Charlotte Doyle

http://www.anydesktopthemes.com/cgi-bin/vi...iew.pl?id=27259 It's a right lovely desktop theme -- though I prefer, meself, using the skeletal hand as the writing icon and using the writing-icon dagger as the regular pointer (much easier to see what yer pointing at). I couldn't get all the desktops to work for me, unfortunately . . . but the mouse icons and the desktop icons (I love clicking on Jack Sparrow to check me mail) more than make up for that! Enjoy. :)

Aye -- in case any of ye hadn't guessed, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle be a favorite o' mine. *grins* I first read it probably a decade ago, and still reread it when the fancy strikes. I loved the character transformation of Charlotte -- she's a character I can really relate to. And while it was Jack Sparrow that gave me my fascination with pirates (CAPTAIN Jack, of course ), Charlotte was the character that first kindled my interest in the old sailing life. SUCH an amazing book. Captain Jaggery is positively wretched . . . and I always got a kick out of Ewing and Fisk. Hmm, wonder if they ever considered making it into a film? If done properly, it would be quite good.

THAT, we are most definitely in agreement about. *grins* Yeah -- PotC is pretty much my idea of the perfect film flick -- but it occured to me that they went to the Caribbean itself for filming . . . and the audience never really gets to appreciate it! I hate a movie that places a whole lot of emphasis on the beautiful scenery in its background, 'cause sometimes that can take you out of the film itself and have you just concentrating on the scenery . . . but PotC could have stood those few more moments of the "outside world". I dunno -- maybe they decided to whittle 'em out because of time constraints? It really wouldn't have added more than five minutes to the entire movie, though . . . maybe Verbinski and Co. decided they _liked_ the idea of having the focus just on this handful of characters, and not on the world they actually inhabit. Hmm . . . It's late and I'm beat -- if I'm not making sense, somebody let me know.

The "No truth at all" deleted scene is a great one that adds a whole bunch to Jack's character -- but there's NO way it could have been kept in the actual film. Never would have worked. PotC is such a delightful, full-blown *fun* adventure film . . . suddenly jarring the audiences out of that mood with such a graphic scene probably wouldn't have done PotC any favors. It just doesn't fit the tone of the overall movie. I _do_ appreciate the scene -- it's become my favorite of all the deleted scenes -- but it works best as that, an added bit to Jack's character after you've already seen the movie a few times. I think Verbinski made a wise decision to leave it out. ...But that's just me. *grins* Adore the mayonnaise bit. As for humiliated grapes -- that's straight outta "Benny & Joon" (another great Depp flick, if pirate-less), which I really appreciated. :)

I, too, be too new at this t' really have a pirate-in-public story to share (Nigel, I loved yer post -- that is just so bloody NEAT! *grins*) . . . but I did have a fun time o' it at uni when I came onto the college campus on Halloween in my pirate garb. I wasn't the only one dressed up that day, but I was one of the few, so I got a few heads turning towards me -- which was fun. Best moment of th' day was at lunch, when I walked into the college cafe and was confronted by an older gent, I think a college alumnus, who was on campus for the day. He looks at me for a moment, in my Johnny-Depp-inspired costume, then says, "You're a hippie, right?" Suddenly my history professor, sitting at one of the cafe tables, turns around and half-yells, "No, she's a PIRATE!" Most heads in the cafe swivel to look at me, while I beam at my history prof. Obviously, she'd seen PotC.

And I thought I'd read a positive review by Ebert on "Peter Pan" . . . ah well. Gonna go see it regardless -- and SOON! Hmm, maybe I could hit a matinee tomorrow . . .

Almost forgot: I have a question about this. I keep seeing the singles available on other sites, like you said -- WHY!?!? When are the singles _ever_ seen in the actual film?? From what I can tell, every single piece we ever see is double-sided; certainly, the piece Elizabeth wears as her medallion is double-sided, we see that this is the case when it flips around and around after Barbossa drops it into the chest. Yet I keep seeing singles at all the websites. I mean, I adore the Aztec coin at the Indyprops site; but what's with the random design on the back? I'm not criticizing -- I'm just curious. Are the singles being made 'cause it's cheaper than making them double-sided (which is certainly fair enough)? Or is it something else?

Captain Jack, I be _very_ interested in acquiring a double-sided coin from ye, most especially if ye be willin' t' take a money order (I don't use Pay Pal) . . . please, keep us posted about when these pirate wares will be able to be acquired! :) Heh . . . this must be _killing_ Disney. All these copies of the coins being sold on eBay and sites like this . . . if Disney had gotten on the ball and made these Aztec coins themselves, for necklaces 'n' so on, they'd be makin' a _killing_. (More of a killing than they're making with the DVD sales, that is.) Has t' be driving them mad.

Actually, from what I've read in Production Notes, and so on, that was because that scene in PotC was went to be a direct tribute to the scene in the film "Crimson Pirate" . . . Serendipity, I'm not sure which I love more -- yer sig quote or yer avatar icon! Awesome. :)

And I STILL haven't been able to go see this -- and it's got mermaids AND pirates! It has BOTH!!! It's not fair!

Nope. You're not the only one. Me and my family were in deep thought the minute we left the theater after our first viewing . . . and I've been pondering the finer film points ever since! 'Cause it really _is_ a rather complex plot (one reason we like it so much, I think) -- it requires multiple viewings and a lot of thinking on it to keep everything straight.

Given how I get motion-sickness from EVERYthing, including water beds if I move around too much, I am glad to hear that I needed feel bad if/when I toss my cookies over the side of the ship on future sailing voyages. I intend to _get_ on sailling vessels sometime in the near future -- and I know that when I do, it'll either be Dramamine or Death By Sea-Sickness. However, this makes me feel much less alone! :)

Oy, I really want a tattoo . . . but I can think of no design that I'd want to have on my body somewhere for the next sixty or seventy years -- so I have a feeling I'll remain tattoo-less. Sigh. No piercings, either, though that is another story . . .

Aye, the photos be quite good 'uns . . . but I must agree, the eyes give 'im away!

Actually, I think Elizabeth wasn't cursed when she stole the medallion from Will ('cause she really did _steal_ it) because she stole it from Will and not from the chest itself. Listen to what Barbossa tells her -- "Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." So it's not enough to steal one of the pieces from someone -- ya gotta snatch it from the chest itself. (...I figured this out because me and me mother were having an argument about it awhile back; she insisted that Elizabeth should have been cursed because she did technically _steal_ a piece, and so there was a plot hole; I insisted there must be an explanation. When I caught Barbossa's line there, I was ecstatic. I spent the rest of the film that time leaning over to my mother to whisper, "FROM that stone chest! FROM the chest!" For some reason, she didn't think I was as amusing as I thought myself. *wink*)

Yeah, I got that now. But for some reason, it took someone like five posts at another pirate message board I frequent to get this concept through my head. The girl trying to explain it to me kept saying it in different ways, but I just wasn't getting it -- and finally she's like, "LOOK, they ALL had to drop some of their blood into the chest to break the curse, EVERYONE who took a coin has to give their blood back as well, we just don't SEE it on screen," and I was finally like, "OOOH, NOW I get it!!!" It was a great moment for me. Yah, I can be a bit dense now 'n' then . . . ever have something just refuse to compute for ya? Such was the case for me with this. :) I'm good now though. Thanks though!

"Hooker" . . . HA HA!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! Yah, I have to say -- Jason Issacs as a pirate vs. any actor incarnation of Peter Pan ever . . . Wendy'd be nuts to turn down Hook, wouldn't she?

Yeah -- there was a chance, if slight, that once Elizabeth dropped the coin, they'd be unable to find it again; ya don't wanna lose something as small as a medallion to the depths of the ocean if you can help it. :) So I suppose their fears were reasonable enough. I imagine the curse would have been removed for Bootstrap when Will dropped his bloody coin into the chest. All the coins had been returned, and the full blood debt repaid -- if Will was returning the blood debt in place of his father (but without having ever been really cursed himself), then I think the curse would have been lifted for all. So I doubt that, if Bootstrap does happen to still be alive, that he's running around still cursed. I have to say, I'd rather see Bootstrap return in PotC2 than Barbossa -- I really love Barbossa's character, but I'm just not convinced it's such a good idea to bring the guy back . . . ;-) BTW, I too had trouble figuring out why it was Bootstrap's blood that was needed. I was even beginning to wonder if perhaps Jack was related to Bootstrap, because of the scene where he cuts his own hand before tossing the coin to Will. But someone finally pointed out to me that the rule is simply, if you take a coin from the chest, you must put it back with some of your blood (or your kid's blood, apparently ) to lift the curse. Barbossa's entire crew did actually bleed into the chest already as they returned the coins, though off-camera -- as Barbossa is launching his inspirational speech to his crew before cutting Elizabeth's hand, he asks them, "Who paid the blood debt [or "sacrifice," I forget which] owned to the heaten gods?" and his crew roars and points at themselves. So, despite being wildly understated, there was nothing "special" about Bootstrap where his blood was needed -- he was just the last crewmember they needed to give his blood to break the curse. See if this theory of events makes at least moderate sense. *grins* I think the pirates, Bootstrap included, marooned Jack on the island, then went to Isla de la Muerta and stole the coins. They got the coins, started spending them, and realized they were cursed. Now, maybe they didn't understand the full extent of the curse yet. Maybe they didn't realize that they had to do much else but return all the coins to the chest. If they realized only that much, Bootstrap could have sent the coin off to Will then, wanting to punish the crew (and himself?) for marooning Jack on the island. Barbossa, furious that Bootstrap has just cursed them forever and ever by sending one coin missing (I doubt Bootstrap volunteered the information that he sent it to his son; he probably just said that he got rid of it), sends Bootstrap to the bottom of the ocean. THEN, after dumping Bootstrap to the depths, Barbossa and Co. realize that they need the blood, of EVERY crew member, to break the curse, in addition to returning all the coins to the chest. But of course, then it's too late, so they begin looking for the child they knew Bootstrap had, in addition to the coin that went missing . . . This is all surmising, but it's the best I can figure to make sense of the script. Having them figure out the curse, and how to break it, in pieces, is the only way I can figure it would make sense -- but I suppose it's possible enough! :)

Alright -- just glad I didn't miss the chance of seeing Johnny Depp hisself, in person! This makes my missing it a _little_ less bitter. *grins*

Aye, "next year" be my current mantra at the moment, too . . . Wait, so was Johnny Depp actually there? Or did they just have a look-alike type impersonater?

*DO* all the pirates who get blown apart, get reassembled? I'm not so sure they do; some scenes have seemed to insinuate that if a pirate gets blown up, his individual parts may keep moving (the hand "chasing" Governor Swann comes to mind), but he himself may not be in such good shape. :) I'm not so sure that they _can_ always put themselves "back together," at least not if they don't have anyone around to help them out. And if they weren't put back together when the curse was broken, then, well . . . it's far too late for 'em. So Bootstrap could certainly be in PotC 2, but maybe they won't put him in, either -- really could go either way. For now, I'm just happy watching our original PotC movie, over and over and over . . .

Thanks so much for posting that! Elizabeth is one of the more underrated characters of "Pirates" -- but she really is one of the most fun ones, too, and I love Keira for giving Elizabeth such spark. :) Thanks for the article; she's going to make quite a Guinevere!

But make sure it's Kazaa _Lite_ ya download, everybody . . . the regular Kazaa program can do nasty, _nasty_ things to yer computer . . . Kazaa Lite is the same program as Kazaa but without all the "friendly" little bugs.

Deacon Frye, thanks muchly for the info -- glad to see a little historical accuracy was in "Pirates of the Caribbean" after all! :)

"I didn't create this world of ours! I merely recorded it!" Ah yes, I be a fan of "Quills" . . . though "Mystery Men" was my first Geoffrey Rush movie and remains a favorite of mine. I always adore Rush's villains -- like Casanova, Barbossa has a tendency to roll his eyes at the ridiculous things he gets confronted with as a film villain, and I love that; it's a pleasant change of pace from the humorless bad guys of just about every other movie out there. He gives his bad guys a few layers of personality -- and he certainly could have been nominated for his role of Barbossa. Then again, these action/fantasy-type movies, unless they are "Lord of the Rings," don't often get anyone nominated for any type of award, unless it be for special effects. I'm still amazed Johnny Depp got the Golden Globe nod -- even though he obviously deserves it.