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.

Holy shirt!

Nathan Kress, who stars as one of the sons of Richard Armitage's character in the soon to be released summer block-buster disaster flick "Into the Storm", has just tweeted this photo.

And RA Army, eat your hearts out. #RichardArmitage #IntoTheStorm pic.twitter.com/XJG6LCJ2Uo
— NB Nathan Kress (@NBNathanKress) July 25, 2014

Believe me, my heart is chewed to bits!!!

How does this man look so good dirty?
 
I won't be able to make it to theatres on the August 8th opening weekend, as our local Music festival is on then.  But the next weekend, nothing will stop me from heading to Winnipeg to enjoy it in all its big screen glory (better late than never).

 

And here is a great review by a fellow Armitage fan who was lucky to get to see this film previewed at ComicCon.
Read Kathy's review here

In a whirl!

Richard Armitage fans have been impatiently awaiting news of his "Tornado movie".  Originally referred to as Category 6, then listed on IMDb.com as Black Sky, it is now in post-production after various delays and possibly another title change - (Into the Storm).

A few lucky fans were able to meet Richard when he was on set in Michigan last summer. You can see some of the pictures on the RA Central gallery. Fan pictures here!

Graphic by blogger JTisforme from DoIHaveaBlog? 

Although we were hoping to see Richard Armitage 
in theatres during the summer of 2013, 
we should be very grateful he wasn't in 
this tornado film that came out this summer...

Sharknado Trailer

Whoah!  Flying sharks?  Is this why CGI was invented?  I seriously doubt that this film could take a real bite out of the box office. Because unless it fits into the "so bad it's good" category --  it looks like it really bites!

Anyway, that's what I thought when I stopped laughing!

Awhile ago, I was so desperate for new pictures from this film that I resorted to making this one!

It was an ill wind...

But producer Todd Garner has been active on Twitter sharing a picture now and then. Have a look at this page at RACentral to see all his tweets.

This is one just tweeted tonight. 

I like it!

I really love this gif by Bccmee

(She's on Tumblr now!)

RA drops keep falling on his head

which of course, has me singing this song

I'm a sucker for lyrics like this:

But there's one thing, I know

The blues they send to meet me

Won't defeat me.

It won't be long 

'till happiness steps up to greet me.

So, I'll just have to be patient and wait for the darn movie to get released.  But it sure doesn't help to be tormented like this!:

You can Bank on it!

The idea of Banking has certainly changed over the years.  The Banks used to be regarded as a venerable institution.  But now, Banks and bankers are seen as a greedy, gouging scourge on society.  It's not like they don't deserve that reputation either!

From the recent world-wide financial crisis, precipitated by deregulation and the institutions' own inability to police itself, to here in Canada where our Banking system remained relatively intact -- we have recently been disgusted with the Royal Banks' treatment of their employees who were expected to train their own replacements before being let go.
http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2013/04/08/hamilton-rbc-facebook.html

Back when I was little, banks seemed like very respectable places. When I was in Grade One, our teacher sent a letter home to our parents stating that each child would need one dollar to open a savings account at our local bank.  When the day came and we all had our dollar bills, we marched en masse from our school down the street to the Bank of Nova Scotia.  Each one of us opened our first savings account.  What a perfect first lesson in civics and early economics.  I had the joy of watching my small deposits accumulate interest at quite a significant rate.

I used that account to save for buying Christmas presents for my family, and later to deposit my revenues from babysitting and other jobs.  My favourite teller had a head for numbers and knew my account number better than I did. She still remembered it, after I moved away and only came back for summer holidays! That branch (now known as Scotiabank) is closed now "in order to serve us better" so they said. (?)

This was all I knew about banking as a child.  You put money in the bank and as it acquired interest, the amount kept growing. If only it were still that simple!  That was also in the days before bank fees gobbled up more than the pittance of interest they are giving for savings accounts nowadays.

Ahhh!  If only things were like the good old days! 

British Bank Singalong from Disney's Mary Poppins

Two Scenes from Mary Poppins

Fidelity Fiduciary Bank Song

I guess some bankers were greedy back then too!


This commercial is a great portrayal of how the banking community is viewed today.

Capital One commercial "You've Got Bankers!"

And I can't resist sharing Rick Mercer's take on Canada's Banks. 
Of course it's a few years old now, but still good for a laugh!

 Rick Mercer (2009)



 Here's an Australian spoof which attempts to explain 
The Reserve Bank:

Newstopia Explains the Reserve Bank (2008)



  Is it any wonder that with what has been going on in the world that someone would want to murder a banker? 
Here is an episode from the first season of the BBC's Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch which is about the murder of a banker.  But there is another reason I am showing you this clip. (Hint: it is in the last few seconds of the video)

Sherlock BBC: The Blind Banker / by GriddlePop


If you were watching closely, you would see a character in this episode is the same actress who starred with Richard Armitage in The Golden Hour.  In this program Zoe Telford plays Watson's girlfriend.

 Zoe Telford in The Golden Hour (top) and Sherlock (bottom)

In Spooks (MI-5) series 7 episode 5, Richard Armitage plays the role of a banker while the Grid is spying on a millionaire high roller who is toying with Britain's banking system so he can make more millions on the resulting mayhem.  RichardArmitageOnline.com has a great pictorial summary of this episode here.  Also on this website is a video clip of one of my favourite scenes. Ros and Lucas are posing as an engaged couple.  They certainly look lovely together!

The following is a fan made video of the same episode meant to be a spoof of an actual bank's commercial.  Their real life motto is "which bank?"

Which Bank [spooks] style / by DeltaTango45



Fans of Richard Armitage are familiar with his voice overs for Santander.  But this vidder has gone one further and turned another Spooks episode into a Santander commercial.
(Thanks to NotEvenanOuch for reuploading this video just the other day!)

Richard Armitage reads ''Santander" advert / by NotEvenAnOuch



And that's not all!
Fellow blogger CDoart wrote a fan fic about RA 
which begins in a bank.

My money is on Richard Armitage.  
I have certainly invested a lot of time admiring him! ;)

Canadian Steele

2013 is the 140th anniversary of Canada's national police force - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Canada Day seems to me a fitting time to pay tribute to one of Canada's most well known symbols.

 Is there any more iconic figure of a Canadian than a mountie? Dressed in bright red, mounted on a horse, upholding  justice in the wild frontier.... it's enough to make a fan girl's heart go aflutter!

"When I'm calling you-oo-hoo-hoo-oo-oo-oo!"

Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald in Rose-Marie (1936)
Listen to Jeannette MacDonald sing!

An even more over-the-top version of this movie was made in 1954 

starring Howard Keel as Sgt. Bruce of the Mounties and Ann Blythe as Rose Marie.

I think that lady is laying across his big brass bed!

Who can forget Paul Gross as a Mountie in the television show Due South (1994-99)?

The Mountie Song /by the Arrogant Worms
has been nicely illustrated by clips from Due South
video created by Leony331

And a sillier mountie was never born than Duddly Do-Right!

Shown here with his commanding officer Inspector Fenwick

The problem with all these versions of Mounties is that they are all extreme caricatures of what a real mountie is supposed to be.

For a true-life example there is none better than Sam Steele, the unsung hero of the Klondike!

Here he is at Fort MacLeod, Alberta with his wife Marie Elizabeth Harwood.

Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta (2008.1.1.5.1.1)

A series of  commercials to honour special moments in Canadian history, called Heritage Minutes were broadcast on CBC several years ago.  Here is the one about Sam Steele.

A simple commercial is not enough to tell how special this man truly was.
Apparently there is a movie in the works, but not much has been heard about it for several years.

Might I suggest a certain actor for the main role?

He is extremely heroic

 and looks great on a horse.

But perhaps we need to see him with a moustache?

This graphic is my very untalented contribution.

 Also I have dressed him as a mountie once or twice before.

This graphic was shared with me awhile ago by a very talented friend!

Great Dads

My father has been dead now for 10 years.  No worries, because he lived to the ripe old age of 90 and was more than willing to leave sooner.  He deserved a good rest.  I've written about him before.
 I think of him most around his birthday which is the day before Remembrance Day.

He was an interesting person, very witty, charming when he wished to be, but also extremely volatile -- perhaps not the best role model for a father.  So I was fortunate to have some great examples of  fathers provided by television shows that influenced me throughout my childhood, and provided great role models.  Sadly, in today's television wasteland there are a lot fewer examples of excellent fathers to point to.

Here were my favourite Dads on television when I was growing up.  But keep in mind, I only had one channel for most of my childhood, so not as many programs were available to me until much later.

The Andy Griffith Show, Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor

with Ron Howard as son Opie

My Three Sons, Fred MacMurray as Steve Douglas

Little House on the Prairie, Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls

The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable

The Waltons, Ralph Waite as John Walton, Sr.

These TV dads were calm and caring, always there when they were needed with exactly the right thing to say. (No wonder - they had great writers!)  I know that in reality, no real-life Dad could compete with these paragons, but I still think it's important to have something to aspire to, rather than settling for what modern television shows seem to reflect as the reality of today.  A growing child needs a role model, especially if there aren't many good examples close to home.  

I love this selection of great Dad moments from the movies, courtesy of Movieclips :

Here's a big hug to all the Dads out there.  Just keep doing the best you can.  

Your kids will love you for it!

Here kitty!

I do love cats...even though I cannot have one of my own as I am very allergic. :(
So I have to love them in theory, rather than in practice.

The Tale of Tom Kitten / by Beatrix Potter

As I am a Beatrix Potter fan - I had to include this one.

My personal favourite cartoon kitty was Warner Brothers' Sylvester the cat
voiced by the inimitable Mel Blanc.

Warner Bros. Sylvester the Cat

Since this blog is inclined to be fairly musically oriented, here is Sylvester attempting his musical debut:

Unfortunately he didn't get a warm reception.


 There are many other fabulous cartoon cats, if you are interested in seeing some more,
here is a link to a great article: Famous cartoon cats

The AristoCats was a Disney cartoon feature film which I enjoyed very much when it hit theatres in 1970.  I probably had to wait awhile to see it though. Even though we still had a theatre in our town then, it usually took about a year before it found its way to my neck of the woods.
The music was very memorable.
I was delighted to find this clip from a television special which reunites
two of the best voices in all of moviedom!

Everybody Wants to be a Cat / The Aristocats

 I also remember being inspired to sketch some of these cats,
probably from a comic or possibly colouring book.

This movie, An American Tale : Fievel Goes West came out when my kids were little and I am sure my husband and I enjoyed it as much (or more) than they did.  I particularly liked Dom Deluise's tubby cat named Tiger who was a friend to Fievel Mousekowicz, unlike the bad guy cat who was voiced by John Cleese.  This clip has Tiger rushing to catch a train (while being hindered by countless dogs)!

Dom Deluise as Tiger in Fievel Goes West: An American Tale (pt.2)

Do you remember The Stray Cats?  I loved their retro Rockabilly sound back in the '80s.
This next video includes cute pictures of real kitties.

Stray Cat Strut / The Stray Cats
video by Dayniac4324

Love this next song, and although it is not about cats,
the video cleverly features claymation cats.

Nina Simone _ My Baby Just Cares for me
video by pluisje666

Do you think that Tomcat is a bit of a stalker? Hmmm.....


You may be wondering.... 
What has all this cat stuff got to do 
with Richard Armitage?




Well ... some of us cats know that Richard Armitage 
appeared in the 1994-95 production of the musical Cats 
in London's West End.

Lots of gReAt bloggers have already written about it, but I believe Jonia (Jonia's Cut Blog) was the first to get the scoop on all the best information.  Here is her post about it. (Click Here).
Apparently Richard played the dual roles of Admetus and Macavity.

Jonia has some great videos on her blog but more recently Crystal Chandlyre saved us all some time but compiling several videos to highlight just the parts that Richard Armitage appeared in.

Richard Armitage as Admetus in CATS - Pas De Deux

/ compiled by Crystal Chandlyre

As quoted from the Wikipedia article on Macavity:

Macavity is typically depicted as a cat with a chaotic array of red, orange, white, and sharp black stripes. He is often portrayed with very long claws and wild dark hair. The role of Macavity is usually played by the same actor as Admetus...  His costume is ginger and white, and specifically includes a simple make-up design that the actor transforms into the elaborate Macavity make-up, and then re-applies after the featured scene. Admetus/Plato is also often recognizable as one of the tallest cast members, as the fight scene between Macavity and Munkustrap requires him to be able to lift other male dancers. 

Richard Armitage in the 1994 cast of Cats, on London's West End (photos from Jonia's Cut Blog).

I was rather thrilled to hear he had played the Macavity role because I was very familiar with the poem (from  Old Possum's Book of Cats by T.S. Eliot).

Way back in my elementary school days I performed that poem on stage in our local Festival of the Arts. As it is a fairly long poem I was given kudos by the adjudicator for my (I believe she said) "prodigious" memory (if only it were so good today). But I was also criticized for not putting more feeling into it.  I remember being a bit shocked, because no one else had suggested that I should do that.  My mentors, who were family and friends only helped with my lines, but never did it occur to me that I should do more than get up on stage and recite it!  It made me wonder how differently I could have done it had I actually tried to perform it rather than just recite it. This was long before Andrew Lloyd Webber's  musical CATS was inspired by the poems. If I ever wanted to try the poem again, I think I would rather sing it!


Then, there is the Tumblr blog entitled: 
Richard Armitage with Cats!

When I saw these pictures for the first time, 
it was a very happy day. :)

Here are two of my faves!

This next video is very cleverly done by Ana Cris 
who hosts the blog La Loba.
She has combined clips from the documentary narrated by Richard Armitage
with clips of him in Spooks / MI-5.

Richard Armitage_Eye of the Tiger / by acrl2

Imagine if all the characters in The Hobbit movie were portrayed by... you guessed it -- Cats!

Trailer Cats version of The Hobbit trailer

More Hobbit Cats!
The longer I wait to post this, the more great stuff I find!  This is the newest one. From the fantastically creative graphic artist Tannni  - where she compares the cast of The Hobbit to various cats.

Oh course I had to show you a couple.

She has several options for Thorin.

You simply must click on this to see the whole page!

I know! That was amazing!


You think that's something?  Look at this..
Another great graphic from Tannni!
Watch Richard Armitage transmogrify into the King of the Beasts!

How are you "feline" about cats?  
What is your favourite cat from literature, 
stage or screen?

Jingle Jangle Phylly

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

I've always loved the sound of The Byrds.  Something about their sound has always really appealed to me.  Of course I loved their harmony, but it wasn't only that.  I wasn't sure what it was until I really thought about it, and when I heard a song similar to theirs I realized it was the guitar music with that jangly sound that I liked so much.

I have been hearing this type of music almost my entire life, but I never really thought about what made it different than any other type of music. I knew plenty of songs I loved, but I never really made the connection to what they had in common.

Mr. Tambourine Man / The Byrds  

In the early '80s my husband and I saw a movie where we enjoyed the soundtrack so much we tried to purchase it but it was always sold out.  The movie was Valley Girl with Nicolas Cage.  Here is one of my favourite songs that was played on that soundtrack.  You can hear that jangly sound in it.

I Melt With You / Modern English

This next song was also made famous by the Valley Girl movie.

A Million Miles Away / The Plimsouls

So for years I was loving that jangly guitar sound without even realizing it was anything but a certain style of playing guitar.  (I didn't even know for sure it was a guitar sound until I asked my husband about it once).  Then one day, as I was listening once again to Free Falling by Tom Petty, I realized he had that same sound and I just had to know what it was that made me like it so much.  I decided to do a Google search for "jangle music" and what a surprise I had!  I learned that Jangle Pop is an actual genre of music!

Here is the definition (according to Wikipedia):

Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s", as exemplified by The Byrds, with electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based format" with "some folk-rock overtones". Between 1983 and 1987, the description "jangle pop" was, in the US, used to describe bands like R.E.M., Let's Active and Tom Petty, and a subgenre called "Paisley Underground", which incorporated psychedelic influences.^[1] In the UK the term was applied to the new wave of raw and immediate sounding melodic guitar-bands collected on the NME's C86 (and laterCD86) compilations.

Here's a great blog post on the history of the Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar (which is what gives Jangle pop its jangly sound): 
Jingle-Jangle Revolution: How Rickenbacker Guitars Changed Music 

So to celebrate this fave genre of mine, I would like to showcase a couple of Richard Armitage fanvids which feature jangle pop tunes!

Richard Armitage - The Golden Hour / by maraiad72

Losing My Religion / R.E.M.

And here is a fanvid I was originally going to use in a winter-themed post.  I realize the season has moved on but actually the song still works anyway, as it does refer to the seasons changing.  Besides, I shouldn't be so northern hemispheric, eh?  For you folks Down Under, this fits in quite nicely!

But, of course the real reason I have chosen it today is for the sound.  This song, "A Hazy Shade of Winter", was originally written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkle.  The cover is by The Bangles, who are listed in that Wikipedia article as a Jangle pop band!  Who knew?  Certainly not me (until just a little while ago).

Spooks/MI5 - Lucas North by KatSw3
Hazy Shade of Winter / The Bangles

Had you ever heard of the term "Jangle Pop" before?  How do you feel about that sound?

Phylly's Day Off

I love when several of my interests merge themselves into one example.  Here is a video I recently happened upon that shows a scene from a very popular '80s teen movie that takes place in an art museum and has a beautiful soundtrack song from The Smiths.

The scene was filmed at the Art Institute of Chicago, which I have never yet had the pleasure of visiting.  I do love to visit art galleries and museums and I can see by several of the works showcased in this clip, that it would be a real thrill to visit this one.

Museum Scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

I like the song even better with lead singer and lyricist Morrissey's distinctive voice singing the very meaningful lyrics. Another RA fan obviously thought the lyrics fit very well with Guy of Gisborne's relationship with Marian in the BBC's Robin Hood series.

Guy of Gisborne - Please let me get what I want / by hedgeypig

Most of us RA fans have our own collection of "art" taking up quite a bit of computer memory.
But wouldn't it be fun to see some of it displayed museum-sized on a wall?

...Just one of the places I'd visit on Phylly's Day Off!


If you would like to see some real RA fan art visit Deviantart.com
where you will find artwork like this one :
by  ~Essinvrok

Phylly's favourite Austen

I very much enjoy the works of Jane Austen, and have read most of them more than once.  But my favourite is the most popular of her novels, none other than Pride and Prejudice. This year is the 200th anniversary of its publication.  Because of that, many Jane Austen fans (and fans of the novel) have banded together on a Blog Hop, hosted by Alyssa Goodnight and Stiletto Storytime.

My way of participating is to relate the story of how I came to be an admirer of Austen's works, and in particular - the novel we are celebrating now.  It's certainly not the usual way one might fall in love with an author, but then Jane Austen is not your usual author!

The first Austen novel that I encountered was given to me as a present by my best friend, when we were in our early teens.  I doubt that my friend had ever read it - she was into horror novels like Stephen King's.  She must have thought I would like it because of my love of "romantic fiction".  It was Emma (certainly not your typical type of romantic fiction), and although I tried to get to know our heroine, you must admit, she isn't really all that "likeable" at first.  Several times throughout my teen years, I attempted to plough through it, but I would get bogged down by all the gossip and tea times and long walks.  I couldn't really see the point of it all, and as I wasn't fond of the main character, there was nothing to keep me going.  Fast forward to me in college.  I was taking a course called a Survey of English Literature (or something like that).  It was just a simple introduction to a huge range of classic literature taught by a not unhandsome man of a certain age with a dreamy English accent!  I am not so sure I would have had such a perfect attendance record for those 8:00 am classes had they been taught by someone else!  So when he posted a list of authors we had to pick from to do a book review and I noticed Austen's name there, I figured it was a good opportunity to finally read Emma from cover to cover!

My favourite adaptation of Emma

So at last I finished it, and lo and behold, I liked it!  Once I got past the reason for all the gossip, I could see that the plot was as tight as any Agatha Christie mystery!  I must admit I was pleased when Emma got her comeuppance delivered most nobley by the heroic Mr. Knightly. That was probably the turning point for me, after that scene I was truly hooked.

The perfect P&P pairing

Years later when I saw the wonderful miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle on television I knew I had to read Pride and Prejudice. Not long after, we decided to purchase our first home computer.  I had heard of the Gutenberg project so I looked up what books were available to read online.  I probably tried to read a couple of books that way, but it was rather uncomfortable to sit too long at the computer, so I didn't get very far.  Then I saw Pride and Prejudice listed and noted that the chapter lengths were rather short.  So I thought that it would be a good idea to read just a couple of chapters in a sitting, then get up and do something else, and return to it later.  Turns out, it was so engrossing that I had no trouble reading more than a couple of chapters at one sitting.

The story enthralled, entertained and enchanted me from beginning to end.  I think that had Miss Austen written none other than this one book, she would still be as famous as she is today.  It is a perfect jewel of a book, polished to perfection.  Each word is well chosen and serves its purpose perfectly.  After that experience I headed to our local public library and was overjoyed to find that their collection contained most of Austen's works.  I discovered that even though I truly enjoyed Sense and Sensibility, followed closely by Persuasion -- it was still Pride and Prejudice that I returned to over and over again.  Perhaps it was because I came from an all-girl family with a long suffering father that I related to it so well?

Whatever the reason, I am very glad I finally did succumb to the pleasures of Jane Austen's universe. If I could sum up my reading experience with Miss Austen I would have to say...

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Jane Austen, Pride And Prejudice

This isn't the first time I've written about my interest in Jane Austen's works. 
See this previous post about my trip to Bath, UK, where I seek out 
the Jane Austen Center despite all odds!

Happy New Year 2013!

Now it's time to put the old year behind us and bring out our good wishes for the new one to come. I was thrilled that my last year's wish (which I thought was just a pipe dream) actually came true - when Richard Armitage visited Canada - Toronto, Ontario (to be exact) even if only briefly.  The interviews he gave there were some of his best, IMHO!

RA at Toronto Union Station (photo courtesy of RANet)

I have had a good year here in Blogger land, meeting new bloggers and fans and watching Richard Armitage's career finally begin to take off into the upper echelons of stardom!  (Currently his starmeter on IMDb is at #2 after languishing in the triple digits for years.)  It was wonderful to read the stories of several fans all over the world who were lucky enough to catch a real life glimpse of him, get his autograph or actually have a conversation with him!

We have a lot to look forward to seeing in his career for 2013.

Summer of 2013 will be the debut of Black Sky starring Richard Armitage as teacher from the American midwest who is searching for his son in the aftermath of a tornado.  December 2013 will be part 2 of The Hobbit, which I am sure I will enjoy even more than the first part!

In between those two projects we are hoping he will finally start work on his dream project for a movie about Richard III.  Please read the latest news about it at this blog.

Plus, I am still hoping to hear more about this movie, which has been stalled due to "a certain actor's" casting commitments.  (I am hoping it is Richard they have been waiting for!)

I have so many good wishes for Richard for the coming year, for his career and also for his personal life - too many to list, but mostly they are the same as for you, my dear readers.  As I always wish: May you be happy, healthy, and wise! 

I Got Mail!

Yes indeed!  A package arrived for me today, the old school kind of mail - in a big blue bag labeled Royal Mail!  Score!  My copies of Empire Magazine have finally arrived! I ordered all five covers. Of course I am especially pleased to have this one.  It was also the first one to be SOLD OUT!

3D photography by Nels Israelson

(Thanks for sharing the link Meredith!)

I am getting very excited about The Hobbit movie.  Christmas will almost be an afterthought once I have experienced this long awaited triumph!  To sit in a darkened theatre seat and finally see my favourite actor in a major role on the big screen in 3D no less!  I can only hope I don't have a heart attack!!

I haven't posted any trailers for this movie yet, but now I've come across a fan-made compilation of all the trailers so far!  Thank you to Diane at C19 for posting the link to this!

I won't be getting into the city to see this when it first premieres but hopefully by the next week I will have seen it.  How will I stand the wait?!