Sunday, March 29, 2015

March movie night

On Friday, March 14, the Parallel Case of Saint Louis hosted our March 2015 movie night! We had six people total, and we watched two movies. First up was Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/SGcEmkNaR0c

 This is one of my favorite movies. I love Sherlock Holmes movies that are subversive to the canon in the sense that they never contradict the stories, but they add onto implied aspects or elaborate further on events. I guess we can't say for sure that Holmes' only sibling is Mycroft, so why not?

The other movie is here on this link: https://youtu.be/xKsFURf7C18?list=ELJ7W8YJE1z_8

It's the first episode of Sherlock Hound. We've watched these episodes before, but I really love them. The director is Hayao Miyazaki, of Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away fame. Something about how the music and atmosphere of the Victorian city life in the anime is what charms me. The stories don't follow the Canon, nor is it the substance of complex plots, but it's still worth watching.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. (BOSC)

Yesterday the Parallel Case had our meeting, centering on "The Boscombe Valley Mystery". Our first meeting in a few months, we had much to catch up on! And today was extra special because it was my first time leading the meeting as leader. Six people attended including myself.

Sherlockian news was discussed first:
  •  International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes- everyone got a chance to go and loved it! The exhibit made a huge impression on the city and it was a great thing to bring Sherlock Holmes back into the mainstream public. I, myself only got to go once, but I can say it was both informative and enjoyable. I will post a review and pictures soon!
  • BSI Weekend 2015- sadly, I was away at a compounding boot camp learning how to make lollipops and capsules, so I did not get to go. However, we did discuss some of the interesting new investitures. Congrats to everyone who got their shilling this year!
  • The "lost" Sherlock Holmes story- revealed to be mere fan fiction. Still, the great debacle it caused over Twitter was definitely something to talk about.
  • The Baker Street webseries. Definitely worth a watch! Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6m8pknf2xi8pEsrUqPSgIY2b7QWeGXwa
  • Upcoming events:
    • Holmes, Doyle, and Friends conference: http://www.agratreasurers.net/holmes--doyle----friends.html
    • 221B Con! See you there!
 Next, we discussed the story itself.
  • Historical context- during the time the story was written, Australia was regarded as a "wild frontier", having a violent history, and the people were rallying for independence. So the story makes sense in a historical context as violence being typical of Australian crimes.
  • Quiz
  • We listened to a bit of the radio drama by Bert Coules
One of our members got an excellent book analyzing all of the crime scenes in the canon, so he brought it and we all passed it around to look at a map of the Boscombe Pond.

Closing remarks
  • Next movie night will be on Saturday, March 14 at 7PM at the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy- room TBA
  • Planning a special dinner for Helen- please let us know if you have ideas!
  • Recruitment ideas?
 I run a tight ship, so we got out a half-hour early. The snow was really coming down, so yours truly had to leave as quickly as possible to avoid an accident! However, I did make it home safely.