A Special Anniversary: #LookBack10

Ten years and the admirers are still going strong.

To celebrate, a North & South Watch is planned for 16 Nov 2014. Remember, I'm in the US, so please forgive me if I say "good evening" and you're eating your breakfast on the other side of the world.

Here is the timetable most participants will be following:

Prime Time USA

USA East Coast	USA West Coast	United Kingdom	Australia NSWe
Ep 1    8 PM	5:00 PM	1:00 AM	11:30 AM
Ep 2    9 PM	6:00 PM	2:00 AM	12:30 AM
Ep 3  10 PM	7:00 PM	3:00 AM	1:30 PM
Ep 4  11 PM	8:00 PM	4:00 AM	2:30 PM

If you would rather, please feel free to show up to Twitter and find a friend or two and follow this timetable instead:

Evening UK

USA East Coast	USA West Coast	United Kingdom	Victoria
Ep 1  2 PM	11:00 AM	7:00 PM	6:00 AM
Ep 2  3 PM	12:00 PM	8:00 PM	7:00 AM
Ep 3  4 PM	1:00 PM	9:00 PM	8:00 AM
Ep 4  5 PM	2:00 PM	10:00 PM	9:00 AM

As I've mentioned before, my timetable skills are sadly lacking. I used the World Meeting Planner but Australia? With some of the time zones having a 1/2 hour "exception" or something? Fuggetaboutit. (Some day I will look up what that is all about because it sounds fascinating to me. Yes, really.) And Daylight Saving Time always throws a wrench in things. Toss in the date line and… the Australian times all seem to be on MONDAY if I'm not mistaken. If you notice a screw-up in my calculations, please let me know.

For this Watch we will be using #LookBack10 as our hashtag. I recently re-investigated TweetChat.com and it seems to be up and running again. At first I had an issue with it not loading tweets for me, but it turns out I had to go to the home page and give it permission to use my Twitter account before clicking through to the hashtag "room" I was looking for.

I'm not sure if the speed on TweetChat is better than on Twitter itself. It used to be a real advantage to use TweetChat simply for the fact that whichever chat room you were in, your tweets would have the appropriate hashtag added automatically. But the main of Twitter has changed a lot since those first Watches, not to mention the apps, so it may be just as quick and easy for you to participate however you normally use Twitter. You make the call. Just remember to tag your tweets if you want other participants to be able to appreciate your wit and insight. Or your pining for Mr Thornton. We all know how it is.

Ah, the good old days…

One hour per episode is pretty dang exact if you are watching on DVD (the Netflix version is edited to be shorter - you'll end up ahead a bit which can't be helped). You will only have a minute to switch DVDs to the next episode. I don't think we'll be able to stay exactly on track, but adding any extra time between episodes didn't make sense logistically. I expect there will also be some lag in our Twitter feed simply due to the nature of the interwebs. And remember, no pausing for bathroom breaks! LOL Yes, take your break, but let the movie play while you're gone or you'll be way out of sync when you get back. I still think we can pull it off and have a great time together.

Happy Anniversary, John and Margaret!

Summer 2014 #GuyWatch #LucasWatch

Just a quick FYI: #GuyWatch and #LucasWatch are now scheduled for every Friday and Saturday respectively, for the rest of the summer. There are two episodes each night. Check the calendar and timetable tabs (above). We are not taking any breaks for holidays.

So far there hasn't been a lot of participation, but I'm hoping that people will drop in when they can. Most of you know the episodes by heart (Don't you? Admit it.) and I'll bet you can follow the hashtag(s) and participate by tweet even if you can't actually sit in front of the video. After all, we've done these Watches before ;)

Please let me know if you find any mistakes in the scheduling. Thank you! The last #GuyWatch will have 3 episodes in a row because of the odd number in the season.

This schedule follows the old pattern of #GuyDayFriday and #SpooksSaturday.

I Can Almost Hear the Collective Sigh Already

This coming Saturday, 31 May 2014, is the date chosen for #LookBackRA.
We will be using the timetable from the last #LookBack:

Prime Time USA

USA East Coast	USA West Coast	United Kingdom	Australia NSW
Ep 1    8 PM	5:00 PM	1:00 AM	10:00 AM
Ep 2    9 PM	6:00 PM	2:00 AM	11:00 AM
Ep 3  10 PM	7:00 PM	3:00 AM	12:00 PM
Ep 4  11 PM	8:00 PM	4:00 AM	1:00 PM

There were many more votes for US evening times* than any other time zone so that's the "official" schedule, but if you want to find some friends and use the UK evening timetables (or a table for any other timezone - see timetables tab above or click here) feel free to use the #LookBackRA hashtag and get organizing. I only ask that you don't overlap with the US times above so as to avoid confusion.

If you have any questions about how the Armitage Watches work, please see tabs above, look through previous posts, or tweet @ArmitageWatch. I'm not sure how well TweetChat works anymore (they did some re-programming over there when Twitter made API changes and things may be different now) but I'm going to give it a chance. Another option is Twitterfall.com. 

If you don't have North & South on DVD, you can find it on Netflix or Amazon streaming.

Did I forget anything? 

OH YES, what about #GuyWatch and #LucasWatch? (That's Robin Hood and Spooks/MI-5) The consensus seemed to be "Schedule them and we will come." Most people wanted the option to be able to drop in when they have the chance, so I will get them back on the calendar for the summer and we'll get the ball rolling again in a couple of weeks.

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*I don't know exactly what the poll numbers were, but I do know that Saturday, 31 May was ahead and I don't think June had more than one or two votes.

The votes were coming in and being counted.
Then Blogger ate them.
The next time I say I am doing a poll, someone please slap me remind me to find another way to do it other than using the widget provided by Blogger. Seriously. The polls were rocking along and the votes were tallying up, and the next time I went to check them - all values had been reset to zero! This happened here at least twice in the past, but I guess I'm just an optimist, with a poor memory. Apologies. 

It's Time Once Again, Or So I've Been Told (#LookBackRA)

After a few positive comments on Twitter, it has been decided the Watches once again need winding, and of course we will start where we always start, with "Look Back, Look Back At Me" which is the gratifying North & South.

Our intrepid @Sinjoor started the clocks ticking again by bringing to my attention a happy misunderstanding.

As for the question one always asks of a Watch, "What time is it?" Well you may ask. Earlier posts on this blog and the various pages (tabs above) will show you to what lengths we went in the past in order to coordinate viewers. We strove to weave together the time zones as only fanatics on Twitter can do. Do we need to do that again? Will your mainspring be sprung if we stick to evening in the Americas? There is already a timetable for UK evening times, and even one for Australian evening times, but what makes Watches fun is the level of participation. A bit of a let down to schedule a Watch for Oz and only have one person show up.
Please chime in! I'll try to get some polls up for you to vote on (check the side bar), or feel free to tweet me @ArmitageWatch or leave a comment. While you're at it, let me know what you think of another round of #GuyWatch and #LucasWatch.

The tentative plan right now is to follow the Prime Time USA table that we used for the first #LookBack (click on this linked page and scroll down).
The date would be either 24 or 31 May, 2014 which is Saturday evening in my time zone (USA Mountain). The hashtag this time is #LookBackRA.

One last thing. RAFrenzy has offered to award a prize to one lucky #LookBackRA participant. This is a definite maybe and will most likely happen, so you don't want to miss out! lol And I ask you: Who doesn't need an extra copy of North & South to give to a friend so yours will stay safe My Precious  so you can help them over the RA cliff so you can introduce them to the best thing the BBC has given us since Darcy went for a swim? Right?

The First #ThorinWatch

     I thought having a poll to decide the date for #ThorinWatch would be helpful. Thank you to those who voted, but would you just look at those results? It's a three-way tie for the first three Saturdays listed. Ha! I prefer to interpret that to mean most of you want to watch The Hobbit "early and often" and I hear you saying, "Quitcher dilly-dallying!" Alrighty, then.

from Stay.See.Make.Do

     Without further ado, the first #ThorinWatch will be April 13th, 2013. (Please see the Timetables page for details.) A second #ThorinWatch for the next Saturday may be scheduled depending on the input I get from you all. If you can't make the first Watch, or you can't bear the idea of not doing the whole thing over as soon as possible, please let me know and I'll see about getting you some professional help what we can work out.

If you don't know how to use Twitter or TweetChat, or are scratching your head to figure out what the heck the point of this blog is, please see the Group Chats via Twitter page and/or leave me a comment.

You Knew It Was Coming! #ThorinWatch!

FanstRAvaganza 4!

When this whole ArmitageWatch thing started, it was North and South, a sigh, and a dream...

Now that we have several Watches under our belts (check out that impressive list of hash tags in the sidebar — Whoa) you had to know #ThorinWatch was next on the list!

This post is to request input about which day will work best. The plan at the moment is to follow the same timetables we used for #HeinzWatch (see timetable tab above and scroll down), but the date is not yet set.

Please take the polls in the sidebar, or leave a comment here. Your replies will help me plan the dates for #ThorinWatch. After all, no one wants to fangirl alone, do they? Thank you so very much for your help!

And don't forget... Black Sky won't be too far behind! Personally, I can't wait for #GaryWatch, even though Gary doesn't have a beard :(D)

Time to Re-Wind the Watches!

Now that we've all had our chance to see The Hobbit, it seems that insatiable being, the Twitter Delegation of the Armitage Army, wants MOAR, more RA that is.

Ahem. Calm yourselves, please.

"@ArmitageWatch, at your service."

Not only has it come to my attention that some of you haven't even seen Robin Hood and/or Spooks/MI-5 yet, I've also heard some of you Watch veterans say you are ready to do it again.

Yes. It is time to re-wind the Watches.

Watches will resume this Friday (#GuyWatch) and Saturday (#LucasWatch). We watch two episodes each night. Right now I've scheduled them on our ArmitageWatch calendar for the next several weeks (see tab above), but some of these will be subject to change since I haven't yet made room for any of the other Watches we might want to have, such as #DibleyWatch or #JohnWatch. (Ha! Just kidding about #JohnWatch, there'd be no way to keep that one straight!) Make that #PorterWatch or another #LookBack... there's a list in the sidebar. The # tags listed there are also links to the TweetChat rooms we use. If you need more explanation about how the Watches work, see the Group Chats via Twitter tab. And don't forget to check the Timetables to figure out when things start in your neck of the woods.

See you on Twitter! (Don't forget to follow @ArmitageWatch to keep in touch.)

p.s. I'm in the US, so when I say Friday and Saturday, I mean in this part of the world. Thanks for understanding.