coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad:
whether from great personal success,
or just an all-night drive,
we are the sole survivors of a world
no one else has ever seen. - john le carre
Friday, February 17, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dog or No Dog
All right, so it's really sad to have to come to the second season of Sherlock and say that Hounds of the Baskerville is the strongest episode.
It shouldn't be.
Much as I love Hound (and I do in pretty much any version including Rathbone and Brett), in a line-up that includes Scandal and Reichenbach, it should not be the strongest.
That said, Mark Gatiss has done a lovely job updating the monster story -- I think maybe he tried a tad tiny bit too hard ("The Grimpen Minefield") but at the same time, I'm deeply grateful not to have to go through the whole quicksand thing.
If I were Russell Tovey's agent, on the other hand, I might have suggested that doing another story that centers around big, potentially supernatural dogs might be something that could be best avoided at this point but, hey, whatever. I'm not the man's career coach and I love watching him dither about the place.
Hound gives us some great Sherlock/John moments and the best attempt at character development for Sherlock that you're going to get for any of the three stories. Admittedly, it also features Sherlock's "info dump" trick which I'm starting to get really sick of. Cumberbatch is very good at it and I realise that it's totally canon, but it's slick and superficial and annoying and when it's used in place of actual character development, it just doesn't cut it.
There's great house porn and bar porn and small-cute-town-in-England-porn which is nice. There's a moderately effective villain and some great chain-jerking which allows Gatiss the luxury of tying in another Holmes canon story.
So...yeah, it's fun; it's cheesy; it's amusing; it's well-paced; it's the most fun you're going to get out of this season, quite honestly, without making a drinking game out of it!
It shouldn't be.
Much as I love Hound (and I do in pretty much any version including Rathbone and Brett), in a line-up that includes Scandal and Reichenbach, it should not be the strongest.
That said, Mark Gatiss has done a lovely job updating the monster story -- I think maybe he tried a tad tiny bit too hard ("The Grimpen Minefield") but at the same time, I'm deeply grateful not to have to go through the whole quicksand thing.
If I were Russell Tovey's agent, on the other hand, I might have suggested that doing another story that centers around big, potentially supernatural dogs might be something that could be best avoided at this point but, hey, whatever. I'm not the man's career coach and I love watching him dither about the place.
Hound gives us some great Sherlock/John moments and the best attempt at character development for Sherlock that you're going to get for any of the three stories. Admittedly, it also features Sherlock's "info dump" trick which I'm starting to get really sick of. Cumberbatch is very good at it and I realise that it's totally canon, but it's slick and superficial and annoying and when it's used in place of actual character development, it just doesn't cut it.
There's great house porn and bar porn and small-cute-town-in-England-porn which is nice. There's a moderately effective villain and some great chain-jerking which allows Gatiss the luxury of tying in another Holmes canon story.
So...yeah, it's fun; it's cheesy; it's amusing; it's well-paced; it's the most fun you're going to get out of this season, quite honestly, without making a drinking game out of it!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
If Only...
So here's the list of topics I was considering writing a post about for the Medical Heritage Library blog for tomorrow...
"Daffodils are pretty." (There are pot daffodils in the room.)
"Why is there a dalmatian on the hill?" (Dog, not person, and the hill is outside my apartment.)
"Why is a mouse when it spins?" (Full points if you get the reference.)
"What, really, is a treacle well?" (No points if you get the reference.)
"If you give a fuck, raise your hand!" (Which has a kind of pleasant Catch-22 ring to it.)
"How can bumblebees fly, really?" (Because why not?)
"And what's up with geese?" (Ditto.)
"Did anyone really understand Lost?" (Additional question: "...or understand the ending?")
"Why did Wash have to die?" ("Because Joss said" is not an acceptable answer.)
"Why do young men wear pants that don't fit?" (Or young women for that matter.)
"Why would anyone watch Gladiator twice?" (Or any Russell Crowe movie other than A Good Year.)
"Explain Richard E. Grant." (Extra points for also positing a theory of Paul McGann.)
"The rise of splatterpunk. Discuss." (Without examples, please.)
"That the SciFi Channel should never be allowed to make anything 'original'. Elaborate with examples." (And the fact that they generally hire one good actor -- David Hewlett, Misha Collins, Lucy Brown, Rhys Ifans -- to try and disguise a heap of shit is not a fact which can be adduced in their defense.)
Unfortunately, none of these could reasonably be said to concern the history of medicine, even at the broadest possible point.
Sad, the burdens which professionalism places upon us...
"Daffodils are pretty." (There are pot daffodils in the room.)
"Why is there a dalmatian on the hill?" (Dog, not person, and the hill is outside my apartment.)
"Why is a mouse when it spins?" (Full points if you get the reference.)
"What, really, is a treacle well?" (No points if you get the reference.)
"If you give a fuck, raise your hand!" (Which has a kind of pleasant Catch-22 ring to it.)
"How can bumblebees fly, really?" (Because why not?)
"And what's up with geese?" (Ditto.)
"Did anyone really understand Lost?" (Additional question: "...or understand the ending?")
"Why did Wash have to die?" ("Because Joss said" is not an acceptable answer.)
"Why do young men wear pants that don't fit?" (Or young women for that matter.)
"Why would anyone watch Gladiator twice?" (Or any Russell Crowe movie other than A Good Year.)
"Explain Richard E. Grant." (Extra points for also positing a theory of Paul McGann.)
"The rise of splatterpunk. Discuss." (Without examples, please.)
"That the SciFi Channel should never be allowed to make anything 'original'. Elaborate with examples." (And the fact that they generally hire one good actor -- David Hewlett, Misha Collins, Lucy Brown, Rhys Ifans -- to try and disguise a heap of shit is not a fact which can be adduced in their defense.)
Unfortunately, none of these could reasonably be said to concern the history of medicine, even at the broadest possible point.
Sad, the burdens which professionalism places upon us...
Friday, February 3, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
One of Those Weeks
You know the ones I mean.
So no time to blog this week! Instead, have my two favorite new Tumblrs:
mishagantic: I don't know what the name means either. Ask her -- she's very nice! French Supernatural fan with a serious thing for Castiel/Misha Collins in general as well Dean/Cas which warms my twisted little heart. Love this blog.
houseassbutpotionsmaster: More Spn goodness -- also random DW goodness -- just goodness all 'round really.
And a third option in case you're not into either Spn or slash (in which case what do you do with your spare time?!), Bookshelf Porn. Pretty much what it says on the label.
So no time to blog this week! Instead, have my two favorite new Tumblrs:
mishagantic: I don't know what the name means either. Ask her -- she's very nice! French Supernatural fan with a serious thing for Castiel/Misha Collins in general as well Dean/Cas which warms my twisted little heart. Love this blog.
houseassbutpotionsmaster: More Spn goodness -- also random DW goodness -- just goodness all 'round really.
And a third option in case you're not into either Spn or slash (in which case what do you do with your spare time?!), Bookshelf Porn. Pretty much what it says on the label.
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