Caraccioli

I have always thought this was an interesting possibility. Several people on the site where I post are quite dogmatic in their insistence that movie soundtracks are not classical music. Yet, most of this music has its roots there. Even Williams admitted that he used Holst's The Planets as inspiration for his original soundtrack for Star Wars. In the end, it's probably irrelevant - you could just as well insist that each composer's body of work or even each piece should be in it's own category. Categories are really quite arbitrary at their core. I notice that the classical music radio station I occasionally listen to puts movie tracks and even Broadway show tunes in their rotation. I recall one such station having a several hour show devoted specifically to soundtracks. I imagine the best soundtrack tunes will be played well into the future just as the best classical music is played today. Most of the stuff will probably fade away over time, just as most of the lesser known classical music has.

I had always thought it was just an interesting way for the site owners to differentiate the site. I figured they were using the spelling from the title of Captain Johnson's book A General History of the Pyrates. (Which is also mistakenly attributed to Daniel Defoe. Oh, what a tangled web...) Spellings are often quite varied in documents from the GaOP, probably due to the fact that the first widely distributed dictionary was written by Webster in 1783. And that was written for a school, so I don't imagine it gained popular circulation until years, possibly decades after that. Without a source like that being available and with education being quite spotty during that time, it would make sense that one spelled words in whatever way made the most sense to them during the GaOP. (Well, that's my guess, anyhow.) As for pirate, one source gives the etymology thusly: [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pirata, from Greek peirates, from peiran, to attempt, from peira, trial; see per-3 in Indo-European roots.] (From http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0327300.html ) [Note: corrected a favorite error of mine thanks to a note from wages. I seem to have this mysterious Captain Adams wandering around in my head who wrote the General History. Anyone know why that is?)

Actually, I post on a soundtrack site and if something has crossover potential...well, it gets crossed over. I have written dozens of soundtrack reviews and have gobs of soundtracks; my iPod library is at least half composed of them. They definitely get the most listening time when I am on the road. My Top 25 list is mostly soundtrack tunes. It's great stuff for ideating. " I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music." -Albert Einstein "I draws what I likes and I likes what I drew..." -Bert, Mary Poppins

Now that we have all three and I've given AWE a good listen (or dozen), I can create a proper playlist! They are either "In the order that I like them" (the first 7 or 8 tracks) or "In the order that they make the most sense to me" (the rest). 1. Jack Sparrow (Dead Man's Chest) - by far my favorite POTC track and the most-played tune on my iPod. (189 times and counting). 2. Up is Down (At World's End) - the best track on the new album IMO. Jaunty and fun 3. Wheel of Fortune (DMC) - My favorite kitchen sink track. (A kitchen sink track throws everything but...well you get the idea.) For whatever reason, I like it better than the k.s. track I Don't Think Now Is the Best Time from AWE. Although that one is decent enough as well. 4. Skull and Crossbones (Curse of the Black Pearl) - contains the best version of the POTC main theme by far. Better than Drink Up Me Hearties and He's a Pirate because of its intensity IMO. This is almost a k.s. track. 5. The Medallian Calls (CotBP) - [appears to be a misnamed track - should be Introduction of Captain Jack or some such, but many of the tracks on this CD are misnamed - I suspect because it was put together in a hurry. This may also explain why the divisions between songs are not very well planned. This detracts very little from this soundtrack, except when individual tracks are pulled out. Like I've done here. ] 6. Dinner is Served (DMC) NOTE: I have edited the waltz or whatever that nonsense at the end of this track is out - this is ONLY the native music. Otherwise it would have to be at the bottom of the list somewhere. If it were on the list at all. 7. Multiple Jacks (AWE) - A goofy rendition of Captain Jack's theme. I like it. Plus it has the stone crab theme. 8. He's a Pirate (CotBP) 9. I Don't Think Now Is the Best Time (AWE) 10. Drink Up Me Hearties (AWE) 11. At Wit's End (AWE) 12. The Black Pearl (CotBP) [Appears to be misnamed] -Note: CotBP songs that I like in best order IMO start here. 13. Will and Elizabeth (CotBP) [Appears to be misnamed] 14. Swords Crossed (CotBP) [Appears to be misnamed] 15. Bootstrap's Bootstraps (CotBP) - This also contains the intense version of the main theme and it could have been up there in place of Skull and Crossbones had they left the key change part of this tune (where Governor Swann is fighting the animated, amputated, undead arm) in instead of editing it out. Who chose to remove that?! 16. Blood Ritual (CotBP) 17. Moonlight Serenade (CotBP) 18. To the Pirate's Cave! (CotBP) 19. Singapore (AWE) -Note: Goofy music that doesn't match other music on CDs IMO that I like begins here 20. Davy Jones (DMC) 21. Two Hornpipes (Tortuga) (DMC) - Note: this is actually a favorite of mine, but it is so jarringly out of place amidst all the other material that it got moved down here. This is definitely a "top of this list" sort of track, though and it is one of the few here that appears in other playlists of mine. In fact, it and Jack Sparrow are the only two tunes on the top 25 list that the iPod generates for me (positions 1 and 8, respectively.) 22. Underwater March (CotBP) - I love the last half of this but find the first half slightly too depressing in tone for repeated, standalone listening. It really should be two different tracks IMO. (I should probably edit it.)

I used to know two brothers who delighted in stealing road signs. They had them all over the walls of the garage. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose...

Iron Bess mentioned somewhere in one of these threads that the ship is much older than Davy Jones. Although there is some sort of period Dutch ship under all those festoons of sea life, so maybe there was one or several before it that got all old, creaky and leaky through repeated trips between here and the afterworld and the heathen gods decided an upgrade was in order after years of complaints from the various captains. I wonder what the ship salesmen think when a heathen god walks in (or possibly appears) in their showroom? But I digress. The h.g.s probably started out with a dugout canoe. (You know, this will be good fodder for the series of novels that should be written once they've grown tired of making movies while the die-hard fans haven't yet grown tired of the idea. I tell ya' George Lucas is a marketing genius.)

It sounds to me like this whole thing is curse explanation du jour. Pick the one that the writers explained that you like best and run with it. Now, wait, wait...wait...according to what captjacksparrowsavvvvvvvvy says, it's Davy Jones curse? At least that would make more sense. The Dutchman has a curse on it and then Davy/Calypso (who is apparently a manifestation of the heathen gods) put a different curse on it. Now Will should get in the act and put his curse on it, too. Then it would be thrice cursed and you would have to sign lengthy legal documents just to take over. "The cursed party of the first part will agree that he and/or she will abide by the original curse on the Flying Dutchman, ex-Captain Davy Jones curse upon the curse of the Flying Dutchman and previous captain Will Turner's curse upon the curse upon the curse..." Programs! Get your program here! You can't keep track of the players without a program, folks! As for the Santa Clause, let us not forget a more appropriate reference upon which we can draw... "Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts' he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.'"

Is this correct? I found it at Wiki when looking through the production notes. I 'm not trying to doubt you Bess as I would trust you more than Wiki, but... "One scene cut explained that if Calypso had greeted Davy Jones after his ten years of ferrying dead souls, then he would have been freed of his duty: in turn, Will is freed of his captaincy as Elizabeth remains faithful to him ten years later.[20] 20. Terry Rossio. "Re:Ah, that Davy Jones curse thing...", Wordplay Forums, 2007-05-23. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. [Link: http://www.wordplayer.com/forums/moviesarc....cgi?read=98721 ] Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_world%27s_end Even if it is, what became of the captain(s) before Jones? I thought he started the whole "cut out your heart for love" thing.

In today's email, I found the following 3 spam messages in this order (I couldn't make this stuff up, I swear): From: Alberta Wooten...Subject: Longer...Harder From: Joan Hall..............Subject: repugnant From: Shields N.Basil.....Subject: paradoxical Further down in the list was this one (too bad it wasn't fourth): From: climactic...............Subject: of course he has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Guggenheim...

That is a cool name. How do you pronounce it? I suppose having a cool name is both a curse and a blessing. (I'm thinking of grade school in particular here.) Aberdefina, try this thread. It contains over 1000 historical piratical names: http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtop...e+nationalities

I ordered Bring Me That Horizon: Pirates of the Caribbean - The Making of the Swashbuckling Movie Trilogy by Michael Singer and Timothy Shaner sight unseen from Amazon. (I have bought "Making of..." books about dozens of movies - I often get them to learn how things were done and for inspiration for haunted house rooms.) Having said all that, I don't recommend this book at all. It's full of breathless, Tiger Beat style descriptions of the major players (Although I did learn that Gore Verbinski is apparently a minor deity), yet revealed little of interest about the "making of..." aspects IMO. It's not at all as in-depth as I'd hoped. There's some interesting stuff, but not nearly enough compared to some of the other books I have on movies. The pics are only so-so IMO...a lot of major scenes of which I would have been delighted to have nice clear photos are not included. The fascinating world of ILM is not explored very well. There are some decent, candid, off-screen shots, but that's not what I was buying the book for. I'd definitely skim this one before you buy it. It sounds like I might have been happier with the Visual Guide. (I usually avoid VGs because they often pretend like they're encyclopedias of important fact instead of a collection of photos of props and miniatures from a movie. Maybe I'm just a movie book snob.) On an off note, I was checking stuff out of the local library when I spotted the Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia in the return pile. I asked the library gal (who is a pal of mine), "Why on earth (so to speak) would someone want the SW Visual Encyclopedia for three weeks? To check on some facts for an important report?" It's a coffee table book for fans! (Ok, I guess I am a movie book snob.)

When I first heard the whole Calypso gag, I started thinking about the "There is another..." and "The other he spoke of is your twin sister." lines from the Star Wars series. Hmm...well, let's see...a sister means a girl and we have...Leia...and...Leia...huh. Who could this possibly be? When the started talking about Calypso in AWE, I knew it wasn't Elizabeth. We know how she got there, who her father was and where she came from based on info in the first film. Well let's see....there's Tia Dalma...and...Tia Dalma...huh. Who could this possibly be?

No, Will is not released after 10 years. Can we quote you on that?

That's nice. Makes you want to walk out there, doesn't it? I recently heard that some of the best beaches are on the East Coast. I think they said Ocracoke Island contains the top beach. (And it also has a strong pirate history as well.)

What, like this? Probably more like this: (Here's a gratuitous link to my Pirate Living Room Page with the explanation of the building of that fan on it: http://www.markck.com/images/My%20House/Li...oom%20lamps.htm ) Say, anyone who wants hand-made Jack Sparrow dangles for fan pulls like the ones used on the fan can do a trade with me through the plunder exchange. (Although not quite as accurate - those shown in the photo below cost me nearly $100 to complete when I was done with them - those Kuchi coins with the dangles are damned expensive if you want one accurate to the film.) If you really want to use them as fan pulls, tell me that and I'll use fan pull strands to make them. See the plunder exchange post for more on the exchange (which is really cool): http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10175

A friend I haven't heard from in a while emailed me and asked about whether Will was released after 10 years or not. He thinks that because I was interested in Piracy long before the movies came out I will understand the "pirates who do not pirate" as Mr. Redwake put it. (I suppose such debate is good for continuing the series. I recently came across something called "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" which is another multi-media venture Geo. Lucas is creating to keep that series fresh and alive. (Whatever else you think of him, the man is a marketing genius. He practically created the small scale Action Figure market.)) You all realize that if Will is released from the curse, he could be back in the next film if it takes place at least 10 years later? Of course, writing Will out of the films takes the primary character that is in there for the (mainstream) audience to identify with. If you go back and watch the first film, much of what is going on is explained through Will's POV. In fact, in some ways, the diminishing of this POV in the second and third films is what might alienate some audience members. I suppose the hope is that we've been intro'd to the world in the first film and the second and third can just carry on, assuming we understand the make-up of the environment from viewing the first. (Of course, anyone seeing 2 fresh would be confused and 3... *shudder.* That would be nigh impossible to follow.) (Norrington could have been the POV man if they'd have developed him properly. )

Pretty darn innocent for a Pyrate. I can see how you might perceive me that way based on what I understand of your worldview. I perceive it as being more like "idealistic." (But I suspect you knew that already, Phil. )

Well not everyone of note who is not a certifiably-stamped "movie villain" should have to turn pirate to be redeemed in these movies... (Although they might have tried, given half the chance. ...still grumbling about Murtogg and Mullroy...) I think Mad_Jack has a really good point. If you really break it down, most of the pirates were shown to be "self above everything else - including each other." Look at the scenes on Shipwreck Island. Heck, look at any scene where Jack or Barbossa is figuring their next move. This makes for good movie fodder, but poor real world behavior (Oops! There I go again bringing the real world into this. Fifty lashes...) In fact, I think Norrington as a character better reflects the struggle most people go through. The day-to-day, "what is the best," some good things happen, some bad things happen, now what do I do with them? What action can I take? That makes him a more interesting character to me. If everyone behaved like Jack, "killing off" the parts of ourselves that are even slightly noble and beneficent, what would we have? (We'd have a world like The Road Warrior, that's what. "They kill us, we kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill! Kill!" "Be still my dog of war. I understand your pain. We've all lost someone we love. But we do it my way! We do it my way. Fear is our ally. The gasoline will be ours. Then you shall have your revenge." Fun, fun, fun!) Philosophy, you know I love it. As far as the movie goes, I agree with Captain Grey. Norrington could have had a really interesting story behind him. Of course, then would would have had yet another sub-plot to confuse things. (I say they should have ditched the almost pointlessly silly Calypso story and given us more on the Norrington story. But that's just me.)

Ohhhh...what was the name of that famous Chinese piratess? I can't recall her name and my ref books are elsewhere... Cheng I Sao! (My own (under my Mission user ID) handy Pirates sorted by Nationality post in Twill helped me! Check it out - it might prove quite useful in your hunt if you know each pirate lord's nationality: http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtop...hl=nationality)

FWIW, I read somewhere that that is not supposed to be eyeliner, but blacking around the eyes which is worn because of the sun. (Which, the same source said, was actually used by pirates and sailors in that era. I can't verify that one, though.)

They're both fictional Pyrates, mate. Perhaps you need a breather from all those POTC movies; its beginning to affect your grasp of reality... Well, it was sort of a wry joke. Too subtle? I'm having a thought - If you don't choose the cartoon version of Hook, my analysis will be flawed. In this case, Sparrow will win because he is the indomitable movie hero (or, perhaps, anti-hero would be a better description) and Hook the villain and Hollywood rules are usually quite firm on this point. Of course, in the POTC movies, it has been shown that Sparrow can indeed die, but only to be retrieved from death so he can somehow be involved in the undoing of the dastardly deed doer what offed him. So Sparrow could lose, but only if he came back and triumphed (after a fashion). In which case, Sparrow would ultimately win. Sparrow every time, unless it's the cartoon Hook. "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect." "Wait til I get going! Now, where was I?" "Australia." "Yes, Australia."

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. "There's something very familiar about all this..." -Biff Tannen

I choose the fictional pirate...he doesn't have to abide by the rules. Actually, Hook is a cartoon and we know from the Disney documentary, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that 'toons can't be killed by swords and safes and whatnot. So Hook would almost definitely win. (Now Hook vs. Barbossa from the first movie...it'd be a draw.)

When The Spy Who Shagged Me came out, Verne Troyer appeared in Walled Lake, just north of Detroit - the city where I used to live. (I didn't make that event either. Alas.) I sense a pattern...

On a side note, "Beagle" is a premium name for a ship IMO. "My God, man! Do you know what that is?! It's the dread ship Beagle!" I am currently reading Portrait of Myself, the autobiography of photographer Margaret Bourke-White. It is an extremely well-written and fascinating account of the life of a very independent woman's rise to the top of her field beginning in the late 20s. Simply splendid.