I thought this objectification phase might be passing, and then the Russian site comes with this:
I threw the chair in to give your senses a break.
Uh, yeah. That is all. No, wait! What was I saying about being okay with the maternal feelings? Nix that.
As usual, if you click on the pictures, you can see the big format. :D
edit: and now I remember why I made a Facebook page. It would take something like this to prompt me. LOL!
[Note: for those who don’t know, the images were taken by the photographer David Clerihew. This is the same photographer responsible for the viral video which was posted on Vimeo by Sean Pruen, who is a motion designer/video editor and appears to have worked on the video. I wrote some about the video and Sean a while back and wasn’t sure I could stop. Find it here, here, and here. LOL!
However, I haven’t said anything about David Clerihew. I’ll correct that mistake today. When I first saw the viral video, I went over and looked at his entire site. Fantastic. I love the stark quality to much of his work. I can see why he was selected for Strike Back, but I’m still not sure why the images were never used for promotion. I hope our little highlighting of them in some way is a help. But if Mr.Clerihew has a problem with me putting up those images so a few of us can fangirl over them, I’ll certainly taken them down.]
Richard Armitage really did represent the cast at the Powhiri on the opening of filming ‘The Hobbit’, and I really did feel like I was watching my kid make good. Maybe he was right about the maternal feelings, and strangely, that doesn’t feel icky anymore.
edit: video updated with HD
I guess this means I can take the ‘rumors’ tag off my other piece.
[note: Thank you, friend, for sharing this with me. I’m not sure exactly why me, but I hope you know I appreciate it, and I’m so glad we got to see something this quickly.]
The last day or so has been interesting. I’ve received several notes from fellow fans concerned about my becoming disappointed if Richard Armitage never acknowledges my request of a recorded fan message, and I just received another one a few minutes ago. It’s compelled me to make this post.
I want all of you who sent me a note to know that I really appreciate you trying to allay any possible disappointment on my part. But I have to reiterate that I do call my letters “fake fan letters,” and I do that for a reason. They are larks as is this whole blog really, and if RA or any of “his people” ever see them, that’s great. If not, that’s fine too. I also find it intersting that about once a week someone tells me they think he reads my blog, and I was going to write about this phenomenon eventually. I guess today is the day. I’m sure someone somewhere who’s involved with show business and who has a six degrees of separation thing going on with RA has read my blog. But I’m not too worried about Richard Armitage or anyone close to him reading it and no one else should be either.
And my written letters have been so over the top that no one has ever really taken me seriously and never been concerned about what I’ve said to the point of worrying about my well being. But obviously this latest “letter” has provoked concern, and I think I know why. It was the tone of my voice. My voice is naturally very deadpan, which at times has been a stumbling block for me. I was deadpan almost out of the hatch if Mom and Dad are to be believed, and then I spent most of my adult years working in a profession that was highly technical, and well, deadpan was the way we all communicated, and actually the more deadpan the better. The more deadpan, the more gravitas with that bunch.
But deadpan can sometimes equate to seriousness that may not exist. People who don’t really know me do often think I’m serious when I may not be. Couple that with my attempt to sound emotional, and well, it just doesn’t sound very good. I was being extremely emotional for me in that recording! I was working hard to give a cadence to my voice so that it didn’t sound like I was falling asleep and perhaps making all of you fall asleep as well, but I think it just came off sounding needy. And it was hard work! Yet I knew if I did more than one take that it would sound stilted. So I left it as it is, and to some of you it sounds like I’m hinging my entire being on RA making a recording. Fascinating how much our voices send a message even if we don’t intend it, and apparently, I’m woefully in need of some skills. Richard? Richard? Do you hear that? :D Sorry, I couldn’t resist. However all of this has gone down, I think it’s so fitting that my voice should generate such a reaction given the subject of my FanstRAvaganza posts.
Oh, please don’t get me wrong. I would love it if RA got wind of my request (whether he knew it was mine or not) and responded with a recorded message. I would be tickled, and I would hope the whole fandom would be tickled, and it would never be construed as playing favorites. I’ve also gotten those cautions in the last day too. But the only favorite I’ve wanted him to play is with Nat. Yes! I admit that unabashedly. Guilty as sin on that one! LOL! But do we all agree that Nat is special? Yeah, I thought so. However, I think there’s about a snowball’s chance in hell of that or the recording happening and especially not when I consider the request is by someone from a piddly blog like mine. I’m not trying to wallow in self-deprecation to impress any of you by saying that. Frankly, I have no one in my life to impress. SO and I know each other too well to try to impress each other, so I feel no compulsion to impress anyone, and can I tell you it’s a lovely place to be? Okay, I’ll stop on that because I feel a tangent coming on. Just know that I’m a realist.
But also please know that I’ve never aspired to Richard Armitage reading my blog to have fun here. Thank God! LOL! If I really thought Richard Armitage had time to read all of these blogs, and I was expecting him to receive what I’ve said, I would have gotten my feelings hurt a long time ago. But thankfully, I’m just having some fun, and I hope all of you are as well! Additionally, I just don’t get my feelings hurt too often, and certainly not by someone I don’t know. If we’re talking about SO, that’s a whole ‘nother story. He has the ability to raise an eyebrow at times and hurt my feelings. Poor guy. LOL!
I’m not quite sure what I should label this post. I started to title it “Lighten Up, Francis” but felt that would have been too flippant and ultimately demeaning to those who expressed real concern for me, and again I thank all of you for that. So I’ll just leave it by saying please don’t worry, and let’s get back to having some fun. :D
In that interest, I can’t help but do this:
Dear Rich,
Dude, if you ever really do read my blog, please, please know that I’m not pining for you to respond. Really I’m not. Now I realize this may sound like the lady doth protest too much, but well, I don’t know how else to say it.
Net: I like to watch your stuff whether you’re moving or not, and given that, I do hope you have never felt anything here was done at your expense. That aside, uh, well, uh, dammit, man! I’m having a good time, and I hope the specter of your presence never gets in the way.
Phew, there I said it.
Respectfully,
One of your crazy fans, who has enough serious stuff going on elsewhere to seldom want to get close to it here and hopes you understand that. I think you do! Unless my gut is way off, and I don’t think it is.
P.S. Oh, and hopefully, one day soon you will no longer be a faceless blob on Netflix. :D
I’ve got to have a picture! Hmmm. Let me see. What would put us back on track? Oh yeah:
If you click on it, you get the big version. :D
Screencap courtesy of Karima. At least I think this is one of hers.
Richard Armitage needs a profile picture. If you’re not sure whom I’m talking about, please know that it’s not the bald guy. I’m talking about this luscious creature:
I already wrote you one love letter but hope you don’t think I’m stalking you. ;-)
And if for some reason I’ve been struck blind about where this picture can be updated on your site, then give me a cyber slap, but please explain to my dense self how to do it. :D
Oh, and I doubt you can use that picture above, but I had to post it. This one from IMDb might work:
P.S. I almost hope you don’t see this ’cause I would have to leash the limerick monster.
I have just a few more things to say before my first anniversary of blogging passes. This was going to be at the end of my last post, but I’m putting it here to ensure it’s read. Not that people skip over posts. No, of course not. :D
So there are a few people I have to thank for being encouraging to me in blogging, writing, just general creativity, and joy.
Heather, Elvira and Angela (aka Spikesbint) were the first people in the RA universe to bring me such pleasure and spark something creative in me. They don’t know that, but it’s true, and I wonder how many people they’ve inspired. It must be legions. Might not be a bad idea for RA to pay them a fee for such great promotion. Oh, I know they do it as a labor of love, but what untold benefits it’s reaped for many of us. Bccmee is another who has challenged my creativity. It’s amazing to me that she was “never creative before” her encounter with RA, and she’s just funny.
For sheer joy, I have to give Iz4blue credit. She is an encourager. It’s just who she is, and that upbeat attitude had a great effect on me. Just when I was about to throw in the towel at six months, she continually made upbeat comments and made jokes, and well, here I am six months later. :D
Pi also gets credit for talking to me about writing and deigning to encourage a hack like me. If some of you haven’t heard me say it, I’m saying it again here. I love her writing and would be glad to read anything she writes — RA or no RA.
Servetus is another one who has been a great encouragement to me. She was one of the reasons I started blogging. I enjoyed reading her blog immensely. It challenged something in me that I had let go dormant. Most of us who blog or comment know that she’s upped the bar on how we approach a subject, and I for one love this. Aside from all of that, she’s just a sweethearted person, and I wish her all the best in the world.
But frankly :D, I would not be doing this blog if it were not for Natalie. She is an inspiration and like Richard Armitage, is obviously a class act. Yes, she’s really as funny and clever and sweet when you talk to her as she appears to be in her blog, and I cannot leave this post without saying that I suspect most (perhaps not all but most) of the current RA bloggers would not exist if not for her. At the time her blog popped up, there had only been one other RA blog to my knowledge. It was run by LuvDemBrooders, but had not been active in awhile. So glad that void was filled by Nat, and I hope Richard Armitage is smart enough (when he’s not too busy) to look at her stuff. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that if he doesn’t, I might think him a fool (ducks). Not sure that I would indeed think him a fool, but I might. :D If he doesn’t look at it, I may really write him a letter. LOL!
Oh, and Nat, I love my Stick Figure Richard t-shirt. Need to get a picture in it.
There are so many other people who have been a delight along the way, but if I named everyone, you would be here quite a while. Suffice to say that I would not be here without so many of you. Thank you so much.
And of course thank you to Richard Armitage, who may never know anything about this blog or any of the rest of us. But does it matter? Yeah, I didn’t think it mattered. :D
Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com, who has made this process of blogging exponentially easier. Thank you!
Did we just get another one of RA’s voices? I think we did. I’ll be making another FanstRAvaganza post about his voice work later today, but it will focus on voice work only. Yesterday, we got another wonderful example of it in his screen work. He plays a German! Okay, yeah, I already knew that, but I hadn’t heard him speak with a German accent until yesterday. It’s these kinds of things that really show me how much I’m in the bag for Richard Armitage. The clip of him in the Captain America trailer is what? about two seconds long? And yet I’ve watched it, oh, maybe 50 or 60 times. Of course I have to say 50 or 60 times because anything less sounds like a lie, and anything more might scare you. LOL! But however many times I’ve played it (I really don’t know), I’ve done it all sorts of ways — slowed down, frame by frame, tiny view, huge view, and now I really do sound like a nut. Glad my kids don’t read this blog. LOL! Next time I make a tuition payment and have to chew on them about goofing off, it wouldn’t hold much weight. No, seriously, they’re good kids. One of them carries a 3.9 and the other a 3.85, so I have nothing to complain about, but I’m not going to take any chances. That’s why they have no idea what this blog is called, and if you don’t think that’s been a feat, phew, think again. I’m a techie, and the apples don’t fall far from the tree. If they wanted to find this, they could. I’m just glad they’re so busy they don’t care enough to do it!
Did you see how smoothly I worked in bragging about my kids? I had to say something about them. I am proud of what they’ve done, and I can’t help but talk about it sometimes even more than RA. ;-)
Okay, back to the topic at hand. Man, I cannot wait to hear more of his German accent. I wonder if he will actually speak German. I LOVE the German accent by the way, which is a very good thing since SO’s family are very, very German. His grandmother even spoke with a distinct German accent. Her last name was Schmidt, and her maiden name was Hinman. I dare not tell you SO’s last name. I will say this, it means on patrol, on guard, or watchman. LOL! Oh, sorry. I’m having trouble staying on topic. :D
I wasn’t going to post the new Captain America trailer, but I’ve actually had people ask me about it. I figured most of the people who read my blog are die hard fans who know where to find all the news about RA, but I guess there are some who come here first. Wow. I’m bowled over. So here it is:
Heinz Krüger is on about 1:41. On a slightly related note, I love Tommy Lee Jones. I’ve loved him since “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Before I forget, here is an audio clip of just RA’s part in the trailer:
And speaking of news, is there a possibility that RA could be in this at all?
RSC 50th birthday celebrations see Robin Hood ride into Warwickshire
By Marion McMullen, Entertainment Reporter
Mar 24 2011
IT’S bow and arrows at the ready as Robin Hood rides into Warwickshire as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 50th birthday celebrations.
Family show the Heart Of Robin Hood follows the recent big screen version of the Sherwood Forest outlaw starring Russell Crowe and the BBC1’s TV series featuring Coventry-trained actor Richard Armitage as Guy of Gisborne.
The new production, written by RSC associate director
David Farr, will be the Christmas special at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford and the first large-scale family show to be staged in the recently-opened theatre.
The swashbuckling show tells the tale of the notorious Robin Hood and his outlaws.
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I started to call this post “A Little Hair of the Dog,” but I suppose for me this is “Day 3 FanstRAvaganza?” Yes, I’m behind on FanstRA, but do any of you care? I didn’t think so. LOL! Plus, there is so much to read on the blogs that I doubt anyone processed it all in one week. So I’m continuing on despite my interruption.
What I’m finding interesting about this last week is it’s becoming clear to me I’m at a place in my life where my ability to roll with the punches is imperative. This blog is certainly a reflection of it. Almost every post I had planned has now been turned on its head. Part of me hates this, but part of me gets a thrill from seeing how well I can bounce back. Now if I can figure out how to channel my zest in a way that’s not chaotic and doesn’t make some of you want to tear your hair out, I will, but I’m promising nothing. This is a significant statement from me as my life is filled with promises that I invariably keep or almost die trying. That’s as closely as I’m going to come to speaking of events this past week which temporarily scrambled my mind. Okay, enough of that. Onto more interesting matters.
As some of you know, I’m doing a series of posts about Richard Armitage’s voice work. Last week I started with The Voice. Hope you hang with me as I continue on with the subject.
Obviously, the deep tone of his voice is wonderful and many of us get a shiver listening to it. I’ve heard some say they could even listen to him reading the phone book. Not quite sure I would get much out of that. Maybe. Depends on how he would read it. There are plenty of other actors with deep, rich sounding voices that are pleasing to the ear. Alan Rickman is great, and Timothy Dalton has a beautiful voice, and oh so many others I could name, and I’m sure that Richard Armitage would do very well with just his natural voice. But the natural quality of the voice is simply not all there is to this fascination. In fact, if I had heard him only speaking as he does normally in interviews, I doubt I would have been this ensnared by it. No, this is something more. It is the way he intentionally uses it that’s so mesmerizing, and I don’t like to toss around words like mesmerizing unless I mean them.
Recently, I saw a picture of him where his luscious beard is gone, but contrary to what some think, that was never the significant wow factor in the Hobbit press conference. Granted, the beard was pretty overwhelming — almost with a life of its own. :D But it was not more compelling than his demeanor, which was mostly effected by his voice. He pulled a Harry! “I’m playing Thorin.” LOL! I think his voice dropped almost an octave when he said Thorin, and then he does it again when he says, “Would you like to be a little bit more specific?” I wish I could have seen the reporter’s face when he whipped that on her! It was like a snake charmer with his flute trying to cast a spell over something that might bite him.
This wasn’t the first time it occurred to me that he uses his voice as an instrument. In my initial watching of Robin Hood, I had the distinct feeling of his voice being played. There was something about the way he varied his pitch that almost had a musical quality and was certainly effective in manipulating me to emotions I never thought I could feel for the bad guy. I’m not one of those women who likes bad boys, so it was quite a shock when I was actually rooting for the evil henchman. LOL! When I first had this thought, I laughed to myself at being that far gone about a then very obscure British actor. Thankfully, I began to be vindicated as I listened to his first audio books for Robin Hood Series 1. (For more on Guy of Gisborne, see note below)
His mimicry in these books is great. I love how he conveys one character with a guttural tone and then turns around and gives another character a tinny, almost flat resonance, and every variation in between for a host of other characters. This did much to paint the picture of them with little or no dialogue or description. But I also had some idea of characters from watching the show and was never quite sure how much that affected the picture in my mind. It was listening to his reading of a Georgette Heyer novel, Sylvester, that I realized how very talented he is, and that’s saying something as I was never a fan of Regency Romance books. I tried to read them as a teen, but the potential sugar shock was too much. So it was with great reluctance that I listened to Sylvester. I’m so glad I did! His verbal rendering of the characters had me completely forgetting the book is Mary Sue on steroids. When I finished the first hearing of it, I had a grin on my face I couldn’t wipe away. For five hours I had been immersed in Regency England where I thoroughly fell in love with the characters and literally had to shake my head to bring myself back to the present. Of course I loved Sylvester and Phoebe, but it was the supporting cast that really made the piece for me. Tom was my favorite with Keighley and some others close behind.
The most wonderful part of listening to the book was afterward I could see Richard Armitage as a little boy with his ears cocked to listen to those around him and then using it to entertain his friends and family with storytelling. It brought such a warm feeling to think of it, and all at once I sensed a great kinship with and fondness for him. I couldn’t help it. I grew up with a mother who’s a performer and has a wonderful gift for it. I, on the other hand, never did, but I still adored storytelling and role playing and ended up with SO who has been storytelling and doing voices to entertain friends and family since he was very young. His children are just like him! My oldest child cannot be around someone for any length of time without picking up his/her speech patterns, and it’s eerie how truly she can nail someone’s speech. Her ear is so attuned to how someone speaks that she sometimes has to restrain herself from mimicking them. My other children do this as well, and I have been the recipient of many hours of entertainment because of it. It’s almost as if they have to express the things their ears are recording to get some relief. All of this ran through my head as I sat there basking in what I’d just heard, and I realized that I didn’t merely appreciate Richard Armitage as a great actor but as a wonderfully sensitive person –much more than I had originally thought. How else to account for someone who could so cleverly convey the feelings and thoughts of his characters with little or no speech, and now he had done it with only his voice?! Amazing.
As for his training, I don’t know if his ear for voices manifested as a child, but I suspect someone who has that keen an ear did not just develop it when he was grown. I also know that being a musician does not necessarily make someone a natural for voices. I am a musician, and I did not come naturally to an ear for spoken voices. Conversely, SO is not a musician, and he certainly has a keen ear for them. Maybe one day RA will tell us his experience, and if he already has and I missed it, well, I’m sure someone will let me know. LOL! Thankfully, some of my curiosity about his preparation was satisfied when I heard the interview for his second Heyer book, Venetia, about a year later:
I love that interview. It is one of my favorites. I was already anxious to listen to Venetia, but after listening to that, I could barely wait. Venetia is probably my favorite Heyer heroine of the three books RA read, and Damerel is wonderfully male. I was so glad I wasn’t driving when I got to chapters 12 and 13. :D I have also listened to The Convenient Marriage, and until recently, all three books were on my iPod as beloved traveling companions.
And whatever is the case with his training, the joy he takes in entertaining is evident and infectious.
Look at that face!
This puts a smile on mine every time I see it. I think it might now be my favorite picture of him.
If you have never had the pleasure of listening to any of RA’s Heyer audio books, or any of his audio books for that matter, or if you would just like to have your own copy of one of the books, I might be able to help. Until next Wednesday, March 30th, anyone who comments on this blog entry will be entered to win one of the Heyer audio books — your choice if you win. I plan to announce the winner on Friday, April 1st. I’ve never done a giveaway, so I hope this is a pleasant experience for all of us, but I do have a few rules. Don’t you love it! :D
Note: Guy of Gisborne is such an enigma that I’m refraining from much discussion of him in my series as he would completely take me off topic. Thankfully, other bloggers have chosen to write about him. Avalon at Avalon’s Medieval is covering a myriad of topics from the audio books to fan videos to fan fiction. Two other bloggers are actually fan fiction authors: Prue Batten at Mesmered’s Blog has written Gisborne and Sarah Pawley at From the Quill Tip has written The Tempest and My Lady Gisborne. Both share their stories on blog and Sarah also highlights some other fan fiction authors. I have read both Prue’s and Sarah’s works, and if you’re a Guy fan, you will not be disappointed. Even if you’re not a Guy fan, you probably won’t be disappointed. There are also some North and South fictions featured on Sarah’s blog.
Then there’s Judi at Confessions of a Watcher:
Judi is a fairly new fan and should be forgiven for not knowing every jot and tittle of fandom minutiae. We’ll give her a test later. :D I honestly didn’t snap to on the award for Robin Hood until right before I posted this, and I’ve been through hell trying to post, so I wasn’t going to wait, and I absolutely love her recording. But heck, I think the show should have won an award. If nothing else, RA should have won for making such a compelling character from that cardboard cut out baddie. But take pity on Judi as she’s still trying to work out her fascination for Guy of Gisborne. LOL! You can take the journey with her beginning here.
Screencaps and audio clips courtesy of my stash, but I have to give credit to RichardArmitageNet.Com and RichardArmitageCentral for being such great suppliers of the raw materials. :D
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What was I saying about the salesman on the side of the bed? Oh man, I really haven’t meant to tease any of you; just had a bit of an emergency, and now things are back to normal, which means they are only somewhat chaotic instead of out and out insane. LOL!
I tried to write a really thoughtful piece about Richard Armitage’s voice, and I hated it. It’s tough being entirely serious when I sit down to write for this blog, and frankly, I’m glad!
So my first real encounter with The Voice was the moment John Thornton had a proper introduction to Margaret. To say I had a visceral reaction would be putting it mildly. Didn’t we all have a visceral reaction? :D I think every cell in my body vibrated. It was almost as if someone poked a stick in my back to make me sit up and take better notice, and it didn’t matter that I typically didn’t like period drama. It didn’t matter that he had not been my ideal. All of my attention was now focused on the guy who had yelled, “Stephens!” several minutes earlier.
Deb (aka November Bride) nails some of my fascination with his voice:
But as much as I loved hearing John Thornton say even the mundane, I still didn’t think Richard Armitage had a phenomenal voice. Yeah, can you believe that? It’s true. I assumed he was phenomenal for this role — larger than life and effecting a brogue and brusqueness that evoked a response from me which probably wouldn’t occur again. It wasn’t until I watched Vicar of Dibley where RA was the congenial Harry, who looked and sounded nothing like John Thornton and certainly didn’t evoke any strong emotion from me when he opened his cottage door, that I began to think I had never seen an actor of his like before. It came when he made his first move (albeit a subtle one) on Geraldine:
That about took my head off. The intimacy in the lowering of his voice and slowing of his speech had me giddy like I was 15 again and some boy I was crushing on smiled at me. Here’s the thoughtful description I gave it earlier, but had second thoughts about publishing: it was like lying on the beach with the sun beaming down and the water washing up on me, and I always want to lie in it, but it’s just cold enough to make me shiver and want to stand up and maybe run away, and I’m never quite sure what to do with myself. The only thing I was sure of was standing there with Harry and Geraldine and convinced Harry was immediately smitten and trying to put Geraldine under his spell, and I was falling under it too. Phew. I think I might have had a bead or two of sweat after that scene. The look on Dawn French’s face says it all. I would give her kudos for acting, but I’ve wondered if she really was.
I wanted so badly to describe his voice after the Dibley experience, but I wasn’t sure how to do it justice, and the perfect description eluded me since I’m not a chocolate lover. Oh, I like it fine, but I’ve never craved it and usually don’t think much about it. I truly can take it or leave it, so it wasn’t until later that I began to associate those beautiful sounds coming out of his mouth with chocolate. Dove Chocolate commercials might have something to do with that. Um, yeah, that’s how I imagine chocolate might sound.
Not too long after I watched Vicar, I discovered the CBeebies stories on YouTube. This was my first exposure to Richard’s voice work, and I thought they were adorable. I put them on my iPod and grinned at the thought of friends and family discovering them there. I also remember Mulubinba talking about using these stories as part of her work as a therapist. I found this infinitely fascinating and have often wondered about the result since I can totally believe that voice could have therapeutic effects. Jonia discusses some very interesting research about the possibilities, and I think she might be right, but I love to hear her voice as well. Enjoy:
And now I can pronounce her name correctly. Don’t ask me how I pronounced it before. LOL! Jonia, you have a beautiful name, beautiful voice, and your English is very good! I’m impressed since I surely can’t speak Polish.
As for Mulubinba, I haven’t had a chance to read her FanstRAvaganza posts, but I look forward to anything she wishes to write about:
Of course RA’s voice is not the first I’ve loved, but its profound effect has puzzled me. Countless times I’ve watched the scenes that move me, and I’m not sure I can quite describe why his voice resonates so deeply. With North and South, the scenes which affected me the most were the ones in which he didn’t speak or barely spoke. I was attuned to his body language and especially his facial expressions, which Musa is making a study of this week:
His facial expressions are a pleasure to study, but with the Vicar of Dibley scene, the emphasis was not on his facial expressions. I find it telling that he’s in profile so that his expressions and especially his eyes could not be the energy behind that scene. It was certainly his wonderful voice.
I will catch you tomorrow when I have a little surprise for you, but in the meantime, I would love to hear about your first encounter with The Voice.
I was watching the Cats Rehearsal videos, and I swear I recognized Richard Armitage immediately. Maybe I do feel maternal towards him. Really, someone please slap me for even going here. I’m not old enough to be his mother!! But well, I can do this with my kids. I’ve even amazed myself at times, and SO thinks it’s hilarious how I can recognize them from very faraway and even in really dim light. One time we were driving down the road, and way off in the distance we saw someone walking towards us, and I casually said, “There’s our son.” He laughed and said, “No way you can tell from this distance.” Of course I was right. I’m always right about this. :D A mother’s instincts are eerily correct. Anyone who’s a mother and recognizes her own child’s cries knows exactly what I’m talking about.
Interestingly, I was not the least maternal before I had kids. I mean I could have cared less about them. I didn’t even think they were cute and never liked holding anyone’s baby. I’m still not big on that. I was so unmaternal that it made me hesitant to have children. There was a fear in the back of my mind and sometimes in the front of it that I would be a lousy mother. But oh my gosh! that hormone was bigger than I was, and crashed over my head to magically transform me into a momma!
I’m not quite sure what’s crashed over my head to make me so aware of Richard Armitage’s movements, but a couple of years of watching him might have something to do with it. LOL! Actually, as of a few weeks ago, I passed the three year mark. So Servetus, now you know what the beginning of year four looks like. :D
Check out the guy who jumps onto the middle of the stage at the beginning of this clip. He’s really big and tall, has his hair in a ponytail, and he has on what looks like a blue tank top.
In case you missed him, you can see him again in this one below. He’s on the left at the beginning of the clip. He does run off camera at one point, but then he comes back with a vengeance. He’s so big you can’t miss him. Oh, it’s a thing of beauty!
If you’re still not sure, maybe the screencaps will convince you. Do I even need to point him out? I mean really. It’s so obvious. Or maybe I’m seeing things?
Seriously, do I need to draw some arrows? I didn’t think so.
Isn’t this a beautiful shot with his arms thrown up:
And of course I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think so. :D
Do you feel like the three time wife who was still a virgin? The first time her husband died at the altar, the second time her husband died en route to their honeymoon destination, and the third time she married a salesman who sat on the side of the bed every night and told her how great it was going to be. I promise I’m not going to keep you forever in suspense. It’s almost here. Almost, almost, almost. Sometimes I hate that word. It can strike such fear or generate a meltdown of anticipation and all the while remaining aloof. Damn! it’s amazing how something so nebulous can have such an effect, but there it is and so many other things in life as well. Someone slap me before this piece strays from the subject to all this philosophical crap (which all of us can relate to but would rather not think about) and of course digressing would justify you in thinking I’m merely messing with your head about FanstRAvaganza!
It’s really, really coming, but you don’t have to trust me. Just listen to this mesmerizing voice beckoning you to be there. Put it on repeat and I’m sure you’ll be with us on Monday. :D
Seductive voice brought to you by CDoart. But sure to check out her blog during FanstRAvaganza!
And there will be more to thrill your ears. My topic is Richard’s voice work, so I hope you will stay around to hear what’s coming, and I haven’t even talked about all of the other wonderful subjects that will be explored by the participating bloggers! More good stuff. Trust me.
From Strike Back, Episode 2 where Porter is trying to calm Katie Dartmouth and gain her trust:
By the way, if you think you’re sick of hearing about FanstRAvaganza, how do you think I feel typing that mother of a word over and over? The one who thought of this name is sadistic, and fortunately, I know who you are. :D
Note to my fellow bloggers: it’s very interesting to be in this group. There are times such as now when I’ve had an idea and then had to possibly rethink it a little or even can it because another blogger ran with it before I did. I do that so the repetition doesn’t bore everyone, but I left my picture selection, which is very similar to Servetus’ recent post, to make a point. I hope none of you get disheartened by these situations, because frankly, they just make us sharp and make for better posts, and I welcome the challenge. I remember learning to draw as a kid. My mother gave me a set of pencils with no erasers. She meant to get me a nice gum eraser but never did. So I learned how to draw without ever erasing. This was key to unlocking my creativity with a pencil, and it’s amazing the drawings that have come out of that exercise. Some of my best evolved from a seemingly out of place mark I could not erase but felt I had to change, so hallelujah! for changes.
Take care, and I hope everyone is still having a great time with this!
RAFrenzy 
