CONTORTED PASTA

Well, why not make it a thing this series.

I'm going to try to be short, because I have to get back to work. (Hah! Short.)

( Immediate Impressions of the Just-Aired Episode of Sherlock, Series 4 )

Back to francophone radio for me now; have fun out there, fandom.

Like the whole rest of the world, I watched the Sherlock Christmas/New Year's special ...

I definitely enjoyed it, despite having problems with it. It's so rare I can kick back and enjoy something fun, I'm not going to let a few misgivings get to me if the rest of it has me in its palm. One of those misgivings regards where they're going with Sherlock's character – part of the appeal of the show was how faithful they stayed to the original despite updating the setting, and in this episode they've given themselves an exit door from that fidelity. I thought it was a very important and perspicacious distinction in his character that the drugs were a response to boredom, but Moffat & Gatiss seem to have their own direction on this. However, I must say I am becoming more and more a fan of ambiguity in story: The Lady or the Tiger? annoyed me to high heaven when I read it in Grade 9, but I find I don't really care whether Sherlock Holmes is a Victorian dreaming of the Future or a Modern dreaming of the Past, so long as it's interesting and handled well. Those qualities appear in increasingly short supply, so it seems a pity to waste them.

Anyway. It should be no surprise I have identified rather strongly with Sherlock from the beginning; while he's straying out of bounds a bit as a character, the whole 'drugs' thing hasn't changed that. Goodness knows I'm a junkie of the worst sort, albeit not on psychoactive chemicals ...





I'd never dream of taking all of those in one go, though; I wouldn't sleep for a week ...

My sister and I had a Sherlock Exchange today: I brought the BBC series and (in a roundabout way) she provided the Guy Ritchie film. So: I have now SEEN IT. (Yes, more than a year late, hush.) Because more than a few people have asked my opinion on it, I will share.

MY THOUGHTS, IN DESCENDING ORDER:

OMG Production design haaaaaagh.*

It was a great deal of fun

It wasn't Sherlock Holmes.

Nevertheless, I suspect Arthur Conan Doyle would have enjoyed it immensely.

I'm pretty sure electricity doesn't work that way.

Robert Downey Jr's performance really reminded me of someone, in something I've seen recently, but I don't know. Colin Farrell maybe? But in what?

It was more amusing than I had imagined to watch Hypothetical Birdie cavort about the screen

If one goes into great depth detailing someone's very particular eye colour, it would generally be considered wise to invest in some coloured contacts for the actor playing the character whose eyes are being described, especially if you cut to a medium closeup of him immediately following the description.

Surely one could have stopped the awesome-looking steampunk device simply by interrupting the flow of electricity between those two balls at the top, or taking a hammer (or other large heavy implement) to the glass gas-generating canisters. Is that Occam's Razor?

Luckily it is still possible to have the CD as my Herbert West soundtrack.

*that's a Homer Simpson drooling onomatopoeia in case you couldn't tell

I figured this out this afternoon and thought I might as well share, because life is just more fun when you have Sherlock's Adventure Time theme stuck in your head.



Proof my musical education has not gone entirely to waste – with suggested fingerings for violinists! I apologize for errors in notation; theory was never my strong suit. Too much like math. Circle of fifths, WTF, just gimme some music to play. (You may have noticed I am not a professional musician.)

HOW DO I LOVE THE NEW SHERLOCK, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS

OH WAIT I CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY



One of them is vindication, though. HAH!

Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow - One might expect such a long-running and popular series to end with a bang but I rather like this quiet, evocative piece. It does an amazing job of setting the period in sound, too.

So Wrong It's Right - I've been listening to Radio 4 for coming on to five years now and I think this is the first panel show that has ever dissolved into outright yelling. It's good, though! Just don't bring up Twitter. Plus Josie Long! Have I mentioned I love Josie Long?

Running Away: Hugh Dennis - Back to the Sussex downs but in the present. Another lovely sound picture, and a welcome bit of peace and quiet after the anarchy of So Wrong It's Right. This one made me all warm and happy when I heard it this morning. Plus Hugh Dennis!

Unfortunately I seem to have completely missed the second part of God on my Mind. Sorry ...
EDIT: Thanks to isaluna you can listen to Part 2, here. It only works till Monday, though, so listen up! This one's on neurology.

My memory failed me; I picked the wrong P word.

The Lighthouse, the Politician, and the Trained Cormorant – Part 2!

... though they've retitled it anyway, possibly out of respect for the mystique of the reference. A cracking good drama.

I went away for the weekend and missed an earthquake (but got to play in the snow!) and when I came back, there was a big fat present waiting for me from Radio 4!

The Lighthouse, the Policeman, and the Trained Cormorant

I'm sure a dozen or more people have tried their hand at this story but Bert Coules has earned my trust, and Clive Merrison is Sherlock Holmes, so this is about as close to canon as it comes for me.