Tyrannical Tess

Oi! Any of ye's picked up Abney Park's new CD, Aether Shanties? Wicked good! Particularly like the song "Under the Radar"

LOVED IT!! Lots of things to do and people to see! Sterling organization! Sad to leave....now waiting for info for next year...getting my tickets ASAP!

This topic is a horse that has gone beyond being beaten to death. Over the past year it has been beaten into dust. I doubt there is anything new that can be added by either side. I also doubt this very heated debate is helping promote either event. People may chose to ignore both venues, and attend events closer to home, where the atmosphere isn't so charged with discord and animosity. I would like to quietly suggest that, here on the Pub at least, everyone let the dust settle and move on. Whatever litigation is taking place is between the parties involved.

Respectfully submitted,

R

Arghhh, Ransom, and undoubtedly showing much better sense as well. I’m a relative newcomer here and my priority should be to play nice with my mates rather than start kicking up the proverbial dirt. As you have probably gathered by now, this subject still gets my back up ….but I’ll go slap the wind out of my sails and knock back a stiff one for the common peace…

This is not a thread for long rants. It is just a place to post the little things in daily life that bug you, or that people do that make you roll your eyes, and wonder "What the frack were they thinking?"

Here are three of mine—which all happened recently.

People who, parked on the street, open their car door wide, with no regard to traffic behind them. Which makes those driving down said road have to swerve into the other lane of on-coming traffic to keep from taking the idiot's door off.

Grocery shoppers who stroll down the middle of the row with their carts, blocking people trying to go around them from either direction. They go 2 mph, studying every stinken label, some while talking on their cell phones, "Well, Harold, they don't have that brand on sale, but they do have.......,.....,....., which one do you want?"

You're looking over titles at the video store, standing far enough out of the way so that people can go by you, and someone comes along and stops right in front of you, so you end up looking at their back. As if you're invisible, and it never occurred to them that you might actually be looking at the video selection in front of you. Sheesh.

Oh Oh Oh! This is lovely! If you will permit me, I have ways that you can cure EVERY ONE of these bad habits one person at a time! These methods have been tried and tested true!

The first is quite easy and kind of self explanatory, if you have good timing and don't mind a little minor right front end damage to your car. But believe me when I say, the next guy that does that to you will NEVER throw his door open in traffic again (so you can consider yourself an educator as well)! The grim truth - taking a door off because someone swung it open in your path is not your fault....sideswiping the car next you while trying to AVOID an open door IS. How messed up is that?

The second is rather fun. Just act as clueless as they are by waving a hand frantically and calling out YOO HOO (the shriller, the better) EXCUUUUUUUSE ME! Keep a stupid grin on your face and the blocker will usually nudge a couple of inches off to the side. Then when struggling to get through the very minor hole they have made for you, slam a corner of their cart with your own. This will usually catapult the front of their cart into the safety stripping on the aisle shelving and remove them completely from your path. Then apologize profusely for the run-in and emphasize your apology with a few personal-space-invading pats on the arm of the blocker. If you follow these directions to the letter, the blocker will be far more alarmed by your bizarre behavior than angry (nobody says YOOHOO anymore, or apologizes either), and you have not only gotten past them, but have done your public service for the day as well...not to mention being able to release that pent up stress you've built up while creeping behind the chucklehead to begin with.

The third is similar to the second, only this time excuse yourself while reaching past them as though to take a DVD off of the shelf ,(choose a DVD that is high enough on the shelf so that the elbow on your upraised arm is level with their head) then give them a solid nudge with your elbow (the force of the nudge to be determined by how badly they have annoyed you). Follow the same instructions for post-impact as for those in number two, only this time (if you are able) grab their head with both of your hands and vigorously rub the spot that you have just struck with your elbow while you are apologizing. When you eventually release them, they will leave your immediate area post-haste and will not block your view again as long as you remain in the store - in fact, they will probably stay as far away from you as possible, if not leave the store entirely. Again, your public service requirements for the day have been fulfilled, and you are free to shop the store unhindered.

Trust me, THESE WORK! You also get the added benefit of chuckling to yourself on the way home instead of talking to yourself under your breath about how *^#%* stupid and rude people are while gesturing at nothing and basically looking like a crazy person.

Well, what the hell. I might as well add my two cents.

I don't really care who's at fault or who did what to who. However, Bilge, there are others outside of Southern California who've had the misfortune of getting the shaft by this said individual, they just don't talk about it here. But I've heard the stories from those people first hand from their own mouths.

I don't personally care about this one way or the other. Haven't done PyrateCon since year 1. Don't plan to ever do it going forward.

But, I will say that:

1) Freedom of speech is a fundamental right and as long as it is not of malicious intent, it should be supported and condoned.

2) There are lots of people who are new here that deserve to make their own informed decisions, pro and con about this situation. Otherwise, pirates here have the potential to be scammed as well, if there is scamming going on. As PT Barnum said, "A sucker is born every minute" and an opportunist can root them out before they even knew what hit them.

Oh, and I clicked on the site and it's not malware. It's just one person's version of the truth as much as I'm sure Andre has his version. And somewhere in the middle lies the complete truth.

People here can make up there own minds about what is true and what isn't. However, the resolution of litigation in a court of law is pretty finite. It's not hearsay, it's not innuendo. It is indeed public record and let the facts of the case and the truth of the matter prevail. But it does deserve to be aired.

It's the job of the moderators to keep this civil and not be reduced to name calling and I think they've shown good judgement on that in the past, including slapping me down a time or too in my crankier days.

-- Hurricane

Hear hear, Hurricane, and God bless yer head. There is no doubt - at least in my mind - that Andre has cut a very wide swath and left a lot of grief behind him, even before he went into the “convention“ business. I often wonder if some of us had spoken up and not just cut our losses and kept our mouths shut, if this Con business would ever have gotten this ridiculous. I’ll go so far as to say that we might have actually saved a few from the same fate.

Pirahna has been soooo harshly criticized for her version of dealing with Andre, but at least she spoke up, dammit. Then she held her own when the fallout started and refused to be cowed or swayed. It took a lot of guts and I’ve got nothing but admiration for her. That’s a heck of lot more than I can say about the masses of the rest of us - oh yeah, myself included - and she makes me feel ashamed of myself. That she continues to be slammed about it just gives me REALLY tight jaws.

If you live a life where you challenge yourself you will never be fulfilled living on the profits of your challenges

"Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated" ~ Mark Twain

I suppose I could relent that the PyrateCon fueding is 10% relevant, but still 90% crap. There is clearly a lot of bitterness in southern california, and I'm not much inclined to believe any post I read as being unbiased, especially when most are overly long, juvenille, and full seething anger, petty jabs, and unsubstantiated rumors that don't matter a lick to those of us involved.

"Person A has just been caught stealing from Person B and Person A has also kicks puppies so if you've ever had business relations with Person A WATCH YOUR BACK Person B is now starting their own pirate festival and it will definitely be the BEST FESTIVAL EVER you should never ever ever go to Person A's events because they robbed me of tens of thousands of dollars THIS IS IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS!!!"

Really, that's how it all reads anymore. Hell, even the PR piece about Mitch's new Pirate Daze published in the NQG 15th Anniversary Issue was 2/3s about how bad Andre is, and how Mitch and his mother (yes, his mother) have a good lawyer. Only the final paragraph bothered to explain to us - the potential attendees - what the event actually has in store and why we should wish to patronize their efforts.

Oh dear….yes indeed, I must concede (with feeling) that some testimonials of being a Con partner would have benefited profoundly and taken much more seriously if time had been taken to CALM DOWN and take a deep breath before slamming it down and throwing it into public forums without even stopping long enough to proof-read it - not to mention how much of this unedited testimonial the public would even be able to understand and take in before giving up in disgust. It is difficult to feel empathy for a person’s plight after you have long gone glassy-eyed from attempting to follow a single train of thought to it’s completion…and failing. But, people tend to have very strong opinions about a subject after they’ve been taken for the proverbial hard ride - this, of course, being a perfect case in point. This does not, however, make them biased (indicating little or no basis for their opinion, view, and/or anger) or make their complaints (no matter how annoying they are to read about) unfounded or untrue. And certainly in partner number 1’s case, it appears his complaints and charges could in fact be substantiated and proven after all, doesn‘t it? Personally, I think it is tragic that partner number 2 has more or less shot herself in the foot due to her method of communicating her story, as in many circles it’s been thrown out whole as so much tiresome trash. And partner number 3 has burned so many bridges and alienated so many simply by defending Andre so ferociously with complete disregard for her own back, that many simply don’t care about her sacrifices or the (alleged) significant price she has had to pay for the privilege of being the latest partner-cum- volunteer. Now, how pathetically ironic is that?

By the way….whatever happened to the original creator of the Con? This event seems to have broken out of the gate with a nefarious past built in from the beginning.

But as the saying goes, there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. If that is the case, and even half of what has been relayed to the public from all partners is true….well. Damn. At the very least it certainly explains why so many events promised on any of the Con’s itineraries don’t make it to realization. Oh, and never mentioned again, or as you yourself have pointed out as a paying guest, not even an apology offered up for it’s absence. AND the redundant disorganization. Delivering a good Con just doesn’t seem to be a top priority to it‘s organizers - honestly, how can it be? That so much damage is alleged to be happening to individuals in the name of the Con….that is disturbing and worrisome, and I feel that you don’t have to be intimately involved with the specifics for that to be your business as a potential customer. And also just stepping back and taking a look objectively - any partnership that can turn a normally good-hearted and strong-minded person into an incoherent hysteric….or making it a priority to state in a reputable magazine just how much Andre sucks BEFORE promoting his own event….well, that’s just really bad mojo, my friend. But here‘s the real question for you , my dear “I don’t want to hear about this crap” friend - if the head honcho can repeatedly treat his own co-promoters with such blatant disregard (giving him an enormous benefit of the doubt, as this would just indicate a passive, rather than an active or directed hostile intent), just how concerned do you think he’s going to be about you as a faceless guest getting the most for your buck at his convention? What has REALLY improved over the course of the three Cons - um, besides the speed and efficiency of demoting and removing the partner-du-jour?

Seriously, are we still talking about this? Whatever litigation is on between Mitch and Andre is not a public affair - I'm happy to see folks talk about the pros and cons of attending PyrateCon, but not this crap. And Tess, I don't like the look of that link. What the hell does it go to? It's a rather abnormal URL - maybe it's a forum, maybe it's malware. But I won't be the first to click it and find out.

Didn’t intend to offend you, Bilge, but the reason it’s still being batted about is because of it’s continued and annually renewed relevancy. Admittedly the link is a bit juvenile, and not strictly on topic, so I’ll accept the slap the on the back of the head for that and consider it deserved. But in actuality, determinations on court cases are a matter of public record, which is just how it should be. How else are we to know that justice is being served? Discussions about the pros and cons of attending PyrateCon are just a vague and polite step away from “this crap”, but it’s “this crap” and yet more and more “crap” of it’s ilk that continue to pile up every year that began the discussions in the first place - and keep 'em going. Frankly, I believe that it’s “crap” such as this that is pertinent and should be known before anyone decides to give this event further patronage.

Fans of ol' Red Eye have GOT to check this out!

http://host-d.oddcast.com/php/application_UI/doorId=237/clientId=86/?mId=30211010.2

Finally, It is safe to go back into the water...

the Shark Red Eye Has been to the Dentist & all his teeth got torn out!

Mad Props and Congrats to Mad Eye for his BIG win in court yesterday!

Mad Eye Won against... RED Eye aka Andre Vriese...

Red Eye the black-hearted pirate vendor from Southern Cali ...

Red Eye who has been cast out and set adrift ....

Red Eye who will forever wear the Black Spot, the sign of a traitor... all over his face!

Applause and Congrats go to you Mad Eye...

You ARRR the pirate hero of the day... nay of the year!

Mad Eye you did what needed to be done! Your defeat of the carpetbagger "Red Eye" in the Van Nuys California court was Awesome.

Finally it is safe to go back into the water....as true blue pirates.

This is a well deserved victory for you and long overdue.

It seems that red eye is now reaping his own karma with all the bad luck he is having. And it will only continue....The Bad JU JU that the VooDoo Gods have brought down on his head is going to be severe. Three times worse than what he has done to all the others he has wronged.

You Mad Eye, and so many other pirate we all know were wronged by RED EYE. Now you have been vindicated with this win.

All of us have been bothered and harassed as Red Eye continued his year long unwarranted tirade of rants and raves against many of us legit pirates. Red Eye has been an annoying thorn in the sides of so many pirate in Southern California and in New Orleans. Red Eye's cowardly way of fighting us was with filing endless frivolous lawsuits over and over, and finally today Red Eye was beaten and completely defeated against Mad Eye.

Mad Eye won in the Van Nuys California Superior Court. Mad Eye won a well deserved substantial monetary award settlement.

Now Red Eye must pay...

This is great and glorious news for you Mad Eye and for all the other good guys & good pirates!

Thanks for making it safe to go back into the water .... as good upstanding true-blue Pirates!

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Sounds to me from this article that Wikipeidia isn't the problem, it's JOURNALISTS you can't trust....but, gee, big surprise there. I've only been quoted in three newpaper articles in my life, but I was MIS-quoted all three times! So I learned early on it's not the actual truth that's of primary importance in a news story, but more how the story SOUNDS that's important - everything else is a throw-away, and apparently the stuff that sounds good isn't even worth double checking.