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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Fun little quiz found online. . . . .
Sherlock Holmes
... the just for fun quiz.
- 1. At what address did Sherlock Holmes live?
- 663a Butcher Street
- 221b Baker Street
- 442c Candlestickmaker Street
- 2. In the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, what was a carbuncle?
- A gemstone
- An early bicycle
- A hat
- 3. Where was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle born?
- Edinburgh
- Dublin
- London
- 4.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mother and father were respectively...?
- Scottish and Irish
- Irish and English
- English and Scottish
- 5. What was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's occupation after leaving university?
- Solicitor
- Journalist
- Doctor
- 6. Which of these actors was NOT famous for playing Sherlock Holmes?
- Basil Rathbone
- Jeremy Brett
- Christopher Lee
- 7. Complete the title of the Sherlock Holmes' mystery, 'The Adventure of the Man with the Twisted ... ?
- Sister
- Lip
- Hat
- 8. Where was 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' banned in 1929 for occultism?
- USSR
- USA
- UK
- 9. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a book in which he supported which famous hoax?
- Cottingley Fairies
- Piltdown Man
- Roswell alien autopsy
- 10. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was criticised for his attatchment to which religious movement?
- Mormonism
- Unification Church
- Spiritualism
Answers to the Sherlock Holmes Quiz:
1.221b Baker Street 2. A gemstone 3. Edinburgh 4. Irish and English 5. Doctor6. Christopher Lee 7. Lip 8. USSR 9. Cottingley Fairies 10. Spiritualism
Sunday, August 28, 2011
You gotta love it. . . . .
From the Washington Post.
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War , by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three , by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men , by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower , by Stephen Chbosky
Sherlock Holmes book removed from school reading list for being anti-Mormon
Here’s a relatively new one in the annals of book challenges: A Virginia school district has removed from the required sixth grade reading list at one middle school a Sherlock Holmes book because a Mormon parent complained about the way it portrayed Mormons.
Josh Davis, chief operating officer for the Albemarle County Public Schools said the school board decided a few days ago to honor the request of a group of parents, “one in particular of the Mormon faith,” who complained earlier in the year.
The book in question is “ A Study in Scarlet ,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a classic novel that was the first to present the character of the brilliant sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Dr. Watson. Doyle wrote the novel in three weeks; it was published in 1886.
A committee of teachers, students and members of the central staff was formed to review the book and consider the request, and it recommended that it be removed from the required sixth grade reading list at Henley Middle School in the town of Crozet. It was not on the reading list of any other middle school in the district.
According to Davis, the book remains in the library and is available for students who wish to read it. “Banned is not the correct word for what happened,” he said.
Some members of the school community were unhappy with the decision, and some former Henley students testified at the Aug. 11 school board meeting where the final decision was made,” he said.
“Some folks felt there was some censorship involved here,” he said. “There wasn’t.”
Call it what you will, the folks who were unhappy with the decision had it right.
What the school board did was force every sixth grader in the school to bow to the sensibilities of a parent. If the parent didn’t want his or her own child reading the book, arrangements could surely have been made. This doesn’t make any more sense than the incident last year when Culpeper County Public Schools (also in Virginia) removed from school libraries a version of the “Diary of A Young Girl,” by Anne Frank, because a parent complained about graphic sexual language,according to the Star Exponent.
The removal of “A Study in Scarlet,” which had been on Henley’s required sixth grade reading list for several years with no problems, was first reported in the Charlottesville Daily Progress , which did not cite any passages from the book. A portion of the book’s plot involves the forced marriage of a character to a Mormon, and USA Today found one passage from Chapter 3 that may have been related to the book’s removal from the required reading list:
“(John Ferrier) had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints.”
None of the books about Sherlock Holmes is on the list kept by the American Library Association of the most banned and challenged books of the last decade. At the top of that list are the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, according to the American Library Association. The other top nine are:
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War , by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three , by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men , by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower , by Stephen Chbosky
And no Sherlock Holmes book is on the list of the association’s top banned and challenged classic books. The top 10 in that category are:
1. The Great Gatsby , by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye , by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath , by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird , by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple , by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses , by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies,by William Golding
9. 1984 , by George Orwell
2. The Catcher in the Rye , by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath , by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird , by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple , by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses , by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies,by William Golding
9. 1984 , by George Orwell
Here is the link to the story :http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/sherlock-holmes-book-removed-from-school-reading-list-for-being-anti-mormon/2011/08/16/gIQAxGIlJJ_blog.html
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
So, what did ya think of it?
I don't usually like books that take an awful lot of liberties with actions and dialog
of real people, but I did find I enjoyed this book very much.
I didn't like the 'back story' involving Doyle and Stoker as much as I enjoyed the modern
mystery involving the missing papers.
My favorite thing about the book was that it made me want to go and read more about many of the
things about Doyle and Holmes mentioned in the book.
So, on a scale of 1 to 5 pipes (which I will come up with a jpeg for here soon), I would
give it three and a half pipes.
A review from the author of The Sherlockian
The Teenage Sherlock Holmes
By GRAHAM MOORE
Published: March 11, 2011
Meanwhile, in “Death Cloud,” by Andrew Lane, Sherlock Holmes has managed, at the age of 14, to quell a possible outbreak of bubonic plague, duel a French baron and win the affections of a rambunctious American girl.
What an overachiever.
When the Sherlock Holmes character first appeared, in 1887, he was 33, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle left few clues about his childhood, family or personal history. We know, from the four novels and 56 short stories that Conan Doyle wrote about Holmes, that his hero had an older brother named Mycroft, that his mother was of French descent, that he went to “University” — Oxford? Cambridge? — and . . . well, that’s about it. Here, Lane supplies Holmes’s missing teenage years. And what adventuresome years they were.
“Death Cloud” begins with Holmes feeling lonely and unpopular at the Deepdene School for Boys. With his father in an India-bound military regiment and his mother vaguely “unwell,” Holmes is sent to spend the summer with a cruel aunt and uncle whom he has never met. While staying at the family’s country manor, Holmes comes across a mystery: Two victims of what appears to be the bubonic plague are discovered after witnesses report seeing a terrifying “cloud of smoke” pass over their bodies. With the aid of his tutor, Amyus Crowe, and his sole friend, an urchin named Matty, Holmes is off to investigate his very first case, showing how the precocious teenager becomes the legendary Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most influential consulting detective. Lane’s command of what will one day become Holmes’s signature methods is remarkable, and the lessons Holmes learns here are ones any admirer of his later adventures will recognize: “If you haven’t got enough facts to come to a conclusion, then you go out and get more facts,” he is instructed at one point. “The collection of proper information depends primarily on the proper phrasing of the question,” he learns at another. We see Holmes bare-knuckle box, analyze handwriting and develop a fascination with bees — all skills that will later become important in his career.
Lane is attempting a curious feat: to update and adapt Sherlock Holmes for a new generation, much the way Guy Ritchie has done with a swashbuckling Sherlock on screen. But kids have been reading the original Holmes stories with delight since the 1880s. Indeed, Conan Doyle frequently bemoaned his fate at being considered a writer of mere “boys’ books” — he’d meant to write for adults and was chagrined to find his stories frequently reviewed among the teenage adventures of the day. However, while Conan Doyle was suspicious of his younger fans, Lane courts them (and the publisher has put a brazenly Bieber-like figure on the cover in case we miss the point). There is something ironic then in this novel’s claim to being “the first teen series endorsed by the Conan Doyle estate,” and in any case, the Conan Doyle estate no longer controls the copyright to Sherlock Holmes as strictly as it once did. Yet, in the end, the novel strives to rescue Holmes from the prejudices of his creator, and thereby expand the pool of Holmes devotees. For that we can all be grateful.
“Death Cloud” begins with Holmes feeling lonely and unpopular at the Deepdene School for Boys. With his father in an India-bound military regiment and his mother vaguely “unwell,” Holmes is sent to spend the summer with a cruel aunt and uncle whom he has never met. While staying at the family’s country manor, Holmes comes across a mystery: Two victims of what appears to be the bubonic plague are discovered after witnesses report seeing a terrifying “cloud of smoke” pass over their bodies. With the aid of his tutor, Amyus Crowe, and his sole friend, an urchin named Matty, Holmes is off to investigate his very first case, showing how the precocious teenager becomes the legendary Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most influential consulting detective. Lane’s command of what will one day become Holmes’s signature methods is remarkable, and the lessons Holmes learns here are ones any admirer of his later adventures will recognize: “If you haven’t got enough facts to come to a conclusion, then you go out and get more facts,” he is instructed at one point. “The collection of proper information depends primarily on the proper phrasing of the question,” he learns at another. We see Holmes bare-knuckle box, analyze handwriting and develop a fascination with bees — all skills that will later become important in his career.
Lane is attempting a curious feat: to update and adapt Sherlock Holmes for a new generation, much the way Guy Ritchie has done with a swashbuckling Sherlock on screen. But kids have been reading the original Holmes stories with delight since the 1880s. Indeed, Conan Doyle frequently bemoaned his fate at being considered a writer of mere “boys’ books” — he’d meant to write for adults and was chagrined to find his stories frequently reviewed among the teenage adventures of the day. However, while Conan Doyle was suspicious of his younger fans, Lane courts them (and the publisher has put a brazenly Bieber-like figure on the cover in case we miss the point). There is something ironic then in this novel’s claim to being “the first teen series endorsed by the Conan Doyle estate,” and in any case, the Conan Doyle estate no longer controls the copyright to Sherlock Holmes as strictly as it once did. Yet, in the end, the novel strives to rescue Holmes from the prejudices of his creator, and thereby expand the pool of Holmes devotees. For that we can all be grateful.
From Nathan Garrideb
Homeless Man's Funeral
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral Director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.."
Apparently I'm still lost.
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral Director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.."
Apparently I'm still lost.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Ok, an easy Dailyweeklymonthly trivia question.
What is the Sherlockian connection in 'Amazing Grace'?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Season Two
BBC Sherlock Season Two In Production
Update: Cumberbatch joins Freeman in The Hobbit plus Sherlock 2 Film News
Season Two (Series Two as it’s called in it’s native country) of BBC’s Sherlock is currently
in production. Returning are Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson. American audiences may be familiar with Freeman from his role in the original British version of The Office (and he looks enough like John Simm that when writing too fast I put his name in as star of Life on Mars). For those who don’t know him they’re about learn a lot as Freeman takes on the role of a younger Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. The film is also currently in production, but as Sir Ian McKellan recently tweeted, “Freeman has left the Hobbit”, or rather he has gone on hiatus from that production in order to work on Sherlock Season Two as he made a deal to do so before filming began.
BBC Sherlock Season Two will again consist of only three episodes clocking in at 90 minutes a piece. According to press releases the episodes will be 1) A Scandal in Belgravia, 2) The Hounds of Baskerville and 3) The Reichenbach Fall. I am most interested to see Gatiss and Moffat’s contemporary take on The Hounds of Baskerville. The series is scheduled to be aired on BBC television the latter part of this year. As soon as they are aired and this poor American can get a peek, he’ll post up some summary and review of Sherlock Season Two. Update: Looks like it’s going to be awhile. BBC Sherlock Series Two has been pushed in to 2012 for initial air date.
Visit the Official Sherlock BBC page for more useful info and media.
Season Two (Series Two as it’s called in it’s native country) of BBC’s Sherlock is currently
in production. Returning are Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson. American audiences may be familiar with Freeman from his role in the original British version of The Office (and he looks enough like John Simm that when writing too fast I put his name in as star of Life on Mars). For those who don’t know him they’re about learn a lot as Freeman takes on the role of a younger Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. The film is also currently in production, but as Sir Ian McKellan recently tweeted, “Freeman has left the Hobbit”, or rather he has gone on hiatus from that production in order to work on Sherlock Season Two as he made a deal to do so before filming began.BBC Sherlock Season Two will again consist of only three episodes clocking in at 90 minutes a piece. According to press releases the episodes will be 1) A Scandal in Belgravia, 2) The Hounds of Baskerville and 3) The Reichenbach Fall. I am most interested to see Gatiss and Moffat’s contemporary take on The Hounds of Baskerville. The series is scheduled to be aired on BBC television the latter part of this year. As soon as they are aired and this poor American can get a peek, he’ll post up some summary and review of Sherlock Season Two. Update: Looks like it’s going to be awhile. BBC Sherlock Series Two has been pushed in to 2012 for initial air date.
Visit the Official Sherlock BBC page for more useful info and media.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Since we were talking about the movies. . . .
Since we are talking about the movie’s. . . .
We weren’t?
Well, I guess we are now.
My thoughts on the first Robert Downey Jr ‘Sherlock’
First my likes. . . .
I thought it made a great action adventure movie.
I thought Jude Law made a great young Watson.
I liked the period set pieces.
I liked the actress that played Mary Morstan.
I did like the way the deductions were reveled
Lastrade was done well.
The fights were well done.
My dislikes. . . .
Although I like just about everything Robert Downey Jr. does, I don’t think he made a very good Holmes. I don’t think that it can be blamed on the actor, probably more on what the director wanted.
The character was too slovenly and un-kept. For Holmes, other than when in costume, was a rather neat and clean person in his personal habits. His ‘digs’ were more untidy than unclean.
His diction was not good enough. And that probably had more to do with an American trying to do an English accent.
The movie did not take full advantage of the beautiful sets it had; i.e. 221b
Baker St
Baker St
The drug habits Holmes had were over blown.
The actress was not right for Irene Adler. Although beautiful and great in other things, Rachel McAdams was not right for Irene Adler.
The movie jumped too much between slap stick humor and serious adventure too often.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Welcome
Give us a couple of days to get started, but I hope soon we will have some great stuff here on the world, in our view, of Sherlock Holmes. I hope most of it will be fun and open up some great topics for discussions.
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