Richard Armitage tangentially related
From this morning:
Another on the list of “things I’d like to write about” topics. Sigh. I think the theme of this post will be “frustrated blogger.”
Current projects:
- This one bemused me: Armitage makes a journal of how someone who shares a joint annual income of $164,000 in Austin spends her time. (I guess he’s affordable.) Before you get too snarky, Austin is insanely expensive for what it is. $164k probably qualifies as the upper end of lower middle class there. It was one of my constant complaints about living there that university people were constantly priced out of the market for everything.
- (The Stranger): ICYMI: Armitage’s tweet and the Daily Mail article this week.
- (A Nearly Normal Family): Teasers here. Armitage wants it to be TV, but he pretty much wants all live action, all the time, no?
- (Wolverine: The Lost Trail): If you didn’t listen on Stitcher Premium, the show will be available on all major platforms July 8. AV Club got around to recommending them this week.
- (Castlevania): Original game story writer Koi Igurashi says he’d like to write at least two more stories. Alucard is getting one more toy: a resign bust (I’d buy that for Trevor, hint, hint). There is Trevor Belmont cosplay (wish there’d been a picture). A new commentary on the Netflix adaptation. And another “best of” list.
- (The Lodge): A cultural commentator roots the film in torture porn and French New Extremism (this would unsettle me if I hadn’t read CsProf’s review). A stray (middling) review from New Orleans and a strong one. Buzz for the film at Cinepocalypse this weekend at Film School Rejects and 812 Film Reviews and Chicago Now and Bloody Disgusting and Chicago Reader.
- (David Copperfield): Armitage is one of the initial choices for Alexa streaming (which now will include 3 books per month). Loss leader? Still not enough to convince me to create this kind of privacy breach in dad’s and my life. I hope he’s making some money off of it anyway.
Past projects:
- Props for Brain on Fire.
- Ocean’s 8: Lots of reminders in various places that the film opened a year ago last weekend.
- (Berlin Station): EPIX now has an Amazon Prime channel. Paste comments briefly on Armitage’s great talent and the series’ status as unessential. The Guardian called it engaging this week.
- (The Other Queen): Armitage praises the writing.
Collateral attractions:
- Luke Evans (The Hobbit) shows some penis in Ma. Or does he?
- Detailed interview with Mindy Kaling (Ocean’s 8) in conjunction with the opening of Late Night.
- Totally missed it but two weeks ago Dean (The Hobbit) and Sarah O’Gorman’s daughter appeared.
- I had mentioned it earlier but forgot to look for it until viewing #16; Mark Atkin (The Hobbit) is in Rocketman. He’s the guy who tries to steal the beer in the pub scene. And I guess maybe he stunt doubled Taran Egerton? Cute picture.
- Ian McKellen posted this interesting throwback interview with Dick Cavett, about stage vs film acting, on his FB page. Really made me think about Armitage and his tongue / lip issues.
Things Armitage has said:
- Twelve Best Performances on Black Mirror.
- re: discussion of same-sex parents in families in English schools — I loved this response about the current debate from a same-sex parent. Indeed, it’s not like heterosexuality is really such a picnic. I still want to write about this but who knows, now.
Industry issues:
- Plenty of talk this week about the podcast question. What does Netflix want from it and what is the BBC looking for (makes reference to Armitage)?
- Say to myself every time I am frustrated with Armitage’s roles: he’s one of the 1-2 percent.
Things we’ve talked about:
- Apparently there are more casting calls out for villains for the Matt Reeves Batman film. And now Comics Beat takes up the refrain for Armitage as Penguin.
- Marvel may be teasing a new Wolverine comic — not a film.
- In the wake of all the fake videos and the appearance of deepfakes, the excuse that social media are merely platforms is becoming less tenable (this article made me think of way back when, when we argued about whether contrary-to-fact manips were acceptable or not).
- There’s going to be a Jane Eyre ballet.
- Streaming has made TV shows too long.
- On people who have reading lists, do reading challenges, etc. Apparently we get more read?
- Remember when Armitage admitted he was in discussion for involvement in Fast and Furious (at 2:17)? John Cena joined the franchise recently.
- Celebrity worship in the eighteenth century (i.e., 1700s).
- Cord-cutting is turning out to cost about as much as cable did.
- Fandom’s consumerism problem. And: is “toxic fandom” the greatest problem facing pop culture at the moment?
- What made beards so popular? (the answer is depressing).
Just for me:
- Why Rocketman‘s “liberties” work although Bohemian Rhapsody‘s did not. Another thing I want to blog about. Also, Elton John defends the decision to accept the R-rating in light of the portrayal of the gay themes.
[Just as a footnote: the format of these info posts is probably going to need to change (I am not certain how yet). No, I’m not closing up shop but I’m increasingly aware that I’m going to have to make some changes.]
Me + Richard Armitage 
#1. I hope you are doing well (or as well as can be) and from across the country wishing you strength.
What is with that face angle? Is it face tune? How he really looks from below? ( I volunteer as tribute to find out lol). He looks like Gaston from Beauty and The Beast cartoon. No thank you.
Cord cutting is definitely getting as expensive as cable, everyone has their own service now, but it’s worth it not to deal with the archaic cable company. You don’t have to sign contacts and pay disconnect fees. I just cancel mine when the show I like is over i.e Star Trek Discovery.
I just looked at Dean O’Gorman’s ig. I like his social media “voice”.
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O’Gorman — I think it’s gotten a lot better. Or maybe I just really didn’t like the pseudo-war photography. But these pictures with his daughter are v. cute and I’m not someone who gushes over babies in the least.
Cord-cutting: I’ve been trying to make this clear to dad (I successfully reduced our cable bill by $50 this week) — he would have to learn a whole new system and we wouldn’t be saving that much. I’m really starting to think we should stick with what we have just because he is familiar with it and knows how to troubleshoot it.
Face angle — I think it’s that he has an unusual (almond-shaped) jaw that looks weird from that angle. But while you are there, would you mind checking to see if his beard hairs grow in an orderly pattern or if they are sort of all over the place?
Thanks for the good wishes. I’m going to update about the family situation tomorrow night, I think, but we all survived the week and have a plan in place for at least to the fall that I am satisfied with.
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As some of you may know, I am an avid audio book listener. It’s what helps me get off to sleep at night and Richard’s voice is just perfect for doing so! (That’s not a criticism – rather it is a compliment.)
I joined Audible a long time ago and haven’t regretted it – so far! Most of the books in my Library are narrated by Richard and I’m always excited to see what he will be reading next. He is truly the consummate performer. Because of my monthly credit I rarely have to pay for a a book.
I am amazed to say that I am almost finished listening to “David Copperfield” for the second time. I truly surprised myself that I even wanted to, but the more I got into it the more I enjoyed it. To me it is incredible that he voiced all of these characters, some of which were just priceless. Two of them who just “tickled my funny bone” were Dora’s two Aunts – while on the other hand Uriah Heap made my flesh crawl! Honestly, Richard is truly superb with voices! How he keeps them all straight in his head I cannot begin to comprehend and is able to voice both male and female characters!
I have to admit that I don’t what you would call “enjoy” some of the books, e.g. The Hiding Place (That is the title I bought it under) A bit too creepy for me. But I have really taken to all the Joy Ellis books and have since bought all the ones she has written to read for myself and love them!!
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I think that Richard”s David Copperfield us masterpiece and sometimes want to drive through the streets with a megaphone saying so
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I understand many people feel that way, but even Richard Armitage could not get me to consume David Copperfield again. Had enough of it when I was 14.
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I don’t care for the book and haven’t listened to it, although I did buy it to be supportive — but I think there’s a difference between signing up for Audible (which allows you to determine which content and information is transferred to the seller) vs using Alexa (which records everything you say when it’s on, and transmits that information straight to Amazon where it is used for marketing purposes). This really annoys me because a voice assistant would be really useful for dad, and I end up talking about it once a month with my brother — should we get one for dad? — but we’re just not prepared for that level of privacy invasion.
That said: I wonder if one reason they chose him, even apart from his popularity, is that they don’t have to pay royalties to the author of the book.
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I too just love Richard’s David Copperfield performance. I had never read it, but I also enjoyed the writing and the story. I’ve listened to it at least twice.
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PS.. I hardly recognized Dervla with her blonde hair but she looks lovely. The boys look amazing to me as though they really were their sons!
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the kid to his right — it’s a really unnerving similarity how much their expressions, smiles, etc., looks like him.
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🙂 Je serai toujours fascinée par une longue barbe blanche et des cheveux blancs ondulés. (pseudo druides celtes en habits noirs, aux doigts couverts de bagues triskel, souvent des enseignants en retraite)
Tous ces hommes âgés qui osent ressembler au Père Noel de mon enfance, je leur sauterais bien volontiers, spontanément, au cou, qu’ils aient ou non un ventre rebondi.
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I like them too — dad just decided recently to shave off his beard and I was a little sad.
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But I am often suspicious if he rides a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle… Bad boy or not?
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I am guessing not.
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Affronter ses propres aprioris et contradictions sur la notion de genre.
– Ma fille a choisi un stage et un job d’étudiante en aquaculture de pleine mer. C’est un domaine classiquement réservé aux hommes: conduite de bâteau à moteur, pêche au filet, plongée sous-marine… Honnêtement, tous les jours, je me demande si, du haut de ses 1,50m et avec ses 48 kg, elle tient le coup.
– Aujourd’hui, toujours à la recherche d’un rosier jaune de Chine grimpant, je me suis sentie obligée de défendre un jeune employé de la jardinerie: “Botanic”. Une charmante dame (voiture décapotable noire, 24h du Mans oblige) demandait à la cantonade un volontaire pour porter le splendide pied de rosier, aux grandes fleurs roses pales , qu’elle venait d’acheter. Il était le seul représentant de la gente masculine, à l’horizon, elle le prenait en otage. J’ai précisé à la belle dame, que les femmes étaient capables de porter un rosier, elles aussi.
Le “délit de genre” existe t-il?
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I feel like it shouldn’t. At the same time, I’m acutely aware how my perception of someone else’s genre affects my interactions with them (I had several transgender students as advisees and I would always find myself thinking about the interactions afterwards. Eventually I learn not to raise my eyebrows in just about every situation, though).
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I learn too. But it could be rewarding to exchange ideas and views on any matter.
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What an interesting collection of “tangentially related”! It’s taken me a while to go through it, but I keep coming back to check it out. Often on these posts, by the time I have s chance to look at everything that interests me, it’s too late to comment. Thanks for these collections though. (If you change the format, maybe just break it into more posts?)
Thank you so much for linking to that Elton John piece in The Guardian. And I listened to Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me … amazingly reminiscent of the original and yet not an imitation. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see it soon. (We’re at my office after midnight while my son is working on the last assignment due tomorrow. Then an exam on Monday and then done!) The piece about Rocketman vs Bohemian Rhapsody is exactly why I’m not seeing BH but I will see RM.
So many interesting things… the selfie (cute, but almost looks like he’s channeling his inner David Tennant); Alexa breach (scary); Ian Mckellen (so young and very insightful) and Dick Cavett (great interviewer); podcasts (I like some but not most); actors who make a living; Richard as penguin?; social media as only a platform (I heard a radio piece on how social media companies were not just monitoring and acting on behaviour, but if you think about it they’re actually changing our behaviour by feeding us in deliberate directions – scary like Alexa); 1700’s celeb worship; and beards! I love beards, but that’s a surprising reason for beard growth! And I don’t really like the massive beards that are now appearing. Hope Richard doesn’t grow one of those!
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I really don’t know what to do. I don’t have any more time than I have (although I noticed just int he last week how tired I am all the time). I hope the very last bit of high school goes well for you (both).
I’ve gotta write about Rocketman. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite musical moment from the film but “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” might be one of them. (It’s still going full bore in our cinemas so I will probably see it again this weekend at least once.)
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While I do find these posts really interesting because you come across so many things that I don’t see, I totally understand if you have to change it up or stop these posts. I remember you said you wanted to change the blog format and/or direction. But who has time to think and plan something different?
I might try to see Rocketman this fin de semaine.
I’m waiting to hear if my son got his assignment in on time. Last night and this morning were stressful. I’m now operating on 4 hours sleep and I had important meetings this morning, trying to text him in between. Almost over.
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well, I meant mainly the “tangentially related” posts, but I have been thinking about other stuff as well. (Actually some of it has been on my mind back to 2016. I moved back in part for less stress but that didn’t actually happen, even at the beginning.) This format may not be meeting my needs anymore, but I don’t know what would be better. A lot of the stuff about Armitage doesn’t really seem worthy of its own separate post.
Hope your son managed it, and that you can see the film!
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Well mainly that’s what I meant… not encouraging you to stop your blog! 😱 maybe Armitage will do a lot more UK-based productions and there’ll be more to write about.
Thanks.
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🙂 my sincere thoughts!
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