Well, I'm back. Happy New Year and I hope you all had a great holiday/vacation. You may have noticed that I did a little bit of blogging over the Christmas period, although not much, but with current work commitments being what they are, I probably won't have too much time to start blogging properly until Wednesday. Hell, you're probably all going to be too sleepy until then anyway.
Coming on Wednesday
I'll probably have at least mini-reviews of Gavin & Stacey, The 39 Steps and The Next Doctor to put up by then, as well as possibly of the first episode of absolute drek-fest (allegedly) Demons, Jonathan Creek and maybe Above Suspicion and Crooked House, with potentially even a season finale of The Border to muse over. Or I might not. And assuming I can get my arse down the gym enough, there should be some more Big Finishes to mull over as well – although there may never be enough time in the day to listen to those wretched stage play adaptations.
Reader survey results
Not so many responses in the reader survey this year and most of what was said was "keep up the (good) work", so I'm assuming everything's sunny and rosy here and not much needs to change. Okey doke. Either that or you've all buggered off somewhere and I'm talking to myself again. Ho hum.
However, 12.5% of all respondents – clearly all with exquisite taste – requested more pictures of Ali Larter – okey doke again. Happy to oblige.
Jane Henry suggested we have a new feature on Richard Armitage. Now, I really can't be arsed to go ferreting for Richard Armitage pictures, so I'd need a blog quorum (ie two other people) to back her up on that and promise to faithfully look for Richard Armitage pictures.
On the other hand, for the sake of symmetry, if we're to have a male equivalent of Random Ali Larter Pictures (or maybe I should retitle that Random Acts of Ali Larter?), it should probably be a US/Canadian actor who gets a look in this time. Any suggestions? I'll need a quorum.
Today's questions
- What was the most depressing thing you saw or heard on television over the Christmas period? Mine was hearing the Big Brother theme tune and thinking to myself, "Oh surely not." You?
- Lastly, and hopefully I won't need to do too much prompting, anyone got any pictures of David Tennant sitting down or in a reclining position?
January 5, 2009 | Reply
I am quite happy to forgo Richard if you can come up with some other thinking woman's crumpet from whichever side of the pond you choose and more then two people vote for him instead. I'm democratic me....
(Happy New Year btw)
January 5, 2009 | Reply
i can so support the Richard Armitage picture need if it is something people are interested in.
January 5, 2009 | Reply
"What was the most depressing thing you saw or heard on television over the Christmas period?"
How about a Saw marathon on one of the Canadian specialty channels? 'Cause nothing says "Christmas" quite like dismemberment....
January 5, 2009 | Reply
I'm voting like mad for the gorgeous and talented Richard Armitage.
You want pics ? Where do we put them please ?
January 5, 2009 | Reply
Another vote for Richard Armitage! And I've got tons of pics to share.
January 5, 2009 | Reply
@Persephone: Eww. That is depressing. Although I met someone at work today who'd watched all five Saws over Christmas.
Anyway, looks like Richard Armitage is in since we have a solid quorum. Two things to sort first:
1) A name
2) A format
Sometimes the name can determine the format in a way. So Sitting Tennant involves pictures of David Tennant sitting. Easily worked out. Random Acts of Ali Larter (aka Random Ali Larter pictures) is an adventure in surrealism and randomness that coincidentally features pictures of Ali Larter (the emphasis, you see, being on 'Random'). And so on.
So we need a name and a format. At the moment, I'm leaning towards "Totally Gratuitous Dicks" for the name, in which pictures of Richard Armitage in various fan-exciting postures are displayed, but then I'm quite silly at times. So any better ideas, fire them my way.
As for the format, well, Sitting Tennant blazes the way with both a picture competition and a caption competition. We can do similar with that or I'm open to other ideas.
Once all that's sorted, the picture gallery can begin!
January 5, 2009 | Reply
How about "Armitage Mahal: The House of Dick"?
Most depressing thing seen on Christmas was an old animated movie from the eighties, "The Princess And The Goblin". Interesting vocal cast (Joss Ackland, Ric Mayall, Claire Bloom and the late great Roy Kinnear), but I guess I'm spoiled by the advancements in the animation technology. This didn't even have the aura of the classics in old-school animation; it was more like boiled-down Bakshi.
My 4 year old nephew's grandmother gave it to him as a videotape, and picked up used at that. So my only hope to avoid seeing it again with him would be for the tape to break... and without my fingerprints on the cartridge......
January 5, 2009 | Reply
Armitage Shanks?
January 5, 2009 | Reply
In which we try to find pictures of Richard Armitage
a) defending himself in prison with a home-made knife
b) doing impressions of Michael Shanks from Stargate SG-1
c) on the toilet?
Hmmm...
January 5, 2009 | Reply
if you reword b) to:
b) doing Michael Shanks from Stargate SG-1
it'll nicely tick just about every box of wrongness. Which would be nice.
January 5, 2009 | Reply
Playing bad golf shots?
Or pictures which include his legs?
Or simply images which treat Armitage as a hunk of meat (which may please some readers ;-) )
scott
January 5, 2009 | Reply
Hunk of... meat?!?
Now, now... One of the appeals of Richard Armitage to his "Army" of fans is not just because he's gorgeous (though he is that). It's also his stunning acting abilities and his winning personality that's hooked and kept us faithful for so long.
He's a genuinely nice bloke who always treats us kindly whenever we have personal contact with him.
Perhaps what you should ask for is not the commercial pics or the screen shots, but the pictures taken by fans--the "happy snaps"?
January 6, 2009 | Reply
I found the "Joanna Page" a bit mystifying, but it seems connected with Rob's evident admiration for his own wife. Then Rob came up with the Ali Larter thing and I thought "Hmmn..." However, the response to the Richard Armitage proposal suggests a whole stratosphere of strangeness. I'm beginning to long for the pedestrian perversion of Sitting Tennant....
January 6, 2009 | Reply
@Persephone: Joanna Page and Ali Larter are kind of like the anima and animus of my wife - stick them together (and add in Sarah Chalke for the humour) and you get my wife. In fact, she has the exact same haircut right now that Ali Larter has in that picture. Remember, she does read the blog from time to time and is flattered that my "fantasy women" are "basically her", which to a certain extent was half the point of the features in the first place ;-).
@LadyH: If people have fan pics of Richard Armitage, that would be fine, although it would narrow down the possible players in the game. And we'd need a name.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Crikey Rob, what have I started??? Sorry Persephone, it's all my fault... it's the eyes what does it, far too mesmerising. I have modelled my latest hero on on Mr Armitage not only for his good looks but his ability to do soulful and deep, and be tough and tender too. As someone mentioned above the boy surely can act. As I appreciate the inherent silliness of this even if I do lust after Mr A (and I can't even be as noble as Rob and say he's like my husband because my husband has fair hair, but they do share all the noble decent qualities etc etc - does that get me out of it?), I like Totally Gratuitous Dicks as a title which hopefully will generate lots of entries with Richard not wearing much clothing. No? Oh well. A girl can dream...
January 6, 2009 | Reply
At the moment, with the suggestion of fan-generated pics, my brain has latched onto "Amateur Dicks" which makes me I feel it's all spiralling out of control.
New formats and names ASAP, Armitage-lovers, or I can see this all going pear-shaped.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Voting for Richard Armitage. I've actually got several thousand pics from just about all his recent productions.
None, I reiterate, NONE treat this talented actor as a hunk of meat.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Plenty of people volunteering pictures now (excellent!), but no one suggesting names and formats, so at the moment, we're likely to be going with "Totally Gratuitous Dicks" and pictures from his productions, etc taken by fans unless
1) There's a better suggestion by this time tomorrow, say?
2) People don't like it
Another possible: Private Armies (candid pictures of Richard Armitage)
January 6, 2009 | Reply
With apologies to all Armitage fans - the suggestion above was a joke, hence the smiley. The reference to Armitage Shanks initially was simply because a bathroom sink in a home I visited at New Year had Armitage Shanks written on it - and it conjured up an idea of something very British.
Best wishes to all
Scott - wishing that he'd simply got his coat before he first posted a comment on this thread and had retired to the squalor of watching a man charged with perjury and awaiting trial discussing what his ability is with a former weathergirl, and a gangster from paradise.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
I won't be contributing, so feel free to ignore, but in the interests of saving you from getting lots of visitors who were actually looking for gay porn, how about Dick Heads: pictures of Richard Armitage which focus on his head. Bonus points if he's wearing a hat.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Ooh, now that I like.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Dick Heads. Man in hat. That's hilarious. Well done Andrea! And Scott, I liked the Armitage Shanks idea too... but then I am very silly.
I think it is a testament to Mr A's excellent acting skills that given he was the baddie in Robin Hood I kept shouting at the screen You're SO with the wrong man Marian, which surely can't be right. She'd have been much better going off into the sunset with Guy at the end of series one... Robin had all the sexual presence of an amoeba.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
I wonder what having the asexual presence of an amoeba would be like.
Yes, it was a lesson that many series (eg The Ex-List) need to learn: never make your supporting character more interesting or charismatic than your main character.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Glad you like it!
I had a horrible fear, unspoken because to give it form could have tempted fate, that Jonas Armstrong was leaving RH to take over from David Tennant. Thank god that never came to pass. It is a pretty poor show, I gave up on it in series 1, though Armitage's hilariously sexy and anachronistically dressed Guy was certainly the best thing about it.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Rob; your wife's a cross between Ali Larter and Joanna Page? How funny -- I married a Cristine Rose and Ruth Jones hybrid. I kid, I kid! But there is something in your fantasy-girl theory, as my girlfriend has the same mouth as Yvonne Strahovski.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Ok Mr Pedantic Rob I know amoebas reproduce asexually, but Jonas Armstrong is even less sexy then that. God Andrea, what a horrible thought - JA as the Doctor. Yeuch. The anachronisms in Robin Hood were quite startling leaving all the mediaeval novelists of my acquaintance foaming at the mouth, but NOTHING beats Kevin Costner landing on the south coast and saying, Tonight we will feast at Nottingham. Er not unless you have superpowers, mate. I had better not get started on Robin Hood though, it made me sooo cross. Richard Armitage was the only thing that made it bearable. And Keith Allen camping it up, but then you just got bored and thought I need an Indiana Jones moment and for Robin to just shoot him, or preferably the Sheriff to shoot Robin. Which was as Rob points out in essence what was so wrong with the series.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
@Jane Henry: I wasn't being pedantic - I was genuinely wondering what having the asexual presence of an amoeba would be like.
Should it worry me that all the people who said they were in favour of a Richard Armitage feature haven't followed up with any further comments about the format? Suggests to me people who don't have the commitment of Sitting Tennant players.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
I have. And do you want to know the spooky thing? Every time Ali Larter changed her hairstyle this season, my wife changed hers to match, too - but before she saw the episode. If it's telepathy, it's a very weird kind, what with simulcasting offsets, etc.
January 6, 2009 | Reply
Hear hear Lady H. Lets treat the man with the same respect he gives to his fans.
January 7, 2009 | Reply
Sorry, new to your blog. We've got all kinds of pics: tongue pics, on the phone pics, shirtless pics, hand pics, pics of him kissing, pics on horses, crinkles...
January 7, 2009 | Reply
@JaneHenry — and not only did SuperCostner walk from the South Coast to Nottingham in less than a day, he went via Hadrian's Wall.
Fortunately I have most of Robin of Sherwood on DVD, and therefore can pretend that Robin Hoodie never happened.
It's funny, though, that so many of the actors who've played Guy of Gisburne have been such sterling chaps. Robert Addie was much loved and is missed by the RoS fans, and Armitage seems to be a good bloke. Basil Rathbone was famously gentlemanly. The only one who sinks into obscurity was the one from SuperCostner...
January 7, 2009 | Reply
Well, the feature's started, so off you all go!
January 7, 2009 | Reply
@Rob Oh ok. I stand corrected. Have now spent far too much time today wondering how amoebae have sex. Thank you for taking my frivolous suggestion and running with it. Long may Dick Heads continue.
@Stuart Ha, I hadn't realised that about our Kevin. Of course in his version Alan Rickman stole the show. I guess it is always easier to make the bad guy sexy, but when I read Roger Lancelyn Green and RJ Unstead, never EVER once did it occur to me that Robin could be usurped by Guy of Gisbourne.
January 7, 2009 | Reply
I'm chuckling at the Robin Hood coming to Nottingham via the south coast images... ah, bless 'em, they often get it wrong (Robin of Sherwood was glorious but quirky in its own way).