Bilgemunky

So I just finished an extensive redesign of Bilgemunky.com. Apart from the obviously different layout you'll also find a few new bells & whistles, along with what I hope is a much more navigatable and faster downloading layout. Check it out, share your thoughts! Yarrr!

An email would work best for me. Actually, a great start would be to send me an email that addresses the following questions: -Please breifly explain your connection to the goth community: -In what ways, if any, have you witnessed an introduction of a pirate element into the goth community? -In what ways have you witnessed a merger of goth/vampire interest and pirate interest within more mainstream alternative culture? -In what ways do you feel goth and pirates mix well? -In what ways do you feel goth and pirates don't mix well? -Do you have any more observations/comments/thoughts/amusing anecdotes you'd like to contribute on this subject? ------------------ I guess I should point out that you don't need actually consider yourself a 'goth' to answer these questions. If you've ever been in a position to observe any "piratification" of the scene, then your input would be appreciated. Just make sure to specify your relationship with the goth community in the first question. again, I can be emailed at capt@bilgemunky.com Thanks!

While I don't know that I've ever heard of a code, I do remember something about Morgan (I think?) being declared Admiral of the Brethren of the Coast. Anyone else remember this? If he was Admiral, that would certainly imply at least a loose structure in place, and make something such as "the code" a very feasible possibility.

I'm old friends with the editor of Gothic Beauty - a subculture fashion magazine that you may have noticed on the racks at Hot Topic while shopping for skull&crossbone socks and stuff. I recently proposed doing an article for him on the injection of pirate fashion into the Goth and Vampire subcultures, which he thought a fine idea. So... if you're active in the Goth or Vampire type communities, and you might like to be part of this article, then please email me privately and we can start a dialogue. Just send me a note at capt@bilgemunky.com.

Yeah - I always found taking a shower on land tricky for a few days after being at sea - couldn't quite stand straight. Bonine every morning. If you wait till you're sick, you'll just puke it up. My understanding is that seasickness is actually your body trying to reconcile the fact that the motion it sees doesn't jive with the motion it feels. Thus your body comes to the conclusion that it's been poisoned, and seeks to expel the poison from your body - hence puke. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let'er rip. Once you've done the deed, your body SOMETIMES will decide it's done all it can, and let you start feeling normal again. Sometimes not. Last summer while working on a schooner I religiously took bonine (I'm prone to motion sickness as well.) Only once did I turn green, and on that particular day we had about 30 schoolkids puking all over each other, so I wasn't the only one. Funny thing - right when I was feeling my worst, some little girl puked at my feet and I suddenly felt much better. So there's a tactic: if you happen to have a seasick friend standing next to you - egg'em on, poke them in the belly, do whatever it takes to make them puke first - it just might do wonders for you. But I of course make no promises

I have a basic black baldric for my cutlass, but I don't care much for the chromed donut of a buckle it came with. Anyone know of a good source or two for period buckles? The baldric is about 3 inches wide, and needs a buckle with a single clasp. Ideas?

See, that's the trouble with stereotypes - you don't need to say "Arrr" to be a pirate - we're a much more diverse group than that. For example, I've never been one for "arrr," but have found that "yarrrr" comes much more naturally. My brother, on the other hand, is a firm believer in "arrrggg," which I've never been too fond of, but each to their own, I sez. And best of all, you don't need to choose only one. Every now and then I think "yarrr" isn't quite saying all that needs said, and so I step it up a notch to "yarrggg," but this is best used sparingly.

Alright, I'm starting to feel left out. Here's me colors:

Yup - you can read an excerpt from my upcoming pirate romance novel "The Devil Wore Purple Plunder-Pants" at my website. It has everything - adventure, romance, and mystic pine-needles! Let me know what you think!

I know folks were discussing Cazador the other day, so I thought I'd share a bit about another comic book I found called "Scurvy Dogs." It's a black and white comic about Blackbeard and his crew. The catch? They live in modern times. No explanation is given (nor needed, really) about how this gaggle of pirate stereotypes ended up in our era, but that doesn't stop them from plotting mutinees from their cubicles, chasing after tankers of Tang, getting into wars with Hobo empires, and all sorts of other nutty things. Absolutely hilarious. I have a review on my website at Bilgemunky.com.

ROTDLMBAO? Maybe I just missed it somewhere along the lines, but could someone please explain what that one means? I'm feeling pretty DCBBIYCMM (danged clueless beyond belief if you catch my meaning.) And by the way, when there IS a casting call, Bess, be sure and show the appropriate individuals how good Keira and the Bilgemunky look together - they'll probably want to write in a special part just for me :) (picture can be seen in my profile, for anyone who missed it)

That occured to me too. The pirate crew was clearly intended to represent adult sized children (wanting a mother, listening to stories, etc.) To me they bear a striking resemblance to a bunch of 40 year olds living in their parents' basements. And maybe Hook is the one who "coulda been a contender," but somehow never got around to making the effort.

I wasn't really considering "Hook" in all this - my impression was always that it was more inspired by the original Peter Pan than actually based on it. Certainly Robin Williams' Peter would take some considerable stretching to be considered the same person as Captain Hook. But I think the metaphor holds in "Peter Pan". I've even thought up several more bits of evidence, but I'll spare you the details I used to write essay after essay on this sort of stuff back in college - everything from Dawn of the Dead to City of Lost Children. Guess a part of me's just itching for old times... unable to escape the past... surrounded by a crew of misfit pirates... OH MY GOD, now I'M CAPTAIN HOOK!!!

I must have way too much time on my hands lately, because yesterday a thought occured to me and I haven't been able to shake it since. Having seen the the new Peter Pan movie, I'm starting to wonder if on some (metaphoric) level Peter is a child version and Hook is the adult version of the same person. Think about it - Peter hangs out with the lost boys and refuses to grow up. He wants to play all day and romp around with fairies. Fair enough. But in time, the lost boys decide "enough of this," it's time to go home to a family and start growing up again. But Peter refuses, insisting instead to cling to his perpetual childhood. But what happens then? His friends have moved on, and sooner or later Peter will start to get bored. And eventually, whether we want it or not, we all become adults. But what often happens to those adults who have spent their whole lives running from responsibility and commitment? Quite often, too late, they realize that somewhere along the lines they shifted from being a freedom loving youngster into being old and alone. Captain Hook envies and hates Peter - envies him his freedom, and hates him because he recognizes his younger self - the younger self that made him the miserable old man he is today. Hook no longer believes in fairies, yet he can't let go of the past and create a new, fairy-free life for himself. So he's doomed to stagnate in his own past, captaining a ship of men he bitterly despises. He feels superior to them while at the same time knowing he, like them, has gone nowhere and done nothing with his own life. He looks around himself and sees what happens to lost boys who refuse to grow up - as men they become increasingly less cute and much more pathetic. It seems to me that Hook is an icon for the bitter old man who had a chance at happiness once but ran from it for fear of being tied down. And so now he spends the rest of his days hating himself and those around him - and especially hating his own past. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this

Prolly the best deal I've found is at Moonstruck Creations. They have an "economy peasant shirt" for $27. The picture they show makes it look like a pretty uptite, pointexterish shirt (in a renaissance way,) but I have one and have found it pretty versitile - loosen the collar and muck up the sleeves and it looks like a different shirt altogether. It also bleaches like a charm, if you don't want the "natural" color.

Aye - that be the platform shoes!

I never got around to posting on the recent "what do you really look like" thread, but a friend took a rather nice shot of me last weekend that I thought worth sharing. Now you can all finally see that I'm not just a silly cartoon of a blue monkey Check it out And yes - that IS Keira Knightly pressed up against me

Thomas Tew - I believe he was the gentler of the two? which weighs more, a pound of cannonballs or a pound of whale gills?

It was turned into a silver chalice that now sits handsomely on my fireplace mantle. Next Question - how did Mary Read and Anne Bonney escape their death sentences for piracy?

I don't know if it's available online, but our local hot topic has a couple more skull&crossbone shower curtains to choose from as well - one with pink girly skulls with a bow in her, well, ON her head. The other has slightly greyer skulls&bones, and are a little more sinister lookin. LOTS of neat pirate stuff right now.

Now how am I supposed to maintain my air of cool, quiet dignity when I'm getting publically spanked at every turn?

Rochester - what's that, an hour away from Buffalo? Is this something you'd be interested in if it were after March? I don't know what their timetable is, so that might not work for them, but thus far I've found narry a pirate in the Buffalo area.

Thanks all! Indeed, I've hit 30 today, which doesn't bother me but seems to greatly distress my mother (who can't POSSIBLY be old enough to have a child that old.)

You're indeed correct - one is "La," the other, nada. Thanks for the education - I'd no idea one had to be so careful when looking for Tortuga.