Richard Armitage Anonymous (Again)

[ASmallBunchofFlowers]

The twaddle continues ......

Thanks Thereas - but it was a word of more than two syllables, so I do struggle with them!! (apart from "syl-la-ble" obviously!!)

Morning all! Lovely ending for Cassie, MrsLN - super stuff. I love a happy ending!

As for John Lucas... how bad? Very, please :)

Wow, Oyster (am going to stop callin you Prairie as my fingers can't seem to type that :)) that full-length pic of Guy was indeed thuddable. I may be convinced after all (especially as the hair wasn't too long) :)

Btw, illos?

Sorry Boden for my fangirl speak. Illos are my shorthand for illustrations. In other words, the very nice photographs kindly provided by Oyster last night

Bonjour mesdames. You have been active while I've been away.

I have to say that Oyster's last picture was particularly beauteous. He has such a sculptural face.

Hello, Flowers. I have been dying to ask you what your reaction was to the Michelangelic torsion in that photo of John Porter of Oyster's last night.

Oils or clay? I wish I were an artist!

I'll post some more picture goodness tonight.

Hello Theresa. Yes, quite remarkable and, as you say, it does put one in mind of Michelangelo. And clay, definitely, as my drawing skills are rusty at best and you get the full effect of light and shade. Of course, to do justice to the muscle definition one really needs one's model to be naked.

How I suffer for my Art.

Maybe Oyster can come up with a topless torsioned Porter for you. As i am not an artist, that photo is lovely enough to me,even with the tee shirt.!

To go off-topic I see there's a good show on at the British Libary, Evolving English. Wish I could fly over for that.

It is an undeniably lovely photo and beautifully lit - look at the light falling on his right arm.

That exhibition does look enticing. (Mr Armitage as Beowulf? Maybe not). If you like the look of that, you might like .

Bombarded with phone calls. Grr. I want to get back here
Thanks for the link, interesting

Disconnect the phone. It works for me.

I am exhausted! I have spent all afternoon catching up, reading fanfic and watching YT clips.

Hi Stripey. sounds like you have had a hard time too. I was dying to present my latest ridiculouysly pretentious scholarly dissertation and I kept getting baulked by real life.

Will have a bash now. perhaps I should give it a ponce-tastic title, something like

        <strong>Lying down with Lions</strong>

So. I was listening to Lovelace last night and slapping my wrist for letting a total reprobate into my thoughts.

It?s the Armitage effect again. On screen, he draws you in with his commanding physical presence, fixing your gaze on him,. then working with body language, expression and voice in the smallest, subtlest ways to give you glimpses of a complex and hungry soul.. Or in the case of the character of Lucas North, no glimpses, but somehow the impression that beneath the closed and enigmatic exterior, unfathomable storms are going on inside.

With radio there is only voice to work with. The range and tone are amazing.. But to me it?s the choices made in the use of that voice that have got me hooked. For example, in the opening section of episode 2, when he?s writing to his friend Jack about his abduction of Clarissa: he could have chosen to speak the words in a gloating, amused and cynical way, which would have been totally in keeping with the text, but instead his voice trembles, goes hoarse, dies to a whisper. The same thing happens in scenes with Clarissa herself, so that for a fraction of a second, it is she that wields the power over him. You are totally convinced of his emotional involvement, and that involvement seems to go beyond simple lust and desire for revenge, despite what he says elsewhere.. Oh, he switches back to the world-weary libertine persona PDQ, but too late, you have had the glimpse.

And for me it?s that glimpse of that complexity and hunger that triggers empathy, as you begin to draw on memories of your own emotional experiences, and on down to the complexities of your own mind -- , some corridors of which you may even have hidden from yourself..

So I found myself moved by the fact that in some cases his name was pronounce ??loveless?? And by his ??expiatory?? death. And I shall be listening again.

woops my crossing out didn't work either. Festina lente and all that

Flowers I love that Stephen Fry clip by the way.

Theresa, I listened to Clarrisa yesterday, and as lovely as it is to listen to RA's voice, I could not help but think of Lovelace as a horror. I think RA did bring across the sneering, arrogant, conniving nature of Lovelace (or Loveless as you rightly note they refer to him sometimes) and found I could not think of him in my usual way . Saying that, I think that is only credit to him as an actor.

I think when he seems remorseful he is only feeling sorry for himself not for any real love for Clarissa.

Maybe you have to lsten in the dark, Stripey {grin] And be a bit of a sentimental soul to boot.

I'm glad of that, Stripey. Stephen Fry is my fantasy next door neighbour for witty banter over the fence.

Theresa - Wow. I like this very much but need to take some time to think about it more deeply. But, for now, I think you're absolutely right about the choices that are made, whether it's voice alone on the radio or voice, facial expression and movement in visual media. I've said before how heart-wrenching I find it to watch Thornton's face as Margaret drives away, when you see his expression shift from hope, to will, to bleakness as she doesn't look back. With Clarissa though, I never was convinced of Lovelace's emotional involvement or (at least) I wasn't sure what that emotion might be. For me, a large part of Lovelace's character is the ambiguity about how much he really feels and how much he dissimulates; it was never clear to me what was real and what was feigned. Which makes him all the more dangerous and the tale all the more gripping.

If this is lying down with lions, perhaps the next chapter could be feasting with panthers?

True, I was listening whilst drawing so perhaps distracted. Like Flowers, I was not convinced of Lovelace's emotional involvement but I will need to test again - in the dark .

Stripey - I think I agree with you. I doubt that what Lovelace feels for Clarissa is love in any meaningful sense and I certainly don't buy into the "poor misunderstood Lovelace, if only Clarissa hadn't been such a prude" thing. Lovelace's crimes weren't crimes passionels committed in the heat of the moment, they were a long time in the planning and were mercilessly executed. I'm sure it's not accidental that his name is Lovelace (which round here is pronounced Loveless).

But I agree too with Theresa that there is some complexity there and there are odd moments when one senses a parallel universe in which Lovelace could have been a better person. All of which is testimony to Mr Armitage's craft.

I think with Lovelace, he doesn't really know himself what he feels at times. In this interpretation at least.

Ultimately I know those passages that interest me so much are not genuine emotion at all, it's just very skilful acting but I feel that as Mr Armitage is a better actor than Lovelace, there is something ''real'' in there. You know how RA says he tries to find something in his characters to add depth and credibility.

But then I always was too much of a soft touch, story of my life, I'm afraid.

Just to break the literary <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com/_qC7hd0NK_dc/RulMD_bFgEI/AAAAAAAACbs/VfhGJKbN8Mk/s400/BetweenTheSheets_TV_RichardArmitage22.jpg&imgrefurl=barbwirexfame.blogspot.com/2007/09/between-sheets-tv-james-thornton.html&usg=__x9bwGksGV7FcNx5j9UvNinZWwNw=&h=300&w=400&sz=20&hl=en&start=233&zoom=1&tbnid=VNH08Lu1TAtWnM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=208&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drichard%2Barmitage%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1R2ACAW_enGB392%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D824%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C4238&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1236&vpy=474&dur=1756&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=135&ty=75&ei=0Z_iTKHRHY-SjAe2g9XKAQ&oei=p5_iTPTWFomChQep_KDaDA&esq=7&page=7&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:24,s:233&biw=1899&bih=824" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">discussions

Well, there's another essay to be written about the Archetype of the Bad Boy and the girl who hopes to redeem him.

I've been wanting for some time to quote a poem which isn't particularly apposite - especially not to Clarissa - but possibly suits the mood for some of the Guy and courtly love stuff. So here it is.

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange, one for the other giv'n.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a better bargain driv'n.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his, because in me it bides.
His heart his wound received from my sight:
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me, on him his hurt did light,
So still me thought in me his hurt did smart:
Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss:
My true love hath my heart and I have his.

SSStttrriiipppeeeyyyyy!