Seems as if spring is coming. That is if we are judging by my current obsession with tidying up, reorganising and moving furniture. The reason I am so late today with my RA Challenge, is that I was decluttering, (re)decorating and tidying today. Which in my house always turns into a major time-sucker. I live in a museum. And in the process of locating some old rickety frames I could repurpose for decorating the staircase, I made the big mistake of opening one of the many trunks in our house. I came across… plenty of old pictures of people unknown to us (see right), heaps of antique sheet music, 
the tusk of a narwhale (again), two impressive decorative daggers, two fishing baskets, assorted (and dissembled) music stands, loads of old paintings, seven photo albums comprising the years 1887 to 1929, a Bulgarian newspaper from 1937, ancient letters addressed to “Ireland – England” (see left), plaster work, and old shellac records. (…) Several hours later I had at least taken down the Easter decorations, cleaned out the landing and relocated a pedestal to it, hung the (empty) frames in my staircase – and placed the rest of the holy relics crap back in their respective trunks. It’s not easy being a history geek. *sigh* So that’s why I am late in posting my…
Favourite Rivalry
Hm, there aren’t really that many rivalries to choose from. Or I can’t think of any beyond the obvious ones. My favourite is probably Porter and Collinson. Because Porter comes out tops.
Porter doesn’t take your shit! Strike Back 1, Ep. 2. Sourced from RAnet
Least Favourite Rivalry
I think there is an element of rivalry between Lucas and Sarah Caulfield – after all they are working the same job for different bosses. Since I really disliked that pairing, I’ll make this my least favourite rivalry.
Yeah, I wouldn’t trust her, either. Spooks 8X06. Sourced from RAnet.
Reminder
What do you think about the rivalries in RA’s oeuvre?
Guylty Pleasure 
The one with “Hood” comes to mind.. Also, poor ol’ John Standring vs. whateverhisnamewas…
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Yeah, well, Guy vs. Forest Boy is also pretty bad.
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Ich persönlich finde ja die “Spannung” zwischen Thorin und Thranduril sehr prickelnd. Sie können sich nicht ausstehen und doch… Sehr schön anzusehen.
Dass John Standring diesem in Selbstmitleid versinkenden Jungelchen haushoch überlegen ist, ist für mich offensichtlich.
Guy gegen Robin mag ich nicht so sehr, weil ich finde, dass die Drehbuchautoren (das können keine Frauen gewesen sein…) Guy zu oft als Trottel haben dastehen lassen. Das schien mir allzu oft an den Haaren herbeigezogen… unfair!
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Die Rivalität zwischen Thorin und Thranduil hatte ich auch kurzfristig auf dem Schirm – war mir aber zu kurz und klein *höhö*.
Und ja, die Drehbuchschreiber von RH haben Guy wirklich zum Hampelmann gemacht. Und das Publikum hat ihn trotzdem geliebt. Wahrscheinlich haben sie ihn genau deswegen Marian ermorden lassen…
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Der Mord hat’s dann aber auch nicht mehr rausgerissen. War genauso unwahrscheinlich wie viele andere Sachen.
RA hat Guy immer so dargestellt, dass man ihm als Zuschauerin seine absolute Hingabe zu diesem “Mädel” abgenommen hat. Die Schreiber wollten das immer als so eine negative, besitzergreifende Besessenheit darstellen, aus der heraus der Mord dann nachvollziehbar gewesen wäre. Aber RA hat auch (abgrundtiefseufz) die sanfte, romantische und aufopferungsvolle Seite aufblitzen lassen und so fand ich das völlig unglaubwürdig – pfff….
Übrigens fand ich den (seelischen) Kampf von Lucas North gegen seinen russischen Folterer (als der ihn nach seiner Rückkehr erpressen und einschüchtern wollte) sehr beeindruckend. Das hat mich wirklich berührt. Lucas war tief erschüttert und verängstigt und doch hat er sich von diesem Mann befreit. Der Moment, wenn er ihm “I owe you nothing!” entgegen schleudert, ging mir ganz schön unter die Haut.
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Och, ich weiß nicht. Es stimmt zwar, wie du RAs Darstellungsweise von Guy charakterisierst – mit Nuancen, nicht nur der Holzhammer-Besitzergreifung und -Eifersucht. Allerdings glaube ich schon, dass es so etwas wie eine Affekttat gibt – total unvorbereitet, einfach nur im Augenblick durchgedreht. Genau das sollte das da sein. Insofern also schon durchaus logisch – aber dennoch irgendwie unbefriedigend, das Ganze.
Ja, Lucas und sein Folterer – das war schon ziemlich anrührend. Allein, dass er sich überwinden konnte, diesen Mann wiederzusehen, trotz der Erinnerungen, die das auslösen muss. Lucas war überhaupt ganz großes Kino. Die Schlussszene auf dem Dach mit Harry war der absolute Hammer. Man hat gemerkt, dass RA Lucas irgendwie ‘gelebt’ hat. Das war der Punkt, wo für mich klar war, dass der Mann nicht nur schön aussehen kann, sondern auch was auf dem Kasten hat.
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Favorite rivalry: Thorin and Thranduil. The scene when they face off in Thranduil’s throne room always makes me tingle a little.
Least favorite rivalry: Sir Guy and the Night Watchman. Gizzy you disappoint me letting a woman outsmart the black knight. How could you not know it wasn’t a man you were fighting?
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Oh yes, Guy and the Night Watchman. Good choice, Donna. I also never believed that he hadn’t figured it was a woman he was up against. Again, the script writers really not doing a good job.
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Forget Richard Armitage and his characters, my rivalry might be with you and your historic things. I’m a history geek, too. A hopelessly sentimental one.
I look at that photo of an envelope—what could be more prosaic than a simple envelope?—and think “She has a piece of mail that was delivered to her house in 1850. That scrap of paper has been sitting in a drawer in that house for 167 years, and her family’s been living in the house since at least then, perhaps since the 1700s when the house was built.” (No, I can’t tell the age of the house by a photo of a drawer; I Googled Fitzwilliam Square.)
I live in a country where everybody comes from somewhere else and many of us don’t even know our great-grandparents names, let alone where they lived or what they owned. Many Americans are descended from people who arrived with the clothes on their backs and maybe one satchel. There are no envelopes, no photos of men in military uniforms, no history. If there is property, it is usually banal, post-war-built tract houses that are sold and resold every 30–50 years. There is barely a feeling of settledness.
I’m not complaining, mind, as many of us are also staggeringly wealthy and well-off—by just about any worldwide and/or historic measure. I’m just pondering the mind-boggling ramifications of such cultural differences manifested by two photos of simple household items. Thanks for posting.
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Hehe, fan forensics to the fore… Just to clear up: The house was built in the early 19th century (have forgotten the exact date – something like 1820); my family only acquired the house in the 1880s. Thus, the letter was not from 1850 – I believe the “1850” on the envelope refers to the time of day it was processed at the post office. On the bottom part of the stamp it says “o7” – which I believe means 1907.
Still, old historial remains that are precious and pretty. I am very aware of how special that is (despite my nonchalant way of labelling it ‘crap’ in my blog). Not least because my very own German family has no such *visible* history to look back to. That is the difference between my family and the family I married into – my in-law’s ancestors were of a different class, the bourgeoisie, who had the money, the time, and the awareness of creating and collecting things that would preserve the family history. (My own ancestry is of working class people who could not afford paintings, keepsakes and photography. Plus, since they did not have to worry about passing on any wealth, they did not have to document their bloodline, nor their possessions.)
Yesterday, I “forced” both my children to come and look through the trunks with me. Because I wanted them to see what is there, to meet their ancestors in photographs, letters and assorted physical remnants. I want my children to understand how special it is to have a documented family history to look back to. There is a different opportunity for identity-building in it. Not because it may seem nicer to be a descendant of the bourgeois classes than to come from peasantry and working class stock. But because there is an opportunity to actually find out about individual members of their family. They are much more “real”, thanks to their photos, their letters, their left-over possessions. I envy my children that they can establish such links. My daughter was looking at photographs of her great-great-great-granparents (the grandparents of her father’s great-grandmother). (I can go as far back as my great-grandmother only…) What a treasure to have that.
So, thanks for recognising that, Besotted. That’s what history geeks get so excited about…
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How could I ever neglect John Porter? Shame on me. (Guess this calls for a Strike Back rewatch… ehehehe)
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Hehe, see, that’s exactly what I like about this fandom challenge – we read about other people’s opinions, and we are motivated to do our homework and check it all out. The hardship…
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Fascinating bits of history there, Guylty. Our place is modernt, so no such treasures here. We did find all sorts of interesting stuff in an attic of one of my childhood houses, left behind by a previous owner– old annuals full of ripping yarns featuring schoolgirls with hockey sticks and gymslips belted round their hips, wit the mothers in cloche hats and very pointed mary janes.
My favourite rivalry is Guy and the Sheriff. I think I’m going to have to go along with Lucas and Sarah Caulfield for my least favourite.
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Isn’t that wonderful? Finding left-over bits from by-gone times. All of that may soon become very rare, now that we do everything digitally and virtually. No more photo albums to wither the times, or letters, or posters, brochures, plane tickets. Occasionally, when me and hubster are tidying stuff away to be stored in the attic, we deliberately leave our stuff in it (postcards, newspaper cut-outs, pictures) – for ourselves or someone else to find in years to come. Like a time capsule…
Guy and the sheriff are great rivals – except the sheriff is just so nasty to Guy, I can’t stand seeing Guy humiliated again and again… Total GPM.
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I wonder what future generations will think about the RA memorabilia they find in our houses??? Long lost relative?
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LOL – I often think about that. What if an archeologist were to dig out my house – and found the little altar. And then all the other altars are found all over the world. Conclusion: Some kind of weird fertility cult, judging by the amount of skin on show 😂
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I’m wiith ya on the rivalry. 🙂
Why those old pictures, letters, etc. look cool! Are they from your family?
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The letters belong to my family, yes. The house has been in the family since the 1880s; we have cupboards, drawers, trunks full of old things.
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Wow, that’s a very long time for a house to be in the family, very cool!
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OMG what a treasure of a house you must have. I’d have that stuff out and displayed. I’m fortunate that both sides of my family tend to save stuff so I’ve got books and letters going back to my great grandparents as well as photos. I love the spidery handwriting and wonder what are we leaving behind with nothing but emails. A love letter from my paternal grandfather to my grandmother. Plays written by a great grandmother. WWII war ration coupons. I love it all and hope I’ve left some interesting stuff for the next generation to find.
BUT back to the challenge: Favorite/Least Favorite Rivalry. My favorite was Lucas and Darshavin. The flashbacks of the tortured broken Lucas established how he mentally connected he was to Darshavin, but in the end, he stood up to him and turned him in.
My least favorite rivalry was again with Lucas and the despicable Vaughn Edwards. Not that I ever believed John Bateman existed, but Edwards was a sleezy backstabber I never understood why Lucas didn’t quietly dispose of him. It’s not like Lucas hadn’t killed people before. Why did he allow Vaughn to live? As soon as he pulled his little blackmail scheme, Lucas should’ve killed him.
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Yeah, this house is a museum, no lie. I love it – and I hate it. It’s all here, fascinating, jealousy-inducing. I wish my *own* family had all this visible history. And I sometimes wish that it didn’t take up all that space. Just looking around in my living room right now, I can say that only 40% of the things in here actually were *my* choice or belong to me. The rest belongs to the house. I sometimes feel more like a curator than an inhabitant…
You are very fortunate if you have all these documents from your own family’s past. They bring our ancestors so much closer to us, tell us about their *real* lives. I am sure you’ll leave some interesting bits, too – apart from the memoRAbilia collection 😉.
Such a good point re. Vaughn. Since I never rewatched the thing, I can’t remember: Did Vaughn threaten Lucas with killing Maya, and that is why Lucas couldn’t kill him? Anyway, the whole story arc had plot holes and didn’t make sense. Sad.
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He did threaten Maya. But at first he just showed up. Lucas should’ve slit his throat on the spot. And yes that whole story arc didn’t make sense…as if 8 years of torture in a Russian prison wouldn’t have exposed Bateman? It was al poorly written.
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Yeah, I think Lucas could’ve turned the story around before he compromised himself. Even a confession about his involvement in Dakhar would have been salvagable – Harry would’ve made sure that Lucas didn’t go to prison for that. It was all out of character and implausible. Sigh.
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Favorite rivalry – definitely Porter and Collinson. I also like very much the interaction between Thornton and Higgins, it’s a rivalry at times. Least favorite, I don’t know, probably also Lucas and Sarah.
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Thornton and Higgins – great idea.
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I love the history that comes with your house, always something new to find out. And worth exploring 🙂
Rivalry, well a good one has to have great chemistry between the 2 and John Porter and Collison definitely had it! And there was good time to develop it and go into the detail. I really think Guy and the sheriff are also up there because that also developed in 3 seasons and Guy got some wins in 🙂
The Hobbit could have been a story of rivalry but i am glad it wasn’t in the end.
Esther and Daniel also have potential 🙂
Worst one.. i don’t know, he’s not been pitched against somebody else for a long term, maybe forest boy and that was definitely meh…
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The house is a treasure trove. And after a period of feeling overwhelmed/annoyed by it, I am currently back in a very house-proud phase – which goes along with a strong urge to craft, decorate and tidy. You should come and visit again, Hari. Things have been updated and look different 🙂
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Would love too! As soon as the citizenship fee is behind me I’ll hopefully be able to scrape pennies together for more enjoyable purposes!
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oh, BTW – will get in touch with you tomorrow – London business trip coming up. Have to check whether you are available.
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