The Locksley School of Visual Arts at the University of Milton North

[PhoenixRisingFromTheAshes]

Please come in and make yourself at home. All are welcome to join in our exhaustive and detailed daily research programmes. Areas of study include: The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution; Robin Hood Studies (specialist subject Guy of Gisborne) as well as exhaustive study of the Creative Arts, Film and Media (with particular emphasis on Tolkein, the Armed Forces and National Security).

Would you like a glass of Chateau Gizzy?

OMG I can't believe it! I go to bed and two minutes later all hell breaks loose with the Hobbitt stuff! Well as someone who normally hates beards I think it works for him and - seriously - could his voice be any sexier?

Twigs, I know you nearly had a heart attack thinking Aidan Turner was Our Man but actually, I quite like him, he's in Being Human. I would prefer him without all the scrag around his head though.

The cast looks like lots of fun, I like Martin Freeman he is very funny.

Thank you all for posting!!

Well I've woken up this morning and I still fancy him with a beard so it obviously wasn't all a dream after all :)

OMG, those "nice" and "cute" pics you posted, Phoenix!!!

MrsLN: (although still recovering slightly from the fact that I fancy a bloke with a beard shock). My sentiments exactly - it's unnerving, isn't it?!

As for the Gisborne Chardonnay region, yes, this is where our original Chateau Giz came from! They make beer too but I'd never heard of it before I went to France with John Lucas and discovered it there.

Tee hee at testosterone charged lope :)

Phoenix, what a star bccmee is for doing that - I was just thinking that I didn't have time to watch the whole thing and then I saw your edited link. Thanks so much for alerting us to that.

Good news that the prosthetics haven't been decided on yet :)

Ditto to literally everything you just said, Small!!

Is the guy next to Aidan T from Eastenders? Staceys brother?

I have had a crush on Martin Freeman for years...

Where is that quote from Mrs LN?

You know how you have little phrases or quotes that you use with certain people? DH and I have one from Fawlty Towers that we say whenever beards are mentioned. Well I cannot stop saying it over and over in my head for some reason this morning :)

You know I'm going to be saying that now, don't you Twigs?

Nice tan too.

Sorry, Small :) You have to say it with the accent too, for the full, irritating effect. It was on permanenet loop in my brain all the time I was looking at the pics last night...

Kind of glad I hadn't seen the 'good' pics from the press conference or I would never have slept last night!

Right, I have to go and somehow concentrate on TwigBoy's gym class.

see you later!

I've just seen some more conference pics. They may have been there all along, as it's from the same series that Phoenix linked to earlier but I hadn't seen them...

Smiley dwarf

Twinkle twinkle little eyes star

A glimpse of Twiglets

Oh, it seems that you can't strike out a word when you use it as a link...

Am soo looking forward to getting stuck in to all this tonight. H is out for the evening, but our PC speakers have broken so have got to fly to Argos and get a new set inbetween finishing work & the school run.

Fab that we've got an edited link - well done Phoenix - must admit I wasn't particularly inclined to trawl through the whole 38 minutes (would have done it though )!

Oh, grrr. YT is being non-cooperative today and it's taking forever to load the clip.

I liked the idea of the testosterone charged lope too. it was a far better phrase than heroic man-crumpet

Am loving the beard, too, to an amazing degree. I was just so chuffed to see new evidence of his existence on the planet. What bliss.

Success at last.

I would just point out that I was The First here to acknowledge the delights of a well-kempt beard. So there. But I am glad that you ladies have finally caught up.

Lope is the perfect word, isn't it? Mr Thornton lopes a bit and Guy ::adjusts monocle and peers closely:: lopes to an incredible degree.

I still don't like beards in general, Maud, but this one is different :)

I like the phrase "new evidence of his existence on the planet"!

I wonder if the lope comes from being self-conscious about one's height?

Have just had to have another glance at the twinkly eyes photo. Sigh. Although Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is up with Martin Freeman's light blue jacket over black shirt? ICK.

Yes, but I'll slowly convince you, Twiggy. We'll start with the specific Bearded One and progress to the generality of beards (those that look like roadkill affixed with superglue excepted, of course)!

::Dusts off the Grid Guide to Brainwashing and Indoctrination::

::Cue music from The Manchurian Candidate::

Oooh, The Manchurian Candidate is one of my favourite films!

Oh dear God

::stern::

Haven't you got some painting to do, Twiggy? This can't be good for your blood pressure and I understand that the Good Doctor is overseas at the moment.

::wafts smelling salts around, just in case::

OMG indeed, Twigs. Good job I was alone in the house, as of minutes only,when I opened that link as I let out this huge shameful totally involuntary GROAN

And I had just come back from a delighted daze and general staring off into space with a silly grin on my face after watching one of those vids, the one showing them coming on the stage one by one. The particular angle in this one shows one long lean jeans-clad thigh come forward as he takes his sat and though it was loading so slowly I didn't mind a bit....

Yes,Maud, Guy lopes. I am loving the lope.

Of course ::shameless bragging:: I was in the same room when he flung one long jeans-clad leg in the air and exclaimed "Look! I'm lithe".

::Will need to use Ros Stella in Outcasts' deep brain memory retrieval gizmo to keep that memory alive forever::

I've got round to scrolling down that page now, Twigs, and I am falling about laughing at myself for practically passing out at each stage along the way.

How utterly ridiculous can one get?

I was in the same room when he flung one long jeans-clad leg in the air

However did you contain yourself, Maud, that is what I'd like to know.

You should have heard my totally helpless GROAN just now at the beard pic. and accompanying text...