ASARIAN

I just read the "Dead or Alive" script. Maybe I shouldn't have. :( Look what River sings, at the fair: "And the beautiful princess every night prayed for her handsome prince... ... to fight through the terrible ivy of thorns and climb up to her room and slay all the wicked, evil demons... And then the beautiful princess got tired of waiting for her handsome prince and tried to escape, but they found her and to punish her they locked her in a smelly, white, cold room where the evil blue demons strapped electrodes to her face and started to shock her. Zap, zap, zap, until she couldn't stop screaming. Only no one could hear." I know, I'm supposed to say something really inspirational now, make it all better. I could say how River stretches out her arms to a little lost girl; and how she finally holds and hugs that child; and how beautiful that is. But I'm not going to. :( What they did to River was sooooo wrong. :( *tears* So alone! So isolated! You all know how much I Love my precious River! And if there's any hope to be found in the story, I'm usually the first to point it out. But tonight I feel the best way for me to Love River, is to respect her suffering in full; undiluted, and unmitigated: the raw footage. :( River as River is. I'm so near my River, right now. *cry* Standing right next to her, in fact, in Dr. Mathias lab. And I'm trying to contain my tears; unsuccessfully. :( But what matter, she cannot see me, anyway. I'm like a ghost. And I gently rest my hand on her shoulder, but she knows it not. And I have no response to her screaming anyway, except to whisper the most comforting thing I can think of now: "Little one, I hear you! I hear you."

JONESTEIN

As most of my friends will tell you, I am the Couch-Potato Incarnate. My life revolves around movies, television, and books...especially the television shows I love, some more than others. The "some" I speak of usually become obsessions. Well folks, the short-lived, 2002 series "Firefly" has become my latest obsession. When the show aired on FOX in 2002, I vaguely remember catching the first episode, but I'm not sure why I didn't get hooked. It might have been because I picked up on the "Western" feel of the show, and I typically don't care for the Western genre. I know now that had the idiots at FOX aired the original two-hour pilot, I would have been eased into the whole western thing and probably wouldn't have given it a second thought. This new obsession began recently when I rented the movie "Serenity" from my local Blockbuster store(which, by the way, had a pathetic amount of shelf space allocated for the movie...it took me three weeks to finally get my hands on a copy). Even though I'm a fan of Joss Whedon's work (Buffy, Angel), I really didn't have any expectations about "Serenity". No-to-low expectation movies usually turn out to be among my favorites, some, like "Serenity", ignite the obsessive-compulsive in me and I completely immerse myself in the obsession. I've dubbed this latest obsession the "Browncoat Quickening"...those familiar with the "Highlander" universe will understand the metaphor. After watching Serenity, I immediately became hooked on the Firefly universe (or 'Verse). The next day, Serenity and the Firefly DVD set joined my DVD library, and the "Browncoat Quickening" began. My head was shaking in disbelief when I finished the original 2-hour pilot (also titled "Serenity"), followed immediately by the pilot that FOX chose to air("The Train Job"). What a complete and unmitigated job of sabotage by the knuckleheads at FOX, the same knuckleheads who cancelled great shows like "Brimstone", "John Doe", "Strange Luck", and ironically, "Dark Angel", whose Season Two FOX sabotaged, cancelled, and replaced with "Firefly". The "Train Job" wasn't a bad episode, but it was an ineffective PILOT episode that rushed to introduce the characters and the Firefly 'Verse...and as I mentioned earlier, stressed the Western-genre flavor of the show before FIRST establishing the character-driven & naturalistic science fiction aspects that are essential for understanding and "getting" the show. Firefly was doomed from the start. Anyway, following the head-shaking, disbelief, and explicatives, I devoured the remaining Firefly episodes in about a day and a half, then re-watched the movie Serenity with a whole new appreciation...not just for the great movie, but the fact that the movie was even made. And the "Quickening" continues...I've sought out every online Firefly resource, bought the comic book, the collection of Firefly essays, the visual companion, and the Serenity soundtrack. I am completely hooked and can say without a shred of doubt: Firefly was the best damn television show EVER made, period.

GIRLASKEW

Has anyone else seen Nathan in this months Premiere magazine? I know some other helpful browncoaty person gave me a heads up. The article was a really nice little blurb, but I was so dissapointed by the picture. I was hoping for something I could put up on my wall. He looked like Nathan, don't misunderstand. But his head, and most of his face was covered. Yeah, he had too many articles of clothing on, but ya know. That was to be expected. I donno. Just wondered what other peoples opinions are...

SYRYN

watching 24 i chuckled when one of the ctu people used a fake name to get a sevretary out of the way... she said she was jane espinson. "my husband was like who is that" i was like "a writer on ff!" usually he catches things like that. in other news i have been promoted at my job again. = more headaches. better news into geocaching and found some gitd dino skeletons that reminded me of wash, i look forward to finding a good cache to leave them in.

KAELE

She made me do it. I promised her fanfic. Now I've gone and done it. It's begun. That deadly cycle of writing, being a slave to the typed word. Curse you and your wily ways woman! Curse you! Curse you! Wait a second. I can make Mal do whatever I want him to do. ...this might not be so bad after all...

JESHIKAT

Let me just start off with... DAMN HICK UPS!!! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!! *ahem... Now that I have the outta my system - any suggestions on how to get rid of them? I've been holding my breath ALL day... well not literally but I thought I got rid of the buggers... guess again! In my job, I'm on the phone constantly (and though I don't get embarrassed easily, cos I'm like the person that does stuff to lighten everyones mood - even if that does mean get laughed at) it's kinda irr*rrrrup*ating

AUSSAY

Well this is my first blog. I just recently joined here and just wanted to say thanks for the welcome. Browncoats are without the best fans in the 'verse and this site has the best Looking forward to your posts and hope to help you bring Firefly back.

ASARIAN

Kayna gave me such beautiful gift, the other day. And I still do not think she realizes how I'm still buzzing from the beauty of it. :) You know, earlier I blogged that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in people. But, conversely, it only takes the slightest touch to reach out to a person and heal them in ways you never expected. Anyone who can touch you, can hurt you or heal you. Which is why I bruise easily. And which is also why my heart stays always open: to allow for people to touch me in ways that can heal me. River can, on occasion, unsettle me profoundly. But in a good way; in a way that allows me to connect to humanity, chaff and grain together. And like the Natasha Bedingfield song (yes, I had a life before the 'verse), I practise in staying vulnerable; as I'm fond of saying: my weakness is my strength. Perhaps I should just quote a verse: My skin is like a map Of where my heart has been And I can't hide the marks It's not a negative thing So I let down my guard Drop my defenses down by my clothes I'm learning to fall With no safety net to cushion the blow That is who I am; or aspire to be, at least. River allows me to fall deep. And that is good; because that's where I found her, yesterday: alone, in the deep, where she cried out, only no one could hear her. :( And I just sat there, and cried with her. :( And it was all good. For River, the girl I found broken, a word from the book that is broken: From the depths, oh Lord, we cry unto You. Speaking of depths, I have a young cousin; and, one day, he wished to teach me Pokemon; and, playful as I am, I let him. So, I was playing with his gameboy (Pokemon Yellow, I believe). And I recall being stuck in some stupid cave. But, lucky for me, I had an escape rope and could magically whisk out of there, lol. :) The other day, I was in that cave again. So, that's why this blog is... For Kayna, the girl who threw me a rope, when I was at the end of mine.

KAELE

I have now decided that I shall no longer continue my work on the fanfic. It is go se. Too many people hate it. It has recieved ratings so high that it does not merit them. I can't stand the attention and adulations and since I'm such an accomplished writer and don't wish to deal with you dregs of fandom, you can all kiss my... --- Wow. I'm really bowled over by how well you guys liked what I did. Even Kess thought it was passable. And no, I've never really written a fictional story before. I AM new at this, had all the school stuff but that was years and years ago and storytelling wasn't really my strong suit. I got involved in the Galactic Embassy years back. It's an online text-based RPG that has it roots in Yahoo chat, moved to Yahoo clubs, then Yahoo Groups, and now has it's own site. Granted, it's Star Wars, but the genre was close enough and my Shadow Jedi called Kaele kicked some major arse. Not in fighting mind you, but in manipulation. Turning Sith was a pure joy. The only downfall was that most of my role play was turn-based. I would write a paragraph, then another would write their side. But it was good exercise in description. Unfortunately, I couldn't control plot so well, but in all modesty most of the players there to this day now follow my RPG style that myself and a few of my friends employed. Now that I've moved to completely controlling the story, I'm a little daunted by it. So this is as much a voyage of discovery for you as it is for me. I do little editing, so please excuse some of the rough feel. I have a very relaxed style of writing, but if you notice, many writers are falling into that lately. I consider it 'mind-candy' writing. All the essential parts of a story but easier to read. Like Joss' example on Firefly and Serenity, I'm aiming to be a slave to the story and its development. I cannot claim to be anywhere near as experienced and talented as him, but he's a mold to experiment with. You know, that nasty kind that gets in grout and never comes out.

SHINYTALENT

I've been watching more of Firefly/Serenity than usual. By that I mean that if I'm home and not in the shower then it's on. I even have it on while I sleep- I haven't been doing much of that lately and I find it helps. Well yesterday after watching Safe I had to go out, one of my friends wanted me to come with her when she released a baby Platypus out in the wild. I never really thought much about most animals. I love horses, wolves, dogs and penguins- aside from that I just don't register a lot of interest. Especially since I always thought that the platypus was a creepy looking animal. Anway we're sitting in her car and I have to hold the little critter's cage, and I'm not paying a whole lot of attention, it's asleep and it just don't seem so important. We get to the section of river where the little guy needs to be released and she asks me if I want to do it. So I put the gloves on and I'm holding it and of course it wakes up. But then I have this moment, where it's staring at me and I'm staring back and I develop a whole new appreciation for this animal. 'Safe' just comes flashing back to me as I watch the little guy swim away- "Little souls, big world." and I suddenly understand what she's saying. It was a complete epiphany sort of moment. I went back and rewatched a lot of the episodes and Serenity and I gained a whole new perspective as to what she was saying. Her words are often like a layer cake, so many meanings from one phrase. It's incredible. So yeah yesterday for me was River Appreciation Day. I'm doing a lot better after yesterday, things are dark, but they aren't the blackest night anymore, I'm lost in the woods but the mist is clearing and I'm slowly getting my bearings back. Even looking forward to my birthday, which approaches rapidly. I'm 21 in 26 days, I can't believe this, I'm sure I should be a lot older, so much has happened in 21 years- and once again I find myself empathising with River. Everyone thank you so much for your love, support and kind words. I couldn't ask to have met better people. Thank you so much Asarian and Riverrun and Bookaddict especially. The three of you have been so wonderful to me. I'm glad to know everyone here though. Thank you. Have the shiniest rest of the week imaginable.