My Grande Passion

Welcome to the first day of the 3rd Annual FanstRAvaganza! 
(Although This post was begun Sept. 21, 2011 I am relieved I have finally had the impetus to finish it!)

This year we have so much to talk about there are several chains of topics you can follow.  This blog is on the Fandom chain.  Also posting today in this chain is Didion from the Feminéma blog. Please click here to read her post.

As she usually somehow manages to do, Servetus (over at Me + Richard Armitage blog) has made me ponder my strange attachment to the actor known as Richard Armitage (RA for short).  I have sometimes called it an obsession (which sounds creepy) or an addiction (which sounds too needy).  But suddenly, in the middle of a comment I was writing on one of her always thought-provoking posts, the proper term leapt out at me. He is my grande passion! (said with an italian-ish accent).  I was going to put an "e" on the end of passion too, but when I googled it: grande passione came up as a wine tasting blog.  That works too! :P But let's not confuse the issue.  I am a very passionate person, and one can have several passions!  (My husband is grateful for this.)

You know you can't help it!

But an interest that takes up most of one's waking hours, (perhaps even some sleeping ones too?), and inspires one to endeavor to create artistic tributes in all sorts of media from pencil sketches to graphic and video renderings, from online comments and discussions to poetry and essays to fantasy fiction!  It is incredible how one admittedly humble (and talented -- not to mention gorgeous) man can create this type of a reaction in the women of all ages whom one might otherwise think lead completely sane and humdrum existences.

It has occurred to me that I have never told my readers how I came to be so enamoured of this shy,  charming and intensely talented actor. I have made comments all over the blogosphere and told the story several times on quite a few different blogs, but never on my own.

The first time I saw North and South was on a public television channel in Canada probably in the Fall of 2006. I enjoyed it immensely and wished I could watch it again, but it wasn’t available on DVD for awhile. I remember scanning catalogues to see if the DVD was out yet and when it finally was available, (about a year later) I hinted broadly to my husband that it would make a great Christmas present. For some reason, I did not think I should just buy it myself! I didn’t do much online ordering then and I didn’t own very many DVDs, so it didn’t really occur to me to buy it for myself. When my “hinting” didn’t work for 2 Christmases I was a bit miffed, so I left the catalogue out with the DVD circled in red marker and pronounced that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was this DVD! (Sounds bossy, I know – but I was desperate!)

My husband joked that he had no idea what to get me for my birthday – just to see me LOSE it! Well, when I finally received my birthday prezzie I was so happy and relieved (this was March 2009) that I posted a picture of the cover on Facebook with the caption: Best. Present. Ever!

Long story short – I watched the DVD right away and loved it again! But, I didn’t rewatch it over and over again, I wasn’t obsessed…yet! At the end of the summer I knew my daughter was going to England to finish her university studies and I wanted her to watch North and South with me because she was going to be near the same area as Manchester (where the story takes place). For some reason, when I watched it for the third time, I was suddenly overcome with the magnitude of Richard Armitage’s performance and I went to the computer almost immediately after watching to Google his name. The more I read about him the more I liked him, the more performances I saw, the more impressed I became!

Very soon I found Nat's blog, Richard Armitage Fan blog.  I was so happy and relieved to find someone else with a fascination for the same actor.  I had never felt quite this way before about a total stranger since perhaps David Cassidy of The Partridge Family back when I was a tween. All we had then were records and Fan magazines.  I never had any, they all belonged to my friend, so I couldn't have had it as bad as she obviously did.  Later on, as a newlywed I was smitten with Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steel.  I used to go over to an unmarried girlfriend's house to watch it with her.  But I never bought any magazines or videos about him.  At least not until lately, when I wondered if watching DVDs of my old crush could wean me off my new one.  But I never found out as I haven't even opened them yet!

Pierce Brosnan

David Cassidy

Doesn't he seem like a composite of the other two?

Nat's blog served as a stepping stone to the wonders of Armitagemania.  From it I discovered there were wonderful web pages devoted to him with huge picture galleries.  I discovered Youtube had fanvids of him in all kinds of roles to all kinds of music!  I discovered her list of other bloggers which were just like us.  It was August 2009 and I was immersed in the fandom world.  I lurked for a couple of months and then finally, with great trepidation I posted my first comment.  There was no going back after that!  I started collecting pictures, attempting to make graphics, and putting the pictures into a slideshow, set to music.  By the time 2010 rolled around I was seriously considering starting my own blog.  But what to blog about?  (I mean besides the obvious!)  I didn't want to copy anyone else's style.  I also wanted to blog about other interests as I could see that if I ever stopped needing an Armitage fix, I didn't want to have to start over again with a new blog.  So I decided to focus on my own favourite things (of which RA is top of the list - not that he's a "thing", but I definitely have a "thing" for him!) 

Thornton being comforted by his mother

One of the things I have been trying to work out, is what is it about Richard Armitage that so attracts me to him?  Yes, I know he is very talented, very attractive and charming, very intense and committed to his work. But perhaps it is also something in me which started off this Armitagemania?  I have read many comments from fans crediting Richard Armitage (or one of his various characters - usually John Thornton from North and South or possibly Guy of Gisborne from Robin Hood) for almost rescuing them from some difficult stage in their lives.  I wondered if we all had some kind of "trigger event" (as Servetus has called it) that lead us to be somehow more susceptible open to his attRActions.  Was my trigger event caused by my worry over my only daughter and oldest child's impending move to the UK?  I was very worried about her being so far away from anyone and everyone she knew, and in a different country with a different culture and traditions. (At least the language was relatively the same!)   She had already left home many times for University far away in southern Ontario.  We only got to see her once during the school year (at Christmas) as it was very expensive and/or time consuming to visit more often.  So I was used to her being away.  But when she was at University in Canada, she was in a city where we knew people, and had some relatives nearby.  So I knew that if she really needed us, we could be there for her.  But across an ocean, with no one but strangers all around, perhaps even terrorists?  Yes, you bet I was worried!  So perhaps, when we settled down to watch North and South together, as I experienced it for the third time, I was seeing it with new eyes.  I was able to catch nuances perhaps I hadn't quite picked up on before.  I am not sure.  All I know is that almost immediately upon turning off the dvd player I was on the computer Googling Richard Armitage.  

Did he take my mind off my troubles? Yes, he did.  He certainly was a distraction that's for sure! So, while an addiction to Richard Armitage will not solve world problems, it may definitely make you feel a bit better about life in general.  And don't we all like to feel better?

So, I will share with you this little slideshow / video (still made with Windows Moviemaker - sorry I haven't progressed much beyond that program yet).  Many of us are intrigued with the mention that Mr. Armitage enjoys Do-It-Yourself projects.  Also many are very attracted to his long-fingered, very masculine and capable looking hands.  Since James Taylor's Handyman has always been one of my favourite '70s tunes, I couldn't resist combining all these elements together to illustrate how RA manages somehow to give us a little emotional DIY.

More about my blog later this week when I celebrate my 2nd Blogoversary! I hope you will join me for the celebration!

This post is on the Fandom tag team.  For more articles on this theme today, please visit Didion (who is a professor and RL friend of Servetus) at her blog Feminéma. I have enjoyed reading her movie reviews and am looking forward to hear more about her experience in the RA fandom!

Tomorrow March 13, there will be two bloggers posting on the Fandom chain:  Fabo at White Rose: and Simple Thoughts and Gratiana Lovelace at Something About Love.