Plus Ben! And More!

NO! Ben! I didn't forget your gifts. I was simply.. saving the best for last. And if I had forgotten about them (which I didn't!) it would probably have been because you gave them so early that when recalling all my gifts I didn't think about them. But I've already bragged to all my friends about what you got me so accusing me of forgetting is moot either way.

BEN'S PRESENTS:

As opposed to the DSLite, which averaged the "Most People Involved in a Single Present," Ben won the average for "Most Presents from a Single Person." Four films. Three disks. And many several weirdos and pirates. Impressive to say the least.

First off we have The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values. The former I have seen at least 3 times (and totally fell in love with when showing it at Quark about a year ago). Values I've only seen once. But now I can watch it again and again whenever I want!

Blackbeard is a Mini-series that apparently ran on Hallmark over a year ago. I haven't heard of it (neither had Ben), but it's described by the creators as "a little Master and Commander, a dash of Horatio Hornblower, some Captain Blood and some history." The only one of those things I've seen is Master and Commander, and that was pretty awesome. And history. I likes me some Blackbeard history. Have yet to watch this one, but I hope to be able to add it to my collection of made-for-TV-awesomeness next to 10th Kingdom and Gulliver's Travels.

Lastly, Cutthroat Island. Cutthroat Island... man oh man. Remember how when Pirates of the Caribbean came out, everyone said "The return of the pirate movie!" and "Finally, a good pirate movie!" and "This film will really put pirates back into pop culture." They said that because prior to that film, movies like Cutthroat Island were made. It apparently tanked at the box office in 1995. In fact it is in the Guinness book of World Records as the biggest box office flop in history. I watched this movie several years ago, and despite not remembering much about it, I do remember laughing - a lot - at parts that probably weren't intended to be funny.

I'm waiting for the perfect time to watch this gem again, and I'm starting to suspect that time might be the upcoming pirate party (PS. Plan on mid-September everybody). It would be full on MST3K style of course. Beats a lecture on OP episode comparison. Probably. If not at the pirate party then sometime with a large group of people. Anyone morbidly curious enough?

ALSO!

An additional addendum thanking James for his gift: A full edition of Final Fantasy XI in a shiny box, complete with a free month. Sure he got it for cheap with slightly selfish motivations - I am still grateful. I'm really loving it so far. It's different than World of Warcraft - in some ways better, in some ways not. He also got me into his respectable guild, the Shirt Ninjas (started by Real Life Comic's Greg Dean), and everyone's been super nice so far, helping me kill stuff, taking me to high level areas, and giving me free gear. Speaking of which...

This is my character, Mahina, in the Summer Festival gear that a very kindly guildmate paid for (that stuff's not cheap). He says he did it out of spite... or something like that. But isn't she cute?! This gear is probably just as revealing, if not less so, as the starting Mithran Separates outfit. Maybe I'll post more pictures once I purchase some actual pants. Or really tall boots.