Legenda 48: Stuff worth reading

[Legenda offers a brief, non-inclusive index of stuff I noticed and enjoyed since the last episode. It doesn’t usually include materials presented on the major fansites, which I love dearly, but which are linked in the sidebar. Because I always forget or just miss stuff, please add additional pieces of interest via link in the comments.]

Feature:

It has to be this response to the appearance of the Thorin Oakenshield plush toy this week, posted on Armitage Army @ Richard Armitage Central on FB, which was the funniest thing I read all week.

I have to say I think that’s the reason. That was the reason I got it. Press it to your bosom, Armitage lovers.

Stuff continues to proliferate. I keep trying to remind myself that this is just the beginning, and I already have spent more than I should have. I can only repeat my plea that fans buy as much as possible via amazon to generate the commission and donation to Richard Armitage’s JustGiving charities.

The entry point at RichardArmitageNet.com is here for the UK and here for the U.S. Here’s information about how to enter the portal at Richard Armitage Online.

RArchive:

• GB continues his sensitive discussion of how Richard Armitage made his adolescence bearable.
• Sir Guy is there for you when you need him.
• Little Thorin shipped this week, delighting fans all over the world: RAFrenzy and FedoraLady’s cat react.
• At Little Guy Friends Network (which, in light of the above, has now retitled itself to include Thorin — you need to join the FB group): Guy finds an appropriate way to cut a cake.
• A further reflection on the sixth anniversary of Robin Hood.
• On the Hobbitization of our Armitage fandom, at least we’re not alone. Oh, well, we might as well enjoy it — Christmas is coming! And I can’t resist adding that this could be a good year to be a Jew. Eight potential nights of gifts!
• Agzy isn’t buying it, though!
• We now know how long to engage the babysitters for: Norwegians report that anticipated running time for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is 2:44.
• What Ania likes about North & South. (Remember: English translation at end of post.)
• Particularly beautiful photo editing at The Armitage Effect.
• John Porter in a tutu!
• On the etymology of the dwarves’ names. And, in one of many interesting news items from TORn this week, a new work by Tolkien will appear in May 2013.
• I totally missed Canadian Thanksgiving this week. I hope you had a good holiday, Canadian friends. Phylly posts on her holiday, with Armitage doubles that I had never heard of but that totally convince me — Armitage as Martin Frobisher and Samuel Champlain. It looks like northern North America is in for a severe winter again; my folks had snow this week, too, though not that much. Stay safe, Phylly.
• #GuyWatch continues at Twitter.

On tumblr:

• Editorship of Richard Armitage Confessions changes hands.
• *ooof* of the day pictorial analysis continues: Thornton in the millyard.
• A “peaches” tumblr.
• Guy-lty’s Guy Day Friday graphic.
• Cool animated GIFs: Lucas North by frencharmitagearmy; Guy of Gisborne by mabelalexa.

Fanfic:

• khandy’s “Absolution” (JP / OC) goes to chapter 14. Biting nails — will Porter survive? I guess, so, because he is still alive in chapter 15 — of which I love the timing, the content, and especially the ending. And, OMG, he survives into chapter 16. Thanks for three chapters in a week, khandy! I feel totally spoiled.
• How LadyWriter celebrated her birthday, part two — the dwarves arrive. I have to say I’m not sure I’d invite them so blithely into my house!
• GB’s “One Last Try” goes to chapter 9 — Marian and Guy finally get it on!
• Guy’s murder of Marian and the consequences, from Guy’s perspective.
• At Fly High!, an interview with the author of a North & South sequel that starts from my own intuition that Gaskell doesn’t set up Thornton and Margaret’s marriage for much success. I can also endorse it in that I really wish people would read Engels’ Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 and see just exactly how much worse the Higgins’ living conditions would have been than the series suggests. (I also wish they’d read The Road to Wigan Pier and see just how little had changed almost a century later.) However, folks, please be careful on historical demographics. Numbers never indicate anything except in context. I’ve forced myself to stop commenting over there on historical fictions, because my training has given me a particular attitude toward them that is not widely shared by their main audiences. Anyway, I bought this one and have read about the first third and I definitely think it’s worth the purchase price of $1.50. Maybe I’ll review it, even.

OT, collateral attractions, and stuff I think about:

• You knew it all alone: Research shows that reading Jane Austen is good for the brain!
• Why you can’t mashup Jane Eyre with 50 Shades of Grey (or not easily, anyway — I have read Jane Eyre porn I liked but I’d agree it’s hard to do effectively). But, The Little Professor continues, if you’re doing to do it, here are some suggestions of titles!
• Once upon a time, The Physicist taught me to enjoy sports writing by forcing me to read and discuss articles from Sports Illustrated. Here’s a vintage one — what I love about it is the atmospheric detail it conveys about Texas and Texans (here in the Fall of 1963, shortly before the JFK assassination). Do Texans still drive around with thermoses of Bloody Mary? Well, they still have the thermoses — the contents may have changed. And they’ll still drive hundreds of miles in a day for a dinner at their favorite restaurant.
• Speaking of food: I’m pretty sure I could get my mom to eat these.
• A postscript to the problem of the “free internet” — Emily White meets Amanda Palmer.
• On Jimmy Savile and recent accusations of molestation, as well as the bravery it takes to excavate something like this. My own take, after being sexually harassed as an adult — victims saying “no” doesn’t stop harassers. The only way to stop them is to punish them, which is why reporting is so important. On the dauntless twentysomething woman who broke the Jerry Sandusky story, read here.

~ by Servetus on October 13, 2012.