The Squeee

April 30th is a day steeped in tradition in Sweden. We call it Valborgsmässoafton (Valborg's Mass Eve) and it's tradition to light big bonfires and students put their graduation caps on and sing songs welcoming spring. Something about scaring witches away as well, I believe, but we're not that easily scared. There's Walpurgisnacht in Germany as well, but not exactly what the traditions are there, but I'm guessing it probably has the same Pagan roots as Valborg does. On Beltane, the Wiccan tradition is that the God is a young man who meets and falls in love with the Goddess. They unite, and she becomes pregnant. In nature, animal babies are starting to take their first gentle steps into the new, green world. Bonfires are traditional, especially leaping across them, to ensure fertility during the year.

As in, what would be a dealbreaker for you? What would turn you off? There are a number of things that make us love this poor lad so much, so that every time he says something, we keel over, swooning uncontrollably and declaring how much we love him and what a wonderful man he is. Every new (or old) interview I read, there's always something that makes me sigh like a little infatuated fangirl and just making it one step closer to writing "Richard" on a piece of paper and encircling it "Richard" with a heart. So, the question inevitably comes: What could he possibly say or do to make the infatuation end, the admiration fizzle out? From what I've been able to figure out about myself, it would have to be something pretty darn drastic. ( More bearded goodness here !) Getting a beard totally failed. It just made him even more smouldering. Oh so manly, oh so gorgeous, be still our hearts! So no, facial hair is not a dealbreaker. More like a Beard of M...

Spotted this on a few blogs at the end of last week and said "I'll have to watch that when I get home!" and ... still haven't, as I've been either knackered or away or both. (Thank you so much for the reminder, Tara!) Maybe if I post it here, I'll remember to watch it and not just browse through it quickly and wish I could see it with the sound on? :) (Also, I have told myself I'm going to post about Richard Armitage every Wednesday, and I haven't written anything for today. So this is me writing about him today! :D I might just update this post when I've seen the clip and can comment on it properly.)

Here are a few remarks I made in response to a post on Me + Richard Armitage last December, when the topic was about his fame, his friendship with an actress and the fandom that goes with it. Saved them because I thought they could be used as basis for posts here, which hasn't really happened. But anyway, here goes: Picture from Me + Richard Armitage , found through Google I too have a sort of reluctant interest in Ms. Capper, which is really difficult to explain, because … well, would I be interested at all if she HADN’T been seen together with Richard Armitage? No. She sounds like a nice person, and we get the impression that Richard Armitage is a nice person too, so sounds like they’re well-matched as friends. If there’s more to it than friendship, who knows? Does it really matter to any of us either way? I suppose that from a sense of being an ordinary woman, that he’s seen with a woman who looks REAL is the sort of self-satisfied “see? He’s a decent bloke, he wouldn’...

I saw this trailer and couldn't help saying: "What. The. F**k?" at the screen. I then showed it to the Squeeze, whose reaction was eerily similar. Behold: Oy vey! "What's wrong with it?" you may ask. "It has Neil Patrick Harris in it! And that girl from Heroes and Glee ! And Hank Azaria as Gargamel! And it's in 3D!" Okay, first of all: I don't care if it's in 3D, because I don't froth at the mouth at the prospect of having to wear special glasses when I go to the cinema. Two dimensions are good enough for me, and for a lot of other people. I don't watch Glee (and yes, I have heard it's brilliant and awesome and everything - I just haven't watched much of it) and apparently, they cancelled Heroes . Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria, okay yeah, but I didn't even recognise Gargamel and was surprised to see who plays him in the IMDb info. No. It's the whole "they came from outer space!!" fee...

Okay, apparently it was uploaded nearly a month ago, but I haven't seen it until now. Can't wait for the final film to come out! Not to mention how much I'm dreading it. They're going to wreck Hogwarts! *tries to stop hyperventilating*

First things first: They're making Good Omens into something for the telly. A miniseries, hopefully, as opposed to a TV movie. It's due in 2013, according to IMDb . If you don't know what Good Omens is, you've missed a terribly great novel, written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's about a young Antichrist, an angel and a demon who have decided humanity isn't all that bad actually, and Armageddon. Or prevention thereof. And it's hysterically funny. One of my favourite books. Secondly, news are that BBC have commissioned four new episodes of Dirk Gently . Hopefully this time, they'll make it completely standalone from the novels, so we won't have the problems that the pilot had . Fingers crossed! If you follow me on Twitter , you may have already noticed I changed my username slightly the other day. It used to be the_squeee , it's now TheSqueee (case optional). I thought back when I got the account, the version without the underscore...

Reading an article about Horrible Histories from The Guardian , there were some things that make me do little excited dances: 1. BBC One will broadcast a "repackaged version" presented by Stephen Fry instead of the rat, and they'll do it on prime time! 2. There might even be a Horrible Histories movie! 3. There might be a Horrible Histories stage show with the actors from the TV show ... and it could come this very autumn! (Tickets! My kingdom for some tickets!) And the third series is due out next month . Sweeeeeet!

This is ancient, so it doesn't contain Richard Armitage. :P (Skip to the comment below the video.) It was cut together when I was still in school, so it's from 1999 or 2000. We didn't even have digital editing on computers at the time, so this is made the good ol' way with a couple of VHS players/recorders, using source material which for the most part was maybe 5th generation copies, so quality isn't brilliant ... but I do think it's kinda cute. :) With Richard Armitage fanvids, I did start to make a Guy/Marian one (yes, OMG! I don't even like Marian!) to a Blackmore's Night song, but haven't come very far. And I only have Windows Movie Maker, because the Sony one that came with my laptop is about as useful as Windows Live Movie Maker or whatever it's called. Which is a piece of shite that has done away with the timeline altogether, not to mention editing clips. Bleargh. Maybe one day I'll finish it. Maybe.

Here’s another thing that originated from a creative writing course, but this one’s been translated from Swedish. The object was to try out different narration perspectives, or whatever you might call them. One scene, three perspectives: first person singular, third person singular, omnipotent/third person plural. I took it quite literally and did the exact same scene, but seen from three different angles, but others wrote three different stories altogether. Huh. We had a character constraint, which I’ve ignored because the texts have been translated, and had to include the basic story of Frank who dates George’s daughter (which George disapproves of), who waits for George in George’s house. They have an argument and Frank shoots George. We had to come up with the setting, the reasons for the argument and the shooting. I found it very difficult at first, because I could think of half a dozen reasons for George to shoot Frank, not the other way around. :) Here’s how it turned out: F...

Here are a few remarks I made in response to a post on RAFrenzy's blog a year or so ago, when the topic was about his fame and the fandom that goes with it. Saved them because I thought they could be used as basis for posts here, which hasn't really happened. Since I'm currently writing up a review of Between the Sheets , I thought this should be posted beforehand. So here goes: Picture from An RA viewer's perspective from 33°0'S of the equator , found through Google I've not actually seen Between the Sheets yet even though I have it (*waves toward the DVD shelf*) but I've seen the non-explicit scenes on YouTube and once, when I googled with SafeSearch switched off, came across a blog which offered not just pictures but a short clip. To which my reaction was an "Oh. My. GODS!" with several meanings. Fascination and appreciation mixed with embarrassment and partial disgust, sprinkled with fangirly squees over when he says "lie down...

Have you been fooled by anything today? Here's a joke from 1999, but I still love it. :) Courtesy of ZTV's news show ZTV Nytt : Transcribed with translation: Kajsa Nyström, ZTV presenter: [voiceover, trailer] In ZTV News Thursday: Modern Talking sings a classic in Swedish. Kajsa Nyström: ZTV News can reveal today that the legendary 80:es band Modern Talking will do yet another version of their old hit "Brother Louie". As an award to all their Swedish fans, this song will be released in Swedish in about a month. Thomas Anders: This is, you know, was very special, because it’s not so easy to sing in Swedish. Umm... but we were in the studio and we did a special version... for... Sweden. And... umm... Dieter Bohlen: For all the reindeers. [they laugh] Thomas Anders: They have people here living here! [laugh] So we are very... umm... you know, we’re looking forward, and hopefully you’ll like it, and we will be number one with the Swedish version. It...

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...