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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Beardy Actors Living Naturally

"Look closely. I'm doing a Gerard Butler at the Hobbit press conference!"

Grow a beard and you´re someone else. Would I be myself on this blog?
I could do this post in two ways: as myself or as someone else.
That someone else could imply a different version of me.
Now why do I feel so insecure to study and adapt other bloggers´ writing styles?


Proof: Me doing a RA Frenzy

There is no denying: The Beard is gone already. RA news has been updated already. There was an impression already. The first time I saw above photo I instantly thought: Gerard Butler. My perception was that he entered the press conference in that mode and later shifted back into himself. Oh, that sounds like tough words, but you know I´m not like that. So I had beards in mind and made the beardy website as joke to play with, which was consoling to Servetus who is going through rough job rotating times, see beardy website here RA The Fellowship Of The Beard. Secondly, I wanted to see some Gerard Butler films and last week there were a couple of those on my tv: 300 and The Ugly Truth which is about how natural one has to be when to attract a partner. Then, I saw a handsome actor in the paper and checked him out to find myself curiously pondering his social mask. Then I saw another ´beardman´ Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film Die Another Day, in a torture scene, which was as I recall the talk of the town and that scene has elements which I can compare with the Lucas North´ torture scenes in Spooks. Don´t want to compare, but it´s a bad streak of me. Read on, there´s more....
But before I forget, I would like to tell you that men with beards appear to be more natural and are yet very amused by that primal feeling beards give. When my SO sports a beard on occasions, he grunts, chops wood and moves rocks in our garden. Before, the times I had to talk to him to hold onto his stubble for longer than two days, are numerous. Once he went to a week of survivalling, talking about primal manhood around the campfire. By the time he came back, I was so afraid of his warrior look that I made him sleep in the shed. Since then he sports the beard more often. So although I´m happily married, bless him, I still compare him to, well you know who I mean. Like I said a bad streak, so really, read on!

Proof: Me doing a Funny Violet

There is no competion, something RA followers like to think. Wakey, wakey, the competion is massive, and very impressive! *nods seriously with crinkled forehead*
Besides, are you ready for a bit of an Stanislavsky method acting class today also? I take it you'd done your physical exercises. Take your chair and sit in a circle. Listen receptively.

Our topic today will be:
Being authentic or trying to be that by 'living naturally' and study the phrase psycho-physicality.

Proof: Me doing a Looking Smart Violet

Now I do a Looking Smart Violet and read from The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin, which I can´t recite yet.
Stanislavsky´s method acting training is all about by training body and psycho together to achieve a sense of inner-outer co-ordination. This means that what is experienced internally is immediately translated into an outer expression, and (conversely) what the body manifests physically has a direct and acknowledged affect on the psychological landscape. By true listening in a state of receptivity on two levels, one to own inner activity and one to performance partners, one can have the courage to respond playfully to the everchanging nuances of each moment. The actor should be aware that the actor´s body is the interface between the inner landscape and the world-at-large. The more expressive your body can be, the more variations of character you can play.
Acting comes only across as ´living naturally´ when one has a finely honed technique and can repeat the acting realisticly, especially when it comes to acting within artificial conditions of the stage or the technical demands of the film set. And that´s the paradox of realistic acting - truthful, natural, spontanious -as everybody does with playing different roles in daily life where there´s a difference with stage or film between believing in what we´re seeing with believing in it´s possibility. (*)

We will demonstrate that with beardy actors!


First example: Bradley Cooper

My eye felt on a promotional picture of Bradley Cooper, actor, labelled as ´American hunk´ in a recent news article about the film ´Limitless´. I have never seen his work, so I looked for a number of YT clips to find out what he's like. I found this Details interview which was amusing in itself.
Remarkable: the man is extremely totally comfortable with these poses in the photoshoot and is very open, even frank, in this interview, not that I flap my ears. And yes, the female interviewer seems to be hostile.

Question: Is BC doing an All American?
Task: Study more of his clips.

I've seen several of these Inside the Actor´s Studio interviews with James Lipton, founder of this acting school. Very insightful. Plus these interviews have the household, offbeat question: "What's your favorite curse word?" Mine is ´bozo´ in this scene from the film Ruthless People (1986), on which I chewed for quite some years.
Remarkable: James Lipton get the favourite ex-student as guest he's been waiting for. BC is very open.

To study his acting, I include this clip of the Limitless Trailer with a promising storyline in which his lifestyle improves by taking these brain pills.
Remarkable: he's very American

Question: If an European does a 'Bradley Cooper', how much of that will come across authentic?
Task: Study Hugh Jackman.

Example two: Gerard Butler

Preparing to be a King in ´300´ Remarkable: A lot of training between shots and making this film looks like a guy's thing
Interview for The Ugly Truth Remarkable: three women wrote this funny romcom The Ugly Truth with as GB as macho 'sexist'!
Acting in The Ugly Truth. Remarkable: the man/woman jokes work!

Question: Suppose you feel shy and insecure, how do you truthfully exude 'rough around the edges'?
Task: Try to be Scottish.

Example three: Ian McKellen

One cannot get enough acting advice for beardy scenes Sir Ian Mc Kellen talks about acting in LOTR  :)

Question: Who are you when you are performing?
Task: Keep that in mind


Contemplating thoughts:

From King Lear: "Who is it that can tell me about me?"

Monty Python joke: "You´re all individuals."  "No, I´m not!!"


Apologies to RAFrenzy for my bad impersonation.

Apologies to those (actors), who can shoot holes in this blogpost.

(*) see chapter 1, page 17-19,21 of the Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin.
This example is why I like to read about acting.
Screencap: RANet

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My Blog Is One Year Old And That Tells Me...


"..."

Recently other blogwriters have celebrated anniversaries on their blogs. With any luck, statistics were shown. Now I have my opportunity to bore enthuse you with stats in descending order that leaf leave nothing to the imagination. Do I hear a slight snore?

My top 10´s

All time posts
Lucas North, Pretending To Be Dating (many times retweeted by @_LucasNorth_ aka John Bateman (gone freelance with Kudos) to his almost 2,000 twitter followers)
SCOOP, Unseen Promo Pics Of Lucas North (sent pics to RANet and Spooks Fan Blog, but readers were curious: the source is here!)
The Hobbit, Exciting And Dynamic Casting (helpful reference with links to anything Hobbit)
Bedroom Billboard Or Pin Up Calender? (title alone is very sexy)
Guy Of Gisborne Syndrome One Year On (still going strong, readers will find no cure)
Six Pack Spoilers For Spooks 9 (beefy title and the spoiler culture gets pantingly undressed)
Lucas North And His Fans (upcoming in popularity stakes and is said to be my best post)
Dinnerdate With Lucas North (who doesn't want that to happen?)
Willmore The Rover, Name Another Rake? (who has time to to research that, even when stage play is not on the horizon)
My Blog Starts Here And Now! (that must be me, I used that as a start page!)

Audience
Poland   (this surprises me, because I don't know about fandom there, so tell me)
United States
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Australia
Germany
Canada
France
Russia
Spain

Search Keywords
Lucas North (the main man)
Dude in flux (nice variation on my phonetic rhyme in title: 'A Tux In Flux')
Lucas North fanfiction (yessuree)
http://theframeworkblog.blogspot.com/
Annabel Capper (what? I never mentioned her on my blog!)
Lucas North twitter (he does in multiple ways)
Richard Armitage (which one?)
theframeworkblog.blogspot.com
+Allan Lee illustrations (Hobbit craze)
Lucas Spooks pictures (yum)

Referring sites
g*oogle.co.uk (oy!)
armitagefanblog (massive boost of readers since then)
g*oogle.com
meandrichard (a daily blog with huge following, and still, her readers want to read more!)
spooksfanblog (officer Skully was the first to put a link on her site to my blog)
t*witter.com
yimum
rafrenzy
google.com.au (sweet possums)
theframeworkblog

Traffic Sources
armitagefanblog (huge)
t*witter.com
meandrichard
yimum
spooksfanblog
rafrenzy.com/the-addict-list
theframeworkblog
rafrenzy.com
spooksfanblog.com/2010/06/07spooksrewatch.. (mentioned that I have fake fighted and fake kissed a lot of people, male and female, in a theatre workshop! I should share more!)
armitage.phpbb3.com/forum/6638029ynx22930/st.. (reference to my blog i.e. the 'no escape' picture)

Pageviews
All time history: 17.177
October - January:  2.577 on average (I have a humble blog, but still)
Best viewed month: December 2.780
(Since I said in January I will post less, the number of pageviews has dropped. Solution: subcribe!)


Thank you all and keep coming back!

If you have any thoughts on this, please share!

(*) Testing to avoid receiving many s*pam comments to this blog...


Screencap: RACentral of someone in the woods with stubble :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Scandalous, My Blog One Year Old

"You didn´t start a blog about me, because of me?!"

Scandalous, according to Jeremy Irons, is the buzzword for The Borgians, a new tv-series in the style of The Tudors. The Borg were more scandalous, if you ask the Trekkie in me. So, I adopt the word scandalous and mock it in this post in which I mention that my blog is one year old. When exactly? Even more than a year ago. Thanks to a perfectionistic streak back then I had to redo my first three posts and that made the original date go bust.

Scandalous, in my first year of posting I  have never posted private thoughts about that working actor, Mr. Armitage (Oh dear. Going formal, are we?). I always made sure they were put in comments on other blogs. I found several pictures, but ´gave´ them to other blogs to claim victory and remain in the dark.

Scandalous, I might have attracted a hundred times more readers (and likely more slander). So tell me, is it time to leave my virgin days behind? To spread my scandalous love here, in my 'bedroom' of blogposts? ;)

Posted the following as a comment on Spooks Fan Blog on 21. March 2010:
About a year ago I saw the second half of Spooks S7 and found RA´s face ´typically average English´ (whatever that means). Didn´t go for his looks, but was instantly hooked with the story and the locations (running through underground tunnels and the small streets of old London). I remember his long look over the car boot with the tools in it, thinking that was very striking. Then I found Robin Hood on YT and thought ´Who is THAT? Where did they hide him?´ and ´Guy of Gisborne looks like a hunk?!´ I then discovered I had seen him in many appearances, and never recognized him. RA is a cameleon in his roles (actor with thousand faces). As a viewer you don´t see the man first, he hides behind the character and blends in with the rest of the ensemble. He takes acting seriously, yet with an ironic twist. He acts with all those micro expressions, too rarely seen in tv-series. RA has a classic appearance like in classic movies, yet it is ´very now´. That´s all interesting to notice, and the main reason for me to keep following his work. It´s not about the destination, but ít´s about the road.
OK, I undressed myself, I have to live up to it.

Scandalous hoaxy hints:

"She lied. Plain and simple." (Spooks, ep. 8.5)
Response:
"Finding you on YT, just threw me!"

"It´s time you leave it behind. Don´t you think?" (Frozen)
Response:
"Maybe it tells me something!"

"She looks old... and fat!" (Miss Marie Lloyd)
Response:
"Hope I would never have to hear that and say: take it or leave it."

"A year ago, I put this dagger into the side of the Nightwatchman. Show me!" (Robin Hood ep. 2.11)
Response:
"A year ago, I started this blog to show you. You showed me, alright!"


Time to have a piece of cake!


Captivated by RACentral

Saturday, April 9, 2011

A Poisonless Toast To Entertaining

"The pellet with the poizzon izz in the flagon with the dragon,
the fazzle with the pazzle has the brew that izz true..."


As the cameras are rolling for The Hobbit, one evening I was entertained by The Court Jester (1956) with Danny Kaye, who was fantastic in his comical expression and timing. It´s a film I´ve seen many times. One of the greatest scenes is the one of the mishaps of words in a lifesaving riddle.
Word twister scene Can you remember the riddle?
Word twister scene in full The whole scene where his concentration is also challenged by the electrically charged armour, which causes magnetism with his opponent´s armour.
Transcript of The Court Jester, see Contents: ´pellet of poison´
In this film there is -of course- a case of a mistaken identity, just as in Hitchcock´s North by Northwest, read here what´s it all about.

It is a case of blasphemy to put up screencaps of Gisborne here in connection with The Hobbit film or to compare The Court Jester as it's comical and The Hobbit is more fantasy, but it has two reasons. Firstly, through that scene in The Court Jester I was reminded of the drink-scene in the 2006´s tv-series Robin Hood, episode 3.8, in which Gisborne´s sister does 'poison' him with a sedative. Secondly, I propose a toast to The Hobbit and RA´s part. May they be just as entertaining to the young and old as The Court Jester was to me. It´s hard to put that feeling into words. I can try by saying it gives a feeling of an enthousiastic joyride by being entertained by experienced actors and filmcrew, who want to share the goal of telling a (un)believable and entertaining story as part of a common quest, to be still memorable after many years. I have seen the three Lord of the Ring films and I salute anyone who is aware of the unique opportunity they´re in: ´There´s really a sense of (director) Peter (Jackson) wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic´, Andy Serkis who plays Gollum on also becoming a second unit director for The Hobbit.

And it´s gonna be filmed in 3D....


I’ve seen Bilbo — in three dimensions. I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras. Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required. Martin improvised a hobbity gait, padding back and forth, testing his big hairy Hobbit feet, pointy ears and little tum. Beneath the shade of a tent, in a sun hat, Andrew Lesnie was remotely controlling the two lenses within the mighty camera which digitally records in 3D. His screen showed the familiar 2D image but next to it, above the director’s chair, was a large colour screen in full magical three dimensions, much as it will appear in the cinema — courtesy of the spy-glasses that transform the blurred outlines onscreen to the high definition exactitude of the 3D effect. Three Bilbos simultaneously, two performances on screen and the actor beyond: which was the real one? Martin Freeman was transmuting into a character whose reality will soon be as authentic as his own. — Ian McKellen, Wellington, March 2011 posted on his official site....in 48 frames per second, it says so here.

This implies no blurring in motion. Say cheese, fanvidders!
And if you´re a real Hobbit Nerd like me,

...and YAY there is strutting involved!! (as if I didn't know)

"Everyone who saw the first parade of
2 Thorin Oakenshields plus 24 assorted dwarves
was mightily impressed!"
Ian McKellen on his site


So.. Cheers!


"Wazzin my drrink?"
"Nuffin´!"

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