Sherlocked - The Event (in Which I Meet Benedict Cumberbatch!!!)

As I’ve announced, I recent signed a new 6-book contract with Harlequin Intrigue. While, I’m thrilled about that, writing six books in 13 months is not leaving me much left over time to write on my blog, or to keep people as updated about our life in Germany as I'd  like to.

Quite a few people have asked why I haven’t posted much about our new house yet. There's a reason; A VERY EXCITING REASON. I can’t officially announce anything right now, but let’s just suffice it to say that we have been contacted about the possibility of telling the story of how we came to choose the house we are in –and not, say, two other houses that we hunted considered-- in a much more public medium, that does not involve my blog.

I can’t help you more than that, people. You either watch HGTV or you don’t.

I’ll keep you posted.

But the other thing I wanted to post about was what me and Kiddo #1 did last week: attended the SHERLOCKED CONVENTION in London (April 24-26).

It was a rather smallish convention (compared to some of the Cons in the States) centered around BBC's Sherlock, but neither my daughter or I had ever been to one, so we had a great time.

AND WE GOT TO MEET BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. Only maybe for a 15 seconds, but it was still worth it. I’m sure he remembers me.

(Actually, I felt kind of bad for the guy. Taking formal pictures with as many people as he did can’t be easy. He was very stiff. British. Found out later he had a head-cold, so that may have had something to do with it.)

But whatever! I GOT TO MEET BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, PEOPLE. 

Kiddo #1 was a little disappointed by her brief interaction with BC, but Andrew Scott (Moriarty) and Rupert Graves (Lestrade) more than made up for it with her. They were friendly, genuine, talkative and fun.

 Not as fun as SOME actors are known to be with their fans at Cons….

But still pretty fun.  

But, “British reserve” was the order of the day. It was brought up multiple times throughout the talks, a reminder of sorts that this Con would not be like those sordid and unseemly American ones.

We should all behave in proper British manner… because Sherlock would expect us to. Ahem, there may or may not now be restraining orders out against me from multiple actors from the show.

Yes, Janie has trouble remembering not to hug the celebrities.

When I told Lars Mikkelsen he scared me so much I almost didn't want a picture, he offered 

to pretend flick my face, as he does as the villain on Season 3. :) Super fun guy

The talks at Sherlocked were plentiful and mostly interesting. A lot of Q&A sessions, and some more formal topics: the women of Sherlock, cosplay, design of the show, etc. Producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who also plays Mycroft) spoke about the general direction of the show, but never gave any secrets about future episodes away. 

And, of course, Benedict Cumberbatch brought the house (made up mostly of women) down:

The displays/memorabilia were rather lacking… a small costume  section (15-20 costumes from through-out the three seasons), and a few photo ops (the actual 221b door used on the set, a double decker bus with Sherlock/Moriarty’s pictures), Mycroft’s office.

But really, apart from the talks and standing in line to either get pictures or autographs, there wasn’t much to do. Having said that, we made lots of friends, all just as excited as us to be there.

Would I go again? No. There wasn’t enough to it to justify returning. Plus, now that Bendict has the restraining order out against me…

But I had a great time, fan-girling with my girl for a weekend. That definitely made it worthwhile.

Enter Procrastination Loop!

Today was the day I've been waiting for over two and a half months.  Seriously. For 80 days, I have endured more than any one person should ever have to endure:

Four children. Home all the time. Wanting three meals a day. Needing to be driven places and entertained and reminded to bathe.

Needing a mom. Sigh. That was me.

Since mid-June I have dreamed of today, this very day. The day the magic school bus would come and take my children -- and their plethora of noisy friends who always seemed to be at our house -- away.

For weeks I've had a list of things I would do, things I've been needing to accomplish, beginning with the very first day school started. I would:

1) Write at least 1500 words (about 1/2 a chapter)
2) Workout/run
3) Prepare a healthy meal
4) Read some of the 200 books on my Kindle I've been trying to get to
5) Get current with grading the online college classes I teach
6) Clean some part of my house

Once my kids were gone today I knew I would do, maybe if not all, at least some of these things. I mean, for the first time in months I had a quiet house, with no interruptions, no one with questions or wanting me to play ping pong or needing a snack.

There really was no limit to the amount of important activities I could accomplish under these circumstances.

So what exactly did I accomplish today in my quiet kid-free home?

Nothing.

Unless you consider sitting on the couch watching Season 2 of BBC's Sherlock while surfing the Internet something. (Which I guess... no, never mind).

Today I found myself in the procrastination loop. If you care to find out how that happens, start at the red box and just... go. It's tricky, and it's a definitely a loop. Once you're on the loop, (remote control in one hand,  keyboard under the other, lovely Benedict Cumberbatch on the screen in front of you) it's darn near impossible to get off it. I sure didn't today.

If the above flowchart is (understandably) a little too hefty for you, just use this one. It's basically the same thing:

So today is over and  I have nothing to show for it. Bummer. I got stuck in the procrastination loop -- and whether it was the complicated one or the simple one, the result was the same.

But the good news: the magic school bus will show up again tomorrow and provide me with another quiet house and a chance to accomplish something on my list -- something important. And this time I'll hopefully use my time more wisely.

Sherlock Season 3 doesn't come out until sometime in 2014. That should help.

Midnight Movie Review - Star Trek Into Darkness

I wasn’t going to write this review, because honestly, I’m so backed up with real world projects – and four kids who want dinner Every. Single. Night. – that my blog has had to take a back seat for quite a while.

But I just want to say that I loved that new Star Trek Into Darkness movie.  You know the one: with the cocky captain and guy with the pointy ears.

Director JJ Abrams had a tough row to hoe: on one hand you’ve got Trekkies who are such fans they can speak Klingon (“qaStaH nuq?”), on the other hand you’ve got people who are like: Khan?… hmm, is that spelled Caan or Con? Oh… Khan. 

Then you have peeps like me: reasonably familiar, not a huge fan, but loves a good movie.

I feel like JJ Abrams (who directed the first Star Trek reboot in 2009, Mission: Impossible III, as well as created a couple of my favorite shows: Alias and Lost) somehow provided a movie that will please all three. A nearly impossible task.

Cumberbatch - Odd name, stellar actor

Don’t get me wrong, the movie is loud and brash. But yet you can feel the love for the Star Trek franchise fairly oozing from everyone involved in the film. And Benedict Cumberbatch?  Well, if you don’t adore him yet, you will soon. Crazy name and all.

I won’t give away any of the plot, although there aren’t any real twists to give away. Part of the time I did find myself thinking I’m pretty sure this has happened before somewhere. Well, it’s Star Trek. There’s been a dozen movies and 30 years worth of television in the franchise. So yeah, it’s all happened before. But that's part of the charm.

My poster

I have to admit I saw the movie the way all movies like this should be seen: a sold-out sneak preview, full of fans who took this seriously (they broke out into applause multiple times), and on IMAX 3D. Honestly, I could’ve done without the 3D, but the rest was pure awesome sauce. Plus they gave me a cool glow-in-the-dark poster.

I’m taking hubby to see it next week, for our anniversary. So that should tell you how I feel about it.

Abrams, with Trek cast - can he do as fine of work with Star Wars?

But most importantly seeing Star Trek Into Darkness gives me confidence in JJ Abrams helming the new Star Wars movie next year, something much more important and dear to me.  Abram's vision and adroitness with Trek has given me a new hope, you might say, for Episode VII (see what I did there?).  He knows how to cast, he knows what people want, he knows how to tell a good story. Please, dear movie gods, let it be so.

Help us, JJ Abrams, you're our only hope.