Things Yuri likes

One sunny day, Timur and I were waiting for this or that appointment. I knew it could take quite some time so I took a pencil and a notebook with me. This is what we wrote.

Things that Yuri likes

• British panel shows
• Chess
• Discworld
• Undertale
• 2-D animation
• Critical analysis
• Game Grumps and their 2 bands
• Comics
• Walking on his own
• Coming up with ideas for comics, movies, games, etc.
• Oranges
• Coffee with milk and sugar
• Chocolate ice cream
• Meat (also, to cook it)
• Dark comedy
• Sherlock Holmes (various implementations)
• Blues
• Cowboy-related stuff
• His black cap

Las cosas que le gustan a Yuri

• Programas de concursos británicos
• Ajedrez
• Mundodisco
• Undertale
• Animación 2-D
• Análisis crítico
• Game Grumps y sus 2 bandas
• Historietas
• Caminar por su cuenta
• Encontrar ideas para cómics, películas, juegos, etc.
• Naranjas
• Café con leche y azúcar
• Helado de chocolate
• La carne (también cocinarla)
• El humor negro
• Sherlock Holmes (varias realizaciones)
• Blues
• Cosas vaqueras
• Su gorra negra

Юра любит...

• Британские телеигры
• Шахматы
• Плоский мир
• Undertale
• Рисованную мультипликацию
• Критический анализ
• Game Grumps и их 2 группы
• Комиксы
• Прогулки в одиночестве
• Придумывать идеи для комиксов, фильмов, игр и т.д.
• Апельсины
• Кофе с молоком и сахаром
• Шоколадное мороженое
• Мясо (также, готовить)
• Чёрный юмор
• Шерлока Холмса (различные реализации)
• Блюз
• Вещи, связанные с ковбоями
• Свою чёрную шапку

Sherlock: Series 3

by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss

Just finished watching the last episode of Sherlock. Man it was good. I loved all three episodes; The Sign of Three probably is the best. Series 1 already had quite a few comic moments, but here we are dealing with a full-blown comedy: Watson marries Mary (Amanda Abbington — a great addition to the team), Sherlock is the best man. What could possibly go right?

Elementary

by Robert Doherty

After watching the first episode of Elementary, I thought it was vastly inferior to Sherlock. Where British make three episodes per season, Americans make 24. Surely they can’t be all as good?

Well I was right here: they aren’t. Some of them are weak, and the very last one of the season is just plain silly. And there are some quite good too.

Jonny Lee Miller’s Sherlock Holmes is as arrogant and annoying as Cumberbatch’s character in Sherlock — or, indeed, as Moriarty in Sherlock. But there’s more to this particular Holmes than genius and arrogance. Eventually, I grew to like him. Maybe because of his vulnerability. Mainly because of his vulnerability. Lucy Liu makes a very decent Dr. Watson: intelligent, reserved and trustworthy. Also, while learning from Holmes, she teaches him a thing or three. Little wonder Holmes, now “clean” ex-addict, becomes so dependent on her. Elementary offers something that was missing from other recent interpretations of Conan Doyle classic stories: development of friendship between Holmes and Watson. On the other hand, Moriarty, aka Irene Adler (Natalie Dormer), is a complete disaster.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

a film by Guy Ritchie

Sequels are rarely better than originals, and A Game of Shadows is not an exception.

Debit

1. Holmes does not do much “deducing”
2. An embarrassingly long list of anachronisms
3. Unimpressive Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)
4. Schubert

Credit

1. If in the first movie the slow-motion fight scenes were explaining exactly what is going to happen, here the “reality” goes not as expected — I quite like that
2. Sherlock’s disguises are getting even more hilarious
3. Stephen Fry as Mycroft “the other” Holmes (“You mean there’s two of you?”) is simply brilliant
4. Gypsy music!

All in all, it still makes a damn good viewing. Good night.

Sherlock: Series 1

by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss

This Christmas, we’ve spent three evenings watching this DVD (from the library). A classic with a modern twist. Of the three episodes, I liked the best the first one, A Study in Pink.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the most arrogant (even though frighteningly brilliant) Holmes I’ve ever seen. Martin Freeman is a fine, very intelligent Dr. Watson — just like Conan Doyle’s hero, he is back to London from Afghan war. (A nice 21st century detail: both Holmes and Watson are bloggers.) However it is “minor” characters who make Sherlock such a fantastic show: rather likeable Lestrade (Rupert Graves), not your caricature dumb Scotland Yard inspector; Sgt Sally Donovan (Vinette Robinson); Jeff the cabbie (Phil Davis)... On the contrary, Moriarty (Andrew Scott) is a disappointment: too psycho to be truly scary; the first appearance of Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss) is so much more impressive.

Both Gatiss and Moffat are Doctor Who writers — which explains the Time Lord’s fingerprints all over the place. Which I mean as a compliment. The picture quality of the DVD is excellent. I am looking forward to more Sherlock in 2011.

Sherlock Holmes

a film by Guy Ritchie

Sherlock Holmes the movie has all the ingredients of a great film. It comes complete with a supervillain, femme fatale, a secret society, numerous punch-ups and, naturally, a rooftop Tower-Bridge-under-construction-top showdown. And a result? The ingredients come together as a great film indeed. I still think that the best Holmes ever was played by Vasily Livanov, but... I really liked Robert Downey Jr. in this movie. Jude Law makes a very decent Dr. Watson, and my faith in Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) has been restored.

Good night.

Собака Баскервилей

a film by Igor Maslennikov

According to Wikipedia, “there are at least 24 film versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Most of these adaptations are British and (curiously) German movies. For me, the one and only “true” version is the 1981 Soviet film, featuring incomparable Vasily Livanov OBE as Sherlock Holmes, Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson and Nikita Mikhalkov as Sir Henry Baskerville. Where the movie deviates from the novel, it does so in a way that Sir Conan Doyle would approve. For instance, Holmes tells Watson that detectives possess special sensory organs on the tips of their ears. Throughout the movie, Sir Henry is fed porridge which he hates. And so on. The mystery of Sir Henry’s boots (“But why didn’t you buy black boots? Why, Sir Henry?”) remains unresolved, which only adds charm to the story.

Watch «Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона: Собака Баскервилей».