Felled By The Sexy Back

The best laid schemes… Oh how they can blow up in our faces. Thankfully, since I’m not a man, I must be a mouse. Not sure yet, but for a few minutes a couple of nights ago, I could have put my fist through a wall. This morning I’m still a little unsure of myself but less so as the clock ticks. And the clock ticking is what started all of this here. You thought it was Richard Armitage? Hang around, and I’ll disabuse you of that notion although there might be some confusion when posts like this appear.

I still can’t look at that picture without blinking my eyes and shaking my head to clear it. Ironically, that really might be his sexiest picture.

And since I usually muddle up the paragraph breaks in my posts not to mention all of my other grammatical sins, I might as well do it up right and just place them wherever I want and hope you understand my convoluted mind. Honestly, I never have known the best way to place paragraph breaks; topic sentences mystify me. So glad that hasn’t stopped me. Now for the awkward transition.

Sometime last weekend an item from RAFrenzy inadvertently posted on my personal Facebook wall, and if you need to heat some coffee or tea, you can place it next to my head where the steam is coming out. Previously I just disliked Facebook, now I despise it. This has jeopardized my anonymity to a degree it has never happened during the life of the blog. Yeah, I know some of you know who I am because I’ve let you know, and for all of you other RA fans who may have guessed, I’m not concerned about you. It’s the family I don’t want reading. SO and the kids are not so much the problem. I mean the extended family. They would not get it, so I don’t want them reading and possibly giving input. If I did, they would already know about it. Wait! Some of them now do. Damn Facebook.

So how did this happen? Oh, I’m going to tell you so I can give this rant full vent and also give you a heads up. It happened on my phone where I haven’t mastered the ability to control scripts so I only have running the ones I want. For the uninitiated, scripts drive the web page you’re on, and sometimes scripts include all sorts of nasty things that you don’t really want running. For me Facebook is nasty, and especially so when the Facebook mobile app will not let me log out, and I have to clear my data every time I want to make sure it’s not logged in, and even then it’s not a sure thing. Can you see that steam now?! Let me make this really plain. If you’re logged into Facebook, and you are on a site that has a link to Facebook, you can inadvertently post a “Like” to your wall. Given that links to Facebook have wormed their way onto virtually every site on the web, there is a vulnerability you might be posting things to your FB wall that you never intended [waves hand vigorously in the air while saying ‘choice’ words]. Same thing with Twitter, which I still like, but I may ended up despising for the same reason.

And I wouldn’t have been on my phone if I hadn’t been determined to work on my blog post about Richard’s back. Okay, enough of that rant, but just know that despite my irritation, I’m not letting this keep me from blogging. On to the good stuff.

I did promise some more pictures, which I really was about to post a couple of nights ago before I got rattled.

His size and vantage point scream masculinity, but that’s not enough to make these pictures so compelling. His attentive nature is still evident. Man, I really have a bad case of CWS. Who woulda thunk a set of pictures of his back would bring on such a bout?

This one really does make me think I can reach out and hug him:

This one almost looks like a kid trying to get the lay of the land:

It is amazing to me how he can still convey a purity without using his facial expressions. Yep, I have a raging case of CWS.

More candid shots coming, but no more backs.

I’m Really Trying

May I beg forgiveness for not posting regularly and for teasing you all so terribly with the Spooks behind the scenes pictures? Yeah, okay, maybe I’ve really messed you all around. But do you really want to hear my excuses about why I haven’t been posting? Yep, I thought not, and really, I have no desire to rehash it. I think I’ve made plenty of excuses on this blog already. LOL!

Give me until Monday, and I will definitely post some of the photos, but in the meantime, just know that I’ve had all sorts of shit happening (yeah, I had to get one excuse in :D). The good news is that I’m still smiling, and SO is still smiling as well.

For those who have followed the trials and tribulations of the Frenz household, just know that we’re alive and things are improving. October 6th will be an especially important date for us, and I cannot wait for it to get here. For those of you who have no clue what I’m referring to, my apologies. I hate cryptic, but I must be cryptic in the interest of the family. This was just the quickest way to communicate with those who are keeping up.

I can’t stand it! I have to give you one photo:

Deep breath…..(sigh)….I think I may live.

No matter how many times I view this photo, it still gets me. Maybe because I don’t expect the back of someone’s head to be sexy. Oooh, how wrong I’ve been. Or is this just me who thinks he even looks hot from behind? And he still has all of his clothes on! The broad shoulders do help.

I wasn’t going to post anything until Monday, but I saw this tumblr and here I am. Love these kinds of comments especially since it makes me feel less insane. Richard Armitage aside, that’s a great tumblr.

Candid Photo courtesy of: I’ll tell you later. :)

Will It Be the Fourth Dimension?

The roller coaster resumes on Sunday night, and I think I’m ready to be jerked around again. :D

Harry’s grave look has me duly sucked in, and no, I’m not being facetious. I saw this promo and felt myself getting excited to watch Spooks, and then I read the interviews with the writers, and I really got excited. I like Lara Pulver despite having been dragged through the debacle known as Robin Hood Series 3 Episode 5, but phew! didn’t she and Richard Armitage look great?

As usual, click to enlarge.

Even if you’re offended by my blatant objectification of RA (as opposed to my thinly veiled objectification), you have to admit that’s a hot picture. They certainly challenged the idea of a “family show.” Oh, I would love to see those two in something sexy and smart. Wouldn’t it be great if we got a little taste of that in Spooks Series 10? I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we might (oh, please with sugar on top) get a little more of Lucas North, and we’re going to get a lot of Erin Watts (aka Lara Pulver), the new section chief. The other cast additions look interesting too, and more to mine with the writers, but I’m saving it. The burning question for now: will Harry detonate a bomb? If I were mean, I’d answer that. LOL!

And speaking of writing, I stumbled onto a web page about roller coaster terminology (yes, the internet has everything!), which gave me an idea. It’s a dangerous thing for me to get ideas, but I have to have fun somehow. So during the run of this last series of Spooks, I’m soliciting examples in Spooks (any series) of one or more of the terms from this rich, ahem, nomenclature. Please make your submissions via the comments on this blog piece. The commenter with the most examples at the end of Series 10, wins a prize. More on that later when I think of exactly what will be an appropriate prize. Oh, I’ll make it something good. :D

I’ll go first with an easy one. An example of Immelmann Roll
(half-loop that inverts coaster cars for a half twist and sends them in the reverse direction. Named after a World War 1 German ace who popularized the flying maneuver)– Lucas North story arc in Series 9.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

edit: this was a bust, but thankfully one of the few on this blog.

Status Unknown — Spoilers

Spoilers for Spooks Series 9

Obviously, I haven’t been posting regularly. That’s about to change. Spooks is coming, and I must be present for the denouement of Lucas North, or was I already? Then there is the relationship of Harry and Ruth. My speculation and everyone else’s is Harry and Ruth will finally consummate their relationship. Will it be satisfying? This is Spooks, people; it won’t be satisfying because they have a movie to make. So yeah, even with the finale, we probably won’t get a resolution of these characters.

image

But my burning question: does Lucas North make it out of this series alive? Will he be in the movie? I have to ask, and bygod, the producers of the show expect me to ask. LOL! Do I sound hacked? I’m really not that upset. Actually, I’m not even upset. I just want to know what happen(s)(ed)to Lucas North, dammit!

Yes, I’m purposely refraining from using the name John Bateman. That’s not this character’s name. No way. And I don’t say that because he’s a bad guy. In case anyone reading this blog hasn’t noticed, I’m partial to a bad guy who did much more heinous things than blowing up some people and killing one person bare handed. My bad guy actually looked many of his victims in the eyes while he killed them in one of the most physically demanding ways.

But back to Lucas. Is he or is he not dead? I say he’s not dead. I said this at the end of last series, and I’m still convinced that he’s going to be with us after this series has ended. Richard Armitage, who I take at his word for hating spoilers, has nevertheless mentioned Spooks, the Movie, a few times, and the thought of it won’t go away. Hey, there’s a good chance 24 will be a movie, so why not Spooks? And it’s entirely possible that dear Richard could be part of it which means Lucas can’t die. Unless of course they have a flashback, which now that I think of it is also entirely possible. If I’ve learned nothing else after five years of watching Spooks, they can do anything and logic be damned. How else to explain the absurd set up for Lucas North as a bad guy? And no, I’m not going to go on a rant again — at least not today.

For now I’m hoping the writers do something that either a) makes me breathe a sigh of relief b) makes me not want to throttle them c) jump for joy d) all of the above. A sigh of relief would be his being alive. Not wanting to throttle the writers would be his staying alive to possibly come back in the movie. Jumping for joy would mean his staying alive for the movie AND being able to redeem himself or develop into a fascinating criminal mastermind. Either would be fine with me. Just so it’s writing worthy of Richard Armitage’s ability. Yes, I’m a demanding sort. :D

So here I am, and here I will be waiting patiently for the announcement of when exactly Spooks is going to air. Oh, they have me right where they want me.

More posts about Spooks coming up this week as I’m feeling the need to revisit where this Lucas obsession started.

Behind the scenes photo courtesy of KuchingGirl with much more coming.

Note: this post (all of it) was done from my phone. Woohoo!

Going With My Gut — Spoilers

Spoilers for Strike Back 2

Regular readers among you know how I feel about my gut and should know it’s for good reason. Do I need to remind about Porter’s demise? :D And if I were more eloquent, “gut” would become a beautiful euphemism. Alas, I’m confined to earthy, and being a bit earthy has usually served me well, so to hell with eloquence.

Several weeks ago I suggested a plan and thought a good time to execute it would be sometime between July 22nd (the opening of ‘Captain America’) and August 22nd (near the debut of ‘Strike Back 2’ and you know whose birthday). However, I’m having some reservations. This is not an appeasement of those firmly in Armitage Protection Mode (aka APM). I would still like to try for the trending, and I’m full of details and instructions about the goodness that can be Twitter if done right and most importantly at the right time.

The desire for the project started with the imminent release of ‘Captain America’ and my getting pumped at the potential swell of new fans in RA Universe. Still pumped about that, but I’ve had doubts about the effect of ‘Strike Back’ Series 2. It hasn’t been a good sign that it was airing on Cinemax, which after dark is little better than a porn network and commonly known as Skinemax in the U.S. Nevertheless, I was still open to trying to trend RA’s name simply because he has such an ability to take pulp and turn it into something fine. I have been hoping that would happen with SB2, but one man can only do so much, and it’s especially difficult when he isn’t given much to do. Hearing from friends and fellow RA lovers who have seen the first episode, the show could be boiled down to one word: crap. Several have told me, “Don’t bother.” I may not.

Oh, who am I kidding?! I’m going to watch it if only the first 20 minutes which include RA. No, wait! I understand there’s some of him in the second episode as well, so I’ll watch some of that too. And none of this would be a problem for me as a longtime admirer who has his other performances in my head to sustain me through whatever lameness is in Strike Back 2. But would I want to highlight on Twitter, which is notoriously short on explanation, something lame for new fans still taking their first impressions of RA?

Even if all of this hadn’t been enough to hold me back, I’m firmly in check by knowledge of the recent poll debacle. People, c’mon! ROFLOL! This is not espionage, and if the Anglophenia blog were simply some brash American site, then maybe the siege for Richard would be okay. Scratch that. It wouldn’t be okay. (I can’t help but think of my friend Hunkess, who has put up with all sorts of garbage to bring us all those Hunkie polls. She had to get her whip out at one point.)

Now I would be lying to say I’m above trying to vote more than once on a poll on a given day. Some of the fun is figuring out how to do this. ;-) And bloggers who put up these polls and don’t realize this can be a common response from readers of celebrity polls, perhaps need to learn the lesson, but somehow I doubt that’s really necessary. That aside, how embarrassing for us fans that the blog brought it to light (must be an Alan Rickman fan running things over there. LOL!! Yes, I’m kidding. Lighten up, people. :D ). NET: no way I would follow this with a Twitter campaign.

The capper is the news of ‘Spooks’ being canceled. I don’t want to draw more attention to that for new fans. Again, I’m talking about drawing attention without explanation, which would be the case for most on Twitter. Of course if they read my blog ;-), they’ll get plenty of explanation.

Do I sound like I have APM? Maybe a little. :D

If you’ve made it this far and you’re not thoroughly pissed off at me, hang with me for the rest, and oh! by the way, you British fans, note I didn’t say pissed. I’ve been recently schooled in some fine points of British earthiness:

…when you’re angry and upset, you’re “pissed off”, not “pissed”! As an Australian, I speak and spell more the way the English do, so I have an advantage, I think! If you’re going to adopt any English slang, it is better to use their exact expressions rather than adjust them, if you want to be easily understood in an international forum. “Pissed” actually means “drunk”. OK, English lesson over and done!!. I am just “having a go at you” or “taking the mickey out of you”, so please don’t take me seriously. — Kathryn

I will never misuse that word again! :D And don’t tell my family, but I probably need the mickey taken out of me on a regular basis.

Okay, so how to end this? Ooooh, I know just the thing:

Dear Richard,

I love your performances so much. Oh, you weren’t sure about that? Oh my man, you don’t think I would do a blog for just anyone? I’m not that kind of girl.

But I hope you meant it when you said you don’t read about yourself on the internet, and God forbid anyone tells you. From what I can tell about you so far, you would probably be embarrassed by this last week’s activity. So just stay away if you think you might get your knickers in a twist.;-)

And I really, really hope you or anyone even remotely connected to you never reads this blog! If that happened, I would probably want to crawl under a rock despite being anonymous. But I couldn’t stay away; I’ve missed cutting up.*

Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans who at times needs this craziness to deal with the sanity of life. :D

P.S. Maybe I won’t be thrilled with SB2 when I finally watch it, but hey, I put up a new background in honor of your performances as John Porter.

*For those readers not familiar with this American idiom, it means joking and/or teasing.

Watch someone take me seriously about cheating at Anglophenia never mind that I set a record for emoticons in this post. :D

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com, and as usual, click to enlarge.

From Cats to Dwarfs — New Interview

A new interview with Richard Armitage is in Project Magazine (issue #8), but you can only get it on iPad. He talks about playing a Nazi. Makes me want to check out the biography he mentions and a whole lot more. :D Thankfully, for those us who haven’t bought an iPad yet, RichardArmitageNet.Com has just uploaded, and you can find it here.

A few of my favorite photos from the interview:

Last image courtesy of Iz4blue.

RA in Specs — a Theory

You can thank bccmee for this public service post. ;-)

Several of us dig Richard Armitage in glasses, and the obvious reason might be that glasses usually make someone appear more intelligent. Oh, I’m sure that’s part of it — as if he needed that help! LOL! But if I let my mind relax and think of what it is that viscerally affects me when I see him in glasses, I boil it down to two things: 1) it’s like his eyes are magnified to better see who’s checking him out, and 2) he’s sort of hidden from the general public as someone hot, so he’s still ours in a sense. Ours=you and me, the early fans.

Okay, I’ve revealed quite enough about my thinking on this, and I hope SO never reads this blog. LOL! Good thing I’m anonymous or I might be ashamed of exhibiting a little CWS. Do I need an emoticon here so you realize I’m teasing? Too bad I don’t have a clown handy.

You can also thank Servetus for this post. Her analysis is rubbing off on me. Unfortunately, her prose is not. :D

Screencaps courtesy of bccmee, RichardArmitageNet.Com and my stash.

note: I intentionally left out pictures of him in sunglasses. Of course anyone would find those pictures hot. It takes someone special to love the glasses. ;-)

Armitage Protection Mode, A Real Bargain

Mail_19Sep10-ElsaQuarsell

June 20, 2011

This post was actually written several months ago, but hey, it’s apropos just about anytime I’m afraid.

Dear Richard,

I guess I’m not a good fan since my obsession doesn’t extend to protecting your honor. LOL! Sorry that laugh slipped out, but the thought of doing that is so absurd I couldn’t help myself. I have every confidence you can protect your own honor, and seem to be handling it just fine without my help.

Now I will admit to being hacked about the ending of the latest series of Spooks, and wanting to go on the defensive about your part in it. But man, it’s frustrating to see that kind of storyline when you deserve better, and really, I would have been hacked no matter who played Lucas. You just raised my expectations much higher than usual, so the disappointment was heightened and the need to vent about it greater. But really, that’s about a consumer being dissatisfied.

There are fans, however, who are very good at protecting your interests. I’ve encountered several of them during this fan odyssey, and they are so good at it, that I’m not sure you should have to pay anyone to do this for you. :D These people will do it for free! And they’re gooood! Yes, I already said that but am compelled to reiterate. Oh man, are they good! My occasional reddened hands and ringing ears are testament to that. So if you ever get tired of handling this yourself or paying a pr person or a bodyguard, I know where you can get some cheap labor.

Then again, maybe I’m also afflicted with Armitage Protection Mode since I’m here trying to save you some money. ;-)

Sincerely,
One of your fans who doesn’t even want to think you need protecting. I’m just here to watch.

P.S. And you really have screwed yourself on ever using a beard as a disguise.

note: yes, it is a fake fan letter. If you had any doubt, then perhaps this note is necessary. Of course I would have put it here anyway for the action fans. :D

Hopefully we can all stay out of Armitage Protection Mode (aka APM), since it’s a drag.

Promo still courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

More Knots? — SPOILERS

SPOILERS for The Hobbit.

Below are my thoughts last night. Who knows? I might feel differently today.

John Porter is back with his tangled life. Or is he?

I don’t think I’ve ever felt something was a teaser so much as this:

Perhaps I’m changing my tune with respect to spoilers. I find myself wanting to know the ending to Strike Back II. When I watched the promos for the first series of Strike Back, I had a sense of hope and confidence that Porter was going to kick ass and get out of something that might even stump MacGyver, and it was so easy to think that since the series wouldn’t exist without him. So no need for a spoiler. But now? I look at this:

and I’m fully aware that this show is not where Richard Armitage’s future lies. But more than that, I’ve witnessed how his face conveys the truth of a character, and that looks like the face of a dead man. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am, but my gut is screaming that my plea was for naught.

All of that may sound pessimistic, and I guess it is, but perhaps this is just how it’s going to be for now with RA’s portrayals. If you know the story of Thorin Oakenshield, you know why I say that. And I would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to realize that he keeps playing characters who go nowhere — kind of like music that doesn’t resolve. More on this later as my pseudo psychoanalyst is almost throttling me to take over, but I’m too tired tonight to run with it. Yeah, I’m sparing you.

Video courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com, and my screencap. There are some caps on the site, but I had to make my own. :D If you’ve never made screencaps, you don’t know the pleasure of really mining those microexpressions of RA’s. If you ever want to know how to make caps, let me know. It’s pretty easy. Anyone with a computer can do it, and there is no cost other than time. LOL!

Oh, oh, bccmee also put the SB2 promo up on YouTube, and if you haven’t had a chance to see her month long slide show, Graphic a Day in May, go look. She’s done some really cool stuff with photos many of us have seen countless time, and I love that her sense of fun is so apparent. I need to go over there and comment soon.

In the meantime, back to rippling. :D

Diary of an RA Fan — Part 25 It’s Between the Ears

See Diary Part 24 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — a day or so later, Fall 2008:

I’ve almost fully immersed myself in the Armitage Army forum, and I guess I didn’t realize until today that Richard Armitage communicated so intimately with his fans. Don’t know how I missed that, but I am loving his messages. This guy, if he’s for real, is a sweetheart. Then again, part of me wonders if he’s real. I wish I could just enjoy this without my bs detector getting in the way, but the cynic will not let me alone.

And my appetite has now been whet to read/listen to as many of his interviews as I can get my hands on. If I’m being manipulated by a publicist, I’m not sure I care. Yeah, I can ignore my bs detector ’cause this feels too good, and it helps that my gut is screaming Richard Armitage is genuine. Maybe I just really want to believe that. I honestly don’t know what to think, but maybe the cynic in me is being challenged, and I love that. I always love it when I’m met with someone who seems real, and ironically, Richard Armitage spends most of his time in public playing someone else. Yet there is something about him, the person, that makes me think he’s genuine. He’s got a kind of purity, and how I can think that after watching ‘Between the Sheets’ is beyond me. But his characters certainly have a thread of innocence, and he does too. I don’t think it’s immaturity. I’m not sure what it is, but he does effect a very intelligent but naive demeanor. If he’s having everyone on, man, he’s one of the greatest actors of all time.

I don’t know that I’ve ever run across a person who was both intelligent and naive so overtly except SO, and it was such a powerful combination in him that it fairly had a lot of the women on our college campus falling all over themselves for him. I remember cleaning out his car one time before we were really together, and he told me to get rid of all the junk, “Just toss all of it if you don’t mind.” Well, I did toss it, but I was so curious about a few of the envelopes with ornate script on them, that I opened some. I had never read anyone’s mail before that, and I felt so awful that I’ve never done it again. But I defend myself with the fact I was “a kid.” No, there really is no defense. I did it, and I wish I hadn’t. I read those notes from a few girls who were madly in love with SO, and not a one had he ever dated or really had much to do with them. But I resolved then never to be one of those gushy women even though we were already serious about each other, and I was already so far from gushy that I’m sure he would have laughed at that vow.

The net effect is that I was too aloof in our first days together because I had eavesdropped on something I never should have done and my self-consciousness kicked in. Wish I could take it all back. Wish I had never let my curiosity get the best of me, and mostly I wish I had not been focused on myself. It did some damage to my relationship with him, and for a long time he didn’t have a clue what was going on. Thankfully, I finally told him what I’d done, and as only he can do, he laughed and made a joke of it, and told me, “Don’t you know by now that I never cared for anyone but you?” He is so earnest that yes, I know it. I know he’s for real, and yet my early training with seeing how awful people can be still has me applying that jaundiced filter too much. I really do have to take my thoughts captive a lot when wondering where some people are coming from. I hate that I’m so distrustful, but the truth is that I am, and I wonder if the idea that to the pure all things are pure will ever describe me.

Later:

It seems Richard Armitage has already ceased his messages. I guess there was a problem. Damn! I don’t know what happened, but people are such a pain in the ass. No, women are such a pain in the ass. Yeah, men are too, but I can’t even get past all the shit women do to get to an indictment of the men. Why can’t people just enjoy something for what it is instead of nitpicking it to death. Damned selfishness! It causes so many of the world’s problems. Oh, well, that was fun while it lasted, and if I’m in denial about Richard Armitage and he’s not really a nice guy, I’d like to stay there. LOL!

Much Later:

Alright! Richard Armitage is going to be in the next season of Spooks. Yes!!

I really enjoyed that show when Matthew MacFadyen was in it, and then I hated how they wrote him out and haven’t watched it since. I guess I’ll have to break down and watch those episodes before this starts, and I don’t have much time! Maybe I should just skip it. Not sure, but I am really looking forward to Richard Armitage being in the show. He is so fantastic with character development that I can’t wait to see what happens. I just hope they keep him more than a season or a couple of shows. I know how they do these characters, and I hope he’s not a Lisa Faulkner. Oh, please don’t let him be a Lisa Faulkner. Surely, they won’t do that!

Present day:

When I read this comment by Richard Armitage, I was intrigued and wondered what it really meant:

I’m ten years behind, but I’m finally growing into myself now,’ he says.

Read the rest here. I think this is the fourth time I’ve linked to this interview, and I’ll probably link some more. Lots to chew on. :D

If there’s an audio of this interview, wouldn’t it be great to hear it! Wonder when Richard Armitage makes it really big if Allison Pearson would ever post such a thing — edited of course so that nothing uncomfortable is revealed. I’m a big fan of Allison’s and may have to actually write her a note about this. LOL! And no, I don’t agree with everything she’s ever said in an article, but I’ve agreed with a lot. I was so bummed when she left the Daily Mail and with such a downer of an exit, but then I realized she’s at the Telegraph. Yea!

And Allison, if you ever read this, I like your picture at the Telegraph, and I’m glad you’re there.

Diary Part 26 here.

Screencaps courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com and my stash.