Labour Day is fast approaching, and with it the crisp weather and colourful foliage of fall. If, like me, you work in academia or education, the more intense part of your job is on the horizon (or already here, depending on whether, like me, you left all your planning for the end…
(tl;dr — because I am contrary!) CBS’s Elementary and the BBC’s Sherlock are the most well known current television updates of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Both follow the adventures of the Great Detective and his bff, Watson, transposed into the 21st century, with a healthy helping of original plot and characters. Judging by…
Everyone knows that romance novels are for women. And so are stories that focus on who’s hopping into whose bed and which couples will end up together. Everyone also knows that those kinds of stories are inferior. Why would anyone who’s not a woman want to watch (ugh!) The Notebook…
It took me twenty-nine years to discover that I didn’t hate pink. When I was a girl growing up, pink was the enemy. It invariably designated toys I did not want to play with, clothing I didn’t want to wear, and games that bored me. I was happier when I…
So I’ve been watching the first series of the BBC’s Luther on Netflix to relax between marking, writing, and lesson-planning. Brilliant loose-cannon DCI John Luther (Idris Elba) butts heads with his boss and his colleagues while trying to win back his estranged wife and not get in trouble for losing his…
(But first, merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy statutory holiday to those who do not!) In case you missed the title, let me repeat it: Hannibal Lecter is from faerie land. No, seriously. Think about it for a second. I was thinking about it — how you…
Is it possible or desirable for a good story to make its audience uncomfortable? Everyone I know has at least one or two things they can’t bear reading about or watching. For some, having to perceive sympathetic characters in certain kinds of physical or mental pain is too much. For…
Happy long weekend, fellow Canadians! The first three episodes of the lesser-liked modern Sherlock Holmes series are out. So of course I jotted down what I thought, because: Sherlock Holmes.
Let me explain: I got Netflix so I could watch Orange is the New Black, which I hear is Netflix-shows-are-the-new-awesome. But somewhere on the way, I got distracted by Netflix’s other offerings. Because I watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers and said I wanted to watch Twin Peaks, it told me to…
(Even you, Elementary. Though I admit your circumstances are slightly different. BUT I WILL *NOT* SPOIL THEM, SO READ ON WITHOUT FEAR!) I love updates of Sherlock Holmes, but I have not yet encountered a single version of Irene Adler who does not make me want to punch the character in…