Dear friends,
I’ve been rather quiet around here of late, and that’s largely because I’ve started a Ph.D. program and have started to lose what little mind I had left.
I have also been working on a survey. I am hoping YOU can help me with this.
If you are in any way shape or form a fan of Sherlock Holmes, may I please beg you to take this survey and share it with everyone you know?
https://eSurv.org?u=2017WomeninHolmesFandomSurvey
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Friends,
Yesterday, November 13, 2015, France suffered an unbelievably horrific attack. We all know that our beloved Sherlock Holmes has French roots, and there are robust scions and fan groups in France. Our hearts are broken over these hideous events. Thank goodness, our comrades at Le Cercle Holmesien are well, at least physically. For that, we are so grateful.
Last night, this list of organizations and agencies was posted on AJC.com. I believe that all of these are fully legitimate and they have boots on the ground in France. As I learn more, I will update this list:
• Donate to Doctors Without Borders
• Donate to the French Red Cross (in French)
• Donate to Restaurants du Cœur, which provides food to those in need (in French)
• Donate to Secours Populaire Français, an aid organization
• Donate to Solidarités International, an aid organization
Everyone, be well and stay safe. We are going to have our little Tweetalong tomorrow (11/15/2015) to hopefully give everyone something fun and entertaining to do. A little Holmesian diversion might be quite nice right now.
~Chat
Yes, you read that title right! It seems a little odd, but David Arquette of Scream fame, and a member of Hollywood’s enduring Arquette family (Patricia, Rosanna, etc.), is doing a new comedic Sherlock Holmes play!
from the play’s official website:
SHERLOCK HOLMES takes theatregoers on a heart-stopping adventure through the opium dens, the muddy docklands and the gritty backstreets of London during the turn of the century, a time of great social and technological change.
The opium wars have ended. The Ripper has wreaked his havoc. Electricity is on the rise and Scotland Yard is in its infancy. Lord Neville St. John gives a moving speech in the House of Lords to ban opium and a vote on the matter is imminent. Meanwhile, Professor James Moriarty, notorious criminal kingpin, plots to thwart the upcoming opium vote. When a drowned body is discovered, and Lord Neville goes missing, Scotland Yard turns to “the world’s only consulting detective” and newest resident of 221-B Baker Street: a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes.”
“I am beyond excited to play one of the most loved characters in all literature, stage and screen, Sherlock Holmes,” said Arquette. “Some may think I’m an odd choice. I am. I’m odd, but thankfully so is he.”
Well, he’s not wrong!! Another news story:
‘Huge fan’ David Arquette to play Sherlock Holmes on Chicago stage
The dates have extended to include Toronto, LA, and Washington, DC.
What do you think? Are you excited about a Sherlock Holmes comedy? Is Arquette the right man for the job?
Artist/designer/author Adam Frost (@adamfrostuk) and Jim Kynvin, a senior interactive designer for the Guardian Digital Agency (@mcinven), created a charming little info-graphic titled “Sherlock Holmes: examining the evidence – in charts.”
So, there really isn’t anything ground-breaking going on here, but it’s displayed very prettily and, frankly, I’m a sucker for pretty things. I appreciate show nicely everything is laid out — it’s visually appealing, and that made me keep scrolling and smiling. There’s a nice bit o’whimsy going on here! Here’s but a sample:
With the record-breaking opening weekend of “Jurassic World” just behind us, this article reminds the regular folk that Arthur Conan Doyle popularized the concept of man versus dinosaur long before Michael Crichton (and that “Sherlock Holmes” flick with the lovely Ben Syder).
In an article titled “‘Lost World’: Original Jurassic Park Dates Back to 1912,” Benjamin Radford writes, “What may be lost in the mixed reviews and discussions over the film’s scientific accuracy is that the origins of’“Jurassic World’ go back much further than 1993′s Oscar-collecting ‘Jurassic Park,’ long before Steven Spielberg or ‘Jurassic Park’ author/screenwriter Michael Crichton were born. The plot of humans living alongside dinosaurs was actually first made popular by the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”
Isn’t that lovely? Give the whole article a read by clicking on the title above or clicking HERE.
After reading “Elementary” writer/producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s tweets one week during an episode of the show, I was powerfully compelled to reach out to him and get down to the nitty gritty. Obviously, ScarletSherlock and I had a slew of questions that could not be accommodated by Twitter’s draconian 140-character restriction. Well, he didn’t want to just email back and forth – he actually wanted to talk. On the phone! In 2015! It was rather refreshing.
Quick thumbnail background information: The brainchild of Robert Doherty, “Elementary” premiered in the United States on CBS on September 27, 2012. The show stars Jonny Lee Miller (“Hackers,” “Trainspotting”) and Lucy Liu (“Kill Bill,” “Charlie’s Angels”) and locates a contemporary Sherlock Holmes in contemporary New York City. Also features Girl!Watson and a turtle. The season finale airs on Thursday, May 14. At that point, it will have presented 72 episodes, more than any other television or film incarnation of Holmes. I interviewed Wolfe at the end of April, and I’m writing this article in advance of the showing, so there shall be no spoilers. Read More
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere is reporting some interesting news today – 18th Wall Publishing is seeking submissions for a new series of novellas featuring Doyle’s Great Detective:
The Science of Detection is a twelve-part novella series; one will be released each month in 2016, climaxing with a Christmas 2016 release of The Science of Detection: Twelve Cases of Sherlock Holmes, an anthology containing all twelve of the stand-alone novellas as well as bonus features.
How to Submit your Story:
- All stories should be sent, as an attachment, tosubmissions@18thwall.com.
- The file must be formatted in .doc or .docx.
- The interior of the document must be in double spaced Times New Roman (12 point font).
- At the top of your document, please include William Shunn’s submission header.
- Place the anthology you’re submitting to, word count, and story title, in the subject line of your email. For example, “The Science of Detection / The Adventure of the Red Headed League / 20,000.”
Exciting news! Visit the links above for more information.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, owned by Elizabeth Barrial, offers perfumes inspired by fictional characters. Here’s a lovely little article about it!
“Barrial confesses that, when she reads a book, she’ll think about how the characters and settings smell. Case in point: 221B Baker Street, a new collection based on Sherlock Holmes. Barrial has been a fan of the mysteries since she was a child. Seven years ago, she started working on fragrances inspired by the books, but it wasn’t until recently that she received the legal go-ahed to release them. Scents based on Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are already available, although bottles of Holmes are currently out-of-stock online. A fragrance inspired by character Irene Adler is due out this spring. The scents are made to layer.”
This is fascinating to me on many levels. First, I have very hot sports opinions about how Holmes to smell. So now, I really want to smell Barrial’s idea of how Holmes smells. I want to know how she’s determined this. So many questions! ~ Chat
This article attempts to draw relevant comparisons and contrasts between Holmes and Bakshi, and make the point that Bakshi is an original creation independent of Holmes. Having never read the Bakshi novels, I can’t make an informed argument one way or the other, but this is an interesting read. ~Chat
Sleuths Byomkesh Bakshi and Sherlock Holmes: Contrasts and Similarities
First things first. The Yashraj Films produced and Dibakar Banerjee directed film Detective Byomkesh Bakshi that hits the screens on 3rd April, 2015,is not a plagiarized version of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Byomkesh is an intelligent detective from Kolkata who solves many mysteries that were unsolved by the police.
Of course, the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes that was created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is also a private detective, and there would be umpteen similarities as far as the themes of the two in many stories are concerned that range from encountering cops, averting a national tragedy, resorting to underhand or even unlawful tactics to get to the bottom of the truth etc, but the similarity between the two ends there.
This is a charming article about the actress who appeared with Basil Rathbone in “Dressed to Kill.” The Daily Item website only allows you to view a few pages per visit, so if anyone can’t read the whole article, let us know and I’ll try to pull a MacGuyver.
Click me! or cut and paste: http://www.dailyitem.com/news/entertainment/tinseltown-talks-patricia-morison-remembers-tarzan-the-thin-man-and/article_c9cd18e2-d7c8-11e4-8755-373479de090e.html