Happy Birthday!

...to J.K. Rowling, author of the wildly, insanely popular Harry Potter book series. Here again is Molly Ringwraith's hilarious parody for your enjoyment. No, I don't have a movie review, haven't seen it yet. Many happy returns of the day, Ms. Rowling. ~Jenn

http://mollyringwraith.livejournal.com/43789.html

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Jenn's Mom, Ginger! Yes, Virginia, the fireworks are for you. :)

One Year Has Come and Gone

Aw, man, I can't believe it! Yesterday (Thursday the 28th) was the one-year anniversary of Daily Cross-Swords! And did I post anything then? No. :sigh:

Well sorry about that, lovely lurkers. Anyway, this blog is officially one year old! Celebrate with a festive beverage, go back to post one and read it like a novel!

By the way, here's some sychronicity: last year, we were getting all excited for our first Advanced Stage combat class. Last year, it was advanced Unarmed and Taihenjutsu. This year, it's Lightsabers. What a long strange year it's been...

Image is of Ken and Nick in last year's Advanced class.

Happy Birthday, Arthur Conan Doyle

We are big Sherlock Holmes fans here at the Bonzuko hombu. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading these fantastic Victorian CSI stories, today would be the day to get started. Holmes and Watson are some of the most globally recognizable characters in literature, of any culture. Everyone knows that famous silhouette. Many even believe in Holmes so thoroughly they think he's a real person! When Doyle was sick of writing Holmes stories, he killed him off ("The Final Problem" came out in the 1890s), and the reaction was insane! People wore black armbands in mourning, and the letters Doyle got! Emotional letters, calling Doyle a murderer, asking how dare he...can you imagine? The only other literary phenomenon that even comes close to this today would have to be Harry Potter.

Do whatever you like to celebrate the birthday of a great writer today, but some of it must include reading his work! So school's out--this is fun reading, not work reading. :)

Image is the original illustration of Holmes and nemesis Moriarty from The Final Problem.

Videos are: 1) Doyle himself talking about Holmes and his interest in psychic phenomena; 2) Part 1 of a Bonzuko fave: The Solitary Cyclist. Jeremy Brett was the best film Holmes ever.