Tomorrow (May 9th) is my 2 year anniversary for this blog. time flies when you’re having fun! knowing that my anniversary was approaching, I wanted to do something special to celebrate. I was tossing around ideas today, in order to post tomorrow for the actual day, when I unexpectedly fell into a Love Day.
The term “Love Day” is one I stole from an old fan-fiction but basically it’s when you suddenly feel very schmoopy towards your loved one and your heart just wants to burst with the lovey-dovey feelings. so the “something special” is coming to you a day early. it’s nothing extravagant, just a simple slide-show with some of my favorite pics of Richard. as always, I’m including background music. it’s a song that has always held personal meaning to me in relation to Richard, it’s kind of like my RA theme song.
(the link will take you to the song on YouTube, in a separate window, so you can play it in the background while viewing the slideshow here. there’s a quiet point in the song when you think it’s over, but it’s not, so just keep looking at Richard…)
North & South weekend, when everyone tells their own stories of what viewing North & South for the first time meant to them and how it launched them straight into a fascination with Richard Armitage. Lovely, lovely stories, all of them. but I didn’t come to Richard Armitage through North & South, that honor goes to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey instead. and although I greatly enjoyed North & South, once I finally got around to viewing it, it didn’t have a significant impact on my life. This often leaves me wondering how much those small differences have to do with the way I view things in relation to Richard, the choices he makes, and the reactions to them.
In large part, that is why I avoided viewing North & South for so long (5 months is an eternity in obsessive fangirl reckoning!). The hype was so strong…it scared me. What if I didn’t think Richard as John Thornton was all that? I hadn’t been disappointed so far with the likes of Thorin, Harry, Lucas, Porter, Mulligan, and Andrews but what if this was the one to dull the shine? and if I didn’t think North & South was anything to write home about, just another period piece with another misunderstood Darcy, how would that reflect upon my growing relations with the fans who absolutely adored it? So much pressure! It was the role that launched the fandom, after all.
who is Harry Kennedy and what is a “sweater”?
It all worked out in the end, of course. Viewing “the kiss” on youtube before I watched the actual series is what finally prompted me to give in. That kiss was… I think “holy f*ck” were my exact words upon my first viewing! I had never seen, and have yet to see, a better kiss onscreen e-v-e-r. My impression up until that point, not having viewed the series itself, was that the story was a classic denial piece, full of stubbornness, misunderstandings, and UST (unresolved sexual tension); so basically every dime-store romance novel ever written. Prideful, outspoken female characters get under my skin (the one I see in the mirror each morning is hard enough to handle…). I won’t say my assumptions were entirely wrong but there was a vulnerability on screen that softened the harshness.
actions speak louder than words
My people, working class coal miners and steel workers, came from the same stock as the workers in Milton. Some even from the North of England itself. My childhood was full of company strikes and Scabs and the devastation it brings to a community when it’s main places of employment shut down. different from the time period that North & South was set in but similar enough to make an impression on me (Ewan McGregor’s “Brassed Off” is a movie that touches me deeply in this regard). now, because of John Thornton, I was empathizing with Management (my Union loyal family will disown me!)
it’s the least you can do
So I’m not saying that North & South leaves me unaffected, it was just never a turning point in my “fan path” the way it has been for so many others. I’m kind of envious, in a way. To be struck by lightening from one project, one performance alone, must be a powerful thing. These things tend to come to me more softly, they rattle around my subconscious and tap on my shoulder, until the day that I finally decide to acknowledge them. When I do, they’re already there to stay. That’s what my discovery of Richard was like. One day I had never heard of him or seen those piercing eyes, and then I had. There were a few weeks in between where I tried to put him on the back burner and convince myself that he couldn’t be any different from the others. but he sat there and simmered…and smoldered…and without really realizing what I was doing, I started to research him; slowly, then obsessively. and once he came into focus, it felt like he had always been there.
In a way, I guess that’s how John Thornton is for me too. He’s the face of this fandom, the founder, if you will. You can’t be a Richard Armitage fan without at least being aware of Mr. Thornton. So although it wasn’t because of him that I joined this fandom, and it took awhile before I even “met” him, I felt like he was always there. watching. Thank You for stalking me Mr. Thornton, no good deed goes unpunished…
Friday is my 1 year blogiversary. I’ve been blogging, at least twice a week-sometimes more- about Richard Armitage, for a whole year. Wow. That needs to sink in. In thinking about the past year, how I discovered Richard and why I started this blog, etc. I became a bit nostalgic and my heart came pouring out of the pen, without any permission from me! So unruly sometimes, those thoughts and feelings. They wrote a poem.
I wrote a poem about Richard Armitage.
I think it’s safe to say that I’m in this thing at a level I’ve never been before.
There seem to be a lot of milestones being celebrated in our Richard Armitage blogging world lately.
I just watched this gif for a full minute without blinking
I don’t pay much attention to my own milestones. When I make a post, WordPress tells me how many I’ve made so far (this will be 34) but that’s usually as far as it goes for me. Tracking the days, months, hits, etc. tends to make me jittery, so I don’t do it very often.
what if no one reads this? what if too many read this?
I decided to take a peek though, and saw that it’s been three months since I started this blog; roughly eight months since I became fascinated with Richard Armitage.
The blogging seems longer to me, while the fangirling seems shorter. (we’re currently 3-4 months into my fan path)
“ruined” is such a negative term
While peeking at my fan path outline… yes, I have an outline for this blog
this kind of Genius takes planning!
I noticed that the Richard Armitage 30 Day Challenge was close at hand. So I thought, why not start it on my three month anniversary? I’m going to try to follow the actual 30 day set-up this time, unlike theA-Z Challenge, where I’m still slowly trudging along.
F is for Fail
I’ll still try to keep to my weekly two posts, this will be in addition to those…that’s a lot of blogging! Wish me Luck!
Richard Armitage 30 day challenge
1.) Q: The first role you saw him in
A: The Hobbit
The Hobbit is how I first discovered Richard Armitage, though I realized later that I had actually seen him in Captain America first. While Heinz is somewhat forgettable, Thorin is definitely not!
His presence intrigued me, while those eyes and that penetrating stare captivated me.
The moment that door opens to him in Bag End…
it sweeps my legs out from under me and carries me headlong into the story. every time.
Nowhere in Particular RA 