Books of Summer

Here is some of what I have been reading this summer. My choice of at least three of these has been influenced by my interest in the actor Richard Armitage.

Can you guess which three?

The books are clockwise from the top left: 1. One Step Behind, by Henning Mankell.
2. Claude and Camille, by Stephanie Cowell.  3. Worlds of Ink and Shadow, by Lena Coakley
4. The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell.  5. Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, by Bernard Hare.  6. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood.  7. Anybody Out There, by Marian Keyes.

At least one of these books should be an easy guess for any Richard Armitage fans. The other 2 will be easier for longtime fans to guess.

So, I am finally getting around to posting here on my long neglected blog as today is Armitage Day (otherwise known as Richard Armitage's birthday).  Although I haven't been as devoted to devouring all available information about him (as I may have been a few years ago), I still follow his career.  You can sometimes find me reading a few blogs, possibly making a comment when I am able to, and also sometimes I will be on Facebook or Twitter.

I was very pleased when someone posted a link to his film "Brain on Fire" on Youtube.  I enjoyed watching that film and learning about what that poor girl and her family had to endure.  Richard's role was a small one, but it was nice to see him in a father role.  I haven't had the opportunity to watch his television role in Berlin Station, except for the first episode which I was not overly impressed with.  I think it was because his character wasn't developed much.  I am sure it gets better with further watching.  I guess I was expecting something more like Spooks (MI-5) which I loved!

The other series I was excited to watch was Castlevania.  Thanks again to the fandom for the heads up about this series.  I probably wouldn't have thought to watch it otherwise, as it is a Manga cartoon based on a video game about Dracula and vampire hunters (not my usual thing!).  But I absolutely loved it!  And even better, I tricked my husband into watching it too!  (So I watched it twice!)  I could tell he was impressed because he actually asked me to put on the next episodes, even after he figured out that you-know-who's voice was in it.

Oh yes, and I finally caught that tiny but memorable role as King Oleron in Alice Through the Looking Glass as that movie made it to Netflix too.

To the creator of this GIF - If this is your work, please let me know and I will give you credit.

Richard Armitage, you still rule!

Happy Armitage Day!

It's that Time again!

I know... I know!  I have been a very bad blogger!  My last post was a year ago!  That's right, last Armitage Day.  So I guess I am now down to an annual post.

I haven't lost my interest in our dear Mr. Armitage.  It was just that I couldn't keep up with the intensity of it and well, there were other interests too...  Not other actors!  Oh no, I am still a one-man woman.

There is the wonder of Netfix though.  For the last several summers I have spent a lot of it binge watching whole seasons of certain shows.  Last summer it was Gilmore Girls.  The summer before it was Wallander (the Swedish series) - more about that soon (I hope!).  The previous summer it was Life on Mars (the English series - no, not the American one, sorry!).  This summer it was, and is... Doctor Who!  I have just started watching Matt Smith's version of the Doctor, and while I do miss David Tennant, I am still enjoying the show very much.

I first started watching Doctor Who many moons ago as a youngster when this guy was the Doctor.

Tom Baker - the Doctor from 1974-1981

 I was curious when they resurrected the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston.  I watched the first couple of episodes and enjoyed it, but somehow I lost track of it and never bothered about it again until the winter before last when I caught a Christmas special on cable tv - probably a rerun because it had Matt Smith in it then.  It was quite enthralling, and there was another episode after that, then another, and on until around 3:00 in the morning I finally decided I needed to go to bed!  Good thing this was during the Christmas holidays!  So I caught the Who bug, you might say.  But I didn't really do anything about it, until I Doctor Who showed up on Netflix.   I think the original episodes were on first.  I did try to watch the earliest ones -  but couldn't get past the really amateur special effects.  Then finally the new episodes showed up!  I was savouring them at first, but then I got worried that Netflix might discontinue them before I could finish with them (like they did with MI-5). I still haven't seen all of season 6 (or was it 5?).  Anyway, hence the summer binge watching!

As always, I would love it if my latest obsession could merge with my main one.  If that would be so, my dream would come true and I would see something like this:

Not sure who to credit for this, if it is yours, please let me know! 

I found it on the web page for Doctor Who Amino.

From Tumblr: 

  Ahh!  He is wearing the MI-5 blue suit... Yes!


I found this picture a couple of years ago and I have been waiting to share it.
Once again I wish I knew who created it.

I was pleased to discover someone has actually created a fanvid with Richard inserted into the show.
How did I miss seeing this for so long?


Link to Youtube

I hope all the fandom has a wonderful time this Armitage Day! 

Singin' in the RAin

Has it been raining much where you are?  This summer my little area of the world has had twice as much rain as usual.  So I might as well grab my umbrella and enjoy it! 

Singing in the Rain is a great song.  I sing it a lot.  Maybe not every time it rains, but definitely if I am in a happy mood!

 

Richard Armitage and Gene Kelly have something in common. Their birthdays are one day and 59 years apart. Richard Armitage's is Aug. 22, 1971 and Gene Kelly's is Aug. 23, 1912.

Gene Kelly started his entertainment career as a dancer, as did Richard Armitage.
Kelly's energetic and masculine style helped to revolutionize the movie musicals in the 1940s and 50s.  Although Mr. Armitage gave up his dance career to concentrate on acting, his graceful manner of movement is  evident in every role he plays.

 Gene Kelly dances in mid air while Richard Armitage attains air while running 

Although I would dearly love to see Richard Armitage sing and dance, we at least got to see him wet in last summer's tornado moviefest Into the Storm.

photo courtesy of RichardArmitagenet.com

Today it is once again Armitage Day in fandom of Richard Armitage.  I woiuld like to take this opportunity to wish Mr. Armitage a very happy 44th birthday.  May he delight us with his performances for many more years to come.

Musical greetings for Armitage Day

Although this blog's main preoccupation is my favourite actor, Richard Armitage, the second most interest (if you go by the tag cloud on the right sidebar) is music.  So I thought it would make sense to have a musical birthday celebration of his favourite bands.

Awhile ago I was reading a post over at Ancient Armitage (one of the newer blogs I've discovered thanks to Servetus @ Me + Richard Armitage) where Obscura (the blogger) discusses an interview where Richard names a few bands he likes.
The interview is by Aubry D'Arminio from 2008, so his musical tastes have undoubtedly changed since then.

What’s your favorite music group? At the moment I’m really into Coldplay just because that last album was so good. But I’m really into Keane and Radiohead. The Feeling are great at the moment, I really like that band.

I have previously posted quite a large collection of RA fanvids done to Coldplay songs.  I was thrilled to find them, as I really love that band's sound.  But I was not as familiar with the other two groups mentioned.  So, of course I needed to see if there were any fanvids set to those band's tunes!

Bingo! Lovely fanvidders never disappoint me. I especially love the lyric to the following song "You Don't See Me" which seems appropriate to this fandom:

Oh, truly we are a fortunate few, who turn on your axis, revolve around you

Read more: Keane - You Don't See Me Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Richard Armitage Fan Video / by Luigina Ongarato

music by Keane: "You Don't See Me"

The lyrics to this next Keane song are so heartfelt and seem somehow very appropriate for RA.

Hamburg Song /by Luigina Ongarato



And here is the only fanvid I could find with a song by Radiohead.


Guy/Marian Exit Music Robin Hood fan video / by tsora17
Radiohead : Exit Music (For a Film)


Also I am glad he mentioned the name of the band The Feeling because (I'd never heard of them and) they were responsible for the song, Fill My Little World, which was the song they played right after Harry Kennedy and Geraldine Granger said their vows at the end of The Vicar of Dibley!

Here is a link to a clip, (I believe it will start at the beginning of the song).
The Feeling, Fill My Little World (The Vicar of Dibley)
If you wish to watch more of that clip just start it back at the beginning.

In one of his many interviews after the success of The Hobbit movie, Richard Armitage happened to mention that he enjoyed the music of Goyte.  How excited he must have been to be one of the presenters at Australia's Aria Awards where he was able to hand over the Best Pop Release to none other than Goyte!

ARIA Awards 2012 - Best Pop Release - Gotye / video by Bccmee

Last month fanvidder candy varty put Goyte's big hit together with some clips of RA's interviews and here is what she came up with!

Richard Armitage Fanvid ~Somebody That I Used To Know / by candy varty

I really appreciate all the fanvidders out there.  I hope everyone enjoyed Armitage Day.  I have only watched 2 new birthday videos so far and they are both excellent!  In case you missed it - this was a fabulous birthday surprise.... Bccmee is back!!  Check out her fabulous video here!