Holmes' Height

Sooo...I apologize for the sudden slow-down of posts. But, I seem to have forgotten what the third installment of my series was going to be. Oops. lol

I have been wracking my brain for the past few days, trying to come up with a suitable topic, and have settled upon something that I wondered about (yes, I do wonder about strange things, hah) a few months back. I never got around to doing the research, and now I have compiled a little bit of information to write up a post on it :)

As the title suggests, this post is about how tall our favorite detective was. Through implications in the canon, I have believed for some time now that Holmes was about as tall as my piano teacher, who is about 6' 5" or so (as far as I can guess, lol).

I knew, however, that there are several actual references to the height of our detective in the canon, though I couldn't for the life of me remember where they were. So, when I decided to write up this post, I went hunting for them. Thank goodness for Google, I tell you :)

This one is from "A Study in Scarlet:"

"In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller."

Keeping in mind that this is the first time Watson ever laid eyes on the man, and the fact that Watson was probably of shorter stature (I've heard talk that he was somewhere between 5' 8" and 5' 10"), this could be entirely untrue. He could have appeared to be over 6 feet tall...simply because Watson was short (lol, and perhaps because of his leanness/gauntness).

I have also heard that the average height of a Victorian gentleman was between 5' 6" and 5' 11". So, if Holmes was indeed 6 feet or taller, he would have most definitely stood out in a crowd of average-sized Victorian men.

Moving on to another quote, I found this from "Abbey Grange:"

"Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a lion - witness the blow that bent that poker! Six foot three in height.....I could not reach the place by at least three inches - from which I infer that he is at least three inches a bigger man than I."

Here, Holmes himself states, though indirectly, that he is 6 feet tall. This slightly contradicts what Watson said earlier in "A Study in Scarlet."

I have concluded that my original thoughts about Holmes' height were...slightly off, to say the very least. It seems that, based off of these quotes and meager facts, Holmes was somewhere in between 6' 0" and 6' 3".

:) Just a thought.

Why are we so Fascinated with Holmes?

This is going to be slightly short, because we ended up being gone all day and it's getting late...but here's the second installment of my set of three posts.

I really, really want to know:

Why are we so fascinated by this incredibly intelligent detective?

What are the reasons?

There's obviously something that makes us love him and his cases...or perhaps several somethings, grouped together.

Perhaps it's because he has such a dry, ironic sense of humor. I love his humor, he makes me laugh all the time, be it straight from the canon or through Jeremy's incredible interpretation of the man.

And maybe it's because he is so intelligent. I can speak for myself (and I'm sure many others) when I say that I tend to be more drawn to men who are intelligent. *shrugs*

I must leave now, but what are some reasons why you are so fascinated with Holmes?

What Makes a Holmesian?

This post is going to be one of three posts...the next one will come tomorrow (as I am shut up in the house with no chance of going anywhere, thanks to the 7 inches of snow >.<) and the third sometime after that. I've no idea when. But I digress. :)

I've been thinking: What is it that makes a Holmesian a Holmesian?

I believe the simple definition of "Holmesian" is simply "One who ardently admires Sherlock Holmes."

But I really think that there's more to Holmesians than just admiring Holmes.

I think that a true Holmesian can be defined by the following:

~Ardent admiration for Holmes himself (as I've stated)
~Admiration for the canon as a whole
~Politeness (I have noticed that Holmesians generally tend to be quite polite and conscious of other people's feelings)
~Openness to experience other versions and interpretations of Holmes and his stories (I myself am learning this, as you have probably noticed)
~Intelligence (I say this because most Holmesians are incredibly intelligent, which makes for pleasant conversation :D)

I must now take my leave, but I leave you with this post to ponder, and I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are about what I have said. If you have anything to add to my list, or if you disagree about anything I've said, feel free to comment :)

Another Picture...

Hullo Holmesians!

Again, it's been a long time, and I apologize. But I thought I'd brighten your evening with this picture that a mutual friend of Grace and mine drew of us :D It's part of a large picture with a collage of a bunch of his friends...but this just...is beyond awesome. lol

The one on the sled is Grace. I'm the one with dots for eyes.

lol

Isn't it spectacular?

Yup, we're wearing deerstalkers. Seems that our Holmesian obsession has made an impression on our friends :)

Hope it made you smile! lol

Holmes and Watson, in the Eyes of a 6 Year Old

To start off this post, I'm sorry about deserting all of you. lol It was my turn to post and I neglected to do so. Please accept my humblest apology. *bows low*

Anyway. I was off babysitting this morning. My little sister (we'll call her by her nickname...Lu) had been sketching most of the night last night...and after my OTHER sister tucked her in bed, I hadn't seen her until...eh...11 ish this morning, seeing as I leave the house around 7:20 am. But this is beside the point.

Lu sketched these pictures for me and left them on my bed, so when I returned from babysitting, I had a nice gift :P I think you can guess who is who.


Personally, "Watsin" is my favorite of the two :)

Just thought I'd share...too adorable to keep to myself :)

My Sherlock Holmes Review

I DIDN'T HATE IT! YAAAAAAY! In all seriousness, I did, in fact, enjoy it.

The characterization of Holmes, while being deplorably scruffy and unkempt, was surprisingly better than I was anticipating. It's very obvious that Robert Downey Jr. studied former interpretations of the detective; definitely saw Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone similarites in his gestures and facial expressions. This Holmes did seem to be more emotionally needy than my personal version.

Watson was loverly. The polar opposite of the bumbling, comic foil, Nigel Bruce, Jude Law's Watson was the adult to Holmes' spoiled child. Super capable, intelligent, and all in all quite nice. The pair's banter was the highlight of the movie.

What was the point of Irene Adler? Honestly? She added very little to the story, besides being a vehicle for the introduction of he-who-must-not-be-named. Annoying.

Lestrade was MY MR. PANCKS! While not my Lestrade, he did a wonderful job. Though I cannot abide the pronunciation of Lestrade as "Lestrawd," personally.

Mary Morstan was very good, not putting up with Holmes' nonsense and such. We'll have to find a nicer way to dispose of her than we were planning. ;)

The villian was an excellent actor, of course (he could have played Holmes, in my opinion), but he was given such a sub-par role. "Oooo, I'm gonna psyche you out, Sherlock Holmes! Mwahahahaha!"

If it were not for the excellent characterizations, and were I not such an avid Holmesian, the plot of the movie would not have really excited me. Hmm, let's steal the plot of National Treasure and Indiana Jones, shall we? *shrugs*

If you're going to see a riveting action movie, I might tell you to stay home. If you're going to see Holmes, get thee to a movie theater, pronto.

The Cardboard Box

Last night, I was finally able to bring myself to watch the Cardboard Box (the JB version). I previously hadn't been able to watch it...it might sound kind of weird, but the last episodes are my least favorite, the main reason being that Jeremy looked so sick, and you could tell he was dying, and it was really depressing.

But after watching it, I was really happy. For some reason, it almost seemed as if Jeremy was given a last burst of good health, and he really put on the best performance possible for that last episode. I almost cried, not because I was depressed, but because it was such a relief for me that he was able to do SUCH a good job with that last episode of him as Sherlock Holmes. It was almost like he was back to the Brett of the "Adventures..." cept he looked much older. But he was really able to pull it off...and though in some of the episodes directly previous to the Cardboard Box you could REALLY tell he was sick, and even the Mazarin Stone, in which he's only in it for 2 or 3 minutes total, he really looked back to normal in this one. I was so happy.

Aside from that, the Cardboard Box was one of my least favorite stories from the canon. I'm not too keen on severed human ears, you know. But Granada did a really great job with it, I think.

Such are my musings for today. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on this episode...I hope this prompts some good discussion, I'm in a discussing mood today (lol). We don't have to talk about Jeremy being sick or anything, unless everyone wants to. lol But anyhow, what do you think about the story in general? Do you have any thoughts on the way Granada portrayed it? Just curious :)