The things this world will let you do now

Sometimes, you just have to stop and appreciate the now.

Sherlockiana as a whole has a tendency to look backwards. The old stories, the old club, the old TV show . . . those moments from the past that just seemed so darned good. But every now and then you get a reason to take stock of the now, step back, and just look at things in slack-jawed wonder.

This morning, for example. In the past week or so, I was just too busy to appreciate what was happening as it happened, so it took a minute. But here's the thing:

Even though I'm not a technological genius, a billionaire, a particular theatrical talent, or all that good at connecting people, when someone brought up the idea of adapting "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" a couple weeks ago, the world we live in at this moment allowed me to go, "Sure, that's something I can do."

Gathering Sherlockians from Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, almost-Missouri, and Illinois for one amateur production . . . audio, only, 'tis true, but technologically, I'd think one could actually do video with the right resources . . . in any case, all those people from all that distance came together in about a week's time to put on a show. Because we can do that now.

Not saying we've worked all the kinks out -- I had to use myself as my lead actor, not because I think I fit the role but because I was the one with the time most available to me. Had I been not under a pre-Christmas rush deadline, I probably could have spent some time and found somebody who could actually play the part well. And my audio editing skills are still not anywhere close to good, but once you get past all the quibbles, here's the thing:

We live in a world where you can do these things now. Amazing things.

We can do amateur adaptations of the Canon for our own amusement with our friends. And so much more than that. The biggest roadblock for most of us is the "I'm not good at this" fears. Or the glimers of "nobody wants to see this."  But there's two movies out there that I always come back to, about two overly enthusiastic fellows who got past those dreads, Ed Wood and Dolemite Is My Name, two tales of people driven to produce what some would consider schlock, but people who also found satisfaction in doing what they loved despite common wisdom or worries of not being good enough.

Sure, you might only wind up entertaining a handful of people, but isn't that better than doing nothing at all, if you enjoyed getting there?

So here's a link to the Watsonian Weekly "Blue Carbuncle Special" if you haven't encountered it yet. If you listen to it and go, "Well, I could have done that!" . . . well, I'm not going to argue that point at all, and I wish you would do that very thing. Next Christmas, let's have a dozen "Blue Carbuncle"s out there. And twice as many the year after that.

The world is, at this moment, giving us the potential for great riches. And it all starts with "Hey, I could probably do that!"