Mission

Ya know...for as "wholesome" as Walt's vision was, entertaining children and all that...the whole pirate thing just doesn't seem to fit. God love 'im anyhow. Those POTC models sure sent my life off in an interesting direction.

Excellent point. Everything in our world revolves around our perceptions and expectations. The movie will be neither good nor bad, only our perception of it (and implied judgement placed upon it) will make it so. Geez, I sound like Pyrate Phil... (It's true, though.)

This is a problem with sequels. The fans expect the excitement they felt when they came across a movie that was really good. But you can never quite get that. The characters are already defined by the previous movie, the situation oftens moves toward formula to meet fan expectations (even after one movie) and there's all this build-up and hype surrounding the production. Add the internet giving us opportunities to find out so much about the movie in advance and well neigh impossible to be surprised and delighted like you were when you discovered the first movie. Still, it is fun to see the further adventures of... I just don't expect this to be quite the ride (hee hee) the first one was.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, boiling and assembling bones is one project I don't want to add to my (now very long) list of things to do. See, I closed on a house on Wednesday and wanted the parrot for my pirate-themed living room. The house, however, has lots of projects for me to do and the parrot is probably not going one of them very soon. Here is where I got the idea: Green Parrot. I have this T (you can just see the parrot on the skeleton pirate's shoulder). It's my all-time favorite place to hang out in the Keys. Since the Key West themed dining room in my new abode is attached to the living room, thought the undead parrot would make for a nice tie in. I've met more bizarre people in the Green Parrot than anywhere else on the island. Plus you can bring your dog to the bar and they'll provide him/her with a bowl of beer. How can you beat that? Thanks again for the suggestion. I haven't heard back from the guy who was going to check the deep-freeze for a parrot, but I've been pre-occupied trying to find other things...like looking for some additional Art Deco waterfall front chevron bedroom furniture. The fun just never ends. I will probably return to the parrot skeleton search later when things slow down. (I'll ask for it for Christmas. My Christmas list ties people in knots. )

My interest in piracy (and in making Halloween haunted houses) stems from those models. Boy I loved those things when I was a kid. You can see all seven of them here.

Wow, that's awesome! While search I found this image from the changing portraits in the Haunted Mansion which I really like as well.

Yes, you're talking about Freed in the Nick of Time. My favorites are Fate of the Mutineers and Dead Man's Raft. I always wanted, but never got them when I was a kid, so I grabbed them off eBay a few years ago. (At last I can stop suffering and write that symphony.) They're expensive! I'll bet if they decided to create new ones (as the molds from 30 years ago are likely long gone), they would probably go for the zombie look used in the POTC movie. Hopefully they would also get rid of that clumsy Zap! Action. It was cool effect and all, but when the rubber bands broke on some of the models, you were pretty much hosed. (Plus they were a pain to install as I recall.) Personally, I'd like to see them re-released as they were too (sans Zap! Action). I'd buy 'em all. Maybe I'd buy two of some of them. :)

Go, ahead and try it, JoshuaRed. I came up with nothing like what he's talking about for about 10 different search terms. The Google search engine is excellent piece of software code - a true wonder to behold. Google's image search engine is also a piece of software code... I feel PIRATECAPTIN's pain. I was just searching for a Michael Maltese quote I wanted to share with Iron Bess the other day and had to look through five of my books to find it. When you want the perfect something, it can be a real bear to find (especially on the internet). I did find these at Ain't It Cool News. I know it's not what you're looking for, but you Barbossa fans should definitely check the Barbossa piece out. Very nice.

This seems like a long shot, but maybe it's the teaser poster for POTC? You can see it here. (That's an awfully nice poster - hearkens to the ride. I almost bought one, except I didn't have a spare hook to hang it on.) Not that it's relevant or anything, but this is another great movie poster I thought about buying, but, again, couldn't find a crypt to keep it in.

It's a sketch? Be expansive, mate - ladle on the description. Go to the point of being superfluous, use hyperbole, adjectives and tactile words. Give me something to work with. Quizzing you for every detail is like pulling teeth. I think I can help if you'll give me more data.

What is a product box drawing?

I've always liked this rendition of the dead pirate captain, myself. I remember building that model when I was a wee lad (not the model shown, but one like it). Can you give coherent information on what the picture was? Where was it from? The web? A poster? How was the skeleton positioned? Where do you think you saw it if it was on the web? Google Image search came up dry on this, but they're not the greatest image search in the world, either. Need more info.

I like it, too. I'd like it a whole lot better at a starting price of $35... if you start it at $35 and it's worth $133, it'll be bid up. eBay is the fairest system I've seen when people are playing fair. :) Why not spend your money on something a little more interesting and turn it into a lamp instead, like this guy did. Then you'll have a Zap-Action® lamp! (Here's a better picture. You can pick this model up cheaper than this if you don't mind not having the box.)

P-chan is the real star...I want a P-chan.

$133 for two $12 AFs, $1 worth of wood, a $4 lampshade, $1.50 worth of lamp parts and what appears to be grey airbrushed spray foam and hot glue?! I'm in the wrong business! (See what I mean about the Barbossa AFs face, though? Or maybe it's the hair...something's off IMHO. He looks like a parson with a feather in his cap in one photo.) It is nice work, but I can't see paying that kind of money for it. One day I'm going to start selling the carrying case I designed around this Hedz product which I used to produce several years ago. Maybe I'll charge $132 on eBay. The bag will come with a nice zipper...

hirsute treasure

How about beer mugs? Too bad about being on short notice. You can get all kinds of interesting things on eBay for cheap, but you have to wait for them to arrive.

THAT is a fascinating book if you really want to get a feel for what it must have been like to be taken by pirates. Some of the accounts seem a tad sensationalist to me, but overall it's quite interesting. I highly recommend it. Be careful with Rediker, blackjohn. While I respect his writing, I've noticed that he sometimes writes from his own agenda. It tinges his writing, especially when it comes to attitude of the pirates. (Just my 2¢. Really blatant Op-Ed pieces like Raiders & Rebels by Frank Sherry and Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition by B.R. Burg belong in the historical fiction section of the library, not history. They confuse people and give fuel to those with personal agendas.)

I've actually been talking to the owner of another site, Art By Evolution. He's checking to see what they have in the freezer for me. I was pointed to that site by a helpful eBayer. The Bone Room doesn't have any parrots listed, but if the Art By Evolution thing doesn't work out, I will certainly try contacting them. Thanks for the tip!

Not to keep harping on a point...ok, I am still harping on a point. What can I say - things are slow. Over the last few weeks I've been occasionally watching bits of the film with the writer's voiceover on. Anyhow...I finally got to the part where the curse is lifted. Both Ted and Terry say that Barbossa is killed because the bullet is lodged in his heart when the curse is lifted. Well, Ted says it, then repeats it and Terry agrees with him. So when they go to bring Barbossa back in the sequels, they should dance some pretty intricate moves around that point - because they said it themselves.

Yes, this basically echos my thoughts from your first posting of this in the Beyond Piracy forum. You have to give people something they can latch on to. (It may not necessarily have to be exactly what they expect, but if you go too far afield, many people will be very put off by your score. Listen to the awful score for Goldeneye for an example of going off the edge of the map, mate.) I was pretty sure Foxe would have some wise words on this topic. Even if they are long-winded, pretentious and pendantic.

Take 'em out if you feel like it. I collected the new series' of SW AFs mint on card for years and sold them for about 50 - 70% of what I paid for most of the ones I've sold. Sure, there were a few that I made out on, but 90% of them...I might as well have taken them out of the packaging. (Then you get about 20 - 30% of what you paid for them, but at least you get to see them up close and personal.) If you want to make money collecting carded AFs, you need to go back in time and start collecting in 1977 - and then quit in 1987.

Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson Here's some great lyrics: "A pensive man am I, of philosophic joys, who likes to meditate, comtemplate, free from humanity's mad inhuman noise"

Yes, exactly! That's why Jack is my favorite. Lady B, I think the likenesses are pretty decent, even on the ones I didn't buy. NECA typically does a good job with details. I had planned to re-do my resin life-sized cast of Mohawk Gremlin so that he looked like Brain Gremlin, but when NECA released their BG AF, I looked at it and thought, "Why bother? This is so good." (Well, and working with this particular resin is such a pain. Ok, it didn't take too much convincing. )

Who said that?