The Poopdeck

How many times have you watched a pirate video on youtube and said to yourself, “I could do better than that?” Well lads and lasses, now's your chance to prove it!

Our 10th anniversary International Talk Like A Pirate Day "Make a Pirate Video for Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers' 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' Song with Lyrics by Ol' Chumbucket and Approved by Cap'n Slappy Contest," is under way!

Show off to your friends! Win a (somewhat) valuable prize!

Here's what ye do!

Visit us at talklikeapirate.com/contest.html
Download the mp3 of the "Talk Like a Pirate Day" song sung by Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers and use the song as the audio track of a pirate video. There's also a karaoke version if you'd rather use that. Your video can include any images ye wish, from you scuttling a schooner and battlin' buccaneers (as long as you understand we're not legally responsible for anything you do,) pillaging with yer crew at a pirate festival, or crooning lustily to yer wench with a concertina 'neath the shade of the weeping willow. Use shots of your favorite pirates, up to and including Cap'n Slappy and meself! (If you don't have one, you can find one here: http://talklikeapirate.com/pressroom.html)
Be creative, and use Tom's song as the soundtrack!
After ye finish creatin' yer video, upload it to your YouTube account. (If you don't have a YouTube account, start one, they're free, THEN upload the video)

---- MAKE SURE ---- Your video's slugline MUST include: ITLAPDAY2012VIDEOCONTEST. That's how we'll be able to find the entries. If you don't include that in the slugline, it doesn't matter how good your video is. We probably won't see it.

Deadline for submissions is September 9th. The members of Team Pirate will view all the entries, probably during a night of carousing, and announce the winner on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Sept. 19.

The winning entry will be highlighted on the Official Lusty Pirate Wench's YouTube site and, if ye be the Chosen One, we will send ye some swag – Including but not necessarily limited to a T-shirt! A NEW T-shirt, mind you, not one we found floatin' in the bilge. You also get the braggin' rights for being the one to create an original music video for Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers, which is reward enough in itself, ye greedy curs!

So get to it!

And remember – upload the video to your YouTube account. DO NOT attempt to e-mail it to us. If you do you will automatically be disqualified and taunted in a way that will make your mother weep for you. We also are not responsible for the vagaries of YouTube and it's “rules,” so if for some reason they won't display yer video, yer on yer own.

Questions – You can ask Mad Sally at wench@talklikeapirate.com.

Reminder – Anniversary T-Shirt Contest

Our 10th Annviersary T-Shirt contest is still going on over at the International Talk Like a Pirate Day Facebook page.

And it's not too late to submit an entry. Come up with the perfect design to festoon the shirt celebratin' 10 years of better living through bad grammar, and we'll reward you – with a shirt bearing your design!

See the Facebook page for the rules, such as they are and lord knows they're easy enough.

Our T-shirt design contest a couple of years ago resulted in some splendid entries! We're hoping you'll come up with the perfect design to grace this year's commemorative shirt!

Never Too Late to Plan a Party – Or Too Early!

Three months (roughly) to International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we're getting ready. Are you?

Jezebel the Web Wench is standing by to construct the world chart o' pirate parties. As soon as you start plannin' somethin', let us know!

We know that this year Sept. 19 falls on a Wednesday, right in the middle between the two weekends. So there's really only one thing to do, isn't there? Start yer celebration the evening of Friday, Sept. 14, and keep goin' straight through to sometime in the wee hours of Sept. 23!

Here's a message in a bottle that floated in from a friendly filibuster with ideas of how you can celebrate.

Suggestions on how to celebrate TLAPD:

Organize a Flash Mob Event! Everyone shows up and slaps each other on the back and says Arrr for two minutes. Etc.
Get a local theater to run an all night pirate movie fest. or show several movies at your party. Provide skull and cross bones balloons to be punched around by the audience as the movies play. Encourage audience to shout out comments or even turn the sound off on a really cheesy film and have the audience provide the dialogue a-la Mystery Science Theater style.

I hope you will consider passing these ideas along.

Best wishes,

Patemalah Pirate Princess of Pretonia.

So what are YOUR ideas for celebrating the 10th anniversary of International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Let us know, and we'll get them out there for the world to see!

– Ol' Chumbucket, ed.