Where Is Myka?

If you know me or at least have been stalking me on Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Instagram, you'd know that I am in fact, a self-confessed, certified Cumberbabe Cumberbitch. So even if I wasn't much of Trekkie, knowing that my dear Benny will be there was enough of a reason for me to watch Star Trek Into Darkness. And this is the first time ever that I am rooting for the bad guy because c'mon how could you not?

Remember when I told you guys that this year I promised to travel more and be a bit more "adventurous"? Well, here is me trying to achieve that by going to the 18th Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark, Pampanga.

Honestly I've wanted to go here for the longest time so I told myself that this is the year that I will get to experience this.

I went with Gelo's family and our friend, David. We left Manila around 4:00 am and arrived at the OMNI Aviation field around 6:00 am. The parking was such a headache (probably because we arrived a little late. Hehe). Then we had to walk from the parking area to the main field itself for about 20 minutes.



We only waited for the Breitling Jet Team's exhibition then went back to Manila (because it was so frickin' hot!)



Oh, and Marley came along as well! :)

I started to watch the CBS version ofShelock Holmes a.k.a. Elementary simply because I was curious. Being the faithful BBC Sherlock fan that I am, I wondered how the Americans would butcher interpret this classic. When the news of the another modernized take on this classic favorite shook the intrawebs, my own initial reaction was, "What kind of debauchery is this?" I had a feeling that they won't be able to pull it off well (because they didn't have Mark Gatniss and Steven Moffat). Several weeks after that, they've released the casting details and lo and behold. Watson is a she, played by my least favorite Charlie's Angel, Lucy Liu.

Even the OBB kinds looks familiar

I ignored the tweets and blog reviews about this show until that one fateful night when our internet seems to be acting faster that its usual rate, I downloaded the first 8 episodes of Elementary. I was prepared to see the worst (I did not even know this Jonny Lee Miller guy) and I was equipped with every ill insult a fan could possibly think of.

Sherlock as chest hair and tattoos.

But I didn't sleep that night.

I think the key to watching Elementary is to treat it less like a Sherlock Holmes text but rather, more of a CSI kind of show. To be honest, the only elements that the show "borrowed" from the canon is the fact that Sherlock Holmes is a consulting detective that has an incomparable mastery of the science of deduction and that Dr. Watson is a medical professional. That's it. No Lestrade. No Mycroft. NO MRS.HUDSON! There is an Irene Adler but she's dead. Moran showed up but he wasn't what I expected and Moriarty is still out there.

The chemistry between Miller and Liu is a slowly building up. It was virtually non-existent during the first 3 episodes but the producers made CBS Sherlock a more charming, more reasonable, less crazy one. I predict the the impending romance between the two will come around season 4 or 5. And according to THIS TWEET OF MINE, I seem to be starting to like the dynamics of the show.

Wanna bet?

Do I approve of the dynamics? Yes. The romance? Not really. It complicates things and distracts us from The Game. Please, leave the romance to Castle. Elementary seems to be the answer to the homophobic Americans (the same way they made Jude Law's Watson have a wife). Two males simply cannot live alone in an apartment and not be gay. I am, in a way, thankful for this. They at least respected the sanctity of the Sherlock-Watson bromance.

I'm not saying that it's such an unwatchable show. As I've mentioned earlier. It does have the elements of the crime scene/investigative type of show that I've loved in CSI/NCIS/Criminal Minds. The cases (again not similar to the canon) are interesting as well (Russian spies, hiring your own assassin, etc.). Aidan Quinn is a genius of a choice as Capt. Thomas Gregson.

Will I stop watching? Surprisingly no. It provides me the entertainment and the cases are interesting. But again, I have to warn you. If you want to watch Elementary, you should stop treating it as a Sherlock adaptation. Because it might as well be the reason for you to stop watching it.