Is It Just Me?

I became giddy seeing Richard Armitage in my country. Someone please, please slap me ’cause I feel really silly right now. On second thought never mind. It just feels good that he was in LA even if he was sweltering:

Love the arrow. :D

I hope Heather got to go to the Red Carpet for Captain America. For those who don’t know, Heather is a fan extraordinaire, and I have a soft spot for her because she’s a good hearted person, and she’s the one who turned me onto RA. LOL!

Heather, I so hope you got to finally see Richard in the flesh!

And some video for those who haven’t watched the AP Live interview:

For the Marvel interview, you can watch it here. RA in the first several minutes.

July 19, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Movies . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 24 Comments

On the Red Capet with Richard Armitage

I’ve now watched several clips of Richard Armitage on the red carpet for various events, and I love that he is still so thoughtful. That just makes him even more appealing. Phew, a thinking man who looks like this:

Red Carpet Screencap from @izabelanna on Twitter.

bccmee also has some great screencaps here.

edit:

The Marvel Interview:

The AP Interview:

I’m sure bccmee will soon have up closed captioning on the video that’s difficult to hear. If you go to her blog, she already has up the transcripts.

July 19, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Movies, PHWOAR! . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

Thorin and His Sword

So I was right about the day this would happen but wrong about him appearing alone. I should have known he would have Orcrist. :D

As usual, you can click to enlarge, and the still is from TORn.

July 17, 2011
Categories: Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 25 Comments

A Drought You Say?

Yeah, I think it is ’cause things are so hot:

If things get any hotter, we may not survive this drought. :D

July 15, 2011
Categories: Interviews, PHWOAR! . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 11 Comments

From Cats to Dwarfs — New Interview

A new interview with Richard Armitage is in Project Magazine (issue #8), but you can only get it on iPad. He talks about playing a Nazi. Makes me want to check out the biography he mentions and a whole lot more. :D Thankfully, for those us who haven’t bought an iPad yet, RichardArmitageNet.Com has just uploaded, and you can find it here.

A few of my favorite photos from the interview:

Last image courtesy of Iz4blue.

July 15, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Interviews, Movies, PHWOAR!, Spooks, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 24 Comments

Must Be Rough

I’m continually tickled by the criticism of a very few Tolkien fans, and some of them are begging to be teased. Not sure if this will be the last post I make about this, and I’m stating right up front that I’m really resisting the urge to cut loose with some major ribbing which frankly, might be too good to pass up later. I will come with this — sheesh, the worst criticism they can make of Richard Armitage is that he’s good looking with a bunch of female fans? ROFLOL! That’s all they’ve got?! LOL! Phew! that every male actor could be so lucky! :D

What I’m about to say I may regret later, but heck, if I can’t say something like this, then there’s no benefit in being anonymous.

All of the rhetoric flying around just goes with the territory of receiving recognition. There are always sour grapes. It’s unavoidable as I so painfully learned. Before I started working for myself, I was fortunate enough to receive a few awards from the corporation where I worked, and at one point I got so many awards, that I actually began dreading them. During one fourth quarter meeting, my name was called for an award, and I said, “Shit!” under my breath. I had learned I was going to catch some hell for being recognized. What really hurt is someone made a crack within my hearing that I only got the award because a couple of the “bosses” thought I was good looking. I actually teared up about that (oh to have such a trial! LOL!). When a friend of mine asked me what was wrong, I told him what was said and bemoaned it. He rolled his eyes and laughed, “Oh, it must be hell to have it that rough?” When I got over that stinging comment, he looked me in the eye and said, “Did you do something deserving of that award or not?” I nodded, and then he went on, “Are you going to let a handful of people ruin your hard work?!” I shook my head no. This was such a pivotal moment because the negative cracks had made my young self very insecure about being taken seriously. I wanted so desperately to be taken seriously. If my friend had not given me such good counsel or if he had felt the need to defend me, I’m not sure I would have dismissed the pettiness so quickly.

One more personal anecdote.

As I said in an earlier post, my son is a runner. Along the way, he’s had some very lofty goals, he’s also worked tremendously hard, and he’s been able to achieve almost all of his goals. This has not only brought him a great deal of praise but is going to pay for a big chunk of his college education — whether he becomes injured or not. Yea! Yea! Yea! Sorry, I’m still rejoicing over that. LOL! But mixed in with all of these accomplishments has been some negative murmuring. There are the naysayers who have actually had the gall to say he “stole” races from his competitors or the most laughable — that he “got lucky.” They had to say something when they lost over and over and over. Thankfully, I knew this just comes with the territory of winning and was able to counsel my son with some sanity, “Are you going to let a few petty people eclipse the goodness?” Smart boy that he is, the answer was no. And thankfully, I didn’t get sucked into defending him. His achievements stand on their own; no need for momma to legitimize them.

That’s how I think of these negative comments about Richard Armitage from a miniscule number of people. His accomplishments can stand on their own. He has no need of the fans to defend, and the handful of critics should not have a strong enough voice to drown out his or our joy. Further, the few negative comments are just a sign that he’s getting somewhere. In fact, if he weren’t getting any negative comments, I would be wondering if he were really gaining in popularity. So some negative is a a good sign. Anyone striving at something and receiving some negative means they’re having some effect. Let me say that another way. If you’re not receiving some negative comments, you’re probably not doing anything. No one is praised all the time. It just doesn’t work that way.

In the meantime, I’m confident Richard Armitage is wise enough to quickly put negative remarks in perspective. Mostly I picture him humbly basking in the dream come true and wearing a sweet looking smile something like this:

No, I’m not saying anything new, but sometimes it’s good to hear these things again.

edit: I don’t look anything like I used to look. These days I look very much like someone’s mother or their grandmother if I’m really being candid. When I was young, SO used to get on me about being so negative about how I looked. He told me all the time I was beautiful and a lot of other people did as well, but the sad truth is if you don’t feel beautiful, it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you. Thankfully, I got over that kind of self-consciousness and frankly, self-centeredness. And I’m totally okay with how I look these days. Quite a few years ago, I finally got to the point where I’m comfortable in my own skin, and that is priceless to me. Better than ever being someone considered nice looking.

July 11, 2011
Categories: Fandom, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 29 Comments

Can’t Win for Losing

For those who aren’t familiar with that saying, it simply means that someone just can’t get anywhere with something or someone no matter what they may try. The more I read from some of the Tolkien fans (key word is some), the more I realize Richard Armitage would not get very far with them simply because he doesn’t look exactly like Thorin from the book. Perhaps the views of some will change after the movies come out, but really, does it matter? That’s not rhetorical. I’m asking you if it matters what a small group of people think by comparison to the legion of fans these movies will amass? And of course I’m going to give my opinion as well. :D

I say this with all due respect to the Tolkien fans. They make up a very small number of people who will watch The Hobbit movies, and when you consider the ones who are negative, the number gets much smaller. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these people have little influence, and certainly don’t have lots to do with the cash flowing into the pockets of everyone involved with the production. Mercenary as that sounds, it’s true. Therefore I’m not concerned about the negative comments from some of them wanting to see Richard Armitage removed as Thorin. It’s immaterial what they think with respect to the big picture (pardon the pun).

Also, Peter Jackson is just a nice guy who accords them respect as fellow Tolkien fans, and certainly most of them are just fine and even great. I’ve enjoyed reading what they have to say. It’s fascinating, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m happy to give them their due. More than happy to do it! But the ones who are territorial have got to hang onto something. They’re Tolkien experts b’god and we need to bow to that! ;-) Candidly, I don’t mind deferring to someone who really does know more than I do about something, but I happen to have studied Richard Armitage, the actor, so I’m not going to rollover on their assessment of his abilities. I guess we’ll be at an impasse on this, but I hope it’s a friendly impasse. I know it is from my quarter.

By the way, I hope as Richard Armitage fans that we’re not guilty of the same territorial attitudes about RA. I’ll admit feeling that way at times as I realize there is an elephant in the room — his imminent rise in popularity. Did I just admit that on an open blog? Yeah, I guess I did. Armitage Protection Mode is alive and well here. LOL!

Note: I should go back and read what these Tolkien fans said about alterations in the other Tolkien movies Jackson has directed just to see how they were before and after. Might be interesting reading.

I did contact one of the Tolkien sites (who shall remain nameless) to see if the admins there would talk on blog about any advice for the deluge of RA fans entering their world. I got nothin’, but then I think I committed an unpardonable sin — misspelling Tolkien’s name as Tolkein. Yeah, I know, I should be beaten for such a sacrilege. :D

I really need a picture after that. Maybe RA with a beard and long hair?

Yes, that’s a beard! It is in my book.

Okay, I’m going to get serious, and seriously, I hope some of you don’t sweat the criticism. Arrogant as it sounds, it’s going to be like I said here.

Net: if this is losing for RA, phew! I’d like to lose this way.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

July 1, 2011
Categories: Fandom, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

Tangent — Jacking with Meta

June 30, 2011

And for you techies, this may not be what you think. The video below addresses something everyone on the World Wide Web needs to know is happening so is well worth the nine minute’s investment to watch.

I chuckled a bit when Eli Pariser mentioned his political bent. He has been an integral part of Moveon.org, a very politically biased site. I do not agree with everything said there. I’m not sure I agree with everything said anywhere, but this never keeps me from listening to someone’s viewpoint, and I’m almost always wiser for having listened. And how sad if their visibility were diminished in my little world thereby making my world that much smaller. Oh, I’m all for personalization, but when it becomes a stumbling block to my ability to consider a bigger picture, it’s gone too far. And for what? Mostly to take advantage of niche marketing, i.e., the ability to sell me something whether it be a product, a service or an idea by appealing to my seeming interests keyed into a search engine. Oh, I’m not completely opposed to niche marketing, but I HATE when someone seeks to think for me in a way that limits my thinking, and it’s really insulting when it’s a machine. Hopefully, you watched the video, so all of this makes sense and my next words in particular will be in perspective.

Today, the only major information site that doesn’t personalize to the degree of Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. is Twitter. I would include Digg and Reddit, but they are being eclipsed by Twitter. So this makes Twitter a really important tool for the little guys — us. The beauty of the web has been this power to connect people who would not otherwise be able to find each other, and gatekeeper media sites have been fairly circumvented in this process, but now Google, et al are seeking to control where we go even more. Frankly, the mere mention of a gatekeeper hacks me off. Thankfully, Twitter is still powerful enough to overcome that kind of control because it’s mostly unfiltered, and therefore wild and unpredictable and beautiful in its ability to give us average people who have little or no professional connection with major media the power to potentially have impact. This is the main reason I like Twitter and would hate to see it go the way of the others. Hopefully, this makes it evident Twitter should not be dismissed as mere fluff.

It’s amazing to me how true is this adage: it’s not what you see or hear but what you don’t. I’ve told my kids this countless times in the hope they will learn to think outside the box by knowing that the box is invisible.

On a personal note, if I told you some of the influential people whom I’ve been able to converse with as a result of Twitter, you wouldn’t believe me. I could care less about name dropping, but I say this here to make the point that your voice can be heard on Twitter in ways you could have only dreamed about before.

edit: I’m putting the Richard Armitage and public service tags on this since this is “important” stuff in the fine art of Richard Armitage watching. :D

June 30, 2011
Categories: Geek, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 5 Comments

I Have a Plan

edit: Richard Armitage did trend on Twitter

Dangerous words, but well, I have a plan of sorts. It’s about Richard Armitage. I know that’s a shocker, but I thought I would tell you that upfront. His 40th birthday is coming up, and Calexora has a birthday book planned for him. The messages I’ve read so far are lovely, and I love the possible covers (hope it’s the French poplars). If you want to be in on that, get her a message by July 8th. But before Armitage Day, wouldn’t it be cool if he were trending on Twitter? He never has trended that I’m aware of. I asked Ali at RichardArmitageNet.Com (aka @RAnetdotcom) and she doesn’t remember him ever trending.

Oh, you don’t do Twitter and have no clue about trending? Well, maybe you need to open an account, and trending means whatever is the hot topic (see right sidebar on my Twitter home page). If you don’t have time to take on Twitter, just do it for this and then you can bail — no one will think anything of it. You know how many widow accounts are on Twitter?! Believe me it’s no biggie.

I’m contacting all the RA websites — the ones I know are on Twitter — and asking them to be in on this too, and of course I’m contacting all of the RA bloggers I know. We’ll just need to set a date and have a theme of sorts so that this doesn’t come off as lame. I’m thinking the date should be sometime after Captain America but before August 22nd, and Strike Back promotion will also be in the mix. That timing surely can’t hurt, but the truth is so many things that trend on Twitter are planned trends. Take Captain America for example. That will trend (if it hasn’t already), and it’s surely due to all of the hype by pr machines at a certain time. Why can’t RA have some hype? He’s definitely worth it, and this could be fun. And so much better if fans do it than a publicist. Hey, are we the Armitage Army or not? :D Oh you don’t consider yourself part of the Army? Too bad ’cause it’s fun and not even close to violent.

None of this will work unless we coordinate it as any good Army would do. Everyone going their own directions won’t work. The tweets must be within a certain window so that Twitter’s trending app is triggered, and the theme must be something that piques the interest of non fans. Yep, they have to talk about him too if we’re going to pull this off. In that interest, I hope the principals will participate, and that we can all brainstorm about what would be an appropriate theme. My rough idea is to have something along the lines of “Who is Richard Armitage?” but something much less prosaic. So put on your thinking caps and let’s come up with something good. After I have some caffeine, I might be a little more productive in this discussion. In the meantime, if you have an idea bring it! :D

A picture to inspire you:

Yeah, we’re thinking about it, Rich.

Still courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

June 30, 2011
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 42 Comments

Guy With Us — Spoilers

Spoilers for Robin Hood Series 3

I didn’t think it was possible, but there are people who read my blog who have seen little or no ‘Robin Hood’ hence the spoiler tag. If you do not know the full story of Guy of Gisborne, please don’t read this piece. Just watch the show.

Last chance to bail. :D

Two years ago today I was waiting anxiously for the resolution of Guy. I had been waiting well over a year to find out his ultimate fate after his killing Marian, and it was so much more than wanting to know the resolution of that situation. It had transcended the absurdity that was the show and had moved from Gisborne’s love and desperation for Marian to become about finding resolution for a damaged man and specifically about finding redemption of his life. Even writing this now, it sounds a bit melodramatic, and well, it was melodramatic, but oh, the way the media treated the show made it abundantly clear Guy’s story was THE story albeit the producers could not acknowledge that overtly. It was still done in ways too obvious to miss.

Just one example was Digital Spy doing interviews with the principals in the cast, and Richard Armitage was the last one interviewed — oh yeah, saving the best for last. Some of the questions asked are a bit hackneyed. As always Richard doesn’t give hackneyed answers. He does seem tired but is still able to reveal what it is we love so much about Guy and about him as an actor:

Revelation of the inner core. Even if he had not been redeemed in the last series, he captured something that most can relate to — the need to be loved and the hunger for redemption at times as part of fulfilling that need. This is the secret of Guy’s appeal and why two years later I can still get choked about his passing.

And if Richard Armitage can pull off this kind of examination of a character most would marginalize, what is he really capable of doing? It’s potentially mind boggling to contemplate, and sorry, my friends, but romantic comedies rarely enter my thinking about potential roles for Richard. I have nothing against them and like quite a few, but I hope someone, somewhere who has the means to supply him with damn fine writing will step up, and I doubt it’s going to be a romantic comedy.

However, on a completely shallow note and completely understanding the need to see him in a romance, phew! he is fine in that clip! Blindingly handsome, and to hear from some who have seen him in person, that is nothing by comparison. If that’s nothing, I’m not sure I could handle seeing him in the flesh.

By the way, I was absolutely sure Guy was history once I saw this interview, but then I had thought for a good while Guy was going to meet his end if for no other reason than Richard Armitage had long since outgrown the show. Please note when he touches his head. A long time ago it became abundantly clear this is an obfuscating gesture and interesting to examine in light of one of Servetus’ recent posts. I guess this comment proves I can still devolve into playing the idiot chick from the O’Reilly Factor :D, and now I feel compelled to ask a pardon:

Dear Rich,

I hope you don’t mind going under the magnifying glass so much, and frankly, that is the chief reason I hope you never read my blog. It would make me feel a little self-conscious to know you see the examination of your every move. By the way, I’m contemplating the movement of your eyelashes at some point in the future, and I can’t indulge my anal tendencies quite so much if well, you’re looking at me. So glad you don’t, but I’m sure my SO is glad I’m doing this blog since my need to examine every cussed thing is not so focused on him at present. :D

Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans, who feels a bit self-conscious right now even if you don’t read my blog.

note: I debated doing this post since I still need to do my follow-up to TDHCMO, but frankly, I don’t want to be on a schedule. I’m on a schedule or at someone’s beck and call so much of the time. That’s not really a complaint despite how it sounds, but I need a place I am not so worried about meeting deadlines or others’ expectations. I guess this is it, and tomorrow, I have to continue on with Guy. Too much to talk about to hit and run with one post.

June 27, 2011
Categories: Interviews, PHWOAR!, Robin Hood, SO, Spoilers . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 26 Comments

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