Today, I wanna talk about a new movie based on.

His voice is warm and husky

like dark melted chocolate fudge caramel or something.

Seriously?

The new movie Fifty Shades of Grey

is based on an insanely popular book franchise

that started life as a piece of erotic Twilight fan fiction.

The author envisioned hunky vampires

in naughty bondage scenarioses

and her work became so popular

that she went back and altered names

so she could sell her stories without getting sued.

I asked you what you thought of Fifty Shades

and none of you would admit to having read it.

Come on, fess up.

I won't judge.

Honest.

Fanfic is actually a vitally important part of geek culture

and it's really having a moment now.

Amazon's Kindle Worlds is officially publishing

licensed fanfic based on everything from Vampire Diaries

to Vonnegut.

An epic piece of One Direction fanfic

was just optioned for a book and a possible movie.

It's easy to dismiss fanfic as the work of obsessives

eager to imagine popular characters in sexy situations

but the key component

is fans passionately engaging with the work

and digging more deeply into fictional worlds

than their creators ever did.

One of the best sci-fi novels I read recently,

John Scalzi's Redshirts

was a tongue-in-cheek piece of Star Trek fanfic.

Heck, James Joyce's Ulysses was a Homer fanfic.

It shouldn't surprise us that these works

are making it to the big screen

because these days, Hollywood's all about

cranking out these loving homages

that play like their 100 million dollar pieces of fanfic.

J.J. Abrams is essentially making Star Trek fanfic

revisiting and reimagining classic scenarioses

from the original films.

Super 8 was Abram's Spielberg fanfic

mixing elements of E.T. and Close Encounters

and what could possibly be more fanfic

even dreaming up an even more badass lightsaber

with a crossguard?

Pacific Rim is like the ultimate Kaiju fanfic.

Come to think of it, so was the latest Godzilla.

Jason Segel made a Muppet fanfic.

Chris Rock made a Woody Allen fanfic

and Woody Allen's top grossing film ever

was a Mary Sue story about a cultured guy like Woody Allen

who gets to hang out with Hemingway

and dictate the plot of Exterminating Angel to Bunuel.

Franchise reboots like Fast Five

play like fanfic odes to earlier installments.

The Expendables is Stallone doing Stallone fanfic.

Wolf of Wall Street is like the ultimate Scorsese fanfic.

Now, you can grumble about the lack of originality

but see, I like most of these movies.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.

What do you think?

Is Hollywood spending too much time

paying tribute to past creations?

Let me know in the comments.

I also invite you to write Angry Nerd fanfic.

Not the dirty kind.

Write about how when I'm not a mild mannered web ranter,

I'm off fighting crime with my new ridiculing power.

I need a superhero name.

The Tongue Lasher.

No, that sounds like dirty fanfic.

I don't really wanna see or read Fifty Shades of Grey

but I'm glad it's creating more space for fanfic

in the public imagination.

It also may help me sell my completely original story

about the sensual interstellar smuggler, Hands So Slow

and his burning passion for his hirsute lady co-pilot,

Suebacca.

What fanfic storyline would you like to see

turned into a movie?

Let me know in the comments as long as it's PG rated.

I don't wanna hear about Kirk getting down with Spock.

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Hey, maybe I'll write a fanfic

about how these tiny versions of me are my trusty sidekicks.