Zath Chauvert

Xbox seems to have a fair number of novels written to tie into their games. There are "Halo" books, "Crimson Skies" books, and a few others whose names I cannot recall at the moment. In addition, though not Xbox related, I have seen books based on "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri." I wonder if that means that we have a chance of getting some "Pirates!" novels.

You should try asking around at the various places that sell DVDs in your area. You might be able to find a place that will special order titles for you even though they don't carry them in their regular stock. That way you could spend your money at a local business and still get things that are somewhat harder to find. If that doesn't work, you should make sure that your family members know exactly what you want for your birthday/holidays so that they can buy it online for you. :)

That looks extremely entertaining! I might have to make a serious effort to get there. Too bad that I have roughly zero chance of being able to drag any of my family members along if I do end up going. It looks like the sort of event that would be more fun if you have some family or friends along for the ride.

LOL! If that ends up happening, I hope that some kind pirate films the beating so that the rest of the crew can watch and laugh later. :)

So far, http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=55930 has the most detailed information about the release that I have been able to find. I haven't seen the recent Flynn release of Robin Hood, so I don't know how they compare, but this looks like it's going to be a nice set.

I just read something interesting and wanted to share the good news. Please forgive me if I'm repeating something that everyone else already knew. It has been announced that Errol Flynn's "Captain Blood" and "The Sea Hawk" are both going to be released on DVD in mid-April. You should be able to get them individually or in a boxed set with a few of Flynn's other movies.

Very nice looking coat you have there. For the red bits down the front and around the neck, did you just turn the facings to the outside, or did you do it some other way?

It's a very pretty blade. Any idea how much it costs? I couldn't find a price on the website and I'm too lazy to email them. On a mostly unrelated note, I wonder what they edited out of the upper right corner of the picture.

Gold shouldn't oxidize, but there was something on the medallion in the movie, so any reproduction that is clean gold will look too shiny. Instead of antiquing, think of it as being accumulated pirate grime. :)

They have released the Aztec necklace, but for some odd reason it is being sold at Hot Topic instead of the Disney Store. I just got mine a few weeks before Halloween. It looks more like bronze than gold, but other than that, it is a pretty good replica. They cost somewhere around $12 and come with the chain. However, before you get too excited, you should be warned that not every Hot Topic store carries them. I had to check three different malls before I found a store that carried the necklace. The people at the first store hadn't even heard that the necklaces existed.

I'm beginning to wonder if the sleeve issue has something to do with what size coat each person was sewing. Maybe the pattern was not properly scaled/graded/whatever, or maybe the larger sizes just need less ease for some obscure reason. My coat is an XS and I definitely needed the gather threads to ease the sleeves into the holes.

I recently read a silly little novel called The Pirates! in an Adventure With Scientists, by Gideon Defoe, whose name I may have misspelled. It's about a bunch of pirates (none of them have any real names; it's always things like the Pirate Captain, the pirate with the scarf, the albino pirate, the pirate in green, the pirate with the accordion, etc.) who attack The Beagle and end up helping Charles Darwin save his brother from an evil bishop. It's very light, fast reading. I probably could have finished it in under two hours if I hadn't been reading it at work, being interrupted by customers every five minutes. It's a fun way to waste a little time, but I would recommend finding it at the library or waiting for it to come out in paperback rather than spending the $15 or whatever it was that they are asking for the hardcover.

So far my problems have not been with the pattern itself, only with the places where I have been trying to alter the pattern, and even there my only real problem is that the changes I made to the cuffs make the sleeves hang funny. I have also had a problem or two with my own stupidity, like where I added welt pockets to the coat and then accidentally folded over the one of the pocket bags and sewed a diagonal line through it while attaching the pocket flap because I hadn't thought to pin down the bag to keep it out of the way. Maybe the people who couldn't get the sleeves to fit skipped the bit about adding the two lines of thread to ease them into the holes. It's the only reason I could think of, unless some patterns were printed with oversized sleeves and others weren't.

That would be a seam-ripper. I know because I've been using one a lot while trying to use this pattern.

Maybe Sir Francis Drake put in a good word for him?

I was there just this past Saturday. I was quite amused by the fact that I saw at least three different Jack Sparrows running around the faire this weekend, when I hadn't been able to find any at all when I went on Pirate Weekend earlier in the year. I can't be certain, but I think at least one of the Sparrows was working for PARF, because I saw him carrying a flag at the head of the queen's procession from Bosworth Field on the way to the finale in song.

Well, I've found at least a temporary solution for my lack of piratical footwear. While browsing through the local Payless store, I happened to find some boots with a nice looking toe and heel for $25. They fit really well, which in itself is a rather rare find, because most shoe that are wide enough for my toes are far too loose for my heels, and anything narrow enough for my heels is too tight for my toes. The shafts of the boots only reach to around 4 or 5 inches above my ankle, but if I can put together some passable boot-toppers then they should look like pirate boots. :) The best part is that without the toppers, I can wear the boots to work on a regular basis instead of only wearing them a couple of times a year. Now I just need to finish sewing everything else and I'll be good to go.

When I was in Hot Topic last week, looking for the PotC necklace that some of their stores carry, I saw something that looked suspiciously like a straw cowboy hat with a black skull and crossbones painted on the front. Depending on how flexible the straw is, it might not be very difficult to reshape into a tricorn.

C is for crusty crabs caught by cranky corsairs while cruising the cathouses of the Canary Islands

Hello, I'm trying to put together a pirate costume for Halloween and Ren Faires, but footwear is a bit of a sticking point for me. Can anyone suggest some places that sell square-toed boots for smaller than average pirates, preferably boots that don't cost a hook and a peg leg? My feet aren't super tiny for a woman, but in men's sizes they're only 5 1/2s. So far, all the websites selling affordable pirate boots that I have found only go down to around size 7 for their masculine styles. I would really appreciate it if some could point me in the proper direction.

Xanthippe and Xerxes engaged in x-rated activities with a xylophone aboard their xebec. :)