The Charlie Chaplin Time Traveler: Plausible

I woke up this morning with all this talk on Twitter about a time traveler. Needless to say, this bit of info sparked my interest as I am and forever will be infatuated with Marty McFly- and considering the trilogy was just released on Blu-Ray this week, this story was relevant to, well, lots of people.

The scenario takes place in 1928. The Hollywood premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s film “The Circus” brings a mob of people to the Chinese Theatre. These scenes were filmed, I assume to document the event for news or studio records or whatever, and were later released as bonus footage for a Chaplin DVD box set. An Irish film maker, and Chaplin buff, notices and investigates a particular clip of a woman walking alone who is speaking into something she is holding to her ear. Queue WTF moment.

The video below, though long, allows you to see the clip more clearly and in its entirety versus the news clip aired on Fox:

The question: What is this?
The first answer: Cell phone.
The conclusion: Time Travel.
Duh.

Yes, it is a great leap to go from a 1928 clip to time traveler based on about 3 seconds of footage. But to say the least, it is compelling. Even if you do immediately dismiss this, you can’t say that for the slightest instance, you didn’t think “hmmm….”

At the time there are no radios, no walkie talkies, and obviously, not cell phones. The practical response, and actually only logical response, is that the device the woman is holding is a hearing aid. Specifically a Siemens 1924 Hearing Aid:

I will wholeheartedly agree that these look similar. But I still have a problem with this.

1. She is alone.
When walking alone on a sidewalk with one other person about 5 feet in front of you, why would you be using a hearing aid? No one is talking to the woman or paying any attention to her whatsoever. It begs the question as to why she’d be using it at that point in time.

2. She’s at a busy event
Perhaps she’s wanting to hear the event better, but she’s in definite earshot if she is near that zebra statue. In that case, I would imagine a sound amplifier would actually make it too loud. It would be like using on of those at a sporting event- even if you are hard of hearing, the sound would be so muddled from everything going on, I don’t think you could make anything out anyway.

3. She’s talking into it.
In the video above, you can very clearly see the lady is talking into whatever she’s holding to her ear. Why are you talking into a hearing aid? And if you reference number one, she doesn’t seem to be talking to the man in front of her, or anyone behind her. Why is she talking in the first place? We could say she’s a complete nutcase, but she’s at a Hollywood premiere, so I’m going to safety assume she’s fairly well-off and sane.

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Ok, so I’m not convinced it’s a hearing aid. Let’s break this down to what is actually happening again. She’s walking alone. Holding something to her ear. She’s talking into it.

I’m going with a cell phone. Which means she’s from the future and has time traveled to 1928.

Sure, that’s silly, but I’m still going to lay out some points that help support this belief.

1. The clip is real.
Maybe this goes without saying, but this clip is real. It’s commercially available and there would be no reason the studio who released it would have any reason to modify this footage. Even the best CGI artists I don’t think could pull this off, so unlike photos that can be easily manipulated, this one is provides the best evidence of time travel. She is talking into/at something. And thew way she holds the device, it is similar to that of a mobile phone.

2. Why this has surfaced now.
This footage has been around since 1928, so why is this just now brought up to our attention? Because it’s now relative. We finally have an explanation for a device the lady is talking into. No one in generations before us would have ever considered this could be a phone- there is cord and it’s too small (ya know, for the Zack Morris argument). I say the clip was completely undetected until now simply because from the time this clip was made until now, it never mimicked anything that would have been familiar or relevant to those who saw it.

3. How is it an old woman?
I didn’t think this mattered until my dad said it, but he asked why would a time traveler be an old woman? I believe this is easily explainable. Time travel may not exist for hundreds of thousands of years, but if/when it does exist, there will be time travelers of all generations and ages traveling to any place since the beginning of time. We would be getting visitors today. The fact that it’s an old woman is negligible. Think about flight. The first fliers were innovators- younger, healthy men who were excited about technology, science, blah blah blah. Eventually flight became bigger, easier and (the keyword) commercial. It’s not too crazy to think that we can at some point travel to the moon purely for enjoyment. Why wouldn’t the same be for time traveling? This could be 84,000 years from now for all we know, but assuming it follows the exact same pattern of all new technologies (or everything for that matter), it would at some-point be for everyone.

4. The event makes sense.
If you could travel in time, to any point at any time at any place in the world, where would you go? You’d go somewhere to see something that you wish you were a part of, right? I’d love to visit the dinosaurs, but since there’s a little too much danger involved there, I’d go to Elvis’s ’68 Comeback Special. Maybe you’d pick the first Superbowl game or a MLK speech, but it’s all relative to what our interests and loves are. The point is a Charlie Chaplin movie premiere at the Chinese Theatre is something someone would actually want to go back to. It’s not exactly random.

5. Her disposition.
We’ve already stated the woman is alone. But look at her disposition compared to the man in front of her. He’s all business and she looks stoked- even though she’s alone. This could be attributed solely to the fact that she’s at a movie premiere in general, but I can’t help get over her attitude compared to the man in front of her. Maybe he’s not even going and that’s the difference, but it’s worth pointing out.

6. She’s an older, unescorted woman in the 1920’s.
Who goes to movie premieres alone? Especially a woman in 1928? Women could vote at this time, but it was less than a decade before the 19th Amendment was ratified, so a woman’s independence wasn’t exactly commonplace. Wasn’t in the 30’s, the 40’s or the 50’s either. Keep in mind, she’s quite old. The average live expectancy of a woman in the 1920’s was 54.6 years old. Does she look a little older than that to anyone else? Giving her the benefit of the doubt and saying she’s pushing her mid-50’s, statistics would show she’s in her last legs of life- and probably wouldn’t be in good enough health to attend a busy, loud movie premiere.

7. Looking into the camera.
This could be completely by happenstance, but I think there’s still a point to be made. If you are at a big event like this, your focus is on the event. When is it not? When you see other things familiar or interesting to you. When I’m at a concert, I notice, even if I don’t want to, all the production logistics and value. It’s just what I know and am interested in. The man in front of her doesn’t notice the camera, but she does and goes far enough to look directly into it. Could be because she’s been around them more so they just get her attention easier. It’s like looking at letters and automatically reading them, even if you didn’t intend it. And anyone else notice her smirk as she looks into it? It’s as if she knows she shouldn’t be doing it.

8. Cell reception.
This one is above and beyond my knowledge, but the question is about cell reception. Obviously there wouldn’t be any cell towers in the 20’s…well…anywhere. I’m going to put out there though that if we have managed to figure out time travel, we’ve probably figured out the cell service conundrum. Say time travel is commercial, you’d had more and more people traveling then more and more people traveling alone (how many people take their first flight alone?). We would have a social responsibility to create a some sort of communication with those who have traveled. If anything, for troubleshooting purposes. I’m not saying that I have any idea in the slightest how this would work, but I don’t know how time travel would either and this seems more plausible than that. Plus, we do have tower-less communication. They are called walkie talkies. Couldn’t we build on that technology for cell phones in the future? Doesn’t seem too far of a stretch.

9. Hearing aid = Cover up.
This is one for the conspiracy theorist, but couldn’t this hearing aid be a cover up? Like I said, if time travel ever exists, we’d be getting visitors from square one. This would be detrimental for the whole of society if it was figured out before it “existed.” There would have to be an immediate, logical explanation or the government is screwed. Any one still think 9/11 wasn’t government related? Do your research and tell me that the government has never covered up something before.

10. Why isn’t the world better if we time travel? We can stop Hitler.
We all know the issues with this if you have spent any time thinking about going back in the past. We can’t go back to actually change anything. To change a single event in history would eliminate the rest of the world in the present and would have to be rebuilt from the point in time in which is was changed. We are living and breathing our lives now which are not changing and we all know the same history. If we were allowed to change the past, the Holocaust would have never happened as someone from the future, no matter how far ahead it is, would have came back to stop it, thus we’d have no recollection of it whatsoever. When an individual goes in the past, it seems the rest of the world would continue in real time, so unless we’re talking about time being radial instead of linear so multiple presents co-exist, we can’t go back to do anything other than observe. Perfect for a movie premiere, don’t ya think?

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I will gladly play my own devil’s advocate and spit off some debunking aspects, or rather “fishy” things.

It’s pretty convenient that this hit mainstream when the Back To The Future Trilogy was just released. The guy in the video seems sincere that he’s studied this clip for a year and a half, but just strange this was made now and was uploaded exactly one week before the release date.

Bluetooth anyone? If it’s that far in the future, all communications could be hands-free. Hell, we can have a chip in the back of our heads for all we know, and give a verbal of who we want to call. But perhaps with the demands of time travel, this is the only method of communication that works.

It’s strange that the hearing aid device has been pinpointed to a brand and specific product. Siemens could be working on a major release of some sort and taken advantage of the situation. Still, I have no idea why you are talking into a hearing aid…and it doesn’t make the clip any less real.

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So, believe what you like. Even though I’m the one making these points, I still can’t say “oh yes, this is a lady from the future,” though I want to. It’s unsure if we’ll ever uncover the truth about this clip and the possibility of time travel. We all can just believe it’s a hearing aid, but how unromantic is that? And how does any innovation occur if we accepted everything for face value?

You want music industry advice? Here’s my shot at it.

I get questions just about everyday since I got the Warped Tour pit reporter position. Tons of people ask how I got the job, what sort of experience I have, how can they get into the music industry, how can they shoot photos at concerts, so on and so fourth. I hope this will be useful, and I hope that something can be learned I suppose. I have a feeling this will get a little lengthy, but how to try and start a career can’t be answered easily. Also keep in mind this is how it worked for me. Some people work their ass off to get into the music business and some people are lucky. I’m a little of both.

I got interested in the whole idea of the music business when I started going to concerts in 2003. I was 14. I knew I had to be a part of it. Knowing how I felt seeing my favorite bands on stage and how much all of that meant to me, I just wanted to do whatever I could to make other people feel the same way. First word of advice- it’s never too early to get started. At 15, me and my friend created a website where we posted alternative music news and covered local shows and bands. It wasn’t fancy, but it was something. And really, that’s when the networking started. I met K-1 Royal(a member of which is my best friend today) and got involved helping them out. I booked some shows, did promotion, did photography, put together a press kit, let them practice in my garage for 2 years- whatever I thought would help them out. I believed in them. Truth be told if they didn’t break up, there’s no doubt they could have been big. Regardless, my time in high school was dedicated to those guys and I loved every second of it. When you are young, pay attention because there’s where it starts. Every band ever started out local. Get to know those guys, ask how you can help. At local shows, asked who booked them. Talk to the venue, rec center, church or whoever booked it how you can help out, too. You’ll learn to look at the audience of the show and how you can reach them. Say at a show, you see a group of kids you always see hanging out at the coffee shop. You can easily deduct that a flier in the coffee shop is going to help promote a show similar to that. It’s simple and may seem silly, but that’s where it all begins.

Now, alot of people ask me if they think college is necessary or helpful to the music industry. There is an argument that the time you spend in college, you could be making connections and working your way up. That is true. What do I really think? College prepares you for bigger things sooner. It’s expensive, most classes are stupid but I don’t think college is really just about academics. For me personally, I didn’t have anything else in mind when I finished high school. I say if you are serious, after high school, look for an internship or go to college. If you don’t wind up with something, go to college. You will have crazy opportunities that you can’t get anywhere else. I went to James Madison University in Harrisonburg,VA. I was a Media Art and Design major with a concentration in Corporate Communication with a Music Industry minor. My second semester in college, through some “activities orientation” or whatever it is they make you attend to discover all of their clubs, I got involved with the University Program Board. They did all of the big concerts and event planning for the campus. I saw they had booked Taking Back Sunday with Jimmy Eat World the year before so I was sold. I volunteered on the committee, then next year applied for marketing chair. My very good friend Chris was the Director and I asked tons of questions. I followed everything he did, spent alot of time in the office with him planning. I applied for his job and got it the next year in college. As the Director of Center Stage, I oversaw a 40 person committee, arranged hospitality, organized volunteers, security, ticket takers, will call, planned and executed marketing and promotional strategies- everything to make the show happen. I got to book Gym Class Heroes for a 3200 capacity venue which is the height of my college career. If I didn’t go to JMU, there is NO way I would have learned that much- but I only learned that much because I was hungry for it. I wanted to know how everything ran so I put myself in that position. You can’t wait for everyone to tell you everything. 75% of it is asking questions and figuring it out.

During college I also worked at Hot Topic and a bar/coffee house. This was on top of all of my activities with the program board. They may seem like stupid jobs, but I learned to make everything an opportunity. Hot Topic to me became more than a retail job. It was a chance to talk music with different kids every day. I learned to listen to different music. I kept up with CD releases and up and coming bands to stay up to date with the kids that shopped there. I also went to shows to do fashion reports for our district. It helped determine not just what “styles” were good in our area, but what bands were more popular geographically. Also what other music people were in aside from the band that was playing. At the Artful Dodger, the bar/coffee house, I took advantage of the PA we had and spoke to the owner to book shows. Some went better than others, but I booked a show every single week for months. I started paying attention to bands tour routing to do one-offs, I learned more about negotiating deals (within a very, very small budget I may add) and turned the place into a venue. When I graduated, I took the initiative to make sure shows kept happening. I set up a meeting with our Music Industry head about setting up an internship. I made the little proposal, made the application and voila! I made my own internship. The 2 girls I hired to keep booking then got college credit *and* shows kept happening. It was all just a way to figure out how I could keep in touch with the industry on some level. I never stopped.

The question asked most: how did you get your job? Before I really get into this, I think that no matter how prepared you are, luck plays a role. So I worked my ass off. In college I learned everything I could about the concert industry. In my music industry classes, I was all about learning royalties, management, labels, etc, etc. At the time I graduated, I felt like I was ready for any job I could grab in the industry so it was a matter of finding it. This is where luck plays a big role. The best you can do is keep your eyes open all the time and know where to look. You never know what you may find. The easiest way to start is by looking up things about your favorite bands. Who manages them and what company does that person work for? What label are they on and are they associated with any other labels? Do they have sponsorships? Are there other projects going on involving that band? When you find out those things, you should probably start following them. I loved Say Anything, right? Looking more into them, I found out they were managed by Randy Nichols. Randy works for Red Light Management. Randy also managed The Starting Line and Underoath. It’s good to know these things- as well as interesting. I think it can only put you in a better position. Anyway, by following these labels and companies, you never know what could pop up. That being said, I got my job with Warped through Twitter. Just because I was following the @warped09 account, I saw the post that they needed a new pit reporter. It linked back to the website. They accepted the first 250 applicants and you had to send a resume, video, photography and a short essay. They called me about 2 weeks later. I DID NOT know anyone with 4Fini (Kevin Lyman’s company) or Vans- I am asked that often, too. I will say however, alot of people get started just by knowing people. Most bands getting started take a friend out to do merch, said band blows up and now the merch guy has met other people on tour who may want him. A big part is about knowing people- which is why I said it’s never too early to start networking and building those skills- just don’t overlook luck being on your side.

This job popped up right in front of me only 2 months after I graduated college. I never expected to fall into this, but it happened. And because I spent the time trying to understand everything that I could and prepared myself, I could do my job better. I used more of my Corporate Communication coursed than I ever thought. I could help with marketing and I could help with the website and I could help develop new ideas- being able to do more than one thing is incredibly valuable. That’s not just an economy thing. You can be asked to do alot of things regardless of what job you may end up with. If you are doing marketing for a label, you may get asked to manage a band. Who knows what the hell could be asked of you- just be ready to do it. And try. At the end of the tour, Sarah and Kevin asked me to put together an online marketing plan and timeline for the 15th Anniversary movie. This was in no relation to my pit reporter job, but they wanted me to do it. I haven’t done a marketing plan in real life before- only sorta/kinda in college. I stepped it up, kept doing my pit reporting and figured it out at the same time. I worked double time, but it’s just what you have to do sometimes. Not knowing if they were going to like it or accept it, I put everything into it to prove myself. Turned out well, the accepted it and I got to keep working for them a little longer.

Also, and I feel like this should be labeled as a “disclaimer,” but know what you are getting yourself into. Music may mean your life, but the music industry is something different. I learned that early on. You can do it for the love of the music, believe me, but it’s hard work. And it’s messy….especially considering its current state. Labels are doing 360 deals with bands. If you don’t know what that means, look it up. Radio is struggling. No one is buying CDs. My point is that because not everything makes money like it use to, people can get cut throat to find it. On the flip side, it opens the door for more creative ways to market and brand music. Wether you like it or not, if you want to somehow work in the music industry, you sometimes have to look at music as commodity. A band can only stay a band and get their message out as long as they have the means to do so. A majority of those means is money. If a label doesn’t have money to help a band tour, then that band’s music can’t get everywhere. See what I mean? All of the people who work for Warped Tour love it. It is about music, it is about the bands, it is about the kids- but it can only keep doing it because it funds itself. There’s a bottom line to everything, in every job, and this is no different. It’s just a perspective you have to keep in mind.

I’m not sure what you may or may not get out of this, but this is my story and my take on everything. I honestly do want to help everyone asking because I think it’s vital to keeping the industry alive. You kids are the future for everything. This addiction to music starts when you are a teen- it happened to me at 14. That’s when it hit me that I wanted to make a difference. It takes young, dedicated people to make this all happen. It needs fresh ideas, it needs new life, it needs passion. Unfortunately, some of that can die with age. Obviously not everyone seeing as Kevin has been doing this his entire life and still kicking ass. All I ask is take this with a grain of salt because everyone’s future is going to unfold differently. I’m really looking at this from someone else’s point of view because I realized after thinking about it, I did something similar. I was fortunate enough to have my good friend doing what I wanted. I was able to follow in his foot steps and asked what I needed to. I wish everyone the best of luck in what they want to do, but keep asking questions and keep trying. This Warped Tour thing is the first things I’ve done in this and I may know 2% of how everything really works. I have alot, alot, alot to learn– I am by no means pretending like I understand this world in and out. There are so many pieces of it and so many ways to look at it- this is just my story and that’s all I can offer.

Thanks for all of the support. It’s crazy to hear from people they want to be like you when they grow up. It’s crazy to hear that you are someone’s inspiration. I never thought I’d end up like this. You guys have made my life truly special and hell, I’m just getting started. I hope you all do amazing things.

I can’t sleep.

I bet 25,000 blogs get that title a day. Or should I say night…

This happens alot lately. As soon as I lay my head down, my mind just starts racing. Tonight’s distraction begins with: My First Flight.

I realized it’s only 13 days until I take my first flight. I’m not exactly scared of the ordeal. It’s just…a big deal. Then I start thinking about my passport- why isn’t it here yet? Why doesn’t the site have my status? Then I think about how to vlog the whole trip for Warped. I’m going to need to buy some new memory cards. I guess you can film on a plane, right? Oh wait- my lens is cropped, so I need to buy a new one before I can shoot period, OH NO ONLY 13 DAYS TO USE AND MASTER MY NEW CAMERA BEFORE I HAVE TO USE IT FOR WORK. Then it starts all over again. At the moment, I can’t stop twitching my toes. Stanley at least went back to sleep after a noisy bone.

There’s just so much going on right now, I’m not sure how my head has not asploded. I need to get some focus. I need to start working out- at least then maybe I can get some sleep. I need to go back to making lists. I should get dressed up for something really nice. I’ve been having alot of good days, but I want a great one to get myself back into gear.

Maybe tomorrow?

/pointless

Dog baths. Disney. Road trips.

Why do dogs hate baths *that* much? I mean- the water is warm, you essentially get a massage, wouldn’t it just be relaxing? I’m really not trying to write an entry about the bathing preferences of canines, but I had to clean Stanley today and he just shook his coat all over me. He’s surprisingly well behaved in the tub but it’s obvious he isn’t a fan. Moving on…

Last week I took a drive back to Harrisonburg. Then to Staunton. Then to Richmond. Then back to Staunton. Then Harrisonburg again. Thankfully my itty bitty car gets 36 miles to the gallon so I didn’t break the bank. It was a few days of firsts. First time I went down fighting for a set list (of Morrissey, so it was justified) and somehow the first time I had fried cheesecake. Not sure how I’ve made it through life without it. It was also the first time I’ve used, and somehow single handedly figured out, CSS. Hung out with old friends and newer ones, caught up with alot of people and, thought not purposely, made an unnamed person I’ve not seen/spoken to in  months after a falling out extremely uncomfortable.  All in all, let’s do it again sometime. The hanging, not the uncomfortable-ness. Too much tension.

So early today I spent $424 on Jonas Brothers tickets. I hope to see Property of the Queen as well. I know, I know. But it’s going to sell out! I got lower level at face value! From Ticketmaster! Not a broker! Ugh. Disney, can I have some shares? I mean I figure by now I’ve helped in some way to keep your company afloat. I’ve only been buying Disney merch since I was 2 or 3 years old and now I’m looking at 22 in a few weeks. Can a girl catch a break?! How about a free viewing of Hannah Montana: The Movie? Please…? And I ask as I’m watching the new Disney XD. Man…I lose. But seriously, how adorable are these guys?

Blogging: A new generation. For me.

After graduation, I figure my [real] life is starting. I’ve got alot on my plate right now and big things are happening. I’d be crazy if I didn’t start collecting the thoughts and tracking the [major] changes that will be happening in my life.

To catch up, Warped Tour has hired me to be their new Pit Reporter for the 2009. For those who know me, this is an absolute dream come true. The most perfect job for me…with the most perfect timing. The best part: I found out via twitter, only justifying it’s growing popularity and importance in society. The requirements were simple and I threw everything together to beat the 250 cap.

With every phone call I received from then on out from an unfamiliar number, my heart fell straight to my stomach. Eventually it was Paul Kersh, New Media Manager at 4Fini, Kevin Lyman’s company that runs the tour- as well as a few others. Apparently my video sold me. After some 45 minute phone conversations and half a dozen or so emails, it finally got announced on the site. I encourage everyone to check it out solely for the purpose of seeing my one hater being ripped to shreds by the WarpedTour.com community.

Needless to say, this whole experience up to this point as been surreal. And it’s not even started.

So I’ll leave you with my first official vlog as the new Pit Reporter. It’s nothing too fancy, but it’s the start of something huge.