[Borges]

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[BlueStateBlues]

Elementary, my dear Borges. Thanks for this, I had no idea and it’s always nice to remember this bard.

[radiohead]

The old time radio station I listen to frequently plays Sherlock Holmes radio shows. Some have the great Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, some have other players, but they are all great fun and wonderful to listen to late at night.

[AbolishCSEU]

Children still read? you could have fooled me judging by my stepkids!!!

[Bratch]

"Sherlock Holmes" movie trailer

[Political Junkie Too]

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

-PJ

[CholeraJoe]

“For the me, there remains the cocaine bottle...”

Holmes was an IV cocaine user during virtually all of the time associated with the stories. Such a habit perhaps explains his vigor in pursuit of his many cases, and his lethargy in between.

[Sans-Culotte]

A couple of weeks ago I finished re-reading Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories. They're light-hearted when compared to Holmes, but a good read nonetheless.

[Finny]

Twenty-one years ago, when I first met my husband-to-be, it was love at first sight (yes, it does exist; it was mutual, I found out later, though at the time we both kept our feelings to ourselves out of hard-learned caution! No more leaping before looking into disasterous relationships!). For our third date, he invited me over to his apartment for a spaghetti dinner. He was a perfect gentleman, by the way -- this was no ploy, but an economical alternative to going out to dinner; we were both much too broke to indulge in that kind of luxury!

On my way to use the bathroom over the course of the evening, I took a quick peek into his bedroom and noticed the familiar book on his nightstand. It was identical to the book that at that very moment currently resided on MY nightstand -- The Complete Sherlock Holmes, "... and very well thumbed, I assure you." (anyone recognize the quote from Hound of the Baskervilles???)

I took it as an auspicious omen, and it was. We celebrate our 20th anniversary this year.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Something is to be said for the intellectual, deductive detective character, which has long been popular around the world. Perhaps the earliest detective was Ja’far ibn Yahya, from a story of the Arabian Nights, who didn’t particularly much want to be a detective, but had to do so to save his head, twice.

In the 18th Century, China had several detective stories, but these were more character and philosophical studies than mysteries. From there, the scene shifted to Europe, then America, with Edgar Allen Poe creating the first modern detective plot with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

The most recent incarnation of the intellectual, deductive detective character was of the character Gil Grissom, in the very popular CSI: Las Vegas TV show.

However, Hollywood doesn’t like this kind of character, so even though it is a popular type, it’s rarely used outside of popular written detective fiction.

[SunkenCiv]

Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth, on Picardy Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle died in 1930, but Holmes and Dr. Watson live on.

Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution. I read all the Sherlock Holmes in existence (I believe) sometime in my very early teens (or perhaps some of it a bit before), and really enjoyed it. I recall "Holmes" critiqueing Edgar Allen Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" or perhaps "The Purloined Letter" in one story. Doyle also wrote "The Lost World" and of course allowed himself to be hoodwinked in the Cottingley Fairies hoax.