Friday, April 28, 2017

Curse of the Blogging Pearl & Nintendo Announces the New 2DS XL!


All hands cast the sails! We’re setting out to look for precious treasure in the Caribbean! Now.. Bring me some Rum!

What’s that? What do you mean the rums gone? Where's the rum gone?!

Hey there everybody! Today on ZAK Entertainment we’re getting suited up, weapons at our sides ready to set sail on this pirate blog! Pirates have been a common theme in media for eons now, whether it’s in long time favorite books such as Treasure Island and On Stranger Tides or popular movies… Such as the one we’ll be discussing today. Even shows, books and movies that aren’t directly based on pirates have been known to incorporate elements into its show. (Spongebob Squarepants does this often.) Piracy has also been known to take a more futuristic touch with the introduction of Space Pirates (Which is even cooler, by the way.) in media such as Cowboy Bebop the anime, which might I add is a long time favorite series of mine.

While you wouldn’t want to mess with real life Pirates, as they’re dangerous and nothing like the fantasy characters. (Captain Phillips is a movie starring Tom Hanks that is based on a real life piracy incident that happened in 2009.) Pirates are one of my favorite themes that have a wide spread across many forms of entertainment. Even Video Games have dabbled in the pirate theme in games such as Shantae and the Pirates Curse, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and The Monkey Island Series… Wait does Star Fox count? It had space pirates in it… Yeah let’s put Star Fox on that list, because why not.

Once again I must warn you of possible spoilers for this movie if you’ve never seen it before, I know its beyond a decade old at this point but who knows.

Anyway back on track today I’m discussing a movie that took the pirate theme and skyrocketed it back into fame after a bit of a dry period… I’m talking about the 2003 released Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Instantly got your attention, huh? 


Yeah there’s probably not a single movie watcher in the world who doesn’t know about this series. It stars Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, a Swashbuckling Pirate Captain with a peculiar compass and a love for rum, treasure and adventure, Jack himself can be a bit peculiar. Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swan, daughter of Governor Swan the Royal Governor of the British Port Royal of the Caribbean. Orlando Bloom as William Turner, a young blacksmith who was found as a child washed up in the ocean. Finally Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa the main antagonist of the movie and alleged “Captain” of the Black Pearl, oh yeah and he may be cursed to live forever and turn into a skeleton at night… That’s something to write home about. Captain Barbossa is probably my favorite Antagonist the series has had to date.


Series you say? Yeah Pirates of the Caribbean was so popular it spawned an entire franchise of movies that’s still out plundering to this day with the brand new 2017 release of Dead Men Tell No Tales which is releasing May 26th..(Hey that’s not far away.) While I’m not so keen on the 4th movie the first three moves are long time favorites of mine. My family and I have owned the first movie Curse of the Black Pearl since it released and as you can tell by this blog I recently rewatched the movie in anticipation for this upcoming new release.


Curse of the Black Pearl takes place in the early 18th century (The Golden Age of Piracy… Or towards the end of it more so.) starts off in the open seas (Where else?) where the Royal Navy including Lieutenant Norrington (Played by  Jack Davenport.) accompanied by the Governor and his daughter Elizabeth Swan as they come across a boy lost at sea on an wood plank, rescuing the boy they discover a destroyed pirate ship across from them. Elizabeth takes to the boy and notices a odd round piece of gold hanging from the boy, Aztec Gold to be more precise. Elizabeth notices a strange ghost ship slightly before it disappears, the ship responsible for the carnage, The Black Pearl. After an awesome build up Jack Sparrow takes center stage… And sinks. Yeah Jack Sparrow, our protagonist rides in to Port Royal on a pretty dinky boat, that sinks as soon as it berths, in attempt to commandeer a much larger ship, The Interceptor. His attempts fall short as he grabs the attention of the now Commodore Norrington and after a chase accompanied with a sword clash with William Turner, Jack is captured and put in a cell. Later that night Port Royal is attacked by Barbossa and his crew, who also just so happen to be cursed undead Pirates like their captain, in search of the one with the blood of the one who cursed them and the last piece of Aztec gold to free themselves from said curse.

This movie is a thrilling fantasy, action and adventure from star t to finish and it’s made even better by Johnny Depp’s awesome performance as Jack Sparrow, adding a lot of wit and humor and being able to pull off that drunken pirate that we all love. 


This movie also tends to stand on it’s own. While the movies following this feature the same characters the storyline for this movie is for the most part wrapped up in itself. (It seems Dead Men Tell No Tales may be going more into the backstory of Jack and the Pearl though.) Jack Sparrow isn’t the only great character in this movie he’s accompanied by a whole cast of awesome Pirate characters. This movie takes the typical Pirate story and twists it into an awesome tale of action, adventure and romance of Jack and his band of Pirates. Funnily enough this movie is actually based on the Disneyland attraction of the same name. (Johnny Depp actually recently made a surprise appearance as Jack Sparrow there… It was pretty cool, bummer I missed out.)


If you don’t own this movie already or owned it on VHS and wanted to get a up to date version you can buy it on iTunes for $17.99 USD HD /$9.99 SD!

Speaking of Pirates… No I’m kidding this really has nothing to do with Pirates. Nintendo’s dropped another big announcement out of the blue, just as I’m writing this blog actually, which was last night. (Thursday night.) I discussed quite heavily about the 3DS and NEW 3DS XL in a blog last Christmas season and mentioned slightly that the 2DS falls short in ways, which sucks because parents have always been concerned about the 3DS’s 3D mode. While the New 3DS XL has improved the 3D tremendously it’s still not good to stare at the screen for too long and for kids and people with eye conditions it’s probably best to never use it. The 2DS was also great for being cheaper then the normal 3DS despite the flaws of the system, like it’s inability to protect the screens and its odd shape and chunkiness. Well Nintendo’s big announcement is the New 2DS XL! Take a look below.


The New 2DS XL is so much more sleeker then it’s original counterpart and is coming out cheaper then the normal New 3DS XL at $149.99 USD. I have to say while it does look great, how secure is the top screen to the bottom screen? It looks like a mini laptop, which is pretty nice, this is also a much more rounded machine then the New 3DS XL. The 2DS is mostly aimed at younger children and while it’s great that you can finally close the machine up as well as the machine having the same power as it’s 3DS sibling I’m concerned how this machine will hold up in the hands of young kids with it’s clam shelled design. Other then those concerns this may even be a good choice for teens and the rest of the 3DS demographic due to this sleekness. I was almost concerned that this machine was download only as I couldn’t see a cartridge slot but on closer inspection it seems this machine’s game slot has a cover on it… Wow Nintendo, better late then never, huh? The New 2DS XL will be releasing on June 28th of this year for $149.99 in a Black and Blue color scheme. (Japan is receiving a hot white and gold version but I have no confirmation if this is releasing in America or not.)

You can read more about this New 2DS XL by following this link: http://www.nintendo.com/2ds/new-nintendo-2ds.

It seems the 3DS isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, despite worries that the Switch would replace it. As much as the Switch is great and all, why on earth would it replace it? The Switch is 300 dollars and you only get one switch per dock. (or vice versa.) Even with the machine’s pretty sweet portability there’s no way it could replace the 3DS’s market.

With that all said and done… Back to pirates! Yes I have one more thing to do before we wrap for the day, feature a free knitting pattern! I’ve mentioned it before as being a pattern loved by Mum (Though she’s been a bit nervous to attempt it.) this is the Shipwreck Shawl (There’s your pirate connection.) by Bethany Kok aka Knitting Harpy!


Right off the bat you can tell this is a beautifully designed round shaped shawl with an incredible lace floral pattern in the center edged by leaves leading into standard lace until it reaches the utmost edge of the shawl looking similar to a fishermen’s net, except more majestic. 


You can also notice that this is a very difficult looking shawl. I would love to attempt this myself but oh boy this looks tough. I’ve only had minimalistic lace experience in the form of my own shawl I’m working on so I’m not sure if I could attempt this just yet. I’m not backing down, I will knit this one day but it may be a while. Like it’s namesake I’ve realized how this looks like ocean waves when worn, with the floral and leaves looking like seaweed. It’s absolutely majestic and if you’re brave enough to give it a go or just want to look at it you can check out this pattern on Ravelry but also Knitty.com!

Well I’m off to find some more treasure, see you guys on Monday!

That’s a wrap folks!

No comments:

Post a Comment