Extended Backgrounds

Yesterday I spent the day outside power washing the driveway. So today me and my tomato hued skin are taking a break and hiding from the sun, which gives me a chance to play around a bit. A couple of the new-to-us Ascroft pics that have come out in the last several days are just lovely and possibly some of my all-time favorites.

Because I like them so much I want to be able to use them as wallpapers on my laptop. But I’m weird I guess, and pretty much refuse to center the image with just a random solid color behind it, or crop the image so that it fills the screen but cuts off a lot of the original picture. Because of that, I’ve been playing around with trying to figure out how to extend the backgrounds. I thought I would share these in case anyone else would like to use them.

I had trouble with the first one, so the background is stretched out rather funny, but in the end I like how it turned out:

The next one seriously might be my new absolute favorite RA photo ever. Jeans, t-shirt, Converse sneakers and a big, almost goofy smile. Yup, it’s a keeper (and my current wallpaper):

Gotta say thanks to RANet for finding and sharing the HQ version of all of these pics. They make playing with the photos in Photoshop so much more enjoyable.

Duh!

I’m sure everyone has seen the Popcorn Taxi interview with Richard Armitage by now. If you haven’t yet, you can see it here.

There was a lot about this interview that I really enjoyed. RA and the interviewer seemed to have a good rapport, he was given time to flesh out his answers and of course there was all of that speaking with his hands (which I love). But there was one moment that really stood out to me. We already knew about the question where Richard was asked who would win in a cage fight–Thorin or Dwalin. But his reaction in the video was just priceless. It was like he was saying, “Duh! Isn’t the answer obvious?”

His reaction here reminds me so much of how my friends and I are together that it just adds another thing to the list of reasons I like  the guy. I went ahead and made a gif of his reaction, because I was watching these few seconds on repeat anyway.

Oh, and this post definitely gets the beardy goodness tag, because look at that gorgeous facial hair!

Ebb and Flow

Ebb and flow seems to be a good description of my life as a fangirl. There are times when I’m exuberant. Times I not only want, but seem to need the shared experience with other fans–the reassurance that although the journey is different for each of us, we’re all in the same boat. Not to mention the joint enthusiasm when new photos, interviews and such are released.  Then there are times that I’m more withdrawn. I still look with pleasure and watch with rapture but the desire to share the experience is low or even non-existent. I simply have nothing to say or contribute to the conversation and all of my enjoyment is this internalized thing and there just aren’t any words.

In case you can’t tell by the lack of posts here of late, I’m feeling rather withdrawn. But I did make a new wallpaper today with the most recent Robert Ascroft photo and I thought I would share:

Hopefully I’ll be back to my more lively, engaged self soon. But it the meantime, I hope y’all enjoy the wallpaper.

Paging Dr. Track!!!

Because Judiang is in need of a house call. That is the only explanation for what I witnessed tonight on Skype. Prepare yourself for the clear evidence that Judiang is in need of some special attention from the good doctor:

 

Do not try to adjust your screen.

You are not seeing things!

 

Judiang likes the baby beard!!!! But only on Richard. Although can you blame her? Look at this face:

Okay, so maybe she’s not sick. Her taste is just improving! Love ya, Judiang.

@merilyn066 and @lady0akenshield on Aussie TV!

We’ve all been squeeing over the pics on twitter of @merilyn066 and @lady0akenshield getting to meet Richard. Then the video of RA on Mornings (Is that the name of the show?) became available and I found myself squeeing all over again when I saw that they were actually in the segment!

Y’all should know by now that I like to make gifs out of the videos, so I made one of from the video that has both the ladies and RA:

 

One of the caps was really cool I thought, with the silhouette of the ladies and Richard in the same frame:

We’re all just so excited for you both! May the rest of the day be just as amazing for you and the rest of the Aussie fans attending the Q&A tonight.

What happened to, “I don’t really drink beer?”

Can Richard Armitage not keep his story straight? Did his tastes change this much between the November/December press tour and the end of April? Is he taking one for the team in trying to get the beard to grow back faster?

It really does crack me up when he contradicts himself in interviews that aren’t all that far apart. Kind of like how he was 6’2, 6’2 and 1/2 and so on during The Hobbit press tour. And now he’s done it again. At around 41 seconds into the below interview he says: “…pints of wine though, I don’t really drink beer.”

And now just a few months later he’s touting beer as the way to quickly grow his beard back.

Thanks to RANet for the scan. Highlighting added by me.

So does beer really help with facial hair growth? I did a quick, far from exhaustive search of Google and the only information I found seems to indicate the opposite. Apparently alcohol reduces testosterone levels and therefore slows beard growth! Maybe it’s an urban legend?

Oh well, as long as he keeps looking like this, he can say whatever he wants!

I’m a bad, bad girl…

but really, putting a watermark over Richard Armitage’s mouth! Who does that?

So yeah, I’m a bad, bad girl and I did my best to liberate that gorgeous mouth from obtrusive text.

Ah…not perfect, but much better.

Graham McTavish Rocks!!!!

Seriously, I don’t think he has any idea how much a few of us fangirls are squeeing right now!

My contribution to the army of plaid……. http://t.co/OcKdqT9xE6—
Graham McTavish (@grahammctavish) April 29, 2013

Six to go!

Dwarves sure do love their plaid, especially in red.

Zan, I blame you for my interest in this! We’ve been searching for pictures of the actors who play dwarves in The Hobbit wearing red plaid. It started with Dean, Aidan and Adam. Then we saw the pic of Richard. William was wearing his plaid when the cast exited the Hobbit plane in NZ. And I have no idea where James was, but he’s also wearing a red plaid shirt in one of the vlogs. So to date we’ve spotted 6 of the 13. Perhaps it is the dwarf uniform.

And now we’ve taken to Twitter to ask Jed Brophy, Graham McTavish and Stephen Hunter about their red plaid wearing habits. So far we’ve heard back from two of them!

@msgigglepants @JasRangoon @BrophyJed @grahammctavish I have green? I'll buy a red one when I get back to NZ…—
Stephen Hunter (@StephenJHunter1) April 27, 2013

Isn’t he a sweetie!!!

“@RA_z13: @grahammctavish Hi! Have you ever worn a red plaid shirt? Working on a little project and was wondering. ”Yes, I own one!—
Graham McTavish (@grahammctavish) April 28, 2013

Maybe we’ll get the chance to expand the graphic some more. *Fingers crossed*

Am I Seeing Things?

Back in the late 90s, one of my go to TV shows was Dawson’s Creek. Looking back I have absolutely no idea why I was so invested in this particular show. Perhaps I’ll just chalk it up to being a teenage girl at the time. I don’t often think of Dawson’s Creek, and I definitely don’t watch reruns–the one time I did, I was rather appalled at my teenage self’s taste in programming. But yesterday afternoon I was reminded of the show thanks to this tweet:

big clear up before move back. found on an old Polaroid of Richard Armitage looking very youthful.#hobbit #lotr http://t.co/HcGQMkGtEm—
Andrew Whiteoak (@Wigletweb) April 18, 2013

In the final season of Dawson’s Creek there was a new love interest for Joey Potter. His name was Eddie Doling and he was played by Oliver Hudson. In general I don’t think Richard Armitage and Oliver Hudson look alike. But every once in a while older pictures of RA surface and I am shocked by how similar they appear to me.

Of course y’all are free to disagree with me, but here they are side by side:

So what do you think? Am I seeing things or is there a resemblance?