John Watson

[Boton]

 

Meanwhile, I'm one of those artsy people who has always done art because I can't not do it ... even when I had other jobs that earned me far more money. And which made me abysmally miserable (and nearly suicidal, at one point). Now I'm poor but sane (relatively speaking ).

 

Serious question: what does that feel like? What does it feel like to have something (that's more or less a job, not something like "being on vacation" or "going to movies") that you love so much that you can't imagine not doing it? I don't think I've ever, in my life, had anything that I just wanted to do so badly that I would do it no matter what.  Maybe reading, when I was younger, but I don't have any time to read anything longer than a short fan fic any more.  Mostly, I've been working non-stop to try to retire since I was 26 and I took up a third job so I could put all the money in a retirement account.  And even still, it doesn't look like I'll ever be able to afford to totally retire.  Sigh.

[Arcadia]

Hmm. It feels like ... solving a puzzle, I think. Set me to do a rote task, and I will quickly go comatose. Give me a puzzle, and watch me dance. I like the challenge, I like having the skills to take on the challenge, I like always having to learn something new to meet the next challenge. I like the buzz you get when the problem's solved.
 
And I like that whatever solution I come up with, it's unique to me ... I've often said that I could have 20 students in a room all painting the same thing, and we'd get 20 different results ... and none of them would be "wrong." Everyone's vision has validity. (Their skills may be lacking, but that's a separate thing, to me.) So I guess there's a sort of ego-boost involved, although I'm just as likely to be humiliated by my results as I am to be proud of them. More likely, actually, but that's another tale. But that just gives me the excuse to solve another puzzle.
 
Does any of that make sense? It also feels a little like breathing ... I just do it, I don't really think about it much, and if I stop for too long, I go brain dead. It infuses almost everything I do, including how I organize my clothes or arrange cookies on a plate. Can't help it, it just feels wrong if they're just jumbled up the plate at random...... (Sometimes I also wonder if I'm not a bit obsessive compulsive... )

[Boton]

That's awesome, Arcadia.  It has been so long since I've felt that doing something creative or intellectual, I literally forgot what it felt like.

 

Right now, other than some physical activities that give me that "runner's high" (so to speak - I'm not running!), I think the closest thing might be photography. I've really started to love trying to compose shots and get them to turn out, and I have this particular style I'm trying to achieve that might not be the edgiest or the most groundbreaking, but it is my perspective.  My hubby shoots (photos) too, and we always laugh that when we download photos, we know instantly who did what by how they are composed.  

 

Thanks for sharing, Arcadia!

[Arcadia]

Yeah, a lot of my friends have to keep changing media in order to keep up the buzz ... nothing wrong with that. One's now doing stained glass! And photography's great because you can do it anywhere, anytime. Keep experimenting, I say, until the bug bites....

[Pseudonym]

Going to back to John's hair for a second, what makes it even weirder is that even when he is grief stricken, is spending practically no time with his daughter, is barely holding it together he still finds time to gel the swoop. 

John: I may look like and feel like shit, my eye-bags are taking over my face, my eyes are bloodshot from crying and insomnia, I hate my best friend and I can barely look at my baby daughter. But at least my hair is fabulous. 

[Hikari]

Going to back to John's hair for a second, what makes it even weirder is that even when he is grief stricken, is spending practically no time with his daughter, is barely holding it together he still finds time to gel the swoop. 

John: I may look like and feel like shit, my eye-bags are taking over my face, my eyes are bloodshot from crying and insomnia, I hate my best friend and I can barely look at my baby daughter. But at least my hair is fabulous. 

 

Yep.  That hair was very discordant with John's usual aesthetic or stage of life that he was going through.  And it made Martin Freeman look old.  As in 'old queen'.  Probably not what MF was going for.  Someone posted to the effect that Freeman swiftly regretted his choice to go divatastic with his hair  (probably after a couple days' worth of rushes when he saw how terrible he looked.  Bendi, 5 years younger, looked terrible, too, but SH was supposed to be having an opiod crisis.)

 

Martin regretted swiftly and then forgot about it.; the viewers had time to regret in leisure because MF never had to watch himself again.  He could even skip the rushes entirely.

[Pseudonym]

I know we already discussed the hair, but what I mean is it's even weirder in TLD onwards because he's going through crisis. It's odd enough in T6T, but after that, the idea that he would still be styling his hair is beyond weird. They would have been better off having him go the same route as Sherlock, stubbled and unkempt. 

[Boton]

Going to back to John's hair for a second, what makes it even weirder is that even when he is grief stricken, is spending practically no time with his daughter, is barely holding it together he still finds time to gel the swoop. 

John: I may look like and feel like shit, my eye-bags are taking over my face, my eyes are bloodshot from crying and insomnia, I hate my best friend and I can barely look at my baby daughter. But at least my hair is fabulous. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep.  That hair was very discordant with John's usual aesthetic or stage of life that he was going through.  And it made Martin Freeman look old.  As in 'old queen'.  

 

 

Hikari, that's gotta be it.  They promised to stop doing the overt gay jokes, but they never said anything about not styling John so that it looks like his midlife crisis was a sexual one!   :P

 

(Sorry, MF, if you're reading.  But really: never, never do that again.)

[T.o.b.y]

Hm, in that case, I am surprised there aren't entire webpages dedicated to the subtext of John's hair... Although maybe there are.

[Boton]

Let's start one.  Just to mess with everyone's head.

[Pseudonym]

I don't mind the hair as MF's hair, I don't think it makes him look gay. I just don't think it fits the character of John. 

The hair I hated was the mullet type style MF sported a lot when he was younger. *shudder*

 

And I'm sure there's plenty on Tumblr about John's hair subtext. I've come across a few bits despite my attempt to avoid. 

[Artemis]

Let's start one.  Just to mess with everyone's head.

 

Haaaaaaaa, was that an intentional pun?  :P

 

[Hikari]

 

Going to back to John's hair for a second, what makes it even weirder is that even when he is grief stricken, is spending practically no time with his daughter, is barely holding it together he still finds time to gel the swoop. 

John: I may look like and feel like shit, my eye-bags are taking over my face, my eyes are bloodshot from crying and insomnia, I hate my best friend and I can barely look at my baby daughter. But at least my hair is fabulous. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep.  That hair was very discordant with John's usual aesthetic or stage of life that he was going through.  And it made Martin Freeman look old.  As in 'old queen'.  

 

 

Hikari, that's gotta be it.  They promised to stop doing the overt gay jokes, but they never said anything about not styling John so that it looks like his midlife crisis was a sexual one!   :P

 

(Sorry, MF, if you're reading.  But really: never, never do that again.)

 

 

I'll second that.  Indeed, don't, Martin. 

 

And, no worries, mate--we don't think for a minute that *you* are gay.  Goodness, no.  You are a randy little cuss.  For ladies.  But we sense that *John* is perhaps confused, after all, despite three previous seasons of assuring any and everyone who would listen that he was *Not Gay*.   But we realize that you were going through a personal crisis of your own at the time.  Was the Hair a response to the breakup with Amanda, or, was it the point of contention that broke you guys up?  Never mind, not my business.  But let's hope you have reverted to your more flattering look

 

[Pseudonym]

'No worries' and 'Goodness, no.'   Because that's an awful thing to be accused of? 

 

[Hikari]

'No worries' and 'Goodness, no.'   Because that's an awful thing to be accused of? 

 

Pseud,

 

It genuinely did not occur to me that there was any landmine potential in my comment which was intended strictly for humor.  Sometimes I forget myself and tread too heavily upon the eggshells we are all supposed to pick our way gingerly over these days.

 

If you, or someone you know/love are gay or found my jocularity there offensive, I am sorry.  Not that I said it as such but that it appears that I have left myself open to the charge of homophobia.  Seems rather like that's what you seem to be stirring here, and it's not an argument I am prepared to be drawn into.  I have come to this site as a refuge from that kind of thing. 

 

I think it's fairly 'awful' to 'be accused' of being something which you are not, wouldn't you say?  Not just sexual orientation, either.  We all would like to be seen and accepted *as we are*.  Being tolerant of other people's differences does not mean one should feel obligated to bend over backwards to pretend to be something else in order to appease the overly sensitive--but that is what this hyper politically correct culture we live in has led to.

 

John Watson is not gay, whatever Mofftiss says/does/thinks.  Mark Gatiss *is* a gay man, and I think that his agenda has colored the writing of John to some degree.

 

Based on his 15-year relationship with Amanda A. and their two children together, I am giving Martin the benefit of the doubt that he is heterosexual.  Of course, I could be wrong.  Please just take my comment as me drawing a distinction between MF's character and all the overheated JohnLock shipping that has gone on these last 8 or so years (some of which I have gladly participated in, btw) . . and the actor.

 

I hope I have explicated myself sufficiently.

[Pseudonym]

I am not attempting to stir anything, just wasn't keen on the tone implied. But if you didn't mean it that way then that's fine. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Going to back to John's hair for a second, what makes it even weirder is that even when he is grief stricken, is spending practically no time with his daughter, is barely holding it together he still finds time to gel the swoop. 

John: I may look like and feel like shit, my eye-bags are taking over my face, my eyes are bloodshot from crying and insomnia, I hate my best friend and I can barely look at my baby daughter. But at least my hair is fabulous. 

 

 

I know we already discussed the hair, but what I mean is it's even weirder in TLD onwards because he's going through crisis. It's odd enough in T6T, but after that, the idea that he would still be styling his hair is beyond weird. They would have been better off having him go the same route as Sherlock, stubbled and unkempt. 

 

Ooh, yeah!  Though on second thought, maybe the "twin look" would have been a bit much.  But still....

 

(Am I the only one here who thinks the unkempt stubbly look is sexy?  On film, I hasten to add -- not so much in real life.)

 

I don't mind the hair as MF's hair, I don't think it makes him look gay. I just don't think it fits the character of John.

 

Exactly!  As far as I'm concerned, MF can wear his hair (and choose his hats ;) ) any way he wants -- it's his business, certainly none of mine.  But John Watson's hair *is* sorta my business, and the Swoop simply doesn't fit his no-nonsense style.

 

John Watson is not gay, whatever Mofftiss says/does/thinks.  Mark Gatiss *is* a gay man, and I think that his agenda has colored the writing of John to some degree.

 

Maybe.  But he claims that the heavy-handed "not gay" jokes were SM's idea, and I'm inclined to believe him.

[Artemis]

(Am I the only one here who thinks the unkempt stubbly look is sexy?  On film, I hasten to add -- not so much in real life.)

 

I doubt you're alone in that.  I myself often prefer a more natural, windblown look to a neat and tidy look.  The latter can tend to have a bit of an artificial feel to me, which doesn't appeal.  For instance, I liked Sherlock's rather unkempt look at the beginning of HLV, but I couldn't stand his hair in TAB, all slicked back without a single strand out of place.

 

 

[T.o.b.y]

How do I say this nicely? Um... Oh heck. Hikari, there is no "gay agenda". So it's highly unlikely that Mr Gatiss infused the character of John Watson with it because it just doesn't exist. Okay? I get that you're tired of political correctness and so am I to a degree but implying that all non-straight people have some kind of common plan to change the world is ridiculous.

 

That said, yeah, I think John Watson has made it abundantly clear that he is not gay. Some might argue that he doth protest too much but I am not one of them (not usually anyway).

 

I fully agree that his hair looks terrible in S4.

[Carol the Dabbler]

John Watson is not gay, whatever Mofftiss says/does/thinks.  Mark Gatiss *is* a gay man, and I think that his agenda has colored the writing of John to some degree.

How do I say this nicely? Um... Oh heck. Hikari, there is no "gay agenda". So it's highly unlikely that Mr Gatiss infused the character of John Watson with it because it just doesn't exist. Okay? I get that you're tired of political correctness and so am I to a degree but implying that all non-straight people have some kind of common plan to change the world is ridiculous.

 

Tobe, I don't think that's what Hikari meant.  She wasn't talking about any overall "gay agenda," but rather about Mr. Gatiss's possible *personal* agenda, and we all have those, of one sort or another.

 

Mostly, as you say, she was just talking about the current atmosphere of hyper-correctness, which I am just about as tired of as she is.

[T.o.b.y]

"Gay agenda" is a pretty loaded term though. And personally, I think it makes people who use it sound like conspiracy nutters, pardon, theorists. As if they believed every gay person gets a copy of the collective agenda in the mail, like a letter from Hogwarts, together with a rainbow colored Gay Card and a glittery Gaydar.

[Arcadia]

Yeah, I'm all for a little more sensitivity, not less. Miss Manners would approve of filtering our words, methinks. (Does anyone else still read Ms. Manners?)

 

Anyway, what I want to know is ... why all of a sudden everyone is so busy on the forum! It's great! It's wonderful! But I can't keep up, wahhhh! Why isn't everyone else as short of free time as I am, it's not fair! (Seriously, whatever's behind it, keep it going folks! But loan me some extra hours each day, okay?  24 ain't enough any more....)

[Pseudonym]

I should be busy, but I think the boss put the prices up too high on the shop and now it's quiet. I should be rushed off my feet, and that's the only reason I can think of that I'm not. 

 

Only two people to buy presents for, so that's all done, will put up the trimmings later (apologies for any Baileys fuelled type-babbling that might commence), the stuff I wanted to get done to sell for Christmas is just not going to be done in time so I've stopped stressing about it. So here I lie, in my fluffy teddy onesie, watching TV and relaxing. 

[Artemis]

For myself, it's because I'm not sleeping much lately.

 

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Now it's my personal agenda to flood this forum so that Arcadia can't catch up. *and saying stuffs behind her back*

 

What is onesie? Is it snuggie? Or blanket?

*google*

Bahahaha good god!

 

What is yours look like? A bear? Minion?

It looks comfy though.

*and you commented on Molly's clothes?* XD