In Memoriam Servetus (1969 - 2024)

Servetus - Me & Richard

Her name (pseudonym) in my mind stands for the fandom itself.

I found the Richard Armitage-fandom through instructional videos how to cut and publish videos. But Servetus and her to-the-point arguments were the reason that drew me in and kept me hooked.

When I after a while started a blog to rant and rave on my own - not expecting to get a single reader besides myself - Servetus invited me into Fanstravaganza and saw me, when I thought to be undetected and invisible in the vast spheres of the internet.

Her active and vivid mind seemed a leading light in fandom for me, and I had been waiting for her to have time to finally write the books I knew she still had in her. So to discover her gone, was a complete shock to me and I thought I had misread. But ...

Obituary

To commemorate Servetus on a day of celebration and happiness is not so far off in my mind, as Mr. Armitage's birthday in itself is a day of commemoration of the death of King Richard III, which lead to his first name being 'Richard'. So life and death on this day is interwoven here already.

And!

Servetus brought us so much input, creativity, broadness of thought, way of fan-integration and of community building, that to celebrate her on a day like this and to remember all the bright and happy times we spent with her and her funny, intensive, thought-provoking, self-dissecting, revealing and fascinating posts and comments, is a joyful endeavor in itself.

Here a small selection of her work, which she left on websites that are managed by me:

* On the CDoart-blog, she was a constant and supportive commentator.

* Her contributions to Fanstravaganza 2011 and Fanstravaganza 2012

* Her contributions on the KingRichardArmitage-Website

Not to forget her unending inspiration, she left us on her own blog Me+Richard.

(Please feel free to leave comments and links to Servetus' work in the comments, to add to this condensed list of her great influence.)

It was a great honour and joy for me, to have encountered Servetus in my life.

She gave me a feeling back, that my mind was free to spread and discover, while my surrounding previously had dulled and suppressed it. So encountering her for me was a great revelation and a permit to get into myself and my own strengths again. It was a fundamental change and also chance she provided me with in her unique way.

And as such, her memory will always have a fond spot in my heart.

P.S.: Please let me know, if you would be interested to join a Servetus-commemoration-event around April 14th, 2025 and eventually in coming years as well! An event that would be not only in memoriam of Servetus, but of all our wonderful fellow-fans, who have - for now - left us behind.

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 !

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!

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King Richard Armitage Week 2013

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

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?

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King Richard Armitage Week 2013

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

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.

4RA-3: Questions 2 about Richard III

Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

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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)

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Posts from previous FanstRAvaganza years 2012 & 2011

King Richard & Magic

King Richard magically appeared again this year, in the media and hopefully also for real, when the mtDNA can confirm the archaeological find.

But what has King Richard III, who is magic, especially in combination with Mr. Armitage and his intended project of a film, to do with magic?

Servetus researches this in a week of pure magic:

King Richard Magic Week 2012

See her first post, analysing the question: Was Richard III really threatened by witchcraft?

New Suggestion for King Richard III ...

If the English towns can't decide where to bury King Richard III, I would suggest some neutral ground.
Perhaps Bavaria?
You smile? - Believe me, it really would have some points in its favour, e.g.

• it has rough climate, which is associated with the English north,

• the people are naturally grumpy, which also is said to be part of the Northern mentality of England,

• Bavaria has lovely catholic churches enough to chose from

• it is neutral ground, as King Richard had no bad experiences, enmities or betraials from Bavarians whatsoever

• and in addition, Bavarians nowadays love their Kings, even when they had their bad sides as well

• Bavarians only revolted and rose up, when their kings tried to swap or sell them or the kings had 'affairs de coeur' outside their marriage, so King Richard is at no danger at all here.

Füssen - Artificial lake in front of Castle Neuschwanstein

King Richard really could feel at home in Bavaria and relax.

As both towns, Leicester and York temporarily were against King Richard and his family, Bavaria, which never opposed him, but together with the emperor even sent some soldiers to his aid, really could start a 'rescue party' ;o)


I sit back and am curiously watching the escalating fight with now a new party.  (I must extend my rose analogy somehow, as now there are Westminster, York, Leicester and Worksop, fighting more or less for the king.)

In my opinion the whole fighting has one really good side, it keeps King Richard III at the top of the news, when otherwise the interest would have gone down, till the results of the mtDNA research come in. So it is an excellent marketing technique for our 'forgotten' king under a carpark and seems like he has his hands in it somehow.

But regarding otherworldly and magical influences, we will hear more soon ...
After all, Halloween is fast approaching ;o)

New War of the Roses...

... only this time, there are three roses involved.
Should this tell us somehow, that there is a freemasons' conspiracy behind this all?

Even "Spooks" visually brought in the topic in connection to politics, by placing the Home Secretary William Towers (= Simon Russell Beale) in front of a freemasons window with different significant symbols.

York for sure is the white rose,
Leicester might take over the red rose from Lancaster, as it is where the victor placed King Richard III,
but what colour would the third rose have?

If we follow the freemasons symbolism, it has to be a pink rose.

The underlying symbolism behind the three roses:

White = The beginning, the birth, the start into life, the purity, the innocence
Pink = the life itself, its joys, as well as worries and burdens, the mixture of light and darkness in reality
Red = the death, the ending, the resolution to it all, the fulfillment

These are only a few of the potential readings of these symbols, but I don't want to give you a lecture about the freemasons roses, but about the new War of the Roses.

Leicester, York and Westminster (London) are fighting over King Richard III.

Leicester = red
York = white
London = pink

In a poll on KRA you now can chose freely where you would see the fitting resting place for King Richard III. As supporters of King Richard III, we have discovered our king long before politicians and the marketing departments of the tourism industry.

Read more about the positive and negative aspects of each location and the background of the poll on KRA.

Only the best place for King Richard !


P.S.: My opinion on a state funeral. He has endured so much already, he will bear this with good grace as well ;o)

Laboratories and Their Historical Reliability

The last week(s) were a wonderful row of discoveries.
For me, though lots of work tried to overthrow me, this time was phenomenally interesting.

Richard III - Cardiff Castle
Source: Flickr (Leo Reynolds)

For me Philippa Langley, the major force behind the whole developments around King Richard III, brought back a strong optimism with her message:

Believe in your dreams!

Now it is up to laboratories to prove, if the found human remains really belong to King Richard III.
But...

Has there always to be a 'but' for CDoart?

Yes, and even a large one,
as the laboratory can only research our expectations.

That means, expectations and research in two directions,

• first premisse is, that Mr. Michael Ibsen really is a relative in the female line of King Richard III

• and second, that the human remains, as connected to Mr. Ibsen with the mtDNA, belong to King Richard III.

As it is, even if the laboratorial research would not prove the connection, I would not entirely see the possibility gone, that the found human remains still belong to King Richard III.
As a matter of fact, the female line in general is a very badly documented one, the more the research of Dr. Ashdown-Hill (interview on KRA here) is immensely impressive to me.
Females did not inherit the main estates or were seen as main heirs and so documentation except for marriages, often is quite scarce. Also, un-recorded adoptions of relatives' siblings were not uncommon, especially in the non-inheriting female line.
To gap 17 generations, a reliable female line can have various sources of disruption.

So in my view, it would be absolutely miraculous, if the laboratorial research would confirm the archaeological and historical indications.


Though the research of the mitochondrial DNA in general is technically a reliable one, there are enough factors which might cause errors, that I would not put my entire trust in it, should it result in no match. I see it more as one piece in a puzzle, not the whole solution of this already far grown picture.

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Special Reading Tip:

Fitzg - Canada and King Richard III - Fitzg wonderfully describes her reactions and musings to yesterday's discoveries on the KingRichardArmitage website!

Happy Birthday to our King of Fandom

Happy Birthday to our King of hearts, fandom and the dwarves!

Source: http://dl6.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1902/1902616gzigibv9ox.jpg

Celebrations have already started in London and now slowly spread around the world ;o)


What can be my part in the cake (King Richard Armitage Week 2012) for Mr. Armitage's birthday?

Though Black Forrest Cherry Cake is my favourite, a digital version of it presumably does not taste all too well.

So I went on and raked my brain.
What better thing to do for me, than to search for King Richard III?
And where better way to start my detective work than at his last days of life?

As the research about the trough found in Leicester some years ago most certainly was not the coffin King Richard III was burried in, the search for his burrial place goes on, as our Search for King Richard page on the KRA-website shows.


Here a video report from the year 2008 (The One Show 17.11.08 - Put on YouTube by unsworthsugden) about the securing of the artifact at that time believed to be the coffin of King Richard III:




The video in my opinion makes it so evidently clear, that the research done in the meantime makes further research and an archaeological search for the remains of King Richard III necessary.

So my quest during this King Richard III Week 2012 will be, to accumulate information about the last days of King Richard III and some of the newer research, shedding light on the possible fate and whereabouts of King Richard III's burrial place and about King Richard III himself.


I hope you will enjoy the journey and virtually search with me around Bosworth and the last days of King Richard III !

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TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help!

Please support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III together with me. Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.

You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

Thank you !!!

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King Richard Week 2012 has started today!
Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the week can be found here!

First blogger of the day is Gratiana Lovelace with Melissa the Mouse.

Have a look at Servetus' 41 reasons why Mr. Armitage is extraordinary.

King Richard Armitage Week 2012 - Announcement

King Richard Armitage Week 2012 will begin coming Wednesday.
Only two more days to prepare for this wonderful historic and fan-cy event.

And I am so busy that I till now did not even have time to declare my participation on my own blog, leave alone announce the event or talk about the wonderful participating bloggers here.

Tztztz..., CDoart! -  That needs to change immediately ;o)

Here now, the announcement and the wonderful bloggers who will join me in the event:

• Phylly3 (Phylly's Faves)

• Fabo Laktuko (White Rose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts) 

• Fitzg (on the KingRichardArmitage website)

• Gratiana Lovelace (Something About Love)

• Maria Grazia (Fly High!) 

• Servetus (Me + Richard Armitage)

• We also have a wonderful special guest, the 
  Richard III Foundation, Inc.,
  who will join in with an article during the week and sponsors a price for the scavenger hunt. - So, don't miss the quiz questions, published each day of the event week!

This year, we have a bit of a different approach than last year. Bloggers will post, from fandom to historic, like last year, but instead of the series of interviews, we have articles and news from all kind of perspectives (More will be revealed on Wednesday ;o)
Over the whole week, we will post hints for a scavenger hunt, to determine our King Richard Armitage Champion 2012!
(Don't worry, we leave you enough time - till 3rd of September, 2012 - to hunt for the solution and enter the quiz to get a chance to win one of the wonderful prices.)


I wish you lots of fun, wonderful celebrations and a magnificent day and KRA-Championship 2012!

The Search for King Richard III Can Begin ...

The appeal reached its goal and things can proceed now.

I am really happy, that the search for King Richard III's burrial place can start as planned.

It gives attention to King Richard, is an important discovery and research into the history of Leicester and with the appeal, a collective attempt of all of us supporters of King Richard III.

Thank you to all contributors, to make this happen !!!

URGENT Archaeology Appeal - Search for King Richard III

Philippa Langley, the screenwriter of a more realistic script about King Richard III, which has the interest of Mr. Armitage, contacted the KingRichardArmitage website.

She has an urgent appeal, where she needs our help. Urgent deadline already is the 20th of July, 2012!
 
An archaeological dig is scheduled to take place starting this August in Leicester, seeking the last resting place of Richard III, and hoping to find and re-inter his remains with proper solemnity. In addition it is hoped the excavations will be filmed, and then form part of a proposed landmark TV special telling Richard's real story.

The project has encountered a sudden and unforeseen shortfall of funds, shortly before the digging is intended to start. This puts the whole project in danger of being closed down, hence they are appealing for urgent pledges of funds.

Please note that Richard Armitage is not involved in the archaeological digging project, though he is informed about it.

The KingRichardArmitage website has more information and reading recommendations (with interesting online available articles).

There also is a form where you can directly enter your pledge.
You will get a receipt and confirmation mail for your pledge. (Please understand, this pledge-method is chosen because of the unexpected and last-minute occurrence of the money shortfall for the digging project. Details about where and when to make the real payment will follow, as soon as all required details are set up.)


I read Dr. Ashdown-Hill's arguments about the whereabouts of King Richard III's remains and I must say, his research sounds rather convincing. So I must admit, I am really curious about what the digging can unearth.
It really would be a pity if it could not happen because of this last minute money cut due to economic necessities by one of the sponsors.


Urgent - till June 20th, 2012!

Fan-Art & King Richard

To do fan-art about RA and leave out another Richard, right now is something quite impossible to me ;o)
So please excuse, that I had to come back to King Richard with my fan-art.

I experimented a bit with the crown:

And finally, came back to my first King Richard Armitage black-and-white image, when it came to create my bag ;o)

Richard Armitage - Historical Interest for Men (7)

Sunday, March 18th

Last, but definitely not least!
• Freeform: Agzy shares with us her favorite Armitage paper doll
• Ana Cris examines Lucas North's tattoos through Maori tattoo culture
• Jas Rangoon premieres her new John Bateman fanvid
• In fandom, jazzbaby1 thinks RA fandom is just groovy!
• C.S. Winchester asks "naughty or nice?" in a picspam
• Mrs. E.B. Darcy thinks about Armitage's future after TH to wrap up the Hobbit chain
• Jo Ann offers the last King Richard Armitage post, on Richard III and the Tudors
• In fanfic, Maria Grazia reviews and compares works by the authors she's interviewed
• Gratiana Lovelace wraps up the event with a guest post by Melissa the Mouse!

Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of the event!

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Richard Armitage - Historical Interest for Men

Or: What historical interest of a man can tell a woman about him

When it comes to reading and book publications, one might get the impression, that women are especially interested in history. But what are the aspects, making history or the interest in history so very interesting for women?

In our research throughout the week, we already found out, that history is a very special combination for actors, mingles well with fantasy, all time periods do work for Mr. Armitage regarding clothing- and hair-styles, his interest for King Richard III is special, but today, we will find out, what does interest in history tell us about the man himself !

Some fans of Mr. Armitage hesitate to share his interest in King Richard III, because of ...
-  Missing interest in history (They remember boring schooldays, where they had to learn dry and boring names and dates. If they were anything like me, forgetting them after a short while ;o)
-  Missing splashyness or prestige of a historical topic
-  Minor financial backing for historical film projects
-  RA will be hidden in costume (Though he is in more costume and prosthetics now in “The Hobbit”.)

But those fans are missing out on the greater implications and secrets, this historical interest reveals to us women ;o)

Historical interest means:

Project Magazine (edited) -
Source: RANet.com

-  Attention to detail and patience (as the research to find out reliable material between all the spread propaganda and intentional misinformation is extensive. The good researcher must be willing to go on till he can be content with the results he found.)

-  Imaginative capabilities (see article FanstRAvaganza Day 2: History & Fantasy)

-  Understanding of complex connections, systems, rituals, behaviours, reasonings and motives

-  Open for intellectual challenges

-  Good with seeing the detail in complex contexts

-  Not too great or self-important, to let only the present rule; so needs to be openminded

-  Interested in different attitudes, approaches to life, systems to explain life and the world in general

Project Magazine (edited) -
Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

-  Interested in the great system and the reasons behind our presence. For example, where and why did society evolve in a certain way, why did mankind come to the dead end it is right now, what traditions lie behind certain behaviourisms, how did the legal system come to be the way it is, why do we have certain rules of politeness or a definitive feeling for what is adequate, ...

-  Good memory, to keep track of all complex and connected facts and diverse motives and influences. (Can well be used to remember birthdays and anniversaries and so of good use to keep a partner happy ;o)

- Well organized, as what a historian can't remember, he must be able to easily find again.  (or again patience, as what he does not find he has to search for ;o)

- It also is a sign that this man can stay quiet, do research or think and come up with the right answer at the right time, instead of trying to generally fight down other opinions, because he wants to dominate or feels cornered and wants to prove his superiority.

- He is an interesting partner in a discussion, because he has to tell something. His knowledge is based on his research and reading. Though I must admit, in my experience, I had to draw the dialogue out of their noses, as they tend to be quite shy and thoughtful persons and open up slowly, as they don't want to offend or bother someone who is uninterested in their topic.

Project Magazine (edited) -
Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

As a final result, historical interest in men is a sign of character-strength, which shows that this person is interested in more than his own self. (In my experience really a major advantage and sure sign of historians or historically interested men, compared to 'ordinary men' ;o)

So watch out and if you don't already have one, search for a good historian or historically interested man like Mr. Armitage ;o)  [Be careful to evade the 'blenders' who only have one topic they repeat time over time again, as a kind of chat-up line.]


<<  FanstRAvaganza now came to an ending. I hope you have enjoyed the journey through history and had or still have plenty of opportunity to enjoy the wonderful articles of this year's FanstRAvaganza, collected here at the FanstRAvaganza-Index-Page. >>

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Richard Armitage & Richard III (6)

Saturday, March 17th

It's almost over, oh noes!
• In fandom, Phylly3 celebrates her second blogiversary!
• In the Hobbit chain, Antonia Romera compares trailers for An Unexpected Journey in three languages
• In fanfic, Jo Ann finishes her story
• fedoralady traces the evolution of her "sloth fic" series
• In freeform, Gratiana Lovelace rescreens her Armitage birthday vid
• Fabo casts Armitage in Hollywood musical remakes
• C.S. Winchester takes on Armitage in period costumes from N&S and Miss Marie Lloyd

Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day.

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King Richard Armitage - Tagged Post

Previous posts in the KRA-Taged line:

• Maria Grazia (Fly High!) - Richard III in Movies or why we want a new King Richard

• IngeD3 (Crispin's Eclipse) - Richard III a Biography

• Fabo Laktuko (White Rose Writings) - If Richard Armitage is Richard III, who should play Anne Neville?

• Servetus (Me+Richard) - Lectures about King Richard III

• Fitzg @Confessions (Judiang) - A Butt of Malmsey

Tomorrow will follow: March 18th, 2012: Jo Ann (Cerridwen Speaks)

To visit the complete Link-List of the FanstRAvaganza-KRA-posts, go to the: FanstRAvaganza - KRA-Index page

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Why King Richard III is such a worthy topic for our time

King Richard III lived at a very important time break, not only between the so called 'Middle Ages' and 'Modernity', but a break in many more aspects.
The New World was not discovered yet, though a very adventurous time was, where such discoveries were made possible by fast and monumentuous changes in 'technology', medicine, hygiene, navigation, wood work, discoveries regarding the human body, astronomy, and lots of scientific areas more.

But King Richard III is interesting in many more ways than for living at a 'timebreak'. In all this change and time of crisis, he also was a 'moral' king, who might be an example for our times in some way.

Far from getting into any kind of political debate here, one thing of our time is quite undisputed:

Those in power and those who can, use their power for their own gain,
not the well being of their employees, customers or subjects.

Only few are the proving exception to this rule.

I made a sport of it to ask people around me, whom (either in politics or a powerful position in the industry) they still trust.

…

After a long pause, the best I could get as answer was:

“XY is not as bad as the rest.”

Is that good? – Not really.

But now to my real topic and why I admire King Richard III and Richard Armitage for his interest in this very special king:

King Richard in my opinion still holds an important message for our present time.
The first thing he did, when he became king, was to call all judges to him (on the first day as King of England! – No time to celebrate, but right down to business and to what was important to him).

He emphasized the importance he put on unbiased and just judgments, not to be influenced by position, rank, connections or money.
The weight he put on a well balanced judgment was so great, that he acted with lenience towards his own enemies and the conspirators against him. He even was accused of being too mild by his contemporaries. Later researchers often saw his lenience as quite a major contribution to prepare his own downfall, as it did not prevent his enemies from further conspiring against him.

A clear decision in his own favour, a strict action like executions of all involved in a conspiracy, could have prevented much of the later happenings, but it would also have made King Richard III an ordinary king and leader, one of those we have too many anyway.
As it is, King Richard III should be remembered not as the ‘Hunchbacked king’, but as “The just and good King Richard III”.


Reading recommendation:
Jeremy Potter: Good King Richard? An Account of Richard III and His Reputation, London 1983


<<  Tomorrow, the historical debate about Mr. Armitage and history as well as FanstRAvaganza 3 as a whole come to an end here on this blog with results, what historical interest can tell us about the man himself.  >>

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Richard Armitage & Historical Hairstyle (5)

Friday, March 16th

Friday F3!
In the Hobbit chain, Mrs. E.B. Darcy projects what our hero may do in TH: There and Back Again
• Ana Cris discusses a Maori ceremony Mr. Armitage witnessed in New Zealand's mountains
• In King Richard Armitage, fitzg guestposts at judiang's on non-Richard roles for Armitage in a Richard III project
• In fanfic, Jas Rangoon continues  her modern N&S fic
• Maria Grazia presents an interview with Cat Winchester and giveaway of her book, Northern Light
• In freeform, fedoralady asks about our dream Armitage-narrated audiobooks
• John Thornton wonders if anyone else could play him
• Agzy discusses Heinz Kruger's sartorial choices -- and what's underneath them!
• In fandom, jazzbaby1 maps Armitage in the Tommyverse

Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day.

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Richard Armitage - Historical Hairstyle

In Search of a Hairstyle for King Richard III

In yesterday's post, we saw, that Mr. Armitage has the admirable ability to make all costumes and all time settings work for him. He looks fascinating as Roman Soldier, intriguing as a gangster from Chicago of the 1920th and admirably free-spirited as a road-gang leader of the mid 20th century.
That he can make a King Richard III work for us on screen, I have no doubt at all.
But, while engaging in activities for KingRichardArmitage, I met various opinions regarding Mr. Armitage playing a historical figure of the late 15th century.
Some complained, the 15th century had such awful hairstyles. Can't he play someone more attractive?
I only could shake my head and think: Really, how could you doubt that Mr. Armitage would make that work, that he would look attractive in whatever he wore or whatever hairstyle they put upon him. (Sidenote: He even makes a 'hairy dwarf' look good ;o)


How could one not like Richard Armitage with long hair after seeing such pictures?

"Robin Hood", ep. III.5 - Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

What better proof  could there be than longhaired Sir Guy of Gisborne?

So I think I need not prove that Mr. Armitage can indeed make the Renaissance hairstyle work for him, but rather must show you the comparison and similarity of the hairstyles:

Source: Cardiff Church window by Leo Reynolds

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com (edited)

The hairstyle already looks very similar. Add the right cap or a crown, and King Richard is ready to go.


Though I like Mr. Armitage with beard:

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com (edited)

I also find him quite adorable without one.

And I am quite sure that at least the anti-beard fraction of fans will agree, that Mr. Armitage without a beard is quite a sight.

Source: armitage-online.ucoz.ru

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

The sideburns (Koteletten) Mr. Armitage mostly wears, (visibly in the right picture and especially pronounced in his role in "North & South") in my continental view clearly declare him to be a British man ;o)
My grandfather called them something like 'hearing stoppers'. I think I already mentioned once here on the blog, that my grandfather could make fun of everything and brought a smile to every face ;o)



Beard Excursion:
King Richard III is said to have been clean shaven, so no Thorin-look possible or one like the late photo shoots with Mr. Armitage.
To be well groomed was the expression of a well versed man in society. To control one’s body was a sign to show that one could rule the surrounding world as well, when one was in control of oneself.
A very distant idea, when one considers our 'flower-power' era. Our more recent attention to well groom one’s body, first the womans body, legs, arms, eyebrows, etc, ;o) – I won’t go into any more detail – does result from an entirely different motivation:
Here the wish to appear younger is the leading motive, which is associated with less and more controlled growth of hair on the body.
So you see, by far not as honorable motives as in the late 15th century.

Source. Wikimedia.org

To continue the discussion of yesterday with the historical costumes, to fill the time gaps in his historic performances, I would like Mr. Armitage to play Friedrich von Schiller. But then he would have redish hair and mostly would be pressed to wear a white powdered and awfully scratchy wig. (Immediately my protection mode is activated ;o) So perhaps I should refrain from that wish and let him have his natural colour or black like in most of his roles.







Servetus just added a wish for him to play John Locke, which I would support, though here, he would be forced to wear wigs or at least powder his hair too.

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

And the natural style, if short or long or middle or ruffled or wet ...
just pleases him very well.

Franz Liszt by Henri Lehmann (1839)-
Source: Wikimedia.org

But perhaps the artistic genius Franz Liszt, who had quite an effect on the women of his time, might be something for him? Here he would not need to change the hair colour, could bring in his musical talent, though Liszt did not play the cello, but the piano. But a similar effect on womankind is already in place.













Conclusion
So after adding different hairstyles to yesterday's different costumes, I would say, Mr. Armitage is well versed to make long, short, overflowing much, extremely short hair and different colours work. So no limit far and wide to see here, why any kind of role should be unavailable for him. (Though I would not want him to play just everything, only the roles he likes ;o)


Mr. Armitage can make every time, style and context work for him, so either historical or contemporary roles are open for him, as he makes everything a perfect experience for us viewers.


Have an enjoyable rest of the FanstRAvaganza-Week !


<<  Tomorrow follows my contribution to the KingRichardArmitage tagged blog chain about why I admire Richard Armitage for wanting to do the film about "King Richard III"  >>

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Richard Armitage - Fantasy & History (2)

Tuesday, March 13th

Yup, there's more!
• In freeform: Melanie on why Harry Kennedy is the perfect man
• Itsjsforme unveils Guy of Gisborne's latest public service announcements (not safe for work!)
• In fandom, Fabo on Richard Armitage's statements about fans
• Gratiana Lovelace requests help captioning in "I'm Too Sexy for My T-Shirt!"
• The Hobbit chain goes creative with The Queen on Hobbit quilts
• Mrs. E.B. Darcy on Hobbit action figures!
• For King Richard Armitage, IngeD3 reviews the Michael Hicks biography of the fifteenth-century king
• In fanfic, John Thornton on why he loves Margaret Hale
• Jo Ann introduces us to a new Armitage character she knows we'll love

Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day

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Richard Armitage - Fantasy & History

History & Fantasy from general perception are some entirely different concepts of coping with and seeing the truth.
A historian, confronted with the opinion that what he does ultimately is 'fiction', might get a bit miffed, but is the separation between history and fiction really so easy to determine?

Fantasy is a way of creating and interpreting one’s environment and all that happens and is around oneself. We use a considerable amount of fantasy to get along in our present time.
You don’t believe me?
So ask two eyewitnesses who attended one and the same event to describe it to you. To make it the more interesting, they should leave out hard facts like the location's address, exact time and names of other attendees. Now, you will recognize, it starts to get really interesting, as for quite a while into their description, you will have difficulties determining, if they indeed attended one and the same event. Each one sees different things, notices different things and finds other things important as well as comes to his own conclusions what the whole event was about or why he went there.
This is exactly the same with history. The one who tells the 'story' defines its outcome and selection, as well as its interpretation.

To re-create history, a present time long gone, to some extent also necessitates an amount of ‘fantasy’.
To ‘create’ a functioning environment, where mostly large parts can no longer be proved by the remains from that time, a large quantity of fantasy is necessary to fill the gaps.
Modern research by far gave us close and detailed insight in what people ate, what they did or where they lived.
But for example, we have no resemblance of knowledge of how they danced, how their music sounded in the late Middle Ages or what they cooked. From the remains of food which were found and the very fragmentary cookbooks remaining, exact measurements are scarce and the ingredients mentioned were well beyond the reach of normal folk.
So we need to engage our fantasy, to awaken this time in our mind and fill the gaps, historical research cannot fill.
For example, some 20 years ago, I read a historical research stating, that at the court in London a normal courtier in the late Middle Ages drank 5 litres of wine daily. I needed quite some fantasy to come to terms with that statement ;o)

The love for fantasy books, Mr. Armitage mentioned to have, might well have been the exact point to awaken his interest in history, literature, the enactment of history in theatre and film and furthermore to bring King Richard III to our present time in a film adaption. (You see, I just can't refrain from coming back to my favourite topic ;o)

But when we are already there, as a result of fantasy and history mingling together, I must ask the question:
Are Thorin Oakenshield and King Richard III so much different? – And that leads further to the results of the long going poll on the KingRichardArmitage website:

Source: RichardArmitageNet.com (edited)

Source: Image created by a dear friend
and fan (edited)

Comparing the two characters:
King Richard III
- was real
- ended tragically
- was just and idealistic during his lifetime
- was a fierce fighter and good warrior
- married his early love, Anne Neville
- lots of brothers and a conspiring and ‘intriguing’ family. But after the death of King Edward IV the last living male child of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville and so
- the last keeper of his father's legacy

Thorin Oakenshield
- only lives in fantasy
- [BIG "The Hobbit" SPOILER] ended tragically
- is fierce and idealistic during his life
- is a fierce and stubborn fighter
- unmarried
- single son and keeper of his father’s legacy

Though their life is not entirely comparable, they share quite some similar aspects.

The participants of the poll seemed to agree with me, as all the options in the poll got results:

13 participants voted for beard (I will come back to the beard-topic in my Friday-FanstRAvaganza post, so won't say more for now.)
55 for lost kingdom - And indeed, both lost their hard fought for kingdom with their [Spoiler-Alarm for "The Hobbit"] death.
What I found especially interesting, and what brings back my initial topic of Fantasy and History not being so far separable,
9 participants voted for "They both lived in England".
The research mostly declines nowadays that King Richard III wanted a horse, so the next one is a bit hard to answer definitively. But
15 participants would give both, Thorin Oakenshield and King Richard III, a horse. I find that very kind of them!
The majority was convinced both were fierce fighters. One now gets a two part film, hopefully the other will follow shortly ;o)
85 votes and so the clear winner of the poll. 

Thorin Oakenshield & King Richard III - fierce fighters
So their similarity and the connection between Fantasy & History is proven at last!




Have a nice and funny FanstRAvaganza 3 Week !


<< Tomorrow's post will discuss "Richard Armitage & Women" and somewhat uses the results of the first two articles to search for conclusions. - Please note the plural in 'women'! >>

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