Doing weights...

Today is a weight-training day and I'm about to head off to the fitness club once I've had breakfast.

When I started doing weights I had a pleasant fantasy that Bruce Wayne was there watching me, helping me train. He would occasionally correct me if I made an error, and though he isn't a man for verbal encouragement or effusive praise, he would occasionally grunt approval. Dark, intense, observant eyes.

See, Bruce Wayne (or Batman) represents a lot of things to me in an archetypal way. He represents determination towards a goal; self-discipline; intelligence applied to observation; and high standards. I aspire to all of this.

Since last Sunday a new fantasy has crept into my weight-training. Bruce Wayne is still there as acting trainer, but so is Jack Sparrow. He isn't nearly so controlled. He lounges around the machines, drinking rum and ogling the beautiful bodies - he'd probably ogle the fantasy Bruce Wayne if I let him. He laughs at me for all my hard boring work when when I could be lounging on a beach with a bottle. He teases me (with an appreciative glint in the eye, and a smirk).

And dammit, I work all the harder just to show him.

Rather like Will Turner would, come to think of it.

I know I am both Bruce Wayne and Jack Sparrow. I have done my best to make an art of hedonism, but I want to make an art of self-discipline as well.

Have you ever read Janet Evanovitch's novels? One of the reasons I love them is that the protagonist, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, has sexual fantasies about Batman. I can relate to that. The idea makes me smile. I thought I was the only one. (No, really I knew better. I've been around fandom long enough.)

Still.... I've always wondered why the comic book producers persisted in seeing superhero comics as fantasy for exclusively boys and young men. Don't they see the potential for fantasies for women? Apparently not.

Okay....

Got this from thdancingferret:



My personality is rated 28.What is yours?quiz by midgetfarm.com


Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

Again, I'd like to know this person, but I'm not entirely sure it's me. It may be how I appear to others, I suppose. But what about: outrageous, wild, different? That's what I'd like to be.

Of course what I'd like to be, and what I am, aren't exactly the same.

Another chance for a picture of Jack Sparrow....

I got this from pookie509:




You are Jack Sparrow, a pirate who used to be the
captain of the dreaded Black Pearl. You love to
drink and often times the people around you
don't know if you are drunk or crazy.


Which Pirates Of The Caribbean character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Description of Jack Sparrow....

A wonderful description, I thought, of Jack from sennuyer on pirategasm in her story and the ground shuddered with you:

Jack Sparrow seemed to ruin and repair everything he touched. Every bit and piece he placed his dirty hands upon turned to ashes and molded to gold and Will wasn't sure whether to hate him for it or respect it....

That's why I like Jack: the incongruities and paradoxes. He fumbles, and comes out on top. He takes risks, fails, then wins. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a leap and a fall. Lucky bumbler, or clever schemer? Take your pick.

The meaning of Black Pearls....

My friend tzikeh pointed out to me the following from metaquotes:

I'm reading "the Multi-Orgasmic Couple". On page 37 it describes the G spot
and then adds: Taoists have referred to this spot for thousands of years as
the Black Pearl.

*blink* Jack's ship is the G Spot... I can see that....."

This got me google-searching for Black Pearls. I found some interesting items - not counting uninteresting items like a restaurant in Rhode Island and another one in Florida, a kind of real Tahitian pearl, and various hotels in the South Pacific and South Carolina.

There's an interesting item about black pearls (the oyster kind, not the sexual kind) at
Black Pearl, which says:

Fine strands of black pearls can command prices from $100,000.00 to $500,000.00. We see such strands on Elizabeth Taylor and Ivana Trump.

Throughout history the pearl has been loved and cherished, from Cleopatra to Henry the VIII to the Dowager Empress of China, Ci Xi. The rarest is the black pearl. It is sensuous in form and brilliant in light. It is our gift from the sea."

Now I'm curious about the Cleopatra reference.... or is that a reference to Elizabeth Taylor?

Then I found this:Finding the Black Pearl with James McBride.

Nov. 17, 1997 -- Magazine Writing: News and NonFiction Narrative Seminar

James McBride made a number of important contributions to the seminar, most notably an interviewing and writing exercise that has come to be known as "Finding the Black Pearl".... [Story about a symbolic story snipped here]

When McBride heard the story, he knew he'd discovered a detail that helped explain the essence of [his interview subject's] identity. He said he'd found Pryor's "black stone."

"What's that?" I remember asking McBride.

"I don't know," he laughed. "I'm a jazz musician. I'm just riffin' here."

I pressed and he said, "It's the dancin' devil inside all of us. It's what makes you you."

During the seminar, we turned that idea into an exercise in reporting and writing that we called "Searching for the Black Stone." We paired the participants off and gave each of them 20 minutes interviewing time to search for their partner's black stone. Then they had just 20 minutes to write a passage that described what they found....

[Journalist] Kenny [Urby] rechristened [this exercise] "Searching for the Black Pearl," a poetic riff that jazz musician McBride would, I feel, be pleased with.

"Searching for the Black Pearl" is a valuable exercise for anyone trying to write about another person.

In a diversity session, it can help people find the ways they are different and very much the same.

As an interviewing and writing exercise, it forces you to dig deep and not be satisfied with surface explanations.

This all seems to me to fit the ship that represented freedom to Jack Sparrow: a desired object that represented the essence of himself, with sexual and personal connotations.

Another Jack quiz....

Hee! You are Jack's "You have to find
yourself a girl, mate ... you're not a eunuch,
are you?" speech. You're quite a bit sex-
crazed, and you assume that everyone else is as
horny as you are. Get it on as soon as
possible so that you can join the rest of us on
Planet Earth ... I'm sure you'll have a good
time doing so.


Which one of Captain Jack Sparrow's bizarre sayings from Pirates of the Caribbean are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Wedding Gifts

Overcome by my summer fling with pirates, I wrote a Jack Sparrow/Will Turner story. I'll be putting it on my website at The Wedding Gifts and on pirategasm.

Title: The Wedding Gifts
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jack/Will
Archive: Fajrdrako's Nest - The Wedding Gifts
Disclaimer: I borrow and use but do not own these characters. I do, however, love and respect them.
Summary: Jack comes to Port Royal to give Will two wedding presents.

( The Wedding Gifts )

That's *Captain* Fajrdrako to you, landlubbers....

From havenstar:



You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!