Fanvidding with Coldplay

I love this band's music and I have noticed that quite a few of us fans of Richard Armitage seem to feel the same way. No wonder there seem to be so many fanvids set to Coldplay songs which also feature Mr. Armitage (in various roles)!


So here we have it. Sit back and enjoy the music and feast your eyes on some great videos!

I'd like to start off with my favourite Coldplay song, Yellow which is also the first tune I ever heard by this band. I always loved the music but the lyrics had me stumped for quite awhile. I couldn't figure out if it was complete gobbledygook supposed to sound somehow meaningful, or it was actually quite brilliantly deep! I finally decided that since I loved the music so much I was going to have to believe the latter, just to make myself happy!

I was very pleased to find how well Liisakee made this song fit with the BBC's Robin Hood miniseries. (I knew the lyrics were brilliant!!) Love her use of colour to emphasize the theme. Oh...and watch out for Season 3 SPOILERS!!

yellow3 from Liisa on Vimeo.

Liisakee must really like Coldplay because she also has another song, Spies which of course fits very well with Lucas North and the gang in Season 8 of Spooks / MI5.
UPDATE:  Oct. 13, 2011 Unfortunately her video has been removed from Youtube for some reason.  But I have just found another video with the same song done by PrinceZukoFanGirl.

And now, here is a fanvid about my favourite miniseries North and South using Coldplay's The Scientist. I know that quite a few vidders have used this song as well, but Videosbyloo's version is definitely my favourite!





I am very happy to include a video by graphic artist and fanvidder extraordinaire HeathDances. This song has special meaning for her as it was made during a very difficult time in her life.  Here is her version of Fix You, based on Season 7 of Spooks / MI5.  It is very suitable for Lucas North, who was just released from a Russian Prison Camp. All his fans would certainly love to "fix" him! You can really notice HeathDances's editing skills near the end of the video when the music speeds up and the clips are perfectly in time with the music.







And now for a little break in the RA fanfest, here are a couple of different videos to Coldplay songs.

First we have a lovely video from KatSw3 which celebrates so many wonderful movies using the film Pleasantville as a frame in which to set the lyrics for the song Life in Technicolor.
Unfortunately she has not enabled embedding so I cannot display her work on my blog! So here is a link to follow. Don't miss it, it's worth a bit of inconvenience to see! You might even catch a glimpse of a couple a quick scenes from North and South!

Click here to go to Youtube.

Trixterrr has done a tribute to one of my favourite detective shows starring Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Remember I posted about him before? This one is to the song Green Eyes. This video really shows their complex relationship very well. I was always hoping they would get together -- the romantic tension was incredible!

The last two videos are from Robin Hood BBC again. They both contain spoilers, especially the last one -- so beware!
The following video is by QueenBee2881. It is a wonderful tribute to Robin Hood and all who follow him to the tune of Viva La Vida.







Last but not least, this video by Giz the Gunslinger really ties up the Robin Hood series. It is very touching -- and like I said -- BEWARE of SPOILERS! The title might give you a clue why it is so sad: It's called Those Who are Dead -- otherwise known as 42.

I have so enjoyed watching all the fanvids which I never even knew existed until I began my obsession with that certain actor! I have discovered so much new music (new to me at least), which has been such a joy. I have also discovered new movies and television shows which I have since seen or at least attempted to watch. 

Thank you to all those talented vidders out there. Keep up the good work!

Cousin Phillis book giveaway!

I am still enjoying a collection of Elizabeth Gaskell's short stories which is named for her longest and final one: Cousin Phillis. So far the story Manchester Marriage is my favourite, but we'll see if I change my mind after finishing the last one.

If you would like a chance to win this book, (and some other ones too!)  head over to Maria Grazia's blog at FLY HIGH! where she has posted an interview with l'il ol' me! The book giveaway deadline is for this book is Monday June 14, 2010.

UPDATE****
Maria Grazia informed me who was the lucky winner of this book on June 16th.
I ordered it from The Book Depository that same day. It is a very easy to use online book ordering service which provides Free Shipping almost anywhere in the world! Thanks for letting me know about this company, Maria Grazia!
Oops! I just realized that had I used the link from RichardArmitageOnline.com to The Book Depository website, that a percentage of the profit would go to one of Richard Armitage's suggested charities!
So please follow this link instead!
I just checked the status of the book and it has been dispatched, so it should be on arriving very soon to Claudia in the province of Florence, Italy!

Drink to me only with thine eyes...

I had forgotten there was a song attached to this title, let alone such a lovely poem written in 1616 by Ben Jonson. It is entitled To Celia.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

     And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss within the cup

     And I'll not ask for wine.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

     Doth ask a drink divine;

But might I of Jove's nectar sup,

     I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,

     Not so much honouring thee

As giving it a hope that there

     It could not withered be;

But thou thereon didst only breathe,

     And sent'st it back to me;

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

     Not of itself but thee!

When I first planned this post, I was going to use several pictures of Mr. Armitage enjoying a drink, but I guess RA fans must think alike because Mulubinba beat me to it! Here are some lovely screencaps of Richard imbibing various fluids.
Photo Friday: Trivial Questions for Mr. RA
Scroll down to question 7 - that 's where the pictures start.

I had picked the title for the post as a further tribute to RA's eyes, but when I did some research I discovered the poem -- and then the song! The music was familiar to me and I wondered if my mother had ever sung it. I think there is a hymn that may be based on the tune.  Youtube had several versions of the song but it was either in an operatic version or Johnny Cash's version, neither of which really appealed to me. I dug a little deeper into the web and discovered a marvelous website where musicians post their own music and there was a lovely folk version of the song:

 MacJams Music Making Community 

I decided the poem reminded me of North and South so I came up with the idea of another fanvid. I hope you will like my second attempt at video making. (Another musical slide show.)

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!

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