Creature of Mad Enthusiasms

I've barely started reading through today's LJ & FB and I see that the Phil Shreffler v Baker Street Babes thing has flamed back into life... flame being the operative word. Apparently, he and his supporters thought the BSB were doing something shady by releasing only one badly OCR-scanned page of his two page rant. So today they released page 2. Retyped.

Second verse, same as the first.

With the minor change that it becomes even clearer that PS's P.S. is that he's just as mad at the current people running the BSI for letting in the riffraff as he is for the riffraff being taken seriously without paying the dues HE was man enough to pay! Plus, the BSI is doing too many things and has too many scions when everyone knows that the true heart of the fandom was in exclusive dinners for a handful of carefully picked people -- back in the day when the BSI was so important that the NY Times covered the dinner.

Out in the real world, the Babes have gained 500 new followers on Facebook alone; Lyndsay Faye has taken great delight in engaging in the battle of wits Mr. Shiffler is nowhere near equipped to fight; the Babes' event was a recognized part of the BSI Weekend; the BSJ hasn't retracted the editorial welcoming Ritchie and BBC fans *and* has been printing articles and art from said fand; I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has just advertised both 221BCon; and a founding member of ASH was showing off her BBC Sherlock locket at the Mycroft.

His whole attitude hasn't been refuted so much as run over.

Still, just because this nonsense keeps continuing, here. Have a gratuitous picture of Sherlock the cat.

I've had Elementary stuck in my head for the last couple of days, and not in the ZOMG!WTF? sense. A couple of weeks ago, the show did something I never expected to see - a plot that can not only arguably, but easily be tracked back to Doyle canon.

Moreover, it's canon that Sherlock hasn't referenced and which I rather confidently expected it to next season. The Problem of Thor Bridge may not have the keywords that Moffat and Gatiss have teased us with, but the concept of a love triangle involving an employee and framing a romantic rival for a crime are general enough to be used in a wide variety of applications.

But Elementary got there first. After Moffat making "sue" noises at CBS, will CBS return the favor if Sherlock uses the Thor Bridge framework? And is Elementary planning on doing other canon that Sherlock hasn't yet covered? Technically, isn't even canon that Sherlock has covered fair game?

That's where Elementary's hewing to the original inspiration. But the other thing stuck in my head is the way that Elementary is not only not hewing to canon but breaking entirely new ground. Canon, and Sherlock, made a large subplot about the friendship between two unexpectedly compatible men.

The relationship between Sherlock and Joan in Elementary, as I've bitched often, is about employment. They didn't randomly find each other; she was hired. For a few episodes I got a flicker that maybe Joan would find satisfaction and fascination in Sherlock's job while Sherlock would find that Joan was a friend who didn't need to be paid to like him, and that was how the most famous friendship in literature would be established.

But as the season progresses, only half of that is coming true. Over the course of several episodes Sherlock has started making gestures that show that he's growing to not just tolerate, but like Joan. On the other hand, there's no reciprocation from her. She doesn't seem to enjoy his work, she's said she looks forward to not doing it with him anymore, and she's making quite a few noises along the lines of "disengage, I'm movin' on."

And I've got no idea where they're planning on going with that.

Ordinarily I'd split the links into "Sherlock" and "Not Sherlock" but... I gotta lotta links and WTF, I want to start the upcoming week with a clean linkdump slate. So click your fancy out of the list below.

Above the cut for awesomeness (I'd give credit to an LJ name, but I think you're off LJ? Correct me if wrong.) Anyway, a very cool person has links for online classes.
A Lifetime of Learning At Your Fingertips | Personal Parlance
http://www.personalparlance.com/lifetime-of-learning/

Where to Get the Best Free Education Online
http://lifehacker.com/5615716/where-to-get-the-best-free-education-online

( Links for Sherlock )

Although this is technically an Elementary post, it's above the cut because it's more Holmesverse than anything. "Exactly how much can you change of Sherlock’s world before your programme is nothing more than a crime drama that features someone by the name of Sherlock Holmes?"
http://alistaird221b.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-much-can-you-deduct-from-sherlock.html

( Links for Elementary (no spoilers) )

( Humor for Knitters/yarn folk )

( Links on Depression )

( Links for Foodies (wine salt rub) )

Remember how I said that I hoped the horrible trip to North Carolina wasn't a foreshadowing of the trip to Connecticut? Well, on the way to hhertzof's place, I got caught up in
1) traffic delays
2) the Bronx
3) epic rain of Biblical fury

Fortunately, I had duckyone to keep me company, which helped a *lot* to keep me focused and awake.

I haven't been to Gillette Castle since I was tiny, so it was a whole new experience. I don't think the park service markets it very well, though. For one thing, the gift shop was meager and full of tat (Seriously, they were selling a $3 pamphlet that was part of a chapter of a book about Sherlock Holmes that's out of print. WTF?) Nor does the service do much to as outreach to three groups that should be fascinated by Gillette - not just Holmes fans, but train enthusiasts (he was one) and engineers, because the work he put into the castle was just fascinating. Not just the doors with all their various locks, but the trick drinks cabinet, the hidden internal fire-fighting system, and the way of checking the heating tank levels from the third floor. Heck, even I have to go into my basement to check the oil tank!

He was also a crazy cat person. Seriously crazy cat person. He had around 15 living ones at any given time, each of which were belled and all of which were trained to come running to the door for a dinner bell. He'd even designed a living room table with little dangly wooden bits for their plaything. In addition to those, there were stone cats on the crenelations, and statues of every shape, size, material, and, frankly, scariness. (There was one huge white china cat that looked both freaky and freaked out; half of the folks on the tour took pictures of it and it's probably the subject of a dozen tumblr posts by now.)

SherlockNYC had a really respectable gathering for this - about 20 people, with one dropping out due to sickness, but another scooting in to join us for the luncheon afterwards. I am seriously impressed by their ability to pull together events. We gathered a bit confusedly at the visitor's center (the confirmation said "meet at the castle" and we didn't know if that meant meet where you get the tickets or at the actual castle, and it didn't help that the lady selling tickets had never heard of our group.) Some of us were very obvious with Sherlock pins or t-shirts, some wore something fannishly related (there was a great Martin Crieff shirt), and some just figured out that the group of young women must be us. Quite a few of us dressed for tea, with some seriously smashing outfits.

Oh, and while Ducky and I thought that we might be the ones who'd come the furthest, we were scooped by Cindy, who'd come from a state further to join the fun!

About 8 of the group were SherlockNYC movers and shakers, and they got us corralled together, sorted out the tickets, and herded us up to the castle. Once there, it was a self-guided tour, so we more or less started splitting up again. Herding fans is, after all, just like herding cats. Only you can't shake a treat can to bring us running.

After a good long while running through the castle, we ended up regrouping outside in a little riverside portcullis thing - the temperature wasn't too bad if you were in the shade, and it was pleasant there. Then it was off to Gelston House, a restaurant down by the water right next to an absolutely stunning late 1800s opera house.

There was a mismatch between the number of people and the entrees ordered, and I'd long since forgotten what the heck it was I'd ordered in the first place. But I cannot repeat how absolutely put together this group is, because Audry whipped out her smart phone, dialed up the records, and sorted it all out promptly.

Lunch conversation ranged all over, from the scion societies through audio to the general wonderfulness of Benedict Cumberbatch. It was good, I think, to have Cindy and I there to wave the scion society flag -- all that's *really* needed for cross-pollination is for more of us to show up at Sherlock stuff the way the new Sherlock fans are showing up at older Holmesian events. Cindy's Red Circle of DC and I'm Watson's Tin Box - both of 'em out of the area, but also a way of showing how we aren't all, well, as ritual-oriented (or expensive) as the BSI. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that SherlockNYC has every right to consider itself a scion - it's already more active than some!

Afterward was a reading of Ken Ludwig's "Postmortem." Not having bothered to click the link before going, I assumed that this was some Sherlock fic, possibly written by a SherlockNYC member. Turns out it's a two-act murder mystery play about William Gillette, set in the castle. (It was, in other words, RPF!) Parts had been shuffled around - at one point one of the actresses was speaking to herself - and parts were sunk into to the point I think anyone who went is going to get the giggles for a long time if they heara thick New York accent calling "BAHW-bee!"

Shoutouts to brewsternorth, laughingacademy, and raxhel, who were at my half of the table along with hhertzof, and duckyone Good to see you again/meet you!

And now I have to go see what two days of being offline hath wrought.

Oh, and due to popular request - Malice, Tin Box, and now SherlockNYC, at some point by the end of the week (tonight if I have energy, but no promises after all that driving) I'm going to make a master post of all the Sherlock Holmes audio out there and where/how to get it.

They should have released the Elementary trailer well before the show precis; while the precis was practically unrecognizable, the trailer shows good faith with the spirit of the canon & characters, if not the text. Watson, to my great relief, has teeth and an outside life; from the writeup, she sounded like she was being set up to be pushed around by both Sherlock and his unnamed father while being a damsel in distress for hosing up her previous career. There wouldn't be much of an upside in having a female Watson if she was just going to be set up for a hat trick of gender!fail: Woman must nurture! Woman must support man! Woman is pawn in man's game!

I should have had more faith in Lucy Liu and her usual career choices.

Also, I'm granting an awful lot of points for the Google comment.

This post is essentially top-posting some things I said to prof_pangaea and penguineggs in the previous one, so if you followed the comments there, this isn't news.

If you've put that post plus comments in previous posts together, it's really not news. But I wanted to better refine my reaction to the full setup to Elementary.

First, I wish the producers had taken one of two routes:

1) More Canon. Aside from the names, there is nothing recognizable there. There is *plenty* of canon out of copyright; more than Sherlock is going to be able to use on such short seasons in a sporadic series for years, and plenty of ways of reinterpreting what they have used - just *how often* has Irene Adler been reinterpreted all these years? Can anyone even count that high? Not to mention how often Holmes himself has been dusted off/unthawed/resurrected/recreated etc.

Either that, or what they seem to have wanted to actually do, which is:

2) No canon. Create a new series that incorporates elements of Holmesiana but is entirely its own thing. Psych. House. Both based on Sherlock Holmes, especially the latter, but both intended from the start to incorporate certain dynamics without weighting the characters down with certain expectations. If the producers wanted to ride Sherlock's bespoke coattails that much, they could have gone for unique characters with a trope for mentioning/emulating/fanboying Sherlock Holmes. (See the books No Police Like Holmes or Holmes on the Range.)

Tongue cannot tell how much I'm beginning to wish they'd done the latter. Especially as Elementary goes on to stomp straight on one of my biggest squicks in canon. Remember my disclaimer a couple of fic recs ago? About the one thing I never read and judged hard?

Oh, Elementary isn't going directly into using slavery as a concept. But they've gone about as far as they can in unbalancing the power dynamic between Holmes and Watson. Watson doesn't find Holmes on her own, befriend him on her own terms, and become his companion, she's hired to become part of his life, paid to look after his health, and judged on her eligibility for same by a third party. She may become his partner, but she *cannot truly be his friend!* Not when her primary relationship to him is economic, not emotional. Not when she presumably couldn't leave because she needs the money.

Oh, the original Watson may have met Holmes out of economics, but there is a world of power difference between wanting someone to help with the rent and being hired to look after him.

And Holmes, on his part, hasn't serendipitously stumbled over the one person in the world who is (in the delightful phrase used in a fic) "cracked in compatible ways." He has been fiat presented with a jailor, one he might learn to trust and even like, but someone who is still there because of a paycheck and an ideal, not because he wants her there. Someone who stays presumably just as much for need of money than as for love of him.

And even if he grows to love and depend on her, she's a pink slip away from being taken away from him anyway.

Both characters have been stripped of basic freedom of association.

And that squicks the everlivin' hell out of me, that one of the greatest friendships in literature has been turned into buy and hire.

Elementary continues to point out that they Really Aren't Redoing Sherlock by casting someone as Inspector Gregson instead of Inspector Lestrade.

From A Study in Scarlet: "Gregson is the smartest of the Scotland Yarders," my friend remarked; "he and Lestrade are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and energetic, but conventional—shockingly so. They have their knives into one another, too. They are as jealous as a pair of professional beauties.

Gregson may be smarter, but in the long run, Lestrade had more staying power in both the canon and the public mind; Gregson fades away to the point that in Sherlock he's little more than the probable reason behind DI Lestrade's never-canonically-given first name.

With apologies to Austen, for what do we live but to make sport for our fellow fans and laugh at them in our turn? In the last two days, I’ve gone from being lukewarm about the concept of Elementary (CBS’ take on modern Holmes) to being 100% enthused about its premiere. Not because I’m expecting it to be brilliant, but because Holmes fandom – the Sherlock fringe in particular – is already being so entertaining in its indignation, and I’m expecting the schadenfanfreude to just get better over time like wine.

The break point was a blog I read last night. At first it annoyed the snot out of me because it was one of those “there is only one possible right way to think about this, which is the way I think about it, so I will handwave without logical rebuttal any arguments against me and try to humiliate the person making them.” And we all know how well I take the idea of someone issuing me an opinion. But then I realized two things. First: in order to rebut, the person had to quote the original argument, which was pretty strong even with a thick layer of disdain coated on top. Second: once I cooled down, I simply had to be amused by a counter argument that boiled down to “America hoses up adaptations of British media and it already has several popular modern-era TV shows about very observant men.” Both halves of that argument are correct, but you’ve got to admit that mating them into the single concept, “America can’t get it right, so it shouldn’t try and besides, America has already done it right more than once so it shouldn’t try” is impressive contortionism.

The speculation and even newspaper articles are hilarious in a “seriously, do you know NOTHING about show business?” way. I’m strongly reminded of when Freema Agyeman didn’t sign on for Torchwood: Children of Earth and some unnamed BBC minion was quoted as saying that “scripts are being thrown into shredders” several months before the first script would have been finished, much less printed. Yes, I’m sure that Moffat and Gatiss are watching this with a wary eye and if CBS steals one of their original ideas - Molly, Sally, Sarah, Anderson, Sherlock’s deductions rolling in text onscreen, etc. – then they can *and should* sue.

Does nobody realize that the execs at CBS already know this? Just as they already know that the names Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John H Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade, etc. are out of copyright and the concept of text messaging is not even copyrightable, nor are New York City, forensics, crime detection, and the modern era. There is plenty they can do without having to pay a royalty to Moffat and Gatiss, just as there is plenty they can do without paying royalties to the creators of House, Psych, CSI, Law and Order, etc.

Which leads to the next “you’re kidding me” argument: That Elementary will reduce the audience for Sherlock. Because there are so few TV viewers in America, and they totally won’t watch more than one show that is relevant to their interests. For that argument to work, we’d still only have three networks and they’d only show one crime drama, one sitcom, one medical drama, and one documentary. Ever. And Nielsen knows that now would be a horrible time to launch a new detective/forensics show, it’s not like CSI and NCIS have been trading off top of the ratings for *years* or anything like that.

(And by the way? When CBS came up with NCIS, everyone just KNEW it was a cheap knockoff of CSI and it would never last even if it wasn’t sued out of existence after the first episode. It's not at all like CBS has already danced this waltz or wants to capitalize on its current strengths, I’m just sayin’.)

But to be honest, to be really honest, the reason I want Elementary to premiere is that if people are going to go this nuts this early, then from the very bottom of my black heart I am looking forward to making popcorn and watching the Sherlock fringe of Holmes fandom to have canon!fail conniptions. “OMG! Inspector Gregson is so a ripoff of Lestrade’s first name!” “They totally stole the idea of a cabbie with an aneurism from Study in Pink!” “I can’t believe they even swiped the bit about Sherlock not knowing about the solar system!”