William Gillette: Five ways he transformed how Sherlock Holmes looks and talks
A 1916 silent movie featuring Sherlock Holmes – long presumed lost – is due to have its premiere in Paris. It stars a man who changed the way we see Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth forever.
He was the first great Sherlock Holmes. But few will have heard of US actor William Gillette.
Read more here.
On worldbuilding, sequels and keeping it all straight | madgeniusclub
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Ten Characters I’d Want On a Desert Island With Me
I found this meme here and I thought I’d try to do it too. It won’t look as pretty here, but I’d like to have a go anyway.
Gandalf (Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien) – it’s good to be prepared for all eventualities
Sabriel (Abhorsen series, Garth Nix) – see above
Tigger (Winnie the Pooh, A A Milne) – someone to hug
Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones) – again, it’s good to be prepared
Ged/Sparrowhawk (A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K LeGuin) – see above again
Bix (Dinotopia, James Gurney) – because I think Bix would be nice company
Serafina Florio (Serafina Florio mysteries, Susan Russo Anderson) – in case I went into labour or there was a murder to solve
Diverus (Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, Gregory Frost) – some music would be great
Percy, The Scarlet Pimpernel (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Emmuska (Baroness) Orczy) – this guy is probably prepared for all eventualities and probably hot too, as well as well behaved and chivalrous, so nice company
Tristan Farnon (All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot) – cute guy, who can take care of my four-legged kids, if they were there with me
Marry, Date or Dump: Hobbits | Hardcovers and Heroines
Read more here and see the pics.
This is a tough one, but I think I would dump Frodo, date Sam and marry Merry & Pippin. No matter how attractive, Frodo is leaving Middle Earth and Sam – is totally devoted, but probably mainly to Frodo. Merry & Pippin, finally, would probably be a lot of fun to be around.
Some new fandoms
I thought I’d mention some of my ‘new’ fandoms – not necessarily ones I’ll write fic in, but still fandoms I quite enjoy one way or another. Later I’ll probably review some or most of these.
Here is the list:
Mr Selfridge
Death in Paradise
Bletchley Circle
(VikingsHill)
Sherlock
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
VikingsHill is a Swedish YA serial with an intriguing plot, but annoyingly, it’s only five (1) minutes long, which includes a brief preview of next week’s episode. It’s about a teenaged girl who moves to a new residential area that I find a little creepy. All the houses are exactly the same and the area seems to be more or less dead at all times. You only see the school kids going to and from school. The new girl has a mysterious past and things start getting more mysterious her first day in school. Everyone stares at her and whisper behind her back. Eventually, someone tells her that there was a girl who looked exactly like her who disappeared five months earlier. She gets to know some people and tries to figure out some of the mystery, but no one seems to be exactly who they seem to be and she doesn’t know who to trust. It’s definitely not the people who show up wearing masks and stay around for a while to stare at her. This is a web only series. I like that, but most series are available online now, which is very convenient for me. I just don’t seem to be able to turn on the tv (or rather the computer) at the right time. 😉 Here is an image from the series. You won’t be able to watch the episode but maybe you’ll be able to see the pic.
Since I’m sure everyone knows what Sherlock is I’ll just mention that I really enjoyed the last episode of the third season. I wasn’t sure I would, but I did.
In case you’re not familiar with the series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is a quite interesting Australian mystery series about a woman who solves mysteries in 1920’s Melbourne, with the help of her maid Dot, two cops, two taxi drivers, and a female doctor. Phryne Fisher has an interesting background, some of it quite dark, but now she is living it up, partying and chasing men, when she’s not out solving mysteries and making sure victims of crime get justice. She’s also an early feminist.
I imagine most of my readers are familiar with the rest of these series, but in case you’re not, I’ll just say a few words about them.
Mr Selfridge is a historic series about the man who founded the department store Selfridges. In season 2 the producers seem to have given up on trying to follow the real Mr Selfridge’s life, simply because comparatively little is known about him. I think that’s an improvement. This season seems to be even better than the first one.
Death in Paradise is, not surprisingly, a cop series, with a bit of comedy. It’s set in a tropical island. There’s also a really hot cop – Fidel Best (played by Gary Carr, known from Downton Abbey) – but I kind of like the other cops too.
Bletchley Circle is about a group of women who worked at Bletchley Park during the war. They are brilliant at cracking codes. Now they’re having trouble adapting to live in postwar England and the enforced inactivity, so they’ve turned to solving murders.
It’s no coincidence that half of these series are historic. I really love the genre. (I also love science fiction, but there seems to be little of that on Swedish tv. Not that I watch much of our tv. Netflix has come in very handy.)
I’d say Bletchley Circle is my favorite, though I know I’ll never write any fic about it. Actually, I like/have liked all of these series.
Marry, Date or Dump: Robin Hood, Eragon, and Legolas | Hardcovers and Heroines
Read more here and look at the pics.
And here is my Robin. 🙂
I would marry Robin Hood, date Legolas and dump Eragon (mainly because I don’t know that much about the latter). Also, I’m a big Robin of Sherwood fan (and LOTR too!).
Marry, Date or Dump: The Chronicles of Narnia | Hardcovers and Heroines
Read more here.
I would marry Peter Pevensie, date Prince Caspian and dump Edmund Pevensie.
And this is why…
…Nine is my Doctor.
See the images here.
Improving the mind…
“And of course she must improve her mind by extensive reading.”
– Pride & Prejudice (2005)