Pirates of the Caribbean 4: wrapup of rumor and announcements

Now, usually I don't talk about Pirates of the Caribbean, but hey, what can I say, recent news items are just too entertaining not to. Disney has announced many plans surrounding the fourth film, but the most interesting news is coming from the production office is what prompted me to finally post about this upcoming piratestravaganza.

Penelope Cruz is a member of the cast!and Ian McShane is slated to play Blackbeard in the film. Frankly, he could play the goat and it would still make me post about it, he's that good.

Also, the casting call is out, but ladies, the augmented need not apply

The filmmakers sent out a casting call last week seeking "beautiful female fit models. Must be 5ft7in-5ft8in, size 4 or 6, no bigger or smaller. Age 18-25. Must have a lean dancer body. Must have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants."

And they warn that there'll be a "show and tell" day.

To make sure LA talent scouts don't get caught in a "booby trap," potential lassies will have to undergo a Hollywood-style jiggle-your-jugs test and jog for judges. If there's nothing moving from the waist up, they're saying, it's a dead giveaway that you're not all flesh and bones—and you're out.

Ah Casting so lurid and degrading, as Gawker asks:

How is that not sexual harassment? On the other hand: Is there any way to prove veracity of breasts without sexually harassing?

"In the last movie, there were enhanced breasts to give that 18th-century whorish look, and men were pretty well padded too, and no one worried," a former casting agent said. "But times are changing, and the audience can spot false breasts."

Pirates in the News: March 2010- Part 2: Zaniness

In Zany Pirate News:

from The Village Voice-

America's most notorious Ponzi family are now calling themselves "the Morgans." At least some of the Madoff clan have adopted that name: Stephanie Madoff, second wife of Bernie Madoff's son Mark Madoff, has gone to court for the name change for her and her kids Audrey and Nicholas.

The Post calls the new name "far less controversial," but it's a rum choice and not really a change but more of a synonym. The most famous "Morgan" brand name in the world — Captain Morgan rum — derives directly from Captain Henry Morgan, one of the most dangerous 17th century Caribbean pirates and the inspiration for numerous books and movies.

In Europe there are several Zany pirate news stories-

A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks -- some of them unusually well-preserved -- have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany.

The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, Peter Norman of Sweden's National Heritage Board said Tuesday.

Not to mention, PIRATE SKULL was stolen from a German Museum

It was not immediately clear how and when the cranium vanished but staff at the Hamburg History Museum reported it missing on January 9.

The skull impaled on a large rusty nail was discovered in 1878 during construction for a warehouse district in an area where pirates had earlier been beheaded and their heads displayed on spikes as a grisly warning.

The museum had long displayed the cranium, which was already missing a jawbone, as belonging to Stoertebeker, who is believed to have been executed in 1401 with 30 henchmen outside the walls of the Hanseatic League city.

Finally, if you're anywhere near Virginia Beach, check out 'Real Pirates' exhibit at Nauticus marine science museum in Norfolk.

London Pirate Frequencies

Check out Matt Mason of The Pirate's Dilemma in this new documentary on Pirate Radio in London.

The Entertainment Industry runs screaming from "Pirate"

"Some of those concerned about online copyright infringement now realize that they may have created a monster by using the term "piracy." This week, at the unveiling of a new study for the International Chamber of Commerce which argued that 1.2 million jobs could be lost in Europe as a result of copyright infringement by 2015, the head of the International Actors' Federation lamented the term.

"We should change the word piracy... To me, piracy is something adventurous, it makes you think about Johnny Depp. We all want to be a bit like Johnny Depp. But we're talking about a criminal act. We're talking about making it impossible to make a living from what you do."

Translation: we should have chosen a less-sexy term.

from Boing Boing:

After years of trying to cloud the public mind by calling it "piracy" instead of "unauthorised downloading," key copyright industry reps are starting to realize that "piracy" actually sounds kind of cool. So now they're lobbying for the even less intellectually rigorous term "theft," which describes an entirely different offence, enumerated in an altogether different section of the lawbooks.

To thoroughly mix up the metaphors here, I'm gonna suggest they're closing the barn door after the horse ran away.

Pirates in the News: March 2010- Part 1: SocioPolitical News

There's been plenty going on in the world of piracy: Pirates have captured ships from: the UK, Norway, Dubai, and many others. Pirates have released ships from: North Korea, the Virgin Islands, Taiwan, all after receiving ransoms. The UN forces patrolling the area have sunk pirate ships, captured pirates, rescued pirates, freed a ship and sunk still other ships.

The EU naval forces have adopted a new strategy to fight pirates:

The new tactics by the European Union naval force comes after Spain - which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, and whose fishing vessels are frequent pirate targets - encouraged more aggressive pursuit of pirates and the coalition obtained more aircraft and other military assets, said Rear Adm. Peter Hudson, the force commander.

The EU Naval Force attacked 12 groups of pirate vessels, which normally includes several skiffs and a mother vessel, this month, more than last year. Half of those attacks were on the high seas and half close to shore, reflecting the new strategy to intercept pirates before they reach deep water and international shipping lanes.

And while attacks have increased, the percentage of successful attacks declined in 2009:

There were 198 attempts at piracy in the vast region last year, a 62% increase from 2008, but only 44 attempts were successful. In 2008, there were 122 attempts and 42 successful acts of piracy.

But there's more than just the reports of the events of the skirmishes in the Gulf of Aden, also in the news are Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British Couple captured by pirates. Mrs. Chandler claims that a pirate attempted to sexually assault her, and Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed claims that efforts are being made to free the couple.

Pirate gangs are also increasingly attacking WFO and UN aid caravans,

Pirates have been a growing problem off Somalia’s coast for the past two years, hijacking dozens of ships and collecting tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments. Mr. Smerdon said the pirates, aided by the “local community,” attacked the food trucks after they dropped off emergency rations in central Somalia, and Somali officials said the pirates wanted jailed colleagues released in exchange for the trucks and the drivers...

Somalia’s aid operation, one of the biggest in the world, seems to be constantly running into new obstacles. In January, the World Food Program pulled out of several areas of the southern part of the country, saying that its Somali staff was being threatened by Al Shabab, an Islamist insurgent group known for chopping off hands and detonating suicide bombs.

In the past two weeks, trucks carrying food aid have been turned back from checkpoints outside of Mogadishu, imperiling a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of displaced people. United Nations officials said it was Shabab fighters who were blocking the deliveries, though Somalis in the area said some of the checkpoints were manned by Hizbul Islam, an extremist group that often works with the Shabab.

By attacking internationally supported groups, pirate gangs have an opportunity to leverage the political clout of these organizations to attempt to pursue new goals, like the release of prisoners. Which leads into the continuing quagmire of legal enforcement and trial of pirates. A Somali Court has given 15 year sentences to a group of 11 pirates:

Prosecutors at the court in Berbera, in the breakaway northern state of Somaliland, brought a number of charges against the men, including piracy and attempted armed kidnapping.

They showed the court photos obtained from NATO naval forces showing the pirates when they were arrested last December.

"The trial, which lasted a week, was finally concluded today after the evidence brought before the court showed that the eleven were involved in piracy and hijacking. The court finally announced its verdict -- a jail term of 15 years each", Osman Ibrahim Dahir, the presiding judge, told AFP by phone from Berbera.

The pirates were detained last December after they attacked an international naval force ship mistaking it for a commercial ship off the Somali coast.

and, resolving part of the question of "where do you try a pirate?"

Kenya has taken “a step of great responsibility” by agreeing to prosecute suspected pirates, a US State Department official said on Thursday.

The comments by Mr Tom Countryman, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, are among the few positive expressions that the US has voiced recently in regard to Kenyan government actions.

... “We recognise, in particular, that Kenya has stepped forward and offered itself as a site for the prosecution of suspected pirates,” he said.

Nearly 300 Somalis suspected of piracy have been captured in the past year, with most having been turned over to Kenya, the US official noted.

While Kenya may offer part of the solution to this problem there are a bevy of other legal questions to resolve, for instance:

the US Supreme Court is s questioning whether a former prime minister of Somalia can be sued in U.S. courts for allegedly overseeing killings and other atrocities.

Mohamed Ali Samantar was defense minister and prime minister of Somalia in the 1980s and early 1990s under dictator Siad Barre. But he now lives in Virginia, and some of his victims have sued him under the Torture Victim Protection Act.

Samantar claimed immunity as a former foreign government official. His victims say that immunity doesn’t count, because he is no longer a Somali official, and that foreign immunity is for countries, not people.

Justices, however, wondered how they are supposed to draw a line between suing a country, and suing the people who act on behalf of that country.