Fantabulous Movie Alert: “The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!”

If I call a movie “fantabulous” though it hasn’t been released yet, you know that it says “Aardman Productions” in the credits. And this time, it looks like the WAFs (Wonderful Aardman Folks) have fulfilled one of my greatest wishes, voiced by some of my dearest actors.

Derring-do, swash-swash, buckle-buckle!

In The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain — a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they do battle with the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!

But wait before you call me Turncoat Molly and accuse me of piratomania – there are, of course, also several gentlemen in blue!

The heroes are the pirates, though, but for once, I don’t mind. They look like an all-around likeable crew, and there seem to be some really quirky characters among them.

Without a doubt one of the coolest figureheads I’ve ever seen – ahaha!

Swashbuckling with lobsters!

There will be nature…

… more nature…

… and, quite naturally for a movie called “The Pirates”:

What else do we need… oh, of course: SHIPS!

And here’s the trailer – unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until the end of March 2012 for this seafaring adventure, but good things need time, so I’ll try to be patient.

For more information, please see

THE PIRATES @ FACEBOOK

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

In conclusion: arrr!

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James D’Arcy as Blifil in “The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling” (1997)

There are only very few actors who can wear 18th century garb and look good. Wigs are not for everybody! It’s an undisputed fact (at least in my journal) that one of those selected few is James D’Arcy.

So here’s something for my fellow aficionados of cravats, wigs, stockings, breeches and tricorns – Blifil might be a very ungentlemanly gentleman (then again, imagine being cursed with such a name), but you have to admit that he’s looking very good while being annoying.

And so – dignified.

Books: new releases from Seaforth Publishing

The new catalogue from Seaforth Publishing has arrived; here are the latest releases relevant to those with an interest in the 18th century navy:

“Poxed & Scurvied” – The Story of Sickness and Health at Sea
by Kevin Brown

“Warships of the Napoleonic Era” – Design, Development and Deployment
by Robert Gardiner

“Life of a Sailor (Seafarer’s Voices 5)
by Frederick Chamier

Interesting books from the backlist:

“The Real Jim Hawkins” – Ships’ Boys in the Georgian Navy
by Roland Pietsch

“First Rate” – The Greatest Warships of the Age of Sail
by Rif Winfield

“British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603 – 1714” – Design, Construction, Careers and Fates
by Rif Winfield

“Fireship” – The Terror Weapon of the Age of Sail
by Peter Kirsch

You can order the books from the Seaforth Publishing website . It didn’t work for me, though; while I could add books to the shopping cart, but it wasn’t possible to access the cart, and the reductions mentioned in the catalogue weren’t available on the website. I tried with both Firefox and IE, so who knows, maybe they have a special Molly-filter… 😉

I’ve ordered “Poxed & Scurvied” and “The Real Jim Hawkins” from Amazon, so if you should run into the same troubles as I, there are alternative sources.

Need a flatmate? Mr. Garrow is looking for a comfortable home…

Filming for series three of “Garrow’s Law” is under way, so naturally, Edinburgh is currently the capital of the planet.

It’s the quiet Canongate close where the infamous Deacon William Brodie carried out a bungled heist that would send him to the hangman’s noose.

So it is only fitting that Chessel’s Court, an address steeped in legal history, has become home to the hit BBC drama Garrow’s Law.

OLD TOWN CLOSE SETS THE SCENE FOR PERIOD LAW DRAMA

While not much (means: nothing) is known about the cases featured in the third series yet, there’s some information regarding our dashing hero’s living conditions. In the article linked above, producer Nick Pitt says:

“I can’t give away too much, but in the new series Garrow’s not finding life so easy and is living in a very simple flat.”

Good grief! Do I have to imagine a scene like this one?

Ladies and gentlemen, we can’t have that! I demand decent accommodation for William Garrow! So if you should have a spare room – if possible with a desk, a wig stand and a nice, comfortable wing chair for him to sit in and sulk – then please send your footman with a note to Chessel’s Court.

Poor man… maybe I should knit some mittens for him?*

*One of my favourite blogs!

Edit: special thanks to paracletelux who pointed out the following two pictures to me (obviously spoilerish, so don’t click if you don’t want to know).

Looks like Mr. Garrow might has already found a flatmate…

Yay! Yes, please! *keeps fingers crossed*

Nutty Nelsoniana

“Merkovo expects every meerkat to do his duty. Dial H.O.R.A.T.I.O. for cheap ship insurance – simples!”