The Squeee

Remember mad libs? Where all you get is a list where you're supposed to fill in a type of word specified and in the end, it puts those words into a story that's just ... well, mad. I found a place online where you could do them, and thought I'd try one about the Perfect Man. Here's how it turned out, with the words I put in highlighted ... My "Dream Man" should, first of all be very beautiful and gaunt . He should have a physique like Richard Armitage , a profile like Toby Stephens , and the intelligence of a cat . He must be polite and must always remember to purr my cup , to tip his radiator and to take my nose when crossing the street. He should move darkly , have a yellow voice, and should always dress smugly . I would also like him to be a black dancer, and when we are alone he should whisper grand nothings into my mouth and hold my tall hazelnut . I know a biscuit is hard to find. In fact the only one I can think of is the Squeeze . LOL! Trul...

One of the things that quite amaze me is how fandoms pull together not just for themselves and the object of their appreciation, but for other people. For instance, the Richard Armitage fandom has (at time of writing) raised an impressive £11,234.07 in a year to the four charities officially supported by him on JustGiving . That’s a lot of money. Toby Stephens. You might know him as Mr. Rochester with the gravity-defying hair. Swoon! More recently, I joined a Toby Stephens fan forum and in April, we all got an email notification about his birthday. In celebration of it, the fanforum have an annual event called a Tobathon in his honour. First, I thought this was some sort of massive Toby Stephens movie marathon, but no. It’s way more impressive than that. Here’s what (part of) the email said: 'Oldies' will also know that every year at this time we have what has become known as the Tobathon : a virtual fun run/walk/hobble where we all get out in the sunshine and compl...

I'm going to be really quite serious for once, but so many things are going on in the world of the stars that I can no longer just sit here in my own little world and pretend things are fine, because sometimes, things are not fine. And it makes me sad. Behind the headlines, the stars are real people, with families who care for them. Zsa Zsa Gabor is fighting gangrene and might lose a leg, but she's age 93 now, so let's face it, while that's obviously sad for her and a terrible worry for her family, I'm not too bothered by it personally. I hope she gets better, obviously, but I can't sit here and pretend that it pulls my heartstrings too much. She's almost a century old - NONE of my grandparents lived to her age. Maybe it's also because I can't relate to her either that makes it less of a biggie. Coming down in ages, and while not young, Dame Maggie Smith (76) battled breast cancer in 2007 and was declared cancer-free in 2009. You wouldn't th...

Tonight, in an hour, the UK will pass from 2010 to 2011. Almost half the world is already there, in fact! I hope 2010 has treated you well, and even if it hasn't, I hope 2011 will be (even) better. :) Here's a quick re-cap of the year of The Squeee . The Squeee in 2010 - A year of unabashed fangirling January opened with the All About the Brontës Challenge , where I set to work straight away, listening to some old radio plays of Jane Eyre , watched the 1996 film adaptation of the same and finished reading Wuthering Heights for the very first time. I also wrote about my visit to Haddon Hall the year before, and had ideas on how you might be able to make sports interesting , because let's face it, it's not exactly all that interesting. I also discovered I was Marianne Dashwood , even though I don't really play the piano. February announced the first International Magic Day , the blog got itself a makeover, and we were being spoiled rotten by Mr. Armitage n...

This is my slightly longer than anticipated comment on ‘Rise and Rise Again’ – 100 YEARS OF ROBIN HOOD: Part Two . Today the Google Alert summary on Richard Armitage actually yielded 100% articles about the actor, as opposed to the former US secretary of state ... and a US murder victim. I'm surprised - and delighted. As the comment turned out to be surprisingly long, well, I can post it here too. Because I can. *cough* Det är Robin Hood jag vill ... jag vill haaa! Leaving 2006 aside for a mo, I LOVE the Disney film. I know it almost by heart in Swedish (which, imho, has better voice acting than the original – shock horror). Prince of Thieves is fun in a “yeah Kevin Costner is soooo from Nottingham … not” and the best part is Alan Rickman’s sheriff. Men in Tights is brilliant (“I am a Robin Hood who DOES have an English accent!”), and features Matthew Porretta as Will Scarlett – the actor who went on to play Robin in that godawful New Adventures series. He left after 20-od...

Ahh, Toby Stephens back on the screen! I've also seen two interviews with him about Vexed, which premiered on the BBC earlier tonight. For instance, in the Daily Post North Wales , he says: "I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. Vexed was a great opportunity for me to do something different and if the fans of Rochester don’t like it, they can tune out after 10 minutes." Which sounds a bit wrong taken out of context, admittedly, but read the original and it'll make sense. :) According to the Sunday Express , he really enjoyed playing the role. So how was it? Fab! Toby Stephens was a hoot - especially enjoyed his pleading with the murderer toward the end, where the murderer said "see you on the other side" and he pointed out that what if there is no other side? Made me laugh out loud. Oh yes, and at the time, he was only in his underwear, might be worth pointing out. Hellooooooooooooo nurse! Before that, he was wearing a dark green t...

So I caught the final second or two of a trailer on BBC yesterday (just before the final episode of the fantabulous Sherlock ) - another three-part mini-series, called Vexed . Starring Toby Stephens! Basically, I saw the very end of a trailer which featured Toby Stephens, and had me excitedly pointing at the telly exclaiming "Toby Stephens! Yay!" Know very little of what it's actually about, but hey, who cares? Toby Stephens! :D To quote the Guardian : Vexed A three-part comedy drama about a pair of cops (Toby Stephens and Lucy Punch) with a lot of chemistry between them, as well as issues at home. Written by Howard Overman, who penned the hit show Misfits for E4. BBC2, August Plz Mr. Stephens, be our chemistry teacher? Or, yay again, the Beeb themselves have a few more words to say: Three crimes, two detectives, one continuing argument… Vexed is a fast-paced, glossy comedy drama, about a detective duo with real chemistry. Bright, sexy and funny, Vexed is...

Just saw a trailer for the final two parts of Strike Back , and I'm happy to announce Toby Stephens was in it! In a suit with short hair, grim expression and American accent. With regards to the episode, it seems it's the Americans trying to get rid of people this time... If it's not the Iraqis or the Zimbabwis, it's the Americans, eh? Still, it'll be nice to see Toby back on screen. Talented actor and handsome fellow that he is, although he looks a bit tired on the pic on the left (from an interview in the London Evening Standard, 23 March 2010 ). Maybe his little kiddies keep him awake at night? In the interview, he says, "On TV a lot of stuff isn't well written. You spend a lot of time trying to polish a turd. Whereas in theatre you usually don't have to expend all that energy selling the thing, because the writing is superior." I wonder what he thinks of Strike Back . Does he consider that turd-polishing too, perhaps? Still, as long as...

They just said on Sky1 that Strike Back will begin with a double episode! :D Also, Female fans (and they are legion; when Armitage, who's single and lives in south-east London, made his romantic debut in North & South , BBC switchboards were jammed with heavy breathing) will just be happy their man spends a good part of Strike Back with his shirt off. (From Reader's Digest , May 2010 - thanks to Maria Grazia for the link!) Shirtless RA!!! Aww, but then we'll be all distracted and won't pay proper attention to the story! Oh well, I'm sure we can all live with that... ;) But - ladies and... probably no gentlemen - let's not forget who else will be struttin' their acting stuff on screen in this production: Cathy Earnshaw '98 (Orla Brady), Edgar Linton '09 (Andrew Lincoln), Miss Taylor/Mrs. Weston '09 (Jodhi May), Friar Tuck "off of" BBC's Robin Hood (David Harewood), that annoying guy in that Spooks episode (Ewen Bremner...

Last updated: 10 June 2010 Here's an observation. It's all about the hair! Sometimes, you see someone who's gorgeous and then they do something with their hair and all of a sudden they aren't. Or they have such great hair that they're just a bit "oooh". Is it the hair or is it the characters that are being played? It's the hair. Before I had joined the ranks of the Armitage Army, I saw a bit of Spooks 7 with Richard Armitage and thought "meh, prefer him as Gisborne". All in the hair, because I wasn't looking at more than his physical appearance at the time (the re-watch after the fan turning made me look more closely and appreciate the actual character, beyond the looks). Gisborne has decidedly more hair, and I prefer RA with more hair. Like this: Cute. But too short. Makes him look like Daniel Radcliffe! Yes, yes, yes, YES!! *fans herself with the laptop* So let's have a look at some others that spring to mind... Toby Step...

If it wasn't for Nat at Richard Armitage Fan Blog , I wouldn't have looked up the cast list for upcoming TV series Strike Back , which is starring Richard Armitage. As she points out , it will also feature some people RA has worked with before, such as Ewen Bremner ( Spooks 8.6), David Harewood (Friar Tuck), and - here's the clincher! - Toby Stephens (Prince John)! Hooray! It will have some other famous faces from costume dramas: Andrew Lincoln (Edgar Linton in WH '09), Jodhi May (Anne Taylor/Weston in Emma '09), and Orla Brady (Cathy in WH '98). Some other people as well, of course, but those are the highlights for me personally. It'll be fun to see Toby Stephens on screen again, and in the same show as Richard Armitage... squee! He's only going to be in two (of six) episodes, mind, and we don't know if they have any scenes together (unless you've read the book the show is based on), but still, same show! As far as I know, Strike Back w...

This is a general hommage to my favourite baddies from films and TV! :D The deliciously malicious people who you might love to hate, or hate to love... or just outright fancy. Whatever floats your boat. Most, if not all, of my favourite baddies are either Magnificent Bastards or Smug Snakes according to the TV Tropes Wiki. The two personality types being quite similar. What would Freud say? If I could make out in which order I prefer them, I would list them like that, but since I can't, I'll just go with an A-Z. So to speak. The links are to YouTube clips for the most part. Last revised: 3 June 2011.

Like I mentioned earlier, season 3 of BBC's Robin Hood seemed watchable - and it was! Some new characters, and as it turned out, series 3 was the last of the show. It was a relief to hear they'd cancelled it because with the season finale the way it was... it would make no sense to continue with a series 4. Anyhoo, here's a quick run-down of what I thought of the third and final series - spoilers ahead : Kate: Crikey, how annoying was she? Didn't mind the actress, but the character just got on my nerves a wee bit. If she didn't get captured, she tried winning Robin's heart (who, of course, had only just missed his beloved Marian end of season 2, so c'mon) and being a bitch. Kh! Archer: Only just came in at the end and could probably be a fun character if he was allowed some space to develop, but as he only made a short visit, he was mainly just annoying as well. Shouldn't he feel some sort of loyalty toward his half brothers? Eh, didn't get hi...

We saw season one when it came out. Had to see if it was any good. It wasn't all that great, but at least it's a heck of a lot better than the atrociousness known as Merlin (the BBC series, not the awesome American miniseries with Sam Neill from 1998, which I love dearly). Didn't see much of season two, but saw bits of it. Season three... wouldn't have been very interested in it if it wasn't for the fact that I found out that not only would Prince John make appearances, he would (more importantly) be played by Toby Stephens. Two sides to this coin. Or actually, I list about five, so that's a well freaky coin as it happens, but I've had some Sheridan's liqueur so I'm excused.