Happy!

The colour Yellow makes me happy.  Balloons make me happy. Books make me happy -- even just the thought of books!  Reading books, talking about books, showing books, owning books, looking at books, yes. Books make me happy.

Here are a couple of my favourite children's book characters by Roger Hargreaves (England's 2nd bestselling author of the last decade -- after J.K. Rowling as reported by The Guardian in 2009).

Funnily enough, they are both yellow and balloon-shaped.

May I present: Mr. Happy and Little Miss Sunshine!








As readers of this blog can attest, I also love pictures of a certain actor (especially those rare shots of him smiling)...  So when I find a picture of said actor reading a book and smiling!... BINGO!  All systems are GO!

Richard Armitage performing the audio book Hamlet 
adapted by A. J. Hartley, and David Hewson for Audible.

Music also makes me happy...

This is a song which I sing to myself quite a bit when I need a little cheering up.
I really like this version sung by (not only) June Carter, of the Carter Family fame but with the bonus of her husband Johnny Cash and their daughter Carlene.

Keep on the Sunny Side (Blenkhorn and Entwistle)



I remember this next song from my childhood and it brings back many happy memories.
I didn't realize until recently that it was written by Marvin Hamlisch.
I saw a documentary about him a couple of months ago.
He certainly knew how to make himself happy.  He gave up a promising career as a classical pianist to write music for Broadway plays and soundtracks for films. 
He met Barbara Streisand when she was performing Funny Girl on stage, and later worked with her when he wrote the sound track for the movie The Way We Were.  He also worked with Woody Allen for the sound track of his movie Bananas.
He earned many awards over his lifetime, but better even than that -- he enjoyed his work,
which was essentially - entertaining the public (making people happy).

Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows (by Marvin Hamlisch)

Notice that singer Lesley Gore is wearing yellow?
And yes, that song is so sweet it could rot your teeth.


Here is my favourite summer camp song:

If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops,
Oh what a world it would be...
Standing outside with my mouth open wide
Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah, ah, ah-ah, ah, ah-ah!
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops,
Oh what a world it would be!

That really would rot your teeth!


Then there were those delightfully crazy yellow minions from the Despicable Me film and its sequel.
They certainly made me happy -- hilariously so!

I didn't realize there were so many animated short films about these critters!
Here is one where they are fighting over a banana.



Despicable Me 2 had such an upbeat song (which should have won the best song Oscar instead of that overwrought outpouring from Frozen! --Don't hit me!)
I know the song has been overplayed on the airwaves but I'm not sick of it yet.  I love the Youtube version with Pharrell Williams in it, but I can't resist this version either.

Richard Armitage -- HAPPY / by Crystal Chandlyre



Lately, it makes me very happy to read so many stage door fan encounters with Richard Armitage as he plays the role of John Proctor in the Old Vic's production of The Crucible. There is even a blog which collects all those experiences!  http://thecrucibleexperience.wordpress.com/
and a Facebook page called 'Richard Armitage in The Crucible' Appreciation Page
The play has been getting rave reviews from critics, regular theatre attendees and fans alike.
I thank Servetus @ Me + Richard Armitage blog and Perry @ Armitage Agonistes blog for keeping the fans up-to-date with the flurry of tweets, instagram pictures and Tumblr posts after each performance.
This is one of my favourite bloggers reactions to seeing The Crucible:  Maria Grazia @Fly High .

Judi, who blogs at Confessions of a Watcher  imagines Richard Armitage's feelings about the opening night success of his current play: The Crucible at London's the Old Vic in a lovely story called Happiness: http://www.jagrant.com/watcher/happiness/


Yes folks, Richard Armitage has come a long way
from his long ago (but never-to-be forgotten) stage role as a dancing banana!

 Forgive me if I resurrect one of my old videos!
Well, I'm no Bccmee -- but he's yellow! (That's all I'm sayin')...

Richard, King of hearts

Who was Richard III?  Was he the Machiavellian prince of York bent on ascending the throne of England at any cost?  This is what William Shakespeare would have us believe.

Here are three different actors' takes on the character from the opening soliloquy: Ron Cook, Jonathan Slinger and Ian McKellen. If you watch it from Youtube there are links to other actors' performances.

Shakespeare's Richard III Act I, Scene I  (3 versions)

But Shakespeare was not a historian.  His knowledge of the real King Richard III (1452-1495) (the last of the Plantagenet family line) was based on histories written to reinforce King Henry VII's (a Tudor) claim to the throne. If this theory is true (which many modern historians now believe) then Shakespeare's extremely unflattering portrayal of King Richard is simply a dramatic work of historical fiction based on propaganda. Could you believe a biography of one your county's previous leaders if it were written not by an impartial journalist but by his political enemies?  Goodness! One can hardly even believe all the rhetoric that goes on during political campaigns, nevermind in a biography!

Please join Ian McKellen who answers questions about  Shakespeare's play.This is an interactive site where you can choose which question Mr. McKellan will answer.

 Click here: A conversation with Sir Ian McKellen.

Shakespeare's aim was never to be factual, merely to write a compelling drama, which has captivated audiences for over four centuries, since it was believed to be written in 1591.

Richard III has had many actors portray him on stage and screen.  Here is just a small sampling

David Garrick painted  by William Hogarth

John Barrymore (1929)

Sir Laurence Olivier Richard III (1955)

Sir Alec Guinness (1953)

Alec Guinness has the distinction of being the first performer to grace the stage at Canada's Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario.  How interesting that the first play performed there was Richard III.

Open since June 2 until September 25, 2011 at the Stratford Festival, Richard III is once again being performed.  This time the lead role is being played by the actress Seana McKenna.



Here are some other unusual portrayals of this character.

Al Pacino in the docudrama Looking for Richard (1996)

He is looking very regal in this crown!

Ian McKellen

Interesting costume choice here...

Kenneth Brannagh


Surely this must be one of the quirkiest portrayals of all!  Here is Peter Sellers in a parody of Laurence Oliver's performance of RIII using the lyrics to The Beatles' song A Hard Day's Night




 This is talk show host Craig Ferguson's off the cuff impression.

None of these portrayals come close to revealing the real person behind the myth.  Is the truth lost in the mists of time?  Many historians labour to set the record straight.  The Richard III Society (both the British and the American chapter) has been sponsoring research into this question for many years.  

Besides historical essays and books there have been several popular novels which investigate this theme.  The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey was written in 1951 as part of her detective series about the Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant.    Another work of detective fiction along these lines is I, Richard written by Elizabeth George (who also writes the Inspector Lynley series). The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman is an award winning book of historical fiction.  (I read this book years ago and remember enjoying it immensely.  I have recently purchased a new copy, but haven't gotten around to a reread yet.)  Here is a great review from the blog Fly High!  

This blog post contains a very concise argument about the true character of Richard III.

Does this look like a hunchbacked, misshapen, limping multiple murderer?  
Although I don't believe you can read someone's character from observing their face (no matter what Tey's Inspector Grant believes), this portrait does not show any evidence of a deformity. 

The earliest surviving portrait of Richard III

On closer inspection you may notice that one shoulder is higher than the other.  Could this be where people got the idea he was hunchbacked? One writer claims that Richard's greater muscle mass in his arm is what makes for the difference in the size of his shoulders.  Apparently he was a very able soldier, brave in battle and a mighty wielder of the heavy battle axe. 

Dare I offer a modest opinion here?  Perhaps it was merely this artist's rather crude attempt at perspective which gives us this false impression?  This whole debate might actually boil down to "a mountain being made out of a molehill", or more likely -- a hunchback being made out of a shrug.

Portrait from the collection at Windsor Castle

 I was very excited to recognise this as the actual portrait I saw in the Queen's appartments at Windsor Castle last summer.  The more commonly found portrait is a later copy of this one. I knew something wasn't right about the other portrait I used in this post. But notice here, it is the opposite shoulder that is higher.  Make up your minds, you portrait artists!  What! Does he have a mobile hump?  Perhaps he just put it on for portrait purposes, just to confuse the masses!  What a practical joker that Richard III must have been! :)  Imagine, here we are 500 years on, still not getting the joke.  He must be rolling in his grave!

 Richard Armitage, who was born on August 22 (the same date as Richard III fell at Bosworth Field) has always wished to play a more true to life characterization of his namesake.

Was he a cocky jokester?

A troubled, brooding romantic hero?

Or was he just misunderstood and in search of himself?

We hope he gets his wish to bring a better version of the life of Richard III to light.  See this website to add your name to the petition, if you would like to help.

Whatever you believe about Richard III, fans of Richard Armitage know he is our King of Hearts!

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