AURAPTOR

Haven't watched the dvd proper yet, but I did poke around and check out some of the extras. Neat stuff! And yes, I found the easter egg -- all by myself! Tricky placement, it was. :smile:

BOOKADDICT

You know you're obsessed when you're 7 year old son can sing every word of the Firefly theme song. (And he doesn't even get to watch all the episodes!) You know you're obsessed when after years of reading fan fiction you actually write some. You know you're obsessed when you miss the corner you were supposed to turn at...because you're thinking of something to write. You know you're obsessed when you leave the surf club Christmas party early so you can go home and write more of your story (I had been there for 5 hours, surely that's long enough) You know you're obsessed when you write something like this...and hope that similarly obsessed people will read and understand!

REGINAROADIE

Hey all I'm killing time before my brother and me head to Moose Jaw for a family thing, and I was thinking about something. I've read a lot of posts about Joss Whedon being The Master and that BUFFY/ANGEL/FIREFLY are the greatest shows ever produced and how anything out there that DOESN'T have Whedon's or any of his associates names attached to it is just garbage and not worth mentioning and that tv was only good when Joss had a show on. It's this narrow mindedness that I find on the Internet that is the only thing that I don't like about these fan sites. Now, the community here is very warm and friendly and open minded and all that. But on occassion, I do see a "Whedon rules, everyone else sucks" post here that discourages me. And it discourages me, because there is so much good out there that people just walk past because of one prejudice or another. In my 20 years on this planet, I have probably seen far more movies and tv than anyone I know. Some people consider me a walking encyclopedia of film and tv. And I know that there is far more out there for me to savor and discover. I know that on a film geek level, I am nowhere near say Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese. But the joy in being a film geek is that I'm always discovering something new. Something richer and grander out there to make up for the mediocrity that's out there. And I practice what I preach. Sometimes I go to something that I normally would not have an interest in and watch it so that I can discover its appeal or get a better understanding as to why people think this stuff is great. Two examples. Last night, I went to see PRIDE AND PREJUDICE at the Rainbow. Normally these Victorian era/Jane Austen/European costume films bore me to tears (AMADEUS was the only one I can stand because it's probably the best film ever made about the artisitc struggle), but I heard good stuff about it and how it's a sleeper hit, and so I watched it. And it still bored me to tears. But I gave it a shot. The same could be said for Ingmar Bergman. Outside of THE SEVENTH SEAL, I fucking hate the guy. And he's supposed to be one of the best filmmaker's EVER. But when I saw that SARABAND, the first film he's made in like 20 years, was being shown at the RPL, I went to it to see if maybe if he did something recent, I'd like it more. And while it didn't completely alienate me, it still wasn't my thing. Maybe if I'm older I would have dug it more. Getting back on topic, Joss Whedon is a great writer with a fantastic imagination, no doubt about it. But I would rather watch an ep of SIX FEET UNDER to see a better depiction of the impact of death than "The Body" for the xth time. I'd rather listen to the dialogue that Kevin Smith has between his characters than with Joss's characters. On a visual scale, there are numerous filmmakers who have a better eye for composing images than Whedon. And for touching moments between human beings, indie cinema is the way to go, I feel. This is not meant to be inflammatory. I'm just saying that there's an infinite verse of amazing films and tv shows out there, and that it's worth discovering, even if Whedon's name isn't attached to it. The way I see it, the movies and the tv shows that come out every year is like a pile of gravel. The majority of it is just pebbles and dirt. Sometimes you think you've found gold, but it's actually iron pyrite. But if you look close enough and realy get your hands and arms dirty, you can find the hidden gems in that gravel pile.

SIMONWHO

So. 2005. Nearly done. And yet... there's still two days left. You'd be amazed at what can happen in two days. I look back at this year and... well, to quote from The Producers; "We picked the wrong script, the wrong director, the wrong cast... where did we go right?" Basically this year has wound up being this bizarre sequence of events where the world seems to be putting its arm around my shoulders and going "You know best". Of course, the only sore point is Serenity's disappointment at the box office. That wobbled me a bit. But pretty much everything else... So I go into the new year, for the first time in a long while filled not with hope or expectation but a desire for things to carry on as before. As a relentless optimist, it can be pretty disconcerting when suddenly every cloud does have a silver lining, the sun does come out tomorrow and this particular dog has his day. 2006 - you've got a hard act to follow.

SWAHILI

*Spoiler Warning* Today while watching Serenity...again...I started wandering why Joss had to kill off Wash. I was trying to think of another crew member he could have killed off instead of Wash and I realized that there isn't one. Although Wash is one of my favorite characters I still couldn't think of anyone that I would prefer to meet there demise. You now that you have something good when all the characters are loved. In all the other shows and movies I have watched there has been that one character who just gets on your nerves.

PSYCHICRIVER

Well, today I watched the BDM for the 15th time. And I suddenly realised halfway through that maybe now I was just watching it, and not really seeing it. And then I re-lived it, like it was the first time I saw it. And it was great! And I've decided I might start doing small short review-y blogs on certain small scenes every now and then, as I watch, and re-watch, and re-watch Serenity again and again. And I think I'll start with, the beginning! Sounds like a good place. I love it so much. It's so engaging. It spins the viewer around a lot, and you really have to pay close attention on first viewing, especially if you're new to the verse. I mean, at first you're just looking at the Universal logo. And its probably familiar to most people. Its on the front of many films. You've probably seen it a lot before. And then all of a sudden, whoa...it's not just a logo, it's part of the film. You're looking at the earth, and then you're thrown into the story. And you're hearing some sort of future-history, and then, cut, you're in...what is this? A classroom? And this teacher is talking, and then there's this little girl, and then she pokes her in the head and you realise it was just a memory, within a dream. And you're in a lab now. And what are they doing to this girl? Who is that slick attractive guy with the baton?? Whats he going to do? And then whoa...he's undercover. Wait, he's, her brother? Hey, is she on the ceiling?!? Then. "Stop." "Backtrack." Oh, it's a hologram! It's just soo genius. So chippy-choppy. So much information conveyed visually and orally and in such an interesting way. It's so engaging.