Going once, going twice...sshhht!!

All day today, the media here have been full of images of 'Black Friday'. The day after Thanksgiving, stores in the US sell certain items at enormous discounts and all we here in Europe get to see are pictures of people camping out in front of the shops, or fighting over towels or T-shirts or TVs or videogames at 70% off. It's amazing how people give thanks for everything they have one day, and go out and get new stuff the next...

Anyway, instead of Black Friday, you may want to spend your money on charity instead so other people have things to be grateful for next Thanksgiving. And if you get an incredible, RA-inspired item as a reward, what could be better than that?

How, where, when, what, you ask? Well, get yourself over to I Want To Be A Pinup and feast your eyes on the wonderful items, all donated by RA fans. See anything you like? It could be yours for however much you would want to spend! Yes, you guessed it: this is a silent auction!

"Marian, don't tell me how much you wish to bid for that beautiful necklace! This is a silent auction!"

I think this is an absolutely brilliant idea and the donated items are gorgeous, every single one of them! I'm going to have to think carefully about what I'd like to spend my money on because only the highest bid wins.

Read the details carefully, so you know exactly what to do, find your favourite item and send in your bid (only a few days left!)... and then all you can do is wait for the results... fingers crossed!!

Oh, and all the money is sent to one of Richard Armitage's favourite charities on JustGiving, so don't forget to vote for the charity that you prefer!

Good luck! And thank you for your generosity!

Random thoughts: I hope you dance

 

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

 

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

 

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

 

 

I hope you still feel small when you stand by the ocean

 

 

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens

 

 

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

 

 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance

 

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

 

Never settle for the path of least resistance

 

Living might mean taking chances but they're worth taking

Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth making

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to selling out, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance

 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance

 

 

 

Pictures taken from www.richardarmitagenet.com and www.richardarmitageonline.com

Dancing Thorin taken from AnUnexpectedDwarf on Tumblr

Lyrics from the song 'I hope you dance' by Lee Ann Womack

 

 

Long live King Richard!

So, The White Queen has come to an end with the death of King Richard III.

If you've read my review of episode 1, you know that I enjoyed the beginning of the seriesvery much and that I was looking forward to the rest of it. And I was especially looking forward to seeing Richard of Gloucester become Richard III, seeing him grow from a boy into a king. And although I feel the story of Richard's reign was rushed and important details forgotten or only touched upon, I was impressed by Aneurin Barnard. His portrayal of King Richard was spot on: silent, innocent, introverted, stoic, stylish and strong. Conflicted in the right place, emotional at the right time. Truly a performance fit for a king. I hope Aneurin Barnard is extremely proud of this role and I wish him all the best for the rest of his career. He can come back to play 'our Richard' anytime! ;-)

It's almost freaky how, thanks to the discovery of King Richard's remains in Leicester and the research done by the team at Leicester University, we now know exactly how accurate his portrayal was, even though Aneurin did not know that at the time when he was filming The White Queen. He was spooked by it, and so was I! Richard III's final scene was gripping...I definitely felt a chill down my spine...

Aneurin Barnard - remember that name!

But let me take you back to the main subject of this blog: have you noticed how similar Aneurin Barnard and Richard Armitage are? Yes, there's a bit of an age difference, but forget about that for a moment. No wonder I would love for Richard to get a chance to play King Richard as well... Actually, I can't believe nobody has come up with some Alternate Universe story yet in which Richard III miraculously survives Bosworth and lives on!

Let's take a look at these two Richards...

They both look good in black...

Aneurin Barnard as King Richard III

Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne

And they both look good in candle light... They have both mastered the look of a brooding, conflicted royal prince...

 

 

And they both have that majestic style: dark hair, pale skintone, a royal grace... and piercing blue eyes!


Someone should write a great script and put them in a film together. Now there's something I would pay money to watch!!

Did you watch The White Queen? Or maybe you're watching it in the USA where it has only just started? What do you think?

How RA spent Valentine's Day

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? For my better half and I, this is just a day like any other day. We are always kissing and cuddling and we never leave the house without saying 'I love you', so we don't need a day to remind us how happy we are together.
 
But even though we don't buy each other fancy presents or go out to dinner, I know a certain Brit who has been rather busy on Valentine's Day over the years. ;-)

In 2001, Craig Parker turned on the charm for this pretty blonde...

Richard played Craig Parker in one episode of the BBC drama Casualty

In 2004, two ladies were fighting for the honour of being RA's Valentine...

Lucy Brown (Ann Latimer), Richard Armitage (John Thornton) and Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret Hale)
in the BBC's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South

And although this lady may have thought she had him hooked...

 

His heart showed him his one true love with one single yellow rose...

In 2005, Richard dressed up as Guy of Gisborne to present Lady Marian with a token of his regard for her:


Richard Armitage and Lucy Griffiths as Guy of Gisborne and Lady Marian
in episode 6 of season 1 of the BBC's Robin Hood (2006)

In 2006, we fell in love with Harry Kennedy, but he fell in love with Geraldine...

Richard Armitage and Dawn French as Harry Kennedy and Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley

In 2009, our spy-cam spotted senior case officer Lucas North on a romantic date with yet another pretty blonde. Well, anything's better than Sarah Caulfield, right?

Richard Armitage as Lucas North in Season 8 of Spooks

In 2010, RA hoped these lovely flowers would cheer up his love, as she was not feeling well and had to stay in hospital...

Richard Armitage played Sgt. John Porter in Chris Ryan's Strike Back

In 2011, he declared his love for all the world to see...

Richard Armitage leads his fellow cast members in the Powhiri ceremony
on the first day of filming for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand

In 2012, he sent Valentine cards to all his friends!

And in 2013, under a Black Sky or threatened by Dragon fire, whether on Valentine's Day or not, may our very own King Richard love with all his heart and find that special someone who says 'I love you' back to him.



Gone in 60 seconds

Two brilliant new interviews: one in which Martin Freeman interviews Richard Armitage and one where Richard interviews Martin. Funny, adorable, sexy (that voice!)... these guys are so funny together!

What I've learned:
- There's somebody out there who is even worse at telling jokes than I am :-)

- RA prefers wine to beer... As I'm belgian, it would be almost sacrilege for me not to like beer at all, but I have a definite preference for wine. My new favourite is a Sauvignon Blanc from the Stoneleigh vinyards in New Zealand ;-)

- RA had a 'relationship' with his horse - Good to hear that he got along with HER after his rather 'difficult' relationship with Richie, his horse for Robin Hood... :-§

- He trusts the judgement of a stylist to make him look good. Now, I know we agree that this man would look good wearing a plastic bag (and not much else, winkwink), but he's right that his stylist for the press tour for The Hobbit has made him look absolutely gorgeous (Best dressed list gorgeous, that is!). Can I get a big round of applause for Miss Ilaria Urbinati?

- RA is a bit of a fitness freak... lifting weights because he "would not want to be a fat dude". I love people who like to suffer the pain of sports, and appreciate the incredible feeling you get when you've put your body through an extensive workout :-)

- He's sticking to his guns (!) about social media, but he prefers making that perfect shot with a bow and arrow... good, I don't like guns anyway, unless we're referring to a specific part of RA's body; in that case: I love guns! ;-)

Oh, and can I just bring everybody's attention back to that voice... That's dip-me-in-chocolate, tingles-down-my-spine, rich velvet voice? Not even Thorin's voice can top the real thing! Enjoy!!

MAX 60 Seconds with Richard Armitage - Thank you Cinemax!!




And MAX 60 Seconds with Martin Freeman:

Thirty Days to Thorin (21) - Warrior voice

OK, so yesterday was the premiere of The Hobbit:An Unexpected Journey in New York. Can I just say that Richard looked absolutely amazing!! There will be more about the fashion of the premieres soon, but I wanted to share this "Soundbites" video with you first.

In this video, Richard talks about Thorin, about Thorin's reasons for going on the quest to reclaim Erebor and about how safe he feels in the hands of Peter Jackson who "has the entire film in his head" and "knows this character better than I do".

The content of this interview is really nothing new: over the last week or so, we've seen more interviews with RA than we had in the last 2 years, so all of these questions have come up at some point. But this video is still very much worth watching - or rather, it's very much worth listening to.

As you can see, this was taped while filming for The Hobbit was still ongoing - hence the beard (by the way, I still love that beard, even though RA looks stunning without it). And I think Richard is still very much in Thorin-mode here: his voice is very deep, he speaks very slowly and deliberately - this is not Richard! No, I honestly think we are looking at Thorin, dressed up as Richard.

In the beginning of this video, although you can't hear the question, it's obviously "tell me about your character in this film" or something like that. I can almost see a look of frustration on RAs face. It's as if he's offended because some 'human' has basically said "who the hell are you?" and is not giving the King Under The Mountain the proper greeting and acknowledgements. When you get as immersed into a character as RA usually does, it must be very difficult to remind yourself who you really are, especially when you're asked to do interviews in between shoots.
He's talked before about how difficult it was for him to be friendly to fans when he was on his way to set to film a scene for Robin Hood. He would be so deep into the evil Guy of Gisbourne, that it was almost impossible to quickly become Richard again and smile and sign autographs. So now that he's been living as Thorin for the last 18 months, it must have been quite a recovery process to find the real Richard again.

Anyway, watch the video here. I would love to hear if you see what I see!

Thirty Days to Thorin (14) - Konichiwa in leather!

So I wake up this morning to find my Facebook wall and Twitter timeline full of pictures and video from the press conference and premiere for The Hobbit in Japan.

First of all: Richard Armitage in leather! Both at the press conference and later at the premiere, he wears leather. Talk about pleasing the fans: he brings back a little bit of Guy of Gisborne, just for us! :-)

Richard Armitage and Elijah Wood at the premiere for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Japan - 1 December 2012.
Picture (screenshot) from the image gallery of www.richardarmitagecentral.co.uk

Secondly, both Martin Freeman and Peter Jackson had some extremely nice things to say about Richard: about him as a person, about him as an actor and about what he brings to the character of Thorin. I was completely blown away by what they said, and by the man himself... again!

I thought about putting some quotes in this blogpost, but decided agains it because you need to hear it from their own mouths. And please, look at how RA reacts to what they say, especially after Jackson sings his praises about Richard as Thorin. Such a humble, thankful, respectful reaction - tingles down my spine!

You can see the entire press conference on Youtube thanks to www.richardarmitagecentral.co.uk but you especially need to see part 4 - Enjoy!

Thirty Days to Thorin (10) - There should be a law against this!

Seriously, nobody should be allowed to look that good after getting off a flight from LA (USA) to Auckland (New Zealand)!

Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman between flights at Auckland International Airport, New Zealand, 25 November 2012

Flying from LA to Auckland takes about 13 hours. Yes, they were in first class, so they were probably slightly more comfortable than some other passengers on the flight. Even so, I don't know many people who would manage to look THAT GOOD after being stuck on a plane for 13 hours.

I love his stubble (you may have noticed before that I'm a fan of Richard with designer stubble), I love the fact that his hair is messed up, I love the fact that his boots are untied as if he just put them on very quickly after waking up from a well-deserved nap. I'm so bad at sleeping on planes, trains and automobiles that I have developed great respect for people who do manage to make good use of flying time.
I love the red spots on his cheek which tell me that he's probably been sleeping with his cheek resting on his hand, or resting his cheek against the window - that's just adorable!
I love the jeans - dark and tight - showing of those long legs...
I love the jeans shirt - collar up, button open (the fans love to see his neck, don't ask me why, but we do!)
I love the leather jacket - I thought RA would never go near anything in leather ever again after having to endure the Hungarian sun in the leather costumes he had to wear for Guy of Gisbourne in the BBC's Robin Hood. I'm extremely happy that he does wear leather, though, as it suits him so very well.

Well done, Mr. Armitage, top marks for style!!

A birthday countdown in pictures (#16)

There's finally proof of Richard's return to designer stubble. The beard is indeed gone! As you all know by now, I really loved that beard. But I have to admit that it's good to see his face again. Basically, it's just good to see him: it looks like the RA drought is finally over!

As those new pictures were all over the Twitter and Facebook today, I decided not to post them here. Actually, I suddenly realised that after 16 days of this countdown, I have not posted one single picture of Richard as Guy of Gisbourne. (This one doesn't really count, right?) Shame on me!!

So, I tried to find the very best picture of Sir Guy but, as you can probably guess, that's an impossible task as almost every single one of them looks incredible.

Here's my favourite Black Knight:

One thing I've realised, looking at my selection: I like him in close-up! :-)

Whenever I think of Richard playing King Richard III, I imagine him looking like Guy of Gisbourne. That reminds me, I have a review to publish of a book about the reign of Richard III. So much to do, so little time... :-) That's coming soon!

Enjoy your Guy Day tomorrow!

What's a birthday without a birthday present? But what do you get the man who's living his dream?
This year, consider donating to one of Richard's selected charities (Shelter, The Salvation Army, Childline and Barnardo's) - visit his Just Giving page. Thank you!

A birthday countdown in pictures (#12)

If you visited this blog during FanstRAvaganza 3 last March, you have probably seen the post in which I talk about a picture of Ricky Deeming. At the time, I selected that picture because it showed so many things that I love about Richard Armitage. But today, I want to show you the pictures of Ricky that took my breath away - and they continue to do that every time I look at them...

Hey Ricky!

He still manages to blow my mind...

Richard played Ricky Deeming only once, for the pilot episode of George Gently, which was first shown in April 2007. If I've calculated this correctly, he must have been filming this during a break in the production of (Season 2 of) Robin Hood. That's probably why I see so much of Guy of Gisbourne in Ricky, and that's always a good thing!

What's a birthday without a birthday present? But what do you get the man who's living his dream?
This year, consider donating to one of Richard's selected charities (Shelter, The Salvation Army, Childline and Barnardo's) - visit his Just Giving page. Thank you!