2018 Armitage Weekly Round-up #2 + Some Comments on the Audio News

/ January 13, 2018

Be careful what you wish for. I vaguely remember replying to a tweet from Audible a few weeks ago that asked what we wanted to hear. I didn’t have a specific request, just wishing for Armitage narrating something contemporary. *um yeah* *coughs* It appears that something contemporary may be coming our way soon.

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Discussion of the news is already in full swing over at me+richard and Armitage Agonistes. Miss Guylty is currently trying hard to keep an open mind. I’ve always called for some lighter material whenever fans have been discussing what RA should do next, and a rom-com was high up on my list, both for audio as well as for film. However, this looks more like a romP-com *ooops*. Until now and despite recent forays into steamy wall-nailing sex scenes in BS, Armitage had kept his oeuvre fairly “clean”. Upon reflection, I notice that none of the sex scenes in Armitage past roles required much verbal expression beyond the occasional grunt. *coughs* It will sure be very in-te-res-ting to hear him talk dirty… There were some interesting comments made in that context on Serv’s post, to the effect that it is all well and good to have one’s own Kopfkino spout Armitage or one of his characters such verbally “delicate” material. However, it remains to be seen whether it will cause some unwanted interference when properly expressed…

So far RA had the benefit of his supporting characters doing the dirty talk…

As to whether I will listen to the final product when it comes out: I confess here that I certainly do not have delicate eyes. Some of my favourite fan fictions contain graphic sex; or have the description of graphic sex as their sole purpose. I am not above reading steamy romance novels. They have a purpose, they are entertaining. However, I have absolutely no idea about the quality of this particular writer. Have never read anything by her, and from what I have seen so far, her material is not really up my street. The quality of the writing aside, I am looking at the news from a different POV. To me, it is a totally new concept to actually *listen* to a steamy novel. Earporn, in the truest sense of the word? It sounds a bit weird to me, literally and figuratively. But well, I’ll have to try it before I give my verdict.

I somehow ended up as a subscriber to Audible by default. Me – a self-confessed audiobook hater! Because I wanted to hear Jekyll and Hyde without forking out for it. With a couple of unused Audible credits now accumulated over my time as a subscriber, at least I have now an opportunity to use them. And with the new year having renewed my urgent need for weight-loss and exercise, this may just be the listening material that will get me going (see what I did there?) on my daily 10,000 steps. Your thoughts on the news?

By the look of it, the audiobook hasn’t been produced yet. This time last week, I myself was in a recording studio. Hold your horses – nothing steamy in *my* recording booth. I was recording dialogue for a German language exam practice book. That went more along the lines of “Olaf, ich gehe jetzt einkaufen! Ich bin dann gleich weg…. [quietly] Wo ist denn meine Tasche? Ah hier … und auch mein Handy, meine Schlüssel [noise of clinking keys] und mein Portmonnaie. Wie viel Geld habe ich denn noch? 70 Euro, das müsste genügen. [loud again] Olaf, Ich nehme Waldemar mit. Er braucht seinen Spaziergang. Komm Waldemar!” [Olaf, I’m off to the shops… where the hell is my bag? Ah, here it is… and my phone, my keys, and my wallet. How much money have I left? 70 Euro. Should be enough. Olaf, I’m taking Waldemar. He needs his walk. Come here, Waldemar!] But steamy or not, I can tell you one thing: Recording is really fun! There were six of us playing the little scenes, and we laughed so much… In that sense, spoken word recording is great fun, and it may prove a nice distraction for Mr A – which may be a good thing while he is worrying about his mother’s health. I’m renewing my best wishes here for her… 

Right, and now to the round-up. A bit short, a bit late, but nonetheless.

  1. Armitage remembers the last weeks on The Hobbit. Quote posted by tallian
  2. Definitely NSFW! You’ve been warned. But it’s kinda funny – fan art involving Thorin and Bilbo. By camillo1978
  3. Not really sure why there is suddenly this renewed flurry of Thorin on my dash – Christmas TV programming? In any case, here’s another Bagginshield fanart. By catofcream
  4. Pretty cool watercolour portrait fo Thorin – unfinished, but tea2go is asking you for quotes that would fit with the picture
  5. Ok, last one from the Bagginshield kink – Bilbo and Thorin in the sauna. Unlikely? Yeah. But serves as nice eyecandy. Fanart by radioproxy
  6. Really like this fan art Crucible poster by annemiechen
  7. Oooh, I really like this gif by igotanaddixon – b/w AND colour
  8. Reaction gif? The master of #Eyebrow wigglez… Posted by smoops-and-smoops
  9. Ace of spades alright!!! From riepu10’s series of Armitage playing cards
  10. *giggles* yeah, familiar reaction. A brief phone conversation posted by brieflyhopefulluminary
  11. Another ooooh moment – a gorgeous fan art by hannibatchsmuse
  12. Pixiedurango is answering prompts for fan fics. Here’s one with Guy of Gisborne that caught my attention

Right, that’s it for today.

Have a nice weekend,

Guylty ❤️

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32 thoughts on “2018 Armitage Weekly Round-up #2 + Some Comments on the Audio News”

  1. I began listening to audiobooks thanks to Armitage. At first it wasn’t easy, I needed the support of the written book too, but then with Romeo and Juliet I was forced to do without it because there wasn’t a written text for it.
    It has been difficult at first, but it improved A LOT my comprehension of English and afterwards I listened to all David Copperfield without looking at the written book except for a few times.
    I still have a few audiobooks from him to listen (I still have to buy the monster collection because for now it costs too much, I hope to find some discount sooner or later) and probably I’ll listen to this new one as well someday. 😀

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    • Audiobooks definitely work well as a way of practicing English comprehension. I am in a slightly different situation, though, so for me they are nothing but entertainment. Unfortunately they do not really fit into my day – I do too many things that require full concentration, so listening to audiobooks at the same time is out of the question. And with his previous subject matter never really hitting my taste, they have never been something I felt particularly strongly about…

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      • Well, I have quite a dozen of her books – judging from the titles alone, these are contemporary romance and I wonder if there is any plot. I think i’ll put on on my ‘to read’ list – as none of them are.

        Honestly, off the top, this is a bit disappointing. I want a lot of PLOT with my porn, y’know? And topically, these look heavy on the ‘romance’ and missing the mark in plot. I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I’ll let you know.

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  3. Thanks, Guylty. Great roundup as always. The Crucible poster is fantastic!

    I love audiobooks and listen to them a lot, and if you haven’t heard RA read Georgette Heyer please set aside any scruples you may have about “romance” because they are witty, funny and altogether delightful. I enjoyed David Copperfield even though I’m not wild about Dickens, and Jekyll & Hyde was good (though I gave up on Frankenstein in that bundle… sooooooo slow… and haven’t got round to Dracula yet as the impetus isn’t there without RA as reader).

    Wanderlust… hmm. I have to try it but I don’t think I’ll like it. (Or I’ll like it too much? 😂)

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    • I actually really enjoyed the Heyer audiobooks – I invested in them a while ago when I had some major dental restoration work going on (root canals) and they were a fantastic distraction. Plus, I really enjoyed what he did there – his voices were just so funny. So yeah, romance is fine. I guess, this new romance, however, is going to be at a slightly different level of romantic…
      Ha, that Monster collection was a waste of money, at least when it comes to the other two audio works in the series. I didn’t bother listening to Frankenstein or Dracula – horror has never been my genre, and without RA reading there was no point…
      *coughs* Yep, I suspect we might like it too much… Plus: new ringtones soon? *haha*

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  4. Your experiences in the sound studio are funny to read and sooo innocent compared to Richard’s newest adventure. Really, as much as I like steamy fanfics with his character in the leading position, I don’t want to listen to dirty talk when he voices it. Too much information and I am afraid his reputation will be destroyed by such stuff.
    Btw, good to see that you continue with the weekly round-ups also in 2018! Will check the links later when I am at home again.

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    • Oh, my work was totally innocent, aimed at teenagers…
      The whole issue of having RA say those words (whatever they may be – I haven’t read any excerpts from the book yet… would be interesting to know what is in store for us…), is puzzling me. I’m not sure whether I want to hear it either, yet I certainly enjoy, for instance, the topless pics of him, and my eyes have seen RPF that had some choice scenes, too… As for his reputation – hm, I don’t know whether romance work could be detrimental to his status as a narrator. Tbh, I don’t really think so, and I suspect that he may find it simply funny to narrate it? In any case, he is definitely not above and beyond making risqué jokes himself. I’m thinking of his quip when doing a read-through or ADR or whatever it was, on The Hobbit.

      I would hope that he otherwise has advisors to help him make decisions…
      And yep, the round-up show must go on, come hell or 2018 😁

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  5. Your recording studio story with the sound effects reminded me about an article I read about Hugo Speer (from Bleak House); he has been recording a police detective story DCI Stone on and off over the last 10 years for BBC Radio4 and it is recorded ‘on location, outside the studio’ to give it realism. When the podcast thing with ‘Wolverine’ was mentioned they made it sound revolutionary!

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    • Well, ‘recording on location’ is pretty special. Just in terms of all the noise pollution that you get when you are not recording inside a studio. Last week, for instance, there were six of us sitting in the recording booth, and the recording was stopped and had to be repeated because one of us was really hungry and his stomach was audibly growling 😂. Or even the sound of a pen writing on paper had the sound engineer interrupt the recording… So recording in RL circumstances is trickier than we think – there is so much noise that we automatically do not register, from the shuffling of feet to a fa-away lawn mower, to a plane passing overhead… A nightmare, if you ask me…

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  7. Lovely round-up as always.
    Hmmm, the book sounds like a really surprising and odd thing for him to choose. If it were closer to April 1st. I’d say it was a joke. Still, it might spark my curiosity enough for it to be the first audio book I try :o)

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    • It really does sound like a surprising choice, good enough for an April Fool’s joke. Whatever it turns out to be, as always I am quite amused by Armitage’s choice of projects. Even if I don’t like it – I always enjoy that he is trying for something new.

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  8. Do people still name their dogs “Waldemar”? (it always makes me think of the Zarah Leander song).

    Another piece, I suppose, is that if I read fanfic, and I don’t like it, it’s free and I just click it away. I just looked at the price for the single purchase of the book and thought again: really?

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    • Hehe, not sure whether Waldi is still popular among dog owners. Maybe in an ironic way?
      And re. fanfic – that’s exactly it. You can safely click and try a new fanfic without having to pay for it. I’m not sure I would pay that much for an erotic romance… But well, I do admit that I would, just because RA is reading it…

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  10. I am on team Thorin so loved this roundup with so much of him on display. But the best tidbit was – you are doing 10,000 steps a day? Wow, I am beyond impressed.Good for you. Maybe I will be inspired to do 5,000 and work my way up.

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    • Lots of Thorin – and I am still not sure why. I think it may have been the five-year anniversary of TH coming out?
      And yes, the 10,000 steps are my resolution. Confession: I haven’t started it yet, though. I am waiting for my Weight Watchers package to arrive, and then it will be all-systems-go. The biggest obstacle for me is actually not the distance per se. It’s the time it takes to walk 10,000 steps. That’s about 5 miles, and it takes about 1.5 hours. I find it hard to factor that into my day… But you are right – maybe the better approach is to start a little bit lower, build the muscles, become faster, and work our way up to 10,000 steps…

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  11. Pixiedurango has written a nice little fanfic in #12… but now I want to know what happens next! Being in the sound studio sounds like fun! Looks like you’re getting to do lots of interesting things.

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    • That’s the trouble with episodic fanfics, isn’t it? Waiting for the next instalment… IMPATIENCE…
      As for the recording: I used to do it much more frequently when I still worked in the educational publishing sector. The worst part of it was when I was simultaneously producing the material – because it meant I had to listen to the recordings, too. It’s just horrible listening to one’s own voice 😂.

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  14. I think it is a shame that he isn’t too busy for these audiobooks altogether, his plans for theatre with Yael Farber didn’t happen! Then My Zoe was repeatedly delayed and may not now happen in the way planned (Richard was cast last his role could easily be ‘cut’ )
    He is either too unlucky to be true or people don’t value him enough. Sorry rant over lol

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  15. Oooh-er, be careful what you wish for, eh? I shall have to stock up on my smelling salts for this one, I can see.

    Thanks as always for a great roundup. Something for everyone here. I liked Pixie’s Guy fic a lot — lovely photo too with him looking all moodily tragic anti-hero. ❤ You forget all that wintry sparkle about the ebon tresses is lime dust rather than the more romantic snow.

    And the eyebrow wiggle in #8 provided me with my giggle for the day.

    Thank you, Guylty.

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    • Haha, smelling salts… Yes, although the author has already pointed out that this audiobook is not going to be as explicit and steamy as her usual work…
      Glad you found some entertainment in the round-up 🙂

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