Caraccioli

Ok, my user ID Caraccioli has reached Dread Pirate status. So I'm retiring it like I (sort of) did my user ID Mission. (Mission cannot be fully retired because it is a moderator ID.) I'm going to start using a new ID I created a few months ago...Misson. (Got to keep people on their toes.) Expect me to continue to maintain the mediocre level of witless wit that I have with this user ID.

Yet, I know of no other large scale pirate movies currently in production. (This isn't to say that there aren't any, it's just that I don't know of any.) Actually, that's kind of nice for Disney. Remember when Star Wars came out. (Many of you won't. ) Within the next few years there were literally dozens of space movies. Even the James Bond series altered their plans so they could release the (awful) Moonraker to cash in on the mania. Yet you don't see this with pirates. Curious...

I wonder how well a standalone, no mystical stuff, no Johnny Depp pirate movie would do, though? For the most part, pirate movies have not very done well in theatres since the 50's. I think it was Depp's off-the-wall characterization that really elevated this movie above the normal fare. (Anyone remember Haunted Mansion? Me neither.) The undead thing was an added bonus, but I agree with one critic's review of CotBP which basically said, "all the rest of this has been done before in one way or another and while it's done well here, it's Depp's character that really makes this movie standout." Go back and read the reviews of the first movie that come out at the time. All the positive ones talk quite a bit about Captain Jack and Johnny Depp. That was very much my impression at the time. Since then, it has acquired an aura all it's own and has, in some ways broken away from the Captain Jack thing. (Helped by his rather lacklustre role in the second movie.) But I think that was the X-Factor that broke the Box Office Curse of the Modern Pirate Movie

Yeah, that's what they're hoping...some random word will get'cha.

Yeah, post a bunch of links and say something about Paris Hilton. (At first glance I thought this was another one of our new "friends" posts. Good thing there wasn't a smiley in the title or I mighta' zapped it. I'm getting edgy around this place with all the SPAM were getting lately.)

Yes, I had forgotten that thing about his kids. I read that somewhere now that you mention it. (shrug) Suit yourselves. I like the stylized Jack. I think it looks more devious than mean. They should do a stylized undead Jack. Then we'd have something.

Oh, ah. I should have been paying more attention. Pirates were certainly one of the few egalitarian societies that are re-enacted. Interesting point. Actually, the writing is often quite clever in the series. There are lots of circles and circles within circles. Unfortunately a lot of that seems to get lost in the fascination with various characters, the supernatural CG stuff and the noise and confusion of having the blow things up. (Good ol' Bruckheimer.) If I weren't hanging around here still talking about this, I don't think I would have noticed half of the clever writing bits.

On Contemplating an AT-AT How did you get here, small AT-AT toy? Imagine my surprise to find you stalking away from me, frozen in mid-step on the pedestrian bridge over the River Raisin, during my morning run. I stopped and paused. Looked with puzzlement at your dramatic pose, one leg lifted as if to stalk forward, head tilted down and to the left - hunting for pesky rebel soldier toys. I picked you up - couldn't resist - and opened your cockpit head. Straddling the two seats, but sitting in the correct position was a vintage speeder-bike trooper. Vintage? What was he doing here? Inside your cargo belly was two of the new style stormtroopers. Clearly you were left behind by some forgetful child. Or maybe not. Perhaps you were spirited away by a bully who wrenched you from the hands of your owner and derisively placed you here, off to the side of the walkway, at the crest of the bridge to tromp along in my imagination. I notice that all your stickers have been carefully placed on you. That suggests your owner was pleased to get you. Did your owner put those on, oh so carefully, being cautious not to let them catch your plastic too tightly before being secured? Or perhaps his dad had helped him get them on you using patience and a pair of tweezers. You have the slightly worn look of a somewhat beloved toy to me. What will be your fate now, AT-AT with your cargo of three imperial figures? I am tempted to pick you up and carry you off myself, putting an ad in the paper or a note at the spot where I found you, suggesting the owner contact me to retrieve you. But I would just be meddling in the your future drama. Where is your owner? Perhaps springing out of bed, demanding that his mother take him back to the park to retrieve you? I hope so. It's what I would have wanted had I been a kid who accidentally lost or briefly forgotten you.

You have to get a banana plant, though, Red Cat Jenny. Apparently there are no seeds in bananas to grow a plant from. (See the beginning of this post.) I wonder if that's true for organic bananas too?

Hear, hear! (Except the Wookie post. I had to edit and save that one. It was too much fun.) Anyone else noticed that they always start those SPAM posts with the smiley in the topic? It's like they want to make them easy to find...

Eh? Somewhere in the midst of this discussion, it had half occurred to me that this is sort of a part of the recurring theme running through this series. In CotBP, Jack was in love with the sea because it represented freedom to him. Now we have this restated, only the deity Calypso has been created as a sort of embodiment of the seas (and perhaps, more to point, as an embodiment of the wildness of the seas) and Davy was in love with her. Just a thot.

Mary Diamond, I have had no luck whatsoever procuring a banana plant. Since you are just across the lake, would you have any recommendations? Should I get one in Key West and smuggle it back? ("Excuse me sir, is that a banana plant in your pocket or...")

I actually stopped short of watching the last disc in the series that's available. Based on their irritating tendency to stretch cliffhangers out for several episodes, I don't think I could stand the last show of the second season. So it's buried on my NF list, awaiting the release of season 3. (I've noticed that the majority of the stories on the middle discs are usually self-contained, so I stopped after disc 2 of season 2.5.)

Along the same lines as what Red Cat Jenny suggests, my sisters once took a photo of my dad in the Coast Guard and had it professionally framed along with a patch from the CG and his discharge papers. He really liked that. I once had a conversation with a lovely old Cajun woman in Franklin, LA. She was a friend of one of the guys I was working with down there on a job. She was an artist (pencil and painting) and a writer. She was writing a collection of memoirs based on stories that her Cajun grandfather had told her to be published locally. It was such a wonderful experience that I scheduled to spend the weekend in Franklin so I could go back and talk with her some more (among other curious, southern Louisiana things I did that weekend.)

I am sitting in Panara, half-listening to this man who is an absolute font of ignorance explain his views to a couple. He has given several of what appear to me to be wrong-headed opinions on a Scottish airport bombing, child rearing, divorce, ex-Prez Clinton, Prez Bush, television, home repair and any number of other things. Why is it that the most ill-informed must be the most vocal? I forget who it was the said it - it may have been Earl Nightingale - but he opined that the most unfortunate and uniformed seem to have the strongest opinions and ideas on every topic. And they often feel the most compelled to impart these ideas to every passerby. (BTW, right about here would be a spankingly fine time for someone to point out how free I am with my opinions. )

Uh, yeah...yeah, I said. Interestingly, he also said this: "Man is only great when he acts from passion." -Benjamin Disraeli How now, brown cow? Then, to cover his tracks he said, "Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed." -Benjamin Disraeli Politicians. (I like the original quote a lot, though. I put it in my quote file.) "What kept, I say, what kept ya son? I can't hold my breath forever. I'm not a fish! I gotta breathe air! Ya gotta thinka things like that boy! (Gargling sound as he talks underwater for a few scenes) a little consideration for me!" "Layin' down again! I don't want to be hoggish about this so I'll tell ya what: let's dee-vide the worm. Now we'll draw, I say, we'll draw a line and bi-sect him. Now all on that side of the line is yours and I'll take all on this side." "Well barbeque my hamhocks! Your half is gone! Now don't gimme no lip son, ya gotta stand by your bargain. I'd do the same thing! Well, hog gravy and chitlens! My half's gone!" "I-I-I-I know what yer gonna say son. When two halves is gone there's nothin' left. And you're right! It's a little old worm who wasn't there! Two nothins is nothin'! That's math-a-matics, son. You can argue with me, but ya' can't argue with figures! Two half nothins is a whole nothin! And I know what I'm talking about, because..." "Ahhhhhh shut up!" "Ok, I'll shut up. I'm not one who has to keep talkin. Some fellahs just have to keep their mouths a flappin'. Not me. I was brought up right! My pa used to tell me shut up and I'd shut up. I wouldn't say nothin! One time I darn near starved! WOULDN'T TELL 'EM I WAS HUNGRY!" (Foghorn Leghorn and some unknown, unfortunate cat)

Ah, saw this one this very morning. "He that would be superior to external influences must first become superior to his own passions." -Benjamin Disraeli

Oh, yes. Hmm. Well...let me see...carry the nine...substitute the square root of pi... See if I decoded it correctly. "Theopolis, I am here, stranded on this uncharted desert island with three fine albino chimpanzees wearing chartreuse gabardine tuxedos. Although they serve an excellent high tea using silver obtained from the wreck of my ship, the HMS Galumph, they make for poor conversationalists. Alas, the Galumph slid back into the sea during the sea lion revolt. You cannot imagine the terror I felt as literally dozens of blubbery sea lions waddled threateningly toward me. Fortunately the chimpanzees tossed me bodily into a Tumtum tree where I hung from a low branch for two and a half days while the sea lions continued to approach. Now that that terror has passed, I am concerned for my monies. Therefore, based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers Of Commerce And Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of 1 -hundred- billion dollars into your accounts. The transfer is risk free for each of us as I am an accountant with the Nigerian Regional International Processing Organization & First Fidelity (or RIPOFF) Bank. All I require from you the following: 1. Your banker's name, your telephone, bank and credit card account nu,bers. b. Your private telephone and fax numbers — for confidentiality and easy communication. ³. Your letter-headed paper stamped and signed, and otherwise left blank. Ð. Those three digits on the back of your credit card that have suddenly become so important to everyone these days. ⅝. A photo of your girlfriend, preferably naked Please reply urgently. Best regards. Tootle-pip. Haktoof Howgul Abul Arhu" Did I get it right?

I actually tried looking it up! I do see the similarities...when I squint and look at it sideways. (Perhaps it's Tonkinese dialect?)

"Nay, but perchance, foppish as I am, I might be the Scarlet Pumpernickel!" -Daffy Dumas Duck (What's with the frowny face? That's anti-fop! It causes wrinkles.)

I just stumbled across this stuff yesterday. Where was it when I was assembling my pirate-themed living room? The design is pretty neat on a lot of this stuff and isn't totally character-dependent. I found this site with a nice assortment of stuff, although I am not familiar with the site and don't necessarily recommend it or anything like that. It's just got a nice summary page of all this stuff. (It might even be an actual Disney site for all I know.)

That'd be great! I swear they are the best storytellers around. They could use that new cartoon Jack I keep seeing all over the place. Pretty neat.

I like Sparrow. I must confess that it surprises me that Depp would be so committed to role like this. I guess he must like it because he put his earmark on it from the beginning and got away with several things the corporation was originally against. (Depp always seems inclined toward such odd roles and Captain Jack has the potential of becoming (gasp!) mainstream.)

Don't tell me that gibberish means something?! If so, I'm pretty sure it's not Thai. Somehow, "ôîòî" looks to me more like random characters than real words. But I could well be wrong. Maybe it's in Wookie. Can anyone translate?

LOL OOOhhhh yea - from NYU, no less! It was an "experimental" program for several years - it just so happened that when I finished my Psych degree the Metaphysics doctorate course was starting up, so I jumped on for the ride. If my logical side didn't overrule, I'd probably do likewise. Alas, my logical side is pretty strong. They can both be fascinating - if you have the right prof. Judgment would definitely get in my way there. (What I said about being where you are and what you are because of the choices you have made.) I recognize that some people are physiologically "damaged", but there are rafts of people out there with doctorate degrees out there for them. People with a much stronger caring nature than I could ever pretend to have. We're both probably on the same M-B board and don't know it. Email coming after I post this... I doubt it. This was a mail list run by an INTJ. I'll have to check out the link. That sounds suspiciously like: "Every person, all the events of your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you." - from "Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" - Richard Bach Ah, my favorite book. Perhaps I am paraphrasing it without realizing it.