That really is a question I need to answer. With 396 posts in draft mode, and assuming only 10% of those are worth finishing, I’ve got plenty to draw from. But sometimes that’s the problem. Yeah, I know too much is a good problem, but it is a problem. And I really need to finish my diary entries even if they bore some of you. They’re cathartic for me, and as much as I love interacting with all of you (have I told you how much I enjoy that?! ‘Cause I do!), this blog is for me to let my hair down and maybe flex my creative muscle at times. Yeah, can you believe it, this is supposed to be creative. LOL!
I do have more interviews coming, and from fans some of you haven’t heard of. Are you interested in more of that? :D Or would you rather hear me wax on about my issues with Spooks?
Okay, a picture to explain why I have trouble continuing my rant about it:
This is my last post for FanstRAvaganza 3, and as always, I remind you that I’m part of a larger conversation which is found here.
What a week?! Yes, this seems to be a drumbeat in the RA blogsophere. But phew, it’s a great way to express what’s happened, and for those who didn’t make it around to all of the posts this week, I hope you know they are not going away. Christine of CDoart has lovingly preserved easy access to them again this year, and I hope she knows how much we all appreciate it. You can access here.
Thank you to all of the bloggers who participated. You are all lovely, and it would be lovely to meet all of you face to face sometime. We’ll have to plan that.
From here, it will be interesting to see what RA Blogosphere develops by this time next year, and yes, we’re already talking about F4. LOL! Last year we had a bit of an increase. This year? I’m wondering if it will be the explosion I’ve been anticipating. Whatever happens, so far it’s been a lot of fun, and I hope we all continue to find it rewarding to discuss the subject. Or is that the object? :D
About twenty minutes ago, it occurred to me I hadn’t posted a blog piece today, and once midnight was here, I couldn’t turn back the clock and keep on track with the Project 365 bondage commitment. But even if I had skipped today, it wouldn’t make me lose sleep. I’ve neglected or just plain screwed up so many things during my life that missing a day of posting is probably 100,396th on the list.
It would take me a couple of years to list all of the things on which I placed too much emphasis, but most of it was on being responsible and mature, doing the right thing. I spent so much time trying to get things right and scared to death of messing up that I didn’t let myself be a kid. And I still messed up!
This blog is a bit of an attempt to manifest the childhood I’ve been recapturing, and as with any child, I’m going to cross a boundary at times. Such as saying the word fuck. I don’t mean actually saying the word. I’ve said it many times in my life. I mean typing it on this blog for anyone in the world to read. Perhaps that sounds a lame excuse to be crass. Yeah, I know some of you think that, and I can’t really do much about you thinking it, but I am aware that you do, and it’s really not my intent to offend you. But I also know even if I walked on water, there would be some of you who wouldn’t like the angle of the video clip.
If it’s not clear by this point in the post, then let me make it crystal. I’m trying to work something out. You can come along with me or not. I hope you stay and continue the ride. And no, I don’t intend to parade a sting of profanity to prove that I can be carefree, but there has been something freeing in saying pretty much what I think. I said “pretty much” because I’m not quite sure the world is ready to hear all of my (or anyone’s) reckless thoughts. There is such a thing as discretion.
So what does this have to do with Richard Armitage? Stick around and you’ll find out. :D
For now a little peek at the man who wanted a do over:
[click to enlarge]
Candid shot courtesy of KuchingGirl
edit: I canned the 365 program several weeks into this year. It was a good experience but not necessary to continue.
Four years ago right about now I discovered Richard Armitage. Those who know the story, I’ll spare you a repeat. Those who don’t, you can read it here. From almost the beginning, I had such hopes he would again find a vehicle worthy of his abilities as he did in ‘North and South.’ But no matter his roles, he has often transcended the script — even when it was almost non-existent — making it abundantly clear he puts (if not his all) a great deal of himself into his performances. That almost child-like willingness to throw himself into his characters, into their stories, and his obvious satisfaction in doing so, has been as much a source of pleasure as his acting ability, and it has inspired me personally.
Richard Armitage has been a catalyst for something that had lain dormant. When I was a kid, no one could put my imagination in check, and my creativity spilled out everywhere I went and was often remarked and praised by others. Then I became sensible and pragmatic and lost something precious. I’m writing the story of how this happened. But! it will be fiction since I’ve discovered the joys of playing God. :D
[click to enlarge; yes, it’s even bigger than this]
Candid photo snaffled from Karima, and what excellent quality for a screencap from a fairly poor quality video. Hope she doesn’t mind since I didn’t ask first.
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
No, this isn’t going to be heady. I’m too busy being heady in real life to bring it here.
Onward.
How wonderful it’s been for us Richard Armitage fans to brush up against the Tolkien fans. The association has had definite advantages with the most important being the diminishing of my self-consciousness. I thought I was rabid. Ooooh, I am nothing. I don’t even know how to er, fan properly, and really none of you do either. We are so lacking by comparison. We don’t have a YouTube channel, we don’t have an annual convention, we don’t have tours. So relax, we’re not quite there.
Give it time. :D
One thing we do have is a wicked sense of humor about the object of our affection, and our “object” returns it. Go here to begin. And I have to say thank you again to Richard.
Dear Richard,
Thanks for the laughs. In keeping with your admonishment, I forgive you for not making a verbal message. It wouldn’t have been nearly so much fun.
Signed,
A crazy fan, who enjoys Tolkien but not quite as much as I enjoy your version of it. :D
We also have better pictures:
Wait! That’s one of their pictures. See what I mean?! ;-)
This is better:
As always, you can click on any photo to enlarge, and then click again for the original size, which is even larger.
Top photo is from my stash of screencaps of Hobbit Vlog #5, which might make you go blind looking for RA.
Bottom photo courtesy of KuchingGirl and enhanced by Sheepa.
edit: before anyone takes me too seriously, I have to say that I love the last Vlog by Sir Peter. He’s a class act, and it’s only fitting as such that he would highlight his crew.
When I first started this site, I submitted an instruction to the Google bot to crawl (aka poll) my site only occasionally. Google sent a canned response that they didn’t have to abide by it. Mostly they have respected my request, but something changed about two weeks ago. For the first time ‘rafrenzy’ was not the top search string, and that string being at the top made it obvious I was mostly found by word of mouth. But now the search engines are running about four to one compared to my other referrals and ‘rafrenzy’ is far down the list. If you could see my stats list, it would be obvious more and more are curious about this Richard Armitage who is playing Thorin Oakenshield. What else am I to conclude if a piddly blog like mine and one that has tried to remain under the radar can be generating so many hits lately? Let me put it this way. If I keep going at this rate, I will be getting what amounts to 45,000 to 60,000 hits a month. And I know Nat and Servetus generate much more not to mention all of the other blogs in RA Universe (see the ‘Addict List’ or ‘Tumblr’). Yeah, something has happened.
If you’re new and wanting to know what Richard Armitage really looks like under that beard and armor, a little treat for you so you don’t have to scour this site for such goodness, and you can click to enlarge or snaffle. :D
oh heck! another one,
Usually I say something like Ohcheemama! when I see this. Some people say PHWOAR! or maybe Squeee! If you’re not sure, you’ll have to come along and learn the fine art of appreciating Richard in all his glory. Well, maybe not all of his glory. I do keep this blog safe for work.
I wonder when I’ll tire of publishing these pictures?
Screencap courtesy of the amazing Karima and candid shot courtesy of JJ via RichardArmitageNet.Com.
See Diary Part 26 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.
Entry — October 28, 2008:
Finally finished the Stanislavski book, and I also watched the first episode of Spooks 7 last night. It was good, but then I’m so in the bag for Richard Armitage. Can he do something mediocre? Probably, but I haven’t seen it yet. And I was so curious about this character after watching one of his promo interviews:
When he talked about being water boarded, I kept thinking of Stanislavski’s point about the unbroken line:
‘The life of a person or of a part’, explained the Director, ‘consists of an unending change of objects, circles of attention, either on the plane of reality or of the imagination, in the realm of memories of the past or dreams about the future. The unbroken quality of this line is of utmost importance to an artist, and you should learn to establish it in yourselves…
‘Tell me: does it seem normal to you that an actor’s mind and feelings should wander away, for long spaces of time, into the audience and beyond the premises of the theatre? When they come back to the stage it is only for a brief moment, then they fade away again.
‘In that sort of acting the actor and his part only occasionally belong to each other. To avoid that use all your inner force to build an unbroken line.’ — From An Actor Prepares
It seems all of my life I’ve been trying to establish this unbroken line, but I’ve been too distracted by what I think is supposed to happen instead of letting things happen and embracing them for what they are. Too impatient, but then I, well, I don’t know what I think anymore.
I talked to Mom today, and she still has yet to get a clean bill of health, but if she gets it, I hope we can make our trip. It would be so much fun to maybe get on the set of Spooks and see how it’s filmed. Still think it would be cool if she met Richard Armitage. I can’t buy her anything she can’t buy herself, so if I could pull that off, it would be wonderful. As for me, certainly, I would love to watch him at work. Probably won’t happen, but it’s fun to ponder.
Every time I think I’m done with this Richard Armitage addiction, something happens to keep me from making the leap away from it. When I see one of his candid pictures with those piercing eyes, I have a flood of thoughts that makes me want to get on my computer and start writing. It’s not that I fantasize about the guy (yeah, I know that no one is ever going to believe that even if it’s true), but he is compelling. Looking at the picture from the Macbeth tour makes it obvious why I think he will be a megastar if the American public ever really gets hold of him. But then there are so many variables, and maybe the guy doesn’t want that kind of fame. Shaking my head as I write this and thinking no way in hell I would want that kind of attention. How could you have a normal relationship when you have that kind of magnetism in a mere photograph? And for American women to drool over it? Not sure what I think, but apparently, I’m still addicted to whatever this is.
How in the world I ever thought this guy wasn’t nice looking I’ll never know. Maybe I was sick that day. Something was going on to distract me.
RAFrenzy 