Yeah . . . I'm sexy and I know it. It's in my genes. And my jeans.
I fear I find myself thinking of that old country song, "You Can Eat Crackers in My Bed Anytime" . . .
Oh, those hands. Those eyes. The promises they can make.
In Othello, the villainous Iago plants seeds of doubt in Othello’s mind about the faithfulness of his wife, while advising him, “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on.” Othello, Act 3, Scene 3.
I found it interesting that Robin would constantly push Marian, whom he purportedly loved, to work her womanly wiles on Sir Guy, and then have frequent hissy fits when she did spend time in Guy’s presence.
Doesn’t love involve trust? And if you love someone, don’t you want to protect them from evil influences and keep them out of harm’s way? (Uhm, kind of like Guy did for Marian?) Robin considered Guy to be a monster, and yet he was always shoving Marian in the “monster’s” direction. Mixed signals there, I’d say.
Robin proved to be the green-eyed monster literally and figuratively.
And the whole “Peeping Blobbin” thing got really old. Every time you turned around, he was turning up like the proverbial bad penny. He started coming across as some sort of medieval pervert.
I like to think if Blobbin and the squire had stayed out of the picture, this scene might have played out very differently. *sigh* A girl can dream . . .
Of course, dearest Guy had his moments of jealousy, too. Particularly when a certain charming count showed up in Nottingham. In spite of all his protestations that he didn’t care about Marian anymore, we all knew he did.
Our blue-eyed boy was seeing green when Count Frederich showed up and showered Marian with his attentions.
It is thought that Shakespeare may have been evoking the image of cats here–often green-eyed and fond of toying with their prey before killing it, thus a cat will “mock the meat it doth feed on.”
American actor John Edward McCullough (1837-1885) as Othello? Colour lithograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Serendipity: Luck that takes the form of finding pleasant or valuable things that are not looked for.
In the mid-18th century, Sir Horace Walpole stumbled upon a Persian fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip (Serendip was the name of the island that is now Sri Lanka). The heroes of the stories traveled about, making happy (and chance) discoveries. Walpole added the word to the English language in 1754
Horace Walpole (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I didn’t go looking for Richard Armitage, but I found him one Saturday night playing the bog-standard henchman as a supporting character in a kid-friendly show on BBC America, Robin Hood 2006.
The show turned out to be more than a bit cheesetastic. And full of anachronisms. Still, Robin Hood the show had its charms. I particularly liked the characters of Allan and Much and the young actress playing Marian. All talented and entertaining actors. And then–slowly–I began to pay more attention to one specific character. And it wasn’t Ye Olde Legende Hero.
I'm here for the bad guy. Our meeting was serendipitous.
Sir Guy as played by Richard Armitage might be a right smarmy bastard, but he certainly was a good-looking right smarmy bastard who also turned out to be more complicated than he first appeared on the surface. And by the time he got left at the altar by the woman he believed would cleanse his soul with her goodness and purity, I felt something funny going on inside me. This character was getting to me. It was as if I could see inside his heart; I could see the “evil henchman’s” humanity, his vulnerabilities.
"Let her go." Guy moments after being slugged by his bride-to-be and left at the altar. My heart truly belonged to Guy from that moment on.
That Richard Armitage fellow was a very good actor. And not bad to look at. He had–presence. Charisma. He had–IT. I wondered what else he might have done. And so I started searching on the Internet, and found various forums, blogs and websites and the fanvids on YouTube, and started reading fanfiction. And so it began . . . the fascination, the obsession, the addiction, whatever you will call it.
Leading to a tall stack of DVDs featuring Mr. A’s performances. Leading to writing fanfiction and making fanvids and now, blogging about him. And all because I sat down one night to watch a show in BBC America. And I just keep discovering more things to like, admire, respect and adore about him. He is a most pleasant and valuable thing to discover when you aren’t even looking for him.
Thank you, Sir Horace, for introducing “serendipity” to the language, and thank you, Richard Armitage, for being a shining example of it.
Richard, you serendipitous sweetheart, you!
Richard Armitage at the 2010 Television BAFTAs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It was announced today by the International Callipygian Society that British actor Richard Crispin Armitage, currently in New Zealand filming the role of Thorin for Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films, has been named Callipygian Male Extraordinaire. Throngs of females (and a not insignificant number of males) are expected to celebrate this event by staging marathons of fanvids and show clips from the actor’s well-rounded roles.
“We don’t call the man ‘Sweet Cheeks’ for nothing,” said one rabid fan. Another commented, “We love how Richard always fleshes out his characters so booti-fully.”
Richard in a S2 DVD extra interview. The leather pants straining over the thighs. The bare arms. The great eye makeup job. Our medieval rock god.
Richard and His Ridiculously Attractive Hands. I love how he talks with them, don't you?
A shot with the tracking dolly from the seige on Nottingham Castle from S3 extras.
Love to see Richard laughing--especially in his Guy guise.
Told ya I loved those hands. And everything here.
An intellligent, thoughtful, interesting and talented actor. And a glorious-looking one.
