10 Things You Might Not Know About Blackbeard

Since the new show Crossbones is coming next week, I thought I would share some facts about Blackbeard.

He is my favorite pirate and I was reading about him way before the Disney movies came out! I got the idea for this post at the movies last week. The trailer came on and some girl yelled "why doesn't he have a black beard?" I wanted to yell back at her, but I'm to shy for that ;-). So below are some of the most interesting things that I have read about Blackbeard.

1. His real name was Edward Teach. He didn't become Blackbeard until he actually had a black beard and had command of his own ship.

2. He did not start off as a pirate. He was actual a sailor during the Queen Anne's War in 1702.

3. He met notorious pirate, Benjamin Hornigold 1716 and they committed numerous acts of piracy.

4. The crew demoted Hornigold and named Teach as their new captain. Hornigold retired soon after.

5. Blackbeard captured his famous ship Queen Anne's Revenge in 1716. It was a French ship carrying slaves.

6. Below is Blackbeard's flag. It is of a skeleton piercing a heart while toasting the devil.

 

7. There a few superstitions still around today about Blackbeard's ghost. It is said that unexplained lights at sea are called Teach's Lights.

8. The Queen Anne's revenge sank on a sandbar in  1718. It was found in 1997 in North Carolina.

9. To intimidate people into giving up their valuables/ships, Blackbeard would light fuses and tie them to his hair. This would make it look like his hair was smoking.



10. Blackbeard was killed by the Royal Navy in North Carolina. He was decapitated with his body being thrown at sea and his head being displayed on the Navy's ship.

These are just of the interesting facts surrounding Blackbeard's life. It will be interesting to see where the show starts and how they go about telling the story. I can't wait!!!


~Cecelia

X-Men: Days of Future Past Part 2

No Spoilers here! Just my thoughts after coming out of the theatre last night.



     This movie was by far the BEST X-Men movie!! It shocked you in the first 5 minutes, made you laugh and made you more and more excited. I honestly feel like this movie had no flaws. They way the past and present characters were used was pretty seamless. It made sense too, I wasn't confused at all during the movie. The story was easy to follow along. I don't know much about the comics so I can't comment on those differences.

     After seeing this movie I think Quicksilver is a new favorite mutant. His scene was pretty epic! I'm kind of sad that that same actor doesn't play him in the Avengers 2, but since X-Men isn't under Disney it makes sense.


     After all of the amazingness that was the actual movie, the end credit scene was awesome too. I didn't know what it was referring to but someone in our theatre announced it for us. We had a pretty good group of people in our theatre.
Everyone, go see this movie!! If you are an X-Men fan even a little bit, go see it. You will be glad that you did!

~Cecelia

Psychology Is Nerdy Right?

I have always found the way people think and act.  When I was in my junior year of high school I took my first psychology class and I was hooked.  Everything was just so interesting and exciting to me.  This eventually lead to a degree in psychology.   Psychology is nerdy right?

A few days ago I read something that said a geek is a combination of being passionate or obsessed about a topic and then also being intelligent regarding said topic.  Add in being socially inept and you have yourself a nerd.  Well I'm socially inept, somewhat.  I also am passionate about psychology and consider myself well learned in the subject.  So that makes it nerdy right?   

Continuing on, after completing my degree I looked for a career for a while before coming across and landing my current job working with kids in a residential facility.  I primarily work with kids on the autism spectrum.  Since starting my job I have grown a passion for working with these amazing kids.  Therefore, I am interested not only psychology news, but also news regarding autism.  Some of this news I hope to share with you. 

When I decided to start this blog, part of the reason was it was a vast array of subjects to write about.  Not just movies and comic books but stuff that interests me, perhaps nerdy stuff like science.  With all of that said I give to you some science news regarding psychology and autism.   Actually both are in regards to autism this time and both I personally find interesting. 

First off, there is a story coming from Duke University about an application to help screen for autism in infants.  Put simply, members from Duke will be testing a tablet application that will potentially get rid of human testing infants for autism.  Instead the program will administer the tests and watch for physical and facial responses to visual cues and time the responses accordingly.  It would then analyze the data collected.  The idea is that any parent, teacher, or clinician could download the app and then run the app with the kids using it.  You can find a more detailed explanation here.  I have a few questions though.

To begin with how are they planning to get these children to sit in front of the tablet for the length of the test.  First off they are talking about using this on infants who may not even care about whats on the tablet screen.  Secondly, working with kids on the spectrum I have noticed that getting them to sit still to do a task is not always easy. Is this program ever going to be able to work for older children yet undiagnosed with autism? 

My next thought is that parents will download the app and self diagnose their child with autism spectrum disorder.  How many will use the app and not go see a clinician?  I would hope all would go see a clinician for an official diagnoses and help but I am sure some won't due to money and various other concerns.  

Regardless it is still an interesting bit of news. 

The next story is a little older, I think I originally read about it last week.  A recent study suggests that children with parents, more specifically fathers, with a career in a more technical field, are more likely to be on the autism spectrum disorder.  By technical they mean, non people oriented jobs such as engineering.  Check out the story on yahoo.  Again I have a thought regarding this news. 

My main thought is that this is just a correlation.  Yes it could have some meaning, however just because both parents are engineers does not mean their child will be on the autism spectrum.  Although it is an interesting subject not hard fact and people should keep that in mind.  I believe that there is a lot more to autism and its causes than parents careers.  

That is all I have for today.  I hope to share more science news and other interesting news for that matter with you all at a later date.  

X-Men: Days of Future Past Part 1

So this girl is going to see the new X-Men movie 

tonight!!! 10:30pm premier! 

     X-Men(2000) was the first Marvel movie that I had ever seen, 14 years ago. Crap, I feel old now! I loved every movie, even the third one! Which I admit, was not that great. The characters were always great though. My favorites have to be Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). I do love the James McAvoy version of Xavier though. Plus he's adorable! ;) 

     I am super excited to see how this movie goes about it's story line. The hardest part will be transitioning seamlessly between present and future without the whole movie reading as a flashback. Also, this many characters is a huge undertaking. I am confident though, that everyone's story will make sense as the movie goes on. 

Stay tuned for my thoughts on the movie in the near future!

~Cecelia

A Totally Awesome Ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

It was 6 years ago that Iron Man hit theaters.  Since then there have been two additional Iron Man films plus another six movies released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  For anyone who does not know: the MCU is a media franchise consisting of a shared fictional universe.  The films feature the same timeline, setting and often the same characters.  The characters are all also characters from Marvel comics.

Being the movie nerd that I am, I have seen each movie except Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  (No one around here will go with me, and Cecelia and I just couldn't meet up to go this time ). Therefore here is my personal opinion and ranking of the first eight movies.  Perhaps once Guardians of the Galaxy has been released and I have watched Captain America 2 I will update the list. 

8: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I usually love Edward Norton.  However, this time I was not a major fan.  Maybe I have to re-watch this movie seeing as its been a long time since seeing it.  As of now however it is at the bottom of the list.  I wish I could give a good reason why other than I was somewhat confused.  Plus, I didn't care for Liv Tyler as Betty.  The film does get bonus points for mentioning the "super soldier" program and then for Tony Stark's appearance at the end of the credits. 

7: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

This is another in my re-watch list.  Overall I felt kind of bored during this movie.  Again, I liked the mention of Tony Stark's father towards the beginning.  

6: Iron Man 2 (2010

My least favorite of the Iron Man series.  I'm not a big fan of the villain in this one. I also dislike the little fight that Tony and Pepper Potts get into.  As usual though I love Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Words cannot describe my love for him and this character.   He is perfect for this role

5: Thor (2011)

Chris Hemsworth is another hero I believe was perfectly cast.  I love the humor and chemistry between him and Tom Hiddleston.  In addition Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings relationship was great.  Actually Dennings was probably the most entertaining out of the group.  More points to this film for feature Hawkeye just briefly.  

4: Thor: The Dark World (2013)

As I said previously, I enjoy the on screen chemistry of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.  It was also great to see Loki being a helpful, good character for once in the MCU.  My favorite scene though is probably when Loki and Thor are walking and Loki keeps changing form.  

3: Iron Man (2008)

The film that started it all!  This of course had to rank high.  It introduced us to Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark.  As I said previously, he is perfectly cast and is Iron Man.  Although some found it boring, I enjoyed seeing the origin of Iron Man.  

2: Iron Man 3 (2013)

The best in my opinion of the Iron Man trilogy.  I feel like it had a good balance of action and comedy.  I loved the relationship between Tony and the kid he meets.  In addition, I enjoyed seeing all of the Iron Man suits and the final battle scene was well done.  

1: The Avengers (2012)

Who wouldn't put The Avengers at #1 on the list?  This film broke records. I was a Joss Whedon fan prior to The Avengers.  This movie just made me love him even more.  It was amazing to see all of these characters together.  I think Mark Ruffalo is a much better Hulk than Edward Norton.  In addition, we got to meet Hawkeye for the first time.  Hopefully he will get more screen time in the Avengers 2 or another future film.  This  movie in my opinion was amazing and therefore deserves the #1 spot.