Sunday 29 December 2013

Not Only Breaking Down Walls


The 4th Wall - Or a Clear Legal Breach


As RAFrenzy opened the discussion again, but closed comments on her post "Speaking of the Fourth Wall", I want to verify, what I see as 'fair use' and what annoyes me so much about the late discussion of using fan-art and fan-fiction and breaking down the wall between actors and viewers (well-wishers or fans or just unbiased observers). May it be slash or whatever...

The private use and sharing and reading and re-reading and enjoying, may be sometimes even hating is all totally o.k. for me.

But what a journalist did by using one slash fiction, for one to humiliate actors and - what is the legally relevant breach in her action - for another to broadcast the creation without the permission of the creator, is absolutely condemmnable for me.

I know, I am a stickler for legal correctness - but beare with me, I make my living by obeying the rules and numerous regulations, not only of one country, but various. So I have to be aware of them, what the interviewer clearly was not.

So the offensive act of the interviewer not only is a breach of moral feelings and sensibilities, but it is a legal breach of the rights of an author.
And that status not only belongs to a conventially published book author, but also to a creator of fan-fiction. May it be as slashy and offensive as it likes. That does not change the fact that the author and the author alone has the right to decide what happens with his/her work. Though in case of fan-fiction and the use of creations of others, it quite automatically involves further rights which need to be obtained before a public broadcasting can be granted!
And publishing it publicly in any other form thant the author him/herself did, like in an interview, needs permission!

That and that alone is the offensive part for me in the whole affair.
I am almost certain actors are already aware that the fantasy of their fans is rather unlimited.

So sometimes they reach out through the so-called 4th wall and try to direct the perception, the interpretation or just make a nice impression on fans (or as we learned by one of those breaches of the 4th wall by Richard Armitage, to call them 'well-wishers').

Now, lets see what the new year 2014 will bring regarding new uproars and upheavals in fandom (well-wisherdom).

Have a happy, healthy and successful new year 2014
and enjoy every minute of it !!!
Source: http://www.glitter-graphics.com/



Friday 29 November 2013

Silent Auction by AgzyM Begins Today





Today the charity event initiated by fellow blogger AgzyM begins!

Don't forget to participate !!!




Saturday 23 November 2013

A Personal Insight Defiled



You know I don't grab for attention and so I won't link to the interview my post refers to, nor any of the comments and posts answering and interpreting and ... it.

I don't want the attention a direct link to it might bring, nor do I appreciate major parts of the discussion which followed the interview.
Though I am aware that my post, rather than letting the topic rest, once again puts up a clear opinion and view of the world and the statements RA made in his interview.
If you can't bear my open statement of my opinion, stay away from the freedom of opinion and don't read my post.



Wer sich in Gefahr begibt, kommt darin um.
(Who willingly encounters / searches danger, dies therin.)

I am not sure if in the translation the ambiguity of the German proverb still is as present as in the original, while even in Germany, most people no longer can apply the proverb correctly or see its whole meaning.
The interpretation possibilities are manifold, though the sentence itself looks rather self explanatory and straight forward, but it is not all as it may seem or as clear an advice for action / none-action as one might read into it.

The connection, why this proverb came up in my mind while thinking about RA, was the whole discussion about RA's interview and his position about weapon possession.

While RA's position is exactly what I would have expected of every well educated and sensible European, it lead to heavy discussions in the fandom.

I know about the background of U.S. legislation, the 'oldest' democracy - and according to that, the first test ground of democracy, while other countries and forms of constitution already had samples and could select what they found re-usable and fit to be copied.
So I don't need a reminder or hint that Europeans just don't see the special situation and necessities of the U.S. (It is rather a well established way of not caring about the specifics of other countries and expecting the same from them in return. I continuously encountered that attitude while visiting the U.S.A. but fortunately also found some very interesting exceptions to that rule.)

Still, the fan-debate - though I followed only very (!) loosely (for reasons of self-preservation. I just hate to explode about things I can't change.) - astonished me in its fierceness, when in my opinion and European world view, it should be common ground to try to live and establish a better future from an obviously not well working out past and present.

Europe has a history where people slaughtered one's neighbours for the least of reasons. The only way to live together in some kind of peace in such a densely populated area is, to set the hurdle to kill as high as possible.
So I am deeply in favour of our strict weapons legislation we have here in Germany.
Everyone who possesses a weapon, but should not, commits an immediately punishable crime.

Whoever can possess a weapon, e.g. for reasons of job (hunters, police forces, etc.), hobby (sport, hunt), is constantly checked and controlled: Mentally, ability (weapons training) and security (safe keeping of the weapons, separated from the ammunition and especially unavailable for children).
Every breach means the loss of all weapons and enables the police to enforce the prosecution.

Clear, clean and secure for all involved.


I myself did shoot and was even asked to join a sports club of shooters in my youth. But while I enjoy shooting at fairs and as teen was allowed to use the air rifle of my uncle to learn how it works,  I was more interested in the mechanics than the shooting itself, though it is nice if you exactly hit your intended target.

Still, I am very much against weapons. I even broke the connection to the first boyfriend interested in a closer relationship, because he worked in a weapons factory (Not just guns, but a bit more heavy and sophisticated killing machinery.) and thought nothing of it.
They paid their employees extraordinary salaries to forget about their morals and provided exceptional additional educational and work possibilities.

In weapons lies money, big money.

So the two things I detest most and are up to no good, come together here to build an unhealthy union.

To allow everyone to have a weapon just is like trying to extinguish the devil with Beelzebub. (Another German proverb: Den Teufel mit dem Beelzebub austreiben.)

It won't work, ever.
Or can you imagine me with a pistol trying to defend myself against professional killers?
Think again, if you ever want to reason with me that this is a sensible way of defence, except you think the killers will fall over dying on their own laughter over seeing me thinking that I have a chance that way.

Though I even know where a sharpshooter needs to place an exact killing shot or where a shot is more likely to kill, ache, heal or simmer and lead to cruel death or amputation.
Curious, how my mind works. But that knowledge interests me far more than wanting to possess a weapon and actually shoot.

How many people in possession or able to get hold of a weapon do you think also know those facts? How many do you think are even interested or even able to direct and execute their shots in such an exact way?

The professionals need to learn those things and need to train their abilities, to get their moods under control as well as get their abilities up to scratch to execute exact shots.

I am glad to live in a country where I can rely on the strict rules and training of security services to guard my safety, much better than I ever could or would like to and am grateful that they create big hurdles for anyone to possess a weapon.


Thank you, Mr. Armitage, for making this statement and hoping, as I do, for a better future and not giving up on us ungrateful and unworthy humans.


(As I don't really want to hear a single word more about this discussion, but felt it necessary to make this clear statement, comments are closed on this post. What, by the way, I never did before, as I am a fierce democrat - just not a compromise-democrat - and believe in the freedom of opinion.)

The Eternal Question: To Go or Not to Go


Slowly news and hints come out that RA might attend the European Premiere Event of "The Desolation of Smaug" in Berlin, the capital of my country, on the 9th of December 2013.

My position that I don't want to stand at a red carpet event has not changed.
And Berlin is about as available for me as would be e.g. London, or any other European town, so quite an effort and amount of time to reach it and invest into the effort.

But RA in Germany !!!

That now is something where I really would like to show my support and show that RA already has fans in Germany. (Though German reporters still avoid mentioning him in news about "The Hobbit".)

I even would have a business contact in Berlin already awaiting my visit and so I could combine pleasure and work.
But, what holds me back is:
I am currently so embedded in work that till Christmas I should rather work night and day.
If something should go awry, I am sure I will accuse myself mercilessly.

So can I - rationally thinking - convince myself to show support, spend money I shouldn't and burn time I do not have, or will sesible thoughts win the battle?
Would my bad conscience cloud my perception of the whole event in Berlin and especially taint my perception of RA? - As far as I know me, certainly! I am very good at destroying the pleasure of a situation with supposed bad conscience.

So my solution:
Creating a welcome banner for our King visiting Berlin from FanClub Munich ...
And the really wonderful thing is, I have a fellow fan in town, who might even take the banner with her on her visit to Berlin and the Premiere Event. Thank you, (You know who you are) !!!!



Tuesday 12 November 2013

Blog Anniversary of Some Kind


Though I don’t feel eligible to celebrate it – after keeping silent for so long and blogging so infrequently (for a multitude of reasons, not only work-, but also RA-related).
No – you need not worry. RA still is my one and only ;o)

I am just not so overly enthusiastic about Thorin. He depresses me. His fate depresses me and its parallels to my own life and the uncertainties regarding what is needed of one to fulfill one’s fate cause me utter despair.
To keep my mind in working order – though good working order is not what my mind currently readily accepts - I need to reduce the despair input, so to speak RA, rather Thorin.

But why I take up the pen and write a new post today is, because lately, I really would like to ask RA a question:

How did he, in his early teens, manage to convince his parents to allow him a different educational / career path than his brother?
That is something that really puzzles me and something though I might have urgently needed, did not manage at the required time. My parents were rather of the belief to keep me in line and ‘form’ me, though I was never one to step out of line and to rebel.
The only difference I had compared to my sister was, that I stayed – or was left to maintain the obligations my sister rushed into obtaining, while she lightheartedly and without remorse or causing offence or ill feelings or grudges managed to abandon, while I had to remain (to replace her) and was bound.
As this also caused me to spend much more time with making music, this was something I was not too unhappy with and for a long while thought music to be my career path.
But for that, what I only later discovered, I would have needed earlier support and guidance for my career path, which I openly declared to be my choice when I was 9 years old.

So, I come back to my question, how did RA convince his parents to support him in his chosen career so early on, when mine only saw my choice as passing fancy and my piano teacher much rather had supported my sister (who did not care for music and her talent) than me, holding the strong belief only one child in a family (and at that only the older one) would really put energy into her learning. He nearly did not take me on as a pupil at all and then only after my father (not playing the piano himself) taught me the first year and then I had to pass the teacher’s invented test to qualify.
No, certainly no help ever came from him, though my sister pressed me into his choir (as she was only allowed to join if I went along). I never had wanted to join, but then supported it for years, while my sister almost instantly left again.
The good thing for me is, that I closed the chapter of a musical career in my late years at school, when I realized the option was gone. I never delve in ‘may-have-been’ things, but rather focus on what options still are available.

Still, I am utterly curious how RA managed that essential first step of his way into the career of an actor. (And here not necessarily the official version, but the ‘real’ one.)

Crazy - Or: What I Want from RA


Today, after a long while, I once again listened to some music I had not heard for years.
The group causing a musical revolution back when they published their music – and by the way were forbidden to listen to at my school (while I put my CD into the CD-player of my choir teacher [I know neither you nor she ever expected that from me of all pupils ;o) It did go well. I was not expelled, but rather we had a wonderful discussion about Gregorian choral because of it, which I loved to sing and our choir was one of the very, very (!) few who sang them before that CD came out ;o) ]

But why I mention it here and today is, that I recognized more clearly, what I want of RA and what aspects I am not interested in.

The group doing the music was involved in a rather nasty extreme-sex-money-scandal-rumour kind of thing and later broke apart.
That did not influence my appreciation of their music one bit.
I can’t even tell you the details or specifics of the scandal back then, because I was not interested in it in the least.
Their music was wonderful and that was all I was concerned about. Their interpretation of music and Gregorian choral was unsurpassed. Even their second or third CD did not get anywhere near the quality of the first one, but perhaps the scandal already caused the quality to suffer or the extreme ... Whatever, it did not work any longer to produce quality. But all the others trying to jump onto their lead did not reach their quality either.

With RA – I know I don’t speak for other fans here – I am rather not especially interested in his private life and feel rather uncomfortable hearing too much about that. (Nothing has changed in that regard since the beginning of my fandom, though I had expected it to.)

While I am extremely sensitive that he is put into a position to be able to produce the highest quality of work I know he is able to give. So in a way, I still am interested in his surrounding, just to be certain he can work well.

Does that make any sense or is that just another sign of the crazy routs and circles my mind takes?

Sunday 29 September 2013

Anticipation Versus Torture


Rumours keep going round that a potential next role of RA might be "Poldark".
The long locks shown at the BAFTA event lately might also confirm this assumption.

So why am I sitting here - with all the anticipation around me and my constant hope for a new role - and so fiercely hoping that this role will not be his next project?

Because ...

... it might break my heart to se RA in this role.

There is a short and a long explanation to why that is so:

  • The short one,
    I hate Poldark and what he does.
    It is unfair to himself and especially to the women who love him.
    His behaviour creates an entanglement and tragedy I can't bear to watch.
  • Now to the long version as to why I don't like "Poldark":
    I was forced to watch it, by a sister absolutely smitten with the actor playing Poldark in a TV production.
    Not that she had been smitten by Poldark, but rather by James Bond. (While I did not care for both roles, but I obediently followed where my sister dragged me along. - I think I already had mentioned once that I as the younger sister was in the unlikely and somewhat strange position of 'chaperon' and my parents were relieved to send me along to watch out for my sister. - Not the best attest for a funny teenager time, but it was not very funny for me anyway. No fond memories of that time.
    I overcame my aversion for the film at least enough to bring my sister the video and book versions back from my school trip to London.)
    Not especially caring for the main actor, I did not much care for the whole production, but still I cried for the damning conditions and impossibility of returned love which the main female character had to endure.
    So, if I already cry for characters I don't like, imagine what I will do for the gripping performance RA can make. I will never ever come out of my tissues again!
That leaves me in a situation where I don't know what to do.
Not seeing RA or seeing him and not being able to stop crying and as a result not seeing him again, because I can't look through all my tears?

Now, what to do as a fan?
Hope that RA is not cast as the next Poldark
or wishing him well and just avoid seeing Poldark?

What a total emotional mess ...

Thursday 29 August 2013

King Richard III for Richard Armitage


... from a totally un-historic perspective

[This article was originally meant to be a series of 7 articles during the KingRichardArmitage Week 2013, but due to time pressure, the topic did not get the planned wider execution, but now comes condensed and shortened down to this minimal rump-post. Please excuse the wide range and only touching of an abundance of topics. I just want to put down these ideas somewhere, to keep them.]


King Richard III had so much drama in his life that it was even too much for the congenial William Shakespeare.
He needed to flatten his character into inrecognizablility to be able to bring him on the stage.

But why is that and why do I think an artist like Richard Armitage could do more and bring more aspects of the complicated life of King Richard III to a wider audience and show new aspects of an individual, so far flattened and simplified into unrecognizability by either literature and research?


My main question is, what aspects prevent King Richard III from getting a just and scientifically adequate research into his life?


  • His blood relationship to the current royal house reigning over England?
  •  His supporters giving the impression (though at closer contact mostly a false one) of manufacturing facts in their / his favour.
  • Scholars have established their position and hate to be wrong or proven wrong about something.
  • King Richard III just is such a convenient villain one need not think further about. That is much easier than to do extensive research about him.


King Richard III really was busy during his just 32 years long life. He is accused of being a:

father figure murderer - getting rid of opposition and his former tutor and fatherly friend

murderer out of envy - murdering the first husband of his later wife to make her available for himself 

brother murderer - out of greed, to gain the inheritance of his wife, to ascertain his succession into power

king murderer - to fulfill his duty towards his oldest brother King Edward IV.

murderer of Scotts - good that was war and ordered by his brother and no closer sources are available about that, but we certainly can invent some kind of case around that 

child murderer - to gain power

wife murderer - to fulfill his duty as king, to ascertain a secure bloodline and consequential peace for his country

friend murderer - to ascertain and continue in his ill-gained position as king and defeat all opposition.



We should note, that except for his wife, King Richard III was very friendly towards women and tried to avoid killing those. So, unlike Jack the Ripper, his preference clearly was on men.
That could make it a decidedly good role for Richard Armitage and his female fans ;o)

Getting rid of, ... - sorry, just read a book about a court case, where the end-consequence really lead me to feel happy that some of the men were just...
I would not have even stopped at the end and had some more candidates I would have gotten rid of as author. Unfortunately, the real author of the book did not agree with me on that and left some of the annoying men alive at the end.


But King Richard, the murderer, we already discussed in the last post as well. That is the most common interpretation of his character.

The interesting thing about King Richard III is that he has - or could be manipulated/interpreted into having - so many more character traits to make him the ideal subject for a film crew.

Just to list a few which readily came to my mind:

  • The forgiving brother / husband / son / guardian.
  • The frightened child.
  • The fearful and uprooted son.
  • The carefree participant of social games and play at his home in Middleham.
  • The loving husband.
  • The learned / well educated scholar.
  • The pious man.
  • The obedient subject to his king and older brother Edward IV.
  • The able ruler.
  • The observant creator and founder.
  • The open-minded and loyal friend.
  • The power-sensitive observer.
  • The patient creator and taker of opportunities.
  • The brave warrior.
  • The envious brother.
  • The greedy husband, marrying an exceedingly wealthy dowry, not the woman. (Though it was disputed and needed a good and long fight to achieve it.)
  • The power crazy conniver.
  • The devilish single-minded king.
  • The forgiving patron of York.
  • The able and merciful ruler over England.
  • The political tactician.
  • The far planning patron of trade.
  • The wise founder of learning & universities (Cambridge, Kings College).
  • The supporter of liberty and free spreading of knowledge. (Printing trade)
  • The straight forward fighter in conflict.
  • The defender of the weak.

There is not really much of an emotional sentiment you cannot in some way or other dump on King Richard III.
Is it possibly not too few murder cases but too much drama in King Richard III's life for film makers?
Are they not able to cope with such a multitude, after all, not even Shakespeare could cope with all of it and was only able to show an un-recognizable excerpt of King Richard III's life in his drama?


Is King Richard III just too much for the abilities of today's film makers?


Still, I believe Richard Armitage could do better than what was previously done with the subject.

If you agree with me, please sign the KingRichardArmitage Petition!




King Richard Armitage Week 2013



(Picture of Richard Armitage is an edited version of this picture - source: RichardArmitageNet.com - by Robert Ascroft)

Monday 26 August 2013

Jack the Ripper & King Richard III






Jack the Ripper got more screen appearances than King Richard III (admittedly leaving out the Shakespeare drama, as that is not really about the historical person Richard III. Shakespeare's drama is about as accurate as a fable is to explain the world).

But to follow my argument, why does the historical figure King Richard III not get any more attention and screen time, when Jack the Ripper is so attractively positioned on screen?

It certainly can't be that King Richard III's supposed brutality keeps him from getting a dedicated film, as his brutality seems to draw the most attention.

So maybe we can come up with some more murder cases Richard III might have committed during his short life of just 32 years to get him his own film?

We at least have a good sample in Shakespeare, how we may proceed to invent some new murder cases for Richard III.

At least, during his lifetime, quite a few people died an unnatural death, even if for some he might have been just too young to hold the sword. But that did not keep Shakespeare from it, why should we hesitate?

As I have heard from legal comments about King Richard III, the king of a country in the last consequence is responsible for all that happens in his country.
That may be a good starting point to find some new accusations against him, at least for the last two years of his life.

Now I need to go and search for some murder cases during his lifetime, King Richard can be burdened with...


I wonder, may that be the reason why the Tudors get all the attention?
Was King Richard III just too harmless and nice compared to them?




King Richard Armitage Week 2013



(Picture of Richard Armitage is an edited version of this picture - source: RichardArmitageNet.com - by Robert Ascroft)

Sunday 25 August 2013

Belated Happy Birthday Wishes

I know I am late - about ... - with everything, especially with birthday greetings.
And I recognized I already have over 50 draft mails - I send mails into draft status, when I need to answer someone - so I presume that won't change any time soon.

Glitter-graphics.com
But perhaps this little mouse shows, why my greetings needed such a long time to arrive ;o)
The cake just was so heavy...
So now, before continuing with being late, finally I join the fandom with...


Happy Birthday



Glitter-graphics.com

Glitter-graphics.com

to Mr. Armitage here on my personal blog.


The KingRichardArmitage Week 2013 is going on and the quiz runs fine there (though I am still in need of a 100% answer - there was I thinking I made the quiz much too easy.)


After my last post, in which I revealed my fighting stance, I now must reveal parts of what brought me back to consider that all my fighting was just defense on the outside, while on the inside I am hopelessly lost and committed. I am just trying to come to terms with it somehow and what I am best at is, fighting and being prickly on the outside.

What made me realise that it was a totally hopeless effort and through all the emotional upheaval my fight brought me, the one constant still remained the calming, soothing effect RA has on me.

Why I think every fighting on my side is totally hopeless:

  • He is my sole infatuation (Nobody else far and wide, not even a slight interest.)
  • I went around town and inadvertently looked into a shop window of an exclusive men's store, exhibiting a male model with an aubergine jacket. My immediate only thought was: "That would look nice on RA."
    Considering that I don't even like to select or buy clothes for myself, that really was an astonishing experience ;o)
    (The only exception with clothes is selecting a tie for my father, but as he rarely wears one nowadays, the last one I selected was years ago.)
  • I feel connected to his dreams. Not that I dream about him - if I do, I mostly can't remember anyway.
    But I feel that it is bodily and mentally important to me and my life that he can reach his dreams.
You surely are not surprised about that, after all I am doing the KRA-website, but the totality of that effect for my real life overwhelmed me.
The fighting helped me a bit to determine and dissect the totality, the mega-importance, draw it into question, look at it from all sides, could the effect be broken somehow, why was it there in the first place, what could be done about it,..
Why his dreams, not somebody else's? Why this and not something which would help me? Why does he take precedent, when I could use a bit of that importance for myself?
Why is it so important to me that he gets where he wants?

The sole answer I so far came up with is:
Part of why I want him so much to reach his dreams is, because I continuously and always need to fight hard for every small bit I want to reach. If luck could look the other way, in my case it certainly does. So what I want I am well prepared to work hard to get it.

After all those experiences, I just want to make it a tiny bit easier for him to reach his dreams.

So my belated birthday wishes are:


Happy Birthday
&
May all your happy dreams come true!

Glitter-graphics.com



King Richard Armitage Week 2013



(Picture of Richard Armitage is an edited version of this picture - source: RichardArmitageNet.com - by Robert Ascroft)

Tuesday 20 August 2013

For a While Now


For a while now, I have had problems publishing posts here on my blog.

For a change – not technical problems, but a feeling of uncertainty about if the tone of my articles would be right here and right for the fandom.

And this all before the great and - at least from me - hotly anticipated

King Richard Armitage Week 2013




I have kept back many articles I already wrote.
In the end – I must say – I come back to my first position.
This place is for me to develop my ideas and my English.
(I hope you don’t mind or just swap reading, when I don't entirely follow my otherwise strictly obeyed rule: "when you have nothing positive to say, keep your mouth shut".)
;o)

In this sense, not all my future articles will meet with all your consent or even will try to find one.
They might reveal more about me or not, but always will be short glimpses of me, not allowing you a complete picture.
Why should you have it any better than I have it myself? ;o)

I am trying to explore my depths, my interests, my abilities, my creativity and the person I am (which might change from day to day, depending on how confident I feel).
This also includes my passions, my anger and my aversions, which, I can assure you, are never directed against a person, but against a bad result that may in my opinion be reached and might have been avoidable. So criticism never is a personal fight against someone, but a fight to achieve something for the better.

I will work through some of my old posts and will try to push them out – when they still contain some relevant thoughts.
As I am no chronicler of RA-world, most things will not have any ‘read-by’-date.
You will most likely know that of me by now, my head strays to whatever it likes, in its own time and on its own schedule.


What made me so very restless lately also was, that I tried to fight my RA-obsession.
I can comfort you - I did not succeed.
But with fascinating RA, how could I ever?
You will more likely ask, why I even bothered to try.
;o)

Well, now, that is a difficult topic in itself.
Perhaps, I feared I could fall out of fandom someday and wanted to preempt the sorrow? Do it now and cut the bonds holding me?

Really hard to say why I tried and I can't give you a clear answer to that, except that I always try to not depend on something or at least see and discover the most about the bonds holding me and see what they mean to me, what extent they have, what they make me do, what they can do with me, how far I go and how far they reach, ...

Perhaps, because I feared the bonds could become grey (tztztz - shaking my head ;o) - not that 'grey', just the colour grey) and loose their clear black and white shading and I just wanted to ascertain their clear, undisturbed, pure and wholesome hold over me?


Thankfully, the one constant still is the guarding and nourishing presence in all thoughts, RA.


And I once again accept his status and effect on me, though I still have not totally left my fighting stance to find the borders of his hold over me.


But now that I start to accept my time of fighting, I more easily can go over and celebrate the 22nd and the upcoming

King Richard Armitage Week 2013



(Picture of Richard Armitage is an edited version of this picture - source: RichardArmitageNet.com - by Robert Ascroft)

Saturday 20 July 2013

Sorry about Intrigue ...


You will have recognized by now, that my meeting with Al Delarmy in Hamburg did not happen.
I was spared the meeting and gruesome and fearful place I thought I would have to visit.

Fortunately, all the mess was not about me. I was at the ends of my nerves when I got the 'invitation' letter alone and feared to even tear it open and discover the reason for it.
Fortunately, I would have only had to appear as a 'sidenote'. (No more details from me here ;o)

Oh no, not against Al Delarmy.
He is still safe and undetected in Hamburg and enjoys life.
As I leave him for so long, perhaps he by now enjoyes it a littel too much for my liking and I really need to call him back to do his duty in his story. ;o)

You see, "Intrigue" has not completely left my mind, just the discussion with Al Delarmy about my subject, the procedure and the problems he wanted to make me go through could not take place as planned.
Some real life events also intervened, so the story will continue even slower than I had initially anticipated.

So, please keep your patience. I try, but at the moment planning and preparations for

KRA Week 2013 (21. - 28. August 2013) 

come first.


Tuesday 16 July 2013

Boring History ...


Or ... my strong belief that life is bigger than can be grasped between the binding of a book or on celluloid (or digitally).

Even the great William Shakespeare had to reduce the story of King Richard III to a minimum to make it into a story adabtation for the theatre.


-- Boring History --
You see, I am still fuming!

King Richard III had to be reduced to an un-recognizable flat and one-dimensional villain, to be able to be brought on stage. The real person just would have been 'too much' for telling his story in a few hours.
'History is not enough - they just had to invent a few wrong things to make the story interesting...'
I am really angry about that.

It is not that I had not enough of the same encounters during studying history.
When one introduces one's subject, the general reaction always (!) is, "Oh, I hated history at school."

So did I or rather thought it an unnecessary memory training/burden, till we came to the original sources and history started to come alive for me, as it was about real people, their different fates, their fight for their small place in life to survive, to care for their families, their ideals, their work, their loved ones,...

They often had burdensome fates, stark opposition and still they fought through and managed their lives in an admirable way. They deserve better than to be reduced to be seen by us as being

too boring.

The one thing I think future generations will think about our time is,
they were too arrogant to see their own stupidity and errors and did not even try to solve the problems of their time and also did not see their chances to lay the foundations for a better future.
(Not that I exclude me, it is just what I expect future generations to think about us.)

Besides, I don't think future generations will know all too much about us, because the technological advancement will cut them off from most of the resources and storages we use now. So they will have to judge us by what we reached, not what we intended or how bright we thought to be, so in principle, much alike to what we do with former historical generations.

Now, off to building facts for a better future...



Why I am so Astonished ...


... that I am a fan of an actor.

There are some things I just normally don't credit actors for.
And that I listen attentively to every single word one says (yes, every word uttered by only one single one, Richard Armitage), astonishes me more than it possibly could anybody else.

Reading about historic inaccuracies in film today in a newspaper and the 'flapsy' comment by a lead actor in the series, that it is just o.k. to invent and work with false elements, because they had to make the story gripping, to me shows a total non-knowledge of the story itself.
What a waste of time to listen to such an actor (I won't name him, because I am just too angry about such stupidity and don't want you to easily get the connection).

The Wars of the Roses hold war, murder, intrigue, family feuds, betrayal, hate, love, death, madness, illness, friendship, trust, ...
what is there more to make a story gripping, if not those basic elements of a good and life shattering story?
Do I need zippers in a time where they for quite some remaining centuries were not even invented, to make the story come to life?
How bad an artist must I be to not even be able to work with the abundantly available drama of the Wars of the Roses to need false elements to bring such an heart wrenching story to life?

Oh, and the main argument of the actor was, history just would be too boring on its own.
Can you imagine me sitting here and actually 'fuming' ?

Well ... ;o)


I am not against accumulating historic elements to a gripping nucleus of story line to work in a condensed film or movie. You understand me wrong if you think I don't understand the essence of script making and creating the 'heart of the story'. But to defend wrong parts, just because they could not get things right and did not even know or research better, just does not get my sanction, ever!



It seems there is no chance on earth that I get distracted from my sole fan-admiration by someone else.
He just would never utter such unthinkable stupidity about his films and stories
and for that I am exceedingly grateful !!!
(And even if he should say something with which I don't agree, he at least would have thought it through and so would have a worthy other opinion. I don't think RA always needs to be of my opinion. How boring would life be? ;o) )

Thank you for the wonderful respite and for your interest in history, Mr. Armitage!


Sunday 14 July 2013

Thorin-Certificate

Certificate: Test Results
Richard Armitage (Gisborn, Thorin and Co.)
1001So good not even I would be! That is almost scary?

You have solved 10 of 10 questions correctly.
On average the 7 surfers, who did this quiz, gave 8.57 correct answers.
 
Also take part in the quiz Richard Armitage (Gisborn, Thorin and Co.) [PLEASE note: Questions are in German!]

Wednesday 26 June 2013

After 530 Years - Time for Good King Richard


After 530 years,
Mr. Armitage, now it is your turn to rule over England - and some other obedient countries and subjets from areas not yet named or found (from an English point of view) 530 years back ;o)

But please, don't stop after just two years !!!

King Richard III is a good example how best to extend one's influence and even manage to gather supporters after 530 years.
Mr. Armitage, take the crown and fight for a better 'England'.
(Can't we create a European crown for him, just so he does not have to de-throne an existing ruling family?)
Richard I, King of Europe,
does not sound too smashing,
though the national anthem is great and was created by Friedrich v. Schiller, my favourite poet and writer.

Never before thought I had even the least bit of a patriotic streak in me, but as long as it is not for my own country, that is rather o.k. for me. (Just to explain for all non-Germans and non-of-my-generation, to be patriotic here would have been one step into destruction in the time I grew up. So you will never in my life see me swing my countries flag, even though in newer generations football (U.S.: soccer) made it o.k. for some to do so. Though it still raises my suspicions to no end. - Just the German flag, no other one has this effect on me.)


There was never a place more aptly named than our 'Europa Platz' in Munich. Chaos rules at every end. But when I think about it, was it so much different 530 years back?
Monetary problems,
trade problems with foreign traders and countries
everybody believes he knows what is best and in the end nothing works
people out of work
injustice and money rule
...

The problems seem to not have changed so much, though 530 years went by and still slavery to money, betrayal and opportunism rule worldwide.

Should we make our King

King Richard I, King of the World (at least the female part)?

We could really use a 'Good King Richard' now.

Friday 31 May 2013

Preparations & Hindrances for an "Intrigue"


You will surely wait for my continuing with "Intrigue" ;o)

I started preparing by seeing the whole of "Spooks", from the first episode to the last, again.


The fragility of Lucas North in Spooks 7 and 8 just had me mesmerised and I needed some time to continue with watching the rest of Spooks.
I really need to come back to "Intrigue" now, for my own sake and sanity of mind.
The story line of Spooks 9 just fits in so well with my story (what a coincidence ;o)
No, I really need to sort things out in my head and make sense of all the loose ends, rummaging around in my head from watching Spooks 9 again.

A hindrance on my way to "Intrigue":

Currently, I have a very pessimistic world view (no wonder after all my problems with computers, but those are not the cause for a change ;o)
Though I go through life with an optimistic attitude, this optimism rarely extends to myself. It also does not extend to poli*tics.
Lately, my experiences with poli*ticians were very, very, ... bad (and I must add that I already don't want or expect anything from poli*tics).
As I put Al Delarmy in a position where poli*tics [should rather be written 'poly-ticks'] play some kind of a backgroud role, I fear to let my experiences shine through too much.

Al Delarmy has a sceptic attitude towards rules and rulers all on his own.
Still, I fear to influence him too much to take a bad turn (or reveal too much of my own poli*tical pessimism).
So now, though we are similar in our pessimism, I need to try hard to keep my pessimistic influence on him to a minimum, to let his version of it come out.

Perhaps it really is a good thing that I will meet him soon in Hamburg.
He always wins every argument with me, so after our meeting in person, I am sure his wishes will dominate my writing again.
I am so looking forward to meeting my very favourite spy (on his mission for his own cause now).

After watching Spooks 8 and 9, I certainly can say, that my infatuation is far from over.


(Source: Own screenshot from "Spooks" 9.7)
A perfect role-play in a multitude of difficult layers of his character,
not at this point all obvious to the viewer.

(Source: Own screenshot from "Spooks" 9.7)
An observing and in control Lucas, John, Al again,
after an 'acted' breakdown ?



I am certainly in love with RA depicting 'bad' characters:
John Mulligan, John Bateman ,though I still ignore the truth about that and think of him only as
Al Delarmy, when he is not Lucas North.

I still do fear Guy of Gisborne, so he is not among them. While the other bad characters could easily get what they want with me, Guy of Gisborne would have a much harder time with trying to manipulate me. Perhaps because he never manipulates, but uses brute force?
;o)


Sunday 12 May 2013

At the Heart of ... Everything


You will wonder (or not) what became of me, keeping silent on my blog for so long.
After all the time, I had intended to do a nice little RA post over the long weekend, which I intended to spend relaxed and lazy at home together with my parents.
But if I tell you what I do most of the time, since the end of last year and far beyond, you won't ask for long and won't wonder what I spend my time with.

Last year, after all the computer break downs I told you about (and lots I did not tell you about and just struggled through), I finally bought a new computer.
Happy me ;o)
Now, you would think, my problems would finally have ended.
No, they didn't, far from it.

The new computer breaks down on a regular basis,
and after a repair, destroyling many of my so far unsaved work and mails, I was close to going crazy.
To keep my files safe, I had bought a small server together with the computer. When I was finally ready to start working with it (a month after the purchase), it had given up cooperation, so I had to send it in for repair (and so my files had not been saved when needed),
and don't even get me started on my telephone services. I could strangle the customer service person and avoid going close to the service center in case I really might do it. I certainly hate the new telephone I had to purchase because of their mistake(s) and stupidity.


But now, off to a relaxed long weekend ...

I get home to my parents. Finally far from my own internet and telephone line, only my notebook, still crashing on a regular basis, with me. But after a while one gets used to everything, so no worry on my mind.

First day, coming home. - Everything is fine. I fall into bed, so safe distance from any computers ;o)

Second day - The computers and phone lines seem not to have recognised yet, that I am home. Everything works fine ;o)

Third day - The computers seem to know I am home. No internet, not even a mini tiny little bit, and I had not even touched the line. ;o(

So, back to my daily business. Calling the hotline.
It is a Saturday. Usual tests from the hotline reveal nothing. (Why am I surprised? My computer problems never are the simple stuff.) So it has to go to the main technical staff, but they only work for a few hours longer and not on Sundays. If no feedback comes till the end of the day, my parents and I will have to wait till Monday.
Of course, there is no feedback. Why should there be a solution for me, when I am close to the computers and internet line of my parents?


So now, back at my 'working-home' and with working computers around me, another main central computer is a bit bumpy. At least my date with the doctor is a bit further delayed, as I did not get an appointment yet. Perhaps early next month ...
At the moment I just think it might be a side effect of acute hay-fever, as my doctor had warned me might happen years ago.

But I must not delay, I must use the opportunity as long as everything is halfway working and must finish this post!

How glad was I, to find a cute RA, to console me. Kermit and RA ;o)
Kermit for me is strongly rooted in a time, where no computer was even close to my home or even remotely related to my work. So Kermit is an excellent respite ;o)

(I am not, as some seem to be, envious of Kermit. I would rather like to bring a smile to RA's face ;o) [You know I am too shy to fully confess how ;o) But Miss Piggi need not be envious of me, nor you.])



I wish you working computers and hearts and ..., just that everything is fine !

Saturday 30 March 2013

Happy Easter ...

Source: Glitter-graphics.com


Did you ever make an Easter resolution?
I so far did not. New Year's resolution and plans for the coming year, yes, but for Easter?
But this year, I came to the realisation, after "The Hobbit. An Unexpected Journey", I just miss Lucas North too much and need to come back to him.
Yes, the separation from him in "Intrigue" was too much for me to bear and I felt a bit unfair to dump Al Delarmy in a hotel in Hamburg.

At the moment it also looks as if I need to meet Al Delarmy in Hamburg in June anyway. Perhaps I even see him in one of his ...
- Oh, I must not tell! You still don't know ;o)

But I can divulge so much: I by chance need to go exactly where I had in my fantasy sent Al Delarmy, whithout ever knowing that I had to go exactly there myself.  (No! Oh, what do you think of me ! No, not into the famous red light district of Hamburg. I am much too harmless for that ;o)

What a coincidence you will say or perhaps life just has no coincidences, just full intentional plans we just do not understand at the time we have to go and live through them. At least I can admit, I don't understand them, but none the less, the coincidence is nice and I am looking forward to meet Al Delarmy in Hamburg in June ;o)

Hope he is not too angry with me for dumping him in that luxurious hotel and having the quarrel last time we met ;o)

I can't promise anything about how fast I will be able to continue with "Intrigue", but at least, I will try to steadily continue and build the story. So I hope you will have joy and fun following Lucas' / John's / Al's further story in "Intrigue".

Happy Easter to you all, my friends,
and have a relaxed and joyful time !





Sunday 17 March 2013

4RA-7: I Am Safe

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011




I am safe from my own expectations



With the safety distance of fandom between fan and idol, there is also a safety net for myself.
The fan-dream allows me to become the person I would like to be, if I were not such a complex, difficult, sensitive and diversely reacting person that I am.

In reality, I would have to cope with reactions to myself, with my efforts to prove myself, my worth, my value to others.

In fan-dream, I just can step over this preliminary and exhausting and mostly not even fulfilling experience and right get to the point of creative completion of muse and inspiration, of admiration without the connotation of weakness or the necessity to fight for a strong position in a relationship or being walked over or used as foot-rag, just because of not wanting to fight or continuously prove strength to keep up one’s position and get much needed attention.

On an emotional level, it is so healing for me, so reassuring that the world consists of more than the narrow minded fights all around.

Fandom came to me at a time where I clearly needed a positive outlook
and last and this year’s happenings in fandom strengthened my wish to focus on the positive and distance myself from destructive influences.

I am strong in the things I believe in and I fight (not against someone, but with strong effort on my side) for the things I believe in.

I no longer have the belief that I need to correct somebody, if ever I had that belief, but think only your own mind can set you free or enslave you.

Though not all and everything in the world is reachable, you won’t know if you don’t try.

For a free fandom and free space to develop and expand creativeness, for an open community allowing to try.

Signed: The radical at heart CDoart ;o)


I hope you enjoyed FanstRAvaganza 4 - which is now coming to an end.



Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

Saturday 16 March 2013

4RA-6: The Distinct Advantage of RA

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011




The distinct advantage of RA compared to other men



I already started to explain RA’s main attraction points in my last post.
But what set him so completely apart was something Servetus and her excruciatingly honest self- and fan-analysis alerted me to.

He was not real.

Yes, I know, he is real, and I am certainly heavily in the group suffering APM (= Armitage Protection Mode).
But to some extent he just isn’t, at least for me.

He is safe,
as he does not really come near me, know about me or can hurt me.
So my fantasy world about him is safe, I am safe and still can feel enormously inspired by what he does and how he does it.

Lately someone asked me how I would behave in a red-carpet event meeting him. My answer was ‘I wouldn’t’.
Because, if I can, I would avoid the spectacle, the frenzy, the showing and openly expressing of my feelings of admiration.
That would throw me out into something I just am not and would make me into something I would not like to be. Something I fear, as I couldn’t control it and would need only to react to a surrounding I would not like to be part of.
I am no fodder for the masses, don’t like to be used and would not like to lose my identity and only be a number and I certainly would feel that way there.
It would make it into something real, something depressingly real, something entirely un-safe.


In contrast on KRA, though showing the signatures in totals and numbers, the lovely feedback we receive shows that people all over the world come together in support of the film. A multitude of motives, aspects of interests, personalities and just absolutely wonderful supporters assemble there.
And all in support of one brilliant man, attracting all this attention.
I can’t see this variety as pure numbers and customers of fan-devotionalia, while standing around a red carpet, I would feel like a number, a space filler somehow.
Would have to be myself, my real self and would feel completely lost ;o)

The variety in fandom is the reason, why I am active part of this fandom, why I support the KingRichardArmitage initiative for the film “Richard III” and why I can’t get enough of Richard Armitage - in my safe fantasy world ;o)


Enjoy the variety and broad bandwidth of fandom in FanstRAvaganza 4 !



Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

Friday 15 March 2013

4RA-5: What Makes RA so Interesting ?

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011



What makes RA so interesting as a person, not only as an actor, that I am interested in his views and answers?


Before I start with analyzing this question, I must state, that especially from men (except perhaps my father and my professor and a very limited few) I rarely got useable feedback, support or anything close to a constructive answer to a question.
Men usually were causing more problems than they solved and needed someone to repair the mess they left in their wake. You see, my opinion of men is not the best.

This was the reason, why my fandom to RA came as a complete and utter surprise to me, which I still could not entirely solve.

That I am not only interested in RA’s roles and outlook, but also his opinion, was quite clear to me right up from the start, as I did not fall for him because of his skill in a role, but because of him answering tricky interview questions.

 But what set him apart, what made me so deeply fall under his spell?

What certainly came to his advantage was that I was surfing for video instructions and completely unaware and unprepared for the power of his spell.
Unsuspecting as I had been, I fell before I even knew what had happened.
But still … - it was not his appearance, which made me a fan and gripped me without return.

It was his polite way.

That certainly set him apart from the men I knew. Only few were polite and those who were, generally wanted to trick you out of something, to give up information, do their work, play you in front of your boss/professor, etc.

So for once there was a man where I could drop my defense shield and just listen to what he had to say. And he did not need to trick somebody else out of something or to grow by grinding somebody else into the ground to have something to say, but had an opinion and backbone of his own.


I hope you now see more clearly, why I had to make these excursions in my research, why I especially want to ask RA questions, though I am notoriously curious as well, but then mostly go my own way to research till I am content ;o)
And as typical historian, as a friend of me once said: A historian believes that every problem is not entirely unique and so if encountering a problem, he goes to the next library and searches for a solution ;o)

I am still not entirely finished with my research and now will come closer to my position, why I so especially need 'phantasy RA' for my questions.


Have fun with FanstRAvaganza 4 and enjoy all the diverse posts !



Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

Thursday 14 March 2013

4RA-4: Why Do I Want to Ask Questions

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011




Why do I want to ask RA questions ?



  • Because he played roles so excellently that I really would like to know how he made them plausible to himself to be able to make them work for his audience as well.
  • Because the preparation for the roles he plays seems so complete that I would like to know what he makes of the roles and adds in explanations and background to make them work – for himself and for the audience.

When I during my studies, had access to cheap tickets, I nearly weekly went to the theatre to see productions. Often I could not make sense of what they wanted to tell me. With RA playing a role, it is easier to get the message and meaning, even really difficult, emotion racking ambiguity works with him.

  • What is the difference here and there? What makes this work beyond the hints the script, set and artifacts give?
  • Why does a scene even work, when RA does nothing more than let a smile shine through his eyes, while his face remains impassive (or rather needs to remain passive, because it is covered with prosthetics like in the Hobbit, where the smile intoxicated me so much that I forgot to be attentive for quite a while and now urgently need to see the Hobbit a third time to catch up on the scenes I missed two times)?

But this all still does not answer the question, why I especially would like to get the answers from RA.

  • Because I think he is sensitive and thoughtful enough to have really interesting answers.
  • Because he takes the time to think his answers through and not just does something to please the audience, but also himself and his high standards.
  • Because he does not do it for the greatest marketing effect, though marketing for an actor necessarily must be part of it, but to be content with what he did.

As this is such a strong aspect for me in my life, this might be a point where I over-interpret RA’s previous interviews and his answers. Still his behavior in interviews is surprisingly different and refreshing.


My questions and analysis is far from finished and I will go deeper over the next few days of FanstRAvaganza 4.


Have a nice and enjoyable FanstRAvaganza 4 event !



Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

Wednesday 13 March 2013

4RA-3: Questions 2 about Richard III

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011




No, nothing like if he killed his nephews.

If I believed King Richard III really did it, I would rather ask how or why he thought it to help his position and prestige as king, when I see it so much as an error for him from all perspectives.
I have clear doubts here that he did it, but not for being a ‘Ricardian’ (which I am not) or only wanting him to be good, but for psychological reasons.

For one, I see the king as an intelligent man and I just can’t imagine, he did not come to the same conclusion that the disappearance would hurt his position as king. He was their uncle after all, if they were legitimate or not and as such responsible for them. To lose them just is no good style for an uncle. (That reminds me of my own nephew. I think my sister would kill me in return ;o) Preferably in a very slow and extremely hurtful way.)

For another, the one with the best and strongest motive in police investigations rather rarely is the culprit, as his interests are much too obvious to allow him to act upon them. They are obvious for everyone to see and deduct the logical consequences.
This leads to the strange situation that the strongest opponents might act as the fiercest protectors, just because of this reasoning.
While not so blatantly obviously interested parties, normally the second, but often even in the third or fourth position of motive strength, feel safe enough to act upon their baser motives.

I know that is no proof, but at least shows why I doubt.

Whereas I don’t doubt, that King Richard III clearly calculated all (!) his options and was well aware of advantage and risk.
A crime executed in the head, is it still or yet a crime in itself?


NPG 148; King Richard III by Unknown artist
(Source: National Portrait Gallery)

My questions to RA now would be:

  • What aspect of King Richard III especially can fascinate an actor?
  • What advantage has Shakespeare’s Richard III character compared to the ‘real’ (or historically reconstructed) one?
  • What can a film do to a king who is already famous? – Or should I rather say notorious?
  • What influence would you as actor like to give Richard III’s wife Anne Neville over him? (As very little is known about her and her relationship to her husband, this aspect leaves quite a lot of space for interpretation.)
  • Is Richard III a driven or a reacting figure? Driven by greed or acting out of necessities put upon him?
  • Is Richard III personally strong or weak and why?
  • What in your opinion makes Richard III act in the way he does?
  • What in his background / education / upbringing / influences / … leads him to become such a different character / morally settled person compared to his older brother Edward IV?
  • What kingly abilities of Edward IV does Richard III miss?
  • Why does Richard III’s relationship to his eldest brother work though their large age difference and their opposite characters and approach to life and moral?

And here I really need to forcefully stop myself, otherwise we would sit here till next year’s FanstRAvaganza 5 ;o)

I very much hope you enjoy the event ! Till tomorrow, with more musings, why I just can't stop asking questions ;o)



Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

Tuesday 12 March 2013

4RA-2: Selection 1 of Fan-Questions

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011




One thing that absolutely fascinates me about RA and his preparation for film roles is his creation of stories and biographies and background for his characters. That he has these background stories, predestines him to answer most of my questions I have for him playing certain roles, more so than the scriptwriters themselves, as they make up a story, but what interests me much more is, how he made these stories work, how to get the feeling of a plausible flesh and bone character out of their raw material.
This is the pre-condition for most of my questions and why they are directed at RA.

Today, I will start with a selection for “The Hobbit” and “Spooks”:


What I would like to ask Thorin Oakenshield: 
Though I gladly admit, "The Hobbit" is not my strong part with questions, so it was a good point to start with only a few  ;o)
  • Why undertake a quest without closer research about the dangers, conditions of the way and the situation with the dragon? Why go in so unprepared and only rely on Gandalf as backup and rescue?
  • Why not search for his father first?
  • Why not ask Gandalf about what he knows, but only take him as a granted help?
  • How does RA legitimise Thorin’s behaviour for leading his nephews into almost certain death?
  • What is the misbehaviour of Thorin at the end which legitimises his loss in battle / in his honour and consequently his death? Is the loss at battle parallel to his error and misbehaviour in other areas?
  • Does RA believe in this parallelism of the one who is right wins and the one who is wrong looses in a battle?
  • At what time would he see that way of thinking to have been common and why does he support the continuation of such a thought system?
  • What does “The Hobbit” has to tell youths and adults today and what does he think Tolkien wanted to achieve with portraying such an ancient believe system?
  • The Hobbit does not reward effort, but for every success a lot of magic and outsider's influence is needed, not only one’s own abilities, work and effort. This is rather a fate-belief than based on the own ability to change the destiny. How can this inspire young people to become strong and hard working, upright people?
  • Why is Bilbo the hero, while he steals and betrays his friends? Are those the elements Tolkien wanted to show his children as the right behaviour in the world?
  • Why is it necessary for Bilbo to support Thorin’s enemies, when Thorin is completely aware of the loss the city endured because of the dragon and wants to recompense them? What gain does this turn of the story give to the audience?
  • Why does it need to be half the bounty, which has been accumulated for generations by the dwarves, when the other recipients did nothing either to help fight the dragon nor to accumulate the wealth? Should that tell us that force and not hard work gets the easier reward? (If we see our banking crisis, I don’t think children need a further example in that regard to get the idea that hard work is not popular.)
  • Why do the dwarves not deserve their own hoard after their long exile, but are seen as greedy that they want their home back and revenge because nobody helped them in their legitimate fight or during their exile?
  • Why can Tolkien and his event driven writing style especially fascinate boys?


What I would like to ask RA in his roles as Lucas North:


One of my main characters and roles of RA I would like to grill without end, is Lucas North, rather less John Bateman, whom I just ignore somehow, but would rather accept more in a form like Al Delarmy, as he at least would have some kind of motive or answers. John Bateman for me just seems to be an empty shell not worth asking anything at all.

Already from the series 7 and 8 I have enough unanswered questions for Lucas North, but series 9 just hit it all off by not answering a single one, but just opening up a wagon load of new ones.

So here only a small selection of questions still burning inside me through all my re-watching of “Spooks”:

  • What did Lucas North do in China? Where did he get his artefacts in his flat/ apartment?
  • How long did he stay there? How well does he speak the language and which dialect and when did he have time to learn it?
  • What languages does he speak and when did he learn them?
  • What did he study at university?
  • When did he meet Maya Lahan?
  • What crime did he commit to only be imprisoned for 1 year back then when causing the separation with Maya Lahan?
  • Whom did he offend to seem to feel the need to protect Maya Lahan, but who seemed not interested enough in him to track his departure?
  • Why did the Russians not train him and give him a technical update before coming back as double agent?
  • Why does Harry Pierce have such a strained relationship to Lucas North? Why can’t he openly ask Lucas North a single question? Why is all their dialogue overshadowed by a load of different intentions, but not once a straight forward talk between two equals wanting to know the other’s answer?
  • How does Lucas North interpret the Ancient of the Days by William Blake?
  • When did Lucas North learn Greek and Latin? What education did he have?
  • How could Lucas North get the tattoos, when he was kept in isolation in the Russian prison?
  • What did the other Russian prisoners, who did the tattoos on his body, tell him about Russia, their reasons to be imprisoned, the state of the world outside of the prison, about the prison guards, the prison conditions, etc.?
  • Whom did Lucas North befriend in the Russian prison?
  • What did Lucas North do during his active time at MI5 before his imprisonment in Russia?
  • How does Lucas North react to the application of conspiracy theories? Can he fight them entirely himself? If not, which one’s does he favour / fall into, which one’s is he able to discard? How does he see their working mechanisms? What does he think about global groups like the freemasons, the French atheist sector of the freemasons, the real equivalent to the Bendorf group in Spooks, the clubs, circles and associations with an abundance of secrecy and an accumulation of too much time and money?
  • What are Lucas Norths’s goals in life? (For me, he does not clearly have any in Spooks, not in the series 7 + 8, nor in series 9.) Maya Lahan here is no goal – as she comes in so late and because she seems rather a method than a goal to me.

You see, Lucas North would have no silent second around me, as this is only a small selection.
And I must say, Harry Pierce really did a bad job interrogating him and getting out no real information.

Now I obviously did ask too many questions ;o)
Source: RichardArmitageNet.com


Tomorrow, I will go over to King Richard III and afterwards more to analyse my approach than adding further unanswered / unanswerable questions.




Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011