Thursday 25 December 2014

Merry Christmas !


How better to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year 2015
than with the words of Mr. Armitage himself?

A well balanced and charitable message this year - and via the new medium Twitter, that for the first time allows me to embed the message here ( so of course I can't resist):




The direct link to Mr. Armitage's recommended charities on Just Giving.

I hope you will have joyful Christmas days and wish you all the best for the holidays and the new year 2015 !

glitter-graphics.com
(Yes, the image has a relationship to RA and fandom and fans and ... - Of fans and of mice having fun besides the desirable red ...)

Sunday 21 December 2014

Should keep my mouth closed ...


Uttering some intent just does not work out for me!
 See what happened after my last post.
I merely utter my plans to continue with "Intrigue" and total chaos comes out of it.

When I finally had managed to get up ahead of work and keep up with the day to day business, I thought I could sit down, relax a bit and get back to my story "Intrigue".
The next thing that happens is, my telephone (business phone line) and internet stop working, not entirely, but break off every few minutes and need some more minutes to come back and work for a few minutes, before the whole thing starts all over again.

So, what do I do, of course - my daily business anyway, call the hotline. [Can I suggest 'hotline' for the "Unwort des Jahres"? It certainly is mine!]

The first hotline lady, I soon bring to the end of her wisdome with my case, so I am transferred to a technical guy, who makes me restart, reset, test and re-do everything imaginable, till he is at the end of his wisdom as well. So we settle for a replacement of the router, to at least try to solve the strange problem. (Did I ever say I had 'normal' hotline problems? - Well, never the easy stuff for me.)
So, I wait patiently for the replacement router, go to my parents and their internet connection ín the meanwhile to work from there, but for reasons unknown, the connection there is almost as bumpy as my own. Then the replacement arrives and, at first, does not work either - though not in the same way, but completely not. After days of trying to get it to work and then in my desperation completely ignoring the given setup instructions, I can finally bring the thing to work ;o)

Long storry short, my nerves are nonexistent now, as the breakdown quite naturally happened, when I had a list of online contractual work to complete.
I am still behind with that and it is not likely I will catch up any time soon.



The end result of it all is:
  • Now I am back in my normal chaos. All effort to the contrary was in vain.
  • The continuation of "Intrigue" is uncertain again and delayed indefinitely. Sorry !!!
  • I even did not manage my annual CD-celebration post, which I normally do, even when writing only rarely.
  • RA was not available in time to compensate the pressure during this chaos, because the internet connection was too twitchy and The Hobbit not yet out. (By now, I have seen the third part and more about that at a later time.)
  • And to hit it all off, I am searching for the source of one certain RA picture for a friend and now can't find it anywhere. If I would not have it in one of the banners and so must have the documented source files somewhere, I would think I dreamed the lovely picture. (But my twitchy file visibility is an entire mystery on itself. Or do you have file folders, which only do show up, when they like and never when you search for them? When you don't search for them, the files suddenly appear exactly where they should have been the whole time. It gets me crazy and I have no clue what causes this problem, when all the settings are to show all available files and I am the administrator with all visibility rights.)

Wednesday 29 October 2014

(Re-)Turning to Al Delarmy


On request by a dear RA fan and friend
and because of an infection securing my inactivity in bed and a sleepless night with headache, I found my way back to the one remedy, which like no other can turn my head and get my gray cells into a muddle and into motion at 3 a.m. at night.

Intrigue - Al Delarmy

I am no longer able to write the story the way I most likely would have done two - oh my, it is already over three (!) - years ago.
The story went along with me for three years.
My world pessimism did not lessen one bit in the meantime, but if any, did increase, which unfortunately will also influence my already world weary hero Al Delarmy.
And I left Al Delarmy alone for over three years by now, and an intelligent spy left alone for so long has time to find his own scrapes and pitfalls (so I don't need to invent some for him ;o)

Let's find out, where we find him after so long, if he found a new or the one singular love interest of his life. (I would wish it for him and had written in one character for him before the pause and now need to find out if Al likes her the way I had intended. - But, what a disappointment ! Al the romancer did put the lovely girl on hold and made it a long distance relationship! Argh !!! What more can I do as his author? Should I push him or ... ?
It is good that I, his author, now come back and take a leading hand in his fate again. He so urgently needs me to get him out of the muddle his life is and get him a happy ending.
Or, will he even get one? Or am I just mean and will put him into another 'John Bateman Nothing'? Or let him redeemingly die, sacrifice himself for the greater good?
Who knows?
Some of my acquaintances certainly are convinced that I can be mean ;o)
And with the world as it is, who knows where we will end ...

P.S.:
I am sorry for my very summarising writing style in this story.
I refer to the series' happenings and so need to get a lot of action into the background without overtaking my main line of the story, as I don't want to cut him entirely loose from the rest of the story, but embed him into his own story which is the one solution "S." was not able to reveal to us (because Al's story had not concluded and fully happened back then ;o)
To make my story work, I also need to re-arrange a lot of persons in a swift way.
As I am also personally not comfortable in the gambling halls and the underworld where I send Al into, I might gloss over some of the scenes you would most likely want to hear more in detail reports about.
To get to the main draw and angle points of the story and not to draw it out any longer than necessary - as my figure constellation is complicated enough - I hurriedly gloss over the glamorous social encounters and partying of Al Delarmy and focus on the main persons furthering the development of the secret plot of the story line.
Please feel free to enrich the social encounters of Al Delarmy in a way your fantasy likes best.
Al is much more comfortable in those environments than I am and can play the protagonists much better than I ever could. (I am always surprised by his reports about his encounters.)
I try to tell you the mere details of how Al tries to get his revenge and as Al is not a simple, one-layered character, his plans can get quite complicated, especially as he tries to get his revenge against an enemy the MI5 does not even recognize as a possible threat and Germany with open arms harbours and works with and supports as an economical saviour.

So with the following motto the story can go on:
The bad guys you can calculate with. The 'good guys' are those you need to keep an eye on.

But maybe, Al's schemes already start to work in the background and the masks begin to slide and truths start to be revealed?
Who knows ... ?

Slowly, the story will go on !
Long live Al Delarmy and that lots of his Intrigues work out the way he intends!


Monday 13 October 2014

The Crucible - Or the Crux of Things ...


As I am sure you don't want to hear how I, the bother of hotlines and delivery services, spent my time lately, here a much better news, especially for me, who did not make it to the live performance in London:


The Telegraph - Richard Armitage reveals The Crucible in cinemas, by Kat Brown (13.10.2014)

Friday 22 August 2014

Happy Birthday, Mr Armitage - Birthday KRA Quiz


Happy Birthday, Mr. Armitage!


With lots of presents and a new year full of joy, luck, health and success !


To celebrate this wonderful event from afar and so that all around the world, online and behind computer/mobile/tablet/whatever screens can join in, the KingRichardArmitage website holds a celebratory KingRichardArmitage Quiz to find this year's KingRichardArmitage Champions.

All participants in the quiz taking part till 30 September 2014 have a chance to win one of the three trophies, three recently published books about the search and discovery of King Richard III.

Have joy and fun with the quiz and the serious and not so serious quiz questions ;o)

Good luck !



Tuesday 8 July 2014

Donation Transfer for Guylty's Father!


I just finished the transfer of the donation money to the charity for Guylty's father.

The amount is:

€ 77,84 (= US$ 105.81)

Thank you to the wonderful and kind donors !!!


Source: Glitter-graphics.com


P.S.: Amount consisting of € and US$ donations, is calculated into one transferable total with today's US$ exchange rate to € published on oanda.com.

Saturday 5 July 2014

To Catch a Cactus...


It would have been better, if I had done that figuratively and not literally.
But when did I ever do the prudent thing?

Well, almost never.

So, I did literally catch a cactus. Not only with one hand, but with both.
I only became aware of what was sailing down to earth in front of me, when I already had the thorns deeply embedded in my hands. It was an old - and heavy! - cactus.
Fortunately, I left out my fingers. So, as long as I don't lay my hands on the computer, but only use my fingers and don't move the wrists, I still can be fan and access the lovely fan reports and reviews of how "The Crucible" and Richard Armitage's performance is received by the journalists.

Shock aside, I survived the cactus and its long needles, even though some went straight into my wrists. And my advice should you come into a similar situation is, to remove the thorns under shock oneself, as it is less painful than waiting, as some have recommended to me, and wait to let it be done by a doctor. I was very fortunate, that I wore my wrist watch at the time and at least some areas were protected by it. Still, I look a bit like I have had a fight with an angry cat.

But the balm of wonderful reviews about this "production of electrifying intensity" (Charles Spencer, The Telegraph, 04.07.2014) is a healing elixir completely on its own.

Thank you, Servetus, for keeping us updated ! 


Richard Armitage with Samantha Colley and Yael Farber at the after-party for "The Crucible" (London, 03.07.2014)

P.S.: Should you be waiting for a mail from me, please have patience with me. I normally write quite fast, but currently am slowed down to an almost two finger method and still have to do my quarterly tax declaration with two fingers as well. Though I am on it and will continue slowly!

P.P.S.: I am just wondering, what the cactus wanted to tell me. After I avoided a falling two meter high cactus by mere millimeters only about a month ago, I somehow had to be hit by a cactus, it seems. So another one - not even my own - tried again yesterday, catching me completely unawares.
Am I too much like a cactus, ... ?
But certainly, I will avoid needles for quite a while now, cactus' or others, as I had my good share of them now. The problem is, I just need to re-pot a few of my two meter high ones. Should I apply for a knight's suit of armour?

Monday 30 June 2014

Fandom & Friendship & Fathers


Guylty with her creativity is a very inspirational and encompassing member of our warm and welcoming fandom.

It is the more sad for me that she goes through such a hard time in her life.
I am always rather speechless in those circumstances, especially as I fear a similar situation in my own life and so deeply feel Guylty's current situation as if my own.

So I am happy to support Obscura's and Servetus' idea to show compassion and support for Guylty, who lost her father after short and unexpected illness.

Obscura lists the ways we can show our support by supporting charities,
  • either the one suggested by Guylty and her family (a German charity - where I step in to enable transfers to the German account via my PayPal-Donation button. Separate site with details and updates here.)

Thank you very much for your friendship, support and compassion, no money could buy and which so overwhelmingly and heart-warmingly shows time and again, why the RA-fandom is the right place for me to be.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Is it Sex Appeal ?


The latest interview with Mr. Armitage (The Telegraph, 25.06.2014) about his role as John Proctor in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" made me wonder about ...

... as Mr. Armitage is mentioning something ...

"His career in television has been assisted by the fact that women find him sexy."
Mr. Armitage's answer to this is:
"I still don't get it."
And here I must admit, neither do I.

You wonder now why I am a fan then.

But that aspect is the one thing, I had always wondered about right up from the beginning of my fandom.
Do I find him sexually attractive?
I just don't know.
Really !

I find him interesting and thought provoking on so many levels, I just don't know.
I think I would have to meet him in person to answer this question or even discover a potential answer to this question. But then again, as far as I know me, I would need time to determine and find out the answer.

SEXY just would never have been among the many words I would have used to describe him.

Interesting; present (I know that word will not be entirely clear put here on its own, but for me it is so significant for him); stimulating compassion, feeling, thought, understanding; in the spot and complete in a moment (what, by the way, I never feel to be); expressive; inside and outside in harmony (while I always feel to be a contradiction inside myself); and just so much more ...

So in part, he is something I admire, what makes me better in seeing, watching, observing, listening, trying to understand, ...

So, after all this, I just never get through all the fascinating aspects of him, to discover if I would be sexually attracted to him.
And I must admit, I fear to get closer to research this question, because I fear the potential sexual attraction might overshadow my other perceptions of Mr. Armitage and his artistic message.

Perhaps that is also one of the reasons why I shy away from a real life meeting, because a moment's snapshot overshadowed by my fears would dominate my other appreciations of his multitude of facettes.

And I just fear, with sexual attraction, I would want to tear him appart and it would tear me appart equally. I am not yet ready for this totality.