Well…
And she landed on her feet. A very good sign. :D
I’m not making this up. Read about it here.
And after you get done reading, and if you’re reasonably close to London (read that: you don’t have to do strange and unnatural acts to get there next Saturday night), you should enter the contest to win some tickets. Details here.
That’s the question.
And if the answer is, “yes, but I don’t have the money,” then you may be in luck. I bought two tickets for opening night (actually, it’s a preview night*), June 21st.
I know what it feels like to want to attend something and the funds simply aren’t there, or feeling guilty about indulging in something that’s not a necessity. Well…if you have a way to get to the Old Vic Theatre, you may end up with some tickets.
This is a one day contest. No, make that a contest for about a day and half, because I’ll announce who gets the tickets on Sunday morning BST.
Here’s what you need to do:
Send me the reason you want the tickets in 200 words or less. No, you do not have to write 200 words. That’s just the limit for the wordy among you. Images or graphics or anything that is not necessarily text may also be included. Any of it can be funny, sad, absurd, heart wrenching. I don’t care. Just make it good. And if you win the tickets, share your experience in a guest post on RAFrenzy.
Entries need to be in by Midnight (BST) tomorrow night, June 14th. Send them here.
Have Fun and Good Luck!
Richard,
I know you were dying for me to come to your performance in The Crucible. ;-) But I simply can’t make it. My business is going great guns, and I would be a fool to go anywhere right now. I hope you understand that.
But I did buy two tickets today so someone who really wants to go, but couldn’t otherwise, can attend. I hope you will be there on preview night, my friend, so that my purchase is not in vain.
Signed,
Your Crazy Fan :DP.S. Stay healthy!
*Preview night is tantamount to a dress rehearsal. It’s been my experience that performers are much more accessible after these performances than the regular performances. I think it’s because things are much more relaxed and performers also appreciate people being willing to sit through something which may not be completely polished. Again, that’s been my experience (mostly with the Metropolitan Opera in the U.S. but some with theater productions), so take that for what it’s worth to you.
edit: It has not escaped my attention today is Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious and hope you’re not either. :D
A Guest Post by @peppgrad (aka Lori H)
I have been a “well-wisher” of Richard Armitage since the first season of Robin Hood when my BFF called me and told me to “Watch Robin Hood but forget the Robin Hood guy, check out the actor who’s playing Guy of Gisborne.” Wow. I soon discovered, after watching his prior work, that he was more than just a pretty face. After seeing the work he has accomplished since then, he confirmed in my mind that he is an underrated actor with great range. Let us face it; there are many handsome men in Hollywood who cannot act. Richard is a handsome man who can act!
When I discovered he was going to be at WonderCon on Saturday, April 19, 2014, at the Anaheim Convention Center, I could not believe it. Anaheim, CA, is practically at my back door. I have been to WonderCon there before and been inside the Arena where the Into the Storm (ITS) panel was to be held early on Saturday. He was going to be on my home turf!
Here was another chance to see Richard up close and perhaps even an opportunity for an autograph and picture at a signing. However, in checking the WonderCon schedule and announcements, it became clear the ITS panel would not be doing any signings afterwards. That was disappointing. Three times in the past, I have been within twelve feet of Richard without any opportunity to even say how much I liked his work, much less get a posed picture or an autograph. There was either intense security or just people crowding rudely in between. It was getting pretty frustrating. Especially since all I wanted was even a brief moment to say hello to an actor I admire. He seemed, from all accounts I had read, to be a nice guy.
Anyway, my BFF and I picked up our badges and headed over to the line to get inside the Arena for the panel. Once we were able to get in and be seated, and the panel started, my BFF started taking pictures. I knew at least that I would get copies of the photos she had taken.
As I was sitting there, I decided I was going to go up to the microphone when they opened it for questions (we were seated fairly close to it) and ask Richard a question. At least I would get to speak to him and get an answer! When I saw the first person heading to the mic, I told my friend, “I’m going to the mic to ask Richard a question. I don’t know what I’m going to ask but I’ll think of something intelligent to ask before I get there!”
And there, my friends, was where my adventure REALLY began!
The first three people at the mic all asked questions of Richard. It quickly became clear, and quite humorous, that Richard was going to get the majority of the questions. The fourth person, the one directly in front of me, asked a question she said anyone could answer. When my turn came, I was told I would be the last question.
I had worn my Thorin Oakenshield t-shirt that day. When they put my picture up on the big screen behind the panel, and everyone saw my t-shirt, there was a lot of laughter; Richard obviously was getting the final question, too! I quickly told Steven Quale, the director, thank you for making the movie; I thought it would be really good. Then I said what everybody already knew, “But my question is for Richard.” I asked him if he had written a bio for this character as he had done for his prior characters. I mentioned I had read that he wrote character bios.
As he started to answer, I stepped to the right of the mic about six feet. I was still in the lit area. I suddenly realized he must be able to see me because he quit looking in the direction of the mic and turned his gaze on me where I was now standing! I almost could not focus on what he was saying because I thought, “It is true. He does listen and speaks directly to the person who asks him the question!” It seemed for a second as though no one was in the room but me and him. He answered my question, stating he did indeed create a bio for Gary as his wife had died and left him with two sons so he felt there needed to be more story there. In addition, he mentioned he had met with an American high school teacher to get an understanding of what the job was as well as the Mid-Western culture. In my own mind, it seemed as though he liked the question but that could be just wishful thinking!
As they wrapped up the panel onstage, I had a quick thought. In the past, I had been in the back area of the Convention Center and Arena. I was sure I knew where they would drive out if we could get near there. I told my BFF, “Let’s leave and go outside. I want to go around to the back and see if there is any way to meet Richard.” She was all for it and we quickly left and made our way around to the gate which was wide open. There was a guard there but a couple was walking out in costume, a couple more people were milling around so I said, “Just keep walking in like you know where you’re going.” No one stopped us. I knew it was a long shot to meet Richard but I had to try.
At the first corner, I looked left and there were three black Mercedes down at the end with a couple of men in suits who turned out to be drivers. Some men appeared to be neither security nor drivers and were probably press or industry. We casually began to stroll down that way. We were about a third of the way down when I saw a security guy approaching. I thought “Uh-oh, we’ve been busted.” However, he was incredibly nice. He politely told us to wait where we were and stand to the side; he didn’t want us to get run over. I told him, don’t worry, we don’t want to get run over either! He laughed, said thanks and walked back toward the cars.
We stood there for a few minutes chatting with each other when I looked back at the Mercedes to see Richard standing with his back to us, and I could see the ponytail! In a split second, he turned around and he and a driver got in one of the Mercedes and began heading our way. The windows in the back were so darkly tinted that you could not see in. My BFF said, “Let’s wave just to let him know we’re here to support him.”
As the car came near us, it rolled to a stop. The rear driver’s side window rolled down and there was Richard!
I have no idea whether he recognized me from my asking a question inside the Arena, whether he saw my Thorin Oakenshield t-shirt and my friend’s Hobbit:DoS t-shirt, whether he stopped because we waved or what the reason was that he stopped. I was, as the British say, “Gobsmacked.” I looked around and there was no one else near us. No one else had come to the back. It was just Richard and us (and the driver).
Richard was sitting on the passenger side in the back but quickly scooted over a little, and put his hand out first to shake our hands. We exchanged the “nice to meet yous.” He has, as you know, an amazing voice. He also has a great handshake. Firm, but he was not squeezing too hard. I could not believe I was shaking hands with Richard Armitage! And that he offered to shake hands first! (I had this quick thought at that moment when my hand was in Richard’s that made me laugh quite hard later on. It was a line from “The Big Bang Theory” when Penny gives Sheldon a napkin from the Cheesecake Factory that Leonard Nimoy has wiped his mouth on. Sheldon cries out, “I have a napkin with Leonard Nimoy’s DNA on it. Do you know what this means? I can clone him!”).
My friend told Richard we were big fans of his and he thanked us. I quickly took the opportunity to ask if he would sign a couple of autographs for us. He smiled and said in that smooth voice, “Of course.” Through all of this, I was trying to be as calm and polite as possible. So was my BFF, I could tell. He signed the WonderCon programs for us: Lori, love, Richard Armitage. He signed the same (except for the name of course) for my BFF.
I asked him, as he handed her program back to her, how much longer did he have on the shoot for Urban and the Shed Crew. He told me he had two weeks left. He mentioned he was headed straight to the airport to catch a plane back. I also briefly made some mention about The Crucible (sorry, can’t remember what it was) and he answered back. I noticed during this conversation, he had removed the tie he was wearing earlier and opened his shirt collar but still had on his black leather Diesel jacket.
Realizing we had already had several minutes of his time without ANY interruption, I quickly asked him if he would be kind enough to pose for a picture for us before he had to leave. He said he would be happy to and leaned forward so he was leaning on the edge of the door. (We did not want to be demanding and ask him to get out of the car and pose with each of us since we knew now he had to catch a flight. I thought that would be rather rude and inconsiderate of his time).
However, my BFF had not changed the focus on her camera since she pulled it out earlier when he was down at the end with the Mercedes and looked through it to see down there. Therefore, being a little nervous when she took the picture, it was not in focus. When she checked it, she exclaimed “Oh no, I didn’t change the focus from earlier. All I got was your nose.” He started laughing and told her she could take another picture. This time she got a good picture! At some point, we may share this picture. For the moment though, only we have this private picture of our almost private time with Richard. (Darn driver, LOL!).
We thanked him again for stopping, that it was very nice of him to do that. He looked happy. We wished him a good flight home as he moved back over to the passenger side seat in the back. Then the handsome prince’s driver took him away in his horseless carriage.
As soon as his car turned the corner, my BFF and I high-fived each other! We could contain it no longer! We could not believe we had just had an “audience” with Richard Armitage, uninterrupted, for almost five minutes. Finally, after being so close so many times without meeting him, I met him!
I have to make a comment here about “celebrities.” I have lived all of my life in Southern California within about 25 miles of Los Angeles. I have encountered numerous rock stars, singers, actors, politicians, etc. over the years. Some I wanted to see and some I just encountered some place. Sometimes I just told them I liked their work, sometimes I just ignored them, some I asked to take pictures of, and some I asked for autographs. I have always been polite. I can say some of them were nice, some were jerks and one had a publicist (!) who haughtily told me when I asked her if I could get an autograph from her singer/actor client that “Mr. So-and-So doesn’t do autographs.”
However, Richard Armitage is possibly the nicest public personality I have ever met! How many actors will stop their car to speak several minutes with just two “well-wishers?” He could easily have driven past us with the windows rolled up. Alternatively, he could have just rolled down his window and waved, shouting out the “Sorry, have to go catch a plane” excuse. Instead, he stopped, shook hands, answered questions, signed autographs, posed for a couple of pictures and thanked us for being his fans!
Richard Armitage is as nice and polite as people who have met him say he is. (His mum should be proud.) By the way, he is also criminally handsome in person. If you are fans of his stubble, he was definitely sporting it that morning.
From the start of the ITS panel to the ending outside with Richard being driven away in a black Mercedes, it was an amazing time. I think every year on April 19 my friend and I are going to watch The Hobbit trilogy to remind ourselves of OUR adventure.
Note from Frenz: they relented about the picture :D Also, for those who have never been to a fan driven Con, it is entirely the norm for fans to be all over the place including where the stars of the event come and go. The famous who attend know this, and for the most part are gracious. RA especially so in my experience.
I enjoy the work of Richard Armitage. Have I been absolutely crazy about everything he’s done? No, and really I doubt I could ever say that about anyone. But for the most part, I have enjoyed his work and obviously think he’s talented and look forward to his future projects. That’s one of the reasons I’m here.
The other reason is that it has been such a great time to talk to all of you and to hear your thoughts as well. Getting to know some of you a little better and becoming friends has been the best part of it. I have formed some really fine friendships in the midst of this craziness and for that alone, this has been worth it.
As far as anything else, I am not part of that class of blogger called a “professional fan.” I have nothing against professional fans. I think I’ve made it clear if people want to do that, go for it! Seriously. But I am not one of those people. I already have something I do professionally, and it has nothing to do with being a fan. In fact, it’s probably boring to most of you, so I won’t bore you with it. It’s probably a good thing I have never used this place to pay the bills ’cause I might not look on it with such lightheartedness.
I also have no desire to be a “big name fan” even though some people have tried to say I am. I am not. Gotten lucky a few times, but anything more is in the minds of others. Yeah, I’m saying I do not see myself that way and the thought is actually laughable to me. The way I see things is this is strictly a fun place for me. It’s an outlet, and I’ve no need of anything else. I’ll be really candid and tell you I’ve had so many awards and accolades in my life — enough to last a few lifetimes — I don’t need recognition here. Whether that sounds cocky or not, I don’t care.
And if I’m taking the bark off the tree, I will tell you I get weary of fans who have this maniacal need to be big name fans. This is not a veiled reference to anyone in particular. Not at all. So please don’t read anything more into what I’m saying. I’m just making commentary on something I’ve seen off and on during my foray into this madness. There are people who get carried away and want to be THE Richard Armitage blogger or site or whatever. When I say this, I’m not talking about people who get excited and post a lot. Hell, I’ve done that. LOL! I’m talking about an attitude, a haughtiness that makes me say, “oh brother,” and it makes me stay very far away from those people. The good news is they eventually burn out because people will not survive as a voice if they do not have the spirit of community. This is even true in business. More so today than probably at any other time because of the Web’s ability to facilitate it. The net of this for fan sites or bloggers is someone who comes with a proprietary attitude toward fandom will probably end up being ignored.
On the other hand, if someone comes in the spirit of collaboration and friendliness, it’s great. This is one reason I so heartily support RichardArmitageNet.com and RichardArmitageCentral.co.uk as major representatives of our fandom. I know the ladies who run those sites, and they are nice, very helpful and approachable and not here for anything other than the pleasure it gives them to provide information for all of you to enjoy their favorite actor. I’m sure there are others I should name, but I have to say thank you in particular to Ali and Julie. Thank you for keeping your heads and not letting some of the fan goofiness infect your views. Thank you for being consistent. Thank you for reaching out and fostering relationships with fans. I believe these are key reasons why you’ve been successful.
Before I go, please know that when I say community, I don’t mean we’re all in lock step. That is so boring. I have never liked it when people have absolutely no difference of opinion. There is nothing thought provoking about that. I like that we may at times disagree about something. I want to hear what you think and why. Maybe there is something I need to learn. That’s how I look at it most of the time. Yes, there are a few times when I think, “No, this is what I think, and I’m pretty firm in it.” But that’s not on most things.
Not sure why I decided to post this. It might have something to do with it being 4:00am as I type this line, and I’ve been up for an hour due to being unable to sleep.
Note: the photo above is not indicative of anything other than I’ve just always liked it. The man at work, all dirtied up and yeah, some chest hair showing. ;-)
Some fun coming up in the next post. :D
Edit: this is what happens when I wake up in the middle of the night and start cleaning out my in-box. o_O
Excuse me I should have said Casa Matusita o busto.
Is Richard Armitage going to be in a film about a notorious haunted house in Peru? We’ll see. And yes, this post is in part for the three of you who haven’t heard that rumor, but I’m not really going to talk much about it today (at least that’s the plan right now). Rather I’m going to wax on about navigating Richard Armitage rumors of work.
Before I get started, no, I’m not concerned about his casting in House of Matusita conflicting with Comic-Con. He would be much closer to San Diego, and his schedule will be much more flexible if he’s not doing live theater.
If this is your first time to live through a rumor of a potential movie lead for Richard or rumor of any kind of work, a little something to remember. In over six years of keeping tabs on our guy’s career, I have not seen one rumor of work pan out if it went beyond several days without being confirmed. Yep, you read that right. Everything that fans have gotten wind of him possibly doing, was already a done deal or he was in the middle of doing it, and it was confirmed quickly. Certainly, there were no trial balloons that went on and on and perpetrated by the parties involved. And if I’m wrong in how I’m remembering this, generally, legitimate work has been confirmed quickly. So yeah, if this rumor and the one about The Crucible is not confirmed before the end of this week and certainly by next week, I’m consigning them to the trash heap.
While I’m at it, I’ll tell you about my first experience with RA’s possible casting as a lead in a movie. It has been almost five years ago. I had joined Twitter and not because of Richard Armitage at all. But lo and behold, a couple of week later, I read a tweet about him being cast in a movie and from the director, Mike Ogden. Obviously, it didn’t become a job for Richard, but that announcement did a lot to get me acclimated to Twitter, and for that I’m thankful.
There was something else I became accustomed to from this experience, and an event I consider more significant — an up close and personal introduction to online crowd funding for something other than a charity. Mike made an appeal to fans to fund the movie. At first, I was put off by this and thought it was not well done when Richard Armitage wasn’t confirmed, and maybe the timing wasn’t great. Mostly I thought it was trying to engage people who many didn’t seem to be accustomed to investing in vehicles like this and were being asked to give money without a real prospectus, if you will, being provided.
But I’m no longer offended and haven’t been in a long time. A lot has changed in five years, and lots of people tap online crowd funding these days and for lots of reasons and such things as a prospectus are laughable to bring up, because non-charitable crowd funding projects are designed to appeal to vanity — name on the credits, paraphernalia from the movie that no one else but funders can claim — and not to someone’s potential to get a monetary return on investment. Anyway, it’s pretty much mainstream now as a possible source of cash and not a faux pas as it seemed in 2009.
Something else came out of that experience, but I’ll talk about that tomorrow or maybe Tuesday since that is the day for ‘M’ and I’m jumping ahead today to post about ‘L’. Yeah, I’m still with this A to Z Challenge. Can you believe it? Neither can I.
How many of you have run a business? Raise your hands. Yeah, those of you who have run an enterprise for a decent length of time know it’s hard as hell. It’s like raising a child, and an unreasonable child at that because he doesn’t let you go to sleep at night, and when you finally do, he wakes you up. And no babysitter for him. He’s with you all the time. If by some quirk of fate he’s not, you are constantly thinking about him and what you want him to do next, and what he may do next that you don’t know about. But you don’t really mind any of this because he is after all, your child.
Right now I’m in the grip of this, and despite the unruliness of it, I’m enjoying and finding success. This makes it hard for me to give myself over to fan behavior as often as I once did. If I were a genius who had 48 hours in a day, I might be able to pull that off. But obviously I’m not. I’m just one person trying to make something that wasn’t there before.
I’m also the oldest child, which means I’ve often been placed in charge and feel most comfortable there. Man, I sound like an ass, but hey, it’s the truth. When you’re put in charge of the house or your younger sibling, it does things to you. Dare I say it makes someone bossy (no matter their sex)? Let me amplify that. I want to give advice and lecture, and it’s hard sometimes to keep myself from doing that. How’s that for some honesty?
I can also spot younger siblings from a mile away, and Richard Armitage has the demeanor of a younger sibling written all over him. Before I knew anything about his birth order, I knew he was a younger child. Older siblings never have the deer in the headlights look. If they ever had it, that was beat out of them at an early age. So when I see Richard, I often want to tell him what to do. LOL! Yes, I’m laughing. At the absurdity of that. But hey, I press on. :D
Where is all of this leading? You have to ask?
Richard,
There’s a lot of old thinking floating around. It says someone who is 42 almost 43 can’t break into Hollywood, or make any kind of major life change that’s productive to anyone but themselves. Don’t listen to that crap. Yeah, it’s crap. And those who listen to it are destined to be like most everyone else. I made one of my best life changes when I was around that age and know it was productive for others. And now I’m making another one and I’m, oh never mind, I’m supposedly too old to make a shift. Hogwash.
Anyway, you are unique, and I hope you stay that way, but I also know you’re trying to figure things out in this new phase of your career, and you’re not God and not going to make perfect choices. I would love to see the person who does. Whatever is going on, there is something so utterly appealing about who you are that it inspired me to write about you off and on the last four years. If you really knew me, you would know that is not anywhere near my MO. And there are lots of others in your “fandom” who are like me. They have been surprised at their reactions because it’s just not typical for them. But many of us have eventually figured out why the reaction, and it comes back to the fact you are not like other actors. It’s not just that you have managed at times to capture these slices of emotions that are so real they reverberate for years, but you have a kind of purity that seems like we can see to your back collar button. To wit your comment about being an actor [around 1:00]:
This also means your “trajectory” is probably not going to be like others. I’m totally okay with this and hope you are too most of the time. That’s what this note is about — a bit of cheerleading in case you’re not and from someone who is not a cheerleader by nature. Encouragement is not my strong suit. I’m a critic most days, and it’s so easy to be a critic. Any moron can be a critic. But I like you well enough as an actor and also as a person to step out of my comfort zone and say, “Keep going!”
Maybe this quote below is hackneyed. Doesn’t really matter. It’s true and still good to hear, and I’ve had it on my office wall for years and often glad. It knocks me out of the pompous critical mode and hopefully before it leads into harm of myself or anyone else:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
— Teddy Roosevelt
Mostly, it keeps me from becoming like David Letterman, a guy who used to be funny, but now just comes across as a bitter, frustrated, old crank.
As for “a worthy cause,” there is nothing wrong with making a living. That’s a damn worthy cause, and speaking of which, I need to get back to work.
Signed,
A Fan who is sometimes crazy but not today.
Yep, this is some Armitage Protection Mode. Why? Isn’t it obvious? I like the guy. But that’s not all this is. A story or maybe two short ones, and then I really, really have to go back to work.
When I started my first major business, all I heard was how it could not be done or how I was was doing it wrong — this latter mostly from people who had never run a business. LOL! Whatever the case, negativity was coming at me in unbelievable waves. I realized at the time I was doing something that most people don’t do, and since many around me could not conceive it, they were going to deem it impossible. Funny enough when I was successful, I heard another story from some of those same people. Things like, “I knew you could do it.” Oh yeah. I have a good memory, and I knew they were full of it.
I doubt I could have weathered that kind of talk if I had not had a great role model — my parents. My mother became a lawyer when females were still far in the minority of that profession. But her biggest sin was going to law school after she was married and had children. That simply was not done in the late 60s/early 70s! Never mind she was summa cum laude upon graduating from college and had never failed at anything academic in her life. She was turned down from her first pick of law schools because off the record she was an established (read that: old) married mother of two underage children. I know that was the case because one of the former professors of that law school and a close friend of our family contacted the school to find out how someone with her academic record and achievements was turned down. Mom was 31 at the time. This seems ludicrous now, but that was the conventional thinking of the time.
Obviously she didn’t let that stop her, and my father was her biggest supporter. I’m so glad I was old enough to take mental notes about what they were doing and to remember the large number of people (both men and women) who told my dad that once she had a law degree, she would have no use for him? WTF? My dad ignored that and pressed on. He and my mother were crazy about each other and married until my dad passed away over 25 years later. And from all of this I learned the priceless lesson that the masses do not know best. Their thinking is too homogenized and unimaginative and like water. Ever seen water run uphill? Yeah, I figured not.
Maybe I’ll come with H and I later today.
I’m pulling a page out of Guylty’s book and doing an image analysis but doing it Frenz style. That’s where my bullshit peddler/detector (you decide) is in overdrive.
Photos do not always convey reality, but whatever they convey, the effect can be profound. Take this photo for example:
Embed from Getty Images
[viewing tip that’s legal: increase the view in your browser. The original image is such a large format, that you can blow this up quite a bit to see the detail]
If I were a betting person, I would bet this photo does more to entice most of you to go see Into the Storm than any trailer ever will. :D
Yes, that’s the end of my analysis. Do I have to spell it out? Seriously, do I have to connect the dots? I didn’t think so.
Additionally: Poor Steve Quale out there trying to be serious.
And now a letter to Todd Garner:
Dear Mr. Garner,
If you want the Army to turn out en masse, ensure more photos like this make it to the public’s eyes. Remember what you said about Richard Armitage being dreamy? Well, Sarah is certainly doing her part to respond, and I can hear the collective sighs as I type this.
Signed,
A Crazy Fan who is ready to take the ride come August
new tag: the dreamy factor
edit: another one. Not with quite the impact, but you get the idea.
Embed from Getty Imagessecond edit: oh dear lord, this is how rumors get started. I can practically feel the heat coming off this one.
Courtesy of the Anglophile Channel
This kind of sums it up for parts of RA Universe:
@Todd_Garner Re #IntotheStorm teaser trailer released today…. the Armitage Army reacts! pic.twitter.com/Dvb9OCYDR6
— AwkCelebEncounters (@AwkwardCeleb) March 27, 2014
So a puffy shirt and a forceful rescue do it for some of you? Or is it just Richard’s presence anywhere? :D
What say you?
I received a lot of mail about the Anglophile Channel’s interview of Richard Armitage before it was broadcast. The consensus of a significant number of the notes seemed to be three questions: who are these people? how can they interview Richard Armitage when they’re not Entertainment Tonight or CNN or even TheOneRing [or insert some other well known media outlet or website]? And why would Richard subject himself to it?!
It seems fairly obvious these fans thought that site was bogus at worst and not important enough at best.
Meanwhile the rest of the world moved on.
And where did everyone else go? They moved into the new age of media which is far from limited to a few established networks and sites. It just doesn’t work that way anymore and hasn’t in a while. The new media is this. No, I mean this, what you are looking at right now. If you have a site, you are a media producer. Heck, if you have a cell phone, you are a media producer. And that is the shift some resist — consumers have become producers.
Henry Jenkins explains this evolution of media including the reemergence of participatory culture and the rise of convergence culture (more on Jenkins shortly):
Nowhere have participatory and convergence cultures been more ubiquitous than among fandoms. Look at all of the media it has produced and intersected with traditional media. In this particular fandom, which is not even close to the largest, we have produced a large body of media such as artwork, video, stories, and reporting, and more traditional outlets have tapped into it. Hollywood is also looking at that and co-opting the fervor as they feel they can, and one of the early adopters was Peter Jackson. The main reason is Jackson is a fanboy himself and understands and appreciates the ardor. It’s no surprise he was looking at fan sites back in 1997 and developed a relationship with Harry Knowles. It’s no surprise he let a New Zealand resident, who created a a site about The Lord of the Rings movies, onto the sets to document the progress for fans. Jackson gets it, and as well as his artistry, it is a key part of his success.
This evolution of media has been happening for a long time, and I should have been more aware of its progress given my exposure to the power of the Net early on. Nevertheless, I watched that video above in the Fall of 2009 and became fascinated again and read Jenkins’ book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. Interestingly, I realized while I was reading that I had another book on my shelves by Jenkins. It’s a seminal work on fandom, and it came into my possession over 20 years ago.
When I worked at IBM, there was a graphic designer, Bob, whom I and all my co-workers tapped for “prettying up” our documents. He was a major Trekkie who had written his own language and had a beautiful poster of it as well as some other Trekkie memorabilia decorating his office. Everyone teased him about his obsession, but I was curious what had made him so rabid. We had several conversations over the years about his involvement in the Star Trek fandom, and I remember saying early on, “You must be really into this to put up with the ribbing you get.” I’ll never forget his response, “People don’t get it, and I don’t care. I enjoy it, and it’s a great creative outlet.” It was about a fairly judgment free environment for his creative efforts. He had been to art school, and according to him there was a very oppressive mentality there. One that said if you didn’t do it a certain way, you were no good. Fandom welcomed him and allowed him to make mistakes. That thought stayed with me, and perhaps I was a fan in the making even then. About two years later as I was leaving the company, Bob gave me the Jenkins’ book, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. I didn’t read it until 16 years later.
Those two books changed my view of media and creative outlet, and in late 2009, I began to see my personal blog as something different and eventually became frustrated with it. I also began to become more involved in the blogosophere with the thought that I had ideas and didn’t want to just consume others’ ideas. By happenstance I developed a very rewarding relationship of give and take with a powerful media player in England. He is in fact one of the founders of Empire Magazine. There I was exchanging ideas with him, and having a blast and I think he was too, and I was realizing the world really had gotten tiny and huge at the same time. I adored that, so when I started this site, I knew there was power in blogging. But I feel compelled to say to some in this fandom who are determined to cast people as connivers, that I did not start this site with an eye toward capitalizing on that kind of power. Are you kidding me?!! I was scared to death someone would find out I was running this place. But I don’t think it would have been wrong if I had been motivated by that. I just wasn’t. I was simply desperate to say something without every little part of it being nitpicked. Whatever fortuitous things have happened to me here as some sort of result, have just happened with no one more surprised than me. All just further confirmation of the power of the new media.
And now I come to the Anglophile interview with Richard Armitage. For a few hours after I watched the promo video for the interview, I had the same view of Marlise Boland so many others of the spectatorial era seemed to have. This idea that she was out of bounds! But a little time later, I mentally slapped myself for two reasons. I recognized she was seizing a marvelous opportunity of the new media, and more important to me is she was a female who was trying to start a business. Why would I want to demean that? Thankfully the better part of me quickly came to my senses and didn’t. I haven’t even seen the interview yet, but I support her efforts. You go, Girl!
If you think about it, this meeting was a natural for Richard for two reasons:
1) He has already made it plain he’s fan friendly. Hello! Have you read this page?
2) Who has he been hanging out with for three years?
I have no clue what he’s saying, but I have the feeling I’m going to use this cap again. :D
note: Henry Jenkins was the Co-Director of Comparative Media Studies program at MIT and is now a Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, and someone I would love to interview.
I’ve gone on to read quite a bit about fan culture and the new media as well as quite a few sociology books. It now takes up an entire bookshelf. Very enlightening, and I’m sure I’ll be talking more about this. Maybe not on this blog. I’m not sure yet.
I haven’t watched the Anglophile Interview. It’s not because I haven’t wanted to. It’s because every time I’ve started to watch, something has jumped in the way. I really am that busy with my work, and so tickled to be! I haven’t even read any posts about it. There have only been some bits and pieces that people have told me.
I did read a lot about it before it was released, and on that I definitely have some thoughts. I started to publish them weeks ago, and then I got busy and didn’t do it. But I think I’m going to go ahead because the topic is timely.
Gone to proof that post.
RAFrenzy 