywood actress. But Hey is more. She is also an inventor, a fact that is not so well known compared to her beauty.

The beautiful actress

She started to act in theater plays and movies in Austria, when she was young. Her first movie, Ecstasy, released in 1933 caused a scandal as she appeared naked. If you are interested, you can see the full movie on YouTube here

After a wedding with a far to controlling but rich man, she ran away from him and went to London.

She met there Louis Mayer, the head of MGM, the biggest Hollywood studio at this time. With her persistence and her beauty, she managed to sign a good contract and started her career in Hollywood.

She was promoted as the “most beautiful woman of the world” and played almost every time the archetypal glamorous seductress woman. Two of her famous movies are Samson and Delilah and Ziegfeld Girl.

If you go on the Hollywood Walk of Fame you will see a star with her name.

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