T.o.b.y

What is a wildcard? I can't say for sure, yet, either. All I can say is that I'd like to!

Well, that's a good point. I certainly would've hated it if Peter Jackson had made Frodo a bamf action hero, and made Sam his adoring female love interest. Ugh! But as I said, having not read all the stories, I can't speak to that issue very coherently; except to say that in the 2 books I did read, I didn't get the impression at all that the Doyle Holmes thought he was above the law. I should try to read more, I guess. Well, he's not very consistently portrayed. I think you can tell Doyle just saw him as a convenient way of making a quick buck. Maybe what I think of as "the real Sherlock Holmes" is just what I want him to be like, not what he was actually written like... I would certainly not put that past my brain! But if so, then Moffat and Gatiss and all the rest of them must want something very similar.

Didn't know where else to put this, but I just "have" to show around the first Sherlock fan art I found that I really like: Pretty artistic, huh? The inventiveness of other people never ceases to amaze me...

... see what I mean? I really would not mind seeing these two actors together in one film again, maybe in a less sad context:

Oooh, that may even work for me! If work allows, I'd be glad to join in. Hmmm... Why not do Hounds of Baskervile. I find that a little too scary to watch a lot on my own, anyway.

Oh yes, third star! I loved that. It's my kind of sad... (And it has J.J. Feild in it - another bonus. I am quite attracted to that man. Wish he'd get a guest role on Sherlock some day.)

Yes... of course they do (or should). But I don't know, I wouldn't like the series half as much if they didn't try so hard to capture the spirit of the original. And fundamentally changing Sherlock Holmes' character is a different can of worms than rearranging a criminal plot or substituting the pipe for nicotine patches. Besides, Sherlock may be a hero, to his friends at least, but I never got the impression that he's held up as a shining example to anybody. We're not asked to emulate him at all. We're supposed to marvel and wonder and admire and shake our heads, but I really don't think the idea is to try and be like him. 'Course you count, silly. Come to think of it, where's the big proof that Moriarty poses such a threat to England at large?

They made her way too pretty, if you ask me. But god forbid the love interest (or whatever) of the main character should be plain... Grrr.

Oh, YES. My all-time favorite, I miss it. It's definitely mine, too, but I don't miss it, because it's still very much there. Ten years of it. That's enough for me. I admire Watterson hugely for having stopped while he was still really good. I never had to see this suffer in quality, and for that I am very grateful. Nothing hurts me like watching a bit of fiction I loved being ruined. And the last Calvin and Hobbes strip was wonderful, wasn't it?

But in this case, it's not necessarily the (modern) entertainment industry, it's the old, original character of Sherlock Holmes who believed himself above and beyond the law that applied to ordinary mortals, and who for some reason felt entitled to deal with those the law couldn't reach the way he saw fit. I'm not saying I agree with that, or that I think it's admirable or anything, but it's kind of what the character is, in part, about. It's also part of the reason why Holmes has to be "a perfect reasoning machine", why he has to keep himself distant from most human loves and hates. "I should never marry lest I bias my judgement". He wasn't about vengeance. His ideal was to be rational, logical, just. And he never asked to be a hero, either. He was made one. Well, the episode began with an investigation concerning Magnussen's influence over the prime minister. Magnussen asked "the British prime minister?", in a way that implied he had a say in other prime ministers' affairs, too. Then at Baker St, he claims the united Kingdom is "petri dish to the Western world", and that if something works there, he tries it in a "real country". All this does not sound as if he was contented to concern himself with personal matters only. Then towards the end, when he is flicking John's face, he brags that "this is what I do to entire countries". Granted, none of this is proof. But you've got to ask yourself why it was written into the script.

Thanks! Guess I'd have to actually see it to know whether I'd like it or not. (The blood part sounds a little yecch, though.) Does this image show up for you?

How about you give "The Fifth Estate" a try? That film has been rather unfairly maligned, if you ask me. I liked it a lot! (And come on, I am in no way a patriotic person, but Daniel Brühl is one of the few international actors my country has produced whom I am in any way "proud of", so I'll take this chance to advertize him, too).

After having been recently asked again "what is it about you and that television series?", I began to wonder, what indeed. Why did Sherlock, of all things, grip me the way it did and not let go until this day? I don't know. But I've spent so much time lately complaining about all the stuff that bothers me on this show, it's kind of nice to sit back and consider why I like it. The main reason I guess is Sherlock himself. I've always had a thing for Sherlock Holmes. And this version seems to have captured the very possibilities in the original character that appealed the most to me, magnified and expanded them. He's such a wonderful "not-hero", so dark and funny and clever, outrageous and morally murky and deeply eccentric. I love "highly individual" characters. And yet, he's easy to relate to. He's very human, and he does have a great heart, and a passionate side to him, and he's vulnerable and sometimes sad and sometimes hurt and he has things he believes in, like justice (his own sense of it) or honor (okay, when it suits him), and protecting the defenseless. For all his otherworldliness, you can get very close to him. And of course he's drop dead gorgeous and his voice is thrilling. Then, I do like mysteries, only they can't be too scary or too violent or disgusting. And I like character-driven plots, so all this "show about a detective, not a detective show" is right up my street. And the other characters are all interesting, and the various relationships among them are wonderful. The story never seems stale or predictable; I never get the feeling that I've seen it all before, which happens with so many things I otherwise enjoy. Last but not least, there's the love story. I love the love story. I am sick and tired of "boy meets girl and they kiss and then there are some complications and then they reconcile and get married and there's sex somewhere along the way, too" romances. But that doesn't mean I've lost my taste for any kind of romance. I am a romantic. And this one, the Sherlock one, is deeply satisfying for me, somehow. And there's not just one. There's Sherlock and Molly, too, which is a terribly romantic, melancholy little narrative in itself, and there's the thing with Irene (that was amazing), and so on and so forth. Oh, and there's John and Mary, who are complicated and difficult and so F***ed up by now, and I have never seen anything like them before, either... But for all it's originality and cleverness, the show is in no way pretentious. It's made and marketed as entertainment and fun pure and simple, it's not explicitly out to educate or make a statement or be art. It's not exclusive; I maintain that while it's probably more fun if you're fairly intelligent and well educated, there's plenty in it for you if you're not. As a literary adaptation, it is incredible. It takes so many liberties, and yet it's so close to the spirit of the original. The way they use the old text is incredibly clever and very insightful. Ahem. Gushing over. Just needed to say that, somehow. In defense of my obsession. Or whatever.

Does anybody know whether there is a case that "The Bloody Guardsman" is (or could be) based on? Because that one seemed so Doyle-ish, but I can't think of anything...

For the UK's domestic intelligence agency, see MI5. For other uses, see MI-6 (disambiguation). The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the British intelligence agency which supplies the British Government with foreign intelligence. Thank you! So MI6 is like the British CIA? Hmmm... in that case, Sherlock and Mary could be colleagues, in a way...

Thank you! Now I've been trying and trying to find a picture of her, but all I've discovered so far is this book cover. I think the lady in the middle is her. Sure does not look anything like Keira Knightley...

What is MI6, exactly?

Math class is useful though to practice thinking. I never understood it either, but it did teach me some valuable things, like how it sometimes helps to think in extremes to understand an issue, for example, or how to tackle problems that seem huge and frightening and confusing at first glance. I remember that when I got stressed out trying to do a math test (which was always), I'd begin by writing down everything I knew in stead of worrying about all the stuff I didn't know, even if it was really obvious. This usually resulted in the big problem I didn't understand boiling down to a few specific questions I needed to find answers to. I still use this approach at work sometimes, and while it may not be super effective, at least it calms me down.

I always liked Hobbes' explanations the best:

Thanks for the link! I am looking forward to this film very, very much. In the interview, I actually paid more attention to Ms Knightly. It's always interesting to focus on people I don't really like and see if I can find something to change my mind. She's certainly very eloquent, which I admire hugely in anybody. Sometimes I wonder whether the main reason I don't like to watch films with her is that I don't find her attractive, which would be appallingly superficial and wrong... Who is her character in "The Imitation Game" based on, by the way? Does anybody know? I'm too lazy and exhausted for research of my own tonight, I think I'll just go and spend the rest of the night looking at Sherlock pictures.

I think it's more than revenge. If it was only that, I wouldn't like it. Shooting Magnussen was a solution to an actual problem, how to stop this creep from manipulating entire governments to do his bidding. He posed a threat to more than a few individuals, and killing him was an effective way of putting a stop to that danger.

It says "get Sherlock", and it has John and Sherlock walking away with Moriarty kind of glowering after them, plus a splash of blood in one corner.

Indeed. Here, by the way, is the original version of Holmes voicing his antipathy towards Milverton and comparing him to an animal - in the original version a snake instead of a shark: "Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces? Well, that’s how Milverton impresses me. I’ve had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow." Here's what I presume gave birth to the scene where Sherlock says that if they know who he is, they know who John is, too: "Milverton’s smile broadened; he shrugged his shoulders, removed his overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over the back of a chair, and then took a seat. “This gentleman?” said he, with a wave in my direction. “Is it discreet? Is it right?” “Dr. Watson is my friend and partner.” “Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client’s interests that I protested. The matter is so very delicate—” And here is Holmes' opinion on the matter of Milverton's death. While I do not agree with the Sherlock team that Doyle was implying the detective actually shot him himself, I do think this kind of proves that Holmes would not agree with our moral qualms as voiced repeatedly in the thread for His Last Vow: “Well, I am afraid I can’t help you, Lestrade,” said Holmes. “The fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one of the most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge. No, it’s no use arguing. I have made up my mind. My sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will not handle this case.”

Funny, the thought just occurred to me too, today: What if the third Holmes brother (or the Holmes sister) was a perfectly ordinary human being of average intelligence? I think I'd quite like that. But my favorite theory on that head is still: "It was Moriarty and he is dead".

This is part of the description of what it's like inside Milverton's house when Holmes and Watson break in at night: "The thick, warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance of exotic plants took us by the throat." And look at this picture: Orchids! They may be plastic, but they still reminded me of that sentence the minute I noticed them...