Diary of an RA Fan — Part 16 The Third One*

See Diary Part 15 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.

Entry — a couple of years ago minus a few months, a couple of days and maybe two weeks:

It seems I can’t easily get my hands on Between the Sheets. I would have to order another DVD. So I watched a couple of AlisaGB’s clips on YouTube. Once again Richard Armitage is completely unlike any of his other characters. Cloris Leachman came to mind. Maybe it was Paul’s whine. And I’m not keen on him with brown hair, and especially with that catch me/do me cowlick preceding him like an ugly prow. That whine really did get on my nerves, but it’s the whine and his helpless demeanor that makes me curious about this part. I don’t want to mess with this right now. The show just didn’t look very appealing, and the wife? I can’t stand her ’cause she whines too and she’s pushy with it. Could she be more one-dimensional and unappealing? But then this is only an excerpt.

As much as I like Richard Armitage, this might be the first thing I don’t like, and I hate the title. It was enough to sort of turn me off. If anyone else were in this, I wouldn’t bother. Titles like that say no one cares enough to go beyond the prosaic. But then Richard Armitage is in it, so it can’t be that prosaic can it? Maybe it means something else. It was one of his earlier works, but I think it’s after North and South. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll love this. My gut says no, but my gut has said no every time. To a show, I’ve resisted everything of his that I’ve watched except maybe George Gently. Even now looking at the North and South DVD case, there is nothing to recommend it. It’s drab and sounds like a cheap version of the better period dramas, and I absolutely hate that picture of him. That may be the worst picture of him I’ve ever seen. He’s pasty looking and dull. Did someone who doesn’t like him design the cover? It is atrocious. It’s amazing that what looks like something out of a sale bin at WalMart would have led me to spend this much time and money.

SO now asks me periodically what I’m doing, and then looks at me intently. The quiet look on his face is heart wrenching, but I can’t explain! I keep waiting for him to ask me why we have a multi-region DVD player. But he knows the question is already hanging between us. I don’t want to answer because I don’t understand why I bought one. I can’t articulate it, and I don’t want to articulate it. All I know is that I feel like I’ve stepped into something and can’t get loose and don’t want to.

When I was four almost five and couldn’t swim, I jumped into a swimming pool. I remember the sun shining on the water, and the marine color looked like I belonged there. It was awkward to stand on the edge just looking at it. The water bubbling in front of my eyes blinded me as I went in, but it felt so soft and good to slip down in it. I began to feel the water in my nose and wanted to let myself slip further. Then there was a huge woosh behind me and a vise around me, and dad was pulling me to the surface. I don’t remember panicking or crying, and I knew I wanted down in that water again.

*Yannis Kitsos

See Diary Part 17 here.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com

July 7, 2010
Categories: SO . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

I’m Tired; Need to Take a Nap

That last post wore me out. You think it was work to read?! Try writing that crap especially when you worry about whether you’ve spelled Naboo correctly? I did spell that correctly didn’t I? Useless crap that I obsess over.

I would have added this to the other post, but I think I’ve updated that thing about six times since I originally published it, which was, uh, let me go look…one hour ago. Wow, and I only updated six times. I’m improving.

So this post won’t be a total waste, a lovely picture for your afternoon or morning or whatever:

As Lorraine Kelly said, “A beautiful boy.”

Screencap courtesy of TheArmitageArmy.co.uk

July 6, 2010
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Movies, Uncategorized . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

You Do Know They Think We’re Crazy?

[note: The Armitage Army site has closed since I wrote this piece, and I have written even more about the Army and have come to think it’s an interesting phenomenon.]

I’ve talked about web alerts a couple of times now, so I figured what the heck I would go ahead and just talk about the elephant in the room. The one whom I smell anyway, because frankly, I can’t see him. But his smell sometimes is overwhelming.

When someone puts ‘Richard Armitage’ somewhere on a web page, the page/site automatically gets an instant boost on its hit count. Yes, yes, I already said this, but obviously, I’m saying it again. Now you would think that everyone would love getting a boost in their hit count, but I guess there are some who don’t like it. They want to be loved for themselves dammit and not because some actor in England whom few have seen is on their page! And yes, they think we’re all nuts. Then there are the “professionals” who definitely think we’re all nuts if their questions to RA are any indication.

Some of you have suggested to me that I don’t like the Armitage Army question because it makes me feel bad about myself or about the fandom. Actually, the question really is boring to me unless RA has a funny answer and is not bugged by it. I long ago gave up feeling funny about being a fanatic. You’ll see from my coming diary entries that I abandon any sense of propriety about this business except I draw the line at sending my underwear to him. The ONLY reason I’m anonymous really is because of my family. They are not quite ready for me to make a public fool of myself. Those are their words and not mine. I do not feel a fool, but out of respect for them, I’m behind this facade.

And speaking of facades (no, I have never in my life started so many sentences with ‘and’; it is liberating!), there are ways to keep yourself from being seen when you look at these alerts. Mostly I remain unseen. Oh, I’m seen some (when I know I’m among friends), but most of the time (when it’s some obscure site or a professional’s site), I am in stealth mode. It’s not because I’m ashamed but because there is something about those counters and the collection of their key words that just pisses me off. LOL! See I told you this blog might prove I’m insane, insane like a fox. You can’t be a techie for years and just lie down and submit to being counted. It doesn’t work that way. If I were really crazy, I wouldn’t even be talking about this. Would I? ;-)

Okay, okay, I know there are the clearinghouse sites such as RichardArmitageNet or RichardArmitageOnline or RichardArmitageCentral or The Armitage Army that do a lot of trolling on the web, but people, they are providing a wonderful service so they’re justified, and when they go somewhere, they only account for one hit. The rest of us are the mob. Why aren’t we satisfied with just waiting for what those sites can provide? Oh, you do rely completely on them for your information? Well, I’m not talking to you. :D As much as I love those sites, and I’ll continue to give them love in this blog, I’m not satisfied because, well, that’s just me. I’m impatient. Very impatient. Always have been about some things. How do you think I was able to retire so young? Not by being patient. Really, I blame it on my ADHD. You think being a kid and having that is rough? Try being an adult!* But I digress, and really if I didn’t, this blog would not exist!

So where does that leave all of us who like to troll the web for junk about Richard Armitage? I hope that someone, somewhere really is monitoring the increased web activity about him. We really aren’t nuts, and it only takes one or maybe two viewings of North and South or Sparkhouse or even Robin Hood (well, his parts anyway) to vindicate all of us!

Screencap of RA in Star Wars courtesy of Ruth at BookTalk &More. By the way, that’s just a great blog. Forget RA; it’s a great blog. Oh, and are we sure that guy on the left is RA? The one in the upper right hand corner kind of looks like him too. Or maybe that guy is one of us?

*I’m really not making fun of people who have ADHD. I do have it, and thankfully, I know it now. Wish I had known sooner. Before everyone just thought I was bi-polar. It’s truly a miracle I got through school much less had successful jobs without understanding what was wrong with me. Yeah, I know it’s the diagnosis du jour, and honestly, I thought it was a load of crap. But it explains a lot about me. I’m textbook even down to being misdiagnosed as bi-polar.

edit: I should amend this to say that not everyone thought I was bi-polar. I’ve spent most of my life trying to cover up my erratic behavior and doing such a good job of it that people other than my immediate family thought I was extremely sane. God Bless SO. He’s a strong man and never boring. He actually doesn’t care if I’m anonymous or not. He thinks this is funny as hell (well, the things I’ve let him read ;-)). It’s the “little” SOs who would have a hard time with it. That, and I would never do anything to make SO look bad. I surely hope he doesn’t look bad so far!

July 6, 2010
Categories: Fandom, SO . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Tangent — What Color is the Sky?

So Rupert Murdoch finally has the paywalls up completely on the Times. I’ve been reading about this coming event for quite a while now. It’s my understanding that Murdoch based part of his decision on another paper he owns that requires paid subscriptions for online reading — The Wall Street Journal. The only problem with his thinking is that the Wall Street Journal targets a much smaller audience, provides information more difficult to obtain and the readers have more means to pay. It can’t be said enough that the Times stuff is easily available elsewhere unless the Times has one helluva editorial team, which is doubtful. So I’m not sure what Murdoch is thinking to compare the two papers.

Perhaps he’s not thinking, since it’s also my understanding that he personally does not use the internet. ROFLOL!!! Wait. I think he’s almost 80. Okay, that explains it. Wait, my 70 something year old mother has an iPhone and accesses the internet with it, and yes, to get her news. As if that’s not enough, so do my almost 80 year old mother-in-law and father-in-law, so no, age doesn’t explain it. He must be on another planet ’cause the color of the sky in his world is not the same as the rest of us, and apparently he’s as unrealistic as Prince, who I already thought was crazy. Oh wait, I meant the artist formerly known as Prince. No, I’m wrong, he’s back to Prince. Whatever, I’m not talking about the royals:

…”The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.

“The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.

“They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

The rest of the interview.

Alrighty then. Those devices in our hands are really just a figment of our imaginations and will soon disappear. I don’t think ol’ Rupe thinks those devices are going away, but just like Prince, he thinks he can create a scarcity where none exists. But of course the devil’s advocate rears his head and has me remembering that Rupert and Prince are friggin’ geniuses, and sometimes we think geniuses are crazy — especially when they see something the rest of us can’t. This is going to drive me crazy until I know these paywalls fail. Then again, I understand they might be necessary. If so, it’s going to be sad to see the golden era of information coming to an end.

In the meantime, I love how one of the frequent commenters at Tech Dirt put it:

Hephaestus said:

He will fail. Will it get me laid? will it make me money? is it required for work? his paper doesnt match any of those so its a fail, and few if any will pay for it.

I hope you’re right, Heph.

July 5, 2010
Categories: Geek, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 1 Comment

Surely I’m Not the Only One

I know some of you get alerts when the words ‘Richard Armitage’ are entered somewhere on the web, and perhaps you get them when ‘John Thornton’ or ‘North and South’ are entered or maybe the ubiquitous ‘girlfriend.’ Might make your heart speed up a little bit when you get one, and blast! sometimes it’s a false alarm. Whatever the case, I know some of us spend time looking at what others have written about our favorite guy. In fact, if someone needs their hit count boosted for a few days, they have only to add the name Richard Armitage somewhere on the page, and they’ll get it. LOL!

What I love is reading the comments of people who have just discovered him or who dismissed him and then finally watched something, and almost needless to say were converted. I just read one of those. :D

Before I actually saw ”NORTH AND SOUTH”, I had read a great deal about the John Thornton character and actor Richard Armitage, who had portrayed him. Granted, the man possessed unusual looks, but I never gave him much thought . . . until I saw a clip of his performance in the miniseries’ marriage proposal scene. But once I saw the miniseries in its entirety, I could see why Armitage’s performance had generated a slew of fans. His John Thornton blew me away. Literally.

Read here for the rest of the comments on RA’s performance. It’s the 13th paragraph down. At least I think it’s the 13th.

Then there are the posts where I learn something “important”:

“North and South” went through a sad process of editing when BBC America aired it in July 2005. A full hour was cut from the miniseries to make room for commercials.

Found here. The whole post is a treat.

A full hour cut?! Is that true? If so, that’s criminal! Thank heaven for YouTube.

Picture me trolling the web with my tongue hanging out.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com.

July 5, 2010
Categories: Fandom, North and South . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 12 Comments

Christmas in July

Alert: there is nothing flippant about this post. Well, almost nothing.

It's a hot day where I am. A little snow right now sounds good, and believe me when I say that's quite a statement from me who is all caught up on snow for a few years. Nevertheless, I could use a little Christmastime weather for a couple of hours as I gear up for a fundraiser I've been participating in for a number of years.

The goal is to raise funds for an organization that helps people in Uganda. The original mission was to help children abandoned by their prostitute mothers. It has grown into help for the mothers as well, but help in a way that keeps giving. They are taught how to start their own businesses so they can get off the street, and it's working. The program was started by a woman I know who went to Uganda to do a bit of mission work for her church. She never came back. Well, we do see her a few times a year, but mostly she lives in Uganda and has even adopted a Ugandan child who is precious!

All of this has made me think of others who promote charitable causes. So in honor of Richard Armitage's encouragement to direct our giving to those in need instead of to him, I come with this post. Please note this is not designed to solicit donations for the Ugandan mission but rather to respect the requests of Richard Armitage.

For those not familiar with RA's comments about giving, he has talked about it in his messages to fans. His latest message (December 2009) has made it very easy for people to donate:

Dear Friends,

Its that time of year again and I wanted to extend my goodwill and best wishes to you all. It has been a busy, rather difficult year for all of us, and coming to the end of a decade is a great time to think and gather strength for the next one.

Thank you for the continued support, which has been offered to me this year, I hope that I can continue to ‘carve a path’ which is both exciting, diverse and honorable to this crazy art form.

Thank you all, also, for the wonderful gifts which I have finally received after my travels abroad. I will eventually give thanks by letter. I do however, wish to ask, especially at this time of year, and this particular year, as I look at the small mountain of carefully chosen gifts purchased with those hard earned pennies; wracked with guilt when I think of the potential that your collective generosity could provide for those who have much less than I do; for you to pause and consider. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all your support and kind words, these are gifts enough, and I would like to recommend two other charities which I have chosen to support this year in addition to Barnardo’s and Shelter. I would like to recommend Childline and The Salvation Army, as potential recipients of a small offering.

I have also set up a page at http://www.justgiving.com if you go to the site and enter my name, you can chose from the 4 charities I have mentioned, and give a small donation, anonomously, if you like or with a message. I hope this makes it a little easier and more fun.

I hope the Christmas spirit runs high through all the families gathering together, and for those who are alone, to enjoy the simplicity of a day when the our corner of the world stops for a few hours. Yes there is only one left!!!

Drink, be Merry, be kind, be thankful.

I wish everyone joy for Christmas, and hope for a happy 2010.

With love
Richard

Richard’s Just Giving Pages:

Childline

Barnardo’s

Shelter

The Salvation Army

Oh, sure it sounds easy for him to say since he’s not hurting financially, but the man does not have to say anything. I commend him for taking the time to do that and doing it in a way that’s personal. There is nothing like personal contact. It makes both the initiator and the recipient better people.

Letter courtesy of RichardArmitageOnline.com and Richard Armitage of course.

To read RA’s other messages go here.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com

edit: I probably should have said this earlier, but oh well, I’m saying it now. Having worked for quite a few years in philanthropic endeavors with various organizations, I know how tough the middle of the year can be for them. At Christmas there is a festive mood that fosters a sense of goodwill and prompts people to share. In July not so much. So even though I know times are tough for a lot of people, I think it’s helpful to have a reminder that there are probably others who are in more need than us. Thanks for listening.

July 2, 2010
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 2 Comments

Forgetting Guy — Spoilers

Last year at this time it was days after Guy’s death, and I could still feel tears welling up in my eyes when I thought of it and would shake my head at the absurdity of grieving the death of a fictional character. Just now I felt them start again. Amazing.

Certainly I’ve read books and watched movies that had tragedy and loss and was profoundly moved by the events to the point I shed tears as I was reading or watching. Sometimes I’ve thought about the events for days or weeks later and in some cases months or years later. But my later thinking has always had more to do with intrigue about the human condition and certainly examining it in a kind of detached way. This wasn’t the case with Guy. With him it was personal and a grieving process, and it stunned me. I’ve had to grieve lots of deaths but never someone who’s not real. Honestly, this made me think I really was going nuts, and so my analytical side stepped up to ask why and try to make sense of it and preserve my dignity.

I’ve had a year to think about it, and I’m not sure I’ve completely made sense of it. But I understand much better what’s happened. I’ll be posting more diary entries about this process, and perhaps I’ll find I have CWS. But if I do, it’s not of Richard Armitage but rather this fantastic character he helped to create.

Now you know the real reason I’m anonymous. LOL!

When I was drafting my first post for this blog, I thought about hitting this subject right up front but knew it would not be as satisfying (at least for me) to go right to the issue I’ve wanted most to address. I really did want to have some fun along the way in my self-analysis. Could I have bored you with all sorts of psychoanalytical terms? Oh yeah, I could have. Believe me I know enough of them after up close and personal acquaintance with some psychiatrists. But you don’t want to hear all of that shit, and I really don’t want to type it.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

June 29, 2010
Categories: Robin Hood, Spoilers . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 8 Comments

Is This News? Spoilers I Guess

I ask because this (links below) was talked about in other interviews a while ago, and yes, Digital Spy does reference one of the sources. If you haven’t read the article DS references, you can start here, and you get to read my gushing as well.

Digital Spy article:

Gut Check entry. Then scroll down for the article.

I guess for the most part Digital Spy highlights what is already out there, but there was that one interview with RA in Robin Hood S3. Wow, that was a great one. More on that when I start my dissection of Guy.

Having been warned, now comes the “spoiler” part. Was anyone in doubt that Hermione Norris would not return to Spooks? Seriously, was that a question? Hasn’t she moved on? That was my impression.

As for finding out who Lucas really is, what about Harry? Wouldn’t it be a hoot if Harry were a mole all along and this were the show’s finale? I think it would be great! Or better yet that Lucas thought Harry was a mole for the Russians, so Lucas became a double agent for the Russians, but really Harry is a double agent working for the British or maybe the Chinese? Or maybe Lucas is really working for the Chinese and the Russians and British just think he works for them. Yep, makes my head spin, and I need my head to spin from time to time or things get so dreadfully dull.

Whatever happens, I find the more questions I have about Lucas, the more it leads me to Harry, and in fact in the interview RA did with UK.TV.com where they asked the fans for questions, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is Lucas’ past relationship with Harry explored further?” Is anyone else dying to know about that? And of course I want to know about their relationship now! Will this next series be the Harry and Lucas show? And no, I’m not necessarily talking about anything sexual. Does it always have to be sexual to be interesting? (I’ve skimmed too many Spooks fanfics that seem obsessed with that). In my opinion (yes, it’s my opinion that’s why I prefaced my sentence with the hackneyed phrase), it’s almost too easy to attribute motivation to merely something sexual. It can just be fobbed off to “oh, yeah, it was sexual” and then no thoughtful explanation required. But I want to see something cerebral dammit! Plus, I admit a great fondness for Harry. It’s been said repeatedly that he’s the heart of the show, and it’s true. I can’t help but love Harry, and yes, Peter Firth as well. But I don’t think of Peter Firth when I’m watching Harry. Peter is the guy who played Alan Strang. But I digress.

Hopefully, we’ll get a few crumbs in September when the article comes out — at least enough to keep us alive until November. It is going to air in November? Or do I have that wrong? I can’t remember because all these interviews are starting to run together. I may actually have to write some of this down. No, if I have to start writing anything down for this blog, I may have to can it. LOL!

In the meantime, below is one of the first shots of Lucas and might be my favorite picture of him. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I’m compelled to ask what’s going on in that head, and I still don’t know! Can’t wait for S9.

Coming up soon a commemoration of Guy.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com, and I THANK YOU so much because my DVD drive is acting up, and I couldn’t make my own. Arrrgh!

June 28, 2010
Categories: Interviews, Spoilers, Spooks . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

The Question

Hopefully, RA has turned the proverbial corner with his fame, and journalists will not fall back on the one question that’s bound to get a bit of a visceral reaction from him. Oh, you don’t know what it is? Where have you been for the last five plus years of interviews? It seems some journalists just can’t help asking about his Army. Granted, it’s quite a feat that he raised an Army almost overnight, and the first few years it might have been interesting. Now it’s boring beyond belief. It’s just boring to those of us who follow him so closely? I doubt that.

The guy has so many more interesting things to talk about than some “middle-aged, quite well-educated, Radio 4 listeners,” who some like to send him their pants. Phew, I got bored typing that description. Now I don’t know for sure about all the pants coming his way. Also, I’m not very familiar with Radio 4, refuse to call myself middle-aged, and I haven’t sent my pants to anyone outside my house, so I know this doesn’t apply to me. But still, who wants to hear about it? No offense to any of you middle-aged, quite well-educated, Radio 4 listeners. ;-)

I wonder how long I can wax on about this before you get bored? Oh, you’re bored already? Well, it seems the PR machine for Spooks is revving up so I’m compelled to talk about it. I really do hope journalists have enough going on in their heads that they don’t ask. But thank God the circus question has died.

I’m sure the journalists think we’re all nuts. I don’t care. If I cared, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Wait. I’m anonymous, so I guess some part of me cares. I think, not sure, but I think that’s a healthy sign. LOL!

I did toy around with the idea of sending Richard some “orders” from the Army (Rogue Branch) where it would have been explained to him that he was not allowed to talk about it. But this post is my confession that I’m chickening out. It just isn’t my style to send something to a celebrity. Maybe it’s my pride. Oh, yeah, it’s my pride.

A fake fan letter will have to rid me of my angst:

Dear Richard,

It’s abundantly clear you have been schooled in manners. I do not remember one instance of you being impolite. You are politeness itself. But I must ask if there’s a possibility you could be rude to journalists who insist on delving into a subject that I believe makes you groan? I find myself hoping to hear that rudeness. Oh, couch it in whatever you like. Last time out was actually pretty funny. I laughed whether anyone else did. But then I don’t place myself squarely in that group you described. Could that have been a slip into a little rudeness? I don’t think so, but it was close. Oh, it was skating really closely.

Frankly, a good shit here or there might help. Perhaps you already say that, and it’s edited to insert your politely crafted manna to the fans. Maybe that wouldn’t work, since too many journalists have the persona of shrikes — impaling their subjects with questions designed to get a reaction that will inspire them to write something clever. Plus, it seems I’m remembering one interview where the shit got through (or maybe I dreamed that). That guy must not have liked you, or he was jealous. Whatever the case, I thought your reply was really honest and a breath of fresh air. No one is that polite all the time. At some point you were bound to get tired of the question. I know the fans are. Well, this fan.

Man, I sound angsty about your replies. But really I’m not angsty about your replies at all. Your replies are not the problem. I don’t care what you say if it makes the reporters stop asking the question.

Sincerely,
One of your minions in the Army

P.S. Have you ever laid eyes on the guy who came up with that name?

That felt good. I’m really getting addicted to these fake fan letters. If you haven’t tried one, do it! They are so satisfying without any of the embarrassment you would have if he really read it. Plus, I imagine the wait would be hell.

So what about Nat’s group letter? That’s special like Nat, and should stand alone. I really do hope he gets it, reads it, and most important sees Nat’s work. He would love it!

And because in recent days I’ve been remiss in posting pics, here’s one of my favorites:

Yes, it puts your focus squarely on his beautiful mouth.

Screencap courtesy of my stash.

June 27, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Interviews . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Tangent — Some Pointers for Twitter

Edit: In my former life, I was actually responsible for clear explanations of technical things. Good thing I’m not getting paid for this anymore. So I’m going to take another crack at thoroughly confusing you, er, explaining Twitter. Edits are highlighted or just read the whole thing again. And I’ve got to stop writing these posts by the seat of my pants! Hope I really didn’t confuse anyone enough to make them say forgetaboutit! Hang in there. Twitter really can be fun.

I’m no expert on Twitter, but I’ve learned a few things, and for those of you who are novices, maybe a few words here will knock down the intimidation factor.

On Twitter there are two pages you need to understand. The home page is the page that comes up when you first login. This page scrolls the tweets of people you are following and it also scrolls your tweets. So following someone means seeing a person’s tweets scrolling on your home page. The other page that’s important is your profile page. This is a collection of only your tweets, and it’s what people see when they look you up on Twitter. They cannot see your home page and the tweets that are scrolling there only your profile page, which again, only contains the tweets you have made.

To make a tweet, you can simply go to your home page and type in a message of 140 characters or less and hit enter. Yes, you can delete it if you mess up. You can also make tweets to someone else. It’s important to understand that when you find something on someone’s profile which you want to tweet about (comment on), you actually “reply” (on Twitter “reply” is a misnomer for comment). Your “reply” then shows up on your profile as a tweet, and it also shows up as a tweet on your home page along with the tweets of the profiles you are following. Since following someone means their tweets scroll on your home page, tweets you make to someone not following you will not show up on their home page, but they still have the ability to see it.

There are countless Twitter apps and services out there (WAY TOO MANY to list them all here; as if I actually know all of them LOL!) which help people figure out what’s being said and where and manage what they find a little easier than the Twitter functions, but I’ll spare you all of that for now. LOL! Thankfully, Twitter has a built in function to query on tweets to you. It’s the “@yourprofilename” button on the right sidebar of your home page. Click on that, and you can see everyone who’s talking to you whether you follow them or not. To see those talking about you but who didn’t do it with a reply, you can use the Twitter search function, which is also on the right sidebar. Well, this is assuming your profile name is somewhere in someone’s tweets, and they’re really referring to you. LOL! This is a good reason to have a unique Twitter profile name. If you want to know about anything else being talked about, you can just use the Twitter search, and Twitter also gives some help with the topics that are of most interest or “trending” on Twitter with a function on the right sidebar.

So let’s say you want to know of all the tweets about Richard Armitage (or at least the ones where people were savvy enough to put his name in the tweet). You key in Richard Armitage and it will get all of the tweets beginning with the most recent first, and yes, there will be some of them about the politician. I forget how many tweets are retained before the buffer is overlaid (if it even does get overlaid), but trust me it’s enough to keep you busy.

Another cool thing is you can create a subject for people to use as a tag in their tweets. The sky is pretty much the limit on what you can call it. Tags begin with #. For instance, I recently sighted SFR (StickFigRichard on Twitter) with a tall, leggy red head. So I made a comment and then put my tag #Spying_SFR in the tweet. If you sight him somewhere, you can make your comment and put that tag in your tweet. Then someone can do a search and read about the SFR sightings instead of trying to find them on all these different profiles. Phew! What a pain that would be! Oh, and I also went to StickFigRichard’s profile and did a reply so that it had SFR’s profile name in my tweet as well. That’s for people who don’t know about the tag; they can search on SFR’s profile name. That’s just a couple of ways to make sure people can find things. More later since some of you are just getting rolling.

Well, one more thing. The best way to acquire Twitter profiles to follow is to look at the Twitter profile of someone you’re interested in and take note of whom they follow or who is following them. It is amazing the things you can find this way. Pretty much the same as finding great blogs on some of those blog rolls out there in the blogosphere. I think of it like hunting for treasure. I’ve found some absolutely wonderful profiles, and yes, sometimes very edifying profiles, by just reading other users’ followers and following lists. Of course most of those are on my “real” profile. ;-)

Perhaps all of this is a no-brainer, but I thought I would throw it in for those who might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by Twitter.

We can talk about putting up pictures later. :D

Bottom line: HAVE FUN!

So I guess this post isn’t a complete tangent since I sort of tied it to RA.

And I find it ironic that I’m listening to Streisand sing: Papa Can You Hear me? My mood? Antsy. I alternate between that and flippant.

June 24, 2010
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

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