It’s the top of the third. There’s a runner on second base. There are already two outs. All the Pirates have to do is get one more out and the inning ends. So, what happens? When Javy Baez gets a hit, the shortstop scoops up the ball and throws it to first baseman Will Craig. Instead of simply going back a few steps and stepping on first, Craig runs after Baez, trying to tag him with the ball. This gives the baserunner time to run from second base all the way to home., which he crosses safely because Craig is so busy chases Baez that he doesn’t throw the ball to the catcher in time. The catcher then makes a bad throw of his own that gives Baez time to then make it to the first base and then all the way around to second. (At first, it looked like he might even have been able make it to third.) That’s a run and a double on what should have been an easy out! At the end of the clip, you can see that not even Baez can believe that he’s actually safe on second.
It’s all so amazing that it is easy to overlook that Will Craig is not the only person who made a mistake. If second baseman Adam Frazier had gone over to cover first while Craig inexplicable took off after Baez, he would have been in a position to make the play when the catch threw the ball back to first.
It’s wild moments like this that make me love baseball!
As HBO is usually pretty successful when it comes to its wide array of shows, other channels have thrown their hats into the ring. Showtime was quick to follow them and HBO’s sister channel Cinemax now has two shows under their belt with Strike Back & Banshee.
Starz is still a baby at the series game, but they’ve had an arsenal of their own. With the Spartacus series wrapped up and DaVinci’s Demons’ 2nd season prepped to go later this year, Starz is looking to get more of its shows out the door.
Black Sails is Starz’ latest entry. It starts off running out of the gate, but it’s hard to tell if the show really has legs at this point. Although the premiere is January 25 (tonight, as of this writing), the full episode was released both online and on the Starz on Demand channel for the past week. Either they’re confident this will increase viewership or they perhaps figure the show may not get as far as it should. Either way, it’s available to see.
I like it, I do, but so far I have 3 problems with Black Sails:
1.) I feels too much like the video game Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. This is a mixed bag. If you’ve played the videogame, you know the environment and all of the sea battles in Black Sails have a familiarity to them that will leave you smiling. You may not feel as lost in the show if you’ve played the game or picked up a history book. On the flip side, because there’s a game just like it, it’s quite possible that Black Flag could steal (or already has) Black Sails’ thunder if the show doesn’t come across as exciting. I’m hoping it’s the first case, myself.
2.) Michael Bay’s name is attached to it. It’s invoked like it’s Bruckheimer, and I suppose that when his name is mentioned, one probably thinks of explosions and girls. Black Sails has that all over the place, but that could have happened without Bay’s name. It could be a deterrent to some who still have the bad taste of films like Transformers: Dark of the Moon in their mouths. Let’s be honest, what kind of name is Dark of the Moon anyway?
3.) Rather than taking the mystical route of DaVinci’s Demons or the more swashbuckling style of something like Pirates of the Carribean or Cutthroat Island, Black Sails shoots for something more ruthless and businesslike. The ruthlessness – the blood and gore (when it happens) is welcome. The business part of it all had me hoping that the series doesn’t keep moving in that direction over time. While I understand that the entire show can’t be on the sea (like Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – how I love that film), that so much of it is on land made me sigh a little. In fact, the opening sequence of this really is the only part that actually takes place on the open sea. It’s very similar to NBC’s Dracula. You expect a dark, brooding Vampire tale in Victorian London, and you get a political battle whose biggest highlight is Dracula showing up in the day for a business meeting. That’s not really fun.
To it’s credit, as the pilot, this episode has to establish all of the players involved. The grit of it all is interesting, at least. It’s dirty, maybe even a little dark, but it’s also a little boring to all have the minutiae of the dealings thrown out there like that. If I choose to think of the pirate battles in the same vein as Sons of Anarchy’s motorcycle chases, it’s possible we could have one sea battle every two or three episodes. Maybe that won’t be too bad overall, but they’re going to have to amp this up quick before they start losing the audience. Give us a swordfight or a musket fired or something.
Okay, here’s what we have:
Hoping to bring the same flair for violence to the pilot that he brought to one of Game of Thrones’ best episodes, Neil Marshall (Doomsday, Centurion, The Descent) does his best to give the West Indies in the 18th Century a bloody introduction to the audience. He does a great job with the content he’s given. You can’t complain about what you’re seeing in terms of the atmosphere. Black Sails starts in the open sea with a ship under attack. We come to find that the ship holds the key to a special cargo, one that Captain Flint (Toby Stephens, the Bond villian in Die Another Day) is dying to get his hands on. Flint, though considered a legend among the pirate world, is having a tough time holding on to his crew. Having led them on a wild goose case, some of the crew feels it’s time to replace Flint’s leadership with someone more able to bring everyone a profit.
As Flint’s crew take over the ship, they find John Silver (Luke Arnold), who has acquired a page ripped out of a book that the cook stole. He joins Flint’s crew, saving his own skin. When Flint finds the journals (and the book with the missing page), he decides to port into Nassau to meet with Richard Guthrie, a rich businessman who helps to fund some of his escapades. While getting themselves situated in Nassau, Silver realizes that the page he has must have come from one of the books and looks to see if he can locate where it came from. We come to find through the course of the episode that the page is the key to locating a ship carrying a near incalculable wealth, more than enough to Flint’s crew to live happy.
That appears to be the main story arc in Black Sails. The show introduces a number of characters. You have Eleanor Guthrie (Malecifent’s Hannah New), who helps to keep the pirates in business while trying to forge a name for herself outside of her father. Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy, who I may name as a Hottie of the Day), a courtesan who makes side deals out of the local brothel. I like both of the women in Black Sails, but I can’t exactly say they’re the best of roles for either individual. They’re both strong in the sense that they can take care of themselves, yet (and maybe this is just me) I hoped that maybe for Eleanor in particular was a character that was calling the shots in her position. The pilot gives the impression when you first meet her that she does, but it kind of collapses into a yield between her and Captain Vane (Zach McGowan), who’s out to make himself the number one pirate of the Carribean. Perhaps as the series goes on, this will improve. Vane is your bad guy, that’s easy to see, but there’s so little shown about him that McGowan might as have had a mustache to twirl between his fingers.
So far, of the characters, Flint is the only one I have any kind of care about, and Stephens is delivering the best performance of everyone there. No one person is bad, though. I’m hoping his character can keep the crew enthralled. I haven’t seen enough of everyone else that endures me to them just yet, which is almost the same problem as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. You know who’s involved, but give me a reason to think about them after the show fades to black. Even the slowest Walking Dead episodes leave me wondering and salivating for the next episode.
I’m ready to see where Flint goes, but I’m just not sure I’m sold on everyone else.
Decade of last.fm scrobbling countdown:
15. Alestorm (1,437 plays)
Top track (73 plays): Barrett’s Privateers, from Back Through Time (2011)
Featured track: Keelhauled, from Black Sails at Midnight (2009)
I tried to start a zombie metal band once, but when I asked some friends to give me a hand they all ran away… Erm, where was I going with this?
Oh yes, for your Halloween evening amusement: Pirate Metal!
I’ve actually listened to this band so much since picking up Captain Morgan’s Revenge in 2008 that they managed to climb all the way to 15th place in my decade-spanning last.fm charts. Alestorm might be the most delightful thing to ever happen to folk metal, pending a Nekrogoblikon follow-up as sweet as Stench (2011). Alestorm support their gimmick with a brilliant knack for catchy composition and a lyrics sheet guaranteed to entertain. Happy Halloween!
My friends, I stand before you
To tell a truth most dire
There lurks a traitor in our midst
Who hath invoked the captain’s ire
He don’t deserve no mercy
We ought to shoot him with a gun
But I am not an evil man
So first let’s have a little fun
We’ll tie that scoundrel to a rope
And throw him overboard
Drag him underneath the ship
A terrifying deadly trip
Keelhaul that filthy landlubber
Send him down to the depths below
Make that bastard walk the plank
With a bottle of rum and a yo ho ho
I will not say what he has done
His sins are far too grave to tell
It’s not my place to judge a man
But for them he will burn in hell
The sharks will dine upon his flesh
And Davy Jones will have his soul
Take his money and his hat
He won’t need them where he’s gonna go
But first lets tie him to a rope
And throw him overboard
Drag him underneath the ship
A terrifying deadly trip.
Keelhaul that filthy landlubber
Send him down to the depths below
Make that bastard walk the plank
With a bottle of rum and a yo ho ho
Epic. Has there ever been a word that has been run into the ground so much that it’s practically lost all meaning? Pounding a bunch of noobs at Halo isn’t epic. The meal you just had isn’t epic. Anything that spawned from 4chan isn’t epic. Do you know what does deserve the title of epic? One Piece. Make no mistake, I’m not saying One Piece is the greatest anime of all time. However, the sheer scale of the story, and the high level of consistency maintained for 13 years and counting qualify One Piece to confidently call itself epic.
The story revolves around a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who’s goal is to become the King of the Pirates. But Luffy is no ordinary boy. He ate a Devil’s Fruit, which grant their users strange powers in exchange for losing the ability to swim or float. Quite the handicap for someone who wishes to live their lives on the high seas to be sure. Luffy’s particular fruit was the Gum-Gum fruit, which turns him into a rubberman, allowing his body to stretch to great lengths, and also making him immune to most projectile attacks. The exception being anything with an edge to it. So, while he can repel bullets and cannonballs, arrows would prove to be deadly to him. But, Luffy is the sort who will just charge straight ahead, without fear for his own safety, and unleash all manner of attacks using his unique makeup.
But before you get to thinking that Luffy always kicks ass and takes names, make no mistake, he gets his ass handed to him. A lot. But a big part of Luffy’s strength is the fact that he doesn’t let adversity get him down. He’s very much of the motto “If at first you don’t succeed, punch them even harder the next time!” Unlike with some shows where the hero has to gain a new superpower to defeat a foe that just beat them, ala Dragon Ball Z, Luffy is often able to just come back and win without needing to rely on such things. Granted, there are a few times where he has to come out with a whole new move, but it just feels so much more believable and causes you to roll your eyes less than with some other shonen fare like the aforementioned DBZ and Bleach.
Now, becoming the Pirate King is no easy task, and one couldn’t possibly do it all alone. A lot of the charm of One Piece lies in the cast of characters that Luffy has for a crew. To avoid any spoilers for anyone who is either just starting or plans to start, I won’t list the entire crew. Heck, at the point where I’m at in the series, I think there have even been one or two more crew members added in the recent episodes that I don’t know about yet. So, I’ll limit the crew to his pre-Grand Line bunch.
The first person to join Luffy on his adventures is Roronoa Zoro (some translations call him Zolo since L’s and R’s are interchangeable in Japanese, but Zoro just looks better to me) who is a swordsman that uses three katana when he fights, one in each hand and one in his mouth.
As I said, they don’t always win, and often get their ass handed to them pretty bad. And this is a kid’s show! Zoro usually is a fairly cool and collected type who doesn’t let Luffy’s idiotic nature get the best of him, and isn’t phased by many things they encounter no matter how bizarre, although no one is completely immune to Luffy’s nonsense.
The next member to join up with Luffy was Nami. She was a thief who stole from pirates, although it was for a good reason and was one of my favorite arcs in the series. She’s also an expert navigator who is capable of reading weather patterns and plotting the safest course through practically anywhere.
Nami has a love for treasure and money in general, and she’ll do most anything to get her hands on it. However, she’s not much on fighting and will avoid it if it all possible. After all, hard to spend money when you’re dead! An interesting bit would be that Nami definitely, ummm, grows throughout the course of the show. This is a picture of her in an early appearance:
Now compare that to one from later on in the series:
I guess Nami is just a growing girl, and I thank Oda for being the pervert that I assume him to be!
The next one to join the crew is probably my least favorite of them all, Usopp. Maybe it’s his voice, or perhaps it’s his character design, or maybe I just don’t like his attitude. Whatever the case, I don’t really care much for him. Two things to know about Usopp, 1) He’s a liar and 2) he’s a coward. He makes Nami look downright heroic with the extents he goes to stay out of any danger. That’s not to say he won’t fight when the chips are down. Luffy would never allow anyone who actually ran away from their duty on their crew. Just that whenever he fights, he works best when he can use his lies and his considerable sniping skills.
The last of the crew I’ll mention here is their cook, Sanji. Sanji can basically be summed up as a guy who just plain tries way too hard to get women.
Unfortunately for him, Nami can smell a chump like that a mile away, so she takes full advantage of it whenever she can. Despite his obvious weakness for women, Sanji is a very good fighter, using kicks as his weapon as he believes a chef must not harm his hands. However, he is very chivalrous, in that he refuses to ever kick a lady. Obviously this is a bit of a handicap at times, as not every opponent they run into are men. But, barring that, he doesn’t back down from a fight if one is picked with him.
These are the crew members that Luffy takes with him to the Grand Line. Having only gotten up to episode 356 myself (the anime is at over 450 eps right now) I only know of 4 other crew members that join them after they reach the Grand Line, and that may have increased. So, for the sake of giving people something to look forward to on their own, I won’t be introducing them.
As one can see, One Piece has a fairly unique character design. This does take a little getting used to. I held off on watching One Piece for years because of it, but they do grow on you after awhile. Sure, the women have impossibly thin waists, and most of them have ridiculously large busts (thank you Oda!), but after awhile it stops bothering you and you are able to enjoy the story being told. And what a story it is! I can’t think of another series, anime, manga, or novel, that can run for so long and still be entertaining. We’re talking 60 volumes, which is well over 400 chapters of material written over a 13 year time span. For the anime, it’s currently on episode 480 and has been running for 11 years while maintaining consistently high ratings. If I had to hazard a guess as to it’s lasting popularity, I’d say it’s Luffy’s enthusiasm and simplistic way of living. He’s not some moody, woe-is-me type, nor is he fighting the forces of evil to save the world. In fact, if you want to get downright technical, he is one of the forces of evil that is working to destroy the world. At the core, this is about a pirate going up against the world government. He may not pillage and kill townsfolk, but evil really is how you view it. From the standpoint of the Marines, he is a criminal. But for the countless people who he has helped in his quest to become the Pirate King, he’s a sort of folk hero.
I feel that this is the anime of the decade largely because of its enduring popularity. It’s by far the highest selling manga of all time in Japan, having sold over 200 million copies. Additionally, it holds the record for the most copies of a single book sold when volume 60 sold 3.4 million copies in it’s first print run alone, shattering the previous record set by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In 2010, while an exact figure has not been made public, based on volumes sold and standard royalty agreements, it’s estimated that Eiichiro Oda made over $24 million. That’s in one year, not over his lifetime. That is an insane amount of money for a manga author. And the thing is, success hasn’t made him lazy. In the 13 years he’s been writing it the longest break he took was a 3 week break once, this year, and that was in part to set up the time skip he had planned. And when you realize that he’s serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, which as the name implies is a weekly publication, the fact that he’s written chapters nearly every week for 13 years without jumping the shark is quite amazing. Further, according to Eiichiro Oda, while he does have an ending planned, the manga is only halfway done. 60 compiled volumes, well over 500 chapters, spawning 480 anime episodes, 10 movies, plus various tv specials and it’s only halfway done?
The only word that can properly describe that is epic.
Through the Shattered Lens 