I hearse you were coming back. Why do I think this promo idea was dreamed up by Mark Gatiss?

I’ll refrain from doing a Sherlock-like gloat… Okay, I can’t help it. I was right. I correctly deduced that Sherlock Series 3 would air 1 January, 2014 in the U.K., giving Moffat and Gatiss the double Holiday punch of a Dr. Who Christmas and a Sherlock New Year’s. There’s a very nice piece, with photos, on the Guardian site here.

My sentiments exactly, Sherlock, over the change in plans. Now where can I find an otter who looks like he’s sucking lemons for my desktop?

I am, however, only mildly consoled in my grief that my U.K. Holiday Invasion was canceled due to circumstances beyond my control (although, if I wasn’t already committed to classes starting the following week, I’d seriously consider doing damage to a credit card and fulfilling several items on my “bucket list” in one fell swoop to the London). Meanwhile, I am questioning the psychological affect of the delay in Sherlock Series 3. I find myself unreasonably cheered and excited by a new blog post appearing on the official John Watson blog site. I’ll refrain from commenting on the comments, since I don’t want to have to deal with any spoiler alerts (there are people in developed countries who don’t know who Mary is, seriously?), however, the blog post ties in nicely with the social media teaser video (below) and the hearse promotion.

No, Thank You, Ms. Adler. I’m Already Tied Up.

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been a tad busy lately — and I fear it’s going to continue at least until the end of the year. I am, however, hoping to move Sherlock Cares to a new hosting service and definitely a new theme. The old one is no longer supported by the developer and I’d rather build my own theme than wrestle with any more 3rd Party issues. For one thing, I plan to do some simplification and speed optimization (I’ve been taking a few classes online to hone the brain and update the coding repertoire). I’m also wrestling with the fact that Google appears to be under the influence of Moriarty’s Minions (or possibly is being blackmailed by Charles Augustus Milverton) and is making RSS news feeds, particularly on specific subjects like Sherlock Holmes, problematic. I’m toying with the idea of writing a program to parse a Google news results pageview and then feeding it into my site, but I’m not certain I wouldn’t rather spend the time writing some new fanfic (and non-fan fic). 

I’ve also been re-reading the Canon (inspired by the visit to The International Sherlock Holmes exhibit presently at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) as well as quite a few spin-offs and pastiches. I hope to get some book reviews and recommendations posted soon with some suggestions for Holiday Gift Giving to share Sherlock Holmes with the world.

Oh, look, Sherlock! We made the Nice AND the Naughty List this year.

I’ll be re-posting the Sherlock Gift Tags PDF from last Holiday Season and coming up with a few Holiday gifts as we work our way towards the Big Day.

Here’s wishing everyone in the U.S. had a Happy Thanksgiving and a lovely Holiday Season of Sherlock Holmes.