Having a Little Trouble Here

January 31, 2012


This is where I spent a chunk of the day, and it was very productive. Many questions were answered, and SO and I left this place with a wonderful sense of peace. Part of me wanted to post something more about the experience, but I found it too big to confine to this post or this blog, so I’m skipping it.

My fallback plan was to run with one of the many posts I have in draft (upwards of 300 pieces of writing), but as I was scanning them, nothing really jumped at me. Looking for inspiration, I made the supreme mistake of reading Servetus’ latest series. Oh, I’m not down on the series but rather my timing. How foolish to think I could read those posts and write a response by the seat of my pants. 3,000 to 4,000 words later, I called it quits for the night and came here to at least write something to keep in step with my commitment to Project 365.

Who knows when I’ll finish my thoughts on John Thornton, and who he thinks he is, but for now, I’m tired and going to bed. Night all.

January 31, 2012
Categories: North and South, SO . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 1 Comment

The Truth is Out

Dear Richard,

You love food and I love food. Oh, heck, we’re both eaters like Nigella (yeah, I know it was the chunk of chocolate cake that had you salivating), but well, I just need to talk about food because really that’s what I want to talk about! And the truth is every time I talk about it, I get all sorts of attention, and man, I need lots of attention — especially about food. Why didn’t I realize that is what I need to soothe my savage breast? See even my metaphors are about food. I was thinking about egg fried rice with chicken breast when I said that. And I’m so relieved I can talk so freely about this since the web already knows.

It all started with the cookedturkey.jpeg. Google knew I had a thing for it, and was so kind to make that the top image for cooked turkey, and it brought me loads of people to read about you! Karma, baby, karma. How do I know? You let something slip in your last message to the fans. And now I know, and of course Google knows you put those dumbbells down and ate some turkey!

As if that weren’t grand enough, this morning WordPress has me featured in their food topic which used yesterday’s piece. I sort of reblogged a recipe from Warm Vanilla Sugar, who’s probably getting some odd traffic about now. But I’m glad. It’s an excellent site, and I should know since I’ve spent a lot of time there. You need to make a visit.

As long as I’m revealing all my secrets, I might as well confess this is my favorite picture of you:


[click for something extra]

When you bit into that sausage, I became a fan for life! I AM NOT kidding about this. And you made that sausage look so good. Every time I think about it, I have to eat some. The first time I saw ‘Sparkhouse’, I did my usual with your work and watched it several more times. SO finally said after a couple of weeks, “You know I love bratwurst, but could we have a break for a few weeks?” Oh, you don’t know SO? Let’s keep it that way. He’s not as into food as you and I. Although if the subject of barbeque comes up, don’t even bother bringing it up. He is particular about his bbq.

Oh, I’m loving this, and now that my secret is out (that this is really a food blog), I will be writing about food and you much more often.

Signed,
unnuvvoorcwazyfans (Phew! That Johnsonville was good! )

P.S. I know Peter Jackson is right there with us on this. Good times. Good times.

You can thank WordPress and this snark facilitator and foodie for the post.

Screencap is mine

Note to fellow bloggers: the food tag is powerful.

January 30, 2012
Categories: SO, Sparkhouse . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

In the Nick of Time

For those who don’t know it, I’m participating in Project 365 this year, and for the most part, it’s been fairly easy. But today was a killer. The mistake was not scheduling my post. I knew I was going to be away for most of the day with the possibility of not getting near a computer. I started to blog from my phone, but that’s a pain. I would say it’s a bitch, but that wouldn’t be classy, and this blog does strive to be classy a little bit, and I’m in need of some couth right now.

I’ve spent the day with the middle school girls’ basketball team. I was their bus driver. Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment, but really, it’s because I have a middle school basketball player, and this is an easy way for me to get to her games. Seriously, I do enjoy the kids, and middle school girls love to sing on the bus, which makes it even more interesting. Tonight’s playlist:

I like some of these songs, but four hours of this (two there and two back)? I couldn’t get home fast enough and glad to be here typing. Sorry no Richard Armitage. Maybe tomorrow. :D

January 26, 2012
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 8 Comments

One more nod to Matt, and this one is for all of you Apple bigots. It's also a fitting post for the Chinese New Year.

Matthew Eilar's avatarhammer & jack

EDIT: This American Life has retracted the episode after Mike Daisey was found to have fabricated some of the information he presented in the episode. Links to clarifying information and my take here.

If anybody didn’t catch last week’s episode of This American Life, “Mr. Daisey and the Factory,” you should listen to it right away. The episode is an hourlong excerpt of Mike Daisey’s one man show, The Agony and the Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, a timely monologue about Steve Jobs and the working conditions in the factories in China that make most of the world’s electronics, from iPhones to Xboxes.

One thing that I was thinking about while I was listening to the episode was what it means, in this day and age, to be a prophet. Because Mike Daisey sounds like a prophet. I think we have a confused concept of what a…

View original post 521 more words

January 23, 2012
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 11 Comments

Have You Read Matt Yet?

Hmmm, two pieces in a row with a question in the title. I need more coffee. That little bean is the source of about half my clever thoughts. The other half is from reading people who take me on a journey and make me consider or reconsider. One of them is Matt. Originally, I read his blog to hear his thoughts about music, and I’ve stayed to learn much more. Over the two years I’ve been reading, Matthew has been evolving as a writer and thinker, and usually posts something fascinating. The piece today highlights beautiful explanations, and is the perfect piece for me to bring to your attention since I often think of Matt’s blog pieces with that description.

Hope you check him out. And believe it or not, most of my favorite websites have nothing to do with Richard Armitage although I would imagine he would like Matt too.

Note: never saw Matt before I started reading his blog. Just giving credit where it’s due. :D

January 23, 2012
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 1 Comment

Widows on the Web

One of the ways I’ve connected to other Richard Armitage fans is through their fan fiction, and when I stumbled onto the GuyxMarian community at Livejournal in late 2008, a new addiction was born. :D I found a treasure trove of stories to keep me well occupied with the continuing saga of Guy and Marian, and the first Gisborne fiction I read was by Spikesbint (some of you may know her as Angelfish69 or the Admin of Armitage Daily or simply Angela). Little did I know how high she would set the bar with “Prisoners of Circumstance.” It is a tightly written story that resolves GxM in a way that left such a warm feeling when I first read it. Still feeling it after three plus years. LOL! But it was a story that became even more satisfying because it’s complete. Thank you, Angela.

Another one I read early on was “Fallout”*. Bookishy, the author, has done a great job capturing the Guy and Marian characters and potentially making them something else, and I would love to see how she develops them further, but the piece remains incomplete. It has not been updated since 2009. Maybe her imagination got distracted by something. I do give her credit for that possibly being the case. But dammit! I want the ending of that story, and I hope she’ll come back and take mercy on all of us and finish it. I’ve been waiting to say that for almost three years! :D

I wish “Fallout” were the only story left dangling or at least one of just a few fan fictions that remain unfinished, but there are many stories waiting for an ending. That frustrates me, and I’m not alone. A couple of years ago a friend of mine, who is also a fan fiction writer, posted her frustration about it on IMDb. I told her when I was starting this blog that I was going to save what she wrote and post it at some point. She was fine with that, and I’m not only posting it, but making it a permanent page on my blog. Not because I have an ax to grind with fan fiction authors. Not at all. I’ve loved witnessing people trying their hands at writing and have marveled at the imaginations and abilities of many of you. In fact, your efforts were part of the impetus for this blog. Which brings me to the real point of this piece.

I do not want my Diary of an RA Fan to be a widow on the web — something that starts but eventually goes nowhere. At one point in the life of this blog, I was thinking about scrapping my diary entries as they are not really conducive to publication and have to be heavily edited. I’ve pondered for a long time about finishing, and several of you have counseled me about that and several of you have sent me notes asking me for more entries. I thank all of you for your input. I started and I’m going to finish! But I need the fan fiction page to keep me focused.

As to fan fiction, I plan to say a lot more about it this year. In the meantime, some words of wisdom from broughps.

Graphic by Angela.

January 22, 2012
Categories: Fandom, Robin Hood . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

Encounters of the Misty Kind

It has to be apparent I love technology and have a special fondness for the Web. But it’s not just because it feeds this info junkie’s habit, it’s also for the people I’ve met. From the first time I participated in a bulletin board using 80 byte files that were appended and all in lovely monochrome display, I’ve been hooked on communicating with people who had a shared interest and wanted to talk about it, to offer some knowledge or glean some knowledge from others. For those who have never participated in something like that, they usually don’t get it. They usually don’t understand that it’s possible to form relationships where you are edified by others whom you never see or hear. I do hate that I can’t hear your voices, and that’s the chief reason I wanted to do voice as my subject for last year’s FanstRAvaganza. I’m deeply affected by what I hear. Much more than by what I see.

But even if I have never heard your voice, I am affected by what many of you have typed into your keyboards, and I’ve come to know some of you and know you’re real people with real lives which have highs and lows. I never forget that when I’m online. So when one of you goes away and there’s no clue as to where you went, it leaves a hole where you used to be. I’m never quite sure what to do with that. Part of me thinks I should adopt society’s demeanor and throw you away and move on, but I’ll never be able to do that, because I don’t want to do that.

Years ago I participated in a forum and one of the members who became an online buddy was a gentleman named Fred. He was a delight and had such wisdom. Everyone on that site loved him, and then one day Fred stopped talking, and for months we wondered what happened. Only one of the forum members had ever talked to Fred offline, and he offered to find out what he could. It was a long time before that member got a response and came back to tell us that Fred had died and his family sent us a message. I’m so glad they did that, and whether Fred really died or not (I’ll never know the truth of that), he was dead to us, and we could mourn him and not just throw him away in our minds.

That incident had such an effect on me that I’ve left instructions with my will that in the event anything happens to me, SO is to get online and say goodbye. When I told him about that, I thought he would laugh, but to his credit, he understands relationships whether online or not and knows how very important it is to gain closure. I’ve now worked with countless people who have experienced death of a loved one, and closure is imperative. If someone can’t say goodbye, they’re never over it. In the case of being online, I think it’s as important for the one leaving cyber space to say goodbye as it is for those left behind. So I hope our friend will at least give herself a chance to say it’s been fun, but I’ve got to go, and take care.

More thoughts on this later and in regard to Richard Armitage and his relationship with fans in cyber space and beyond. For now a close up of a fan’s encounter with RA:


[click to enlarge]

Spooks behind the scenes candid shot courtesy of KuchingGirl

January 21, 2012
Categories: Fandom, SO, Spooks . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

Back from Sanity

It took me a little longer than I thought, but I’m back. The foray into politics wore me out in a way running this blog never could. Despite that, my sane self still wants to take over. I’ve fought it off enough to make this post.

I am going to talk about FanstRAvaganza at some point, but for now, read Servetus’ post which has details about when and where and whom.

January 19, 2012
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: Leave a comment

I Can’t Keep Up!

Ever feel like all these blogs and forums and websites are too much, oh my?! They probably are, so guess what? Don’t even try to keep up. Read, or listen or watch what you can. You are not obligated to read all of this stuff, and the moment you have that thought, step away from your PC, your Mac, your phone, your iPad, your kid’s DSI…. Go outside and inhale some fresh air. Then come back in and eat something really decadent that is not on your diet. After that, you won’t feel like you’re overdoing the web. You can come back to your system and look up great diet sites that have wonderful tips on how to keep from overeating, which you may never use, but it makes you feel good to read them. See how useful the web can be?

By the way, I had a great piece for yesterday to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, but I got caught up in reading and watching so much that I never posted it. And posting at 11:55pm didn’t seem it would have the same effect. Maybe next year for that piece. Oh my God! Did I just commit to another year of this?!! Someone slap me.

Oh yeah, I’m putting the Richard Armitage tag on this ’cause he’s an eater like Nigella Lawson. The dude likes food and hasn’t been able to keep that knowledge to himself. Just one more thing to love about him. :D

John Standring savoring a sausage while contemplating Carol’s words:

[click to enlarge]

Screencap courtesy of Richard Armitage Central

January 17, 2012
Categories: Sparkhouse, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

I’m Having a Blast

The banner makes each post into a goal of making you forget it’s there or forcing you to look at it and wonder about yourself or me or both of us. And I’m loving that challenge.

Dropping the cloak has been a thought in the back of my mind and sometimes in the front, but this is so much fun, it’s better not to mess with what’s working. So in the shadows I’ll remain. Why didn’t I do a blog sooner? Seriously, what was the big fear? Never mind that question. I know what it was, and for a time I regretted how slowly I woke up. Life is short and getting shorter. No times for regrets.

January 16, 2012
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 11 Comments

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