If you ever stumble on this place and take a good look around, it will become clear I had significant time gaps between some of my posts. Maybe I should say real life intruded, and in fact it did. But psssst, sometimes I just tried to leave you. Obviously, I always came back, and here I am again today.
I’ve finally waded through some things that were holding me back, and now those are receding quickly, so hang on!
Yours Truly,
Frenz (aka Masha :D)
P.S. If I ever stalked you, I wouldn’t be in an ugly green car, but I would love that red dress.
note: I started to call this post “I Can’t Quit You,” but even I’m not that cheesy.
Need a Richard picture to get myself back in the mood big time:
This post’s for you, Sheepa. Thanks for the great laugh.
edit:
If you have not watched this video, do it now! It gets better and better.
Yeah, I thought so. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re not quite crazy enough — yet.
It seems a tumblr account has dubbed Richard Armitage’s rabid fans as crazy. I’ve just got one thing to say about that. If this is crazy, damn! can I have more of it?
And it’s especially hard not to go crazy after the teasing we’ve received today. :D
Regular readers among you know how I feel about my gut and should know it’s for good reason. Do I need to remind about Porter’s demise? :D And if I were more eloquent, “gut” would become a beautiful euphemism. Alas, I’m confined to earthy, and being a bit earthy has usually served me well, so to hell with eloquence.
Several weeks ago I suggested a plan and thought a good time to execute it would be sometime between July 22nd (the opening of ‘Captain America’) and August 22nd (near the debut of ‘Strike Back 2’ and you know whose birthday). However, I’m having some reservations. This is not an appeasement of those firmly in Armitage Protection Mode (aka APM). I would still like to try for the trending, and I’m full of details and instructions about the goodness that can be Twitter if done right and most importantly at the right time.
The desire for the project started with the imminent release of ‘Captain America’ and my getting pumped at the potential swell of new fans in RA Universe. Still pumped about that, but I’ve had doubts about the effect of ‘Strike Back’ Series 2. It hasn’t been a good sign that it was airing on Cinemax, which after dark is little better than a porn network and commonly known as Skinemax in the U.S. Nevertheless, I was still open to trying to trend RA’s name simply because he has such an ability to take pulp and turn it into something fine. I have been hoping that would happen with SB2, but one man can only do so much, and it’s especially difficult when he isn’t given much to do. Hearing from friends and fellow RA lovers who have seen the first episode, the show could be boiled down to one word: crap. Several have told me, “Don’t bother.” I may not.
Oh, who am I kidding?! I’m going to watch it if only the first 20 minutes which include RA. No, wait! I understand there’s some of him in the second episode as well, so I’ll watch some of that too. And none of this would be a problem for me as a longtime admirer who has his other performances in my head to sustain me through whatever lameness is in Strike Back 2. But would I want to highlight on Twitter, which is notoriously short on explanation, something lame for new fans still taking their first impressions of RA?
Even if all of this hadn’t been enough to hold me back, I’m firmly in check by knowledge of the recent poll debacle. People, c’mon! ROFLOL! This is not espionage, and if the Anglophenia blog were simply some brash American site, then maybe the siege for Richard would be okay. Scratch that. It wouldn’t be okay. (I can’t help but think of my friend Hunkess, who has put up with all sorts of garbage to bring us all those Hunkie polls. She had to get her whip out at one point.)
Now I would be lying to say I’m above trying to vote more than once on a poll on a given day. Some of the fun is figuring out how to do this. ;-) And bloggers who put up these polls and don’t realize this can be a common response from readers of celebrity polls, perhaps need to learn the lesson, but somehow I doubt that’s really necessary. That aside, how embarrassing for us fans that the blog brought it to light (must be an Alan Rickman fan running things over there. LOL!! Yes, I’m kidding. Lighten up, people. :D ). NET: no way I would follow this with a Twitter campaign.
The capper is the news of ‘Spooks’ being canceled. I don’t want to draw more attention to that for new fans. Again, I’m talking about drawing attention without explanation, which would be the case for most on Twitter. Of course if they read my blog ;-), they’ll get plenty of explanation.
Do I sound like I have APM? Maybe a little. :D
If you’ve made it this far and you’re not thoroughly pissed off at me, hang with me for the rest, and oh! by the way, you British fans, note I didn’t say pissed. I’ve been recently schooled in some fine points of British earthiness:
…when you’re angry and upset, you’re “pissed off”, not “pissed”! As an Australian, I speak and spell more the way the English do, so I have an advantage, I think! If you’re going to adopt any English slang, it is better to use their exact expressions rather than adjust them, if you want to be easily understood in an international forum. “Pissed” actually means “drunk”. OK, English lesson over and done!!. I am just “having a go at you” or “taking the mickey out of you”, so please don’t take me seriously. — Kathryn
I will never misuse that word again! :D And don’t tell my family, but I probably need the mickey taken out of me on a regular basis.
Okay, so how to end this? Ooooh, I know just the thing:
Dear Richard,
I love your performances so much. Oh, you weren’t sure about that? Oh my man, you don’t think I would do a blog for just anyone? I’m not that kind of girl.
But I hope you meant it when you said you don’t read about yourself on the internet, and God forbid anyone tells you. From what I can tell about you so far, you would probably be embarrassed by this last week’s activity. So just stay away if you think you might get your knickers in a twist.;-)
And I really, really hope you or anyone even remotely connected to you never reads this blog! If that happened, I would probably want to crawl under a rock despite being anonymous. But I couldn’t stay away; I’ve missed cutting up.*
Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans who at times needs this craziness to deal with the sanity of life. :D
P.S. Maybe I won’t be thrilled with SB2 when I finally watch it, but hey, I put up a new background in honor of your performances as John Porter.
*For those readers not familiar with this American idiom, it means joking and/or teasing.
Watch someone take me seriously about cheating at Anglophenia never mind that I set a record for emoticons in this post. :D
I’m continually tickled by the criticism of a very few Tolkien fans, and some of them are begging to be teased. Not sure if this will be the last post I make about this, and I’m stating right up front that I’m really resisting the urge to cut loose with some major ribbing which frankly, might be too good to pass up later. I will come with this — sheesh, the worst criticism they can make of Richard Armitage is that he’s good looking with a bunch of female fans? ROFLOL! That’s all they’ve got?! LOL! Phew! that every male actor could be so lucky! :D
What I’m about to say I may regret later, but heck, if I can’t say something like this, then there’s no benefit in being anonymous.
All of the rhetoric flying around just goes with the territory of receiving recognition. There are always sour grapes. It’s unavoidable as I so painfully learned. Before I started working for myself, I was fortunate enough to receive a few awards from the corporation where I worked, and at one point I got so many awards, that I actually began dreading them. During one fourth quarter meeting, my name was called for an award, and I said, “Shit!” under my breath. I had learned I was going to catch some hell for being recognized. What really hurt is someone made a crack within my hearing that I only got the award because a couple of the “bosses” thought I was good looking. I actually teared up about that (oh to have such a trial! LOL!). When a friend of mine asked me what was wrong, I told him what was said and bemoaned it. He rolled his eyes and laughed, “Oh, it must be hell to have it that rough?” When I got over that stinging comment, he looked me in the eye and said, “Did you do something deserving of that award or not?” I nodded, and then he went on, “Are you going to let a handful of people ruin your hard work?!” I shook my head no. This was such a pivotal moment because the negative cracks had made my young self very insecure about being taken seriously. I wanted so desperately to be taken seriously. If my friend had not given me such good counsel or if he had felt the need to defend me, I’m not sure I would have dismissed the pettiness so quickly.
One more personal anecdote.
As I said in an earlier post, my son is a runner. Along the way, he’s had some very lofty goals, he’s also worked tremendously hard, and he’s been able to achieve almost all of his goals. This has not only brought him a great deal of praise but is going to pay for a big chunk of his college education — whether he becomes injured or not. Yea! Yea! Yea! Sorry, I’m still rejoicing over that. LOL! But mixed in with all of these accomplishments has been some negative murmuring. There are the naysayers who have actually had the gall to say he “stole” races from his competitors or the most laughable — that he “got lucky.” They had to say something when they lost over and over and over. Thankfully, I knew this just comes with the territory of winning and was able to counsel my son with some sanity, “Are you going to let a few petty people eclipse the goodness?” Smart boy that he is, the answer was no. And thankfully, I didn’t get sucked into defending him. His achievements stand on their own; no need for momma to legitimize them.
That’s how I think of these negative comments about Richard Armitage from a miniscule number of people. His accomplishments can stand on their own. He has no need of the fans to defend, and the handful of critics should not have a strong enough voice to drown out his or our joy. Further, the few negative comments are just a sign that he’s getting somewhere. In fact, if he weren’t getting any negative comments, I would be wondering if he were really gaining in popularity. So some negative is a a good sign. Anyone striving at something and receiving some negative means they’re having some effect. Let me say that another way. If you’re not receiving some negative comments, you’re probably not doing anything. No one is praised all the time. It just doesn’t work that way.
In the meantime, I’m confident Richard Armitage is wise enough to quickly put negative remarks in perspective. Mostly I picture him humbly basking in the dream come true and wearing a sweet looking smile something like this:
No, I’m not saying anything new, but sometimes it’s good to hear these things again.
edit: I don’t look anything like I used to look. These days I look very much like someone’s mother or their grandmother if I’m really being candid. When I was young, SO used to get on me about being so negative about how I looked. He told me all the time I was beautiful and a lot of other people did as well, but the sad truth is if you don’t feel beautiful, it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you. Thankfully, I got over that kind of self-consciousness and frankly, self-centeredness. And I’m totally okay with how I look these days. Quite a few years ago, I finally got to the point where I’m comfortable in my own skin, and that is priceless to me. Better than ever being someone considered nice looking.
For those who aren’t familiar with that saying, it simply means that someone just can’t get anywhere with something or someone no matter what they may try. The more I read from some of the Tolkien fans (key word is some), the more I realize Richard Armitage would not get very far with them simply because he doesn’t look exactly like Thorin from the book. Perhaps the views of some will change after the movies come out, but really, does it matter? That’s not rhetorical. I’m asking you if it matters what a small group of people think by comparison to the legion of fans these movies will amass? And of course I’m going to give my opinion as well. :D
I say this with all due respect to the Tolkien fans. They make up a very small number of people who will watch The Hobbit movies, and when you consider the ones who are negative, the number gets much smaller. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these people have little influence, and certainly don’t have lots to do with the cash flowing into the pockets of everyone involved with the production. Mercenary as that sounds, it’s true. Therefore I’m not concerned about the negative comments from some of them wanting to see Richard Armitage removed as Thorin. It’s immaterial what they think with respect to the big picture (pardon the pun).
Also, Peter Jackson is just a nice guy who accords them respect as fellow Tolkien fans, and certainly most of them are just fine and even great. I’ve enjoyed reading what they have to say. It’s fascinating, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m happy to give them their due. More than happy to do it! But the ones who are territorial have got to hang onto something. They’re Tolkien experts b’god and we need to bow to that! ;-) Candidly, I don’t mind deferring to someone who really does know more than I do about something, but I happen to have studied Richard Armitage, the actor, so I’m not going to rollover on their assessment of his abilities. I guess we’ll be at an impasse on this, but I hope it’s a friendly impasse. I know it is from my quarter.
By the way, I hope as Richard Armitage fans that we’re not guilty of the same territorial attitudes about RA. I’ll admit feeling that way at times as I realize there is an elephant in the room — his imminent rise in popularity. Did I just admit that on an open blog? Yeah, I guess I did. Armitage Protection Mode is alive and well here. LOL!
Note: I should go back and read what these Tolkien fans said about alterations in the other Tolkien movies Jackson has directed just to see how they were before and after. Might be interesting reading.
I did contact one of the Tolkien sites (who shall remain nameless) to see if the admins there would talk on blog about any advice for the deluge of RA fans entering their world. I got nothin’, but then I think I committed an unpardonable sin — misspelling Tolkien’s name as Tolkein. Yeah, I know, I should be beaten for such a sacrilege. :D
I really need a picture after that. Maybe RA with a beard and long hair?
Yes, that’s a beard! It is in my book.
Okay, I’m going to get serious, and seriously, I hope some of you don’t sweat the criticism. Arrogant as it sounds, it’s going to be like I said here.
Net: if this is losing for RA, phew! I’d like to lose this way.
Dangerous words, but well, I have a plan of sorts. It’s about Richard Armitage. I know that’s a shocker, but I thought I would tell you that upfront. His 40th birthday is coming up, and Calexora has a birthday book planned for him. The messages I’ve read so far are lovely, and I love the possible covers (hope it’s the French poplars). If you want to be in on that, get her a message by July 8th. But before Armitage Day, wouldn’t it be cool if he were trending on Twitter? He never has trended that I’m aware of. I asked Ali at RichardArmitageNet.Com (aka @RAnetdotcom) and she doesn’t remember him ever trending.
Oh, you don’t do Twitter and have no clue about trending? Well, maybe you need to open an account, and trending means whatever is the hot topic (see right sidebar on my Twitter home page). If you don’t have time to take on Twitter, just do it for this and then you can bail — no one will think anything of it. You know how many widow accounts are on Twitter?! Believe me it’s no biggie.
I’m contacting all the RA websites — the ones I know are on Twitter — and asking them to be in on this too, and of course I’m contacting all of the RA bloggers I know. We’ll just need to set a date and have a theme of sorts so that this doesn’t come off as lame. I’m thinking the date should be sometime after Captain America but before August 22nd, and Strike Back promotion will also be in the mix. That timing surely can’t hurt, but the truth is so many things that trend on Twitter are planned trends. Take Captain America for example. That will trend (if it hasn’t already), and it’s surely due to all of the hype by pr machines at a certain time. Why can’t RA have some hype? He’s definitely worth it, and this could be fun. And so much better if fans do it than a publicist. Hey, are we the Armitage Army or not? :D Oh you don’t consider yourself part of the Army? Too bad ’cause it’s fun and not even close to violent.
None of this will work unless we coordinate it as any good Army would do. Everyone going their own directions won’t work. The tweets must be within a certain window so that Twitter’s trending app is triggered, and the theme must be something that piques the interest of non fans. Yep, they have to talk about him too if we’re going to pull this off. In that interest, I hope the principals will participate, and that we can all brainstorm about what would be an appropriate theme. My rough idea is to have something along the lines of “Who is Richard Armitage?” but something much less prosaic. So put on your thinking caps and let’s come up with something good. After I have some caffeine, I might be a little more productive in this discussion. In the meantime, if you have an idea bring it! :D
If you’ve read this blog for more than a few pieces, you know how rabid I am about fan videos, which I’m defining as videos set to music and starring the object of a fan’s attention — someone or something. They got me started on Richard Armitage, and my love for them has become so intense that I’m wondering when these things will gain much more notoriety than they currently enjoy. For now they are not really acknowledged much by the mainstream media, and a good part of the reason is the history of their illicit nature. In my search on the web, I found one piece from a mainstream media source discussing the significance of fan videos, and that was from 2007. Maybe there are a few more, but the key word would be few. However, at some point soon I think fan videos will have more formal recognition. So far for most people who don’t peruse videos sites and are over the age of 25, there has been no awareness these things exist, but that’s changing as more and more people (even your grandmother) are starting to surf YouTube.
Heck, SO’s almost 80 year old parents get on YouTube regularly, and my mother, who by the way, is considerably younger :D, also gets on YouTube. So if you’re 60 and you don’t ever get on YouTube? What planet are you on? ;-)
Actually, I’m assuming most reading this are the choir. So why did I even say that? Maybe there is one out there among you who has not ventured onto a video site for fear it’s just stuff like this:
and you got your fill of this kind of thing on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Oh, you’ve never seen that show? LUCKY YOU. Really wrestling here with the temptation to go on a rant about why I hated that show when it was on, but one rant a week is enough. The show is still on?! God help us.
Of course this is a cute video, and it’s understandable why it’s in the top ten all-time watched videos on YouTube, but c’mon, after you’ve watched it 300 times, you would think it would get old. FYI: a few weeks ago this video passed its four year anniversary, and I can see its lasting effect with the eventual publication of How to Pay For College: The Advantages of Being a Mischievous Teether in the Digital Age by Charles Davies-Carr. ;-)
Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, fan videos. Well, if you’re new to them, and I’m assuming you’re a Richard Armitage fan since you’re reading this blog, there is only one place to go, and my friends, it’s not YouTube. No, it’s a little place on the web hosted by one of the most intriguing fans, Elvira Sweeney. Here are some things I know about Elvira. She is artistic, prolific, a bit perfectionistic, and definitely industrious. Oh, and she likes RA. :D He was the inspiration for what I now think of as the RA Fan Video Empire, or just The Empire. So what is this place? It’s called RAfanvids, and if you have never been there, oh my are you in for a treat. Now the only proviso I will give you is that you must prep the storage on your computer so you can download to your heart’s content when you get there. You’re not sure about this downloading? No, you’ve got to change that notion. You can’t really enjoy some of these videos without watching a download. YouTube, Vimeo, et al will not give you the quality of a 1080 vid. You can only get the real impact of it by downloading and watching on your system or possibly your tv monitor.
Take this video for example:
You can watch it and love the music and the clips, but you can’t get the full effect of this unless you download and watch. It’s the eyes. You almost fall into them. Can’t get that from watching on YouTube — even in full screen mode. Oh, it’s better than the little window, but not nearly as good as watching your own copy.
Or consider this one:
Want to really feel like that leather is within arm’s reach, download! And of course the eyes are also compelling. By the way this video was done as part of Elvira’s “Vidding on the Cheap” series for all those people who think making videos with an old Mac isn’t possible. Guess again.
This is one of my favorite montage videos, and for good reason. I really feel I’m in the room with RA and he’s looking at me when I watch the download:
This was the video that convinced me I needed to watch everything I could from a download copy. Once I got this one on my computer and started watching, I realized that I had missed so much on YouTube, and if a video is not in a large format, putting the player in full screen doesn’t really cut it either. So I downloaded this one and was blown away. I also realized something about Elvira. She can read people. Anyone who puts as much emphasis on people’s eyes and expressions is focused on reading them. I would love to know what she really thinks of RA other than just liking him so damn much. LOL!
And the next two you haven’t really seen unless you’ve watched a download and especially in 1080. You watch these like that, and you will never be satisified with them on YouTube again.
If you still don’t want to download, you can just watch the videos on that site, and there are quite a few that are not on YouTube. So check it out.
One more thing. If you go over to RAfanvids, you may notice something is absent. But no worries, ’cause Elvira’s got it covered over here. :D (note: the link is an archive page and not all pages linked within it are available).
For those who may not know it, I was born and reared in the U.S., and for most of my life the Nazis have been a source of ridicule. The lion’s share of the ridicule has been serious with an occasional straying into the humorous ala “The Producers.”
I’ve gone right along with all of it, but now that I interact more regularly with German fans and especially now that Richard Armitage will be playing Heinz Kruger, a Nazi, I find myself being much more sensitive to what you all may find offensive. I was trying to figure this out on my own, but I know that many of you have no problem sharing, so I’m asking you to share your thoughts about this. How do you feel about the Nazis being continually held up as the bad guys? Do you dissociate yourself from them, or do you ever take any of the negative comments personally?
Another reason I ask is because I’m originally from the Southern part of the United States — the area formerly known as the Confederacy (aka Rebels) during our Civil War in the mid 1800s. Many derogatory comments are still made about the rebels and too often all Southerners are swabbed with the same brush that would lead others to believe we’re all racists and stupid. So I was wondering if sometimes you feel that all Germans are swabbed with having been Nazis. Oh, and just so you know, SO has a very strong German heritage. Momma and Papa are both of German descent and his grandparents spoke with a German accent.
Thanks for any input, and if this has already been adequately covered elsewhere, please let me know. I’m really interested in understanding your viewpoint.
Please feel free to send me an email if you would rather not comment. See “CONTACT ME” on the left sidebar.
Many times I’ve wondered how long this blog’s life would be, and no, I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here and will be here for a while longer. How long I don’t know. As long as I get some fulfillment and fun from it I suppose. But candidly sometimes that fun is hard work. Of course life is full of obstacles, and usually the obstacles involve people or money. Come to think of it they all involve people or money. Now I’m not here to talk about money, and I doubt anyone has ever read my blog expecting me to talk about money. Although truth be told, I could talk about money for quite a while. But I’ll spare you. Today. So people it is.
People are infinitely fascinating even when they’re being a pain in the ass. At least that’s how I choose to see it, and if I didn’t choose to see it that way, I would not have done this blog past a few weeks. I also knew choosing the subject of Richard Armitage for my blog would bring with it an element that is absurd (no offense to Richard), and in case it’s not obvious to some, I’ve used that absurdity to spring myself forward. But sometimes I can’t find the humor in some of these people who are mean. I try never to cave to thoughts like this here (diary entries excepted), but I’ve slipped up a couple of times and day before yesterday was one of those times. I immediately regretted making that post, but after I had a little time to ruminate on it, I decided that it really was something that should have been broached.
On to the point of this piece. Yep, that was all a preface. I’m partial to prefaces lately. :D
If you’re going to blog, you cannot let people get to you — especially if they’re trying to get to you. If they get to you, then they have defeated you. They’ve stopped you. I was reading one well-intentioned commenter’s suggestion about Servetus’ handling of those who object to her blog. It was suggested to use password protection so that only those who really want to read the blog can do so. The commenter did not intend it to be censorship and said as much as a preface to the comment, but really, that’s what it is, and I mean absolutely no aspersion on the one who made the suggestion. It’s just that it’s hard to see it as anything else, and ironically, it would still not serve the purpose of making those who are offended happy as some would probably still read the blog. LOL!
So what’s the answer to all of this — at least in my opinion? It’s two-fold. First, go ahead fearlessly. Go for it, and don’t let someone inhibit you, and believe me, there will be those who will try. It’s a given. Second (and really this should be first), use some wisdom in lieu of locking things down. If you believe you shouldn’t post something, ask yourself why you don’t want to post it, and if someone is manipulating you into not posting, that’s almost never a good reason. Of course if it’s something that you have concluded is not appropriate, don’t post, but know that sometimes you might make a mistake. Scratch that. You will make a mistake, and if you don’t want to ever make a mistake, then don’t blog. In fact, don’t write anything, anywhere or say anything to anyone because at some point you’re going to make a mistake. [note: Mulubinba is excluded from this comment ’cause her decision is not about being manipulated, and I certainly respect it.]
In the meantime, I’m enjoying this song below, and I don’t care that it’s Katy Perry singing. If I was all caught up in who she supposedly is, I would dismiss this song. Her name alone would have the power to preclude me from ever listening to her or considering her music whenever I happen to hear it. Thankfully, I don’t think that way about music, so when I heard this, I liked it. :D
RAFrenzy 