gwynnega

There's so much that I want to do on my holiday break, I've barely known where to start. (Though I have, of course, been working on the Jo book, watching soaps, etc.) Yesterday I had lunch with tesserae_ at Say Cheese (which was quite good, though I'm still missing the Coffee Table), and she gave me some awesome mince cookies.

Today I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film, which I enjoyed a lot--even more than the first one, I think. I had a quibble or two with this one, but it felt like they remembered to include an actual story this time. (Though with the first film, I was happy enough to watch Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law sans story.) Since I saw the movie at the Los Feliz Theater, I stopped in at Skylight Books and said hi to Cecil Castellucci, who was wrapping gifts. I hadn't planned to buy anything, but the place was freshly stocked with new books about the 1970s, and I could not resist! So I purchased When We Were Outlaws by Jeanne Cordova (a memoir of an activist "fighting at the intersections of the struggle for Gay Rights, Women's Liberation, and the New Left") and Those Girls: Single Women in Sixties and Seventies Popular Culture.

A little while ago I watched Miracle on 34th Street on TCM and finished wrapping presents. I think later I will watch The Bishop's Wife. Tomorrow I'll go to my mom's for dinner.

Happy holidays, everyone!

I'm drinking Rhysling and enjoying the tailend of my weekend. Today has included: noveling (revising and researching the Jo book), watching Dark Shadows (Julia Hoffman accidentally turns Barnabas into an old man, oh noes! and he must drink blood to look younger again, so lovestruck Julia volunteers, but Barnabas demurs and instead attacks Carolyn, who lets out a bloodcurdling scream), working on a poem, and watching Dexter and Sherlock.

I am enjoying the hell out of Sherlock, which, like the best Sherlock Holmes media, makes me fannish about Holmes all over again (and also makes me want to write a Holmes story, which I've wanted to do for many, many years).

Sherlock Holmes was probably my first fandom (unless you count the Oz books). I was aided and abetted by my father, who took me to a day-long Holmes conference at UCLA when I was maybe ten years old, who bought me the Annotated Sherlock Holmes and took me to meetings of the Noncanonical Calabashes. (I was the youngest member, probably by at least thirty years.) Christopher Lee gave a wonderful, witty talk at one of these meetings. Around the same time (sometime in the mid-70s?), I also saw Leonard Nimoy play Holmes in a theatrical production! I think the pre-teen Holmes geek I was would be glad to know I'm still having fannish Holmes moments...

...at the lovely Vista Theatre. ( Sherlock Holmes )

Now I want to reread my Annotated Sherlock Holmes and rewatch The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and They Might Be Giants.