Because tumblr text editor sucks
John May is a council worker, and has a peculiar job: he looks for the relatives and organises the funeral of people who have died alone. After a reorganisation in the council he is fired and he takes an special interest in his last case, that will change his life.
A beautiful story of a Mr. Nobody and human relationships. Everything and everybody counts.
The best moments in reading are when you come accross something, a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things–that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met. Maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out and taken yours
I cannot agree more. And, what about when you see in a film a character saying something you’ve thought a milion times but have never been able to translate in words?
I am having these days a long hand to hand chat with Leo Tolstoy. I am reading “War and Peace” for the third time; I am taking notes about it and I assume that a post will follow in a unprecise future.
… fortunately the sweet tree has nominated me for the Liebster Award. The problem is that, as always happens with internet chains, they have a very short life with me. I’m the best chain breaker in the western hemisphere, most of all due to the fact that I follow very little blogs, and those RA have been already nominated. I am also, as you have noticed, very inconstant regarding online activities. I am unable to find a balance between the obsessive including the inability to switch-off even when I sleep to the “What? Twitter? WordPress?Tumblr? please don’t”.
Tree’s nomination is a very good excuse to try to come back online. Therefore here there are my answers to her questions. Thank you very much again tree for thinking on me.
1. Richard Armitage Beard, Stubble, Freshly Shaven? (Important question from Obscura 😉 )
Beard. Definitely
2. Favorite premiere outfit with description or photo:
I have a problem here, as I am not very fond of fashion. Thanks to his presence in several red carpets throughout the world in the last months I have been able to realise also that I don’t like this season male fashion. Not at all. We have to consider also that, as Mother Nature has been so generous with Mr. Armitage, he is gorgeous even with Proctor’s prision pyjamas.
But as I have been asked a question here it is my answer: the one in Peter Jackson’s walk of fame ceremony. This pic also makes me laugh because of the johnstrandian expression in his face. Priceless.
3. How long have you been a fan of Richard Armitage?
A year. I’m practically a baby.
4. Would you consider yourself a serious, middle of the road or casual fan?
Middle or neither fish nor flesh.
5. Favorite Richard Armitage photo shoot:
(no additional comment needed)
6. Lucas North or John Porter?
John Porter. The reason? This scene
7. Favorite RA fantasy vacation:
I’m not quite sure if I have understood the question. For instance a RA-Thorin drinking Piña Colada under a palm near the beach enjoying a holiday in a luxury resort paid with Erebor’s gold because at the end of BOFA Thorin did not die?
8. A kindness you’ve done/received from a fellow fan: (Great question from Jollytr)
Just one? I have been so lucky this year. I have received many well-wishers kindnesses but I have to mention the first unexpected one. The Crucible poster.
9. Favorite (in character, any character) screen shot:
No comments needed even in this case
10. Role you would love to see Richard play:
I have written it sooooo many times that I guess that I am boring: Ulysses. He has the perfect age and looks to portray Ulysses on his return to Ithaca.
11. Favorite male and female co-star:
I have not understood if we are talking about fantasy casting or real projects but I assume we are talking about reality. As far as male co-star Brendan Coyle’s Nicholas Higgins in North and South.
And female: Hermione Norris as Ross Myers in Spooks. They had chemistry even when they talked by the phone.
Tree deserved a better post for her kindness, but this is the best I can for the time being. Thanks once more!!!!
There are few movies that I’ve seen more than once in the cinema. As far as I remember, Coppola’s Dracula, The Usual Suspects, Gladiator and now the Hobbit – The Battle of the Five Armies.
Needless to say, spoilers to follow.
I had to watch it again, as there are many details to be aware of in this movie. Bear in mind also that my current inability to focus is so huge that I wasn’t aware during the first watch last December 21st that Thorin draws away on purpose Orchrist to be deadly wounded by Azog; the second and definitive stratagem to defeat the orc. The first one was to make the monster loose his balance in the ice platform, but it didn’t work. The second one is to get wounded, and to die, in order to kill Azog, win the battle, and save his people. Thorin is cunning as Ulysses and, as the king of Ithaca, he suffered from madness surrounded by his men. What were the sirens for the mythological hero, was the gold for the king under the mountain.
My favourite scene of all the film is his conversation with Dwalin in the peak of his gold sickness. Fortunately for me someone has broken the law and I have had the chance to see that scene in English; even if as I wrote in the previous post this is the best dubbing of Richard’s voice that I have ever heard, it is not his and his acting in this scene consists in eyes and voice. Awakened from his reveries by Dwalin he faces his friend, still, motionless, but his eyes move from left to right with the same hectic movement of a maddening lion locked in a cage, insisting on his scheme to hide the gold in the deeper vaults of the mountain. Dwalin insists upon the importance of the lives of the people dying that very moment in battle but Thorin remains impassive, replying with the excuse, heard a thousand times pronounced by kings and rulers throughout history, that those lives are a tiny price to pay compared to what really matters. It is only when Dwalin hints that the crown and the gold has changed him that something triggers inside him. That very moment is the beginning of the end of his sickness, when he turns, bends his head as if crushed by the weight of his crown, incapable of pronouncing his old name with a firm voice. That hushed and broken Thorin Oakenshield followed by a desperately roared I am your king summarises Richard Armitage’s acting: to make look simple something that is really difficult. No histrionics needed. As in the last desperate beg to Dwalin go… before I kill you. A dear friend says that this only scene is worth the price of the ticket, and I cannot agree more.
This second view was in my hometown cinema, in 2D and in the smallest of the two theatres, with no more than a hundred seats. I sat in the fourth row (thank you family with two little and noisy human smaugs that made me abandon the seventh) with no heads before me and the whole screen “for myself”. I thought the viewing experience from 3D to 2D would have been disappointing, but it was not. The quality of the film is nevertheless amazing; it is certainly lost the sensation to form part of the set, to be one of the inhabitants of Lake Town or in the middle of the battle with Bilbo and Gandalf.
The dubbing, as I said was good and fortunately not invasive. The panting and original shouting was there and I was able to hear the dwarf war scream in all its glory. I would like to make to mentions for the rest of the cast: Martin Freeman and Ryan Gage. Even if I have not been able to cry even this time (definitely, blame on the dubbing), the last scene between Bilbo and Thorin were convincing on both parts (even if my favourite Bilbo Thorin scene is the “acorn” one), extremely touching and I felt a little pang inside me and my eyes moistened when Bilbo cried. Ryan Gage’s wicked and mean Alfrid is, allow me the expression, like a fresh breeze of human misery in the middle of such a group of courageous heroes.
As I wrote in my previous post about the film, the two and a half hours literally flew away even if I am not a big fan of the fantasy genre. Personally speaking and strictly from the fangirl point of view, I would have prefer less elves and more dwarves in the story.
Hubby pointed me out when we saw together the film, that the dwarves and specially Thorin in full armour have definitely a very Klingon look, and I agree with him.
And, to end with, a question: have you been able to find PJ? I have not.
Wormwood Scrubs 