Holidaze

US news is a dumpster fire lately, and it depresses me. But at least there's some good news in France, because Gisele Pelicot's husband (and her other rapists) were found guilty. This horrific case hasn't been reported in America at all, but Gisele Pelicot waived her right to anonymity to make the trial more public and shame the rapists. I hope more women in the world get more wins, even though America's women are in dire straits now.

Meanwhile, Amazon union workers are on strike. Good luck to them!

In lighter news, I've been finding out about various Sherlock Holmes stuff since I've been on Bluesky. There's a new holiday play called "A Sherlock Carol" which melds Holmes with Dicken's Christmas Carol. I'd like to see it, but it appears to be playing in London and some other places in the US, but not near me in DFW. Maybe in the future it will come to Dallas.

Also there's a weekly podcast called "Sherlock & Co" which seems to be a modern-day adaptation of Watson's stories. I don't normally listen to podcasts, but I did like Bert Coules's BBC radio dramas of Holmes. I'll have to see if I can find time to download and listen to the podcasts. I hope they do Speckled Band.

I've been thinking of watching the Wicked movie since so many people like the songs, but then I think, why is everyone praising Glinda when she's bad and on the opposite side of her friend? I don't get the love for a "friendship" that sounds so toxic. More like frenemies.

Ugliness of War

The second episode of Holmes vs Doyle covered The Hound of the Baskervilles and the George Edalji case. Also, in discussing the Boer War, Lucy Worsley correctly pointed out that Doyle is pro-imperialism, and that he blamed the war crimes on the Boers' guerilla warfare, thereby "forcing" the British to go scorched-earth in retaliation. It's exactly how Israel justifies genocide because of October 7th, nevermind that most people suffering are innocent Gazans, not terrorists.

But back to Doyle. Worsley did finally surprise me with the details about Doyle getting into the fitness regimen of body builder Eugene Sandow. The Sandow expert also explained that British people were race-panicking about how white people need to become strong perfect specimens so that the dark people in their colonies wouldn't overpower them. You'd think that the Brits would at least idolize a fellow Brit, rather than a German just because he was white. Shades of eugenics and white supremacy I guess.

I am glad that Worsley doesn't romanticise Doyle too much. I think I made that mistake when I was a young Sherlockian teen, but now I can see the darkness in Doyle clearly. Yet Worsley is right that Doyle is complicated and contradictory, able to see that Edalji was a victim of racist policing, yet able to write racist characters in his books. Able to write the sympathetic mixed race child in the "Yellow Face" story, yet at the same time writing Steve Dixie in "The Three Gables." Sometimes on the right side of history and sometimes on the wrong side. That's Doyle all right.

Quiz Lady

Recently, Disney+ began giving access to select Hulu shows and movies; I'm not signed up for any bundle with Hulu. So I was able to watch the Awkafina/Sandra Oh movie Quiz Lady that came out last year. It's a funny but also touching tale about two sisters needing cash to save their kidnapped dog Mr. Linguini. The dog was kidnapped because their gambling addict mother owed $80,000 to a loan shark. So the timid Anne needs to go on the Quiz show to win the money. From the trailer, I was expecting that the free spirit sister Jenny would be lazy, selfish, and callous toward her straight-laced sister Anne, but it wasn't like that at all. She genuinely cares about Anne, and when the dog is kidnapped, her first instinct is outrage at their mother for running off, and Jenny calls their mother trying to demand payment of the ransom. "I'm not going to let her ruin your life," she says. So that was a pleasant surprise even if Jenny does manipulate her sister regarding the Quiz show, because she wants to be a life coach.

There are also cute surprises, like Tony Hale as a Ben Franklin impersonator, and the loan shark loving dogs. Holland Taylor plays a cranky neighbor, but isn't used very well in the plot, in my opinion. Will Ferrell as the game show host was sincere, not annoying or over the top. It was enjoyable fun.

I also watched the first episode of Reservation Dogs on Disney+ (it was originally an FX show I think), but I'm not sure I want to see more of the gang warfare plot. I don't know why they named one character after Elora Danon on Willow, either.

Holmes Vs Doyle

I love Lucy Worsley, so I've been looking forward to her 3-part series on Sherlock Holmes and Doyle ever since they announced it a year ago. It apparently was called Killing Sherlock in the UK and already aired there months ago. PBS is just now airing the show in December. The first episode was okay, but so far I haven't seen Worsley reveal any secret or new discovery that I didn't already know. I suppose people who are more casual Holmes fans, who never read a biography of ACD or a Sherlockian book, would be more easy to impress with these facts. I know I was surprised last year when Worsley's series on Agatha Christie talked about her childhood fears.

I was hoping that my PBS Passport would allow me to watch all 3 episodes at once, (because they've allowed that with other shows on their streaming platform), but nope, it's just 1 episode at a time, along with a few preview clips from the later episodes. I did like seeing the Reichenbach Falls and some of the experts that she consults about the stories. I wonder how Worsley will cover Doyle's courtship of Jean Leckie and whether she'll be skeptical about Doyle being faithful to his first wife Touie while she was alive. Many Sherlockians in the early days were willing to believe Doyle and take him at his word. I know she'll probably cover Doyle's Spiritualism and his friendship with Harry Houdini, but I wonder if she'll also cover the Cottlingley Fairies too. We'll see.

Brisk

Wow, Syria collapsed pretty quickly, and Assad fled to Russia. I'm happy for the people who are being freed from prisons, and I hope the new regime will keep promises to be a fair government. Unfortunately Israel is taking advantage by expanding their war(s) again. Fuck Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, on youtube, I found the Season 7 episode of Fake or Fortune, a BBC art investigation show. The "Double Whodunit" episode investigates the famous Dido Belle painting, and an equally arresting painting of two Black girls from 1831. They discover the artists behind the paintings as well as discuss the history of Black Britons and the abolition movement. I believe if you're in the UK, you can also watch the episode on the BBC's official Iplayer, but I can't access that in the US. I've mentioned Dido Belle before here, and I've seen the movie based on her life. It's not perfect, but an interesting glimpse into British history. The director is interviewed in that Fake or Fortune episode.

Meanwhile, I'm enduring winter weather in Texas now. It hasn't hit freezing yet, but it's certainly chilly out.

Mediterranean recipe

I made a pastilla last night, because I needed to use up a bunch of phyllo dough, and I found a local grocery store that actually had the Ras El Hanout spice. My pie is not as pretty as this one, and I used a glass dish instead of a cast iron skillet. I also replaced the dates and almonds with mushrooms and thyme. My chicken and mushroom filling came out pretty nice, but the darn phyllo dough was so fragile it constantly tore, so I could not make neat folds. I'm lucky that enough held together to lay in the pie dish and fold over the filling. No more of this phyllo dough. Need to use puff pastry or the like.

Also I've watched the new trailer for CBS's Watson, and it really does look like a rehash of House M.D. It's created by Craig Sweeny of Elementary, and the Wiki at least shows some character names from Doyle's books. I'll have to see if I like the show or if he'll do a shitty turn like making Irene Adler into Moriarty again. I do like Morris Chestnut though, and the show may surprise like Kathy Bates's Matlock. We'll see in January I guess.

Oh I also found a useful app for shopping called Goods Unite Us. It tells you the political contributions of various brands/companies, so you can see percentages of whether they contribute to Democrats or Republicans, or even neither. It helps me choose who I'm boycotting, though I also have other issues like boycotting Israel and palm oil. This is super helpful.

Post-Thanksgiving

Now it's finally December, and Texas has been having chilly weather lately, getting near freezing at night. At least it's sunny with no snow or ice. Most of this weekend I've been eating chicken tamales, as well as a pumpkin pie, a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal to say the least. I've also been eating out at Asian restaurants with my sisters.

Meanwhile I found a Sherlockian Starter Pack on Bluesky to follow. I recognize some of the names of the Sherlockians who were on Hounds of the Internet in the old days, but there are some new names since I moved on to other fandoms. I do occasionally look back at my old Holmes fanfic but have not had time for much writing in any fandom lately. Real life is so stressful.

I barely have time to read. I even lost my Nook Glowlight Plus somewhere and finally had to get it remotely wiped so that nobody can extract my payment method off that device. It was nearly 10 years old, so I guess it's high time to buy a new one. But when I went to the store, the current devices looked so small. There was also a rumor that a color e-ink Nook would come out, but I guess it was wrong. I'm not sure I can afford to buy a new one right now; I can't even upgrade my iPhone at present either. I do have other Nook tablets I can use, but they aren't e-ink, so are harder on the eyes.