I've noticed that many of you , RA ladies and girls , are re-watching old stuff: North and South, Vicar of Dibley, Inspector Linley (In Divine Proportion), Robin Hood (Guy is Guy!) , Strike Back and don’t know what else.
Then I've also seen that the RA chatting club on twitter ( the adoRAbles) is always very active and the same happens on facebook. Other RA bloggers are planning great events.
I'm here, instead, rather apart, watching the others' enthusiasm and waiting for ... what exactly, I can't say. I feel in an "expectation mood" .
What am I expecting at this point? Some very good RA news. The Rover? Richard as Dickon? A new hero in costume? Those are my dreams actually together with ..."Something all about love" , as Richard said in his interview while filming Spooks 9. Many of his fans like him as a baddie or a tough guy, I prefer him mild: Harry, Lucas, Alec Track, John Standring. However, I can't resist his Guy's undeniable charm. The only happy event in the RA fandom which gives me new "fuel" is Prue Batten's "Gisborne", (previously, The Sheriff's Collector) her story in weekly instalments at Mesmered's Blog.
I know Richard has disappeared somewhere in New Zealand and is very busy making his fortune as an international star, but that gives me great anxiety. Please, send us some pics from the set, news about your health, a short message ... 2012 is really too far!
Captain America in July? I don't think there's enough RA in it to live on till the release of “The Hobbit” . Strike Back 2? I fear there won't be enough Richard there either and ... please don't kill John Porter too! I said: PLEASE!
How can I improve my awkward mood? I need something RA-related but new, since re-watching seems not the cure for me. Maybe... I should listen to the only thing I haven't listened to yet : The Lords of the North
Maybe ... I should start reading The Rover and The Hobbit
Maybe … I should start a course on creative writing and invent my own stories with RA or his characters (I'd be a terrible pupil, I'm not very good at writing stories,... I'm not very good at writing, full stop)
Maybe …
Any suggestions?
Someone is whispering “Become a Colin Firth fan. There’s plenty of him on the press and on screen these days!”
A betrayal?
Never.
Give me another, please.
"Look at your RA fav pics and stay positive, stay positive, stay positive"
This is better.
Any other?
This is better.
Any other?
Oh I love the Vicar of Dibley and Inspector Lynley
ReplyDeleteLords of the North! Definitely.
ReplyDeleteI'm right with you, MG! I'm so restless for something new, I can't seem to re-watch anything except some youtube videos, especially Juliet's Benny Hill version of Spooks etc. Then there's Criminal Minds. Used to watch it on TV until they stopped showing further seasons, so I'm catching up with it on the net. But the only thing that really helps when the RA-obsession hits, is to read novels in which I can imagine him in the role of hero or anti-hero... where-ever the mood rolls.
ReplyDelete@RAFrenzy @arabella_vidal
ReplyDeleteOk, Thanks! I'll try to find the time for a long task like The Lords of the North and I'll start reading The Hobbit imagining how Thorin Oakenshield might look like ...or The Rover with a TDH Captain Willmore in mind...
I myself have started reading The Hobbit today. It isn't hard to imagine RA as Thorin - once you forget he's supposed to be a dwarf ;) : he's a leader, he's got a personality and he sings very well.
ReplyDeleteMy advice (well, a mantra more than an advice ;) is and will always be STAY POSITIVE (and don't owl :P)!
xx K/V
First off -- thanks for that picture of Harry and Geraldine --it's new to me!
ReplyDeletePresently I am reading The Hobbit and enjoying it much more than I expected! I can see that RA is perfectly cast as Thorin and will do a magnificent job! One good thing if he is loaded with makeup to uglify him, then at least afterward he won't be typecast as a heartthrob (although he IS)! I hope they show lots of closeups of his eyes!
I say Lords of the North!
ReplyDeleteOne of RA's most perfect performances.
I just also finished listening to "The Convenient Marriage" and now it's my second favorite audiobook after LOTN. (Only others I've listened to are the RH ones). Now I want to listen to the other Heyer books he's recorded while waiting for more Hobbit news :)
@Karen
ReplyDeleteI promise I'll stay positive and won't owl. :P
Am I too ... submissive? LOL!!!
@phylly3
You're welcome! It is new, in fact. The Hobbit is waiting for ...my attention on my RA shelf, next to The Sunne in Splendour, Strike Back, some Heyer books, North & South. Mmmm ... I must read it soon!
@Musa
Lords of the North, ok. It won't be easy for me but I want to do it. The Convenient Marriage is my favourite among Richard's Heyer Audiobooks!
MG,
ReplyDeleteListen to LOTN and I shall listen with you. I haven't heard or read it yet.
As for The Hobbit, you know I am a Tolkein-ite from way back, so you will love it when you read it, although of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I prefer the second. It's a pity that LOTR was not made after The Hobbit as I think RA would have been cast in grander roles that Thorin Oakenshield.
I would also say listen and re-listen to the Naxos Georgette Heyers. Especially A Convenient Marriage. You know how it nearly caused me to have a car-accident, so much so, I had to blog about it. Sylvester is waiting on my desk, but I am actually holding off, to try and fill in the long gap before all the RA things are launched.
And then there is Colin Firth ... my 85 year old mother saw The King's Speech the other day and ADORED it. I saw the Matthew Macfadyean version of P AND P for the first time the other day and hated it! Except for Matthew and Judy Dench. The rest were a pallid interpretation of the BBC's excellence. So back to the wet shirt and Colin Firth in particular.
What else? Go costume dramas entirely. Spend the year finding as much as you can on DVD, then go to the books and do a comparison.
Heavens: what with your teaching, the blog, Jane Austen and all the above, it will be 2012 before you know it!
@mesmered
ReplyDeleteYou know what I mean...it is not that I'm looking for more things to do...only, I feel a bit orphaned with RA down there, so close to you and so far from me! I'm a bit envious.
Jokes apart, I need new things RA-related. That's it. He has spoilt us working so much in the last years and we've had so much to watch and listened to!
I can watch period dramas, be happy for Mr Firth's success in Hollywood, blog about my many interests, prepare my lessons and correct tests, iron piles and do the housework, yet I feel I miss something ...someone?
But as I wrote, you are giving me a big hand with your "Gisborne"! That's something new! And I like it very much!
@Mystica
ReplyDeleteI missed your comment and you were the first! Sorry!!! Just wanted to say The Vicar of Dibley episodes with Richard are among the things I've re-watched more frequently. I love them.
I'll second -- no forth -- for listening to the Lords of the North!! I'll start again with you and Mes. I finally finished the Convenient Marriage and as much as I thought I wouldn't like it because I preferred the other GH books I have to agree!!! It is for an audiowork the best and I think better than Lords of the North!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI can hardly believe I'm saying that because you can't compare the content. For content my choice goes to Lords of the North but in terms of the vocal range he covers, honors go to TCM. It makes sense this is his latest and by know one would assume he would have gained plenty of experience.
In terms of LOTN I think you might find yourself pleasantly surprised just like I did for TCM. I'll wait for The Hobbit to read knowing there are lovely editions available in my library. I AM getting excited since I found out a girlfriends brother does carpenter work for the set!! LOL shall I tell her to tell him our dude is into DIY?? LOL
I wish I had something useful to suggest. Instead, I'm right there with you. If it weren't for YouTube fan vids and blogs, we'd be suffering an all-out RA drought!
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting on my copy of Lords of the North to arrive. Since I ordered it last month, I've been more or less camped out by my mailbox. So, all I can offer you is, well, company. =)
Hi MG.I discovered your page a few weeks ago and since then, all friday I have visited it. I think it´s one of the best blogs with news about our adorable R.A that I´ve seen.MG,I´m from Brasil and I don´t know write in English very well, so, pardon my mistakes. Speaking to R.A,I also feel myself a little blue without Spooks in the air.And that final was very disappointed .So, only blogs like your and some videos from you tube to console me.Thank you. You have made a wonderfull job. Hugs
ReplyDeleteYou've probably already seen this. I found it delightfully melancholic. Plus it provided some nourishment during this RA famine, while offering a bit of closure (for me) to his role in Spooks. If you've seen it, I apologize for cluttering your comment section. If not, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ7kz3Djjgc.
ReplyDelete@iz4blue
ReplyDeleteThe Lord of the North is absolutely not my kind of stuff, so I'm ready to embark a ten-hour voyage through wars and Viking warriors only to listen to Richard's skillful reading.
I was stunned at how good he had become while listening to The convenient Marriage. It is definitely his best audiobook so far, I' m happy you agree with me.
The brother of one of your friends is a carpenter on the set of the Hobbit?!? Lucky man...though I guess he can't realize nor suspect he is and for what reason. If he needs a hand, he shoud just ask Thorin, you are right!
Thanks @littlevictories for your ...company, much appreciated. Sympathy can help. I hadn't seen this video you linked before. Thanks! I miss Lucas so much!
@Tereza
Welcome and thanks for your kind words. And, especially, you needn't apologize for your English. You are talking to me, an Italian who tries to write in English! Maybe I too should apologize with my mother-toungue readers more often! But it is so amazing to be able to speak with such a various and wide community. Don't worry and let us know what you think!Your English is not bad at all!
"Please, send us some pics from the set, news about your health, a short message ... 2012 is really too far!"
ReplyDeleteOh yes Mr.Armitage, actually just a short message would do to me, in between those for family and friends...? You would make MG (and me) very happy! :P
Love that pic of Geraldine and Harry, both are truly having a good time, it makes you smile too.
I too recomend LOTN, it isn't my kind of stuff either and just thinking about the plot, I wasn't to keen on buying it, until I asked for a recommendation between different audiobook on a forum and it won hands down. After you listen to the first disc, you'll know *why* it won.
I haven't listened to A Conveniet Marriage yet, so I can't compare it, still LOTN is really good to listen to...
I'll re-read the Hobbit at the middle of the year, during U holidays, in order to give it all my time and it'll be less time between my reading and the movie relase.
OML :)
@onemorelurker1
ReplyDeleteThe Convenient Marriage is amusing, delightful,so entertaining! And Richard was brilliant with all those different characters. You must listen to it!
And I'll do my best with TLOTN, but no promise about ...when. Maybe, I'll have to wait till my next holidays? When are they precisely? Easter? Sigh! Too far. I'm so busy these days with school and all the rest. I'll start with the simpler tasks and leave the best/longest for better times.
Thanks for passing by. Ciao. MG
LOTN - most definitely. I semi-frequently return to Sylvester, and sometimes to Venetia..and never got past the first 3 chapters of the Convenient Marriage (subconscious rainy day saving?) but ALWAYS get enchanted by and lost in the Viking tale. He will have a hard time topping that should he ever return to audio books :
ReplyDeleteAlso - writing. YAY. Go on, you know you want to :) and we need new reads :)
@TeeTotallyNot
ReplyDeleteWriting ... I'd love to be able to. Let's leave it to the good talented ones. I could do it in Italian (maybe) but who would read it, then?
Reading is much more easier to me and listening is ... a great pleasure, especially if the sounds you hear caress your ears, mind, heart. Sigh!
@Maria - you must try to find time for Lords of the North - RA's narration is outstanding!
ReplyDeleteI hope things are not too busy for you. Take care, Mulubinba.
@Mulubinba
ReplyDeleteAs much as I try to avoid it, things are always very busy for me! But I love doing all the things I do and I wouldn't renounce any of them. I'll try to find the time to start the epic listening!
I'm so glad to hear from you. HUGS. MG
Whoa, where did you get that VoD promo picture? I've not seen that one before!
ReplyDelete@bccmee
ReplyDeleteEhm ... C19?
You could always join in this year's FanstRAvaganza, MG! :)
ReplyDelete