[Photos] Instagram photo dump: VII

[moonvoice]

last one for now,
didn't realise I had only 8 photos left in the folder.
so here we go.
have also been enjoying Elementary a great deal,
and I'm going to call it,
some elements are much stronger than BBC's Sherlock,
though they are very different shows.


Prevelly






My soft boy.





The random, healthy chicken at the beach.





Bunker Bay from the lookout.





Bunker Bay on the ground level.





Caves Road at the Yallingup tip.





The back of Wyadup Beach.





Snoozes. She couldn't always sleep like this, you know. Too stressed for a long time.

Comments

[fadedwings]

love these!

[moonvoice]

Eee, thanks!

[endlessbees]

Still loving that chicken. :) Bunker Bay looks lovely; is it very accessible?

[moonvoice]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by accessible? You can get there on sealed road and then it's a short walk down to the bay, so it's car accessible. But it's not wheelchair accessible. :/

But in terms of roads, yeah, it's about 4.5 hours south of Perth, and tucked away. Most people go to Meelup or Eagle Bay right nearby, because the beaches are friendlier for swimming and have more white sand for tourism purposes, but I prefer the ruggedness of Bunker Bay.

[silverjackal]

These are all great. Oh, the weather is vicariously wonderful! We have heavy overcast, and lightly sifting snow here, and a wind that falls and rises and falls again only to leap suddenly back to life. It's only -10C or so, but it feels much colder because it's the first true cold of the winter.

My favourite, though, is that last photo of Maybe. That is a truly wonderful nap! :)

[moonvoice]

Well, it's weather from some time ago, unfortunately. But I wish I could lend you our azure skies and (already stupidly) hot days!

[faolchu_rua]

Oh, the bay.

*tries to imagine being there*

[moonvoice]

*wishes I could bring it to you.*

It's so incredible. One of the more powerful places I've been to, in my life. Especially on stormy days.

[jensurvivor]

The rocks are just so very different where you are, tropical-looking.

[moonvoice]

*nods* A lot of weathered granite and limestone, it's lovely. Though I hear kind of annoying if you want to farm down there since it gets in the way of everything. :)

[jensurvivor]

That's how it is here too, on the Eastern and South shore. It's all got to be in raised beds.

[starstrider]

I love that first image!

My mother recorded the first few episodes of Elementary, but I've had zero desire to watch it. All the previews for it sound completely horrid. They remind me of the Life on Mars fiasco. Ever watch that show? The BBC original version was, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever, and then America wanted to Do It Too and their version was so miserably awful that no one can speak its name. I just love BBC Sherlock so much. What's stronger about the Elementary series, if you mind my asking?

[moonvoice]

I just love BBC Sherlock so much. What's stronger about the Elementary series, if you mind my asking?

Hm, okay I'll go by category.

* Cinematography - BBC Sherlock wins, hands down. It's movie-quality, clever cinematography, and there's no way Elementary can compete with this (and it thankfully doesn't really try to). Elementary has neither the budget nor the luxury of time to create such slick, impressive shots per scene.

* Maturity - Elementary wins, hands down. Steven Moffat has a very bad scriptwriting habit of generating conflict by having adult characters throw tantrums (this started all the way back in Press Gang). Usually through yelling / storming off / huffing etc. This is perfect for Cumberbatch's Sherlock AND Freeman's Watson. Moffat has definitely fallen into this trap again. Therefore in BBC Sherlock very little is solved with mature, level-headed, rational, even conversation. Anyway, the technique is fine, it can be interesting, Sherlock losing it in front of the fireplace in Hound of the Baskervilles and then John essentially storming off and ignoring him until Sherlock 'sort of apologised' was an effective series of scenes. It just *lacked significant maturity and character growth* especially for the character of John Watson. It validates immature behaviour.

I'm spending some time on this, because this is what I believe Elementary nails, and has in abundance, that BBC Sherlock does not. JLM's Sherlock is - though clearly atypical and not very functional in places - willing to apologise, give genuine credit, and discuss things maturely (especially true in episode 4, but has been true throughout). Liu's Watson is the same; she doesn't rise to the bait, she is even and level even when she's clearly aggravated. They deal with things like adults and it allows for genuine character growth. It is truly refreshing. BBC's Sherlock has almost none of this, and is quite static, in that regard. Which leads me to:

Characterisation - I actually prefer Elementary's three-dimensional characterisation more than BBC's Sherlock. It's hard for me to say that, since I LOVE BBC's Sherlock *as a character*, but I do not believe he is written in a particularly three-dimensional way, and that his three-dimensional'ness' comes from Cumberbatch himself, usually non-verbally, between periods of dialogue.

Plot and Pacing - BBC Sherlock wins, even though its plots are frequently quite implausible. It just has pacing down. It is electric and well-paced, and races you through about 90 minutes of wonderful cinematography at a fair clip. It is more bombastic in terms of plot; plus it borrows directly from pre-existing canon; Elementary doesn't borrow much from the canon at all. No direct rips from Sir ACD's plots as of yet, they're using new, different plots instead in the latter. Elementary has a gentler, more subdued pacing, which focuses more on characterisation over cracking cases, and I prefer this is as a character based watcher. To be honest, I actually think Elementary wins in the position of 'having a plausible plot with plausible deductions,' and BBC Sherlock wins for having 'big exciting plots' and faster pacing.

Scriptwriting - For me, personally, it's a tie. BBC's Sherlock has more classic one-liners, and more 'punch you in the gut' lines of dialogue. Elementary has significantly more mature dialogue, and less one liners. I guess it depends on what you're looking for here. Flash/bang works well, Dexter has relied on that a great deal for many years and it's one of the reasons I watch it. I don't mind some flash/bang dialogue. But then there's shows like Homeland which rely on mature discourses between characters that aren't throwing tantrums (well, Carrie, sometimes doesn't always do this one very well), and that's a lot *gentler*, but it's also a lot more realistic and harder to do as a scriptwriter. It's easy to write flashy lines, harder to write mature dialogue.

Mise en Scene - BBC Sherlock wins here, it always will. The general 'feel' of the show is just *impressive.* The 'feel' of Elementary is simply 'well-made procedural.' BBC's Sherlock by contrast is impressively cinematic and well-thought out, with post-production creating a uniform colour story.

Sherlock/Watson - This is a tough one. I actually prefer Elementary's Sherlock/Watson for potential and maturity. They have further to go together, they've already been allowed a significant amount of growth not really present in BBC's Sherlock, so far. But I prefer - at least at this time - the chemistry and awesomeness of Cumberbatch/Freeman as Sherlock/Watson. I never ever thought I'd say this. In fact, Glen and I watched an episode of BBC's Sherlock to make sure that Elementary hadn't actually you know, brainwashed us or anything... but, nope, it's how I feel. I also think Elementary is far more realistic about dealing with subjects like addiction and withdrawal, where BBC Sherlock just uses the subject when convenient.

Keep in mind that CBS isn't trying to remake BBC's Sherlock anymore, since BBC's Sherlock did screen in the USA and did well enough to get several nominations at the Emmy's (and since BBC explicitly said they'd sue if there was even a hint of too much plagiarising directly from their show). This penetration of BBC's Sherlock into the US market was something that never happened with the UK's Office or Queer as Folk. They really are quite different as shows, and very different characters (within the canon). I had an initial period of shock watching the first episode, it is quite *hard* for me to wrap my head around two contemporary Sherlocks and Watsons (though I do love Joan Watson).

Ultimately if you're going to go in not wanting to like it, you're probably not going to like it, regardless of how mature the scripting/characterisation is in Elementary. I didn't go in with that attitude, and I didn't want to watch it, until I could watch it from a more 'open' place. I'm really grateful/glad that I did, since I now have the joy of *two* awesome shows to watch. But then I like very realistic / mature shows, since they're not particularly common, and they're a pleasure to just sit through. I'm still a heavy participater in the BBC Sherlock fandom (I've written fanfiction / read over 500 fics / follow it heavily on Tumblr etc.), but I'm going to add Elementary to that too now. It's just... enjoyable in a different way, and ultimately, it IS a different show. It's not a remake of BBC's Sherlock, it's a remake of Sir ACD's Sherlock, and that leads to very different, awesome qualities.

[starstrider]

I LOVE that you did that. Now I'm definitely going to watch it and give it a shot. I'm actually quite good at compartmentalizing, so it's not usually a problem for me to go into a show expecting not to like it. Actually, some of my favorite shows I used to hate the previews for. (Like when Bones was first coming out.)

I'll definitely let you know what I think! --And I'm keeping the email notification for this reply starred hoping I'll remember so I can come back here and reply directly. =)

[ariestess]

I love the Maybe and Moet shots!

Can you tell I'm missing my kitties?