Many Links, esp for Sherlock fans & cat owners

[neadods]

I figured I'd probably better clear out the linkdump post before I go buggering off to Connecticut without a computer. The linkdump, in case anyone cares, is a private post where I throw all the things of interest I find so I can find & deal with 'em later. Usually this is Sherlock stuff these days, although right now it's full of Ikea hacks and Ravelympics Ravelry Games pattern ideas.

Cat-Related Links
Many of the Ikea hack pages are for things I'm kicking around doing in the renovation, but I've got enough pet owners on the flist that I figure these two covered litter-scatter-containing cat litter hacks are of general interest.

Sherlock Links
The only actual fic in this part of the proceedings is Cold Burn, a magical AU in which Sherlock's lonliness pulls something - someone - between the worlds to be his companion. (To be honest, this isn't a OMG, READ THIS, BEST STORY EVER! rec, but it intrigued me and has a lovely otherworldly feel.)

THESE are the OMG, READ THIS recs:
Audio and transcript of Curly's speech about canonical and Sherlock fandom from Scintillation of Scions
We love Sherlock Holmes. We are the same. The Sherlock generation just has more toys to play with. And yes, it is intimidating, and yes it’s all changing quite quickly. But it’s a good change. So this is an open invitation for every person who may ever hear or read this. Interact with the young fans. Invite them to your meetings. Talk Sherlock Holmes with them. Don’t underestimate them. Just because we blog doesn’t mean we’re not genuine and earnest, or intelligent. The hesitation goes both ways though. You young’uns, newbies, and those who only came in with BBC Sherlock, don’t be afraid. Read the canon. Explore the world. Be willing to be taught. I have never met a more gracious group of people in my life. Try. You won’t regret it.

BSI Editor's Gas-Lamp published in BSI Journal welcoming new fandom and Baker St. Babe response (full text of both)
“Many in today’s audience are almost aggressively passionate in sharing their affection for Holmes and Watson, and do so in ways unimagined even ten years ago. The new social media allow international, immediate, and wide-ranging conversation encompassing words and pictures both moving and still.
...
I am thrilled and happily reassured to see that elder statesmen & stateswomen of the Sherlockian world are flexible enough to imagine a world that might be ‘just slightly’ different than the world they thought would continue unchanged forever

I have now left and re-entered three fandoms in my life. Two of them, Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, were hopping. Yes, there were generational clashes. I know someone who gives himself huge fan points for not leaving Who during the hiatus; that I was a fan back in the day "doesn't count" as far as he figures. (Thing is... he doesn't get to figure for me. No matter how often he tries.) Holmes - well, even now there are plenty of old-school fans who can whip my ass in a trivia quiz and will continue to do so. I'm finding my niche as "audio girl" straddling canon, pastiche, and Sherlock, and I'm happy with it.

I'm staying in both.

I didn't stay long when I went back to Beauty and the Beast. Without anything new to feed on the fandom had, for lack of a better phrase, ossified. Rituals had built up over time and were not to be deviated from. The conversations were the same as they'd been 20 years previously.

With fixed canon and a century to argue over it, certain things have gotten a bit rigid at the edges in Holmes fandom; there is a language and a format - scion societies, and a traditional toast to The Woman come to mind. But it's also a fandom that has seen a ton of pastiches along the line - enough to know to be flexible or die. Enough to welcome and embrace the new - new fans, new versions. There's a guy in my local society, been there for years, who apparently HATES HATES HATES all video adaptations of Holmes, up to and including Jeremy Brett of sainted memory.

He's a massive Sherlock fan.

Okay, enough pontification! There are other BBC Sherlock Links

I'm gonna send you over to Dame Ruth's for her cracky vid rec and the hypnotic animated .gif in the comments.

All the Holmeses; All the Watsons (an Elementary cartoon). Watson, you 5-continent horndog.

More on a previously recced FALL theory. From the same source, because this made me giggle: The Water Bottle Problem. Mostly recced for love of the codicil: Did a post about a water bottle in the background really just get more than 1000 notes in under three hours? Oh, fandom. Never change.


The Story of Ravelympics The Ravelry Games, with links
Let me 'splain. No, is too much. Let me sum up, in a highly colloquial hypothetical conversation.

US OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: My lawyers have just discovered you gave away a pin called "Ravelympics".
RAVELRY (an international community for knitters and crocheters): Not anymore, you asked us not to.
USOC: Yeah, only now we've taken a really good look at your site and we're about to put our bitch boots on.
RAV: WTF? We took the pin down.
USOC: Three times now you've had this thing called Ravelympics and it coincides with the Olympics.
RAV: That would be the point, yes.
USOC: TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT, TRIPLED!
RAV: Or at least squared; this is the second time we've dealt with you. Mind you, that there is a second time ought to be a hint that someone has a poker lodged somewhere inappropriate.
USOC: Thou Shalt Knock It The Hell Off.
RAV: Ravelry Games? Will you get heartburn over Ravelry Games.
USOC: We'd like to, but our lawyer says we can't copyright that. Also, remove all these patterns with rings on them.
RAV: Okay, we'll remove trademark infringement patterns, but you do realize that at least one of those isn't a pattern, it's someone just posting a picture of something they did?
USOC: Don't care. It goes. We will protect our copyright and the dignity of our games. Your whole concept is denigrating to the games and disrespectful of the athletes.
RAVELRY: YOU SAID WHAT NOW? OH IT! IS! FUCKING! ON!
USOC: WOW, there are a shitload of people pissed at us. Let's issue an apology. It was standard boilerplate, honest! Send us knitted stuff? That would be cool?
RAVELRY: "Denigrate" is in all your C&D letters? NOT. FUCKING. GOOD. ENOUGH. APOLOGY.
USOC: Whoa, fuck, you're still piling on. We have to protect our trademark, but yeah, bad wording. Really really bad wording. Really really not what you're all about. Honestly, we're sorry. Please don't hurt us with all those pointy sticks

I think I'm going to learn doubleknitting for my entry this year. A small project, but an educational one.

Oh, and because all things are better with Matt being a dork around the world, Where the Hell is Matt has a new video.

Comments

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

I read the transcript of Curly's speech on tumblr - I actually teared up! XD

And the first I heard about knitting-gate was here (http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/9768277.html) @ontd_political. You have to love the back-pedaling! XD

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Everyone understands the need to defend trademarks, but there are ways of doing it that don't say "I'm a giant dick" y'know?

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

Have they managed to formulate a convincing apology yet? XD

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Haven't gone back to check if there's been a third try or not.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many of the new fans will stay in scions and etc. I have no doubt you will, since this is a once and future fandom, but many people have gotten used to being fannish butterflies, and following their fancies. (I had lunch yesterday with a friend who was in Sherlock fandom at the very beginning and we were talking about this. OTOH, two of my New York Nineteenth Century Society buddies were talking about their plans to go to the revivified Priory Scholars meeting and I did find myself going "oooh, tell me how it is!")

I remember years ago being at a Sherlockian event in Buffalo, thinking about getting involved again, and a woman dramatically going on about *hating* Jeremy Brett's . . . hair? and the expression in his eyes. . . and sloping off in extreme "so not getting into this conversation"ness. (I was already making plans to move back to NYC anyway . . . but she did scare me off a bit.) Er, which just reminds me of your "hates all film adaptations" guy. Presumably there's one in every crowd.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many of the new fans will stay in scions and etc.

God knows. A fraction, just as some of the people in Sherlock fandom now will wander off to coo over the next shiny fandom. But some will stay in Sherlock and some will straddle Sherlock and more traditional Holmes fandom.

Presumably there's one in every crowd.
Unfortunately, yes. I've already had the "You know, *I* would rather read good fanfic of Sherlock than bad pastiche of canon" conversation with someone. Not, fortunately, a member of WTB.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

Sherlockians vary, but many can be quite accepting of variations of their hero and enthusiasts thereof. When I was heavily into Sherlockdom, the internet was still fairly new, and some of the older S'ians weren't sure about it, but I assume most of them have come over by now. You'll still run into a few with strong opinions about various adaptations-- some may hate Brett, others may like him but can't stand the steampunk movies, and so forth.

Thanks for the link to the new video of Matt dancing-- those videos make me smile and help restore a bit of faith in humans (as long as I don't think about their carbon footprint from all that plane travel).

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I hear tell Hounds of the Internet is still running. I'm tempted, although the heat is mostly on twitter and tumblr these days, and I already spend too much time online!

[fyrdrakken]

The Curly's speech transcript is an empty link.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

WHoops! Fixing the OP now, but http://shaddicted.tumblr.com/post/24869411892/bakerstreetbabes-at-a-scintillation-of-scions

[fandance.livejournal.com]

neadods, you sure do give me a look through the keyhole to many realms beyond the one I tend to hang out in most of the time. I really enjoyed this post, especially what you had to say about the Sherlock community being able to adapt and grow (the key to survival and thriving) - that just made me smile. And then the summary of the interchange between the USOC and RAV? Priceless!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

:)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

The Olympic committee(s) really need to look at their TM policies because it is really ridiculous