Hope you all are having a lovely day today, whatever this day means to you (or doesn’t). Consider this an open thread, to discuss whatever, from presents to politics to cats to whatever holiday stress you might be feeling.
And here’s some stuff I found on the Twitter.
— David, who is hanging in there
Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄🎅 pic.twitter.com/YfyTsQ95de
— Maggie Serota (@maggieserota) December 25, 2017
At this time of year, take a few moments to remember who Christmas is truly about… pic.twitter.com/TQ9tSP5EED
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) December 24, 2017
I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. I needed this. pic.twitter.com/2aQFpugdis
— deray (@deray) December 7, 2017
Brian Eno, Paris, 1973 (with Christmas 2017 augmentation) pic.twitter.com/hRwMDTOUKv
— Brian Eno News (@dark_shark) December 25, 2017
“Fun” pic.twitter.com/tsAdsZeez8
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 24, 2017
#MerryChristmas 🎄🤶🏻 pic.twitter.com/IahMZhf5gc
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) December 25, 2017
Same. pic.twitter.com/kcNPdrLy6R
— Adrenalin (@adrenalindenver) May 24, 2017
🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅
All of a sudden …
🐾🐾🐾🐾 pic.twitter.com/fza8NZioI0
— The Cult Cat (@Elverojaguar) December 25, 2017
Human: My cat has an easy life
Me: pic.twitter.com/e8kvlVhUdR— Curious Zelda (@CuriousZelda) December 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/awwcuteness/status/945193410662682624
Having rewatched the Brett versions fairly recently, I’d also note that his Holmes is frequently brusque with people of his own social class or higher, but is generally pretty polite to any servants or working-class people he questions during the course of a case (unless he’s undercover as one, and too much politeness would give him away.)
I can also recommend the BBC radio adaptations with Clive Merrison and Michael Williams.
@Alan ? I love the IT Crowd! that is some thing my brother (and me!) loves which is much much better than Sherlock ?
I’ve only seen Dany Dyers movies – but actually I like them. they are fun. they have some energy, little bit like first pirates of the Caribbean. and I like the soundtrack for this too.
@Shadowplay
sadly, YouTube is blocked on my vessel, and internet is too slow anyway. but I will try and remember!
i went to London before with my mum and we visited 221b Backer Street – because Madame tussaudes is too busy – I bought ‘a study in Scarlett’. and I still didn’t read it (almost 8 years later! ?)
Judge today dismissed Assange’s application to have his arrest warrant set aside.
@Alan
I’m having a rather frustrating workday, so hearing that Assange was denied the pony he was pouting for gives me a really warm feeling.
You never, never move the cat.
Speaking of which, my little Sassy girl has gone into heat. I kept putting off calling the vet to have her spayed. I finally called, and the soonest appointment available is March 14. Oh well, there’ll be lots of affection and rolling around from her.
… at my workplace, there’s an older silver Honda in the parking lot, had been in the same spot for, I guess a couple of months…. I thought it was abandoned, as whenever I come in (often very early) or leave, (often very late), it was there… even on weekends… even on Sunday night….
Nope. Belongs to one of the I.T. group. I.T. here is really a high-end data protection systems developer group run by the children of the couple who own the company I work for… handy, as they’re on the other side of the office… and they’re very good! The code pounder who owns the Honda drives it home daily… at least on the days when they GO home….
O_o
@Alan, @moon_custafer
Yes, Brett was really really good as Holmes, and certainly well worth watching (the production quality is also a lot better), so I’d encourage watching him!
I just like the Rathbone ones better, personally. Partly because he gives Holmes just the right amount of coldness for the character, partly because Watson is actually treated correctly – a soldier, skilled doctor, and a decent person rather than a bumbling fool and foil, and partially because black and white suits the ambiance better. Of course, him being my earliest exposure to Holmes might have a little to do with it! 😛
@Valentin
I’ll try to remember to remind you. 🙂 You’re on return leg now, I think?
I have one month remaining before i go home. not really ‘return leg’. this schedule just 3 week round trip, again and again.
🙁 Sounds less than fun. Always nice to get home though. 🙂
Was it you that posted the video of 30 days timelapse at sea? I watch that weekly – it is so tranquil 🙂
no I didn’t and I didn’t seen that one. there is one Russian guy on YouTube who posted timelapse sea and drone footage which is nice to watch. I’ll share if i have a opportunity.
Moggie:
Eventually, someone will open a libertarian themed game restaurant named “Galt’s Gulls”. Prices up to negotiation based on how hungry you are and how much cooking you think your bird needs.
Mish, re cat paralysis photo:
I knew the Southern Hemisphere is topsy turvy – but having your legs between pussy?
@Moon_custafer
That’s interesting, isn’t it? I think if there’s one element of Holmes where his brusqueness comes out, it’s with the airs and pretension of the upper classes, particularly when it comes to avoiding embarrassment when lives are on the line. For example, Holmes is confrontational with the Duke of Holdernesse in The Priory School when he seems evasive regarding his own son’s disappearance. Yet when he speaks with Lord Holdhurst in The Naval Treaty, Holdhurst speaks honestly and forthrightly about the consequences of the Treaty getting out, and Holmes is deferential to the valuable time of a government official.
If the Brett Holmes episodes have any weakness, it’s in the padding of some of the feature-length episodes. And opinions differ as to who was the better Watson, David Burke or Edward Hardwicke, but I really found Burke to be far too befuddled in the role, as Hardwicke brought the right amount of experience and the educated eye, but you could tell he simply lacked Holmes’ attention to detail and encyclopedic knowledge. His only drawback was that he looked a bit too old for that role.
But in terms of production values, Granada brought their A-game. And Charles Gray’s two turns as Mycroft Holmes are particularly amusing. 😀
Nothing related to any recent discussions, but popping this here:
Day One – Sunshine – spot against abuse in romantic relationships. Directed by Guilherme Marcondes & Lobo studio.
Sorry for DP, had a sudden thought. The vid at the link I just posted is animated, and in a fairly non-realistic style.
@Shadowplay: Which universe did the Basil Rathbone films you watched come from? From what I’ve seen, Nigel Bruce was the embodiment of the dopey Watson that Kate Beaton sent up so nicely here.
That said, Rathbone was pretty much the Sidney Piaget illos of Holmes brought to life, so there’s that.
@Mish
People?! No, fiends — to hear my cats tell it.
@Shadowplay
Amazing, heartbreaking video.
Here’s what I learned, the hard way, and what the video confirmed: The victimizer and the victim are in a relationship for different reasons. The victim wants emotional intimacy. The victimizer wants power over the victim. Of course, the victimizer usually has to hide this drive for power at the beginning of the relationship. This entire scenario really messes with the victim’s mind.
Thanks for posting that link.
@Arctic Ape
“I knew the Southern Hemisphere is topsy turvy – but having your legs between pussy?”
Guess so. Mostly, I’m wondering why I have spent the entire day with this strange desire to make lesbian sex jokes? *scratches head wanders off*
@Moggie:
Yes, I am well aware of what ‘Feuer’ means. (Three years of German in high school; while I have German ancestry, that’s far enough back that they were actually Palatines.)
@Katamount:
I’ve been called up for jury duty four times. The first two times involved staying in the court house for a week while they saw what cases came up; the second two times were just called up for a single specific case. The first case I ended up going in for was actually a small civil case, the lawyers each got to reject up to (I think) five people, no questions asked. Quick selection. Two others were murder cases, where we got asked if we felt we could judge the case without bias; lots more people to go through, lots more filtering. (In one of them one of the people pointed out that he lived within a block of the crime scene and had personally known the victim’s family. Needless to say, he was free to leave.)
I’ve never actually served on a jury, though the third time I was called up, the story the judge told us was interesting, and rather appropriate to this site…
Basically, the jury panel had been called in for a murder case that fell under the Young Offenders Act, and both the prosecuting and defense attorneys agreed to move it to judge alone the morning the selection was to start, so we weren’t actually needed. But it was too late to tell us not to come in. We showed up, got told things were happening, and to wait there. Then we got told to get lunch and come back. Then we got told that we were free to go, but if we wanted to stay a few more minutes the judge would explain what had been happening.
Turns out this second judge had nothing to do with the case we were originally called in for. He was the judge for another case which had been off and on for years. Started as a sexual harassment case, then a stalking case of the guy against his now ex-girlfriend… by the time we were there, there were some twenty charges on this guy’s sheet, including multiple ‘contempt of court’ charges for him disobeying restraining orders.
The guy’s two previous lawyers had quit, refusing to work with him anymore. He refused to work with his court-appointed lawyer. He was representing himself… and he was a disbarred lawyer. (Which was when a lot of us groaned, because nobody would know how to mess up a court case better than a self-interested lawyer, no judge would ever want to have to deal with that, and, well, disbarring a lawyer is not something done easily.) This guy sounded like entitlement city.
So basically this second judge had asked the bailiff to keep us around for a bit so he could go down to where the plea bargain discussion was going on, pop his head in, and say, “You know, if you really don’t want to take the deal, I’ve got a jury panel sitting in the courtroom upstairs not doing anything, we could start this right now.”
(The guy took the plea bargain.)
A Palin is in the news again!
Dakota Meyer Has Reportedly Filed for Divorce From Bristol Palin
https://jezebel.com/dakota-meyer-has-reportedly-filed-for-divorce-from-bris-1822980645
*pokes their head in*
FYI, there’s cute new pics at DidiCarisma’s twitter account, including videos. More to come, as the kitten is now toddling all over the place.
Personal: I have a new CT/MRI coming up on 19th, plus other controls, so the docs can decide if I am likely to recover as it should go, or if I am destined to develop more strokes and go down that way. Let’s put it this way, I’m not too gloomy to say so, since my maternal side uncle went this way and I witnessed my father-in-law’s decline post-accident incident; a hemorrhage that kept developing more and more… and it did not go well. And I’m having some issues with the meds I’ve been taking. We’ll see! But hopefully it’ll be good news and new meds, maybe.
skiriki – you are really brave! I hope it is good news ?
Re Martin Freeman, disappointed but yet again not surprised.
I’ve never seen him play anything but a decent bloke (OK, Arthur Dent was a bit of a prick and he didn’t really get that across for me) , and unconsciously the expectation that the actor is the character carries over. Which kicks in my Second Thoughts.
Possibly it’s because he’s shortish, not conventionally attractive, and unglamourous, so he only gets offered sidekick or “humble hero-against-his-will” roles.
Maybe he’s been offered Kaiser Soze “beneath this mundane exterior lurks a hypervillainous mind” roles, and turned them down. Who knows?
He plays nice guys. Or, is it Nice Guys?
Speaking of the expectation that the actor is the character, in Australia recently one of our me-too moments has involved Craig McLachlan. So there’s a certain amount of “Dr Blake wouldn’t do that!! ” going on.
PS skiriki, fingers crossed for you.
@Skiriki
Sending luck vibes your way.
Anyone else following the Oxfam clusterfuck? Whats pissing me off about it is it is far from new – been going on for years, and nothing EVER gets done about it.
I reported a guy for sex predation back in the early 90’s, FFS. Oxfam’s response was … to move him to a different location. Only found that out after I got home (I wasn’t with the Oxfam lot).
Bit of list, sorry.
@Victorious Parasol,
Thank you so much for that – brilliant stuff. I went straight to my favourite online bookstore and ordered 🙂
@Skiriki,
That video of BB playing with Mumma’s tail!!!!!! And pls keep us posted on the medical/health news, if you want <3
@Arctic Ape,
We, um… we do things differently here, ok? And as Alan recently suggested on FB, Australia is actually a fake country. We make our own rules about what goes where.