Typer's Block

I love contradicting everything people say.  Even if I'm wrong...

Writing Process?  No.  For me, it's a cycle.

In Shiny New Idea #2--because I haven't touched Shiny New Idea #1 in months--and in the up and coming revised Black Sight (we'll call it the Naren story for now), I'm at a difficult place.  It has nothing to do with the stories.  It's just me.

I got typer's block.

What does this mean, dear reader?  Well, it means when I sit to write at my computer, nothing comes out.  And the stuff that does come out sucks.  With a capital s (to put the 's' uppercase would be redundant, don't you think?).

But I can write fine with a pen/pencil in my composition book.

This will go away.  It's a cycle.  After this goes away, I'll only want to type at my computer, but I'll stare at the empty page.

And then there are times when I can do both.

Right now?  Where's that notebook....

Do not laugh/It's not a joke/A message from the Lord...

I have one more week of Ragamuffin before it's over.  And yes, it is sad.

Brennan Manning has been denounced a heretic.  He has been accused of not believing in hell and damnation.

Personally, I think Manning does believe in hell and damnation, he just doesn't preach it.  It's not his message to preach.

Everyone is called to be a minister.  However, I don't think everyone is called to preach the same thing, the same topics.

Brennan Manning preaches the love of Abba, that the lowest of the low is still loved by Yahweh.  And so we get the aforementioned accusations against his beliefs.

I don't follow many hellfire and brimstone preachers.  Mainly because I've heard horror stories of hell most of my life and I don't like to hear it.  But I heard the horror stories before I heard that God actually loved me.

Hm...Years of fear just got explained away.

I wonder if brimstone preachers are likewise accused of not believing in heaven and the Grace of God.

I think if I listened to every good preacher, and highlighted what they wanted me to in my Bible, everything would get underlined.  I'm certain.  Likewise, if I read my Bible and thought about it long enough and talked it out with other people, I'd understand as much as anyone (as much as I can expect to this side of heaven).

But I doubt I can learn everything I need to know about God, heaven, hell, etc from just one person.  And I doubt one person would get the entire Bible.  Understand what it is, perhaps, but not understanding everything completely.

"There is something more important than understanding."

Joyce Meyer, for instance, annoys my aunt because she talks so much about her childhood.  Some people's message is their testimony, my mom argued.

I doubt I'm making sense about this.

Picture you were a fiction writer.  (For some this may not be so difficult.)  You have a great idea, with a solid plot and likable characters.  It's a well-known fact fiction writers, in their writing, play God in the respective worlds they create.  They're in control--to an extent, because characters sometimes do as they please without any consideration for their writers whatsoever.  (I could probably build on that).

So, because you're writing a plot-driven story, your characters were made with that plot in mind.  But no character is capable of doing it all, no matter how obviously awesome he is and you just love him so much.  So, you bring other characters, whom you love just as much, with their respective gifts and they help achieve the purpose of the plot.

God's the same way.  He creates all of us with a general, overall goal:  spread the Good News, glorify God.  However, different disciples fill out different roles.  Spreading the message, I think, can fall under the things where the work gets divided.

And so we have the illustration of the Body of Christ.  I didn't intend to go there, but I did.  Oops.

Some last words:  This post took all day.  I drafted in the back room of the church (not the Methodist, the other one), and then farmwork got in the way afterwards.  But here it is!

Guess What?

I'm rewriting Black Sight.  Also, the title will change.

To what?  I have no idea.

My Spring Break sucked, so you know.  No license, no job.  I renewed my permit for the third time.  :-P

The Critical Thinking Process At Its Best

I was making some sweet tea earlier (neither my parents drink this, but my little brother and I would probably bleed sweet tea if you cut us).  When making sweet tea, you have the boil the water and let the tea steep.

Well, my dad made blue drink (Kool Aid?) into the pitcher with the wide opening at the top.  This would have been ideal for pouring the pot of tea into. (and I mean pot, not tea kettle.  I'm talking the kind of pot you cook Ramen noodles in).

The only thing to put the sweet tea in was an old tea jug.

My family has not had a funnel in years.  I mean, probably since I was in elementary or middle school.  Since I'm in college now, it's been several years, obviously.

I needed a funnel.  And I couldn't exactly go to Wal Mart this time of night to buy one. 

I thought about all the things I use for a funnel when nothing else is available.  If I'm using a solid, a rolled up piece of paper works good.  Like for sugar or something.

This was a warm liquid.  Paper was out.

I had a Barq's root beer bottle on my computer desk.

Hmm...

I walked into my bedroom.  There was still some root beer in the bottle.  Oh well.

I poured it out and cut the bottom two-thirds of the bottle off. 

I had my funnel.  I rinsed it off and made sure the bottle's top would fit into the jug's top.  If not, I had to think of something else.

But it fit!

I showed my mom and she said, "That's the same thing you're dad would've done.  You're so his kid."   (There's a few stories like this.)

When I showed my dad, he said, "Good.  Perfect."

It wasn't stupid-proof, now.  I had to hold it steady while pouring the water and sweet tea into the jug, (learned THAT the hard way) but it worked.   For a prototype.

Later, my dad said, "Make sure you rinse it and put it with the clean dishes."

I would've thrown it away when I was done with it, but since Dad said so...

I'm certain my mom will get us a funnel soon.  I mentioned to her before making the funnel that we needed one.  She agreed.  If it doesn't happen, well, I need to start getting all different shapes and sizes of bottles.  ;-)

Tour de Farm


I got my hands on a digital camera...here's the farm I keep talking about....other than the bunnies of course.

Bantam rooster, odd comb




Bantam rooster, plain, but pretty




Cochins--look closely at the feathered feat



Silkie Rooster...Not overly fond of him

This is our male turkey.  Isn't he gorgeous?

The lighter turkey is our hen.  Isn't she pretty? 
The thing in the picture next to her...
well, we don't know what it is.



This is Big Mama.  She just let me get a good picture of her.
She's a relatively newer cat to us.  I'll post pics of
her kittens soon.




Our Mallard ducks.  We're hoping some of females
will start sitting soon.  Ducklings!




Cochin chicks, hatched day before yesterday

Kit...again, just another cool pic.

Guinea fowl...don't know if it's male or female.

laying hens.



SPRING BREAK...

...will probably be lame for me.  My spring break will be full of homework/research, applying for jobs, and a trip to the DMV.  Pray for me.

Actually, if all goes right, it'll be thus far the best spring break of my life.  I'll be able to actually leave my house on my own, and have a way of making money.  Pray for me.

Today went pretty well for me though.  I wrote two and a half pages in my 8 o'clock class.  Yes, I did pay attention.

Class was about how we are all actors/actresses and how we go through life playing different roles.  Super Sociology Teacher used several examples.  One of which a student being in a teacher's place.

My 9 o'clock class is English Composition II.  We talked about poetry, why more people didn't write it, and a little bit about what we all wrote.

I think I was the only one who raised a hand when we were asked if any of us had written a novel.  I sit in the front corner, and it would've been rude for me to swivel my head.

"Did you finish it?" Awesome English Instructor asks.

"Yes."

A guy I'd been knowing for years said I should bring it to class--I knew he didn't mean it.
Get your stones ready:

Because I'm not published or have a degree or anything, I hate saying I'm a writer.  I say "I write," not neceessarily, "I'm a writer."  Sometimes I  say it, but I'm usually embarrassed.

Later, however, when I thought back to the class, I thought I should be proud of myself.  Thousands of people start books they never finish.  I'm bad for starting and never finishing myself.  But it's about the same with books for me.  I just never take the bookmarks out.  Or in the writing case, I just never delete Chapter 1.

But at least I've finished one novel.  More than one, actually, but that's not important.

Finally, in my last class, World Civ, something odd happened.  I've never had a bad day in that class.  EVER.  Today was just weird.

I walked in there and some of the older students (parents/grandparents) were talking about swimming.  They were talking about how they were thrown in and they didn't gte back out once they got the hang of swimming.  It was funny.

A few minutes later, another "kid" (this kid has a mustache, btw) pauses by my desk and reels back like he's going to punch my arm/shoulder.  I thought he was kidding.

No, he really did punch my arm.  It stung, a little.  I don't think it was bruised.  This guy didn't say anything, just did it.

When he walked past me, I looked after him.  He wasn't focused on me anymore.  That was probably for the best.

And then class went on as normal.  We're covering Russia right now.  The Rise of the Romanovs and all that.

And so my Spring Break begins.  Now, I need a job and a license.  Pray for me.

Why You Need Five Flavors of Dumb

This book was flippin' awesome.  I read about it on another blog, and decided it looked interesting.  Got the eBook recently, and within a few days,  I had it read.

1.  The protagonist is deaf, but she hears more than you think.  ;)  Her name is Piper, ironically.  She's a kickbutt chess player.  She always wins against this guy named Ed.

2.  At her brother's misinterpreting, she becomes the manager of a band (three members at this time) called Dumb.  And they are very, very Dumb.  She enlists the aforementioned Ed to help her whip them into shape.  There's our fourth flavor on the drums.

3.  When the fifth flavor, a guitarist who can't play the guitar, joins the group, tensions rise.  They bomb their first on-TV gig.  They get into a smackdown, ON LIVE TELEVISION, and almost don't make their first big-time gig.

4.  Atomic pink.  You'll get it if you read it. ;)

5.  A little bit of romance, a little bit of comedy, some meltdowns...

And, most importantly, rock music.

Fiction-->Speculative-->Fantasy

Fantasy is a cousin genre to Science Fiction, and Horror.  Collectively, they are known as the Speculative Fiction Genres.  Spec for short.  The "What-If" Stuff.

It always aggravates me when a clerk or anybody says "sci-fi" when I have a fantasy book in my hand.  They are not the same thing.  They just have a lot in common.

You don't see dragons or fairies in sci-fi (unless it's The Whims of Creation by Simon Hawke. which may be considered a space fantasy anyway).  I happen to have a special fondness of both.

I'm an Escapist reader.  The less possible in this world, the better.  Let's go ride dragonback, talk to fairies, and kill trolls.

Sounds fun....  Wanna come?

Let's find about how terrible our parents were--or even find out who they were.  Let's get back at the Evil Supreme Bad Guy.  How about the least likely person becoming a hero?  Because let's face it,

"Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart." — Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three)

You can face a dragon (or ride it) or climb the Mountain of Destiny.  But when it's over, you can close the book.  You've gone on an adventure, none the worse for doing so, and maybe you've gotten a new way of looking at things.

The Last Word:

"Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have."

— Lloyd Alexander

"What's in a Name?" A lot more than you think.

 "What is in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."

I don't agree with it.  I think that quote should be taken literally, not metaphorically.  For my left brain readers, Juliet is saying that it doesn't matter what you call it, it's still the same thing. 

No, it's not.  Names are important.  Names are our identity.  Our past.  Our present.  Our future.

The name "Jesus" means "God is my salvation/God saves"

Would that name inspire tears to the eye if it meant anything less?  If it meant less was done?  When we pray, we are supposed to pray in the name of Jesus.  As Madea would say, that's the stamp that sends it straight up to heaven.

When a man sees a hot woman, he's attracted to her.  When he finds out her name's Bertha, he may not like her so much--just an example.  Studies have shown this.  I'm not saying it's right, but it's how it is. 

I'm certain I've told this story before.  I'd been using the name "Naren" for a few years.  About three years into the story, I found out his name is Hindu*, and meant "the best of men."  Since it's fantasy, I didn't mention the meaning the story. 

But the name meant so much more to me personally.  Your characters are like your babies/pets.  You don't think the hero in your story can do no wrong--even when you write them doing wrong.  Not that Naren is the best, but he's a good man.  And, God willing, if this story ever gets published, and some little fan of mine tries looking up meanings, and the word'll spread and there'll be a thousand jokes about it.  ::Shrug::

*I did have some reservations about the name being Hindi, but since I haven't found that it was the name of one of their gods, I decided to keep it.  If I do find out that is the name of one of them, I'll probably change it.

And, since I was talking about names, I decided to include this:



The Development and Care of Plot Bunnies

Since I just wanna show off some of the stuff that comes from my back yard, I hope you enjoy the following story/romance about plot bunnies:

Once upon a time, there was an odd, deformed idea.  It had good roots.  However, it was still malformed.  The Thinker never thought it would ever come to anything.

Then the Thinker had another thought.  There was nothing wrong with this particular thought.  It was a well thought out thought and nothing wrong with it.

Despite the obvious difference in the ideas, the Thinker thought to combine them.  During a long, severe process of different ways the thoughts could go, several little beings formed.  They grew with the good idea.  They were called plots.  Some were good, some were bad, and some were in between.  The Thinker had to pick one.

These plots are very special.  They are also very fragile.  They need nourishment and they require a lot of your time.  If you don't spend a lot of time with your plot, your plot will run from you when you try to play with it.

*No bunnies were harmed in the making of this story.  They were only aggravated.

Why Yes, I Am Plotting

So, I got a new Shiny New Idea.  I attempted something I'd never attempted before. 

I did a chapter-by-chapter outline.  There are 21 pieces of paper, with a description of a chapter/scene on each.

I've done some basic stuff, but I've never done this much planning ahead.  I know everything that'll ever happen in the story.  And I am pleased.

About the story...welll, I've been playing with a certain idea for a while now.  And then, yesterday, while I was in the library at the college (everyone knows libraries are magical places), I kept turning the idea over in my head.

I thought of a problem, I got on Monstropedia and found something else that would REALLY work and help with the problem.  I got an idea.

So, last night, I printed out some of my unused writers' planning templates.  I managed a summary of each chapter, and then a possible scene I wanted to add.  I stayed up past midnight, maybe to one a.m. 

The story showed itself in a cause-and-effect.  There were some parts I knew had to be in there, but I didn't know where I wanted to put it.  So, I got to look at some individual parts and try the ideas in different orders.

I now understand the importance of planning.  Now that I got it all planned, I haven't tried to write any of it.  How shameful of me.  I hope to start typing on it soon.  I wrote an opening sentence yesterday, but I don't think it exists anymore...

And a semi-cute pic of plot bunnies:

Some plots are different, others seem similar.

Outside In

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is stressful reading. Every great plan goes wrong and there's no telling who's the good guy and who's the bad guy.




It's awesome!




View all my reviews

111 Things About Me--Most of Which, You Should Know

It's not that I think people don't know me well enough.  I just wanna do one.

1. I'm a hurricane baby, born a week after Andrew.
2. I used to be able to name all the dinosaurs, according to my parents.
3. My mom never bought us the Disney princess movies, except The Little Mermaid. 
4. My favorite was Robin Hood. 
5. I hate Toy Story.  The weird doll in the movie always scared me.
6. Oliver & Company used to make me cry.  The beginning was just so sad and pitiful.
7. I share my birthday with my younger cousin, and my little brother.
8. My earliest memories of church were at a Jehovah's Witness church...
9. ...although I was dedicated in a Baptist church.
10. Currently, I attend an Assembly of God church, but go to a Methodist Sunday School.
11. I was born in LA, and my family is from there.  (Yeah, I'm a Cajun!)
12. It really annoys my mother when I call myself a Cajun.
13. I'm more Native American than white, but I don't think people believe me.
14. I moved to MS when I was 6.
15. We have been here ever since.
16. I love it.
17. I don't like crab.
18. I love crawfish.
19. I am the fourth out of five children.
20. I didn't learn "Jesus Love Me" until I was probably 6 or 7.
21. The first songs I remember singing were by Mindy McCready ("Ten Thousand Angels," "Guys Do It All The Time," "All That I Am") and "Should've Been a Cowboy" by Toby Keith.
22. I couldn't tie my sneakers until I was 6.
23. My training wheels didn't come off until I was 7.
24. I remember when SpongeBob first came on.
25. I was a 90s kid.
26. I watched a lot of Sailor Moon.  She was just the Bomb.
27. I also had a lot of Sailor Moon toys.
28. Yogi Bear - Favorite TV show on Boomerang
29. Laff-A-Lympics - Other Favorite TV show on Boomerang
30. My favorite color used to be pink.
31. Since then, it's been blue, green, and purple.
32. My make-up collection has two things of eye shadow.
33. I never wear it.
34. I've never been on a date.
35. I've never had a real boyfriend.
36. I've never been kissed.
37. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit of a late bloomer.
38. I still don't have my license--but my parents bought me a car.
39. I've never had a real job.
40. Looking at this list depresses me.
41. I think if I ever went to therapy, my shrink would have a field day.
42. I'm wishy-washy about a lot of things.
43. At this moment, I don't ever ever want to have children.
44. But I also know how I look at people who have never had children, so sometimes I do want children. 
45. Preferably a girl, because right now, I'm stuck with a 5yr old brother and toddler-age nephews.
46. But I know a girl would be a lot of trouble later in her life.
47. I like goat milk.
48. Actually, I love milk in general.
49. I call my mom starting a farm her "mid life crisis."
50. I tell her we need something that produces milk.  A cow or a goat.
51. I have a lot of favorite candies.
52. They include Hershey's Cookies n Cream, regular Hersheys, Reese's Peanut Buttercups, 3 Musketeers...
53. I used to be afraid of the movie Fern Gully.
54. Now, it doesn't bother me in the least.
55. The 3 Musketeers is my favorite movie.
56. Leap Year is my favorite Chick-Flick.
57. Howl's Moving Castle.  'Nough said.
58. Yes, I've read Twilight.
59. I'm not a screamy fan girl over it, but I did like them...a little.  The last book disappointed me.
60. If you want me to go screamy fan girl, make Stephen R. Lawhead's books into movies.  I'll be Team Bran, Merlin, Llew Silver Hand, Quentin, Team You-Name-It.
61. Or, make Maria V. Snyder's books into movies:  Team Valek, baby!  He can kick both Edward Cullen and Jacob Black's butts!  Even if they teamed up.
62. My favorite author, obviously, is Stephen R. Lawhead.
63. My favorite series by him would be Dragon King Saga.  Not because he hasn't done better in his later books, but because it was the first series I read by him.
64. Before Stephen R. Lawhead was my favorite author, it was Janette Oke.
65. Before Janette Oke, it was Wendy Lawton.
66. The Tinker's Daughter by Wendy Lawton was my first favorite book.
67. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers replaced it.
68. Nectar from a Stone by Jane Guill is now my all-time favorite novel.  Teams Gwydion & Thomas!  :D
69. I've read this book either 6 or 7 times.
70. The first Stephen King book I ever read was The Eyes of the Dragon.  It's another favorite.
71. I'm a country music fanatic.
72. Even if it's a song I don't like, but at least I know it, I can identify the song within the first few bars of music in the song.
73. Often enough, I can like a song just for one line.
74. I liked Lady Antebellum before they were cool (when "Need You Now" came out)
75. My favorite love song ever is by singer-songwriter genius Toby Keith:  "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This"
76. When I watched the video, however, I was embarrassed to be watching it--and I was alone.
77. I clicked out of it.
78. I like Big Time Rush. Their voices, their songs, the show.
79. I want to be a songwriter.
80. Actually, I want to be consdiered any type of writer.
81. I write poetry.
82. I write novels.
83. I write fantasy.
84. I've written a racy scene or two.
85. I've attempted character-driven books.
86. I was not successful in those attempts.
87. I've written short stories.
88. I've gotten two rejection letters so far.  Only 2998 more to go!
89. My biggest writing dream is to have a book published by either Random House or HarperCollins.
90. I would love to see my book turned into a movie--granted they stayed true to my book.
91. I still watch some cartoons.
92. I hate reality shows.
93. I love sitcoms.
94. I used to follow Robin Hood on BBC America.
95. I cried when Robin Hood died in the last episode.
96. I've never had anyone really close to me pass away.
97. I'm wondering is you think there's something wrong with me yet.
98. Or even if you're still reading.
99. I like Hugh Jackman.
100. I don't think Johnny Depp is the greatest thing that's ever happened.
101. I'm a sucker for Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales.
102. "The Snow Queen" is my favorite.
103. "The Traveling Companion" is my second favorite."
104. I find I've read more fairy tales the past two years than I have when I was actually young enough to believe them.
105. Sometimes, I do believe them.
106. Rich Mullins is my favorite Christian singer.
107. My favorite songs by him are:  "Elijah," "Growing Young," "Both Feet on the Ground," "Cry the Name"  ...
108. There are more, but I don't feel like listing them all.
109. I didn't read much YA while I was in High School.  Now I find I'm reading it more and more.
110. I have over 70 books on my unread shelf in my closet.
111. I don't like Love Inspired romances that much.  I prefer the normal Harlequins.

The Grand Romance Joke

I've read my fair share of romance books.  However, most of these seem to be by Victoria Alexander, a brand name of mine.

I mentioned the Grand Romance Joke before, however, I did not explain it.

The Grand Romance Joke is the theme.  The point.  The inside joke.  It's also characterization.

Example:

The Wedding Bargain was my first favorite romance book.  It's typical battle-of-the-sexes, and one of the funniest books I've ever read.

Picture it:  1816, London, England.  Pandora Effington is on her seventh season, and still hasn't wed.  Her parents were a love match.  She wants the same.

Pandora meets Maximillian Wells, a former soldier.  He fought with Duke of Wellington.  They start to talk about what they each wold like in a spouse.  After Pandora names off all of hers, Max suggests that she wants a hero.  He wants to be that hero.  After all, she's the most unattainable woman in all the ton.  And she met all of his requirements.  He wants a test to prove he's a hero.  Wanting to devise a test he can never hope to win, Pandora gathers up some information and gives him a very hard test.

She gives him the Twelve Labors of Hercules.

The Grand Joke:  Heroism.  What it means to be a hero.  What heroes do and don't do.  Some stuff on Greek mythos, of course.  Naturally, the characters make some jokes in the book.  You laugh along with them, because, if you're like me, you know a little bit about mythology, so you get the jokes.  Extremely dorky jokes, but I'll laugh at anything.

Is it making sense? 

Another example is The Pursuit of Marriage.  It's very similar to The Wedding Bargain.  Cassie Effington and Reggie Berkeley make a bet too.  Cassie can find Reggie's Miss Wonderful and Reggie will find Cassie's Lord Perfect.

The Grand Romance Joke:  Of course, there's talk and jokes in the book about what wonderful and what perfect mean. 

Okay, the Grand Romance Joke is a cheesy thing.  Really cheesy.  But you understand right?

Some other time, I'll post a grand romance cliche list, but not tonight.

New Scene Syndrome

I started typing up Shiny New Idea.  I'm only about 3,000 words into the story, and the perfect, handwritten draft is a bad idea.  Real bad.  I don't wanna type 3,000 words, let alone 30-80,000 words.  No way, Jose.

Also, there was a scene/development that had been invading my mind for the past...say, three weeks.   I didn't want to just plop it in the notebook I was using.  So, once I got a decent part of Chapter 1 typed up, I jumped to the scene in a new Works doc.

I haven't had this happen in a while--not since my last Shiny New Idea that I decided to run with, which was a year and a half ago, about.

The other good thing about writing the recurring scene is that it stops and it doesn't distract me anymore.  The new scene does.

And the story goes on.

*As of now, this is my 100th post.  It's not the correct 100th post, because I've deleted some, so I never made it to 100 posts yet.   But now my dashboard will say I have 100 posts.

Liars, Rogues, and Other Crooks We Love

Villians and anti-heroes run rampant!


Gru from Despicable Me

World's kind-of-sort-of best villian.  And yet, this is one of the best films I've seen in a long time.

This man adopts three little girls to help him steal a shrink ray from an opposing villian.  The man gives the moon for these little girls.  Literally.

.

Megamind...from Megamind.

Unlike Gru, this guy is the world's worst villian, and I didn't find it matched up to Despicable Me.  But that's my opinion.

I saw this poster in the film, though, I absolutely loved it!  I'm not an Obama supporter, but I like the idea of making fun of the poster-type.

World's worst villian kills world's greatest hero.  He becomes Evil Overload, and then a new villian--that he makes--comes along, and then has to defeat another bad guy.  And then he becomes Mr. Hero.





Flynn Rider from Tangled

Who can forget the newest Disney...well, he's not a prince.  He's a thief.  Actually, it kind of surprised me.  This story follows a typical romance-book arc.  You know the one.  World-wise man + innocent girl that wants adventure + REAL adventure + love = happily ever after.  It was this close to being like a romance book.  That may be why I like this film so much...

Miguel and Tulio from The Road to El Dorado

They're conmen who get stowaway accidentally.  Not one of my favorite movies, but they make the list because a lot of people did like this movie.  These characters...are wild.

Don't act so suprised.  He's everybody's favorite pirate...or almost.

Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean

Everybody loves this guy it seems.  Like The Road to El Dorado, these aren't my favorite movies, but what are you gonna do?  If there's one guy that doesn't have a scrap of honor or decency, well, he's it.  And yet everyone loves him!  His badness is what makes him great.  'Course it helps when he's played by Johnny Depp...