The Squeee

Look, he's even wearing a cravat! :D Happy 65th birthday, Sam Neill! May you have a great birthday weekend, with lots of wine, spring flowers and warm breezes through the vinyards. :)

The subject of a gay actor playing straight parts has come up in the comments before, but I think for me personally, that's more to do with the actor's skills than anything else. For instance, if a certain actor we all love and are really devoted to would turn out to bat for the other team, as it were, some people would argue that it would be too weird to watch him play straight relationships on screen. For instance, wouldn't it be weird if Thornton was gay in real life? Don't look like no limp wrists to me, sonny. I think it's more to do with how the actor portrays the character. With Thornton, I'd say "whoa boy, you sure could've fooled me!" for instance. In Serenity , we finally see Kaylee and Simon get together. The actor playing Simon, Sean Maher, came out last year. Him and Kaylee? That seems genuine enough to me.

Today's Tag Teams: It's almost over, oh noes! In fandom , Phylly3 celebrates her second blogiversary! • Avalon considers her favorite fandom moments (includes interview with Jeannie Gisborne)! •  In the Hobbit chain, Antonia Romera compares trailers for An Unexpected Journey in three languages • CDoart 's the King Richard Armitage blogger, writing on the relevance of the character in times of questionable justice • 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. This post is inspired, but not exactly based on, Richard Armitage's character in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: In Divine Proportion . I freely admit the reason...

How a Swede spent last night sort of dictates how Nyårsdagen (New Year's Day) is spent. If you were full up on drink and didn't get to bed until the early hours of the morning, you probably spend most of the day in bed, then take it very easy due to the inevitable hangover you're likely to have. Not so much if you took it easy. There is of course time to start working on those new year's resolutions ... Did you make any? I normally don't, because I don't see the point. Losing weight? Yeah, well, I need to do that regardless of if it's a new year or not. Quit smoking? Never smoked. Exercise more? See the bit about losing weight ... In Britain, if a red letter day falls on a weekend, the holiday is pushed to the next available Monday, so you get it back, meaning tomorrow is a Bank Holiday here. In Sweden, if a red letter day falls on a weekend, tough luck, you don't get it back, meaning today is a Sunday, tomorrow is a normal Monday. I much pref...

Some films are excellent, others ... well, they lose our attention so bad we can't help but to fall asleep. Here is my top list of films that have made Mr. Sandman pop round for an extra trip simply because I've struggled to stay awake while watching them and simply haven't been able to. The seven films are sorted according to the length of snoozing and the supposed "worthiness" of the film in question. And yes, there are a few on there that are so critically acclaimed they've made the IMDb Top 250 list . Two are in the top 60, one clocks in at 110 ... So, ranging from a score of 3.2/10 to 8.6/10, here goes:

Oh, I really couldn't resist the temptation of that title. Sam Neill has been in a few scary - or at least they're meant to be and probably are to some - things, so I thought it would be a good idea to come up with some suggestions for a Sam-tastic Halloween movie marathon, for those who are game! If you choose to watch any over the weekend, you'll have to report back what you thought of them - deal? :) Horror both on earth and in space, weird and spooky events, evil beings ... He sure has done a lot of different things over the years, the horrifically bad ones omitted. After all, we're supposed to be scared by the events depicted, not by how bad the production is. ;) In reverse chronological order:

The Awl has posted a list of 111 Male Characters Of British Literature, In Order Of Bangability . (Thanks for posting about it in the forum, rhubarbsmom!) First of all, let's correct the image they use to illustrate the article, as they've chosen number THREE on the list as opposed to number one. Can't have that now, can we? There we go. MUCH better. Order is restored. Ta-daaaah!! Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre made number one! :D Congratulations on your impeccable taste, Carrie Frye! Of course he is the most bangable character in British literature. Here are some reflections on selected parts of the rest of the list:

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - Thorin Oakenshield What an exciting start to a Friday morning! Reading all these lovely blog posts between trying to make a website layout. I think it's safe to say we're all tingly with excitement over the news that Richard Armitage has been cast in Peter Jackson's forthcoming adaptation of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit . This I greet with a slightly overawed: Aaaaawesomes ! I wonder where it's going to be filmed, though. Or have they sorted out the problems with the New Zealand acting union finally? Even Sam Neill got involved with that a while back and thought they should pipe down and settle it over a cuppa tea. Which I noted with considerable glee, not previously really caring about The Hobbit film because, well, who cares? I'll see the film, absolutely, but I'm not actually a fan of the Ring trilogy. I am, however, a big fan of Sam Neill. An...

According to Expressen , who got the low-down from the Daily Express , a survey by Debenhams has revealed men are still seen as attractive until the age of 55. Seriously, they needed a survey to tell us that? I thought the evidence of hotness in guys over 50 was pretty obvious already: Exhibit A: Mark Harmon (1951) Exhibit B: Pierce Brosnan (1953) Exhibit C: William Petersen (1953) Exhibit D: Alan Rickman (1946) Exhibit E: Sam Neill (1947) I'm starting to stray into the 60s here, back to the 50s! Exhibit F: Ken Olin (1954) Exhibit G: Jeff Bridges (1949) Woops, relapse, let's over-compensate: Exhibit H: George Clooney (1961) I could go on. A lot longer than this. Richard Madeley, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Martin Sheen - and sons (they're not 50 yet, are they?), Harvey Keitel, Rik Mayall, Bruce Willis, Bruce Boxleitner , Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Douglas, Mel Gibson, Timothy Dalton ... No really, I...

Wowza what a day to be Richard Armitage fan! And what a busy day for him! In the studio with Myleene Klass and then off to BBC to be on Radio 1 with Greg James. See, yesterday, the Chris Moyles breakfast show were lamenting the fact they didn't have a celeb lined up for Friday's show and I was thinking "hey, they could always get Richard Armitage in!" - and all the while, he was going to be on a later show instead. Cheered me up a lot to come across all these RA goodies thanks to fellow fans. My back has been playing up a lot lately so I finally made it to a physiotherapist yesterday so it can start to feel better and this totally made me forget about the aches and pains at least for a little bit, so thanks, ladies! A big thanks especially for all the lovely people who have made these things available for the rest of us! Grounds, walking upon, worship ... you know. :) After reforming my body from the happy puddle I got transformed into, let's see what's cr...

Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000) Sam is: Thomas Jefferson There is a rumour that US president Thomas Jefferson was romantically involved with one of his slaves - the fair-skinned Sally Hemings... and even had kids. This movie is about that relationship. This was on TV in Sweden when I was struck by Sam fandom overnight and probably had something to do with it. For a good reason. Maybe the sort of story of more interest to the female audience. The Simpsons - Homer the Vigilante (1994) Sam is: Malloy Malloy, the old cat burglar. Sam was very flattered to be a part of the Simpsons, as it's one of his favourite shows. He doesn't get to say a lot, though. Sirens (1994) Sam is: Norman Lindsay Hugh Grant as a vicar, with prudish wife Tara Fitzgerald. Features one of the blondes from Ally McBeal in the nude, as well as a likewise undressed Elle MacPherson. Sam's a controversial Australian painter (he paints naked ladies - which is why the aforementioned women ...

Perfect Strangers (2003) Sam is: The Man I've heard from a non-fan who said this was a good movie. See, ask any Sam fan and they go all dreamy at the mere thought of this thriller/black comedy/romance story, written and directed by Gaylene Preston. Story is: woman (Rachael Blake) goes out and goes home with the best-looking guy in the bar (Sam). They go to his boat. When she wakes up in the morning, they're in the middle of the ocean, and he takes her to his place - on a deserted island. She is not amused at having been kidnapped. Now, any Sam fan will have a problem with her character, because if they were abducted by Sam and taken to a deserted island to be his forever... well, what's the problem? It's a dream come true! And yet, she's not happy. So fans have a bit of a hard time seeing things from her perspective. So it's difficult to be neutral, as I'm a fan (obviously) of the guy, and think the movie is great (the shooting practice scene is very fu...

Jessica (2004) Sam is: Richard Runche This is an excellent miniseries, set in the late 1800s Australia. Jessica is a tomboy, not a Lady, and she likes aboriginees, so she's not the most popular lady around, especially not as she has a child with her beau who is conned into marrying her sister and it's a lot better than it sounds. She ends up in a lunatic asylum as well. Sam plays a drunken barrister so well he was nominated for the AFI Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy. The Jungle Book (1994) Sam is: Colonel Geofferey Brydon Sam drew from the character of his own father for this role, which is interesting, but the movie in itself isn't all that interesting as such. Good family film, but personally, I prefer the Disney version. Jurassic Park (1993) Sam is: Dr. Alan Grant Paeleontologist in a hat, who doesn't like kids. Cloned dinosaurs in a themepark on a remote island. Spielberg. T-Rex. Jeff Goldblum as a chaotician. Lau...

Enigma (1983) Sam is: Dimitri Vasilikov Sam in a fur hat. Enigma was a coding system used by the military, and people want to get their hands on it. It's about spying and cold war and Martin Sheen is in it. It's a good old movie. Event Horizon (1997) Sam is: Dr. William Weir Infinite space... infinite terror. Sci-fi horror. Ship vanishes - ship returns - people sent to investigate, finds ship evil. Ship makes it's creator (Sam) goes insane, as his mind is corrupted by ship. Well-made, quite gory, and indeed scary. W00t!

Aside from celebrating Sam Neill's birthday, I'm also trying to get rid of my old wiki site in favour of a different style of website, which means I'm trying to migrate things, but this, I believe, is better off here than on the new site. :) Very short reviews of various films that have Sam Neill as a common denominator! Can't for the life of me remember when they were written, but it wasn't exactly yesterday, I know that much. :) A Cry in the Dark (1988) Sam is: Michael Chamberlain "The dingo stole my baby!" Based on a true story, it's Meryl Streep as a woman whose youngest child, a baby, is taken by a dingo when the family's on vacation at Uluru. Sam's the dad. Big trial, a country torn in two - "guilty" and "not guilty". Very good movie, and good from the point of how vulture-like journalists are. Has two or three people from The Flying Doctors in it, which is always a nice bonus for, umm, me. Bicentennial Man (19...