Richard Strikes Back!

I've been experimenting with a comic strip program called Comic Life.  

Here is my first attempt. 

I can see this might become addicting. :)

Happy Green Day!

Today, as I am in the mood to Recycle, I thought to showcase some fanvids from Youtube which feature music by Green Day.

Time of Your Life - (Marian/Guy) / by summergirl88

I Fought the Law / by PrinceZukoFanGirl



21 Guns (Robin Hood Cast Tribute) / by rach2xxx

The Green Day song starts at 0:35 seconds in.

Poprocks and Coke (Robin's a Stalker) / by thefiercefalcon

And finally, we can leave Sherwood Forest for Afghanistan and trade Guy of Gisborne for John Porter.

Know Your Enemy (Strike Back) / by bccmee

I hope these talented vidders don't mind it if I Reuse their videos.  I simply cannot Reduce my Armitage intake!

2011 Earth Day post :  Songs from Middle Earth
2010 Earth Day post : Poetry of Earth

Bombs away!

photo courtesy of Richard Armitage Central Gallery

Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) has always had a special significance for me.  My father was a veteran of World War II in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).  It was something he never really talked about, as it is with most veterans.  The only war stories I ever heard were the more pleasant memories and those were usually told by old comrades who came to visit.

Talking Old Soldiers / Elton John

WWII Recruiting poster by Ted Harris

My Dad was a bomb aimer or as the Americans called it - a bombardier. It was after a visit from Uncle Charlie (who wasn't really my uncle but my Dad's closest friend in the airforce),  that I learned this piece of information.  As a youngster I was very curious about what Daddy did during the war and as children have very little notion of subtlety, I believe I posed the question, "Did you kill anyone in the war, Daddy?"  I remember he paused quite some time before he answered and when he did, he said words to the effect that  he aimed the bombs at factories, because that was what he was supposed to do.  I could tell that this was difficult for him to say, and seeing that he was so uncomfortable I never brought the subject up again.  But many years later, when I saw the movie "The Memphis Belle" I wanted to watch it with him, as I thought it did an amazing job of showing what it must have been like on a bombing run. In particular it showed the crucial role of the bomb aimer in ensuring the target was hit successfully.

The movie is based on the true story of the crew of the B-17 Bomber named Memphis Belle which was profiled by Life Magazine for being the first crew to complete their tour of duty safely after enduring 25 bombing runs.  The film tells the story of their last run, and in the following scene you will see Billy Zane as the bombardier who has just made the decision not to drop the bombs as the target is obscured by clouds.  Although low on fuel, the pilot (Matthew Modine) decides to take another run over the target.

Memphis Belle (1990)

Although the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force crews flew Lancaster bombers, everything else about this movie seemed to be exactly as I might have imagined it (from the little I had heard or read).  I never did get to share that movie with my father, which is probably just as well, because even though there are lighter moments in the movie, the drama can get very intense. I thought it did a good job of showing some of the moral struggles in the split decisions that had to be made in the midst of battle.  I had heard of crews that been returning from bombing runs with their bombs still intact.  They had to drop their load over the Channel before returning to England or risk an explosive landing.

A wartime casualty resulting from this practice is rumoured to have been the famous American band leader Glen Miller, whose plane disappeared over the English Channel after leaving France on Dec. 15, 1944.  Here is a tribute to him which includes the beautiful song Moonlight Serenade.

In a modern war story Strike Back episode 1, based on Chris Ryan's book of the same title, John Porter, played by Richard Armitage, makes a moral decision to save the life of a young, would-be suicide bomber by defusing the bomb. It is a heroic act that is later thought to have dire consequences for his future career in the British army.  The story is artfully portrayed using the poet-turned songwriter Leonard Cohen's magnificent "Hallelujah", sung by Allison Crowe.

Hallelujah / by Bccmee

Daddy's girl

This is a belated Father's Day post.  I've been thinking about a lot of songs lately to do with fathers.  Most of the ones I know are silly or sappy or just not very good.  But I did remember these two which actually are among my faves!

My father was not perfect by any means, but he did his best and he was there for his daughters.  Knowing we were loved gave us the confidence to make good choices out in the world.  The best choice I made was in choosing my husband.  I knew he would make a wonderful father and I was so right!

I have never been a big fan of country music (although there are a lot of songs I do enjoy) but when I heard this one several years ago at a friend's house -- I had to buy the album! 

I Think About You / Collin Raye

This next song has haunted me for years.  The Kinks really suit their name.  They are such a strange blend of black humour and earnestness.  This song seems creepy at first, then almost a parody, but by the end you realize it is sincere and heartbreaking.

Art Lover / The Kinks

This is an excerpt from Creem Online : The Kinks -- Ray Davies Unravels The Kinks (Dec. 1981)

an interview by Bill Holdship

Let's talk about "Art Lover". That song is ambiguous in the same way that "Lola" was. At first, it sounds like it might be about some sort of pervert, but I think there's a lot more going on there.

I had great trouble when I first ran through that song in the studio with the guys. I gave them a chord sheet, and they were really pissed off by this time because we'd already done something like 15 tracks. They said, "Oh fuck. He's not going to do another track!" And I said, "Just play the chords." I looked at their faces when we did the playback. First of all, they were just worried about what they were playing. The second playback, they listened to the words, and they looked like "What the fuck's he writing about?" I originally had put in a line that said something like "Sunday parents with their kids knowing they're just alone" which made it, obvious that it was about someone who was divorced and only had his kid on a Sunday. So I left it out because I wanted to leave the song ambiguous. I think ambiguity is a good tool, a good weapon I used it in songs like "Waterloo Sunset". And I think it just about works because it says "I'm not a flasher in a raincoat." One of the reasons they're not putting it out as a single in England is because the BBC has said there's a flasher in a raincoat, but it says "I'm not a flasher." So it does sound like a pervert to begin with, but I think it does work in the end and you realize what the song's about.

It's a good song. It's a sad song. And I'd love it to be a single. I wouldn't care if it bombed and died a death because I believe in that song so much.

There seems to be some of your old themes or images in the song. Sunny afternoon, children, a river...

But it's part of my life. I do go jogging in Regent's Park. When I'm in New York, I go in Central Park. Running is an important part of my life. In fact, I think running has saved my life. I've been laid-up twice on this tour, and had to have injections to go onstage because my voice is completely gone and everything. The doctor examining me said the only good thing about me is my heart; I have an athlete's heart. It saves me. So I do go running in the park, and I do see these things. I do see little people feeding the ducks. And on Sunday it's different because you can see these sad people trying for one day to make it a special event for their kids. And the kids are bored because they know the parents are putting on an act. I think that's the saddest thing in the world.

ELLIOT ABBOT: It's a rough song for parents.

RAY: It's a rough song for anybody. It's a rough song for ducks.

 Here is a fictional Dad who has been estranged from his child, through marital
and wartime strife.

 Richard Armitage as John Porter greeting his daughter in Strike Back

All Wet

Spring River by Tom Thompson.

Living in an area that has almost more lakes than dry land, water is very important to me.  I wouldn't want to live too far away from a lake or at least some large natural body of water.  



June 8th is Oceans Day and June 12th is Canadian Rivers Day, so the week of June 8th to June 12th is called Rivers to Ocean Week.   The Canadian Wildlife Federation reminds us that we can all help to protect our shared water resources by reducing our waste, participating in a beach clean up, using less water and choosing tap water over bottled water.  There are thousands of little things we can do to help. For more ideas, please click here to visit the CWF website.

World Water Day happened to be on my birthday this year.  I had a lovely experience on that day as I spent it on holiday in Hawaii.  We took a boat cruise down the coast of the Big Island and I was treated to my first sighting of a pod of Spinner Dolphins! They surrounded our boat and performed  jumping and spinning games for us.

 How about some classical water music?  Handel composed this music at the request of King George I to be performed outside as he floated down the Thames River on his royal barge.  No wonder it sounds so regal!




Handel / Water music

Song
Memory, hither come,
And tune your merry notes:
And, while upon the wind
Your music floats,
I’ll pore upon the stream
Where sighing lovers dream,
And fish for fancies as they pass
Within the watery glass.

William Blake

Here are some of my favourite modern tunes about rivers...

John Hiatt / The River Knows Your Name

Some stills from a scene in Chris Ryan's Strike Back, (episode 2 in Zimbabwe), screencaps from Richard Armitage Central Gallery.

A leap of faith!


On the riverbank

Bruce Springsteen is one of my all time favourite Rock singer / songwriters.  His lyrics are usually about people trying to escape from their lack-lustre lives.  The following song is from his "Darkness at the Edge of Town" album.

Bruce Springsteen / The River

The following pictures are from an episode of the George Gently series.  Richard Armitage plays a character named Ricky Deeming who initiates new members to his motorcycle club by baptizing them in the ocean.

Alison Krauss / Down to the River to Pray

From the soundtrack to the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I stayed up way too late one night recently to rewatch a favourite movie that I hadn't seen in a long time.  The Prince of Tides has a water theme as it takes place on the tidal flats of South Carolina. One of my favourite scenes involves the children jumping into the water holding hands, as a way to escape their troubled home life.  It was based on a book by Pat Conroy which I also read a few years before I saw the movie version.  The book is a masterpiece, and usually it is difficult to adapt such a rich, and multi-layered story to a two hour movie version.  But as the author wrote the screenplay, he managed to pull it off.  There were many vital scenes missing but what was left still managed to convey the same sense of the storyline and vivid beauty of place. I enjoyed the actors too.  Barbara Streisand was the director, but her role as the psychiatrist didn't overshadow the other fine actors. Nick Nolte gave one of his finest performances ever here, and I was very happy to see Blythe Danner as the wife.  She is a beautiful, graceful woman with a soft, sultry voice who has played before in film adaptations of Pat Conroy's books, most notably in The Great Santini. Also I would be remiss in not mentioning Kate Nelligan in a standout performance as the unstable matriarch of the family.

If you wish to watch the trailer for this movie, please visit IMDb.com here.

Here is a tribute to the movie showing some beautiful scenery.
 

 Richard Armitage has admitted to an aversion to "dark water".  It seems that he must be pushing himself to confront this fear as the previous pictures can attest.  In series 8 of Spooks / MI-5 his character of Lucas North is subjected to waterboarding (a type of torture which simulates drowning).  The following music video by JulietD100 brilliantly explores Lucas's experience with water.

Fanvid by JulietD100 / *spooks* Lucas North 'The Water'
Hurt / The Water


How terrible that such a life-giving resource could be used for torture.  I hate to end on such a sad note.


"We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon,
that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens
and fields, and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way." 
American Indian, Chinook Blessing Litany, 
Earth Prayers from Around the World, 1991

I can't resist one last look...

Richard Armitage is all wet in Robin Hood BBC

After the Gold Rush revisited...

 After the Gold Rush (the album and the song) was released in 1970, so this is the 40th anniversary of its release, which is certainly worth celebrating. This is an update to an earlier post about Neil Young's song "After the Gold Rush". Earlier I had said that I had wanted to make a video for this song but I didn't know how.  Well,  since then I have made a few simple musical slideshows, soooo after a bit of tinkering, here is what I have come up with. I have put together pictures from various productions in which Richard Armitage has had either a major or minor part, in order to fit with the words of the song.

Haunting me for years with it's fantastical and dire vision of the future mixed with Young's plaintive voice, I believe this song to be a masterpiece of classic folk rock.  I am grateful that Mr. Armitage has had such a varied career that I was able to be inspired to envision certain scenes which seemed to fit so well with the lyrics.

My only regret (besides the fact that I still haven't managed to make an actual moving picture video!) is that I really wanted to capture his updated lyrics "in the twenty-first century" rather than the original "in the 1970s".  But so far, Mr. Young has not (to my knowledge) made a recording of this version, although he has sung it many times in concert. I did try to cut and paste, but with my limited skills and equipment, the mix did not sound right at all.  Perhaps this is still a work in progress, and I will return to it again in the future...

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!

It's not easy being green...

Having to spend each day the colour of the leaves...

(Richard Armitage in Strike Back)

Although doesn't the camo paint make Richard's eyes look green? I thought they were blue, but after some discussion over on the Me + Richard Armitage blog, an anonymous commenter pointed out that they were really grey!  Nothing wrong with green though! It's my favourite colour actually. And green is the colour of frogs!

Frogs! Yes, frogs. I love them.
Why do I love frogs (you may ask)? Let's see, like a frog, I am happiest near water (or in it). Frogs look like they are smiling, which makes me happy! They eat bugs, (which I hate) so they are helping to make my environment bug-free. They are also known for their springtime serenades!

Kermit is my favourite frog!

The things I learn by blogging! Apparently dear Kermit is a world traveller! Here is his World Tour website:

Kermit on Tour

Here he is in London, England!

Exactly where I will be travelling to soon. I wonder if he has any pointers for me?

Favourite Literary frogs:

Mr. Jeremy Fisher

by Beatrix Potter  

(one of my previous faves)

Read the story HERE

Frog and Toad series

by Arnold Lobel

 

This series of children`s books was written as easy readers in the 1970s. In 2008 the author`s daughter discovered some unpublished stories, which she decided to illustrate herself. 

Grandfather Frog 

by Thornton W. Burgess

Now here is something old, but new to me. I can`t resist including it, as it is a children`s song and cartoon written by none other than Paul McCartney!

Wouldn`t it be great if kissing a frog really worked

 

 Presto -- Changeo!

 

A Prince among men if I ever saw one!

The EYES have it!

 To Brood is defined as: "to focus the attention on something moodily and at length."

 Famous Brooders:

Rudolph Valentino 
Please click on his name to learn more
about this amazing actor from the silent film era.

The Latin Lover

The Sheik 

(1921)

 remind you of anyone?

Some time ago I was commenting on AllthingsRichardArmitage Blog about Spooks Season 8.5 and how expressive are Richard Armitage's eyes as the character Lucas North. The screencaps here are very good in showing his emotional turmoil as he discovers that his lover is not quite what she seems.

http://allthingsrarmitage.blogspot.com/2009/12/spooks-ep-5-lucas-lament.html

 More brooders:

 

Yul Brynner

as the King of Siam in The King and I (1956)

and as Ramses in The Ten Commandments (1956)

Here is a fansite dedicated to Yul Brynner:

http://www.meredy.com/yulbrynner/

Omar Shariff

I think this screen cap is from Dr. Zhivago (1965)

Johnny Depp

as Jack Sparrow in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (2003).

But nobody can brood like this guy!

Richard Armitage

as John Thornton in North and South BBC 2004.

And here he is again, brooding up a storm as Guy of Gisborne,

a thwarted lover to Maid Marian, in the BBC's production of

Robin Hood (2006-2009)

This is my first ever Youtube video, (although it's really only a slideshow set to music) using Window's Live Movie Maker, so it's pretty beginner stuff, but I hope you like it anyway.

And he's still at it, brooding again...

this time as John Porter in Sky1's production of  

Chris Ryan's Strike Back 2010.

Wouldn't you like to know what he's thinking about? 

(Make sure your screen saver is in working order...

or he might just burn a hole right through your computer screen!)

Show your pearly whites!

Rather a strange post this week you may think, but I find it quite toothsome! Teeth have been on my mind rather a lot lately. Our family has a great dental plan and going to the dentist has almost always been a positive experience for me, but trying to schedule appointments for adult children who are away from home (at university) and may or may not be covered by the plan, unless you fill out the proper paperwork, can be a bit of a challenge.  Added to that my hubby has informed me that he may need braces!!!

While reading Chris Ryan's Strike Back a few months ago, I came upon a scene of tooth extraction (with no pain killers) which reminded me of the scene with Dustin Hoffman and Sir Lawrence Olivier in the movie Marathon Man.  Hoffman's character is a graduate student and a marathon runner who inadvertently gets mixed up with spies and an evil Nazi dentist, resulting in a torture scene that would even make Spooks fans squirm!
WARNING: If you are afraid of Dentists, watching this scene will not be advantageous to you!

Marathon Man ( 1976)


WAIT! Don't run away! (At least I didn't show you a scene from the horrible dentist slasher film The Dentist 2 starring former L.A. Law divorce lawyer Corbin Bernsen -- they made a sequel??!)
Marathon Man is an fabulous thriller with great performances all round. It is based on the book by William Goldman, who also wrote the screenplay. William Goldman is one of my faves, especially for writing The Princess Bride, which is also a super movie....but I digress.

After a scene like that one, we need some comedy relief. Here's Tim Conway and Harvey Korman from The Carol Burnett Show with their famous Dentist skit.

 More funny stuff about dentists...Here's Bill Cosby!

And now how about a bit of music?  

Steve Martin is a maniacal dentist in this crazy musical film (but he certainly enjoys his work!)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

I can't resist showing this scene too. Bill Murray and Steve Martin together!

I can't believe I forgot about this one! Here's a late addition to this page:

The Painless Dentist Song by Allan Sherman.

I really enjoyed this movie starring funny man Ricky Gervais about a dentist who, after dying for 7 minutes during a routine operation, is brought back to life but is haunted by ghosts who all want a favour from him.

Ghost Town (2009)

Now here is what I was talking about. In Chris Ryan's Strike Back, Richard Armitage plays John Porter, a former SAS officer who had a bad experience in a past assignment that keeps haunting him.  When he realizes that because of his history, he might be the only one who can save a female reporter kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq, he volunteers for duty.  The following screencaps are courtesy of Richard Armitage Central.

An army dentist is implanting a tracking device 

(although JP just thinks he's getting complimentary dental work)!

Don't hurt him!!

Now I'm not sure, because I haven't been able to see episodes 1 and 2 of Strike Back on Sky 1 which debuted in Great Britain with much fanfare last week, but I think this next picture might be from the tooth extraction scene. Athough it looks painful, it is certainly can't be as harrowing as the scene in the book!

Is it safe?

  Porter gripped the sides of the chair. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth. He could smell the stewed fruit washing over him as the old woman leant into his face. She said something to H----, and he replied, but Porter couldn't make out a single word. She tapped one tooth then another with a scalpel: two of the teeth that had been replaced for him back at the Firm's headquarters. Porter could feel a clamp being placed inside his mouth to hold it open, then a wrench being screwed onto one of his teeth. H---- knelt down, pressing a strip of leather into Porter's hand. "Here, pull on this," he said quietly.

  Don't yell, he told himself grimly.

  The woman yanked at the wrench. Porter could feel a bolt of pain jabbing right through him as the nerves attaching the tooth to the jaw screamed out in agony. It was like having a needle threaded straight into your veins. There was a crunching sound, then the scratching of metal against bone. Porter gripped hold of the strip of leather, twisting it into his hand, trying to keep the pain under control. 

  Another yank. A fresh wave of pain swept through every nerve in Porter's body. (Expletive!), he muttered, making sure he kept his mouth open and the word to himself. He could feel the sweat dripping off his brow. The woman said something to H----. Porter opened his eyes. He could tell the wrench was still clamped to his tooth. H--- was leaning into the wrench, a grimace on his face. Porter steeled himself, shut his eyes tight and gripped hard on the sides of the chair. He could feel the force of the wrench smashing into his gums. Then a snapping sound. A searing pain ran up through his mouth, colliding inside his head.

  He opened his eyes. He could feel some blood hitting the back of his throat, and washing across his tongue. The side of his mouth was numb from the impact. In front of him, H--- was holding the tooth inside the wrench, showing it to the old woman. There was still some blood dripping from the stem. "It's clean," said H--- with a shrug. "Maybe it's the other one."

Ryan, Chris. Strike Back. London: Arrow Books, c2007, p. 431-433.

Now look at the beautiful mouthful of teeth he is sporting here. Enough to make a dentist proud!

I honestly forgot where I found this marvelous shot. Please inform me about who should get the credit. Usually when I come across such amazing pictures I am so stunned by man beauty it is a wonder that I can even figure out how to save them to my computer!

Until next time...keep smiling!

After the Gold Rush

Neil Young is an acquired taste. I know this myself, as I first discovered him as a prepubescent who was only just beginning to discover my Rock sensibilities. I remember commenting negatively on his high-pitched, reedy (some would say whiny) voice to my older sister when I first heard his Harvest album. Now, of course it is one of my most favourite albums, and except for a strange period in the '80s, (his -- not mine!), I have been a fan of his since then.
The following song has always haunted me, as the lyrics are so mysterious. Is it a fantastical vision of earth's doom? Or maybe just a drug induced dream sequence?
I found an interesting discussion of the lyrics on this forum:
http://www.thrasherswheat.org/fot/atgr.htm

Although I do love Neil's version of the song, I also find this a cappella version so beautifully harmonious, and the video has such fantastically beautiful pictures that I had to share it with you.

Video by feythdemacedo

Now, here are the lyrics with a bit of a different perspective. I have chosen to illustrate them with scenes from various productions from the repertoire of Richard Armitage.  They include: Robin Hood (BBC) 2006-2009 Sir Guy of Gisborne; Spooks /MI-5, Season 7 2008 Lucas North; Strike Back 2010 John Porter; and Star Wars Episode 1, the Phantom Menace 1999  Naboo fighter pilot (uncredited).
If I were more talented, (and had the proper equipment) I would do a fanvid. Anybody out there care to help me with this? "Or do it for me", I think, with a sheepish grin.

Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming

Saying something about a queen

There were peasants singing and drummers drumming

And the archer split the tree

There was a fanfare blowing to the sun 

That was floating on the breeze

Look at mother nature on the run
In the twenty-first century 

Look at mother nature on the run
In the twenty-first century 

I was lying in a burned out basement 

With the full moon in my eyes 

I was hoping for replacement 

When the sun burst through the sky 

There was a band playing in my head
And I felt like I could cry 

I was thinking about what a friend had said

I was hoping it was a lie

 Thinking about what a friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie 

Well I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flyin'
In the yellow haze of the sun 

There was laughing, crying and colors flying
All around the chosen one 

All in a dream, all in a dream, the loading had begun 

Flying mother nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun
They were flying mother nature's silver seed to a new home

I should apologize to hard-core Neil Young fans that the lyrics are not quite the same as originally written. I must admit I copied the lyrics from a version done by Dolly Parton! Wow! Who else has covered this song?
I was going to change them back, but I had already made my picture choices by then so... unless someone out there can find a good picture of Richard Armitage where he it looks like he "feels like getting high", I think I will just leave it like that...

Pictures are from the treasurehouse screencap galleries of  RichardArmitageNet.com, and RichardArmitageCentral.co.uk, also a great source was http://robinhoodtree.blogspot.com. I nabbed the picture of RA with Natalie Portman from Nat's blog -- http://armitagefanblog.blogspot.com  I'm not sure where I got the other ones! Please let me know if I need to give someone the credit! The last photo is by Tom Raven on Flickr.com

***UPDATE: ***September 18, 2010
I have finally posted a video version of this song, using Neil Young's original song (couldn't find a good version of him singing with the "21st century" lyric which I would have preferred).  At first the video was blocked, but hopefully I have successfully disputed this claim.
Here is the link on Youtube if you would like to watch:

Neil Young's After the Goldrush video (featuring Richard Armitage)