they told us

[calimac]

They told us that the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movie was a completely revisionist take, turning Holmes into an action hero. They did tell us that.

They didn't tell us that it was also overlong and tedious.

Musically, the bad news is, the score was nominated for an Oscar. The good news is, it lost.

I could tell that the script was written by Americans, because the villain, otherwise called "Lord Blackwood", is on one formal occasion referred to as "Lord Henry Blackwood". Sorry, he has to be one or the other, not both. I think that all Americans writing stories with British nobility as characters are required to make that mistake, because they all do.

Comments

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

There was music in the movie? I didn't even notice.

I watched the Wolverine movie afterwards and enjoyed that a *lot* more. I should stick to musicals and super-hero movies -- I like them better.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

The music was annoying, indulged in pseudo-antiquisms from the wrong century, and employed more cheap, unimaginative tricks to build up tension than nine hours of Howard Shore (the hack who wrote for Peter Jackson) put together.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

the villain, otherwise called "Lord Blackwood", is on one formal occasion referred to as "Lord Henry Blackwood". Sorry, he has to be one or the other, not both.

This was news to me. Why is this so?

[margdean56.livejournal.com]

The "Lord Firstname Lastname" form is a courtesy title used by the younger sons of Dukes and Marquesses. A famous literary example is Lord Peter Wimsey, who is the second son of the Duke of Denver. You would address him as "Lord Peter," not "Lord Wimsey."

Similarly, "Lady Firstname Lastname" is used by the daughters of Dukes, Marquesses, and Earls.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

What Margaret said: she knows. A well-known real-life example is Lord Randolph Churchill, younger son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough (and father of Sir Winston). You would refer to him as "Lord Randolph" for short, never ever as "Lord Churchill".

Lord Firstnames are not technically lords, and did not have seats in the House of Lords. Lord Randolph was a parliamentarian, and sat in the Commons. Lord Peter Wimsey is addressed as "my lord" and is otherwise referred to as being a lord, but like the word "Lord" in front of his first name, it's just a courtesy and means he's part of a noble family.

On the other hand, if you are actually Lord Blackwood, or Lord Dunsany or Alfred Lord Tennyson, then the word following "Lord" is your title, not your surname (though it may be the same as your surname, as in Tennyson's case though not Dunsany's), and you really are a lord in the strict sense. Most (though not all: the rules were complicated) actual hereditary lords did have seats in the House of Lords until the reforms of 1999.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

"and you really are a lord in the strict sense."

Actually, I should have added that even that's not always true. That too may be a courtesy title only if you are the heir apparent of a higher-ranking lord. (I said the rules were complicated.) But the nomenclature is the same, and that's relatively easy.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That helps.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Thank you for further elaborating Margaret's answer. Why is it that such complicated arcana is so often so thrilling to discern, dissect, and delineate?

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Obviously not thrilling enough, or more of these Anglophile American authors would do it.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Alas, it is ever thus: of the making of arcana there is no end.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

Alas, it is ever thus: of the making of arcana there is no end.

So too with the discerning, dissection, and delineation of same; no end. You plumb more of it than anyone I know, both well and truly.

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

It was also unrelentingly loud...

[mneme]

The length thing is probably a taste thing (and, you know, how much you're enjoying the movie--I didn't notice the music or the length).

The Lord thing is important and a definite flub.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have a few tired old common flubs than be bored.