Richard Armitage | RAFrenzy

Diary of an RA Fan — Part 21 Now I’ve Done It

See Diary Part 20 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — And Still Fall, 2008:

I’m not sure I can read any more of the Armitage Army forum. There are some lovely people there, but I’m scaring myself, and then I discover this! Just the title alone has made me really stop and think about what I’m doing. But haven’t I been doing that all along the way? Haven’t I gut checked myself so much that I’ve worn myself out with it? It seems I’m so tightly bound with circumspection that I’m a small package which bores me silly. And now it seems I can’t even have a little fetish that doesn’t make me stereotypical and potentially a nut case. CWS? What the hell? I guess the first stage isn’t so bad, and that’s certainly where I fit, but just knowing there is a scale creeps me out.

A few days later:

I feel so dumb most of the time when I’m reading all of these web pages about Richard Armitage, and now I’ve made a few posts on the Army site which have sort of wearied me. All I know at this moment is that I’m tired of typing the words Richard Armitage. It feels funny to type his name. It hits me sometimes when I get to his last name that I’m almost incessantly discussing someone I do not know and never will. But somehow it feels like I know him. NOOOOO! That sounds like something further up the CW Scale. I will bust a gut before moving up that scale or even looking like I have. I don’t even want to type anything less formal than Richard Armitage. Maybe I should make that Mr. Armitage. No, that just sounds uh, I don’t know what it sounds like. A bit of the lady doth protest too much? Yeah, that would almost be like banging a gong and saying, “I’ve got a problem and need to keep my distance!”

Anything less than his full name just seems too personal. But isn’t pondering whether it’s personal kind of creepy as well? Why do I care if I’m too personal? Hell, I don’t know. I just know I’m a bit creeped out at myself, but I can’t seem to stop watching his stuff. I really do think he’s a great actor the likes of which I’m not sure I’ve ever seen. But I feel like a fool being on a fan site. It really bothers me. Mostly because it jacks with the image I have of myself. Hang what anyone else may think. The identity I embrace does not include being a fan. It’s just not me. So why the hell am I doing this, and why am I writing journal entries about it?

But the other fans are interesting, and I’m finding new sources for watching Richard Armitage’s performances. Maybe I’ll stay.

A few more days later:

I mentioned that I was curious about ‘Between the Sheets,’ and someone at the Army forum sent me a zip file of it. So I’ll get to watch it without having to order it. What am I saying?! No, if I watch it for free now, I’ll have to buy it, and I’m not sure I want to buy this. And I still hate the name of that show. No imagination. If I can submerge my conscience long enough, I’ll start watching sometime soon. What am I thinking? Besides, I’m doing a stutter step at what I’ve read on the Army site. It seems the watchword for ‘Between the Sheets’ is peaches. Whatever the hell that means. I didn’t delve any further. I don’t want to feel any dumber than I already do.

See Diary Part 22 here.

September 1, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: Armitage Army, Celebrity Worship Scale, Celebrity Worship Syndrome, crazy people, Richard Armitage . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 28 Comments

A Little Sweetner

I am changing courses in mid-stream. Maybe that language is too strong. I’m not changing courses, I’m changing how I’m going about the course. I am spending a little more time on the diary entries I wrote awhile back. Couple that with school starting and all the madness that goes along with that, and well, I’m being challenged to find time to get my blog pieces the way I want them.

Because I’ve been remiss in not publishing as often, I offer something to those of you who may not know some of the little goodies that us rabid fans have at our disposal. It’s a neat little program I acquired to listen to BBC Radio. When Clarissa came out earlier this year, I was looking for a way to listen to the broadcasts live or very shortly after the broadcast, and I found it in this program. (Yes, I’m going to tell you what it is — eventually. LOL!)

But since Clarissa aired, I’ve gone way beyond trying to listen to just broadcasts with or about RA or anything in which he’s involved. I have quite an array of subscriptions that are such a delight to me. One of them is the Afternoon Play on Radio 4, and Radio 4 has been such a treat that for months now I’ve been a member of a Facebook advocacy group called Speak up for Radio Drama Now! If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know I have no love for FB, so it’s quite something for me to even stay involved. But I support what they are trying to do with that Group. Not quite sure it’s going to accomplish the purpose, but someone, somewhere needs to know how much BBC Radio 4 is loved!!! Definitely worthy of three exclamations points at once.

I did chuckle to myself when I first heard RA’s crack about BBC Radio 4 listeners being part of his Army. Before Clarissa I could have said indignantly, “Oh, not me!” But I am so in the bag for Radio 4. Yes, I fit his demographic too well except that I’m not sure about the “quite well-educated” part. I still think of myself as a mutt and always will, and I’m fine with that. Mutts can usually go anywhere without much detection. Yeah, I’ll stick with being a mutt. :D

So without further ado here’s the sweetner:

RadioDownloader

I give this to you now because there are probably going to be broadcasts of interviews about Spooks 9, which if Ali at RichardArmitageNet.Com is correct, will more than likely air in September. Then again, there may be nothing broadcast. But I wanted you to be prepared if there were. Just more of my public service to you. ;-)

Oh, and I have never had a problem with this program, but I think it’s only available for PC users. If anyone knows of a good MAC program, then tell us about it.

August 31, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Geek, Voice Work . Tags: Clarissa, public service, Richard Armitage . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

Diary of an RA Fan — Part 20 My Kingdom for a Plastic Horse

See Diary Part 19 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — Still Fall, 2008:

I joined the Armitage Army forum today. The lure of it was too much to resist any longer. My desperation to talk to others about Richard Armitage and Stanislavski and identities and art simply overcame any hesitance I had about looking like a fangurl with exploding ovaries. I want to wallow in a discussion about what I’m discovering, and IMDb is not enough. What I’ve read on the Army site has given me tons to check out, but it’s a little daunting knowing where to start.

A couple of weeks later:

I didn’t get very far. I became distracted by a discussion that may have cured me of my fascination with Richard Armitage. Me, the cheapskate, has totally had my purse strings loosened by this guy, so once again I had to buy something that had several posters atwitter. It’s amazing to me what I’ve bought in the last several months. Thankfully, this item wasn’t very expensive, but I did have it sent express mail, which costs a young fortune, and now I’m the owner of one of these.

My only problem is that I can’t let this thing see the light of day. I mean I don’t even know where to put it. I’m not quite ready to take a page out of the book of the ladies who went on about theirs. Several of them said they used their kids for cover. The little SOs would not let me do that. They would call bull on me so fast, it would make my head spin. I don’t have that luxury, so I’m stuck with this thing crammed, er, lovingly placed at the back of my lingerie drawer. I CANNOT BELIEVE I’m writing this. What’s really sad is that I’m bummed I didn’t get what I really wanted — one of these.

So much for art.

Present day:

I hid that doll so well I couldn’t find it to take a picture for this post. I moved it from the lingerie drawer so it wouldn’t be discovered there and given a significance that it doesn’t hold. Now I’m wondering where it will emerge, and what my explanation, if any, will be. LOL!

See Diary Part 21 here.

August 25, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Robin Hood . Tags: action figure, Armitage Army, crazy people, Guy of Gisborne, Richard Armitage, Richie . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 21 Comments

And She’s Back

Angela (aka Spikesbint) broke her hiatus from vidding to come back and make one for RA, and so I have to break my hiatus from this blog, which I honestly thought would last me at least another 24 hours. I can’t help but post Angela’s video even though I swore to myself I wasn’t going to do anything else about RA’s Birthday. There’s been plenty done already elsewhere and much better than my piddly effort. I hope you will check out Nat’s blog if you haven’t already as well as Phylly’s, and frankly, you could probably click on every link in the ‘Addict List’ or ‘Places to Get a Fix’ and see some really creative stuff. I’ve spent at least an hour or more today reading and watching what I’ve found there. But I’m going to highlight this video because Angela is one of my favorite vidders.

Enjoy!

August 22, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Fanvids . Tags: Angela, Armitage Day, Birthday, candid shots, candid video, Richard Armitage . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Happy Birthday, RA

Not sure if this is a fake fan letter, but it’s sincere whatever it is.

Dear Richard,

I’m taking the day off and hope you are doing the same.

I wish you happy on your birthday, and I’ll be back with snark tomorrow or the next day.

Until then, a couple of videos for you to enjoy, and I thought the second one was interesting where TJ Schiller talks about doing a little bit of work on a trampoline, foolin’ around a bit, and just imagining himself skiing like a pro, and voila, he became a pro. Not quite sure I believe that, but it’s nice to imagine. So maybe a tramp purchase is in order?

Take care,

One of Your Crazy Fans

August 22, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Uncategorized . Tags: Armitage Day, Birthday, fake fan letters, Richard Armitage, skiing . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

So I’ll Get My Fix Sooner??

According to Ali at RichardArmitageNet.Com, we might not have to wait SO LONG until we see Lucas in action.

4. It is looking more likely that Spooks could air in September this year (last year episode 1 aired on 4 November 2009). As reported on 12 August, Amazon and Play.com have brought the series 8 DVD release date forward to 20 September. Today, thanks to KK, we’ve discovered that the September print edition of the Virgin Media magazine lists Spooks series 9 as one of the programmes starting in September, but there’s no official airdate yet.

I’m not sure if this is more torturous than having to wait until November. Until then, I’ll have to be satisfied with this Ohcheemama picture:

edit:

You have to see this picture in all its glory. It’s here in RichardArmitageNet’s Gallery. I would link directly to the picture, but for the uninitiated, that’s called ‘hotlinking’ and is a no no. So click on the picture and then down below the lower right corner is “original picture.” Click on that then click on the picture that’s loaded to zoom in on it. Wow! It’s something else. You’re missing out if you don’t do this. Do it now! LOL!

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

August 19, 2010
Categories: PHWOAR!, Rumors, Spooks . Tags: Lucas North, Ohcheemama, Richard Armitage, Series 9 . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Diary of an RA Fan — Part 19 “the important thing is that you play truly.”

See Diary Part 18 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — Fall, 2008

Autumn is finally here in earnest, and its beauty usually makes me pensive. But this year I feel rushed. There is so much I’ve wanted to do, and I’ve done almost nothing. Dad’s gone and Mom’s not in great health, but that doesn’t seem to stop her from talking about England. That’s all she ever talks about, and I know full well the chance we’ll go there is almost nil. She is simply not up to it, and I can’t be gone for another month. The world would stop around here if I were gone for a month as I was last summer. Then again, maybe that would be a good thing. LOL!

I was driving over to see Mimi the other day. I love to drive to Mimi’s. It takes me on one of my favorite routes. The trees are close to the road and seem to glow as if they’re lighting the way to somewhere sublime. I swear they’re backlit by something other than the sun. Even though I love visiting Mimi, I wanted to just sit in the woods. It was a gorgeous day, truly a halcyon day — sunny but cool and barely a cloud in the sky. Just enough clouds to make the sky seem painted. Yeah, sometimes it’s so blue it doesn’t look real. I’m blessed to live here.

But I’m not satisfied. I wonder what that really feels like. Maybe I experienced it when SO and I were coming to know each other or when we had the little SOs. I certainly love them all more than I can express, but feeling satisfied is so fleeting, I’m not sure I’ve experienced it. Maybe it’s not supposed to last long. I don’t know. So much I don’t know, and there’ s not much time to figure it out.

I haven’t watched any Richard Armitage for a couple of weeks, and I’m feeling some withdrawal. That simply can’t happen. It’s an inexpensive thrill for me even if I do have several hundred dollars invested, and I’m going to continue. And whom does it hurt? I watch when I have time! ROFLOL!! Yeah, I’ve made time for it, but I’ve got to have some outlet or I’ll go nuts, and I don’t want to go nuts again. I’d rather re-immerse myself in Robin Hood even though the frustration lingers about its ending and my silly urge to blame someone hasn’t gone away. Dominic Minghella, the chief writer, is apparently the guilty party. Must find out more about him because I need to understand how someone could develop those characters and then use them like that? Or maybe it was just over my head.

I’ve got to put all of that aside. At least long enough to rewatch the show; otherwise, it will be a constant specter, and I’ll never figure out what fascinates me so much about a character who’s a thug, and of course I realize he wants redemption. Redemption stories are almost always powerful, but I’ve never had quite this reaction to such a minor character.

I could dismiss it as mere objectification of Richard Armitage. Damn. No! But oh his movements are beautiful. Even his seemingly languid movements are rife with something begging to be explored. His movements in total are imbued with something I just can’t name. I would love to describe what it is, but words fail. They always fail. I guess I’m lazy. If it’s not easy to say, I drop it and move on. I’ve always had a problem expressing myself about anything that moves me deeply except to sometimes fob it off with a crack. But something truly fitting for what I feel never comes. My words never sound as I want them to sound. They’re prosaic, and I cringe at them.

A few days later:

I started reading Stanislavski. That’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a teen and became fascinated with Brando and James Dean. Richard Armitage reminds me of those two more than any other actors. In my mind he’s those two fused. When I was a kid, Mom referenced the Actors Studio where Brando and Dean studied. She also spoke some of Stella Adler. From there it wasn’t too many steps to pique my interest in Stanislavski. I should have read him years ago. Only a few pages into his book and I was intrigued. He is speaking of things I’ve thought but didn’t feel free to pursue. To pursue them would be playing mind games, but heck, I’ve done that anyway. I wonder how much better I could have expressed myself if I had let my mind unfocus and tap into my subconscious. What I’m loving is that I have finally figured out what Richard Armitage is doing that has sucked me in so thoroughly!

This explains a lot and contains a description of what happens to me when I watch Richard:

The fundamental aim of our art is the creation of this inner life of a human spirit, and its expression in an artistic form… Our experience has led to a firm belief that only our kind of art, soaked as it is in the living experiences of human beings, can artistically reproduce the impalpable shadings and depths of life. Only such art can completely absorb the spectator and make both understand and also inwardly experience the happenings on the stage, enriching his inner life, and leaving impressions which will not fade with time. — Spoken by Director Tortsov from An Actor Prepares

The inner man he’s created, the inner life is playing out, and the truth of it is so beautiful I can’t get enough. There’s a sanity to it that I’ve seldom seen in an actor. Maybe I’ve never seen it.

“Impalpable shadings and depths of life.” What a way to describe it. Perfect really. John Thornton drinking tea at the Hale’s, nodding his head but unable to look at or speak to his mother after his rejection from Margaret, agonizing at the train station before Margaret comes back to him with her portmanteau. John Standring having his mouth full of sausage, being frustrated at his body’s impatience in an intimate moment with Carol, grinning at Carol as he tries on a suit. And Guy. Guy awkwardly holding the Sheriff’s bird, lighting up when he realizes the nun is a fake, looking intently at Marian when he sees she’s not wearing her betrothal ring, beaming when he comes to tell her the king is returning, rushing up like a little boy to her before the wedding. The ring of truth in these moments completely submerges Richard Armitage and the person he’s fashioned is there thinking and feeling and drawing me into his story.

“Will not fade with time.” Certainly I will remember John Thornton’s sweet eyes looking at Margaret as she explains her business proposition or Guy saying to his servant Thornton that the thing is to be understood.

[note: imagine my grin a year later when I read RA’s crack in this article. There will be more about all of this. It’s too much for one post. Oh, and I went on to read more Stanislavski and some Grotowski and Vakhtangov. Phew.]

Quote in the title from Mikhail Shchepkin.

See Diary Part 20 here.

August 17, 2010
Categories: Interviews, North and South, Robin Hood, SO . Tags: Constantin Stanislavski, Guy of Gisborne, James Dean, John Thornton, Kostantin Stanislavsky, Marlon Brando, Method Acting, Mikhail Shchepkin, Richard Armitage . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 12 Comments

Yorkshire Wench

NOTE: if you’re looking for Yorkshire Wench’s videos, they are no longer accessible online. Go here for more information.

Man, that name conjures all sorts of things. Of course John Thornton and his proximity to Yorkshire, and as a good little RA fan I know RA has ties to Yorkshire as well, and not only due to his interest in Richard III. Then there is my own experience with the place. I was simply overwhelmed by Yorkshire and really bummed I didn’t get to spend more time there. I love history and having read about the War of the Roses, I really wanted to see Yorkshire as I got to see Lancashire. Plus, my camera was having a problem when I drove through there, so I didn’t get one picture! Perhaps this means I have to go back to the U.K. and rectify that? Oh yeah, that’s what it means. LOL!

I wanted to embed this wonderful picture of the Yorkshire Dales, but WP is being a bully, so I’ve uploaded it, Do me a favor and click on the photo to see its original, and hey, you should probably vote for this picture on that site as well.

But all of that is not what this post is about. This is about someone who has supplied many RA fans with countless hours of pleasure in viewing videos and screencaps. YorkshireWench was one of the first to make fanvideos of RA’s works, and I have several. They are some of the first RA videos I obtained, and I still have them in online storage and some on my iPod. I think I’ve thanked her for those on LiveJournal on several occasions (but not as RAFrenzy). However, I’m going to thank her again because she’s shutting down her website, and I’m taking the occasion to tell her again how grateful I am for her work, which is really all I know of her except that I think her name is Claire and she’s a Pisces like me.

If you’re new to RA, then you have probably never seen these videos, since they are not on YouTube. Here is the link to her website [link disabled; see edit below] where you can get links to her videos on Vimeo. You will have to get the links on her site since all of these videos are private and therefore will not come up in search results on Vimeo. To access them you will need a password, which is listed on the homepage of her site. You can also download the videos in various formats. I recommend downloading because the quality is so much better than Vimeo.

Some of my favorites:

Any Other Name (Robin Hood)

Requiem for a Dream (Robin Hood)

Upside Down (The Impressionists)

Adagio for Strings (North and South)

What If (North and South)

Enough about that; go take a look, and if you’re offended by some slash, you might not want to look. I’ll tell you plainly that I’m not a fan of slash, but there are plenty of others to like, and I do. Just so you know, “Any Other Name” is one of my all time favorite Guy videos, I just couldn’t upload it or easily link to it for my top ten fanvids.

edit: since I wrote this piece, Yorkshire Wench has shut down her site, but I have obtained links to all of her Richard Armitage videos on Vimeo, which you can find here. If you want links to all of her videos, you can find them here. But if you go directly to Vimeo, the password is butterfly.

August 13, 2010
Categories: Fanvids, North and South, Robin Hood, The Impressionists, Vidders to Watch . Tags: Guy of Gisborne, John Thornton, livejournal, Margaret Hale, Marian, Monet, Richard Armitage, Will Scarlet, Yorkshirewench . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 24 Comments

Have You Met Miss Hale?

Every time I sit down to finish off some more diary entries and plunge all of you back into my struggle with becoming a fangurl, my attention goes to the fanvids. I’ll get back to it, but maybe I don’t really want to know why I’m a fangurl. I’d rather indulge the obsession for now. In that interest, there is a recent “vidder” (can we come up with a better word than vidder? I don’t like it. Not sure I know exactly why, but I could speculate. Mainly it just sounds like something mundane, unimaginative and any other dreary word I can think of, and Miss Hale is far from that. So I’ll have to think about using another word in the future). Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, about to introduce you to misshale78. I’ll let her work do the talking.

A perfect video for Strike Back:

Can’t go wrong with Muse, but this is even better:

I like R&B/Pop Fusion if the singer is good and I don’t have to look at her/him singing. This is much better to look at:

There are so many more, and I left out a couple that I’ll post later. Go check out her channel if you haven’t already.

August 8, 2010
Categories: Fanvids, Strike Back . Tags: John Porter, misshale78, Richard Armitage . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 5 Comments

Who the Hell is Richard Armitage?

[NOTE: I now have a permanent page (“Who is Richard Armitage?”), and it has more video clips.]

This post is for all of you who have recently been introduced to Richard Armitage, the actor, via some poll or celebrity site where he popped up as perhaps the number two or even the number one contender in a contest. But you have never seen him animated and are completely perplexed by his fans’ love. Somewhere, sometime, some of you have uttered that question. I used to ask it myself! Hopefully when you are done with this post, you will begin to understand what his fans see. I’m not going to waste time trotting out his bio. You can read that on IMDb.

I want to gush and draw you the perfect picture of him with my words. To somehow convince you that he deserves the respect his fans give him. But I know it is probably wasted because I’ve been where you are, and no words were going to do it for me. I had seen stills of Richard Armitage before I saw him act, and I was profoundly unmoved and even put off. He just can’t be appreciated from a few pictures. The chameleon quality he brings to his acting helps to make him one of the finest actors, but it sometimes puts him at odds with stills. Seeing him moving and speaking is the key to understanding. If you have never done that, then you don't get it. But you’re in for a treat if you watch him. Not only is he extremely masculine, he is sensitive as well, and the superb mingling of these makes him an utterly beautiful man to behold. As gushy as I am, this post has been very difficult to write. I want to gush a lot more, but I’ll refrain and let him speak for himself.

John Thornton: