Pirates

"Game of Thrones,"which ended its second season last week, was one of the most talked-about shows of the spring and a ratings success for HBO. It was also the most pirated show of the spring, according to BitTorrent news site TorrentFreak.com. While the season finale of "Thrones" reached an all-time ratings high of 4.2 million viewers, its illegal audience is nearly as high, receiving 3.9 million downloads via the filesharing service BitTorrent. The downloading audience is highest in Australia, where regular TV viewers must wait a week after the U.S. premiere to see new episodes.

DUESSELDORF, Germany - All his colleagues call him Grumpy, and he says he'd "rather be playing computer games. " On election day recently, the German typesetter wore a black Stetson over his long, stringy hair. On that same day, Marc Olejak earned a new name: member of parliament, in Germany's most populous state for the misfit Pirate Party. The party's core voters are "the nerds, the freaks - not to discriminate, but the people who see themselves this way - and the marginal groups," the 40-year-old Olejak said as voters were going to the polls.

When letter-writers need to insert a note after they've already used a postscript, what do they do? Add a post-postscript, or, PPS. Those three letters also apply to my reading plans this summer, which center on three simple topics. Pirates. Poems. Sharks. The pirates belong to former British poet laureate Andrew Motion, who continues the story of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" in his forthcoming novel, "Silver: Return to Treasure Island" (Crown: $24, August)

The weather forecast for Legoland California this summer calls for a 100% chance of getting 100% soaking wet. PHOTOS: Pirate Reef water ride at Legoland California The new Pirate Reef water attraction opened over Memorial Day weekend at the Carlsbad kiddie park with a pair of life-size Lego pirate ships flanking the splash zone of the classic shoot-the-chutes ride. For its relatively modest size, the 25-foot-tall attraction built by Florida-based Hopkins Amusement Rides generates a surprisingly enormous splash.

"Living on the Edge," by Aerosmith should be the theme song for the San Pedro High baseball team, which has won 19 consecutive games since a 4-8 start, including seven one-run decisions. The latest triumph, 1-0 over Granada Hills Kennedy on Friday in a City Section Division 1 quarterfinal playoff game, featured a controversial umpire's reversal in the sixth inning that wiped out a potential tying run for Kennedy. "I guess God's behind us," senior pitcher Jesse Betancourt said.

Two men have been sentenced to 300 days in jail and three years of probation after selling 800 CDs containing pirated music to undercover government agents. The men -- Juan Lucas Camacho, 39, and Jose Pablo Almaraz, 38 -- sold the CDs for $480, to Justice Department agents last month at a Los Angeles Home Depot store. That means they were selling the CDs, which included music from Jorge Santa Cruz and Pitbull, at an average of 60 cents apiece. The two were sentenced this week after pleading guilty to a felony count of failure to disclose the origin of a recording they sold, the office of California Atty.

Behold a scene of lust and betrayal between a young woman and another woman's fiancé, on top of a kitchen table. Make that on top of a birthday cake. On the betrayed woman's birthday. Oh, and the women are roommates. Then discover that it's not only excusable behavior but also actually a kinky act of kindness. And that's just the opening scene of "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," ABC'ssubversive midseason addition to the quirky-girl comedy trend, which has its season finale Wednesday.

WikiLeaks and the Pirate Bay suffered denial-of-service attacks this week that brought both websites down. WikiLeaks suffered the more intense attack. The whistle-blower site tweeted Wednesday that it had been getting attacked for the last three days. The site was down for some time, and the organization actually had to put up a mirror site for its users. It was back and seemed to be operating normally by Thursday. No person or organization has been identified as the culprit behind the attack.

Did you know that strawberries, though considered a fruit, are technically a member of the rose family? Then you are ripe for the California Strawberry Festival this weekend in Oxnard. On 50 acres, the event features two concert stages and an array of strawberry treats, including strawberry beer. There's also Strawberryland for the kids. Info: (888) 288-9242 or www.strawberry-fest.org . . . . Speaking of kids, here's yet another summer activity in family friendly San Diego: Pirate Ship Adventures offers daily cruises aboard an 83-foot sailing ship , including a special July 4 cruise.

'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' MPAA rating: PG for mild action, rude humor and some language Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes Playing: In general release