A farewell to Summer: We feel the love

Donna Summer passed away this morning from cancer at age 63. Lots of artists came and quickly went in disco’s heyday, but Summer’s powerful mezzo-soprano voice scored her a number of hits and a number of Grammies. Back in the day before I wrecked my knee, I remember doing a routine in  a college aerobics class to “Hot Stuff.”

 

Donna Summer during her disco heyday. (photo courtesy of usweekly.com)

 

 

“She Works Hard for the Money” became a sort of  80s anthem for the average working woman everywhere.

Her breakthrough hit “Love to Love You, Baby” was a guilty pleasure for many of us.  And there was “I Feel Love,” “MacArthur Park,” “Last Dance,” “Bad Girls,” “On the Radio” and more.  She was working on material for a new album when she died.

Rest in peace, Donna. You were a part of the soundtrack of my life in my teens and twenties, so much so a couple of the songs you made famous become the soundtracks for two of my Sir Guy vids. A sexy songstress paired with a sexy fellow–a perfect match.

 

 

 

SND Wednesday continues: Let’s end the death streak, Mr. A

I saw a Tweet that said something along that lines of “Sean Bean dies in every 1.25 movies.” He does seem to shuffle off the mortal coil an awful lot in his films. Here’s hoping that Richard does not rack up a similar average as he embarks on his film career. After all, with Guy, Lucas, Portah, Heinz and now Thorin, we’ll have a death streak that is depressingly long enough. It’s starting to get crowded here in the den with all the SND chaRActers.

Here’s to Richard having a lovely role in a good film in which he gets to laugh, gets to love, and gets to live past the closing credits. And honestly, Richard, we don’t ask this for purely selfish reasons. You’ve wanted to do something “all about love,” right? It would be so beneficial to your mental and emotional health.

Oh, and, maybe–throw in a shower scene. Or two. OK, that request might be for selfish reasons. But we’ve been in such a long drought–the thought of your bare skin water is so very appealing.
In the meantime, more of our wonderful SND chaRActers.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Harry for a Gloomy Afternoon

My pain levels suddenly shot up in the last hour or so. Ah, weather systems. I find myself in need of some Harry TheRApy.

;

A Blue Monday post: Baby’s got blue eyes

I’ve always liked blue eyes. I was surrounded by them growing up in a singularly blue-eyed family, so I guess blue eyes make me feel at home.

Tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed men are my cuppa tea.  Married one, the love of my life. Have a mad, passionate crush on another one.

A man with an amazing pair of expressive, beautiful, eloquent blue eyes that are more changeable in color than my own (which take detours into grey and green, but never khaki!).  Pensive eyes, sleepy eyes, sorrowful eyes, keen eyes, eyes that plead and query and smoulder.

 

 

Sleepy, dreamy blue eyes with lids at half-mast. Irresistible.

 

 

 

Lucas’s blue eyes-intelligent,  sensitive, wary, the eyes of a man who has seen too much suffering in his lifetime. Unforgettable eyes.

 

The tough soldier’s eyes soften at the thought of his sweet little girl as he sends her a kiss from far away, the warmth of his feelings evident.

 

 

Those eyes . . .

 

Kohl-rimmed eyes. Smouldering, sexy and dangerous. Oh, Sir Guy . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sexy Lucas . . .

Need I say more? Look at the evidence . . .

 

Lucas love . . .

The keen intelligence. The dry wit. The disarming smiles. The heroism. The undeniable beauty. Lucas North, the spy I love.

 

 

Sir Guy: A man in love

Sir Guy and Marian. OK, yes, he started off looking at her as a good catch–she was the daughter of the old sheriff, high-born, well respected; she was pretty and she had always been linked with Robin of Locksley. Marian could be one more thing Guy could take away from his hated enemy.

 

And then–he went and fell in love. Even after she rejected him at the altar and he told himself to forget her, that she meant nothing to him–he still cared. Still wanted to protect her no matter how much potential danger it caused for him. Still wanted her as his lover, his wife, the one he would have a home and family with.  He truly had no one; he pinned all his hopes and dreams on Marian returning his love. *sigh*

 

I still think it could have been a very compelling storyline if Guy and Marian had married, putting Marian in the position of divided loyalties between Robin, her childhood sweetheart and a wanted outlaw and Guy, the husband and sheriff’s lieutenant with whom she found herself falling in love in spite of herself. Robin, pressuring her to still be his spy, and Guy, expecting her absolute loyalty; both men, jealous of the other’s claim on Marian’s heart. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guyday Friday: Some Like it Hot

Next to John Porter, surely Sir Guy is the ChaRActer who emits the most heat. Here is some artwork featuring the Hot Henchman and videos to set your toes tapping and your heart going pitter-patter. Hope your Friday is going well!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sir Guy and the man who made us love him

Yeah, I know it’s not Guyday Friday yet, but I have something like 80 pieces of fanart with the Hot Henchman and I just have to share. Not that I expect anyone to complain. 😉 These are a little more angsty and trying some different painting techniques. I have also included one of my favorite shots from Hood Academy and a couple of videos–at least one I know I haven’t embedded here before. Enjoy the Guy and RA goodness!

Lucas is Luscious (& So Not Dead)

 

John Bateman–John who? I disavow the Lucas North I came to know in Spooks 7 having any connection with that dodgy, immature, weak mass murdering creature with the fluid morals. As far as I am concerned, it was all a bad dream from the moment the odious Vaughn showed up with his suitcase. The State of Denial can be a comfy place to live, actually.  😉

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• My Fan Fiction Muse: Lucas North aka Richard Armitage (justagirlandherpups.com)
• Sexy Spy Saturday with Luscious Lucas (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)

Finally! At long last . . .

Image via CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

I’ve posted another chapter of my novel-in-progress, The Lady & the Panther.  I really feel quite chagrined it’s been as long as it has been (February, I do believe) since my last chapter.

 

As most of y’all know, I have some chronic health issues and a number of them decided to assault me all at once.

 

 

As Leigh and I have discussed, if a certain percentage of my body and brain aren’t working properly, it’s very hard to settle down and focus on my writing and be really satisfied with what I am producing. Because I do want to publish this as a novel and not a piece of fan fiction, I am trying extra hard this time around.

 

I’ve always put a pretty fair amount of myself into my writing–that’s my modus operandi– but now it’s more important than ever. With a period story, getting the setting right–the clothing, the language (within reason. A modern audience must be able to digest it), the manners, the occupations, the forms of entertainment–is very important.  Let’s say I would like it to be a bit more authentic than the average episode of Robin Hood 2006.

 

I have a stack of reference books and more research from online. One of the things I always enjoyed about my newspaper and magazine articles was the opportunity to learn as I wrote. There is a saying, “You teach, you learn,” and that was certainly true in my case. And it’s also true for writers of all types.

 

I also have a real need–a thirst– to be creative. Being able to work on fanvids and now, fanart (thank you, my darling husband, for getting me into Photoshop Elements) has been a great help to me.  I like to think I have an artistic eye. Learning, slowly but surely, how to use modern technology in conjunction with it has had a real–I don’t know–liberating effect on me, for want of a better word.

 

Adobe Photoshop Elements icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I see new possibilities and I see that this old dog can, in fact, learn new tricks.  As I have said before, I have always been somewhat intimidated by computers. Now–dare I say?–they are becoming my friends and not my enemy.  I have a blog. I just established a Twitter account (#angieklong) and now I am cross-posting new entries to The Armitage Effect and my Live Journal blog in tweets.

 

I resisted Twitter for a long time because I was turned off by celebrities and wanna-bes who seemed to feel the need to report every time they stopped in at Starbuck’s or took a crap. That wasn’t for me. However, I see a lot of people who are kindred spirits on Twitter these days (alas, no Richard Armitage, but then, when would he have time??) and I decided I was ready to take yet another step.

 

Thank you all for joining me on my journey.  One of the best things that has happened to me in terms of modern technology and Mr. Richard Armitage is, of course, discovering all of you.

 

Well, there you go.

Sir Guy in his Dark Night of the Soul: Those Amazing Images

I have expressed my admiration on other occasions for the lighting and camera work in Robin Hood’s third series. We got some breathtaking images of Richard as Sir Guy. Oh, he was gorgeous throughout the show, but it reached a whole new level in S3. The story arc had a sort of operatic grandeur with Richard as our tragic anti-hero, and he looked every inch the part.

The Meg episode with Guy imprisoned by his sister and resigned to his fate, only to be challenged by this spirited young woman and forced to face his demons, featured some of the most striking lighting of the series. Mr. Armitage is a living, breathing work of art and this was so beautifully captured on film; not only his physical beauty, but his ability to express so much with his eyes and his body language. I could not fail to be inspired by these screencaptures as a basis for fan art.

More Guyday Friday! A little Hot Henchman humor

Richard and his Red Carpet Smiles & a Video

A couple of new Photoshop items and some older ones, because, really, can you ever have too much of Mr. Armitage in a tuxedo and wearing a smile?

In need of some midweek pep? Let Guy and Lucas inspire you . . . and Queen