Watch this… no, seriously, watch this… no, I mean watch the actual episode.

A new Sherlock Holmes film comes to theatres, and since I hadn’t seen the original of Guy Ritchie’s variant of Sherlock Holmes, I figured time had to come to watch it.

It’s hard not to compare it to Sherlock, the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, but it’s also stupid to resist it. Both are reimaginings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary character, and they’re both completely different in every way. While Sherlock is modernized, Sherlock Holmes are contemporary to the book. Sherlock is about Holmes’ mind, and Sherlock Holmes is an action film.

I cannot dismiss Sherlock Holmes as simply an action film, however. There’s a lot more to the Holmes character than just running around and punching others, as the trailers would have one believe, but the intellect, and resourcefulness of Holmes does not come across to the audience in the film. The audience does see the workings of Holmes’ mind, but it’s never anything that a slightly astute person could conclude on their own.

Whoever thought Ritchie was the person to helm a Sherlock Holmes film, obviously never read the books, and it seems that Ritchie had just finished OAC English, and was eager to show his knowledge of elementary symbolism. Yes, I get it, a crow is there, someone will die.  Wow, a crow representing death, that’s so clever little high school boy.

The special effects are jarring, as the majority of many shots are CGI, and look obviously like CGI. It removes one from the story.

I’ll still go see the sequel, as I’m not paying, apparently, and it’s a communal gathering with friends, but honestly, I look forward to New Years Day when I can watch the new episode of Sherlock.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “man, I could really use some Klingon coffee?” If so, I have the mug for you!

I also reviewed the mug on Amazon.com.

This month I turn 30. To mark such a remarkable event, I’m spending every day of October drenched in awesome-sauce.

As any sane person knows, having multiple Adams in their lives is a blessing, as is having multiple Emilys. I hung out with Emily C. last night. Seeing as I have two concerts coming up in volume 5 and 6, I jumped at the chance of a quiet night in with a friend. After an excruciating long day at work, I drove from Thornhill to Parkdale. That’s a bloody long drive. I wouldn’t want to live in the west-end.

Emily made dinner, a tasty soup, and veggies, and we hung out and talked about boys, and work, and government. Then we hung around and chatted while her roommates popped in and joined the fun from time to time. We started watching The New Girl, the new show starring heart-throb Zooey  Deschanel. It was surprisingly better than I expected, and the eye candy wasn’t bad either.

Katie, who’s celebrating her own #Rocktober, came over, too, and we all hung out and chatted, and it was a nice relaxing and pleasant way to spend a #Rocktober30 evening.

This month (well, officially next month) I turn 30. To mark such a remarkable event, I’m spending every day of October drenched in awesome-sauce.

Today was a day in bed. Ahh, bed, the best place in the world to be. Keeping me company was Courtney Cox and her sitcom Cougar Town. I had never seen the show, and never had any interested in it whatsoever, but the fictional character Abed’s obsession with the show got me interested. Wouldn’t hurt to download the first season and give it a chance.

If one is looking for a show similar to the humour of Community, the show that inspired my taste test, you’d be disappointed. While Community is clever and absurd, Cougar Town is silly and ridiculous.

What I didn’t realize when I was downloading it was that Bill Lawrence created the show. Lawrence is also known for his previous sitcom Scrubs and what is perhaps the best television show in human history, Clone High. Scrubs is the better comparison to Cougar Town, while Scrubs was more clever it shares a style of humour that links the shows easily. The most obvious is that Christa Miller (wife of Lawrence) plays the exact same character in both shows… and you can add Clone High to that list. Jordan, Ellie, and Cleopatra might as well be the same character, and it scares me to think what Lawrence’s home life must be like if he continues writing the same scary-woman role for his wife.

It’s not as funny as Scrubs, but it’s good. Cox’s character is a tad annoying… most of the time, but that’s the downfall of having a series centred around her.

I am looking forward to the second series finalé where Sam Lloyd apparently reprises his role as Ted Buckland.

Jekyll is a modern retelling of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde starring James Nesbitt, and written by Steven Moffat. If you’re unfamiliar with Moffat’s work, what’s wrong with you? He wrote the brilliant sitcom Coupling:

He also wrote the brilliant three episode series Sherlock:

Now he’s the show runner for Doctor Who:

Now back to the subject at hand, Jekyll. Dr. Tom Jackman is already living his double life with his own Mr. Hyde when we meet him. Dr. Jackman brings in a woman (Michelle Ryan *swoon*) to help around the house and  be a middle man to the two sides of Jackman.

Jackman is hiding the fact that he’s married with two children from his alter-ego while trying to reign in the nightmare that is Mr. Hyde.

Nesbitt is wonderful at playing two distinct characters in this series, as he creates unique characters in Jackman & Hyde.

Gina Bellman plays Claire Jackman, Tom’s wife. I have to say I didn’t expect Bellman in a dramatic role to be this good, as I found her unbearable in Coupling, but I think that was the character, not the actress.

The only negatives I can give this series is the terrible, terrible American accents courtesy of Paterson Joseph and Linda Marlowe.

I’m on pseudo-vacation. The school where I work is on break from today until a week Thursday. I’m working on Monday morning, and Wednesday (all day). That leaves ten and a half days for me to do what I please. I’m making goals for this vacation, but they’re kind of lofty goals.

Wanna suggest stuff?

1. See people
   • Visit my family¹
   • Visit the Millers
   • See Emily, tonight, post-Sadies, perhaps another time²
   • Visit Graeme and Heather³
   • Do some hangouts with Vince
2. Concerts & Events
   • See The Sadies, tonight
   • Ron Sexsmith in-store
   • The Weather Station at Holy Oak, FUCK that’s the second sedar night. Damn goyim.
   • Go to at least one other show (anyone suggest any?)
   • Spelling bee!
3. Books
   • Read “Life” by Keith Richards
   • Read “René Lévesque” by Daniel Poliquin
   • Read “Make Me A Woman” by Vanessa Davis
   • Read “William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows” by Lian Goodall
   • Read at least three other graphic novels to be borrowed from the Toronto Public Library
4. Television
   • Watch remaining seven episodes of series two of Waiting For God
   • Watch remaining two episodes of The Increasingly Poor Choices of Todd Margaret
   • Watch all six episodes of Jekyll
   • Watch remaining two episodes of Being Human (UK)
   • Give the North American version of Being Human another shot
   • Watch the season premiere of Doctor Who
5. Films
   • Watch Polytechnique
   • Watch The Hanging Garden
   • Watch The Town
   • Watch Toy Story 2 with the Millers, continuing our Pixar marathon
6. GSD & go places
   • Do two client gigs
   • Get passport paperwork filed and applied
   • Go to the Island, at least once
7. This here blog
   • Write at least three blog posts a week. This doesn’t count.

1. Okay, so this one is easy as it’s the sedars. [↩]
2. Perhaps overlapping with Millers. [↩]
3. Maybe help them move [↩]

Season 3
Episode 25¹
“Hillman”

1. I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to reach the end of season 3. [↩]

Season 3
Episode 23
“Bald and Beautiful”

Season 3
Episode 21
“Andalusian Flu”