Richard Armitage tangentially related (birthday edition 2018)
Armitage’s birthday:
- Results of Guylty’s charity auction.
- Armitage gets a notice in the (London) Times. Picture above. Thanks to Christine for the photo.
- And congratulations from (ungrammatical) LAMDA, Cybersmile, and Ms Mimimimimi.
Past projects:
- (Ocean’s 8): On a list of “things summer 2018 taught us.” Huh. You don’t say. I feel like Hollywood needs to be taught this about every ten minutes or so.
- (Ocean’s 8): Makes list of “best girl gangs of the summer.”
- (Ocean’s 8): Forbes‘ summer box office retrospective, now citing $289M global sales.
- (Ocean’s 8): Speculation that the film could be nominated in the Oscars’ new “popular film” category.
- (Brain on Fire): Makes a list of films in a growing “don’t trust doctors” trend (but seems not to know this is based on a true story).
Collateral attractions:
- Mat Khal had linked to a few Love, Love, Love opening pictures at Getty, and I realized that Sarah Paulson was prominently featured in the arrivals. We’d speculated about the bearing of Through the Looking Glass (Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway) on Armitage’s casting in Ocean’s 8, but Paulson would have seen his comedy as well. Hmmm.
- Armitage’s LAMDA classmate, Chris Naylor, blogs on an initiative to give every auditioning actor a thumbs up or down notification. As it is many are never told they’ve not been cast. (My sympathies, as this is par for the course in a lot of academic job searches in the U.S. as well.)
Things we’ve talked about:
- We haven’t talked about this, but it’s on my mind constantly since moving back in with dad, who’s a born scavenger and a borderline hoarder: the tendency to accumulate things and what happens to them when we try to divest. I’m about to buy my first new clothes since mom’s funeral (five years), so I’m really trying to address the problem on a personal level. We’ve got a long way to go.
- Profile of Sandra Oh (Killing Eve actor).
Me + Richard Armitage 
CLOTHES!!!!!!!
Sorry, I’ll be quiet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Giving away mom’s clothes (a dozen and a half boxes, to some extent barely worn) may have scarred me for life on clothes accumulation. I haven’t had a lot of spare money the last few years but I’ve also been consciously trying to wear things out. I need some replacements now, though.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Wait until some day in the he future when you break up that house, (assuming you don’t want to stay there forever) and see what has been saved that you never even thought about because it’s been there all your life. We did my parents, which was my home, and my aunt and uncle’s across the street. They all died within less than three years. You can not imagine the number of estate sales, tag sales, donations, and trips to the landfill that occurred. Both had things still packed in boxes from moving into those houses that we’re never unpacked. There were some treasures, like my Nana’s wedding dress buried at the bottom of my mother’s hope chest, but mostly even the good things were just too many for we three combined to be able to keep. My nieces wanted hardly anything for their houses because they lead a different sort of life now. No one is polishing silver, that’s for sure. Oh, I forgot trips to sell things to the pawn shops and jewelers that buy gold and silver! The lesson is purge, and purge often. Every season seems like a good rule of thumb. You do not want the younger members of your family to end up with this job. The second lesson is to look at the old photos, and label the backs with all the names you know, because you’re the last generation that has that information in your heads. We’ve been trying to do that. Put it all together with whatever genealogy info you may have found or worked on yourself. The young ones don’t know this stuff. Those are the real treasures, not the silver, or crystal, or antiques.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I was a participant in the breakups of both of my grandparents’ households (the second one sort of became mine, as it happened just as I finished college and moved into my first apartment). Not much of that stuff was valuable but it really doesn’t matter, it’s the memories associated with it. I think the issue with dad is a really different one, i.e., he can’t bear to part with anything even though very little of it has either emotional or other values. What they share is that they were all accumulators — and I understand why; they grew up poor and then grew into prosperity and they had the space for stuff. As you say — a huge contrast to how people lead their lives now. (There was an article about this in The Atlantic recently, about how parents don’t know what to with their family silver, porcelain, etc.) We’d also run into the photo problem in the 80s, 90s, so the photos are mercifully well labeled now. The issue is more that it’s not clear who will want to look at them (at least i the short term). I knew some of my great-grandparents but the generations widened after that. Luckily there are a few extended family people who handle genealogy, etc., and we still have regular family reunions (although I rarely go).
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re are sooo funny and delightful 👏👍😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Me, or Servetus? I don’t want to claim it if you didn’t mean me, but thank you if you did. 😊
LikeLike
Oh you are and she is too ( ie Ilaria and Richard texting) and so is Zee bec
her clothes comment was what I was thinking
about too!! But I love your use of emojis and your thoughts tickle my funny bone esp talking
about Guy and handcuffs 🤣😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ohhh, if we ladies can’t have fun with friends met due to Richard, I don’t know we can. 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
On the miscellaneous items:
It’s ironic the two men would share a birthday. That was nice of LAMDA. When Chris O’Dowd was doing all the shows last week for his new movie, he mentioned he went there too. Based on his age, and going at the typical age rather than waiting like Richard, they may well have been at the same time. That other woman, was she the one that wanted Chris Pine? 😂 Imagine more than half the population, who aren’t in their terns or twenties, would actually like to see movies. Plus, they still travel in groups 😂, or book clubs and the like. I remember clips of Sarah Paulson being interviewed, she did seem very enthusiastic. Don’t forget Cate Blanchett in that group of smart women who love Richard.🧝🏻♀️
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I noticed that too that Corden and Richard
share a bday!!i confess when I hit the Mimimimimi and saw It was HER my eyes rolled and and I had to put a muzzle on my
thoughts to write something snarky 😉🤔
I do hope he got to eat chocolate ice cream
yesterday on his bday…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good day for a lot of people to be born who are talented. Reg. your house, don’t stress when you start trying to clear, concentrate on one section at a time and don’t think of the whole picture ( this can drive you insane). Good luck on the clothes. I am so stuck on just jeans of different colors and T’s and some nice shirts and one or two dresses incase I need them. Also I usually buy in two colors black or red and either way I can co-ordinate. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve found with my own movies that it helps to hire a disinterested third party and delegate. We will probably do some of that. It’s also become somewhat of an issue that dad has little short term memory anymore — it’s very hard for him to remember where things are that he can’t see in front of him (and means the house often gets very cluttered).
I will definitely buy multiple of things that fit. Including all black stuff, lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I lost a lot of weight in the last year to two, I had to get all new clothes. It only made sense to limit it to a few winter colors, and a few summer colors. Life is so much easier when everything matches, and you are really able to see it all hanging there with space. It removes a whole issue of deciding. Far less stressing the way around.
LikeLike
Totally agree. It’s one less decision to have to make in a world that constantly confronts us with too many choices. I’d totally wear a burqa — not out of religious conviction or modesty but just because it would take one level of decisionmaking out of my life.
LikeLike
I was perusing tonight and noticed EPIX wished him a happy bday too👍👏
LikeLiked by 1 person
They sure did, after which a bunch of fans weighed in to say their wishes were not appropriate. (sigh)
LikeLiked by 2 people
What the ??? I mean I didn’t see at least on some public IG or Twitter accts any bday wishes from some popular name discussed here so what would these fans have to bitch about re EPIX shout out to him ? Just blows my mind..,
LikeLiked by 1 person
They felt that the image chosen (post-coital Daniel in bed, smoking) was not appropriate given its prurient nature and the fact of Armitage’s mother’s recent death.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah now I get your sigh well the post coital Daniel looked good! I didn’t even notice the cig but in all candor I’m not a fan of the smoking either and Esther smokes a lot on that show but geez EPIX’s remembering his day was nice.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So, apparently he should have taken a vow of celibacy because his mother died? Maybe a little stress relief would be good for him. I saw it, and just thought they were trying to be funny by using an old Valentine’s Day post.
LikeLiked by 3 people
It’s also not like it was last week either. I know perfectly well that you don’t get over the deaths of loved ones, not can you live in doom and gloom for the rest of your life. I don’t imagine he lost his sense of humor.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Quite right and if he did or is
celibate I’m sure there would be a long line
of women eagerly volunteering to un-celibate
him 🤣😉👏💗💗😍
LikeLiked by 3 people
So many of us would be eager to uncelibate his birthday with him. 🎉🎁🎊🤭
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hahaha I would gladly uncelibate him ANY
TIME for any occasion ANYWHERE 😍😍😍💗💗🎉🍷👏🎯🎶🐶
LikeLiked by 2 people
Amen to that as stress relief aka not the cig
LikeLiked by 2 people
I enjoyed the Sandra Oh article. Haven’t seen the show yet. It was interesting to read about creating a public persona, as we’ve talked about with Armitage “playing” that role with polish now, and how she came back to being herself. “The idea that you had to create and manage a public persona, one that could interface with the public, smile, and present well as a shiny, always-on version of herself was bewildering and taxing. ‘If you choose to step into that persona, I think it’s harder to get back to your base level to create from an authentic place. At least it did for me,’ she says.” Although, I think Armitage’s public persona to some extent protects him from being too open about things he’d rather not put out there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh for sure but I think he could project more
of his playful self Iike Leland Orser does on his Instagram without getting too personal. His
bday tweet was pretty emotional in my opinion
and I was glad there was no pic or posed
selfie with it.
I haven’t seen Sandra Ohs new show either but
I think she has garnered very good reviews and it has been renewed for S2 right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was thinking more about his interviews. He used to reveal a lot more about his personal life when he was first doing TV and magazine interviews.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh sorry. But I thought he had made a rather cheeky comment about not being faithful or cheating or something like that which he then backpedalled that he thought he was talking off the record and he was dating a dancer or someone at the time during a magazine interview.. did he get personal during tv or radio interviews? I thought I saw one on YouTube where a fan got to hug him but that may have been years ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tv and magazine is what I remember. Talking about a live-in girlfriend; talking about a teenage sexual experience etc. I think there was something about a dancer, too. It was quite unguarded, and later he got more guarded.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That interview is so interesting. I have never fully believed his story about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
About the live-in girlfriend or the teenage experience? Or the dancer? (Or was that the live-in… can’t recall.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the dancer appeared separately from the one about his formative romantic / sexual experiences. I was thinking mainly about the latter. He does an interview with a reporter who’s notorious and drops a lot of detail. Then he says afterward he didn’t realize it would be included — and writes “I am completely of the opinion, that none of this helps you to believe my portrayal of a character, but the arena which I work in trades with this kind of information currency, I intend to be a spendthrift in future.” Did he mean miser instead of spendthrift? Or did he mean spendthrift? In which case his behavior didn’t really bear that out? It was either incredible naivete or he (or his agent) was crazy like a fox.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think a lot of people confuse spendthrift and thrifty. I’d assume it was naivety, myself. He always said he was a late bloomer and maybe that means too that it took him a while to figure just what he’d gotten himself into.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d agree with you if the interview had been given in 2004 or early 2005. But that interview was Fall 2006. I would think he’d have been aware by then what the interviewer was really asking as they discussed his sexual history in such (relative) detail.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Probably. But then I wonder what the point was of telling that story?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Exactly! Plus he was 35 by then not 25 and
2 years after North and South mania so really
no excuses. Maybe he wanted to break up and
this was the rather douche way of doing it although that is cringeworthy also.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup. That is the question. (which is why i say it might have been the case that someone was crazy like a fox)
LikeLiked by 3 people
To me the choice of journalist was key. The interviewer already had a reputation, and I think by that time had even been in court (she certainly was later) over falsehoods in her writing (British law being stricter there). So anything said to her could plausibly be denied as a construction of her own.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I just went back and read that article again. If he thought that long conversation was off the record, he was incredibly naive. It mentions that his girlfriend (that he’s about to go meet up with) is a dancer and that he’s not sure if he’s in love or not. And that it’s hard to stay monogamous (not that he isn’t, but that it’s hard). He talked about his first real love at boarding school. And then there’s the first sexual experience and that he didn’t even fancy her that much. Who says stuff like that? Even if it were intended to have some purpose, would you intentionally say stuff that makes you seem so insensitive? He didn’t deny saying those things, so I assume he actually did. But it’s a mystery any way you look at it. The clumsiness kind of fits my impression of him, but not the insensitivity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right Sue that’s how I took it too like he came across like a cad in that interview and that was
couple of years after North and South plus he was well into his 30s. Maybe he was (is) somewhat naive (join the party dude) but still
And then there was the interview I think in 2010
in a magazine where he had just broken up
with a girlfriend when the interviewer asked about his love life and he said he was single girlfriend has just moved out but wanted children. I think that was the same interview about the DIY stuff and gardening. But I get it is hard.. if he says a little bit it can speed ball into more if he says nothing then it
makes it more interesting and him more intriguing at least for me that is the case.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe she plies him with red wine to loosen his tongue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha just like Marlise I’m sure she says here Richard have some Pinot noir so you’ll let me
touch and flirt incessantly w you as my hubby
films us!!😱😆😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think any Pinot was involved in those interviews. I actually like the first one — they both seemed to be having a lot of fun (and drinking water 😊). The second one was unbelievably boring (tea). The Crucible stage door was okay, I thought. The BS S2 was not well-thought-out and silly in that she was talking about the sex scenes in S1 and he seemed very confused by her questions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sue, I did see the tea interview on YouTube where she gave him the Hallmark ornament of Thorin and he gave her a weird look. I will
have to look up the BS2 interview have not seen that but now I’m definitely interested and the Crucible one is that one on YouTube? I’m also
I was kidding about the Pinot noir but she was
touchy feeling w him but I thought when they
raced the chairs that was cute and I think her
daughter popped in there too right? I don’t have anything against her I think he could mindfuck her to death and she would think he was being charming.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yeah, pretty sure the Crucible one and the BS2 one are on YouTube. I know you were joking. I know a lot of people did not like the Marlise interviews. I did enjoy the first one and I thought he seemed to be having a great time. Sometimes how those things go, I think, depends on his mood on the day. Sometimes he’s feeling playful and sometimes not.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sue, so I did view the BS and I mean Marlise is
cute and silly and it’s sweet how she fawns all over him I would too! She’s a hugger and he seemed compliant probably bec he knew her but she was clueless about BS and she just dove in and asked him a sex question. What
professional reporter or journalist would do that even an entertainment one? I haven’t found the Crucible one yet.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Her style is definitely more fan-like than journalist-like. This is the Crucible video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kPplreRWIbQ
LikeLiked by 2 people
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re so sweet! 👏👍
LikeLike
Ok so the Crucible one is sweet I think, she gives a backstage pass and in her own fawning way (“let’s buy the poster where he is undressed”) I think she does a good job. She made me wish I was there to see the play never mind to see Richard in character and at the Stage Door. I think he looked more than surprised maybe not quite shocked to see her there camera and all (like she had not given him advance warning she was on the prowl) and of course her coming in full throttle for the bear hug. It looked like at one point he cheeked kissed someone right before he ran into Marlise but I’m not sure? I cannot imagine her as a cruise singer or director-she seems a little spacey to me with the hair extensions and boobs hanging out but my impression over all is admirer and maybe celebrity seeker and in all honesty it made me want to peruse some of her other YT clips not just on Richard.
LikeLike
she wouldn’t notice when he was being ironic / sarcastic — I think that’s right. Some of that is American obliviousness to the British habit, and some of it is her general cluelessness about interviewing.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha yes I think more the latter than the former
but I think she’s harmless and she’s got a great gig to have that type of access multiple times to him and maybe she’s just a flirty person in general. I’d be a nervous wreck esp
those blue eyes staring at me and I may not
have picked up on any cheekiness or sarcasm on his part either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not sure that it really pays. The Anglophile Channel was sort of her second career. She was originally a cruise ship performer (with her husband), and she started the YT channel (which encompasses a lot more than Armitage). But I’ve never been sure that it actually turns a profit, although who knows. I think she is harmless, but in 2014 she very much had the idea she was going to become the mouthpiece of fans to Richard Armitage. So I stopped seeing her as just a weird person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“plied” I mean.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think it was a very awkward attempt to create a sexual history (that didn’t exist in the form in which it was narrated).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Awkward regardless of the reason. It definitely put some sort of history on record.
LikeLike
Yeah. Fans didn’t really like the interview (for various reasons), and then when it became clear that maybe not everything in the interview was literally true, some became angry not about the content but about the possibility that it wasn’t all true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was just thinking today that it would be interesting to see what the fans reactions were, but I suppose there isn’t really the internet record from so long ago.
LikeLike
You can search C19 and Armitage Army. I would maybe start with the name of the interviewer. I know C19 doesn’t delete anything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea. (Now… what was my login… hmm.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe he felt misled or deceived plus if you are quoted saying you’re not really a faithful guy and you had a live in girlfriend imagine what the girlfriend thought reading that or someone pointing that out to her ., I mean thanks Richard for shitting all over our relationship. I cringed when I read that article. He was smart to shut down/ wall up after that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Assuming he even had a girlfriend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought exactly that was a really interesting thing to say — and I know what she means in terms of my writing, how the perception of me affects what I end up saying. It’s a real problem in a situation where you’re supposed to “sell yourself.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s interesting even in terms of blogging, now that I think more about it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, and one thing I’ve learned is that people tend to have a fairly fixed picture of who the blogger is. I’ve changed a lot in the period I’ve been blogging — and some of the changes that came through on the blog were really problematic for some readers. Other changes haven’t made it onto the blog (yet).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Intriguing. Not surprising to have a lot of changes over that length of time, though.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yeah. Death of a parent, three job changes, and now middle age / menopause is striking. Apart from anything I might feel about Armitage / way I might react to him.
LikeLiked by 2 people
oh — and three different geographical locations.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And one of them being a move to the parental home as an adult would have to have had some impact, I would think.
LikeLike
Indeed. And now three months of stroke rehab.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If we don’t change, and hopefully grow over a period of time, particularly at a certain point in life, than we have learned nothing. We have to both loosen, and consolidate our views and the way we hope to go forward. Anyone that doesn’t like it, doesn’t have to stick around.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Jane, such a good point! I’ve read past posts starting in 2010 and the comments w most of the posts and I like how views and perspectives have evolved and changed over that period. With all the turmoil apparently in 2014 esp on some of the comments I would not have fit in or commented bec some of those commenters were just mean in my opinion. My jaw was dropped open at some of what the commenters wrote the meanness plus 2013/14 was bad personally for me..,
I think I lost my point in all of that Jane sorry!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😂 That certain point in life strikes again. It’s okay, I get where you were going.
LikeLike
2013 was pretty bad. And the thing is that the worst pieces of it didn’t even make it onto this blog (due to my comments policy). It was waning by 2014.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In general, people who get Armitagemania stick around for about two years — eighteen months of intense experience and then a bit while they fade away. So I’m really grateful for the people who have “hung out” here for years, not just because they share my interests but because it means some affinities have developed beyond the fandom.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You have a wonderful blog
You keep things fresh and relevant and you are very honest and those are qualities that are immeasurable. 👍👏
LikeLike
A fan who’s since left the fandom once drew a distinction for me between “private” and “secretive,” putting Armitage increasingly into the second category. I do think he benefits the less is known about him. The other thing is that he’s just not Hiddleston or (on a lesser scale) Orser — he just doesn’t seem to have that capacity to be playful on a personal level for large audiences.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Unless he’s in just the right mood to do so. He’s better at it when he’s with BS friends than at other times. They are so good at it, and he seems so at home with them that I think he loosens up a great deal, and enjoys himself more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve said this before on Guylty’s blog but I really wish he would hang out w Orser more who just embraces everything good naturedly although he is playful and can mindfuck I’m sure w the best of them. He’s got a pic w himself and Richard Jenkins and they look like they just rolled out of bed threw on clothes and jetted off to Wherever, but they look relatable and like they were having a blast! I think Richard needs more of that and less of other stuff..,
LikeLiked by 1 person
As I said, he does loosen up when he’s with BS friends, but an introvert can only do so much. He needs to feel safe to open up. Inevitably, some will jump on him for whatever he says, and they do exactly the opposite of what they’re hoping for. They drive him back underground. It happens everytime he opens up more.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes quite right and when has he opened up lately? Maybe on the French interviews for BS in France earlier this year or how was he at NIFF? He probably won’t open up about dating or anybody special and who could blame him…
LikeLiked by 1 person
yeah — but it’s never really casual. It’s like he decides that is who is going to be that day.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe that’s what he means by moody
LikeLiked by 2 people
He is British, underneath being an introvert. The sense of humor and general demeanor are just not as casual or boisterous as Americans’. Another reason he needs to spend a couple more weeks snogging Dawn French, and laughing. She’s looser than most. It would be great for him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! Dawn would be a wonderful person for him to hang out with!! Maybe even Cate Blanchett bec I think she would call him out and maybe Sarah Paulson bec she seems so grounded and down to earth. Who else can we think of?🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anne would probably work in a rom-com. They probably had a lot of fun filming those scenes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I agree I thought about Anne also
I think Helena is a lot like him but maybe that
would work collaborating in a romcom. But for sure he needs to do a romcom !!
LikeLike
I don’t really see Helena in a rom-com.
LikeLike
it would be hard to find believable.
LikeLiked by 1 person