What’s wrong with these pictures? Or, seeing is not always believing.

It’s me–but it’s not me. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of possessing big brown eyes with sooty lashes and dark brows, masses of curly black hair and a complexion to match. I also wanted to be tall with long willowy legs . . .  instead, I ended up slightly above average in height, with short stumpy legs. And I was still just as “fish belly-white” pale and blue-eyed and fair-haired and fair-lashed as ever. Plain ol’ vanilla me.

Clearly, I have tampered with the photo above, giving myself a virtual spray tan, changing the color of my eyes, darkening my brows and my hair and then softening up the whole image to be kinder to my 53-year-old self.

Here’s the original un-retouched image.

You can’t always believe what you see.

Which brings me to this image. Someone ran across it today and posted it at FB, admitting she was confused because how could two actors who were clearly on separate continents for the recent DoS fan event be photographed side by side?

The answer is, of course. Photoshop. Take note that Richard isn’t casting any shadow in this pic, which means he is either (A) actually a vampire or (B) isn’t actually in this photo with Lee in the first place.  The answer is, of course, B—that image of RA comes from the photos taken in NY with Orlando and Anderson Cooper.  This isn’t the exact one, but you get my drift.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I really am getting tired of this sort of thing. I am all for having a rich fantasy life and “viva” a vivid imagination, I always say.  Where would life be without such?

~~~

But it is important to recognize there is a difference between fantasy and reality, between wanting to look like an exotic gypsy-ish creature and actually being the vanilla girl next door. A difference between thinking “Gee, wouldn’t those two gorgeous guys make a hot-looking gay couple?” and enjoying some slashy fanfic along the way, and deciding this relationship MUST be so, it IS so, and by golly, you will MAKE it so. Come hell or high water!!

~~~

If it means inferring all sorts of things from the mere mention of these two men attending the same event (never mind that several other actors did the same) and plastering your inferences all over the Internet or Photoshopping pictures for possibly not-so-innocent purposes, there are some fans out there who are doing it.

~~~

Look, I personally don’t think an individual’s sexuality is our business unless we are in a relationship with them ourselves. Period. Whether or not Lee or Richard or anybody else is gay, straight, bisexual, asexual or omnisexual is not the point here.

It’s this straining and reaching desperately to make your fantasies into fact-based reality that I find truly objectionable. Apparently some fans tried to do the same thing with Orlando and Viggo in the LOTR films. Some things just never change, it seems. *sigh*

Just because you see it, doesn’t mean you should believe it. Don’t automatically accept things at face value.

Just because you want and wish it to be, doesn’t make it so.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t accept something as the gospel truth because it’s on the Internet!

Oh, yeah, and I’ve decided to embrace my Inner Pale Vanilla Goddess. 😉 Trying to keep the white roots at bay would be a b**ch these days . . .

In case you missed Kate’s wonderful RA pix . . .

Kate, Stephanie’s housemate, took some great shots of RA (and Orlando) at the NY fan event which she linked in a comment in a previous post. I just want to make sure you don’t miss them! Well worth the time to click on the link below . . . *sigh*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7256736@N03/sets/72157637394186925/

‘A Lovely, Lovely Man’: Stephanie’s Reflections on seeing Richard in NYC

Stephanie and her housemate got the chance to attend the NY Fan Event for the Desolation of Smaug. As soon as I found out they were going, I asked Stephanie to share her thoughts on the experience with me for the blog. I am certain you will enjoy reading them as much as I did. Thanks again, Stephanie! I have added a few screencaps from Richard Armitage Central and from Servetus.

While the event on the whole was not quite what I was expecting, I did finally fulfill my dream of seeing our lovely man in person.  We did manage to get seats about eight rows from the front of the theatre, so had an excellent view and a good vantage point from where my housemate took over 100 photos, which hopefully will be downloaded on her photo page soon.

 The excitement was very contagious and many of the people we met while waiting in line were total Richard fans, so I really hope he felt all that love flowing towards him because there was an ocean of it.  I have to say though–when he walked up on stage, I felt this very strong vibration that he either wasn’t feeling well or perhaps it was that he simply has not yet become as comfortable as some people have said about dealing with these fan events.  Of course, the other possibility could very well be that he’d just flown in from London for this event and was a bit jet-lagged.  Even tired and scruffy though (and don’t misunderstand me, I adore his scruffy look), he was everything I’ve always thought he would be.

I have to wonder that the Q & A was so brief; each of these amazing actors except for Evangeline Lilly in LA only answered one question.  (I loved her response to the question about her role model for her character–Tinkerbell!  What a terrific choice).  The question that was addressed to Richard was, at least, a very good one–his favorite line in all three movies.  And he did appear to give it serious consideration before answering, so I think it was a very honest response.

He did spend a great deal of time watching the monitor while the Q& A was going on, and there were a few asides between Richard and Orlando.  What was truly surprising (to me, anyway) was that once they ended the live feed, everyone just left the stage–and nothing was said about whether they would return after the viewing (they didn’t) or if the film clips would be the end (it was).

The movie looks astonishing and if this is possible, I think Richard looks even more wonderful in this installment than in the first movie.  He has truly grown in the role of Thorin; when he’s onscreen, he fills the screen with his magnificent, kingly presence and his star quality is evident no matter what else may be happening in the scene.  You cannot look away from him (a problem I regularly suffer from anyway)–he is mesmerizing.  During the event itself, I found the same thing happening–I could not take my eyes from him., even though he was merely sitting onstage.  He is that magnetic; he is that beautiful.  He is everything I could have hoped and more besides.

We also met a man from Warner Brothers at the event who was apparently in charge of seeing that things went smoothly–and he told us that, of all the Hobbit actors and technical people he’s met, Richard is definitely the nicest.

 Does this surprise me?  NOT!  But it’s so nice to have it reaffirmed by someone who actually knows him, that he truly is the lovely gentleman we’ve all come to know over the years.  He even did meet with one set of four fans before he left, despite the best efforts of rampant security to prevent it, who were in costume and had brought something for him–he most graciously met with them for a few minutes and took a photo with them.  I wouldn’t expect anything else of him.

Would I have loved to meet him?  Of course.  Was it enough that I got to be in the same room and see him?  Actually, yes.  As I have pretty much always known, our Richard is a lovely, lovely man–I sincerely hope for the future that he does become more secure and comfortable in his personal appearances, for his own sake.  In the meantime, a huge hug to our dear one from me and many others.  He is most truly one of a kind–the best.

 

Short GNC vid with Richard and Orlando before NYC event

Can’t sleep. Cuddling the kitten and browsing the Net. Another little vid I found on FB. You get to glimpse some of the fans in costume, too. 😉 Is it me, or does Richard’s voice sound higher than it has for a while, and is more of the Midlands accent coming through in places?

Thorin is hot–but have Bilbo and those elves been hitting the Botox?!?

I reblogged Perry’s post featuring the new Thorin poster from DoS (oh, heck, let’s look at it again, shall we?)

And I have to say, after taking a look at the other posters, this one IS the undisputed winner. Richard Armitage as Thorin looks fierce, determined and absolutely gorgeous. *thud* The use of light and shadow playing over those majestic masculine features here is great.

However, some of the rest of the seven new posters . . . look suspiciously tweaked. Now, I know that Photoshopping is routinely done on images like this. But there’s touching up and there’s TOUCHING UP!!

Did Martin Freeman as Bilbo have an eye tuck somewhere along his unexpected journey? A shot or two of Botox? Touched up his hair color and picked up some colored contact lenses, too?

And maybe he got said Botox in Mirkwood, because even for a slow-to-age elf, Thrandy is looking amazingly smooth . . .   especially when compared with an un-retouched photo of Lee Pace.

If it weren’t for the long blonde wig, I am not sure I’d know this was Orlando Bloom at first glance.  I know he’s a decade older than when he made the LOTR films, and he’s supposed to actually be younger in these new films, not to mention that the guy playing his dad, Lee, is roughly the same age, but–does he not look a bit–plastic–here? I think the tinted contact lenses don’t really help. Weren’t his eyes brown in the original films or am I totally confused?

I thought he looked a bit odd in this screencap from the earlier teaser, too. I am really hoping Leggy will look a bit more–life-like–and less CGI-like–in the finished film. Otherwise, I will find it distracting, I fear. I mean, I know the elves are somewhat airy-fairy timeless sorts and all. But.

See all of the character posters at the link below. Tell me, which do you like the best? The least? And why?

http://www.flicksandbits.com/2013/11/03/7-new-character-posters-for-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug/59812/

Details on Monday’s LIVE fan event. I know what I’ll be doing at 4 p.m. . . .

A link to tORN with details on Monday’s live fan event and how to watch it:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/11/01/81628-all-the-details-for-watching-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-live-event-on-nov-4/

You can also tune in online here http://www.youtube.com/thehobbit

In the U.S., it’s scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Pacific Time, 3 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Central Time and 5 p.m. Eastern Time.  There’s a link at the One Ring Net page for time zone conversions.

It does appear that both Orlando Bloom and Richard will be in New York. Don’t hate me, anyone, but I really would have preferred it had just been Richard (Orlando fans, put the gol-darned maters down, now!!) I just know how Richard tends to defer to the other actors when he’s in a pair or group.  However, those who make it to NYC who are both Bloom and Armitage lovers should certainly be on cloud nine.

As for me, I am planning to go in to town earlier to take care of some business and then fire up the laptop at the dealership and tap into their more high-speed connection to watch the live stream. Fingers crossed all goes well. And then I will be off to dinner theater rehearsal, so it will be later before I can have the opportunity to post much of anything. Hopefully I am not too giddy to do my role. Then again, I am playing someone who goes from tipsy to sloppy drunk, and Armitage is rather intoxicating.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and safe travels to those who are flying or road tripping to NYC for the big event Monday (and that includes our own dear Stephanie! Whoo-hoo!)

This. You must read this. Wow.

This is an excerpt from a 17-year-old cancer patient’s Make-A-Wish experience on the set of “The Hobbit.” The link to the entire post is at bottom. The whole thing is well worth reading–what a dream come true for this young Tolkien fan!–but I think this passage was of particular interest. And I found myself laughing and crying and feeling so ulifted. God bless RA and all the cast and crew who helped give Samm such an amazing time. And thank you, Servetus, for sharing this on your blog so I could discover this wonderful story and share it with you all XXOO

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photo from tumblr courtesy of DJ at Heirs of Durin

. . . Then I turned back around to Peter and he saw my necklace move (Which is a keychain of The Key to Erebor, but I broke the keychain part off and made it a necklace because the necklaces are expensive and the keychains have more detail) and Mr. Jackson said “Oh, that’s Richard’s key!” then this little bugger totally tilted his head and gave a little smirk and said “I bet Richard would like to see that.” THIS SUCKER KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. I LOVE YOU. So then, before I could let myself totally fangirl an make a mockery of myself, I said “I would love to show Richard my key!” and Peter turned to Sebastian and Phil and nodded like a little miracle worker and said “I think Richard would like to see that key.” And off we went!

~~~~~~~~

We walked out of that stage and across the lot to another stage. Phil and Sebastian went with us and said that Richard was just finishing up filming a scene. So when we entered that stage and there was another giant set. It was significantly darker in here than it was in the other stage, but I didn’t care one bit. We arrived and there were more lawn chairs and another TV on wheels thing set up but this one wasn’t on. Apparently it wasn’t working, and they tried so hard to get it working, and I told them it was really okay if they didn’t get it working! And they were like “noo it’s not okay!” But, you guys, it was, because we were so close to Richard Armitage filming that I could hear EVERYTHING.

~~~~~~~~~

And I was so close to a camera that I was watching the screen on the camera. I was AMAZING. I watched Richard Armitage ACT. I am proud to say that, it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Inspiring, just any nice word you wanna throw out there, it was that. Then we heard “cut” and I saw him walk off set. And we all know how Richard is a method actor. He stays in character all day. He walked off the set with /the/ meanest look on his face and glared RIGHT at me. I GOT A THORIN STAREEEEEEEEEEEE. Then Sebastian walked over and whispered in his ear and literally it was like night and day. His face went from “imma kill” to “Flowers and tea, yay let’s go play” And I got up and walked over to him. He said (in the mst adorable accent on the planet) Hello there, I’m Richard.” Now guys………I love Richard Armitage ok. Proud member of the Armitage Army like come on look at my blog, so you can imagine what my insides were like when I was standing in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~

He was sooo tall compared to me (well I mean everyone is, I’m 5’2) but I was like (in a really dorky tone because I was literally over the moon) “Hello Mr. Armitage!” and I was shaking a little becaUSE RICHARD ARMITAGE. And then he held up two swords that he was holding and was showing them to me saying how they were covered in orc blood and we were touching it together and he was like “Yeah it’s pretty sticky, I have it all over me” and then we had a conversation about something that I can’t say but damn I’m pretty sure it made me seem educated in the world of Tolkien. Then he turned away to look at something and I was like “Can I ask you something?” and he was like “Sure!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I asked him if he really played flute or if it was just a rumor, and he was like “Yeah I do, why?” And I said “Well, I play too!” And he was like Oh, really!! What level are you?” Then in my brain I was like Oh awkward because in America (at least where I come from we don’t have levels) so I told him that I have been playing for 6 years, and then he rubbed his majestic beard and was like “You know, you should really check out this Skavinsky piece, it’s one of my most favorite things to play, you’ll love playing it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I told him I would, and then I told him I had to tell him something. I explained how The Lord of the Rings was a huge part of my life growing up in a rough childhood, and waiting for The Hobbit really helped me get through cancer, because it gave me something to look forward to, and I thanked him for bringing Thorin to life so beautifully. I started to get a little choked up because cancer was tough on me and he was like “Oh my, come here.” And pulled me in to a giant bear hug. I thanked him again even though my voice was muffled in his fur shoulder thing. It was such a great moment, and then guess what happened. Typical Samm moment. My earcuff I was wearing was dangly, and had these elvish looking leaves on them, and one of the leaves got stuck in Richard’s wig. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING. Actually, at the moment it wasn’t because we were both laughing about it trying to get undone. And my aunt told me later that Richard was smiling like an idiot and looked like a little 5 year old trying to get untangled and he said “Oh! I think we may be stuck!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

But now that I look back at it I kinda die with embarrassment lol but I guess how many girls can say their earring got stuck in Richard’s wig? Not many 😉 But after we were unstuck I was like “I’m so sorry!” and he was like “no no, it’s fine, but i really like your earring!” I told him thank you, it’s my elvish cuff, i wore it just for today, and he was like “Aaah! I’m wearing one too, see!” And he pulled his wig hair back with his giant dwarf prosthetic fingers and revealed his dwarven ear cuff on his right ear. Then idfk why i said this i was like “Wow! We’re twinning!” =__= don’t ask my mind wasn’t on earth.  Then he was like “Would you like a picture?” So we took a normal picture together, and then he handed me a sword and my cousin one and he was like “Alright, take a swing at me.” And I was like “????????? I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m really clumsy” and he was like “You won’t, just do it like this” and then he pointed the end of my sword at his chest and he acted like he was getting stabbed, and we took the picture like that and I just can’t believe how creative that was and sdfghjkl RICHARD ❤ So then after that I gave him another hug and said goodbye and then we were off to lunch! . . .

~~~~~~~~~~

The entire account, including encounters with Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Lee Pace (my side crush on him has simply increased after reading how sweet he was to this girl), Peter Jackson and more is at link below. You Will want to read it all . . .

http://elvenbutterflies.tumblr.com/post/54881582834/the-moment-weve-all-been-waiting-for-my-day-with

Elves with the giggles: oh, Sir Peter, you sweetie

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151697149436171

Sir Peter is being his usual loveable, mischievous self again and posting things like the video (see link above) featuring Evangeline, Orlando and Lee in costume reacting with great merriment to watching a video of two excited fans reacting to . . . watching a vid. It’s delightful!  Lots of great cheekbones and smile to enjoy here, too. 😉 Thanks, Sir Peter and the gang.