Pirates

Talk Like A Pirate Day Is Less Than Three Weeks From Now

To prepare for Talk Like A Pirate Day, here's some suggested reading, from blogs we like:

Lycanlibrarian's Blog has a report on Pirates: From Blackbeard to Walking the Plank.  The book, according to the librarian in Lycan, 

"will supply you with pirate facts, history, superstitions, lore, lists of the most famous pirates, and a sprinkling of phrases and terms to keep you jawing along with the best of them on talk like a pirate day, which comes around every September 19th." 

S.S. Icarus, the steampunk entertainment blog, has an invitation for a pirate-themed event in Highland Park, N.J., on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 19: 

Join us for pirate singalongs, grilled meats, bards, rabble-rousing, merriment, and trading companies selling their pilfered wares. Avast! And, as if this weren’t enough to get you lily livered lubbers out there, we went ahead and grabbed permission to have booze! So BYOB and lots of it. We encourage grog, mead, and rum! Har har. COSTUMES AND GARB highly encouraged!!

The D'Angelo Law Library blog has collected links to the court filings and legal papers behind the case of six Somali men charged as pirates, the case that has been in court in Norfolk, Va. From the blog:

The court reasoned that persons affected by the law could not know of any new definition of piracy, and therefore due process disallowed reference to the current law of nations as the standard for defining piracy. Several charges other than piracy remained viable against the Somalis.

Virginia Pirates Found Preparing For Talk Like A Pirate Day

In Norfolk, Va., a Somali man accused of a pirate attack on a US warship was just found guilty of charges related to the April attack. He faces 30 years in prison. Five others were also charged in the case, which raised the question of how to define piracy.

Just down the road, in Virginia Beach, some other pirates are making plans to invade corporate events, school fundraisers or another Renaissance Faire. 

The Virginia Beach group call themselves the Overland Crew and sometimes disguise themselves as a chiropractor, professor, event planner or restaurant manager. That's to blend in to society while they plot and scheme.

Talk Like A Pirate Day should be a day the Overland Crew throws off the civilian guise and shows Virginia who they really are. As The Virginian-Pilot wrote recently, in Need Some Pirates? This Crew Is For Hire:

“Who doesn’t like a pirate?” Parker Hedrick asked. “Pirates are not some dead thing in a book. We capture the whole feeling of living in a different time and day.”

The Overland Crew is available for parties, events and fundraisers – and like most good pirates, they are willing to go anywhere.

One place you should not expect to find them: the courthouse in Norfolk.

Practice Your Pirate Talk, And Get Ready For Sid Meier's Pirates On Wii

Talk Like A Pirate Day is less than a month off and now it the time to practice your pirate talk. You can also start to prepare your Wii for the release of Sid Meier's Pirates! -- one of the most popular video games, which will finally be available on the popular Wii platform.

The reviews are already out, helping to build anticipation.  Daemon Hatfield, writing on the IGN site, had this to say in his Sid Meier's Pirates! Preview:

Here, you have command of ship and crew, free to travel the ocean, sink ships, visit ports, and court ladies of privilege. After spending a bit of time with Pirates! I can see why it is so beloved. As a straightforward port of an existing PC/Xbox/PSP game it's not the most exciting Wii release on the horizon, but it's definitely fun and addictive.

The game begins by showing you your motivation for becoming a pirate. As a young boy your family is taken into slavery but you manage to escape. Years later you sign up with a local pirate outfit, only to lead a mutiny on your first voyage.

Xav de Matos on ShackNews also praises the game, although he notes the missed marketing opportunity. From ShackNews:

Ahoy, land-lovers! 2K Games has dated the Wii port of Sid Meier's classic trek at sea and we're slightly disappointed.

Don't get us wrong, we're happy that Sid Meier's Pirates! will launch on the Nintendo Wii on October 5. What we're disappointed by is the synergy that could have come with setting the game to sail on September 19, the internationally recognized day to "talk like a pirate."

 

Pirates Plan Southern California Invasion!

If Talk Like A Pirate Day is not enough excitement for you, the Port Royal Privateers offer a whole lot more. Since 1993, this group has celebrated the history and romance of piracy in the Caribbean by dressing up, practicing sword play and other fine piracy arts, and pillaging towns on the Southern California seacoast. OK, they do indulge in at least two of these three activities.

Dues are set at one gold doubloon or $25 a year. The Privateers own description:

Members have varied interests including: acting and improvisation, costuming, blackpowder weapons, period games, nautical arts, sailing, singing, swordplay, and writing.

PRP is well known for interacting with the public, encouraging visitors to join in a song or game, handing out souvenir "pirate treasure" to children, or just engaging folk in conversation; our primary objective is to create fun for ourselves and our audience.

One week before Talk Like A Pirate Day, the Privateers will set up an encampment at Dana Point as part of the 26th annual Toshiba Tall Ships Festival, a celebration of the Ocean Institute. From The Orange County Register:

The public will get a chance to take in the sight of a fleet of tall ships sailing into Dana Point harbor, learn how to talk like a pirate and experience the excitement of mock cannon battles at sea at the Sept. 10-12 festival.

The festival will begin with a sunset parade with an armada sailing from near South Laguna to the harbor on Sept. 10, followed by two more full days of ships, activities, food and pirates.

Dana Point's bastion of maritime history, the Pilgrim, which is docked alongside the Ocean Institute in the harbor every other day of the year, will lead the parade of ships.

Talk Like A Pirate Day is Sept. 19. The festival provides just the right setting for a practice session.

Long John Silver Is Back! New Reading For Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Long John Silver sentenced to hang. Jim Hawkins determined to save him. A "Treasure Island" sequel. Those are the ideas that inspired John O'Melveny Woods to publish his first full-length novel, Return to Treasure Island. 

Woods, a journalist, entrepreneur and film-school graduate, said he created his own guide to talking like a pirate. He depended on this pirate glossary as he worked on the novel. From The North County Times:

"I knew I couldn't write the book in modern-day parlance, and I knew I also couldn't write it in 1880s parlance, so I had to find the balance. From my research, it looked like Stevenson invented the pirate language that is still used today. So I took it further and created a sort of pirate-language bible that would guide me as I wrote the book."

Woods also told the North County Times that his target readers were the fans of the original by Robert Louis Stevenson: 

"I had to figure out a way to get Jim back to Treasure Island, when in the original book he swore he would never return. I also wanted to keep the main characters while bringing in new characters. In the end, as a fan of the original, I just wanted to make sure I was happy with what I wrote, as a fan would be happy."

The version by Woods may not be the only Stevenson tribute novel, but it is probably the only one with its own website that plays spooky pirate music: Return To Treasure Island. 

The book makes a perfect gift for Talk Like A Pirate Day, Sept. 19.

What Johnny Depp Will Be Doing On Sept. 19

Johnny Depp has been in Hawaii filming the fourth movie in the very successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. The new film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides," will not be released until May but it will be in full 3-D. 

A visitor to the set, Whitney Eileen, was able to shoot some photos of Depp in full pirate garb. Click here, here and here for a sampling of Eileen's Depp pirate shots. Captain Jack Sparrow seems to be enjoying himself.

Will Depp still be talking like a pirate on Talk Like a Pirate Day, Sept. 19? He may not need this language lesson. He may not even need marketing help for the upcoming movie. But Talk Like a Pirate Day will be a great opportunity for Depp and others connected with all the pirate movies to show the flag. 

Here's some good reading while you wait for Depp to finish the movie. On Stranger Tides, a novel by Tim Powers based in part on the story of Blackbeard is the inspiration for this "Pirates of the Caribbean" film. 

Talk Like A Pirate -- Starting In First Grade

The "Back to School" sale signs are popping up in neighborhood stores and fresh corn is available in farmers markets. The five- and six-year-old set concentrates on squeezing the last pleasures from the few remaining summer weekends. The threshold into first grade moves closer every day.

Pirate fans now have their own way to prepare for the start of school.

Book reviewers praise the writing by James Preller and the illustrations by Greg Ruth. Here's an excerpt from the Scripps Howard review by Karen MacPherson that appeared in The Seattle Times:

Ruth shows the boy surrounded by pirates wherever he goes. Kids will love the contrast between the antics of the imaginary pirates and the regular school-day routine. 

The Bookends blog, in a post by Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan,  makes the case that Pirate's Guide will stir imaginations while it provides comfort:

The bold pictures and large size makes this a terrific book for a group while the plentiful humorous details also make it a rewarding lap book. Reassuring and packed with humor, this is a perfect choice for any small swabbie feeling a little nervous about setting sheets to the wind for first grade.

There are only a few days before school starts and less than a month to go before Talk Like A Pirate Day. This is the perfect weekend to use the power of literature to prepare yourself and any young friend.

Five Weeks To 'Talk Like A Pirate Day' -- And Lawyers Are Arguing About The Definition of 'Pirate'

It's a short five weeks from now: Talk Like A Pirate Day is Sept. 19.

After 2,000 years or so, you might think that one part of this would be settled. What is a pirate? The Wall Street Journal shows us that the very definition is at the heart of a court case involving a group of Somali men charged with piracy.

Who's A Pirate? U.S. Court Sees Duel Over Definition brings us these insights:

Some 2,000 years after Cicero defined pirates as the "common enemy of all," nobody seems able to say, legally, exactly what a pirate is.

U.S. law long ago made piracy a crime but didn't define it. International law contains differing, even contradictory, definitions. The confusion threatens to hamstring U.S. efforts to crack down on modern-day Blackbeards.

The central issue in Norfolk: If you try to waylay and rob a ship at sea—but you don't succeed—are you still a pirate?

It may seem strange there should be doubt about an offense as old as this one. Piracy was the world's first crime with universal jurisdiction, meaning that any country had the right to apprehend pirates on the high seas.

We have a suggestion. Just wait for Talk Like A Pirate Day. Will the defendants in this case be following just a few of the Talk Like A Pirate guidelines? Will they have to refer to rule books? Will everyone else imitate them? 

Some careful courtroom observation on Talk Like A Pirate Day and all will be clear.