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More style notes, this one on Sophie: April's Vogue has a piece on the wedding gown and its design, complete with an Annie Leibovitz photo. (I know the piece is not really about Benedict, but there's a nugget or two about him in there, too!)

Hard to find something more relevant to The Hollow Crown, for sure! *** Benedict will be hosting the Laureus World Sports Awards again. (It's next month in Shanghai--so much for nesting!) *** GQ UK has a feature on how to dress well by imitating Benedict. (Good job they're keeping their gaze on his red carpet looks.)

But he wouldn't think ANY of the words he uses need definition, and clearly some producer told him they do.

All this about Harry defining "arrangement"... I think we need to cut him a break on that. To him, there's NO musical term that needs definition, he's been playing since he was three years old! No doubt he's been told to define the terms he's using because the wider audience doesn't know what they mean, but since they all seem equally simple and obvious to him, he has no idea what needs definition and what doesn't. He can't possibly have a frame of reference as to what a "general audience" would understand and what they wouldn't.

Mark seems to have been correcting some tumblr posts and reposts when he tweeted: "@livinlifej90 I said 1895. Also, 'The Solitary Bicyclist'? 'The Bruce Partington Project'? Oh dear." So apparently what he said (in reference to the special) was According to Leslie Klinger (who wrote/edited the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes), there are five stories set in 1895. Four are generally agreed on by a majority of Holmes chroniclers: The Three Students The Solitary Cyclist Black Peter The Bruce-Partington Plans And one on which there is no consensus: Wisteria Lodge The most interesting one to me in this context is the Bruce-Partington Plans, because that was part of the mix in TGG. Hmmmmmmm.... And then, there's Wisteria Lodge, which might have something to do with those photos of the woman in bridal gown we saw from Setlock--and The Solitary Cyclist might have something to do with Amanda being seen in cycling clothes. Curiouser and curiouser.

She IS a fantastic singer--but the songs I've heard from her lately have been vastly over-produced. (She really doesn't need echo effects, either.)

Here's a sneak peek--Benedict reading one of Alan Turing's letters: Heartbreaking. (More about it at TimeOut London.)

Or it wasn't a ruptured appendix after all? (It doesn't seem to be something Maddie or her doctors would be unsure of--if an appendix ruptures and there's no operation, you don't have a living patient...)

This isn't what you might call new, since it's from 2013, but because Top Gear is in the news now (I presume), the Guardian has resurrected a clip of Benedict on Top Gear, faking a punch at Clarkson:

Mark Gatiss is playing Labour's Peter Mandelson in Coalition...and based Mycroft on the same person. (Source: ITV.com)

They may not have a choice but to eliminate her--if her appendix ruptured, she's not going to be back in a few days--several weeks is more like it.

Oho! So it looks like the special may be a Victorian stand-alone with nothing to do with the rest of the series: Source: EW.com

The former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (I assume this is a British institution) has, albeit belatedly, come out in support of Benedict: Benedict Cumberbatch was victim of 'bonkers' political correctness. *** And Parade.com has posted a clip from the DVD extras from Penguins of Madagascar. (We've seen bits of this before, but it's cute): *** There are several articles-mit-photos of Benedict jogging in the park (complete with snarky comments about his outfit). Since this was clearly not a public appearance, I'm not bringing links, but it's easy enough to look for them if you want a look.

Heh. They think they're being all modern, but it's essentially the same thing as patches from 17th and 18th century Europe...

I think this may fall under the category of "not very likely": Benedict is rumored to have agreed to join the cast of Horrible Bosses 3--a film which has not so far been green-lighted. *** It's Mother's Day in the UK, and apparently both the Daily Star and the Express think that clips of Benedict in action make the perfect gift: VIDEO: He sings, plays piano and wears dodgy trunks - Our top 9 Benedict Cumberbatch clips VIDEO: Mother's Day treat - curl up with our top 7 Benedict Cumberbatch clips

Oh, yes, I saw that on PBS, thank you for finding the YouTube of it, Anothermi! I found it fascinating. There's another clip from the DVD extras on USA Today.

I understood his point to be that someone understanding the lyrics wouldn't use that song as a party song, not that a party song should have meaningful lyrics.

The Advocate has a clip from The Imitation Game's Blu-ray special features, with Benedict (and Charles Dance and producer Ido Ostrowsky) discussing Alan Turing's treatment at the hands of his government. (Nothing we haven't heard before, but a clip is a clip!)

I love that Sheeran song enormously, but it's impossible to sing that line so that it doesn't sound like "seventeen," no matter how carefully the singer articulates the word. When you say "seventeen" you stress the last syllable, and when you say "seventy" you stress the first, and that melody forces the singer to stress the last syllable. That's just lazy lyric writing. That's how I remember it. (But it's still lazy lyric-writing!)

I could not put either of these thoughts any better. ITA!

The Jungle Book is starting filming. (I'm assuming this is talking about the live action parts.) The press release doesn't say whether there's any motion capture involved, but if not they are missing a good bet, with Benedict playing a tiger!

I assume this is timed to coincide with the release of the DVD--there's a video of Benedict (and other creators of The Imitation Game) at the Express website about Alan Turing's and the loss of Christopher. *** There's an interview with Judi Dench at the Boston Herald website (it says it's from US Weekly, but I can't find it on the US Weekly website): There's nothin' like a dame! Judi Dench talks about Maggie, Benedict and her future (Retirement? Heck no!). In it is a bit about Benedict, with whom she worked in The Hollow Crown: (Not exactly an in-depth analysis, but perhaps there will be more in the US Weekly piece. Or perhaps not, as she's out promoting a different movie!)

NYC's PBS station is still running pledge drive shows, and not GBBO, so I gave up and my mom and I decamped to YouTube.

EXCELLENT IDEA. Let's do this immediately. We have the power! (Just refuse to watch the auditions.)

Benedict got to work with Steven Spielberg (War Horse); will it be Martin's turn next?: Martin Freeman And Bill Hader Rumoured For Steven Spielberg’s BFG (From WhatCulture.com)