I had a post ready to go about RA possibly being Namor in Captain America. But it seems after watching the recent footage of the filming of a gunfight in New York (aka Manchester), a man looking and running very much like RA appears to be a baddie, which means it can’t be Namor. I’m reasonably sure of this since reading up on the characters. Also, it doesn’t appear that he can be Namor if he’s just in a shootout (see clip below). I could be completely wrong about this, but after reading a few comic book sites, that’s what I understand.
However, it’s possible that RA is a Nazi henchman named Heinz Kruger. Deadgummit! That means he won’t be in the movie very long if he’s Kruger, and it also means I can’t go to town on the character. If I were more convinced he would play Namor, I would be prepared to go on and on about this character who comes from a fictitious race of people, is the first known comic book anti-hero and bi-polar to boot. Oh, great fodder for this blog! But it’s not to be. (I’m shaking my head as I write this. I hope RA knows he has some really rabid loyal fans out there who will even talk about comic book characters when they CAN’T STAND that stuff. Before now I’ve often imagined guys who were into comic books as the same ones who sat in rooms alone and did things to themselves that I can’t mention on this blog and still keep it “safe for work.”) Making light of a Nazi is not nearly so much fun. But if I had my clever hat on today, maybe I could have come up with a little ditty like “Springtime for Hitler” to describe Kruger. (Thoughts of an Argentine Tango dance in my head. Yeah, I know it doesn’t fit; I would have worked it in somehow.) But I’m not so clever today. Heck, I’m doing well to post this.
When the action starts, check out the man in the light gray suit who runs and jumps into car on the far right of the screen:
If you’re wondering if this is RA, then check out this screencap posted by kadamanja on yesterday’s blog piece:
….eventually or maybe not. I toyed with again getting on my soapbox about the spoilers for Spooks, but I caved the day before it aired. Yes, I am weak. So very weak, but then I had an enormous temptation, or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to fall off the wagon.
Someone sent me the audio of RA’s interview with David Stephenson. I’m so glad! It was a pleasure to listen. Thank you, friend for sending me that file, and unless David is under a rock about now, he had to know that file would be passed around. It’s profitable life was no more than a day. I just happen to have a great scruple about these things, so I’ll hop over there sometime and buy it for a pound and happily help with overhead. But I hope my friend doesn’t let this talk of scruples keep her or anyone else from sending me things in the future. LOL!
After I was done listening, I read the print article. Wow. What a difference. I realize Mr. Stephenson has only so much space to write, and he must capture what he feels is salient for readers, and I really appreciate the way he writes. Please keep it up! But the casual reader does not get to really appreciate RA’s wonderful sense of humor. You must listen to the audio for that.
Once I got done listening and reading that interview, my appetite was pretty whet, so it was easy to just gorge myself on the rest of the interviews. Some were a rehash with a few extra comments. In particular RA mentions in one of having performed astral projection, and my first thought was he might need some pants that don’t ride up for that. I was going to make hay out of this until I had my second thought — wondering which Avengers fly. Yes, yes, I admit I’m not up on my Avenger characters! But I may have to bone up in light of today’s developments. Look at the last few lines of this interview from a couple of days ago. That tease!
If you have been keeping up, then you may already know that some footage was taken on the Captain America set in Manchester yesterday, and it seems someone who looks like RA was on set. Here are a couple of screencaps from that footage.
If that’s not him, it’s someone who looks just like him.
And if you watch this footage you can see this person moves just like him:
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.
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.
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!
and I think it is the best picture of RA. King in my mind. I mean who could look at that and not have some reaction to it even if they have never seen him in any roles? Oh, someone dead? Yeah, that’s about it.
But I may have seen the one that can give it serious competition, and I wish someone who has something to do with the “Captain America” movie read my piddly blog. They could see how good RA looks in the picture below. Since the movie is being made by Hollywood, of course looks are the primary consideration. We know RA can act in anything, but does he have the look for a part in that movie? Oh, baby, yes!
A big thanks to Kaprekar for this photo. I was going to just add it to another post, but it deserves its own:
I need a new tag: PHWOAR!2
second edit: and I forgot to mark the jawline tag for this entry! Yes, you can click on that tag and look at all of the lovely profile shots in this blog, or most of them anyway. That’s my public service gene at work, so I just can’t help but think of these things for the edification of all of us. ;-) Thanks, fitzg for reminding me.
By the way, that second picture is an edit of a Robin Hood promo picture found on RichardArmitageNet.Com
Sometimes I’m just on, and I can’t be stopped. If I ever let you meet SO, you can ask him if I’m telling you the truth. He has sometimes referred to me as “hell on wheels,” and he means that in a good way — I think. My eyes really are blue, er, I mean green.*
But today, I’m not on, or I would have had the perfect picture before I posted my last entry. HOW COULD I NOT THINK OF THIS PICTURE?!! Before you scroll down to see it, let me just say that I’m rethinking this Union Jack thing. When I look at this picture immediately below, it makes me think of all kinds of possibilities:
I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and that’s why I’m miffed at myself for not thinking of the perfect picture in the last post. Of course, RA would be perfect as Union Jack. Look at the legs on that Union Jack guy, and then of course, we know RA can pull off the “fabric.
The Perfect Picture:
A couple more perfect pictures if you’re not convinced:
The last one is so you can see how good he looks in a mask.
Screencaps courtesy of RichardArmitageNet and my stash.
*major, major bs in this post. This comment is for the action fans. ;-)
Do I ever watch just one video? Oh, hell no, and why should I have to stop? There are too many that are great, and since you’ve read the title of this blog, it must be obvious I’m going to say something about Sean’s videos being great. Yes, they’re great.
I really like the shot of the ocean (or whatever large body of water that’s supposed to be) in ‘Where’s the Donka?’ LOL! Oh, sorry I wasn’t laughing at the video. I was laughing with it, and it really is great, but the name is hilarious. That might just become the name at my house. I hate the remote, and Donka sounds like the perfect name.
I also love the jellyfish, or whatever those things are, in ‘The Mast.’ This is really saying something since I cringe at the sight of jelly fish; might be due to an up close and very personal encounter with one. The music to that video is perfect. It sounds kind of laid back but edgy, slightly energetic but menacing. Yep, that describes a jellyfish.
But the video that really has me fired up (and keeps this post from being labeled a tangent) is the ‘London Film Premiere’ for Spiderman 3. Man, those guys can throw parties. But I think it’s an excuse for pole dancers to be invited and not look tacky (or whoever those women are supposed to be; Spiderman’s “helpers” I guess). How perfect that they had to use “string.” Okay, seriously, wouldn’t it be cool (yes, this is my first use of cool, so it’s not uncool yet) if RA ended up in Captain America as Union Jack or some equally cool (two’s the limit) looking character from The Invaders, and Sean got to work on the project?
Can you imagine what Sean could do with this:
These guys are in need of a serious makeover and Sean seems like just the guy to help. If RA isn’t in this movie, I hope Sean gets something out of it. I would love to see his work on this. Yes, I know he didn’t redraw the Spiderman character, but he helped make a neat looking effect.
I’m not really that keen on RA being in something like this, but the guy does talk about working a lot. I’ll bet he can’t sit still, and I’ll bet (this is my gut talking) that he hangs onto a penny — not stingy but frugal. For all of you gals who are looking for someone responsible, he might be your guy. ;-) Where was I? Oh, yeah, the guy talks about working a lot, so if he gets this, I’m glad for him. But really, it’s not my style, but hey, a few other things RA has done weren’t my style (North and South comes to mind), and I liked them anyway. Even if he doesn’t end up being part of this project, I hope the rumors go on long enough for me to get a few laughs on this blog. This is just too easy to laugh about (damned sentences that end in prepositions, but what am I going to do? Make a sentence like this: This is just too easy about which to laugh.)
By the way, I loved a lot of other things about Sean’s videos (yes, I watched all of them and some more than once, and I’m reflecting — seriously), but I won’t bore you with my thoughts. You can go watch them for yourself.
I need a picture of RA don’t I? Not sure which one would fit here.
So I just created a Facebook page for RAFrenzy. I had sworn off FB and still can barely stand being on it. But I know it’s a necessary component for really making something viral, and I wanted to do my part with the video that a Motion Designer/Video Editor named Sean Pruen recently uploaded to Vimeo. I would have simply embedded it here, but WordPress doesn’t love Vimeo, hence the FB page. For some reason WordPress wouldn’t let me embed it yesterday, so I made the damned FB page. Then I come here this afternoon and realize it was pointless to make that page. I think Facebook is behind this. ;-) But without further berating of FB, here it is:
Now I can go on and on about this on my blog. :D
I love the computer graphic look to this. His head doesn’t quite move like a normal head. Wouldn’t it be something if he were playing a CGI. LOL!! Well, it’s probably altered, but I can see RA playing something like that. He’s that good. Whatever the case, he still looks fine, and if Richard Armitage ever deigns to read all of the crap I’m writing on this blog, I hope he does get that amid all of the bs, I really do admire him as an actor. Making a Facebook page is absolute proof. Sorry, I can’t let it go that I was dumb enough to make up that page.
As if that’s not enough, I’ve been researching comic book heroes. At this point, I’m almost intimately acquainted with the Invaders of Captain America fame and yes, some comic book fanboys on a few sites. I hope SO never finds out. Never mind being jealous; he would never let me live this down.
But I can’t think about all of that now. What I really want to know is if our lovely Richard will be wearing this get up:
It seems a significant number of people in the fandom think that he will. See here and here.
See Diary Part 16 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.
Entry — Very Late Summer, 2008:
I was down at Tammi’s house this afternoon, and she had just come home from “yard saling.” Dangerous words. I no longer go “yard saling.” Trying not to be anywhere near it, but I just had to ask what she bought. “All sorts of things I don’t need,” she said. I hear that. That’s why I don’t go “yard saling” anymore. SO became frustrated with half the garage being filled with crap we don’t need. I know it takes up space, but he just couldn’t get his head around how that was going to help us, how it was being frugal. He advised me, “Well, maybe you should take advantage of that freight sale I read about this morning. An entire boxcar of toothpaste. If you bought it, you could save enough for us to take a nice trip and store the toothpaste in the other half of the garage.”
I still couldn’t help asking to see what Tammi bought. She hauled out a large paper grocery sack full of DVDs. I mean that sucker was stiff it was so full. It’s a miracle the sack didn’t tear. I said, “Wow. How much did you pay for that?”
“It was only $5.” And the ‘only’ was what made it so beautiful. I had to see the rest of it. “I haven’t even looked at them yet,” she said.
“Well, pour it out so we can see what you got!”
After a few minutes of looking at a lot of junk I had never heard of, and that’s saying something for me the movie fiend, I said, “Just another stash that made a stopover at your house on its way to the resale store.” She sighed and was about to bag everything up when I saw something I had dismissed earlier, “WAIT!! Let me see that one again.” She handed me a golden colored case with Cleopatra on the front. I flipped it over and started reading the back. Richard Armitage had been in a production of Cleopatra, but I had no clue which one. Then I remembered it was early on in his career so he probably didn’t have a big part. “Tammi, can I use your laptop?”
She pointed to it, and said, “Feel free, but what’s up with that movie? Who’s in it?”
“Oh, I’m just curious about it. Billy Zane’s in it, and I’m about half fascinated with him. A real nut but still fascinating.”
I logged on and got to IMDb. JACKPOT! Yep, it was the one with Richard Armitage! I couldn’t even wait to get home to watch, so I popped it in her player to take a looksee. I told her we didn’t have to watch the whole thing since it’s three hours long. Neither one of us had that kind of time.
Cleopatra was played by someone I had never heard of. Oh, she was beautiful. Aren’t they all? But I was struggling to get past her Latin American accent. That, and the fact she could not act. Sad really. Then poor Timothy Dalton being relegated to this pitiful piece. But I started mentally cataloging his movies, and actually, I couldn’t remember any memorable one’s he’d been in except for maybe James Bond, and his Bond was not the most memorable. Oh, but his voice is beautiful. Not enough. You gotta have something to say and have that quality that I can’t define which pulls me into a piece. He doesn’t really have it. Maybe he should be grateful to get some work? Whatever, I wanted to see Richard Armitage and was so afraid he would be in a costume that disguised him, and it would be a repeat of the Naboo fighter pilot debacle.
Tammi kept urging me to fast forward (as I had commandeered the remote when we first sat down). I wanted to fast forward but was afraid I would miss Richard Armitage! Billy Zane FINALLY came on screen after about 45 minutes. Billy was not memorable either, so we decided to just watch a few scenes and then put the thing away. I knew I could really watch it at home! I selected the death of Caesar, and that’s when it happened! I saw Richard Armitage! Well, I wasn’t sure if it was him at the time, because if I had blinked, I would have missed him. At the beginning of the scene, he’s walking down some stairs with Octavius and another guy. Good thing Tammi has a large screen high def tv! Tammi was groaning about this time, but I could not look away. It soon cut to the death scene, and that is when we both lost it. ROFLOL!!! LOL!!! I mean I nearly wet my pants. Did this movie have anyone who understood props or action scenes? ROFLOL!!! Timothy Dalton looks normal at the beginning of the scene, and then he crosses behind a pillar or something and gains about 50 pounds. We could literally see the padding, which probably contained “blood pockets,” under his toga. ROFLOL!! As he fought off his attackers, the square padding was so evident, that… ROFLOL!! I can barely write this. It was sad. LOL!! Man, that high def is hell.
[note: RA at :0.1 to :01 and then again at :12 to :20]
While I was watching, it occurred to me that Richard Armitage has to laugh at this movie too. He has to if he’s the smart guy I think he is. I’ll bet he learned a ton about how a movie should not be made. Of course he could have been taking notes on Billy’s eyeliner. Wonder if he was standing around when the funeral speech was made. Even Billy himself seemed to be saying, “Do I really have to say this crap?”
When I got home, I was able to finally see the other scenes with Richard, but that was no mean feat. I had to watch the whole movie to do it. If he knew, he would realize that makes me a great admirer. This is a truly awful, awful movie. I would put it in the “so bad it’s good” category, but I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t watched the whole thing which I never would have done without the chance of seeing Richard even if only a few seconds. Thankfully, those were not wasted. God Bless Him he still gets completely into his part even though he’s only a prop. I noticed at the end of this scene (clip below) where he appears for about three seconds and is obviously an underling of Octavius, that he engages his eyes and head to really get the point across. It was such a contrast to the other minion who just stands there like cardboard. No cardboard for Richard. I think I really have gone nuts to repeatedly examine a piece of film that’s no longer than 3 seconds.
[note: RA at 2:48-2:50]
And then there was fighting and gore, and Richard in the middle of it. I’m tired now, so I’m not quite up to scrutinizing this part (clip below) so much yet. Maybe that’s a healthy sign?
[note: RA beginning at :06 off and on until about 1:17]
But I was glad SO watched this with me later, and it reminded him of the good times we had laughing at ‘Tough Guys Don’t Dance.’ Another one “so bad it’s good.” He didn’t even mind that I brought home a yard sale item, but then he thinks it’s a loan from Tammi.
RAFrenzy 
