International Talk Like a Pirate Day

So, today is the day to speak like a pirate (International Talk Like a Pirate Day). I blogged about it here. Our local independent book store is sponsoring a treasure hunt. Anybody else doing any fun activities? Maybe play a little puzzle pirates?

Here's a link to some terminology to get your juices (or pirate tongue) flowing.

Jimmy Buffet, Pirate at 40

I was cleaning the house and listening to music. I had a shuffle playing and Jimmy Buffet's song came up. I forgot I even had his albums. I bought most of his cd's a few years ago when I lived in Florida (hey, I lived a few blocks from A1A -- how could I not love his music!)

I went to the internet and searched for a video of his song so all you pirate lovers can appreciate his music again.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Arr! September 19th, 2008 be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I didn't even know this day existed until I started seriously researching pirates a few months ago for a project I am working on.

You can find tons of information about it and ideas of things to do on talklikeapirate.com website. According to Wikipedia, International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chumbucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy") who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate. The observance springs from a romanticized view of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Now, if you even stumble upon my blog, perhaps you already know how to talk like a pirate. In case you need a refresher, here is a video to help you out:

Crusoe TV Mini-Series

NBC is premiering Crusoe on October 17. Crusoe stars Philip Winchester, Anna Walton and Sam Neill, and is shot in different locations around the world, such as South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The serialized television adaptation of the 1719 Daniel Defoe novel, Robinson Crusoe, keeps alive the pirate and desert island themes that have done so well for the Pirates of the Caribbean and for Lost. Crusoe will premiere with a two-hour special on October 17 and air at 9 pm each Friday thereafter. The 13-part series aims to provide the "pace and energy of network television while remaining faithful to the author's original classic story."

The idea for Crusoe sprung from an idea NBC Entertainment Cochairman Ben Silverman had to retell some of the greatest stories every told. Crusoe, of course, is based on the 1719 Daniel Defoe novel"Robinson Crusoe," the British classic by Daniel Defoe. First published in 1719, it is widely regarded as the first novel in English. Defoe's tail is about an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story reportedly stays close to Defoe's classic tale. Crusoe (Philip Winchester) as an island castaway uses all his resources to stay alive amid militia attacks, lightning storms, and various other challenges.

The series seem very interesting and exciting. I havent watched much TV in the past few years and perhaps I'll want to catch this one.

UPDATE: The series videos can be found here:

JibJab Pirate Joke

So, I was playing around on JibJab's site and I came across this joke. I hope you enjoy it.

One eyed Pirate

Pirates! Arrg, it must be for girls!

My teen-age child checked out a book from the Library called
Pirates! by Celia Rees. He checked it out mainly because he knew I was doing some pirate research. Over the 4th of July Holiday, I picked it up and read it. He ended up not reading it after I read it. I told him the target audience was probably mainly girls, grades 6 - 8.

The book is the fictional autobiography of a woman named Nancy in the 1700's, who tells about her life. I think it was a bit superficial in some areas with very little sea action. The story is a little slow at first -- the pirate action doesn't even happen until mid-way through the book. The inclusion of some of the crueler aspects of slavery, and some details of murders may preclude this for being for the fainter younger readers. There is a small section about a man caged in a gibbet being eaten alive by ravens. This situation even makes Nancy sick.

Narrator Nancy joins a pirate crew to escape an arranged marriage to Bartholomew, an evil former pirate. She takes along Minerva, a slave. They dress up as boys and become pirates. Girls who dress up as boys and seek their fortune in the world is based on history (Anne Bonny and Mary Read come to mind immediately in the world of pirates).

The book does have the elements of adventure, history, greed, loyalty, danger, murder, romance, and sisterhood. If you love pirates, you will like this book.

Puzzle Pirates

I've been enjoying the game Puzzle Pirates over the past year. I've also been researching pirates of past ages. Thus, I thought I would create a blog about pirates and fun discoveries related to pirates.

For this first entry, I am going to link to a site which describes the basics of Puzzle Pirates.

Puzzle Pirates entertain kids of all ages and it is free (although you can spend money if you want to purchase doubloons. You earn PoE (pieces of eight) by performing tasks. You can read about how PoE works here. You can exchange PoE for Doubloons at the banks or via the Doubloon Exchange button.

Yo Ho Ho!