I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

The Unseen Watchers — Twitter and Sherlock Holmes on TV

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"Was he also out in that deluge — the unseen watcher, the man of darkness?" [HOUN]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIbZH6MQS017EAMR4-3cI9puqL8K5bof-Cst3bEO2WlUkISsKTxStk1HUsfT7AQTNqsQfsQggsJ8bC0Gevj3luabe3lld-NpQGTFsFnRGFV2QiTfytbPxgn3MrgwmP-vV0T7lpnDgXuc0z/s1600/MUSG+-+Granada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIbZH6MQS017EAMR4-3cI9puqL8K5bof-Cst3bEO2WlUkISsKTxStk1HUsfT7AQTNqsQfsQggsJ8bC0Gevj3luabe3lld-NpQGTFsFnRGFV2QiTfytbPxgn3MrgwmP-vV0T7lpnDgXuc0z/s640/MUSG+-+Granada.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Everybody waits for the appointed hour — typically 8 or 9 p.m. Eastern time — and watches Twitter for the message: "Press play!" And another tweetalong (or the more commonly-used phrase "Twitter chat") is under way.<br />
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The golden age of Sherlockian tweetalongs was the two years from fall 2012 to fall 2014, when nearly every Thursday evening a Twitter account and a Web browser (or mobile app) would let you watch one of the Granada episodes starring Jeremy Brett and trade comments with fellow enthusiasts across the United States and in Canada, Argentina and the UK. There have been fewer tweetalongs since then, but it's still "a thing," as they say online.<br />
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They're not all based on Brett's performances — I've been involved in tweetalongs of Peter Cushing's Holmes, <i><a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B00PX7SVRY" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="67e87d6843a23763d657fb3bf45bfa09" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="They Might Be Giants dvd" href="http://www.amazon.com/They-Might-Giants-George-Scott/dp/B00PX7SVRY/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=67e87d6843a23763d657fb3bf45bfa09&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_1537530" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">They Might Be Giants</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_1537530" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=67e87d6843a23763d657fb3bf45bfa09&_cb=1447427253923" style="border: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 0px !important;" width="0" /></i>, and even "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0569913/" target="_blank">The Sting of Death</a>", and there have even been tweetalongs of BBC's <i><a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B004132HZS" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="0cc752e4d0141fd07c32714a0c298f64" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Sherlock" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Season-1-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/B004132HZS/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=0cc752e4d0141fd07c32714a0c298f64&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_2839786" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_2839786" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=0cc752e4d0141fd07c32714a0c298f64&_cb=1447427299421" style="border: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 0px !important;" width="0" /></i>. But the 51-minute length of a Granada episode is comfortable for the high intensity of watching in one screen window and dashing out scholarly or smart-alecky comments in another. (Besides, many people think Brett is the greatest and most authentic of all Sherlock Holmeses.) This fall several Granada tweetalongs are being organized by <a href="http://%28artintheblood.net/" target="_blank">Art in the Blood</a>.<br />
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What sort of thing do tweetalong enthusiasts say to one another? It ranges from perceptive comments about filmography ("<i>I love this piece of business: camera on JB, retelling the ritual, his graceful fingers reassembling the crown just so</i>") to affectionate remarks about Brett and Hardwicke/Burke. "<i>Epic sideburns</i>," somebody said when a minor character appeared in a full-face shot. <br />
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Sometimes — tweetalongs are predominantly a female sport, it seems — there are wistful or angry comments about how women were treated by society in the 1890s and, by extension, even today. During a tweetalong of "The Musgrave Ritual," someone tweeted:  "<i>This shows how self-absorbed both Holmes/Brunton are: I can use her, but she won't catch on</i>." Or just: "<i>What a sleazeball.</i>"<br />
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And sometimes the comments show a characteristic that has been attributed to Twitter as a whole: they're so cryptic, or such inside jokes, that few know what they mean. "<i>Holmes: IRL LOL #MUSG,</i>" somebody tweeted at one point. LOL is "laughing out loud", IRL is "in real life", and #MUSG, with the # at its beginning, is a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag" target="_blank">hashtag</a>" identifying what Twitter conversation the comment belongs to. But with all that glossing, I'm still not quite sure what the speaker was saying.<br />
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Sherlockian tweetalongs (and if there are non-Sherlockian movie tweetalongs, I'm not aware of them) started in September 2012. That was when the PBS station in Washington, DC, launched an all-British channel, WETAUK, and started broadcasting a Granada episode every Thursday. Local enthusiasts June Matics and Susan Bailey, doing business as <a href="http://twitter.com/sherlock_DC" target="_blank">@sherlock_DC</a>, started livetweeting what they were watching, and soon folks far from the District of Columbia joined in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcO4kOQFqk_MeJfHRhd4U626bpZRXn2ymhZwM-b40fqvrMmSXVwAaw7p4q6lckRjl0xu9pJOqDmlVrPHqoagdbvM_uwaTNinWYHajK662fO1P6fdryZpi41kLhtpsxghW5Y6snFWns4bs/s1600/Sherlock_DC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcO4kOQFqk_MeJfHRhd4U626bpZRXn2ymhZwM-b40fqvrMmSXVwAaw7p4q6lckRjl0xu9pJOqDmlVrPHqoagdbvM_uwaTNinWYHajK662fO1P6fdryZpi41kLhtpsxghW5Y6snFWns4bs/s1600/Sherlock_DC.png" /></a></div>
It was never a big crowd, maybe a dozen on a good night, but the enthusiasm was contagious, and friendships developed, some of which continue strong. There were also running jokes — every week one participant pointed out Brett's lusciously rolled R's, another identified the many, many scenes in which Granada cinematographers made use of mirrors, and of course a few people noted every affectionate word between Holmes and Watson with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23consultinghusbands&src=typd" target="_blank">#consultinghusbands</a>. (Maybe that last one wasn't meant as a joke.)<br />
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"After a year of this," Bailey says now, "the TV station switched up its program schedule, and I kept up the tweeting with my own schedule for almost another year. I like to think that we were both reverential and irreverent. I also enjoyed my research beforehand. I used to look up relevant factoids to tweet and Paget illustrations of scenes."<br />
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But then, she says, "participation started to wane, and I wasn't free on Thursday evenings any more." The final blow came when YouTube, which had been many viewers' easiest source of the Granada episodes, was scrubbed clean of Jeremy Brett for copyright reasons. The last DC-based tweetalong came October 30, 2014, and a Sherlockian era was over.<br />
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Since that time,  <a href="http://twitter.com/art_intheblood" target="_blank">@Art_intheBlood</a> has been staging #GranadaHolmes and #Elementary tweetalongs. We'll see how it continues to grow!<br />
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The Unseen Watchers — Twitter and Sherlock Holmes on TV

"Was he also out in that deluge — the unseen watcher, the man of darkness?" [HOUN] Everybody waits for the appointed hour —...

+ Read more »

by Chris Redmond

Financial Assistance for the BSI Weekend

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"to defray whatever expenses I may be put to" [SPEC]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQ6NzdNlbvo6h_28U9FiknzN3n03o_G6KxgtncfJd2bXpJx3HSrTMnHFYnm50zDxxnDYSdtF8Xdsv9JhWrLX20xm0x7ayqkAcnrOpQVnXOQaPG-0DqvYQzCtbmOkoLyb1dEHQDl2wCWZm/s1600/BERY+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Alexander Holder's surprise [BERY]" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQ6NzdNlbvo6h_28U9FiknzN3n03o_G6KxgtncfJd2bXpJx3HSrTMnHFYnm50zDxxnDYSdtF8Xdsv9JhWrLX20xm0x7ayqkAcnrOpQVnXOQaPG-0DqvYQzCtbmOkoLyb1dEHQDl2wCWZm/s640/BERY+2.jpg" title="Alexander Holder, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" width="512" /></a></div>
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With the recent spate of invitations to the <a href="http://bsiweekend.com/" target="_blank">Baker Street Irregulars Weekend</a> in New York came a sense of surprise, relief and even trepidation. Yes, trepidation. For some people, attending the Weekend is a difficult and onerous task.<br />
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Some simply don't like to be around crowds, or perhaps detest the (often) harsh weather of New York in January. Others boycott for personal reasons. But there are some who simply can't afford the price of the accumulated events and the travel required to get there.<br />
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In the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s under Tom Stix, Jr.'s ("The Norwood Builder") term as Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars, Tom created the <b>Dr. John H. Watson Fund</b>, a financial assistance package for the BSI Weekend, and credited it as his most proud achievement of leading the BSI.<br />
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According to the BSI:<br />
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<b>The Dr. John H. Watson Fund</b> offers financial assistance to all Sherlockians
(membership in the BSI is not required) who might otherwise not be able to
participate in the weekend's festivities. A carefully pseudonymous John H.
Watson presides over the fund and welcomes contributions, which can be made
by check payable to John H. Watson and sent (without return address on the
envelope) to <b>Dr. Watson, c/o The Baker Street Irregulars, at 7938 Mill
Stream Circle, Indianapolis, IN 46278</b>; your letters are forwarded unopened,
and Dr. Watson will acknowledge your generosity. Requests for assistance
should also be mailed (quickly) to Dr. Watson at the same address.</blockquote>
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It is a wonderful resource that enables more people to enjoy one of the most important aspects of our hobby: spending time in the company of like-minded people. And while there are plenty of opportunities around the world to do this on a local level, the BSI Weekend happens just once a year and celebrates a long-standing (82 years!) tradition that was started by Christopher Morley.<br />
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Each year, the Fund is self-liquidating, meaning that assistance is granted to whatever extent is possible to the supplicants, and that generous Sherlockians are responsible for replenishing it every year. Traditionally this was done through simple check-writing, but then the BSI Cocktail Reception added <a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/bsiweekend/auction.html" target="_blank">an auction and drawing</a>, which also raise money for the Fund. Raffle tickets are sold throughout the weekend for some choice items and Peter Blau, BSI ("Black Peter") holds forth as an auctioneer <i>sine qua non</i>.<br />
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So if you're <b>in need</b> of some financial assistance, please write to Dr. Watson at the address above with a budget that outlines what you need. And if you're <b>able to support</b> this important effort to enable your friends and colleagues attend, by all means, so do.<br />
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Financial Assistance for the BSI Weekend

"to defray whatever expenses I may be put to" [SPEC] With the recent spate of invitations to the Baker Street Irregulars We...

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by Scott Monty

The #BSIWeekend Site Is Updated

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"I was invited to a week-end gathering" [LAST]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_RhyAw8AyiypUPICbCj778SGCAN_M-Ku7o2xkXRiw7XTkF3OwHp_2idIUk428xuHJi8gI9OQzFms7H1iXjgX8jajaSadKIeqRA1znBjDn56hS-cYKa9LPSdPaHIKXYzY-7ylWnlWMmao/s1600/BSI+Dinner+2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_RhyAw8AyiypUPICbCj778SGCAN_M-Ku7o2xkXRiw7XTkF3OwHp_2idIUk428xuHJi8gI9OQzFms7H1iXjgX8jajaSadKIeqRA1znBjDn56hS-cYKa9LPSdPaHIKXYzY-7ylWnlWMmao/s640/BSI+Dinner+2010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Judging from the excitement we've seen in the last 24 hours on the Web, it's clear that the invitations to the annual BSI Dinner are out, and as such, the <a href="http://bsiweekend.com/" target="_blank">BSI Weekend website</a> is updated for your use.<br />
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There you'll find all of the information related to the Weekend, from the schedule of events to resources and reservation forms, as well as a neatly summarized section with a single page to print out.<br />
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A few things to note here:<br />
<ol>
<li>If you're sharing this on social media, please use the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BSIWeekend&src=typd" target="_blank">#BSIWeekend</a>. This makes it easier to follow the topic (despite <i>who</i> you're following), makes photos easier to find, and increases the chances of creating a trending topic that could get media attention.</li>
<li>Feel free to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/869834353130921/" target="_blank">join the event posted on Facebook</a>.</li>
<li>If you have any suggestions for people attending for the first time, please email us or leave a comment below; we'll be posting our annual <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/12/how-to-get-most-out-of-bsiweekend.html#.VkKjcPmrTb0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tips for getting the most out of the BSI Weekend</a>, and it would be great to include yours.</li>
</ol>
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Don't miss our episode earlier this year <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose74" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">recapping the 2015 BSI Weekend</a>:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/191368218&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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The #BSIWeekend Site Is Updated

"I was invited to a week-end gathering" [LAST] Judging from the excitement we've seen in the last 24 hours on the Web, it...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

When I Spend a Long Evening With Holmes

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"It has been a long evening" [WIST]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eJ0pJ_2WTZmHLeZ5l7SWpj8A4InkmZRfE3MRKM3L1Kt_sbJNINW0259nqWQg6udVdIQQALAKyU97AIN3C5rSa7gIGOoAsRCqNmtFaD1O59ygEJ8QXqKcZLs4TCXn3_CxRHlURz7js_h_/s1600/Bookshelves+fireplace.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eJ0pJ_2WTZmHLeZ5l7SWpj8A4InkmZRfE3MRKM3L1Kt_sbJNINW0259nqWQg6udVdIQQALAKyU97AIN3C5rSa7gIGOoAsRCqNmtFaD1O59ygEJ8QXqKcZLs4TCXn3_CxRHlURz7js_h_/s640/Bookshelves+fireplace.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There are a few traditions that you'll come across in many Sherlockian society meetings. One is the reading of the Musgrave Ritual — not the story, but the actual ritual itself ("Where was the sun?" "Over the oak." etc., etc.)<br />
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A common recitation at such meetings is Vincent Starrett's classic "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrate-national-poetry-day.html#.VkFnyPmrTb1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">221B</a>," which stands as something of a Sherlockian monument, particularly with its closing line "And it is always 1895."<br />
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But on occasion, you'll here another poem — one that we would dare to say is a modern classic — written by Bill Schweickert, BSI ("Cox and Co.") in 1984 and first recited at Autumn In Baker Street. Way back on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose12" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 12</a>, we asked our guest Bob Thomalen, BSI ("The Three Garridebs") to read the piece for us, and he came through. Bill was his friend and comrade-in-arms, and Bob manages to convey the emotion that this poem brings to those of us who worship at the altar of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.<br />
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Here we provide the text to it, but if you'd like to listen to Bob as you read, he starts talking about his friendship with Bill at the 13:48 mark above, and he reads the poem at 24:47.<br />
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A Long Evening With Holmes</h3>
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by Bill Schweickert</h4>
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When the world rushes in with worries and cares,</div>
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And my problems and headaches are coming in pairs,</div>
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I just climb in my mind up those seventeen stairs,</div>
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And spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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The good doctor greets me and motions me in,</div>
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Holmes grasps my hand and lays down his violin,</div>
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Then we sit by the fire and sip a tall gin</div>
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When I spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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And while we're discussing his cases galore,</div>
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If I'm lucky there comes a loud knock at the door,</div>
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In stumbles a client, head spattered with gore</div>
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When I spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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Watson binds up the client's poor face</div>
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While Holmes soon extracts all the facts of the case,</div>
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Then off in a hansom to Brixton we race</div>
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When I spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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The adventure is solved, Holmes makes it all right.</div>
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Then, back to the lodgings by dawn's early light,</div>
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And a breakfast by Hudson to wind up the night</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When I spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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So this modern rat-race can't keep me in a cage.</div>
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I have a passport to a far better age,</div>
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As close as the bookshelf, as near as a page,</div>
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I can spend a long evening with Holmes.</div>
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We think we'll take Bill (and Bob) up on that offer of a tall gin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodS1feFEJkIATtEYVGojRD07faehDuKQwX0NBkKFKaPFw5qmmcILVbhyphenhyphenYUTsU9V1mm9sYoyHfX5D1yiYypyt_joslULsoB3NQW1CmgtnR-chBTW5tkxs2d-v_pkC1GWSDF5jpE0MGLbr0/s1600/20151105_004821601_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodS1feFEJkIATtEYVGojRD07faehDuKQwX0NBkKFKaPFw5qmmcILVbhyphenhyphenYUTsU9V1mm9sYoyHfX5D1yiYypyt_joslULsoB3NQW1CmgtnR-chBTW5tkxs2d-v_pkC1GWSDF5jpE0MGLbr0/s320/20151105_004821601_iOS.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalmX7CLxJpVCMH_SVZtdxuGMZ8meqImCLSlJkTnu2tFz6QlOTm2DALPYZKN5owUHlrfuZRChe2yV_iuspGfRCCAzGI8mu7zp_WmOKu0s3t_DKD1t69hO6hL_7IUeWUs_8tdPti0Yx8WhN/s1600/20151105_004757415_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalmX7CLxJpVCMH_SVZtdxuGMZ8meqImCLSlJkTnu2tFz6QlOTm2DALPYZKN5owUHlrfuZRChe2yV_iuspGfRCCAzGI8mu7zp_WmOKu0s3t_DKD1t69hO6hL_7IUeWUs_8tdPti0Yx8WhN/s320/20151105_004757415_iOS.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Do you have any particular traditions at your local society's meetings?<br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/grx3gB" target="_blank">Peter (Flickr)</a></i><br />
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