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Sherlock Holmes Movie Review

Last night I watched the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie (not to be confused with the 2010 movie...yeah that one with the dinosaur.) I know that there are an abundance of Sherlock Holmes movie adaptations out there but but now that they have run out of movie ideas and every movie must be a remake, or based on a book or graphic novel, of course they needed to take a shot at Sherlock Holmes. I have to confess I have never read any of the Sherlock Holmes books but I do enjoy the 1984 TV series and I have listened to the audio-book versions of many of the Sherlock Holmes tales (nothing like listening to someone read to me with a British accent to help me get to sleep at night.) I do have some preconceived notions of what I want for a Sherlock Holmes movie and was pretty sure that the 2009 reboot would not live up to them, so I started watching the movie with some trepidation.

I was rewarded with an opening sequence involving Holmes busting up some magic ritual and beating people up. Not really what I wanted but exactly what I expected. I like Sherlock Holmes because of the logic, the deductive reasoning and attention to detail and while this movie did show glimmers of that mind that I love to see those were rather overshadowed by the brawling and explosions that seemed rather out of place. The set and the clothing were beautiful but other than that it was fairly generic. The movie seemed to primarily rely on Robert Downey Jr to carry it. It seemed to go with the method of it has Downey in it so people will go see it, he just needs to be himself, beat some people up, and we'll add some explosions, then everyone will go see it. I am not going to argue that this method doesn't work, I just have higher expectations.

I was really thrown by the "magic" angle throughout the film because to me magic is rather anti-Sherlock Holmes. However the the movie did redeem itself at the end with its run through of the logical explanations for the events that had occurred, which restored it greatly in my eyes because I could not accept a Sherlock Holmes movie that left magic as an acceptable explanation. Another issue with this movie, it gave me some major flashbacks to Angels & Demons. Yes, some cult-like group targets some larger group of old men but first kills people at strategic locations throughout the city for their symbolic references which the main character then sees make a cross when planned out on a map and uses this to determine the final location.

Downey's portrayal of Holmes was decent, but I was thrown by his drinking habit since Holmes was more into cocaine and morphine than alcohol but I suppose they didn't want to show that in the movie so they threw in the drinking instead as his drug of choice. The interactions between Holmes and Watson were well portrayed though I did find them a bit quick to brawl but I suppose that is to be expected in a movie intended for the masses. I really enjoyed the two scenes where Holmes deconstructs in his mind what he is going to do before he does it and then the film speeds up to real time and shows the actions. However, this was only done twice and for the most part all the information was just given to the audience with little insight into how Holmes mind was working. The movie had its action and mystery but it just didn't have the depth it needed to make it stick with you after watching it, you leave the movie much the same as you entered and it doesn't leave you anything new to think about.

Overall, the movie was OK, not quite the Sherlock Holmes we know and love but people who want action over intellect will probably think it is an improvement. I am glad I didn't pay to see it in theaters but it was a decent Netflix pick as long as you don't expect too much of it. The 1984 series is available on Netflix streaming and I am going to stick to watching that.

iPad Review...Based on my 5 Minute Joyride in the Apple Store

Image from www.readwriteweb.com


I have finally broken down and decided to do an iPad review. I also finally saw and touched one for the first time on Saturday so that might have something to do with it too. I would like to say before I start, I am not an Apple fangirl. I just want to put that out there. The only Apple product I have ever owned is my iPod.

For some reason I find Apple as a corporation unsettling. Yes they can make pretty products, but no they are not right for me and I just can't buy into it all. Apple requires a certain lifestyle which I do not have. It's nice to have a pretty product but not if it sacrifices functionality and the motto of "it just works" rubs me the wrong way. The real issue is that so much is sacrificed to make it "just work" and I would rather have function. My PC may be buggy but I can put what I want on it, I trust myself enough to not completely screw it up (and really there is nothing I can do to it a good reformat can't fix) I like having the ability to make my own mistakes. Last month, my battery was almost completely worn out so I bought a new one and I replaced it myself, let's see you do that on an Apple product.

I have digressed from the point of this post, I am supposed to be reviewing the iPad. To set the stage: I arrive at the Apple store, it is full of people and chatter, there are throngs of people crowding around the two tables devoted to the iPad. I hover near the table, pretending to play with the macbook on the adjacent table. Then someone sets down an iPad and I pounce and scoop it up before anyone else can take it. I stare at it for a moment, trying to take in all the details about this device that I have heard so much about and know that Steve Jobs has decreed I should love. The first thing I noticed was the large glossy screen...completely covered with smears and smudges from all the fingers that had fondled it before me. At this point I really just wanted to set it down and wash my hands but I restrained myself.

The next thing I noticed was the weight of the thing. It was heavy and during the time I was holding it seemed to get heavier and heavier. I wanted to be able to hold it in my left hand and manipulate it with my right but it really needed to be propped up on something. Since I was in the store and setting it on the table didn't put it in a comfortable position and I couldn't sit in a chair and prop it up on my leg, I was left to juggle it back and forth between my hands as I tried to size up the thing. I really could have used something a bit lighter and it could have been a bit smaller, the proportions of it seemed off to me when I looked at it but that is just my preference.

Well I stood there for a moment holding the iPad then thought "I should probably try to do some thing on it shouldn't I?" I looked at all the icons, awkwardly spaced on the screen, flicked it to the next screen and stared at that for a moment then continued on. I opened google earth, it was google earth, nothing earth-shattering about it. I tried to play some of the games, they were alright but given that I have played games on the iPod touch there was nothing really special their either. Then I decided to go online, and lo and behold the internet was still there just as I had last seen it on my laptop. It did browse the internet, I didn't exactly challenge it though. It was the internet, it may be a different way to get to it and I could poke at it but I wouldn't say it was “the best way to experience the web.” It was merely just another way to experience the web. I played a movie, it looked good. I looked at some pictures stored on it, the iPad can certainly function as the most expensive picture frame you will ever own. Then I decided to look at the books on it because I kept hearing all about that feature, how it will change the way I read. There were a number of books to look at and I browsed through a few of them. Yes it was fun the first few times I flipped the virtual pages but that got old fast and I like my physical books that I get to flip the pages and see my progress (and borrow from the library so I don't have to buy them from iTunes.)

At this point I had been holding the iPad for about 5 minutes...and I was bored. My curiosity was satiated and I kept flipping through the icons and thinking that I couldn't possible be this bored with this device already, but I was. The Apple employee had wandered over by then and was asking if anyone had any questions and I felt like saying no, it's a giant iPod touch so really what is there to question about it. I tried to imagine what I would do with one. Well, its not really portable enough for me to carry around with me and just pull out when I am bored in line to get my coffee or something. That leaves when I am sitting at home. I usually just carry my laptop around the house with me. I really can't remember the last time I sat down at my laptop and did one thing and one thing only. I like to multitask and the fact that the iPad can't really doesn't endear it to me. I usually watch a video or listen to a podcast as I have another internet window open, plus a document or two, and then I have pidgin running so I can instant message when the urge strikes me. I can browse the internet on the iPad but that is nothing special and having to exit out of my browser to answer an instant message from a friend would be a huge pain. I like to take pictures with my camera and edit them on my computer and the iPad doesn't have a camera of its own and I can't just plug my camera into its non-existent USB port to load the pictures I have taken onto it. I am supposed to read books on it but given that I usually read actual physical books that I borrow from the library I don't see myself rushing out to buy them from iTunes.

I can't see anything I could use the iPad for that would be productive, it really just seems to be a toy for messing around on, which is fine but they seem to want us to think that businesspeople and students and everyone can actually do work on this new shiny toy. It costs $499 at a minimum and not even that once taxes are added and the fact that to do almost any little thing on it requires buying an app. I can't justify spending that amount of money on a toy and a first generation one at that. Next year there will be a new iPad with more features and a lower price and all the people who bought this year's will feign surprise and then buy it. Apple always wants people to buy its newest and shiniest product, even the people who just barely bought it a year before, there's no upgrades, just replacements. If I am going to spend $500 on a product it better not be one that will be obsolete in a year which will be true of this first iPad, really this first iPad has a lifespan of one month, then the 3G version comes out anyway but Apple knows the fanboys will buy this first iPad and then another in a month anyway. I just don't have the financial backing to be an Apple person, you have to keep buying things because you just can't walk around with an outdated Apple product.

I think I could have fun with a tablet but not this one. The most I could think about spending on one would be around $200 and I want a computer OS, not a crippled phone OS for something that isn't a phone. I need functionality to justify what I buy and the iPad is just all frivolity and paying for the bragging rights. I do like touch, I know it is the future but I don't want it in the locked down Apple form factor. I was bored with the iPad after a few minutes and that doesn't surprise me, I had heard that it was like a giant iPod touch and that's exactly what it felt like. It met expectations but didn't surpass them on any level and that is just boring and if Apple wants me to spend then I expect better, it didn't have that wow factor I expect from a new Apple product. I expect to go to the store and play with it and realize that Steve Jobs was right and I can't live without it, but my experience with the iPad left me knowing I had my fill of the device and that I really didn't need one for any reason.

My conclusion: even if I had $500 to my name, I wouldn't be running out to spend it on the iPad. It can't replace my laptop, it's not a smartphone, a netbook can do more than it, and for me there just isn't a need for there to be yet another niche between these devices.

I Sit, I Draw, I Ponder

Well, yesterday I sat down and decided that I was going to draw something though I had no idea what. I decided that I should probably continue to practice drawing people since they have always been a weak point for me. I decided to start out withe a pose and sketched a basic outline. Just for fun, I decided to stop and scan in my drawing before I continued to work on it. I just thought it would be interesting to see the difference between the first outline and final product.



I decided that the figure would be a girl of some sort and sketched a basic face. Then for some reason I decided to work on the feet. I always have a hard time with feet. Even if I can draw one foot well then the other can never live up the expectations created by the first. I always end up with one decent looking foot and some lopsided clubfoot on the other side. Once I had created the boots to my satisfaction, I decided I wanted to draw a belt and thus the belt had to be holding something up. As seen in the drawing, I ended up with some type of skirt on top of leggings and while I don't like this fashion in our own world it works in this one. I just decided to have fun with the texture of the skirt, I didn't want it to be too plain but knew this drawing was not going to be of someone who is into floral prints. I ended up with an interesting layered look for the skirt.

As seen in the previous sketch, I had decided to do some sort of cloak. In the final drawing it has been finished off, I added the buckle to tie the cloak to the bottom portion of the drawing. Since I had gone with a simple texture and look for the cloak, I wanted something more complex for the shirt it was covering. I really don't know what the texture is supposed to imply that the material of the shirt is but I just enjoyed the way it looked. I really haven't figured out who this character is. Probably some type of sorceress given my usual genre of writing and the fact that the clothing certainly is not modern. Well that will be a question for a different day. For now at least I have a new drawing for future inspiration.

Spring Wanderings

Well, I seem to have wandered away from this blog and not wandered back in a timely manner. I have been having a hard time thinking of what to write so I seem to have backed off from blogging which defeats the purpose of this endeavor. I started this blog to help me write on a more regular basis so now I have to try to get back to that. So what have I been doing lately since I clearly haven't been writing?
I have been enjoying the spring. I like that magical week where everything suddenly wakes up. everything was brown and dead and then suddenly green creeps in. I drove home for Easter and everything was drab and then over that one weekend everything started to green up. I took this picture while I was walking around the yard at home:

I like this picture, it captures the transition taking place. The Vermont winter is over and the flowers are beginning to break through the chaff of the past year and reach for the sun. Then I drove back to Pennsylvania and took some pictures in the park:

I spent a lot of time looking up and just admiring the silhouettes of the trees against the sky. The trees are especially interesting now as they are budding. You can still see their structure because their leaves are still unfurling. The leaves themselves are a vibrant green and delicate though they deepen and toughen as they age. It was lucky I was looking up, otherwise I never would have seen these birds:

I don't actually know what kind of birds these are but I thought they were interesting because they weren't the Canadian geese or mallard ducks I see everyday at the park. For instance, here are some of geese I saw:

After bruising my shin, I did decide to start looking down as well as up and even took some pictures of the flowers I came across:



I should mention that as I was walking in the park I was looking for flowering trees, everyone has them planted in their yards but there were not so many in the park but that didn't stop me from seeking them out. I also got some strange looks from some of the other people in the park as I crouched to photograph of a tiny plant or walked along taking constant pictures of the sky above. Here is my favorite picture that I managed to take of a flowering tree:

I just wanted to capture this fleeting moment, these few delicate blossoms before they were gone. Well, that is what I have been up to. I promise myself once again that I will try to post on a more regular basis. I've had a few thoughts that I want to write about, such as my internetless weekend at home and the realizations it lead to as well as my thoughts about the reading I have been doing lately so I will have to see if anything becomes of those topics. For now, at least I have a few pretty spring pictures to look at as everything fills out and becomes more green and the last traces of winter fade.