Monday, February 27, 2012

Lucy Liu cast as Watson

Just saw this news posted. So she'll be opposite Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary. Can we finally stop with the accusations that they're stealing from BBC Sherlock now?

There's more detail on her character (Joan Watson) here. So she's "a former surgeon who lost her license after a patient died, while consulting for the NYPD."

Okay, so she already has a non-romantic storyline presumably--a quest to get her license back--and like Margaret Colin's Jane Watson, she was already trying to solve crimes before Holmes came along. (Margaret Colin was a private detective; Liu's character consulted with the police.) That sounds promising. Let's hope the writing and the show lives up to this potential.

Don't know if they'll do a will-they/won't-they romance as well, but at least someone's thought about her character as more than just Holmes's sidekick. She has motivations of her own.

The Oscars

I didn't watch the Oscars because I have long ago got tired of the rambling, boring shows, and I've never really liked Billy Crystal's schtick in the first place. (I've only enjoyed him in movies like Princess Bride and City Slickers.) Even the appearance by Kermit and Miss Piggy wasn't enough to lure me. But reading over the Oscar results today leaves me pretty disappointed.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Ian Richardson's SIGN

So, my DVD of Richardson's 1985 SIGN movie arrived, and I just watched it. It's a fairly good adaptation, and thankfully there's no domestic violence in it like in their version of HOUN. The movie even borrows a few things from other Holmes films, like the circus from Arthur Wontner's 1932 film.

Thaddeus and Bartholomew Sholto are not twins, and Bartholomew is played by Clive Merrison, who later played Holmes in the BBC Radio series. David Healy plays Watson, possibly because he looks younger (middle-aged) than Richardson's previous Watson, Donald Churchill, and they wanted to make his romance with Mary Morstan more believable.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

A Study in Lavender

Speaking of ebooks, I recently bought A Study in Lavender as an ebook. This is the same book that Tor.com reviewed last year. There is no sexually explicit content in the book, but it explores themes of queer clients, queer victims, or queer canon characters.

Paypal

Paypal is turning into quite the censor lately, not wanting to provide services to websites hosting erotica fiction. (They also cancelled services to the fanfiction site Forever Fandom that I use for some of my stories.)

Their whole argument about erotica being high-risk for people returning it is odd, because surely if the books are correctly categorized and described as having explicit sexual content, then readers ought to be able to buy what they want, and those who are offended wouldn't have to see it? It's really discouraging.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Jonny Lee Miller cast in Elementary

Here's the casting news from Deadline Hollywood. I'm pleased that now there are more people willing to defend the idea of the US show and point out that lots of people have tried updating Holmes before.

But I really don't understand how it's "asking to get sued" to cast Jonny Lee Miller, or why that would be seen as a betrayal. You can't sue over an actor who's not in the show being cast. It's his career, not Benedict's. They can only be sued if they copy the particular look and feel of BBC Sherlock, which they probably won't, being set in New York after all. Ditto if they copy characters like Molly or Sally Donovan, or make Mycroft and Lestrade look and act the same as they do on BBC Sherlock. Still, I don't see anyone suing BBC Sherlock over taking Mycroft's personality from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes movie.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Good news

Yay for Washington state legalizing same-sex marriage this week. The governor is supposed to sign the law soon.

This along with the federal appeals court ruling Prop 8 unconstitutional, is wonderful. Of course opponents will still seek to appeal the ruling, like always. It must be awful having to wait again and again for the question to be settled.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ian Richardson's HOUN

I just watched the 1983 movie starring Ian Richardson as Holmes, Donald Churchill as Watson, and Martin Thaw as Sir Henry. Finally a version of HOUN that actually has a coal black hound that's suitably massive and scary! Even Thaw's American accent wasn't overdone.