Richard really has been throwing himself into campaigning for theatre lately. Well, with Covid wreaking havoc in an industry that relies on live events that are held in indoor spaces where social distancing is simply impossible, campaigning on behalf of the performing arts is badly needed and also very much welcome by those who enjoy theatre.
It’s understandable that Richard comes at his campaign from the POV of a performer. He extols the performing artist’s uniqueness and their singular way of communicating ideas, emotions and stories to others, hence art is not a luxury but a necessity in any society. Agreed, although I am missing a little more consideration and empathy for all the other participants in the theatre industry too, without whom the performers would not be able to communicate with society – all the other staff that makes this industry viable (despite the UK government’s best efforts to misrepresent the theatre industry as generally unable to generate profits). BTW, I wasn’t quite sure I understood his second tweet: “Despite our deepest human instincts of kindness and compassion, art crosses boundaries.” Does he mean physical boundaries such as borders (as in: the (indirect) border crossed by an English production of Uncle Vanya while taking the play back to its homeland of Russia) which art crosses so easily and with greater effect than all diplomatic efforts by government? Or is he talking about boundaries of taste and convention? Eh, but why “despite kindness and compassion”? Shouldn’t that be because of the kindness and compassion that is a universal human feeling? Non comprende 🤯 😳
However, it could be that I am still in a shellfish induced haze. What are the effects of a protein overdose? Last night we had our friend from Northern Ireland for dinner. (Within guidelines! You may receive visitors from 1 other household at home.) Good old S___ brought four bags full of fishy gifts. Too much for four adults to eat. And since you can’t very well freeze shellfish, we relegated a turbot the size of a family-size pizza, 4 breams and 2 smoked cod to the freezer while we prepared a shellfish extravaganza. In the end we each had a starter of a main course-helping of mussels in cider, then a main course of one lobster each (accompanied by boiled potatoes and creamed leek), and finally, instead of dessert, a heap of Dublin Bay Prawns aka langoustines. I didn’t take any photos, but oh cod, I was in heaven because I lovelovelove anything that lives under water. That whole meal took about 2 hours, and I completely missed all the Armitage tweeting yesterday, too…
But let’s see what tumblr has to offer this week:
- Starting off with a question by madambaggio and often pondered by the collective fandom of Mr A. Answers on a postcard (or in the comments below). Oh, and personally I think it is because of the contradiction between the roles and the character of the actor himself that becomes ever more evident once you start delving into his oeuvre)
- LOL. Maybe, if I look at this edit by call-me-aureum on Monday, the opposite will be the case?
- Poor Gizzy. But he still looks pretty. Set of gifs by riepu10
- A gorgeous manip by riepu10 again, that puts Astrov from all angles into one images
- Ha! Grimweaver is absolutely right
- Richardarmitagefanpage has a nice picture of the complete Metro 60 second interview with Richard last week
- Two gifs of Trevor Price by riepu10. And look, I found Daniel/Trevor very attractive *coughs*, but when I see these gifs (given that they are of a moment where Trevor looks as if he has just looked into a grave – literally) and then look at current RA with #RomanticHeroHair – by cod, it’s almost as if it is a different man…
- Eh. WTF is that? I mean, literally, what is that? (Note to self: must follow RA on IG via my S&S account because otherwise I miss his posts. This one was screenshot for tumblr by richardarmitagefanpage)
- The new Astrov picture in a larger crop by jassy2101
- The NS kiss – and then the little gif from the interview with RA. Perfectly combined in a gif set by astrovian. Don’t you love the shy but also slightly cheeky smile on young RA?
- *sniggers* A bit of smutty fun via What a Guy Wants by nfcomics
I’ll leave it here. I have to go back to my fish.
Have a lovely weekend, all!
Sonja ❤️
Guylty Pleasure 
Hey Sonja,
to help you out a ittle, I think the second “despite” was meant in relation to the first sentence. “The society is forced into division (by Corons/Brexit/etc) although (despite) all our instincts tell us to be together as one, help each other, be kind and compassionate to one another…” You get what I mean? So he might mean that art could help cross these artificial borders and unite us again. He tends to write a bit cryptic :-)))
Love, Jali
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That makes sense. Thanks! The character restrictions on Twitter are really not his friend… Makes it harder to understand what he means, condensed into short sentences.
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And somehow his eloquence while speaking off the cuff sometimes gets lost in the written word. Which has always baffled me…
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Same here. I really enjoy listening to him and always find him very creative and elegant in his way of expressing himself. Doesn’t seem to quite translate into his Twitter messages. Maybe the character restriction just isn’t his thing… (I can sympathise.)
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i think what the Government also fail to grasp is that many restaurants and pubs are busy with people pre and post theatre trips-the theatre keeps other venues busy!
i hardly understand half of his tweets tbh
your dinner sounds amazing (why the strike out/ i struggle to read it lol)
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It’s a myth that theater doesn’t generate money. The venues themselves may not be strictly profitable, but like you said, the cumulative effect of everything connected to it (transportation, accommodation, food and drink, souvenirs, bodies in other institutions like museums etc.) is huge.
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Just a quick search on Google brought up a few stats: In 2019 the Guardian wrote that the sector contributed £23bn to UK economy! That’s a staggering amount. And now the UK Gov claims that the industry is not viable?? Liars. According to the Guardian, the theatre sector contributes more to the UK economy that agriculture for instance.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/apr/17/arts-contribute-more-to-uk-economy-than-agriculture-report
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I believe that, no questions asked. Any cultural event, really. Many of the tourists wouldn’t be there in the first place if it wasn’t for a concert or theater or something along those lines. And when they come from abroad, they might stay on and visit other cities as well.
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Exactly. It is indeed rather offensive of the government to ignore that.
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That’s another point, Rachel. The industry itself is viable because there are people paying for tickets, basically selling out the run, and thus paying for players and crew in the theatres. Then there are the restaurants and pubs, as well as the hotels and guesthouses. It’s definitely NOT unviable.
Hehe, the strikethrough was just because it was completely unnecessary detail about the dinner last night 😉
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oh talking about tasty food is never unnecessary! lol
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*khehehe* alright. I am going to take a picture of the two monster lobster that were cooked last night but not eaten. On the dinner table tonight…
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Wow! Yes!
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I only got to the lobster as it was being taken apart. The resulting photo does not look appetising at all *gulps*… Not sure whether I should really throw it at you 😉
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I’ll take your word that it was delish 😁
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Re. the Instagram thing, apparently it’s a charger for an electric car according to what I read on Twitter prior to my semi-hiatus. And he deleted it shortly afterwards. Again. What’s the equivalent to a tweet-delete? An insta-expunge?
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i was informed some people were being snarky about him spending money on an EV car. Which is just plain rude imo
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I didn’t follow the discussions tbh and I don’t Instagram. I just saw the car charger but mentioned in passing.
If a snarky comment is why he deleted it, he should seriously reconsider his stance re social media. You simple cannot care about what every Tom, Dick and Harry think. Especially as a celebrity and over something so impersonal as what kind of car you (allegedly) drive. 🤷🏻♀️
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yeah i asked on twitter because i saw it had been deleted.
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I very much agree with you there Kate. He did it in the past, delete posts on Twitter and IG allegedly after some unpleasant or rude comments. Which I always think is a shame because it gives far too much power to trolls and idiots. They see the celebrity they attacked reacted, so they will only increase their bad behaviour. Richard, either choose to ignore such comments (maybe simply report and block that person, would be much more effective) or refrain from personal comments at all, which would be very regrettable and would mean the trolls had “won”. So please don’t!
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Ah man, that is rude. But why is he so thin-skinned? Surely none of those anonymous commenters could have any importance. Come on, Richie, you’ve got to stand over what you post – and ignore the haters.
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Agreed. Especially over something so mundane.
I’m not saying there aren’t any trolls on SM and celebrities do get unfairly attacked, but what car you drive is really pretty impersonal imo.
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His sensitivity is to his credit. But he is basically backing down from the bullies.
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Maybe it was more doubting himself? Either way—think before you SM.
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it’s hard to know why, maybe he suddenly decided he was oversharing personal stuff? or maybe he really is too sensitive to criticism?
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I’d say it was both.
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Oooh, an electric car? What happened to the BMW convertible???
LOL – immediately deleted? Well, that’s an insta-busta 😂
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I like that. 😂
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Well, in that case we have just coined it. From now on I need to subscribe to RA on IG to report on any future insta-bustas.
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Please do. I’m too lazy for another SM account.
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LOL. I already have two or three IG accounts. I just wasn’t following him there…
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Didn’t he say he sold it in an interview? Probably didn’t take it to the US in any case. Who has a car in NYC?
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Oh, did he? I just assumed it was still in storage. (Previously he used to keep the car with his brother iirc.)
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I could be remembering that wrong. It would be quite old now, though. Wasn’t that Spooks days?
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Actually, that’s true. He’d want something new by now.
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Someone help me with no. 5 please. I don’t get it. Is that blood spewing from her face?
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nosebleed, manga tends to over-exaggerate bleeding
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Okay. Well then.
Thanks for explaining.
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Blood from the nose.
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I must say, Daniel has never inspired that particular reaction in me. 😂
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I think what they meant was Daniel’s ignominious death rather than Daniel as such 😉
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Well, the reference was this: “Every RA fan while watching Berlin Station 1×5” so I assumed they meant the wall nailing. 🤔 But maybe this is an anime reference I’m just not getting. 🤷🏻♀️
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Oops, looks as if I totally read into it what I wanted. 😉 For me the nosebleed was a
metaphor for a bad reaction, hence I completely believed the post referred to Daniel’s death in season 3. I even misread the episode number to suit my fantasy 😂.
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I just saw it and my reaction was “Huh?” 🤔🤷🏻♀️😂
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😁 Well, I concede that DM was certainly not unattractive to look at 😉
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Yes, he’s very fine from all angles. Still happy to report admiring his assets hasn’t resulted in major blood loss. 😂
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*giggles* Yep, it hasn’t really gone that far for me, either. Butterflies in the stomach and shaking hands upon meeting the man has been the extent of it.
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I mean, it has taken the form of loss of control over my vocal chords *cough-swearing-BIG-SWORD-cough* so I guess that counts as an involuntary bodily reaction. 🤭
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Some reactions just cannot be controlled.
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The dreaminess of #10 followed by the cheekiness of #11 — I’m in heaven. A perfect Saturday morning. Thank you, G.
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Hehe, you’re welcome. Finally a round-up again that was posted at a time for *some* readers to read at breakfest 😉
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OMG, the fish!! The best mussels I’ve ever eaten I had in Ireland. Yum, delicious fishy memories and prawns. Heavenly!! Forget about Richie. Food rules. LOL
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Oh yes, they have access to some of the most delicious, freshest fish here I have ever eaten. (Typical island nation, fish is not really that big a thing here, though, apart from fish & chips. But in the last decade or so, there is much more fish on the menu than before, I think.) And I love fish, in every variation.
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Thanks for the round-up Guylty, lots of pondering this week. 1) Richard Armitage looks hotter as [some] characters because this is when his intensity powers through (although it still can sometimes when he is being himself). And it amazes me how many different looks he can have and still be intrinsically gorgeous.
7) Got lost for several minutes looking at the movement of his hips there.
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re no 1: makes sense to me! I wanted to argue that porter is hot *even though* he’s such a good guy (but he’s “a real badass” so thats where the bad comes into it 😉) as so often it’s all about power!
also re diferent looks: so true! I remember that I googled the cast after watching the first hobbit movie in cinema and wanting to know who the “hot dwarf” was and by the time I first saw Porter a few years later I had quite forgotten the name Richard Armitage again. when I then googled pics of RA and there were some of these sleek fashion magazine photos mixed with some of his roles and some behind the scenes shots, I thought “no way this is one single guy, there must be some name coincidence!” 😁 after thorough research (*cough*) I found out that he is indeed that versatile and since then I was hooked without ever wanting to become a fan 😍🤣
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Interesting, Anja. I never had that experience (because I discovered RA just before he played Thorin) but over the years I also think that he is an extremely versatile actor, not just in terms of ability but also looks. It’s amazing what the length of hair and the varying degrees of facial shrubbery can do.
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Good point re. the intensity. Makes sense. But then there is also this inexplicable thing where a “bad boy” is somehow irresistible to some of us (Guy a prime example – especially because of his intrinsic redeemability). It’s the fantasy of loving and being loved by a bad boy, I guess, which then presents the contradiction of his bad deeds versus his love for a woman.
Re. 7) – you sure you were looking at his hips? 😉 😁 😊… I took the test *coughs*
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You know I love a bad boy! Yes I was looking at his slo-mo panther hips, how very dare you! (I see what you mean though!)
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Yes, Porter should definitely be included (in anything!) . RA is so versatile.
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I second that.
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yum on the fishhhh… what i miss most about lockdown! really good fishy food, thai, fresh for you made sushi etc Tho i am, endlessly frustrated by how expensive fish and seafood is in London compared to how it was in Edinburgh.. sigh. Still i miss food variety really badly!
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I’m telling you, it was a feast. I am so glad to be living directly on the sea. Mind you, we don’t eat fish nearly enough. (But now we have the freezer full of yummy frozen fish.)
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