I Knew I Liked You, Rich

Okay, I admit my last post title was blah, so I thought I would soup it up for this one. Yeah, this one isn’t that great either, but hey, I’m just now jumping into blogging again. I need some time.

No two photos have ever made me like Richard Armitage more than these two. I knew he had a BS detector, and these scream confirmation. And yes, I’m a dog person too. I guess that was obvious. :D

Richard_Armitage_likes_Dogs
Richard_Armitage_bloody_cats

If I were really brave, I would add captions. I’m off to run an errand, and somewhere between now and when I return, I may gain more of a spine.

Oh, and for the record, I have not been through nine kinds of hell. Seven maybe but not nine.

Should I even put a link to the interview? Surely anyone reading this blog has read that thing and then some.

For posterity.

Green Becomes You, Baby

I’m caving into my lame gene. That’s where I come with all manner of assinine titles because these pictures strike me dumb. Just don’t count on any Latin when I’m in this frame of mind. Oh, you weren’t counting on any Latin anyway? Okay, good. Just checkin’. :D

ThorininGreen
[oh yeah, click to enlarge]

See my last post for more of this.

Once again, lifted from Thorin of Erebor

The Three Thorins

It took Eight Elvises to generate a buzz and that from those who are rabidly into art. Three Thorins is an overload, and when I look at them, I don’t give a rat’s ass about art. :D

TheThreeThorins

Screencap courtesy of the wonderful Thorin of Erebor.

No Hobbit at Comic-Con 2013

Just announced on Peter Jackson’s latest vlog here that the cast will not be at Comic-Con 2013.

One of the main reasons, they’re busy getting ready for the Battle of the Five Armies:

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A big bummer. However, if you are already going to Comic-Con, and it’s your first time, there is so much more there to see than Peter Jackson and The Hobbit cast.

edit:

The new video log in HD:

Pardon Me But, WTF?

This below appeared in my reader last night, and made me shift into overdrive on all sorts of notions about Richard Armitage and his involvement with The Hobbit. LOL!

LOTRO, Movies, MPAA Rate An Extended Version Of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit — June 12, 2013 at 14:30

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have just rated an extended cut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Thanks to Melonfarmers for spotting this). This will not come as a major surprise to anyone, as details of this longer version were confirmed by Peter Jackson himself in an interview with Ain’t It Cool last year. What is interesting are the specifics details of the rating, which remains PG-13 for this longer version.

“ Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, frightening images and fleeting nudity”.

Fleeting nudity? That’s curious, to say the least. Exactly who is going to be naked and under what circumstances?

Plot_relevance_with_Peter_Jackson

source

Who is going to be naked?

Now there’s a question.

I thought perhaps I was seeing things, but then I got up this morning, and TORn had a piece in my in-box.

Talk amongst yourself, but I would love to hear your speculation and I can see some of you feverishly clicking on your Photoshop. :D

Note to self: consider creating a WTF category

Dear Sir Peter, Again


Dear Sir Peter,

I’m not going to cop to how many times I’ve watched this new trailer for The Desolation of Smaug, but sufficient to say you have once again sucked me into this Hobbit madness. Hell, man, I wasn’t even paying that much attention to Richard Armitage (no offense, Richard). That’s how serious this is. My latent Ringer doesn’t want to be so latent anymore.

Desolation_of_Smaug_Trailer_screencap

But the dirty secret of my Ringer is I like that you’ve injected something more into Tolkien’s story, because now I have no real clue what exactly is going to happen in the second movie!!!! Yes, I know there’s a confrontation with a dragon, but the somewhat unknown elements that you’ve either taken from other writings or just made them up, gives me a sense this might be a better movie than the first. Hopefully we can keep it this way. So no more dragon. That was almost too much. I don’t want to see anymore of Smaug until December and especially don’t want to hear him. And please, please, please no spoilers on the romance between Kili and Tauriel. Otherwise, I’ll have to make good on my promise.

That’s all for now, and I hope you know it’s my Ringer who is so demanding. As for myself, I could care less as long as you keep the Richard pics coming. :D

Thank you so much for listening.

Signed,
One of Richard’s crazy fans who is almost afraid to get her second wind on all things Hobbit

P.S. Since I’m being so candid, yeah, I did look at Richard a little.


Richard_Armitage_Desolation_of_Smaug_Trailer_4a

Here We Go Again — The Desolation of Smaug Trailer

Excellent!

And there was no dragon. Love it! Okay, there wasn’t enough dragon to really be a major spoiler.

And of course, our guy, and be sure to click to enlarge. :D

Richard_Armitage_Desolation _of_Smaug_Trailer

Richard_Armitage_Desolation_of_Smaug_Trailer 2

Richard_Armitage_Desolation_of_Smaug_Trailer 3

and some Lee Pace :D

Lee_Pace_Desolation_of_Smaug_Trailer

See it on The Hobbit FB page here

Or you can see it here to easily screencap to your heart’s content:

That was too much fun and a real challenge to my need to stay away from spoilers.

edit: aspect ratio has been corrected on the video, i.e., letterbox markings (black bars) are gone.

Where Do I Start?

PopcornTaxiRichardArmitage1

As usual, Richard Armitage’s appearances have gone from such a sparsity to so much to gorge on I feel I have an eating disorder. No, I’m not making light of eating disorders. But seriously now, this feast and famine thing is enough to create an unhealthy appetite. :D At one point the dearth of appearances had me thinking like the proverbial buzzard. And now, I fear I may get sick. But of course that’s never stopped me.

Oh, you read my words about refraining from indulging in more info about the Hobbit movies, and you believed them? I might be able to pull it off (if you believe that, we need to talk more as I have a bridge for sale), but the Hobbit info is not synonymous with Richard Armitage. You thought it was?! You have to be new! Oh my, no way is he just about The Hobbit. Great as that is, may I say I’m glad he has many more performances to recommend him than Thorin Oakenshield. And if you have not seen North and South, do it now! Your inner, misunderstood beauty will thank me. :D

But even if he is just about the Hobbit in this last round of interviews, fans have plenty to savor. Richard still seems to be his intensely charming yet down-to-earth self, who keeps pulling some of us back into his world. As one fan put it to me, “Damn! He’s done it again. I thought I was over this Richard Armitage infatuation, but it’s back in full bloom.” For that person, it was very much about his ability to stay humble and sincere in the face of such great admiration. I’m not sure exactly how he maintains his character, but I can speculate, which if you haven’t been on this blog much is what I sometimes do here and many times in a snarky fashion. Occasionally, I’m serious because Richard deserves it. Today, I’m not quite sure what I’m going to be. Whatever the case, I am certainly feeling a great need to lay on some cheap psychoanalysis of what I’m seeing.

There has to be something that made such an impression on Richard Armitage that he can never shake it as part of his identity. Probably done in childhood as it is with most of us and consisting of those unpleasant experiences that occur which make us believe something negative about ourselves, and we seldom get past it no matter how many positive experiences may come behind it. Too often this kind of molding creates a liability in us which we drag around, but occasionally, someone lets the liability work for them in a healthy way. Since Richard has talked quite a bit about balancing his life, I’d like to think that’s what happened to him. That despite adulation, and many times deserved, his experience can never let him fully accept how we all see him — meaning very handsome, very intelligent and welcome at anyone’s table — and therefore he is able to keep arrogance at bay.

PopcorneTaxiRichardArmitage2

He still retains a bit of gawkiness that most likely occurred when he attained his full height at 14, and he may not realize it just makes him more attractive because it makes him personable. Phew! that combination of looks, brains and being accessible as a human being?! That will pull many a woman (and no doubt some men) into his charm — whether he wants to pull them or not. And of course he has some awareness of this, but the real question is how aware? Yep, that’s the question, baby cakes. Does he pull out the charm when it suits him? Or is he really just being himself? I think he has some ice breakers he relies on, but for the most part, I don’t think someone can fake his kind of earnestness this long.

What I find so refreshing is not just that he can maintain this demeanor, but also that so many appreciate it. That makes this last round of interviews in Australia truly glorious. People really do appreciate his character, and that makes me have such a great feeling about my fellow man and woman. :D

Dear Richard,

You have found the most successful way to combat objectification — people taking you seriously as a person and not just relegating you to a dream lover although I must admit that if someone wants a dream lover, you’re a good one. LOL!

No, I’m not saying you’ve been my dream lover, but I’m not blind and can see you would make a good one, and those women who aspire to someone with your character have good sense as well as good taste.

Okay, enough of that. I just want to say that my jaded self really does appreciate your graciousness to the public. May you never lose whatever it is that allows you this ability.

Maybe staying out the public eye between these interview gigs does help? Yeah, I’m cutting you a break on the feast or famine cycle.

Signed,
One of your crazy fans who is definitely sane enough to appreciate a man who is gallant.

Hopefully up next is the post that I’ve had from the beginning of this blog. I have edited that thing so many times, well, it’s embarrassing. So the other day I went back to the original, and I think it’s almost where I want it now.

Candid photos courtesy of Popcorn Taxi.

Getting Enough Thorin

SPOILERS

thorin[click to enlarge for a sweet screencap :D]

With the advent of Thorin Oakenshield, there are some new Richard Armitage fans. Ohmygosh. I’ve had email and messages aplenty of people looking for his works. They are smitten, and of course I can empathize. After five years of being a fan and three years of blogging about the man, I am still smitten by something about him, and the Why Richard? question is continually near my lips when I encounter new fans. But lately I’ve been asking the question of those fans who have been around awhile, so recently, I asked Heather and love her response:

His face tells a story, and I respect that he applies artistry to achieve this. As someone who makes it a business to convey messages with pictures, I was immediately drawn to that, and it’s such a pleasure to highlight it and in some ways make it richer in a fan video.

If you have not seen Heather’s videos, you need to do yourself a favor and check them out. As for me, I am so glad she chose that medium for expressing her infatuation of Richard Armitage’s talent, since that’s how I even came to know anything about him, and many others have found him the same way. Her videos have become so notable that they have been mentioned a few times in articles about him, but ironically, her most notable fan video is one of her least favorite. It was done as a joke, but she never thought the joke would be on Richard Armitage, who has been teased about it on occasion, most recently in a Glamour UK article, which I had to razz her about. She was mortified too, and said, “Oh God! If I could, I would say to Richard Armitage, ‘I’m so sorry! I was just kidding, but I never meant to embarrass you!'” Oh yeah, right, I know you’re really on his payroll, Heather. ;-)

And I absolutely have to do this whether anyone ever sees it or not ’cause I’m still not going to write a real letter to Richard Armitage LOL!

Dear Richard:

When I read the Glamour article, I wanted to scream what I’m about to say, but I’ve subdued myself. It’s taken me all these months to do so, but I think I’m finally ready to say this to you in a normal tone. Ahem.

You said you weren’t sure what to call those people. They’re called PR people. :D Yep, and the best kind of PR people because they want nothing from you when they express their fan love, if you will.

And I hope you know that Heather has many more videos besides Sexy Back, which is not even close to her best. Maybe you’ll check them all out sometime. In the meantime, a treat:

And if you can’t see this where you are, go here.

Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans who hopes you are glad for the opportunity to blush and be mortified. :D

Since the video is so big, please let the video load completely before playing, or you will probably have it stopping and starting. It also helps if your flash player is up-to-date, and for the one on my site, you should hav Quicktime up-to-date.

note: I’m counting this post as an April A to Z post even though I skipped B through F. So yeah, this is G as well as another post in the Why Richard? series. Man, I love killing two birds. :D

Screencap courtesy of my stash, and making screencaps has never been so sweet with blu ray.

This is Huge!!!

I just read at TORn that Disney is acquiring Middle Earth Enterprises. Someone pinch me because I can’t knock this grin off my face. Do you know what this means?!! Yeah, lots of lovely films for Peter Jackson and the Tolkien stories. All of you people who have been pushing for such things as the Silmarillion to be filmed or included in Jackson’s offerings (waves hand vigorously as part of that crowd), I think we all just died and went to heaven. No more legal wrangling holding things up!! Parties successfully taking Disney to court? Not happening.

And now Return to Middle Earth will be released in 2016? Man, I am high. Seriously, and I have to say something to our man, Peter Jackson.

pj-glasses

Sir Peter,

No need to wear those glasses. I dig you the way you are, baby, and the critics be damned. Just stay on good terms with Philippa at the new company.

I guess if she wants you to wear glasses, then do it! Phew! you should be able to do anything you want!!!

Signed,
One of Richard’s crazy fans A Ringer!

Read TORn’s post here.