Daily Archives: December 9, 2013

TV Series Sherlock

Recently I watched this show called Sherlock and fell in love with it. They also came out with a new trailer for Season 3, check it out!

My favourite character in the series, is Sherlock Holmes. What a cliche! Sherlock Holmes was a tall man, about six feet. He wore a black suit with a white collared shirt underneath. When he went outside, he put on an overcoat and wears a chauffeur’s hat. Occasionally he wore a scarf, depending on the weather. He had sharp eyes and a hawk-like nose sensed unusually well.

Holmes’ observation skills were no secret. It is one of his traits which intrigued me. He had human eyes; he saw what everyone saw. However, he came up with different conclusions. For example, in the episode “The Great Game”, the Police could not find any leads on the body. Holmes however could predict who the killer was and the daily habits of the victim. Looking at the victim’s alarm schedule on his watch, Holmes concluded that he has a daily routine. The buttons were stiff so the victim did not change the alarm too often, indicating a daily pattern that he follows. The victim also had a gun strapped to him, but due to his body condition, it was unlikely that he was in the army so Holmes concluded that he was a guard. Further evidence of his oversized uniform and hardly worn shoe sole also insinuated that the victim was a guard. Holmes found ticket stubs in the victim’s pocket, suggesting he worked somewhere in a museum or a gallery. Holmes decided to list out the museums and galleries beside the area which reported missing workers. One gallery reported a person missing, so Holmes concluded that the victim was from a gallery.

I was also fascinated by his knowledge foundation and his ability to apply it. His correct decisions were mainly based on his knowledge base. Throughout the series, Holmes was portrayed as a person who knew everything. In “Scandal of Belgravia”, Holmes was given a bunch of random letters and numbers, which he had to decode. At first, he gathered that this was a 747 flight leaving London Heathrow. The code was a seat allocation. He eliminated the possible airlines and came to the conclusion that there was a bomb armed in the 6:30 flight from Heathrow to Baltimore. The speed and precision of his delivery was nothing but impressive. People didn’t interrupt him when he was on a roll, because he just spewed out information. After his rants, people would be shocked at first, then impressed. The speed with which he utilized access his vast amounts of knowledge intrigues me. He was like a massive library with an efficient borrowing system.

What I found most intriguing is his ability to express his complicated thoughts. He had a unique brain yet he could express himself with logical coherence. When he explained the code to Irene Adler, he spent around 4 minutes explaining how he came to his conclusion. He didn’t breathe nor pause in the middle of his explanations; connections ran across his brain and he delivered that well. At first, people would be shocked at the speed of delivery, but later they would understand what Sherlock was trying to say. No one could understand what goes on in Holmes’ mind but he managed to express his thought process for everyone to understand.

Even though Holmes had an awkward personality, I found him to be the most intriguing character in the series. He was so passionate and confident that he was willing to risk his life, as shown in “A Study in Pink”, to prove his theory. Three suicidal cases occurred and police found correlation between them. Holmes traced one the victim’s phone signal and found the killer at the same time the killer found him. The killer gave Holmes same riddle he gave his other victims. The killer gave Holmes two pills and said one of the pills is harmless, the other poisonous; he invited Holmes to choose one, promising that he will swallow the other – otherwise the cabbie would shoot Holmes. Even though Holmes could have walked out and call the cops after realizing the gun was a fake, he still decided to play the game.

Holmes didn’t make any mistakes in any of the episodes shown. This was because he had accurate senses; his senses did not lie to him. If it weren’t for him, the police department would not have got anything done. Even Detective Inspector Lestrade quoted: “we couldn’t do anything without Holmes.” His alertness brought the world into balance; if it wasn’t for his alertness, the evil symbol Jim Moriaty would have destroyed the world. People like Holmes kept the world away from evil taking over, and that was what intrigued me.

Snowplow Parents

The snow fall today reminded of the article by Bella English in the Boston Globe about snowplow parents. The term snowplow parents is a clever analogy for parents who are extremely over protective of their children and want to constantly clear any snow in their children’s path. More and more these types of parents are surfacing on the college level, and technology plays a role in their prominence.

In the article, English explains how snowplow parents are inserting themselves into their child’s lives at the college level. She gives examples of this intrusion such as one parent who called the dean of Boston University to complain about her child receiving a A- in a class. English continues by explaining the significance of the intrusion. By stepping into the lives of their child in such an aggressive manner, snowplow parents undermine the confidence of their child. Furthermore, the child will reach adulthood without understanding how to handle adversity because it has never been a part of their life.

Technology plays a large role in the creation of a snowplow parent relationship. With todays technology, it is possible to be in almost constant contact with your parents. Between text messages, emails, video chats and so on, people can easily maintain constant contact. The issue is that this constant contact pulls the student out of college life. It detracts from the college experience the student is supposed to receive. The student becomes reliant on connections to people and parents far away via technology and is less apt to succeed on his or her own.

I certainly have gone through a bit of a struggle with my parents upon going to college. They were very sad to see me leave their every day lives, and I know that if it was up to my mom I would have gone to Middlesex Community College five minutes from my house. Yet, over time my parents have gradually been able to surmount the difficulty of being apart. Now we text or call only about 4 times a week, still staying in close contact but not smothering me. I think the transition has gone as well as possible, and am grateful they are not full blown snowplow parents!

Towers&Spires

Sometimes I under estimate my ability to procrastinate. Except last night, instead of surfing Facebook or trying to eat my way out of my macro exam, I did something a little different. Something I’m a little more proud of. My friends and I started a blog. It wasn’t my idea but when we all took a break from studying to do a little free-write, I was pulled in. We all ended up staying up til the wee hours of the morning, writing, editing, and publishing content.

I never liked the idea of keeping a full time blog. To be honest, I still don’t. To me blogging is often tedious and I’m rarely exceptionally proud what I post. However, last night I was really happy with what me and my two friends produced. Maybe, blogging is just better when you and your friends do it together (excuse the lame blogging slogan). If you have a minute, take a look. My piece is called pocket aces. I hope you enjoy: http://towersandspires.wordpress.com/

SCR