Discussion [ARRRR!!!] The Very Secret, Incredibly Dangerous, And Slightly Ridiculous POTC Thread

I've got the Jack Sparrow books, at least volumes 1-10. A good number of them were written before "At World's End" came out, so the author sort of had to do a mad scramble to make what he'd already established fit with what happened in the film. The film also directly contradicts something from the video game, and that's the story about Jack's parentage. He wasn't born Jack Smith, he was born Jack Teague.

The films made me drop my first Jack's origins storyline in my 'fic, but that's okay. I'm moving that storyline over into an original fiction historical romance. Heh.

 

Idrelle, I'd have to agree that Pirates EU can be flimsy. It's why I take the movies as canon and the rest of it as guidelines. That being said, I want to read the young Jack Sparrow books.

 

Haha, guidelines.

I'm same as you, I still want to the read those books. But my chances of finding copies are very slim.

OOC note, I think we probably shouldn't have mentioned Chicken!Jack. I want to play Chicken Time Bomb now, but it kind of sucks by yourself. You need a big group of people for it to be any fun.

 

So I tried to make a published iMix of my POTC-writing music, and it was teh fial. The site says that it will include all music available on iTunes, but it doesn't. It also substitutes apparently-random things when it thinks it doesn't have what's on your list.

This is the iMix link, only there's a techno remix of "He's A Pirate" in it (wut) and I've never heard #4 in my life. Some song about Brazil. It's a rather nice song about Brazil, but I certainly don't own it.

Several things got left out, too.

I went and found all the fracking songs, and if you have iTunes, you can listen to clips of them. Some of those things should be locatable on YouTube if people don't have iTunes. Maybe you'll like them . . . maybe you'll hate them . . . maybe you'll just think I'm psychotic for associating them with pirates or writing or writing about pirates. (Actually, many are just period songs--they've got nothing to do with anything.)

This is the correct version of He's A Pirate. Thank u very much.

March of Cambreadth, Heather Alexander, Midsummer
Just a very fun, violent, piratey sort of song. It does contain a word that fictional people can call other fictional people, but users can't call other users, though. Just FYI.
(Found the original version! This is the one I got used to and like better. Here!)

Come With Me Sir, Heather Alexander, A Gypsy's Home
Another Heather Alexander song that I just happen to like. She does good period songs and fake period songs.

Jack Hall, Steeleye Span, Tempted and Tried
This is the most cheerful "They're about to hang me" song ever recorded. I believe it is an actual period song--most of Steeleye Span's songs are.

Rogues In a Nation, Steeleye Span, Parcel of Rogues
This is a period song--lyrics by Robert Burns. Yes, that Robert Burns. It's actually a lament over the union of Scotland and England, which isn't very piratey, but it sounds cool.

Tae the Weaver's Gin Ye Go, Andy M Stewart and Manus Lunny, At It Again
Period song that is otherwise irrelevant. Does involve lechery.

'Ulili E, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Alone in IZ World
Traditional Hawaiian song. I don't know. Hawaii's an island, I guess.

Las Moras, Johannes Linstead, Guiarra del Fuego
A modern, Spanish guitar song. It just has a cool mood to it.

Ilusion, Johannes Linstead, Guiarra del Fuego
Just like the above--only different!

Celebrate Discovery, John Williams, American Journey
No reason. I just like it.

I'd love to see what other people listen to to get inspiration for their POTC fics . . . although you might or might not want to create an iMix. Maybe that works better if your songs aren't kind of obscure.

 

I actually . . . Okay, I confess, I have playlists I've come up with for my 'fic series. *headdesk* And I just realised that I'd been intending to have my chapters open with little bits of song lyrics. Crud. Hahaha.

Maybe I'll just make a fanmix liner notes thing. Hmm.

 

I don't have anything very specific at the moment, just a random collection from all three PotC soundtracks and Cutthroat Island music.

I do have more extensive playlists for my SW WIPs, so it's only a matter of time before this one gets one as well. I have a large amount of soundtrack music, so it will be mostly from there since I usually can't concentrate on a story when listening to something that has words.

 

When I write, I just listen to Star Wars or some of my purchased music of iTunes. For me, there's nothing like my rock music to keep me going when I'm writing. Sometimes, I do listen to PotC, but not all the time.

 

I try to listen to sad stories when I'm writing sad stff and louder/upbeat stuff when I'm not.

I love the Chicken Time Bomb story

And I can't wait to read all the stories that are going to come out of you guy - haven't read any PotC fics before.

 

Nat, it's all about the Chicken Time Bomb. There's nothing quite like watching a game of it being played. Fully immersing yourself in the character of a chicken is a great introduction into character acting.

I try to listen to sad stories when I'm writing sad stff and louder/upbeat stuff when I'm not.

That's generally the way I go, except it's all with soundtrack or orchestra music. I was working on something creepy the other day and pulled out my one track from the Sleepy Hollow soundtrack and listened to it repeatedly. Worked wonders -- as did my orchestral only version of some Sweeney Todd music. The trick, I think, is to pick music with an atmosphere that matches the atmosphere of the scene you're working on. So, when I'm writing Jack, I usually end up listening to his theme from the DMC soundtrack because it fits in with most of the scenes he's in. Most of the time.

 

I've got extensive track lists for everything.

Most of my major fics have their own playlists on my iPod. I think the music really can help put you back in whatever "zone" you were in when you were writing last. For me, it cuts down on the time I spend staring at the blinking cursor, feeling stupid and wondering, "What was this scene about again . . . ?"

 

Wow. It seems that I'm the only person here who doesn't listen to music when I write. Or if I do have music playing, it tends to be Christmas.

ophelia, that was a neat list. Thanks for sharing it!

Edit: Speaking of pirate songs, there's always Flogging Molly's "Salty Dog." The language can be a bit course, but it's still a rollicking pirate song.

 

I adore Flogging Molly. Actually, I think I've been known to listen to "Drunken Lullabies" when writing nearly anything. And as for Christmas music, I do have Coventry Carol in my not-very-successful POTC iMix.

Because I just do, that's why.

And anytime anybody wants modern versions of old songs--or decent imitations thereof--just let me know. I've got 'em.

 

Oh yes, those are great songs

I'm very partial to this remixed version of the Arrogant Worms' "Last Saskatchewan Pirate" even though it's very... weird. Pirates who steal hay and fertilizer and plunder farmers' barges.

 

That's an awesome song! "Stealing wheat and barley, and all the other grains . . . "

Being from the Detroit area, I can definitely identify with the problem of jobs drying up, too.

This song has the perfect solution. I'll just become a pirate! I'll sail up and down the Detroit River, forcibly instructing special-needs children in individualized-education and state standards-based core content areas. And needlessly swinging around on ropes. That too.

I don't know that this one is as good, but it always amuses me: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

 

Do all the mods have eye-hurting colours now? Heh.

I've found that I have dozens of songs that work for my characters' relationship while Jack is in the Locker ("You're dead and I miss you, whaaa!") but I have very little for their courtship. It's a little disconcerting when all you've got for it is "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica and "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. *blink*

 

Our friend is stepping down; they're in honor of him.

Do you guys have links to lyrics? (Can't listen to the songs; cousin's watching a movie.)

 

Yeah, that's what Jello told me.

 

Only for Tyi . . . and then never again.

I got lyrics to the song Idrelle posted, and the one I posted:

The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Also--this POTC fic I am trying to write is slowly killing me.

For a bunch of ridiculous movies based on an amusement park ride, this may be the hardest fandom I've ever written in.

Any given scene needs to be re-written approximately 4 times, and any scene with Jack in it needs to be re-written up to 7-8 times.

I can normally get away with 2 to 4 re-writes.

I haven't had to work this hard since I was trying to patch together a coherent characterization of Anakin just after AOTC came out.

 

If you need someone to bounce Jack off of, lemme know! I play him in a roleplaying game, so he's kinda there in my head a lot.

 

Oh, I know how you feel Dantana, consider yourself lucky, you got Jack Sparrow, I got Luke Skywalker.

Playing out characters live does help, when DMC came out, I had a skill with Sparra, my friend had a skill with Barbossa. There were a few free theater sessions between classes because of us.

I look forward to seeing where this thread sails!

~Brainwave~ *Gasp* We should get a Pirate emoticon!

Cheers_Cazza

 

I keep thinking about what we should do for "Talk Like A Pirate Day."

It's about 5 weeks off.


Assorted versions of "annoy everybody" keep going through my mind.

 

Arr, I be interested in participating! I randomly burst out into pirate talk, anyway. Drives my friends nuts, but I don't care.

I'm trying to figure out what pirates would do for entertainment while out at sea for days and days. Do sing-alongs? Play cards? Play Pictionary? Okay, joking about the last one, but now the mental image won't go away.


Dana

 

Oooo, pirate day! We should have some sort of special activity (though I'm drawing a blank as to what).

 

So, I got the last of the "Jack Sparrow" books yesterday and read it. I think it ends around the time Jack's 16-17, but we don't know exactly when the books start, just that the series takes place over a year.

There's another series coming, called "Legends Of The Bretheren Court", which is about Jack's time as captain with Barbossa and "Billy" Turner (who, interestingly, is in books 11 and 12 of the "Jack Sparrow" series), before they mutiny and take the Pearl. There's a preview of Chapter 1 of "The Caribbean" in the back, and I have a bit of a quibble: the author describes Barbossa as having red hair. My thought was, "Did you not watch the movies?"


Dana

 

Are these adult books, or more kids' books?

I wouldn't mind seeing someone have a go at adult fiction, but maybe they figure there's no market in it. A pity, since there's so much fanfic by and for people outside the 9-12 age bracket, but whatevah.

And the only thing I could think of offhand for pirate day would be to challenge people on the boards to somehow work piracy into their favorite fandom for a short little vig. It could be a POTC crossover or not . . . I just think it would be funny to see House as a pirate, the Winchester brothers as pirates, the entire cast of "High School Musical" as pirates . . .

(Now I've got "Cap'n Gregory 'Peg-Leg' House" stuck in my head . . . stumping around the pirate ship "Hospital" and shouting, "ARRRRRR! I be tellin' ye, ye scurvy health-care professional dogs, it ain't a tumor!!!")