Month: September 2020

October’s coming up on us soon, the costume shops are open, and you can buy a deerstalker cap in most of them. But what about the faithful Watsonian? Where’s our hat? What’s our hat?

A hat is perhaps the simplest cosplay available and with the costume shops selling hats of all varieties, it seems like a great time to start picking out a Watson hat for your Zoom calls and the like. But what was Watson’s hat of choice?

Let’s take a little poll in the comment section below and start thinking about a little Watsonian cosplay from the top down, even if we never get past the moustache. (Oh, no, once the hat’s discussion is down, we have to start with moustache talk. But don’t rush it. Don’t rush it.)

Also, it’s a new episode of The Watsonian Weekly!

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/september-28-2020-hats-on-for-john

It has been my immense honor to serve as your Boy-in-Buttons since March of 2016. Our Society has grown and changed over the last four-and-a-half years, and it is time for a new person to lead us into the future.

I am delighted to announce that Robert Perret (JHWS “Sampson”) is our “Sampson Buttons”, effective 1 October 2020. 

While I am passing on the mantle of “Buttons”, I remain JHWS “Selena”, and your faithful webmistress. While I work on improving the site, I look forward to seeing our Society as a whole move forward with new energy and ideas.

Take a listen to this week’s Watsonian Weekly, while we ponder just what was going on with the good doctor and the tunes.
https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/september-21-2020-the-musical-watson-episode

Announcing the winners of the 2020 John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt concocted by Paul Thomas Miller and myself. They are:

Rich Krisciunas, who earned an Honorable Mention for managing to turn in some answers in between attending every Sherlockian society’s Zoom meeting in existence.

Joanna Freeman and Alessandro Mellilo who both reached the “Honours” level with their skilled attempt at solving the unsolvable, and enough “close enough” answers for a virtual tie.

And the big winner, receiving “High Honours” for going beyond all others in his answers of this year’s John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt, is returning champion Michele Lopez!

All four of these hardy souls deserve medals for such an achievement, especially this year, with all the undue strain placed upon us all in normal life. Eventually, they will be receiving some little token of their achievement, depending upon the many factors involved in producing and mailing such tokens during the current state of things. But it will happen!

Here is a link to the answers: https://www.johnhwatsonsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/JHWS-2020-Treasure-Hunt-Watsonican-Answer-Key.pdf

And for your weekly dose of Watsonian Weekly tidbits, along with the reader’s theater production of “Watson’s Lion’s Mane,” here’s a link to our club podcast: https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/

Next Saturday, September 12th at 9 AM PDT, 10 AM MDT, 11AM CDT, 12 Noon EDT, 5 PM BST, 6 PM CEST, etc. the John H. Watson Society meets again! We’ve got a full program, including:

• Toasts! (Actually assigned ahead so they’ll be better this time!)
• Show and tell! (Not required, but if you have something cool, show us!)
• Dr. Watson’s birthday (Come with any month and day you think the good doctor was born and make your case! No established dates need apply!)
• “The Watsonian Lion’s Mane” (A cast of Watsonian talent will enact a reader’s theater dramedy before your very ears. Sherlock Holmes definitely didn’t give us the full story of what was up in Sussex!)

If you haven’t received a Zoom invitation already for attending in the past, just send a request to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com before Saturday to get in on the fun. (Saturday morning requests for an invitation, sadly, not guaranteed. Meeting mornings are busy ones!)

IN OTHER WATSONIAN HEADLINES

The 2020 John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt Stress-Free Winners!

This years winners of the special, take-it-easy, pandemic-stress-reduction part of the Treasure Hunt were Anuj Dutt, Michael Ellis, Roger Johnson, Michele Lopez, Alessandro Mellilo, Naching T. Kassa, Rich Krisciunas, Stefan Guerra, Nancy Holder, and Robert Perret. Their well-deserved winners reward will be headed their way, USPS willing and the creeks don’t rise, around month-end.

As for the winner(s) of the full Watsonicon, those entries are currently being scored and the results will be announced at Saturday’s meeting, and then on this page. (The contenders have initials JF, ML, AM, and RK.)

No team entries this year, and we were using a different e-mail address than normal, so if you think your entry to either the stress-free or the full Watsonicon quiz might not have reached us, we hope you will re-send it to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com . Apologies for any confusion this might have caused.

The Watsonian Weekly remains the greatest weekly John H. Watson podcast on the planet!

Sure, there are Sherlockian podcasts, but a true Watsonian podcast? Get into a new podcast habit, if you’re not there already, for a weekly dose of Watson. You can find it, as always, at Libsyn — https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/ , Apple Podcasts — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-watsonian-weekly/id1465553726 , or Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/23X2gDGeWfsvapGDrZfVQs . If you hear of it anywhere else let us know.

The autumn issue of The Watsonian, currently in the editing stage

Our first issue for 2020 was a beefy boy, looking more like a book than a journal. Did someone say “twice as thick as The Baker Street Journal?” Yes, it was, but to be fair, they come out twice as often, and as most Watsonians know, [Joke deleted for mature content]. Will our fall 2020 issue measure up? Hard to say, but your editorial team is on the job!

Those Watson poems! Halp!

Back when we were fumbling through our first Zoom meeting in early summer, a call went out for Watsonian poetry to fill in as a “221B” to close out our meetings. Due to the chaos of covid summer, we hope we didn’t lose any. Due to come out in the fall issue of The Watsonian before a final poll of what we might use as our new Watsonian meeting closer, we have poems from Sandy Kozinn, Margie Deck, Sheldon Goldfarb, and Robert Perret. If you think we missed yours, or want to be a last-minute addition to that roster of Watson-centered Vincent-Starrett-esque poetry, send it in before Saturday’s meeting!

As always, for all editorial matters featuring The Watsonian, just drop us a line at publisher@johnhwatsonsociety.com.