Marta's Mathoms

Yesterday I shared a funny fake-trailer of the first two series of Sherlock. And while the show does have its lighter moments ("We are in Buckingham Palace, the heart of the British nation. Sherlock Holmes, put your trousers on."), what really pulls me to it is its high drama. The excellent work on character-building, the look at how friendships develop and are tested and are balanced against self-protection and flat-out selfishness. The serious stuff.

In many ways the BBC version of Sherlock (and Watson, come to it) is very different from Doyle's because he's genuinely struggling against whether it's good to experience emotions and sentiment. As I've been rereading the originals I've been struck by how much this turns the character against his canonical self, and sometimes that really bothers me because it can seem dismissive of people who resemble the ACD version of Sherlock - the more analytical people, the happily alone, the asexual, and so on. Still, taken on his own, this version of Sherlock is fascinating and intriguing.

In that vein, and as my fannish share of the day, here is a fanvideo looking at Sherlock's character. Warning for spoilers through Reichenbach.



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And some FB statuses:

#1.

I keep meaning to blog about the movie "Philomena," a movie about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland (and other places, but this story is about the Irish version). I've actually tried to, several times, but it's a case of not wanting to break a thing to find out how it's made. I'm not sure I can analyze it too deeply without ruining something about it, for whatever reason. But I found it a deeply moving story that gives deep food for thought about how to respond to tragedies and injustices.

I don't agree with everything implied by the movie, and thought the sole atheist character got a bit of short shrift, because his reaction seemed more or less reasonable (if incomplete) to me. In fact, I'm sure I would have reacted along similar lines, and I think that reaction is to a certain extent necessary to prompt action against injustices. What I was most impressed with was the moral... well, not ambiguity, because there are clearly some characters who are in the wrong, but the complexity, the way that I could understand where all the characters were coming from, and why they reacted the way they did to the situation.

At the end of the movie, it wasn't so much a question of whether a certain situation was right or even tolerable; it seemed more about the way we respond to things and still hold on to our humanity and our good character - about the tightrope balance between mercy and forgiveness on the one hand and apathy and acceptance of things that should never be accepted on the other. To say I've been turning this movie over in my head ever since I watched it on Wednesday would be an understatement. As I said, there were many things said by the character I think I was supposed to identify with (Philomena) that just sat poorly with me, to the point I can't ever see myself reacting in the same way. Whether that's a good thing or not. But I will say this: like all great art it affected me at an emotional level and kept my mind pounding away at important questions long after I left the cinema. Check it out if you can.

#2. In response to StarTrek.com viewers choosing their favorite time-travel episode:

No great surprise there. "Trials and Tribble-ations" is one heck of an episode. Don't even get me started on the Klingons.

#3.

I have a wreath. I even have Advent readings picked out - a combination of this book with short theological reflections (http://www.amazon.com/Watch-Light-Readings-Advent-Christmas/dp/1570755418/) and the Bible verses that seem to be read at every UMC church I've ever been a part of. I even have matches.

The one thing I don't have is actual candles. D'oh! I have to imagine God will understand if I'm a day late with the ritual this first week. You know, being outside of time and space and all. The intent is there, at least!

http://bit.ly/1ggIAq8