I love screencapping! I love making video even more. Now you can go and make your own screencaps! Come back and see me if you’re not sure how.
I love technology!
edit: I’ve added a little better video. To get the most out of it, hit the “share” button and then select “downlowd.” That will, in most cases, pop up the video in another screen. If you merely hit the full screen button, the video will be a bit grainy.
This post is in no way meant to be sacrilegious, but honestly, some things work out so perfectly, you just know God was involved in it.
TheQueen was planning to visit her friend in upstate New York this week, when she learned of the Twitter contest for tickets to the fan event. Almost literally on the way out the door to catch her plane, she tweeted why she wanted to go to the fan event, and when she was in the midst of traveling, she received an email informing her she had won. Not only had she won but won very special guest passes. At least that’s what it sounded like to me when she described it. No waiting in line for her and the friend because she gets to go right in and meet with Warner Bros. PR. So if you see two ladies getting there late but moving right on in the door, don’t throw anything at them. They can’t help it that they’re VIPs. ;-)
And it could not have happened to nicer people. TheQueen and her friend, Heartfelt4-1, who some of you may recognize as a prominent fan fiction writer in the fandom, will be elegant and cool headed and just generally teach the proper decorum when seeing Richard in person. Other than that, I hope they go nuts and take lots of photos!!
The Hobbit event today will give another wave of adoring fans the chance to see Richard Armitage in the flesh for the first time, and I eagerly await their reactions. I always eagerly await a fan’s reaction to seeing Richard for the first time, because no matter the thought of him, the reality is different. Certainly, this is the case with most celebrities, and usually, it means they are not quite as dazzling in real life. They are just people after all.
This is not the case with Richard Armitage. Oh sure, he’s a person with foibles like the rest of us, but also does have that curious blend of grace and brawn we all love as well as a gracious demeanor and gorgeous eyes. And before I was actually confronted with him at no more than a foot away, I was wondering how much of that could be attributed to camera angles, editing of film clips, etc. I’m a skeptic by nature borne out of my many experiences meeting the famous as a child and young adult. Those experiences were never fan driven but rather as a result of my father’s occupation. I have no idea how many celebrities, whether sports heroes or dignitaries or Hollywood types, that I’ve met. It wasn’t unusual for my parents to have the famous at our dinner table, and so I had plenty of time to observe these people in a more natural setting, which taught me very quickly not to be dazzled. People are people, and I still believe that.
But all of the wonderful assets of Richard Armitage are not only present, they may be present exponentially and especially his kindness. I don’t think someone can fake the kindness he exudes. It is palpable, but not an obsequious sort of kindness that seeks to send the tacit message, “Look at how kind I’m being to you.” It’s more a confident, comfortable in his skin kindness that says, “I like people. I like you, and this is a pleasant interlude.” In fact, his serene demeanor is stunning. He is an unflappable individual. Certainly he has his moments of temper out of control, but for the most part, I get the impression he’s a happy individual. Either that or he was on drugs when I saw him. :D
If I had to pick a character whom he most resembles in look and actions, it would be Monet.
And the most shocking thing about seeing him in person? His nose is not prominent. It just looks like a man’s nose and not the distracting proboscis the photos often convey. His nose is beautiful, and he is beautiful, and I rarely use a word like that to describe an individual much less a man.
James Blunt is who I mean
On Twitter with quips so keen
To those watching he leaves no doubt
In exquisite style he puts his detractors to rout
But never so low as to demean (Thank you, James)
Just a few comebacks from the “most hated man in pop”:
Easy spelling mistake as K and L are right beside each other. RT @lizziea1: I want to kick James Blunt… repeatedly… I dont know why
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) October 24, 2013
I'm sorry, but you'll have to get to the back of the queue. RT @Alif_novaldi: Fuck you james blunt
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) October 8, 2013
Damn thing's always getting caught under my feet. RT @laurenlyall: Why does James Blunt sing like his willy is being stood on?
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) October 16, 2013
More here.
James,
I knew you were talented when I listened to Give Me Some Love. Phew. What a song. There are others I love as well, but that’s not the point of this letter.
There is nothing sexier than a guy who is smart. Just don’t ever spoil it by revealing you don’t man your account alone. No, I’m not implying you have help, but if you do, I don’t want to hear about it!
Keep it up, and I’ll see you on the Twitter timeline.
Sincerely,
A crazy fan of some guy named Richard Armitage and you of course.P.S. Certainly I meant it when I said you’re good looking, but then you don’t need someone like me to tell you that. :D
For the Armitage fans, one of the best fan videos around, and if James Blunt (or his people; thinking of Warner Bros. mostly) were to come over here and look at this post, which I doubt but I’m covering my ass anyway, we need to make it clear that we (yes, I’m speaking for all or most of you) incessantly buy the music of these videos we love. *and the crowd all nodded in unison*
James’ new album Moon Landing comes out Tuesday in the U.S
Oh yeah, there’s a bicep:
and a tricep as well as a helluv an extensor. Not even going to mention the deltoid, ’cause, well, it’s covered.
There it is again:
And again:
No, I guess that’s a tricep alone. I can handle it. :D
It’s been awhile since I’ve had a good bout of blatant objectification. Sue me.
And maybe it’s just me, but I actually like the lack of cuts in his arms. It means the strength there is more naturally his and not a pretty boy getting bulked up in the gym. This strength is much more compelling than the well toned, oiled, pecs bigger than most women’s chests kind of guys. It’s also in part why I wrote this post.
Note: new tag ‘bicep’
Since the Thorin audition has been talked about quite extensively, I’m not going to bore you with my full assessment of it. Suffice to say it agrees with much of what I’ve read from several of you with my net assessment being my gushing over Richard Armitage’s talent is justified, and we ain’t seen nothing yet. :D
But all the talk aside, I had to do this for myself.
In the meantime, it’s going to be interesting to see how others come to view him, and it’s hard to think there won’t be a critical mass who see him as quite a force. And if I’m deceived in my thinking, I don’t care. I like his stuff, and that’s enough for me.
Of course I don’t mean that the way it sounds, but sometimes I do. I’m actually thinking of going to New York. In my defense, I have a frequent flyer that I’m going to lose if I don’t use it, and I have two places I can stay. No, make that three, and I have an old friend who owes me an expensive dinner (maybe three or four cheap dinners instead?), and last but not least my two very compelling reasons are there. So yeah, I think that sounds good. Maybe. Still not sure about that.
As if that’s not enough, I recently bought another copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was the hard copy of the Extended Edition. That makes four different formats I will own. Not kidding when I say that I have never bought four copies of a movie. Wait. That’s a lie. I’ve bought six copies of a movie. Want to guess which one? Yeah, I didn’t think you would have trouble with that. But I must say that three of those were gifts. Wait. No, I’ve actually bought more than six. I bought, dare I say it? I’m not sure that I can. This is tough to write as it really does make me a nut! But I’ll confess to having bought almost 20 copies of North and South.
I feel like an utter idiot if I really step back and think about that. Again, in my defense, I found a really good sale. Then I decided to send several copies to a list of folk I do not know along with letters that were hopefully humorous but sans the fruitcake. We’ll see how that turns out. ;-)
I told the addressees that Richard is something else and not to be put off by the pitiful looking photo on the DVD jacket, and I slipped in a secret weapon to ensure they knew I wasn’t exaggerating.
And if they don’t agree that it’s a secret weapon, then Richard’s not for them anyway. :D
note: if you want more scenes like those, then go buy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition on iTunes. You may have to wait a freaking day to download it, but hey, it’s worth it. I even took down my firewall for this one.
Richard,
See what you can even manage to leverage out of a cheap skate?
Signed,
Oh never mind, you already know I’m crazy
My power to resist temptation is under severe attack with Sir Peter’s bombshell about Desolation of Smaug. My ability to stay away from spoilers is certainly being destroyed, and I’ve been so good this year! But I have two very compelling reasons to make a foray into New York City, which has had me longing to go there anyway, and if I were to get lucky and be able to attend the live event on November 4th, well, that would just be icing. Who could turn that down? :D
Now we just need some details of how and where to attend this shindig.
Dear Sir Peter,
I look forward to hearing more information about this event — like how someone actually attends!
Also, I’ve been meaning to write to you about the Desolation of Smaug premiere. Let me be plain. We need details, Man. First up, is this event on November 4th the premiere? Or is the premiere going to be near Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), or maybe the same day as the wide release? Man, you are killing us with the suspense. Seriously! I thought you were going to spring something on us several days ago (like maybe during Comic-Con in NY), and even that would have been late in the game!
Okay, I’m not nearly as upset as I sound. :D I know you hate it when the fans will not be patient and let themselves be surprised. I get that frustration, but man, we’ve been patient. Don’t you think you’re carrying the suspense a bit too far?! Okay, okay, I’m really not that upset, really, but could you throw us all a few more crumbs about this “live event” so we have some clue how to plan?
Signed,
One of Richard’s crazy fansP.S. Thank you for putting Richard Armitage in New York! Yes! Yes! Yes!
For further details on the November 4th fan event, be watching these spots: The Hobbit Movie’s official website, Twitter, Facebook.
edit: I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. LOL! Okay, so my timing was off, but I had a feeling TheOneRing was somehow going to be involved in something big that was coming. They’re giving away tickets here. Thanks to Servetus for the heads up.
Why do I think they are not the only ones giving these tickets away? Stay tuned.
note to TheQueen, do you have your suitcase ready? :D
I just did it, and honestly, I’m hoping I win this for my 13 year old. She is the kind of child who will treat a book like this gently, and yes, she’s a Richard Armitage fan. She’s just bummed Lee Pace didn’t sign it. :D
For details, check out TheOneRing’s piece.
A pivotal event is about to happen, and it comes none too soon. In fact, it’s several years late, but I’ll take it and hopefully it will lead to some relief of the frustration I vented earlier about the slow distribution of shows to other countries than their origin, and how this facilitated piracy, but it didn’t have to be that way. The Walking Dead wil be making global distribution of the new season within 24 hours of its release in the U.S.
“The Walking Dead” wakes up and fights piracy by releasing global versions earlier
By Jason Lynch
Jason Lynch is the former television editor at People magazine.
In the coming days, zombies are going to take over the world. Again.
On Sunday, the horror series The Walking Dead kicks off its fourth season on AMC, and its premiere episode is packed with stomach-churning gore, nail-biting suspense and of course, zombies galore. It’s a brutal, bloody show that is seemingly not for everyone—except that everyone seems to be watching. In March, the third season finale drew its largest audience ever, with 12.4 million viewers tuning in, and if the show’s viewing trends continue, Sunday’s ratings should be even higher.
But US audiences won’t be the only ones getting their zombie fix. Within 24 hours of its US premiere, international viewers in more than 125 different countries will be able to watch as well... read the rest here
Yippee! No, I’m not a watcher of The Walking Dead, but this is huge! May other producers be so overcome that they follow suit like lemmings. Are you hearing this, BBC?
Some of you may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? For years we’ve been watching shows from other countries shortly after their release.” Yeah, I know, but you weren’t accessing them through legal means, and if you were, it was usually with quite a delay in watching, and many shows were not dubbed into other languages. So this is new, and more important a sign that the networks are waking up to the fact that not only do viewers not want to wait for their tv, but they won’t!*
*Last year a new show called Touch had a simultaneous global release, so The Walking Dead is not breaking entirely new ground but rather will receive more attention for this phenomenon, and that’s a good thing!
Note: I’m debating about putting the Richard Armitage tag on this one. I’m not entirely sure that he’s going back to tv, but he’s the one who got me interested in watching tv again, and I have wondered why HBO Game of Thrones is following me when I have never written about that show. Interesting. Yeah, this is getting the tag. :D
On a related note: if you’re smart, and I assume all of you who read this blog are smart :D, and you like to invest in the stock market, I hope you are doing research on the revolution about to happen with Google TV and Apple TV. Many of you folks in Kansas City know what I’m talkin’ about.
Okay, I feel another tangent coming on, so I’ll stop that line of thought.
RAFrenzy 
