re: Does it bother anybody else? (Sherlock Holmes)

It's not my ideal portrayal of Sherlock, but the days of making $ on dialogue driven movies is gone by by. I will say watching the movies has peaked my boys interest in reading the books.

i'm losing sleep over it.

Yes it bothers me...I hated the first one for this very reason...and have no intention of seeing the second one.

No

Holmes also drank a cocaine elixir which probably helped him not only with his physical abilities but intellectual as well.

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Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially when lacking stimulating cases. He believes the use of cocaine stimulates his brain when it is not in use. He is a habitual user of cocaine, which he injects in a seven-per-cent solution using a special syringe that he keeps in a leather case. Holmes is also an occasional user of morphine but expressed strong disapproval on visiting an opium den. These drugs were legal in late 19th-century England. Both Watson and Holmes are serial tobacco users, including cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. Holmes is expert at identifying tobacco-ash residues, having penned a monograph on the subject.
Dr. Watson strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's "only vice" and expressing concern over its possible effect on Holmes's mental health and superior intellect.[21][22] In later stories, Watson claims to have "weaned" Holmes off drugs. Even so, according to his doctor friend, Holmes remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping".[23]

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Holmes also drank a cocaine elixir which probably helped him not only with his physical abilities but intellectual as well.

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Yep.

I love the serial writers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. I love Haggard (Quatermain), Kipling, Howard, Lovecraft,Verne and Doyle. I wrote several papers in college about these authors and their characters. So, I've researched the hell out of this subject. I even wrote a 25 page paper on the lasting effects of Howard and Lovecraft on modern fantasy and horror.

I just find that style of writing and the characters more appealing than modern detective, horror, fantasy and science fiction.

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He could bend steel bars with his bare hands,

I've got the complete book collection, but I don't recall this.

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It was an iron fire poker - in the speckled band or something. The man who bent it was described as a hulking man and he bends the poker as a threat to Holmes... after the visitor left Holmes calmly straightened it back with his bare hands

Really? What did I say that was wrong? Did the original Sherlock sign up for boxing matches, gamble on himself, then after he won chug wine? I think not.

But he did it for the sport, not to gamble.

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But he did it for the sport, not to gamble.

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I will concede the point. I am unaware of any instance where it specifically mentions the Sherlock Holmes bet on himself in a bare knuckle boxing match, but he did fight and was considered to be quite skilled by champions of the era.

Chugging wine? His fondness for mind altering subject of the cocaine and opiate variety has been well established. I don't doubt that he would chug wine. It should also be noted that the water in gaslight London was not the cleanest. Someone with Holmes knowledge of chemistry and biology doubtless knew this. It is much safer to "chug" wine than "chug" water.


But you're right...he probably didn't bet on himself.