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Muppet Treasure Island and it’s awesome soundtrack

Posted in movies, music, pop culture with tags LEB, movies, Muppets, music, pirates, pop culture on January 31, 2013 by Paxton

So, this week’s topic for the League is “pirates”. Unfortunately, I’ve already extolled the virtues of one of my favorite pirate movies of all time, The Pirate Movie, during it’s 30 year anniversary last year. So, I can’t un-pop that cork. My next best option is to talk about Muppet Treasure Island. And more specifically, the soundtrack.

Muppet Treasure Island was released in 1996. It was the second of the Muppet movies, after Muppet Christmas Carol, to be made in partnership with Disney and after Jim Henson’s death. It starred Tim Curry as Long John Silver and Kevin Bishop as Jim Hawkins. The movie, financially, was a success earning a higher gross than the last three movies.

The movie itself is funny and clever. Curry is great as Silver. Bishop is, well, not awesome. His voice is really high, like a 6 year old girl. It’s really sort of annoying. Other than that I enjoy this movie as much as I enjoy Muppet Christmas Carol. In general, I see Muppet Christmas Carol as a better movie but Muppet Treasure Island has the better soundtrack.

Now, let’s take a look at that awesome soundtrack with a bunch of very catchy, totally Muppet-style songs that are all pirate themed.

This exists. And I own it.

Here are some of my favorite songs from the soundtrack.

Shiver My Timbers is the song that plays over the opening credits featuring pirates burying treasure on an island. Treasure Island. It’s very dark and is very chant-like. It’s probably my favorite song, and it’s totally pirate-y.

Cabin Fever is my second favorite song. It features the cast singing about having “cabin fever” while sailing out at sea. It’s absurd and over-the-top and completely bananas. That’s why I love it. It has a distinctly “islands” feel to it with the steel drums. My favorite lyric in the song:

“Cabin fever has grabbed us all aboard,
This once fine vessel has become a floating psycho ward.”

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The Pirate Movie turns 30 years old today

Posted in movies, pop culture with tags anniversary, movies, pirates, pop culture, reviews on August 6, 2012 by Paxton

The Pirate Movie starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy MacNichol was released on August 6, 1982, which is 30 years ago today. Many people consider this movie a cheesy knockoff of the play Pirates of Penzance. However, while it’s incredibly cheesy, it’s more accurate to say that it’s a spoof of the Penzance play. It did not set the box office on fire, but HBO would play it continuously throughout the 80s causing it to have a cult following.

Here’s a newspaper ad of the movie from the day it was released on Aug 6.

Pirate Movie

Not only did this movie spoof pirate movies, it also spoofed musicals like Grease and even had some Star Wars jokes. It seemed like the cast had a really good time making it and most of the songs were very well written.

Check out the awesomely 80s trailer:

I am a big fan of musicals and this was a great one. The soundtrack is truly one for the ages. I still listen to (and workout out to) songs on this album. The songs on the album included some of the more famous Penzance songs like Modern Major-General and Pirate King, but also featured newly written songs specifically for the movie.

Some of my favorite songs in the movie include:

Pumpin’ and Blowin’ by Kristy McNichol (very much a late ’70s-early 80s tune)

The Modern Major-General Song

I am a Pirate King

The very Grease-like final number Happy Endings:

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Day of the Ninja dawns again

Posted in holiday, humor, Ninja Day, ninjas, pirates with tags holiday, humor, Ninja Day, ninjas, pirates on December 5, 2007 by Paxton

Yes, my friends, Ninja Day has dawned once again. Today is officially, Day of the Ninja. It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I revealed to you all that I was one of the dark clan and we last celebrated this most sacred of holidays.

If you don’t know, today is the day we celebrate those that belong to that most deadly of fraternities; The Ninja. It is also a day to shun those that belong to the group that opposes all that ninjas stand for, the ninja arch-nemesis, The Pirate. In case you fail to see the difference in the clean, deadly ninja and the dirty, mouth-breathing Pirate, here’s a chart for your convenience. Click the chart to go to the Official Headquarters of Ninja Day.

How can you celebrate ninja day? Quietly, but deadly, stalk one of your co-workers. Figure out 50 different ways to kill the person you are currently talking to. Find a pirate and torture him slowly, then using only your wits and an old shoe, kill him (or, if you are more advanced, a good luck troll). If you get hungry during Ninja Day, place a to-go order with Ninja Burger. Don’t worry about giving them your address, they know where you live. If your food isn’t there in 30 minutes, they commit Seppuku.

As you see, there are many things you can do to celebrate Ninja Day. If you got questions then The Ninja has answers, check out the Ask A Ninja podcasts. Immerse yourself in the lore and mystery of the ninja today. They deserve your utmost respect.

After all, there’s only two seconds separating you and the business end of a katana.

Did you enjoy this? You can check out my other Ninja Day Posts here

Technorati Tags – ninjas ask a ninja Ninja Day holiday humor personal

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Pirates of the Caribbean II Opens Today!!

Posted in humor, movies, personal, pirates, random with tags movies, pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean on July 7, 2006 by Paxton

Capt Pax Holley and Capt Jack Sparrow…Separated at birth? You decide. If you ask me, I think Capt Jack wishes he had the looks and chutzpah of Capt Pax. But that’s just me.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opens today. Steph and I will probably go see it tomorrow afternoon to avoid the lines. I am really looking forward to this sequel because we loved the first one. As a matter of fact, we tried to rent Curse of the Black Pearl this week and every single copy was rented. EVERY SINGLE COPY. Since the movie is older, Blockbuster kept only 2 or 3 copies. Well, I guess everyone else wanted to see it too, because they are ALL gone. But I’m not just talking about our local Blockbuster, but every Blockbuster in our area. And that’s a lot of Blockbusters. As you know, Blockbuster is like the Starbucks of DVDs. There’s usually two or three right around the corner…and usually right next to a McDonald’s.

I even slummed and went to Hollywood Video to find a copy. Let me tell you, that place is a friggin’ HOLE. It looked like a DVD War Zone inside the store. Movies and candy littered the floor, shelves have gaping spaces where there are no DVDs. So much crap on the checkout counter that you couldn’t even see the 12 year olds they have working there. Not to mention the fact that the movies weren’t in any semblance of order. Oh, the shelves are labeled Action, New Release, Comedy, etc. But those seem to be more like guidelines, and not hard-and-fast categorical titles because the workers just put the stuff back on the shelf wherever they happen to be. You need Smokey & the Bandit? It’s in the Drama section. Aliens? Kiddie section. WTF?! And they aren’t laid out nicely on the shelf. It looks like a giant dorm room as some are stacked with their backs to the shelf and some are stacked sideways like on a bookshelf. You can forget about alphabetical order. You’re lucky the workers can even read the title, much less put it in it’s proper alphabetical order. I will NEVER go back to that place. I feel like I need to go to the free clinic and get shots after walking in for 10 minutes.

After all that, the sad thing is, I own Curse of the Black Pearl, but my mom borrowed it and has not returned it. You like apples? How you like them apples?

Anywho, have a good weekend everyone and I’ll see you on the other side.