NRKANGEL

I read a post from another 'coat who hails from Burlington, VT (Hiya Liz! Thanks for the nice comment! :kiss:) and it occurred to me that the world is really a small place. I'm a transplanted Canadian living and working in California who travels a lot for work. At least once or twice a year, I make my way to Burlington and nearby Montreal, Canada in order to visit IBM (one of my company's clients). It was on one of those trips that I have one of my favorite travel stories. It was winter and I was headed down from Montreal in a rental car. Being from Canada, I've driven in snowy conditions before so I wasn't particularly concerned. Besides the snowflakes were the big, fluffy type that lazily plopped themselves down on my windshield and this had lulled me into a false sense of security. At the time, I only had the hotel on my mind and just wanted to grab a hot shower and check e-mail before heading to dinner. By the way, if you're ever in the Burlington area and have the chance, visit the Culinary Academy that's housed in the same location that used to be the old Governor’s mansion. It’s more than worth the effort if you want to spoil yourself (or a date) with a little elegant dining. So there I am, enjoying a casual (albeit slow – like 30-45mph slow) drive and not in any particular hurry, when it suddenly occurs to me that I hadn't seen any traffic for some time. There was no one in front or behind me that I could see and even the highway going in the opposite direction seemed void of traffic. Feeling a little creepified, I looked around a little more closely to see if I hadn't somehow maybe entered the Twilight Zone. The road ahead had been plowed, but not in the last hour so I could barely see the blacktop. The most recent tire tracks were quickly becoming a vague winter memory as only slight indentations remained and were being patiently wiped out by the thick snow. I resisted an urge to stop simply because I wanted to get to my destination, but I was fascinated at how the world around me suddenly became a vast, white wasteland. Trees with naked limbs and branches clawed at the grey skies while the hills next to the highway loomed above like titans passing judgement. Naturally my thoughts slid uncomfortably close to "what the heck do I do if I drive off the stupid road?" Just about that time, the car starts to pull to the side by itself (doesn't that just about figure?) and I realize that, slow as I’m going, I’m starting to slide. I take my foot off the gas, turn into the slide but it becomes pretty obvious that nothing I do will help. Turning the wheel does nothing, tapping the breaks does nothing. I would have had more success flapping my arms or praying to the Cold Miser for all the good that my defensive driving was doing. The only good news is that I was going so slowly that when I actually started to spin out, I could have finished the New York Times crossword puzzle (in pencil – I’m a coward) before I’d made one full rotation. During the ridiculously slow ballet, I stayed in the car only because I knew the damned thing would probably run me over if I got out. (And how the heck would you explain that to anyone coming along after? [i]"What? You got hit by your own car in the middle of the highway? Where are you FROM anyway?"[/i] :stupid: So I stayed inside, totally at the mercy of nature, physics and the fickle hand of fate. Finally, two full turns later, the car stops facing the wrong way and about two hand-spans from the center guardrail. I get out and see the big loopy signature my car made in the fresh snow and bite back relief masquerading as nearly semi-hysterical laughter that's trying to break free. Far in the distance, I see headlights of approaching traffic. Not wanting to be an obstacle (and certainly not wanting anyone to see me in this situation) I climbed in and s-l-o-w-l-y turned the car around and inched down the road again. Everytime I think about this incident, I get this picture of me in a car on a snowy highway doing big, slow spins while the music

POLGARA

Today I realised how fast time moves, 6 months ago I was buying my Firefly DVD set, and I still think it was yesterday, 5 months ago, I was watching "Objects in Space" thinking "Damn why did Firefly get cancelled" and now its been almost one month since Serenity started filming, I just cant believe that in less than one year I will be seating at the nearest theatre with my popcorn and diet soda watching what I have longed for since my favorite TV show got cancelled, offcourse all my fellow Browncoats will be joining me in that last part, so...I am not alone after all. SERENITY IS FINALLY HERE

EBONEZER

Hi guys! I'm at my new best freinds house. She's my new best friend because she has DSL and she's willing to share! Unfortuantly she lives about an hour away from me...and i have no car. In any case, I have to tell about the most exciting day of my life! Sense the non-excistant 'nun incidenet' that is. I hope your all comfortable. Soooo...Stephanie and I were talking this other girl, Katie, and her horse home. And we get the horse out of the trailer and in his little stall and we got out of the truck because Katies grandma, Maggie, was going to feed us and i was HUNGRY. But instead of coming out of the house with food, Maggie comes running out screaming "Fire! Fire!" and shes pointing over at the mountain and sure enough there is a small fire and a lot of smoke. Lighting had stuck there and started one. You have to understand that we are kind of out in the boonies. There is a LOT of sagebrush that is really think and really dry, sense we are 5 years into a drought. Fire touches the sagebush and FOOM the sage brush becomes ash and smoke. So anyhoo, we run around grabbing shovels and jump into the truck and drive up the road to try and get to the fire before it gets REALLY out of hand. We get as close as we possibly can on the road, then jumped out, grabbed our shovels and started running through the sagebrush towards the ever growing fire. Running through the sage brush may sound simple enough, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. We're at altudude and the sage is thick. I was the last one in our group, beaten by the 11 year old and her 50 year old grandmother. This is why I quit the track team. In anycase, I DO get to the fire and then I have to stand there for a second to try and figure out what to do. Nobody else seems to know though so i just start throwing dirt onto the fire. Some lady in a pink shirt shows up and starts yelling about how we have to make a perimiter. This sounds good, but the fire is moving FAST and we can't get far enough ahead of it to make a block thing and not get burned. Somehow i find myself in front of the fire, madly throwing dirt on the thing and it looks like we might actually have it when the wind changes and the sage right in front of me practicly explodes. I decide that this might be a good time to move. I follow Maggie down to the truck and Stephanie moves the truck out of the way. At this time, two firetrucks FINALLY arive, 20 minutes after the call was made. I recognise both guys, a father and son team. These two make up the entire Rancho Haven Voulunteer Fire Department. They do have water though. Somebody knocks on the door of the closest house to find that nobody is home. This person does have four horses and four dogs, though, and to top it off, one of the horses is blind. We grab the dogs and shove them in some random guys truck, and he takes them to my house and puts them in the kennels. We grab the horses and lead them to Maggies house, where they are left to run maddly around the round pen. Even the blind one. I think the blind one did less running and more standing still then the others. That taken care of we run back up the road, and knock on the door of another neighbors house. The door is answered by two small boys, the oldest is three. We ask them if their parents are around, and they answer, "No. I guess not." After a lot of searching and tears from the younger one, we find the mom in the back. The woman has some fish and some chicken. We decide that her animals arn't worth saving. While all this is going on, more fire trucks show up, and even a little plane, which drops that red stuff on the fire. We decide that there isn't really anything else we can do, so we go back to Maggies, and she finaly feeds us, although nobodys really into eating. Brian, Maggies husband, drives up on the quad, and tells us that the house we grabbed the horses and dogs from came close to buring down. The firefighter people had to knock her fence down to get into her yard, because the fire was in her y

MAI

Ok, so I was having this not too fabulous day. So of course I turn to my good ol' Firefly dvds to get away from "it" (some who its and some work its) for awhile. Usually I just grab the first one I lay my hands on and pop it in. Today I thought I would watch my favorite episode, HOG. (hehe just realized what the acronym spells). Well, wouldn't you know it.... today would be the day that an entire construction crew decided to descend on the parking lot in front of my apartment.... So, there i am watching Firefly at full blast and realizing that the voices (the ones on the show --- not the ones in my head) in full ear drum splittin' mode make the entire firefly watchin' experience that much better! SO, my suggestion everyone run home RIGHT NOW and watch at least one episode at the highest volume your speakers can handle. Then you too will know the joy.....

ASTRIANA

You never know the things you'll learn from one day to the next... Today, I learned about Canada Day, which happens to be today. :wink: (I think I'm being constantly amazed at how many other "independence"-type holidays are out there that we Americans don't even know about...) Check this out:

YOSAFFBRIG

"I like a hard world, but I like a hard world that molds good people and people with a sense of humor about the world they're in." - Joss Whedon That kinda says it all for me. Joss makes the world a shinier place.

FLETCHER

There are many ways to wake up. One of the worst ways is to wake up to gunfire and screams of murder and carnage. That was exactly how I woke up this morning. So there I was, naked as a jaybird, still hung over from the night before, sweaty shotgun gripped too tight, staring out in disbelief over my bountiful crop of Alliance Decon Foam to see regiment after regiment of Browncoats! And the slaughter… rifle fire everywhere, and two Allliance skiffs making low passes, about 100 feet off the ground, explosions and bodies flying in all directions. Or so I thought. “Hey, Browncoat, what’s going on?” I yelled. To my horror, the passing Browncoat, obscured by her hat, was a young woman about 22, red curly hair and freckled face. She stared up at me standing on my porch, buck naked as a newborn, and I swear to God, that Browncoat smiled. “We’re hardcores!” She called up. “This is a re-enactment of the Battle of Bil. I’m with Reynolds Regiment.” After a moment she added. “We were told that most of these farms had been abandoned.” I lowered my shotgun and swore. As she walked off, she called back. “Don’t worry about this Alliance Menace, sir! We’ll push em back. Eat em all and throw away the core!” God, I hadn’t heard that bullsh*t in years. I don’t know what made me do it, but I called the young woman back. I told her about the caves, the former Browncoat stronghold and cigar butts that I had found. Smiling again, she nodded and was gone. And I was alone again. Naked. In a field. With a bunch of spoiled kids, pretending to be something higher and mightier than they were. An explosion sent Decon Foam flying in all directions and I slowly retreated back into the house.

QUICKSAND

I want to go on the record as saying I really, REALLY didn't like the original "Spider-Man" of a few years ago. Too much CGI, not enough realism in the CGI it DID use (see also: the first [i]Harry Potter[/i]), a lame, over-acting villain who built and destroyed things for no reason, and a pointless Macy Gray cameo that made me think I was watching an overfunded B-movie (which, I'm still convinced, I was). Plus, the story wasn't very good, feeling contrived and convenient, and the changes made from the original comic (where they never caught the guy who killed Uncle Ben) were needless and really, really insulting to my intelligence. I haven't seen that movie since its opening weekend. Yuck. But this blog isn't about that. This blog is about how I talked myself in (well, me and my friends talked me in)to seeing [i]Spider-Man 2: The Electric Boogaloo[/i]. Doc Ock-- great villain. Screenwriter... um, hey, the screenwriter has two Oscars for adapted screenplays. What the hell...? Oh, that, and the [i]X-Men 2[/i] factor. I didn't HATE X1, but I didn't love it, either. Once all that character development, set-up was out of the way, [i]X2[/i] ROCKED the HOUSE (even without the Joss Whedon re-write), so I thought, hey, [i]Spider-Man 2: Cruise Control[/i] will pull off the same feat. Not only did it pull off the same feat, it completely replaced [i]X2[/i] in my head, the way you forget an old girlfriend when The One walks into your life. It's good. It's DAMN good. It's way better than it ought to be. Sam Raimi is getting better... and so is his film crew. New screenwriter. New cinematographer. He's always been very good at directing scenes, but I remember thinking after [i]For the Love of the Game[/i], he didn't know how to transition between them. Well, he's figured it out. Great, limited use of CGI, and great, GREAT use of ... silence. Sure, the volume gets turned down a bit during the character scenes (of which there are many), but to take the volume all the way down to zero-- especially during an action sequence, just in the right moments-- is unheard of. It's jarring. And it works. Also, the soundtrack doesn't suck. Not because I looked at the CD in the store (I haven't), but it's not really in the movie... there are a few incidental songs, but mostly it's just the score, and nice use of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head," where I'm sure the studio was screaming, SCREAMING to please, please use Dashboard Confessional or Justin Timberlake or some other crap. Eight thumbs up. I've been thinking about it for 3 days, and I'll need to go back, if only for the Bruce Campbell cameo. See it, SEE IT. Not a whole lot more movies with this level of respect for their audience coming out before..... April 22, 2005?

BLACKDAHLIA

Help me solve my mystery.

JELLO

Sweet jumpin' Jesus, September 30th just will not get here quick enough.

TOMBR

I have just finished the whole series, watching it in my flat in central London. If there has been a better, more engaging and more human sf series, then I have not seen it. First class. Bring on the movie! I have been trying to encourage other Brits to check the series out. So far, no one has dispute my opinion!

THEGREYJEDI

I am a madman. I know this fact, and I do not deny it. Perhaps in knowing that I am mad, I am not so mad, but the madness remains all the same. I am mad because I am haunted. It seems that several years ago, I utterly botched a saving throw versus charm, and now this girl what betrayed me, abused me, broke me, will not leave my mind. Oh, sure, during the day, I can force her to the still corners of my mind and heart through the same force of will that keeps the Darkness from taking me and destroying all the is around me. It is a thing I do as naturally as breathing. But for that one time. So I can through my day, effectively normal, excepting a few quiet moments when thoughts of her seep to the surface, like blood in the water, permeating my mind in red. I can push it back, and move on. But at night. At night, when I try to sleep, I can no longer focus my will and holding the madness back. At night, in my sleep, I am weak. Dreams of her haunt me, torment me. I cannot escape them. I can control what I do in dreams, but not the dreams themselves. I know I am dreaming, but that does not change the dream. It doesn't change the whispers of desire in the moments just before sleeping and just after dreaming. In those moment of half-waking, half-sleeping, I am weak. And she preys upon that weakness. I am a fool struck by an enchantment and a curse. I do not know how to free myself from the spell. I am a madman, and I know that I am a madman. I know the madness, but I cannot defeat it.

FEMALEJAYNE

How do you chat without enter a chat room? They make me nervous because my spelling isn't great but hay I'm an art major! This is just the first of many ramblings from me to myself and I. I like to call us "we"

ZIL

the lady that lives next to my mum found some kittens... aproximately 3 weeks old. a week later my boyfriend and I adopt one of them... the little puff is so fierce. the little love is so ready to pounce. @ 4 weeks old he occasionaly takes on my large dog! so when it came time to name our little charge I suggested Jayne. *grin* and wen we're looking for him when he hides we sing the song...

ZIL

there is something wrong here. well more than one thing honestly. lots of things. this world is going to pot. my family makes me feel like I should be ashamed of some of my health issues because the social stigma attatched to the title is more than a little off from the reality of the illness. so because YOU don't understand something I have to hide it away and be ashamed? I'm sick of letting peoples ignorances rule my behaviors, rule my opinion of even myself. if the change has to start with me so be it. so I've begun to be more forward and open with my illnesses, be ready with a correction or some helpful information to arm them with a more enlightened view. yes, I'm sick, but thats not all I am... Zilpha Chouinard type1brittle diabetic march 2002, depression, anemia, schitzophrenic, anxiety dissorder, cronic pain, migraines, PTSD, non cancerous bone growth on the inside of my skull [much of the reason for my cronic pain] I'm already loosing my vision, from the diabetes... for a visual artist... thats hell. yeah I am that and more and I'm working on it. rock on.

REMI

For being the "asshole" of the group, Jayne is just too damn lovable as the same time. You really feel for him when he tries to give up his favorite Gun to Mal... I felt an "awww" come on at that moment. Adam Ballwin has always been a great actor, he has a way of helping an audience find love for the worst of characters...still lvoe him in "Full Metal Jacket"

REMI

Happy fourth to all out there! Have a fun time!

ZIL

I read your rantings over suposed "evil" ex-girlfriends... yes girls can be evil. I've dated a couple and, dude, girls can be harsh... thats kinda why I'm back to men. but I'm finding... that the ratio of evil men to evil women is 50/50. you win some. you loose most. life blows and then you die. if you believe in an after-life it makes the process much easier. the end. my fiance... who I had dated for 4 years... left me the day after valentines day to date the only friend I had made when I moved to live with him. I had just be diagnosed with a slew of health stuff and he said my depression was too much for him. I wondered how he thought it was for me. a piece of cake surely. anyhoo. the point is, you're not alone in your pain. just wanted you to know.

ZIL

I was suposed to have a show this month. art show. my art. my show. I pulled out today. I realized I only have half as many pieces as I wanted to show and the ones I do have I don't really feel like they are ready to show. like with maybe a little tweeking they would be all set but I don't have the time for tweekage. oh how much would I give to have time for tweekage! but I work. 40-50 hours a week. + the toll the illnesses take on me = no time for self. I mean from an early age I've known that no one likes their job. its your patriotic duty to be miserable. roll in it! but I can't do it anymore. should I really hate getting up after an almost sleepless night to go to work? so much so that I pray every night that I wont wake up? oh eternal rest. boo yeah. I hate breathing. I hate the feel of my own heart beeting. I hate the sun. I hate happy people. I hate eating and testing my blood and shooting up. I hate pills and drowziness. I hate side-effects and forgetfulness. I hate highs and lows and manics and depressive dips. I hate therapy. I hate the fakeness of people. I dunno.

THEGREYJEDI

Dude. I inspired somebody? What? Who noticed me?! Where?! I'm supposed to not be noticed! My none-noticability is lost! NooooOOOooOOooOOOOooo! That's not true! That's impossible! However, in retrospect, I have searched my feelings and I know it to be true. :knife:

ZIL

I am that person. the one who hangs at the fringes of the party not really joining but not being a total recluse. just kind of watching people talk to eachother... every once in a while I get singeled out by someone. some cluless extrovert who thinks I want o be included. I am an observer. I am highly sensitive. I am easily effected. thus the fringe is where I'm comfortable... one of the bigest things extroverts do is misunderstand the introvert. rantrant

ZIL

I have lots of art to share but none of it is firefly themed... I might give a link.

THEGREYJEDI

Never give up! Never surrender!

ADIWANROC

Today I received a spam email from a "Yolanda", and you can guess who I thought of...

HAVENJAYNE

I really wish I had discovered the series while it was still on the air. But, alas, I saved myself the grief of jinxing another favorite TV show. :wink: Favorite character: Mal! So much darkness and pain and, yet, he still tries to do right by his crew and by others Least favorite character: Saffron :vomit:

ZIL

gah. I have no life. I work over 40 hours, my days off are spent at the hospital or trying to get moved into the new apt. I mean I don't want to be going to party after party, getting drunk and having meaningless sex with random people, but when my friends talk about it I'm like, well, dude, am I missing something? then I realize that I'm no good @ being the life of the party, I can't even handle being the day planner of the party. so I must be satisfied with thinking deep brooding thoughts and painting and snapping pics... oh and I like growing flowers and herbs, and I make my own tea... off point. I have no point.

SHINYVERA

new...new...newbie=me it's my first time loggin on, and I don't know what to do. my best friend got me into firefly, and she has been saying I should go on this website, but since I know she's not online (and is busy so I can't call her), I am lost as where to start. Plus, I'm all sickie-like and am thinking in very fuzzy terms... I think I'm gonna take some Nyquil, and go to sleep, and come back when I am physically well and thinking a little better.... yeah, sounds like a plan.... guess that's it for now...

STICKS

sticks here, just thought id self promote my birthday, yep i turn the grand old age of 25 on friday ( 9th july ).:biggrin:

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Got my Blue Sun T-shirt today, and it's gorram shiny! So now I've got the blue-sun t-shirt, brown-coat, blue-sun logo on my phone, and I've worked chinese into my everyday conversations... What's next?

HAVENJAYNE

Hee hee... alliteration rules. Especially if you can spell it. Did I spell it right? Ah well, anyways, I'm working on my first Firefly fanfic and, hopefully, I'll have the first chapter/scene for you guys before I take off for the mountains this weekend. I hope you guys will like it and take it easy on me if you don't. :biggrin:

BLUESUNBURN

Anyone know where I can find an image of the Alliance flag? I heard mentioned that it's somewhere in the first episode, but damned if I can't find it.

OOG

Been trying to catch our beloved Firefly cast in movies and t.v. shows as best I can. Rented "Cheats" for Jewel (Kaylee). Not too bad. She makes a small showing, but does well. Rented "The Right Temptation" for Adam Baldwin. Also plays a small role as well. Point of interest (and I posted it as a message on the board, but it caught no one else's interest), at least to me - at the start of the movie, they always run the main and secondary character credits. Two names before Adam's, there was an actor whose last name is Jayne. But, it may just be "simple entertainment for simple minds". Been seeing Alan on t.v. a lot, since they've been running "A Knights Tale" like crazy. That man can emote like no one else! Then, I was moving some episodes of "24" off our DVR (digital video recorder - kinda like Tivo) onto a DVD disk. These were the last five epsiodes of Season Two. Surprise sighting (I forgot she'd been in it, it's been so long) - Gina Torres as Julia! [b]Not[/b] so shiny, her ultimate [b]demise[/b]. But that just frees her up for Serenity! ;-) I don't think I can bring myself to see if Netflix has Cleopatra 2525, though.

JAVIDRHO

---

RANGER

After a long Hiatus, I am getting back to the Firefly Traveller project... Ok, been ruminatin for a long while about how to mesh Traveller CG with the Firefly ‘verse and here’s what I came up with. I take the original prior service careers and drop a couple and add a couple new ones. I also came up with a couple of special rules that are setting specific. First, the setting specific stuff. The big one is the unification war. It starts 12 years before the first episode of Firefly. That works out to be 3 Treveller 4 year terms. Now, the war lasts 6 years, but we can fudge it so that you have a 1 year build up before it starts and a one year demobilization after the battle of Serenity Valley. That leaves you with one term after the war to fill up. So at the beginning of each term before doing anything else roll one die for the war. On a 5+ the unification war starts. Add +1 for each successive term (this should give you a max of 4 terms before the war begins). If you want players to have a chance to get more than 7 terms total, then don’t lower the war roll next time if the player rolls a 1. This gives you the chance to get a character as old as Book. If you want the chance of really young characters, then you can start the war half way through if the player rolls a 6 before the first term. Once the war begins players can choose to join up or sit it out. Enlistment is automatic for the Army if a player chooses to join up and no player in a service needs to roll for retention at the end of the term. All other Enlistment Rolls are unchanged. If a player joins up they have to choose Browncoat or Alliance. Players already in the service have to make the same choice. If you are using Classic Traveller, then Browncoats rolls for promotion get a +2 during the war and one additional skill for each term they serve in the war. If using an MT/modified CT system then Broancoats get a promotion and special duty/challenge roll bonus of +2 (these bonuses for Browncoats are intended to counter balance the loss of benefits when mustering out at the end of the war). In all systems Survival rolls get a -2. Players who roll exactly their survival number are captured and spend the rest of the war as a POW (basically a wasted term with no skill rolls). Characters already in service must choose a side. Service can continue on either side in any branch except Marines, who can only serve with the Alliance. Marines who wish to become Browncoats must switch over to the Army. At the end of the second term of the Unification War peace is re-established. Browncoats are automatically discharged. Alliance characters must roll for retention as normal. When mustering out, Browncoats loose all cash payouts but keep any weapons or other benefits they achieved (if you want to be really rough, you could knock a couple of points off of Soc as well to give that Browncoat stigma). Characters must now choose a new profession for an additional term before adventuring begins. Players who choose to sit out the war just continue the CG process for three more terms. This should put the players starting adventuring just about the time Mal buys Serenity, about a year before the first episode of Firefly. The second question is how to deal with prodigies. Simon clearly had three terms of service (one term of college, one term of med school, and one term as a doctor) before the show begins, but he’s in his mid 20s, so, he must have started before he turned 18. Simple rule here, anyone with an Intel of A(10) or higher rolls two dice at the beginning of their first term. If they roll natural doubles, they can start the CG system at 14 and go straight to college. For each level over A(10), they can re-roll one of the two dice again. Another note. I’m replacing the Barbarian career with a Settler career that can also start CG at 14 instead of 18 (they grow up fast on the frontier). So, what does this give us as a framework for the crew of Serenity as Traveller characters. Mal UPP 88B966 5 terms. 2 peace

OOG

They're airing Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars on Oct 17th & 18th. A Sunday and Monday. :pissed: Why does SciFi hate Farscape?

OOG

I finally had a Firefly dream!!!!!!! [b]But[/b], I remember nothing about it. *sigh* I'll keep trying. Watch more eps, listen to more commentaries. I love the Serenity, War Stories and The Message commentaries. Too stupid to understand Objects in Space. Both the commentary and the ep.

SYRENREYNOLDS

yup, so I'm here, after being a lurker for a week or two I've decided that I'd better terrorise the site as a registered user, rather than just a guest. So that's it really, I've become a slightly more official Browncoat ;)

ZIL

so yeah, been kind of more nervous than usual lately because I went in for an eye exam [haven't had one in 4 years... yeah I know uncontrolled diabetics should go every year, but I didn't have any health insurance... ] so the doc is like, "um... have you been told that your left eye is slightly off before?" what? off how? like off I need glasses? because I already know I do, or off like you have a crazy lazy eye thing? turns out my eye was swollen. and so he couldn't figure out what my perscription should be because that swollen eye wouldn't focuss at all. so he made an appointment for me for a week later... could be perminent damage due to out of controll BG, could be glacoma, could be catarats... joy of joys. so I sat around being worried all week. its kind of a trend for me. anyhoo. went back, had more tests taken, my sight was a bit better [which can happen if my blood sugar happens to be good that day] but I do have a bit of perminent damage to my left eye due to brittle type one diabetes... I've decided not to think about the possibility of going blind before I'm forty. its easier that way.

ZIL

so while I was worrying about the whole eye thing I started having chest pains. worderful. heart attack at age 25? great. woke up my SO and was like, "hospital.now.chest.pain." so he jumped out of bed. checked on the kids [my dog, haylee and his kitten, Jayne]. and then we were off. when I got to the ER I thought I was going to die, this was pain like I had never felt before. they hook me up to a bunch of machines, test my Blood Sugar [258] and go consult about my condition. turns out I have an ulcer. two actually. they were suprised that I hadn't had pain before that night. after I got done hurking up some very red sputum I told them that I have a high pain threshold. I break bones without knowing it. walk around with ear aches so bad that I've lost some of my hearing. shoot up without pain. tatoo without pain. eyebrow ring without pain. occasionaly cut without much pain. anyway. more diet constrictions. basicly salad with fat free dressing [not vinagarett] and lean red meat or fish. no coffee, cafine, fat, acidy foods [citris], no black tea, spegetti sauce, pizza, spicey food... and then add on my diabetic restrictions... I need to learn that I can't really enjoy food anymore.

REMI

Being invovled in the entertainment field and being a sci-fi lover, it never occurred to me to write a sci-fi related screenplay. Well I did it last week and it seems there is interest out there. I am excited that people still are in love with stylish, provoking films that rely on character rather that special effects to carry a story.

ELVIS

A few weeks ago I put together and aired a little splice-o-rama sound pic of Jayne for my radio station, KFJC (89.7fm in the San Fran Bay area,

QUICKSAND

[b]First, the Pros:[/b] --Alan Tudyk. Obviously. --The film was directed by Aussie Alex Proyas, who also directed "The Crow," and "Dark City," in addition to lots of music videos and smaller art hits ("Garage Days"). --Isaac Asmiov. Smart Guy. --Actors Chi McBride ("Gone in 60 Seconds") and James Cromwell (lots of stuff) are always fun to watch. [b]This was the best I could do. Seriously. I LOVE Alex Proyas. But, here are the cons:[/b] --Will Smith. Sure, he's a charming, charismatic actor, but he hasn't been in a good FILM since [i]Men in Black[/i]... in 1997. He hasn't ACTED since [i]Ali[/i] in 2001. Not that this movie will require him to act. It's just, being charismatic will only get you so far. Sooner or later, you have to ACT. --Special Effects. They look cool and all, but can we all agree, TOO many effects are an indicator that the writers were short on story? See also, [i]The Phantom Menace[/i]. --Akiva Goldsman. I don't care if he won an Oscar for [i]A Beautiful Mind[/i]. This does not go far at all in making up for [i]Batman and Robin[/i], [i]A Time to Kill[/i], [i]Practical Magic[/i], and [i]Lost in Space[/i]. This guy SUCKS. He can't write, he can only steal, and badly. Huge chunks of [i]A Beautiful Mind[/i] were stolen (and not very well) from the films [i]Fight Club[/i] and [i]The Sixth Sense[/i]. Huge chunks of [i]Batman and Robin[/i] were stolen from "Batman the TV Show." I mean, REALLY. --Isaac Asimov? The only thing this movie has in common with the book... is the title. Oh, and the character of Susan Calvin. [b]Well, if you think I'm bein' stupid, please let me know. But with all the above, I really think the scales are tipped in favor of "Suck." Anyone else care to weigh in?[/b]

CHILLI

Hi. I'm Chilli (Ian) Firefly is a great show. Out Of Gas is my favourite episode. That is all.

DACE

"captains log blah blah de blah" always wanted to say that :biggrin: umm... yes. *tumbleweed passes* uhh ... end of log? "remember kids, smoking ciggarettes isn't cool, but smokin' weed is :smokin:"

HAVENJAYNE

Sorry I didn't get to post the beginning of my first fanfic as promised but it is ready now. You can read it here ~~~~>

RAWDEAL

Damn I hate computer viruses. I have been busy trying to get my laptop back in action (my main PC) after more than 26h of searching for solutions on the net on my other PC (with a little more juice) I am back to my normal self (but w/o any fingernails ).

LIZ

some people may know this already, but i called background players to try to get into the bdm for the shoot for today. living in Vt, i was ready to fly out for a week stay at a skanky hostel, and fly back. Financially it is a good thing that i'm not in it... but it really would have been worth every penny to go to LA for a week and meet oure BDHs and get on film. What ticks me off is that i didn't get a callback. i called and talked to someone and gave my number and a link to my headshots and then... NOTHING. i called and left a message for Sasha a week and a day later (July 2nd) and still didn't hear back. :disappointed: i just wish i had known before the day of the shoot.

OOG

"[i]Great. Another exciting adventure in sitting[/i]" (Simon, Trash). BTW that's my new sig when I post :wink: Suits my life to a "T" right now. Had another Firefly dream a few nights ago. I know CTP and Wash were in it. Seems "we" (there were others there as well) were standing around in a circle. That's about it. I'm doing rather well, actually. Considering I've only had the DVDs 7 months, and only watched them a lot just within the last few. I was reading Jewel's "official" web site (

THATWEIRDGIRL

i was checking the latest icons on firefly journal and i found this

QUICKSAND

Just an odd week. First Alan Tudyk replies to my last blog, and then ... well, that will make anyone's week weird enough. In one of my replies though, I wrote about how the Director is really the person who makes (or breaks) the film... SO many people make a film come together, from the writer to the producer to the costumer, make-up, lighting, sound, catering guys/girls/men/women. But as a Huge Film Geek (HFG?), I stick by my guns that the Director is who makes the film great. Or bad. Or average. Most of us know Steven Spielberg or James Cameron or Quentin Tarantino........ but I also wanted to add: --Alex Proyas ("The Crow," "Dark City") --Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean) --The Coen Brothers (I can't endorse anything after The Man Who Wasn't There) --Spike Jonze (hell yeah) --Stanley Kubrick ("Open the pod bay doors, Hal") --Terry Gilliam ("Jesus, God!") --The Wachowski Brothers (see 'Bound.' now.) I'm sure there are more, and as I put in my bio, I'm a big fan of great writing too, in the film medium as well as in theatre and literature. I left out TV directors, too... I LOVE Joss Whedon's writing, and his direction as well, and I can't WAIT to see how he handles the Wider Screen... many TV directors have tried and failed, but I have ultimate faith in Joss.... and the clock keeps on ticking, to that so-so-sweet day in April...... (Qs)

ASTRIANA

Found on the floor near the desk of one "Astriana," who hasn't been seen in weeks: [i]Now Hiring: Personal Assistant whose sole function will be to make lists of everything that needs done on a daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual, and annual basis for: Day Job (multiple projects), Real Estate Business (multiple properties, tenants, buyers, sellers, and other real estate professionals), Home Care, Pet Care (multiple pets), Personal Projects, and Transportation Assistance. Additional duties include scheduling, time management, dealing with difficult people (includes managers, pets, and other random dolts), generally being on call to do anything and everything I don't want to do, and doing it to my specifications. The ideal candidate will possess a positive attitude and initiative. Must be detail-oriented and yet able to strategize, plan, and organize with overall objectives in mind. Must also be a gargantuan glutton for punishment. Only serious nutjobs need apply.[/i] (I need a vacation!!!!)

OOG

We can't hear the doorbell from inside our bedroom and was expecting someone early, so I got up and crashed on the couch - had myself a FF dream! Where ever we were, it wasn't Serenity. All the rooms were bright and made from "house" materials. Some rooms you could see through "windows" in the walls to other rooms. To start off, I was a person physically there. I can remember glancing through one of the "windows" and seeing Inara. Wearing cat ears (like from a costume) LOL. I was trying to rally the crew to put together a western skit or show of some kind. Jayne was all for it. Mal was starting to get on board with it. But then some woman pulled me aside and said that Inara couldn't do it. She had this bag with "marbles" in it. They were something that came off of her, after being intimate. "Even with herself" the person told me. She had to have some private time to deal with whatever this was, to keep the "marbles" from multiplying. I became a "third person" at this point. This other person, Inara and another female, bunked together in the same bed. Inara had her "marble bag". She was remembering about a lesbian encounter. Apparently whoever this other gal was, she was interested in. They went to sleep, but Inara woke her up later, kissing her. The gal turned her down. Inara dumped a couple marbles into the bag, and back to sleep. Her marbles began multiplying like crazy, until by morning, the whole room was filled with them, several inches thick. The crew came in and helped clean, with Jayne making comments of course. That's when the doorbell rang and I woke up.

FLETCHER

Her name was Drew. I was sitting on my porch, looking out over my land, watching the sun melt into twilight. As I plucked away at my grandfather’s guqin, I was thinking about nothing much at all . Maybe I was dwelling on my misfortune, that sounds about right, but I don’t remember. The sky was an amber color, not a dirty brown, but a harvest hue. My eyes were unfocused and dry. The twang of the instrument was calling out to nobody in particular. Drew. And then she appeared. I didn’t recognize her, at first, without her browncoat and floppy hat. But then I focused on the freckles and the red hair and my mind scrambled back to a week earlier and the re-enactment of the Battle of Bil by those silly browncoat want-to-be’s. What did they call themselves? “Hardcores,” she said with a familiar grin. Right. Hardcores. But aside from a dream, I hadn’t thought about her at all. But there she was, on my porch, talking about coming out to the house next week and making me supper. Apparently, she found all sorts of interesting things in those ol’ caves and she wanted to discuss our future business. “What business?” Next week, she told me. It’s a date. And with a knowing nod and that infuriating grin, she was walking off my porch and back into the distance. Thinking back on it now, she didn’t really give me a chance to say no. Didn’t give me much time to say anything. I stared out across my fields for some time even after she was out of sight. My mind now racing with thoughts. Her name was Drew. And next week, we have a date. Whatever that means.

THEGREYJEDI

Be afraid mortals, for I have a dangerous thing. Capital. Funding for my mad empire. Seriously. I just secured the capital I need to start my computer business. Didn't need all that much, but I got it. Simple prospect too. Performace machines at budget prices, and budget machines for dirt cheap. Completely tailored to each person's needs and wants, only the software you want, none that you don't. Soon, the world shall be using MY computers, and JedSoft will rule the world!!!

STLOUISPHILE

Hello, So this is my first blog. I feel all shiny trying to come up with something interesting to say. OK - have you checked out the thread with the Graphics from Serenity? Pretty cool stuff. It's been commented that this has a spoiler on it but I don't think it's that big of a spoiler (if any). Wish I lived in California I would have loved to see the actors from the movie "live and in person." Living in the midwest sucks sometimes, especially during our brand new gorram heatwave. I'm off work in two minutes! Yah!! Going to see a sneak of De-Lovely this evening. Kevin Kline is a fellow Missourian I believe he grew up in Maplewood. stlouisphile

HASLINGER

I hate to sound like a real jerk, but I am so tired of "film." I am tired of the mentality that is often associated with its presence. I enjoy this business but I absolutely hate the ego. I know it exists in any workplace, including shrimping or whatever other random job I've had, but GOOD God I am just tired of having to live my life balancing others egos. I wonder if this is how it feels as a mainstream director. Are larger sets filled with more or less ego? Do people still complain about the living conditions, per diem, and workload, or do the 5 day weeks and 10-12 hour days (indies seem to work 16-20) and substantially better pay help to alleviate the whining. Does crafty complain about everything, or do you even see crafty? Do AD's yell? Ramble on.... Anything to get her out of my head. I already have a broken heart and I am not even in love. I'm just waiting. Biding in my time. I am gonna get hurt.

ZIL

new glasses! a little exciting but mostly not. I lead a boring life. I have vacation coming up in a few weeks... I was going to be going to the falcon ridge folk festival like I do every year BUT... I'm too sick this year and cash is very low. *shrug* but I stil have a week+ off... so what to do? I'm going to paint like never has been seen before. it will blow your mind. you will become off kilter. you will wear your shoes on your hands! muahahahaaa.a.a.... riiight. anyhoo. I'll post pics. maybe. if I can manage to not be paranoid.

MAI

Ok, its offical Firefly is everywhere! I just got the BESTEST card ever from my momma. It said: Pick a star Make a wish Who needs candles When you've got the sky... and she doesn't even know about my FF obsession. Well, ok [i]maybe[i] I mentioned it once or twice. All right, so I am easily impressed :biggrin:

SINGULARITY

Some time ago I stopped coming to this site, stopped watching my DVD's and did everything to put this Verse from my mind. I got tired of waiting for news, tired of the endless back and forth of opinions over the smallest detail of a scrap of information. My heart grew weary because I missed this show, this world, this grand and wonderful idea. Then something happened a few weeks ago. I went and saw Dodgeball. And on the screen big as life is a long-haired, pirate that looked like Wash. And latter on, towards the end, there is a close up of Alan, looking very clean cut, and I saw Wash. I realized that the movie will make our heroes bigger than we could ever imagine them to be. The screen will brighten with the glow of our ship and lighten our hearts. The theaters will be filled with men and women who will cheer for joy and cry as well. I went home that night and put in a DVD and watched Shindig. I felt the same tingle of joy I felt the first time I watched this show. I felt happy, light in my step and hopefull, for a little while. And then later, I came here, to check the news, and it seems everyone is just waiting. Eager, and edgy. I just wanted to say to everyone keep your chins up. Whatever happens, however it happens, this show, this movie, these men and women who are making this creation come to life, will do it right. They will put heart, and love, and care into making this something we will always cheerish. They will make it special for us all and I'm sure we will make it special for them. Just a few words for the darkest nights to come in the wait for the glow of Serenity!

MONKEYTAIL

while sitting playing with a marble at my desk at work, i find myself bored. i'm hungry too. thats all i have to type.

MAUGWAI

I got a new computer today. Yesterday my old, '99 piece of crap randomly stalled out every five minutes so I had to wait until it caught up to keep typing. My clock was even slow, so I had to keep rebooting every couple of hours to keep the thing alive. Now I'm typing on my new computer. This is nice. Funny, how it only takes five years for something to be so outdated, and also ginormous. My new computer is so much smaller.

HAKEN

Name: Todd Hollenshead Email: Description: CEO Project: Last Updated: 07/14/2004 12:36:49 (Central Standard Time) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7-14-2004 11:52 AM CDT IT'S DONE!!!!!!! Yes, this is the official word that DOOM 3 has been code released and has been approved for manufacturing! It won't be long now until the anticipation ends and the PH34R begins ;-) We literally just hung up with Activision and have confirmed that our latest release candidate has been mutually approved and is finally GOLD. Thanks to everyone for their patience (yeah right! =) and for everyone at id, Activision and our numerous partners for helping us create what I believe is absolutely the best game we have ever made. So, the next question is release dates. Retailers in the States will be allowed to pick up games starting at 12:01 AM on August 3rd. The official street date is actually August 5th in the U.S.A., but some of your favorite stores will probably have it early for those of you who have to have it first. Check with your local retailer for that information. Internationally, the game will take a few more days to make it to the store shelves. The UK will probably get it first, on or about August 6th. Everywhere else will probably be Friday, August 13th (que Twilight Zone Theme) or close to that date, with just a few exceptions (e.g. Russia and Poland). This isn't because we don't have love for you folks outside the U.S., but the localization and manufacturing process takes a bit longer outside the U.S. where we will have JVC run 24/7 to get the units built. I guess the European manufacturers prefer to give their employees nights and weekends off. Go figure! The champagne is flowing here at id and smiles abound! I'll update again with some DOOM 3 preparation tips (not what hardware to buy - you'll have to wait for a programmer for that sort of thing). In the meantime, I want to see those "DOOM 3 GOLD!!!" threads set new records for swamping message board servers, destroying productivity, and post counts ;-) Recapping today's headlines....DOOM 3 GOLD!!!

HASLINGER

thursday. I hate thursdays just about as much as I hate mondays. I hate waiting. I need to learn to be a bit more patient. Fistfull of Soundtracks is playing the most depressing music ever, but I don't feel like changing it. This log sor of sounds depressing, but I am far from down. I saw her again last night. That makes it 5 official dates. Yeah. I hate maya. I think programs tuck features away so that users feel like intellectuals once they find aforementioned featured submenu sets. It just makes me feel dumber or is it more dumb? You know for once I reallly don't have anything else to say. I am tired.

RHYMEPHILE

So I thought I would start my first log entry (Captain's log, stardate...ooh, sorry, I guess I'm looking forward to the Jean-Luc Picard DVD collection due out August 3) and mention how I came to join FFF.net, um, last week. Doesn't it suck when you love something and no one else you know has an interest in it? You're excited about something and people haven't a clue. Well, the reason I came here last week is because I was getting off a NJ Transit bus at Port Authority (I commute from NJ to New York City every day) and there walking next to me, was a guy in a business suit that could have been Alan Tudyk's [i]twin[/i]. Really. It was uncanny how much this business dude resembled Mr. Tudyk. I had to tell someone! It was so cool! But nobody I know cares, so I came to the board. I admit I stared at the poor guy while we were walking to the escalator. He was wearing sunglasses that made him look like his was about to pilot a fighter jet, or a starship. Of course, reality tells me that Mr. Tudyk was in California filming, but now when I get off the bus every day I keep my eyes open, hoping to see this guy again.

ZIL

... from Creed, but NO there is twice as much Creed as there was before!! ahhh! for the love of the goddess!!! when the band Creed died I was like YAY! but now they have resurected themselves as two entities. the lead singer has started a solo thing and the rest of the band has formed another band. amazigly [snort] they BOTH sound like creed. to be continued...

NRKANGEL

Hey, I just read the recent blogs from Jewel Staite and the interviews with Adam Tudyk! Great stuff! I just wish that there was a location on this site specifically geared to the postings, writings and interviews of the cast members. (if there is, could someone please tell me gently so I don't feel quite so stupid?) It's sooo cool to see people who love what they do doing it for our sakes as well as their own and it also feels great to know that they care enough about the fans to share the experience with us. Well, this week is the week I finally find out what the company has in mind for my exit strategy. Funny, in an American company, you tell them you're leaving and when. In a Japanese company there's so much more to deal with as far as negotiations about when and how. (Of course I could handle it the American way, but if I want to arrange a departure package, I have to give something in return. Which, in this case, is the time for them to make arrangements to replace me.) Anyway, this week is the week of our big (semiconductor industry) tradeshow here on the west coast and we have people coming in from Japan, Singapore, Korea and our New York offices. I'm supposed to have a meeting with one of the bigwigs from our Japan office tomorrow who will tell me the schedule they worked out and the package they would like to propose. I guess the negotiations really start in ernest then. This experience I'm having is really liberating and not a little frightening. To think that I'll soon be unemployed for the first time in fifteen years is daunting. Amusingly most of the guys I'm with at the show aren't even aware that I'm a short-timer so I'm having a lot of fun with my little secret in my head. (I've been asked to keep this quiet until the final issues are decided.) One BIIIIIG positive is that I will no longer have to suffer the slings and arrows of our tradeshow experience anymore. After years of co-ordinating everything from booth design and amenities to setting up and taking down the equipment I'm in charge of, I'm soooo ready to give it all up and chuck it out the window. It's funny, but for a looooong time now, my year has basically had two markers. One was Christmas time when I took two weeks off (which I had never had a chance to do in retail) and the other was mid-July for the Semicon Tradeshow. Not having this particular rock to roll uphill makes me darned near giddy. For all of my adult life I've lived the practical, "let's make something of ourselves" way that parents and society smile upon. I've studied, written, planned, worked and climbed my little ladder in business and have found that, while the challenge of my job has been enjoyable and the experiences were generally worthwhile, the essential passions of my life have been supplanted by the persona I've had to develop to do what I do successfully. Many moons ago, 'fer skool, I read "Steppenwolfe" by Hesse. Not a happy writer, that guy... Still, over time I've found myself identifying more and more with his character. That thought has not made me a happier person, let me tell you. While I'm not quite the old guy in the book who lives a bitter existence until he learns his lessons late in life, what worries me is that I could end up that way. I look around my office and I see papers stuck up on boards, manuals and tools on shelves, schematics laying out with parts from different projects and not a few mementos - a stuffed bear and bottle of wine (unopened) gifts from customers that make the whole idea of departing that much more bittersweet. Leaving it all makes me realize how transitory everything is. It's like looking at a huge sandcastle. All that work. All that stressing and worrying and laughing. All that mileage to distant places and in a few weeks or months it'll be washed away, leaving little to no trace of me in this world. Why am I so happy to leave it? Well, imagine that you have a passion inside you to do "something". Imagine that you've only have a rudimentary knowledge of how to accomplish it. At heart you know that

OOG

I submitted an entry for the Wash Filk contest over at Browncoats.com. Contest entries can be seen here:

ZIL

I haven't eatten in days, I've been trying to put on a brave face and face it all. funny how my life of nothing can be so overwhelming. if you want to get lost, whatever the cost you'd better not stay. away, I want to go away. haven't been sleeping but thats nothing new. reruns of reruns of reruns of the golden girls keep me company. estel getty! 3am. why does it always feel like 3am? my mind is a motropolis. my soul a battle ground. I want novacaine to numb it all.

OUTSIDER

So... I graduated from University on Wednesday. The whole cap & gown thing. A nice framed degree certificate to put up on the wall once I've finished redecorating. It's weird, you know. After three years in one place, meeting all the new people, I was walking around in a daze on Wednesday 'cause I kind of figured I wouldn't be seeing many - or any - of them again. I remember after finishing school, we all said we would keep in touch, but after a few months it all fell apart. Haven't seen or heard from them since. And you want to know what the real killer is? I'm not entirely sure I miss them. I feel like I've moved on so much since then, and I'm sure they have too, that we probably wouldn't recognise each other if we passed on the streets. I guess I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic, is all. Nothing lasts forver, after all. Well, you all know that, or else you wouldn't be visiting this site. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "You see... I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and a part of us remains. Go anywhere in this station when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that is going will very much miss the part of you that is staying."

RHYMEPHILE

Commuting to a large metropolitan center like New York City every day takes some doing. You gotta know where you're going, how to get there, and which way to walk when you pop up out of the subway. If you don't, you're the one that has walked up half of a whole block only to discover you're heading the wrong way. Trust me, I've done it. But y'know, there are some things that guidebooks and maps don't ever tell you about New York City, whether you are travelling for work or just visiting, so I thought I would enlighten you. For today, I shall give you my first piece of advice for walking through the Big Apple: Don't walk in puddles! I mean it, even after it has rained, like, minutes ago, there is often something other than that soggy gray pigeon that has pooled there. Puddles often contain pee, people, and not pee from cats, dogs, or iguanas on leashes. It's pee from [i]people[/i], people. So if you'd like to keep your toes happy and your flip-flops stinky-free, for the love of Mike, hop over those puddles.

LIZ

so, thanks to the thread from the BDEs i'm less bitter than i was. it was very hard to not be jealous, but it helps to know that the people who got to do the scene were so enthusiastic and got to see so much. sorry to anyone who read that other blog and saw "the real me." Side note: when i saw the thread "What if roles were reversed?" i immediately jumped to "Would River have been able to give up everything to save Simon?" ... but that's not anywhere near what the thread is about. ah well. i will contemplate my own self.

HEB

Well I'm off on holiday for a week. I'm staying in a cottage on the Isle of Wight (small island just off the south coast of England) with a group of 10 friends. If it's raining (which I expect it will be) and so the beach isn't inviting- then I might have a chance to make 9 new converts. Wish me luck. I'll be without the internet for a week but I'll be back soon. Heb ps. You know your obsession is getting bad when you pray for rain on your holiday just so you can convert people.

THATWEIRDGIRL

I am on a three day smore binge and feeling a little loopy. So I checked out the vintage store across the street because I could. What should I find there? Hidden between some really ugly old clothes was a gorgeous orange satin 40s nightgown. The size is a little off, but it's less then $20. Do I go for it? I've never thought of myself as the Inara type, but the thing is hanging on a rack 100 yds from where I sit right now. What if it's not there when i go back? Then I got my hopes up for nothing. Oh, gosh. I want to go back but it seems so naughty.

FOEHAMMERCS

Does anybody know Joss Whedon's email. I am interested in renting a fire hall and showing firefly. I would also like to contribute to the movie by giving the profit to Whedon. I guess I need permission first which is why I am asking.

FEMALEJAYNE

WOW! You have any idea how helpful kidneys are? Sorry "we" are watching tv :grins:

KIR86

It has come and gone. All 15 episode were already transmited. The Series is great and I can't wait for the movie(s). I like all the mystery in all characters. the humoristic aspect that is created sometimes of a situation is awesome. It really helps the plot. I hope to see more of the Serenity crew on TV/Cinema soon. :)

MAI

Somehow everything I read seems to relate back to FF. Too bad Mal and Co. didn't know about this law during "Shindig." LAW: It is illegal to taunt someone for refusing to participate in a duel. COUNTRY: USA / STATE: West Virginia CITATION: §61-2-24. Taunting for nonparticipation in duel; penalty. ACTUAL: If any person post another, or in writing or in print use any reproachful or contemptuous language to or concerning another, for not fighting a duel, or for not sending or accepting a challenge, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail not more than six months, or fined not exceeding one hundred dollars.

ZIL

okay driving to work, s'about a 35 minute drive in good traffic, sun out [not good cause of my migraine/sun alergy thing] kinda hot [for maine] beautiful day and damn doesn't it just make my mood worse... I remember when pretty shiney days made me feel good*sigh*. the light just turned green and have my foot posed over the gas in readiness. I excellerate and then I screamed because a huge black and white stripped bee dive bombed my crotch. swerving on the inside of a 6 lane road with a great big bee stinging my crotch I keep yelling 'my fucking crotch!' at the top of my lungs.... yes my windows were open. in my panic the thing I come up with to do is to grab it with my free hand... I don't have one because I'm holding coffee because my coffee holder broke... so I drop the coffee... down my front. 'my fucking boobs!' but now i DO have a free hand! so I grabbed the bee it stung my hand 3 times and I tossed out my window. I pulled over and eppy penned myself, cause I'm alergic to bee stings, but I was going to be late for work so I didn't go to the hospital. I may go later, I just hate going twice in one week... they know me too well there.

ZIL

I'm having a house warming party on the 25th... and my friends are taking me shipping for something to wear to said event. all I have is buisness casual and dirty hippy... with a spirt of ecentric artist in there. I supose I could get some nice clothes... but I'm really more comfortable in a sorong, wife beater tank and my birkenstocks... we shall see.

SHINY4004

Ok well I just thought that I'd put a link here to my own blog site just in case anyone is interested. :) www.livejournal.com/users/80sfiend

FEMALEJAYNE

Are artist crused? Desetioned to die young? or have tragic lives? are Artist like torutered poets who have to have diversity in their lives to be creative? does creativy fed off of dispear?

ZIL

so I'm the assistant manager of a movie theater in itty bitty Oxford Maine. I'm salary so I get screwed. but I got insurance so I stayed. now it takes everything I have, admitedly not much, to get out of bed every day. this is not something new for me. I've had depression issues for most of my life. whats new? nothing. its the same old "somethings running me down" as it always is. what do I do? I'm not sure. I have a perscription from my shrink that says, "quit you job now"... wish I could but I feel like I won't find anthing better... this wouldn't be so hard if... why can't I do this... why can't I do this job..... and its me. I can't do this job and its me that is the problem. too sick. too hurt. too depressed. too antisocial. too shy. too ... me. so I need to function as me. how do I do that? I think I'm figuring some stuff out.

ZIL

I applied to become a member 3 years ago, but thats when my health finally failed. problems that were just mental have now manafested in a physical way. so I declined a job with them because I would be out with no human contact and no electricity... which actually sounds awesome, but I need to refridgerate my meds... and I tend to pass out... so it was a no. I turned it down. fiance left me. droped out of college. stopped eating. lost 100 pounds. had a stay @ the hospital. moved back in with the parents. started work at a place now known as hell..... BUT TODAY I TOOK THE FIRST STEP. I sent in 3 applications to americorps, for more civilized positions... doing something I like? living with a man I LOVE? kitten named jayne? dog named haylee? maybe this is my out. of hell.

OOG

Several months ago, I had purchased a heavy-duty rake, and it's already broken. The handle says it's a lifetime warranty, but you have to take it back to the store. I don't have a receipt, so I wanted to ask the store I bought it at, if I did bring it back, would they still exchange it. I wanted to show them the one I got, so I went to that aisle to grab one (they no longer carry that brand *sigh*). While over there, I saw a rack of post holers. And couldn't resist saying: "[i]It's a post-holer. You dig holes. For posts.[/i]" (Kaylee, Safe).

RHYMEPHILE

As I was watching "The 4400" on USA Network last night I came to the conclusion that maybe Firefly should have been a mini or limited series. Look how well "Taken" did on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002. It was 10 episodes at 14 hours, and it had a stable schedule so that everyone was able to watch it. It did very well for the network. Now "The 4400" is doing well in ratings, and that is going until, what, August sometime I think. The popularity of this current series shows how much fans still want to watch and enjoy sci-fi. Perhaps if Firely had a set mini-run, allowing people to actually [i]see[/i] it instead of hunting for the show as it was flung around the schedule, more fans would have discovered FF. Joss could have created a nice mini-series, and then when ratings showed how well it was doing, he could have then branched out into a weekly series. I'm sure that's not how they do it, but it would have been a better fate than what Fox did to it. With a mini-series Joss would have known how many episodes he had, he wouldn't have had to worry about the stress of the network suits, he could have planned a whole story arc, and he would have got to plan 10 or 11 episodes without fear of the cancellation hatchet falling. What also worries me is that if Joss got burned with FF -- a show he obviously felt very strongly about and loved -- what is going to make him test the shark-infested waters of the networks again? He got burned by the WB with "Angel", too. Perhaps his next show will be on pay-cable. This doesn't mean I don't think FF deserved to be a weekly series at the start. I just feel that if Fox started with a mini-series they would have had more faith in the fans' reaction and would have had more faith in the series, they would have had better ratings, and we would have had a stable couple of weeks where we could have enjoyed the show.

TEELABROWN

Hiya all! I'm back from my vacation, and soon I'll be takin' an hour or more to go through the RPG, the OOC, and the TTW. I have a lot to catch up on. And my vacation was pretty shiny, by the way. :biggrin:

SUENOS

So I fell off a curb a few weeks ago. No I wasn’t drinking but considering I was in Kingman, AZ when I fell off said curb, I should have been. It was one of those stupid little half curbs. I had two bags of ice in hand and my purse and I just didn’t see the :censored: thing. Twisted the :censored: out of my ankle and was finally able to get up and hobble to the car. So two weeks latter I’m getting around on it reasonably well but I still don’t have my full range of motion. The moral of this story….never ever go to Kingman, AZ. It’s really exciting to see all the BDM news. I can’t believe this is finally happening. Can’t wait till next April. Saw "Spiderman 2" recently and really liked it. Being a superhero is not all fun and games. Wanted to see "I, Robot" this weekend but couldn't get in. Maybe sometime this week. What’s in the CD player? Michael Tolcher’s “I Am.” Go here to hear him:

RAWDEAL

I was watching this movie "Monster Man" and I saw guy there that looked exactly like a reaver, I took some screencaps and was thinking of posting them in the blue sun room. Does anyone want see something like that, it's pretty nasty with his face all :censored: up and weird white eyes. Here the are

QUICKSAND

I've tried to start this blog several times, and ultimately, I think it's this: What I admire most about "Serenity" and "Firefly" and "Buffy" and "Angel" is the writing, okay? I LOVE the writing. I love the drama, I love the jokes, I love how little insignificant pieces of dialogue can tell us so much about a character, can go so far to define River ("I can kill you with my brain"), or Jayne ("Pain is scary,)" or Spike ("Bollocks!), or whoever. I LOVE this about Joss. "I Robot" had none of that. I respect the director, I know he has done good work before. I respect the actors and I admire the production design, and the costumes, and the numerous humans who no doubt worked tirelessly on the special effects. I have no doubt I will love all these things about "Serenity," but ultimately "I Robot" collapses under the simplicity of the script. I know most people reading this won't care. Most of us don't care about the opening credits, about who the screenwriter or the cinematographer happen to be. But man, Joss Whedon got me in to all that. I would watch the 2nd season of Buffy in my college dorm, and there was SUCH a diversity of talent on that show. If the opening credits said "Written and Directed by Joss Whedon," I knew, KNEW the episode was going to knock me off the couch, and I told this to everyone in the room, constantly. And they (these episodes) never disappointed. If it was someone else (no reason to name names), I knew it would be less than stellar. Most of the writers were very VERY good, but Joss exceeded them... and there were 1 or 2 who generally let me down. This is life. I maintain that Akiva Goldsman can't write. Some of you may have liked Batman and Robin, or Lost in Space, or the criminally overrated A Beautiful Mind. I never saw Practical Magic, so I can't comment on that one, but this man is NOT one of the great screenwriters of our time. I don't know how much of "I Robot" was him vs. the original treatment by Jeff Vintar, but the names that really stick in my head among writers, and directors, are the really really great ones, and the really really bad ones. To my surprise, the visuals, and the acting of "I Robot" did everything they could to overcome a standard Hollywood Action script. Without gushing with detail for eight paragraphs, I'll just say I give a thumbs up to everyone in front of the camera. EVERYONE, without exception. But I love Joss Whedon, and others, because of the stellar writing, and the stellar directing (no pun intended). "I Robot" had stellar direction. The writing was not, but I guess, ultimately, people will say that's just my opinion. But I know what's meant to be complex and challenging, and what's just meant to be enjoyed over popcorn and those freaky-huge sodas. I love both, but I PREFER Joss's stuff, that's just me. I love talking about all the little things afterward. With Joss you can do that; hence, this entire website, and so many others. Anyway, if you're curious about the movie, [b]DO[/b] make up your own mind. But when I commented in a previous blog, I wasn't just talking out my @$$. If you're interested, you can learn a lot about a movie by the names in the credits. If you're not interested, then... just be thankful you're not a huge geek like me. Not sure how to end this, but hey, blogs are SUPPOSED to be pretty random, I guess. Hats off to the day we can all sit around a table together and discuss this all at once, rather than hurl bits n' pieces at each other. THAT is the real fun of great TV and movies, to me .... but these blog thingies sure do help for a quickfix every now and then. XOXO Qs

FEMALEJAYNE

This probably isn't a problem most people have but I just need to write it out, I don't think I can carry it around anymore. The boy I like desperatly with all the love the world contains (Okay so I more than like him) he isn't a Firefly fan, I happen to watch the show nightly. I have been trying to get him to watch it but he calms up and changes the subject. He is also a very good friend of mine and I don't want to fight with him about this but I can't figure out how to get him to give it a chance. GRR! He watches Kriby why can't he watch Firefly!?!?!?!

OOG

We watched Our Mrs Reynolds and Trash and chatted with each other about the ep, on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). Of course, my DVD player is having a fit, so I had a heck of a time getting Trash up and going. But all in all it was a nice time and I look forward to doing it again. Maybe this time I'll listen to my instincts and go an hour earlier than the planned time *wink*

RHYMEPHILE

I just started reading Gaiman's (the guy who created the "Sandman" comics) novel "Neverwhere" and there's a female character in there, Hunter, that I picture in my mind as Zoe/Gina Torres. The protagonist of the story is Richard. Here's the description Gaiman offers for her: [quote]...He turned, and standing there was a tall woman, with long, tawny hair, and skin the color of burnt caramel. She wore dappled leather clothes, mottled in shades of gray and brown. She had a battered leather duffel bag over her shoulder. She was carrying a staff, and she had a knife at her belt and an electric flashlight strapped to her wrist. She was also, without question, the most beautiful woman that Richard had ever seen.[/quote] At one point they have a contest for bodyguards, and when Hunter bests a man much larger and stronger than she is, we get this: [quote]Richard was thunderstruck: it had been like watching Emma Peel, Bruce Lee, and a particularly vicious tornado, all rolled into one and sprinkled with a generous helping of a mongoose killing a king cobra. That was how she had moved. That was how she had fought.[/quote] Reading that, it seems to perfectly describe Zoe, and if they ever made a "Neverwhere" movie, I'd hire Gina.

TECHBOY

Well, I've gone and done it. I've gotten highspeed internet, and added wireless to the mix. Now I can be on the living room, typing away on my laptop, and watch my FF DVD's all day. Man I need to find a job.

TECHBOY

Most of the time, in non-polotical arenas I've kept quiet about my polotics. Why muck things up? Most of the polotical threads on the forums at Buffyguide don't have an entry from me. However, this is a little different. So, I'm sitting here watching Rumsfeld and an General Richard Myers giving a press conference about security in Athens for the Olympics. All I can think of right now is that the press aren't asking the right questions, and Rumsfield/Myers aren't really giving anything that is news worthy. Oh well.

TECHBOY

We are going to have a movie in spring 2005? Isn't that ahead of schedule - COOL! Also, the pictures in the transscript of the Q&A session with Jewel - MAN she is a beautiful woman.

ZIL

I was already tuned down for one of the jobs I applied for. *wilt* I'd say I'm like a flower out in the sun with no water wilting, but I'm more like a thistle. a pointy pricklie weed of a woman. drat.

OOG

One of my boards got a discussion going about who you'd most like to have dinner with. I posted this about a celebrity dinner experience I had: [i]It was neat winning dinner years ago (before we left Alaska, so over 6yrs ago) with Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson (DS9). They were both such great and sweet guys. We sat at Alexander's table, and he was just so personable. I suppose his "fame" hadn't gone to his head at that point, but still, it was neat to see his true personality (and that he wasn't a snob). And Andrew was full of energy, and funny. It was such a great opportunity.[/i]

HASLINGER

Part of me hates firefly. I hate the fact that I can't have it anymore. I watched the "season" over the a week ago, with the exception of 'Objects in Space.' I hate that ep. Not because its bad, but for the simple fact that it means it's over. I find it depressing. Part of me misses the whole "routine" of Television. Although, I feel more productive now, than ever, I miss the connection. The feeling of excitment found in a repetative aesthetic task. THIS in lies the problem. I used to work in production, why do I care? How can I an aware viewer get caught up in a tv show? And why do I feel that said show matters? As if the results of one episode will greatly impact my life in some shape or form. I look at a scene and I see the lights, the HMIs, the art department, the set; and yet somehow, I don't care. I should have read a book. I sound pompous.

DRACOS

Not that this really matters at all, I'm so apathetic about it I cant even be bothered to check the spelling on ridiculous, but what gives? Take a look at this:

TECHBOY

WHAT THE #$^& IS WRONG WITH THESE GUYS! First Scott Peterson, and then the current one where he is making stuff up about medical school? Okay, sorry - I though I had somewhere to go with this, I guess not. More on the national politics: Since when was it the job of the president to "create jobs"? Al Sharpton as a job councilor? On a reality TV show? And when will survivor die? Man, I need to find a job! Firefly related stuff: I'm trying to get my tennate hooked on the show by watching from the pilot, to the end.

TECHBOY

Paying over $20 for a handbag is insane. What makes a $1000 Prada bag worth so much more? The name? Okay, that might be worth an extra $10, not the amount that is being charged. Are the materials made in a magic loom? Same thing with shoes or anything else. I took my cousin shopping in Boston a while ago, and she bought these shoes that are nothing but a sole, heel, and a couple of straps - %250. Makes me glad that I'm male - I mean $40 later, I have a pair of comfortable shoes that look good and last many years. When will people wake up and realize that if they stopped paying the inflated prices, the prices will come down? Were they absent the day the "Law of Supply and Demand" was taught? Is it even tought anymore? Has it been supplanted by something like "Getting in touch with your inner child"? Sorry, had to rant.

NRKANGEL

Urg... tired... so. very. tired. Just got done at a customer site troubleshooting a piece of equipment that refused to behave. Well, the problem was at heart really simple (aren't they all?) but the nature of designers is that they never actually have to WORK on the equipment they design. I think I actually spent fifteen minutes on the actual problem and five hours getting everything out, and then putting it all back together. To add insult to injury, I was at a customer site so I didn't have the lunch I brought, forgot my wallet at work (no cash) and traffic was a bear getting back to the office. (Gotta laugh, though. I'm still taking this job way too seriously for a short-timer.) Speaking of which, I have to stay thru the end of September in order to get severance. So close, this dream, yet so far. Still, two months isn't bad considering that I would get nothing if I just walk away. (I'll need all the money I can get.) Also, it's less than the eight months left until Serenity... I guess it'll be nice to have time to prepare, but, like a soon to be ex-con, it'll be hard time to do. Mentally I'm already pacing...pacing... My buddy's already started what needs to be done to get our plans moving forward. I feel like he's doing all of the heavy lifting and I'm just twiddling my thumbs here at the starting gate waiting...waiting...waiting... Feh! too much thinking...(thinking...thinking...) Actually, I didn't need to put that last mental echo in, but the previous two paragraphs made it a thematic necessity. The post-tradeshow party was pretty tame compared to last year, but I still ended up getting home about three am. Lots of booze, loud music, yadda, yadda... typical Japanese company shindig. (The weekend was only slightly painful...thank god I'm single... nights like that have to be followed up with lots and lots of sleep! - sleep....don't talk about sleep...) Geeze... I wanted to really put down a lot about what's been happening since last Thursday (It's been a week already??!!) but I can barely keep my eyes open and I have to drive home after this. (Fortunately my company supplies us with caffine and those red-bull type drinks...I'll probably fall asleep before 10pm...unusual for me as I don't usually go to bed until one or two in the am. ***YAWN!*** Ok, that does it. enough. I gotta get food and get to bed. [i]I Drove All Night[/i] - Cyndi Lauper

RHYMEPHILE

With the success of Firefly, one can only hope that we may just get some more short-lived but loved TV series. I especially vote for: [b]Space: Above and Beyond[/b] Created by Glen Morgan and James Wong (who worked on [i]The X-Files[/i]), any sci-fi lover should check this series out. It's about a space Marine fighter squadron that is working to eliminate the alien threat of the Chigs. Cool FX, great characters, and I really miss it. [b]Profit[/b] Another show that was [i]really[/i] short-lived was the 1996 series [i]Profit[/i], created by [i]Angel[/i] vet David Greenwalt. It starred Adrian Pasdar as this executive who schemed and evilled his way to the top. The show only ran for a couple of episodes, but I remember it very clearly as something unique and original. How many shows can say that its lead character slept in a cardboard box in his apartment? [b]Strange Luck[/b] Another cool show, starring D.B. Sweeney as a man who experiences odd occurrences of bad/good luck. He had survived a plane crash as a child and because of it all these things started happening to him. Anyone recall that at the end of the series Chance was a given a name that could have helped him find his missing brother...an FBI agent named Fox Mulder. Unfortunately, FOX seems to be the type of network that will take a chance on an original show, but doesn't follow through with promoting or nurturing it. It's truly amazing that Firefly got DVDs. There are so many cool shows out there that don't.

BLEYDDYN

This afternoon I'm going down to the convention center to try to register myself and my Wife for Saturday and Sunday. I called their hotline and they said I can do that, hopefully the volunteer I talked to knew what she was talking about! Should save us a lot of aggravation getting in, especially on Saturday. The news on this just kept getting better and better as the con got closer: First: Joss will be there, possibly comic related, possibly Serenity. Second: Yes it will be Serenity related! Third: Some, possibly all of the cast will be there (from Adam) Fourth: Official! All of the cast, plus Joss, plus Chris, plus others will be there. Plus! sneak peak of filming so far! Fifth: Free give-aways at the signing afterward! Sixth: Who knows what could happen? "May you live in interesting times." Most of the time I consider that to be one of the worst curses you can fling at another person, but this weekend I'm actually looking forward to 'interesting times'. :biggrin:

NRKANGEL

Hey! I dreamt about the Serenity Movie last night! How cool is that! :biggrin: - more about it at the end of this post. I want to jot down a few things while the thoughts are there... So, last night on the drive home, I find myself waking up and I decide that it's well past dinner and I'm not in the mood to cook. I stopped off to have dinner at a little Mexican restaurant I know. (I love da spicy food!) I'm sitting there, eating, reading the newspaper I'd picked up when I suddenly realize that I'm the only person dining alone here. Typically it doesn't bother me, but for some reason, tonight I not only noticed, but it bugged me. I think it was because I felt like talking to somebody, but there was no one around (that I knew) to talk to. (Most of my friends are guys and we don't have many of the deep conversations and really never call each other just to chat. The female friends I have are in relationships or are not so close that I feel comfortable calling out of the blue to talk... weird situation to be in.) When I was in college, I remember that there was always someone around to shoot the breeze with, but as a "grownup" I find that life tends to isolate you more if you don't have a pre-planned "activity" to do. Epiphany! Adults need planned "play dates"! (huh...what a time for a revelation equal to that of finding out in kindergarten that paste smells good, but tastes awful.

DYSTOPIA

Shiny... I'm a new member today... exciting...

MAI

Anyone out there have a burning desire to beta a new story? I am very new at fan fic and could use all the help I can get. Im not going to beg....... Oh all right fine.... PUHLEEZEEEEEEEEEEEE. I need help! (with my story, i think the rest of me is beyond help). Please Please Please with lots of strawberries and whip cream on top?

DRACOS

I went to The Bourne Supremacy today, it had the potential to be great but was instead merely okay. I'll get to that later though, as the good stuff always should come first in my opinion. The Bourne Supremacy is the sequel to the very popular The Bourne Identity. It stars once again Matt Damon, supported by such as Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, and Karl Urban. The plot picks up a few years after 'Identity with Bourne and, I guess, his wife Marie living in India and minding their own business. Meanwhile in Berlin some obligatory Super-Evil Russians are framing Bourne for the murder of a CIA operative and an agency mole. The Russians send someone after Bourne and he assumes its the CIA and goes after them. The story in this film is excellent, its got a lot of drama in it and the natural tension that comes with a solid spy-thriller script. The acting is all around good with notable performances by Damon, Stiles, and Brian Cox (who spends a lot of the film acting kind of like an older, fatter Lewis Black). Its a good dark story with some nice twists and a wonderful assortment of spy-type gadgetry. Also the score, while primarily percussion (haven't heard one like that in a good while), is exceptional and very well placed. Its a soundtrack I'll deffinately be getting in the near future. Okay, that was short, 'Bad Stuff' time: This film was in a large part ruined due to extremely shoddy editing and a gargantuan amount of bad camera-work. First off this was obviously shot on hand-held, this isn't really a problem as you can use hand-held and the flaws that generally come with it to amazing effect (see: Joss Whedon's 'Firefly'). They however do not use it effectively and since hand-held is usually intended for use with steady shots they gather a lot of grain and blurriness as well as focusing problems due to an almost obscene number of whip-pans and motion shots. Again, this in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but it dosen't work for this type of film, its distracting and you never get a concrete picture of what the camera is looking at. There are also, I think, approximately two shots that last longer than a minute without getting cut around and they tend to be so dark you cant tell what you're looking at. Another major problem is the editing of the film. It falls into the trap that many action based films of the day do. Remember in The Chronicles of Riddick how whenever there was an action scene they constantly shifted the way that you were viewing it and made it so you were looking at it too closely? They often did this at a lightning fast pace, alternating between light and dark shots that leave the viewer confused as to what just happened and slightly dizzy. Its frustrating to watch, especially so when they really build up to the actual fight at the center of the scene and it goes by so absurdly fast that you cant see it. Now imagine a whole film cut together like that, where scenes of people walking down streets or getting into cars are shot from every conceivable angle and cut together like mad. That film is The Bourne Supremacy. It is relentlessly dark cinematographicaly speaking, the camera-work is absurd, the prolonged hand to hand fights often feature two people who are dressed almost identically, the big car chase scene had an incredible amount of potential but they wasted it by taping the reactions of those involved instead of what they were doing, there are shots of guns going off in scenes where multiple characters have guns and you can't figure out who just fired because you couldn't see the person, and the bit with the token Super-Evil Russian Villain at the end is never explained, there's just too much shit hitting too many fans at one time to be sensical. The sad thing is that it seems that they made the film this way to build tension but it dosen't need it, the story and many scenes in it were very tense on their own but the way they were shown made them laughable. The point is that it just didn't need to be that way. -------

HEB

Well I'm back from my holiday on the Isle of Wight. Unfortunately the weather was fantastic so I didn't get a chance to make any converts (although we did watch Tabula Rasa and everyone - even the non-buffy fans - loved it). However I did have a few firefly moments whilst on holiday: On the way to where I was staying I passed a pub called the Canton Arms (or Canton inn or something like that). I passed a shop called Saffron's and best of all I found the coolest souvenir at a wildlife park called Amazon World....A rainstick! I was so happy when I saw it. I now have my very own stick sounds like it's raining. So I had a nice time, despite the good weather.

SHARPSHOOTER

I've been searching for a couple days now to find that fortold prophecy of Old... The Firefly Role-Playing Game. I've seen some ...brief brawlings with D20 Modern. And i've heard rumors of such independant systems. Of course, as we all might assume, i'm all for the finale of the Star Wars Generation, and the birth of the Firefly Universe. Something....beutiful. But such a quest is to be made with great haste. We have to create this world...this profile of the reality Joss Whedon has imagined, and make it wonderful. WE have to do this. the Fans. those who love this creation for what it is, as well as what it may be. We must unite. For fear of making this wayward entry sound like a call to arms, borderline Braveheart stuff, don't forget i'm just babbling about marketing campaigns and propaganda. But in the end, if there's more for us to stand on, then we won't be considered weird. There will be no more forcing others to watch our DVD's. They will be standing in a crowded line with us to see the Thrid Film in the Serenity Trilogy... Dream on.

BLEYDDYN

It's not all that late, but I'm tired so this won't be detailed. Cathy and I arrived at 9:30 and just waltzed right in, since I had gotten our badges the night before. We wandered the huge exhibit area for a while, bought a few things, talked to a few people who saw Cathy's 'A Man Named Jayne' t-shirt, then headed to the balcony at 10:00. We wandered around for about 20 minutes without seeing/recognizing any other Browncoats so we headed to the blood drive room. On our way back UKGirl hailed us and asked who we were. She was the only Browncoat (i.e. from one of the boards) we met today. There is a massive LACK of Firefly swag. In all her shopping all Cathy found was a couple of pictures. She bought one of the whole crew so we at least have something for them to sign. What else did I see? Star Wars panel (we left after 15 minutes), Farscape panel was pretty much the highlight of the day. Sky Captain looks to be a great movie. Quite a few very odd costumes. More, and better, I hope, tomorrow.

NRKANGEL

You know, when I was twelve, I remember watching "Meatballs" starring an unknown Bill Murray. At the time, I thought that that was the funniest movie that I'd ever seen. What it said to me as a pre-teen was so right on the mark I had to see it five more times just to be sure. (Of course, my parents didn't know I was seeing the same movie over and over, I told them it was a different movie each time.) Strangely, my brother, who was a year and a half older, never seemed to be as enthralled with it as I was. He only saw it when I did the first time. Flashforward almost twenty years and I felt the need to see it again for the first time in decades... DVD's weren't around, so I got it on tape from Blockbuster and popped some popcorn fully expecting to sink into the warm memories of late childhood. Fifteen minutes into the film and I was flabbergasted at how much the movie had changed. (well, ok, it was me that changed.) The movie I remembered was sharply witty, emotionally engaging and well plotted. (Yeah, like a twelve year old thinks that way... i just thought it was too cool for words...) Now, however, I found myself so disappointed. The clever repartee was little more than heavy belching and dumb set-ups for one-liners. The emotions were bare manipulations and little else, and the plot was thinner than wet toilet paper tied together with that alien mucus... In short, I was so disappointed that I wondered what I had seen in this movie and I found myself thinking that maybe my brother was right all that time ago. But then... but then.... I realized that I was frowning my adult frown and thinking my adult thoughts. Maybe this wasn't the approach to take... I stopped the tape and re-wound it. I told myself to just watch the damned movie and stop being so judgemental. I soon found myself watching a stupid, juvenile comedy and thoroughly enjoying it... I laughed as a young Bill Murray subtly stuck it to the rich kids's camp... I saw the losers of Camp Northstar brave their way through love and lust and watched as they fought the good fight in a futile decathalon against the same rich kids. I won't say more in case you haven't seen it. The movie would never be as good as it was when I was twelve, but then, neither would I. But at least the kid inside still thought it was funny... :wink: Flash further forward... I saw "I, Robot" yesterday and, going in, I was ready to not like it. I worshipped the original book and the previews looked nothing like it. All the precious in the world won't make a mule a thoroughbred. Still, my preconceptions have been wrong before (Titanic for one). So I went with a couple of friends in order to be able to say that I gave it a fair shot. Well, I gave it a fair shot...and wound up liking it. A lot. I wanted to say that it wasn't anything special but it kept me entertained, slightly puzzled and happily amused. (The Alan Tudyk voice was very well done even though I had to try like the devil to get the image of Wash reading the lines out of my head. Fortunately seeing the movie "Dodge Ball" really helped.) I know I wanted the book in movie form. I know that I wanted to dislike this, but the movie I saw was like the best of the Sunday Serials that old fogeys talk about. The Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon stuff. It was cool and hip (sometimes a little too much) and Will Smith will never pull off a character filled with pathos like Denzel Washington, but that said, anyone who saw this and picked it apart for flaws wasn't going to see a movie, they were going to do a job or serve an agenda. "I, Robot" is a good summer movie in a year with a lot of good summer movies so far. "Shrek2", "Day After Tomorrow", "Spiderman2", all these have really entertained. It's seriously been one of the best summers for movies in years. (well, to me anyway...) That said, this is a good, fun movie that won't disappoint if you try not to take it or yourself too seriously. (Hey, at least you don't know how it ends, right? Can you say that going into "Titanic"?) Be silly. Go see it.

MAI

The other day I had this idea that I'd throw myself into the whole fan fic writing thing. I wanted to be able to contribute somehthing other than my normal "oh yea, me too" on the discussion boards. As I have said many times, I am so happy that I found this site and all of you similarly obsessed type people. Anyway an idea finally came to me and so I thought I'd type out a few rough paragraphs and come back to flesh it out later. To make a long story, well not quite so long... four hours later I had written nearly 7 pages. I wanted to keep going but I knew I had to get some sleep before it was time to go to work. Needless to say it took me nearly forever to fall asleep. This crazy freaking story had taken over my brain! Have I lost my mind? Almost completely... and strangest part is kind of like it.

RANGER

Ok, here was my thumbnail of Mal before: Mal UPP 88B966 5 terms. 2 peacetime Army, 2 wartime Army (Browncoat), 1 Rogue or Merchant Total Skill Points: 15 Rank: E-4 (Platoon Sergeant) So, now a little discussion of how I can up with this and some more detail. First, the UPP (Universal Personal Profile) (for those unfamiliar with Traveller, that string of numbers after Mal’s name). Strength: 8 Ok, since CT/MT uses 2d6, you get a range of 2-12 with 7 being dead average. Mal’s a strong guy, but not super strong, and as we saw in Trash, not really ‘cut’ so to speak. So an 8, above average, but not so much. Dexterity: 8 Ok, once again, Mal is good on his feet, but not super good. I might be persuaded to up this to a 10 to give him an advantageous DM with an auto-pistol, but I’m not sure that isn’t more a result of experience (skills) over natural talent. Endurance: B (11) This comes from War Stories. Mal’s tough, that’s what gives him his physical edge more than anything. All in all, this give Mal 6 points of advantage over an average Joe (777). Seems about right to me. Intelligence: 9 Mal is one smart character (no pun intended). He’s usually (but not quite always) one step ahead. I think a 9 is about right. Education: 6 Traveller Education is kind of an odd thing. A 7 means an associates degree, but you could roll up a character with a C (12) which is a post doctorate level of education at 18 (and with an intel of 2 theoretically), so I modified it a little in my system so that no one can get above a 7 just by rolling and an average character will get a 5, 6, or 7. So, a 6 is a high school education. There’s never been any hint that Mal went to college, so 7 or higher is out. It’s also not clear that he went to high school either, but he could have picked up some education points along the way in his prior service as well. Social Standing: 6 Mal is one of those guys just on the edge of respectability. He was probably upper middle class (his family owned a ranch with lots of employees at one time), an 8 maybe, but that standing has taken a hit after being on the loosing side of the war. Mal’s respectable enough to move in higher circles and disrespectable enough not to be too out of place on the underside of society. A 6 seems right there. Prior Service and Skills. Ok, now is when the back story becomes important. You have to make some assumptions about the society in order to model it in a game system that produces characters by having them live a good part of their life before they start ‘adventuring.’ So, in Mal’s case, here are some assumptions that went into the model. Browncoats, who were they? My take it that the Browncoats were a frontier militia set up to protect the fringe and the new colonies from Reaver attacks. In terms of the CG system, that means that Mal could be a Browncoat before the war starts, and based on his experience and rank at the end of the war, he was probably in the military before it began. We may learn in the BDM that that’s not the case, but for now, it works for me. So, before the war, Mal was in the Army career. Now, my Firefly Traveller system has a couple of tweaks form the original CT/MT system, so that it allows for enlisted ranks and promotion with out having to used the advanced CG system. That boosts the number of skills you can earn per term. I also have a system for what MT calls ‘special duty’, but you could just used the MT system if you wanted to (it’s simpler, you just roll one die and based on the career, if you beat a 4, 5, or 6 you get another skill for that term). So, basically, a character is eligible for 1 skill per term automatically, 1 skill if they get promoted, 1 skill of they get special duty, plus an extra skill for ‘basic training’ the first year they are in a service. You can also get a couple of default skills based on where you grew up, so, Mal probably gets equestrian and a weapon’s skill for growing up on the fringe. So, looking at the tables and the modification that I’ve made you

DYSTOPIA

I'm feelin' especially glowy because the fanfic I posted has gotten some spectacular reviews... me=warm & fuzzy... I just watched the season premiere of "Dead Like Me" and I liked it... I've heard good things about it but never got the chance to watch it... now I'm going to have to catch up and watch the 1st season... I hate that... Saw "The Bourne Supremacy" and liked it okay... I'm not too sure about what they were trying to do with the camera but it didn't impress... On a more distressing note, I had to put 3 of my 6 kittens outside today so they could live in the backyard... They're sad and I'm sad...

THEGREYJEDI

I'm getting my computer business off the ground here soon! I've got four rigs planned out as "Standard" models ranging from $983 - $2010. But I'd love to do custom rigs! And of course, I'd be more than happy to cut Browncoats a deal. I'm getting a website made, but in the mean time, if anybody wants to know more, just let me know. I hope this isn't a breech of some sort of advertising protocol. *should really go back and read the terms of service and stuff* Oh well, I am excited to finally getting this started!

BLEYDDYN

I've already posted this in Shiny's con report thread, but wanted it in my blog as well. See link for photos and one short video at the bottom. Huge crowd! Hall 20 can hold 4300 people and I think it was almost completely full by the time Joss and crew came on stage. A fair number of browncoats from one board or another were all in line by 9:30am although the Serenity panel wasn't until 1:00pm. As soon as they opened the hall we rushed in and grabbed the best seats we could. Cathy and I were in row six, with quite a few browncoats in front of us. I basically sat there all morning saving seats while my wife wandered in and out. Some of those panels I had to sit through were just horrid. But I won't name names... Now for the good stuff. Joss walked on and the hall erupted into applause, whistles and cheers, including a standing ovation. It took him a minute or so to regain his composure and for us to quiet down. The first thing he did was show us the TRAILER! Awesome stuff, but I'm not even going to try to talk about it since it was basically all spoilers. Then our BDH's came on stage to another huge ovation. I couldn't take it all in, but at least Sean and Summer seemed fairly overwhelmed by the response. The rest of the panel was a Q&A, most of which I can't remember but there was one section where Joss asked each cast member to explain what they liked the most about their character. He also asked them each to tell what they liked the least about Jewel Here is what I wrote down, at the time about each one. Any errors in these quotes are strictly mine. Gina: I like my gun. It's a very sexy gun. She also liked the fact that her pants had spandex in them. Alan: He gets to be the one who says 'Lets put the guns down and try to avoid violence' (most of the time ) Adam: "What is life without work." Bottom line kind of guy, cut the bull. He started to say 'bullshit', but stopped halfway and asked if he could say that. The crowd responded 'YES'. Nathan: Even in the thick of battle you knew you could always turn to the Captain and know that he has the legs of a dancer. (Honest! That's what he said!) Jewel: Warmth. No beef with anybody on the ship. Relationship with the Captain. Can give him shit without him blowing up at her. Morena: Likes the fact that Inara is so smart and can do pretty much anything. Summer: Gets to walk around barefoot. Summer mentioned early in the series how she wanted River to have a gun, then by episode 10 she has one. She is shooting for the captaincy. Sean: Dislikes his tight pants. Love for his sister. "I love you Summer!" Ron: Humor, conviction, unpredictability. Least like about Jewel: her frequent absence. There was one time where Joss said something like "I didn't tell Adam this from the beginning but Jayne is Firefly's Cordelia". First Adam said, 'Yeah I can see that now", then he said "Who is Cordelia?", so he and Nathan started this long and Hi-larious pantomime where Nathan does the hour-glass outline, then mimes opening a centerfold, at which point Adam say "Oh! Now I remember!" Much laughter in the audience. Someone asked about nicknames other than Captain Tightpants. Morena mentioned that they are always calling her stupid. Nathan said they called Adam Mister Stinkypants. Adam said that got started on burrito day. There was a lot of joking about everyone calling Morena stupid until finally Adam said something about it being easier for a smart actor to act like a dumb person than a stupid actor act like a smart person. At which point Morena stood up and started to walk away but Joss intercepted her and gave her a hug, and escorted her back to her seat. Then he went over to Adam and gave him an inaudible speech. All was done in a spirit of fun! Morena was smiling the whole time. When they were each talking about what plans they had for the future, Gina started with "First I'm going to finish Serenity...." When it was Nathan's turn he said "I'm not leaving Serenity, I'm going to live there." Then he joked about spin-off's he

PAIRIEHARPY

So may people have already given excellent accounts of the panel. All I can really add is a link to the TON of pictures I took.

LISSA

hey ya'll, i'm at camp! yay! i work at a math and science camp in maine and it rocks! it's my third year working and i was a camper for 3 years! yay! i love camp!!!!!! ok i have to go show a camper the hot firefly guys! i'm out.

FEMALEJAYNE

Recently I left Local firefly board because they had a no politic statements, someone started talking about Matt Maupin and said something about how wonderful it is to see the commuinty supporting him and they hope he's alright. I fail to see how this voilates policy. I don't believe we should have been chewed out for agreeing either. No one said anything about the war one way or another. What I've been wondering is how is hoping someone in the commuinty (you both live in and support) is okay political?

DYSTOPIA

I leave for Vegas in 3 days... yeah!!!

RELFEXIVE

Well, I just ordered my ticket. Shiny :biggrin:

OOG

I just got done reading the posts about the Comic Con this past Sunday, and listening to the MP3 audio recording of the same. Thanks so much to everyone who posted and all the efforts you made to let us in on what happened.

JOHNNYREDD

Finally, I got my series box today. I'ma happy little biatch now. I'll be even more so when the movie releases. :biggrin:

AURAPTOR

No real reason to start this. Had a 4 day weekend cause I wanted to. Not sure if the desired effect was achieved, but it was nice to not face Monday. What did I do ? Very little. On Monday I ducked into the megaplex and caught I,Robot and The Bourne Supremacy. I really liked I,Robot. It was much better than I had expected. Bourne was good too..very good, but I didn't care for the camera work so much. A lot of it was that hand held, jerky camera stuff so often used on cop shows on tv, but unneccesarily too much so for Bourne. It's like they were trying to cover up for deficencies which weren't there. Oh well, $ well spent for 1 movie ticket. ( heh heh heh ). Today I drove up to Helen, GA. It's an small village in the hills of N.GA for those who don't know. The real draw of the town is that it's decked out like a small alpine village. Come October, it becomes THE place to be, for drinking beer and such. Octoberfest and all. I wanted to check out the hotel that I'm staying at, provided I actually attend this year. That remains to be seen. Better safe than w/ out a room, I always say. Anyway, am I the last browncoat to know what fresh bao was ? Here I thought it was a soup dish of some sort...sheesh. Just found the recepie for Bridgets fresh bao ...go figure. Now if I can just find someone who can make Wife Soup..... ok, enough.

HAKEN

Truck, mm, inches, Board Size 109 101.00 6.50 under 7 129 127.00 7.60 7.40-7.75 139 137.50 8.00 7.75-8.25 149 150.00 8.50 8.25-8.75 169 162.00 8.90 8.75-9.50 215 183.40 10.00 10 and up

MAIMAIJAYNE

picked my name . . . pretty obviously . . . MAIMAI ~ what Simon likes to call River JAYNE ~ duh :evil:

SUCCATASH

I had a REALLY bad dream. In my dream, I discovered that Michael Moore and George Bush actually work for the same 12 people who really run the world. Moore's goal was to focus attention and blame on Bush, to distract us from the 12 People who actually ordered the war. I watched Kerry, Bush, Moore and Cheney play cards and laugh at each other's jokes. I woke up screaming. Then, I realized that I wasn't awake, because Static and Ebo were lifting weights in my bedroom. They stood just a few feet away from my bed. Ebo was lifting 500 pounds over her head and Static shouted encouragement. They both wore Spandex. Ebo looked 15 years old but she was 10 feet tall! Static was big and strong but he looked really short next to Ebo. Haken suddenly appeared on a floating pony. I woke up screaming. I went out for a cigarette to shake off the bad memories. I couldn't believe I just had a double nightmare. I was visibly shaken, but no one was looking. I arrived late to work, and for some reason everyone at the office was staring at me. I realized in horror that I wasn't wearing any clothes! Then, I woke up screaming. A triple nightmare, how awful. I decided to go back to bed. I was probably still asleep. When I finally woke up, I lay still and hid under my blanket. I was afraid for the next nightmare. I should have gotten up, but instead I fell back asleep. I woke later in the afternoon, and the sun shone brightly through my window. I felt very hot and thirsty. I peeked out from beneath my covers. The bright sun made me blink, but I saw nothing unusual. No more nightmares? I really had to pee. It must have been a really bad dream.

DARKVIOLA

Welcome to the first blog post. Wheeeeeeeeeeee! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

VEARSTWIN

Nothing here...

VEARSTWIN

Why is Wash always wanting to buy a nude beach? In more then a few eps. he's said something about a nude beach.

KRYSTOPHER

I got to see the movie with two of my friends last week it was totally awesome. I mean, it was cheating that they could climb walls. Of course my fav qoute is: Spoon: Sunny? Sunny: Yes detective? Spoon: Calvin's fine. Save me! I loved that. Also: Spoon: Robots building robots. Now that's just stupid. I can't wait for the BDM to come out. I keep telling my friends and they're all like what? So then I get to explain BDM and BDH. I wanna meet the BDH's! A friend of a friend (yeah, I know) went to the ComicCon in California... it's not fair! I wanted to go! Of course, I'd rather be in the movie if I couldn't be in the FireFly universe itself. How did people get into that? I know it's over now but I'm curious how Browncoats got in to the production. One more thing. Can someone explain the qoute 'The World keeps turning. That only matters to people on the rim.'

ASTRIANA

Well, we had our benefit concert last night, and managed to raise a decent amount of money to help out a friend. We had a few rough spots - not the least of which being our lead singer/guitar player having come down with some kind of flu this week, and playing through it - and some real moments of greatness. My favorite moment though, was when Goldy took a moment part-way through the first set to announce that I am now [i]officially[/i] a member of the band!! Yay!! *many happy dances of joy!*

NRKANGEL

63 days left... You know...I told myself last weekend that I was going to start packing and ended up going to the beach with a couple of friends instead. I have to say, I'm not very impressed with my sense of commitment here...(lol!):biggrin: Still, it hit me again last night. Every once in awhile, when the world just stops for a moment and I have the time to sit and reflect, I look at what's going to happen over the next two months and I feel like there's a tidal wave just over the horizon bearing down on me. I can't see it, but I feel a vibration in the back of my head almost like tremors in the water filtering up through the deck, warning me that time is short. There's no way to avoid it. Two months to get my ship in order. Two months to prepare for storms. To do list: part 1 of 5 - start packing, give notice on the apartment (beginning of Sept), find time to go down south and look over new apartments and sign a lease, sell my older car (I had just gotten a newer one early this year.. my timing is, as ever, impeccable). Health ins paperwork, 401K paperwork, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you add to this the need I have to try and button everything up here at work so I leave things as well done as possible, the tingle in my head starts to feel more like the hum of a live wire... Still, there's nothing to do for it but to bear down and do one stupid thing at a time. Frettin' won't finish anything. (Strangely, knowing that don't keep me from frettin'.) Frettin'... fret-ting. To fret. Where the hell did THAT come from? Who was the first person who said, "That looks like a FRET to me..."? (Mystery of the universe #99,802,519,763-b) One thing at a time. Start with packing? For the last two or three years I've been trying to make it a point to cut down on the amount of possessions that I have. To live a slightly cleaner and simplier life. (This is no easy task if you've never tried it.) I have a rule about clothes...I buy something, I have to throw something else out (or give it to goodwill). That means that a new shirt has to replace an old one. Same with jackets, shoes, yadda yadda. You get the picture. This has actually helped quite a bit. As for other stuff, I've been slowly going through boxes and tossing out the unnecesary ballast of the past. I even got brave enough to chuck out a box containing my old high-school yearbooks and other memorabilia. Yeah... I know... I may really regret that later, but being honest with myself, I haven't kept up with almost anyone from that time with all of the moving and such that I've done. Besides, I haven't opened those boxes since before I moved into my current apartment, making it over five years - I guess I really never have been one to do a lot of looking back. But, then, that's not true either. I still have a soft spot for the people I met and the places I went to as an exchange student in London. I have a box of great memories that made the cut. (London when you're student-poor and far away from home - REALLY FAR AWAY for the first time in your life. Books, booze, babes and Buckingham Palace...I have to write about that one of these days...but that's for later.) One thing at a time. The weird thing is, as much as I'd toss out stuff, something would appear as if by some mystical property and claim a patch of shelf or space in the closet. You ever notice that? This memento, that keepsake, 'oh hey-that was a gift from'... Of course, my furniture is practically junk. You could look at my apartment and believe that a college grad student lives there for all the sophistication the furniture exudes. However, the electronics - computers, stereo equipment and such... now that's a whole other story. Let's face it, the embarassing fact is that my electronics are all newer than any of the furniture. I've told people jokingly that if I buy nice furniture I like and get involved with someone, she'll make me toss my stuff out anyway, so why bother? But the real truth of the matter is that, for most of my life I've felt as if the apartments and moves and life chang

ADIWANROC

Now I hate spam with a vengeance, but this raised a smile, not to mention an eyebrow or two, when it just appeared in my inbox (I know I think about Firefly almost constantly, but this was just [i]too[/i] surreal...): From: The Serenity Pill Subject: Depression or mood swings - we can help Serenity is the first effective, safe & natural Mood Enhancer that quickly brings a balance to unwanted mood swings, unstable emotions and unexplainable bouts of sadness. Serenity is truly an amazing product that produces life-changing results. "I have to tell you that this is a wonderful product and has made a dramatic difference in my life." Sheila Escondido, CA Click On the Link Below To Change Your Life for the Better NOW:

HASLINGER

I hate my boss most of the time. He's such a pompous succifant. Always delivering the patronizing remarks in order to puff his chest. I was thinking about it. We all have a certain mental image of ourselves. It, at least for me, changes based on numerous factors. Good Hair Bad Hair days. Point is we have this image and sometimes said image can be a slight skew on reality. We will call it fantasy, sometimes though fantasy can fill a hole that reality only seems to make bigger. To fill that hole many people use an emotional mortar or putty. Lets just call it an Ego. They feel complete, but not secure. Although their castle wall looks menacing as hell, the truth is it will crumble in on itself at the first sign of diress. I hope i get into the Dragon Con festival.

CYNDAMINTHIA

test test... what does this thing do?

DYSTOPIA

I'm off to Vegas Be back Monday... Wish me good times and margaritas... :biggrin:

AURAPTOR

Woke up this morning in a pretty pissed off mood. I had dreamnt that I was playing golf , very badly, at some small time club tournement. It wasn't exactly a John Daley moment, but I was playing horrible golf and was furious. Now, I don't play golf that well to begin with. I've got nothing AGAINST golf, I just don't play it very often. I dig the [i]concept[/i] of golf just fine. Oddly, I've not played it in a LONG time, nor do I plan to...which makes me wonder...what the hell? Andway..it's Thursday...so I got that goin for me

PRAIRIEHARPY

Ok, I'm lost. How do we post pics?

SUCCATASH

I'm going back to school! I just signed up for a bunch of night school classes at the Community College so I can learn PHP and Flash. Also, I'm taking a Javascript and XML class, it should be cool. The whole program will take a year. I hope I can stick with it. And the coolest part is... my job is paying 100% of my tuition. I'm the marketing guy & webmaster at my work but HTML isn't enough these days, I want to learn more. I'm really excited. Classes start at the end of August.

HASLINGER

The girl is named whitney. I didn't really want a relationship, but it happened. What perplexes me about my current situation is the feeling that it will end very soon, and I am not that upset. She is by far the most PHYSICALLY attractive woman I've dated, but it's just not clicking. Not to geek out to hard here, but she's never seen Star Wars, and never plans to. OUCH. She, as I have recently learned, hates sci fi. Not that it really matters that much, but she's only into...INDIES. Don't get me wrong I love independent filmmaking [i sort of have to], but indies seem to always end in some realist depressing fashion. I can't take that all the time. Man i like to tangent. Or would that be more of a digression.

RHYMEPHILE

'kay, this has nothing to do with FF, but it's been driving me crazy, so you're stuck with it. I just finished reading "Cerulean Sins" by Laurell K. Hamilton, the 11th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. I love the universe she created, and I love the characters, and that's why I keep reading. But good [i]Lawd[/i] that woman needs a new editor! Ugh, the plotting is poor and the spelling is atrocious. Multiple spelling mistakes in the [i]same sentence[/i] is just bad. It's been that way throughout all of her books, and I can't seem to understand why such a popular author doesn't get someone better (or someone at all?) to read over the damn manuscript. The word "alright" is not all right in a book. It's totally incorrect. "Marshall" is a name, not a federal marshal. The word "toward" is used in American English, while the word "towards" -- used extensively in this book -- is generally British usage. I also know it's wrong as far as AP standards, because I used to be an editor for a newspaper. It's stupid stuff like that that always ruins her books for me. Well, that and the lack of plot. Her books remind me of Plot?What Plot? (PWP)fanfic. Has anyone who has read her books just wished that Jean-Claude would sit Anita down and give her a history lesson on vampire politics and customs? That would solve like, 99% of her problems in any novel. It's a standard theme now in her novels to have hundreds of pages of vampire politics, sex, and descriptions of Anita's emotions and senses in between a few pages of plot. "Cerulean Sins" is especially poor in plot, and it's really disappointing. The first time the actual plot is mentioned, the murders, is on page 110. Sheesh. Then there's more sex and vampires, and the last few chapters go back to the murders. By that time I don't even care. It's a shame because the universe she has created is so unique as far as vampires go. I'm fascinated with that aspect of her books. It's too bad the rest is laughable.

CHANNAIN

Wow. I was just looking through my reviews today and I gotta say the response has been surprisingly good. I mean all I did was expunge an idea that refused to lie still. I thought, "There had to be a time before the war when Mal was happy. A reason why he was so passionate about winning a doomed war. Where was he? Who had a hand in making him happy? And where did that cross come from? What if he got it from a woman?" Amazing what the words "what if" can do. So here's the scoop. Heartbroken 7 is on its way. It's in the hands of my Beta group even as I type. One critique has come back and I'm waiting on at least two more, so it should be posted shortly. Heartbroken 8 will follow, concluding this little tale of mine. I apologize for the delays between installments, but I had this idea that I shouldn't write while I'm going to school (AD in Graphic Design), so I didn't during first quarter, thinking I would catch up during my break. Only I didn't do that either. The resolution for part 7 didn't even hit me until I was headed back for Summer quarter, so it seems I write better when I'm under pressure... go figure. If you're unable to visit this site regularly - due to what the writers for "Adventures in Gunrunning" call "Real Life Issues" - but would like to see how this ends, I would be happy to notify you when it's posted. E-mail me at channain@yahoo.com and you'll be added to my Browncoats list for notices on my artwork and fan fic. Speaking of the real world, I've recently been given the crazy notion of releasing Heartbroken as a digest-size fanzine, complete with illustrations that will include the crew of the Zirondelle. It seems pretentious of me to think that anyone would want to pay money for something like that, but if you're one of those who would, please indicate that in the e-mail as well. I'll likely do illustrations of the Zirondelle crew anyway, just because I feel like it. Those will be posted on my artist page at MNArtists.org, saving Haken a little bandwidth. Keep flying!

CYNDAMINTHIA

ok, I've only been on this site for a day, but ... is there no way to search for people? or, users? Aii.... Anyways, I'm a tourguide for my university, so I gave a tour this morning, and it lasted a really really long time. Plus, it looked like it was gonna rain. phoooey, we were gonna go out tonight too.

BLINKSGURL

hey this is my first blog. very boring indeed just thought i shouldn't make my profile too boring. so yea

HASLINGER

Here it is another Saturday. Another weekend. Based on the response of my last blog, I must be careful what I write. It became apparent to me that I came across as a shallow personality, whose mental awareness to the other side of people has promptly become obtunded. Should I attempt to “defend” my logic or move on not caring? Well, I do care. If I am going to put it all out on the line why not? In the aforementioned blog, I wrote about that she is “by far the most PHYSICALLY attractive woman I have dated.” That was not an exclusive remark. It simply meant that she is attractive physically. It does not mean that I am attacking her inner self, only questioning what we as a couple have to grow on. If these few weeks are the seed, I need to know the ph of the soil. The male ego. A delicate flower in the so-called garden of life. Many of us are ridiculous really. For 20 minutes today I had to hear about how satisfying my boss is….sexually. Now really. I DON’T CARE. But what fascinates me is the obsession with phallic discussions. There are two types of male responses to such conversations. The first is the “defender.” This is the type that defends their manhood by telling others of its oversized proportional properties. Within this type there are two subgroups; those that instigate and those that are passive; they only fire when a threat is eminent. The Second type is the complete opposite of the first. Instead of bragging about the enormity of themselves, they simply discuss how undersized they happen to be. I fall into this category. Laughter as a defense mechanism. “I’ve never measured. What if you thought it was one size, but after you checked it, it is smaller than you thought. I have no proportion judging skills. I’d be crushed.” It sounds funnier than it’s written. My whole point on this tangent is to say this. In the end women have the power. The male ego is dictated by their response, not ours. They can destroy us with one word…”Small.” If it were the other way around we’d all be some very arrogant individuals. It’s all about balance, or at least I hope so. I am running low on self-esteem.

ZIL

feeling like a change in leadership?