Strike Back is man TV, women can watch too

As if you don´t know, RA is starring in Strike Back. It will be broadcasted on Sky1, 5th May, 9pm. Did I read the book? Yes. Have I seen pictures since December last year? Yes. Articles? Promo clips? Premiere? Sky Strike Back website? All yes. Up to date. Very well provided. Warmed up and beware of boiling point. Well, I keep it cool. First see and then believe, is the Dutch nature. What I´ve seen so far, is very promising!

The book´s story is a pageturner, when reading RA as John Porter in mind. A lot of emotions to capture in these situations: doing your military job, making a split second decision in action, losing job, hitting rock bottom, meeting lost daughter, forcing all or nothing attempt to get out of the gutter, grasping a chance back in the game, getting some action. That´s just the book. The tv-series promises to be filled with adventures as well.

As this is promoted as Man TV, I will give you some manly quotes of the two leading men going into battle mode.

Male talk: Richard Armitage

There's a big cliff jump in episode three which I really wanted to do, but wasn't allowed because it was too dangerous - it was about 30 metres down. I would have been scared to do it, but if I'd stood on the edge of the cliff and they'd said, "3, 2, 1 action," I would have jumped. I wouldn't have been able to do it without a camera there though.

Make love not war and all that, but seriously, give me my gun! The chance to film action stuff was one of the principle reasons I wanted to be in this. English actors seldom get a chance, unless we're playing Americans, to wield any kind of weapon. I'm fortunate because I get to do the intelligence scenes which are very dynamic and exciting, and then I get to throw my weight around in the field, which is great. It's been such a laugh.

Male talk: Andrew Lincoln

This is the first time I've really got to grips with a gun. I did Gangster No. 1 where I had a gun, but I mainly used knives in that. They call me ‘Collinson Bang Bang' because I've loved it so much.

It's Jim'll Fix It, this job. It isn't very often you get to run around and shoot things. It's boys' own adventure and I've thoroughly embraced it. I've been reading the new scripts hoping they take me back into the field and out of the control room.

We did a couple of weeks of military and gun training and strategic moving. In the opening scenes of the first episode we have to look like we're Special Forces and that's completely different to regular soldiers, so we were trained by an incredible guy who served for 20 years in the SAS. You have to throw yourself into it, but once you have a gun in your hand it's incredible how the adrenaline kicks in. It automatically charges a scene and gives you this sense of reality.

Sources, screencaps:

http://sky1.sky.com/strike-back

http://www.skypressoffice.co.uk/SkyOne/news/showarticle.asp?id=2942&month=3&year=201 (spoilers of episodes)

Richard Armitage Net

Ros Myers vs. Gisborne in one-on-one fight

You can´t be serious! A man like me! Fighting some bird?

After a hilarious suggestion of mine on the Spooks Fan Blog that Ros and Guy in a fight would be quite a sight, Skully made a fantastic collage about this battle and completed it with a stunning poll.

Who would win? I know for sure that the fight would not be over in three seconds. I don´t want that. Keep it going! Guy would fight for his life. Ros, OMG in S7.1 she sits on the throat of a man and S7.2 she grabs a man by the nuts. But if we leave the sword and the gun aside, in a spectacular one-on-one fight wherin Ros would shout and Guy would grunt, ultimately Guy would lose, but first he stabs Ros with a hidden knife. I hate to picture the outcome, so I say it´s a close call.

UPDATE:
Join The Spooks Blog´s request of april 19, 2010 to sign the Public Petition to Children in Need ! 

Source: http://spooksfanblog.com/
Screencaps used: Richard Armitage Net

Aren´t you...?

The films ´Strangers on a Train´ (1951) and ´The Odd Life of William Pearl´ (1955) got my attention for several reasons. Mostly, because they reflect fame and image in completely different ways. These two black and white films happened to cross my path in the last two weeks.



´Strangers on a Train´ (1951) was made by Alfred Hitchcock. I watched the slightly longer, British version, because that version had a better balance of the story lines.
The story starts with a stranger who approaches an upcoming famous tennisplayer in the train. The stranger seems to know a lot about famous and important people, because he reads the peoplepages. They get into conversation and the stranger moans about his father. The tennisplayer loathes his unfaithful wife. The stranger steers the chat to his proposal: what if you would murder my father and I would do you a favor in return? At this point it all goes wrong. The tennisplayer is not alert enough and considers this dangerous request to be a joke. The psychopathic stranger takes these fantasies for real and carries out his part of the deal. The tennisplayer does all he can to avoid his destiny and bad press. He feels he is guiltless, yet is terribly afraid that he is in severe trouble. A cigarette lighter will save the tennisplayer from his heading downfall.
The film is considered a classic and is an example of the classic linear scenario. The phenonomenon of the doppelgänger is Hitchcocks main theme and in this film it is systematically brought to the maximum. You see doubles everywhere. Also the cross-theme crosses the screen in different ways.




´The odd Life of William Pearl´ (1955), my own translation of ´Het wonderlijke leven van Willem Parel´ in Dutch, is a film about the Dutch comedian Wim Sonneveld. He is considered to be one of the late The Three Grand (the other two were Toon Hermans and Wim Kan).
In those days, radio was the most popular medium in the Netherlands. Sonneveld was asked to end a popular weekly show with a funny character. It became Willem Parel, the organ grinder, one of his most popular characters. After two years he has had enough and wanted to move on, because he felt the character was becoming more popular than himself. To ditch his most popular character, he used this film for the audience to part with Willem Parel and to get to know him as a cultural comedian.
The story starts with the announcement that Parel would disappear. So Sonneveld gets a visit from a cross Parel who steps down his dressing room poster after Sonneveld´s performance in the Nieuwe Pien de la Mar Theatre. The rest of the film contains the actions of the organ grinder and his association. Sonneveld walked round as the spruce looking, tormented comedian and Parel did most of the talking wherever he went. Parel starts to lead actual organ grinders from all over the country into lobbying for equal rights. They pay a visit to the small-minded board of a broadcasting organization, a striking skit of the board of the VARA broadcasting organization. Then they protest outside the mayor´s house. At a swank party Parel made a stir with his popular cheerfulness. The members of the board and the swank lady who organized the party know Sonneveld. So when Parel leaves amongst other things a substantial pub bill to be payed, the police naturally, go after Wim Sonneveld.
The film was well received in the newspapers. Only the swank set reacted scornfully. The film did not become a great success. However it led Sonneveld into contact with an American agent so he could play in several American films, like ´Silk Stockings´ with Fred Astaire.

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/
http://hitchcock.tv/Hitchcock.html
http://vriesdemark.schrijft.nl/biography.htm
http://vriesdemark.schrijft.nl/parel.htm (in Dutch)

Location, location, location

In Ros´ house

In the park

In Sarah´s flat

In front of the internet café

Up on the roof

These locations I will show in upcoming posts.

Screencaps used: Richard Armitage Net

Film Jane Austen Book Club

Yesterday evening I watched the Jane Austen Book Club film on television. I should have recorded it, because of the many commercials. The book was a bore, because I haven´t read the Jane Austen books. That wasn´t helping me. The film turned out to be more lively.

Go see it if you like:

• Several people who know each other start a bookclub about books they know.
• The lives of these people are intertwined with events and characters from these books they quote. What is said is important, and what is restrained is also important.
• Their lifes enriches because of the bookclub.
• You don´t have to know the books to understand the film.
• A friendly romcom to go see with your family.

Don´t bother if you feel:

• The story arc was a bit too flat. The book and the film are divided into chapters of the six books/months. The months seem alike, but that´s not so. To me it had to do with..
• Some scenes/shots felt slightly too long and there was not enough impact in the emotional scenes.
• Well you do have to know the books by heart to really appreciate the film.

Report Spooks codename Beemie

Warning: this post contains hot information, not to be shown at work, or to children´s eyes.

Oh my gosh, I intercepted a secret, handwritten report about the Grid. Well no, not really, I found it outside in a trash can. I could not read it, so I had it translated into English. Then, I´ve sent a copy to the Grid. I received a short reply signed by a H. Pearce stating it was false. So I boldly publish the report here.

Report on British soil codename Beemie
A certain Spook stated he ´bought a Beemie´. We think that was code talk. After some interrogation it turned out it was Lucas North (further to be referred as ´LN´) disguised as actor Richard Armitage. He was misquoted by agent F. as Bee, because he persisted to have said ´Beemer´ all along.
Of course our resources could not return to their base with this sparse information. So a thorough investigation was ignited and included severe scrape ups of all public displays of quoted Spook in full frontal outings. His distractions were executed under false names, after we got word he was tortured and imprisoned in a Russian jail for eight years. We believe this was a coverup.
We had to double check our resources as well, since two of our agents were not capable of professional behaviour after some tousle on his account. Our resources described the unexpected tousle-incident as ´incidental body contact´ and ´mental reading of agents´ minds´. We had to sent them to a secluded location codename Convent deep in the Tazbekstan Republic.
After this distortion we could proceed with our research. Beyond believable were LN´s acclaimed outings that had to do with oldfashioned ways of transportation. The Grid can´t fool us that badly! We had to narrow down our search of stated Spook to the outings in which he had a brush with the metal, so to speak. Which led us to our own bra(inwa)ve question. Was this Spook impressed by a model with steel curves and gentle handling, probably mentioned by the codename B. M. Who?

List of evidence

1. LN under the false name of Dr. Tom Steele codenames Doctors, Loopy Old Woman, date 2000 in a Mazda MX 5 pretends it to be the B. M. Wie Z1.

B.M.Wie Z1, fabricated in 1990

It´s the Mazda MX5, but LN pretends it to be the B.M.Wie Z1 

Or not

2. False name Dr. Alec Track codename Golden Hour date 2005 coverup police car. Unfortunately no fingerprints were found on this car by LN. We did found traces of wax.

B.M.Wie 5 series, model E34, fabricated between 1988 and 1996

3. In 2009 another Spook by the name Ros was seen nearby a 3 series Coupé, model E46. Again no dna-traces of LN on the steering wheel were found. It is believed this model is no secret project.  

B.M.Wie 3 series Coupé, model E46

 4. For counter check purposes we add the following proof.

Quotes about Jeremy Clarkson being positive about B. M. Wie. Who he? Double agent??
Quotes about B. M. Wie drivers statistics

See separate subreports on points 1 to 4.

LN previously quoted, disguised as actor Richard Armitage, ´to drive his father´s cars´, codenames Citro En, Scrap Iron in which we could not spot him, therefore it must be true.We had to go at great lenghts to obtain evidence, even through close surveillance in the late hours.

We cannot conclude otherwise with scraped evidence.

Follow up

After we wrapped up our equipment we came to know that LN is not so lucky in his next outing. Proof obtained through illegal actions.

False name John Porter, codename Strike Back, date 2010

Conclusion

Our conclusion is: he´s worth monitoring, unfortunately he shows no imminent threat to our secret organisation.

We do book him on our list of future torture activities codename Seductive Whisper for messing with the dna-related productive systems.

Screencaps used: Armitage Online, The Framework Blog, top classified

Looking for clues in Spooks S8

I don´t always get the fast delivery political talk in Spooks. I have to rewatch immediately after the broadcast and then the following morning I finally..Can.. Relax.. And Adore.. The Beautiful Blue Eyes in.. Every Close Up of.. Lucas North.

So while accepting my flaws in the minute of broadcasting I´m looking for clues in the background. Don´t you?
As I am not visiting the forums, I don´t know if anyone brought these following examples forward. What sticks in my mind, read: what bugs me, are these.

1 . Coffee anyone?

Fact: Lucas is a coffee slurper. He even drinks lukewarm coffee.
I like coffee very much myself, but since a year I switched to instant coffee.
Okay, back to the coffee talk.
At home in his basement in episode 4 he has a particular coffeepot in his kitchen. At home at Sarah´s flat in episode 6 he feels the coffeepot if it´s warm.
Hold on, it´s the same coffeepot! Or whatever this thing´s called.
Did Lucas and Sarah go shopping together?

Shouts: ´Look what you´ve done, the coffee´s gone cold!´ (S8 ep. 4)

Thinks: ´Shut up, woman! Ah, there´s coffee!´ (S8 ep6)

2. Collecting paintings

Okay, Sarah is in some hobby club and the bank CEO might know her from this clay company club business by sharing the same art rental center. Did Lucas notice?

Nope, Lucas suffered from poor eyesight that day! (CEO´s office. S8 ep. 6)

The Lady Siren is too distracting for comfort! (Sarah´s flat. S8 ep. 6)

Screencaps used: Armitage Central, Armitage Net

My blog starts here and now!

Oh no! Not another blog about me!

No worries, mate! It´s not all about you! If the words ´Don´t get your hopes up too high´ ever apply, then it would be here.

For this blog I intend to write whatever I like to frame and name concerning tv-series, films and books. Screencaps of above abused actor Richard Armitage amongst others will be used to illustrate my mental entertainment. I will use facts and spice it with humour and fiction!!

Would you like to join me in my thoughts? Here we go...

Screencaps used: Armitage Net