Charity's Place

Happiness does not come from owning a lot of stuff. It comes from loving what you do own.

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To all others, she had a name. But to Sherlock Holmes, she was simply “The Woman.”

In A Scandal in Bohemia, the first story about the great Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we meet the only woman ever to outsmart him. So how come modern writers never get her right?

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If you wake up and you can’t wait to write something, you’re a writer. If you’ve tried to stop and can’t for more than a short amount of time, you’re a writer. If you are slightly demented when it comes to protecting other literary creations, as if they were “real” people and their character is being defaced… you’re a writer.

» read more « (find out how to win a $100 Amazon gift card by declaring yourself a writer: deadline May 20, 2012)

Today is the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution.

It seems a worthy sort of anniversary… it’s cold and dreary and raining (which happens to be my favorite kind of weather… but then I’m weird). But my mind is indeed drawn to that impetuous, ambitious woman who made an indisputable impact on history.

For the most part, movies and miniseries get her wrong. The real Anne Boleyn wanted nothing to do with paunchy, randy Henry VIII. She told him to get lost numerous times and then gave him an impossible impasse, figuring it would mean he lost interest. She said she wouldn’t become his mistress, but she would consider becoming his wife… » more

Blending fairy tales and real life has not been done well since Hallmark dominated television with The 10^th Kingdom miniseries, but with a little time and patience, Once Upon a Time could become something magical.

There are bounty hunters… and there are bounty hunters. Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is of the latter variety, a no-holds-barred tough girl with a lot of attitude and very little patience… » more

Once in a lifetime, something incredible comes along. One of those things is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. Loosely inspired by the Gaston Leroux novel, it follows the tragic story of a man forced by his deformity to dwell beneath the Paris Opera House, and the woman he loves.

Somewhat gushy review here.

Fringe sets its own rules and just when you think you are starting to catch on, it changes everything. Its season finales in the past have thrown Olivia into alternative universes or had her unknowingly change places with her double. But last year, it was Peter Bishop that threw us all for a loop when after climbing into the machine intended to heal both universes, he faded from existence and the minds of all who love him… » more

Reviews of past seasons: Season Three, Season Two, Season One.