We have an excellent movie critic in the town in the person of Colin Covert. I stopped in Dunn Bros after leaving work this morning and read the Star Tribune while having my poppy seed muffin and coffee and warming up near the gas stove they have in the middle of the room. I walked in quite cold in the hands but left with sweat forming on my back.
Anyway in the review I read, Covert described Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes as “projecting both condescension and charm.” But when he encountered a rare equal such as Professor Moriarty, he became careful and methodical, “stepping up his game,” to use a phrase I do not like. (Perhaps distasteful phrases persist because of their usefulness, not their appeal.)
I confess I wish I could “project both condescension and charm” as Holmes does, and get away with it. But you have to be really smart and talented to do so, like Dr House from the TV show, who is based on Sherlock Holmes.
But then again, these are two fictional characters. In real life you cannot get away with it. In real life people notice when you are insincere or when you look down on them or are sloppy with feelings. Condescension actually negates charm, turns people against you, blocks them off from you. Doors close, you become isolated, et cetera. It is fun to watch such a confident, rogue genius on TV. But I will resist the temptation to emulate them because I know the people I really admire, actual people such as Charles Darwin, were modest, self-doubting and careful. These qualities are important in any scientific, medical or criminal investigator.
pseudoisaac 