Dear Richard Armitage,
Happy Birthday and many happy returns.
I see you are are enjoying having your ego fed on Twitter. What a blast.
The first Tweet was cute. The second…”I have 9000 fans, look how LOVED I am!” (by people who want you to do the ALS challenge just to see you in a wet T-shirt) “Aw…*bats eyelashes* Will you sing to me? I still don’t feel loved enough.”
Not even a “Thank you.”
Seriously, you are getting standing O’s almost every night, rave reviews from professional critics and fans, have gotten adoration from fans for years, you have what appears to be a fulfilling social life …and it’s not enough?
Guess not.
Have fun Dude,
Kip
Kip's Kardo 
Lol, give the boy a break petal, he’s doing what he’s been told he should. I think the list of who he’s followed is interesting (apart from the obvious) the Labour Party, the Milliband bros ! Now there’s a bundle of laughs right there. I was practically christened Labour, and even I wouldn’t ‘follow’ their tweets !
He’s also following fanblogs.
I was going to give him a break for the Twitter thing, but that second post torqued me off. Sounded like a high school cheerleader grenade fishing for attention. This has been building since The Hobbit premeire, when he started mildly self-aggrandizing in his interviews. It’s slowly gotten worse. I guess this is what makes him happy, but you know…better things to waste my time on.
You notice he didn’t even say “Thank you.” He just asked for more attention.
He’s a man, ergo emotionally 12 years old, he’s a social media virgin, and, bless him not the wittiest of men, he’ll make a tweet of himself soon enough. If he has any sense, he’ll retreat to the ‘retweet only’ position after a decent interval.
And he is an actor, which means he requires, nay demands, constant reinforcement of his eggshell-fragile ego. But he’s been reasonable while being in that state, until the last couple years. As I added above, at the moment he is getting a TON of validation and fulfillment right now (or at least validation), and it appears it is not enough.
I was against this from the start, not that anyone listens to me but I did do a post about it ages ago. However I think Kip is right and the man has changed. I could endure a socially awkward but sweet Richard but this guy seems to be at risk of becoming a bit of a prat. What fan blogs is he following? I must know but not enough to join that accursed site.
I have an account which I just use to respond to people on the very rare occasion. When I scanned his “Following”, the one I saw was RAFrenzy.
I recently did a post about how Twitter and all social media was a bad idea for celebrities after Robin Williams’ daughter was sickeningly trolled on Twitter within 24 hours after his death. And RA’s pretty much proving one of the reasons I cited why right of the gate. Whether he meant to sound that way or not, he’s stumbled within two posts. The smart thing would be to just hand this off to his PR person as soon as possible before he really makes a jackass out of himself.
I was happy that he had grown not only as an artist, but as a person, that he had found his confidence, that he seemed more fulfilled and happy, but yes, his ego is starting to run away with him. It is a constant battle for a successful actor who is constantly getting sunshine blown up their skirts, and for a Leo even more so, but he is old enough and should be self-aware enough to know better.
OK, I give up. I’ve thrown off the nice, cosy duvet, shrugged on a probably ill-considered ensemble, left the devil-may-care birds nest of hair, and strode out into the…mid afternoon. The boy will discover his mistakes eventually.
He will, I am sure. Hopefully the crash is not too hard.
Sorry if I was a downer this morning, and I completely understand if you do not agree with me and/or find it more amusing than annoying.
Hope you have a good day. 🙂
The older I get the more funny things have to be, it’s that, or suffocate under the weight the worlds stupidity. Though if we all thought the same way it would be soooo boring.
Not wishing to rain on anyones parade, I think the lady in question was the first to tweet him, she is first on the list.
Are Twitter users able to contact each other directly? I was thinking perhaps RAFrenzy contacted RA and asked him to follow her and he was too polite to refuse. Either that or he actually wanted to follow his own fan site. If it’s the latter, do celebs usually do that? I don’t like social media and refuse to use it or even learn about it. Then I hassle other people when I want to know something. I’m adorable , ain’t I. 😀
Well, with Tweets you are interacting “directly” and can have “conversations.” Though when a celebrity is dealing with thousands of fans, it’s not like it’s one on one that much. (Though I am sure that is what many fans are hoping for. “He might reply directly to ME.”) I’m not going to speculate on what happened. I only know that, at the moment, he is following his own fanblogs. I don’t know if it it common for celebrities or not, but even if it is…I’m trying to find the right word for “amused disgust.”
I use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends I have met in RL or I have known online for literally years, a decade-plus in some cases. It’s good for that because it keeps me in contact and informed as to what is going on in their lives with ease when they otherwise might have drifted away. So I only have 40 odd “friends” because I only “friend” people I actually know. It’s when someone tries to turn it into a popularity contest, racking up as many followers and “likes” as they can, that it becomes ridiculous and meaningless. Some people try to use Twitter and such to advance their careers, but to be honest it doesn’t work. People do not hire based on a Twitter feed, they do not hire based on how many people are following them. (To RA, “It’s the performances stupid!”) Sometimes it can actually backfire. My sister professionally reviews SciFi books for literary journals, so her feed is constantly being flooded with “Read my book!” tweets and links by self/e-published authors trying to get their name out there. She hates it. Other reviewers hate it. They are not going to review those books.
And Augustick darling, you are so adorable that I think I’ll keep you in a cosy cat cave, and feed you crystallised ginger and hot chocolate…
I hate ginger as a sweet. You may put in a a laksa for me though. Hot chocolate must be made with dark chocolate and soy milk so it’s vegan. In fact, why don’t I just get my solicitor to contact your solicitor to discuss terms. Oh, btw, now you’re my fave blog-buddy. KIP never calls me adorable…hmph.
It’s not personal. 😦 I never call anyone who isn’t a fully-furred quadruped “adorable.”
You are smart, I wish as was as funny as you are (I have great respect and a wee bit of envy for witty people) and I like you a great deal. Does that help?
Wow. Thank you. What a really lovely thing to say…..um, I’m just gonna go back to my blog now before I try to hug you and things get awkward. But seriously, thanks.
In that case, I will send my official hugger:
He’s not awkward at all.
But seriously, you are more than welcome. 🙂 It’s the truth after after all.
How can you hate crystallised ginger? ‘Tis the stuff of life!
The only time I had recourse to the law (divorce, a lot less painful than having a tooth removed) my solicitor was called Mr Buggle, still not too sure if I kept a straight face on any of our encounters.
Aww, I feel warm and fuzzy and very uneasy. It’s an odd emotional cocktail but not unpleasant.
The guy who quoted Marion Baker Eddy, “”To live and let live, **without clamour for distinction or recognition;** to wait on divine love; to write truth first on the tablet of one’s own heart – this is the sanity and perfection of living?” He’s now Everyone give me feedback/attention on how I look because I have to figure out a way to look hot for a photoshoot. And for someone who claimed he only started a Twitter feed to bring attention to the charities he supports, there is a hell of a lot more Look at ME! than there is charity, or anything else for that matter. I don’t agree with his decision, but if he wants to use Twitter to actually do something useful? Awesome. He wants to be funny? Great. But he’s not talking about his charities and he isn’t just being funny. He’s begging for more feedback/attention from the general public (rather than, y’know, real friends) than he was already getting, which was a LOT. He has the world right now which he earned through his talent, skill, hardwork and perseverance. He has nothing to be ashamed of in his the success and acclaim he has earned. Yet it is not enough. What he is actually trying to satisfy with this?
Addendum 8/25/14 3:37 pm EST – RA posted links to a variety of charities on his Twitter feed. I apologize.