You Can't Take the Sky

A tribute, amongst many.

2006-03-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time between posts. Lots has happened, and I could talk about it all, but...

Sad news. Loss. Pain. Tears.

We're a close bunch, us Aussie browncoats. The Serenity Oz board has given us such a great community. I was there when it opened in June 2005 (I think). There were only a few of us, and now we have over 1500 members. Our shindigs have become larger and more frequent - in the last 4 months, we've had two All Aussie shindigs, and we've got another one coming up in the middle of the year. It's been great to come together, to realise that we are a big family, that being a Browncoat and being amongs other Browncoats is more emotionally satisfying than any of us could ever have imagined.

Since the inception of the board, there have been a few personalities that have really come to the fore, really become the beating heart of the OzCoats community. One of these personalities was Chocolate (real life name: Than...but most of us just called him Chocky...) From humble and shy beginnings (the amount of persuasion needed to get him out to a shindig for the first time was phenomenal!!), he became the centre of every shindig, the light of the forums, the Daddy Bear of the community.

Chocolate died early on Saturday morning, after many health complications - the latest diagnosis being lung cancer.

I didn't even know he was in hospital - he was a very private man, not wanting people to make a fuss. But what a fuss we would have made, for the man who touched all of us so profoundly.

Yesterday, Saturday, a shindig had already been organised. It became a wake, a tribute, a rememberance of Chocky. We cried, we laughed, we raised a toast to his memory and his legacy. We went to the Orient Hotel, the scene of one of our happiest days, where we all met Joss Whedon, where Chocky got to have a chat with Joss, and sat in the beer garden and reminisced.

Chocolate was family, just as all Browncoats are family. We love each other beyond the telling of it, and this loss to the family is almost too much to bear. There are so many things I wish that I had said to Chocky, that I had told him. I wish so much that I had the chance to listen to him wax lyrical about something close to his heart, just one more time.

So many Browncoats owe so much to this man - he inspired us, encouraged us and insisted that we reach into that great unknown. For this, if for nothing else, he will be remembered with great love, and mourned with much sorrow, by Browncoats around Australia.

Fly high, Chocky...

I like to have a beer with Joss...

2005-10-10T03:43:00.000-07:00

'cause Joss is my mate.

Or something like it.

Sunday September 11, 2005. 11.30am. ZB is fuzzy and hungover from her 30th birthday celebrations the previous night, and is awoken by a phone call from mimbles.

"Guess who the newest registered user on Serenity Oz is?"

No. He didn't. He couldn't. OMG!!

"Yup, it's Joss! And you have to see what he posted, and then you have to get there!"

What he posted? Eh?

ZB wanders over to the 'puter and logs in. And there it is: a post from Joss...

Hello there.

So I'm here in Sydney and tomorrow I've a monstrous bunch of yakking to do, press and all that, a screening -- you guys know the drill. But today, being as that I'm footloose and fancy free, I thought it might be fun to sit down with a few peeps over a foamy beer and be a little less structured. I'm staying near the Orient, which is in the Rocks, so around 5:00 pm I figure to wander down there and hoist a few (just a few). If you're free and bored swing by. I'll be the one with the white carnation and a copy of "War and Peace". (That might be not true.) I'll be the one that looks like Joss, only more tired. (Wait, I always look tired. Maybe I better bring "War and Peace" after all.)

So I looked at the badges of the customs officials at the airport and thought, "What a coincidence. They're both named SYD." Yeah, I'm that guy.

See you (?) later -joss.

What the fuck? You must be kidding me? The man who wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and just wrote and directed the US$40 million movie Serenity, is asking his fans to join him for a beer?

Joss, the man whose shows have gotten me through breakups and breakdowns, the man whose wit and vision inspires me always, the man whose series Firefly brought me into the international Browncoat family, is going to be at a pub in Sydney, having a quiet beer with his fellow Browncoats?

Wow. Did I ever mention that I adore Joss? Well, I adore him even more now...

So I pulled myself together, and got a lift to the city with davej. I was terrified. Terrified. We met up with a group of about 10 other Browncoats, and hovered near the front door. And then Joss was crossing the road and entering the pub. Cargos and a tshirt and a blue shirt. No camers, no press, no security (though it turns out that security did follow him - they just had the easiest job of their lives that day! Browncoats are well behaved people). We all kinda waved tentatively, and Joss smiled, said "Hi" and went to buy a beer. An attempt which was quickly quashed by davej, who bought it for him instead!

Some other browncoats had taken over some tables in the beer garden, and found us and Joss, and we all went outside. The beer garden rapidly filled, as more and more browncoats arrived at the pub. Joss was the centre of a circle of adoring, and very quiet, fans. He eventually asked if anyone wanted anything signed or to have a photo "because I need the adoration, people!"

I went to the upstairs bar, which had just opened, and found a manager, and asked if we could use the seperate room up there. She replied that it was usually closed on Sundays.

ZB: "You ever seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"
Bar manager: "Yeah".
ZB leads bar manager over to window overlooking the beer garden and points at Joss and the dangerously overflowing Browncoats around him.
ZB: "See that guy in the blue shirt? That's Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed Buffy. He's in Australia for two days and asked his fans to join him for a beer. The beer garden is getting filled to capacity. Can we please use this room?"
Bar manager: ".....okay. Sure."

I thanked the bar manager, went back downstairs and waited until Joss finished an anecdote, then let everyone know to go upstairs. We all filed up, and I got to lead Joss up there - and this is my one real moment with Joss:

ZB: "This is a brave and interesting thing that you're doing."
JW: "It's a little more brave and interesting than I expected. Thank you for organising the room. I'm not very good at organising things."
ZB: "I find that a little hard to believe."

And that was it. I was happy to bask and watch Joss work his magic on the now packed room. Estimates of the numbers there tend towards there being around 100 Browncoats there that day. And pretty much every one of those browncoats got a little chat with Joss, something signed, and photos with him.

The room had about 10 tables in it, and Joss just worked his way around the tables, spending about 15 minutes at each. All the browncoats there waited (mostly) patiently, and drank, and talked, and met people they'd never met before. It was a great atmosphere, and everyone was so positive and buzzed that Joss was there, that there really wasn't any badness at all.

I was, of course, overcome with shyness, and didn't want to crowd Joss when he had so many people to talk to, but my friend nixygirl was having none of that. Joss knew nixygirl from Whedonesque, and was incredibly happy to meet her. She kept saying to me that I needed a photo with him, and I kept demurring, until...

nixygirl: "JOSS! Joss, over here!"
JW: "What's up, nixy?"
nixygirl: "You have to meet ZuckerBaby - she does heaps for the Browncoats community, she's really active at promoting Serenity, you need to meet her."
JW, seriously: "Where is she?"
nixygirl points at me, where I am standing, stunned. Joss comes over and grabs me around the shoulders and gives me a squeeze. I can't say anything but "Thank you". nixygirl takes a couple of photos, and here they are:

Joss and ZB

Joss and ZB take two

mimbles, Joss and ZB

Joss stayed at the pub for about 3 and a half hours, until the jet lag finally got the better of him. The browncoats still at the pub drifted off, and went home, feeling on top of the world. I was buzzing with excitement and happiness and couldn't sleep, and found that a lot of other people who were there had the same experience.

What more can I say about Joss, his relationship with Browncoats, and the Browncoats community? Joss took the time to hang out with his Browncoats, took the time to let us know how much he cares for us and respect us. This community has been, and continues to be, a hugely positive one to be part of. The feeling that our Big Damn Heroes are as much a part of the community as the fans are is a huge part of that positive experience. Thank you Joss for meeting with us, and thank you to all the Browncoats there for making it such a wonderful day.

Garbled rememberances of the lead up to Serenity.

2005-10-10T03:12:00.000-07:00

Wow. The last 2 months have been...insane. Insane in a ridiculously good way, but insane nonetheless.

As I said in my last post, I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Bernard Zuel for the Sydney Morning Herald - and the article was released in the first weekend of September, as the cover article of the Spectrum magazine. Which, cool. I can't find the article archived at the SMH, but it was a great read, and I'm not just saying that because Mim and I were quoted!!

At an August prescreening of Serenity, complete with a message from Joss before the movie began, Mim and I were interviewed by James Valentine for Showtime Movie News. That was a blast - though Mim was ill and I was unaware that I was going to be interviewed until a couple of minutes beforehand! I caught the (really positive) story on Fox8, as have a few of my friends ("I saw you on telly, ZB - it was great. And then I saw you again. And again. And why do they have to show the damn thing over and over again?!")

Heh. I've used up a little bit more of my 15 minutes in the last 2 months...

Then Joss came to Australia. And my life will never be the same again.

I'm going to do a seperate post (with photos!) of the most amazing experience of my life, so I'll leap that and get to the Joss Whedon Q and A screening of Serenity, shall I? Which, yes, pretty much up there as ridiculously amazing also.

I had organised a "Thank You" book from Oz browncoats through the Serenity Oz site, and FireBug had organised a fabulous gift of a drizabone, and we also had clapping sticks and a boomerang organised by mimbles, and a plush koala with a Jayne hat ("The Marsupial called Jayne") from the Brisbane browncoats (go, nicoleh!). UIP kindly allowed two fans to present these gifts to Joss before he started the Q and A, and mimbles doubly kindly allowed me to take one of those places - FireBug taking the other.

Joss was very taken with the drizabone, and I hope he enjoyed the other gifts as well (including the many boxes of additional gifts brought by all the browncoats at the screening!) The Q and A was wonderful and funny and witty and thought provoking - as only Joss can be. I lined up and got an autograph, which I am yet to figure out what to do with. Apart from, you know, look at it and whimper.

Serenity opened on Thursday September 29, with overwhelmingly positive reviews - yay David Stratton for comparing seeing Serenity to seeing Star Wars for the first time in 1978! I went to a Gold Class screening of the movie on that Thursday with a bunch of other browncoats - kind of like our own little premiere! I've now seen it 7 times (including the test and preview screenings) and it just doesn't get old or boring. In fact, every time I see it there are new nuances, lines, pieces of direction, dialogue...Did I mention that it's a really good film and you all should see it? It's a really good film and you all should see it...

Interview with a Joss fan (or three)

2005-08-24T01:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Bernard Zuel of the Sydney Morning Herald is doing a story on Joss Whedon, Firefly and Serenity for the Spectrum magazine (September 3 issue). I've been dying to break this news ever since I found out about it, but was waiting until UIP confirmed it.

And how did I know about it beforehand? Through the extreme kindness of another Browncoat. Mim, who runs the Browncoats Downunder yahoo group (whilst JenskiJen is overseas, livin' la vida Browncoat), and who I helped to organise the Weekend Shindig, has become the "known" fan with UIP. I got a very excited email from her a couple of weeks ago, because UIP had contacted her and asked her if she would mind being interviewed by Bernard Zuel for his piece. She, in her infinite kindness, asked UIP if it was okay if she got someone else along as well, and asked me to come along and hold her hand.

Now, I'm not sayin' I really like talkin', and talkin' about Joss in particular, but oh boy did I jump at the chance!! (Thank you Mim!!)

We organised to meet up at Mim's place, and after some unfortunate experiences with the NSW rail system (what system?), I was picked up by Mim (with Bernard in the back seat?!) and off we went.

I cannot for the life of me remember what the hell we talked about - apart from, you know, Joss. Bernard had done a 50 minute interview with Joss, and was going to do interviews with academics (I think) and, of course, we were the "rabid fan" section of the interview. Which is fine by me!

I had a little spiel all planned about Firefly and family and how Joss and the cast and the fans have all formed an international family and that's what I love most about the Serenity/Browncoats phenomenon. But I promptly forgot to say it in all of the excitement. We talked about why we enjoy Joss' work, how we got into it, why Firefly is so brilliant, what we want out of Serenity (sequels!!)...

As I said, it's all a blur. Bernard told us that we were unlikely to get more than a line or two in the piece, but that's fine, and what we expected, I guess. I think the fact that Serenity is, in some ways, being marketed as being made on the back of a fan phenomenon (and that is, in part, true) warrants there being some input from fans in stories about Joss and the movie. And I'm incredibly honoured to have been one of those fans! Again, thank you Mim!

I really look forward to reading the piece, which comes out the day before my birthday (bonus!)

(Mim - if you read this and remember anything that I've left out, please put in a big ole comment!)

Additional bonuses to the day (what a good day that was!) were meeting Mim's cats, the Broadway screening tickets finally going being on sale online, and the arrival of shiny ComicCon and Wizard World Serenity goodies from JenskiJen (which have led me to running a trivia game on the Serenity Oz site - which is sooooo much fun!)

Long time posting - have some news.

2005-08-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a while since I've posted here, eh?

Okay. What first? So much has been going on in the world of Serenity that I've been caught up in it, and not much else.

First - Australian screenings. There were a whole bunch o' screenings announced on August 15, and here's a plea from UIP to try and get those screenings sold out.

There are also more screenings being held in the next couple of weeks - including an additional screening at Broadway cinemas in Sydney. Get buyin' (I know I have - after swearing not to see it again until September 29)!

Second - Joss is going to be in Australia in "early September" - he posted the news at the Universal Board, but it requires registration, so...here's a confirmation from UIP. I do wish they'd hurry up and release more details about his two day visit - I need to book flights and stuff so that I can sta...ah, attend as many Joss related events as possible.

Third - Enterprising Browncoats have discovered that Joss will be appearing on Rove on September 13 - which is cool from a large audience point of view, but disappointing to me because Rove is such a completely crap interviewer. Help with the campaign to have him interviewed on Enough Rope by putting in a vote at Suggest a Guest.

Fourth - Joss has done several interviews with different Australian publications, coming out over the next few weeks: Empire magazine, Filmink magazine and a Bernard Zuel piece in Spectrum in the SMH/The Age (more on which anon).

Fifth - Serenity had its world premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival. There are heaps of great news pieces, reviews and pictures, but I can't find the links to them all. Go to Whedonesque and look at the last few days - lots and lots of links!! You'll probably have to go through the archives for August, since the front page is getting filled awfully fast!!

Sixth - some great (and creepy) little films have been found floating around the internets. Check 'em out. 416 and 1 (QuickTime required)

Phew! What a week it's been, eh? Hope I haven't forgotten anything...

We may experience some turbulence and then...explode

2005-08-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

That was a hell of a ride.

It's taken me a few days to think about this post, because, as happened last time, the rollercoaster experience that is Serenity takes some time to get over.

I was completely wired by the time I got to the cinema and met up with Nixy and her girls. I had made a whole bunch o' tshirts for some of the other Browncoats, but wasn't very happy with them. I had used a different transfer paper, and it hadn't worked out very well. M'eh. I'll just make some more. Gave Kaz and Smiley their tshirts and comics and ticket.

So I had a bag of tshirts, badges, pens, prizes, comics, trivia questions and tickets, and a stomach full of butterflies. Mim and the other guys from Browncoats Downunder rocked up from dinner, and Mim negotiated getting the banner set up. I found people and gave them their tshirts and comics, all the while shaky and overexcited.

Unfortunately, my friend who was flying back in from London couldn't make it in to the cinema due to his flight being delayed, so I gave his and his girlfriend's tickets to the UIP guy to give out to anyone who turned up asking for tickets. I don't think that they got given away, though, which is a shame.

Mim and I managed to convince the management that running trivia was a good idea, and so we ran up and down the line (which had started forming an hour before the movie started), shouting questions at bemused punters and flinging badges and prize packs at them that answered correctly. Sometimes with extra hints.

We got the trivia done, and started handing out lyric sheets to the punters as they filed into the cinema. I lost my ticket, and panicked about being able to get in, but the UIP guy accompanied me and got me through. I then found my ticket hiding in my bag. D'oh!

Mim and I led the crowd in singing the Firefly theme - twice, due to a lacklustre performance the first time around. I sat with the Browncoats, whilst my friends found each other and sat up the back. I felt better sitting with people who had already seen the movie, and plus...Browncoats are family, you know? There's a certain level of comfort to be had from sitting with fans who are as insane as you are!

The UIP guy read out a message from Joss, and Mim and I, after a little debate, got the crowd to do a third round of the Firefly theme, threw ourselves back into our seats, and then...here comes Serenity.

I had thought that I didn't remember anything from the first time I had seen Serenity, but as soon as the movie started, I remembered everything. Every. Damn. Thing. Which should have meant that I was bored, or detached, or something, but no. I was on the edge of my seat, hands clasped to my mouth, for pretty much all of the movie.

There were new scenes and better colour and gorram I want to see this movie again now! I was completely engrossed in the movie, but part of me was analysing the crowd's reaction, because I knew that there were new Browncoats and non Browncoats in the audience. There were belly laughs, gasps of surprise, and absorbed silence in between. Excellent.

The movie was a lot tighter than it had been, with a better examination of the "minor" characters than had been evident in the first cut I saw. The special effects were almost complete, and awfully shiny. There had been some tweaks which lifted some of the action scenes above and beyond what I thought they could be, and the last third of the movie rocketed past. Last time, this had been a little disorienting, but it's been tightened up so that you don't feel like you miss anything, but you do feel like you are on a rollercoaster and you have no idea when or how you're going to get off. In a good way.

After the movie, and reintegrating myself back into the real world, there were hugs and sniffles and more hugs. Mim asked her non Browncoat friend what she thought, and the answer was "Can I borrow the series?" Another recruit there, methinks.

My non Browncoat friend seemed to dig the film - he really enjoyed the humour, and was very keen to see the series. My new Browncoat friends were a little shellshocked, but talking to them, Mighty Ogbo especially, confirmed what I had realised - I loved the series, but the movie took that love out into the stratosphere. Made me into a flan, a Browncoat. Made me look at the series in a whole new way.

Mighty Ogbo and I got home and sat up until almost 1am talking about the film. He really wants to see it again, and, like me, hasn't been so impressed by a film as he was by Serenity in a really really long time. For me, the last time I felt like this about anything was after the first time I saw Fellowship of the Rings. There's so much love there, so much dedication. So much pretty. Such good storytelling. I don't delude myself that Serenity could ever be as big as LotR, but I do hope that it makes a big enough impression that we get another two movies.

Or even better, a new series.

5 hours to go!

2005-07-31T22:54:00.000-07:00

I'm both incredibly excited and ridiculously nervous about seeing Serenity again tonight. The first time I saw it, in April, it was a test cut, and it blew me out of the world. How's it going to affect me now that I'll be seeing a 90% complete cut?

Plus, I'll be taking some never seen Firefly before folks to the screening, and am a little apprehensive about their possible responses to the movie. Am also takin' some newly minted Browncoats as well - who seem very excited about the movie, which is nice.

It's going to be a great night!

I get to hang out with other Browncoats, introduce some new people to the 'verse, see the Big Damn Movie, and run noisy and fun trivia for the lined up masses! Monday nights will never ever get any better than that.

Shiny. Now I'm well prepped for the movie. I'll post my reactions from the second time around in the next couple of days!

Keep flyin'

International trailer is up!

2005-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

Yup, the international trailer in all of it's glory is up on the internets. Damn fine - I enjoyed this one more than the previous trailer (though that might be because I've seen the movie and know where everything fits!)
Do yourself a favour, have a squizz. "We may experience some turbulence and then...explode." Joss, you're a genius.

Aussie Shindig July 8 to 10

2005-07-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'd like to thank Mimbles for use of her digital photographs in this entry - I'm still using a film camera, which, yes, I know, sooooo last century. But still. Whatever.

I had a tremendous time at this Shindig. We had people from Melbourne, the far north coast, Wollongong...all coming for a weekend of Firefly fun with other Browncoats. The Shindig was held at Glengarry, where girl guides go to have healthy outdoor adventures. The park manager and his wife seemed a bit bemused by the idea of a bunch of people sitting inside watching a "failed" telly show when they could be running around in the jolly outdoors. Each to their own, I guess...

My coorganiser (or am I her coorganiser?) had arranged a giant banner to advertise our whereabouts:

On the Friday night, we unpacked food and drink as the attendees arrived. Hung up banners inside, and Wanted posters on all of the bedroom doors. Bit by bit, everyone arrived, chose rooms, introduced themselves. We got the fire going, which was a blessing, and Mim provided a hearty and delicious minestrone soup for us all.

I had brought along a data projector and stereo, so that we could watch the series on the "big" screen. After a bit of a kerfuffle with the data projector (I didn't have the required lead to connect the data projector to the laptop. Oops) we got it all working (thanks to Mim's husband).

We watched the US Serenity high definition trailer (drools) about 4 times!! With appropriate Woos! of course (when you see Joss's name, when Mal says "Good" and shoots the operative, when the text "loved by millions of fans worldwide" appears - lots of fun!) We watched the full blooper reel ("How'd you like a bite o' that green apple, America?") Then we watched Serenity (the pilot), and ate strawberries ("ooooh, Granpa"). I think we stumbled off to bed at this point, but it's all a blur.

Next morning, up early to make pancakes for the hungry hoards. We played horseshoes and took ridiculous numbers of photos of the kookaburras that were hanging around hoping for food. There was also a moment of drama when one of the kookaburras flew into the building - but luckily we had a birdhandler with us and she got it out of the building with minimal damage to either the bird or the building!

Then we took ourselves down to the obstacle course - I took the easy option of watchin' and learnin', sittin' with those who had already finished the course - whilst others threw themselves into conquering the obstacle course with abandon (there were many sore muscles the next day!)

Clouds started drifting in, and it got a bit cold, so we went back inside to play Bwah!! Damned good fun - I recommend getting a copy!

Dinner was a big old barbecue - piles and piles of good food and just a little alcohol was consumed. There was dancing by the young ones while cleaning up went on in the kitchen. We rearranged the loungeroom and launched into Firefly Trivia (which your narrator hosted - don't host trivia when you're a bit tiddly, because there is no Heart of Glass in Firefly...)

There were three teams:

Alliance/Blue Hands (I think...they kept changing their team name!)

Cunning Hats

Mudders

Much hilarity ensued. There was also prize driven trivia, which was way difficult - but everyone did brilliantly, and everybody walked away with a prize (up for grabs: Finding Serenity, Firefly boxset, tshirts, Serenity comics, Browncoats mug, Jayne's cunning hat, a Serenity bag and something else that I can't remember now...)

We also handed out some schwag from UIP - postcards and a Serenity brochure. Mim had made some tshirt transfers to commemorate the weekend, and also some Browncoats Downunder business cards. There were Serenity pens and magnets as well.

We watched the trailer again (it's sooooo shiny!) and then watched Jaynestown. Mim and I sat up the back and congratulated ourselves on a job well done by drinking tequila shots...

Sunday was hungover cleaning and clearing out time. Shindig was watched in between bouts of cleaning, and driving assignments were handed out. We warbled a rendition of the Firefly theme song (nixygirl has this on video, can't wait to see it) and started off in a Browncoats convoy, back to our respective homes.

Thanks to everyone who came along, mega thanks to Mim for her superb organisation, thanks to Jenski for kicking the shindig off, and, of course, thanks to Joss and the cast for providing us with something to get silly and fanatical about.

There's more shindigs where that came from. Browncoats is good people, and as we move rapidly towards the release of the movie, I can't recommend enough getting into the community and meeting all of these fabulous people. You'll be happy that you did!

News that is late (yet still shiny)

2005-07-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while due to frantic preparations for an Aussie Shindig (more on that later).

Exciting news:

Advance screenings of Serenity in Melbourne (July 21), Gold Coast Film Fantastic (July 22) Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth (August 1). The print is 90% finished. Most of the screenings have sold out, which is great news. It lets United International Pictures (the distributor) know that there are very keen Australian fans.

And they've responded to the keenness of the fans by giving us our very own dedicated Australian Serenity website (complete with forums, downloads and exclusive movie information. And a wonderful greeting from Joss, which, yay!!)

Music from the movie can be found here - I believe the website is having a bit of a struggle with the amount of traffic, so try, try again if you don't get it the first time...

The completed movie was shown at the San Diego Comic Con - a report from a lucky Aussie who attended Comic Con will be available here soon.

7 Days of Serenity

2005-06-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on June 03, 2005

I've edited this post to put in the (hopefully) date non sensitive link to my essay.

Yeah, I know, I know. No more Firefly related posts. But damnit, I'm excited!!

Moviegeekz are running "7 Days of Serenity", a series of reviews and issues by Browncoats about Serenity, and why everyone should be getting amped to see it.

Well, guess who wrote today's essay, "Taking to that sky"? Yup, that's right. I've been published by someone who isn't me. It's very exciting. Plus, both Brian Mesick and J. Allen Holt have been incredibly supportive of my effort (given that they received it last night and it was up on the website this morning, I'd say monumentally supportive), which is just icing to the cake!

So, have a squizz, and then look at the previous two day's essays, and keep on checking out what the rest of the week brings (as well as, you know, just wandering around the site in general - it's lots of fun!)

Broken promise.

2005-06-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on May 18, 2005

Okay, I know I promised no more Firefly posts, but this is just too exciting not to post. The Australian release date for Serenity has been moved from November 10 up to September 29, in line with the US release date (well, kinda the day before, a bit).

I am so ridiculously overexcited about this news. I'm viewing the whole thing as a birthday present - my birthday is in September, they give me Serenity in September, and the world is a wonderful place.

Final Firefly fandom fpost (this title's going to be alliterative if I have to kill the english language!)

2005-06-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on May 5, 2005

Fandom is an odd thing. It's something that I've always watched from the outside. It's something at which I've occasionally poked (loving) fun. It was always something I've known I had the capacity for, given my rabid and somewhat disturbing enthusiasm for specific telly shows over the years. However, it hasn't been until this year that I've been able to fully grasp the fandom flag and wave it firmly over my head. And, of course, readers of this blog have pretty much copped that flag full in the face (and it's a bitch to get untangled, I know!)

So I'm going to try and calm that whole side of the blog down, and actually write stuff people may want to read. I might even get around to making up that promised web page of photos from New Zealand, instead of obsessively making Firefly/Serenity tshirts (or not, as the case may be). So for the moment, all I've got to say is:

Watch Firefly! It's awfully good! It may not turn you into a slavering fan, as I have become, but at the very least you'll enjoy it. If possible, buy the dvds. Because you're going to want to watch it again.

Keep watching the skies!...Er, no, what I actually meant was...Keep an eye out for Serenity the Movie - in cinemas in Australia November 10, 2005. It's a dark, delightful, shocking and powerful rollercoaster ride of a movie, and if you love your sf, you're going to love it.

And thus ends my squealing fangirl post.

I am a leaf on the wind.

2005-06-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on April 28, 2005

Because I don't have the knowledge of the tech-no-lo-gy to do this myself, I'm presenting to you someone else's hard work.
Screencaps of the Serenity trailer, bright and shiny and new. (and, as an added bonus, some groovy behind the scenes photos!)

I saw the movie (in a rough but almost done state) at a test screening last night, and I'm just blown away. Yes, I am a raving fan of Firefly and Joss Whedon, but I did attempt to be vaguely objective (when I wasn't laughing at the wonderful oneliners or sitting on the edge of my seat during many dramatic moments), and I think that Joss has done a great job of making sure that non fans can get a huge amount of enjoyment out of the movie. It's funny, dramatic, action packed, moving, the special effects are beautiful, the plot is intricate and confronting and there are twists aplenty - and some goosepimply shocks.

November 10 is too far away to see this again - or see it anew, in its' finished state. Guess I'll just have to watch me some of those Firefly episodes again - and so should you all.

Keep flyin'.

There's no place I can be...

2005-06-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on April 27, 2005

This is a post purely for those Firefly nuts out there. The trailer for Serenity is out!! At the moment, you need Apple QuickTime to play it, but it should be available in a Windows Media version soon (I hope!)

Bugger it, this isn't just for the Firefly nuts. Have a squizz. It's fast, fun, furious and is going to be a blast.

And, I'm totally seeing it this evening. How cool is that?!

Oh the geeking out I'm having right about now...

2005-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on April 20, 2005

I'm very excited. Due to the fact that I am a registered Browncoat, I have swindled me some tickets to a test screening of Serenity, the Firefly movie. It is most definitely a shiny moment. I am a happy happy camper. Though part of me is a bit worried that I'm going to spoil myself for when the movie officially comes out in November...nah, who am I kidding? I'm the happiest woman in the 'verse!

I'm also going to take a moment here to mention a major plot point in Firefly that I left out when I enthused about the series recently. And that is the Reavers, a group of cannabilistic freakazoid bad guys who terrorize the edges of populated space. According to Zoe, if your ship is boarded by Reavers, they will rape you to death, eat your flesh and sew your skin into clothing...and if you're really lucky, in that order.

And on that cheerful note, I'm off to do another (slow and fluey) happy dance due to tickets to screening...

Blatant and biased Firefly post

2005-06-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on March 22, 2003

As you might have gathered, I do tend to be enthused (some would say obsessed) about much in pop culture - especially those rare telly shows that transcend their small screen status, and really take me into another world.

Firefly is one of those shows. It does help that it was conceived and written by one of my heroes, Joss Whedon, but having recently viewed it in almost its' entirety (I don't want to watch the last episode because, well, it's the last episode and that's kind of depressing) I am more than impressed. I am downright stupified by the series. In fact, I think it's shiny.

It took me a while to see Firefly, partly because I wasn't entirely sure I could believe Nathan Fillion playing a hero (or, more precisely, antihero) after the sheer horror of his turn as Caleb (you know, the agent of the First. Misogynistic evil skin crawly icky bad guy) in the last series of Buffy. But when the series finally made it onto Australian screens, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the channel showing it made the same mistake that Fox had done, showing it out of order (and also, changing the times, nights, weeks it was on!) and I wasn't really captured by it. Luckily, however, a friend gifted me with a box set of the series upon my return from New Zealand, and now I am a dyed in the wool Firefly fan.

And as such, I present to you, an introduction (which contains a number of minor spoilers, but I've tried to keep that to a minimum):

The Firefly universe is set 500 years in the future. The main governing body of Earth settled worlds (there aren't any aliens, and humans are expanding out into the universe by terraforming planets) is the Alliance, made up of the two remaining governments, those of China and the US. The Alliance itself is essentially controlled by a major conglomerate of corporations, the most notable of which is Blue Sun. In recent times, there has been a civil war, with the Alliance defeating those who fought for Independents forces (colloquially known as Browncoats). The anniversary of this victory is Unification Day (or U Day).

There is a tremendous mishmash of cultures, with everyone sprinkling Mandarin (usually curses!!) through their English, and other wonderful touches such as Bao and chopsticks regularly appearing at meals. In addition to all of this tremendous, lush background, the frontier spirit that is apparent on the terraformed worlds is embodied in the filmic Western setting - everyone rides horses, has sidearms, speaks in that southern kind of drawl. The outlying planets are mostly desert and scrub, with wide wide open spaces and tiny shanty towns, and most of the little people have a somewhat cavalier attitude towards the law. The Alliance planets are much more futuristic and traditionally sf in feel - all towering highrises and metallic surfaces, along with packed cities and totalitarian rule.

Amidst all of this, we have the crew and passengers of the Firefly class ship, Serenity. Captain Mal Reynolds (played with relish and lovely tight pants [and occasionally none at all!!] by Nathan Fillion) fought with the Independents, and lost all hope the day that the Alliance truimphed. He bought Serenity to do a little honest trading (and a hell of a lot of dishonest smuggling) and keep one step away from Alliance rule. His second in command is Zoe Warren (a strong, capable, beautiful and above all soldierly Gina Torres), who fought with Mal in the Independents forces. Her husband is 'Wash' Washburn (Alan Tudyk), the pilot and resident smartarse (in a crew full of smartarses - it being a Joss Whedon show and all). There's Jayne (Adam Baldwin - thankfully not one of "the" Baldwins), an amoral gunloving psychpath. Always useful to have on board a very small transport ship!! And the lovely heart of the crew, Kayly (Jewel Staite), the mechanic whose sweetness and positivity brings light to the dark places in which the crew often finds themselves.

Inara (Morena Baccarin), a registered Companion (along the same lines as a geisha, I think), is not a passenger, nor is she really part of the crew. She travels on Serenity in order to conduct business. She rents one of the shuttles, and her presence on board brings a certain level of respectability to Serenity. The passengers, taken on for the quick cash that they bring, are few. The preacher, or Shepherd, Book (Ron Glass) is a steady man of the cloth, gentle and spiritual, but with some mystery as to why he is travelling and what is in his past. There's Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a high class gentleman, who trained to become one of the best surgeons in the 'verse. And finally, there's River (Summer Glau), Simon's sister, a fragile and fractured genius, whose recent past holds a world of pain and torture, and whose presence on the ship is a danger to all.

This is a richly imagined world, with backstory told in shorthand that allows you to believe totally in this universe. The little notes and flourishes in the set design and dialogue tell you more than any amount of exposition ever could - Mal, with his gunslinger attitude and dusty ranch clothes, drinking out of a tin cup and delicately eating his meal with chopsticks. A bamboo steamer set into the middle of the dining table. The conversation dropping into Mandarin and back into English so naturally (there are no subtitles for the Mandarin - though some of the fansites do have the translations. My favourite exclamation from Wash is "Mother of God and all of her wacky nephews!!") Mal in a tavern brawl, getting thrown out of a holographic window that shimmers and reforms behind him. Even the twangy guitar and gravelly voiced (yet strangely effecting) theme song brings another facet of the Firefly reality alive.

The special effects are clear and so lifelike. The direction of both the live action and the CGI is that of hand held cameras - Joss Whedon wanted this to feel like 'found footage'. The ship is big enough for a cargo bay, but the rest of the interior is small and cramped, with exposed pipes and dirty floors. The lighting is, once again, 'found'. Scenes are lit from the lamp in the corner of the table, from the strip lighting above the walkways. This makes all of the interiors feel real and connected and believable.

There was only ever one series of this inventive, lush, dark, funny show made - and that run was cancelled by Fox halfway through. Thanks to the dedicated fanbase, a box set of the series is now available, and I would urge you to run, don't walk, to purchase said box set. Firefly is absolutely worth it, and you really need to get familiar with it, as the feature length movie Serenity is coming out in late 2005.

Welcome!

2005-06-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

I decided that I needed a Firefly specific blog, as I'm just bursting with fanatical enthusiasm for Firefly and Serenity, but didn't want to inflict it on them that don't want to know. So here it is...

I'm going to move a lot of my Firefly stuff over here from my other blog as well (if I can), and hopefully I'll be able to maintain both of the blogs for the forseeable future...