Paul Bettany -Protector Of Italian Virginity

"My Lords, my Ladies... and everybody else NOT sitting on a cushion! Today, today... you find yourselves equals... for you are all equally blessed for I have the pride, the privilege, nay... the pleasure -of introducing to you, a knight sired by knights; a knight who can trace his lineage back beyond Charlemagne. I first met him atop a mountain near Jerusalem, praying to God... asking for forgiveness for the Saracen blood spilt by his sword. Next, he amazed me still further in Italy, when he saved a fatherless beauty from the would-be ravishings of her dreadful Turkish uncle! In Greece, he spent a year in silence, just to better understand... the sound... of a whisper. And so, without further gilding the lily, and with no more ado, I give to you... the Seeker Of Serenity, The Protector of Italian Virginity, The Enforcer of Our Lord God, Sir Ulllllllllrrrrrich von Lichtenstein!!! Thank you..thank you... I'll be here all week."

PHWOAR! how can you not love the man? in the past five years or so, there have been few actors who could make me watch their every other film by virtue of just a single sterlin performance in one. my favourite actor of all time remains al pacino but even he is takin up substandard projects like The Recruit, which fuckin degrades him really. and by the way, colin farrell is a tit.

i first saw paul bettany in the rather click-flicky A Knights Tale. he was the disgraced writer-gambler who was stark naked and taken up as heath ledger's proclaimer (?) in his campaign for the knight competition thingamajig. he had a most memorable bit, where he introduced the hero with such exaggerated praise (documented above). upon seein the exquisite delivery of that scene, i forgot my heterosexuality for a moment and wanted to make love to the man. regainin sense later, i settled with knowin that this geezer had some sort of special talent.

for someone with such a sinister face, he manages to convey a degree of fierce sensitivity to the audience. he looks like dennis the menace really, especially in Gangster No.1 where he played a twisted mobster who climbed the ranks to his own destruction. wonderful movie, that one. then in Master & Commander Of The Far Side Of The World, he played the shy surgeon who couldn't harm a beetle. convincingly. a slightly more conventional role was seen in the strange Dogville opposite nicole kidman, where he played the intellectual visionary in a dead town (this movie is difficult for most people, so don't start with this if you plan to watch paul bettany). these three films are already decent but bettany's virtuoso performance in each just lifts them higher.

so what is it about this man? is it his defined english accent that lends itself so delightfully well to the roles he plays? -"do me a fave-arh!" or is it his slim frame which makes him so enduringly memorable amidst the steroid stereotype vin fuckin diesels and brad fuckin pitts of hollywood today? or maybe that playfully boyish face of his, that encapsulates the sin of youth as we saw in A Beautiful Mind? or even that solemnly apologetic countenance to him when he plays guilty men like the excommunicated priest in The Reckoning?

this man is the white denzel washington!

ciao.

p/s can anybody tell me if Wimbledon is a good film? i ain't seen it yet.

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Word Of The Wolf today is hagiography \hag-ee-OG-ruh-fee; hay-jee-\,

noun:
1. Biography of saints.
2. Idealising or idolising biography.

"For those who believe, it is easy to see in the annals of hagiography why Michael The Archangel is the patron saint for knights, mariners, boatmen, paramedics, fencing, soldiers, sailors, policemen and a whole range of others. He is who we pray to for intercession in any sort of position involving battle."

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Hagiography comes from Greek hagios, "holy" + -graphia, from graphein, "to write."