Monthly Archives: January 2016

This is the last time…I promise!

As we enter the “Bleak Midwinter,” I can’t help but look forward eagerly to 8 months from now when I, and an intrepid group of travelers, about 1/3 of whom are Armitageworld connected, will be trekking around the Peloponnese of Greece.

I’m especially looking forward to seeing some places I’ve never been, but also to revisiting some old favorites like the fortified Byzantine town of Mystras.

Pondering if I'll go all the way to the top

Pondering if I’ll go all the way to the top

I did go all the way up once

Dig that hippie strap!

Dig that hippie strap!

There I am, circa 1995-ish perched gingerly on a wall at the top of the town, pretending not to notice the sheer cliff dropping away right behind my left hand.  Good times (BTW, that tan is 99% the product of excavating in Greece in July – and I did indeed use copious amounts of sunblock – only 1% beach…I detest sand.)

I told you about the details here and here, and I bring it up again to let anyone who might have been on the fence in December, or who is just now hearing about it, that my lovely tour agent in Crete has extended the price to March 1st, so you can still get in on the fun.

The more, the merrier Armitageworld!!

et alia – So you want to write RAcy fan fiction? Potius sero quam numquam: Preach Livy!

It has been nine months since I posted the last completed chapter of my John Porter/Strikeback fan fiction Recovery on AO3, and coming up on TWO YEARS since I originally wrote and posted it on Dreamer Fiction…Livy is so right…

Potius sero quam numquam:  

better late than never!

The story where I left it, could stand as complete, but I had always intended to return to it to add a final epilogue to tie up a few loose ends.  Lately, I’ve wondered if I would be able to return to it after leaving the characters languishing so long.  It’s not as if I haven’t thought about how I wanted to close the story, and what I wanted to say, it’s just that available time and proper inspiRAtion haven’t seemed to coincide in the past 18 months.

porter smiling

What are you smiling about?

I’m happy to report that inspiRAtion and available time seemed to jell last week and I sat down and mapped out the first section of the epilogue.  Seems my worries about finding the characters again were unfounded.  When I started writing, it was something like reconnecting with an old friend – once the initial ice was broken, the “conversation” began to flow easily.  I’m hoping to have that epilogue posted by the end of January!

I haven’t decided if it should be mostly sweet, or more than a little spicy – any votes?

OT: I need a second (or third or more…) opinion

From the decorum and manners corner, I had an “encounter” that is still bugging me about a month after the fact:

I was a member of several choirs during my church’s annual advent concert.  This meant a bit of shuffling about as one choir performed and left the “stage” and the next assembled.  At one point, having just completed the first selection with the Chime Choir,  I was leaving the chancel to sit down while the Handbell Choir performed.  In the process, I breezed past the Christmas tree and whisked one of the ornaments off of it.  I sheepishly retrieved it as it bounced down the chancel steps.  I was no doubt somewhat flushed when I returned to my seat in the 2nd pew.  Here’s where the “encounter” occurred.  When I sat down, a male member of the Vocal Choir, leaned over and remarked,

“You’re pretty red in the face…bit early for menopause isn’t it?”

say what

I was taken aback but I mumbled some noncommittal response and then filed it to ponder later.  For context, this man – let’s call him Bob – is about 15-20 years my senior, and only the most casual of acquaintances.  I’m not overly sensitive about my 40 something age bracket,  but my immediate reaction was that this comment was completely inappropriate – Showbiz Kid (who directed the vocal choir) was aghast when I told him and then we laughingly compared some of the things Bob had recently said to and about him during the choir rehearsals.  We concurred that Bob is substantially deficient in the inapropro filter department.

I have no plans to make a big deal out of it, but I was wondering if this seems like out of line behavior to anyone else.  (My mother, for instance, just shrugged it off to “that’s Bob”)  It leaves me wondering why some people think they should say whatever pops into their head at any given moment, and why I feel that I should just give them a pass on it when they do.  Still pondering…

The Art of Seduction…

I hope 2016 is progressing decently for everyone in Armitageworld…  Personally,  I have decided that in 2016, we will be postponing Christmas until after Christmas.  Honestly – the holiday season was just this side of grueling.  On the plus side though – my iPad has been emancipated from MiniMe’s clutches since Santa delivered her new Chromebook.   Hurray – I can watch Netflix in peace again!

With all of my current TV streams on winter hiatus, I returned to an old haunt – Robin Hood, and was struck again by how effectively Richard Armitage (as Guy of Gisborne) can deploy full scale seduction.  I just finished Season 1, and am again left wondering how Marian resisted a couple of those seductive salvos.  For me, the most effective persuasive instrument that Sir Guy utilizes is his voice.

Don’t get me wrong…the physical package is plenty potent, overwhelmingly so in some instances.  In combination with an almost groaned syllable or a throaty whisper?

 *Boom*  

Robin Hood S1 E11 Source

Robin Hood S1 E11
Source

Here, having declared himself to her, Sir Guy presses his suit…his voice becoming deeper, but softer

“I want to know you.”

Before groaning,

“Marian!”

and then a barely audible,

“be with me!”

*Ahem*

For all that Sir Guy, especially under the influence of the Sheriff, is often brutal, and perhaps even dishonorable, Richard Armitage brings a seductive force to him that is impossible to overlook.  Even the unyielding Marian seems to be wavering in the last few episodes of Season 1.

Robin Hood S1 E13 Source

Robin Hood S1 E13
Source

A breathy

“Stay!” 

after another declaration of passion and a brief kiss hit me straight in the feels

maybe it affected Marian similarly and she fled for self preservation…

In his pursuit of Lady Marian, Richard Armitage’s Sir Guy seems to be compellingly channeling more than a bit of Πειθώ.  Peitho, the personification of persuasion and seduction, is a rather shadowy figure in the Greek Pantheon.  Although she also appears as a rhetorical concept, in myth, Peitho is most commonly understood as one of the daughters and frequent companions of the goddess Aphrodite.

In this marble frieze, Peitho, seated a top a column, directs the discourse between Aphrodite and Helen, seated beneath her, and Eros and Paris.  The seduction of Helen, she who launched a thousand ships, by the Trojan prince Paris is one of the “great” love stories in classical myth.  (if one discounts that it was all set in motion by a sneaky goddess to win a bet with two other goddesses and resulted in a brutal war that lasted 10 years) 

Seduction/persuasion are rather interesting concepts in ancient Greek.  That is, there is a VERY fine line between seduction and rape in most literary accounts.  In fact, in many cases, the words are used interchangably in a context where women had almost no power to object in any meaningful way.  Equally interesting is how Peitho, seduction personified, is depicted in myth.

#seductionfail Source

#seductionfail
Source

When the allure of seduction fails and gives way to force, as in the above scene, Peitho is typically depicted as fleeing the scene…that is, at least to some degree, the Greeks recognized the difference between enticement and overt force.  So too did Sir Guy…for the most part.  In both of the scenes above, Marian rebuffs Guy’s tempting advances, and in each instance, Guy resists the urge to force her.  He is definitely trying to win her over, he is frequently coercive, but he stops short of force.  It seems that Peitho is still hanging around.  For now…