Fanstravaganza Wrap-Up

Today marks the end of our fun week of festivities!

Richard dressed up for the occasion:

I hope that you have enjoyed all the blog-hopping and encourage you to keep following
the fanstravaganza blogs as well as the other blogs that are linked on the side-bar under
"Enjoyable Blogs."  Thank you for voting and/or commenting...
your participation has been greatly appreciated.

Now let's get down to business with the poll results...

(By the way, I think I was the biggest slacker of the group with only 2 polls.)

 ~ Best RA Costume ~

First Place:

Gisborne's Leather: 84 (41%)

2nd and 3rd Place:

Thornton's Cravat: 51 (25%)

Lucas's Jeans: 39 (19%)

Others:

Lee's Speedo: 6 (2%)

Alec's Orange Coveralls: 3 (1%)

Philip's Tux: 0 (0%)

Standring's Suit: 1 (0%)

Harry's Sweaters: 14 (6%)

Monet's Pink Vest: 1 (0%)

Paul's Bobby Sock: 1 (0%)

Ricky's Biker Gear: 1 (0%)

Ian's Polo Shorts: 0 (0%)

Porter's Camouflage: 3 (1%)

~ Best thing about seeing RA as Monet ~

First Place:

Feeling Monet's rollercoaster emotions: 37 (27%)

I didn't word that poll answer very well, but it seems that you understood the meaning.

While watching Richard in this role, the viewer can't help but feel his passion, sadness

and excitement right along with him!  It really is a great performance.

Other results:

Richard portraying an artist: 20 (15%)

Beautiful scenery surrounds him: 13 (9%)

Monet as a father: 10 (7%)

Monet's awesome facial hair/costumes: 4 (3%)

The struggling artist's journey to success: 14 (10%)

The romance & smooching: 16 (12%)

Learning about the different artists and their work: 19 (14%)

I want to thank Maria Grazia at Fly High for coming up with the wonderful  idea
of a group blogging event, as well as the other Fanstravaganza bloggers for

their awesome ideas, posts & friendships.  It was fun observing all the creativity,

humor, and insight each blog offered over the past week.  Thanks for the smiles, ladies!

(This reminds me... I have been working on SFR #6 -slowly but surely-

and bZirk, I still owe you a SFR watercolor.  I'll get there on both, I promise!)

For those of you who are interested, here is a summary
of what happened on the Fanstravaganza blogs this week:

Avalon's Blog featured poll questions about Gisborne.

You can see those poll results HERE with some great manips by TygerMag.

She also featured two RA fans: an interview fanfic author Sarah Pawley HERE

and highlighting Spikesbint's work (vidder, graphic artist & fanfic author) HERE.

The Spooks Fan Blog featured poll questions about (bet you can't guess) Lucas North:

"Lucas North's Cheekiest Moment" and "Favorite Lucas North MacGyver Moment."

(Hilarous!  Love the poll questions, Skully!)  Her poll results will be posted tomorrow.

Her fan features included Lucas North icons from various artists HERE

and an interview with graphic designer, TygerMag HERE.

The Squeee featured poll questions about RA's leading ladies. (Poll result post pending.)

My favorite post was THIS ONE with a recap of the "Most Despised Leading Ladies"

which had me laughing out loud.  (Sarah and the duct tape... haha!)

Reviewerama featured poll questions about North & South. Results can be viewed HERE.
My fave was the "Favorite Thorton Heel Spin Moment" since I never noticed just how often
my (I mean, our) JT does that!  Ragtag also interviewed RA vidder Elva75 HERE.  

An RA Viewer Perspective featured 8 polls (what are you trying to do, Mulubinba,

make me look like a lazy bum?) featuring questions about Cbeebies, phone calls, props,

scenery and audio work.  The poll results have been posted HERE.

Me+Richard featured poll questions about The Vicar of Dibley. 
She will be posting her results tomorrow, so be sure to check it out later.

There are also fan highlights of bZirk HERE and Eli of the Armitage Army HERE.

Phew... I hope I covered everything!

Gisborne can stop threatening everyone to vote now.

A Knight in Shining, Silly Armor

I know several options were left out of the "Favorite RA Costume" Fanstravaganza poll,

(the Lucas boiler suit has been mentioned several times... *cough*)

but hopefully you've been able to vote for a favorite.

Richard really is a great actor and it helps that he has had some

fabulous costumes to get him into character...

and then there are some that are rather comical, such as:

Gisborne, the evil tin man! 
(dun dun dunnnnnn!!!)

Did anyone else find this funny?

I stumbled upon this short YouTube vid that made me laugh out loud!

*Remember to pause the blog's background music (bottom of screen) before viewing*

Oh, and just ignore the last few few seconds with that "Long live Robin Hood" crap.

We're all Team Leather around here, right ladies? :)

So the armor costume may have been laughable to me, but later
in the same episode, we get this look... 

Very nice indeed!  I like the wet Gisborne.

Are there other Richard Armitage costumes
that you think are funny?

Reminder: The Fanstravaganza is nearly over!

You have one day left to vote at each participating blog, so get crackin'.

The Squeee!

Avalon's Blog

Reviewerama

Me + Richard

The Spooks Fan Blog

An RA Viewers Perspective

A plug for a fave ~ The Impressionists

In light of the Fanstravaganza frenzy,

I feel an urge to do a bit of shameless plugging for one of my favorite

Richard Armitage roles and highlight RA as Monet.

What was that?

You haven't seen The Impressionists!?

*GASP!*

Didn't you read my review HERE?

Do not let a bit of crazy facial hair scare you off...

this movie is seriously amazing!

Sure, I may be a bit bias, being an art-lover

and Richard Armitage admirer... but it's true, dang it!

We get to see Richard play a character who smiles.

The scenery is spectacular and the soundtrack is GORgeous.

There's some romance...

and heartache.

There are friendships...

and rivalries.

Oooh, and there's plenty of painting!

If I haven't yet convinced you (or you want to revisit a few beautiful scenes)

you HAVE TO watch this video by KatSw3 HERE. (Have to, I say!)

I have linked to this video before, but it's my favorite Impressionists fan video.

It truely captures the lovely feeling of this film.

Your blogwork assignment is to watch this video and report back to me

or one of your RA enthusiast buddies.

Oh, and after looking through a few screencaps,

I think I found the next picture for a photo caption contest:

Hahaha!  So many possibilities! :)

*Thanks to Richard Armitage Net for the screencaps.*

Remember to visit the other Fanstravaganza blogs & participate in their polls:

Reviewerama

 Avalon's Blog

The Spooks Fan Blog

The Squeee

An RA Viewer's Perspective

Me+Richard

Photo Thursday ~ FanstRAvaganza Style

I'm doing Photo Friday a day early since I'll be out of town tomorrow.

Is anyone sick of RA bloggers saying Fanstravaganzaaaaaa yet?
*Several people raise their hands and say, "Tell me when it's over!
I can't stand it any longer!" and then do one of Thornton's huffy exits.*

Teetotally sent in her own Uncle Gizzy poster creation:

I told her this one is rather creepy and she was pleased. :)

Be sure to keep checking back with my fanstRAv. blogging buddies
throughout the week. They've been adding polls and wonderful posts.

By the way, this whole thing has really been a group effort.
I have to give a big shout-out to Maria Grazia at Fly High!
Having an "RA gala" including polls and other bloggers was her idea.
The "Fanstravaganza" title was contributed by Susan at Me+Richard.
Ragtag suggested showcasing fan creations throughout the week.
Every blogger was given a category and it's been so fun to see what they
come up with! I've laughed out loud several times as I've blog-hopped.
So thanks for the laughs and smiles, ladies!

Oh, and PS: BRING ON THE PORTER!!!
Check out the latest Strike Back promo pics & video link HERE.

Is it April yet?

Fanstravaganza Feature ~ RA Fan Highlight

I just love watching Richard Armitage fan videos.
I could waste (and have wasted) so much time sitting in front of my computer screen, staring in awe at RA, enjoying the music, admiring the vidders' editing skills and wondering how in the heck they do that... it's just another addicting aspect of being an RA fan.  

Today I am featuring an RA enthusiast who knows all about

fan videos.  She runs the site RAfanvids.com : Ms. Elvira Sweeney.

*Banner created by Heathra & Angelfish/Spikesbint*
I may love RA vids, but Elvira is downright passionate about them! Every time I discuss fanvids with her, she's like a kid in a candy store... and her excitement is contagious.  I recently asked her to list her favorite fanvids for me.  I was thinking she'd give me her top 5 or something... HA!  Her list went on and on... not only giving me links to all her favorite videos, but detailing what she loves about them and how each vidder's style is different yet so brilliant.  Elvira told me, "Trying to pick just one vidder would be kind of like asking, "Which is the best music, Beethoven or the Beatles?" They are so different, you can't just choose *one* best, can you?"  I ignored my laundry baskets last week and watched most of the videos on Elvira's list... and WOW! I'm so grateful for Elvira's willingness to share her passion with me and the rest of us through her own videos and site.

Here is my formal interview with her:

Nat: Please tell me about yourself. What part of the world are you from? Are you single/married? Do you have any kids/pets?

Elvira: I am boring! But I will tell that I am not married and I live in the USA. I have more than one useless cat which I pamper and indulge.

Nat: When and why did you start your RAfanvids site?

Elvira: I am a geek and like to make sites. Actually, this whole RA thing is my first introduction into fan sites. (I once devoted part of a web site to my favorite scanner, doing tests and analysis of this scanner's performance! I am that much of a geek! LOL.) When I saw N&S and joined C19. A fellow C19er, Remontant, came up with a great domain name for N&S, foolishpassion.com, I quickly registered the domain, just for fun! Then Remontant and I started working on developing it and it was SUCH a great time! Then several other fan sites followed, like richard-armitage.net and foolishpassion.org.

My previous experience with web sites was very fun but rather solitary. I'd write a site and get a few emails a week about it from visitors. With the RA fandom, the reaction to the sites were immediate, the sites were very collaborative efforts (which I loved), and I found the whole experience to be very gratifying.

Nat: How did you learn so much about "vidding?"
Elvira: I'm a geek! I needed to learn for myself, and since I like to write web sites and tutorials, I decided to share what I'd learned in the form of tutorials.

Nat: What is your favorite thing about running your site?
Elvira: Finding new videos! It is so cool! I love fan videos and I love seeing all the creative things that others do with them. Before I learned to make them, I watched them continually and I have a huge collection of them.

Nat: What do you hope to accomplish with your site?
Elvira: I guess just to make fan videos accessible in higher quality and showcase all the great talent we have in the RA fandom. That's one of my big agendas--good quality, HD quality when possible (I'm really pimping HD these days--it's the future!). Before I learned more about fan videos and started making them, it seemed like it was accepted that downloadable copies of fan videos were kind of blurry and murky and low detail. When I found out from a fellow vidder that this didn't have to be so, I decided that this is what I wanted for as many videos as possible!

Nat: To your knowledge, does Richard or "his people" know about your site?

Elvira: I have no idea, but I suspect he does! That makes me feel a little peculiar, to be honest. But as I say on the "about" page of RAfanvids, we don't make the videos for HIM, we make them for each other, because it's a fun creative way to express ourselves. But, if he does see the site, I assume that he knows what's going on, and is okay with it. He has left us with the impression that he is happy that all of us deranged gentlewomen have found a creative outlet and camaraderie in this fandom.

Please check out RAfanvids.com! 
Not only is it filled with awesome vids that you won't find on YouTube, it's also full of helpful tips and info for vidders.  (Unfortunately for my YT subscribers, instead of being educated in the proper ways of video-making, I always get distracted by the site's fanvids! *ahem*)

The RA Fanstravaganza!!!

Attention Richard Armitage admirers...
There's a party going on and you're invited!

My fellow RA blogging buddies and I would
love to have you join in the excitement!

I think this calls for the recycling of the Uncle Gizzy poster...

Each blog hosts a different category & poll waiting for
your vote, so go ahead and blog hop to each site:
~Links are in green~

Traxy at The Squeee (RA's leading ladies)
Susan at Me + Richard (Vicar of Dibley)
Avalon at Avalon's Blog (Gisborne)
Ragtag at Reviewerama (North & South)
Skully at The Spooks Fan Blog (Lucas North)
Mulubinba at An RA Viewer's Perspective (Cbeebies)

(We're all in different time zones so posts will
be scattered throughout the opening/closing days.)

In addition to focusing on RA's work, some of the
above bloggers will be celebrating RA enthusiasts
by interviewing RA fans, featuring fan-made creations or
other such highlights, so be sure to visit these blogs
throughout the week.  It's going to be awesome!

This blog will be featuring two categories:
Best RA Costume and
Best thing about seeing RA as Monet.

Best RA Costume Nominees:
Lee's Speedo ~Cold Feet:

Alec's Orange Coveralls ~The Golden Hour:

Philip's Tux ~Ordeal by Innocence:

Standring's Suit ~Sparkhouse:

Gisborne's Leather ~Robin Hood:

Thornton's Cravat ~North & South:

Lucas's Jeans ~ Spooks:

Harry's Sweaters ~Vicar of Dibley:

Monet's Pink Vest ~The Impressionists:

Paul's Bobby Sock ~Between the Sheets:

Ricky's Biker Gear ~George Gently:

Ian's Polo Shorts ~Ultimate Force:

Porter's Camouflage ~Strike Back:

Best thing about seeing RA as Monet:
Richard portraying an artist:

Beautiful scenery surrounds him.

Monet as a father.

Monet's awesome facial hair and costumes.

Watching the struggling artist's journey to success.

The romance & smooching.

Feeling Monet's emotions- passion, discouragement, grief, happiness.

 

Learning about the different artists and their work.