Hollywood, the fan.

So many people are writing Sherlock Holmes stories these days.

Between being able to publish on-line, self-publish, get in an anthology, specialty publishers, etc., it would be easy to wager than more Sherlock Holmes stories are being written now than at any time in history.

And there's even a new big-budget Sherlock Holmes movie in the works . . .

Except, you know Hollywood, they never have any original ideas.

We hear that complaint all the time. Hollywood doesn't do anything original any more, all it does is remakes, reboots, and installments in known brands.

And Sherlock Holmes, of course, can be called a brand, if you're of that sort of mind.

But looking at all of the people writing Sherlock Holmes stories just because they can, if one imagines that more of us had $250 million dollar movie budgets, what would we be making movies about?

Sherlock Holmes.

As much as we complain about the lack of original ideas in our art forms, most of the humanity doesn't really seem to want original entertainments. We want to go back to that thing we're a fan of.

And who is a bigger fan, in the collective whole, than Hollywood?

So this morning, for a little bit, I'm giving Hollywood a break.

(Except for any part that might be connected to CBS television. One has to have standards. Smirk.)

(Words, the original emoticons.)