Things To Get Excited About This Year

I’ve seen similar post out there but wasn’t agreed to several parts so I’ve decided to make one myself.

I was going to start with the current problems of my life but then I thought that every breathing moment of my existence is concerned with them and this year is no different to every other year in that aspect.

So let’s see what kind of exciting things that have a little to do with my real life are gonna happen this year!

Olympic Games.

Olympic Games in London - what else does one need to get excited? Many things, you could say but with my deep love for this city in particular and Great Britain in general I don’t need anything else. And who doesn’t like Olympic Games?

The Hobbit.

The best storytellers. The best cast. Cutting edge technologies. New Zeland. Mr. The Hobbit himself and his flame-breathing adversary. I love it already.

Sherlock and Other Detectives

You can love BBC series Sherlock or hate it really hard cause everybody else is mad about it or for any other admirable reason but one thing is certain - thanks to it new wave of interest towards Arthur Conan Doyle’s works has started. Movies with Downey Jr. have played their role in it as well. New series and movies are shooting right now and people are readind and rereading canon-stories. But Sherlock and ACD’s stories (and even all the movies based on it) are just the beginning cause they tend to run out and people start to search for other great detective stories. I’m, for example, planning to read Millenium series and Adventures of Erast Fandorin, the first ever detective stories by Poe and Gaboriau, le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. To catch one or two classic noir films will be great as well. In other words, it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Rurouni Kenshin

Ruroken is back! With the new OVA, live action movie and even new manga! And while waiting for all this glory to come time can be spent by readind good old manga.

One Piece and Other Manga

In my home country the time has come for manga to be published at mass. And now even One Piece made its way to bookshops. What can be better? I only wish that new volume of Ranma would be published sooner and Rinne made into anime. Dreams, dreams…

Star Trek

I love Star Trek. And though the latest movie was a little(?) frivolous I’m looking forward to the sequel. And Benedict Cumberbatch is another good reason for it.

Korra

New creation of the fabulous team that worked on Avatar: the Legend of Aang can’t be missed!

Monk Movie

Who could have thought that “time to go” hadn’t come yet? Of course new movie is great news!

Doctor Who Anniversary

While I haven’t yet become accustomed to the Steven Moffat’s way of entertain people with plot-riddles (“have you figured this one out already?” kind of riddles) in Doctor Who (in Sherlock I have no problems with it somehow) I’m willing to play the game and making attempt to guess what kind of treat awaits the 50th anniversary of this great show.

So, great fun is ahead! Blogtor Who is prepairing audio commentaries for Sherlock, soundtrack for series 2 of it is going to be relesed soon and Steven Moffat might be writing new episode of it right now. A lot of fun, indeed.

A Study in Emerald: Why research before reading might be essential

A Study in Emerald

I knew for some time that there is some short story written by wonderful Neil Gaiman about Sherlock Holmes. I heard that it was first published in some anthology which has something to do with Sherlock Holmes and with something else. Well, mind can play funny trick with you. Today I stumbled upon this story.

My first thought was “Dr.Watson was injured by what? By Cthulhu? Like really? Never mind, I’ll ignore it.” Second thought was “Is it dead alien on the floor?” Then I found out that I’m not very fond of the famous pair of friends who now serve some ugly creatures. But then Dr.Watson got better thanks to one of the creatures and I’ll decided to wait a little. When Holmes mentioned limping doctor I’ve started to fear that narrator (Dr.Watson) has double personality. Then I was hoping that Dr.Watson and Holmes were secretly behind the murder. Then I understanded everything and was enjoying plot twist. Condescending tone of the letter which Sherry Vernet sent to the friend of the narrator was no longer annoying.

The thing is a little research made before reading would really help me because I’m not fan of Lovecraft’s creations (I’ve just never read them) and phrases like “Sherlock Holmes pastiche transferred to the Cthulhu Mythos” would really help me to digest this story. Nevertheless, it’s great fun to read and all my doubts in Neil Gaiman were swept by it.

By the way, wiki explains the name Sherry Vernet (awful name! even worse than…well, you know) and Sigerson but what about Henry Camberley? There is a character with that name in old black-and-white british movie The Silent Passenger by Dorothy L. Sayers. He is the murderer and railroad detective in that movie. Well, it’s good enough explanation, isn’t it?

Though all that business with letter in which Rache confesses his crimes and admits the power of his adversary while stating his faults and promising to succesfully hide from police reminds me a lot about Irene Adler and Scandal which could be explained by Bohemian roots of the victim.

And in-jokes in Study are simply priceless especially ones about Watson’s wandering injury and his first/second name. And now he writes for theatres! Just great)

Sherlock: That Awkward Moment (Series 1)

Sherlock being as beautiful series as it is has a lot of moments that make me suddenly want to find myself somewhere else or just make me feel unease. I listed such moments from Unaired Pilot here and now it’s time to look at the first series of Sherlock.

Of course Sherlock’s winking at Jonh didn’t improve since Pilot. So here we are with the second awkward moment - Jonh finds himself alone and unwanted in the place far from his home. It’s not really embarassing but I feel sorry for Jonh and think that I’ll be really lost in his situation.

Then of course there is this talk between Jonh and Mycroft that mentions Jonh and Sherlock’s wedding amongst other things. It’s a little embarassing if you watch it with parents accustomed to Doyle’s canon. But this is mild. What makes me feel really awkward is Mycroft wanting to hold Jonh’s hand.

I mean, either I’ve got completely spoiled mind or subtext is really suggestive, I find this moment quite awkward.

That’s classic: Dr.Watson is very confident man indeed. I would be red in his place.

Then the moment I mention in post about Pilot - Sherlock gets the wrong idea about Jonh.

In the end of A Study in Pink there is a really ugly scene “You’re dying but there is still time to hurt you.” Sherlock was definetly not one of the angels that time.

In the next episode The Blind Banker there are lots of moment with Jonh or Sarah being embarassed but the one I find particulary awkward/funny is the one where Jonh asks Sherlock to loan him some money after getting angry with him.

Nerves of steel, indeed.

Sherlock was emarassed a lot in this episode too. And his odd method to help Jonh to concentrate looked fishy and awkward, not to mention that it would hardly work.

And that awkward moment when Sherlock rides from Baker street to Holborn and can see Westminster Palace from cab’s window.

I mean, surely it will be faster to choose another road?

Then there is this a little bit stupid scene with Sherlock wasting time on Sarah’s ropes instead of applying obvious solution - taking her with chair away from the line of attack.

The Great Game has a lots of usual Jonh-looks-stupid moments and bunch of brand new Sherlock-Moriarty-tension moments. Though it’s not all.

I don’t particulary like Sherlock’s showing off when he talks with the woman from the gallery.

And I don’t like Sherlock’s speech about heros. Because it’s awfull when you tell your friend that you’re unhappy with him and he tells you that he’s not gonna do anything about it.

Then I hate all Jim-from-IT business. Starting with poor Molly and ending with Sherlock’s apparent knowledge of gay brands.

Then there are moments with Sherlock and Jonh failing to prevent murder of professor, to catch Golem and arrest the one behind the death of Westy. though all of them are eclipsed with Sherlock bringing the secret plans to Moriarty and trying to hide it from Jonh.

That man!

And the King of how-I-am-to-explain-this-joke-to-parents is this:

“…or are you just pleased to meet me?” According to Sherlock he is really pleased. Which is really awfull joke.

Well, though the first series of Sherlock has its awkward and cheesy moments second series is much more colorful. So, till the next time!

Screen caps are taken from this great site.

Sherlock: That Awkward Moment (Pilot)

You know the feeling when you suddenly walk out of the room while watching something? Or close your eyes really tight and cover your ears? And desperately try to avoid the eyes of another people in the room? Well, it happens with me sometimes and while Sherlock doesn’t give too many cause for this it still has a lot of moments that make me feel a little bit awkward.

List of oh-my-that-was-really-awkward moments from Unaired Pilot of Sherlock:

This one wasn’t really that awkward but must Sherlock wink at Jonh? I mean, really? How often guys wink at each other?

Then, of course, Pilot has several cheesy moments which some people find very atmospheric and cute.

Sherlock and the Moon. I mean, really?

And then of course flaps of Sherlock’s coat must be flying. Like wings of a bat. It’s not Batman, after all!

And my personal favourite of pilot-cheesy-moments:

Oh, no! There is a syringe in my armpit!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the show but moments like this make me laugh.

Then there are moments which make me want to be somewhere else for a little while. Like these ones:

“Whatever shakes your boat” is fine but if I was Dr.Watson I would get really embarassed (like Molly acts all the time) if Sherlock’d assume that I’m interested in him romantically and would start to explain that he is not.

And the King of embarassment for me:

“I could do everything I want with you right now.” But hold on, what could the cabby possibly do to Sherlock except killing him? Now you get why I find it a little bit awkward. And, you know, Sherlock’s pose doesn’t help.

These little moments make viewing of Pilot more colorful for me))

Screen caps are taken from this great site.

Sherlock’s Deceptions: two times I fell for it and two times I didn’t

There are two big plot deceptions in Sherlock. First one happened in the end of the first series when Sherlock came to the pool at midnight to meet with mysterious criminal mastermind Moriarty. And the person who greeted him here turned out to be Jonh Watson!

Sherlock quite naturally assumed that his friend was in fact his great nemesis. As some of the viewers did. But Jonh’s big jacket gave it all away for me the moment I saw Jonh - there was a bomb beneath the jacket! So I didn’t even think about possibility of Jonh being Moriarty while watching the whole sceen. That’s why when I read somebody’s confession about being deceived or almost deceived by it I get irritated.

The other time deception was pretty obvious for everyone and that’s why I get irritated even more when I see something like “I believed in Rich Brook when I saw him”.

I mean there must be a lot of imagination used to believe in Sherlock being fake during both series. And yet people says that though they rationalise Brook being Moriarty they still somehow get a little taken in.

Both this time I didn’t believe in deception for a second and that make me hate some unknown and potentially nice people. And when one hates someone the best way for one to get cured of it is to remember times when one was no better than the people one hates.

So I started thinking and I found exactly two times when I was deceived by writers even though one time I rationalised what was actually happening.

First time was when Sherlock was taking pulse from Iren Adler in A Scandal in Belgravia. Because that time I was worrying about Sherlock falling for that dangerous woman and even answering to her touch. Touch, by the way, looked really strange but I labeled this as strange-English-people and oh-no-Sherlock-don’t-do-that so Sherlock’s explanation about pulse has taken me completely by surprise. And yet I know people who understanded the meaning of Sherlock’s action instantly.

The other time was in The Hounds of the Baskerville. Sherlock made coffee for Jonh after insulting him as apology. Of course it was obvious even without remembering House MD that Sherlock did it for his own reasons which had nothing to do with apology. And yet though the scene looked fishy for me Sherlock’s glances deceived me a little because with modern Sherlock I’m never quite sure where could it go. So yes, I failed with this one.

So these thoughts make me a little bit more kind and modest. I hope so either way)) Sadly for me, it shows that cold logic is more clear to me than shades of realtioinships. Well, nothing new in here.

Screen caps were taken from this great site.

Sherlock Japanese Dub

This Japanese dub of Sherlock is hilarious! I mean, I love the sound of Japanese language and add to that the fact that Jonh is speaking with the voice of Sephiroth (Final Fantasy), Naraku (Inuyasha), Alex Row (Last Exile), Enel (One Piece). I mean, why?!  Either way, it’s nice to hear.

for those of you who watch Sherlock;

missingtokyo:

would you recommend watching the unaired pilot?

Of course! The pilot is different to the series - it’s a little bit warmer and has some ridiculous stuff but it’s decent tv all the same. I’d recommend though that you watch it after the first episode of the series (Study in Pink) just to be able to see the big improvement in visual style and difference in tone. Well, and difference in main character.

Sherlock Series 3 and Sherlock Holmes Canon

Two series of Sherlock used a lot of elements from the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle (ACD). But what elements the next series will use? And what stories will be chosen as main inspiration for three episodes?

We have small clue - the creators of the show want to use bits of canon that weren’t adapted before as often as others. And what bits could that be?

First of all, let’s look at ACD’s extra-canon. There are 4 short stories, two of them feature famous Watson-Holmes breakfast table scenes. And other two describes mysteries which some unnamed amateur detective was trying to solve and failed. One mystery was about train and its few passengers who disappear between two stations and other was about dead man with six pocketwatches in his jacket. Amateur detective offered solution in both stories but it turned out he was mistaken and it was noticed that his solution was ‘mighty clever’ but entirely incorrect. While mystery of the train and its disappearing passengers (and baffled Sherlock) was used in A Scandal in Belgravia and Reichenbach Fall (too clever solution could be wrong) another mystery and its outstanding element - too many pocketwatches - wasn’t used. So giving the fact that extra-canon was rarely explored in adaptations we can expect it appearance in Sherlock.

Famous breakfast scene with Watson listening to another brilliant deduction was featured in The Blind Banker but such a classic element surely deserves to be used more often.

Speaking about popular elements that would be great to see adapted, the list:

• Sherlock disguised as a jobless workman or an old woman
• Boxing and baritsu
• Mind-reading Sherlock cause every vulcan can do it
• Mary Mortsan (as Jonh’s wife)
• Red-Headed League or something similar ridiculous
• Cardboard box with ears and thumbs which was misdelivered
• Yellow Face or vampires or voodoo
• Robbery with clever preparation to get the victim of it somewhere else on the night of the event
• The client/victim who is in fact a culprit
• Langdale Pike, a man who for years has made a living by being a gossipmonger for several publications
• Sherlock using scenthound to track someone
• Sherlock luring the culprit on Baker Street
• Sherlock doing something and blaming Jonh for it
• Sherlock provoking culprits to attack him in public therefore give themeself out
• Mentions of Sherlock’s first case
• Character who is a rich, kindhearted man with a hidden villainous past
• Sherlock’s chemical experiment causing the flat to fill up with smoke
• Solitary cyclist
• Using of Daily Gazette’s agony column

Amongst ACD’s stories about Sherlock Holmes there were several that didn’t get as much attention as others. The reason for that is obvious - this stories are not that interesting. Could creators of Sherlock use elements from them? It’s hard to say. Nevertheless, examples of such stories:

• The Adventure of the Three Students
• The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
• The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
• The Adventure of the Retired Colourman

Elements that we haven’t seen yet in Sherlock and maybe won’t ever:

• Runaway brides and bridegrooms and all wedding-related shenanigans (cause wedding lost its significance compare to 19th century)
• Horse races (for the same reasons)

Frankly speaking, the men behind Sherlock’s scripts are very clever and I don’t believe that they let themselves be obvious enough to make us able to predict their creative decisions but we still can dream, can’t we? So here my thoughts about what stories could be used as the pivot of the episodes:

First episode
The Adventure of the Empty House - what else could it be, really? Series needs its characters and without Sherlock-Jonh interactions there couldn’t be any fun. So Sherlock must return and return of Sherlock Holmes is unthinkable without outwitted Moran and fainted Watson.

Second episode
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb - it has a lot of action and culprits managed to get away with their crime which makes it ideal for spooky everyday-life middle episode.
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches - it has clever and nice female character who actually has a lot to do which is so rare for female characters in Sherlock Holmes stories. And there is very evil family (spooky!) with evil dog and story has different from London setting.
Silver Blaze - it has very famous plotting and Dartmoor setting.
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez - it’s great story that has all classics elements with murderer hiding in the house of victim and some characters hiding truth about their past.

Third episode
The Adventure of the Norwood Builder - Lestrade seems to best Sherlock in investigation of the murder but it turns out that Sherlock is the one who is right. So with a little dramatization it could be used as finale.
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton - it has great villian and hilarious robbers duo - Sherlock and Jonh!
The Adventure of the Dying Detective - story with Sherlock dying from unknown disease and asking Jonh to find him a doctor is musthave and could be used as finale.
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax - it has a lot of things going on and a great plot.
The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot - though some elements from it was already used it’s still great material.

And we should consider the possibility of Jonh’s wedding happening somewhere in the next series.

That’s my thoughts for now. ^^

UPD: actually some elements from my list were used in The Great Game:

• Boxing
• The client/victim who is in fact a culprit
• Mentions of Sherlock’s first case
• Using of Daily Gazette’s agony column

But they were used more in the “sort of” kind of way and very briefly so I still want more of them.