Can’t Get Off of This

I have a serious (no, it’s a semi-serious, oh heck, it’s a snark) piece about Lucas North. But I’m saving it for later after I’ve gorged my imagination on Richard Armitage and food. I’m also wondering if all of you have a favorite food you like to eat while watching him — animated or stills. Or perhaps you have a food for him animated and one for him in stills. Bring it on, and yeah, I’m going to tell you mine. :D

Actually, I have a food for each of his characters.

Harry — blackberry cobbler, which is sweet with a zing, and topped with some ice cream.

Monet — some sort of white wine, and does it matter what I eat with it?

Guy — a big chunk of devil’s food cake with lots of hot fudge slathered on top or a steak.

Lucas — blackened red snapper. Fish and chips don’t quite fit him.

John Standring — cheese (any kind) before the transformation and some pudding after.

John Porter — Masgouf and falafel on the side, which I can pop in my mouth as I watch all the episodes in one sitting.

John Thornton — beef stew and later some sort of cream pie (I’m not particular) at the finale.

Ricky — definitely fish and chips, and the greasier the better.

Alex — what else but orangesicles.

John Mulligan — dry toast with nothing on it. Maybe a little butter. And some black coffee.

Heinz — Not sure about this one. No German foods seem to really fit him. I’m at a loss. I did eat nachos and popcorn on my first viewing. Perhaps some German chocolate cake (it’s my favorite cake), or is that too lame?

Yes, I’ve left out a few. Have to think about them some more, but for now I’m thinking about the future:

Thorin — carne asada tacos al carbon. Oh yeah! And something later that’s topped with a chocolate mole. Or I could eat a 1/2 pound cheeseburger in honor of Peter Jackson.

edit: I meant to list one more! Paul — pistachio nuts ’cause they’re salty and a little sweet, and I can’t stop eating them even when I know I should.

Graphic courtesy of Teena via RichardArmitageNet.com

February 5, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

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

Aspiring Armitage — Part 1

January 27, 2012

This week as with all weeks in RA Universe, there is discussion about Richard Armitage and his roles, and how he may or may not have succeeded, and what will he do in the future, and I don’t know the answer to all of that. I doubt any fans do, but of course it’s fascinating to speculate. With respect to his not meeting expectations as an actor for some, the success of his first leading role in ‘North and South’ has a little something to do with setting expectations unrealistically. That role would have been hard for anyone to follow not to mention dealing with the fan reaction. If he had been an egoist or his agent encouraged him to be one, he might have handled it all differently. He might have appeared more polished, more on top of his game, more homogenized, which so many of us have come to expect and swallow and then move on.

But he seemed to come with unmanufactured responses which gave credence to his being like the rest of us and not knowing quite what to do with his situation. He’s also gone so far as to tell us he’s a slow mover. Not in terms of his ability to think or his stamina, but in terms of exposure to life and fleshing out his identity as an actor and as a person. Upon first reading those statements, I thought it was nothing but self-deprecation in a cagey attempt to set the bar low enough not to disappoint the public in future, which is fine. But I’ve pondered them quite a bit since then, and there is something that smacks of normal. I know there is no such thing, but he seems to continually manifest a sense of “I need to step back and take stock of what’s going on,” which is a type of sanity we know instinctively when we encounter it. The world of drama doesn’t seem to be replete with that, so he stands out. Or maybe it’s just to me. Then again, he might be a better actor than I realize. When he whips that look of a mind reader onto the camera, I start second guessing myself. LOL!

Screencaps from ‘North and South’ DVD Extras courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com

January 27, 2012
Categories: Interviews, North and South . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

The Chameleon

It was jarring to see the mixing of Richard Armitage’s characters in my last piece where several have “Guy hair”. That kind of cross-contamination doesn’t fit with how RA brought these characters to such lovely fruition.

The richness and distinction between his characters is what makes me such a rabid fan. From almost the beginning, I was stunned at this ability. And then there is Richard Armitage himself, who has managed to make his personality evident while not letting it bleed into his characterizations. He is not Guy no matter how gorgeous Guy’s hair.

Quick! When’s the last time you’ve known of an actor who played such distinct characters and was this distinct himself?!

January 4, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 34 Comments

When Something is Just Wrong

Warning: put down anything you were about to put in your mouth. You have been warned.
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Click for the culprit. ;-)

ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. I couldn’t help that even though I know some of you like this look.

Now that I’m reasonably sure my laptop will survive, I’ll take my leave for the evening. :D

edit: back this morning, and I have many more thoughts about these photos coming up in the next post. For now I’ll say that they have struck at something I was going to talk about more in-depth at some point — Richard’s ability to immerse himself so completely in a character. More soon. For now, I have to go drive around on the side of a mountain.

January 4, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

The First Love

I was looking at the ‘North and South’ promotional photos which were just uploaded to RichardArmitageNet.Com, and I realized how much I’ve neglected John Thornton…

Few times in my life have I been so struck by something that it resounded for years, but this obviously continues. Ironically, I wasn’t too enthralled with my first sight of him:

It took a few scenes later to begin to suck me in:

By the tea scene, I was entranced enough that here I am almost four years later still talking about the abilities of Richard Armitage. This sustained interest has had me often wondering if I were just a shallow person masquerading as someone with some depth or if there really is something intriguing about his ability to engage the audience. If I were to receive the theory posited by Skully, this fervor is mostly compelled by his very effective display of adoration for an object of affection. There is something to that thinking, but I’m hard pressed to think I would be enthralled by that for almost four years’ time. If I were looking for an ideal man or fantasizing about an ideal man, then maybe I could see her point. But frankly, I’m married to an ideal man — great weaknesses and all. He is masculine and yet artistic. He has a spark that draws many others, and he also has a bullshit detector the likes of which I’ve never encountered and an ability to articulate his impressions that makes people think as well as laugh at times. He’s been that way since I met him, and he only gets more interesting, and by some quirk of fate, he’s in love with me. So it’s hard to think I have some need to fixate on Richard Armitage for this. And to be clear, I’m not trying to characterize anyone as lesser who has that need. I’m trying to explain where I’m coming from.

But there is something in Richard’s abilities to pull me into his characters that has me continually asking how he does it! This is akin to my reaction to The Sun Also Rises the first time I read it. Jake’s scene in the church made me cry, and even today, it can still make me cry. Hemingway captured something real, and it was like a warm wave. I went on to read all of his works, and I am not obsessed with all of them, but the few that I am eclipse any shortcomings in the rest. The Nick Adams Stories in particular are a prized part of my library. I have numerous copies and loan or give them away frequently. I’ve also read any biography I could find on Hemingway in order to conclude how he approached his craft. I think I understand it now even if I do not quite have the ability to articulate it. I’m working on that. LOL! Same thing with Richard Armitage. I’m working on what exactly it is that has me firmly attached. At this point, it’s fairly clear it’s his ability to tap into the reality of emotion that Hemingway did, and candidly, I want to do that myself. It has definitely inspired me to try to articulate something I’ve adored since I was a child — truth.

Note: promotional stills #7, #8 and #13 are new to the N&S promo gallery on RichardArmitageNet.Com

December 19, 2011
Categories: North and South . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 30 Comments

So Fine He Missed It

Ali over at RichardArmitageNet.Com just put up some screencaps of RA in ‘Doctors’ (c. 2001). Yes, I’ve seen these before, but I’ll bet some of you haven’t:

A few thoughts about these. First, he is drop dead gorgeous by almost anyone’s standards. Second, I know a few childhood experiences can damn near eclipse a profusion of experiences in adulthood, but my gosh! this man has to have some awareness that he’s not ugly. Third, I look at those two pictures and get hacked all over again at that godawful cover of ‘North and South.’ I’ve said it before and I can’t help repeating: whoever did that cover must have been jealous!

edit: Yes, I’m going get back to Lucas North, but I’m still struggling with my blog pieces.

December 9, 2011
Categories: Miscellaneous works, North and South, PHWOAR! . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Who is the TDHCMO?

Many of us in the RA universe have become so accustomed to using certain terms that we have developed our own language. Of course it’s understandable when it makes referencing things so much easier. That’s how all acronyms came into existence. But at some point, it has the power to disenfranchise. In the interest of making our fandom more welcoming, I’m revving up the RA Lexicon again, and there is no better way to jump start this than with the Tall Dark Handsome Cotton Mill Owner (TDHCMO) who began all of this for most of us.

Yep, that’s the first image most of us had of him. Some liked him immediately and some didn’t. Some who liked him immediately turned to dislike very quickly, but thankfully, he redeemed himself by the end of ‘North and South’. Oh, how he redeemed himself! He proved to be someone of great depth and sensitivity.

What would you do if this were standing at your front door?

That sweet smile again that says volumes. Not a full on grin but it seems he can’t help smiling in anticipation of being at the Hale’s again.

Pensively looking at Margaret on the street below, and I found myself really wondering what he was thinking. Many times in movies there have been shots of men looking pensively at a love interest, and truthfully, most of the time I didn’t care to know what was in their heads because I already did or the shots were lame. But with John Thornton, I was intrigued and it helped compel me to the ending.

Another one that had me wondering exactly what he was thinking although it seems fairly evident he’s wondering what Margaret is about — taking a read on her. And what exactly did he surmise? I really wanted to know, so I kept watching.

Considering Margaret’s precious fingers and taking an accounting even of them. This scene about took my head off, and no one was about to have sex. Proving that you don’t have to get naked to be erotic. On that note, I think I’m going to make this a two part piece. Need to watch North and South. It’s been a while.:D

In the meantime, perhaps you will do the same. If you’ve never seen it, you need to watch it! For the rest of you who have seen it and don’t really want to watch it again today, you might check out the piece referenced here as I don’t assume all of you have seen it. I hadn’t until last year. LOL!

Screencaps courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com and as usual, you can see a larger image by clicking on the photo.

edit: still haven’t done my second part; will get to it sometime.

June 17, 2011
Categories: Fandom, North and South . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Irresistible Instant Play or Netflix, I Love You

Something is changing with respect to the popularity of Richard Armitage in America (North America to be specific), and yet ‘The Hobbit’ is still almost two years away! I’ve been encountering more and more people who know RA’s name and have seen him in more than one role. Wow. What a change from three years ago! Or even one year ago. But I don’t think it’s due to his being cast in ‘The Hobbit’. At this point ‘The Hobbit’ is only on the radar of those in the movie industry, the LOTR fans, maybe a couple of other fan clubs and us. Everyone else won’t give a rat’s ass about it until we’re a few months or perhaps a few weeks or days from the premiere.

This recent awareness of Richard Armitage mostly comes down to Netflix. They are the only entity who provides us with a steady diet of RA. When I first started watching RA three plus years ago, there was almost nothing available in this country. The only thing I found was ‘North and South’ on Netflix and some documentary about that other guy. Now there are numerous things to watch, and many of them are ‘Instant Play’, and that’s the key.

Numerous friends scattered around the country who regularly watch ‘Instant Play’ have been discovering this “new” actor and just can’t tell me enough about him. Never mind that a couple of those people are the same ones I’ve told about ‘North and South’, ‘Spooks’, ‘Robin Hood’, etc. LOL! Hey, I don’t care how they discovered him; I’m just glad they did. Even my best friend, who at one point would roll her eyes when RA’s name came up, finally watched ‘North and South’ via ‘Instant Play’. Yea, Tammi!!! Of course she loves it and him. I knew she would! And she could have loved him sooner if she had just watched the DVDs I loaned her almost three years ago.

But I guess there really is something seductive about Netflix saying, “Tammi, rate what you’ve seen to reveal suggestions just for you” while your ass is firmly planted on the couch, and you can merely push a couple of buttons as opposed to getting up and taking the discs out of the case and putting them in the DVD player. LOL! Oh, Netflix has the power! What was I thinking to encourage the viewing of some DVDs loaned from my special collection? I mean here I am Tammi’s best friend, and we love each others’ tastes, but those precious discs just sat on the shelf! In comes Netflix with its heady offering of ‘North and South’ on ‘Instant Play’, and what I could not do for almost three years, they managed in a moment.

Tammi’s conversion occurred last summer, but this phenomenon of Netflix and RA didn’t become evident until last fall. I was going to highlight this sooner but thought it would be boring to you. Yesterday changed that. I was surfing around and found this blogger. It would be interesting to know how long she’s been a fan, and obviously, Netflix is part of her RA love. Maybe sometime she will share how exactly she became a fan, since I’m not quite sure if Netflix did it or just inflamed her some more. However it happened, I never get tired of those stories! Always makes me feel more sane, and dammit, I am sane! :D

In the meantime, as much as I appreciate Netflix being the bearers of so much loveliness, I have a request of them:

To Whom It May Concern at the big host in the sky,

Thank you so much for introducing so many people to Richard Armitage! I can’t tell you how grateful I am. It’s helped my best friend join this wonderful madness with me.

But do you think we could enjoy his loveliness when we do a query on his name? If you would be so kind to give him an avatar, I’m not sure how I would show my appreciation. Maybe send out a few thousand of those trial memberships to my friends.

And if I may suggest, this might be a good picture if you’re not sure which one would be appropriate:

Of course I have no clue about the legalities of using it, but it is the one featured on his IMDb page, so I think it’s okay. But I’ll leave those details to you.

Thank you for any consideration.

Sincerely,
One of Richard’s fans and great Netflix lover :D

P.S. How can we get Strike Back on the list?

Oh, and I would give credit to BBC America and PBS for the rise of RA’s star, but BBCA is sporadic in their love of RA, and PBS hasn’t shown much at all with him? Actually, I remember nothing although I have heard rumors that some regional stations have shown ‘North and South.’ Amazing that the network known for embracing period dramas has been almost a non-player of that mini-series, and it’s been necessary to mount a campaign to bring ‘North and South’ to PBS. Yeah, can you believe that? And I’m not even going to mention A&E beyond this sentence.

Note: FanstRAvaganza will return tomorrow; still waiting on something for now.

edit: Okay, okay, yes, YouTube has been instrumental, but it’s hit or miss there and the programs are usually not complete. For that you need Netflix.

April 5, 2011
Categories: North and South, Robin Hood, Strike Back, The Hobbit, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 17 Comments

Tangent — Micro Expressions and Beyond

Sorry to inflict my geek moment on you, but I can’t help myself, and if you’re into screencapping Richard Armitage, this might be of interest.

Last spring I was reading about an HD cinematic camera which could shoot frame rates at 100 times the usual. So what does all of this mean and why should you care? There are things that can now be seen which before could only be consistently captured with scopes (decidedly less detail than a camera) or speculated with mathematics, and usually that is so abstract for most as to be inconceivable and therefore blown off. But enter the Phantom Flex, and thankfully, as of a few weeks ago, there is now some fantastic video to show exactly how precise this camera can be.

I realize some may not be that impressed with this, but that’s because you have probably not watched much slow motion video. Most of it is a lot more blurry than this video above, so the detail in this is amazing. For any of you who have made screencaps, you know how frustrating it can be to fight the blur. Can you imagine the screen capture ability with this kind of video?! Mind boggling. It captures such detail that it’s like seeing the forbidden. Should be interesting to see what is unearthed from coming films.

And Richard Armitage just thought we had him under a magnifying glass. LOL!

If you haven’t already done it, watch that video in full screen mode.

And if you’re not a geek, I’ll throw in a picture to make reading this worth your time.

The guy who started it all:

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

February 21, 2011
Categories: Geek, North and South, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

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