April 30, 2010

Moving Day for Other RA Characters

O.K. The welcome party's over and former characters realize it behooves them to vacate the blog photo gallery in order to give the newest member of their group his time in the sun.  Sir Guy barked the order "Move 'em Out!"
There's always at least one in every group, and this time Lee requested an exemption from the move stating his photo was recycled in a very recent RA interview, which should give him some leverage to stay in his old quarters.  In fact, he was so excited by the new publicity that he spruced up his portfolio...
The others quickly threw cold water on Mr Speedo's plans, so he returned to packing and whatever else he was doing. Then the march began into bloggerville...

A few were engaged in other activities BUT Guy would not take no for an answer...
Mulligan had just been released after paying his debt to society.  He left a message saying there were certain amenities of life he'd really missed, and was already in the midst of making a move.  The others were puzzled but not surprised the 'black sheep' of the group would not be there to help...
Only one formality to take take care of - Ricky got his motor running & conscientiously rehearsed the traditional initiation ceremony for Porter's official induction...

Richard Armitage: Reader's Digest Interview

Wonder why the following part of Jane Dickson's interview in Readers Digest is my favorite;)...
Did you get the feeling, after reading it, that she had in the process 'fallen’ (in our sense of the word) for Richard? That impression struck me after reading her last paragraph below.

Thanks to Enrich2 for pointing out the article which is generously provided in it's entirety for all to read at http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/articles/ReadersDigest201005.html


April 29, 2010

Other RA Characters Throw A Welcome Party for John Porter

There's been steady grumbling in the blog photo gallery for weeks now - the other RA characters felt as though they're being nudged out by the new guy on the block - John Porter.  After much discussion, they've decided to take the high road, bury their grievances, and instead throw a Welcome Party for their latest fraternity brother.  The honored guest was contacted & explained he's thrilled, but will be delayed due to  last minute 'shooting' on the set...

Preparations started when JT presented Margaret with a dozen yellow roses and in his purrriest voice asked if he could have a 'boys night out' with the other characters.  How could she say no?  The always organized business man then suggested to his peers that there should be a party doorprize, and he knew exactly what it should be - one of the 'big guy's' original paintings...
Party preparations swung into overdrive - Lucas definitely didn't want to be late as he had volunteered to provide the backdrop for the banquet head table...
Sir Guy wanted to contribute to the event, so being a rather dramatic person, he suggested a night-time military maneuver decoration theme might be appropriate--Lucas was all over that idea, like white on rice.  Sir Guy explained he chose night-time to reflect the darker moods sometimes expressed by the honored guest, and everyone agreed Guy was the expert on that subject...
Menu planning was a snap as 'the boss' had already mentioned in a recent interview that he'd eaten a ton of sandwiches while marinating as JP  - he's lucky Sir Guy's cute double chin didn't make a comeback, isn't he.  Lucas, of course, provided dessert.
Unfortunately not all the characters were able to attend the festivities.  Paul called to give his regrets and explain Alona informed him that they've another commitment for that night, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was...
When John Porter finally arrived, he was awarded the coveted "Peaches Trophy"...he looked absolutely natty accepting the award - his military haircut had certainly grown in quickly...

Then in a spirit of warm comraderie cups of cheer were raised and a good time was had by all..

Richard Armitage: The Long and Short of It (see poll)

No, not his height - it's that other RA feature that most fans find fascinating, and usually express a strong preference - his hair length.  Which of the following group of pics shows your preference...

                                                              1.  Longer?

2.  Shorter?

Richard Armitage: Recent Remarks - Watch for Upcoming Poll

The following are recent remarks made by RA - which one of them surprises you most?

1. “I think the truth is, when we’re talking to the SAS guys..they had a very strange sense of humour in regards to..disaster and tragedy..I think you just have to.”

2. “Lucas is this proper soldier, whereas John is this slightly unrestrainable weapon that gets right out there and does it, and it's really nice to play the other side of it. “

3. ”..Johannesburg is at a much higher altitude than we're used to and I had to be there for about 10 days before I started working at that level. What I was trying to do was to try and create a physique that looked like it happened through working in the SAS rather than working out in a gym.”

4. “I'm the guy that's off painting and playing the cello.”

5. “..I come to life when I'm in an acting job, and that's a scary thing to have happen to you, because you think, 'well if not working as an actor then I have to die'. When you talk to any kind of artist who isn't fulfilling their art, you do kill a little bit of yourself every time you're not doing it. It is a bit of a fear; you are living slightly outside of yourself, so I was applying that to John when I was playing him. And interestingly enough, when he was out of the army and dressed as a civilian I had never really felt comfortable in the character. And it took me a while to realize it was because that character wasn't comfortable in that environment.”

6. “I suppose normal people go through a bit more of a 9 to 5 than with this job!
It is true, I wish I could kind of put it down at 5 o' clock, but I think the working day would begin at 6 and finish at 8 and then I would go to the gym for two hours afterwards and then go to sleep, sort of doing what the character was doing so I could not shake him off after 16 to 20 weeks. And even now, I still have little kind of waves of John coming in and out, but I don't see it as work. I mean it's physically gruelling and you're knackered, but when you live for that it's a very strange situation because you live for that exhaustion. It's great it's really nice.”

7. “..I'm not one of these people that can't talk to other people because I'm in my character, but I kind of do stay with the character, yeah. He's always there. It's like marinating something - you're sitting in a marinade the whole time."

8. “I am sort of itching to get under the skin of John [Porter] again because I think there are loads more stories to tell and very exciting.”
9. “Spooks is interesting because it sort of narrows what's happening [in current events] and sometimes its kind of predictive.”

April 28, 2010

Richard Armitage Photos & New '24' (Jack Bauer) Forum

The following new forum was recently tweeted:  http://jackbauer.co.uk/?p=486  Still think a Spooks/24 special would live up to it's name.   hmmmm, in a Lucas sorta mood tonight...

Hope everyone has a good night's sleep...Lucas is again tossing & turning--maybe it'd help if someone read a nighty-night story.  Any volunteers other than half the females in Britain & the USA;)
Perhaps a good laugh would do it....

Strike Back: Sky1 Tweet

sky1insiderFollowing Follow Lists
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Your lists: Former #SAS soldier Chris Ryan talks #Afghanistan and Strike Back (starring Richard #Armitage) in todays #Telegraph - http://bit.ly/aOrwRP
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The ex-SAS man on the TV version of his novel Strike Back and how modern warfare is tougher than ever. By Olly Grant - Published: 12:01AM BST 28 Apr 2010

Action Man: Chris Ryan, whose novel Strike Back has been adapted by Sky1. Photo: Sky

Election week is an interesting time to launch a war drama. For months, Army chiefs have been firing warning shots at the Government about underfunding. Now MPs are making promises about defence reviews and more resources being allocated to our Armed Forces. If you were a war hero with 16 years of SAS service, you might take all this with a pinch of cynicism.

Chris Ryan – whose bestselling novel Strike Back comes to Sky1 next week as a punchy new drama – the feeling is more like weary resignation. “History repeats itself,” shrugs the soldier-turned-writer. “The Army is always badly equipped. In the Falklands you had guys going down with trench foot. In the first Gulf War I went into Iraq without the correct pistols and ammunition.”

No fiery salvo for Gordon Brown, then, who earlier this year was forced to admit the defence budget did not rise in real terms – even though he had previously said that it had – during certain years recently when British troops were pouring into Iraq and Afghanistan: “Every government will be as guilty as the others,” Ryan says. “I only hope that the election promises [regarding the Armed Forces] get backed up.”

It’s 16 years since Ryan left the SAS, where he rose to fame as one eighth of the 1991 Bravo Two Zero mission that went so disastrously awry in Iraq. Ryan was the only escapee. He endured eight days with no food and little water on a 200-mile trek to safety, the longest escape and evasion in SAS history.

Like all Ryan’s novels, Strike Back weaves elements of his experiences and military dilemmas with page-turning fictional derring-do. So its hero is a crack special-forces soldier called John Porter (Spooks star Richard Armitage), but one who struggles to reconcile his compassionate instincts with the brutal reality of the job. On a hostage rescue in Iraq, Porter finds himself unable to shoot a suicide bomber, only to see his buddies gunned down by the same boy (or so we are led to believe). The rest of the series deals with his quest for atonement as the body count rises during further assignments.

Probe deeper and there are parallels between Porter’s post-mission meltdown and what Ryan went through in the wake of B2Z. Though Ryan remained in the regiment after Iraq, he succumbed to post-traumatic stress. Like Porter, that manifested itself in sudden bouts of rage. “I would get terribly angry,” he says. “To the point where somebody would only have to look at me the wrong way and I’d throw a wobbler.”

In darker moments, he admits that he even contemplated suicide, though how close he came he prefers to keep to himself. “I don’t know what close is,” he says. “To me, close is dangling from the rope or taking the pills.” He pauses. “I considered it.”

He has little truck with psychiatry. Time is the better healer, he says. That and the sort of zeal for positive thinking that was inculcated, ironically, by his SAS training. These days Ryan makes documentaries, writes prolifically, and is a tireless literacy campaigner, visiting schools to encourage children to take up books. Just occasionally, though, he is reminded of what he misses about the SAS. Last year he came under fire again while filming a Bravo series about the world’s toughest police forces. He was visiting one of Rio’s drug-torn shanty towns and found that a gangster was shooting at him. “I actually started laughing,” he recalls. “And not through fear. Through sheer enjoyment. I felt like I could breathe again.”

With a wiser head on his shoulders, Ryan can see these adrenaline surges for what they are. Indeed, he says, for all the bravura in Strike Back, there’s a deeper message in it about the reality of modern war – the costs, the delayed fall-out, the real-life operatives behind the fictional ones. (Ricrar comment: take this paragraph for what it is - liberal spin by the writer, which makes me believe The Telegraph leans to the left, as do the majority of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic. You see, most modern journalists have drunk the lib koolaid and consider themselves to be among the world's brilliant elitists, existing on an oracle level beyond we mere mortals.  Always read their reports on terrorism, and the fight to neutralize it's horror on innocent people, with more than a dram of skepticism. There's usually a political agenda behind their words)

These costs, he thinks, are getting higher – he often wonders at the pressures faced by today’s soldiers. Afghanistan, says the man who survived Bravo Two Zero, might be beyond him.
“Recently I met some lads from the Parachute Regiment,” he says. “One guy said his last tour lasted six months and there were only three days that he wasn’t shot at. He saw colleagues vaporised, lose limbs, vehicles blown up in front of him. And I thought, ‘How do you get through that?’ I ask myself, truthfully, could I do it? And I’m not sure I could.”

Chris Ryan’s Strike Back begins next Wednesday, 5 May on Sky1 at 9.00pm

April 27, 2010

Plethora of News Today on Strike Back Promotions

The most precious revelations are Richard's remarks during an interview and two new scrumptious photos as well.  The following RA news can be found at  http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/index.html along with a wide-range of details about his entire professional career -  for which we all send a gigantic and sincere THANK YOU! 

Richard's gracious and deliciously revealing comments from the above website, including the reason he wishes to return to the stage:
 Richard Armitage is interviewed in The Times's 'Body and Soul' section, 27th April. He talks about how he keeps fit and healthy. He says, "If I wasn't doing this job, looks wouldn't matter to me. But acting makes me more conscious of aging. I didn't like the way I looked when I was younger. I wanted to have a nose job. But now I think I have grown into my face."
He continues, "Confidence is manufactured. It comes with experience, I wasn't confident at all when I was younger.The first time I went to drama school and got through a full reading of a Shakespeare play, I gained a lot of confidence. I lost control of myself and became the character. Acting on screen doesn't give you the same chance to do that, as there are so many takes."

April 26, 2010

North and South by TheRamelia in Poland

This is definitely a multi-cultural venture - love the blend.  N&S would've looked like this in early1900s - not quite so smooth:)

Richard Armitage: Weekly Photo Gallery Clean-up (see poll)

A few N&S scene runners-up, Lucas, Guy & other goodies, etc....

                                                              1. Lucas North?

2.  John Thornton?

3. Guy of Gisborne?

4. Strike Back?