Wednesday, March 27, 2013

All Sherlock, all the time.

Ah, that bright and chipper refrain "We can never have enough Sherlock Holmes!"

It pops up all over the place these days, usually in defense of some particularly shabby corner of the Sherlock Holmes universe, and while I'll excuse it in the young, innocent, and energetic, to hear it from Sherlockians past a certain tenure in the hobby always sounds quite delusional.

Because we can, indeed, have too much Sherlock Holmes. From deerstalkered chotchkies to vinyl record albums of radio shows, from Bantam paperbacks to comic books of Muppets dressed as Sherlock, eventually there will come a point when the sheer mass of it all is physically too much to deal with. Unless you're hiring an in-house curator, it can start to impinge on your actual living space. And that's just on the personal, collecting side of things.

Culturally, we can also have too much Sherlock Holmes. Suppose I decided to get my name legally changed to "Sherlock Holmes." And you do too. And your sibling. And my postman. And that woman at Walmart wearing the inappropriate garment that gets her photo on the web. Sure, each of us might have as much in common with Sherlock Holmes as a certain CBS TV character, but is it really a happy thing for all of us to be running around named "Sherlock Holmes?"

And if I graduate from the Sherlock Holmes academy, get a job at 221B World amusement park as Sherlock Holmes running the Sherlock Holmes Reichenbach Bungee to pay off the mortgage on my house at 221B Baker Street in the Sherlock Holmes subdivision ("Where every street is Baker Street!"), where I live with my wife Sherlockina and our three kids . . . do you have to ask their names? To say nothing of Sherlock soda pop, my Sherlockmobile, president Sherlock Hussein Holmes, Gap for Sherlocks, Sherlock Air, HolMart, Sherlock Holmes Idol, the Sherlock Bowl being held at the Sherlock Dome with Sherlock Holmes as the half-time entertainment . . . .

Maybe you're currently not getting enough Sherlock in your life. That happens. In fact, if I was getting enough Sherlock this week, I might have something else to blog about besides "too much Sherlock." But remember the tale of "The Monkey's Paw" and every other genie story the next time you find yourself starting to say, "We can never have enough Sherlock Holmes."

Because someday you might learn to regret those words. And if you already know it to be true, and are completely with me on this point?

Congratulations! You, my friend, are a Sherlockian who had pushed that envelope and seen the outer limits of this little hobby. (And, hopefully, made it back . . . .)

12 comments:

  1. I really don't get it. Are you talking about Sir Boast-a-lot Kickstarter projects and Cumberbatch-faced panties? Nancy Reagan had it right; "Just say no." You don't have to get every Sherlock tchotchke out there--resist the urge for that Lego Holmes, put down that publish-on-demand pastiche. There's a twelve step plan out there that can help (seventeen steps if you're really hardcore and/or far-gone). I know of a sober companion who'll be by your side 24/7. I believe in Brad Keefauver!

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    1. I really love it when you that Mr. Leary, I really do. As a long time lurker of this blog, I find your comments really really interesting. To me, you are the salt of this blog. :D

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    2. I don't know that she's a particularly effective sober companion, but if anyone remote and wealthy wants to hire Joan Watson to follow me around, I sure won't say no. I'll teach her how to blog about her own TV show.

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    3. Unfortunately, do to the inability of some computers to recognize an apostrophe, it's Mr. O'Leary, Ms. Yukihira. I am curious as to what it is about my remarks that you find "salty". I can only assume you're being drolly sarcastic when you write that you find them "really really interesting". I'm not sure they rate one really, never mind two.

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    4. I'm sorry Mr. O'Leary. You do see that your name has symbols on it and I'm quiet confused as to what that means so I just assumed that your surname is only 'Leary'.

      I do not find your comments as 'salty', lovely dear. Are you aware of idiomatic expressions? I'm sure you do but not this particular one, I think. When I say you are 'the salt' it means you add flavor to this blog. You bring life to the comment sections of this blog. And I'm not being sarcastic. I really enjoy reading some...uhmm..."antagonism"; if you know what I mean. :)

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    5. No problem about the name.

      I knew you didn't mean "salt" as in "salty". I sometimes "pepper" my conversation with my "pour" sense of humor. I'm glad you think I "spice" up the comment section.

      "Tartar" for now.

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  2. Have you heard that Bollywood is planning a Sherlock Holmes movie? A dancing Sherlock! :D

    Seriously though, I don't believe in that philosophy of 'The more, The better'. I think it's just a materialistic view not really a dedicated fan's. And I'm not talking about the merchandise because that's just a bonus; a physical idol we put on our pedestal as a representation of what we look up to as a fan. It is in the nature of humans to be never satisfied. And feeding us with large quantity will just make us look for other things to be satisfied with.

    I believe that a fan should care more about the quality of a material not the quantity because that's what pulled us in; the beauty of each stories and the sheer excitement that we get through it. I believe quantity declines such quality. Nothing lasts forever; eventually ideas will run out.

    Is what I understood from your post right Mr. Keefauver?

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    1. Ooops, I could have sworn that Nadeshiko is a lady...

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    2. I believe Brad was quoting Ed McMahon imitators. (Was it Phil Hartman on SNL who imitated McMahan and turned "You are correct, sir!" into a catchphrase? However, McMahan did say it.)

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  3. As I always tell LOTR/Hobbit-fans, "you don't make something you say you love into a toiletbrush". I'm a LOTR/Hobbit-fan myself, but on the Tolkien side of it, and as such I do find all the merchandise arising out of the movies simply disgusting. A LOTR-themed amusement park? I hope the Tolkien estate sues the billions right out of you, MGM or whoever came up with that idea.

    I don't want to see the Reichenbach Fall reenacted with Lego-figures. I hate to see every Mary-Sue selling her embarrassing erotic dreams on amazon using ACD's creation to gain readers that wouldn't otherwise have bothered to pick up her drivel.

    It's about respect. But what do people who think nothing of using a Aslan-toothbrush know about that? Obviously nothing.

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  4. Brad, you lived through the Great Boom of the '70's. You've seen all this before. The Canon will survive. Even Doyle at his most indifferent created something so enduring that the mountains of dreck heaped upon it will not erode it. Even with the exponentially greater amount of dross that gets created in this digital age, Doyle will endure.

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