Will Richard III be Identified on Monday?

It’s been a Richard III kind of day. A kind of week really, and now could Monday be the day we find out if it was really the King’s body under the public housing parking lot?

Philippa Langley was all over the place. Now she’s in The Sunday Times, and the teaser posed by the Times has me paying close attention (emphasis mine):

I had a hunch: The true story of the hunt for Richard III

An eerie feeling convinced Philippa Langley she had found the lost king. Tomorrow we will see if she was right

by Sian Griffiths Published: 3 February 2013

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The story of the search for the long-lost bones of one of England’s most reviled kings starts on a sweltering summer day when Philippa Langley felt a sudden chill. Langley, a screenwriter, was researching a play about Richard III — Shakespeare’s dastardly hunchback — a figure who had fascinated her since childhood. To stimulate her creative juices she paid a visit to Leicester “to walk the area where he was supposed to have been buried”.

Read more here, but not much unless you have a subscription to the Times.

I’ll cut to the case if you don’t want to bother with a Times subscription, you can watch the special on Channel 4 on Monday, 9pm GMT. I know I’m going to watch it albeit at 2pm in the afternoon.

More unvarnished thoughts about all of this. I could be so wrong, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Ms. Langley is one ballsy lady. She is going for it. This is going to be fun to watch. No, I’m not sadistic. I honestly want to see if her chutzpah pulls off getting this movie made. I guess you always have to have chutzpah to get a movie made, but again, what the hell do I know? Nothing. LOL!

And I can’t help but continue to wonder where is Richard Armitage and why the hesitance from his agent? That just won’t leave my mind when I would like nothing better than to start gushing about this. C’mon, Richard.

Damn. I hate it when my sane self tries to ruin my fun.

How ’bout a fun picture instead?

richardIImanip

In honor of all of this Richard III news, I’ve finally given the King his own category. :D

Photo manipulation courtesy of @maraiad

February 2, 2013
Categories: Interviews, Movies, Richard III . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 12 Comments

Dear Richard

Richard-III

Dear Richard:

I just read an article about your being cast as Richard III, and the look on my face is a lot like that of the King’s above — thoughtful with a little thread of perplexity. Earlier I had read CNN’s piece with quotes from Ms. Langley, and her statements about your involvement gave me some pause. I so want to jump on the bandwagon but admit to being the suspicious kind. I just feel funny about this, and especially when I consider the ‘Charlie’ debacle. Of course that didn’t involve CNN or a Scottish newspaper, but I can’t get ’round the very non-committal tone of your agent. Maybe I’m hesitant for no good reason.

Signed,
One of your crazy fans who hates being cynical, but I can’t seem to help myself.

P.S. I look forward to whatever you may be doing in future.

This is just me sharing my unvarnished thoughts about this. It will be wonderful if this is true, but I hope someone hasn’t jumped the gun by mentioning it now. Then again what do I know about promoting a possible film? Yes, you guessed it, nothing. LOL!

February 2, 2013
Categories: Interviews, Movies . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

Can’t Hold Back

No Richard Armitage in this, but I am bursting with joy over what’s going on at the Frenz household. SO and I are beside ourselves. Son, who was able to get the first two years of his college paid for, is about to score a scholarship to pay for the last two years. He has three schools in particular competing to give him the most money, and they are strong in the subject that interests him, math. We talked about his options over the Christmas break and knew he was working on this, but we didn’t know how good it was going to be until one of the coaches called SO and I last night in an attempt to sway Son.

I cannot believe this is happening, but when I think about what this boy has done, it makes sense. He has busted his backside for years, and it’s paying off. He was a several time state winner and record holder in high school, has been an All American long distance runner at the college level for his first two years as well as being an Academic All-American due to keeping his GPA at 3.75 or better. If he can hold that GPA, he is going to be in the running for Phi Beta Kappa. Did I really just type Phi Beta Kappa?! And this was the boy who said he could not do as well as his older sisters. They do still have him beat on GPA (one has a 3.8 and one has a 3.9), but they have not had his obstacles with dyslexia nor taken on the kind of slavish athletic schedule he committed to back when he was a sophomore in high school. Oh, they have their successes as well, and sometime I may go off on another tangent and brag about them (in fact, count on it.), but today, I had to say something about my son.

Now for the best part. He’s still a sweethearted kid. He has always been sensitive to the underdog, and has never been haughty about his achievements. May he never lose that! And I give him the utmost respect for this because I know it hasn’t been easy in the face of all the adulation he’s received from peers, teachers, coaches, employers and frankly, the almost godlike treatment he’s received in our little town. Most everyone here has let him know on many, many occasions how great they think he is, and I’m proud of the fact he continues to see himself as just a person, ’cause he is. LOL! And when I go to bed at night and start reviewing what is going on with my children, I know the Lord let my son’s “disability” into his life for a good reason — to be the making of him.

The athlete at work:

scramble

This photo is from high school and was edited by bccmee (I really appreciate that), so it could be hung in the trophy case at school along with his stats and his shoes.

January 30, 2013
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 28 Comments

Do You Need a Grin?

This was going to be a Valentine’s post, but I can’t hold back any longer!

Tom Jones never fails to put me in a good mood even if I’m determined to fight it. I challenge you to listen to these songs and not end up with a silly grin on your face. I could just put up the videos of his live performances and make you go beyond grinning to laughing out loud, but this isn’t about Tom’s gyrations. It’s about the very hopeful sound of these tunes and lyrics.

Some trivia about this song: it’s in the opening credits of Shakespeare Retold: Much Ado About Nothing*, which is part of the DVD set that includes the version of Macbeth with James McAvoy and Richard Armitage.

Okay, this one is super sexist and dated, but hey, I’m still smiling:

Come to think of it, most of these are sexist and dated. LOL!

Some more trivia: I saw What’s New Pussycat? in the movie theater when I was a kid. This was the first time I heard that Tom Jones (ne: Thomas John Woodward) was a distant relative. I cannot remember how. Need to ask Mom sometime. It’s only been 30+ years since we talked about it. Yes, I’m admitting how very old I am. LOL!

Last but certainly not least:

Does Richard Armitage like Tom Jones’ music? I don’t know, but I imagine him grinning when he hears it whether he likes it or not. :D

Yeah, I know you wanna laugh, Rich:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Portraits
“Oh, I want to, Frenz, but I’m supposed to be serious now.”

Yeah, sure you are.

*My favorite story on that DVD set. If you haven’t watched Shakespeare Retold, run and get it!

Photo still courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

January 29, 2013
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Musicilove . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

Words of Encouragement Never Get Old

I was reading a blog that has become one of my favorites on writing and wanted to share:

Never give up on your dreams by Cristian Mihai

unicorn_hippo_treadmill

One of my favorite quotes goes like this: ”Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

Ambrose Redmon said that.

Fear is an impulse, or like the tattoo on my arm says, “Fear is the mind killer.” Frank Herbert said that. In Dune. So you can’t stop being afraid, but you can fight fear, you can control it.
I don’t think I ever told you how I became a writer. Or if I did, it was long ago.

When I was a kid, I didn’t really like to read or write. Of course, I made up stories. My father had brought me this Atlas of the World, and I found about this city in the US called Seattle. And I thought, “What a great name.” I didn’t know how it should be pronounced, so I pronounced it seetle or something like that.

Read the rest here

And thank you to all of you who responded to my question in the last post. I did not expect encouragement, but I thank you very much for it!

January 29, 2013
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 2 Comments

A Question to Readers

This blog is now almost three years old, and there is so much I have posted about and seen in the process that I sometimes forget some of you haven’t seen the same things. In that interest, I have a question for you. Should I post more pictures or is my writing enough? Okay, that’s a tough question since to answer you may feel you’re insulting me. But I’m fairly thick-skinned and can handle constructive criticism. So let me know what you think. Just know that I don’t want this place to become mostly a picture gallery (you can go to tumblr or Pinterest for that LOL!) although I do love me some pictures of Richard Armitage. :D

faultmag13
Richard, Fault Magazine, January 2013 (as always, click for a larger format)

Photo courtesy of RichardArmitageCentral

January 27, 2013
Categories: Housekeeping . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 27 Comments

This is Fantastic

To make the connection to Richard Armitage, please use your imagination, and when you see what has been done, it won’t be hard.

Maddie Brindley has made a miniature of Bag End:

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An explanation and more views are here, and you will be sorry if you don’t look at the wonderful detail.

Thanks to Eagle-Eyed Editor for this find!

And I realize it was done in 2010, but I’ve been immersed in so much Tolkien memorabilia, that I flat missed this wonderful work and think some of you may have as well.

January 27, 2013
Categories: Fandom, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 8 Comments

I Really Did Have a Richard Armitage Dream

And now for something weird.

The other night I slept 16 hours when normally I sleep six at most. This may account for Richard showing up in my dreams for the first time.

I was sitting in the back of a large, black SUV and a man was sitting beside me. We were both dressed in black slacks and black turtle neck sweaters and talking about some project we were working on. No specifics on that; just that we were making preparations to continue with it. A few moments later someone walked up to my side of the vehicle, and I partially rolled down the window to see who it was. It was Richard Armitage, and he was also dressed all in black with some sort of black cap on his head. He peered into the window and said very slowly, “There you are.” Then he pulled a black ski mask over his face and just stared at me through the eye slits for an inordinately long time. Eventually I looked straight ahead and said, “You’re unnerving me.”

Then it was onto the next dream where I was a prisoner in a concentration camp and there was lice all around. I woke up with an itchy scalp.

Let the psychoanalysis begin. :D

January 26, 2013
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 12 Comments

Bringing a Smile

Janine Pineo recently came into the midst of the Richard Armitage fans, and what a ray of sunshine she is. A hackneyed phrase? Sometimes. But never when it fits. Janine’s wit is readily evident. That sharp mind turning and making your eyes open up in its wake and then leaving you with a smile. That’s what I love about Janine, and now her project to send Richard Armitage a thank you is complete and on its way to him which I’m confident will leave him with a smile too. And a huge thank you to her friend Lanie for her part in inspiring this!

'the hobbit - an unexpected journey' world film premiere, wellington, new zealand - 28 nov 2012, ,
Richard at The Hobbit Premiere in Wellington, November 2012

edit: I was not paid to post this. :D

January 26, 2013
Categories: Fandom, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 13 Comments

Tangent: An Interesting Development

This shouldn’t be called a tangent as it has absolutely no relationship to Richard Armitage other than the fact it’s loosely about the economy and what that may portend for spending power on the pursuit of entertainment. Having said that, I was entertained by the implication that a significnt number of us (U.S. citizens) have gotten over the TARP situation (aka the Bank Bailout). That is news to me and the reason I chuckled as I read. But after the initial mirth at this wrongheaded thinking, I felt an ire and a question building in me which usually happens whenever I think of TARP. Am I in the minority on thinking that Wall Street and Washington ran their hands in our back pockets and in some cases our front ones?

Man Who Helped Saved America From Financial Armageddon Is Running For Office

kaskariNeel Kashkari, one of the main operatives of the bank rescue TARP (and therefore one of the men who helped save America from financial Armageddon) is leaving PIMCO, and running for office, according to Dealbook.

It’s not clear what office he’ll run for, except that it will be in California, and it will be as a Republican.

Frankly, if someone at the heart of TARP can entertain a run for office without being totally laughed out of the room, that tells you a lot about how America has gotten over the crisis.

He has a website set up discussing some of his background.

Read more

I’m not sure what to think at this point except that I believe we were screwed over, and no, I’m not part of the Occupy movement. That smacks too much of a puppet master at work seizing on the anger of the masses. No thanks.

Gone to read Kashkari’s website.

edit:

The Frenz fix in lieu of TARP would have been to give every adult citizen a hundred thousand dollars. This would have been a lot cheaper, would have definitely made the economy robust, and we sure as hell would have easily seen where the money went!

January 24, 2013
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

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