RA FRIDAY- BLACKIE OR REDDIE?

Hi! Do you miss me?

Yeah! So much,  Guy!!!

Ehm... Hello, RA Friday followers! Welcome again to my RA rambling weekly corner. I was just wondering ... how much of  Reddie and how much of Blackie is there in me? Well, when I see pictures like the one above or the one below... burning red Reddie grows huge!

So the danger is something like what happens in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:  the latter grows  and grows inside the first and takes control in the end. No, please! What if I should turn out completely Red! I'd be very dangerous for myself and my dear! Impossible to be trusted, always swooning, awwwwwwwing and daydreaming! Listen, if you realize Reddie is taking too much control, please, warn me!
And now, let's start. Here we go .
Another week of RA, lots of news, new things to listen to, read, and very soon to watch too!

1. Have you watched and , especially listened to SURGERY SCHOOL? It was broadcast on ITV on 6th September. You find two clips on Alicat's site http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/ on this page or on Annette's site http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/  HERE . I can't stand blood and usually can't watch surgical operations on TV so I had to quarrel with Reddie who wanted to see those clips! She's still crossed because I refused to watch them! Can anyone tell me if there are very disgusting scenes in those clips? Thanks a lot. Neither Richard's charm could convince me to watch an operation on TV!

2. What I am eagerly waiting for is instead this radio programme due to be broadcast on BBC Radio3, Words and Music: Symphony of a City . The programme includes readings from the works of Swift, Dickens, Wordsworth, TS Eliot, Virginia Woolf and William Carlos Williams, and music by Gershwin, Varese, Byrd, Steve Reich and Charles Ives (further details are  available on the BBC website's page about the programme). Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox will be the readers. Only one problem:  lessons will started next day. I have to be awake and kicking, ready for my first lesson this year on Monday morning 8.10 and the programme will be on Sunday, 22:45. It means 23.45 here in Italy. I know I won't be able to resist and I'll be there till the end ... and exhausted the next day.  Reddie? She told me she 'll bear classical music + classic  literature just for RA's sake!

3. More than Reddie,  what is growing terribly inside  me is the anxiety for Lucas North. It was confirmed that episode 1 of Spooks series 9 is Monday 20 September and episode 2 on 27th September on BBC1. If you don't mind spoilers,  synopsis of both episodes are on BBC Press Office HERE and HERE.  Than we had a new photo from the set with Lucas, his  ex  flame, Maya and reporter Catriona from Digitalspy. (HERE)

Richard, Catriona and Laila Rouass

Watching Lucas /Richard in that black hooded jumper gave me a fright: something very bad is supposed to happen to someone wearing a black hooded jumper! I was so worried and scared that I posted on twitter about my fears. Guess who tried to calm me down and reassure me? @Lucas_North! He was such a charming gent!

4. You know Richard Armitage managed to make me read and watch something so far from my taste as  Chris Ryan's STRIKE BACK, or start listening to audiobooks, or like something I had always hardly been able to bear,  Richardson's CLARISSA. What I've just discovered today is another victim of this talent of his : Hilary at Vulpes Libris . Have you read her brilliant review of The Lords of The North  read by Richard?

She says: "One of the things I most admire about Richard Armitage is his gift as a physical actor, and strangely enough this comes to good in his reading of the set-piece fights and battles. He’s telling them as if he’s seeing them in his mind’s eye, and marking the movements – the sense of choreography is so strong. That artifice certainly has helped me through the blood and the dismemberment at certain points, and it occurred to me that the best sort of reader for this sort of book has to be an accomplished stage-fighter with the certificates to prove it. ( ... ) I’ve tried here to describe my reactions to this particular interpretation, and how I relate to it as a reader who ordinarily would probably have hurled The Lords of the North at the skirting board by the end of chapter three, but who listened avidly to every word of this reading. It was a completely different experience – I was not reading the book, I was listening to a dramatic performance, an interpretation by an actor with an intelligence and conviction that drew me into this violent and rather repellent world – where nevertheless a civil society was being forged. As a result, I became curious and learnt more about Alfred the Great and his age, the political geography of the British Isles in the time of the Viking invasions. And I am now an audiobook listener, avidly discovering other wonderful voices. A Bernard Cornwell reader? Well, I’ve now read the rest of this sequence, enjoying the voice of this narrator in my head, Sadly, this is the only novel out of the (so far) five that Richard Armitage has read. To me, his voice is that of Uhtred the hero, so I am not seeking out the others".

5. Last but not least, Richard Armitage Wikipedia page has been updated at last! I definitely appreciated the many quotations from Richard's interviews.
Here's an example:

 Richard Armitage describes himself as a method actor. "In a way it's slightly lazy because it means you don't have to pretend - you just have to believe. As much as it's possible to be like that I suppose I kind of do step in and out, I'm not one of these people that can't talk to other people because I'm in my character, but I kind of do stay with the character, yeah. He's always there. It's like marinating something - you're sitting in a marinade the whole time." He frequently speaks of being drawn to and developing dualism in his characters. “If I’m offered the role of the hero, I immediately look for the antihero within!...I see everything in terms of an outer skin and an inner skin.” He has also often mentioned creating “character diaries” with entire biographies for the characters he plays. “It was important to me to put in a background for my character that would be useful for the whole journey. A lot of that is secret and no one gets to read that. It’s what is useful to me. If you are playing something long running and a role that has a future [beyond the initial series], it’s almost like you have to plant a garden which you will need to come back to at some point. If you don’t put in early, it can jar with you

 Great job! Well done!

5. Finally I want to help my American blogomates to spread the news taking part in their campaign to see North and South on PBS Masterpiece Classics:  if any RA / Gaskell/  Period Drama / North & South  fan living in the USA reads this post and doesn't know yet , please read this announcement from servetus at ME+RICHARD ARMITAGE. Heathra has designed a wonderful postcard which has to be signed and sent to Rebecca Eaton, Executive Producer of Masterpiece, to promote the screening.

Heathra's postcard

Read HERE for the details

There is also  a facebook page

Bring North & South to PBS

Promote Your Page Too

What about North and South on Italian TV , too? It'd be torture to me since I can't bear watching Richard without hearing his real voice. Horrible torture! But , is anybody interested? We could launch an Italian campaign!

Done! It's all for now. See you next week if you are around. Reddie is ready to start. She promised to be brief but she's got a cunning smirk on her face. I'll come back to check in a while. I must really go, now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Byeeee, Black-Self! I'll be very brief, promised!

Shhhh!!! Gone,  at last! " It'd be torture to me since I can't bear watching Richard without hearing his real voice" (*rolls eyes*) Melodramatic! Watching Richard is simply always a great, great pleasure!!! Now, I must be quick. Do you remember which is my favourite pastime other than watching and re-watching, listening and re-listening to Richard's works? Gossiping about Mrs- Prof- Black- Self!

Have you seen how she poses as the only serious one?

Can you believe she went on  flirting with ... @Lucas_North on Twitter?

She saw a pic of Lucas wearing a black hooded jumper and started rambling something like:"No! So.. you see... OMG... No I just feared that ... ! " And began to twitter something about that pic and then ... have a look at these exchanges ... ( her nick is SMaryG on twitter)

....  isn't there a scene in which Lucas (???) is chased and has a hooded jumper on? Look at that black zipped jumper@Lucas_North...Isn't it hooded? Dressed down to be chased in the street....I'm so nervous for what is to come! Richard/Lucas: gorgeous in any dressing style!

 *Arches one eyebrow...smiles with a nod and sharp intake of breath* well...that would be telling now....*stares* wouldn't it?

*blushes* Perfectly right, forgive me.*blushes++* That black hood evoked such haunting nightmares. I'm so nervous. Oh, Lucas!

 *Arches eyebrows* need a cuddle?

Awwww! Could die for it!

 *Smiles and walks over very slowly..pulls you into my arms giving you a very strong but gentle cuddle...smiles down at you* better?

Yeah! Like being in heaven, thanks. All those nightmares have vanished. *smiles up in bliss*

*Smiles and kisses your cheek* a pleasure.....*slow smile*

 On her tiptoes kisses your cheek back.You've made her day. She will go on with a sweet smile printed on her face all day long.

*Dazzling smile* always happy to make someones day.....

(from @Lucas_North  and SMaryG on Twitter)

Reddie or Blackie?

So,  you see? Doesn't she sounds like a simpering,  silly,  little thing? The serious one! I want to chat with a Lucas North , too! Actually , I'd love something more spicy. To meet him in person? To see his tattoos from a very short distance? What about candles and blue blankets? Oooops! She's back! I told you I had to be quick. She's here to check! Better to disappear. Have a super weekend!