JoshuaRed

E! is showing it tonight...I figured I'd wait and enjoy on tv instead of a fuzzy little webcast thumbnail window.

NICE! I had heard about this awhile back but it kinda dropped off the radar. I'm thrilled to see it's gonna be on Anti records...my favorite label! Tom Waits records under them now...I SO hope he'll be on there. For years my friends and I used to talk about how amazing it would be if Tom Waits did a whole concept album of sea shanties. But I'll settle for Bono too..that's none too shabby! **EDIT** To read an in depth press release with full track listing, go HERE. I can't recall the last time I was so excited for new music.

Problem with these shows is that they only have an hour to prevent the usual suspects and the same retread info. If they tried to present some info that the general public would find "new" and different, they would then have to spend most of the hour explaining it. Imagine opening the show with "pirates didn't really look any different than other period seamen". You've just booked the remaining 59 minutes with backing that up.

Well I guess I know what's next on my summer reading list!!

Here's my take on this show: It did suck, but not totally. It wasn't a greater offender in the accuracy/feasibilty arena than any of the classic technicolor era pirate films...it's worst fault is that these days there's no excuse for that, while the old films like The Black Swan have charm and nostalgia going for them. Angus makes a GREAT pirate, just not Blackbeard. Would have been better to just shoot a fictional story than to toss a few names in the blender with some Asian islands and 19th century naval uniforms & ships. If I were a North Carolinian I would be personally offended at the fact that NC is not mentioned ONCE in the whole 3 hours. I mean Eden and Blackbeard are part & parcel with North Carolina history, not Nassau. My favorite historical innaccuracy wasn't with the pirate gear, clothing or weapons, but when Blackbeard is meeting Eden in his office at his mansion, in the background you can clearly see bright, shiny Home Depot pressed brass hinges on the doors that open out onto the garden. Too funny. It's like you KNOW they probably threw that whole mansion set together in a month or so...you can almost hear the battery-powered whine of the Black & Deckers putting the finishing touches on minutes before the direct shouts "Action!". :) I basically sat thru 3 hours to see the closing shot of Teach's head swinging from the bowsprit...didn't happen. Instead we get a Titanic-esque rosy sunset scene...but then this IS Hallmark. Ah well.

Yeah we were in a Hallmark store the other day buying overpriced cards and they had a stack of promo cards for this on the counter. If I get a chance I'll scan it in.

Smaller ships had portable iron stoves that could be set out on deck for use in good weather, and stored below in foul weather. Storms meant no hot food. :(As mentioned above, another option was a stone/brick hearth set below deck with a chimney/stovepipe that funneled the smoke outside.

LOL you want humidity, try Orlando in July! :) I like it though....goes good with pirates!

Mad Jack's orb theory is pretty spot on, imo. I've been doing paranormal investigations for a few years, been in some pretty creepy places, seen some creepy things including a full blown "lady in white" that I never would have believed except that I saw it for myself. However it's been my experience that thick clusters of orbs like this indicate dust more than anything, or moisture in the air. Being anywhere near a large body of water, or something like a muggy tropical night can be a big culprit too. The TAPS forums are a fun place. Pretty cool. But if you want a more laid back gig check out ghostvillage.com. You'll get some pretty good feedback there too on your pics.

Ok get those TIVO's ready...now's yer chance to see Bob Hope as a pirate in the The Princess & The Pirate on TCM tonight, followed by Abbott & Costello meet Captain Kidd at 12:30, which I've been dying to see. Charles Laughton reprises his role as Kidd from the first Kidd movie he did, which was great the first time around. Can't wait to see how he hams it up with the guys.

Rest assured I'll be taking July 7th off to attend both the ride reopening and the movie opening! What a frickin' GREAT day!! I can't wait....

Thanks! Everything I learned about the state of rockin' I learned from you, BlackJohn. Pynch! Great seeing you here again!

Thanks! The stuff I'm doing now is more realistic and accurate...this was from my "I want to pitch a pirate children's book" phase. But my 'folio is getting full and I needs ta make more room!

If anyone is an an auctioney mood, I've decided to test the waters by putting one of my pirate watercolors up on Ebay. Just a funny lil' whimsical piece, nothing serious. It's the original, not a print. You can check it out with this link: Pirate Art Thanks for looking and fairwinds!

The firsthand texts I've read suggest they did in fact care a good deal about hygiene and understood that being cleaner meant being healthier. Dampier for instance, was very vocal about keeping clean at sea.

Those pics are phenomenal!! Finally the GAOP has arrived! There's no excuse for not being authentic now....

Check it out - Found it thru the Magic Kingdom site....there's a swell little flick about the rehab and more goodies! Disney OFFICIAL POTC Rehab Site

I dunno, I bet a young pirate lad would be quite thrilled and amazed that the public was so enamored with his seafarin bones...

The key is indeed the trickiest object to find on the site, yet is the most obvious in so many ways....Just wish they'd hurry up and get the Games area live too!

I agree. In the right hands it could play out better than the best of Sopranos or Deadwood, which is saying a lot.

Now that is just plain funny!

Your best bet is to go straight to the source - books written during the GAOP by guys like Woodes Rodgers, William Dampier, Silas Told, etc. They are fascinating reads, will teach you far more than the crop of pop-history books of today, and prove that the seemingly less-exciting truth is actually cooler than anything Hollywood could come up with.

...and it's terrific. Sorta continues along the lines of the site for the first film, with a scavenger hunt and lots of surprise goodies. Check it out, you'll have a blast. But be warned, those of you who are bandwidth-challenged best steer clear, it's a heavy one. POTC 2

Wee ones. Maybe a few swivel guns on the rail, maybe some 4 pounders on the deck. But...in most cases that was more than enough to intimidate prey into surrendering, often without a shot fired.

Me, I'd choose to be up on the quarterdeck with Black John, shouting horrible songs and swearing blue fire and hope that did the trick. Failing that and the 6 pounders, I'd board with the nastiest boarding axe I could find. Those things are so user-friendly, and there's not many things scarier than a crazy man with an axe lunging at you! Assuming the first shot didn't get me, I could get a whole lotta manic swinging in like Happy Gilmore with a golf club before the enemy could reload/aim. The axe has it all - good climbing aid, good offensive/defensive weapon. Lightweight too.