This Year's Model of Humanity

Serenity was, of course, brilliant. I won something at the raffle, too! A beaded bracelet and necklace. They will go perfectly with the shirt that I was already planning to wear to Club Vivid. Yay! Plus, I got swag from making additional donations, plus I bought a chalkboard mug (and chalk to go with it). And they showed JW's Equality Now speech before the movie. His 'strong women characters' speech that makes me cry (always, whenever he gets to the bit about equality being like gravity, being necessary to stand on this earth as men and women).

The movie made me cry five times (each time, I cry more and laugh more and just adore it more -- how does he do that?). Also, Simon and River are so Dean and Sam that it broke my heart. Oh, this makes me love both sib sets even more than I did before!

There was so much cheering and general wonderful-ness in the audience. I'm really hoping that this is a permanent yearly event, because it's so much fun.

And, now, I will go watch The Sound of the Drums.

Because it appears to be the thing to do at the moment.
( Shipping Firefly the butterfly way (in eight easy steps; spoilers for Serenity, the movie) )

I have rarely had as easy a time getting other people to enjoy a show as I have with Firefly (Stargate SG-1 is also a really easy sell, though). All I need to do is show the real pilot episode, and people get hooked. Ended up going through the first two discs of the series with a couple of people tonight, because they kept wanting to see more (and they've expressed interest in seeing the movie, which, yay!).

Which is a thrillin' feeling. Firefly is a show with such a delightful cast of characters. There isn't a one of them that I don't love. And it's wonderful to see other people fall in love with them, too.

So, I rewatched from Serenity to Jaynestown tonight (It appears that Simon sheds the vests at the end of Jaynestown. At least, it's the first time that we see him in that sweater, I do believe. He's starting to adjust to the black.). The character continuity really does just blow the mind, when they're watched that closely together. It all makes so much sense, the way it spirals around.

Love this show. Love these people. Love this Whedon, man.

ETA: Just went out to the kitchen to grab a bite and they're watching more (they're up to Ariel). Very cool.

So, I've seen Serenity three times now. Each time, I've liked it better (and I liked it a good deal the first time 'round). It really is a movie that rewards repeat viewing. ( Spoilers for Serenity, the movie )

Many thanks to the people on my flist who had timeline thoughts. I'm leaning on the side of Joss not having the best math in the 'verse, as is common with writers. Though repeated viewings of everything in order may help me on figuring things.

Not about the movie. There are zero movie spoilers in this post.

I can still remember the first time I saw Firefly. It's funny, I can't actually remember the episode (and I don't mention the title in my post about it), but I remember just being curious. Fine, I thought to myself at last, I'll go check out this new thing that Joss is all excited about, this thing that is more important to him than Buffy.

The characters that struck me on that first viewing were Simon and River ("fascinating"), the Captain ("is cool, I guess") and the first officer ("was interesting"). The next week, I decided that I loved everyone (Jayne, I hated "in a loving way"). I adored the couple that is Wash and Zoe, found Simon and River's relationship even more interesting, and noticed the gayness (shipped and still ship Mal/Simon). Again, I didn't note the name of the episode, but I'd guess from context that it was Safe. After this episode, girlfromsouth made me up a tape of the eps already aired and mailed them to me.
( After that, I was doomed, really. )

Anything beloved is worth fighting for. Whether it's a person or a dream or a cause or a television show - if it matters, if it is loved, then it's worth the fight, even if you don't win.

In the Firefly theme, there's that phrase - "You can't take the sky from me," and no one can. No one can take a dream away from someone.

Firefly is a reminder to look up at the sky and see the beauty of the flickering black. Stars burn and explode, but their light lasts far beyond their time of dying. That's the way it is with anything that burns that hotly.

And as long as the show is loved, Serenity is still flying.

And look at us now.

We're still flying.

Oh, and on a related note, my mom (I saw Serenity with her on Saturday) just sent me an email, and she said this in it: "Guess what. Serenity is a HIT with our astronomy club! Everybody loves it and is going out to buy the Firefly DVDs."

( Spoilers for Serenity )

Side note: one of the things that I see, in pro movie reviews, are 'compare and contrast's that are about saying one thing is better than another. Most recently, several reviews of Serenity are saying 'so much better than the new Star Wars' flicks. This is a mindset that I can somewhat understand, but one that I most emphatically don't share. It seems to be based off of the zero-sum game -- the idea that love and appreciation are finite and that to love one thing diminishes the amount of love that one can hold for another, similar, thing.

Now, I only live in my own head, but for me, love is not a zero-sum game. Love is infinite, and I have found that loving new things only increases my appreciation for the things that I loved already. Ex. loving Star Wars gave me a whole new wave of understanding and love for science fiction in general. I tend to think of this as a good thing. I do understand why reviews would do that, as they assume, perhaps, that one can't see all the movies in the world and want people to prioritize based on their preferences. But this does, I think, explain why I'm not overly fond of movie reviews in the first place.

Main note: So, I have something of a rule. I do my best to appreciate things for what they are, not for what I wish them to be. How successful I am at that is debatable, but I think that it makes me happier as a fan.
( Spoilers for Serenity )

Just... 100 words in reaction to the movie.

( Spoilers for Serenity, the movie. )