THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES!

It is always easy to tell when a production is simply clocking in for a pay check or toiling away on a labour of love.

One is usually pretty bad.

With the series “Sherlock,” now courting a third season, love is in the air.

The fantastic production, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, follows in the sleuthing footsteps of so many others (such as Jeremy Brett's long-running Granada endeavour), but sets itself apart by setting itself in modern times. The move, orchestrated through careful scripting, deft and dry humour, and truly inspired chemistry, sets the world's most famous detective in the age of cell phones, Twitter, video cameras and evolving cultural values. And it works so well.

For Sherlockians, however, the move from his typical horse and carriage setting isn't a first for the character. Basil Rathbone, arguably one of the most notable actors to ever don the old deerstalker, carried Holmes from his literary settings to the 1940's and into a world at war. Altogether Rathbone and Nigel Bruce banged out a total of fourteen high-flying Holmes films.

In Sherlock, many find the allure in “seeing” the master sleuth's deductive talent written on-screen, with flashes of text written out in the form of quick mental notes. The novel style is reminiscent to the explanatory scenes laid out in the new Sherlock Holmes features starring Robert Downey, Jr. Like Downey's take on the man of Baker Street, the series benefits from these little nuggets, just as it benefits from the use of first names rather than last. For Sherlockians, hearing Watson called John and Holmes called Sherlock is almost blasphemous, but quite original at the same time.

In the season two premiere “A Scandal in Belgravia,” for instance, that breath of love is evident, not just in Holmes' love for Irene Adler, played by the alluring Lara Pulver, but in the craftiness to which Arthur Conan Doyle's canon is embedded into the modern world. Watson, for instance, blogs his adventures with the detective. Holmes video chats on a case, and so on. Adler is also morphed to a modern-day dominatrix, a career which somehow feels natural considering her sneaky character.

The popularity of Sherlock Holmes appears to be at its peak. Novels and films, and even news reports on the actors themselves (not the least of which is the fanciful report that Pulver forced Cumberbatch to stare at her naked breasts while filming “Scandal”) prove the characters endurance throughout the years. Holmes can even be found in the realm of erotica writing, such as the recent book “My Love of All That is Bizarre: The Erotic Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.” It doesn't take a super sleuth to feel that kind of love.






Thanks so much to PM White, for his lovely review of the BBC1 series “Sherlock”. Being an avid reader of Conan Doyle, I guessed that he would love Steve Moffat’s interpretation of Conan Doyle’s super sleuth! And I guessed right!

And PM White is quite correct, Sherlock Holmes’ popularity appears to be at its peak! And I don’t think it is stretching the point, to see it in terms of a zeitgeist. There is almost an obsessive feel for Holmes, Watson and their entourage.

PM White has already mentioned Sizzler’s great contribution to the contemporary fascination with Holmes and Watson, “My Love of All That is Bizarre: The Erotic Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” I don’t know what it is, but Victorian writers continue to inspire us, they have the knack of making us ask “what happens next?” and “just supposing!” Sizzler asked us an intriguing question; “did Sherlock Holmes have an erotic life?” And as writers, we responded with tales of our own.

The anthology opens with Angela Caperton’s story; “The Adventure of the Gentlemen Travellers.” Angela draws on the devices common to Victorian literature. A letter; and within the letter a story. During a visit to her cousin, it is clear that Elizabeth has misbehaved. Exactly what she has done, we never know; we are titillated and that makes us read on. And then Elizabeth tells her story. There is death, a mystery and corruption. Elizabeth’s narrator is a voyeur and what she describes concerning Sherlock Holmes and a certain gentleman is astonishing, and very arousing.

In “The Case of the Unnatural Instinct,” PM White has Holmes doing some very unique research. The story is opened by Watson, telling of a visit he made to Holmes at his house in Sussex. Holmes has retired to the country in this tale and now keeps bees. Holmes ask Watson if he recalls the case of Lana Chress, which he and Watson worked on in February of 1886. Miss Chress, was a prostitute, and has had a series of highly erotic encounters with a mysterious visitor. The visitor leaves no name, she does not see his face, but the quality of the sex that she has with him, is so profound that she wants to know the identity of the man. Holmes declines the case.

Michael Kurland’s contribution to the anthology, is “The Picture of Oscar Wilde.” Benjamin Barnett is a newspaper proprietor and he narrates the story. He tells of a visit he received from a very flustered, agitated Oscar Wilde. Oscar requires Benjamin to arrange a visit with Professor Moriarty. A damning photograph has been taken of Oscar and a young man. Oscar is being blackmailed. Sherlock Holmes has declined the case, citing Oscar’s depravity as the reason; Oscar turns to Moriarty for help.

“The Adventure of the Empty Box.” by Essemoh Teepee opens with Holmes injecting himself with cocaine. Holmes is bored and the drug makes the world a more interesting place. The story is about a secret, a mathematical formula and the Victorian obsession with invention. There has been a robbery and the box and its contents have been stolen.
There is intrigue, a mystery that will shake Holmes from his ennui. In this story we have Holmes’ enemies, Moriarty and Irene Adler. Holmes outwits them both.

My own story, “Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of the Moonstone, is laced with the mysterious theft of a precious stone. Heavily influenced not only by Conan Doyle’s sleuth, but by Wilkie Collins,’ “The Moonstone”, Holmes and Watson are drawn into an erotic encounter that fulfils every fantasy that Watson has ever dreamed up. There is also the Victorian fascination with the treatment of “female hysteria”, of which Doctor Watson is of course, an authority.

And where would an anthology be, without a story by the great M.Christian? His contribution, is “The Curious Incident.” A tale told through the intelligent, elegant dialogue of Irene Adler and Moriarty. The two circle each other, as each tries to outwit the other in a dual with words. There is deep intellect here, as Moriarty draws the information he requires, from Irene Adler. Finally, she tells him of an unexpected world of debauchery and turpitude.

There are twelve stories in this anthology. The writers have risen to the challenge; their joy of playing with the ideas, presented through the originality of Conan Doyle’s stories, is evident. Writers are at their best, when there is both pleasure and a challenge in the task and their response to Sizzler’s call for tales of the great detective, offers the reader a book that will delight. Curl up in the big, soft armchair in front of a roaring fire. Read by candlelight, tales of abduction and explicit multi faceted sex. There are voyeurs in these pages; exhibitionists too. Step into the foggy world of the Victorian London streets and treat yourself to a night of blissful erotica, crafted around the most enigmatic character to step onto the stage of world literature.

“My Love of all that is Bizarre; the Erotic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," is available at Amazon UK and at Sizzler.

WANTED! TORTURER!

“The government of a Middle Eastern state is recruiting a senior torturer to work in a well-equipped prison. Our ideal candidate would be prepared to inflict extreme pain and suffering. Familiarity with dental and medical equipment and knowledge of human anatomy is required. Daily work will involve penetrating injuries, blunt trauma, electric shocking, asphyxiation and traumatic removal of digits and limbs. Exposure to body fluids is inevitable but, where appropriate, protective clothing can be provided. Candidates will be expected to inspire a small but enthusiastic team to go beyond what they ever believed possible.”

Ad in today's Guardian newspaper.


As you’ll have hopefully of gathered by now (!) the ad is a hoax. In fact, the real recruiter is Freedom from Torture, a charity which is looking for donors and campaigners and attempting (quite successfully) to make some noise with this stunt. The charity helps torture victims with medical, psychological and practical help in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.


At his Telegraph blog, Daniel Knowles praised the “clever hook” and reminded how serious an issue the ad highlights. He argued that “the Middle Eastern state ‘recruiting’ in this advert could be almost any in the region. Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain spring to mind. Not to mention non-governmental torturers, like Hezbollah, or the various militia in Iraq, or Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Or the distinctly worrying state of the post-Arab Spring regimes in Egypt and Libya. When we talk about asylum seekers, we should keep in mind that many are victims of people who do exactly this ‘job’. The victims of torture, wherever they end up, need support – and when they arrive in Britain, we owe them a duty of care.”

THE FACE OF THE MUSE.

I wonder what it is like to be a Muse? To have the sort of beauty that drives men, and women to despair? Helen’s beauty, inspired a war that raged for ten long years. Men died for the sake of Helen. Lizzie Siddal’s profound, ethereal beauty was Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s inspiration, he painted her over and over again, in a variety of poses and guises. One of those guises, was as Helen of Troy.

Here is Lizzie again -- this time as the Roman Goddess of the Underworld, Proserpine.

In both his art and writings Rossetti exalted Lizzie. In fact, his period of great poetic production began when he met her and ended around the time of her death. His poem, "A Last Confession," in particular, exemplifies his profound, spiritual love for Lizzie, whom he personifies as the heroine with eyes, "as of the sea and sky on a grey day."

Rossetti painted Lizzie as "Beata Beatrix", one year after Lizzie's death.



A Last Confession -- Rossetti 1848

Eleven years before, when first I found her
Alone upon the hill-side; and her curls
Shook down in the warm grass as she looked up
Out of her curls in my eyes bent to hers.
She might have served a painter to pourtray
That heavenly child which in the latter days
Shall walk between the lion and the lamb.


Marylin Monroe inspired intellectuals, politicians. Much has been written about how she was used and abused. But her lovely image has not faded since her death. Men and women still want to make love to her, be her friend, save her.

Marylin was the inspiration for Elton John’s lovely lament; “Candle in the wind”. The song was also the inspiration for another Muse; Princess Diana; Elton John sang an adaptation of “Candle in the Wind” at Diana’s funeral.

And not forgetting the Fair Youth of Shakespeare’s sonnets. We have no image of him but he inspired some of the most beautiful poetry in the English language.



“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And finally, lovely Pattie Boyd, whose face inspired two of our contemporary musicians. George Harrison wrote “Something” for her. Eric Clapton wrote “Layla” and “Wonderful tonight” She is the Muse for my own generation .

Here is George Harrison singing about beautiful Pattie.

STARS OF THE SILVER SCREEN: RUDOLPH VALENTINO

He was the first great film idol, the first great on-screen lover, the first great icon of movie sexuality. To women and men, he oozed a lithe, intense, smouldering eroticism.

The image of Rudolph Valentino on the Silver Screen, is powerful, compelling. He is the Romantic hero drawn from literature, by Emily and Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen ; his image resonates with Heathcliff’s ruthless raw passion, Darcy’s refined elegance and Rochester’s dark determination to have his way -- their image draws us with their direct, uncompromising gaze. So does Rudolph Valentino. Valentino looks at the viewer from the screen; he demands that we look at him -- and we do!

He is triumphantly seductive; exotic, erotic. He changed, for ever the idea of America’s idea of the leading man; whether he is a Sheik, a pirate, a libertine, or a gigolo -- he is the dark figure of our erotic dreams. His Silver Screen image, evokes a magic, lacking in today’s stars of the screen.

Valentino gives mixed messages about women and sexuality. In the fantasy of the Silver Screen, “no” can, and does mean “yes”. He rapes by seduction, the woman is helpless in his arms; she cannot resist, him; his charisma, his allure.

And yet the image of Valentino on the screen, is slightly effeminate, a little bit camp; indeed much was said at the time, and still now, of his sexuality. But I think that the fact that he was attractive to women, says a lot about female desire; whether Valentino was gay or not, is not the issue here.

Perhaps his sex appeal, his allure, is in the way he makes love -- the romance and seduction, and ever so slightly brutal. He is in control of his woman, he knows which buttons to press. He is decisive, and takes what he wants; his lover trembles in his arms.

One reviewer remarked; “Ok, no one smokes a cigarette like Rudy, or smells a handkerchief like Rudy, or stares a sexy glare like Rudy!”

Valentino’s image is enduring, it lingers, long after the film is over.


In "The Sheik,” Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres) is admired for her independence, high spirit and modern ideas, but when she is kidnapped by an Arab sheik, Ahmed Ben Hassan (Rudolph Valentino), she finds herself falling under the spell of his exotic masculinity.



"The Sheik," was crucial to Valentino's career as the greatest male sex symbol of the time--but the film created a huge backlash among American men, who boycotted it and railed against the "effeminacy" of his screen image.



But his popularity, promoted by skilful press agents, soared among women, as he played the handsome, mysterious lover in romantic dramas such as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. (1921), The Sheik (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), The Eagle (1925), and The Son of the Sheik (1926).


Valentino’s sudden death at age 31, from a ruptured ulcer, caused world wide hysteria among his female fans; there were suicides and riots, propelling him into icon status. Though his films are not so well known today, his name is still widely known.
WIKI


Over the years, a "woman in black" carrying a red rose has come to mourn at Valentino's grave, usually on the anniversary of his death.


Here is Rudolph Valentino, in “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” 1921

TEENS: THE AWAKENING OF DESIRE

I thought I would throw this open to you guys. It's a delicate subject -- I have a lot of ideas, but...

"I am so young. I feel terrible sometimes for enjoying the kind of stuff that I do. I have never had sex.

But when I jack off I experiment with things that hurt me. I cut myself. I punch myself in the face. I was so excited when I raised a bruise for the first time. Blood makes my breath go shallow. I’m not even of legal age to have sex yet.

It’s confusing me how much I want “adult” stuff that is ostensibly considered even more “adult” to the point that sure, teens can have sex! Just no kink because that’s what perverted people do. According to the people in my life.

And now I feel like I’m a bit of a top as well, and the sadistic impulses I’m getting are driving me slightly nuts.


FROM The Male Submission Art website.

VAMPIRE!

VAMPIRE EDVARD MUNCH It was quite a year 1897. Not only creatively, but in tales around a particular phenomenon; the Vampire. It was the mood of the day. Bloodsucking men and women, who could drain the very life force out of you, as they greedily sucked your blood.

VAMPIRE PHILIP BURNE-JONES Philip Burne-Jones, was the son of the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones. Philip, gives us the image of a femme fatale vampire leaning over her male victim. The model for Philip’s vampire was Mrs. Patrick Campbell, an actress who in 1893. played the lead in “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray”. She captured the public eye, and became famous for her beauty and talent. Philip was romantically involved with her; he showered her with expensive gifts, and painted her several times. But for the vampire portrait he worked from memory after she broke his heart by leaving him for a leading man and then a series of other lovers. In 1897, he displayed the painting at the annual summer exhibition of the New Gallery, in London. Alongside the painting, Philip included a poem “The Vampire” by his cousin, Rudyard Kipling, that described the foolishness of a man allowing himself to be destroyed by a heartless woman. Kipling wrote the verses after viewing the painting. I don’t know whom his muse for the poem was. You would think that in these days of information technology, I would be able to find out exactly where Philip Burne-Jones painting is today. I cannot. Neither can I find out the media that Burne-Jones worked in. If anyone knows the answers, please let me know! Here is Rudyard Kipling’s poem. A woman sucks the life force, from a man, whose only crime has been, to adore her. A fool there was and he made his prayer (Even as you or I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair, (We called her the woman who did not care), But the fool he called her his lady fair— (Even as you or I!) Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste, And the work of our head and hand Belong to the woman who did not know (And now we know that she never could know) And did not understand! A fool there was and his goods he spent, (Even as you or I!) Honour and faith and a sure intent (And it wasn't the least what the lady meant), But a fool must follow his natural bent (Even as you or I!) Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost And the excellent things we planned Belong to the woman who didn't know why (And now we know that she never knew why) And did not understand! The fool was stripped to his foolish hide, (Even as you or I!) Which she might have seen when she threw him aside— (But it isn't on record the lady tried) So some of him lived but the most of him died— (Even as you or I!) And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame That stings like a white-hot brand— It's coming to know that she never knew why (Seeing, at last, she could never know why) And never could understand! But it was through his publication of Dracula, again in 1897, that Bram Stoker appears to have fired up the vampire craze as we see it today.

NOSFERATU If Bram Stoker had never written Dracula, we wouldn’t have “Twilight”, “True Blood,” “Buffy,” “Angel,” or “The Vampire Diaries.” Anne Rice would probably never had got her Vampire saga down on paper; no Vampire Lestat, no “Interview with the Vampire,” Anne Rice’s books beautifully crafted chronology, just would not have happened. “Dracula wasn't the first vampire novel, but it was certainly the one which did the most to popularise the theme. Despite this, it took a while for the book's success to really take off. Published in 1897, Dracula sold well, but not spectacularly. Then, in 1922, ten years after the death of Bram Stoker, a boost came from an unexpected source. FW Murnau, the great German expressionist film-maker, used the novel as the basis for Nosferatu. He didn't bother to get permission from Stoker's widow though, and she hit the roof. Between the legal action and the film itself, suddenly Dracula was hot property. Adapted for the stage, the play’s rousing presence compares to “The Rocky Horror Show”, a show that we know today.

BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA In 1924 the stage play opened. The adaptation of the novel had been completed by Bram Stoker, even before publication of the book. It was immediately a wild success, touring the UK for three years, then crossing the Atlantic for a lucrative US tour. About this time, Hollywood started taking an interest. The film, begun in 1930 by Universal Studios, seemed dogged by disaster at first - leading man Lon Chaney died before shooting and the budget was savagely cut. The inspired casting of elegant Hungarian Bela Lugosi saved the day though, and audiences queued for hours to see the movie. Since then, Dracula's never been out of print or off our screens. He's become an icon, in fact - almost everybody knows what those red eyes, sharp teeth, immaculate clothes and dark hair add up to these days. Stoker's creation may not have been the first, but it's certainly been the most enduring.” From BBC online Here is an extract from “Dracula” I think it is pretty sufficiently creepy! “I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck -- she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight, the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed to fasten on my throat. Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer, nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart.”

THIS IS ABUSE!

It isn’t often that I can find anything good to say about politicians -- but I am proud of the British Home Office, for putting together, this short, but powerfully compelling TV Ad.




“Relationship abuse can happen to anyone. It involves more than physical violence, it can be when someone puts you down, threatens you or forces you to do something you don't want to.” 
The Home Office.