Saturday, December 14, 2013

He's Back


So the reports of my demise were a bit premature. I really am alive and well and still in the Sherlockian world of the living. Back in August, I was laid off from my job and for 15 weeks I was on the unemployment dole. It is difficult to justify buying books when one is out of a job, especially books that one cannot read. I did manage to add a few new ones but nothing to write about (pun intended).

Where to start, where to start?

I was one of the guest speakers at the "Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place" Sponsored by the
Norwegian Explorers and the University of Minnesota. My talk, "He Has the Collection Mania, in it's Most Acute Form" was well received and I had many compliments. Maybe they were feeling sorry for me. I also managed to sell a good number of my book of Sherlockian drawings.

In September I drove to Houston where Lyndsay Faye held a book signing at Murder By The Book. She had a sterling turn-out for the second book, The Secret Seven, about the forming of the New York City police department. I joined her and the owners of Murder by the Book for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant before heading back to Dallas.

With Lyndsay Faye at Murder by the Book

Joyce and I enjoying another glass of Oregon Pinot Noir
In October Joyce and I ventured to Portland for our anniversary trip. This was already planned before the stint in the unemployment line so we carried through with our holiday. We met up with Sonia Featherston and she acted as our designated driver, hauling us around the Willamette Valley to a plethora of vineyards. Sonia wrote the 2012 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual and is currently working on a biography of Bliss Austin.
Jerry and Judy Margolin; Marsha Pollak; Moi, Sonia and Ben Featherston; Joyce

We were joined for dinner that night by Sonia's husband, Ben, Marsha Pollak, Judy and Jerry Margolin in Salem, Oregon where Sonia and Ben live.As usual a grand time was enjoyed by all. Joyce and I spent the next day exploring downtown Portland. There was a fun downtown  Saturday local artist's market and of course we had to visit Voodoo doughnuts. This iconic shop is open from 6:00 am to 2:00 am seven days a week. There is an average 30 minute wait regardless of when you arrive. They are noted for their creativity and especially the Bacon Maple log. It did not sound too delicious but never judge a doughnut by its name. This is a treat not to be missed.

VooDoo Doughnuts
The next thing to report is my latest Red Dog painting by Chattanooga artist Mary Lisa Chesnutt. We have a dozen or more of Mary Lisa's paintings and several years ago she painted a Red Dog Sherlock Holmes, then as is the temperament of the artist, she moved on to other artistic projects and refused to revisit the Red Dogs. Finally, about a year ago I convinced her that Red Dog Sherlock Holmes needed his Red Dog Dr. Watson. Mary Lisa came up with a long list of excuses why she never started the promised Dr. Watson painting and out of the blue she called to tell me that Red Dog Dr. Watson was ready for delivery and if I did not like him, she would repaint him. Ha! me not liking anything Mary Lisa does is as likely to happen as I am to sell all of my Sherlock Holmes books. Needless to say, I loved Red Dog Dr. Watson and when he arrived the only issue was where to hang it. We now have 6 of her Red Dog paintings

Red Dog Dr. Watson by Mary Lisa Chesnutt
Well, this caught us up a bit. I am sure I could find some more items but I must save a little something for next. So until then....

Happy Blogging!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Sherlocking In San Diego July 18 - 19, 2013.

One of the advantages of living in Dallas and having an office in San Diego is the opportunity to visit there on an irregular basis. I recently was there for work and by pure luck it was also the same weekend as Comic-Con, the largest such convention on the planet. One of the regulars there is The Baker Street Irregular's own, Les Klinger. I contacted Les and we arranged to meet on Thursday night at the party sponsored by Kristina Manente and the Baker Street Babes.

Off  I went and before I knew it, I was absorbed into more than 100,000 Trekkie's, Zombies, Vikings, Superheros, and Baker Street Babes that were wandering the Gas-lamp District in beautiful downtown San Diego. I saw more Spidermen in two blocks than I could count. I even spotted a homeless man, pushing his shopping cart load of aluminium cans dressed as Captain America!.

The Baker Street Babes are into Sherlockian fandom and can quote Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Miller better than many Sherlockians can quote the Canon. They rented an entire bar and drew more than 400 guests. I met Kristina, Betsy Rosenblatt, and Les at the upstairs bar. Our conversation consisted mostly of hand gesticulations because the noise level were louder than the roar of Reichenbach Falls.
Don Hobbs, Betsy Rosenblatt, Les Klinger, the BSI contingent at the Baker Street Babe's Party
We arranged though a series of written notes, signal flares, and an assortment of other non-verbal communication methods to meet the next night for dinner.

On Friday we met at Masala's, an Indian restaurant that amazingly had enough room to host a small army. I am glad that mere mortals have not discovered Indian food. We were joined by Tony Lee, or more correctly we joined Tony because it was his restaurant of choice. It turned to be one of the best I have ever visited. Tony is a friend of Les' who is a writer from London. He was elated upon arrival, having just signed a 2 book deal. 
Kristina Manente, Betsy Rosenblatt, & Tony Lee.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Collecting Sherlock Holmes - My Mensa Talk


In January I was contacted by the American Mensa Society and asked if I would speak at their Annual Gathering to be convened in Fort Worth, TX. I agreed and picked Friday, July 5 at 4:30 to give my talk. Then the sweating began. I had nearly six months to work on my talk; six months to worry about how it would be accepted or rejected; six months to practice, practice, practice.

This was the announcement outside the Magnolia Room
Well July 5th arrived and it was time to step up to the plate. Joyce and I drove over to Fort Worth and made it to the Norris Convention Center where we registered. I was assigned a 'Speaker Sheppard', Gene, who was the volunteer delegated to help me. At the designated time we entered the Magnolia Room where many of the Mensa members were already waiting. The magic of the moment melted anyway any last minute case of nerves. The room's capacity of 100 was filled to about three-quarters, roughly seventy-five people. 

Addressing the Mensa Crowd on July 5, 2013. 
The attendees could not have been more responsive. They laughed in all of the right places, asked intelligent (pun intended) questions and showed genuine interest. My allotted time of seventy-five minutes flew by so fast that I actually skipped over a few of the paragraphs of my talk. Afterwards, one of the attendees told me that it was the best and most interesting talk he had heard so far at this meeting. Considering that some of the talks included "Have the Unions Outlived Their Usefulness?"; "Spiritual Exercise Light"; and "Friendly Delicate Bridge"  I am not sure if this was a compliment or an insult. Another one said that when a room full of Mensa Member all clap, that is a great accomplishment. I was pleased.

Mensa people must be a lot like Sherlockians when it come to collecting because when the talk was over, we asked if we could keep the sign outside the room that introduced me. Well, all of the signs from all of the talks in the Magnolia Room were still there except the one for my talk. Ah, collectors.


The most interesting thing for one of the Mensa members was my orange Toms!
 Happy Blogging!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Sherlocking in Houston

On Saturday June 8, 2013, a group of dedicated Sherlockians from Dallas piled into two Hansom cabs and headed to Houston. The three and a half hour trek turned out to be unremarkable but the anticipation grew worrisome as the local Houston traffic drew to a crawl when the group made it closer to their downtown location. The reason behind the trip was a visit to the Alley Theatre where they were staging Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club. With the assistance of an iPhone GPS, the group arrived thirty minutes prior to the opening of the curtain.

The Alley Theatre runs a Sherlock Holmes play just about every year and each time the attendance is tremendous. Saturday’s performance was no exception. With a seating capacity of 824, Saturday’s matinee featured very few empty seats. This production featured a circular stage, with one section about three feet wide near the outer portion of the stage which rotated. This allowed the actors to stand on this part and then rotate out of the scene. In one particular scene, Holmes and Watson walked in one direction as the section rotated in the opposite direction, giving the perfect allusion of the pair walking through the streets of London while in the same point on stage.

Mini-Poster

Each actor delivered his or her line in a loud and succinct fashion and was clearly heard throughout the theatre. There were a few drawbacks, such as Dr. Watson not having a moustache. Also the allusion to Holmes’ 7% cocaine use even though the play was set in 1914, well after any mention of drug use in the Canon. However, the final scene’s subtle touch far out-shines these minor distractions. In the final scene, the audience was treated with a little bit of Sarasarte‘s Carmen Fantasy #1, a piece of music with which Holmes was surely familiar.

The play, written by Jeffery Hatcher, is based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and those in the Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is an interesting bit of history that Doyle and Stevenson both graduated from the University of Edinburgh and were equally attracted to each other’s work. Sadly, Stevenson’s premature death occurred before the two great authors could collaborate in real life. With Mr. Hatcher’s deft hand, the audience witnessed what might have happened.

Todd White, Sherlock Holmes, plays the lead role with the right touch of haughtiness and aplomb. Sidney Williams, Dr. Watson, was more in the Nigel Bruce vein, and  pulled it off extremely well, even sans the moustache. Happily, Moriarty and Irene Adler made no surprise appearances. They seem to invade nearly every Holmes production ever staged. There was a Russian prince and a French lover and even an Inspector that was not named Lestrade or Gregson. The host of other players each accomplished their roles flawlessly.

The two act play included a short 15-minute intermission and was well worth giving up a Saturday afternoon to see. Co-director’s Gregory Boyd and Mark Shanahan run a tight production and with professional guidance. I hope that anyone in the Houston area before June 23, 2013 will have the opportunity to catch this fun little romp.

Friday, June 7, 2013

2013 Annual Picnic

Over the Memorial Day weekend, more than two dozen Sherlockians gathered at the Hobbs House for our annual Sherlock Holmes Picnic. My wife, Joyce, is a party planner extraordinaire. This year, we cooked burgers and it was her idea that everything on the menu be able to be eaten without cutlery. So we enhanced the burgers with chips, cookies, and Klondike bars and plenty of wet-wipes. No one complained or left hungry, for that matter.

In front of my house there is a 'No Outlet' sign. I just happened to have piece of cardboard-box that fit the sign perfectly. A quick substitution of the Master's Silhouette made it easy to identify where the picnic was happening. It was just one of those details that make hosting a Sherlockian gathering so much fun.
The converted No Outlet sign in front of my house
Since it is said "a picture is worth a thousand words" I will let the pictures tell the story instead of typing all of the words. From the platter of Kitty Winter's Biscuit Barrage to Inspector Lestrade's Lemonade every detail received special attention from Joyce's discerning eyes. A tribute to a house full of Sherlockians, that those same details did not go past unnoticed.
More finger food

Everyone had their own name tag. One of the pet peeves of the party planner extraordinaire is attending a Sherlockian event and no one knows Mary Morstan from Mary Sutherland. Each tag badge featured the new Crew of the Barque LONE STAR logo, their name, the date (May 26, 2013), and 'Annual Crew of the Barque LONE STAR Picnic' on a background of green for keeping the memory so.
The name tag alone will one day be a collector's item.
The Inspector Lestrade's Lemonade was made with more love than a Led Zepplin song lyric and was gone faster than parsley melts into butter on a hot summer day. Details, details, details.
Pucking good refreshment
Mrs. Vickie's potato chips morphed into Queen Victoria's Crisps for the afternoon and made Mrs. Hudson proud. They looked simply marvelous in front of the vintage forty-eight star American flag, very fitting indeed for Memorial Day. From Mrs. Vickie to Mrs. Hudson to Mrs. Joyce we tip our deerstalker to you.
Queen Victoria's own crisps
Writers Carole Nelson Douglas of the Midnight Louie and Irene Adler fame and TD McKinney of the Gay and Lesbian fiction fame were just two of the guests that held court, enthralling others with their tales of earning a living by their wits alone. Mrs. Joyce, in her kitchen, held her own court, impressing all with tales of her culinary genius. Cheers to her, indeed.
From left to right, Pam Mason, Carole Nelson Douglas, Joyce Hobbs
Terri Haugen, and David Haugen's left shoulder
David and Terri Haugen of Seattle, Washington were on their final leg of a multi-month holiday to Europe. Neither fly so getting from Seattle to Europe includes a touch of creative planning that would make Rick Steves proud. I hope our Texas Sherlockian hospitality made a lasting impression. They certainly impressed us with their wit and charm.
David Haugen and me in my library.
Alas, like good things, they come to pass all too soon as did the 2013 Annual Crew of the Barque LONE STAR picnic.

Happy Blogging!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Booking in Lisbon

Collecting foreign language translations of the Canon always adds another level of adventure when Joyce and I travel. We usually come home with an additional suitcase full of books. It looks like this trip will follow the established pattern. I have already written about finding books on the first day at the café down the street from us and about visiting Bertrand’s, the oldest bookstore in Lisbon. I soon discovered that the used book market on the street beside Bertrand’s is there every day.

The famous Café  Brasileira, established in 1905, is a place located a half a block away from the used book market and not too far from our apartment. This is where Joyce and I enjoyed breakfast the most and went there several times. One morning I stopped at the used book market and struck up a conversation with one of the sellers. As usual, I explained I collected translations of Sherlock Holmes. The gentleman, António Palma, apologized for not having any Sherlock Holmes books with him that day but assured me he had some at his warehouse, which held more than 200,000 books. As I looked through his stacks of books, I found two different Canonical books! I bought them both. António and I had a good laugh over me finding the books and the we exchanged email addresses.


António Palma and me in front of the Used Book Markets, Lisbon, Portugal
That afternoon I had an email from António referring to me as 'Telepathic Don" for finding the books when he did not think there were any to find. He assured me he would find more and did not need GPS or ESP to find them in his warehouse. He also told me he was a retired commercial airlines pilot. That evening, Joyce and I decided to go to a different section of Lisbon to a  Napolitano Pizza place. While searching for the obscure little place, I discovered yet another used bookstore. Joyce and I both marvel at the abundance of them in Lisbon. I asked the proprietor about Sherlock Holmes and she pointed me to that section. As I was going through the titles, she brought out six more, so I ended up with eight books. She then pointed out where the restaurant was located. As I leave the shop, loaded with two sacks full of Portuguese Sherlock Holmes, I step off of the curb into the path of an on-coming car that I never heard or saw. The driver screeched to a halt and rolled down his window and grabbed me by the arm. Joyce and I both expected to be screamed at instead we heard those familiar words, “Oh my God, it’s Don Hobbs!”

The driver was none other than António Palma! How freaky is that, of the 2,000,000 people in Lisbon, I nearly am run over by someone I know! I had to memorialize the occasion with a limerick.

In Lisbon, bookstores are there makin’
Lotsa Portuguese Sherlock I’m a takin’
On a day of good bookin’
I stepped without lookin’
But thank God for António’s fast braking’

As one of my friend commented on Facebook, it would have been stranger if I had stepped in front of someone I did not know!

Happy Blogging!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Sherlocking in Portugal

 
Joyce and I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday April, 19. We rested up and explored a bit around our neighborhood before crashing for the evening.

When Saturday dawned we were energized and ready for discovering our new city. Down the street a block and a half was Há café no Alfarrabistra “Old Books and Coffee”, a fine place to break our fast. This little coffee bar served pastries and local Joe called bica. They also sold old books. A quick search netted a copy of Sherlock Holmes in Portuguese, a book already in my collection, but I bought it nonetheless.

Há café no Alfarrabistra “Old Books and Coffee”

My first Sherlock Holmes find in Portugal and alas I already have a copy.

Our main goal on Saturday was the Flea Market at Feira da Ladra. We had to climb the local equivalent of the Alps to get there but it was worth the climb. Joyce found some nice tile pieces and I found more Sherlock Holmes, another one that I already owned. I did pass on a copy of Jô Soares’ pastiche, O Xangô de Baker Street. At least the return journey was a downhill saunter.

Next up was a visit to Liviraria Bertrand, the oldest bookstore in Portugal that was founded in 1732, the same year George Washington was born! This beautiful shop fills an entire block. The outside of the building is nearly as awesome as the inside. The blue and white tile exterior is stunning in the Portuguese sunlight. I bought Obras Completas de Sherlock Holmes #1: Um estudo em vermelho/Os sete mistérios  which is a part of a six volume set. It was the only volume missing in my collection. As luck would have it, on the street beside Liviraria Bertrand, there was a street market selling books and I found and bought  the same book only it was 9€ less.

In front of Liviraria Bertrand, founded in 1732.
 
On the diagonal corner from the Liviraria Bertrand was yet another bookshop. I ventured in there and came out with another five volumes of Sherlock Holmes. The fellow working the counter and I started talking as he spoke perfect English. I explained that I collected Sherlock Holmes in translations and he offered to help me find older editions. We exchanged email addresses and now I will see if he is as good as his word.

We made it back to our apartment in time to do some Face-Time with the Crew of the Barque LONE STAR, back in Dallas. It was the monthly meeting so we were able to present the toast to the Queen.  All in all, our first full day in Portugal was a success, especially on the Sherlockian front.

Happy blogging!!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Panjabi Kemo Sabe

I love being a Sherlockian in general and collecting foreign translations of the Canon in particular. Being a Sherlockian has opened up a very interesting world full of interesting people.

Filed under the snowball effect:

My friend and fellow Dallas Sherlockian, Joe Faye, asked me to speak at The Second Tuesday lecture series at Heritage Auctions on December 11 and this led to The Dallas Morning News interviewing me. That article ran on December 31, 2012. From that article I was interview by WealthPoint, a site dedicated to collectors. I was also asked to speak at the Annual Gathering of Mensa in July and at the University of Minnesota Sherlockian conference” Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place.”
You can see the snowball growing.

In January, after the DMN article, a girl from my little town of Flower Mound emailed me and offered to look for a Telugu book, which is her native tongue, when she traveled to India in February. Last week, I was following up on some older emails and realized she never contacted me again so I sent her a short message. As I expected, she was not successful in her quest to locate the elusive Telugu translation. I decided to search. In a series of emails between us, I suggested that I might not have the exact spelling of the one known Telugu Sherlockian translation. With that being said I did a search of the title, Neraparisodhana and discovered the exact title was listed on the National Library of India’s webpage.

As an added bonus, the library listed a second Telugu translation, Sherlock Holmes kathalu published by Jaihind Pracurana. The contents of this book are not listed. As I searched the rest of the library’s entries for Conan Doyle, I found a Panjabi title, Rase/ Arthur Conan Doyle. I am not 100% sure if this is a Sherlock Holmes title or simply a Doyle title. I have taken the liberty to add it to The Galactic Sherlock, bringing the total of known translations to ninety-nine, if it holds up as being a Sherlockian translation.

See the snow ball effect just continues to roll down the hill, gaining mass and weight as it goes. I will be glad when the Panjabi translation is either confirmed or denied. Regardless of the outcome, I will still love being a Sherlockian

Happy blogging!!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Too Busy to Post

Well, recently  I have been too busy to think let alone post on my blog. I will try to do better in the future.

I have been working on my two talks that are fast approaching. On July 5, I am speaking to the Annual Gathering of the National Mensa Society  in Fort Worth. On August 10, I am speaking at the Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place conference in Minneapolis sponsored by the University of Minnesota

Next up on my agenda  on April 18 is a 2 1/2 week vacation  in Spain and Portugal with my wife, Joyce. Madrid, Lisbon, and Oporto are on our agenda.

I continue to have visitors to my library. T.D. McKinney stopped by the other night. She is the co-author of Kissing  Sherlock Holmes. It can be purchased on Amazon  at the link listed below:


This is TD McKinney and me in my library.

The same night that TD came by, Joe Faye, member of the Crew of the Barque LONE STAR, was present helping dispose of bottles of  red wine from Spain and California. TD and my wife Joyce joined in the partaking and this was all before homemade limoncello started flowing. This fact might explain why I have such a goofy expression in the photographs.

Joe Faye and Don Hobbs - red wine does not affect us.

Happy Blogging!




Sunday, March 10, 2013

Sherlocking in Hungary

Over the years I have established many connections around the world for securing foreign translations of the Canon. Early on I founded the Maniac Collectors, the world's first International Sherlock Holmes collector's society. This was in the early days of the Internet. I would find people in places like Brazil, Israel, Denmark, and Japan and make them an offer. The offer was that I would send them a package of Sherlockian books in English and once the books arrived, they would in turn send me a package of books with what they felt was of equal value.

As the use of the Internet grew, this approach slowly waned because it became so much easier to find things from around the world. These were pre-eBay days and once this wonderful Internet site got rolling, there was nothing to do but embrace it and move forward. Over the course of years, one of the connections I formed was with a gentleman from Hungary. Mr. Gergely Gyulai sends me an email a couple of times each month, offering the latest Sherlockian treasures he has found. Recently he sent the one pictured below.
This edition of The Sign of Four has a nice illustrated cover art by a well known Hungarian applied graphics artist, Imre Földes (b.1881-d.1948). The cover depicts Sherlock Holmes in the company of a dog, perhaps Toby. 
Cover art by Imre Földes

Several times Gergely has sent me books from the collection of Fernec Pap who was probably the biggest Sherlock Holmes collector in Hungary. Pap was an engineer and lived in a small city called Kiskundorozsma in Hungary near to Szeged. He began collecting books decades ago. All the books that originally belonged to his collection are stamped in green, the "possessor mark," on the title-pages and also on some pages inside the books. He was in his 70’s when he died last year and his collection was then sold at numerous auctions. Most of his collection was Sherlock Holmes/Hungarian editions and he had several hundred of these at the time of his death.

Rap Fernec book stamps

Of all my Hungarian translations the one below has one of my favorite covers.

1918 Hungarian pulp editon of the Hound.



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sherlocking in Oregon

For me no trip to the Portland, Oregon area  is complete without a visit to Jerry Margolin and his wife, Judy. They are the salt of the earth Sherlockian and Sherlockian tolerater (I will let the reader figure out which is which). My adventures began last last week with a flight into Portland, Oregon. I was working in Corvallis, home of the Oregon State Beavers. I like saying it, Go Beavers! It was an uneventful week and on Friday, my co-worker, Dori Law and I drove back up to Portland as we  had dinner invitations at Jerry and Judy's
house. I have taken Dori around the country with me meeting Sherlockians in our wake. Jerry and Judy are the most gracious hosts and by evenings end we were all family. 

With Judy and Jerry Margolin.

On the same day that Katrina devastated New Orleans, I was on my way to Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. My route took me past the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. This is the home of the ‘Spruce Goose’, the giant laminated wooden aircraft built by Howard Hughes.I remember that day for numerous reasons and since our Saturday was free, Dori and I made the 45-mile drive to the museum. To this day the ‘Spruce Goose’ is the world’s largest aircraft. We spent the afternoon strolling through the museum, taking in all of the various aircraft. They all looked like toy models next to the ‘Spruce Goose’.

The 'Spruce Goose' and other aircraft.

Next on the agenda was meeting Jerry and Judy again, this time at a restaurant, The Irving Kitchen. We were joined by another fellow Sherlockian, Sonia Featherston, and her husband Ben. I have known Sonia for nearly twenty years as a member of the Hounds of the Internet.  I met her in person for the first time last year at the Morley-Montgomery Reception. Sonia won the Morley-Montgomery Award for the best article in the Baker Street Journal for the past year. She is the author of this year’s Baker Street Journal 2012 Christmas Annual.  “Barrymore in Baker Street” tells the story of the silent film Sherlock Holmes starring John Barrymore . This is an excellent read and the eighteen months she spent working on it reflects its scope and depth.

Sonia, Jerry, and me.

Alas, all good things end and my Sherlockian adventure in Oregon followed the same. Not before old Sherlockian  friendships grew deeper and newer ones solidified. For Jerry and Judy it was another great evening added to the one before and the ones to follow. In addition, for Sonia and Ben, it was another chapter in our Sherlockian lives and future visits to anticipate.  The Sherlockian Gods are smiling on me.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Six Degrees of Sherlockian Separation

Sunday is the 85th Academy Awards® and it is the eighth year for this little exercise of Sherlockian inanity. The last seven years I wrote this for SherlockPeoria but that weekly Webpage ended in June of last year. Inow have this blog and will carry on the tradition here. I will be using this year’s nominations for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, and the Best Director. In six steps or less, I will tie these nominees to a Sherlock Holmes film.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper/ Silver Linings Playbook
  1.  Bradley Cooper/ Wedding Crashers (2005) with Owen Wilson.
  2. Owen Wilson/ Shanghai Noon  (2000) with Lucy Liu
  3. Lucy Liu/ Elementary
 Daniel Day-Lewis/ Lincoln
  1. Daniel Day-Lewis/Gandhi (1985) with Ben Kingsley
  2. Ben Kingsley/Without A Clue (1988)
Hugh Jackman/ Les Miserables
  1. Hugh Jackman/ Van Helsing (2004) with Richard Roxburgh
  2. Richard Roxburgh/The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002)
Joaquin Phoenix/ The Master
  1. Joaquin Phoenix/ Gladiator (2000) with Richard Harris
  2. Richard Harris/ King of the Wind (1990) with Ian Richardson
  3. Ian Richardson/ The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)
Denzel Washington/ Flight
  1. Denzel Washington/ Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh
  2. Kenneth Branagh/ Shackleton (2002) with John Grillo
  3. John Grillo/ Brazil (1985) with Jonathan Pryce
  4. Jonnathan Pryce/ Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007)
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain/Zero Dark Thirty
  1. Jessica Chastain/ Coriolanus (2011) with Ralph Fiennes
  2. Ralph Fiennes/ The English Patient (1996) with Kevin Whatley
  3. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
  4. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)
Jennifer Lawrence/ Silver Linings Playbook
  1. Jennifer Lawrence/ The Hunger Games (2012) with Woody Harrelson
  2. Woody Harrelson/No Country for Old Men (2007) with Tommy Lee Jones
  3. Tommy Lee Jones/ Lonesome Dove (1989) with Robert Duvall
  4. Robert Duvall/ The Seven Per-Cent Solution (1976)
Emmanuelle Riva/ Amour
  1. Emmanuella Riva/ XXL (1997) with Gerard Depardieu
  2. Gerard Depardieu/ Hamlet  (1996) with Judi Dench
  3. Judi Dench/ A Study in Terror (1965)
Quvenzhane Wallis/ Beasts of the Southern Wild
  1. Quvenzhane Wallis/ Twelve Years a Slave (2013) with Benedict Cumberbatch
  2. Benedict Cumberbatch/ Sherlock  (2012)
Naomi Watts/ The Impossible
  1. Naomi Watts/ Le Divorce  (2003) with Glenn Close
  2. Glenn Close/ Hamlet (1990) with Ian Holms
  3. Ian Holmes/ Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) with James Fox
  4. James Fox/Sherock Holmes  (2009)
Best Director
Michael Haneke/ Amour
  1. Benny's Video (1992) with Angela Winkler
  2. Angela Winkler/ Peer Gynt (1971) with Bruno Ganz
  3. Bruno Ganz/ Unknown (2011) with Liam Neeson
  4. Liam Neeson/ Rob Roy (1995) with Ian Stewart
  5. Ian Stewart/ The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes  (2000)
Benh Zeitlin/  Beasts of the Southern Wild
  1. Benh Zeitlin/ The Egg (2005) with Max Goldblatt
  2. Max Goldblatt/ Bushwacked(1995) with Daniel Stern
  3. Daniel Stern/ Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) with Michael Caine
  4. Michael Caine/ Without a Clue (1988)
Ang Lee/ Life of Pi
  1. Ang Lee/Sense and Sensibility (1995) with Tom Wilkinson
  2. Tom Wilkinson/ Inspector Morse (1985) with John Thaw
  3. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)
David O. Russell/ Silver Linings Playbook
  1. David O. Russell/ The Fighter (2012)with Amy Adams
  2. Amy Adams/ Charlie Wilson's War (2007) with Julia Roberts
  3. Julia Roberts/ Mary Rielly (1996) with Wendy Knottingham
  4. Wendy Knottingham/ Inspector Lewis (2008) with Kevin Whatley
  5. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
  6. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)
Steven Spielberg/ Lincoln
  1. Steven Spielberg/ Saving Private Ryan (1998) with Jeremy Daveis
  2. Jeremy Davies/Solaris (2002) with Natascha McElhone
  3. Natascha McElhone/ Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987) with George Baker
  4. George Baker/ On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) with Diana Rigg
  5. Diana Rigg/ Hospital (1971) with George C. Scott
  6. George C. Scott/ They Might Be Giants (1971)

This wraps up another year of “Six-Degrees of Sherlockian Separation”  We will do it again for the 86th Annual Academy Awards®. I hope you have enjoyed the effort.

Happy Blogging (and movie watching) !!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Fred Levin: Kindred Soul


Fred Levin, BSI, was a kindred soul with me. He was one of those rare Sherlockians that collected foreign translations of the Canon. Fred passed over Reichenbach Falls last February after suffer a debilitating stroke. His wife, Sunnie, asked me if I would help price Fred’s foreign language books and then ended up selling all of them to me for a price I could not refuse.  Last week, I hopped into my Hansom Cab and headed to Skokie, Illinois to pick up those books.

For me, no trip to the Land of Lincoln is complete without a visit to my Sherlockian Soul-Mate- Brad Keefauver and his home in Peoria. Brad and I have had numerous Sherlockian adventures together, dating all the way back to 1991. Anyone reading this very blog has Brad to thank. Brad helped me set this up before we headed off to the Windy City.

Recently investitured BSI, Philip Cunningham met us a Sunnie’s house, our convergence point. There, six large boxes awaited me. Sunnie not only packed all of the books, she also labels the outside of each box, not once, not twice but three times! She also included a ledger inside each box with the contents. She went beyond her call of duty on these boxes.

The four of us ate lunch and visited before it was time to head off again.

I logged nearly 2,000 mile on the old odometer in just over three days and now I have the daunting task of merging the book I did not have into my collecting and creating a catalog for the remaining books in Fred’s foreign collecting. Many people have expressed their desire to buy a few of Fred’s books He was so well liked in the Sherlockian community. I plan to begin selling them in early spring. As an extra bonus, I created a Memorial bookplate for each book.

I am glad to have know Fred and been a kindred spirit. I hope my next adventure with Brad is longer.