Just sharing a press release/opportunity for any fellow pirates/artists! ~Bilge

The author of the New York Times bestseller Once A Spy, is asking readers to submit their original photographs, paintings and drawings for a chance to be featured as the cover image for the digital edition of his modern-day pirate adventure Pirates of Pensacola.

How to enter: If you haven’t already read the book, you can sample the first fifty pages for free at http://www.scribd.com/doc/133700015/Pirates-of-Pensacola-by-Keith-Thomson-Excerpt and http://www.KeithThomsonBooks.com. Next, send your original artwork in high resolution jpeg to PiratesofPensacola@gmail.com by May 24. Full cover designs using original artwork will be accepted. Keith and crew will review the entries and choose three images that best capture the spirit of the book. These three finalists’ work will be showcased at http://www.KeithThomsonBooks.com and on the Official Keith Thomson Author Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/KeithThomsonAuthor) during the week of May 27th. With the help of his pirate fans Keith will then choose the grand-prize-winner whose artwork will be used as the cover image. The grand prize winner and first runner-up will each receive a genuine piece-of-eight coin and the second runner-up will receive a signed first edition of Keith’s next novel, 7 grams of lead.

Keith hopes that his fellow pirate fans will enjoy contributing their swashbuckling images and that the contest will give readers a way to join the pirate adventure and possibly find some treasure along the way.

Keith created the current cover image for Pirates of Pensacola. It was used for the digital edition that Thomson donated to the Worldreader organization, a U.S. and European nonprofit that makes digital books available to children and their families in the developing world. Keith subsequently published the e-book on Amazon and Kobobooks.

Contest details and a complete list of the official contest rules are available at  http://www.keiththomsonbooks.com.

I’ll just come out and say it – when it comes to pirates, Disney has run its course. They kicked serious ass with Curse of the Black Pearl, but it’s been in decline ever since (first gradual, and then with On Stranger Tides damn near freefall.) If pirates are going to level-up in the near future, it’s going to be up to someone other than the mouse. And this new trailer for Black Sails… I’d say we have a contender in the running.

NorCal Pirate Festival – my home away from home each June – is looking to expand. And add shade (it does get sunny and hot.) Lend a hand through Kickstarter and help this brilliant festival become even brillianter!

So Lucasarts is shutting down. The same gang that brought us LeChuck, Guybrush Threepwood, Elaine Marley, Murray, Herman Toothrot, Stan, Kate Capsize, the Cannibals, a three headed monkey, that Scottish barber guy, Fester Shinetop, Meathook, Walley, the sword master, the guy that taught you how to fight the sword master, and the pirates you fought to learn your insults before you could fight the sword master. And that’s all just off the top of my head.

So long, Lucasarts – you done good!

Looks like we’re all in for some relief from the winter doldrums. Wait, did I say “all”? Scratch that – just the lucky bastids on the west coast – the rest of us will continue to enjoy our weekly “blizzard of the centuries.”

I haven’t seen Dread Crew perform in several years, but as I recall they were FACEMELTINGLY AWESOME! So, yeah… catch a show if you can.

For more info on Dreadcrew, I bet their website is all sorts of useful. It’s www.thedreadcrewofoddwood.com. Buy some of their genius albums while you’re at it – they’ll rock your stripey socks right off and then scrape the barnacles from your gums like a sonic laser of pirattitude.

I’ll be honest, mates – numbers and figures make my head hurt. But take a gander at Cap’n Jimbo’s writeup about massive rum subsidies that provide an unfair competitive advantage to three huge rum producers at the expense of the little guys and I think you’ll agree it looks a right mess. An excerpt:

Then things got much, much worse when the USVI instituted a “rum war” against Puerto Rico last year. What happened is almost unthinkable. The USVI gave Diageo nearly $3 Billion – not million, billion! – in subsidies. These subsidies were so rich that they amount to more than double the cost of actually producing rum! Diageo is actually being paid to produce rum. The USVI also gifted Fortune Brands (Cruzan) $1 Billion, yes billion – for all manner of free improvements and facilities, including a guarantee that Cruzan can buy molasses for just 16 cents/gallon – far under the market price of $2.00/gallon that the Caribbean producers must pay.

The risk is that we lose the small rums we all love, and are left with naught but a few mega-rums, one of which is Bacardi of all things (crikey, I might have to go back to drinking water instead.)

You can read the full article over at CanadianWhisky.org, and then consider signing the petition. But whats more, keep buying your favorite rums, mates – they need our support, now and always!

Interesting.

The original Rogue’s Gallery was more mediocre than good, but it did have a few gems. A sequel all these years later? Normally I’d suggest that ship has sailed (hah!) but there are a few in the lineup that interest me. Iggy Pop in particular would seem well suited to the task of crusty sailor songs. And Courtney Love? Yeah, she could have been right at home in a seedy dockside bar, I’d wager.

Don’t get me wrong; there’s every chance this album will be wretch. BUT… maybe not

Johnny Depp releasing a record of “pirate ballads, sea songs, and chanteys” | Music | Newswire | The A.V. Club

(Via.)

Thanks to Jason Lang for bringing this one to my attention!

A pirate party dedicated to the fight against breast cancer? Sounds like the purpose opportunity to engage is some good-natured villainy to me! From their website:

Booty for Boobies is a crew of breast avengers raising treasure for the chests. We host an annual Pirate Party that is focused on the task of raising money that is contributed directly to Breast Cancer Research. Through the generous donation of sponsors we are able to give 100% of the door proceeds at our event to the American Cancer Society in support of their Breast Cancer programs.

Ahoy all!

It’s been one hell of a summer – plenty of heat to make the rum all the sweeter, and a couple of pirate festivals thrown in for good measure.

This past May I put Bilgemunky Radio on a summer hiatus. The reasons for this were twofold. First off, I was having hardware issues that made it increasingly difficult to broadcast a quality show. Taking the summer off gave me the time I needed to evaluate the situation and consider possible solutions. [read more »]

Wait, seriously? Michael Bay doing a pirate miniseries? Will we finally get to see Blackbeard headbutt a cannonball while farting fire? I’m betting YES.

Will Michael Bay’s “Treasure Island” Prequel Prove to Be Pirate Heaven or a Rum Do?

Wait, nevermind – it’s a Treasure Island thing. I guess any cannonball headbutting will be done by Long John, who will probably sport a crutch that can do singleshot, full auto, or burst.

Clearly loads of pirate TV “in the works” based on this article – some of it we’ve heard before, some new. Now let’s see what actually finds a way to the tiny screen.