Capt. Sterling

See here is the rub immediately...it all boils down to perception, what we as researchers perceive when interpreting evidence. What the audience perceives or wants to see at events... and how well we perceive ourselves when judging ourselves.. when I drive by construction sites, on a regular basis down here in the Charlottesville area, I would say tis more half jeans and t shirts and half khakis and flannels...along with quite a few polo shirts...there is certainly not a vast majority of jeans and tshirts versus an occasional few cotton pants and collared shirts...Now up north in New York, I know it was more along the lines of what Mickey was saying... I think it all boils down to our interpretation of the evidence we are willing to research and how much detail we are willing to bring into any portrayal...Again...listen to one person's interpretation of woolen mantuas/men's suits versus linen...one expert says wool reigns and an other says linen was all the rage especially with sea captains. Now one expert is primarily dealing with English evidence...and another is primarily dealing with southern colonies both in American and the Caribbean evidence... two different views into clothing from the time frame...and yet some folks think they are in disagreement because they don't know the details of the conversation. Another example, when we were at MTA we scored low for having "clean" sailors although the Captain scored high with the added comment of how well he showed the distinction between the officers and the common sailor one point being he shouldn't have looked as dirty as the others... I haven't washed my kit in over six years, the linen coat I was wearing in over two. So what constitutes clean versus dirty or new versus worn? Is my portrayal "cleaner" because you don't see the black ink stains on the black woolen breeches even though they are there along with the sealing wax I can't get out but is covered by the waistcoat? The problem being I refuse to artificially age garments as when you are done, it looks just like that...fake, no matter how good yer fuller's earth might be or how long you buried it in a hole in the backyard. Not only that but that isn't living history in my book, that's hollywood special effects. How many sailors buried their kit in the backyard before they went to sea in it? And yet there was Dutch, from head to toe a bloody mess, no fake aging, but actual tar stains, food stains, and everything else you might get on your clothes with years of actually working in them doing period correct tasks such as working on the Luna or the Explorer. And yet his dirt didn't look right? Now it boils down to the audience's perception of what THEY think is correct....The same thing as when we specifically went as privateers to MTA and as soon as you put on the full bottom wig, everyone, including so called knowledgeable reenactors said.."Oh look pirates!" I don't like giving the spectators what they want, in my opinion, they get too much of that already. And although I can certainly understand and respect someone's playing it in a more gentle vane for smaller kids, I actually like it better when a kid comes up and gets a look at my face and starts crying or even better yet, prompts him into asking...what happened? and then he gets a discussion on slavery from the time frame, which six times out of ten has ended with a WOW, I didn't know they had white slaves, that's cool (still trying to figure out what is cool about being a slave)... My thing is, I have yet to attend a pyrate event where anyone stays in character long enough to truly draw it into the realm of true living history like I found in the Rev. War time frame...too many folks don't want to do the portrayals, too many have problems even pretending to follow orders from pretend officers, and too many claim to be "real Pyrates" and just want to lay around drunk ...not everyone wants to do the immersion thing, some just like to teach and demonstrate and some just like hanging out in funny clothes and have fun with friends. Is that a bad thing? No, to each his own really. Disappointing to me, but most of the time I find myself running around taking care of things that need to be done so there hasn't been the time to even think of launching into the immersion side of it..I see sparks of it in my crewe, so the potential is there...problem being again, everyone is in it for different reasons...And since we are there at the invite of the event hosts, we really should do what they expect...fortunately they often give us a lot of free rein. Then our perception of ourselves boils down again to personal goals,likes and dislikes, and whether we are truly accomplishing what we "think" we are...in that regard MTA was a great event to attend...it was nice being told how we are perceived by others....especially by them that "Should" know... As to the Archangel Crewe, my perception is that we are currently a mixture of actors and historians, some wanting to entertain more than teach and some that want to teach more than entertain, and one that wants to do full immersions...

Sounds like a plan.

Fine by me. Can we leave the trailer at the camp area and travel about on foot?

We're going site seeing??

Replied off line. Hawkyns Got it...thanks Hawkyns

Oh bloody hell

Ahhh Hawkyns... where did they say Living History without weapons...??? That's not what I am reading at all...

Sunday??

It does?? Hmmmm

Damnation... now I must purchase another book!!!!!

Cool idea indeed, but I can see event organizers having a stroke...why not settle for stynk pots without the boom...

Venison, plum duff, pickled string beans, cheeses, and sweet potatoes for the officers, seafood chowder and salt pork, ship's biscuits, and pickles for the crew. Some kind of gruel for the indentured servants, just to list a bit of it...Cookie not only cooked his food well, but actually had it broken down by class and station and what he could trade for in the area we were shipwrecked in as part of our scenario and what he might have salvaged from the ship and what he managed to purchase at our last stop Bermuda. For class issues for instance, I got to throw my sweet potato back at him as I would have to be starving to eat something of the Catholic/French/Spanish/lower class nature. He not only cooked everything to perfection with Cheeky and Brig's help, but explained everything in character according to the history and our particular scenario.

sniggering... but what a good depraved comment...

I was hungry

Guess what I got for my birthday present from some of the crewe...hint, hint.. Tis a beauty

Got a message from Capt. McGuyver..is on a plane presently but will try and take questions as soon as he can.

No not really...rather sweet actually

I got one of the Lady Fingers....very good.

Wishing you all the very best during and after..long life, health, peace and prosperity

Have sent an email to Capt. McGuyver, hopefully he will be able to address these questions in good time.. Odds are any firing weapons will be checked in the Living History camp by folks appointed by Capt. McGuyver..

If ye could call it that when it comes to Maddogge

Nay tis far too clean to be one of yer guns

Currently no thread but Duncan McGuyver is the man to contact here on the pub...IF there is no room for your A frame, you might be able to crash in with us...let me know how many...

Oh and btw, the photos are mostly taken by Maddogge, but he's too lazy to post them in the gallery, so I did.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/behind-the-scenes-of-dinner-impossible/pictures/page-15.html