January 2015 – Allyn Gibson

Elementary: Kitty Winter, Sherlock Holmes, and “The One That Got Away”

I keep thinking about last night’s Elementary, “The One That Got Away.” In the third season of Elementary, Sherlock Holmes took on a new partner, Kitty Winter, while Watson struck out on her own as a private investigator. So as not to break the format too much, Holmes and Watson both consulted with the NYPD,Continue reading “Elementary: Kitty Winter, Sherlock Holmes, and “The One That Got Away””

The Vivaldi Browser

As many people know, when it comes to browsers, I have been a long and firm fan of Opera . It’s more than just fandom I have for Opera. It’s passion. Yes, I’m using the word “passion” to describe my relationship with a web browser. I first used Opera in its 4.x days. When NetscapeContinue reading “The Vivaldi Browser”

Chuck Grassley and George the Third

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning, there was a profile of Iowa’s senior Senator, Chuck Grassley, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The segment played a quote by Grassley from a campaign or fundraising speech, where he railed against the president, tyranny, and how our Constitutional system of checks and balances was designedContinue reading “Chuck Grassley and George the Third”

Downton Abbey: Edith Crawley and the Infinite Sadface

This week, I decided Downton Abbey‘s problem is that the season is a few episodes too long. Lose an episode or two, and there’s less room for fluff. This episode didn’t feel like fluff, not exactly, but it did feel very much like the movement of pieces on the narrative board. Some important stuff happened,Continue reading “Downton Abbey: Edith Crawley and the Infinite Sadface”

Dispatches from the Front

Two weekends ago, while going through some boxes from my move two years ago, I found my Age of Empires III collector’s edition. When I moved, I neatly repacked that collector’s edition box, and therein were my game discs. Since I didn’t have them, I couldn’t play the game (which meant that, when I feltContinue reading “Dispatches from the Front”

Downton Abbey: The Bad Decisions of Robert Crawley

Throughout the day, I tried to think of something to say about last night’s Downton Abbey. I really can’t. Stuff happened. I watched it. None of it really stands out in my mind. Let me think… Robert is a blundering and incompetant dolt. There’s an offer for a business deal which he rejects out ofContinue reading “Downton Abbey: The Bad Decisions of Robert Crawley”

The History of Titus Groan

In recent weeks I’ve been listening to audio dramas on BBC Radio 4. Besides The Once and Future King (which I blogged about at length), there was also Good Omens, based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel about the childhood of the Antichrist, and War and Peace, based on the Tolstoy novel. (MyContinue reading “The History of Titus Groan”

War and Peace

I have finished War and Peace. The BBC audio drama, that is, not the novel. Which I have read; I read it in high school a long time ago. It was a bit flat. No, more than a bit. It was a lot flat. A decade after Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the Rostov family andContinue reading “War and Peace”