Fiction

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
6 The Man with the Twisted Lip
8 The Adventure of the Speckled Band

I've never read all of the Sherlock Holmes canon, and I always intend to read more of it but never actually do (the last time was a single story in 2016; before that, a few in 2014). Anyway, here's an attempt to change that. I decided to start with some of the best-regarded stories according to the Pocket Essential Sherlock Holmes -- which is just one author's opinion, so maybe I should look for a more definitive ranking! That said, Doyle once named The Speckled Band as his overall favourite Holmes story, so that's some recommendation.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Another big pile of additions this week -- not quite as many as last week, but more than the week before; though it's led me to delay posting this until Sunday again, so...

The most significant package was a bunch of purchases spurred by the latest Barnes & Noble Criterion sale, including their new Bruce Lee box set (which should probably replace my copy of the old Hong Kong Legends DVD set, but I rather like that, so it stays for now) and several titles I've been itching to own, including Come and See, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

No upgrades this week (well, there's the Bruce Lee set, as mentioned, and Criterion's Notorious trumps a DVD I own, but that's part of a box set), so the numbers below are the full account for once. That said, a minor point of order was provoked by the 1966 War and Peace, which was originally released in four parts but now gets considered as one film. I looked at how I've counted previous films of this nature (Dr Mabuse der Spieler; the 1934 Les Misérables) and consequently counted it as four.

Number of titles in collection: 2,428 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,088 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,340 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 68 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 6,243 [up 17]
Number of films: 2,731 [up 19]
Number of additional cuts: 178 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,935 [no change]
Number of short films: 759 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
10x05 The Roaring Twenties
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
6x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Rookie
2x08 Clean Cut

TV

Agatha Raisin
3x03 Love from Hell

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
6x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
4x00 Satan's Chimney [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
2x06 Fallout
2x06 Safety

TV

The Great British Bake Off
10x04 Dairy Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
3x06 The Three Gamblers [season finale; 2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
2x05 Tough Love

Films

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #34

TV

The Crown
2x09 Paterfamilias
2x10 Mystery Man [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

The Rookie
2x04 Warriors and Guardians

TV

The Crown
2x07 Matrimonium
2x08 Dear Mrs Kennedy
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
6x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
3x05 Miracle in Crooked Lane [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Crown
2x05 Marionettes
2x06 Vergangenheit
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

The Great British Bake Off
10x03 Bread Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Rookie
2x03 The Bet

TV

The Crown
2x03 Lisbon
2x04 Beryl
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
6x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
3x04 Ghost's Forge [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
2x02 The Night General

Films

Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
[#185 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

this week on 100 Films

A new month means another monthly review on 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, 1 new review...


Split Second (1992)

Rutger Hauer chomps cigars, chocolate, and scenery as Harley Stone, a badass rogue cop on the hunt for the serial killer who murdered his partner... It starts out almost like budget Blade Runner — it’s the future (so we’re told); it’s night; it’s raining; a hardbitten cop visits a seedy nightclub; etc. But then we get Stone’s first line of dialogue, which comes after a guard dog barks at him. He flashes his warrant card — at the dog — and says “police, dickhead.” To the dog. It’s hilariously terrible and awesome in one fell swoop.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

There were 13 new additions this week, a pile of them arriving last-minute, hence this delayed update -- especially as many weren't just simple additions.

For example, I bought two Hitchcock films on Blu-ray that I already own on DVD as part of a box set. That set is of six films, five of which I now own on Blu-ray. The sixth film isn't available on Blu, so I can't just upgrade the whole set. Normally I'd either have to lose that sixth film or keep the entire box set. But, fortunately, the films are in individual cases and, uncommonly, have individual barcodes, so I can split up the set and sell five of the six. So, in this case, the Blu-ray count goes up, the DVD count stays the same, but the film count goes down, and so does the disc count.

Anyway, with all the various other changes also accounted for, here are the new numbers...

Number of titles in collection: 2,418 [up 9]
Of which DVDs: 1,088 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,330 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 68 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 6,226 [up 10]
Number of films: 2,712 [up 4]
Number of additional cuts: 176 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,935 [no change]
Number of short films: 758 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Agatha Raisin
3x02 The Deadly Dance

The Great British Bake Off
10x02 Biscuit Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
3x03 The Omega Man [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
2x01 Impact

TV

The Crown
2x01 Misadventure
2x02 A Company of Men
It's over three years since I watched season one! I hadn't given up on it, just hadn't got round to it.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Jonathan Creek
3x02 The Eyes of Tiresias [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Woman in Green (1945)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #33

TV

Friday Night Dinner
6x01 The Caravan
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
6x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
3x01 The Curious Tale of Mr Spearfish [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
10x01 Cake Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
2x07 Black Canary [Christmas special; 2nd or so watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Clueless (1995)
[#183 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]