The Squeee

The FanstRAvaganza here at The Squeee has officially ended. Only a week or so ago, but real life has been hectic recently. Have now finally launched the re-vamp of the company website, so at least that's no longer hanging over my head. Having been busy in real life is also why I haven't made as many posts for this FanstRAvaganza as I had planned and wanted to have written. The ones that were posted were mainly done beforehand, or at least started and then just finished off in the week. Still haven't written about Richard and his BMW, for instance, and every time I drive down the A52, I'm reminded of why I want to write it. But anyway, who says you need to save everything for the big event? I need to have some topics to write about in the year leading up to next year's FanstRAvaganza, right? :) Here's a list of all my F2 posts on the subject of Richard Armitage, in reverse chronological order: The End of the FanstRAvaganza Richard Armitage - A Most Charitab...

Two wonderful things have happened recently on the BBC. Or, technically, four. The first ones, I came across by accident on BBC Four when channel hopping: a Christy Moore concert accompanied by the two programmes Folk Hibernia at the BBC (2007), which is a one-hour show with clips from various BBC shows where Irish musicians have performed. Clannád, The Dubliners, The Pogues and many more; and the second, a ninety-minute documentary about Irish folk music called Folk Hibernia (2006). It gave the background of the Irish folk movement, and how it started out being sort of hidden away and only really played in the countryside, and then how it was popularised in America by the Clancy Brothers, who brought it back to Ireland and paved way for groups like The Dubliners . A highly interesting programme to watch for anyone who loves traditional Irish folk music. The other thing I've come across, #4 in order, is a show I came across when flicking through Virgin Media's Catch up on D...

We were actually busy watching part two of Syfy's Alice on DVD last night, so I have yet to see Women in Love . Here are some reviews I've tracked down, to see what "the professionals" have to say about it. Not that it should be used as a guide as to what you might think of it yourself, because professional critics are generally from a different planet than the rest of us. Andrew Billen of The Times gave it 4 stars out of 5. He's not too impressed by it, finding the original novel "hard to take seriously". Not quite sure what he means by that specifically. I have issues with the book, which seems to be more part two than part one (being the prequel The Rainbow from what I've understood these reviews), but take it seriously? Well, yes. And finding it a bit weird, dull and preachy too. Billen seems to think that the story was best served when it was first published, in the 1920s, when sex in books was something revolutionary, but nowadays, "L...

Lo and behold! Fans of Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones and RICHARD ARMITAGE - enjoy! Richard is only in it for a tiny li'l bit but he SPEAKS! Man has trailer time! :D

And that airdate is TOMORROW! The BBC two-part adaptation of DH Lawrence's Women in Love and The Rainbow starts tomorrow, Thursday 24 March 2011 at 9 pm / 21:00 on BBC Four and concludes Thursday 31 March. Ursula (Rachael Stirling) and Gudrun (Rosamund Pike) The adaptation was filmed in South Africa as opposed to in Nottinghamshire, where the book is actually set, for " budgetary constraints ". Last time I remember seeing outdoors South Africa trying to pose as outdoors England was in Merlin: The Return , and the least said about that film the better. (Scenery was just one of many things that let that piece of sh production down.) It looked nothing like England, let's put it that way.

Today, March 20th, is the day of the Spring Equinox, when day and night are equally long. Tomorrow, day is longer than night, which is a great relief to all us with SAD . This particular day is called Ostara in the Neopagan calendar and is a spring festival, named after the goddess Eostre, or Eastre, which indeed is where we get the name "Easter" from, not to mention the curiously un-Christian Easter traditions of eggs and bunnies. You could say Ostara the Neopagan Easter, and both the eggs and the hares or rabbits are symbols of fertility. With the light and warmth of spring, nature is reborn and both flora and fauna get their groove on. In the Wiccan Wheel of the Year story of the Godess and the God, Ostara is when the Goddess wakes up properly from her winter sleep and dresses the world in green. In nature, trees start to become green, spring flowers are blossoming and we can finally enjoy the first warm days of the year. I think the reason for remembering this holida...

Yesterday was Red Nose Day here in Britain and it saw Comic Relief getting over £74 million to projects in Africa and the UK. Credit crunch? Not when it comes to being charitable! :) Richard Armitage is doing his bit for charity as well. He did a 24-hour thing at the Old Vic last year, which was a fundraiser for the theatre, and together with the Vicar of Dibley team (thanks for the reminder, MG !), he was in a sketch for Comic Relief in 2007: There are also these funny clips from BBC Children in Need a few years ago: Guy being charitable? Well, of course not! (I love Guy's final line. Bitter much?) Instead of just accepting gifts that his fans send him, Richard Armitage has instead urged fans to NOT send him anything, and have given away most of the gifts to charities. Good on him! He also reminds us that he's fine as he is, no need to send him any money or anything, so instead, could we please think of those who are not as well off as he is and give it to the...

What if Richard Armitage was gay instead of straight? What would you do? No, I mean that sincerely. Would it change anything? Would you be disappointed? After all, if he was gay, he wouldn't be interested in you, regardless of how far-fetched the fantasy of meeting him in person is or isn't, but odds are he wouldn't give you the time of day regardless, as he once said he would never date a fan. Would you enjoy his works less? Or, would you perhaps like him even more? There are plenty of women who love to hang out with gay men, and hanging out with Richard Armitage - regardless of his sexuality - I can think of a whole host of worse things, for sure. The question of Richard Armitage's sexuality has popped up before, many times, and I'm not going to provide a definitive answer to it, simply because the only one who can give a definite answer it is the man himself, and he ain't here. I'm not exactly hiding him in a closet or anything. Pun intented...

Last Saturday, we happened to venture to the old market town of Southwell in east Nottinghamshire. (It's either pronounced "south-well" like you'd expect OR "suth-ull" - haven't had a definitive "it's this way or the highway" yet, because there are people who argue both sides.) We walked around town for a bit - lots of old houses, particularly of the Georgian fashion (which I love). I'm happy to announce they have a very nice greengrocer's hidden away on a back street, and a nice little chocolate shop on the high street and a selection of cafés and restaurants. They also have a great big church for a fairly small town: the Southwell Minster. As we were walking back to the short stay car park (free parking for up to two hours), we came across this ... touristy informationy thingy: You should be able to make out that it says "SOUTHWELL MINSTER" and "IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ROBIN HOOD" and that a green-clad gu...

One of the things Richard Armitage is very fond of is sports. He likes skiing and seems to have looked into buying a little chalet in the French Alps (or how else would he actually know how much one costs?). In one interview, when talking about extreme sports, the interviewer said something about he wouldn't fancy a holiday on a river boat, Richard quickly - and emphatically - said "No!" I could do a whole post about him training until he throws up in preparation for Strike Back , good locations for skiing in the Alps (Chamonix maybe? Isn't that one they normally show on telly when there's winter sports on?), he wasn't keen on swimming when he took the role as Lee in Cold Feet and I've mentioned already that he enjoys watching rugby. So he keeps himself active. However, if there's a topic I care very little for, it's sports. And I thought there has been far too few piccys of Himself this week (especially today), so I went looking for something...

I was meant to have written a few posts yesterday, but work got in the way. Funny how it does that, eh? ;) When I got home and sat down to do some writing, I stumbled across the place where you sign up to publish your own eBooks on Amazon Kindle and then I got caught up in having a look at what you can do with it, how it works and all that, which in turn led to looking into blog publishing to the Kindle and then all of a sudden it was time to go to bed. Dangit. But anyway, I'll see what I can fit in today, which is the day of St. Patrick! Have a great time, y'all, be ye Irish, wannabe Irish, of Irish ancestry or just like a bit o' craic ! :)

Is it true that if a person is artistically inclined and talented in one way, they are more likely to be artistically inclined and talented in other ways too? That is the question. Judging by Mr. Armitage, the answer is yes, very much so. We all know he can act, so that's one just for starters. He has mentioned on several occasions that he plays the cello, and that, to me at least, makes him a bit artsy. If he was just into music like most people, he'd be strumming an accoustic or maybe even electric guitar from time to time, because that's the most common thing, really. Or play the piano. But a CELLO? That's pretty impressive. (Thanks to Angelfish via Skully for this one!) If someone can play an instrument well, then they probably can sing as well, right? You'd think. With regards to Richard Armitage, from what I've gathered, he's said he's not a singer. However, listen to the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and yo...

In two words: Pizza and Beer. Oh and something about watching rugby on telly, but as rugby is a total mystery to me and I really don't get any of it, I'll focus on the first two things - both of which I can relate to very well ... one more than the other. I know a lot about how to eat pizza, I can make many different ones and the Squeeze and I have gone to the Robin Hood Beer Festival in October for the past four or five years now. It's the one time of year I get drunk, and then it's not for the sake of getting drunk, it's because I'm not very used to alcohol (seriously, I'm such a cheap date) and love trying lots of different flavours! I don't know anything about beer more than "ale is darker and drinkable, lager is lighter and tastes absolutely awful, and stout is black with a creamy head" - oh and the water, malt and hops bit - so as I was thinking what kind of beer would go best with which pizza and finding I haven't got the foggies...

I'm a creature of habit when it comes to rustling up dinner. I'll happily make the same dish over and over again until I'm sick of it. At the moment it's salmon with couscous and tomatoes. I got it off the Jamie Oliver app on my iPhone. [ Sunday Times ] That's a challenge too good to miss! So, off to find a recipe for said concoction. Not having an iPhone to hand, I had to trust Google - and found it on a blog called Feelings of White , which also has a nice video to show how it's done. So a while ago, I printed the recipe as a PDF so I wouldn't have to try and find it again and fail when all the ingredients were purchased, and then, once all the ingredients were gathered, I set to work. Arthur doubling as a cookbook For this recipe, we need: 2x 7oz (200g) salmon fillets, thaw if frozen 4oz (~115g) cherry tomatoes (a.k.a. "a handful"), cut in half 1 cup (~225 ml) couscous 1 small bunch fresh basil 1 medium red onion, finely chopped 1 ...

The subject of food is one a little too dear to my heart (there's being voluptuous and then there's just being fat, aaight? :P), and - hooray! - there seems to be some of this in Dear Richard too. After all, was he not the one who mentioned fantasising about kissing Nigella Lawson after she's eaten some of her sumptuous chocolate cake? To that, I say: Hey Mister! I make wicked brownies! *polite cough* So today, the topic is going to be food! Yeah, I could've posted a piccy of a chocolate cake here, but decided Nigella is better for our collective waistlines. Unless we eat her , but then that would be rather disturbed. Our man's also been on telly with another Richard, making a Thai green curry with Myleene Klass in the way, he's been known to make smiley faces out of chunks of stilton and he's also mentioned how he's fixated on a certain dish from Jamie Oliver - one which I have actually tried making! (How it went will be revealed later today....

One of the interesting comments Richard Armitage was when an interviewer asked him, because he's a great dancer, is if we'd ever see him on something like Strictly Come Dancing . His response was that we'd never get to see Richard Armitage as Richard Armitage on TV. Basically, he's not the kind of celebrity to show up as soon as someone waves an invite to a reality TV show. Richard Armitage as himself. On telly. But not in a reality show. Things that make me love and respect the man: +1! Before I read that interview, I was thinking about him on Strictly , and then started to think of a host of other reality TV shows and whether or not he would be a suitable candidate. This is what I came up with ... Top Gear What it is: This is a car show, or ... a comedy show with cars in, depending on how you look at it. Rupert Penry-Jones and Peter Firth came on it to promote series 7 (?) of Spooks , so why not Richard Armitage? He does drive a car, after all ... Why ...

When the news broke about Richard Armitage landing a major role in The Hobbit , I couldn't help but being filled with mixed emotions. One part of me was absolutely thrilled that he's been given such a chance, and another part of me wants to start writing sympathy cards or "I'm sorry for your loss ... of privacy". Bearded goodness, courtesy of Richard Armitage's Beard @ Tumblr Don't get me wrong, I think The Hobbit is a great opportunity for advancing his career. Being disguised by the beard, he's not going to get admirers from an "OMG he's GOWGEOUS!" point of view (although those of us who are familiar with him will of course go "OMG that's one smoulderingly hot dwarf!" - especially now that we know what the man looks like in a beard) but rather, he'll be judged on his acting merits. Which is great! Those eyes can express what a thousand words struggle to, and there's still The Voice. He'll get to act an...