It’s been a few years since I’ve done anything with this blog. I’m not a writer but more a reader and my wordpress blogging skills are rusty now. Here’s some of the trivial stuff I’ve been up to. Thank you to Nat for this #RABlogReunion that sparked this effort.
Kivanç as Behlul in Forbidden Love (2008-2010)
I owe Richard my love for audiobooks and I am lucky that I can listen to some of his new releases through my library’s growing audiobook collection either on the Libby or Hoopla app. I also aim to read the book before its adaptation comes to screen. Also, it was very gratifying that Normal People by Sally Rooney got an adaptation that did justice to the book.
Following British Drama is also something I thank Richard for. Sean Bean came in focus when Richard voices Lovelace in radio drama Clarissa. I had to look into Sean Bean’s early career starting with his portrayal as Lovelace in the 1991 BBC adaptation. I’ve followed Sean’s work since and am so pleased when he took on different roles such as Broken back in 2017 and recently in World On Fire which finished airing on PBS the other week.
My fellow and much better blogger Fabo bonded over our mutual love of RA & SB and we’ve been online friends ever since.
We also had that Hobbit press conference with a big bearded Aidan Turner sitting next to Richard which made me wander down his career. Then he was cast as Poldark. I made new friends through Poldark fandom as we followed the BBC broadcasts.
An addition to memorable RA blog post, ode to the Period Shirt ?
Going back to 2016 I’ve had the joy of meeting up with 3 other fans for Richard Armitage’s stage play Love, Love, Love. Fabo blogged about it back then. It was momentous to see him in the flesh after following him for 6 years but much more fun to see each other in person, I hope we can do it again.
This year I was lucky that a good friend got us tickets to see Tom Hiddleston in Betrayal. Together with Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton it was an intimate and powerful play. We had great seats and the whole experience was thrilling.
However I mostly felt my fan girl days in general were over and done with.
Recently, I had North & South flashbacks when cotton mills and workers strikes were featured in series such as Netflix’s The English Game and Epix’s Belgravia where we even saw Margaret Hale’s dress re-used!
And If you haven’t seen The Mill, season 1 and season 2 are on YouTube. It’s also on Amazon Prime in the US
Then this fall I read that Turkish series Kurt Seyit ve Sura was about to leave Netflix end of December 2019 … I had heard the buzz from the Outlander fandom and was determined to see what it was about. Of course, now I wished I had listened to my friends sooner. I managed to binge watch the complete series – 46 episodes formatted for Netflix in 1hr. and made sure my friend Fabo saw it. That is what friends are for after all. 🙂 If only I had listened to Penny sooner!!
There are several reviews and Silver Petticoat ‘s contains mild spoilers and points out its strengths and weaknesses.
More info on Kivanç Tatlitug’s career can be found on Kivanc Tatlitug North America, currently celebrating it’s 3rd anniversary. It’s rather impressive what they have accomplished in introducing him to the English speaking world. Most of his series, even going back to his first role in Gümüs, can be found on YouTube however all are within the Turkish drama genre.
He starred in The Butterfly’s Dream, the official submission of Turkey to the Oscars 2014 of best foreign language film category. Still streaming on Netflix, it was the most expensive Turkish movie at the time.
Those lucky snowflakes…
Have a cup of tea with Seyit and do inspect that collar 🙂
Behold a white period shirt. I really fell in love with those standup collared shirts. Sometimes there was a visible wingtip, other times it was hard to tell.
Another entry for the Period Shirt compilation ?
There is also a great train scene … here’s a video that promotes Kurt Seyit ve Sura for that reason …
I was blown away and fan girl mode kicked in. I had to see other works he had done. It’s obvious why, I am at heart a period drama lover though not exactly crazy about romance. I don’t seek it out in books nor tv series. I didn’t mean for this post to get so long winded. I may have become a fan of Kivanç I’m definitely not of Turkish drama. I think the stories are told too slow, there’s too much emotional revisiting of past scenes and the use of slow motion is overdone. They have beautiful scores but then some themes are overused and overbearing, particularly when things are about to go wrong in the plot which makes me often mute the sound. It’s as if we can’t be trusted to feel with the characters on the screen. I do appreciate how he emotes on screen, it is what he and other Turkish actors are known for. I don’t care for the melodrama in the plot however.
There are no official English subtitled releases except for Kurt Seyit ve Sura, The Butterfly’s Dream and Hadi Be Oglum (My Son) which is available on Amazon. So all the subtitled versions you can find online have imperfections. Turkish drama has a large following and you can find sites and groups dedicated to subtitling new episodes of current running series.
The quirky translations color the viewing experience and I often stumble upon what I call “accidental humor” due to errors. Once you watch enough you develop an inner translator, that corrects those typical mistakes such as use of wrong gender and pronouns. 🙂
A character compilation fan video that shows his various micro expressions.
Here’s a fan video of Ask-I Memnu, Forbidden Love (2008-2010) where he played Behlul – the classic series is currently being re-broadcast and is intensely discussed on social platforms.
However the consensus amongst his fans is his best role is as Kuzey, in Kuzey and Guney.
Kuzey walking the streets of Istanbul trying to stay ahead
Meanwhile his fans, me included, are waiting to hear what the future will bring. There’s a rumored role for a streaming platform but no further details. I’m still working my way through his series and I crossed the halfway mark of Carpisma a crime series, tonight Fabo and I will watch another episode. Each episode is over 2 hours long! Crazy!
Kadir Ali in Carpisma
Today this new picture collage came online though the shots were taken in 2018.
Kivanç guards his privacy and we haven’t seen any new pictures since early March
If you made it this far, I sometimes think of the days when we used to speculate over RA’s moves and what a relief it is to hear his voice and to see a silly picture every so often.
In the real world I do manage to adult. In fact I have to get back to sewing masks for a local donation project. My small family unit is well and I’m pleased to have another adult to take with us to the voting booth.
Phew – I think I figured out WordPress, as for what I wrote ….
DistRActed in ReAlity 
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