Thank you for the awards!

Traxy from The Squeee awarded me my first award quite awhile ago, and to be honest, I didn't really know what to do about it. But I think I have it figured out now. Thank you Traxy!!
This is the Honest Scrap award. It is for those bloggers who write from the heart. The rules are to pass it along to seven bloggers and then list ten honest things about myself.
I think everyone I want to give this award to already has received it at least once already, so just disregard this if so.

1. Richard Armitage Fan Blog
2.  FLY HIGH!
3.  The Squeee
4. Me + Richard Armitage
   
5. An RA Viewer's Perspective
6. Avalon's Blog
7. Reviewerama
 

And then there's the ten honest things...

1. If there was an award for procrastination -- I would win it...but I would probably never get around to picking it up!
2. Although I have always been somewhat geeky, one of the most depressing days of my life was when my glasses broke in half and I literally had to wear them taped together at the nosepiece. Nooooooo! Very sad indeed!
3. I am polite and friendly but when provoked above and beyond my capacity for cr*p, I get so upset it makes me want to cry which makes me angry and then WATCH OUT! (Very scary!) -- So I guess you could extrapolate from that, that I am very emotional! :) However, not moody or hormonal, by any means. (Okay, 'nuff said!)
4. Whew! Honesty is the best policy, but how much do you really need to know?
5. I am very allergic to cats and dogs and many other cute furry things which is not fair because I would really love to have a pet...especially a cat!
6. Being a mother was always my life's goal and my children have given my life so much joy!
7. My husband is my best friend (but so much more than that too!) ;)
8. I read somewhere once that a good belly laugh is good exercise for the abdominal muscles. Well, if that were really true, I would have washboard abs!
9. My laugh is so loud that our amateur theatrical group always knows when I am in the audience. I have made people in theatres turn around to see who is laughing so loud, and I have even (to my shame) startled babies into crying!
10. Because of #9 I believe I would be good on a laugh-track for a sitcom. Anybody want to recommend me to somebody in Hollywood?

 Maria Grazia from FLY HIGH! awarded me this while I was away. It is so nice to be appreciated by my peers! Thank you MG!
(Can anyone just make up an award? Because I think I'd like to do so.)
For The Versatile Blogger award, you are supposed to list 7 things You Don't Know about Me. [I'm going to cheat and say I just listed 10 things, (see above) and if that's not enough, please check out Maria Grazia's blog for her interview of me.] I do hate to BORE people! (There, that's one new thing, anyway.)
I am also supposed to list 15 (or 7 depending on whose rules you use) new blogs I've discovered recently.  As I have only been reading such blogs for less than a year, I would say they are all fairly new to me! I don't know if I even frequent that many blogs so I will just stop when I'm done, okay? (The pressure!!) Seriously, I am flattered to win any appreciation award but at some point, it shouldn't feel like a chain letter you have to pass on or get 7 years bad luck or whatever. (There, that's something else about me -- I absolutely HATE chain letters!) :)
Here are the lovely blogs that I frequent (besides the 7 aforementioned ones)! :

1. Enchanted Serenity of Period Films
2.  RAFrenzy
   
3.  Y I, Mum?
   
4. Booktalk & More
   
5. HOLLYWOOD SPY
   
6. Reading, Writing, Working, Playing
   
7. Spooks Fan Blog
8. All-en-A-Day's-Work
9. My Jane Austen Book Club
10. My Ink is Made of Bits
11. Trude's Place

If you have already received this award, please feel free to ignore it, but know that you are appreciated!

Keep on blogging, dear blogging friends!

A Man Needs a Maid

I started this video before I went away on vacation, and now I've finally finished it. I hope all you Guy of Gisborne fans like it. For some reason I am stuck on a Neil Young kick, but this song has haunted me since I first heard it back in the '70s. At the time, although I loved the song, I had issues with the subject matter. It just didn't seem right to refer to a modern woman as a "Maid", and what woman wanted to be an actual "maid" to a man anyway?! So to put this song in a medieval context is, I think -- just right! (I did have to edit out the last verse as it had some modern references).

In case there are any readers out there who are not aware of my current obsession, this video features Richard Armitage in the BBC's Robin Hood series.

And the winner is...

The BAFTAs have been over for awhile now, giving fans of Richard Armitage an abundance of new  pictures to fawn over. I couldn't help but think how good Richard looks holding this award. Too bad it's not his own!

Oh well...I am sure his time will come. After all, many accomplished performers wait in vain to hear their names called to collect their trophies. While wondering about this, I came upon this Top Ten List of Ten of the Best in Hollywood who Never Won an Oscar. The biggest surprises for me -- Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole!
Sometimes it just comes down to bad timing.  Lawrence of Arabia, O'Toole's tour de force came up against To Kill a Mockingbird brought to film starring none other than Gregory Peck! Now as much as I always enjoy Gregory Peck's performances, (particularly in Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn!) I would never have thought him a better actor than Peter O'Toole!

Another actor who was well-deserving of an Oscar and never got one (until the very end of his career) was Paul Newman.  When I started perusing pictures of Mr. Newman, it struck me that these two actors really have quite a bit in common. Let me explain...

Paul Newman is famous for his startlingly blue eyes. 

Richard Armitage's eyes
(as I have been raving about for several posts)
are a mesmerizing shade of grey (depending on the light can look blue or green).

They both look great in nothing but a towel!

Paul Newman in The Prize (1963)

Richard Armitage in Ulitmate Force (2003)


They even look good after a mean ol' prison fight!

 Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Strike Back (2010)


Mr. Newman was well-known for his charitable donations.

Paul's company "Newman's Own" makes salad dressings and other sauces
from which Mr. Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.

Mr. Armitage has inspired his fans to donate to various charities
(rather than sending him so many presents!)

This picture is from a commercial to raise funds for the BBC's Children in Need.




My favourite fact about Paul Newman was his long-standing happy marriage to actress Joanne Woodward.

R.I.P. Paul Newman 1925-2008


I wish for Richard Armitage the same happiness in his own real life.

 Sorry to do this to Orla Brady, Richard's Strike Back co-star,
but we all need to dream, don't we?


Paul Newman finally received his Academy Award (Oscar) for the movie The Color of Money (1986). We hope it does not take the world as long to recognize the prodigious talent of Richard Armitage, so that he is given roles deserving of his expertise and that he is honored for his work as he so richly deserves!