You May Have Read of the Remarkable Explorations of a Norwegian Part 2

As promised, here is the rest of my recap of the Norwegian Explorers' weekend!

Saturday kicked off with what seemed a bit of a canonical stretch.... Sherlock Holmes and how he was connected to the game show scandals of the 50's.  Alan Rettig showed a clip of two contestants utterly NAILING Sherlockian trivia.  Even moreso that some noted Sherlockian scholars.  And how did they do it?  Well, the game was rigged, obviously.  We were all glad to hear that, because I think everyone in the room was feeling pretty inferior as we watched the contestants nail question after question!

Barbara Rusch was up next with her talk, "The Creeping Man and Other Dark Tales of the Canon" where she shared her thoughts on many themes found in the sixty stories including pantheism, Darwinism, eugenics, stereotypes, and genetic determination.  She asked the audience if these views should be attributed to Sherlock Holmes or Arthur Conan Doyle.

David Polvere followed that with an in-depth look at what "baritsu" could have been.  His argument was that it was "batitsu," a form of self defense popularized by E.W. Barton-Wright (and his amazing mustache).  Batitsu was publicized in magazines in the 1890's, and Holmes could have learned this before it became widely known to the Victorian public.  If so, it was batitsu that not only helped Holmes defeat Moriarty at Reichenbach, but it came in handy with another caped crusader many years later.

Everyone's favorite anthropologist, Carlina de la Cova, was up next with "A Most Worthy Colleague in Anthropology."  After bumming everyone out by telling us that Indiana Jones isn't a real anthropologist, she delved into the meat of her talk, the anthropological aspects of two stories in particular, The Sussex Vampire and The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Carlina admitted that she was probably the only person in the room who finds Dr. Mortimer cool and announced that she didn't covet Holmes's skull, she covets Benedict Cumberbatch's.

Cheryll Fong made her third Norwegian Explorers's presentation with "Minneapolis and the Farewell Tour," a look at the Minneapolis Opera House where William Gillette performed during his farewell tour with Sherlock Holmes.  A lot of historical fact about a local institution that the locals really enjoyed, but the rest of us learned something new for sure: many theaters of the time reserved the uppermost seats for the city's prostitutes.  The more you know...

Dan Payton wrapped up the day's lectures with his talk, "Victorian Attitudes Toward America," where he showed the results of a poll of 60 Sherlockians to see if they could name all of the stories in the Canon where America is mentioned.  And in sticking with the theme of the conference, announced that the average Victorian would have considered America a dark, wicked, and strange place.

There was some downtime between the presentations and dinner.  Some folks retired to their rooms for a respite, while I searched out as much Sherlockian contact as I could.  I love these weekends for this reason: hanging out with other people who share an interest so strongly that we will travel and spend an entire weekend talking about our shared passion.  Whether it was the hotel lobby or the bar, there was always someone to pal around with.  (You may notice my anxiety had completely disappeared by this point.  Sherlockians have a special way to make people feel welcome.)

Dinner soon followed, and I was lucky enough to sit with friends both old and new.  Joe Eckrich and Ed Weiss from The Parallel Case of St. Louis as well as old friend Cindy Brown from Texas were at the table, and we were joined by Jerry and Judy Margolin and Charles and Kristin Prepolec.  The night's conversation was an absolute delight, and I was remiss to give it up for the guest speaker, but it was the always magnificent Bill Mason, so it was definitely worth paying attention to!

Bill started off his talk by wondering what would Sherlock Holmes think if he were to walk into the room we were all in that night?  Obviously, some people would accost him for a selfie, but after the hubbub died down, would he be happy with what we Sherlockians have done to him?  Bill Mason is an absolute delight, so let me just quote some of his choicest lines from the night.

On Irene Adler: "That whole Irene Adler love interest nonsense has been impossible to kill."

On pastiche team ups: "Forrest Gump has nothing on pastiche Sherlock Holmes."

On a recent adaptation: "The worst thing that's ever been done to Sherlock Holmes can be summed up in two words: Will Ferrell."  and  "I will actually admit to laughing at Will Ferrell's Sherlock Holmes.  And I didn't bother anybody because I was the only person in the theater!"

But even though Bill proposed that Holmes himself could take issue with some of the things we've done to him, he ended his talk on a positive note.  Bill listed scores of reasons why Sherlock Holmes has endured all of these years.  At the heart, he is a character that we love, and can you ask for more than that?

Peter Blau took the podium then to oversee the night's auction.  The items included two Collier's magazines, issues containing The Adventure of Black Peter and The Adventure of the Dying Detective.  Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman autographs were also auctioned off.  And the final item was an original conference poster signed by the Explorers' own artist, Amanda Downs Champlin.  Thanks to the generous bidders, the UM library collections will continue to keep going strong for years to come.

Surprise, surprise, a large group of us found our way to a bar and spent a good amount of time getting to know each other better before we wrapped up our last night in the friendly north.  Then it was back to the rooms and our portraits of Loni Anderson (never forget about Loni Anderson).

Sunday found us at our last day of the conference, and it kicked off with fellow educator, Shannon Carlisle.  Her talk, "Whimsical Little Incidents and Three Pipe Problems in a Sherlockian Themed Classroom" introduced many people in the room to her classroom where she annually creates new Sherlockians at her elementary school.  The intersection of Sherlockiana and education is a sweet spot for me, and Shannon deserves her own blog post for sure.  In the meantime, check out JuniorSherlockian.com to see how kids in your life can join in this hobby with age appropriate activities.

It was then time for the "Long Suffering Companions" panel.  Judy Margolin shared the story of what it's like to live in a museum.  She shared some of her husband, Jerry's, more interesting materials, the rules they have in their house for display, and some of the people who started out as visitors and turned into good friends.

Mike McKuras, husband to Norwegian Explorer Julie McKuras, shared stories of Sherlockian travels as an NSS (Non-Sherlockian Spouse).  Mike was down in St. Louis at one point and managed to only take one picture, that of a Clydestale's rump.  Hopefully, Mike and Julie can make it down to next year's Holmes in the Heartland conference and find more things to photograph!

John Bennett Shaw's step-daughter Barbara wrapped up the talks with tales of living with Johnny Appleseed.  John was THE Sherlockian collector.  But not only did he collect items, but he was also known for collecting Sherlockian visitors.  John's collection went on to become a major component of the University of Minnesota's Sherlockian collection, so her talk was very pertinent to the room.

I was looking at a ten hour drive back home and school started the following day, so it was time for me to slip out and hit the road.  I was sorry to miss the radio play, which I heard was wonderful.  I was even more sorry to go without saying goodbye to all of the people I got to spend such a great four days with.  Sherlockian friends old and new and from this country and Canada were the absolute highlight of this trip. 

I fully admit that as the beginning of school loomed closer and closer in the days leading up to the Norwegian Explorers's conference, I wondered if it was a bad idea to go north for four days.  On my way back, I had no such reservations.  It was the best Sherlockian event I've ever been to, and it's a good thing they only happen every three years, otherwise my heart might burst with appreciation for all of the amazing people in our hobby!

So, here's to everyone who put on an absolutely wonderful event: from the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving us a place to get together, thanks for all of the time it took to coordinate, and thanks for the welcoming atmosphere you've created.  Your conference may have been about dark, wicked, and strange things, but you folks are the furthest thing from it.

You May Have Read of the Remarkable Explorations of a Norwegian

Last weekend, I found myself in the lovely land of Minneapolis for the Norwegian Explorers's triennial conference.  I had always heard what a great conference it was.  I have to say, it exceeded all of my expectations.

First of all, the members of the Norwegian Explorers are absolutely delightful folks.  I met at least a half dozen of them over the weekend and they were all interesting, friendly, and welcoming.

And the conference itself?  Well, it lives up to the hype.

We arrived on Thursday in time for the welcome reception at the hotel.  That was very nerve-wracking for me.  There were 148 people at the conference, so walking into a room where I knew maybe a dozen or so was tough.  Luckily, The Parallel Case of St. Louis was represented with five members there, so I always had someone close at hand.

As the evening went on, I got to meet more people including Peter Blau (which I may have fan-boyed on Twitter about), and it was wonderful to finally meet so many Sherlockians in real life that I've talked with on Twitter or through email.  People I've collaborated with over the years or come to respect by reading their opinions or seeing how they treat others online turned out to be just as nice in person as they were in the virtual world.  At some point, it was rumored that a local bar had its own Ferris wheel and that's where the after-party was.  I ended up in a cab with three Sherlockians I had only known for about twenty minutes, and we were on our way.

The Red Circle of the Midwest

The weather was beautiful, so everyone hung out at the outdoor tables in between miniature golf holes (this was quite a bar!) until it was time to call it a night.  A car ride home with three other Sherlockians (one of whom I'd only known online, and one I'd just met that night), and it was back to my room to fall asleep under the gaze of the Loni Anderson portrait that was in every hotel room.

The hotel was... eclectic

Friday kicked off with Tim Johnson's stunning display from the Sherlock Holmes Collections in the university library.  Upstairs from that, Holmes's sitting room was available for view.  I could try and do justice to some of the amazing artifacts and detail of the sitting room, but I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

Back at the hotel, I had my vendor table set up to sell copies of The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street, Parallel Case of St. Louis scion pins, and duplicate issues of the Baker Street Journal from the St. Louis Sherlock Holmes Research Collection.  Leading up to the conference, I was thinking that it was a mistake to get a dealer's table because I wouldn't be able to socialize and they aren't always worth the hassle.  Boy, was I wrong!  I met more people at my table than I ever would have if I were on my own.  So many people walked up just to say hi!  I sold out of Criminal Mastermind, and sold more pins than I had expected.  And the Research Collection easily sold more old issues of the BSJ than we ever have in a single event!

Ross Davies gave the day's first talk, discussing "Dark Places in the Empty House."  Ross has a knack for detailed canonical maps, and this was no different!  Not only did he present, in his words, "perhaps an exhaustively complete inventory" of the possible routes taken in EMPT, but each attendee went home with one of Ross's wonderfully detailed maps for the story.  A great artifact, indeed!

Regina Stinson's talk, "Deceptions, Disguises, and Dark Secrets," took us through Holmes' ability to use disguise throughout the Canon as well as other's uses.  She also shared an example of some people who aren't very good at telling a disguise from an actual person (*cough, cough* Nigel Bruce *cough*), and ended with this line about The Illustrious Client: "In the end, it was the baron who lost face."

David Harnois was up next with "Boswell's Journey to the Dark, Wicked, and Strange" in which he introduced many of people to his podcast, I Am Lost Without My Boswell, and went through the history of the show as well as the technical aspects for recording.  His research is nothing if not thorough, which explains why he had to test out handcuffs on his former roommate.  He didn't clarify if that's why the roommate is a former one...

The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections business meeting was after, which included Tim Johnson's talk about the status of the collections.  Tim was the keynote speaker at last year's Holmes in the Heartland in St. Louis, and his speech there was unbelievable.  Seeing him speak again this year made me realize just what a wonderful person he is.  Tim cares for all of Sherlockiana and anyone interested in our hobby.  This quote from Tim really sums it up: "We're a little old.  We're a little white.  We need to be a big tent.  We need to expand our voices."  It would be a better world if we were all a little bit more like Tim Johnson.

The final talk of the night was given by Jeffrey Hatcher, screenwriter for Ian McKellan's "Mister Holmes."  He took issue with some of the clients that come to Baker Street describing some of them as "another really nice person whose been sent to Sherlock Holmes to introduce him to more interesting people."  Jeffrey then took nine people out of the audience and had them outline their own Sherlock Holmes play.  In all honesty, it was the end of the day, and this part drug on a little too long.  It was interesting and funny, but I was ready for dinner.

Day two wrapped up and I had acquired a LOT of new books for the St. Louis Sherlock Holmes Research Collection.  (Just a little plug for the St. Louis collection, if you need to do any research on Holmes and you're in the St. Louis area, check it out!)

Anyway, seven of us loaded into a minivan to scour the area for dinner, only to end up two blocks away from the hotel that we started from.  A lot of fun was had there, and I somehow promised everyone at the table that I would watch the dreadful Dudley Moore "Hound of the Baskervilles" film.  I guess that's what I get for voicing my opinion on Will Ferrell so loudly.  And, like most Sherlockian get-togethers, we joined up with other groups back at the bar.  The night rolled on, and almost every topic under the sun was discussed before we all headed back to our rooms with Loni Anderson to watch over us.

To be continued...

In Search of Whatever Chance Might Throw in His Way [STUD]

I've just returned from a family vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida.  I knew this trip was going to really cut into my Sherlockian activity time, so I made every attempt I could to make it a somewhat Sherlockian foray.

It's a long drive from southwestern Illinois to central Florida, so of course I got some reading in.  I enjoyed L.B. Greenwood's "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Raleigh Legacy" on the way down and "Serpentine Musings, Vol. 2" edited by Susan Diamond and Marilynnne McKay on my way home.  Both were delightful for different reasons and a nice addition to my Sherlock Holmes shelf on Goodreads.

The drive also allowed me to spend time editing my current Sherlockian manuscript.  I've been putting this off for some time now, so it felt good to get back to work on that!

But the first REAL Sherlockian event came in Atlanta.  I reached out to Heather Holloway on Twitter to see if there was anything Sherlockian of note to check out while we stopped over for the evening.  There wasn't, but she offered to meet for dinner.  Um, yes!  Ashley Polasek asked to join us, and a party was set!  (Side note: at the time, it didn't dawn on me that Ashley lives in South Carolina and she was offering to drive FIVE HOURS ROUND TRIP just to meet up with Heather and me!  But, Heather is definitely worth the drive.)

To recap that night's conversation would be rambling and nonsensical to everyone not there, but the three of us had a great time talking about everything from societies to thimbles.  I've talked with both of them online plenty of times, and interviewed both of them on this blog (Heather here, and Ashley here), but this was the first time I've ever gotten to meet them in person.  It was a true pleasure to meet other self-described "Sherlockian riffraff" and like many of my Sherlockian interactions, I look forward to many more!

Then, it was on to Florida.  Scott Monty posted about the lack of Sherlockian content at Disney a few years ago, and let me tell you it hasn't changed much.  I was bound and determined to find SOME connection though, so journey with me through the four Disney parks, desperately searching for something, ANYTHING Sherlockian:

Disney's Hollywood Studios:
There is NOTHING here.  Hollywood Studios is quickly becoming a Star Wars theme park, so I can't say I was too surprised.  But man, I really came up empty on day one.

Magic Kingdom:
I was going to do better here.  At first, I thought the best I would be able to do was see Tinkerbell and say that she was one of the Cottingley fairies.  But it got better.

After the nightly fireworks display, Magic Kingdom has a show called Once Upon a Time where they project images onto the castle.  It's a lot more interesting than I just made it sound, trust me.  At the very end of the show is a Winnie the Pooh segment, and the whole castle turned into a honeycomb that one might find at a certain cottage on the Sussex Downs.

Animal Kingdom:
This looked like it was going to be another bust.  But then we went to go see Finding Nemo: The Musical.  And lookie there!   A stage full of lion's mane jellyfish.  Holmes' later years were really represented well.

Epcot Center:
Epcot is broken into two sections: Future World (the big silver golf ball and all the building around it) and The World Showcase.  Obviously, Future World was a bust.  No Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century here.  I was down to the World Showcase.  We traveled through many countries on our search:

Mexico - No Basil, but I always do enjoy The Three Caballeros ride.

Norway - I guess you could say we were Norwegian explorers while we rode Frozen Ever After.

China - I don't consider Detective Pikachu Sherlockian, but I took a picture of this just in case I couldn't do any better

Germany - I could've written 'rache' on a wall somewhere but didn't want to get kicked out, but I did hear some German music, which is rather more to my taste than French or Italian.

Italy - No naval treaties or people disguised as old priests.

America - quartering of the flag? Nope.  Just funnel cakes and a Guardians of the Galaxy show.

Japan - Nothing for Miss Sherlock but there were a lot of cute teddy bears.

Morocco - A Persian slipper perhaps?  I could do better than that.

France - After a wonderful dinner here, I was really grasping at straws.  Coal tar derivatives?  Lady Holdernesse?  Telegrams ankle-deep?  Even Lady Frances would've counted at this point.  But non.

Canada - I searched the gift shop for boots to say that they were made for Henry Baskerville.  But no.

All of these getting to my best bet: the United Kingdom.  First things first: I checked the pub.  There wasn't anything Sherlockian there, but I did have a nice draft or two, so that worked for me.  I went through the tea shop, the toy shop, and the front half of the clothing shop.  Nothing Sherlockian.  But then, tucked back in the back corner of the back half of a shop was this:

Well, that was all fun and games, but the real Sherlockian treasures awaited me when I got home a few days later!  Being gone for two weeks really makes your mail pile up, so when I had opened everything, I had plenty of stuff to keep me busy! And sometimes it's just nice to be back home with my books.