Obsession update: First week of school

Not up to much this week as the beginning of semester hit. Also, an advance warning that I won’t be posting from Wednesday until Saturday this week. I rest assured that there will be lots of good stuff to read in the rest of Armitageworld, though: see blogroll at the right margin. One assumes more Spooks advance publicity will appear, though I am going to try to stick to stuff that is solely Armitage related and try not to learn any more about the series content than I already know. In terms of worthwhile stuff I note already:

• I was the last person to see this, and flattered that Avalon’s version of Mr. Armitage thinks I am sassy and have good taste; though the first is certainly a quality I don’t associate with myself much, I’d very much like to be seen as a woman of good taste. I still hope, however, that Mr. Armitage is not reading this blog. If I ever run into him in an airport, I’m certainly not copping to having written it as easily as Avalon did (*grin*).
• If you haven’t looked recently at the wikipedia article on Mr. Armitage, it’s time. KiplingKat seems to have spent a great deal of time toward the end of the summer updating and adding content to it, so that it’s now moved well beyond its previous content, a bare listing of facts and an assertion about his relationship status with five footnotes, to become something that’s actually interesting to read about him, including a description of his ideas about acting and lots of quotations. It’s a nice length without going overboard, too.
• Interesting discussion at RAFrenzy about CWS.
• Phylly considers the relevance of North & South as a model for labor-management relations. Happy Labor Day, North Americans. (Yes, in Canada too! In Germany the corresponding holiday is celebrated on May 1.)
• ETA: Forthcoming discussion of LOTN audiobook on Vulpes Libres. Yes.

My Armitage consumption since the last obsession update:

• all of Spooks 8 in tiny little pieces as I figured out how to download it, finally. Armitagemania is instructing me in all kinds of things I never suspected I’d need to know. Can torrents be far away? Probably not, with the advent of Spooks 9 awaiting us.
• Speaking of that, I’ve decided to learn how to use the iMovie software on my Mac, if only to make more precise cuts of Armitage’s scenes in order to illustrate this blog. I’m getting to the point of wanting to say things that are not easily illustrated via still photos. I’m not sure when I will get to this — certainly not before the holidays are over — but before Christmas.
• And that puts me on to the topic of vids — I’ve got a list of two songs that I think would be perfect for vids and as far as I can tell haven’t been used yet. So I am thinking of trying to vid. That will probably have to wait until after Christmas, though.
• Joined a fanfic forum that’s been recommended to me several times. Often flipping to particular pages of fic that I love, especially when I get annoyed by life, for a few paragraphs of joy. Key: The Countess 6; Gruinard Project 16; Bleak Midwinter 2 for the scene with John and the sheepdog; Truce 4; Five Things Marian Never Learned …; I’m sure everyone is aware that Grant What I Wish updated very satisfyingly this week. And of course, my mainstay fic, Lady of Nottingham 5. If you click on these links be aware that they all have explicit moments. I read more fic than this but these links are publicly available.
• Three or four listens to disk 1 of LOTN. My MO with these audiobooks has been to listen to each disk until I felt like I had noticed everything worthwhile about them. It took me three months to get to the end of Sylvester. At this rate, it may be the end of the academic year before I finish this. Every second of LOTN is just SO good. I feel like there’s a stronger synergy between this role and Armitage’s voice than with the Heyer books. One on level that’s obvious, since Uhtred is a man and the narrative voice of Heyer’s books feels so female; on the other, it’s a compliment to how well Armitage does Heyer that we don’t discount his reading on that basis. I’m also really intrigued by how well he moves between the perspective of the young man of 21 and Uhtred the old man, who’s actually narrating here.
• All of Venetia once while sorting through mail and unpacking book boxes, etc. If I can’t be rescued by Uhtred, Damerel would be my second choice.
• The end of Cold Feet 5. Oof in terms of the series plot; I was not anticipating Rachel’s death. This is not a great role, but it’s intriguing what Armitage does with it.
• Disk two of North & South twice. Gosh, that proposal scene.
• Iraq section of Strike Back twice; Zimbabwe section once. I’ve discovered with this particular piece that there are parts involving Porter that I don’t like to watch because they are just too raw, and I think that’s why I haven’t watched the Afghanistan chunk very often.
• Spooks 2.1 and 2.2. I am trying to get to the backstory of various things and have conceded that I will have to watch this whole story.
• Purchased season 1 of Ashes to Ashes, based on Armitage’s statement that Keely Hawes in this production epitomizes his personal discovery of girls. Haven’t watched it yet, though. I’m going to have to start drawing a line here in attempting to understand Armitage. On the one hand I feel like he’s expanding my intellectual and cultural world significantly; on the other, this is potentially both bewildering and expensive.
• If you have been thinking that I’ve been avoiding Robin Hood for the last several months, you’d be right.

~ by Servetus on September 6, 2010.