Are you one of those fans who could listen to Richard Armitage read the phone book? Well, he’s done something much better. He has a little gift for us at Valentine’s. He’s recited 15 classic love poems, and they’re free.
If you’re one of those who is not sure about Richard’s voice work, a little taste:
So what are you waiting for? Oh, you don’t have an Audible account? No big deal unless you’re like a friend of mine who will not give up her name and email unless it’s life and death. Yeah, she’s paranoid. Frankly, I don’t blame her. But I understand she relented for this. :D
For those who downloaded and you’re like me and want to know exactly where certain poems are located, here you go:
00:00 1st Chapter – How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barret Browning
01:22 2nd Chapter – Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare
02:23 3rd Chapter – Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
04:20 4th Chapter – To Be One With Each Other by George Eliot
04:47 5th Chapter – Maud by Alfred Lord Tennyson
08:15 6th Chapter – To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
10:34 7th Chapter – Bright Star by John Keats
11:41 8th Chapter – Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley
12:33 9th Chapter – 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 by the Apostle Paul
13:30 10th Chapter – Meeting at Night by Robert Browning
14:19 11th Chapter – The Dream by Edna St. Vincent Millay
15:24 12th Chapter – The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe
16:48 13th Chapter – I Carry Your Heart by e e cummings
18:08 14th Chapter – She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron
19:21 15th Chapter – Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson
note: times are at “normal” speed and are approximate.
Richard,
Thank you for the Valentine’s gift. Your voice is my favorite aspect of your talent. I have adored it from my first introduction to your work, but I never thought to hear you recite something like this:
I’m enjoying all of the poems, but that one is especially appreciated, and I’m certain there are others who feel the same.
Thank you again,
A sometimes crazy fan
P.S. Love the video explaining how you see poetry. And love.
So Richard Armitage went to China for The Hobbit premiere, and it’s been well covered, but I’ve got to add my two.
We’ve been treated to an array of photos of this caliber:
…courtesy of Sarah Dunn and her Leica, and all designed to make us go, “Oooh, Baby!” and I do at times. Yeah, I sometimes think, “Wow…”
But mostly I think, “You’ve come a long way from this, Baby:”
or maybe not:
Screencap from this video of Richard thanking the Chinese fans
Richard,
It’s a secure and happy man who lets his dorktastic out in public. I love that you can still do that and the publicists be damned. No offense to your publicist.
And now that you’re proficient with a selfie stick:
…you just needed one other thing for your China trip — a GoPro attached to that panda hat. And if you ever get a dog, he can wear one too.
Signed,
One of your crazy fans
P.S. Sometimes I feel for you in having a lot of your existence, including some of your childhood, trotted out for all to see. But the panda hat overrode any feelings of protection I may feel. :D
For those who have never seen Richard Armitage at a red carpet event, you have no idea how good he is with a camera phone. Oh, man, the dude can take a shot. And it makes sense; otherwise, he would have to wait for a nervous fan to fumble around.
I wonder when he decided to start taking selfies. It wasn’t in 2007 when he went to the BAFTAs (scroll down for the videos), but then the selfie didn’t really come into its own until the advent of the iPhone which was less than two years old at the time.
Armitage Besotted called me several nights ago to say, “Get out of your sickbed and look at Marlise Boland’s interview with Richard Armitage!” I could hear a grin in Besotted’s voice, but I couldn’t watch the interview ’cause I was that sick. But the next day I loaded up the two videos, and then sat there with a smile growing on my face while I watched. It seems Marlise has figured out how to get our guy to be very at ease, and I base that on my impressions and some Besotted also pointed out:
He accepted her compliments about his performance in The Crucible without protest or deflection: “It’s the moment when you realize that you’re an actor.” “It makes you vibrate, and the audience feels it, too.” “It’s sort of the bit that happens between the writer and the actor channeling it, and it’s sort of somewhere in mid- air between you and the audience, and they catch it. It’s really the ___ (mumbles an indecipherable word).”
He spoke on his career and his recent film and theater choices as if he were sitting with a friend: “I’m an ensemble player, and I know it. I’m not a big entertainer, and I’m not somebody who likes to put their head above the parapet, above everybody else.” “I feel quite fulfilled actually.” “I feel like my career’s always been a slow burn. I’m a slow developer. I went to drama school very late. I’m not an impatient person. I’m very, very patient. Id rather have it when it’s right than too soon. As long as I’m fulfilled and it’s inspiring me, I’m very happy.”
He made a willing admission that he’s changing his behavior after visiting Brazil: “Show your emotions.” “Show how happy and excited you are.” “Show you have a feeling. I’ve got to say, it felt good.”
His voice and expression were soft and incredulous and intimate when he revealed the highlight of his year: “…the opening night of The Crucible.” Pause. “…it’s an amazing feeling when an audience gets to their feet.” (The smile on my face at this point was huge, and it thrilled me Meg was able to in some respects capture his reaction.)
He trusted her enough to flirt with her and give her openings:
A: “Do you think you have one question that no one, no one would have asked?” M: “Thorin: boxers or briefs?” A: “Neither.” Pause, louder: “Neither.” Both giggle.
A: “Thorin’s Box of Joy — sounds a bit rude,” said with a bit of a leer.
Besotted and I went on to talk about how proud we are of Marlise. Like her we are both women entrepreneurs who have run successful businesses and know how incredibly hard that is. It’s always hard to start with nothing or almost nothing and make something. Then to be out there on your own doing it over and over again without an institution or a machine is one helluva piece of work and requires someone to be sharp almost 24/7. Mostly it requires someone to have a personality that can inspire trust and confidence. I would say Marlise Boland has done that very well with Richard Armitage.
If I’m being really candid, I would say she’s done what some of us have longed to do — sit down and have a chat with Richard and one where he’s not just rattling off the standard responses. Oh sure, some of the things he said in this interview he has said before, but there was an ease and sincerity and a type of intimacy with Marlise that was striking.
And it should come as no surprise that I had a favorable reaction to Marlise’s interview considering what I’ve said earlier.
Marlise,
Thank you, and keep it up. You Go, Girl!
Signed,
A new fan
P.S. I should have written something about your first interviews with RA which I also liked, and these new ones are even better.
For those who may not know, I call these cyber letters of mine “fake fan letters” because when I write them, I usually have no expectation the addressees will see them. It’s merely another way to express what I’m thinking, and yes, sometimes they’re done for a laugh. This one is very sincere.
Note: very often in this fandom, I have refrained from reading or hearing what others think before I can take my own impressions of something. Of course nothing is ever assessed without any influence from elsewhere in my life, but I try to remain free for a time of other fans’ thoughts. I was tempted to read the take others had on this interview given the angst from quite a few months ago. I even momentarily clicked on some links and then immediately backed out. Now that I’ve said what I think, I will take some time to peruse other posts, and if our group is anything like in the past, I’ll agree with some, disagree with others, but I’m sure all of it will make me think.
I hope all of you are doing well, and I want you to know that I am grateful to those of you who kept reading my neglected blog and to those of you who sent me prayers and words of encouragement. It did encourage me. Thank you again!
edit:
For those who haven’t seen the interview, there you go:
_______ sent me another song. Every few days she sends one and wants my take on it. Most of them have been great, some good and some okay. But whatever the performance, the sum of her writing is fantastic. Yeah, I’m biased. I can’t help it, but I’m far from alone in that assessment.
She was always a writer and has been successful at it for quite sometime. At barely 20 she went to NYC and landed a good writing job of a few hours a week which more than paid her rent. But writing for someone else was never going to satisfy her. She’s always working on something else, and then she picked up her guitar again and started writing songs. Now SO and I have quite a few on our phones which we can’t stop listening to. They are all rough cuts with all kinds of extraneous noises like her roommate’s hair dryer in the background. I don’t care. They are well written, and some of them I believe could gain something significant.
For the last couple of weeks, part of one song has been on my mind waking up and going to sleep. I have literally gotten up singing it. This prompted me to listen to the whole thing again this evening. It’s about expectations, identity and the desire for acceptance. Despite this song being written for others reasons, I began to see it as something from Richard Armitage and concerning his relationship to us fans. I imagined him singing this song to us and using all sorts of pronouns and of course sincerely but with an occasional sarcastic tone. It made me laugh and think about what may or may not be real.
Maybe these thoughts were also brought on by Lee Pace’s interview in May. Maybe it was reviewing Richard’s interview in the Telegraph and the Sunday Times. Or maybe it’s because SO and I live a public life and have for quite a few years. A lot of our moves are watched, and if either of us look at someone the wrong way or reveal something about ourselves the public isn’t ready to see, it can cause some consternation on the public’s part. I don’t worry about this most of the time when I go into public, because some people are going to think what they want to think no matter what SO or I do. But occasionally something comes back to us that we supposedly said or did, and I’m dumbfounded and feel bad that someone read into our expressions and was hurt by them. Obviously, I’ve read in all kinds of things about Richard Armitage during the life of my blog, and I still wonder what he really thinks, and if I should write what I think about that. I don’t wonder this as often as I did when I first started writing. But that song made me wonder, and that in itself makes it a really good song.
Candid shot of the musician in Central Park
Candid shot of Richard by Gundi (and I’m wondering if Gundi is a fan who has shared this photo with us via RichardArmitageNet.com or not and if I’m violating copyright. Someone raise your hand if you know the answer. Thanks!)
edit: I have riddled this post with typos, and now I see RichardArmiteneNet.com. ROFLOL!! It will be fixed by the time someone reads this comment. Sorry about that, Ali. I flat did not see that. Oy
Several people sent me links to the newest interview with Richard Armitage. I finally read it yesterday, and then googled the journalist’s name, because I will admit unashamedly I didn’t know who she was. No, I am not cosmopolitan enough to be aware of all these journalists and their quests to capture the zeitgeist. But I digress.
There was a little angst going on in what I was reading. The almost palpable need to set someone or something straight was coming indignantly off the page toward me. Self-righteousness like that usually gets a negative reaction. “Judge not lest ye be judged…” kind of runs through my head, and I want to apply “the same measure” to the offender (no pun intended). I try to resist that, and I’m resisting today mainly because it’s not beneficial. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, oh well.
Mostly, I care what I think. Richard Armitage is something amongst actors I had never seen before. Many of us had never seen his like, and when I say that I’m not talking about his sexiness and the objectifying response that can provoke. I’m thinking of his ability to pierce reality with an elegant sword. Most actors I’ve seen use a club. But to be pricked with something powerful that is there and gone and you try to bring it back so you can take it apart to examine it and understand it and maybe recapture its sweetness, doesn’t happen very often. It’s special.
The journalist didn’t get this, because she couldn’t seem to get much past his pretty face or us. Maybe she didn’t have time to really understand him or us. Maybe she was under a deadline and worked with what she had. I know a couple of journalists reading this who are going to laugh at that notion. But hey, I’m trying to be charitable here. However, I believe she is like many in the press who don’t get Richard Armitage, because they have also never seen his like — someone who is himself, someone not easily whipped into bits of identity for quick public consumption. Is there any doubt that article was an attempt at a whipping?
What can be worse for a journalist than to ever think they don’t understand something or someone enough to make it into a tidy pronouncement? That is anathema and has to gall someone whose business is mostly summing up things and people. Yet how wonderful it would have been if she had seemed at least fair about who he has demonstrated himself to be over the course of years while passing judgment. There was almost none of that, and what was there seemed almost grudging and therefore a bit disingenuous, or maybe she’s just a poor writer. I honestly don’t know.
But I do know the summation was cliched. What else explains the portrayal of Richard Armitage as Svengali right down to the damn photo. LOL! (Sorry, I really did laugh. When I start writing as a journalist for a big time newspaper, I won’t throw in that kind of commentary. ;-) ) Like many of you I wondered about the graphic used in the article, but the text makes it obvious. He’s Svengali and those who find him appealing are Trilby — no good at anything really unless he hypnotizes us into thinking we are. How sad the interviewer was so afraid to let herself really observe someone like Richard. But then prejudice has always been fueled by fear.
Instead we got something intended to be a bit of an expose’ but sounded more like real fiction at times. And that got me to thinking. To thinking what has occurred to me on a few occasions when I’ve encountered someone who was so adamantly not a fan. The fear of truly observing someone like Richard Armitage is that he may cast a spell on the observer, and they may actually lose their godlike objectivity. Or they are closet fans desperately trying to appear fair. Yeah, I know the signs. I’ve been there. Whatever the case, this is what I long to say:
Ms. Gold,
You are missing out. Being innocent is not so bad, and really, if this is what it feels like, I want more of it.
Signed,
One of Richard’s crazy fans who is having a whale of a time :D
P.S. I don’t think your insult of Richard Armitage is going to have any impact on your career. You know that. But insulting Dawn French and overweight women? That was dumb and tipped your hand more than anything you said.
If you want to read the article, Guylty has it here.
One more post before I breakout additional WonderCon photos, which you may be sick of looking at, but I’m not yet.
I’m chuckling at the wealth of commentary I could and probably will make on the last few blog pieces of Servetus. She raises very interesting points as per usual and one in particular I cannot pass up! But for now, this post is in response to the video clip of one of Richard Armitage’s interviews at WonderCon:
I hope you watched that video. There doesn’t seem to be anything snarky in it. He seems serious.
And before I could even form a reaction to that realization, YouTube did it for me:
These are actual suggestions on the sidebar of that video. Okay, yeah, so it doesn’t say much for my YouTube watching, but I thought “Kicked in the head by a train” was apropos as a reaction to the idea of a prequel. Or are you so in the bag for Thorin that you don’t see it that way? More Thorin is good huh? No, let me rephrase that. Even more Thorin is good huh?
If Richard Armitage or someone who really gets him writes a prequel, then yeah, I’d love it. Otherwise, I’m afraid it would be more of the fare primarily geared for fanboys.
So I guess those additional Hobbit titles floated over at TORn may have been serious as well. ;-)
In light of this latest development, I’ve got a title for the prequels — The Hobbit: Land Before Smaug Part (insert #).
Okay, so I skipped a few days in my A to Z blogging. So what. It seems I never got on the official A to Z board, so I don’t think they give a damn what I’m doing.
Do you want the truth of why I haven’t blogged in the last few days or a nice story?
Okay, a nice story it is!
I woke up on Thursday morning last week, and not only did I realize my income tax return was as close to zero as I’ve ever gotten it ($12.00) — yeah, that’s where I don’t have to pay, and the damn government doesn’t get to keep much of my money interest free — but I also made a trip down to the local convenience store where I purchased a lottery ticket. I have not done that in, oh never mind, I just haven’t done it in a long time. Last time I did it, I bought five tickets, and when none of them were winners, I stuck them above the radio in my car where they stayed for about three years so I wouldn’t be so stupid to pay a voluntary tax ever again.
Ever again came the other day and there I was buying a ticket, but this time I got lucky. Yeah, that’s right. I won some money. How much? Enough that I can do whatever I want now. I may even go to London to watch a performance of Richard Armitage in The Crucible. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled by that. And the good news is that I can buy like two weeks or maybe even a month’s worth of tickets in case he happens to get sick for a few nights while I’m there. Wait. That doesn’t sound quite right. Don’t tell SO I said that or that I just can’t stop looking at this:
click for the big version
Rich,
I know you’re smiling just thinking about my coming to London. Yeah, c’mon, I know it. :D
But I have some bad news. I really didn’t win anything, and I haven’t been around because I’ve been sick as a dog. I’m not sure how sick dogs can get, but it must be bad ’cause this has been a real ass kicker.
Maybe I’ll be fit by the time Comic-Con rolls around — if you’re going. If you’re not, then I might get sick again.
Enough of my bellyachin’, I hope WonderCon was a kick for you. If that picture is any indication, it was. Oh wait. I happened to see a video that I may razz you about later. I think a few bloggers have already, but I may need to weigh in as well. :D
Signed,
A crazy fan who is not crazy about the flu.
P.S. I hope sometime in the near future I can smile like you.
P.P.S. I’ll bet the Crinkle Zone has wet their pants over this photo.
Candid shot courtesy of Heather (that girl needs a website. :D).
I was just reading a very interesting interview of Richard Armitage. A few items of note:
— He bought an electric cello when he was in New Zealand.
Some have never seen an electric cello, so I bring it for your edification:
— He still likes Love in an Elevator.
One of these days he’s going to say that often enough that the fans will start demanding some tights and scarves and who knows what else.. Yes, I’m picturing him in a Steven Tyler get up. Just needs a yellow vest or whatever the hell that is ’cause I know he already has the orange pants. Count on it if he gets drunk enough.
— Took notes from Arnold Schwarzengger about standing firm against negativity:
His speech was really interesting, he was very honest about the industry and his lingering message to everyone in the room was just “Don’t ever take no for an answer.” Because he said he was told no throughout most of his career and everything he wanted to do he was told no and he said don’t listen to the nay-sayers.
Yeah, that’s what I was saying! You go, Richard! ;-)
The speech, which is definitely worth a listen:
— Last but not least.
Richard has a fear of Eamonn Holmes. Well, yeah, hell, I’m afraid of him after “devotation.” That’s what really woke Richard up. He was sitting there, and thought, “Huh? Did I miss something? Are they talking about the Empire Awards? Are people changing their minds?!”
Devotation: You go vote. Then you go home and wish you could go back because you changed your mind…..
Instead I read youmuttonmeeecrazy, and the latest post made me howl. I almost wet my pants laughing at how fitting it is.
E is coming later today.
edit: Wait! I have a late D entry. Go here, and after you watch the video (or watch it again), come back and please tell me what the hell ‘devotation’ is?
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.
RAFrenzy 
