Disappointed

I found out this weekend that Hugh Jackman is conservative and apparently friends with Rupert Murdoch. The only bad rumors I heard about him previously were concerning him divorcing his wife for an actress, which I shrugged off as being his personal business. But if people had told me his politics, that would have made me pay attention to them boycotting him. He's apparently been this way for years, but I thought if he had been rightwing, that it would be mentioned all the time, like with the actors Kevin Sorbo and Kirk Cameron.

This sours me on The Sheep Detectives, but at least that's an ensemble film. If it ever becomes a franchise with sequels, his character is already dead, so they may focus on the daughter character instead. I guess this was the risk I took watching an Amazon film anyway. Makes me glad that Sam Neill was always so genuine.

Meanwhile it's been difficult to sleep lately due to the Texas heat. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. All this week will be in the 100s too, and my hot flashes make it worse. At my office I'm hot and cold constantly. I guess I should be glad I'm not near any of the Canadian or European fires.

Chronology part 18

Chronology of these short stories.

• DANC - July to August, 1898
• RETI - summer 1898, there is now a telephone installed at 221B

DANC was published in December 1903, and most Sherlockians agree that the case took place in July 1898. It also features the stick-figure cipher which Holmes solves with his cryptography skills. This story needs the hand-drawn images, so it loses something in audio-only adaptations.

Love and Community

So the FIFA World Cup is over now. I didn't watch any games, but apparently the final game was in a New Jersey stadium and had a halftime show. People said the Muppets were there, so I found a YouTube link afterward. Nice use of the Electric Mayhem band, and then starting at 10 minutes, there were Muppets and Sesame Street Muppets among the children singing about love. That's nice. Somewhat rushed and more like a cameo, with no dialogue.

I'm also glad that Trump got booed. He's always trying to steal glory for himself, while at the same time pretending he's so in danger that he needs the stupid ballroom bunker.

Congratulations to Spain, though I still don't care about sports. For the fans I guess it was a bit of joy, community, and fun to relieve the darkness. An escape from war and terror and pestilence.

Meanwhile, the big Odyssey movie came out this weekend. I don't care for Nolan's non-linear storytellling, so I didn't see it. But I'm glad that it did well at the box office. All the racists complaining about Lupita as Helen of Troy are so stupid and out of touch. Meanwhile, Sam Neill died, so I'm gonna try to watch all my favorite movies of his.

Professor and Colonel, chapter 2

So here's part 2 of the story. This part is more sketchy and not fully fleshed out; it's more like an outline, in present tense, with incomplete sentences and scenes. I have story ideas all the time, but not enough time to execute them. If I did write out the whole thing, it might develop and expand to many chapters rather than one. There are references to canon stories like VALL, DYIN, FINA, EMPT, and MAZA.

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Story: chapter 2 of The Professor and the Colonel
Pairing: Moriarty/Moran, Holmes/Watson
Warnings: slash, internalized homophobia, asexual Holmes, depression and suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide

The Professor and the Colonel

Forgive an indulgence. I just remembered this sketch/story I wrote in 2011. It was a plot bunny on the Holmesslash mailing list, inspired by Chapter 2 of Valley of Fear, when Holmes speaks of breaking into Moriarty's office "with the most unexpected results." In fact, maybe I should call it "Unexpected Results" instead, since only the first chapter is about Moriarty and Moran? Sorry that I keep changing present tense to past tense and vice versa. It would take time for me to fully clean it up. I'll post the second chapter in a day or two.

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes
Story: chapter 1 of The Professor and the Colonel
Pairing: Moriarty/Moran, Holmes/Watson
Warnings: slash, internalized homophobia, gay sex not described explicitly

Chronology part 17

Chronology of these short stories.

• CHAS - January 4-14, 1898
• SOLI - April 23, 1898. I changed the year from 1895, so that the date is actually Saturday, and the case doesn't conflict with 3STU

First published in March 1904, CHAS features the master blackmailer Charles Augustus Milverton, whose visiting card only vaguely calls him an "Agent." Watson says it has been "years since" this case happened and that someone concerned, probably the murderous woman, is now "beyond reach of human law" i.e. dead. Watson tells us he will conceal the date "or any other fact" that could give someone a clue.