Random thoughts: Own it and mean it

This is how it's done. You admit that what you've done was wrong. You own it. You apologise. You mean it. You earn back the respect that you had lost.


 

It still seems to be beyond what most people manage to do, and that's just not right. 

I was in a similar situation just before Christmas when someone who calls themselves my friend was extremely rude to me. Don't get me wrong, this was not a matter of a difference of opinion, a discussion or the exchange of harsh words. I'm used to that and I can handle that without any problem whatsoever. No. What I experienced was a public, spiteful and disrespectful attack on me as a person, with a number of F-bombs thrown in for extra spice. It was hurtful and shocking.

I didn't react and walked away, but the incident stayed in my head and almost managed to ruin my Christmas.

What's probably even worse, is that only a few hours later, this person was sending me Christmas wishes as if nothing had happened. Not even an acknowledgement of what had happened between us. Not a single attempt to make things right.

Am I overreacting? Maybe you think I am, and that's fine. 
What makes me sad is that it seems to be fine for people to treat each other with so very little respect and the other person is simply expected to swallow it, not 'get emotional' and move on. Again, that's just not right.

"...be willingly good, extra good, extra peaceful and extra forgiving..."
(Richard Armitage's message to his well-wishers, Christmas 2011)

I'm very specific when it comes to my relationships with the people in my life. My husband always says that, not counting the very few people in my life for whom I would gladly confront a fire-breathing dragon in Erebor, you are either in my top drawer or in my bottom drawer, and there's nothing in between.

Everyone starts in the top drawer, everyone has the benefit of the doubt. As long as you're in that top drawer, you could call me from god-knows-where to ask for my help at 3 o'clock in the morning and I will gladly leap out of bed to do whatever I can do for you. But I can't stand injustice, especially when it's aimed at me. Treating me unjust will land you a spot in the bottom drawer. You need to really hurt me to fall down to the bottom drawer, but it will take you a lifetime to climb back to the top. I forgive, but I rarely forget, and once you've fallen, any chance of us becoming anything even close to what would fit into my definition of friendship is out of the question. You're done. But always, the very first step of the long road home, is an apology. 

Own it. Mean it. And you're on your way.

Oh, if you were wondering: my own definition of friendship is illustrated rather perfectly by this quote from A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you.” 

Enter the dragon!

10 days to go before the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Belgium (on 11/12/13!!)

And isn't it about time we got to see the dragon? Yes. And we did, in the most fierce way possible!

"He was a fire drake from the North" ...and he flew Air New Zealand!!

Ladies and gentlemen...I give you: Smaug the Stupendous!!

Images taken from the Air New Zealand Twitter page

This new Thorin poster is not good

DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU'RE AVOIDING SPOILERS FOR THE NEXT HOBBIT MOVIE!!







So, everyone seems to be getting excited about a new poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Great! Let's have a look! I'm sure it's beautiful and majestic and fierce and wonderful and...wait - what!?

No no no, this poster is not good at all. Yes, it's a perfect design, as usual and the detail of Thorin's armour is impressive and all that. But what I really see is the Prince of Durin, the next King Under The Mountain, the rightful ruler of Erebor, overcome by the horrible disease that plagued his grandfather and that made Erebor an easy target for Smaug The Terrible.

All I see is dragon sickness.
And that is not good.

Richard Armitage, your fans are the best!

My goodness, I have not been here since Richard's 42nd birthday in August. I had no idea that it had been that long! *hangs head in shame*

For the last few months, I have been forced to take a step away from my blog. I'm sure we've all been there: real life tends to take over now and then, taking our attention away from what's fun and exciting, and making us focus on what's really important for a while. My time, my mind (and my sleep) have been monopolised by other things and that has not done my inspiration any favours.

So, for a while now, I've had to watch Mr. Armitage and my fellow fans from afar and the distance has given me great insights. The most important one is this: Richard Armitage has got the absolute greatest fans. If I were in his shoes (or should I say 'boots'?), I would thank my lucky stars every single day for their unrelenting love and support. honestly, we're the best! :-)

Allow me to illustrate that point with 2 examples.

We love you when you're ugly
In these digital times, you can't always control which pictures of yourself appear online. A friend might snap a shot of you at a party and post it on Facebook and you 'll be horrified to discover it the next day because your hair, clothes or face didn't look great in the picture. That's how I think RA must have felt when this picture was released onto the world.

Picture taken from the Richard Armitage France page on Facebook

Personally, I think it's not the best shot of him. But, great fans that we are, we loved it! The beard, the boots, the long legs, the thighs, the glimpse of chest hair (which I don't like, by the way), the iPad (don't pretend you're not on the internet, dear Richard, even you couldn't resist a peek at what people are saying about you and about your version of Thorin forever), the jacket, the jeans... they were all discussed in the most meticulous detail and it was quickly proclaimed to be the new favourite picture of the fandom. You do ugly well, Richard, you do tired and dishevelled well, Richard. And the fans love it!

Our loyalty is as fierce as Thorin's majesty
Let's be honest, dearest Richard, you haven't exactly done much work lately (that we know of). We haven't exactly been spoiled with new examples of your excellent acting talents for about a year or so. Yes, we love Thorin and we can't wait to see more of him very soon. And it looks like Into The Storm will finally be released next August, which will be almost 2 years after you worked on it. I look forward to finally meeting your Gary Morris. But we are still here.

Beautiful new poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,
starring Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield

In the meantime, Aneurin Barnard got to play the dream role of Richard III and Batman went to Ben Affleck (I'm sure you were in the running for that role at some point, although I think you're capable of so much more than a rehash of a vintage superhero) and there's competition everywhere. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston, just to name a few other excellent actors who have been churning out the films and the stunning performances like a well-oiled machine.

It would have been so easy to forget all about Richard Crispin Armitage and be mesmerised by one of your enchanting colleagues. But I don't think you've lost a single fan to any of them. On the contrary! I personally have never even been tempted by them. Fassbender amazed me with his portrayal of Bobby Sands, I love Benedict's brilliant Sherlock Holmes and Tom gave us an excellent Loki, but none of that has made me want to join the Cumberbitches or make this blog about Tom Hiddleston instead.  

Our loyalty is as fierce as Thorin's majesty. And that is not about to change. 

The countdown has begun!

Only a few hours ago, Peter Jackson posted this picture on his Facebook page. It's the very first official poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I call this the official start of the countdown to the release of the film. I can't wait!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is set to hit cinemas in Belgium (where I live) on Wednesday, 11 December 2013 (12 December in New Zealand, 13 December in the UK and the US). More release dates are listed on the film's IMDb page.

More good news: on Tuesday, 11 June at 19:00 Belgian time, a teaser trailer for the film will be revealed. The trailer will be shown in cinemas with the film 'Man of Steel', which hits cinemas in Belgium on 12 June.

Only 185 more days to go!!