A Study of Matthew Goode on Halloween AKA NANOWRIMO Eve

 The W.I.P. novel that I plan on writing during the month of November, along with scores of other writers all across the globe – is tentatively titled: “The Battles We Create”.

 I want this adventure in writing to be fun.

 What could be more fun than a study of how to describe Matthew Goode? Nothing. Obviously.

 To that end - I am fast forwarding through seasons 5 & 6 of The Good Wife stopping to describe how various emotions look on MG acting as Finn Polmar.

 

See – fun!

 

MG as FP has a luxurious head of dark brown hair which he parts on the side and sweeps back from his forehead. His eyes are blue and usually twinkling, framed by thick, dark brown eyebrows. He has a wide mouth and sweet lips which are often curved into a mischievous smile or a mysterious smile which suggests he knows something you don’t.

 The dimples and lines on his face are sometimes there, sometimes not depending on his emotions. 

His gestures are soft; one hand, open, indicating left or right. His movements and his voice are understated, slow, patient.

He wears dark, tailored suits with elegance.

Words to describe his general demeanor: complacent – pleased with himself and unaware of any road bumps ahead; graceful; gentle; kind; charming.

What does he look like when he is:

Devastated – looking off to the side, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, staring into space

Threatened – eyes alert no twinkles, mouth closed in a straight line

In agreement – pronounced nod, turns towards someone & smiles

Resigned in disagreement – face to the side, slightly tilted towards his shoulder, lips closed & turned up at the ends, cheekbones prominent

 

Laughing – looking down & to the side, mouth turned up, eyes twinkling, lines appear in the corner of his eyes & beside his mouth, forehead smooth

 Or - like this:

Loopy on pain meds – eyes wide & twinkling, eyebrows raised, lines prominent on forehead

Flirting – involves a series of expressions with head moving as he speaks – looking straight ahead, off to one side, downcast – goes through a range of lip / mouth movements all with corner of lips turned upwards – eyes move through mischievous, mysterious, knowing, seductive (bedroom eyes)

 

Anger – moves through a range of movements and expressions – all unsmiling, no eye twinkle, no lines or dimples showing on face – voice raised and forceful

 

I am satisfied with my study of how to describe emotions moving across Matthew Goode’s face as he plays Finn Polmar.

What about his voice? Is voice important? In my opinion, yes, sometimes more than looks.

When I recall compelling, seductive voices, the late Alan Rickman, the lead singer from Echo and the Bunnymen… I would put Matthew Goode in the top five of personal favorites.

So… I could spend my afternoon, perhaps eyes closed, listening to Goode in his various roles, with pleasure.

Unfortunately, I need to do laundry, fix lunch, prepare for critique tonight.

And, such an experiment would be more enjoyable with wine. They say it’s always five o’clock somewhere but not here, not yet.

I’m going to give it one sentence, in the POV of MC Sadie, albeit long: “Underneath the accent, probably British, was a compelling, dulcet voice, low-key with underlying sensual, seductive tones that appealed to Sadie, even as she fought the attraction.”

Wrapping up this post - let’s switch gears and take a few minutes to savor Echo and the Bunnymen with Ian McCullough singing ‘Lips Like Sugar’:

 

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN Y’ALL!

The day before the eve of NANOWRIMO

 I am participating in NANOWRIMO again this November.

Right at this very moment I am 'partying' in an event called Global Write-In Crawl Packing Day Welcome Event

It's chaotic mostly because I don't know what I'm doing but that's okay. Also, the place where you report your word count starts with the word discord so I feel like a discordian. Typically I don't like discordians. Or accordions. I wonder if there are discordians who play the accordion?

So - my novel I plan to write is tentatively titled 'The Battles We Create'. My MC is Sadie Jones and her love interest is Finn Smith looks like Matthew Goode's character Fin from the Good Wife. Double Fin / Finn yumminess. 

I have written 300 words previous to this blogpost. Now I'm going to waste some event time trying to put a NANO 2023 badge in a few places. I am not a tech wizard so...

Triumph!

Sandwiches from the pizza place are on the way. I'm out of wine (dammit) which is extra sad since my MC Sadie is currently illegally drinking wine in the park.

Okay back to the fun!

I'll keep you posted now to 11/30/2023 

Kintsugi

Blasphemous but true: I have become more of a tea drinker than coffee. Specifically, I love Scottish Breakfast tea – and not only at breakfast.

I like to brew it in one of these:

They’re cups by Tea Forte (available on Amazon) and I have that exact one. I use it frequently. The metal coming out of the top is a basket that holds the tea while it steeps and is easily removed when it’s ready.

Recently another of my favorite cups broke. It was a smooth break with two broken chips that fitted easily together and back in the cup.

I decided to pursue how to put it back together with gold seams as I have seen done online so I started to research.

Kintsugi or Kinsukuroi – literal translation – ‘gold seams’ -golden joinery – golden repair – join with gold – is an ancient Japanese concept.

It’s hard to be specific about the meaning behind the concept. If you research you will find many, many ways in which it is used.

The philosophy behind Kintsugi can be thought of as – a variant of the adage ‘waste not want not’. It is also said to encompass other Japanese concepts such as ‘no mind’ or non-attachment or acceptance of change or fate.

Amongst the ideas that explain Kintsugi, the one that means the most to me is Wabi Sabi which means ‘admiring imperfection’ or ‘beauty within imperfection”.

Many moons ago I was in a relationship with a Navajo man who taught me a lot about beauty because it is deeply entrenched in the Navajo’s view of the world.

Navajo’s have an ancient concept called ‘Hozho’ which roughly translates as balance and beauty. Their culture recognizes that beauty can be visual as in beautiful people or objects but it also takes in much that is beyond the five senses.

 

Beauty can be seen in relationships and health and goodness and in rituals and ceremonies.

Being respectful of other cultures, I think that the Navajo concept of ‘Hozho’ combines the Japanese concepts of ‘Wabi Sabi’ and ‘Yuugen’ or beholding beauty in the unseen. 

From the Daily Sabah* – Big in Japan: 10 Japanese concepts to live by

Ikigai: A reason for being

(This idea is spoken of in several documentaries about longevity and the Blue Zones of the world; sometimes by name and other times unnamed by meaning. Centenarians generally have a specific purpose or reason for being in their life.

I recently read of a woman named Colette Maze who is 109 years old. She’s a pianist and she just released her seventh album. She started playing at age five which means she has played piano for 104 years. That seems like a definite reason or purpose for living.)

Oubaitori: Never comparing oneself

Kaizen: continuous improvement 

Wabi-sabi: Admiring imperfection

Mottainai: the concept of not being wasteful

Kintsugi: the art of golden repair

Gaman: Dignity during duress

Shikata ga nai: Acceptance and letting go

Yuugen: Beholding beauty in the unseen

Mono no aware: the pathos of things (having empathy towards things and ephemera)

*The Daily Sabah is a Turkish pro-government daily newspaper published in Turkey and available online in other languages.

 

 

Hillerman; Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits, Thief of Time and Dark Winds

Beautiful wool rug by Navajo weaver: Bernice Toledo

Tony Hillerman wrote three books featuring Joe Leaphorn. Then he wrote three books featuring Jim Chee.

Book seven, Skinwalkers, published in 1986, featured the team of Leaphorn and Chee. He wrote eleven more Leaphorn Chee books. The last one was published in 2006.

Hillerman died in 2008 at age eighty three.

I only read Skinwalkers. I loved it. I didn't follow the series because it wasn't my preferred genre and I didn't have much time for reading in those days. 

In 2002 and 2003 Robert Redford produced three Leaphorn Chee movies for PBS Mystery series: Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits and Thief of Time.

Wes Studi played Joe Leaphorn and Adam Beach played Jim Chee. 

As with most things PBS does, they were excellent. I couldn't find them streaming anywhere so you might have to buy the DVDs to see them.

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are together again in a new AMC series, Dark Winds. Leaphorn is played by Zahn McClarnon and Jim Chee is played by Kiowa Gordon. Bernadette Manuelito, Chee's love interest, is played by Jessica Matten. Sheriff Gordo Sena is played by A. Martinez.

This time around producer Robert Redford is joined by producers George R. R. Martin and Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman. The series began in 2022 and has so far given us two fabulous seasons with season three in the works.

Dark Winds is written by Chickasaw native, Graham Roland, Pyramid Lake Paiute native, Anthony Florez, and Seneca - Cayuga native, Erica Tremblay.

 In 2013, Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman published Spider Woman's Daughter, the first new novel since 2006 featuring her dad's Navajo characters. The novel's protagonist is Jim Chee's wife, Officer Bernadette Manuelito. Leaphorn is the victim of an assassination attempt and spends half of the book in a coma. Chee and Bernadette Manuelito are the crime fighters from that book forward in the series. Leaphorn recovers and consults frequently throughout the books to date.

Spider Woman's Daughter, which I read and enjoyed, is followed by seven more books with the Bernie and Chee team. Anne does a good job of remaining true to the characters her father created while developing a style all her own.

R. Carlos Nakai and Peter Kater: All Soul's Waltz