What Do You Do When You’re 52?

Bccmee just posted on Twitter that the current ranking of Richard Armitage on IMDb has gone up 882 points. He’s now at 52. Phew! That means lots and lots and lots and lots of people are checking him out. I wonder what he’s thinking. No, I can’t help it. I really do wonder how he must be processing this, or if he’s already processed it to be prepared. I’m betting on “prepared.” Yep, he is so anal that he’s more than likely run it through his head a few times since he got the part in ‘The Hobbit.’ Probably just took the reaction from ‘North and South’ and multiplied it several times, and if he’s really thinking ahead, he will take that number and raise it to a power when the movie hits the theaters. LOL!

Yeah, ride off on that horse! We’ll follow. :D

Screencap is mine

Darn! Twitter was overcapacity when I tried to get a copy of bccmee’s tweet. Until I can get it, here’s a partial cap of RA’s pro page. Check out the statistic next to his head shot on the right.

edit: Ranking capped by bccmee for posterity.

December 31, 2011
Categories: Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Tolkien Juxtaposition

No, this isn’t going to be heady. I’m too busy being heady in real life to bring it here.

Onward.

How wonderful it’s been for us Richard Armitage fans to brush up against the Tolkien fans. The association has had definite advantages with the most important being the diminishing of my self-consciousness. I thought I was rabid. Ooooh, I am nothing. I don’t even know how to er, fan properly, and really none of you do either. We are so lacking by comparison. We don’t have a YouTube channel, we don’t have an annual convention, we don’t have tours. So relax, we’re not quite there.

Give it time. :D

One thing we do have is a wicked sense of humor about the object of our affection, and our “object” returns it. Go here to begin. And I have to say thank you again to Richard.

Dear Richard,

Thanks for the laughs. In keeping with your admonishment, I forgive you for not making a verbal message. It wouldn’t have been nearly so much fun.

Signed,
A crazy fan, who enjoys Tolkien but not quite as much as I enjoy your version of it. :D

We also have better pictures:

Wait! That’s one of their pictures. See what I mean?! ;-)

This is better:

As always, you can click on any photo to enlarge, and then click again for the original size, which is even larger.

Top photo is from my stash of screencaps of Hobbit Vlog #5, which might make you go blind looking for RA.

Bottom photo courtesy of KuchingGirl and enhanced by Sheepa.

edit: before anyone takes me too seriously, I have to say that I love the last Vlog by Sir Peter. He’s a class act, and it’s only fitting as such that he would highlight his crew.

December 26, 2011
Categories: Fandom, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 36 Comments

I Know You’re All Waiting

…Waiting for Richard Armitage to give us a message. I still think it would be cool if he did a verbal, and no, I won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t. But wouldn’t that be cool? Seriously? Oh well, maybe next year. :D

A picture for your trouble in coming over here. It just never gets old, and as usual you can click to enlarge:

Screencap from my stash

edit: if you’re new to Richard Armitage, I hope that photo might somehow inspire you to stop and consider what’s going on in New Zealand and give them some help.

December 22, 2011
Categories: Fandom, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

Something’s Happened

When I first started this site, I submitted an instruction to the Google bot to crawl (aka poll) my site only occasionally. Google sent a canned response that they didn’t have to abide by it. Mostly they have respected my request, but something changed about two weeks ago. For the first time ‘rafrenzy’ was not the top search string, and that string being at the top made it obvious I was mostly found by word of mouth. But now the search engines are running about four to one compared to my other referrals and ‘rafrenzy’ is far down the list. If you could see my stats list, it would be obvious more and more are curious about this Richard Armitage who is playing Thorin Oakenshield. What else am I to conclude if a piddly blog like mine and one that has tried to remain under the radar can be generating so many hits lately? Let me put it this way. If I keep going at this rate, I will be getting what amounts to 45,000 to 60,000 hits a month. And I know Nat and Servetus generate much more not to mention all of the other blogs in RA Universe (see the ‘Addict List’ or ‘Tumblr’). Yeah, something has happened.

If you’re new and wanting to know what Richard Armitage really looks like under that beard and armor, a little treat for you so you don’t have to scour this site for such goodness, and you can click to enlarge or snaffle. :D

oh heck! another one,

Usually I say something like Ohcheemama! when I see this. Some people say PHWOAR! or maybe Squeee! If you’re not sure, you’ll have to come along and learn the fine art of appreciating Richard in all his glory. Well, maybe not all of his glory. I do keep this blog safe for work.

I wonder when I’ll tire of publishing these pictures?

Screencap courtesy of the amazing Karima and candid shot courtesy of JJ via RichardArmitageNet.Com.

December 22, 2011
Categories: Fandom, PHWOAR!, Robin Hood . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 38 Comments

The First Love

I was looking at the ‘North and South’ promotional photos which were just uploaded to RichardArmitageNet.Com, and I realized how much I’ve neglected John Thornton…

Few times in my life have I been so struck by something that it resounded for years, but this obviously continues. Ironically, I wasn’t too enthralled with my first sight of him:

It took a few scenes later to begin to suck me in:

By the tea scene, I was entranced enough that here I am almost four years later still talking about the abilities of Richard Armitage. This sustained interest has had me often wondering if I were just a shallow person masquerading as someone with some depth or if there really is something intriguing about his ability to engage the audience. If I were to receive the theory posited by Skully, this fervor is mostly compelled by his very effective display of adoration for an object of affection. There is something to that thinking, but I’m hard pressed to think I would be enthralled by that for almost four years’ time. If I were looking for an ideal man or fantasizing about an ideal man, then maybe I could see her point. But frankly, I’m married to an ideal man — great weaknesses and all. He is masculine and yet artistic. He has a spark that draws many others, and he also has a bullshit detector the likes of which I’ve never encountered and an ability to articulate his impressions that makes people think as well as laugh at times. He’s been that way since I met him, and he only gets more interesting, and by some quirk of fate, he’s in love with me. So it’s hard to think I have some need to fixate on Richard Armitage for this. And to be clear, I’m not trying to characterize anyone as lesser who has that need. I’m trying to explain where I’m coming from.

But there is something in Richard’s abilities to pull me into his characters that has me continually asking how he does it! This is akin to my reaction to The Sun Also Rises the first time I read it. Jake’s scene in the church made me cry, and even today, it can still make me cry. Hemingway captured something real, and it was like a warm wave. I went on to read all of his works, and I am not obsessed with all of them, but the few that I am eclipse any shortcomings in the rest. The Nick Adams Stories in particular are a prized part of my library. I have numerous copies and loan or give them away frequently. I’ve also read any biography I could find on Hemingway in order to conclude how he approached his craft. I think I understand it now even if I do not quite have the ability to articulate it. I’m working on that. LOL! Same thing with Richard Armitage. I’m working on what exactly it is that has me firmly attached. At this point, it’s fairly clear it’s his ability to tap into the reality of emotion that Hemingway did, and candidly, I want to do that myself. It has definitely inspired me to try to articulate something I’ve adored since I was a child — truth.

Note: promotional stills #7, #8 and #13 are new to the N&S promo gallery on RichardArmitageNet.Com

December 19, 2011
Categories: North and South . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 30 Comments

Yes, I Am On a Caffeine High

Phew! When the family finally lets me have some coffee, they just leave the house.

Karima just popped up with one of her amazing pics. I’ve already posted this scene today, but you have to see her work. Go ahead and click it to enlarge:

It seems to have a 3-D quality as well as looking like a painting.

Screencaps courtesy of the amazing Karima.

December 9, 2011
Categories: PHWOAR!, Robin Hood . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

So Fine He Missed It

Ali over at RichardArmitageNet.Com just put up some screencaps of RA in ‘Doctors’ (c. 2001). Yes, I’ve seen these before, but I’ll bet some of you haven’t:

A few thoughts about these. First, he is drop dead gorgeous by almost anyone’s standards. Second, I know a few childhood experiences can damn near eclipse a profusion of experiences in adulthood, but my gosh! this man has to have some awareness that he’s not ugly. Third, I look at those two pictures and get hacked all over again at that godawful cover of ‘North and South.’ I’ve said it before and I can’t help repeating: whoever did that cover must have been jealous!

edit: Yes, I’m going get back to Lucas North, but I’m still struggling with my blog pieces.

December 9, 2011
Categories: Miscellaneous works, North and South, PHWOAR! . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Snark-a-RAma

I really needed to make this post considering WordPress now has snow on their home page. There’s something about it which makes me feel like a whip is being cracked behind me. Maybe I watched too many Budweiser commercials as a kid. Or is it just me who thinks about Clydesdales when it snows? Of course I had to Google that. Who needs to spend money for entertainment when you can just run odd searches on Google? I was looking for an image to go with the Budweiser crack and found this picture of a fairly newborn kid. Yeah, go ahead and check it out, and then read the whole blog piece. Maybe they don’t care if their newborn’s picture comes up in the midst of a bunch of mammoth sized horses, some suggestively clad women, some weirdness, and the dalmatian. Can’t forget him. And I almost forgot the clocks. I was fascinated with the clocks when I was little. The thought that the horses might break free was always a question. So what does all of this have to do with Richard Armitage? Not much except that I felt it might be “enlightening” for you to be in on how I go into snark mode. You thought I just turned that on and off at a whim? Oh hell, no. I have to descend into it, and Google is immensely helpful for facilitating. Okay, I’m down there now; we can start talking about fangirling again.

Now the segue to dear ol’ RA. For that I needed to visit Tumblr. Tumblr scares you more than Twitter?! You’re taking it all too seriously. It’s not serious. No, I’m serious; it is not serious. You saw a Tumblr that was serious? That must be one of the five that are. The rest are full of shit.* Oh, you need proof it’s not serious? I’ve got plenty, and I’m not sure which of these was first. Does it matter? Of course not. Just sit back and let it roll over you. Don’t think; just feel. That’s the point of Tumblr — no thinking (almost no thinking); just feeling.

click the images for the fun:

and of course this one:

Wait. Maybe this is serious.

By the way, I disagree with this confession. It’s fine to obsess over one character. Further thought: who died and made this person the fandom czar? LOL!

*euphemism for playing around ;-)

December 9, 2011
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 5 Comments

Tangent — Does It Matter? Really?


I readily admit I might be a bit jaded. When I see something like this, it’s hard not to think it’s a bunch of people who are in need of meaning in their lives, seek out a “noble” cause toward that end but are drawn mostly in a visceral fashion and often ignorant of how the situation came to be. And in their ignorance, they are vulnerable to being manipulated by forces beyond their kin. Yes, this can describe all of us at one time or another. LOL!

Okay, I’m going on the record that Washington shafted us with the bank bailout and was done by both parties. Those guys aren’t up there for you and me. Maybe half dozen are really up there as advocates for the people. The rest are up there for their own asses, and I doubt these protests are going to do much to change that. The protests will serve little more than to move another group into power.

When I see a real grassroots movement of Americans that is not politically motivated, I might sing another tune. I would so love to sing another tune.

Until then it’s a shame the bad guys on Wall Street usually look like this:

instead of this:

At least with the latter, you would enjoy the view while you were getting screwed.

Brownie points if you can name the top two guys without looking them up. :D

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

October 12, 2011
Categories: Spooks, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 21 Comments

Will It Be the Fourth Dimension?

The roller coaster resumes on Sunday night, and I think I’m ready to be jerked around again. :D

Harry’s grave look has me duly sucked in, and no, I’m not being facetious. I saw this promo and felt myself getting excited to watch Spooks, and then I read the interviews with the writers, and I really got excited. I like Lara Pulver despite having been dragged through the debacle known as Robin Hood Series 3 Episode 5, but phew! didn’t she and Richard Armitage look great?

As usual, click to enlarge.

Even if you’re offended by my blatant objectification of RA (as opposed to my thinly veiled objectification), you have to admit that’s a hot picture. They certainly challenged the idea of a “family show.” Oh, I would love to see those two in something sexy and smart. Wouldn’t it be great if we got a little taste of that in Spooks Series 10? I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we might (oh, please with sugar on top) get a little more of Lucas North, and we’re going to get a lot of Erin Watts (aka Lara Pulver), the new section chief. The other cast additions look interesting too, and more to mine with the writers, but I’m saving it. The burning question for now: will Harry detonate a bomb? If I were mean, I’d answer that. LOL!

And speaking of writing, I stumbled onto a web page about roller coaster terminology (yes, the internet has everything!), which gave me an idea. It’s a dangerous thing for me to get ideas, but I have to have fun somehow. So during the run of this last series of Spooks, I’m soliciting examples in Spooks (any series) of one or more of the terms from this rich, ahem, nomenclature. Please make your submissions via the comments on this blog piece. The commenter with the most examples at the end of Series 10, wins a prize. More on that later when I think of exactly what will be an appropriate prize. Oh, I’ll make it something good. :D

I’ll go first with an easy one. An example of Immelmann Roll
(half-loop that inverts coaster cars for a half twist and sends them in the reverse direction. Named after a World War 1 German ace who popularized the flying maneuver)– Lucas North story arc in Series 9.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

edit: this was a bust, but thankfully one of the few on this blog.

September 13, 2011
Categories: Spooks . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 28 Comments

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