Richard Armitage’s involvement with ‘The Hobbit’ has me feeling a lot better about this blog. Yes, sometimes I get a bit self-conscious about it. Thankfully, I quickly wise up and realize how much fun I’m having. But with my entrance into the world of LOTR, I’m finding I’m a mere novice at obsession. I’m so small time compared to some of these people. Oh, I’ve got nothing on the LOTR fans as I said in a fake fan letter to Peter Jackson, and all the time I’m realizing their ardor just spills out everywhere. Take for example the three second scene of Bret McKenzie in LOTR that’s now spawned all sorts of obsession with his character not to mention obsession with him I’m sure. Reading this made me feel so much better about my repeated examination of RA’s three second spot in Cleopatra. LOL! It’s clear I have not crossed a very important line — starting a website to it. Although he looks hot in the Cleo pictures.
But I do want to make it clear that I’m happy for Bret McKenzie, and it will be interesting to see if he makes it into this latest movie. With the talk circulating about it, I feel confident he will. Whatever happens, he strikes me as an amiable and interesting fellow, and he plays a mean ukulele. :D
Of course all of this has me wondering what will be the fallout result of RA’s involvement in ‘The Hobbit’? Thoughts?
And on another level, is obsession always a bad thing? Surely doesn’t feel like it. :)
For awhile now I’ve been working on another blog but don’t quite have it ready yet, so I’m starting a new category on this one instead — musicilove. When you get to the end of the post, you’ll know why I posted this today instead of waiting until after FanstRAvaganza, but no peeking. :D
Each post of musicilove will hopefully have something you’ve never heard but wish you had, and sometimes I’ll have a veritable playlist, as I do with this post. If it gets out of hand, I’ll find another place for it quickly. For now the only impetus for posting will be things that strike my fancy, and of course my fancy is always ready to be struck.
I’m starting with music that always makes me smile, and it’s dominated by an instrument that I’ve wanted to dismiss but just can’t. Most important for me is I might not be here if not for this instrument. When Dad was wooing Mom, he would sing and play the ukulele, and she told me that it was this that made her succumb to his charms. I grew up with Dad playing all sorts of things on the uke, and I loved it when I was really little. Then I got too cool to listen and would roll my eyes, but eventually I came back to loving it, and really it was such a pleasure to hear Dad play it. He could play anything with strings, and we loved it when he “broke out” the uke. Most of the time he was a bass player (guitar and upright). When he and Mom were dating and newly married, she would go to his jobs with him, and the bass violin would ride down the middle of the car between them as that was the only way it would fit. Thank heaven for the uke. :D
I howled when I saw this video because this is one of the songs Dad sang to Mom:
Here’s another one he sang to her, and Mom always had a sweet smile on her face when he played it. Don’t those two look happy?
But the uke is not limited to just sweet love songs. I’m totally digging Pink Floyd on the uke:
So not everyone likes Pink Floyd. How about some Led Zeppelin?
Or maybe The Stones:
Okay, enough of the amateurs. Perhaps it’s clear by now that the uke is not reserved for luauas even though a drunk Don Ho singing Tiny Bubbles may sometimes come to mind. When I think of Hawaii and the ukulele, I prefer to think of IZ:
And a few more to whet the appetite of those who primarily think the ukulele is outdated.
The inevitable tie in to Richard Armitage, a sort of six degrees and actually, two degrees of separation now. And when I figured out who the principal performer is, the choice of song was perfect. For months I’ve been dying to post this, and today is the right day.
His name is Bret McKenzie. You can read about him here, and it will be interesting to hear your thoughts about this in regard to dear Richard. Oh, and whether I ever see ‘The Hobbit’ or anything by Peter Jackson, I’m falling in love with New Zealanders. Their humor and love of life is evident in almost everything I see.
And last but not least, this kid I found by cruising around on Ukulele Hunt:
Sheez I’m gone for one day and an epidemic occurs from this Hobbit Press Conference. But who can blame anyone for being afflicted with Celebrity Worship when the object of our adoration easily makes us break out in a sweat. Even some of the Tolkien fans, who seem to be above that sort of thing, were affected:
Richard Armitage (Thorin) spoke surprisingly little, but when he did he had a notably deep voice, exactly right for Thorin, and real gravitas. He walked into the conference with a kind of testosterone charged lope. I don’t think he’ll have any trouble holding the audience’s attention.
Uh huh, his “testosterone charged lope,” among other things ;-), is going to hold some attention, and he’s just getting started. LOL! Yeah, I was right — won’t know what hit ’em, and some of these people are just getting a little taste of what’s coming.
All of that aside, I love that he’s just a guy here:
The “guy” almost jumps out of the video and grabs me. Loving this. Yet it seems this “guy” has been hiding. Before when Richard has been interviewed, we’ve mostly seen the sensitive artist, whose tacit message to women was, “I’m a little boy in a man’s body and my inner child hears you and understands.” :D But now he’s revealed a man for all of us to rhapsodize over! ………………………………………………………………. Excuse me I had to put myself back in my chair. All I know is I was fairly smitten by what I saw, and I’ve become rather jaded about these things. I thought. I take heart in the fact that no woman in her right mind could withstand that!
Seriously, it was evident the little boy was almost completely submerged by the man when even the talk about his first time on stage as an elf could not conjure it. The man was firmly in place. However, I wonder if the boy isn’t sensing the new tidal wave of affection that’s coming and shrinks from it. What else am I to make of this picture? LOL!
I feel a letter coming on. Oh, hell yes, this demands a fake fan letter.
Dear Richard:
You’re in my prayers, my friend. You think this Army thing is overwhelming? Get ready. That’s going to seem like a walk in the park. You keep coupling that stare with eyelids at half mast and deep voice with your “testosterone charged lope,” you will not have a moment’s peace.
I’ve long thought that if you catch on in America, you are going to go off the charts, but with ‘The Hobbit’ appealing to a worldwide audience, Ohmygosh! just thinking about this is… I can’t process it.
Back to my prayers for you and especially strong ones when I think that you will not be able to hide behind a beard as some actors are wont to do.
Signed,
One of Your Crazy Fans Who is Almost Fearful for You :D
My spate of fake fan letters to Richard Armitage a while back inflamed my control freak and exacerbated my need to give an opinion on matters whether I know jack about them or not. Frankly, it’s been hell to keep that urge tamped down, but today, I couldn’t hold it back any longer.
January 13, 2011
Dear Mr. Jackson,
I put myself on the receiving end of #thehobbit via my Twitter account, and I’ve learned all kinds of interesting things. Phew, man, I thought I was passionate about Richard Armitage! I have nothing on those “guys” at TheOneRing site. My zeal for RA is a school girl crush beside their passionate love affair with Tolkien and with you. I guess I can respect them for that, and I wasn’t so much surprised by their ardor as I was at how much credence they are given by the press.
That knowledge compelled me to read their “about” page where I discovered their close relationship with you, and this has me wondering how much you are affected by what is said there as well as effect what is said. I’m envious of the relationship you seem to have worked out with this bunch of fanatics. Richard has a sort of arrangement with his fanatics too, but it doesn’t appear to be as comfortable as yours. Maybe you can give him some pointers? ;-)
By the way, it had been a while since I’d seen a picture of you, so imagine my surprise when I started reading up on ‘The Hobbit,’ and found this:
Wow!
If you ever read this blog or almost any of the other blogs on Richard Armitage, you would know that we do a bit of fangirling at times. Well, we try not to do it so much we look like bimbos, but then bimbo is a relative term. However, when we do fangirl, there is usually a PHWOAR! heard from someone. So in honor of your recent fitness, I give you a decided PHWOAR! Seriously, you look pretty sexy in this picture, and I already thought your mind was sexy. Phew! Can I get an amen from anyone? By the way, I adore your hair. Truly. I love it! And maybe that is a hairstyle you’re just partial to anyway? I know I am. A certain warrior and lieutenant are coming to mind.
Have a wonderful day, and I hope your wife is aware that she may have to beat the women off with a stick.
I’ve always thought Twitter was aptly named, but today, it was palpable. A tweet popped up about Richard Armitage that literally has us fans atwitter. It really feels like we’re in a hen house and someone startled us. Here’s the tweet so you can be startled too:
Great read-through of The Rover with Richard Armitage yesterday! Positive feed back and things are looking good!
Didn’t many of us think this might be a dead possibility? Well, I guess we were wrong unless this ETTtweet is having us on. I don’t think so. They look legit.
So now we know Richard Armitage is somehow preparing for The Rover. But I want to know when it will be?! Yes, I’m impatient and spoiled to getting information quickly. I can’t lie. I am indeed spoiled, and Twitter has something to do with it. It may be one of the most addictive tools I’ve used since my first IT job, and that’s going some. I’ve been privy to some pretty cool things over the last, uh, I’d rather not say. Suffice to say this tool is phenomenal for information. I’ve learned more from Twitter in a shorter period of time than I ever have from a newspaper or the radio or tv. Even my Google Reader is not as forthcoming, and it’s pretty good.
Back to Richard. I would so love to see him live on stage, and I’ve been wanting to go back to the UK. There are other things I need to do there that have nothing to do with RA, but it would be great to make it coincide with one of his performances. Wonder how many there will be. I was looking at the other productions from ETT and most seem to be about three months for touring. This has me wondering if RA is really going to be tied up so long on The Hobbit set. Surely, Peter Jackson doesn’t need him standing around in New Zealand for the duration of filming. What actor would submit to that? Even if it is a huge break? It seems risky to be off the radar that long. But then what do I know about the acting business. Then again, perhaps RA will be touring before February, or he is not required at the beginning of The Hobbit’s filming in February?
In the meantime, I’m sure you can check out RichardArmitageNet to keep up, or you can get a Twitter account. Yes, I hope to entice some of you to join Twitter, and I promise you that it does not make your IQ go down a few points just by doing so. :D Maybe I can even get some of you to use an app like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck before I’m done. MUHAHAHAHA.
Yeah, Rich, that’s how I’m going to feel until I know something:
Okay, okay, I get it! I’ve just gotten a slew of e-mails from people wanting Viggo links. So here is a link with his art, writing and music, and another with links to links to his CDs. Enjoy!
And of course I must have a picture:
I’m sure this isn’t enough, but it will get you started. LOL!
By the way, ‘Eastern Promises’ was good, but it’s not for the fainthearted.
I hope some of you listened to that interview in the last post. It’s great, and sadly, RA can probably commiserate with him about some of the fans.
In my last post I mentioned my gut is rarely wrong, and iz4blue wanted to know what I was talking about. Below is a post I was planning to make the day after RA’s birthday but didn’t because I really am trying to stay out of the guy’s head, and I just never got around to finishing it to my satisfaction. Then I was reading Peter Jackson’s “defense” of RA being cast, and it came to me that Peter Jackson and I may have the same “gut.” :D
My previous, unpublished post:
RA’s Diary
Entry — August 23, 2010:
40 is less than a year away, and I got a late start. That’s what everyone keeps saying, and I’m tired of hearing it, but I understand. Thankfully 40 is practically the new 20. But in this profession 30 is sometimes the new 40. I get it but it’s a distraction.
End of Entry
It seems we’re continually told that actors in their 30s just coming to our attention are late bloomers. If it is not always said expressly, the media’s attention on actors in their 20s seems to send a strong message. I was thinking about this and glanced up at my blog’s header picture, which has always reminded me of another actor whom I really like, and he was not a spring chicken when he first made it big. He was 43.
The whole issue of the late bloomer is fascinating. No one sets out to be a late bloomer but rather circumstances conspire against them. However circumstances may frustrate their desires, oftentimes they are so intent on something else, that circumstances be damned and sometimes conventions flouted if need be. It is this sometimes maniacal focus on something else which usually makes them so beautiful. For Viggo Mortensen it’s about artistic expression. He reminds me so much of RA, or I guess out of respect for Viggo’s age and success, I should say RA reminds me of Viggo.
Viggo makes an excellent point about artistic expression. “It’s a way of living,” and it should be honest like a child. For me it’s the continual succumbing to the need for honest expression that’s so splendid to watch, and yes, everyone has the potential to be an artist. Getting at the truth is the key, and that requires a fearlessness that always gets my respect. This demand for honesty is certainly what makes RA’s performances so compelling and sometimes startling. The ring of truth is always sublime.
I love that he is also so startlingly honest when interviewed:
‘I don’t put it about. Never have. I’m a late developer in everything. I have a fast mind and fast metabolism, and I’m an intense worker, but in terms of life development I’m way behind.’
You know, I wonder if being a late starter isn’t the key to Armitage’s vast appeal. By the time we first clapped eyes on him as John Thornton, he was already a proper grown man, in sharp contrast to all those snub-nosed pretty boys who pass for movie stars these days.
Yep, Allison, I’ll take the man who has found his voice over the boys who have yet to say anything interesting, and I thought this when I was 20.
If anyone reading this is an RA fan and has not read Allison’s article, get over there quickly and do so. It’s a real treat and is definitely one of my favorite articles on him. I also just happen to love many other articles of Allison’s even if she’s not politically correct for some of you. LOL!
Until someone comes along who has the ability to bring Richard Armitage to the attention of the rest of the world, I’m content for RA to focus on what he will.
Enter Peter Jackson, who apparently recognizes the kindred spirit of an artist. So it’s not just about eye candy. Although I give Peter Jackson credit for understanding how to get a movie made. It requires energy and money. You don’t make such big budget pictures unless you understand how to generate both. In an Entertainment Weekly interview he “defends” his selection of Richard Armitage. Oh brother. I say that affectionately! Anyone who thinks that’s actually a defense needs to think again. RA is almost a virtual unknown outside the UK. Peter has to do something to get his name out and in a way that creates buzz. How better to do it than to respond to doubts from LOTR fans about him being cast. Pardon me if my jaded self isn’t buying the “controversy.” But hey, whatever it takes, Peter. Whatever it takes! I’m behind you.
And I assume RA is taking notes for his future big budget project. :D
note: I only have two problems with my gut: 1) I don’t heed it enough; 2) when it’s wrong, it’s very wrong. LOL!
edit: In case it’s not clear, the RA Diary entry is a fake. Yes, my friend, it’s about as fake as it gets. That’s why I have a tag called “Fake Diary.” But I put this edit here for the action fans who may need it spelled out. ;-)
RAFrenzy 
