Dude...I just watched the brand-spankin'-new LOTR: Return of the King trailer...the movie looks stellar, and the trailer isn't so spoilery that it ruins things for the people who don't know exactly what happens in this section of the story. You know a movie is big when even the release of its trailer is an event of note... :)

Anyway, for anyone interested, you can download the file at TheOneRing.net. Check it out! :)

[edit] And now you can download the trailer at the official site, LordOfTheRings.net. [/edit]

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

(talklikeapirate.com)

In the category of the best holiday no one knows about, I think this one takes the prize. :)

Anyway, in order to commemorate this event, here is some pirate vocabulary that I got from some site or another. You've still got some time left today to use one or two of these words/phrases...you know, just toss a pirate word casually into one of your sentences. That way, you still get to have fun, and no one will notice so you won't feel stupid. ;) Arrr.

Ok, me buckos. Time to get in me jollyboat and find a landlubber to take a cutlass from. Me crew marooned me on a godforsaken spit of land and in the process, I lost me own in Davy Jones' locker. Arrrgh!

---

• Ahoy -- "Hello!"
• Arrg! -- A pirate exclamation.
• Avast! -- "Hey!" Could be used as "Stop that!" or "Who goes there?"
• Belay -- Stop that. "Belay that talk!" would mean "Shut up!"
• Bilge! -- Nonsense, or foolish talk. The bilges of a ship are the lowest parts, inside the hull along the keel. They fill with stinking bilgewater -- or just "bilge."
• Blimey! -- An exclamation of surprise.
• Buccaneer -- A general term for the Caribbean pirates.
• Bucko -- A familiar term. "Me bucko" = "my friend."
• Cat o'nine tails, or just "cat" -- a whip with many lashes, used for flogging. "A taste of the cat" might refer to a full flogging, or just a single blow to "smarten up" a recalcitrant hand.
• Corsair -- A more romantic term for pirate. But still a pirate none the less.
• Cutlass -- A curved sword, like a sabre, but heavier. Traditional pirate weapon. Has only one cutting edge; may or may not have a useful point.
• Davy Jones' locker -- The bottom of the sea.
• Deadlights -- Eyes. "Use yer deadlights, matey!"
• Dead men tell no tales -- Standard pirate excuse for leaving no survivors.
• Doubloon -- A Spanish gold coin. At different times, it was worth either 4 or 16 silver pesos, or "pieces of eight."
• Piece of eight -- A Spanish silver coin worth one peso or 8 "reales." It was sometimes literally cut into eight pieces, each worth one real.
• Gangway! -- Move. "Get out of my way!"
• Grog -- Generally, any alcoholic drink. Specifically, rum diluted with water to make it go farther.
• Gun -- A cannon.
• Flogging -- Punishment by caning, or by whipping with the cat.
• Jack Ketch -- The hangman. To dance with Jack Ketch is to hang.
• Jack Tar, or tar -- A sailor.
• Jollyboat -- A small but happy craft, perhaps even one that is a little dinghy.
• Jolly Roger -- The pirates' skull-and-crossbones flag. It was an invitation to surrender, with the implication that those who surrendered would be treated well. A red flag indicated "no quarter."
• Keelhaul -- Punishment by dragging under the ship, from one side to the other. The victim of a keelhauling would be half-drowned, or worse, and lacerated by the barnacles that grew beneath the ship. Not a pleasant thing.
• Lad, lass -- A way to address someone younger than you.
• Landlubber, or just lubber -- A non-sailor. A landsman.
• Maroon -- A fairly common punishment for violation of a pirate ship's articles, or offending her crew. The victim was left on a deserted coast (or, of course, an island) with little in the way of supplies. That way, no one could say that the unlucky pirate had actually been killed by his former brethren.
• Me -- A piratical way to say "my."
• Me hearties -- Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew or friends.
• Matey -- A piratical way to address someone in a cheerful, if not necessarily friendly, fashion.
• On the Account -- The piratical life. A man who went "on the account" was turning pirate.
• Rope's end -- another term for flogging. "Ye'll meet the rope's end for that, me bucko!"
• Sail ho! -- "I see a ship!" The sail, of course, is the first part of a ship visible over the horizon.
• Salmagundi -- A heavily seasoned buccaneer cold salad that helped to fight scurvy. Usually consisted of salted meats such as beef, pork, fish, and/or turtle; pickled vegetables, onions, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, olives, mangoes, and/or apples.
• Scuppers -- Openings along the edges of a ship's deck that allow water on deck to drain back to the sea rather than collecting in the bilges. "Scupper that!" is an expression of anger or derision: "Throw that overboard!"
• Scurvy -- (1) A deficiency disease which often afflicted sailors; it was caused by lack of vitamin C. (2) A derogatory adjective suitable for use in a loud voice, as in "Ye scurvy dogs!"
• Shiver me timbers! -- An expression of surprise or strong emotion. Most likely a work of fiction.
• Sink me! -- An expression of surprise.
• Splice the mainbrace -- To have a drink. Or, perhaps, several drinks.
• Swab -- A disrespectful term for a seaman. "Man that gun, ye cowardly swabs!"
• Walk the plank -- A piratical execution. The walker, usually blindfolded, bound hands, or both, is forced to walk along a plank laid over the ship's side, to fall or be pushed into the water below. This practice seems to be a total invention; it first appeared in 19th-century fiction, long after the great days of piracy.
• Wench -- Generally, any woman. Specifically, a serving girl or barmaid in a pub or tavern.
• Yo-ho-ho -- A very piratical thing to say, whether it actually means anything or not.

[12:47PM]

Attack of the Killer Bees

I swear. Eating your lunch outside can be hazardous.

I was eating outside on a bench today, waging war against a couple of bees over my lunch. The lunch itself was nothing spectacular -- just leftovers and some apple juice -- but both our parties were deadset on having part of it.

Being larger than the bees and somewhat more territorial when it comes to my food, I eventually warded themoff and they went to try to commandeer (nautical term ;)) the lunches of the people sitting closest to me. Those buzzy little buggers don't give up, do they? Even if you're sitting near easily accessible flowers, which are surely dripping with nectar?

Hmm. Maybe that would explain all the bees around there. But no; these things are everywhere. Arrrgh.

[12:53PM]

Quoting Captain Jack from POTC:

• "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?"
• "I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy?"
• "... More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep the sweet proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy?"
• "That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child, savvy?"
• "No. I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on my ship and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?"
• "But what of the Pearl? Name me Captain, I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as...Commodore Barbossa. Savvy?"

I watched Once Upon A Time In Mexico today. There was a part where Johnny Depp's character (Sands) actually said "Savvy?" Hehe. I think I was the only one in the theater who did a double take or found that in any way amusing... (And OUATIM was filmed before Pirates...so make of that what you will.)

New school year soon, so figured it was time for a new layout. I did like my last one, though. Ah well. Good time to make use of the new LOTR: ROTK promo posters, anyway. Let me know what you think. :) The comment system is down at the moment, but the chatterbox *points left* is working fine...

[edit] Sept. 9, 9:10pm: The comments work again now, so pleeease feel free to clog up the comment box. ;) [/edit]

Got back from vacation on Saturday. Ended up stopping in Middletown, NY, for a night, on the way to NYC, where we stayed 4 days, then Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Syracuse, NY, both for a night each. New York City was...well, New York City. Busy. Crowded. I liked it. We ended up getting tickets for 42nd Street on Broadway, which was pretty good, and I actually saw more celebrities (Caroline Rhea, who used to be on Sabrina and now has a talk show, as well as Black Eyed Peas and Sean Paul, who were there prepping/performing for the MTV Video Music Awards outside the Rockefeller Center) in NYC than I ever have in LA.

While I was away, LOTR: The Two Towers came out on DVD (and had the best first-day sales figure of 2003 :D) but I resisted buying it in the US until I could get back here and buy it for less from Costco. :) And now I am the proud owner of the widescreen edition of TTT. The only problem now is that the DVD came with an $8 off coupon for the extended edition that's out in November...hmmm...maybe I won't end up just renting that version after all.... :/

What else....oh, ooh! Finally went to see POTC again today, and I liked it even more the second time around. Saw some things that I missed the first time, funny things were funnier, points of confusion cleared themselves out...it was a blast. Heh. Now all I have to do is wait 'til it comes out on DVD in precisely 3 months (unless they push that date back, since the movie's still doing so well at the theatres...it was #6 at the box office last week, and this week it's at #4!)...

The vast majority of the people I know have gone off again to their respective university residences and I start classes on Monday. Dear lord. When did the summer end? Where did it go?? Is it really time to go back??? Sigh.