Trilogy of Richard Armitage ponderings
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Total randomness, and you get it for free: we sang the tune above for Ein Keloheinu today. I really like that tune. Of course, we didn’t have all the instruments, but we managed to have a rhythmic rippin’ time with just our voices and our hands.
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For the Richard Armitage bits, three things. First, for some reason all evening all I’ve been able to think about is sex with Thorin Oakenshield.
Source: Thorin Oakenshield Confessions
The folks on that tumblr go back and forth about what kind of lover Thorin would be — split between the aggressive, demanding type and the gentler, more giving sort.
Also, I concede that it is a bit disturbing that most of the images used to demonstrate Thorin in the throes of sexual ecstasy are actually taken from the scene where he’s been (near-)fatally wounded.
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Next, looking at this interview again — look at Armitage around 0:46 or so, when he explains that he will show you how to deal with your AK-47. (These good folks have identified all the weapons used in series 1 of Strike Back and don’t list an AK-47, but I understand him to be using a shorthand term here for “automatic rifle.” Or maybe they used an AK-47 for rehearsals. I do wonder how many of these guns Armitage & Co. had to learn how to clean and reassemble.)
Anyway, sorry for that little digression; look at Armitage around 0:46 or so. “Put it on the table and I will show you.” That is a somewhat unusual demeanor for him, when he’s being him and not a character. It’s going to be interesting to evaluate all of these Strike Back snippets together when the Cinemax broadcast has ended, and see what we can take away from them.
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Longer-locked Armitage, The Hobbit live fan event, New York City, November 4, 2013. My cap.
And finally — considering his statement in the Esquire article / interview / photoshoot that appeared this week about getting recognized if he wears Lucas’ costume in London (Esquire [UK], December 2013)– I wonder if one reason for the long hair is that it doesn’t look anyone he’s played since 2008. In other words, are the locks part of Richard Armitage’s urban disguise?
Me + Richard Armitage 
It must be about the partially closed eyes and the open mouth. Right? I like the hair theory, it makes me smile to think he’s trying to disguise himself in nape curls and blow outs. 😉
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That’s a very interesting suggestion, CarlyQ. I like that idea, it doesn’t explain the weight loss. 😦 I’m still hanging on to the idea that it is for a new role 😉
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You could be on to something there with the hair. And I just thought he might realize that it does make him look younger as well. Perhaps they just gave them an AK-47 to learn how to field strip and that is why he mentions it specifically. I suppose it is something you don’t forget how to do once you have learned it especially if they have you doing it over and over so it feels comfortable and that is a good way to get you comfortable with having a gun in your hands a lot.
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random for the fandom — works for me. Don’t know about the rifle thing. I think people like the wounded almost dead image of Thorin as sexy because he is lying down, mouth open (gasping for air after much passion} and kind of smiling, well not grimacing in pain anyway. He looks good from that angle, seen from above, looking down at one pleasantly tired hot dwarf. Of course, you have to ignore the armor and everything else, but the face out of context could be satisfied Thorin. The hair theory sounds really good. Wish I had thought of it. Maybe the stubble helps as well. Although I would hope that would not fool any of us for a minute.
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I don’t think it would fool us — that said, Armitage has many fans who are not anything like as dedicated as we are, among of the millions of people who watched and enjoyed Spooks on TV and would probably go up to him if they saw him and say, hey, Lucas North! Can I have a picture?
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Love this site
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Thanks for the comment and welcome.
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As long as I’ve seen a movie or TV show and know the scenes, I’ve always had a difficult time taking images out of context, including the image of Thorin above. No matter how vivid anyone’s description is what could be happening (sex or whatever) I only see what I’ve seen. The same goes for images of Porter that I see used out of context all the time – of him tied up or gagged or naked. Guess what works for others just doesn’t apply to me – topless or naked Porter or a heaving Thorin on the ground. But then I have such a vivid imagination that I probably don’t need additional help LOL
In Strike Back, Season 1, they were using AK-Kalashnikovs, according to RA in the special features, and it was also mentioned by David Harewood, who played Colonel Tshuma in the 2nd story, as well as Olly Steele, the set armorer as what the Iraqis used in the first episode.
And since they had to get used to all the guns used in the show, including the M4, which was used by RA in the first episode, then the AK47 would have been among the guns he’d have been taught how to disassemble and assemble.
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The post that is linked impressed me as the work of someone who knows what they are talking about and cares about getting it right. Can you identify a gun that’s used in SB 1, that’s not indexed in that linked post, that’s a Kalashnikov? If so, you should let the authors of the post know. If not, Armitage and Harewood were either mistaken, or footage was shot that did not make it into the show. I know a lot of people say “AK-47” when they mean “automatic rifle,” and perhaps they were told they were using an “AK-47,” but I agree with the authors of that post.
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The link that you have in your post takes me to the same Youtube Strike Back Origins feature with RA saying he can still strip an AK47 and put it back together.
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They identify it as an AKMS, but it belongs to the same family as the Kalashnikov. It was manufactured with improvements from the original AK-47 but with most people, AK-47 is a more commonly used term, and armorers do use that term with the public more, especially with non-gun users – like actors or me, who can shoot one but heavens forbid don’t ask me to strip it and clean it LOL
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OK, so what I said. They were using the term as shorthand for what it was.
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Yup, just what you said. I just didn’t see the correctly linked post and assumed (slightly) differently. But those guys do know what they’re talking about – that page is like nirvana for gun-lovers, and writers 🙂
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I don’t ever write about guns (my last experience with a gun was so decisively unpleasant that I’ll never touch one again) but I do think they are interesting machines and I have to lecture about them and their manufacture and use a lot (though usually not in the 21st century). Mostly, however, I just like any indices of incredibly detailed information created by people who care a lot. I’ve used this page before to identify a gun for one of Armitage’s roles (they do Spooks, too) and it’s never steered me wrong as far as I could tell.
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As to your question whether the gun was a Kalashnikov, just a little side note – AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, with the Kalashnikova named after Mikhael Kalashnikova who invented it.
It was widely manufactured and improved upon that maybe it’s why people use the term “AK-47” to mean “automatic rifle.”
Random useless information but when you’ve lived with a West Point graduate whose gun cabinet is an ever-present entity in your house (of which combination he never gave to me, darn it), I guess some things do stay with you 🙂
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OK, so when he said AK-47 he was wrong and when he said Kalashnikov he was right. I can play know it all just as well as you, I’ve had years of experience and do it for a living.
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It seems now that I was wrong to take the question mark after the word Kalashnikov in your first reply to my comment so flippantly and further add to it with my useless random information about where the term AK came from. I did not do that to play know-it-all, or to prove anything else with you, merely to answer what I assumed to be a question that I felt I did not answer. I also try my best not to play know-it-all even if it seems that I do. In the absence of emoticons in your response, I’m going to take it as it is, and no longer wish to address the issue of guns, rifles, knowing it all, or even RA. It was an interesting post that I felt would have benefited from a little useless input from me but it seems I was wrong and you are right. Let’s end it there.
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You’re blocked now, because you’ve been doing this for weeks. You are one of the people who consistently manage to spoil my enjoyment of my own comments section.
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It seems to me that his hair isn’t any longer now than when we first saw the nape curls in LA last month. If he was growing it for a role wouldn’t it be longer by now? I was hanging out for it being for Poldark but now I am wondering if is just RA’s choice so the theory it is just to look less like his characters works for me.
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I was also wondering re Poldark. I don.t think that casting has begun in the Uk as yet so there is still hope that he take on the role of Ross Poldark.
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I think he’s been letting it grow, but getting it trimmed periodically.
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Re 0:46, it looks like this promotion is different for him. Also, it’s a piece of the puzzle that’s been happening lately.
Re Thorin, I guess people are working with what’s available 🙂 It doesn’t quite work for me – I can’t un-see Azog. But boy, does Thorin stir imagination…
Re hair, he may have forgotten about a certain dark knight but we haven’t! 😀
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yeah, although Guy had bangs. I know people have been saying he looks like Guy but he doesn’t to me.
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1. Pleasure and pain are very close together.
2. Boys will be boys. Cowboys and indians never gets old.
3. Not dyeing his hair might be more successful.
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Agree on all 3.
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I think the shot of Thorin listening to Bilbo in the cave just before they fall into Goblintown is sexier and looks like he’d devour you in an instant.*cough* AK-47s were cheaper to make, lighter and easier to field strip in desert conditions…that’s why you see characters picking them up out of the sand shaking them off and shooting 100 rounds…plus there really are a surplus of them everywhere in RL…
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Again — can you identify a gun that’s not in the linked post? If so, you should let them know.
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Nice screen cap. It’s remarkable the difference in the way he looks in screen caps of the event taken when he was answering his question and the photos taken of him when he was off camera. I’d be surprised if he is really recognized in NYC, no matter what clothes he wears. He does look younger with the longer hair.
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What you say about how at 0:46 this doesn’t seem much like Richard (imo more like Porter) talking, I agree. I would still like to see him do it.
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I apologize — I see the link was wrong. This is the catalog of weapons used in Strike Back series 1:
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Strike_Back_-_Season_1
There are also pages for the later seasons. Will fix.
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Comments closed. I thought we could have fun, but someone had to ruin it.
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