Author: Brad Keefauver

Because YOU asked for it! (Well, somebody did . . .)

The December meeting of the John H. Watson Society will be our Christmas pageant, a thrown-together reader’s theater production of “The Adventure of the Second Die Hard,” a Canonical Christmas tale that’s NOT “Blue Carbuncle.” We’ll be gathering up our volunteer readers from the registration list, so be sure to sign up for our Sunday, December 22nd meeting in advance if you want to take part. It’s going to be a busy weekend, so we know many of you will have to miss, but we’ll be sure to record it for the podcast.

So, Sunday, December 22nd at noon Central Standard Time. Here’s the link!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApfu2trzgoEtSNfArBuEmoUYxiW6mweztF

The eleventh month is rolling by quickly and it’s already almost time for Watsonians to gather again on Sunday, November 24th at noon Central Standard Time. What will we be up to this month?

For starters, we’ll have a little Watsonian “get to know you” with three questions for the cool Watson fan. What are the three questions that we’ll be asking anyone who is on-camera and willing to share? Funny you should ask . . .

Question One: Members of the John H. Watson Society have bull pup names. The BSI has investitures. We don’t get to pick either of those and they aren’t always cool. If you were going to pick a cool nickname for yourself out of all the words and phrases in John Watson’s writings, what would YOU pick?

Question Two: You’re going to add one piece of clothing or accessory to your daily appearance to show people you’re a cool Watson-like kinda person. What is that item going to be?

Question Three: People who can pull off cosplay are really cool. If you had the skills (or the money to hire someone with the skills) to cosplay as any Doctor Watson in the history of Doctor Watsons, which Doctor Watson would it be?

And once we’ve gone around with those questions and seen just how cool you Watsonians are, we’re going to start the open casting for next month’s John H. Watson Society Christmas Pageant, a Zoom theatrical production unlike anything you’ve ever seen, because IT’S NOT GOING TO BE BLUE CARBUNCLE. (Somebody in the Canon besides Henry Baker and Peterson should get to celebrate Christmas, right?)

So if all that hasn’t frightened you off, here’s the registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpc-Ghrj4pG9Dugvf2bPMeTBCzPeKhIajp

The John H. Watson Society will be gathering for our October meeting on Sunday, October 27the at noon central time, what will be going on then?

A Zoom costume contest? Watsonian horror trivia? The unexpected Halloween treat?

If you’d like to come and find out, here’s the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUod-CvqD8sH9CuPW64KE3mrN7KfVgMZ9Gb

If you were at our last meeting, you know what we’re up to this month. A panel of specially selected Holmes movie buffs are going to fantasy draft their perfect film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Who will be the stars? How will they make it special? And you get to pick the one you’d want to see!

To pre-register for this Zoom meeting on September 29th (EDIT: no longer the 22nd, sorry!) at noon Central time, just click the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtc-ugpzMoHtb-0ggSNf2Bf9mlESghCfio

It’s the last week for doing the annual August treasure hunt of Canonical details from Watson’s writings, and Watsonians around the world are scrambling to get their entries polished up and turned in by the time September 2nd is done. (Scroll down to find the full Treasure Hunt details!)

The “Final Team” Zoom had to be cancelled at the last minute, but you can still give it a go on your own!

Meanwhile, here’s the latest episode of the John H. Watson Society’s official podcast, which sadly, contains no audio from Sunday’s meeting:

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/august-26-2024-when-one-watson-runs-short-the-answer-is-elementary

We know you’re all busy testing your wits on the annual John H. Watson Society Treausre Hunt (scroll down if you haven’t started yet), but we wanted to let you prep for our August meeting and the John H. Watson Storytelling Challenge on Zoom this August 25th. How does it work?

Our willing participants will be given the title of one of Watson’s sixty stories at random and be asked to tell the tale in 30 seconds (and only 30 seconds). Each story will have a list of ten items worth a point a piece, and our storyteller, in actually retelling the story, will get a point for every one of those items they mention. It could be a person, a place, an activity, a color — you just don’t know! — that our judge feels is key to that story (or worth bonus points!). Are you up to telling a story with the level of detail only Watson could? Come to our August meeting and find out!

The registration link is still: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcumprD4jHdMHHw1JWSYq4kJ_YCDqolE0

Mark your calendars now for 1 PM Eastern/Noon Central, etc. on Sunday, August 25th, as the John H. Watson Society and friends gather on Zoom to have a little fun and ease your mind into the last week of the John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt. What are we going to be up to? A completely different test of your ability to Watson that should be most entertaining to those you aren’t under the bright exam room lights.

The registration link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcumprD4jHdMHHw1JWSYq4kJ_YCDqolE0

In the meantime, give that Treasure Hunt a go and we’ll also check in on your state of mind as we round that last turn.

At noon central time on Sunday, July 21st, the John H. Watson Society will Zoom again, with a bit of Watson fun for the middle of your Sunday. Into team sports? It might be something like that . . . you just never know! Here’s the registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUscuqgpz4jHdOoAjlVyFGUjr9-8Z6B49zw

And after that, take a listen to the latest Watsonian Weekly. Sure, we just talk about another podcast (“Sherlock & Co.”) most of the time these days, but if John H. Watson has his own weekly podcast, what else do you expect the John H. Watson Society’s official podcast to do? Here’s that link:

https://five.libsyn.com/show/episodes/view/32133542

The greatest Watson?

For the May meeting of the John H. Watson Society at high noon (CST) on Sunday, May 26th, The Great Memorial Day Weekend Watson Debate will be our main event. And when we say “main event,” we mean Main Event!

As most of you know, our humble meeting host has a great and honest affection for a particular portrayal of John H. Watson (pictured above) and is challenging all comers to try to take the crown of World’s Greatest Watson Portrayal from that Watson. Debaters will have three minutes (and ONLY three minutes, after which time a horn will sound, ending their time) to present a case for their candidate of choice. Only positive cases for a chosen Watson will be allowed, and any negative statements about any other Watson will result in immediate disqualification. What makes a great Watson? Can those qualities be put into words? Can you convince a jury of your peers that your favorite Watson is, indeed, better than the actor known as the best John Watson in any theatrical film from 2018?

IMPORTANT NOTE: Only three minutes per Watson will be allowed to keep this competition fair. Multiple debaters choosing the same Watson will be forced to share the same three minutes.

Somebody better show up to make a case for their Watson, or the one candidate already entered will walk away for with the title as easily as he dealt with “Brawn” in his famous Fumbles Gymnasium match. So BRING IT ON!

To register for the meeting go to: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuc-GsrzsqHd3ahReFZwkkA7gwiOAAxcIw

On Sunday, March 17, at noon CST, the John H. Watson Society will gather on Zoom to decide the final rounds of “Watson Watness,” a horribly named process to determine what John H. Watson’s best characteristics are. What are his “sweet sixteen” aspects? And of those, what are his “great eight?” Four things he wouldn’t be Watson without?

It’s a bracket style tournament to see just what makes Watson so lovable, and you’ll get to help decide the finals if you can make it to the Zoom. Here’s the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvcOisrzgtHNIJZtNOyVMbJqAg5-3xp6z7

Sign up now and you might get to help decide the second preliminary round later this week before the meeting!

Due to an online symposium from the Legion of Zoom that most of of members will want to attend, this month’s meeting of the John H. Watson Society will be held on Sunday, February 18th at noon. The Watson Consultation will be back, and this month’s guest meeting host, bull pup Maddy, will be interviewing a special bull pup guest! You won’t want to miss that!

Here’s the registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItcOmppzgsH9Sz9wFJhkGd84E1Yrpkc7ns

And while you’re clicking links, here’s this week’s episode of the Watsonian Weekly: https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/february-5-2024-watsons-car-and-his-rants-about-the-rich

January may start with Sherlock Holmes’s Birthday and all the attention on the birthday boy, but at the end of the month, it’s time to pay attention to our old friend Dr. Watson once more! On Sunday, January 28th, at noon CST (or whatever that works out to in your home zone), the John H. Watson Society will again gather for our typical discussion and fun — but with a current news twist!

You’ve surely heard — and if you haven’t, listen to this week’s Watsonian Weekly on that — there’s going to be a new television show with Watson as it’s main character coming soon. We’ve seen Watson featured over Holmes on TV before, as in Netflix’s The Irregulars, but as any good Watsonian knows, there’s more to Watson than just two TV shows can show.

So our January meeting is going to be a pitch meeting! Come with your thirty-second elevator pitch for a TV show that features John H. Watson as it’s lead, and our panel of fake TV executives will be awarding the one we like best a special Watson prize package. (Books! You know it will be books! Watson books, enough to fill a Priority Mail box, if the winner is in the US. There will be an alternate prize if one of our friends across the ocean comes up with the best pitch.) Any time period, any setting, any casting, just a somewhat recognizable version of John H. Watson in a premise that would make a good TV series! (No straight Canon adaptations allowed. We’re not going to force the judges to vote against Canon.)

Here’s the registration link for our January fun, so get that pitch together and come join the fun:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUudOytrjMsGtIEBCQksQh2ukMctwZF6B2U

Yes, it’s time for a holiday party, and the John H. Watson Society’s meeting on Sunday, December 17th at noon Central Standard Time (and whatever that translates into for your personal time zone)) is going to be all that in a Watson-type celebration of the season!

You may have heard mention of caroling and holiday cards and thought, “It’s Zoom! That stuff doesn’t work well on Zoom!” But where there’s a Watson will there’s a Watson way!

If you have the skills to put together a PNG, JPEG, or PDF version of a “Compliments of the Season” card, we’ve got a chat to pass those out in. And caroling? Lucky for us there’s a holiday song that can be voiced (singing encouraged, but not required) by multiple people on a Zoom call and actually work. It’s called “The Twelve Days of Watson,” and so easy to do that we’ll learn it together at the meeting.

We know December 17th, the Sunday before Christmas, is going to be a busy day for a lot of folks, but if you’ve got ninety minutes to spare, here’s the registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclceyqrD4iG9TvQwKcgwWgODrKLxEegzyF

Since we don’t want to attempt to gather on any major holidays, the John H. Watson Society’s Zoom Christmas Party will be Sunday, December 17, 2023 at noon Central Standard Time. Put on your fancy hat, get out your favorite Sherlock Holmes Christmas card to show off, and warm up your vocal cards for some Watson caroling. Here’s the link to register!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclceyqrD4iG9TvQwKcgwWgODrKLxEegzyF

And if you missed the latest meeting, and want to hear a good share of it, take a listen to the latest episode of the Watsonian Weekly!

https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/november-27-2023-watson-mason-and-mason-attorneys-not-at-all

The big Thanksgiving weekend is coming up here in America, and as it’s a family time, we’re doing something a little different for our November John H. Watson Society Consultation. For our meeting this Sunday, November 26, at noon CST, we’re doing our Watson best to learn what we can with a combined interview of those hard-travelling Sherlockians Steve and Rusty Mason. No Jungian testing this time, but another experimental testing procedure to try on them which you might recognize will be added to the fun. Unique questions, followed by the chance to make your own inquiries, the usual general discussion, and . . . will the Tea Brokers of Mincing Lane eventually try to do a meeting takeover? Rumors abound.

Join your fellow Watsonians and friends by signing up for Sunday’s Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZModeCurjIpGtJuInPHzvieO3-ckbjJWsBf

Whilst the agenda for the November gathering of the John H. Watson Society still has some kinks. to work out, it will be happening on November 26th at the usual noon Central Standard Time time. Here’s the link for those of you who want to make sure you get on board for whatever Watson-based happenings happen!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZModeCurjIpGtJuInPHzvieO3-ckbjJWsBf

November will be here soon, and at least one Watsonian has promised themselves to devoting this November to a particular novel-length story they want to tell. It’s not a pastiche, but it does feature a Holmes and a Watson, by those names. If you’ve ever participated in National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo, as it is affectionately called, you know it’s a marathon for writers, a month-long challenge to get 50,000 words into your own novel. It’s a great motivator and a good way to get a nice feeling of accomplishment going into the holiday season.

And as I said, there’s one among us who is dead set on turning Nanowrimo 2023 into Watsonwrimo. It may just be me. But Nanowrimo is all about community and support, even while the task itself is a lonely and individual one. That said, if you’d like to join in Watsowrimo and try getting 50,000 Watson words, of any sort, with encouragement on the Watsonian Weekly podcast and a little friendly encouragement, JHWS style, drop an email to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com and join our little Watsowrimo crew, either under your real name or a pseudonym, if you’re shy about letting anyone know you’re writing a novel before the thing gets done. (We get it. Even Holmes kept his revelations until the climactic moment.)

The John H. Watson Society is about paying tribute to that great man in so many ways, and one of those is carrying on his legacy of writing about Sherlock Holmes. So let’s make November a month Watson is remembered . . . with 50,0000 words.

“Compound of the Busy Bee and Excelsior. We can but try — the motto of the firm!”

Just a reminder that the monthly meeting of the John H. Watson Society is coming up this Sunday, October 22, at noon Central time. Here’s that link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUodu-qrD4pE90gC36ovW__Yk3TjfNitCm9

This month’s Consultation will be trying something new as we bring in author, editor, symposium host, and inveterate reader of Sherlockiana, Rob Nunn into Watson’s examination room for a probing interview on his Watson-based afflictions. (Our “patients” will remain fully clothed for their examinations, don’t get excited.) After some rounds of questions by our Resident, we’ll open things up to the group to make sure we leave nothing out in diagnosing the seriousness of Rob’s case.

Be sure to check that link above to see what we find!

This week saw the start of Sherlock & Co., a new weekly podcast by John H. Watson, M.D. about his life with Sherlock Holmes. It’s a lively modern romp that’s not BBC Sherlock, but an original riff that aims to do modern takes on all sixty original Canonical tales. Two 35 minute episodes came out this week on all sorts of podcast sources ( I use Apple Podcasts, myself — https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sherlock-co/id1710121792 )

If you’d like to help review the new podcast on the Watsonian Weekly, this Sunday, October 15th at 1 PM Central time, there’s going to be a chat on Zoom that you can register for with the link below. Be forewarned, however! Your podcast host is enthusiastic about this show and will only be taking POSITIVE opinions for the podcast. Grumblers and Canon-only Watsonians need not apply. That said, we’d love to hear your happy thoughts on the matter, if you’ve got the time. Here’s the gathering link (not an actual meeting of the JHWS — that’s later this month):

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvceCvqzwuGNRhgOur1_zY8srUU_rdAMvV

After last month’s little history lesson on the John H. Watson Society, our meetings are getting referred to as they once were as “Consultations,” whether in-person or over video. While it is true that John Watson did not yet have tele-health visits at his disposal, our regular meetings sprang from the technology, so we think he would approve.

Here’s the link for October. More to come as the month progresses!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUodu-qrD4pE90gC36ovW__Yk3TjfNitCm9