I’m doing laundry today. Usually I don’t do laundry on Saturday. I’d have to be a masochist to willingly do laundry on Saturday. But I’ve been so busy lately, that I’m behind. Good thing the little SOs do their own laundry, or I would be in worse shape. I hate laundry and would rather muck a bunch of stalls. For those of you who have never mucked a stall, trust me, that’s saying something.
I finally had to take a break, and of course check my email, and what should come up? My YouTube subscription update! and on the list was something that has me grinning, and saying, “yes! yes! yes!” and “Thank you, bccmee, for a great video!
Uh, yeah, or something like that. LOL! Love that song! It really captures the frenzy.
Isn’t Dawn adorable? And of course RA is adorable.
Be sure to watch this to the end. I mean the last second.
I really need to get back to the laundry, but you’re making this tough, bccmee. :P
Oh, yeah, talking about the story. Aren’t RA’s characters great?! They really do get me thinking about all sorts of things about myself and others, and for anyone thinking I’m a hypocrite, if you’re thinking about these characters and how RA talks about these characters, how can you not wonder about the person behind them? But again, perhaps it’s just Servetus and I, and of course some German fans, who come to this conclusion. I wish you could see my eyes rolling. Good thing I can touch type.
Let out that breath you’re holding and realize we won’t be too hard on RA, and always remember that this is not serious. At least I’m not serious. If I ever get too serious, I’ll stop. Yes, I’m going to keep throwing a little serious into this fluff — I have to keep in touch with reality somehow. But it will mostly be about me and SO and the little SOs and whoever else is near and dear to me that I care to wax on about. But never forget the beauty of all this is that you don’t have to read any of it. LOL! Damn lol. At one time I looked down on people who used LOL and now I can’t seem to stop using it. I blame it on my poor writing. I have to use the LOL as a crutch to make sure that you know beyond question that I’m not serious. LOL! Sorry, it’s hard to stop once I get started.
A gratuitous pic so this post won’t be a total waste of your time, and I’m making it one of the best so it’s really not a waste of your time:
and since I’m really feeling guilty about this post which is me with hat in hand hoping that someone somewhere won’t be offended (man, that need to be understood is hell), I’ll throw in a video I recently saw for the first time and really love and think you will too (unless you’re squeamish about guns; yeah, I didn’t think that would be a problem):
One of the commenters on my Top Ten Fanvids indirectly highlighted what I look for in the fan videos and to a larger degree why I’m a fan of Richard Armitage. I only have one montage video of RA, and that one is listed because of its comic brilliance. Mostly I’m drawn to the videos that are about the characters he portrays and more importantly, their part in telling their stories rather than the videos that are just RA eye candy. The fact RA can portray so many different characters so well does make me curious about him, but initially and ultimately, it’s about his characters and their stories. The videos enhance that, and it’s nice indeed that the videos can redeem a poorly written script or a script I just don’t like. LOL! But I would be lying if I said I don’t watch some of the eye candy montages.
What it always boils down to for me is curiosity about someone who is very adept at portraying characters whether by writing them or dramatizing them. I want to know their story and how exactly they came to understand someone else’s story. So it’s impossible for me to refrain from examining RA the person as well as his characters. But I’d rather hear from him about his approach to characters and stories instead of watching montage videos. As much as they are fun to watch, they don’t usually highlight anything further about a character’s story or about RA. Again, that doesn’t mean I don’t watch some eye candy montages. Far from it. If you remember, I did say the 4 minutes video inspired this blog. Oh, yeah, I’ve watched it a time or two, and Sexy Back and some others, and yes, yes, his ass looks good when he walks. LOL!
But back to the story. One of the earliest North and South videos I watched and still consider a great favorite was posted by a commenter on that same blog entry. This one:
PoleStar00 is a great vidder, and I adore the music. I already liked Mike Oldfield, but this piece is one of my favorites. Too bad I didn’t buy it several years ago when it wasn’t considered collector’s item. The piece has all the elements that we find in North and South — contemplative introduction, a plaintiff tone, a slow building to the crescendo to the point it almost hurts physically, and finally a soothing coda. Now that I’m thinking about this, I wonder how much Martin Phipps may have been influenced by Mike Oldfield. No, I’m not going to chase that rabbit, but I do wonder.
I have several more North and South videos I love. Some I’ve put below, and the others I’m saving for a future post or two. These can border on the prosaic, but hey, I’m a prosaic kind of gal:
These last two are kind of quirky and aren’t for everyone, but I love ’em! See if you can spot an interesting manipulation in one of them.
Unfortunately, my all-time favorite North and South video is no longer on YouTube nor is it anywhere else I’m aware of. Dang it! It was a video to the Coldplay tune X & Y. That song is far from prosaic. I’m not sure much of what Coldplay has done could ever be considered prosaic. Chris Martin is a poet, and his background definitely shows in his writing. Yep, count me as another one who loves Coldplay! By the way, if anyone remembers who did that video, I would love to know. Maybe they’ll put up a download link if asked. ;-) Oh, and if I were ever to make a fanvid, I would definitely do it to a Coldplay song, and there is one in particular I would do. May have to break down and do that sometime soon.
For anyone who’s been following this blog, you already know I lamented the difficulty of making this post and mainly because there are so many RA videos out there. But I had such a good time trying to watch as many as I could to be fair. These things are almost like my children. I didn’t realize I had it in me to love so many. All the more to make it difficult to highlight only ten. But what a great problem to have! And I scrapped my in-depth criteria. The post would have been too long, and it may be already! Quite simply the ones selected are the videos I find myself going back to again and again.
I put them in an order, but hey, this order could change tomorrow or maybe later today. LOL!
I’ve embedded all of them below which shouldn’t be a problem, but if enough people experience problems, I may change how I’ve configured this post.
#10 — the ethereal quality of the song and the editing make me accept this AU (Alternate Universe) story as canon! Very soothing on a lot of levels. LOL!
#9 — considering it’s Thornton’s longing we mostly see in North and South, I love this take on Margaret pining.
edit: this video is no longer on YouTube, so the creator of the video, ATFrancis, has given me permission to upload here, and if you would like your own copy, you can download at FoolishPassion, one of Elvira’s sites.
#8 — this was one of my first Guy videos, and it captures his angst over Marian perfectly. At one point it disappeared from YouTube, but then it came back. Yea! I’ve never gotten tired of watching it. I love the editing, and it was my introduction to Shinedown.
#7 — too much to write about why I love this one; maybe it should move up. No, I’ve got to stop somewhere. Thank you, DB for editing MJ’s song. It was way too long. Your timing is perfect.
#6 — this is a masterpiece and probably should be #1. It’s the shortest video on the list, but the impact of it is enormous. I’ll stop there or this post will be so long it won’t load.
#5 — the quality of this video is stunning. Please, please, please if you like it, download it in the 1080 format. It’s RA like you’ve never seen him. Oh, and it’s Shinedown again. Love it!
#4 — whatever “it” is, Nat has it. I’ll sum up this video in a word: brilliant. Also, great thanks to Heather for her wonderful inspiration!
#3 — this is one slick video. DB just gets better and better and she’s already great. Oh, I would love to go back and completely rewrite the post I did on this one!
#2 — it’s scary how many times I’ve watched this and not just at the normal speed but slowed down as well. I notice something new every time, so I can’t seem to stop analyzing it. The video is a feast.
#1 This video may be a 10.
Most of these are available for download. Check their YouTube descriptions to find out how.
What was I saying about not wanting to wait to get at the writing? Well, I hit a bit of a wall. Not a huge one, but enough to slow me down and say to myself, “Hmmm, maybe that storage room downstairs really does need a thorough cleaning.” I’m staying on the job for all of you. See how good I am to you? Remember it’s my nutty behavior that makes a lot of the rest of you look sane. You know in case RA or any of “his people” happen to see our little enclaves of discussion, they can conclude, “Thank God most of those people aren’t like that RAFrenzy nut.” So again, this is really a public service. ;-)
All of that aside, I’m trying to draft this post about my top ten videos. Is it too late to make it my top 20 or 50? Phew! I had no idea this was going to be so difficult or that I would actually feel pressure. Yes, I read the notes from those of you who want me to post my list. Most of these posts I write by the seat of my pants, as it were of course, but this time I couldn’t. Ironically, I figured this would be nothing but fun since I love the videos, and for the most part it is fun. But as SO reminds me sometimes, I tend to make things much harder than they should be. I’m really trying not to do that.
One thing that’s made it so hard is trying to find out how many RA vids there are on YouTube or getting a pretty good idea and then watching the ones I’d missed or trying to watch as many as I could. Oh my gosh! Forget it. There are too many. Can I just tell you that there are loads of them? That you probably will never run out of something to watch? Yes, this is a good problem unless you have an anal streak. Suffice to say I’ve watched quite a few the last couple of weeks that have been on YT for a while, but I had never seen them. This is coming from someone who watches lots of videos. Should I admit I’m that addicted? I’ve already admitted this RA addiction, what’s another one?
As if the sheer number is not daunting enough, I’ve come up with a criteria to explain my selections, which I had never thought about let alone articulated since I just go with my gut most of the time. However, articulating a criteria is a must in the pursuit of not looking like I play favorites and not hurting anyone’s feelings. But hey, I’m not going to get around that anyway. What makes that laughable is who am I to hurt anyone’s feelings with my choices? I’m just one person, and for all anyone knows, I have really lousy taste. In fact, for those vidders I don’t acknowledge, please consider me to have lousy taste. It will not hurt my feelings. Wow. Who knew there was this much passion about fan videos?
So why this post before the post? I guess I really want to be understood. This whole blog is a big digression into being understood even if you and I will never meet. I’ve got a fixation on being understood. Oh yeah, it’s a blessing and a curse, and it bores the dog out of me but hopefully, it won’t bore you. At least not today.
Yes, I really do have a post on the videos. I’m just not ready to post it but felt like I had to post something, and I guess I need to remember that tired old adage (maybe it’s not really tired) that if it’s worth doing, it’s probably going to be hard (or something to that effect). So you hear that, Elvira, I realize that videos take some work to be done right, i.e., at the very least be willing to read a tutorial, and for the rest of you, writing about them takes some work too — if it’s to be done right.
I’m not only going to throw in a gratuitous pic but a video as well. This was a video I had never seen. Shocked me I tell you. That I had never seen it I mean, and yes, I like it or it wouldn’t be embedded here. See what I mean about being understood. Why do you think I haven’t written much until now — I can’t stop. LOL!
Love the expressions Elvira captured.
And the pic:
Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com
Top ten post hopefully coming up next week. Then after that I’ll get my top ten fan fics posted. Already started on it. LOL!
DelicateBlossom has outdone herself. I love this video, and no, I don’t love every RA video. I don’t dislike any of them. I actually like a lot of them and really appreciate the effort. But I don’t love all of them. I love this one. DB said in her comments that she had fun making it, and it shows.
She nails the feeling of the show. Love the ending!
I also noticed in her comments that she has been sitting on that song for a year. It was worth it.
Oh, and it’s already up at RAfanvids, so I got my HD big format copy, and that kind of definition is spoiling me. LOL!
I can’t stop watching Heather’s video. RA has definitely brought out any latent OCD tendencies I have. LOL! I don’t even want to think about how many times I’ve watched this one.
What’s so compelling about it is Heather has some wonderful close-ups of which some weren’t necessarily close-ups in the show, but she was so kind to make them close-ups for us!
I’ve now captured some of those so I could show the great shots of his eyes. Here are a few:
His eyes are not blue nor are they blue with a little green in them. They’re also not green. His eyes are gray, which have a tendency to look blue or green at times, but really they’re gray. I have thought this for a while, but Heather’s shots in the video make it very clear. I’m familiar with these eyes because my dad had the same eyes. They have a tendency to lighten with age. That’s exactly what happened with my dad and probably will with RA.
But here’s the weird part. A year or so ago I was reading an interview of RA’s, and one of the little SOs was reading over my shoulder, and said, “Ohmygosh! Mom, I finally figured out who Richard Armitage looks like!” I cut my eyes at her and said, “I didn’t know you were even trying to figure that out.” She jumped up and ran into the living room and came back with something that she thrust in my hands. It was a picture of my dad when he was young. I started laughing until I really looked at the picture, and as nuts as it sounds, it’s true that RA favors my family. He has the same color eyes as my dad and grandfather and my uncle, and they’re set the same way. His nose and upper lip are identical to my dad’s. To top it off his head shape and neck are also the same. His body type and size is also like my dad’s. My dad was a great big man who had been tall and gangly when he was younger. But mostly it’s the eyes, nose and upper lip coupled with that head shape that look so much like my dad. He really could pass for one of my relatives, and no, I don’t think of my dad when I look at RA. LOL! As if that weren’t enough, I introduced my mother to the works of RA a couple of months later, and she said the same thing. Oh, she just loves Richard Armitage! All of this effectively cut off any thought of ever fantasizing about him. Thanks, Mom. LOL!
There must be something about those English genes because even though my dad’s family has not lived in England in several centuries, the people where my dad’s family came from look a lot like my dad. Dad visited there on several occasions and had his picture taken with lots of locals. The ones who have his surname by blood look like him. There’s one picture of my dad with a father and son who were younger than him, and it looks like three generations of the same family.
But back to RA. LOL! If all those pictures above weren’t enough, I have a slideshow too. :D
If you are new to the RA Fandom, and you don’t know Heather, well, this is a great introduction:
Oh, and if you don’t watch this in 1080, you’re missing out. You can get a copy here. It’s awesome, and I don’t like words like awesome because they’re often used thoughtlessly. But I’ve found myself in awe several times at not only RA but some of his fans. Heather is definitely one of those.
Plus, I’ve been struggling with Strike Back. Yes, as much as I like RA, I have struggled with some of the aspects of Strike Back, but this video makes me want to watch again. Thank you, Heather.
For those who are just tuning into this blog, Heather is the one who introduced me to RA. No, she didn’t know me. I stumbled on her videos on YouTube, and the rest is history. If you haven’t clicked on that link yet, do it now for a treat.
By the way, Phylly3 and Servetus each wrote a piece about RA’s eyes. Heck, I may have to write one after this video. I hope they both check it out since it’s about the best shot of his eyes I think I’ve ever seen.
Spoilers galore for ‘Strike Back” in the video below
Notes to self:
Mantra: this show is a ride. DelicateBlossom gets it. Somehow I knew she would. Let’s hope the producers don’t mess it up by making an identity crisis where there should be none. The whole point of an action flick is to appeal to the viscera and not so much about thinking. It’s about going along for one helluva ride and feeling things rushing at you as you go. Don’t think so much; feel. I realize this is hard for some of us, but give it a chance. You might like it, and it might lead to a deeper meaning than all the thinking can derive.
his other fans. There are so many creative people and nice people and just generally fun people in this fandom. I LOVE this! I LOVE Natalie and may be as big a fan of hers as RA’s, but I wouldn’t have known about her without knowing about him. Thank you, Richard Armitage, even though you may have no clue about Natalie.
Speaking of which, is it possible for someone to let him know about her?! Would that be appropriate? I honestly don’t know. I just write this junk here and don’t try to communicate with him at all. But if he hasn’t seen SFR, he is MISSING OUT! LOL!!
So if anyone has words of wisdom about how to let him know, send me a message or make a comment. Yeah, I know I can send a letter via his agents, but is there another, better way?
Oh, and if you have stumbled on this blog and haven’t had the pleasure of reading Nat’s blog, go there quickly! :D
ARRGH!! The end of my original post got cut off!
I can’t let this go without saying I love Heather too! It’s because of Heather’s wonderful videos that I even know who RA is, so I owe her a big THANK YOU! To see her work, go here and here!
RAFrenzy 