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December 7

Realistic Pirate movies.

I'm looking for some recommendations for realistic movies about pirates and privateers in "the age of sail". From the 1600's to 1830's or so, and I'm most interested in the Caribbean/Atlantic. I can think of a bunch of pirate movies - but none that I recall were remotely realistic. For example, real pirates never, ever fired broadsides at other ships...they wanted to capture them, not sink them! Good documentaries would work too.

Bonus points for something I can find & watch online!

TIA. SteveBaker (talk) 05:42, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A realistic movie, says ye? Arrrrrh, be ye mad? The least fantastic fictional example I can think of is A High Wind in Jamaica, and that sails a bit too close to the wind, if ye takes me meanin'. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:50, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! That looks promising. SteveBaker (talk) 13:00, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I can think of one case where they would try to sink another ship ... if that ship is attacking them. Or, they might do a preemptive attack on a warship that's searching for them. StuRat (talk) 08:51, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There aren't many cases when they did anything but run when faced with serious resistance. They'd have been horribly out-gunned by even a lowly 6th rate frigate. Most pirate ships had half a dozen 4lb minions and some swivel guns on an open deck. A naval vessel would have 20 or more 18lb cannons. Pirate ships were built for speed and stealth. They did their work with muskets, blunderbusses, pistols and cutlasses and didn't go around with black flags with skull & cross bones on them! The problem with almost all Pirate movies is that they're depicted as running round in gigantic square-rigged frigates...hence my search for a realistic one. SteveBaker (talk) 13:00, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That is of course true in most cases, but this recent ref desk thread shows there were some notable exceptions. --Saddhiyama (talk) 14:07, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That link is now archived at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2013_December_4#Pirate_capture_of_a_man-of-war. Alansplodge (talk) 08:39, 10 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What song is this which honors Mandela?

Hi Wikipedians,

I was listening to this BBC iPlayer podcast and wanted to know which song it is which starts at 47:57. I tried searching a lot but couldn't nail it. Could anyone help me here please?

Thanks, Nikhil. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.164.24.48 (talk) 14:38, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a smartphone, try running Shazam or SoundHound while the song is playing. --209.203.125.162 (talk) 20:09, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And SoundHound indicates that it's from the documentary Cry Freedom, which had music by George Fenton. I'm not sure which particular song, but you can check out the soundtrack on Amazon. Shazam, incidentally, didn't recognize it. John M Baker (talk) 02:16, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

TV commercial actor?

Any idea who this guy from the "My Clean PC" TV ads is? He looks familiar, but I can't place him. And FYI, I don't trust that site's advertising one iota. I'm just wondering who he is. Thank you, all. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:10, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

According to http://www.ispot.tv/topic/actor-actress/kaB/justin-louis it's ~~Louis Ferreira. He's been in a lot of TV shows (most I've never watched).~~ --Modocc (talk) 19:33, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is something odd going on with this. The link Modcc provides says the actors name is Justin Louis. When you type that in at google search you get all sorts of hits for Ferreira but when you click on the images link you get these none of whom look like the actor in the ad. Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe someone else can get to the bottom of this. MarnetteD | Talk 20:24, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yep it is a different guy and unless the source is completely inaccurate, he simply has the same name. If he is that obscure, he may simply be reminding Baseball Bugs of a more familiar actor perhaps. --Modocc (talk) 20:51, 7 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

He must not be a union actor as they don't allow two actors with the same name. They have to use a stage name or change their real name. I know the actor from the original Clapper commercials and he wasn't union and I know an actor and stage manager who is union in a new spot for a plumbing service. It all depends on the production company but isn't unusual. --Mark Miller (talk) 05:35, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oh....and many people see these actors and can't quite put their finger on where they know them from. I once waited on a guy I was sure I went to high school with, even asked him where he attended school. I could tell from their smiles (him and his girlfriend) that I was asking a very familiar question to him. He turned out to be a rather obscure television actor who did a lot of commercials back in the mid 80's and was on a lot of television shows like the Dukes of Hazard. I was so embarrassed those weeks later when I figured it out. LOL!--Mark Miller (talk) 05:43, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mark, I know about the "can't have the same name" with the SAG but I am wondering if that is true if an actor stays in Canada. One of the links provided mentions Canada and that could be adding to the confusion. MarnetteD | Talk 22:00, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Like SAG-AFTRA, the UK union Equity [1] bestows the membership benefit of name rights, and several Canadian unions are also affiliated with the International Federation of Actors (FIA). These are listed here and they would, most likely, be doing the same. -Modocc (talk) 17:07, 9 December 2013 (UTC),[reply]

   It is John O'Hurley from Seinfeld.