Status Unknown — Spoilers

Spoilers for Spooks Series 9

Obviously, I haven’t been posting regularly. That’s about to change. Spooks is coming, and I must be present for the denouement of Lucas North, or was I already? Then there is the relationship of Harry and Ruth. My speculation and everyone else’s is Harry and Ruth will finally consummate their relationship. Will it be satisfying? This is Spooks, people; it won’t be satisfying because they have a movie to make. So yeah, even with the finale, we probably won’t get a resolution of these characters.

image

But my burning question: does Lucas North make it out of this series alive? Will he be in the movie? I have to ask, and bygod, the producers of the show expect me to ask. LOL! Do I sound hacked? I’m really not that upset. Actually, I’m not even upset. I just want to know what happen(s)(ed)to Lucas North, dammit!

Yes, I’m purposely refraining from using the name John Bateman. That’s not this character’s name. No way. And I don’t say that because he’s a bad guy. In case anyone reading this blog hasn’t noticed, I’m partial to a bad guy who did much more heinous things than blowing up some people and killing one person bare handed. My bad guy actually looked many of his victims in the eyes while he killed them in one of the most physically demanding ways.

But back to Lucas. Is he or is he not dead? I say he’s not dead. I said this at the end of last series, and I’m still convinced that he’s going to be with us after this series has ended. Richard Armitage, who I take at his word for hating spoilers, has nevertheless mentioned Spooks, the Movie, a few times, and the thought of it won’t go away. Hey, there’s a good chance 24 will be a movie, so why not Spooks? And it’s entirely possible that dear Richard could be part of it which means Lucas can’t die. Unless of course they have a flashback, which now that I think of it is also entirely possible. If I’ve learned nothing else after five years of watching Spooks, they can do anything and logic be damned. How else to explain the absurd set up for Lucas North as a bad guy? And no, I’m not going to go on a rant again — at least not today.

For now I’m hoping the writers do something that either a) makes me breathe a sigh of relief b) makes me not want to throttle them c) jump for joy d) all of the above. A sigh of relief would be his being alive. Not wanting to throttle the writers would be his staying alive to possibly come back in the movie. Jumping for joy would mean his staying alive for the movie AND being able to redeem himself or develop into a fascinating criminal mastermind. Either would be fine with me. Just so it’s writing worthy of Richard Armitage’s ability. Yes, I’m a demanding sort. :D

So here I am, and here I will be waiting patiently for the announcement of when exactly Spooks is going to air. Oh, they have me right where they want me.

More posts about Spooks coming up this week as I’m feeling the need to revisit where this Lucas obsession started.

Behind the scenes photo courtesy of KuchingGirl with much more coming.

Note: this post (all of it) was done from my phone. Woohoo!

September 5, 2011
Categories: Rumors, Spoilers, Spooks . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 21 Comments

Tangent — A Poke in the Eye

Before I stop teasing all of you and get on with my posts about the lovely Richard Armitage, I have to get this out of my system.

Lady Gaga is pitiful. I have now lived long enough to see Britney Spears become appalled at someone’s behavior. Lady Gaga, who was no lady the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, apparently wanted a redux of Britney’s sensational embrace with Madonna, and Britney was horrified. ROFLOL!!!! Yes, the computer really did fall off my lap from laughing. Er, me not the computer. Actually, I think the computer chuckled a little too.

Can you imagine what it would be like for Britney Spears to look at you suspiciously and think, “Ewww.” Yeah, I’d say Gaga has reached a new low. But really how long can people keep up an act when it’s 40% musical ability and 60% sensationalism? It didn’t work for Bette Middler, who had to morph into a serious singer, it appears to be on the wane for Britney, and Madonna… I’m not sure exactly what to say about Madonna except that after almost 30 years of being on the music scene, she is amazing in her ability to sustain, but at what cost? She’s pitiful too, and if I never thought it before, I certainly did when I saw this video a couple of years ago:

The boys in that are young enough to be her kids and maybe her grandkids. But Madonna was always a cougar in the making, and why I’m surprised by any of this I don’t know. I’m not really, but it’s sad to watch that video. When she was younger, I saw the angst, and I appreciated it. But now? I really am sad ’cause I know Madonna is not stupid. But she’s let her need for continual self-promotion render her silly looking, and if that’s not what happened to Gaga on Sunday night, then I need to invest in a leotard and some fishnets.

See the rest of the photos here.

The real shame is Lady Gaga has a good voice. Let’s hope it eventually eclipses all of this bullshit. Sorry I couldn’t come up with a descriptive word easier on the ears; that’s the best one.

Oh, Richard take me away!

August 30, 2011
Categories: Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

Now That’s Out of the Way

I had to get that last post done. Wish you could have heard me laughing while I typed, but I’m glad it’s done.

Lately, I’ve mostly been dwelling on things that are fine and good and true and beautiful when it would have been so easy to focus on things that are not. What a wondrous thing to remember I don’t have to focus on things that don’t edify. It’s strange to make reference to it — even cryptically, and it’s certainly hard for me to take this place seriously. RA Universe doesn’t qualify as serious. Not even close. But I do have to make good on some promises I’ve made in the last year, and I will. But not today.

For SO and I, this sums up the state of our minds the last few weeks:

My brain is definitely out of control, and I mean that in the best way possible. But I’m itching to capture my thoughts, and just when I gave one of my prized possessions to my son. I’ve ordered another one, but it’s not here yet, and I’ve had to resort to pencil and paper when on the road. Painful!! LOL!

Onto some housekeeping of which this blog is in great need. My tags are a mess, but oh, you don’t know the joy of cleaning up a mess until you have to sift through pictures of and words about Richard Armitage. The challenge is to not get sidetracked.

And this is what I’m listening to as I sift:

I’ve probably got more to say about Oscar Peterson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, et al in more detail later. And okay, I threw in ‘How Insensitive’ (aka ‘Insensatez’) but don’t you just love Sting’s funky self?!! Yes, I’ll work him into another post sometime as well. :D

Do we need a picture of RA to go along? Oh yeah.

Manipulation courtesy of a fan, whom I’m not sure wants credit. I’ll have to check. In the meantime, enjoy, and remember you can click on it to enlarge.

edit: just as I thought — she does not want credit. That’s a shame since this is a great manipulation. Oh well, we still get to enjoy it.

August 20, 2011
Categories: Housekeeping, Musicilove, SO, Strike Back . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Going With My Gut — Spoilers

Spoilers for Strike Back 2

Regular readers among you know how I feel about my gut and should know it’s for good reason. Do I need to remind about Porter’s demise? :D And if I were more eloquent, “gut” would become a beautiful euphemism. Alas, I’m confined to earthy, and being a bit earthy has usually served me well, so to hell with eloquence.

Several weeks ago I suggested a plan and thought a good time to execute it would be sometime between July 22nd (the opening of ‘Captain America’) and August 22nd (near the debut of ‘Strike Back 2’ and you know whose birthday). However, I’m having some reservations. This is not an appeasement of those firmly in Armitage Protection Mode (aka APM). I would still like to try for the trending, and I’m full of details and instructions about the goodness that can be Twitter if done right and most importantly at the right time.

The desire for the project started with the imminent release of ‘Captain America’ and my getting pumped at the potential swell of new fans in RA Universe. Still pumped about that, but I’ve had doubts about the effect of ‘Strike Back’ Series 2. It hasn’t been a good sign that it was airing on Cinemax, which after dark is little better than a porn network and commonly known as Skinemax in the U.S. Nevertheless, I was still open to trying to trend RA’s name simply because he has such an ability to take pulp and turn it into something fine. I have been hoping that would happen with SB2, but one man can only do so much, and it’s especially difficult when he isn’t given much to do. Hearing from friends and fellow RA lovers who have seen the first episode, the show could be boiled down to one word: crap. Several have told me, “Don’t bother.” I may not.

Oh, who am I kidding?! I’m going to watch it if only the first 20 minutes which include RA. No, wait! I understand there’s some of him in the second episode as well, so I’ll watch some of that too. And none of this would be a problem for me as a longtime admirer who has his other performances in my head to sustain me through whatever lameness is in Strike Back 2. But would I want to highlight on Twitter, which is notoriously short on explanation, something lame for new fans still taking their first impressions of RA?

Even if all of this hadn’t been enough to hold me back, I’m firmly in check by knowledge of the recent poll debacle. People, c’mon! ROFLOL! This is not espionage, and if the Anglophenia blog were simply some brash American site, then maybe the siege for Richard would be okay. Scratch that. It wouldn’t be okay. (I can’t help but think of my friend Hunkess, who has put up with all sorts of garbage to bring us all those Hunkie polls. She had to get her whip out at one point.)

Now I would be lying to say I’m above trying to vote more than once on a poll on a given day. Some of the fun is figuring out how to do this. ;-) And bloggers who put up these polls and don’t realize this can be a common response from readers of celebrity polls, perhaps need to learn the lesson, but somehow I doubt that’s really necessary. That aside, how embarrassing for us fans that the blog brought it to light (must be an Alan Rickman fan running things over there. LOL!! Yes, I’m kidding. Lighten up, people. :D ). NET: no way I would follow this with a Twitter campaign.

The capper is the news of ‘Spooks’ being canceled. I don’t want to draw more attention to that for new fans. Again, I’m talking about drawing attention without explanation, which would be the case for most on Twitter. Of course if they read my blog ;-), they’ll get plenty of explanation.

Do I sound like I have APM? Maybe a little. :D

If you’ve made it this far and you’re not thoroughly pissed off at me, hang with me for the rest, and oh! by the way, you British fans, note I didn’t say pissed. I’ve been recently schooled in some fine points of British earthiness:

…when you’re angry and upset, you’re “pissed off”, not “pissed”! As an Australian, I speak and spell more the way the English do, so I have an advantage, I think! If you’re going to adopt any English slang, it is better to use their exact expressions rather than adjust them, if you want to be easily understood in an international forum. “Pissed” actually means “drunk”. OK, English lesson over and done!!. I am just “having a go at you” or “taking the mickey out of you”, so please don’t take me seriously. — Kathryn

I will never misuse that word again! :D And don’t tell my family, but I probably need the mickey taken out of me on a regular basis.

Okay, so how to end this? Ooooh, I know just the thing:

Dear Richard,

I love your performances so much. Oh, you weren’t sure about that? Oh my man, you don’t think I would do a blog for just anyone? I’m not that kind of girl.

But I hope you meant it when you said you don’t read about yourself on the internet, and God forbid anyone tells you. From what I can tell about you so far, you would probably be embarrassed by this last week’s activity. So just stay away if you think you might get your knickers in a twist.;-)

And I really, really hope you or anyone even remotely connected to you never reads this blog! If that happened, I would probably want to crawl under a rock despite being anonymous. But I couldn’t stay away; I’ve missed cutting up.*

Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans who at times needs this craziness to deal with the sanity of life. :D

P.S. Maybe I won’t be thrilled with SB2 when I finally watch it, but hey, I put up a new background in honor of your performances as John Porter.

*For those readers not familiar with this American idiom, it means joking and/or teasing.

Watch someone take me seriously about cheating at Anglophenia never mind that I set a record for emoticons in this post. :D

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com, and as usual, click to enlarge.

August 20, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Fandom, Spoilers, Spooks, Strike Back . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Gone But Not For Long

In case it’s not obvious, I’m on a bit of a hiatus from the blog but will return shortly. Currently I’m spending a lot of time with my two children who will be leaving soon for college. One will be almost 500 miles away. The other will be 1,500 miles away. Sob. So I’m spending almost every spare minute with them. It’s wonderful but doesn’t leave much time for my nonsense here. Yes, I’m really going to return because this foolishness is addictive, and how could I stay away from Richard Armitage watching for long?! Maybe I’ll be back tomorrow, but I doubt it. Maybe day after tomorrow. :D

While I’m gone, I’ll be pondering all sorts of questions about Richard Armitage, and if you’re new and curious about something to ponder, there is plenty here to think about. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, then perhaps one of the other RA blogs or websites will be helpful. See The Addict List or Places to Get a Fix, respectively.

Screencap from “The Hobbit” Press conference courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com

August 11, 2011
Categories: Movies . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

I Gots Thoughts

Oh, yeah, I have lots of thoughts about all that’s been going on the last several days in RA Universe — movie premieres, killer photos, and more good stuff from “The Hobbit” set. More on this later. I’m so busy this week that I seriously am almost cross-eyed, but I will weigh in at some point. You know I will.

But one thing before I go. #1 daughter regularly frequents this movie theater:

Since she wasn’t going to be anywhere around at the time, I didn’t have the heart to tell her Richard Armitage would be there on Wednesday evening. She was so bummed when she found out. I hope he goes back to New York sometime!

One of my daughter’s favorite RA pictures:

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com.

edit: Oops I meant to add that I’m updating the Who’s Richard Armitage? page as it’s in serious need of some treatment. :D

July 22, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Cold Feet, Housekeeping, Movies . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Thorin Oakenshield as You’ve Never Seen Him

Okay, the title is for the new fans as I’m sure many of you others (that sounds better than ‘old fans’) have already seen these pictures. For the new fans, you can see him animated at Who is Richard Armitage? If you are feeling the hunger to investigate further, there are lots of good Places to Get a Fix. If you are already into full blown addiction and need to “commiserate,” of course you can get plenty of that here, but I’m far from the only place as there are many blogs on The Addict List. And if you’re on a phone and can’t easily access my About page, then go here — might make you feel better if you’re feeling a little funny right now.

But onto really important matters. :D

If I were single and there were someone like this who is intelligent and doesn’t just look the part?

It would be a serious temptation to my good sense. Oh heck, I would be addled, and I remember when I was addled by someone.

As if that’s not enough, consider the physical Richard Armitage:

Watching the workout segment in the recent Hobbit production video from Peter Jackson created a powerful flash back of seeing SO for the first time. He was in a ragged golf shirt and jeans. Although he could afford better clothes, he was on the go so much of the time that he loved how those ragged clothes “breathed.” The golf shirt was truly awful, but I was still dazed by him. He has always been very fit looking, and he was quite the athlete. He walked around our college campus, and I seriously did swoon. Before we started dating, I would squirrel myself in a seat unseen on the football field/track and watch him work out. He didn’t know I was already in love with him. Then after we were together, I used to run stands with him and much later told him, “You had to know it was love, baby, since no one in her right mind would do that unless they were training for the Olympics.” I loved looking at him, and especially his legs. He’s always had the most beautifully muscled legs and back and shoulders, and I’ll stop. But one last thing. The most compelling part of SO is his mind. He is clever and after all of our years together, he is still interesting; still keeps me on my toes. Yes, there have been times I have wanted to wring his neck, but it was never enough to eclipse the force that he is and remains, and seriously, I marvel at that. I’ve said this before on this blog, and I couldn’t help saying it again. Today, I was looking at SO at a task, and I was addled again. Sadly, I see so many people bored with their SOs, and I feel for them.

Still have that golf shirt.

Dear Richard,

Thank you for just being you, and thanks for serving as a catalyst for such lovely memories. Hope you don’t mind that I used you that way, but hey, if you’re going to be objectified, I can’t think of a better way.

Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans gone to look for her SO. :)

P.S. I have never understood why so many fans refer to you as slim. Oh, you are fine (more than fine), but you are not a little guy such that words like ‘slim’ are apt descriptions. Far from it.

Promo still for Captain America from Life and screencaps from “The Hobbit” set are mine.

July 22, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Movies, PHWOAR!, SO, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments

More Thorin

Thorin the leader:

I think he lost the Klingon look:

I love this! No one does anger like Richard Armitage.

Not in character here:

John Rhys Davies has just said they will be chased by women around the world, and RA looks down. Poor guy. I might even grow a conscience about this blog, but I’m so invisible except to a few of you, that I salve any guilt I may have with that thought. :D

But I do thank all of you who deign to read my nonsense.

Clip from Peter Jackson’s third vlog from “The Hobbit” set. Screencaps are mine, and as usual you can click on them for a larger version.

I’m sure I and others will provide more later.

In the meantime, I’m having a blast!

July 20, 2011
Categories: Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

Welcome to America, Richard

He looks like Ringo Starr in this one:

Isn’t this red carpet how people from other places picture America?

And yet ironically, is the rest of America like this?

I hope somewhere along RA’s travels in my country that he actually gets to have some meaningful conversations with people outside of Hollywood.

Dear Richard,

Please don’t judge the rest of us by the plastic you encounter in Hollywood. Although I do know you met two real people on the red carpet. They’re wonderful, and the tall one might be single.

But psst, I think you’re a New York kind of guy, so I hope you get to go there or revisit there. If you do go, I know a great little Italian restaurant in the Village, which you would love. :D

Signed,

One of your fans who has her heart in New York and Flyover country

Okay, so New York isn’t like the rest of the country either. LOL!

Love the song but disagree with Billy about the Rockies. He just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It gets in your blood like New York.

One more photo, and I love the subliminal flag in it. He looks like something hit him in this one:

Photos courtesy of Cesta. Gallery of her photos and others can be found on RichardArmitageNet.Com. Be sure to check them out. These above are far from the best shots of the bunch.

July 20, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Movies . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 38 Comments

Is It Just Me?

I became giddy seeing Richard Armitage in my country. Someone please, please slap me ’cause I feel really silly right now. On second thought never mind. It just feels good that he was in LA even if he was sweltering:

Love the arrow. :D

I hope Heather got to go to the Red Carpet for Captain America. For those who don’t know, Heather is a fan extraordinaire, and I have a soft spot for her because she’s a good hearted person, and she’s the one who turned me onto RA. LOL!

Heather, I so hope you got to finally see Richard in the flesh!

And some video for those who haven’t watched the AP Live interview:

For the Marvel interview, you can watch it here. RA in the first several minutes.

July 19, 2011
Categories: Captain America, Movies . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 24 Comments

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