Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes

A few admissions right off the bat.  I am NOT a fan of Michael Crichton.  I loved the movie Jurassic Park, because I was a complete nut about dinosaurs when I was maybe 6, but I tried to read the novel and didn't get very far.  "Techno-thrillers," what Crichton was famous for, are not really my thing, although on Zanne's recommendation I did (mostly) read Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio and was completely sucked in.  So when Pirate Latitudes was discovered on Crichton's hard drive and published posthumously in 2009, it for me was not something to pick up because it was Crichton:  I picked it up because it was a massively publicized pirate novel I felt I should give a chance.  I finally got around to reading it, and I have to say I enjoyed it.  I have a tendency whenever I read fiction to translate it into a movie in my brain.  I did it when I read Powers' On Stranger Tides, although I knew that by the time it became a Pirates of the Caribbean movie probably little would remain of the source.  That turned out to be true.  With Pirate Latitudes, however, the idea of thinking about it as a film was completely obvious:  Crichton's ubiquitous adapter, Hollywood behemoth Steven Spielberg, had the rights almost as soon as the book was in existence.  So, here's the query:  Will it work, and how?

Prizes of the Perished

Sign found today in Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood.

We didn't get anything, but there was still plenty to be picked off the bones...

Monkeys love kittens

This has nothing to do with piracy or even sailing, unless you totally stretch things and say that sailors and pirates used to have monkeys as pets just like they did parrots.  But parrots do not adopt kittens.

Logan, by the way, loves both monkeys and kittens.  So forgive me the distraction and just go "Awwwww."  OK?

Congratulations are in order

Huzzah for the "Purple Pirates" for winning the "Float the Fleet" contest in support of the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain.  We gave it our best, but to the winners go the spoils, aye?  More importantly, here's to the tall ships we love.  May your timbers be strong and your sails full.

Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival 2011

Sails are ready

Day One, Saturday, 7/2:  Get In The Groove.  As usual, the arrangement of the Festival is completely different from the year before.  There seems to be more space for vendors in the new Lake Union Park, but there seem to be less boats.  Lavengro, Zodiac, and Adventuress represent for the tall ships.  Logan does what he does--fascinate some, frighten others.  I am pleasantly surprised to be joined by old pirate buddies the Carlsens, who find me at a table behind the boat house.  They join me as the beer garden opens, which this year has been expanded because it is now being run by nearby Jillian's but has lost any sense of character, with big Redhook and Budweiser banners and out of place music like Huey Lewis and Elton John.  I storm the Model Boat Tent and the pond--with flintlock and megaphone!--and progress to the Arthur Foss.  My Pirate Pied Piper routine pulls in a young boy named Matthew, who sits next to me and watches for the British Navy with my brass telescope as I get down to Story Time.