#12 Todd Garner

It’s 12 days until Thanksgiving in the U.S., and I have so much to be thankful for that I can’t get it into one post. I’m starting today with yep, you guessed it, the first of 12 posts. And please note these are not necessarily in order of importance.

836910702f7c15f7d73fd81128a13291Todd Garner. I think it’s obvious why I’m thankful for Todd Garner. But what some of you don’t know is he loves to laugh. That immediately made me really like him because I love to laugh too — even when it may not be appropriate.

Things falling down around your ears? Life not going the way you had planned — at all? It’s just kicking your ass? Start laughing and things will look better immediately. Yeah, we’ve all heard that, but how many of us practice it?

As my life goes on, I’m practicing more and more, and I get the sense Todd Garner practices regularly too. My memory of talking to him is our conversation began with laughter and there was more as we went. Oh yeah, sure it passed through my mind that he may have been amused at talking to a crazy fan, and well, he was talking to a crazy fan. But it was more than that. He seems happy. Whenever I see his tweets, I always think of him with a grin on his face, and it makes me grin. And that was even before he changed his avatar to a smile.

So where does all that smiling and laughing leave Into the Storm? Will it be a comedy? I don’t think so, but there may be a little bit of snark. Not enough to make it a comedy, but if Jon Swetnam is any indication, it’s hard to think a little snark won’t be present. Some of you may have noticed I do like my snark, so I can handle it. : D

And before anyone begins to think Garner has no traffic with a serious piece, one of the movies where he served as a producer is an excellent serious piece and a favorite of mine — Radio with Ed Harris and Cuba Gooding Jr. For those who haven’t seen it, I encourage you to watch it. And for those in other countries who want to be more conversant in American culture, it’s a real slice of what life can be like here. A definite must see.

Will Into the Storm be like that? Not entirely although tornadoes are a way of life in some parts of America and taken very seriously. If you had to replace your roof regularly and came home after a tornado to see that your house was standing and your next door neighbor’s was not, you would take it seriously. Plus, the damn things are unpredictable. Tornadoes do their own thing. Even weather watchers who study them will tell you they are only predictable to a point and then, all bets are off. Given that, Into the Storm will be a bit of a thrill ride and especially considering one version of it will be in 3D.

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For now the ride is the build up to the movie. It’s fun, and I know many of you are getting a kick out of it as well.

Todd,

Thanks for making the waiting for this movie enjoyable. I’m having a blast.

And I hope you realize the import of myself and others being fangirls. That’s what we do, and now you are in our sights. ;-)

Oh, and a picture would be nice. : D

Sincerely
One of Richard’s crazy fans

P.S. Love the avatar. It’s perfect.

note: this has the fake fan letter tag, but I’m sincere.

November 16, 2013
Categories: Black Sky (Into the Storm), Movies . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 2 Comments

And Now for Something Legal?

Hopefully an example of what is okay to copy and alter with respect to protected images. Proving that humor almost always works.

Richard Armitage with Cats:

John Thornton with a Cat
John Thornton (I’m so glad you were willing to take Mother’s place in monitoring the mill; remember no cigarettes) with a cat.

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Thorin (I’m usually a blowhard, but I’m really trying to be pleasant even though I’m wondering what in the hell you’re looking at, cat, ’cause you’re not looking at the same thing I’m looking at) with a cat.

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Guy (I’m never going to tell you everything I’m thinking but I do dig that waitress in the corner and that’s why I have this shit eating grin on my face) with a cat.

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Lucas North (Yes! I’m angsty even if you two don’t understand it! And then one cat says to the other, “He’s right I don’t get it. How can he look like that after eight years of torture in a Russian prison,” and the other cat replies, “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m going to keep staring at him.”) with a cat, er, two cats.

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Mr. Rogers (My mother did make the sweater. It’s 33 years old, in mint condition, and at least cats like it) with three cats.

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My favorite. Paul (It was really a cat on my head, okay? It was a cat.) with a cat.

I would have had this piece done sooner, but every time I looked at this last one, I got sick laughing. Doesn’t matter that I’ve seen this thing about a 100 times.

Thank you, thank you whoever started Richard Armitage with Cats. I hope the latest scare about images in the RA fandom doesn’t have you bothered, and it certainly shouldn’t since you squarely fall into parody.

November 15, 2013
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

A Potential Pitfall of Fan Blogging

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The somewhat startling news about Cumberbatchweb receiving an invoice for photos they may have used without license is reverberating through the blogosphere. This is not the first time that fear has been felt among bloggers, and with the ever changing state of content curation on the Web, it won’t be the last. Even with my limited use of images on this blog, it still ran a chill up my spine.

And for me personally, I’ve not only heard about image companies breathing down the necks of bloggers, I had the dubious distinction a couple of years ago of my site being thoroughly crawled by Getty Images. Let me put that in plain language. They looked at every page of my site (including the attachment pages), and they have done it more than once. Thankfully, they didn’t find anything to take issue with, and I hope they never will. I took that as a heads up, and I’m considering what’s happened with Cumberbatchweb the same.

Where does that leave me as a blogger? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m going to share a little of what I think about media use on the web and in particular as it relates to the entertainment industry and this blog. I’ll start with the fair use doctrine in U.S. copyright law (a similar doctrine in the UK is referred to as fair dealing; please note it’s not exactly the same as the fair use doctrine in the U.S.).

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair.

  • The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
  • The nature of the copyrighted work
  • The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
  • The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
Source

(emphasis mine)

The case law and their conclusions on each one of these four factors can be so convoluted, I’m not really sure what it means. The only sure thing is to never post anything you don’t own. But the entertainment industry doesn’t really want you to do that. They often leverage fandoms to get publicity, and that in itself makes the fair use doctrine a bit murky with respect to entertainment images. However, I believe there is enough in the four factors to figure out how to proceed, and of course I say that with the proviso that things could change radically tomorrow. We just never know.

Most media on my site are screencaps. With respect to their use on this blog, I use the adage of don’t ask and don’t abuse. I also do some criticism, which may or may not be construed as added value. When I use screencaps, I never make so many that people can make their own film from them, nor do I reveal spoilers with the only exception being when a show is so old spoilers are moot. All other screencaps I consider promoting the show, and I think (which means I could be wrong), that’s how owners of the shows see it as well. Further, I think that the only time they would really object is if I were competing with promotion of their property or in someway marring it.

Same thing for official promotional materials. I don’t ask and don’t abuse. In fact, it’s my belief that entities such as Warner Brothers want us to disseminate those materials. However, if the materials are from other major media outlets such as a print or web magazine, I don’t post everything from them. Usually, I just post one image and that’s done so I don’t compete with the original publication itself but rather post as a teaser which can prompt those reading to buy the rest of the materials for themselves or at least go to the original site that produced them. Thankfully, in RA universe we have purchased quite a few materials and have oftentimes been responsible for selling out magazine issues even when the whole magazine has been posted somewhere beforehand.

Photos from a photographer’s photo shoot that are not specifically in a publication and are not put out on the web for sharing but rather to sell are another matter. Case in point are the recent Getty images of Richard Armitage. It’s clear (at least to me) these are not for our use except by purchasing a license. There is no grey area in my opinion, so I stay away.

For everything else, which includes non-entertainment and non-celebrity images, they are either mine, I have permission from the photographer, or I bought a license.

For all of you who sent me an email asking how I handle images, I hope this helps in some way. Obviously, none of it is legal advice since I’m not a lawyer. I’m just sharing my thoughts.

note: the artwork above is acceptable by the standards I apply here. It’s taken from a screencap and/or promotional materials and value has definitely been added. Click on the photo to see the artist’s deviantart page.

November 15, 2013
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 17 Comments

The Reality of Richard Armitage Rephrased

Esquire-Dec2013-3Despite how my post of the other day sounded, I believe Richard Armitage is an introvert, and in my opinion, most rabid fans are introverts as well. We love his ability to use his solitude to create these characters who touch us so deeply, and who make many of us get alone with ourselves and ask ourselves questions about why we may or may not do certain things in our lives. For me it was the creative urge which I had squelched for a long time.

But sadly there is confusion about the definition of introvert, and the Internet doesn’t help. Here’s what you get when you Google the word:

GoogleDefinitionofIntrovert

This one little slice of data has the ability to create so many misunderstandings and should be a lesson that when the Internet is wrong, it can be really wrong.

So what is an introvert?

A good definition and a little history of personality theories can be found here.

Obviously the most significant misconception is that introverts are shy. I am an introvert, and I’m married to an introvert, yet it’s been a long time since anyone accused us of being shy. SO and I are often in social settings due to his profession. and when we’re in that setting, we can almost look like the quintessential extraverts because we aren’t shy. However, we both desperately need alone time. and this can often be mistaken for selfishness. Whatever someone wants to think, I cannot always be in the presence of people or even mostly in the presence of people and neither can SO. Some of our closest friends have shaken their heads at how we are about getting alone, which means not only removing ourselves from the stimulation of other people but sometimes from each other. This allows each of us to process life. I call it stepping out of the fray. Frankly, if we had not both been introverts, I don’t think our marriage would have survived.

Given all of that, how am I surmising Richard Armitage is an introvert? He’s told us he is. Maybe he hasn’t said those words (or maybe he has and I missed it), but he’s made it plain that he spends copious amounts of time reading and more important, processing. Then there are his latent writer tendencies with the back stories for his characters. Add to that his own admission of sequestering himself at times from his cast mates. He’s also said he hates things like the red capret, and yet when you meet him one-on-one, he’s very at ease and charming. Introverts can much more easily handle an intimate meeting than a big crowd, which means it’s better to meet him one-on-one. I’ve observed him both ways and much prefer the latter. I’m not sure that can be said for most actors. Once the mask is off and no words are written for them, it seems most are a little dull.

It should be noted that someone’s degree of introversion is on a continuum, so that we’re not all the same.

For further information and a celebration of introverts, a great Ted Talk from Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

note: when I was younger and aggressively trying to make a mark in my profession, I was given the Myers-Briggs test. Actually, it was administered twice over the course of my tenure with a particular company, and I was an ENTJ both times. Years later I took the test again and was an INTJ, which I believe is closer to my true personality.

edit: I was actually an ENTJ and then an ENTP years ago. I think I knew at the time that I needed to be an extravert to get ahead where I was working, but I was NEVER comfortable with that. And yes, I’m curious about what personality Richard Armitage may be. I can speculate, but obviously I can’t fully know.

note: if you like the photo above of Richard Armitage, then buy the individual issue of Esquire UK that has the original, or better yet, subscribe to the magazine.

November 8, 2013
Categories: Fandom, SO . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 12 Comments

Do You Really Want to See Richard Armitage Playing James Bond?

Apparently, there is still some interest in Richard Armitage playing James Bond if this is any indication: New James Bond

I’ll grant this is fantastic looking and makes for great posing. Definitely has James Bond all over it (literally in this case), but is that the role you really want to see him playing? I ask because it is so confining. It’s a two dimensional character at best, and the actors who have played him seem to get stuck there. Is that what we want to see Richard Armitage, the chameleon and romantic, doing? Being stuck inside a roue’ whose lines are as predictable as the sun coming up tomorrow?

As for what Richard Armitage wants, it should go without saying (but invariably someone says it *yawn* so I’m getting it out of the way with this statement) that he should choose to do what makes him happy. Certainly. But we’re consumers of what he does as an actor and are entitled to have a view of it.

Obviously I’m not keen on him doing this, and a few years ago, I stated the reasons why. Further, I’m mystified that so many fans are interested in this role which does not seem to fit the trajectory of Richard Armitage, and he has even said he would rather play a Bond baddie.

With all the rabid interest I see, and from people whose opinions I respect, I’m curious what is so appealing apart from the potential for great screencaps or gifs or other clips that are swoon worthy.

November 8, 2013
Categories: Movies . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 39 Comments

Another Reaction to the Hobbit Fan Event

I’m enjoying these fan reactions. Whether they paint a complete picture of Richard Armitage or not, they’re still interesting, and in the interest of a little diversity (especially in light of the recent Esquire Magazine release), below is Armitagebesotted’s unabashed reaction to seeing internet crush Richard Armitage for the first time live (at the Hobbit fan event in New York). If you’re prone to Armitage Protection Mode, you may want to think twice about reading this. Why? Because you need to read the whole thing and not trip and then quit reading after the opening paragraph.

He’s just a guy — who looked anxious, and uncomfortable, and squirmed like a bug being examined under glass. He’s clearly an introvert (not shy, Google the difference) who hates these things. He picked at his cuticles,wriggled in his seat and ducked his head self-consciously to the point that I actually felt guilty for participating in making him miserable by being an audience member.

But that didn’t stop me from staring. Steadily. For 45 minutes. (I missed a lot of the movie stuff and totally tuned out Anderson Cooper.)

I’m sorry, Richard. Please forgive me my obsession. I’m besotted, and I can’t help myself.

Others have written good descriptions of the lines, security, etc., so I’ll skip that. These are my further impressions:

Meeting fellow fangirls was the best, but I found the fan event presentation itself a little…underwhelming. It was disorganized and unrehearsed, and that was painfully obvious. All three “talents” (Bloom, Armitage and Cooper) looked like they desperately would have liked some direction, but they made the best of it.

RA’s introduction was buried in clapping for Bloom (RA deserved a solo entrance!), and there was no “ending.” Bloom, Armitage and Cooper just popped off their chairs as the sneak peeks started and slunk out of the theater in the dark — all three of them. We didn’t get to clap goodbye.

But we clapped, hooted and hollered the whole time they were on stage, so really, what did they miss?

There was a substantial amount of dead air. Several times, while waiting for the images from the other cities to appear on screen and to sync up, we in the audience were entertained by the crawl of Twitter messages at the bottom of the screen, including our own. I prodded my seat mates to put something out so we would see how long they took to appear (only a few minutes.)

My favorite was: “LOOK my tweet is on the big screen!!!” Janine Pineo’s tweet got a major rush of recognition, causing the three on stage to look up like, “Huh? What are they clapping for?”

There’s a story in there about the existentialism of supplementing the actual “event” (live people on stage in front of you) with your own stage-ignoring activity (fumbling with a gadget) in order to “participate” in the event. Or does that mean WE were the event? I will leave that to others to analyze.

Often, the theater was kind of quiet while Cooper listened to whatever was coming through his earphone and Bloom and Armitage squirmed. I was thinking it would be entertaining to give Armitage a phone book and ask him to read out loud to us. Or a Chinese restaurant menu. Too bad I didn’t have the guts to yell that out. Instead, I’m lamely putting it out now, as if I actually pulled off a good joke.

Speaking of yelling, people were heckling Anderson Cooper — Anderson Cooper, I tell you! Out of over-excitement, boredom or antsy-ness, I’m not sure which.

Bloom and Armitage spent most of their time looking down at their monitor, which was below the stage, in front of us, so that provided another weird disconnect. We’re right in front of them, and they weren’t looking at us.

We were looking at them, though. Non-stop. With comments. Bloom loved it. Armitage hated it.

Richard only got to speak once, but, of course, he made the most of it and was wonderful.

He’s very thin again. Thinner than last month in LA. Lucas North thin. His jeans were loose. I thought he looked tired and, dare I say it, frail.

The images of Richard on screen, on the other hand, were fabulous — and drew cheers from our crowd repeatedly. He and Orlando stood in the back during the trailer that opened the show and today I read that they watched the scenes from the movie which closed the show from the back, also. RA had to be gratified to hear us scream wildly every time he appeared. Bloom got his clapping, too, but there was no mistaking that this was a Richard Armitage audience. The roar each time Thorin appeared was LOUD.

Gripe, gripe, gripe. Having unloaded all my complaints, I will also throw in a few compliments. I can’t imagine, but do appreciate, the technology and technical support behind pulling off this event. Actually, we got one clue; there were four semis with satellite dishes on their roofs outside our theater in New York.

The 20 minutes of footage from the not-yet-released film which Peter Jackson wrangled out of Warner Brothers was a true gift to the fans. I do like to see anyone best entertainment conglomerates, so “Go, Peter!” Please continue to prove that the “creatives” who invent the “content” are in charge, not the financiers and the promoters.

Ooops, is my snarky, skeptical side showing? The marketing element of this “event” was inescapable. We all signed waivers….

The best part of the experience was meeting other fans and connecting on-screen fake names with real people and real names (which will not be revealed here.) This fandom’s dedication is mighty impressive. When I found myself between a woman who had driven overnight from Michigan and two who had flown from Chicago and Idaho, respectively, I decided to keep to myself how disgruntled I was when my train ran slowly from Times Square to 68th Street, making my trip from Brooklyn take a whole hour.

Frenz’s reaction: Maybe a little APM kicked in on me. LOL!

Dear Rich,

What a pain in the ass to be present at an event that is not well planned and have a bunch of people watching me like a hawk. I probably would have picked my cuticles too and squirmed and just generally wondered when can I get out of here!

But no worries that we don’t love you as you can see how we completely take the organizers to task and never you. :D

The particulars of the event aside, it should be obvious that we all just like to see you in person. Mostly I think because some of us have a hard time believing you’re real and must see for ourselves that you are. You’re like a dream, Man. And if I stop long enough to really think about that, it makes me feel bad for you. That’s a helluva persona to carry around. Who could do that non-stop? Even your toilet joke doesn’t seem to detract from it.

I’ve said enough. Just know I still love you even if you do pick your cuticles.

Signed,
A crazy fan — of yours. A crazy fan of yours.

P.S. You do have some really wonderful fans. I thank you personally for that! I just hate I didn’t get to see any of them this time around.

Like Armitagebesotted, I appreciate the technology of the event and also the dynamics “the powers that be” were trying to accomplish. Maybe it was just too ambitious with not enough time to pull it off. If this is done again, I would bet it will be much better organized. Looking forward to that.

I feel a letter to Sir Peter coming on, so I’ll stop with that line of thinking, or this post will take forever to load!

Before I go, Armitagebesotted and I want to once again thank Library Girl for her graciousness and let her know we both feel ANYTIME we get a chance to see Richard Armitage in the flesh, is a good time!

I understand RA Central has more media and lots of it!

And I’m looking forward to TheQueen’s take on things. No pressure though, Queen, no pressure. :D

Now I’m really done.

November 7, 2013
Categories: Fandom, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 30 Comments

Oh Damn.

And we just thought our fangirling bout was done for a bit. So wrong.

Richard Armitage
[click to enlarge]

Sheesh, this one about took my head off when it brought on Armitage Objectification Mode.

To get your own copy, you can go here.

November 7, 2013
Categories: PHWOAR! . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 13 Comments

Ohcheemama II!

Yeah, this deserves it:

Esquire UK interview
[click to enlarge]

This is from an interview with Esquire Magazine UK. Go here to read and see all the pics.

Individual copies of the Esquire Magazine issue can be obtained here.

edit: I got so rattled I didn’t spell Ohceemama correctly. As if that’s really a word. Oy.

November 7, 2013
Categories: Interviews, PHWOAR! . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

I See Fire — the Video

The new song from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug:

November 6, 2013
Categories: Movies, Musicilove, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 1 Comment

A Very Good Problem

For those who haven’t figured it out yet, I didn’t attend the fan event in New York. I was very tempted and especially when Julie (Library Girl) who runs RichardArmitageCentral graciously gave me a ticket. Thank you for that very generous gift! You will never know how much it meant to me for you to do that! But when I reviewed my situation, and all that is going on here, I simply could not get loose to go.

For those wondering, it has nothing to do with SO. He’s doing well. I say he is well; of course it should be said more accurately that he is well for his situation, but we are always on alert as we never know what’s going to happen with him. For now, this week, things are good.

All of SO’s issues aside, I’m in the middle of running a business, and it’s going well enough that I could not take a break to do some fangirling. In fact, on Monday I had a key meeting with a potential client that I had been trying to get for a long time. And if I can get my foot in the door with this person, it could lead to some substantial work with others. As much as I like Richard Armitage and love all of you, I could not justify passing that up in hope the person would meet me at a later date. Now if I’d had bad ass Thorin helping me out, maybe I could have pulled it off!

Bad Ass Thorin

But never fear that my ticket went to waste! Library Girl graciously met Armitage Besotted instead, and I understand they had a grand ole time. Report coming up next.

Promotional poster shot snaffled from CrystalChandlyre’s tumblr

November 6, 2013
Categories: Fandom, SO, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

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