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We started discussing it when the idea was first raised, but implementation may take some time.

Irene Adler wasn’t portrayed in the Rathbone movies but she did get the mention in Dressed To Kill (quoted above by Carol)

It's very common for dogs to run away or stressed out because of this. I can only imagine the impact on their sensitive hearing. I once lived in a questionable neighborhood, where kids thought it would be funny to light a firecracker and throw it under unsuspecting passing cars. I don't know if that is dangerous, but it's a f around and find out situation. It terrified me as a kid, imagining being in the car and hearing loud bangs around you. I'm fine with celebrations at appropriate times with responsibility. I spent my younger years hunting for fireworks videos on New Year Eves.

Based on Sphynx cat, Naked Mole Rat, and Xoloitzcuintli, I would say fur will help our appearance tremendously.

Welcome, Inspector Baynes! It's not often any more that we see new faces around here. You're right about House--his caustic charms do wear quite thin relatively quickly. I've been revisiting the series and my impression on a rewatch is that it's not as good as I remember . . it can seem pretty contrived, and House's tics and misanthropic tendencies only get more cartoony as the series wears on. I really do not believe that anyone who was that big of a arschbole to patients and colleagues would get to retain his position as department head of a major metropolitan research hospital, no matter how brilliant. Sherlock Holmes took the initiative of becoming self-employed so he can do as he likes but Greg House is a man under authority, as much as he resists that authority. The problem is that his field of medicine is by its nature collaborative; House needs entire teams of Others to assist him in doing his work. He must envy Sherlock Holmes a great deal. I'm up to Season 3 which ushers in a particularly good run of episodes as House meets his match in a police detective played by David Morse. House is particularly rude to this detective when the man presents himself at the clinic with an ailment and owing to his misuse of a rectal thermometer, House makes a dedicated enemy. Soon he finds himself arrested for driving his motorcycle under the influence of narcotics, his stash of Vicodin is confiscated and the world of pain is just beginning for his colleagues who are going to have to lie for him in a court of law. Yeah, House's appeal as a character was pretty well exhausted by the end of Season 3 but they dragged it out for another 5 seasons with diminishing returns. I wonder if you would like The Mentalist with Simon Baker. Baker plays a man who occasionally pretends to be a bumbling genius but the bumbling is a bit of an act. I find his character Patrick Jane to be be more of a true homage to Sherlock Holmes than Greg House, because as Patrick, Simon captures the charisma which SH possesses when he's on good form, doing what he loves to do . .solving puzzles. Even when he's witty, House never exudes anything like joie de vivre.

They gave you one of those adult-proof bottles, eh?

Me with my dog's medicine bottle.

Love the site. I would like to see a True Crime section. A place where we can discuss actual crime and share ideas and conjecture on all of the various cases. I think it would be a great learning place for many. I even imagine Sherlock himself logging on and spending hours reading through all the threads. A place worthy of great detective of others that aspire to being one.

That's not John, that's his evil twin Pierre. And Happy New Year, everybody! Couple hours to go, here, but I guess you folks on the other side of the Pond are already snoozing away after your celebrations.

RED SPARROW (2018) Starring Jennifer Lawrence & Joel Edgerton This movie only garnered 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and on first viewing I was inclined to agree that it was bad. But it stuck with me nevertheless and I ended up watching it again, with a better opinion of it, or at least, of JLaw's performance the second time around. It is definitely flawed, overlong at 2 hours and 20 minutes, and even for a spy thriller, the scenes of sexual and physical violence become gratuitous. The movie definitely had Bourne-sized aspirations, with an established director (Francis Lawrence, no relation to star Jennifer Lawrence, helmed the last three films in the Hunger Games franchise) and a cast of surprisingly heavy hitters in support (Jeremy Irons, Joely Richardson, Mary-Louise Parker, Charlotte Rampling and Matthieas Schoenaerts) and two leads who gamely go through their paces. They deserved a better, tighter movie but I didn't think it was as bad as its reputation. Rolling Stone gave it 2/4 stars . . I'd stretch to 3 overall. A watchable popcorn thriller if you like spy films like Bourne . . which I do. After breaking out as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, and picking up an Oscar the same year for Silver Linings Playbook, making her the second-youngest Best Actress winner ever at just 22 (Marlee Matlin was a year younger when she won), and gathering a slew of subsequent Golden Globe and Oscar nominations afterwards, JLaw embarked on a trio of consecutive box-office flops from 2016 - 2018. This film is the last in that run and having seen one of the others, I will confidently say this one is the least-bad of the JLaw clinkers, if you can buy into the premise. Having so many excellent actors around helps. The casting is inventive to say the least, with Louisville, Kentucky native JLaw tasked with playing a Russian prima ballerina with Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, with a heavy stereotypical Russian accent and even heavier brunette bangs. The set-up says Black Swan but the hair is decidedly Fifty Shades of Grey as sported by Dakota Johnson. JLaw looks good as a brunette, though halfway through the film she will undergo the obligatory Covert Agent in a Spy Thriller Makeover to Disguise Her Identity which entails keeping the identical hairstyle, just dying it blonde with drugstore dye from a kit in an inadequate bathroom. One of my failures of suspension of disbelief, though not the first was the implausibility that a woman with that bulk of dark hair extensions could become a convincing blonde with only one box of hair dye. As if. A larger implausibility is accepting someone as curvaceous and endowed as JLaw as a prima ballerina in the first place but the dancing parts are minimal, all the quicker to get to the spy action. As an Oscar-winning actress, Lawrence is deeply, deeply committed to stripping off whenever possible and/or spending a great deal of time with very little on to bring that extra dose of authenticity to her characters. Dominika (Law) lives in a state-provided apartment with her disabled mother (Richardson) and acts as her caretaker by day and by night she dances at the Bolshoi. One night, her partner accidentally (or not so accidentally, as Dominika later discovers) breaks her leg during an awkward jump, instantly ending her dance career. Since she can no longer perform, she will lose her apartment and her mother will have to go into a state hospital, unless she can find another way to be useful to the state. When she becomes a witness to an assassination of a government official, her days are numbered. Her uncle Vanya (Schoenaerts) is a highly placed spymaster with the KGB with connections and also a very non-uncle appropriate fixation on his niece. So Dominika is sent to training to become a Sparrow--a covert operative specializing in seduction as well as an array of other spycraft skills. Her first mission: get close to American CIA agent Nate Nash (an equally miscast Joel Edgerton, pride of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia) who's been running Russian informants to see what he might know about a mole high, high up in the Russian intelligence community. With a new identity, Dominika follows her prey to Budapest, but while she's watching Nash, his cohorts in the CIA are watching them both. JLaw gets to wear some really great outfits and the locations, principally Budapest and Vienna, give the feel of a Bourne movie. Red Sparrow may have done disappointing box office but it had a lot of budget lavished on it.

Interestingly enough, my copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes (the Barnes and Noble edition) actually does include The Cardboard Box as part of His Last Bow rather than as part of Memoirs, but it still includes the original version of The Resident Patient without the duplicate section from The Cardboard Box. I remember being so confused by this back when I read the books in my spare time back in my school years, as the copies in the school library had the butchered version of The Resident Patient. At the time, I just assumed that maybe that the canon explanation was that Dr. Watson was throwing random events from his notes into stories where they didn't necessarily happen at that time, and accidentally put this one into two separate stories. I found out the real explanation with a bit of Googling shortly afterwards. When I bought the Barnes and Noble edition back a month or so ago, this was actually the very first thing I checked in the book. I was kind of disappointed that they placed The Cardboard Box as part of His Last Bow, but very happy that it had the original version of The Resident Patient. The former is a minor point as I can easily flip to Cardboard Box and read that it the order it should be placed in. The latter is the more important point.

I'm looking forward Mindcage starring John Malkovich. It has a strong Hannibal vibe, which is my favorite TV series (Mad Mikkelsen). Maybe my expectation is too high, but at least the casts are strong. I will also watch John Wick, because Keanu! And anyone who kicks dog abusers' asses is my hero. Just watch Knives Out 1 and I like it a lot, the setting, the cast, and even though it's predictable, still a great twist!

I'm looking forward to: Ant-man and the wasp quantummania, the little mermaid remake, guardians of the galaxy 3, elemental, the marvels and Dune part 2.

Movies? Are they still making those? I gradually lost interest as they increasingly substituted sound volume for plots. The franchises that might lure me back (despite generally being part of that trend) all seem to be either completed or on hiatus. I would probably have gone to see the new Black Panther movie except that, sadly, the lead actor died. Sorry I can't help you. Ya wanna come over and watch some DVDs?

There are two countries now that had two extremes trying to get elected to rule a country, both countries have accused the elected person of committing fraud without a single shred of evidence, both had people storming a building that houses the government, what a bunch of sore losers!

I'm torn between giving that a heart (or a sad) and giving it a ha-ha, but the forum won't let me do more than one. So here I sit, conflicted and unable to act.

Yep. I hope it all works out.

I'm afraid you're probably right about that. However I think VBS's motive was primarily her own peace of mind, and that can be worth quite a lot.

Hi SLarrat, Welcome to the forum! I think that is a great suggestion and I will be happy to participate. My way of relaxing is to watch true crime and I think I might have suspicious amount of knowledge about many serial killers, but I swear, I am a law abiding citizen. So do let me know if you are going ahead with that!

We weren't talking about that kind of "pretty" But I agree with your digression!

@Carol, indeed!

In the mode of The Mentalist meets Columbo with a bit of Sherlock Holmes thrown in for good measure, may I suggest Jonathan Creek? That is a British detective series that started in the late '90s and kept on with intermittent specials until 2015 or so. The show underwent a number of cast changes during its run so I can only wholeheartedly recommend the first three seasons, but this show was a charming little discovery. I'm not sure where it's available for streaming presently but you might find it on BritBox. I watched in on DVD back when Netflix was a DVD-by-mail subscription. The show is named for its eponymous detective played by Alan Davies. Jonathan is a retiring young man who lives in a windmill and engineers stage illusions for a living. Like Sherlock Holmes, he is more comfortable with his solitary work than mingling with a lot of people, and often wears a signature coat. His line of work makes him into a useful consulting detective when it comes to unraveling the threads of 'locked room' mysteries--most often murders--which have taken place under seemingly impossible conditions. He's got a more extrovert friend in wordsmithing business--investigative journalist Maddie Magellan (Caroline Quentin), who gets the duo involved in these cases. Maddie is the 'Watson' of the partnership, I guess, but she's a lot more pushy and less deferential to her star detective than was Watson. Series creator David Renwick was trying for a 'Columbo' vibe, he said . . the cases could get dark but were mostly in a more lighthearted vein, with some zany humor. The protagonist is a bit different than we normally see in this genre. A magic trick engineer who is aces at sleight of the mind. Good chemistry with the leads. Quentin left after 3 seasons to head up her own procedural show, Blue Murder. JC carried on with different co-stars but it was never the same. Quentin's show was good too . . sort of British version of The Closer, with an elite Manchester murder squad headed up by a female Det. Superintendent. Short form, hour long episodes. More lighthearted than Prime Suspect. Then of course, there's my favorite British detective series bar none, New Tricks. I envy the viewer who gets to start at the beginning with those. Incidentally, David Renwick's first choice for Jonathan Creek, Nic Lyndhurst, appears in the last two seasons of that show. I liked his character on NT, but I think Alan Davies was the best choice in the end for the earlier series.

It wasn't too bad. I tried food from two new restaurants I've never eaten at before, and now I'm relaxing at home with my dog, eating homemade cake. If anything I wish I had more time to be a couch potato before going back to work, lol.

Yeah, we are thinking it is looking like neuralgia... hopefully she will get both an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment this week.

I hope it improves!

Good heavens -- I guess I'd better stop griping about people who set off fireworks for *only* a week or two!

Yeah, as a pet owner I do understand. This last summer my dog was having serious health problems around the 4th of July, and the fireworks were exacerbating his issue. I turned the TV volume up loud and that seemed to help somewhat. Everyone just needs to be more considerate of each other. Here, I think a concession can be made for fireworks on the 4th of July, in the evening hours at the very least. What I don't like is when people treat Independence Day like Independence Month, or Independence Season. It's not uncommon for me to hear fireworks every night starting in mid-June, and continuing well past July 4th, even into August sometimes. And not only that, but in the middle of the night. That's not fair to your neighbors and that's where people need to stop being selfish. Have your fun on the 4th, and if you want to continue with quiet fireworks like sparklers, by all means do so; but don't make families with animals, sleeping babies, and war veterans, suffer every night for months.

The Earpods is the grey area. The schedule says Natalie was on shift that day. Perhaps Paul is mistaken. 🤔 I will keep an eye out though. Oh I do wish to spend a lot more time in the forum. I do wish it had a True Crime section though...their are so many interesting things we could discuss. A forum that Sherlock himself would love to spend many hours on.

Interesting. Barring any current evidence to the contrary, I'd guess that your truants were also your thieves. Unless there's future evidence to the contrary, of course. But what is your current take on this: Paul also said (off the record) that the "bag handler" was Natalie, right? So how do you account for the missing earpods? Personally I'd be willing to assume that either a] Paul was mistaken about that, or else b] the earpods were misplaced rather than stolen. Oh, wait minute -- or that c] the earpods were taken by the friend, rather than by Natalie herself. In any event, thanks for letting us know the outcome of your investigation, @SLarratt -- and if any new mysteries should arise in the future, please let us know. Meanwhile, we'll hope to see you around the forum!

Final Update. (maybe) Natalie and her friend and colleague Alison, both coming from the same neighborhood, where often absent from work whenever and this irritated the brass enough to terminate their employ. Since their termination, nothing has disappeared. This can be measured by the lack of constant loss of food eg: ice creams, sweets etc... Natalie was seen by other staff with the shakes, like withdrawal symptoms addicts have. Is my thief or thieves out or lying low...🤔

If you're a pet owner (or simply worried about wildlife) there's very little to celebrate about them, especially the extra stupid ones that don't produce a light show, just as much of a senseless racket as possible.

That's true, lol. I suppose that's what I meant, but more specifically, states far south enough that they're normally well above freezing and without snow on NYE. Why is that? Just curious. Personally I enjoy fireworks and encourage jubilation. I feel like people need more reasons to celebrate life, not less.

Yes, I know -- but then there's the matter of turning it off -- if one can!

Thanks, Caya. Unless I'm overlooking another instance of the word, this is a very borderline case, since he used the word "decline" only once, in quoting the title of a twenty-year-old article, and we don't know the tone of the article itself -- though admittedly he was the author of that article. But this is a good opportunity to state the forum's policy: Members are free to state their own opinions, as long as they are stated as opinions (e.g., "it seems to me...."), and as long as no name calling is involved (e.g., "only an idiot would say...."). Added: You and I 'cross posted', Inspector (i.e., at the same time). Without reading your essay, it's not clear to me just how you meant the word "decline.". So there may not actually be an issue. And you're certainly free to say whatever you want, however you want to say it, on your own blog.

The book in view is Ms. Holmes of Baker Street, 1989, by Bradley and Sarjeant. It's true Rex Stout presented at the BSI Annual Dinner, January 1941, his paper/thesis "Watson Was A Woman", published in the Saturday Review of Literature on 1 March 1941 and in Pofiles By Gaslight in 1944. Julian Wolff provided a historic rebuttal to that one. I've simply done the same with the postulates and deductions made for Ms. Holmes of Baker StreetI, evaluating and disassembling them. That's 'playing the game'. I'm not quite sure I see an issue with the title "Decline and Demise of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", but I'll give it some serious thought. The work could simply be changed to "A Book Review On Ms. Holmes of Baker Street." Thanks for pointing it out.

And that is why we survive and grow massive brains!

I wish they didn't here. I hate them!

And not always pretty!

Hello, Inspector. I have not yet read your complete document, so this is just a preliminary comment: I assume you wrote this piece primarily for one of the Holmes-related publications. Some minor tweaking would be helpful here, because even though many people on this forum are somewhat familiar with Doyle's original stories (having perhaps read a few of them, or having watched the Jeremy Brett adaptations), most of us are not serious Holmes buffs to the extent that we know the official four-letter title abbreviations. Therefore it would be helpful if you would use the most significant portion of the full title (e.g., "Beryl Coronet" for "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"). That way, if we're not familiar with the story, we can readily look it up. Having skimmed the first part of what you wrote, I must say that so far I agree wholeheartedly!

Hum. I stand corrected. Digital search doesn't reveal it so I must have been colored by hearing it elsewhere in the past.

I don't think you've mentioned Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories -- a mid-20th-century American series that occupies a niche about halfway between cosy and hard-boiled. The corpus is somewhat larger than ACD's Holmes: 33 novels and 41 shorter pieces. The format is similar -- a first-person narrative by the detective's assistant, in this case Archie Goodwin, who is a licensed PI in his own right and acts as Wolfe's legman, because the boss is a lazy 300-pound genius, somewhat reminiscent of Mycroft Holmes.

I agree! He wasn't shooting people in the war, he was saving lives every day. Then they told him he wasn't useful any more, so just go home. Really? I've never come across that one -- what story is it from, and who says it, about whom? You'll hear that quote pretty often here, because it's used in a Series 3 episode. Regarding his (lack of) weight -- I'm not sure you've seen any of these episodes yet, but they make some little jokes about him being on a diet. Oh, good heavens, yes!!! So when Sherlock does that, it's such a great release of our usual safeguards that it's hilarious. Which may answer your question. Absolute perfection is boring.

One would not be alone in seeing the connection. As Redmond notes in his book Lives Beyond Baker Street.. "King Edward VII, previously Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (1841–1910), was the oldest son of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort. Although he became a dignified, popular, and successful king, particularly effective as “Edward the Peacemaker” in managing the squabbles among European nations, his reputation as Prince of Wales (heir to the throne) was for spendthrift luxury, gambling, and womanizing. Occasionally, as in the Tranby Croft scandal of 1891, he came close to serious trouble. His most prominent mistress was Lillie Langtry; there were numerous others, probably including the sensational actress Sarah Bernhardt. As host or guest at weekend house-parties he also had many opportunities for dalliance with society ladies. The Prince has been plausibly seen as the “illustrious client” who employs Holmes in the story of that title, and his career has echoes in the events of “A Scandal in Bohemia”. He succeeded to the throne on his mother’s death in January 1901; he was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and their son George V succeeded him." Redmond, Christopher. Lives Beyond Baker Street (pp. 174-175). MX Publishing. Kindle Edition. Of Lillie, Redmond writes: "Lillie Langtry, born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton (1853–1929), is one of the chief candidates to be an original of Irene Adler, though she was an actress rather than a contralto. Adler’s birth in New Jersey slightly suggests Langtry’s birth in Jersey, Channel Islands; she was known as “the Jersey Lily”. Her 1874 marriage to landowner Edward Langtry did not interfere with her theatrical career, 1881–1883 and intermittently after that, or her relationships with gentlemen ranging from American playboy Frederick Gebhard to the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). She later managed the Imperial Theatre in London, owned race-horses, provided her endorsement to soaps and other products, and divorced and remarried, this time to aristocrat Hugo de Bathe." Redmond, Christopher. Lives Beyond Baker Street (p. 250). MX Publishing. Kindle Edition. Doyle used many real-life personalities and dealt with many real-life social issues and events of the times in his stories. A review of such things is a fascinating walk into history.

So. My eyes deceived me. The tea leaves are put into an old China tea pot. Hot water from a new metal stove top type tea kettle is poured over the tea leaves in the old China tea pot. A 3rd vessel - one of the old China tea cups - already filled with liquid - is used to pour a slightly discolored liquid (presumably an oolong type tea of light characteristic) over the same old China tea pot just filled with hot water. So the tea cup has been filled in advance for the purposes of the demonstration being given. All is well in tea-ville.

I believe this begins to get near the truth. We see Sherlock in many roles at many times in many circumstances and with a multitude of demeanors. He is, after all, human. And we need keep in mind Doyle used him as a vehicle to address many of the social issues and common thoughts of his time. Doyle also had a good grasp of the human condition. He shows Sherlock totally out of character, stuck on a singular idea, making completely erroneous deductions, and as a complete failure in spite of all his own mantras. (The Yellow Face.) He shows Sherlock at the height of his powers. (Pick several cases.) He also shows Sherlock in several other ways, consistently, throughout the cases. Doyle had a good grasp of the human condition, and displayed it deftly in and through his characters. Each adaptation of Sherlock is the product of the mind and interpretation of the adapter...just as it must always be. And just as each of us 'adapts Sherlock' to fit our own construction of who and what he is, and therefore, how he acts and interacts with the people and world around him. Few adapters have actually tried to show Sherlock as a VARIABLE person with a vacillating character and level of success. Perhaps this is why the Brett adaptation is somewhat more what many people think..and I personally feel a little closer to the Canonical depiction. Therefore, as adaptation after adaptation is trotted out, we learn to take something for what it is, rather than try to evaluate it against what it is not - unless we choose to set ourselves up as the 'arbiter of good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable.' (Which of course there is a tremendous human affinity for doing. After all, our own opinion is the most important, is it not?) I suspect most who take on an adaptation have done little serious study of the Canon themselves, or looked into the background of what and why Doyle was presenting what he was presenting. Thus the adaptation will always be incomplete - short of the effect and intent of the original. And the farther from the original we get in time, the farther from the "real" depiction we deliver for an increasing number of reasons. May we accept them all, review them all, draw conclusions regarding them all, and appreciate them all, for what each brings to the canvas that is the picture each intends to paint of the one the adapter believes to be 'Sherlock Holmes'.

I'm still waiting for my 5G enhancement.

... This was an interesting video I came across the other day. I agree with many of the points, as well as this comment I read: "@srebrnaFH Sherlock was always about characters. Specifically, about John Watson, around whom things happen. The issue with Season 4 is that John Watson stopped being John Watson at some point and became an anger-infested, twisted creature who forgives a murderer and beats up his best friend, blaming him for Mary's death. Writing in S4 is shoddy (the whole Eurus twist was nonsensical), the puzzles are weird and Mary's character (again) is put through such weird changes that we can't say if it was planned like that or Moffat just wrote another lousy female plot device into the whole thing and changed his mind too many times."

If this is it, and it is, then I'm disappointed. This is not the kind of ending I wanted for a great show like this. Sherlock got too big, if you know what I mean.