Sherlocked.

*sigh*

I'm supposed to write a Sherlock Holmes play. Looking for inspiration.

This is lovely (from Sherlockology), but I need more material. Problem is, I am expected to write a period drama, with the Holmes of old, and I've come to think of Sherlock as Benedict Cumberbatch's avatar.

Perhaps I should try and convince the others to think about a modern Sherlock. But then, they'll say that there's too much of it at the moment, with Sherlock on one hand and Elementary on the other.

I need to stay up for a couple of hours and I'm feeling terribly sleepy. Why is it that when you need to stay up you feel sleepy the most?

Sherlock Episode 3 Season 3 will probably begin shooting in July/August. Hope they release it by fall - I know they said they won't, but I really hope they do. It is an excruciating wait, and while Sir Benedict is fantastic in a lot of places, nothing beats Sherlock.

I'm all SHERLOCKED. God help me.

How do I begin my play? Should I have an adventuress fall into Sherlock's arms much to his consternation and the bemusement of John? Or maybe Jane Doe could be a schizophrenic murderer? Should I take a page from Elementary and give him a female Moriarty? Nah. I'll use the hiatus.

I can imagine the start of the story on John's blog -

"Sherlock is not bad to look at, but it is not often that pretty young women fall at his feet. Jane Doe, however, did so. Literally.

Me and Sherlock were on our way back to Baker Street after an "absurdly simple" case (according to Sherlock, anyway; I thought it was at least an 8) which ended with Sherlock reducing two policemen to tears, when a rather attractive young woman came running at us. She skidded to a halt in front of Sherlock, grinned beatifically and threw her arms around his neck with an "Oh, darling!"

I don't think I have seen Sherlock look so flabbergasted before. He shot me a pleading a look and tried to disengage himself, but Jane Doe fainted at his feet."

A weakness?

Apparently Sir Benedict Cumberbatch has a "weakness" - he finds it difficult to learn by rote.

Er...is that supposed to be a weakness? Most seriously high-IQ people I know can't learn by rote - well, other than the ones that have synaesthesia or an eidetic memory - but that's not learning by rote; that's an additional gift.

The very fact that Benedict Cumberbatch assimilates and performs the chain of deduction that flash lightning-fast through Sherlock's brain is an attestation to his brilliance. This man is a genius.

What is our fascination with weaknesses, frailties, vulnerabilities? Why do we need to know? Why can't we just let him be the demi-God like persona he appears to be and worship him from afar?

When we deify someone, we blow them out of proportion so much that when it turns out that they're only human, we're sorely disappointed and want to bring them down. It is despicable.

Let the man live in peace, really. Admire him for his brilliance, for his talent and let him have his privacy. He deserves his life, too. He deserves to be happy, too.

The Blind Banker

Look what somebody gave me! It is slightly different from the actual episode, but it's great fun...I'm trying to figure out where they downloaded it from - I want this for all the episodes! Wow, the amount of hard work that goes into these episodes is unbelievable. I applaud these guys! Here you are - enjoy!

Third Star

Have you seen it? I normally avoid tear-jerkers...but this one - my God, you can't look away and then you'll spend half the night crying in your bathroom till your ears bleed.

And it inspires you.

I just can't get over how talented Benedict Cumberbatch is. How does he do it?

Thank God for Sherlock. I wouldn't have noticed this gem of an actor if not for Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes has been my guardian angel since I was twelve...except for the brief period that I ran away. But I'm back into the fold now.

I'll be back with a better post (maybe a detailed review) once I'm more coherent.

Cumberbitches, Cumberbabes, Cumber Collective, Cumberpeople

A rose by any other name...

Seriously.

It is a rather gentlemanly gesture on part of Sir Benedict (I do wish that knighthood would come soon) - and I personally think it should be respected - it's his name after all, isn't it? That said, the first time I heard "Cumberbitch", I thought it was quite cool - just change one letter and there you are. Perhaps it stemmed from my life-long ambition of *being* a bitch (I'm close).

I found some cool pictures of the man. How many men would be able to carry this off?

He's barefoot and in his pyjamas on the ramp, and he looks so very classy. This is grace. This is elegance.

This guy was meant to be a king, really. I wish I could make him one. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he played the king from my book? Ah, I can see the character now. Must get to writing.

Does anyone have any clue when Lynette Porter's book is out in India? Though I suppose I could always get  it from the UK. I'm quite prepared to be amazed.

Oh, and I found an amazing Sherlock picture. Adorable, isn't it? He's got the inscrutable expression, too.

The brilliance of Cumberbatch

This is going to be a sappy fangirl post.

I've just seen Episode 2 of Parade's End. While it pains me to admit that I identify with Sylvia (it is uncanny, really)...Benedict Cumberbatch as Christopher Tietjens is nothing short of brilliant.

Just last night, an old friend and I were discussing Star Trek, Sherlock and the general awesomeness of our dear Mr. Cumberbatch. It was a maudlin discussion that started out with a panicked call from another friend to me looking for late-night hearse services for his aunt who had just passed away, which led me to delve into my network of friends familiar with the required city...and this old friend (he's always been bit of a life-saver for me) came to the rescue and my bereaved friend (let's call him BD) was put in touch with the right people.

So, the old friend (let's call him OD) and I were up for a bit chatting across BBM (I don't think either of us would admit it, but it was probably because we were waiting to hear from BD that all funeral arrangements were in order) before we retired. (Well, I also had a bit of editing to do, but that's a different issue.) So, obviously, "hearse" lead to "The Empty Hearse" and to Sherlock (we're both Sherlock crazy) and Star Trek: Into Darkness. He said Cumberbatch was a brilliant Khan, and I echoed his thoughts. Then OD texted a prophecy - "If he doesn't get distracted (or led astray) on the way, Benedict Cumberbatch is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest phenomena in acting the world has ever seen." However, OD went on to express his fear that Cumberbatch may be typecast into the brainy/bad guy mould - which would be a crying shame, because the man is so, so talented and can play a humongous range of characters - from the goofy Martin Crieff (Cabin Pressure) to the ephemeral Sherlock to the sinister Khan...but Hollywood tends to typecast people. OD also wished for a couple of no-brainer rom-com Hollywood flicks with Cumberbatch in the lead (with a gorgeous actress as a bimbo) - it wouldn't require much acting on Sir Benedict's part (he would probably just need to strut around looking internationally handsome), but it would firmly establish him as a "hero" and then he could go back to his difficult and challenging roles. I was like, "You want him in a chick-flick?" (No offence to chick-flicks - I'm a young woman myself, and I love my chick-flicks and the sappy sweetness they bring.) 

But then I thought about it, and realised that OD's idea is actually brilliant - we can easily imagine Benedict Cumberbatch in a period drama - say, as Mr. Darcy. But him as a Mills and Boon hero? I mulled over it for a while...and guess what? He would pull it off as spectacularly as he pulls off everything else, and he'd be even more of a heart-throb than he is at the moment. He's a charmer, that one, if the interviews are anything to go by...and an actual modern-day romance - a chick-flick of Hollywood's usual epic proportions would show him in a different light.

The next idea we discussed was with Cumberbatch in a super-hero franchise as the superhero. This, I'll admit, I lapped up immediately - it is, after all, my favourite genre. Benedict Cumberbatch with a light-saber - wow, no Jedi would look as cool. Benedict Cumberbatch as Bruce Wayne/Batman (no offence to Christian Bale - he was absolutely fantastic in The Dark Knight Trilogy) would be ephemeral. Take your pick of DC/Marvel superheroes...

A few years later, I can imagine him as the perfect Bond, too. Not just a video game, Mr. Cumberbatch - you'd be the perfect James Bond. Suave, charming, seductive, deadly.

If this man were in India, a few decades later, we'd probably have temples dedicated to him.

"Bow"

"Rat", "Wedding" and "Bow" - the three words given out by Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Andrew Scott for the third season of Sherlock.

Like all other fans, I've been mulling over the words for ages. Now that the names of the first two episodes of Season 3 are out ("The Empty Hearse" and "The Sign of Three"), I'm dying to know the third.

"Bow" is a bit ominous. And so this this image I chanced across.

Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman look great...but it's so sombre that it makes my imagination run wild. They look so serious...and sad...and...bereaved. Is Sherlock telling John that he is retiring/going away forever? *shudder* I hope not.

But then again, I have no idea which episode this image will correspond to - and thus, hope springs eternal. Maybe it is simply Sherlock explaining his time away to John...or why he jumped.

In other news, I am planning to watch Star Trek: Into Darkness for the fourth time today. I'm just a very minor Trekkie, really, never went all the way to learn Klingon and stuff and didn't like Star Trek: The Next Generation with Captain Picard...but The Wrath of Khan was my favourite earlier, and now, Into Darkness is just so, so brilliant and it overtakes all others by leaps and bounds. Even with the ordinary lines given to Khan, Benedict Cumberbatch simply steals the show. For the first time, I paid more attention to someone other than Spock (not that this reflects badly on Zachary Quinto; he was as great as ever).

A couple of great articles on Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek that I read recently - here and here. There's a superb interview here.

Seriously, the man needs to be knighted right away - he seems so perfectly charming and courteous!

In Transition

Benedict Cumberbatch, In Transition: An Unauthorised Performance Biography - by Lynnette Porter is due to be released soon. The cover is out - and it looks intriguing. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it!

I looked him up on Cumberbatchweb last evening. Is this man for real? How could he have done so much and still be in his thirties? I'm impressed, to say the least.

Here's the cover:

Benedict Cumberbatch has the kind of presence on reel, pictures - well, any media that I have come across (was listening to his Angel Islington the other day from "Neverwhere" - by God, he is brilliant) - that is quite rare and which most actors would kill to possess. The audience is immediately drawn to him, regardless of whether he is the hero or the villain. All I am hearing about the new Star Trek: Into Darkness is how cool Khan is. Someone eclipsing Spock? Unthinkable in the past - but when Khan is played by Benedict Cumberbatch - what do you expect? Of course it becomes all about Khan. He is so self-righteous, so passionate, so magnificent, you actually cry with him for his family. "Towering presence of evil", he's been called. I'd say magnetic. Compelling.

This man is amazing. Extraordinary. He brings out every character he plays to perfection - so much so, that after him, so cannot imagine anyone else in that role. (Yes, even when it is the despicable Paul Malcolm of "Atonement" or the forgettable - except that he wasn't - William Carey of "The Other Boleyn Girl".)

In comparison, I'm coming to realise how fantastic Martin Freeman is, to be able to hold his own with this force of nature. He's the perfect John Watson for this perfect Sherlock. I am looking forward to the next Hobbit movie - "An Unexpected Journey" was a bit disappointing - you hardly got to see Smaug the dragon or the Necromancer. Freeman is a lovely hobbit, though. (While I've ranted enough at Peter Jackson for delaying Sherlock because of the Hobbit series, I did like it.)

Dedication

I suppose it is evident from the name who this blog is dedicated to: Benedict Cumberbatch, actor extraordinaire, a beautiful man with a beautiful name and a beautiful voice. He is ethereal. He is sublime. He is, for the lack of a better word, magnificent.

No wonder there are innumerable pages, stories, poems, songs, art, websites (the above image is from Sherlockology - an excellent site, and one of my favourites) and all that jazz dedicated to him (I'll readily confess to following quite a few of them myself). He has a screen presence very, very few can claim...and talent that just blows your mind. From Hawking to Khan - there seems nothing this man cannot do, no role he cannot play to perfection, no character he cannot mould himself into.

And then there's Sherlock. The first time I saw "A Study in Pink", I was blown away. Here was a man, after eons, who was as spectacular, as legendary, as the original Sherlock Holmes.

I know there are many, far more dedicated fans of this fantastic actor - but well, what's one more dedication to one who deserves it all?

Posts will mostly be about Sherlock - or Sherlock Holmes related stuff, with a fair bit of Star Trek's Khan thrown in, as these are my favourites and I think Benedict Cumberbatch has done the best portrayals of these characters that I've ever seen. I may sometimes write about Luke Fitzwilliam (from "Murder is Easy") or William Carey (from "The Other Boleyn Girl") or Christopher Tietjens (from "Parade's End") or Peter Guillam (from "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy") or his other roles that I like. There are certainly more than enough to choose from at any given point of time.

I will sometimes refer to (maybe intentionally, maybe inadvertently) the man as 'Sir Benedict' - because I think it is high time he's knighted. As I read somewhere last evening, he's an international treasure.

I will try and make out a sort of timeline - but that'll require time and research, so I can't, at the moment, say exactly when I'll be able to put it up. But with Lynette Porter's book coming up, maybe I won't really need to.

I can't promise that I'll post daily or that I'll have an up-to-date news account of this magnificent person. I don't really have the kind of single-minded focus you need to stalk one person. So yes, he is my favourite actor, and yes, I endeavour to view all his works, but I don't even know if I'll ever get to see him in person or get a real autograph. Very honestly, with my flickering attention-span and limited life expectancy, I am not even sure how long this blog will remain online. Of course, if I do manage to meet him and speak to him, I'd die happy. Most people would, I suppose.

In any case, que sera sera. Till I can, my inane natterings will be kept here.