Where’s the Bunny?

September 10, 2010

It’s been almost two years since I first read the blog piece about good fans going bad and the referenced Wikipedia page about CWS (Celebrity Worship Syndrome). My cursory reading of the wiki page left me thinking there were huge gaps in the scale; I certainly knew I didn’t quite fit the descriptions. I was so disturbed by my own behavior, I didn’t want to pursue any further information about CWS. Nevertheless, when I was getting ready to start this blog, I reviewed the page, and it seems that others have taken exception to the scale. I’ve been hesitant to highlight this because it might be the ultimate rationalization for fleeing treatment of Richard Armitage addiction, but when did that ever stop me? Plus, my public service gene demands that I bring it to your attention. ;-) That way you will be prepared if someone slaps you with this.

Earlier this year someone updated that wiki page to add a section called “Critical reflection on celebrity worship and mental health.” God Bless ‘Em. (Or maybe I was so addled I missed it the first time around?) It seems the methods of research for this “syndrome” may not have been scientifically applied and the researchers biased. If I were not so busy, I might read more, but maybe someone who is inclined will take it up. All I know is that I got a little antsy when I read that one of the CWS researchers is from the University of Leicester. Uh oh. Could that be one of RA’s relatives who is exasperated with all of us? Or is he someone on the town council who’s sick of hearing that maps of H___________ need to be printed after every tour bus of Radio 4 listeners comes through, or perhaps he read about the building permit needed for the 12 foot fence around the Armitage’s backyard. I don’t know. I don’t know. But then I wondered if this professor heard about the chocolate pants. That would make me wonder about someone’s sanity, and I fleetingly wondered if I might become so far gone I would send RA some chocolate pants. Oh, hell no! Well, not if I were in my right mind. Then I realized I could devise my own scale and make it sound scientific. I did have a thing for Fred Demara. Not quite sure he was my soul mate (but maybe), so I’m certain I can figure out something that sounds scientific.

In the great tradition of the Web playing doctor, I’ve devised a scale and below it is a poll for you to assure yourself honestly assess your situation:

Entertainment-social

This comprises attitudes of fans who gain great pleasure from laughing about chocolate pants sent to a celebrity when they’re not nauseous at the thought. Sometimes they even get sick laughing as they imagine the expression on the celebrity’s face when he receives the chocolate pants. But these fans have no desire to ever send the celebrity (or anyone else) some chocolate pants as actually doing that is sickening to them and they don’t know where in hell anyone would buy them anyway. Well, maybe they wouldn’t send their own chocolate pants if they ever did know where to buy them, but maybe send them as someone else’s just to see what happens, er, rather to embrace the humor of the perceived reaction of the celebrity upon receipt of the chocolate pants as long as they are sent through the post and not by using them as a missile during an interview of the celebrity, which would require being somewhere nearby and possibly being caught out as a nut.

Intense-personal

Intense-personal aspect of celebrity worship reflects intensive and compulsive feelings about sending chocolate pants to the celebrity, akin to the obsessional tendencies of fans often referred to in literature; for example “I share with my favorite celebrity a need to touch chocolate pants — a feeling that cannot be described in words” and “When something bad happens, I know my favorite celebrity would be refreshed by seeing some chocolate pants from me.”

Borderline-pathological

This dimension is typified by uncontrollable behaviors and fantasies regarding how the chocolate pants will be presented to their celebrities, such as “I have frequent thoughts about wearing chocolate pants while standing in front of my favorite celebrity, even when I don’t want to” and “my favorite celebrity would immediately come to my rescue if something were to happen to my chocolate pants.”

Disclaimer for idiots who think this is serious: NO, nothing I’ve said about anyone in Leicester or the Armitage family is real. Well, except that one of the CWS researchers really is a professor from the University of Leicester — according to Wikipedia.

I ran across this in my uh research for this post: Inkblot Test. If you have some time, take the test. Trust me you’ll like it. And many thanks to the creators of it for the title of this piece. [Note: the title of this piece was taken from this “test”]

edit:

I HATE it when I make a horrible typo or when I realize I made a horrible typo. Will I ever get over that? LOL!

September 10, 2010
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

A Little Sweetner

I am changing courses in mid-stream. Maybe that language is too strong. I’m not changing courses, I’m changing how I’m going about the course. I am spending a little more time on the diary entries I wrote awhile back. Couple that with school starting and all the madness that goes along with that, and well, I’m being challenged to find time to get my blog pieces the way I want them.

Because I’ve been remiss in not publishing as often, I offer something to those of you who may not know some of the little goodies that us rabid fans have at our disposal. It’s a neat little program I acquired to listen to BBC Radio. When Clarissa came out earlier this year, I was looking for a way to listen to the broadcasts live or very shortly after the broadcast, and I found it in this program. (Yes, I’m going to tell you what it is — eventually. LOL!)

But since Clarissa aired, I’ve gone way beyond trying to listen to just broadcasts with or about RA or anything in which he’s involved. I have quite an array of subscriptions that are such a delight to me. One of them is the Afternoon Play on Radio 4, and Radio 4 has been such a treat that for months now I’ve been a member of a Facebook advocacy group called Speak up for Radio Drama Now! If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know I have no love for FB, so it’s quite something for me to even stay involved. But I support what they are trying to do with that Group. Not quite sure it’s going to accomplish the purpose, but someone, somewhere needs to know how much BBC Radio 4 is loved!!! Definitely worthy of three exclamations points at once.

I did chuckle to myself when I first heard RA’s crack about BBC Radio 4 listeners being part of his Army. Before Clarissa I could have said indignantly, “Oh, not me!” But I am so in the bag for Radio 4. Yes, I fit his demographic too well except that I’m not sure about the “quite well-educated” part. I still think of myself as a mutt and always will, and I’m fine with that. Mutts can usually go anywhere without much detection. Yeah, I’ll stick with being a mutt. :D

So without further ado here’s the sweetner:

RadioDownloader

I give this to you now because there are probably going to be broadcasts of interviews about Spooks 9, which if Ali at RichardArmitageNet.Com is correct, will more than likely air in September. Then again, there may be nothing broadcast. But I wanted you to be prepared if there were. Just more of my public service to you. ;-)

Oh, and I have never had a problem with this program, but I think it’s only available for PC users. If anyone knows of a good MAC program, then tell us about it.

August 31, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Geek, Voice Work . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

Diary of an RA Fan — Part 20 My Kingdom for a Plastic Horse

See Diary Part 19 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — Still Fall, 2008:

I joined the Armitage Army forum today. The lure of it was too much to resist any longer. My desperation to talk to others about Richard Armitage and Stanislavski and identities and art simply overcame any hesitance I had about looking like a fangurl with exploding ovaries. I want to wallow in a discussion about what I’m discovering, and IMDb is not enough. What I’ve read on the Army site has given me tons to check out, but it’s a little daunting knowing where to start.

A couple of weeks later:

I didn’t get very far. I became distracted by a discussion that may have cured me of my fascination with Richard Armitage. Me, the cheapskate, has totally had my purse strings loosened by this guy, so once again I had to buy something that had several posters atwitter. It’s amazing to me what I’ve bought in the last several months. Thankfully, this item wasn’t very expensive, but I did have it sent express mail, which costs a young fortune, and now I’m the owner of one of these.

My only problem is that I can’t let this thing see the light of day. I mean I don’t even know where to put it. I’m not quite ready to take a page out of the book of the ladies who went on about theirs. Several of them said they used their kids for cover. The little SOs would not let me do that. They would call bull on me so fast, it would make my head spin. I don’t have that luxury, so I’m stuck with this thing crammed, er, lovingly placed at the back of my lingerie drawer. I CANNOT BELIEVE I’m writing this. What’s really sad is that I’m bummed I didn’t get what I really wanted — one of these.

So much for art.

Present day:

I hid that doll so well I couldn’t find it to take a picture for this post. I moved it from the lingerie drawer so it wouldn’t be discovered there and given a significance that it doesn’t hold. Now I’m wondering where it will emerge, and what my explanation, if any, will be. LOL!

See Diary Part 21 here.

August 25, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Robin Hood . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 21 Comments

And She’s Back

Angela (aka Spikesbint) broke her hiatus from vidding to come back and make one for RA, and so I have to break my hiatus from this blog, which I honestly thought would last me at least another 24 hours. I can’t help but post Angela’s video even though I swore to myself I wasn’t going to do anything else about RA’s Birthday. There’s been plenty done already elsewhere and much better than my piddly effort. I hope you will check out Nat’s blog if you haven’t already as well as Phylly’s, and frankly, you could probably click on every link in the ‘Addict List’ or ‘Places to Get a Fix’ and see some really creative stuff. I’ve spent at least an hour or more today reading and watching what I’ve found there. But I’m going to highlight this video because Angela is one of my favorite vidders.

Enjoy!

August 22, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Fanvids . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Happy Birthday, RA

Not sure if this is a fake fan letter, but it’s sincere whatever it is.

Dear Richard,

I’m taking the day off and hope you are doing the same.

I wish you happy on your birthday, and I’ll be back with snark tomorrow or the next day.

Until then, a couple of videos for you to enjoy, and I thought the second one was interesting where TJ Schiller talks about doing a little bit of work on a trampoline, foolin’ around a bit, and just imagining himself skiing like a pro, and voila, he became a pro. Not quite sure I believe that, but it’s nice to imagine. So maybe a tramp purchase is in order?

Take care,

One of Your Crazy Fans

August 22, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Who the Hell is Richard Armitage?

[NOTE: I now have a permanent page (“Who is Richard Armitage?”), and it has more video clips.]

This post is for all of you who have recently been introduced to Richard Armitage, the actor, via some poll or celebrity site where he popped up as perhaps the number two or even the number one contender in a contest. But you have never seen him animated and are completely perplexed by his fans’ love. Somewhere, sometime, some of you have uttered that question. I used to ask it myself! Hopefully when you are done with this post, you will begin to understand what his fans see. I’m not going to waste time trotting out his bio. You can read that on IMDb.

I want to gush and draw you the perfect picture of him with my words. To somehow convince you that he deserves the respect his fans give him. But I know it is probably wasted because I’ve been where you are, and no words were going to do it for me. I had seen stills of Richard Armitage before I saw him act, and I was profoundly unmoved and even put off. He just can’t be appreciated from a few pictures. The chameleon quality he brings to his acting helps to make him one of the finest actors, but it sometimes puts him at odds with stills. Seeing him moving and speaking is the key to understanding. If you have never done that, then you don't get it. But you’re in for a treat if you watch him. Not only is he extremely masculine, he is sensitive as well, and the superb mingling of these makes him an utterly beautiful man to behold. As gushy as I am, this post has been very difficult to write. I want to gush a lot more, but I’ll refrain and let him speak for himself.

John Thornton:

Guy of Gisborne:

Harry Kennedy:

Claude Monet:

John Standring, one of my favorite characters:

Lucas North:

Ricky Deeming:

John Porter:

edit:

Thorin Oakenshield, his latest portrayal:

August 4, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Miscellaneous works, Movies, North and South, Robin Hood, Sparkhouse, Spooks, Strike Back, The Hobbit, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 23 Comments

Do Wah

Phylly, thank you so much for the Versatile blogger award. I guess those tangents weren’t too much then?

Before I get to the ins and outs of this award, I just want to say I really enjoy Phylly’s blog. She and I are on the same wave length if her interests are any clue. She has similar taste in music, movies, literature, humor, …actors. Her posts always strike a chord with me. One of my favorites is May 13th, “Show Your Pearly Whites!” Love this post for lots of reasons not the least of which is anyone who puts up a video of Allan Sherman is someone I would love to know better, and there are many other posts which make me think this about Phylly. That’s just the one that stands out in my mind. Wait. Then there was the post about Earth Day where she talked about being a great fan of Joni Mitchell. Me too! There was also the time she mentioned Ogden Nash, The Beatles, Far from the Madding Crowd and John Standring all in one post! I assumed she’s a fan of all of those, and it had me thinking me, me, me and also me are a fan.

So many times I’ve read her blog and had the thought, “I would have a great time with this person.” I’ve had these thoughts so much with some bloggers that I’ve wanted to acknowledge it with fanfare somehow. If you’re thinking this is a long thank you for my award, almost in the vein of an award for Phylly, then you’re right. It is in fact an award.
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DRUM ROLL
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To Phylly goes the first ever “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” Blogger Award.

Phylly, may you be the first of many to wear it with a giggle if not with pride, and hopefully, this will keep us all from becoming too serious. As far as any rules for passing this on, it may be passed onto two bloggers who have you musing, “Yeah, I’d like to party with them.” But only two since oftentimes finding more can be a real hassle. Most important the recipients must not take themselves too seriously, which means they have to have some affection for Bill Murray. No Bill Murray love, no award. Fine Print: must like at least one thing — skit, movie, whatever –with Bill Murray. See his IMDb page for reference. The recipient must then share this Bill Murray love with us. Below is mine and what inspired this award:

I’ll get back to you on my Versatile Blogger award.

And just so this post won’t qualify as a tangent, I must have an RA segue, i.e., something that is not strictly about RA but not a tangent either. Sort of a variation of Six Degrees of Separation or the Kevin Bacon game.

So where was I? Oh, yeah, trying to think of something to say about RA. Since I’m tired, and I don’t really have anything to say about him this evening (yes, there are times when I really don’t have anything to say about him), how ’bout a picture?

and a song (the whole thing LOL!):

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

August 2, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 11 Comments

The Home Stretch

For those who don’t know the meaning, home stretch refers to the last part of a horse race and not to be confused with the seventh inning stretch which refers to taking a break before the last part of a baseball game. We’ve passed the time for taking a break. As I write this, we have less than two hours to break the will of the O’Loughlin fans.* MUHAHAHAHA. So get over there and do your part and vote for RA as the Hunkie of the month! Even though RA is really THE Hunkie:

Don’t get confused and take a break and think it’s time to just go home, which is what I thought at my first professional baseball game. Imagine my chagrin and if I’m honest, my disappointment when I got up to leave and realized the game was not over. It had two more torturous innings and thank heaven it didn’t go into extra innings. I’m glad to know this poll is going to end soon because I’d like to rest this weekend. LOL!


Yeah, Keith, I know how you feel.**

Hang in there. The poll will be done at 9pm GMT today (well, today for some of us). Just to make sure you know exactly how much time is left, I provide a big fat link to London’s time below. More of my public service.


Click here to see if there is still time


And be sure to read the instructions about multiple voting so your votes are not invalidated! Hunkess has got her whip out, so don’t be messin’ with her, or our guy will pay…

and we’ll be left behind:

Doncha love how I mixed these metaphors? I can’t think of a better way to honor baseball than to confuse the subject. LOL! But I apologize to race fans for mixing the two.

This post was inspired by Nat, who uses pictures and words to tell wonderful stories or give her own slant on all things RA or somehow related. Phew, that was work, Nat. It’s her blog’s birthday this week, so be sure to give her some good wishes!

*You were supposed to click on that link. ;-)

**Professional ball player Keith Hernandez

Screencaps Courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

Candid shots courtesy of various artists and allowed under the Creative Commons license.

July 30, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Miscellaneous works, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

Happy Birthday Armitage Fan Blog!!

In honor of Nat’s blog turning one:




Reminded me of you, Nat (and SFR).



Thank you for all of the good times!

July 30, 2010
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Tangent — Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, What am I going to do with you?

I guess I should have made a Facebook page before this week. My hit count has gone up quite a bit from that link! So welcome to all of you who have come here from Facebook. I love you! It’s just Facebook that doesn’t thrill me. It’s a pain in the ass to get around on, and they (the guys who run that place) make the functions one way. There is no back out plan on some things unless you’re technical and have a crystal ball or you’re a bulldog. I’m technical but don’t have a crystal ball; however, I am a bulldog. Even though this is what you have to be if you’re going to run a “page” on FB, I hesitate to go into that mode. But for RA and all of you, it’s worth it. Hope you enjoy the blog. :D

Hmm. I almost hate to associate RA’s picture with Facebook, but I did post his picture over there several times now, and this is really in honor of all of you. So I’ll post one that some of you might not have seen. OH, and since snaffling seems to be the order of the week ;-), I snaffled this one from Mulubinba. Over here. Be sure to thank her! and frankly, she has a wonderful blog that’s thoughtful on several levels. Definitely one of my favorites.

I also need to say thanks to WordPress or whomever it was that wouldn’t allow me to embed that Strike Back Viral video on my first attempt. Yes, good can come out of bad. I’ve always known that, but Facebook had me doubting it.

edit:

I’ve added snaffle to the lexicon. I didn’t learn it from the RA fandom but would have never used it in a sentence if not for the British ladies I now interact with on a frequent basis. The context in this blog entry makes the meaning pretty plain, but hey, you need to read the lexicon if you haven’t already.

MC864RTMW5AG

July 24, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Strike Back, Tangents, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

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