Oh, Servetus, perhaps blogging is not an antidote for RA addiction, which isn’t really a problem in my opinion, but it is a lot of fun. Especially when I can say whatever the hell I want and don’t have to worry about sentences that uh, really aren’t sentences. I wonder if RA has an anonymous blog. If not, he might enjoy one too. My words in real life (as if this isn’t real! LOL!) are weighed so heavily most of the time (yeah, can you believe there are people who actually hang on the words of someone like me? what a joke) that it’s a relief not to be taken seriously, and I’m sure that what I’ve experienced is not a scintilla of the scrutiny Richard Armitage has endured. Poor guy. Okay, maybe I’m feeling a little convicted about this. LOL! Here he has all these people of which some are nuts, and damn, I’m probably chief among those, poring over his every word and move. Sheesh.
Rich,
I hope you can disappear but good when you’re not being filmed. Oh, and if you ever need someone to help you with an anonymous blog, let me know. But don’t make the mistake I have of talking about some of your issues as the real you. For instance, don’t go on and on about orange trousers you bought but never wore or about underwear with your picture on them or about that time in the tent when you were 17. Well, I think you get the idea.
Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans
Man, I never know when those fake fan letters are going to strike.
See Diary Part 12 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.
Entry — a couple of years ago shy a couple of months and a few days:
I’m over being hacked at the ending of Robin Hood Season 2. Well, I think I am. But if I ponder it long enough, I get irritated again. I just need something really good to watch, and I’m mad at myself for caring so much about something as lame as Robin Hood, which I didn’t even like to begin with! I just want to get lost in a character. I need to get lost in a really good story, but I’m too numb to read. Need something passive.
Right now I get up early in the morning, fix Mom and myself some coffee and toast or whatever she is able to eat, and then we head out for the bowels of the hospital. Usually we get there by 7:45am, and she is prepped for her radiation treatment by 8:00am. All told we’re there about an hour and a half each weekday morning. This is our third week of six weeks, and I feel that I’m getting to really know some of the people who come in for treatments. It’s a wonderful and terrible experience. I have never been a great crier, but I’ve had to forestall tears on several occasions. One day last week I couldn’t keep from it and had to retreat to a restroom to sob when a young child was wheeled in. The mother of the child was in a daze. The child is terminal and yet they are giving treatment to ease some pain. I have nothing to say. I can only cry.
The upside is that I have now spent a month of uninterrupted time with Mom, and that has not happened since I was a kid living at home. We have laughed and cried and made big plans. She’s dreaming of the day we can travel together. She wants to go to England and has begged me to go with her. I don’t know if I can do that, but I dare not tell her. I can’t ruin the dream. It’s something for her to hang onto. I did tell her that if she were feeling better in a year, we would do it! Not sure how I’m going to pull that off. But she got carried away after we watched North and South, and I got caught up in it and said, “We can be like Val and Gil in ‘The World of Henry Orient’ and stalk Richard Armitage!” She belly laughed and said she would be sure to wear one of her capes, and take a good collection of her hats or acquire more there. I would love it if I could arrange for her to meet him. She would be like a kid about that and get so much out of it. But really, he would love meeting her!
I was dreading this trip, but the truth is I love reverting to childhood with Mom. She was always able to be a child with me to the point of lying in the floor and coloring with me when I was little. She sang songs with me and had the uncanny ability to know the lyrics to every song whether old or new. Then there were the “shows” we put on. I remember one summer she had all the neighborhood kids in a backyard show that ran once a week for almost the whole summer. To cap it off Mom made the best treats. People loved coming to the “shows” just to consume her latest creation. And the costumes! which she made on a treadle sewing machine. Oh, there was nothing she couldn’t do. Truly an amazing person. I’m blessed.
And her dramatic flair that parenthood was never going to dim. A country could never contain her much less a mere room. My flair on the other hand was not nearly as pronounced, and I did let parenthood and life in general almost snuff it out! This time with her is reviving that and SO considers it an answer to his prayers. He had been mourning the loss of it and blaming himself. It wasn’t him. It was me. I put too much on myself. I’ve always put too much on myself because I’ve given myself too much credit for how things go down. I’m not that in control — only of my reactions. I’ve just deceived myself into thinking I am and let my joy be completely taken by the cares of the world. But I don’t want to come to the end and realize I have not let myself really live.
For now Mom and I are loving this time of watching movies together, and she is such a fiend for drama that it’s a joy to watch her in her element. It’s no wonder she loved being a trial lawyer. That’s half the job — the dramatics. How many conversations in my lifetime have we had about dramatics — the pacing of a movie, dialogue, camera angles, close-ups, an actor’s diction and demeanor? I have no clue. It’s been a blast to revisit that, and North and South is perfect for mining details. It really is a little gem of a piece.
In a few weeks I have to go back to my reality, to SO and the little SOs. Hopefully, it won’t be that dismal world I’d created for myself, and maybe Mom and I will make it to England.
And fanvids are just a part of it. More good stuff about being an RA fan coming up. See how far my public service extends. ;-)
If you are new to the RA fandom (gee I think I’ve said that a time or two, but really I don’t know if anyone new would be reading this blog), and you have not heard of crinkles, or if you have heard of them but haven’t had the unction to find out what they’re really about, you are so missing out.
There is a sort of magical place on the web called C19: The Crinkle Zone:
1) You must unlock the power of the Zone with the key of your imagination.
2) Beyond the entrance is another dimension. A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind.
3) It’s a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
One more thing before you cross over into the Crinkle Zone:
It’s not okay to drink (alcohol or anything) while you’re in there — not if you want your computer’s keyboard to survive. Drink before you get there. Or better yet, just get high while you’re in there. :D If you’re blue or hacked or just about anything negative you can be, head there immediately.
Oh, and be sure to read “The Joy of Crinkles” thread before you really begin, and there’s a “Part Deux” thread as well. No, they’re not necessary, but they’re more than worth the price of admission (your time) and will help you understand. What exactly I’m not sure. That’s up to you. But remember no drinking!
Note: you must become a member of C19 to get in on this good thing!
And to get you started, one of the more famous crinkles:
Be sure to check out Nat’s blog, and the Cute Crinkles she has over there. That was the catalyst for this entry by the way. I just couldn’t help myself. :D
edit: If you do make your way over to the Crinkle Zone, be sure to say hello to Manda, who is the “high priestess” of the Fankles and head of The Cult of the Crinkle.
second edit: below is the interview from which the screencap was taken.
Screencap courtesy of the “Quaddy Waddy Do Da” thread, and before that probably courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com or TheArmitageArmy.co.uk.
I’m pretty sure I also got the video clip from RichardArmitageNet.com, but if I’m wrong about that, someone please correct me.
What was I saying about not wanting to wait to get at the writing? Well, I hit a bit of a wall. Not a huge one, but enough to slow me down and say to myself, “Hmmm, maybe that storage room downstairs really does need a thorough cleaning.” I’m staying on the job for all of you. See how good I am to you? Remember it’s my nutty behavior that makes a lot of the rest of you look sane. You know in case RA or any of “his people” happen to see our little enclaves of discussion, they can conclude, “Thank God most of those people aren’t like that RAFrenzy nut.” So again, this is really a public service. ;-)
All of that aside, I’m trying to draft this post about my top ten videos. Is it too late to make it my top 20 or 50? Phew! I had no idea this was going to be so difficult or that I would actually feel pressure. Yes, I read the notes from those of you who want me to post my list. Most of these posts I write by the seat of my pants, as it were of course, but this time I couldn’t. Ironically, I figured this would be nothing but fun since I love the videos, and for the most part it is fun. But as SO reminds me sometimes, I tend to make things much harder than they should be. I’m really trying not to do that.
One thing that’s made it so hard is trying to find out how many RA vids there are on YouTube or getting a pretty good idea and then watching the ones I’d missed or trying to watch as many as I could. Oh my gosh! Forget it. There are too many. Can I just tell you that there are loads of them? That you probably will never run out of something to watch? Yes, this is a good problem unless you have an anal streak. Suffice to say I’ve watched quite a few the last couple of weeks that have been on YT for a while, but I had never seen them. This is coming from someone who watches lots of videos. Should I admit I’m that addicted? I’ve already admitted this RA addiction, what’s another one?
As if the sheer number is not daunting enough, I’ve come up with a criteria to explain my selections, which I had never thought about let alone articulated since I just go with my gut most of the time. However, articulating a criteria is a must in the pursuit of not looking like I play favorites and not hurting anyone’s feelings. But hey, I’m not going to get around that anyway. What makes that laughable is who am I to hurt anyone’s feelings with my choices? I’m just one person, and for all anyone knows, I have really lousy taste. In fact, for those vidders I don’t acknowledge, please consider me to have lousy taste. It will not hurt my feelings. Wow. Who knew there was this much passion about fan videos?
So why this post before the post? I guess I really want to be understood. This whole blog is a big digression into being understood even if you and I will never meet. I’ve got a fixation on being understood. Oh yeah, it’s a blessing and a curse, and it bores the dog out of me but hopefully, it won’t bore you. At least not today.
Yes, I really do have a post on the videos. I’m just not ready to post it but felt like I had to post something, and I guess I need to remember that tired old adage (maybe it’s not really tired) that if it’s worth doing, it’s probably going to be hard (or something to that effect). So you hear that, Elvira, I realize that videos take some work to be done right, i.e., at the very least be willing to read a tutorial, and for the rest of you, writing about them takes some work too — if it’s to be done right.
I’m not only going to throw in a gratuitous pic but a video as well. This was a video I had never seen. Shocked me I tell you. That I had never seen it I mean, and yes, I like it or it wouldn’t be embedded here. See what I mean about being understood. Why do you think I haven’t written much until now — I can’t stop. LOL!
Love the expressions Elvira captured.
And the pic:
Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com
Top ten post hopefully coming up next week. Then after that I’ll get my top ten fan fics posted. Already started on it. LOL!
But this thing with RA’s interviews and the incessant questioning and teasing about the Army he receives and the thought we’ll have to hear that crap again just won’t leave me alone. I really really don’t want to hear it again, and even though I’m not big on sending him a fan letter myself, I was wondering if maybe I could steal Nat’s idea of a group fan letter. Not exactly like hers. That is unique and special, and I don’t want to duplicate it at all but merely the idea of several people sending a letter together. Really I’m not even thinking of a letter but of something like a petition in the form of military orders where we tell him we don’t want to hear about the Army again! and he’s not allowed to talk about it! LOL!
It could be from the Armitage Army (Rogue Branch), and maybe we can attach our names (real, internet, whatever name you want as long as it’s not vulgar) and have some ranks listed beside them. Maybe you could also list your country and we can make this an international order. Not sure what group I would pattern that after. But there’s only one problem for me. I don’t know what orders look or sound like. Well, now that I think of it I guess it doesn’t have to be anything really authentic looking. See that’s my anal side. Gotta nitpick stuff. I don’t want to nitpick this but rather have a good time with it. If you have any ideas, bring ’em on. Comment or send me an email. You can click on the link on the left sidebar near the bottom labeled “Contact me” if you want to email; otherwise, comment away.
Screencap courtesy of my stash. This one’s for you, Elvira. I know you love that beanie.
I can’t stop watching Heather’s video. RA has definitely brought out any latent OCD tendencies I have. LOL! I don’t even want to think about how many times I’ve watched this one.
What’s so compelling about it is Heather has some wonderful close-ups of which some weren’t necessarily close-ups in the show, but she was so kind to make them close-ups for us!
I’ve now captured some of those so I could show the great shots of his eyes. Here are a few:
His eyes are not blue nor are they blue with a little green in them. They’re also not green. His eyes are gray, which have a tendency to look blue or green at times, but really they’re gray. I have thought this for a while, but Heather’s shots in the video make it very clear. I’m familiar with these eyes because my dad had the same eyes. They have a tendency to lighten with age. That’s exactly what happened with my dad and probably will with RA.
But here’s the weird part. A year or so ago I was reading an interview of RA’s, and one of the little SOs was reading over my shoulder, and said, “Ohmygosh! Mom, I finally figured out who Richard Armitage looks like!” I cut my eyes at her and said, “I didn’t know you were even trying to figure that out.” She jumped up and ran into the living room and came back with something that she thrust in my hands. It was a picture of my dad when he was young. I started laughing until I really looked at the picture, and as nuts as it sounds, it’s true that RA favors my family. He has the same color eyes as my dad and grandfather and my uncle, and they’re set the same way. His nose and upper lip are identical to my dad’s. To top it off his head shape and neck are also the same. His body type and size is also like my dad’s. My dad was a great big man who had been tall and gangly when he was younger. But mostly it’s the eyes, nose and upper lip coupled with that head shape that look so much like my dad. He really could pass for one of my relatives, and no, I don’t think of my dad when I look at RA. LOL! As if that weren’t enough, I introduced my mother to the works of RA a couple of months later, and she said the same thing. Oh, she just loves Richard Armitage! All of this effectively cut off any thought of ever fantasizing about him. Thanks, Mom. LOL!
There must be something about those English genes because even though my dad’s family has not lived in England in several centuries, the people where my dad’s family came from look a lot like my dad. Dad visited there on several occasions and had his picture taken with lots of locals. The ones who have his surname by blood look like him. There’s one picture of my dad with a father and son who were younger than him, and it looks like three generations of the same family.
But back to RA. LOL! If all those pictures above weren’t enough, I have a slideshow too. :D
After listening to the latest RA interview, I have to respond. I mean I would bust a gut or something (don’t you love our expressions in America?) if I didn’t respond.
Richard,
I doubt I’m ever going to write you a letter. Isn’t this blog enough? :D
What I want you to know is that we’re so ready for you in America. If you come sniffing around at the end of this year, we have lots of lovely places to ski.
Oh, and aren’t you glad you have a group who is smart enough to help you out? They know how to run web-sites and make videos. Damn, if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t know about you. Lucky you. ;-)
But seriously, man, we have to find another word for you to use than “middle-aged,” and I hope you know that not everyone is middle-aged. You actually have quite a few young fans. Yes, they’re mostly young women, but hey, young women prompt young men to spend money at the movies, and most women BUY the DVDs. LOL!
I do want to thank you for giving some of us a sop with the “quite well-educated” part. I’m not sure I fit in that heady crowd. Just not that into period dramas, but there are plenty who are. I’m more of a mutt. A cunning mutt, but a mutt none the less. But for you, hey, I can gut it up and watch a few high brow pieces.
So Strike Back was a nice change. Just hope you can lean on the writers so they don’t screw up the ride with too much introspection.
And Richard, if you ever do read this, I sometimes wonder if you think of your words like pebbles going into a pond. You can almost see, well, heck you can see the ripple effect of what you say. What you may not realize is how much fun it is to be a ripple.
Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans
P.S. I don’t know how crazy the fans are here compared to the U.K., i.e., not sure we send chocolate panties, but most here like chocolate and we’re a really practical bunch. So maybe you’ll get some chocolate you can actually eat.
Wow, that felt good writing to Richard. Thanks for inspiring me, Nat. I may have to can the Diary and start writing more fan letters. No, no, even if they’re fake fan letters, I still can’t really cut loose like I can in my Diary. ;-)
For the rest of you who haven’t heard the interview with David Stephenson of the Sunday Express, listen here:
This is probably the anthem for all of us who are Guy of Gisborne lovers, and it certainly is for 01Cheers on Livejournal. She has set up a shrine (those are her words) to Guy. If you haven’t already, check it out. You can click “Serious Guy Addict” under the Addict List. Of all the links I have listed on my blog, hers is clicked on the most. Gee, I wonder why. And if you appreciate all of her hard work, please let her know it.
Once the dust settles from Strike Back, I’ll probably be examining every little aspect of Guy. I’ve already started on this, but I’m probably going to take the first part of the summer to continue with it. What else can I do while we’re in a drought? Oh, and I’m sure it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard what I’m going to say already. If you’re a Guy fan, you will probably consume it, because you know it will either confirm what you think or give you food for thought. Whatever, the case, you’ll be thinking about Guy and looking at pictures and videos of Guy, and that’s the point isn’t it?
Oh, wait! I almost forgot my gratuitous pic.
A scene from Season 1 Episode 4 Parenthood, in which Guy is particularly nasty. But I’m sure I don’t have to tell most of you that, and I’m sure it doesn’t keep us from admiring that picture. Hey, Richard Armitage probably thinks we’re all nuts anyway. I figure I’d rather be hung for a lion than a lamb. Is that mixing metaphors? Oh well, literature never was my forte. LOL!
Yes, I’m still going to post about RA’s eyes, but I’m searching for a particular screencap. May have to breakdown and make it myself.
Screencaps courtesy of RobinHood2006.com
edit: I guess the Guy movie 01Cheers made was deleted from online storage. If you want access to it, send me a note.
The breathtaking beauty is fun to watch too, but we want the girl next door to get the guy. It’s about as cliche’ as it gets, but isn’t that who most of us still want to win? Or have I completely misunderstood this audience? I didn’t think so.
Really how can most of us not pull for Layla? We’re set up to pull for her. Danni doesn’t stand a chance against the quiet beauty who’s a patient seeker of truth and fiercely loyal.
Could we ever believe that Layla would not ferret out the truth and then try to see justice done? Yep, I knew it. So since most of us aren’t breathtaking beauties but we are patient seekers of truth who are fiercely loyal or that’s what we hope we are, we certainly relate to Layla. Plus, her big brown eyes look at Porter so beseechingly that I melt when I see them almost as much as when I see his eyes. Of course the keyword there is almost.
Dang! I’d forgotten how much fun it is to be manipulated.
Just in case someone who has the ability to mold this character is reading this, could you have Layla kick some ass too?
For those who want a more heady discussion of Danni and Layla, see Servetus’ blog. At the moment I seem to be stuck on this girl gets guy/guy gets girl scenario.
dénouement (n) Origin: 1745–55; < F: lit., an untying, equiv. to dénouer to untie, OF desnoer (des- de- + noer to knot < L nōdāre, deriv. of nōdus knot) + -ment -ment
— the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
Not quite sure what to think of how Strike Back has left us. It seems that there are lots of loose ends, but really there are lots of loose ends with knots. There’s John Porter’s relationship to the military, and now Hugh is gone and Porter will not divulge that Hugh was the guilty party in the “Bratton extraction.” There’s the relationship with Layla, who knows about Hugh’s guilt and who obviously has a growing admiration for Porter. There’s the relationship with Danni. There’s the relationship with his ex-wife/dead wife, or more accurately, his dispensible wife, and then there’s his daughter.
Of course not to be forgotten is the whole Indiana Jones cum Christ figure thing going on. It all has my head spinning.
Maybe I should not even stop to ponder but just continue to take the ride. I would do that except for one thing that keeps niggling at me. Are the writers of this show good enough to deal with all of this so I will come away saying, “Wow! That was quite something,” or will they screw it up? My gut says the latter. Oh, I hate it when my cynical self rears its ugly head, but it sometimes just takes over and spoils the fun.
But, but wait. The whole question of whether or not he has chest hair can now be put to rest! Ahh. That’s better. Back to my insane self.
RAFrenzy 