Monday, July 29, 2019

Sherlock - Season 3


     Never was such a fandom on the edge of their seats during the finale episode of season 2 of Sherlock, when the consulting detective leap from the heights of St. Barts and crash lands on the ground. Sherlock Holmes, the Reichenbach Hero turned fraud and now turned martyr for all of London. At his grave site a bereft John Watson, who was the last person to see and hear Sherlock alive, begs Sherlock for one miracle. Don't be dead.

     And as well all know, Sherlock is very unpredictable. 

     Now knowing that Sherlock Holmes was indeed alive, the ever expanding Sherlock fandom spent the next two years trying to solve Holmes biggest mystery. How did he survive the fall at St. Barts?

Episode 1 - The Empty Hearse

     After the heroic death of Sherlock Holmes that makes international news, Moriarty's once perfectly woven net begins to fall apart. Sherlock's name is cleared when it's revealed that Jim Moriarty did indeed fabricate his lies and that the 'consulting detective' was completely honest in all his work. In spite of his 'death,' Sherlock is still a big name in London with a growing fanbase that refuse to accept that he's dead.

     So if Sherlock isn't dead than where is he?

     With the help of Mycroft, Sherlock manages to sneak into Eastern Europe where he spends the next two years bringing down Moriarty's network. However, when a terrorist threat is detected in London, Mycroft informs Sherlock that it's time to come back from the dead. London needs their beloved detective back. And Sherlock needs London...and his best friend.


     Meanwhile, John Watson has managed to pull his life back together. He has a real house, a real job and a real solid relationship. One that he hopes to make permanent. Mary Morstan arrived in John's life right when he needed her. Pretty, bubbly and full of fun, Mary is exactly that type of women that John needs. And just when John is about to propose, the absolute unpexpected happens. His best friend stands right in front of him. A not so dead Sherlock Holmes. 

     If you thought that John was going to be overjoyed at his friends return. Well, you're wrong. John is so overcome with emotional grief that he takes Sherlock out three times. Only Mary can get him to calm down. While the rest of London rejoices at the return of the consulting detective, Sherlock wastes no time in getting back to work. He eventually gets John to work alongside him as they try to track down this impending terrorist threat and in the process, they find their friendship again. Even though they may have saved the day (or actually Sherlock and Mary save John), this case is only the beginning of something darker and infintely more evil.

     An evil that Sherlock Holmes would kill himself if he had the opportunity.

Episode 2 - The Sign of Three

     It's wedding planning mayhem at 221B Baker Street as John and Mary count down the days to their happily ever after. Yet, not everyone is full of merriment for the couple. Sherlock, who already hates public functions is not entirely in line with the idea of John marrying. Either that he doesn't care for the institution of marriage, abhors weddings or simply doesn't want to lose his best friend. Then the inevitable happens when John makes Sherlock his best man. A fate worse than death in Sherlock's mind and he's already died once. 

    Yet, the ever steadfast Brit he is, Sherlock puts away his personal negative feelings and gets down to work as the best man. A job he takes a little too seriously at times, but still manages to go above and beyond his own expectations. When the big day comes, everything goes off without a hitch and Sherlock behaves admirably. However, his best man's speech may go down as the most life saving one in history.


     While at the reception, Sherlock recounts a murder that was never solved. An invisible killer that took the life of a young guard at Buckingham Palace. While it may be a good story another mystery soon follows. Shortly before the wedding a young woman claims that she is dating a ghost. As Sherlock looks into the case, he is surprised that this is not an isolated occurrence. Multiple woman have said the same thing. Unlike his other cases and laughable as it might be, Sherlock can't let this one go and is determined to solve it. 

    As Sherlock's speech continues, he soon puts together both cases and discovers that the invisible murderer and the ghost are both at the wedding. Both of them connected by a tragedy years before. Sherlock, John, Lestrade and even Mary have a limited amount of time to save one man's life and put away another. However, Sherlock's deductions aren't completely over when he makes the most shocking of announcements to John and Mary. 

Episode 3 - His Last Vow

      Sherlock Holmes is known for being unconventional in his methods for solving a case. However, no one was prepared to find him in a drug house, completely high and yet still completely functioning. Although, Sherlock has had drug problems in the past, he insists to everyone that he is getting stoned to catch down a notorious blackmailer. A man that Sherlock considers the most evil of all the enemies he's had to deal with. Charles Augustus Magnussen.

     Magnussen is definitely more than meets the eye. As brilliant as Sherlock, cunning as Moriarty and as slippery as Irene Adler, he uses his intelligence to prey upon the weaknesses of others and then proceeds to blackmail them if not given his way. He reads people in the same way Sherlock does and then stores all his information in 'his vaults' at his home, Appledore. Sherlock wants more than anything to get into those vaults and finally put an end to Magnussen.

      That's easier said than done seeing as Magnussen's immense wealth from his media mogul career has afforded him the best security. Yet Sherlock puts his devious nature to an all new level to break into his office. Only when he gets there, he is shocked to come face to face with another of Magnussen's enemies. Someone he certainly didn't except to be connected to Magnussen.

  
     In the midst of this three-way confrontation, Sherlock is shot and would have died immediately if not for his subconscious working through his brilliant mind palace. In less than a couple of seconds Sherlock manages to evade death due to his disciplined mental construction; not too different from the inception theory, only in this case information within information. Both mental and emotional.

    Even though Sherlock survives, there is now a bigger more dangerous case to solve. Badly wounded and wracked with pain, Sherlock will not stop until he has found the answers to this ever evolving mystery, while also trying to protect John and Mary in the process. After several months in recovery which has led to a good amount of time to plan, Sherlock now he now believes that he can bring down Magnussen. Yet, even Sherlock's intelligence could not prepare him for what Magnussen has in store for him, which only increases the lengths that Sherlock will take to end this extreme evil.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Celebrities Born in 1990 - My Favorites and Not-so Favorites


     For some reason (and it's probably not just me), I love it when I find out that I'm the same age as a celebrity. So, I decided to do a post of 8 well known celebrities that were all born the same year as me and give my own personal opinion on them. Some I like while others could probably do better with their fame that they've achieved in life.

So, lets start off with the bad ones who could be doing better...

Liam Hemsworth - @liamhemsworth

Full Name: Liam Hemsworth


Born: January 13, 1990 - Melbourne, Australia

Profession: Actor

Spouse: Miley Cyrus

Films: The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Last Song, The Expendables 2

Liam Hemsworth does seem to have it all, looks, a good career, Australian heritage...however, he doesn't seem to have a great deal of self respect. I mean, any guy who is married to Miley Cyrus must have absolutely no degree of dignity whatsoever! Cruel to say, but the truth remains that Miley Cyrus has gone from being the wholesome country girl of the late 00's to one of the trashiest celebrities out there. Love is what it is, but I would think that a guy who oftentimes comes off as so charming and intelligent would have better taste in his significant other.







Jennifer Lawrence

Full Name: Jennifer Shrader Lawrence


Born: August 15, 1990 - Indian Hills, Kentucky

Profession: Actress, model

Films: The Hunger Games Trilogy, X-Men prequels, Winter's Bone, Passengers, Silver Linings Playbook

After the release of The Hunger Games where Jennifer Lawrence played the heroine, Katniss Everdeen, she was shot to absolute top stardom. She became Hollywood's Darling, the new golden girl. Hailed as inspirational and modern. Yet, even celebrities are human and after a nude photo scandal that could have ruined her, Jennifer still remained on top. In my opinion she's incredibly overrated and her liberal politics have won her no favors as well. She has done a great deal of damage to herself and her career with her criticism of the President and Conservatives.







Kristen Stewart

Full Name: Kristen Jaymes Stewart


Born: April 9, 1990 - Las Angeles, California 

Profession: Actress

Films: The Twilight Saga, Snow White and The Huntsman, Panic Room

Oh dear, Kristen Stewart. Although she was fairly well known in the indie film circle, Kristen Stewart gained international fame when she was cast as Bella Swan in the Twilight movie series. However, Kristen's awkwardness and clear distaste for the public spotlight became glaringly evident. She rarely smiled and always seemed to be dissatisfied about something. As an actress, she's ok, but definitely not award material. Now she's a free roaming lesbian who for some reason is the face of Chanel. And I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how anyone could choose her of all people to represent the class of Chanel. She has none. 







Emma Watson - @emmawatson 

Full Name: Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson


Born: April 15, 1990 - Paris, France

Profession: Actress, model, activist

Movies: Harry Potter series, Beauty and The Beast, Ballet Shoes, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Noah

If there was anyone that I admired as a kid, it was Emma Watson. I spent my teen years growing up with her as she played the brainy Hogwarts student Hermione Granger in the 8 movie Harry Potter series. I wouldn't consider Emma as annoying, however, her liberal feminist activism has taken a greater hold of her fame and a great deal of it I don't care for. From women's rights (including abortion), to somehow believing that she is the savior of men and the destroyer of their 'toxic masculinity.' Another problem with Emma is she uses emotion instead of reason and facts with her politics and she oftentimes comes off as too sentimental and completely non-credible. 








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Princess Eugenie of York - @princesseugenie

Full Name: Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena


Born: April 23, 1990 - London, United Kingdom

Occupation: Public figure, Director for Hauser & Wirth art gallery

Spouse: Jack Brooksbank 

For almost 30 years, Princess Eugenie has lived a rather obscure life. Although overshadowed by Prince William and Prince Harry, Eugenie and her sister, Beatrice were oftentimes seen and noted at many public family events. Yet, the spotlight was not always a warm one. After Catherine Middleton married into the family, the media respect for the York Sisters, went into full blown hate and vitriol. For a long time they were looked down upon for simply not being able to measure up to their new cousin, Duchess Catherine. 

Then in 2018, Eugenie announced her engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Jack Brooksbank and there was a sudden shift in people's opinion of the York Sisters. The girls are now being presented as wonderful examples of royalty and groundbreaking modern princesses (they are the first princesses in their family's history to attend university). While the media goes back and forth with its opinion of the royals, I have always admired and loved Princess Eugenie! Even during the years of neverending harassment from the public, I always believed both Eugenie and Beatrice to be respectable and perfectly capable of handling their own, with or without their family.







Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd

Full Name: Bill Istvan Günther SkarsgÃ¥rd


Born: August 9, 1990 - Stockholm, Sweden

Occupation: Actor

Partner: Alida Morberg (1 child)

Films: It, Hemlock Grove, Divergent, Deadpool 2, Castle Rock 

Hailing from acting royalty, Bill is the 4th child of actor Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd's eight children--6 from his first wife and 2 from his second. Bill has been acting since he was nine, primarily in Swedish films, but he got recognition when he played the wealthy upir (vampire), Roman Godfrey in the Netflix series, Hemlock Grove, which is based on the novel by Brian McGreevy. However, in 2017 Bill reached international fame when he played Pennywise the child eating clown from Stephen King's novel, It. Tall and ridiculously handsome, I was surprised when I found out that Bill was the same age as me...not complaining either. It's nice to come across an actor that isn't 5 years younger or 15 years older than you! He also comes from a big family too! His siblings are Alexander, Gustaf, Sam, Eija, Valter, Ossian and Kolbjorn.







Margot Robbie - @margotrobbie

Full Name: Margot Elise Robbie



Born: July 2, 1990 - Dalby, Australia

Occupation: Actor

Spouse: Tom Ackerly

Films: Suicide Squad, Goodbye Christopher Robin, The Legend of Tarzan, I, Tonya

I honestly thought that Margot Robbie was in her early 30's! Maybe it's the roles that she plays or just the way that she carries herself, but she seems so much older. Age set aside, she's so beautiful she doesn't even look real! I've seen Margot in a couple of films (Goodbye, Christopher Robin and The Legend of Tarzan), but I'm hoping to see more, such as I, Tonya and Mary, Queen of Scots







Sarah Hyland - @sarahhyland

Full Name: Sarah Jane Hyland 


Born: November 24, 1990 - Manhattan, New York, NY

Occupation: Actress

Partner: Adam Wells 

Films: Modern Family, Geek Charming, Dirty Dancing (2017), See You in Valhalla 

This petite beauty is most well known for her role as Haley Dunphey in ABC's long running series, Modern Family. I actually know Sarah primarily for her role as Lisa Houseman in the remake of the 1987 classic, Dirty Dancing. I could never stand Lisa in the original story, however, Sarah's performance gave a deeper insight to the oftentimes overlooked older sister. In the remake, Lisa is much more intelligent and feisty and actually cares about her sister. She herself embarks on her own questionable relationship, which added so much to the story.