H is for Hiddleston

This challenge would be incomplete if I did not find a way to talk about Tom Hiddleston. Sigh. Where do I begin? Or rather…instead of going on and on and on about his perfection (which I most definitely can do), perhaps I could talk share two positive ways my actual life has been impacted due to this person and the madness that is the Hiddleston Fandom.

Unexpected Friends: My favoured means of social media is Twitter. If I’m having a particularly bad day, I can simply open my timeline and my mood is instantly lifted. It is there that I officially became part of this fandom, which consists of millions, all ages, all shapes, sizes and colours, spread all over the globe. I must thank you, Tom, for the new friends I have made through you. I have yet to meet any of them in person, and I sincerely hope that I will get the chance to, because they have been a comfort and solace through a particularly difficult period. Together with Tom, they have re-introduced me to Shakespeare, expanded my reading repertoire, encouraged me to try new things and celebrated my successes with me.

Embracing the woman: For as long as I can consciously remember my life, I have been a tomboy. I was a little girl who played with toy guns instead of dolls, played sports, preferred jeans and dirt to dresses and make-up. Even when I hit my teens and twenties, getting me to dress up or even just presentably was a chore. Grooming was not my thing. But then I became part of this crazy world and became kind of infatuated with this man. As I watched his interaction with his female co-stars, or just females in general, I became more and more aware of myself as a woman. I want to be someone’s Peggy Bell, Kate, Virgilia, Eve…

I take a little more pride in my appearance these days and I embrace what makes me woman. 

Who knows? Someday Tom and I may run into each other (the world is such a small place these days)…and I want to make him turn around and look again. 

Dearest Tom

Dearest Tom

I'm sure that at some point in your life, you've had an insane, irrational crush on some celebrity.
Insane and irrational are exactly what my feelings are concerning you.

For starters, we have never met nor do I entertain any ideas or hopes that we ever will.
I admit, I do have fantasies...I've written a book in my head of meetings between the two of us (don't worry, they are mostly inspired by your roles as Henry V and William Buxton...and of course, you, as the gentleman that you are).
But despite my fantasies, I take comfort in the fact that we will never meet...
I fear I'd be so overwhelmed by you that I'd forget that I was Muslim and do something that I'm really not supposed to.
Whenever I see you in a movie, or a picture, when I hear you speak (more especially in a low voice, or whisper), everything between my navel and hipbone clenches, and it feels as though a million butterflies are dancing an Argentine Tango in my belly...my signal, for when I'm attracted to a man physically.
Whenever I hear you laugh, really laugh, in your interviews...is it possible that someone's laugh can affect a person's heart rate??

However, what attracts me most to you is your mind, and heart (from what I can see), your kindness and your ability to laugh at yourself and not take your celebrity status seriously (your velociraptor and Zach Levi impressions from the Nerd HQ conversation never fail to make me laugh). I love the fact that you're so well read (and that you love to read). I admire the work you do with UNICEF. My heart swells when I see or read of your kindness to your fellow actors and especially your fans.

I am soo envious of the woman who manages to capture your heart one day.
I have this feeling...I know...you will cherish her (and I fervently hope that she will cherish you...not Loki or Hal or Magnus or any of your characters...you).

Maybe, at 31, I am too old for fangirling or 'hero-worship' as my sister tells me.
However, a girl is allowed to have dreams...and until my own Henry/William Buxton comes along, you will feature in mine for a long time...

Shakespearean Lovers

About two and a half years ago now, I posted a piece on my favourite literary couples (http://ravingsofanalien.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-favourite-literary-couples.html). I have read a few more books since then and have met with some more interesting couples.

For the last 4 months or so, due to fandom and Twitter (here's looking at you, Tom Hiddleston and @HollowCrownFans) I have been reading more of the Bard and have come across some new couples.
So, thus far, these are my favourites...

1. Benedict and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing - these two make use of my favourite thing as foreplay...humour :))

2. Henry V and Katharine - Act 5 Scene 2. I need not say anything else. This entire scene is one of the most romantic I have ever read. But I leave you with the following quote...
"You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate. And there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French Council. And they should sooner persuade Harry of England, than a general petition of monarchs."

3. Marcius and Virgilia - Coriolanus. Okay, so this is a very bloody piece of drama from Shakespeare. It deals with politics and war and deception...and the stubbornness of the title character's character...

Caius Marcius Coriolanus is an absolute snob. He has been reared with a epic dislike and prejudice against any person who is not of the nobility and without the ability to mask it, or any of his true feelings on any subject. He cannot pretend.  "He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for ’s power to thunder." (3.1.321)

But with his wife, Virgilia...the beautiful names he calls her (My Gracious Silence, Best of my flesh), his gentle manner of speaking and dealing with her...we see a side that only comes out with her, a complete antithesis of the soldier he is in the rest of the play. 

Coriolanus

I started writing this post a few days ago...Sunday, 2 March 01h00, to be exact. Why was I up at this unGodly hour?
Because I was so wired after experiencing one of the best evenings of my life...one I was waiting three months to experience.

After a morning tutoring session with my niece, I showered, put on a pretty dress, my favourite perfume and heels, and did my make-up. And when we got to the cinema, I sat, through forty minutes of repetitive trailers, waiting for it to start.
It didn't disappoint.

I have so much to say but no words can do justice to the brilliant performance I had the privilege to watch.
Let me start by saying a big congratulations to the entire Donmar team. I am so upset that I don't live in London...I would have been your best patron.

I have never been to the theatre to watch a Shakespearean play. In fact, the last time I was at the theatre was probably at primary school, so I was expecting some stage dressing. To have the lights shine on a naked stage took me a bit by surprise but it actually worked well, forcing you to focus entirely on the drama as it unfolds on the stage. You, as an audience member, were not distracted by props or garish costumes  and made the performance on stage so much more powerful.


Before I get to my shallower musings, I need to applaud the actors for an AMAZING job. I went out and bought Coriolanus to read in preparation for the play. I am usually a fast reader but it took me a few weeks to get through it...I read it slowly, so that I could understand it to the best of my ability.
But, Shakespeare wrote plays, and I only fully appreciated Coriolanus after watching it. I certainly did not pick up humour or sarcasm when I read it, and I don't recall laughing for any scene. But I laughed like an idiot in the cinema (the people probably thought I was on crack or something) for the droll wit of Menenius, in particular, and even of Virgilia and Marcius.

All the actors were brilliant, but the performances that stood out for me were those of Mark Gatiss (kept me in stitches in almost every scene he was in), Rochenda Sandall (sensational, playing a million different characters - and for such a small lady, huge stage presence) and, of course, Tom Hiddleston.
  

What can I say?
Firstly (and here I am going to be frivolous, and I apologise in advance if it makes you a little uncomfortable), you are one sexy man. Even when you are scowling. You need to throw away every loose-fitting pair of trousers you own and only wear slim cut pants.
 

 Initially, I was struggling to focus on more than just your posterior and biceps (when did that happen???) and I was really grateful that the lady at the refreshments counter put extra ice in my drink (I needed it).

But your performance took me on a such a ride...and my emotions were scattered all over the place by the end of it.I hated your arrogance and admired your courage through the first Act; I felt awkward and uncomfortable with the intimate looks at Birgitte Sorenson in all of your scenes with her, yet I could not look away; I wanted to protect you from your own family and friends who wanted to change you;

Birgitte and Tom

my heart broke when you parted from your family, broke again when you humbled yourself to Hadley Fraser and shattered when I saw you hang at the end.

I was exhausted...yet strangely energized when I left the theatre.
Coriolanus was well worth the three month wait and R120 I paid for my ticket.

On-screen romance

I am a sucker for on-screen romance.
For me, a good actor will make me believe that the fake chemistry on screen is absolutely real.

The following are some of my absolute favourite on-screen romantic scenes...

1. Stefan and Elena's first kiss on Vampire diaries. I stopped watching this series in the middle of season two because the story lines just stopped making sense and Elena works on my nerves. But Stefan is one of my absolute favourite fictitious characters...and let's not forget that he is smoking hot (how people can like Ian Somerhalder over Paul Wesley is beyond me).
And this scene...wow. Not smutty or disgusting.
Just...absolutely romantic.


2. Jesse and Lestat in Queen of the Damned. Now, yes, this movie will never even be considered for an Oscar. The story line was made a bit weird, and there was A LOT of bad acting. But I liked it. Because, again, I liked the chemistry between Jesse and Lestat...even though that wasn't explored a lot in this movie. My favourite scenes between them are three:

Meeting for the first time in an alley outside the Admiral's Arms

Flying through Los Angeles

When Lestat bites into Jesse at the end, she lets out this sigh...like its pleasurable and not painful.

3. Tom Hiddleston and Melanie Thierry as Henry and Kate in The Hollow Crown's Henry V. This has become one of my favourite plays and Act 5 Scene 2 has become my favourite romantic scene. What starts off as a political alliance morphs into the beginning of a beautiful relationship, and Henry, although he does not know how to 'mince it in love' woos her with his honesty. I absolutely love the fact that he takes his crown off before he kisses her.

Tom, this made me fall in love with you...

My road back to Shakespeare

As a high school student, I didn't really like studying the literature they made us read. I later discovered that it was due to the fact that they chose mostly tragedies - what teenager wants to read about jealousy, death and destruction? I also had a really boring English teacher for most of my high school career.
Thankfully, we were given a new teacher in my Matric year and she made us fall in love with reading.

My love affair with books gradually grew over the last fifteen years. I do not profess to be a connoisseur of books - my tastes could be considered shallow by many. I hate books that are depressing, I don't need to read something that requires in depth analysis. Books are my escape from some of the harsher realities of life. As long as the language and plot are beautiful and I can fall in love with some character (though he/she may be fictional) or travel to beautiful places in my head, I am happy. Give me a romance (period or contemporary), fantasy or even science fiction (to a degree), and I am a happy camper.

Despite my generally fluffy taste in reading material, I am very fond of certain classic authors - Jane Austen and William Shakespeare being my two favourites. Austen satisfies my eternal romantic - the girl ALWAYS gets the right guy for her and the endings are always happy for her heroines. Shakespeare I like for his superior use of the English language.

I have discovered that one understands a Shakespearean play best when it's being performed.
During Matric, a group of actors came to enact all of the literature we were studying that year...it was the first time I had ever had a good understanding of my school literature and it was also the year I got my best English mark. Although I did not pursue English at tertiary level, I continued to read (and watch) Shakespeare when I could.

My reintroduction to Shakespeare came last year, when I discovered that Tom Hiddleston's acting CV is littered with Bard roles. I was curious, and managed to get my hands on the Hollow Crown series, which is the screen version of one of Shakespeare's historical tetralogies - Richard II, Henry IV-Part 1, Henry IV-Part 2 and Henry V.
Yes, Tom is a fox, and I get warm just thinking of him or looking at pictures of him. Does not take an iota away from the fact that the man is a bloody brilliant actor. I really enjoyed the series, but due to restrictions, many times film adaptations have to trim a lot of the actual literature and this prompted me to start investing in the books.
Thus far, I've managed to read Coriolanus...a play I had never heard of but thought I'd read in preparation to the NTLive screening of the Donmar production (in which Mr Hotness plays the lead character). To my surprise, despite it being a tragedy, I really enjoyed it (and bear in mind that I have not seen the play yet).

So, fandom led me back to Shakespeare.
I watched Much Ado About Nothing because I wanted to see Keanu Reeves and Robert Sean Leonard.
I watched Hamlet because I wanted to see Ethan Hawke and I liked Julia Stiles.
I watched A Midsummer Night's Dream because I am a Michelle Pfeiffer fan.

Is it such a travesty? No. And if brilliant actors like Kenneth Branagh, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, etc. attract people to the genre, we should be happy that there are those few, those band of brothers who keeps the Bard alive in contemporary times.

Tom Hiddleston

The very first time I watched Thor, I thought, "Why am I the only one that likes the villain?"
The thought crossed my mind again, watching Avengers...and then yet again, watching Thor: The Dark World.

Hi. My name is Cherryblossom and I am an addict. What is my addiction? British male celebs it seems...and most recently, Tom Hiddleston. The man who can turn the feistiest of women into mush with just a gaze and the sound of his voice.

Smoking Hot Villain who reads...I am ready to combust

okay, now I have combusted

Hello Darling

I have no words for that gaze...