#the sunday confessional

[librawritesstuff]

The Sunday Confessional: He’s got verging-on-psychopath-eyes but is insanely hot.

(Manor rehearsal/promo)

[fanficrocks]

Morse and friends

As an accompaniment to my earlier post about Morse and loneliness, especially how he sees himself as more alone than he actually is, here are some photos of him with those who consider themselves his friends. All photos from IMdB.

[season-77]

The Sunday Confessional

I bought a new dress, did my nails, and in excitement and anxiety, I might just carve myself a carriage out of a pumpkin because Cinderella is heading to Richmond in three days!

[shaun-evans-fanblog]

[too-antigonish]

"I want it back, clean, starched and pressed...."

You might have noticed that I have a bit of a thing for Morse putting on clothes.

I especially have a thing when he has to be extra-careful about it because he's just been stabbed.

S1E2: Fugue

[thewatcher98]

Don't ask me why but I LOVE this gif

All his poor little meow meow energy it's showing and for some reason I'm a sucker for it (am I a bad person??)

***Okay so this belongs to a @snappyjenkins gifset and you can find the original post HERE. I'm so sorry. Didn't mean to steal or anything. Unfortunately Pinterest had no link. Thank you @phoenixflames12 so much for telling me.***

[missjuliemuc]

Interestingly, these conversations are very much about

curls and messy hair

freckles and blue eyes

hands and 'THAT' back

Not that I would disagree with that.

But I wonder if I'm the only one who wants to write a poem about the irresistible curve of his upper lip and his velvety voice that completely envelops you - especially when it comes from close range?

Tell me, am I?

[fanficrocks]

Morse, I I don't want your pity.

Time for the Sunday confessional... and I still cannot get over how Morse and Joan just could not communicate in Harvest! To add insult to injury, that was just the start of their inability to say what they meant.

A brief meeting and an inevitable parting...

And then she has to be sedated before he can show his feelings!

[season-77]

A new, very interesting review has popped up on Facebook—secrets of accent and underwear revealed!

"As promised, this is my review of last nights performance of Here in America. The Orange Tree has a real community theatre vibe which I prefer to the West End. It also gives the actors that "getting back to basics" feel where there is nowhere to hide from a bad performance.

I had read the play before seeing it, and was really interested in how it would be portrayed with such a minimal set. The two benches and some leaves were used so effectively, I was really impressed. No stage hands to assist, just the cast using props and a raised platform in the centre of the room.

As an ex actor myself, I will try to be as general as I can as otherwise I will be writing a book here! The first thing that struck me was just how close I was to the actors. I was in the front row, and found I couldnt even cross my legs without causing an obstruction. However, this meant that I could see every slight glance, a frown or smirk which really suits Shaun's style of gesture. I call it small acting.

Shaun is tiny! I have never really noticed this before, but when he is there less than metre away, I really became aware of it and this added to the vulnerability of Gadg. He really does play a tortured soul very well. A few times I caught him catching the audiences eye almost pleading with them to see his point of view, and this technique worked well. However, there was an accent slip a number of times, and I even detected a tiny bit of Scouse in one instant! There was also a feeling that he needed to relax into the scene, but that probably comes from him not working within this genre as often as TV.

Faye Castelow gave a good performance as the opinionated and uptight Day. She presented a character as wound tight as a drum, and I was expecting an angry outburst at any minute.

I was disappointed in Miss Bauer, the nickname used for Marilyn Monroe, played by Jasmine Blackborow. If you are going to present such an iconic character, you need to get the basics beyond the physicality right. There was none of the childlike vulnerability used as seduction or even the intelligence of Monroe. I know the character was used mostly as a narrator, but although it was a great idea, I'm not sure it worked.

Michael Aloni as Arthur Miller was the stand out performance. There was a strength and determination of Art that Aloni really delivered. His transformation was great too. Having watched many interviews of Miller over the years (I've been obsessed with Monroe since I was a small child) he really nailed the steely take no shit of the man.

Overall, I was enthralled throughout the play, and the 80mins seemed to fly by. At times, I laughed and other times I felt quite emotional about the position Gadg was put in, and it does leave you asking yourself "what would I do?" in that situation.

Back to our favourite man. Shaun is incredibly handsome in the flesh and has beautiful skin up close. However, he is alot shorter than I thought and appears quite delicate, although I know looks are deceiving! Definitely wears briefs not boxers (for those who may be wondering). I actually got a smile off of him which nearly took my breath away. I feel incredibly lucky to have seen him work up close, and hope for him to do more theatre as you could see he was quite buzzed to get a roaring round of applause."

[shaun-evans-fanblog]

Random shots from various plays.

[too-antigonish]

@jessieren I see how you just snuck in another one there!

[too-antigonish]

Update to "So this is the geekiest thing I've ever posted about Endeavour..."

So way back in February I wrote about the gunshot scene in Exeunt and some rather geeky symbolism that came out of the fact that the church was called "All Angels" in the script—short for "St. Michael and All Angels." You can go back and read about that here. 

But for a while now, I've been waiting for it to be September 29th so I can say:  Wait! There's more!

September 29th is the traditional feast day of St. Michael. It is also Colin Dexter's birthday. As it happens, it's also when the world was first introduced to Morse. The main narrative of the first Inspector Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock, opens with the words, "Wednesday, September 29th." 

So in a sense, Colin and Morse share a September 29th birthdate. Given Dexter's cryptic tendencies, I don't for a minute think this was accidental.

La fontaine Saint-Michel, Francisque-Joseph Duret

Now the fact that September 29th also the feast of St. Michael is something that Russell Lewis may or may not have chosen to intentionally build upon—but it's sure fun to think about--because it's another layer on top of what's already one heck of a layer cake. 

September 29th is Colin Dexter's birthday

September 29th is the date of Morse's first appearance in Last Bus to Woodstock.

The gunshot scene occurring at St. Michael's and All Angels gives it full Pagan-Endeavour-Morse symbolism (see Feb post). 

Michael is the patron saint of police officers. 

Finally, you can also throw in Michael's traditional role as guardian of the dead, a point raised by @te_angeli  on Twitter in response to the February post, where she said: 

"St Michael is, more generally, the warrior-protector of justice. He also happens to be the Christian angel of death - a psychopomp who not only walks the newly departed to their judgment, but stays to advocate for them. ...which, to think of it, had been a large part - perhaps the main part - of E.'s earthly function."

It's all more over-the-top geekiness but I find it hard to resist.

Of course I'd be negligent if I didn't include a disclaimer, courtesy of S4E1: Game:

THURSDAY: Right! Just don't go making something out of nothing, that's all. MORSE: That’s what we do, isn't it? THURSDAY: That’s what you do.

Well, it's certainly what I do. It's half the fun.

**Note: Author Mike Ripley's lovely tribute to Colin Dexter first drew my attention to the connection between Colin's birthday and the appearance of Inspector Morse.

[oldinterneticons]

I am doing probably the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life and am going to Vegas for When We Were Young, so in honour of that, a collection of some of the bands playing.

[season-77]

The Sunday Confessional: I baked a cheesecake, a gingerbread cake, and a poppy seed torte today, so naturally, I’ve got absolutely nothing for today!

But, inspired by my recent chats with @librawritesstuff and @jessieren, I’ve spent the entire day singing while baking:

"Santa baby, just slip Evans under the tree for me Been an awful good girl"

Cheers, darlings! 🥂

[oeuvrinarydurian]

I know a lot of people love this episode, but I don’t really care for it. I have this irrational, pathological dislike of movies and television shows where people are shown to be sweating a lot. I find the actor who plays Ken Wilding horribly abrasive, too.

On the other hand, there is a lot to like. The cinematography is gorgeous, there’s some real humor in it (I’m looking at you and your eye-rolls at Mrs. P, Morse), there’s the pathos of poor Bettina and her even-more-desperate-than-Morse desperate need to find love and connection, the super-catchy Mimi song we hear throughout the rest of the show’s lifespan, getting to see Fred and Strange solve a crime without the wünderkind, the extraordinary scene preceding the above, the above scene, and then, the major major moment of the subsequent scene; the phone call from Joan and Morse giving way to full-on rage for the only time in all nine seasons. 

CANTICLE.

[shaun-evans-fanblog]

Working in shorts like the rest of the crew.

Photo credit: Paul Cribbs, production designer