Transitive property of resemblances?
Thank heavens, I finished my lecture for today, although there are still some points about Weimar economics that I have to cover. Tuesday is another day. Three law school recs written, proofread, signed, waiting for the mail. Meanwhile tomorrow I have emerging theories of capitalism to cover in western civ as a background to reading Wealth of Nations all next week, ick. This is not my favorite book but knowing what it says (and doesn’t say — much of which surprises people — Adam Smith is made responsible for a lot of things he never said) is an important piece of knowledge for our students to be carrying with them through life.
Armitage: that beard. Still editing. This is becoming existential, as if it weren’t already.
Anyway. For now, some quick nonsense so I can go home to start re-reading Smith.
I hope you all remember the transitive property of equivalence for integers from the first week of algebra, to wit:
if a=b, and b=c, then a=c.
Yes, I’ve been thinking about set theory again. Anyway, although there is also a transitive property of inequality for items ordered linearly (if a>b and b>c then a>c), and the transitive property can also be applied in geometry, still, equivalence is only attained if one can claim the relationship achieves transitive closure. That is, it doesn’t apply to “almost the same as.” If a is almost the same as b, and b is almost the same as c, it does not follow that a is almost the same as c.
So this whole post may be wrong. Nonetheless:
Regarding the casting of Lara Pulver as Isabella, the sister of Guy of Gisborne, in series 3 of Robin Hood, Richard Armitage said: “It was interesting because they cast Lara without me being involved, but we look alike! And we do think alike and we move in a similar way – it was very good casting … I really believed she was my sister. We got on extremely well and I enjoyed our scenes together.”
OK, so I think that Lara Pulver looks a lot like Jodie Foster. I’m not the only one, by the way:
If Jodie Foster looks like Lara Pulver …
and Lara Pulver looks like Richard Armitage …
Does that mean Jodie Foster looks like Richard Armitage? Where is the weak link in the set theory here? DISCUSS.
Source of Armitage photo: Русскоязычный Cайт Pичардa Армитиджa
Me + Richard Armitage 
Sorry, don’t mean to be a wet blanket here, but simply the weak link in the theory is that your initial assumption that Lara Pulver and Jodie Foster looked alike is false. They don’t (yes, they both have 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth but that’s it) and I am not concerned that others think so too because they are also incorrect. Also, if you reverse the positions and Lara=A and Jodie=B then this falls apart when you try to equate B=C.
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Well, I was trying to be funny, but I think the weak link is really Armitage and Pulver. I don’t think they look much alike at all. I do think they move alike, and they have similar ways of using their eyes, but their face shapes are really different. I think Armitage looks more like Foster than he does like Pulver
And yes — you explain why the transitive relationship fails to achieve closure for approximations (“almost the same as”). 🙂
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@servetus…sorry prof can’t always tell when you are being lighthearted!
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all my friends say that 🙂
hence, the “silliness” tag at the bottom of the post 🙂
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I honestly never thought of Jodie Foster and Lara Pulver’s resemblance to one another before . . . but they do. Hmmmmm. Need to see more photos of Jodie and RA side by side for comparison, though.
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On further consideration, Jodie and Lara resemble in these photos, but I am wondering if the hair style/color and expressions were different for each woman, would they look that much alike? Also Jodie appears to be heavily Photoshopped here . . .
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I think what ties them together is something about the jaw. Of course, everyone can always be electronically altered to make a point 🙂 But I didn’t make the totallylookalike photo — I actually found that by googling while I was looking for pictures of Pulver.
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Oh, yeah, i knew you hadn’t; I’ve visited sites like that before. Sometimes I see the resemblance and sometimes I don’t. Now, let me tell you two people who do look alike–Katie Perry and Zooey Deschanel. They are almost interchangable to me 😉
Yeah, I would say the biggest resemblance between the women is the jaw area.
Now, I need to know what RAFrenzy looks like because apparently RA looks more like he could be her brother than her actual brother does 😀
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There! You’re an Inmate, too, servetus!
So glad you explained set theory so succinctly. Algebra: numbers iniquitously masquerading as letters…
Transitive closure? Sorry, I’d flunked algebra by the first week. 😦
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I was no hot shot at math — I made it through the first semester of college calculus for my gentlewoman’s C-. But the concepts area really useful.
Transitive closure just means that if we are discussing the transitive property, we cannot think of relationships created by the transitive property that are exceptions to the rule.
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Math. Ugh.
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Ditto
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Math.:D
(For me anyway)
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Somebody’s got to be good at it, Riv!! Otherwise the world would be in worse shape than it is!;)
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@servetus, sorry dear, didn’t see the silliness tag…you usually lose me at heterosexual utopias which would be inappropriate for Jodie. 🙂
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you’re right — not really appropriate for this post at all, since Guy and Isabella are supposed to be brother and sister. I’ll take it off when I get a chance 🙂
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Actually, I bought into Mr. Armitage’s perception of Ms. Pulver’s similarity of appearance; partly because, in profile she has a smaller version of acquiline nose. But true, the contours of the cheekbones and especially, the jaw, are quite different.
Still adapting to photos of Jodhi May as a brunette.
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Fitzg,
You have been thinking about John Porter a lot lately, haven’t you? Bet you meant to say Jodie Foster as a brunette (I think of as a blonde, too). 😀
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EGAD! I’m sorry to say I don’t remember Algebra-LOL
I also never thought that Lara Pulver looked all that much like Richard Armitage, except for having similar coloring. I thought he was just being his polite and gentlemanly self when he said she looked like him and they got along like brother and sister.
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Musa,
Dear Richard also said “you’ll fall in love with her” in reference to the character of Sarah Caulfield. And that we would hate Guy in S3, I believe. Oddly enough, I came to despise Sarah Caulfield even more than the Scrofulous Skank on Robin Hood (aka Screechy aka Kate) and only loved Guy more than ever . . . he is very polite and gentlemanly, isn’t he? Margaret and John must have taught him well the old saying. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything . . .”
So I probably shouldn’t say what I really thought of the “steamy, passionate” scenes with Maya in Spooks 9, should I? 😉
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Oh, do tell 🙂
The DVD will be out soon and we can all watch those “steamy” Lucas & Maya scenes over again 😦
I do wonder if they included the “kitchen table scene that never was” in the DVD extras!
To me there are similarities between Spooks 9 and RH3 in the writer’s attempt to re-write Richard’s roles. Guy suddenly had a sister and two half-brothers, after all of RA’s work on the lonely and alone in the world Sir Guy.
I do love his polite and gentlemanly ways though. Very rare these days.
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Well, you guys who go ahead and buy it can watch the extras and tell me about it . . . because at this point, it would take the missing kitchen table scene, plus sexy scenes in Lucas’s shower, the middle of London Bridge and on top of the Gherkin Building to make me purchase it 😀 Oh, and a reshoot of that scene with “Lucas” running through the streets as they hunt him down. Only this time it would be Lucas/John and he would be starkers. 😀
I do truly appreciate Richard’s sweetness and good manners. In a world where celeb and non-celeb alike seem to be increasingly “rude, crude and social unacceptable” he is a breath of fresh air. But I do find myself scratching my head over some of his remarks at times.
He is also very much a team player and not one to burn his bridges as he plans to stay in this business in front of and/or behind a camera–so I don’t think he is ever going to be publicly disparaging of a co-star, director, etc. But “fall in love” with Sarah Caulfield as realized by GOR?? I didn’t believe Lucas could fall for that, much less the viewers.
And with the zero chemistry I felt was between the two actors, I don’t think he was “smitten” with GOR either. Lara, yes, I could see that.
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LOL, when you see those statements together, you’d think Mr. Armitage was being silly and like AnnMarie with Servetus, we didn’t get his sense of humor 😉
OML 🙂
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So is he pulling our leg? *shrugs and sighs with bemused smile*
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The weak point is that Richard is a man (with men factions, gestures, and appearance, which are a little bit tougher-nevertheless beautiful-than a woman) So I think that that’s the weak point in the theory.
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I think the shape of Ms. Pulver’s mouth and eyes resembles Mr. Armitage’s but the shape of her face/jaw/cheekbones resembles Ms. Foster’s. Nothing in Mr. Armitage’s face resembles Ms. Foster’s.
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The only resemblance I see between Ms. Pulver and Mr.A is their colouring. Their facial bone structure isn’t the same I don’t think, even allowing for the difference between his masculine face and her feminine one. I also found her eyes were too protuberant to be compared to his for example. So no – I don’t think they are alike or that Jody Foster looks anything like him.
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It seemed a bit more than just being his usual polite self. I wondered if he was a little bit smitten with her…
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On the pointless subject of pointy? noses, I will be off to see “Unknown” shortly. Now there is an unconventional face!
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Ah, Liam Neeson! Yes, a grand face there. Very attractive.
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IMHO, Foster and Pulver don’t look much alike. The real test would be to see a pic of Foster at Lara’s age since there’s 20 yrs difference in age. The possibility of photoshopping as discussed minimizes any real similarities. My brother looks so little like me that we often amaze folks who have just discovered our relationship…he is 6’4″, dark skinned and haired, brown eyes, thicker nose (a la Cherokee ancestry), broad facial structure. Me? 5’4″, fair complexion, blue eyes, blonde hair, high cheek bones, smallish nose sprinkled w/freckles. Nope, nothing even close.
To me, RA and Lara favor each other, slightly, but enough to pass as brother and sister. Certainly a closer resemblance than my brother and me. But Jodie Foster?? Nah.
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@Angie, attractive indeed. Postmedia review in today’s paper described his features as “proudly leonine”. Nice hyperbole. Like T-loaded Lope?
Interesting to note that Mr. Neeson has had the sort of hard-working acting career as has had, to date, Mr. A. Schindler’s List is on my top list of admired films. It didn’t bring him to instant “stardom” -his looks don’t cry out to H’Wood as did those of Pierce B. or Colin. But if Mr. A proceeds on a similar, less conventional career path, more strength to him!
I suspect, though, that Mr. A would like to it all…why not, if you can?
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Proudly leonine . . . I like that. Yes, it suits Mr. Neeson.
I do think Mr. A is quite ambitious and have a lot of drive and determination to take his career to new heights. And unlike some, he has the acting chops and the good looks, albeit an unconventional beauty, to do it.
Reading reviews for “The Eagle” with young Channing Tatum as the lead last night, and while everyone seemed to agree he had the chiseled, “movie star handsome” looks appropriate for his character, they largely also agreed he lacked the charisma, the presence, the “oomph” factor to make it a compelling, shaded character. But we know someone who does have IT in spades along with all those wonderful nuances he brings to his roles . . . I say, go for it, Richard. Grab all the brass rings you can, my dear.
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“has” a lot of drive . . . and of course, I LOVE his unconventional beauty. But oddly enough there are actually some people who don’t find him in the least attractive. I believe they all lack the requisite Good Taste Gene. 😀
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I have just spent most of my day with a friend whom I did invite over for lunch, but mainly so that I could have her watch N&S with me. Can you believe that while she thinks he is a “very good looking man” (how’s that for the understatement of the year??) and was impressed by his acting abilities she still says that he does NOTHING for her!!!?? I too find this odd Angie, but I guess the Good Taste Gene is sadly lacking in her case. Hard for ALL of us to believe but there you go!! (Hold on!! Did I just hear our beloved Harry utter those last three words??) Anyway I’m not going to give up!! She may yet see the light!!
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It is a conundrum, is it not? What does attract some people and not others? We’re just different, that’s all; with individual experiences, whatever we bring to our preferred bias.
Apart from Rufus Sewell in Pillars,(no “chocolate” voice, though), I was very struck by the Renaissance beauty of “Jack”. Amazing facial structure plus the vibrant colouring. Nevertheless, even in my young life, he would have represented a glorious image, to be so admired and regarded visually from a distance. As in a Raphael or Leonardo vision. (I did think he was a very good Jack, though) And would have remained on the search 🙂 for the unconventual and pulse-hopping image. (for my taste)
So, whatever makes us US, there’s no accounting for it all. Only, it’s awfully nice to fall into a group who see what I see.
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@Fitzg, it is wonderful to find a group of intelligent, funny, creative, talented and generally terrific women who happen to share your same mad crush. Getting to know all of you has been such a big plus for me as part of the fandom. 😀 I would hardly have been likely to come in contact with such a diverse group of individuals from literally all over the world were it not for Richard. I owe quite a lot to that man.
And for me as an American who knows few people who are familiar with Richard’s work (but that is gonna change!!!) it is really lovely to chat with others who “get it.”
As to the laws of attraction, who knows? Beauty and sex appeal seem to be in the eye and the brain of the beholder . . . honestly, for the life of me, I can’t understand a woman finding JA’s Robin madly sexy and gorgeous and Richard Armitage’s Guy so ugly they couldn’t stand to look at him in comparison, but to each his or her own. *shrugs shoulders*
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Pssst, are you a big Guy fan? I’m looking for potential interviewees for FanstRAganza.
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Pssst, Oh. Yeah. Guy was my first (Richard Armitage character, that is). 😉 Didn’t fall for him initially. Grew on me. Once I surrendered to the Dark Side. Pow!! For me, it’s Guy, then Lucas and Porter neck-and-neck, then Harry.
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*runs hands together* Excellent! Would you be interested in being interviewed? (And could you suggest any other vic- I mean potentials?
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she’s already being interviewed 🙂
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Oh Guy? Drats!
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Maybe we can make an arrangement 🙂
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Y’all can work it out, I bet. I think Servetus knows I could wax rhapsodic FOREVER about a certain TDHBEW’s characters. 😉 I may also be able to suggest other folks to interview, too, judiang.
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I think we will. In the meantime, I would appreciate any leads you can throw my way. This will be all Guy, all the time.
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I totally agree on the resemblance between Lara Pulver and Jodie Foster. I thought these two images showed it quite well:
Not so sure about the Armitage/Foster resemblance though; but I didn’t think Armitage & Pulver looked much alike.
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Indeed, thanks for the links and the comment, Novindalf. I think he was the one who said they looked like siblings.
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[…] “Transitive property of resemblances?” February 18, 2011. Discussion of whether Armitage looks like Lara Pulver, based on a remark […]
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“me + richard armitage” at three years old. Stats and thanks. | Me + Richard Armitage said this on February 25, 2013 at 1:01 am |