Thank gods for Firefly, or I’d have no friends!

OK, so that’s not entirely true, I’d have one or two friends, but the truth is that the Firefly Fandom really does create it’s own pseudo family. I’ve heard rabid Firefly fans like us described in the media as creepy, as obsessed, and as not just a little bit scary. I remember back in the day, before we got our Big Damn Movie (ie Serenity, which was just voted All Time Greatest Sci Fi film by the readers of SFX magazine) our mantra was “Normal-not-scary, normal-not-scary”. I think we passed that by several years ago, and now we’re just plain scary. But in a good way.

In the best kind of way.

In the way that brings like-minded folk together who may not have found each other before.

Well, the local Firefly ring is small but equally rabid, and is beginning to grow (as we get more and more people hooked on the show – mwaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaaa!). But I just thought I’d share with you the core group of “scoobs” as we somehow ended up calling ourselves. They’re brilliant, funny, talented, witty and charming, as I’m sure I’ve gone on about before:

Front L-R: ErnieMay (Erin), EricaLea (Erica), ThursdayWeld (Christine), GoldenFool (Me!), and in the back is Astrid (Lee Ann).

This was us doing our bestest-ever Saffron Pouts. We are terribly seductive. I know. Stop with the drooling, please. *grins*

I have such talented friends.

I really do. There’s EricaLea, who is going to be a famous author one day. There’s ThursdayWeld, who always speaks her mind, and because she has a creativity which goes beyond the bounds of normal, her mind is unfailingly an interesting thing to be heard. ErnieMay is quite the queen of web art (ie icons and banners) – you should see what she can do with photoshop and a screen capture of whatever our latest tv obsession is.

But the special talent that I’d like to share today, is that of Astrid. Before Christmas, Astrid asked us – me, EricaLea, ErnieMay and ThursdayWeld – who our favorite Firefly character is. We all have our favorites, especially when the male portion of the crew is concerned. EricaLea answered with an unequivocal “Mal”. ThursdayWeld has always preferred Jayne’s gruff ways. Surprisingly, when this impromptu vote came down, Dr Simon Tam came out with the most votes – both ErnieMay and I admitted to our crushes on Simon.

I’ll pause here for just a moment, while I fill my mind with thoughts about Simon Tam. This is a PG-13 blog however, so I’ll not pause long.

*ahem*

Aaanyway. Christmas just kept on giving this year, because when we all finally got together in January, having returned from our global scatterings, Astrid revealed the reason for her wee poll.

She presented each of us with a canvas, on which was painted a photo-realistic oil painting of our favorite Firefly character. The picture of Simon Tam that she drew for me? Stunning. Simon was immediately granted place of honour on my wall, where he hangs today, looking noble and grave and ever so slightly worried. Probably worried because he knows what he’s got coming from me if he were ever to step out of that canvas.

Here he is, for your viewing pleasure, an original oil painting by Astrid:

*sigh* *flirtatious look* *sigh*

Cancelled Flanvention, replaced by Browncoat Backup Bash

Can I just say, I love my fandom? I really do think that the Firefly/Serenity (aka Serenifly) fandom is the bestest, most coherant, and shiny fandom in all of londinium, nay, the WORLD! Granted, most of us count ourselves to be not exclusively Serenifly fans, but if asked to choose, I bet most of us would choose to be called Browncoats. It’s time I shared with you yet another story of just how cool Serenifly fans are…

OK, so you know what a SciFi convention is, right? A Science Fiction convention is that marvellous place where geeks from far and wide gather to release the inner geek that they have to keep hidden from the rest of the world, for fear of being branded “outcast”, “freak”, or worse, “Trekkie”. It is a place where you see more people in uniform than in a dock-side bar when the HMAS Adelaide comes to port. More techno-babble than a robotics convention in Silicon Valley (though no guarantees are made as to the veracity of said techno-babble). More plastic brow-ridges than the neandethal wing of a natural history museum.

It is a place where geeks can be geeks without being afraid of public ridicule. Birds of a feather and all that.

So you can imagine, Flanvention II was one event which had been marked on the Browncoat calendar for almost a year now – it’s a SciFi convention dedicated almost solely to Firefly, with perhaps some other shows on the periphery. Hell, I’d been tempted myownself to head along there , cause I’ve never been to a con, and this one seemed worthwhile (though it’s in California, and unless you’ve not worked it out yet, I’m an Aussie living in Scotland). Lots of my online buddies were going, and some of the Firefly actors were going to show up for some guest appearences.

It was due to all happen last weekend. But last week, rumblings began, vicious rumours began to circulate that the con was going to be cancelled. Booster Events (the professional organisers) assured everyone that everything was fine, right up until the Thursday. By Thursday, fans had already started to show up, with more due to arrive on Friday.

But Thursday, the news was announced. Flanvention II had been cancelled by Booster Events. No reason given, just “unforseen circumstances”. There was to be no panels with the Stars, no Q&As, no star studded cocktail parties.

But Never Underestimate A Browncoat.

For behind the scenes, the California Browncoats had been scheming and plotting and planning against just such a catastrophe.

And thus was born… The Browncoat Backup Bash!

At first, it was basically a party for those Serenifly fans who’d shown up to the Hotel where the Con was due to be held, so that they could all hang out and get drunk together. But then even more marvellous things began to happen.

The BDHs (Big Damn Heroes – ie the actors in the show and movie – BDH is a humorous reference to a line in the show, just go with it) started to arrive at the hotel. Without having been asked, and knowing that with the official convention cancelled, they’d get no payment for making appearences which can sometimes be bread and butter for between-jobs scifi actors, these BDHs rocked up to show their appreciation to the fans who kept the show going from cancellation to resurrection as a big screen blockbuster.

The list of actors who showed up out of the goodness of their hearts almost brings a tear to my eye – Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk (who wasn’t even scheduled to appear at the con itself) Ron Glass, Morena Baccarin, Christina (YoSafBridge) Hendricks, Yan (Mingo) Feldman, Mark (Badger) Sheppard, Johnathan (Tracey from Firefly, Knox from Angel) Woodward, Clare (Glory from Buffy) Kramer, the list just goes on!

Nathan (bless his heart) rocked up with a box of stuff from his closet (calm down ladies) full of Serenity books, prop money from the film, and lots of other goodies, and started giving them out as pressies for folk, for those who’d come the furthest for the con.

And Clare Kramer’s husband was due to be opening a club/restaurant in a few weeks, but they rushed to get it ready in time for a big backup bash for the abandoned Browncoats. Buses were miraculously arranged, funded by donations from fans and benefactors all around the world to transport people from the hotel to the club.

And the whole backup bash was entirely organised by volunteers. The web is RIDDLED with stories and photos by folk who were there, but I share these shiny pics.

And THAT’S why my fandom’s better than yours.

Ungrateful Universal has unleashed the Fan-Art Sniffer Dogs.

You’ve heard me blog incessantly about Firefly and Serenity. You’ve heard me gush about how amazing the show is, and how powerful the fanbase is. We (the fans) often pat ourselves on the back for our part in bringing Firefly to the silver screen. Different fans have done their parts in different ways. Me, I blog. I gush. I’ve decided to call it “blushing”.

Other people, like the very talented Susan (aka 11th Hour) choose to promote by creating artwork inspired by the show. Susan has designed some of the most recognisable fanart in the Firefly community. She’s designed posters, fliers, stickers, teeshirts, mugs, you name it. One of her most valuable contribution to the community has been her range of “guerilla marketing” designs, available for free download from her website – Browncoats across the world have downloaded her designs, printed them off and handed them out at appropriate events, stuck them on the back of toilet doors (Remember that time in Sydney, JenskiJen and Kaylene?), even stuck these little tidbits discreetly, tastefully, on public transport systems:

Our beloved 11th Hour is well respected, and has spent years providing free marketing for the Firefly franchise, first for Fox to promote the Firefly DVD Boxset, and then for Universal, promoting the release of the movie, Serenity.

Universal had managed to build up fairly decent street cred with the fans. They’d encouraged us to do our part in guerilla marketing, and we’d done so with gusto. 11th Hour had really gone to town for them, for all of us.

But now it appears that Universal has milked Serenity for all it’s worth. Perhaps they reckon they’ve come to the end of the S-Shaped curve of buyer take-up, and think that the next way to cash in on the movie (that we helped to promote) is by prosecuting the fans who led the grass-roots movement to continue promoting the movie and show.

Yep, 11th Hour has been issued with a Cease & Desist order, part of which demands that,

“…no later than close of business on October 30, 2006, 11th Hour Art agree in writing to permanently cease and desist from the advertising, promoting, marketing, sale or distribution of any products bearing or referring to Universal Property”

Since when do you reward your fans who are only out to promote the show (and we do recognise that the only way the show’s making money these days is by selling DVDs, and we actively promote that!) with cease and desist orders, AND demand that they pay over US$8,000 in restitution?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand all the issues here. Many items sold in browncoats’ CafePress stores may infringe copyright, if you use your imagination, or are feeling particularly belligerant (it still irritates me that Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan is copyrighted. Three words should not be able to constitute a copyrighted item.) But turning a blind eye while they wanted us to promote the movie for them, and then hitting those Browncoats with home-grown merch stores with demands for cash along with the Cease and Desist, I think it’s just the height of rude. How about a little warning, a little, “thanks for all you’ve done, but it’s time we protect our license now, so you’re gonna have to stop”?

Of course Universal has the right to protect their license. Noone’s arguing that. But the way they’ve done it is underhand, ungracious, and downright mean.

Honestly, this has me SO upset. I’d have thought that, despite the technical illegality of some Browncoat’s art, they’d show a little gratitude to those who fought long and hard supporting this franchise.

I swear, IP laws worldwide need to be seriously looked at, or the marketing departments of Big Media need to tell their legal pitbulls to back off, cause the world is changing, and fans are mobilising into a powerful force, if only they’d let us do our work.

Grr, Arg. (at least I know that Mutant Enemy won’t sue me for using their catchphrase… I hope)

Edited quickly to add:

Apparently I’m not the only blogger to be talking about this – read this article by a webjournalist called Devin. I’ve really not paid much attention to this guy in the past, and though he seems to dislike us, he makes the odd valid point. A lot of the fan art out there DOES infringe copyright. But this only makes the case stronger for a massive Intellectual Property law overhaul, allowing for fairer use.

And I also wanted to quote what Joss Whedon said to us via one of the few webforums he posts on, Whedonesque.com

3rd October, 2005 – shortly after the release of Serenity

So I was flouncing (that’s lurking but fancier) about WHEDONESQUE (for which I have forgotten my password yet again) and I couldn’t help but see the little CHUD.com hate-bomb that Devin wrote. I don’t mind that he doesn’t love the film, but things like “It failed in a big way” and “It’s over” are about as charming — and journalistic — as “I was right.” I am being totally realistic when I say the weekend grosses did not meet expectations — but those expectations were based on models that don’t apply to this situation because, seriously, nothing does. The industry is not calling this a failure, just a slightly soft version of a normal opening in a generally weak weekend.

Now I did meet Devin, and he’s not a dumb guy. But he seems to have a real animus against you Browncoats, and that’s the thing I wanted to comment on, ’cause that doesn’t sit well with me. He actually blames you guys for making sci-fi fans stay away from the movie. Says you should be ashamed for having adopted a name, that you will start finger-pointing and bickering now that you’ve ’caused’ the ‘failure’ of your film. He blames other things as well — the title, the ads — but that’s fine. If one –ONE — of you guys reads that column and takes it to heart I’ll not sleep. You guys did an amazing thing this weekend — and the exit polls showed how much you guys were out there, and how much business you dragged in with you. Not to mention everything you did for the months – sorry, YEARS — before it opened. I’m crazy proud of you. Yes, there is an exclusionary element to some fandom that is inevitable, but this group has fought that as well or better as any, and maybe I’m a nerd, but being compared to a Trekker (or even a TrekkIE) doesn’t offend me a bit.

We all know this remains an uphill battle. We all know that next weekend is crucial — and a lot of it will rest on us. A lot will rest on the studio reaching people we can’t. And factors we can’t see coming. But I don’t especially appreciate people calling Time of Death while I’m still operating. I don’t like smug defeatism. And nobody disses the ‘coats without me wading in. That’s all.

Joss Whedon, October 3rd, 2005

I love Joss. I may sound like a Whedon evangelist most of the time, but I still love him.

When the West Wing ended last year, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself for intelligent TV. Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant show, political fantasy la-la land for liberals the world over, I was in heaven. I’d have voted for Jed Bartlett in a second. Why can’t we have politicians like that, for real?

But I digress. The end of the West Wing was the end of an era, much like when Angel ended. With Buffy, Angel and Firefly We’d had a total of 12 and a half glorious seasons of Joss Whedon – the golden days of Camelot – and then there was little to fill the gap, except perhaps Battlestar Galactica and the West Wing.

I’d not even considered that Aaron Sorkin (the writer and creator of West Wing) might “pull a Joss”. That is, go on to create another show for me to fall in love with. Well, I think he might have done just that. I just watched the first episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and I can say, this will be one to keep in your RSS feed, TiVo, VCR, whatever.

It’s a show about a political satire comedy sketch TV show which has been losing its satire and becoming just as plasticcy and ho-hum as most of the other programming out there. In the opening minutes of the first episode of Studio 60, the fictional show’s producer walks onto the set in the middle of a live broadcast and starts mouthing off in true Aaron Sorkin style about what a pile of dogshit the show and the network in general have become, pandering to religious zealots, and creating theme tunes to a war overseas which makes no sense. This ballsy, gutsy rant made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I was sold on this show.

Folk in the US – watch this show. Others who can obtain by more nefarious means – do so. Spread the word, cause this show from the same stable as the West Wing (with a few welcome familiar faces – Bradley Whitford who played Josh Lyman, and CJ’s beau whose real or character’s name I can never remember) is gonna make you happy.

Instead of writing political lefty fantasy in Washington, Sorkin’s writing clever entertainment fantasy in Los Angeles, and you’re gonna love it!

My turn to do some casting – I’m getting the hang of Photoshop…

Summer Glau for Wonderwoman, anyone?

I think I just wet myself. Why can’t the comments in *MY* blog be this funny?

Joss & Warren Ellis Flamewar

There are few things funnier than two nerdy writers having it out in a public place, albeit a nerd-form public place.

Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis, literarily posing for the crowd of geeky gawkers, it doesn’t get much better than this.

I suppose I HAVE to watch my copy of Global Frequency now. It’s been sitting on my hard drive, frightfully neglected for such a long time, I’d pretty much forgotten about it. But no, really, it’s great to see that Warren Ellis isn’t bitter about what happened to Global Frequency, really.

*grins*

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, or have just skimmed through my blog to look at the pretty pictures (I know who you are!), you will have realised that this year’s most anticipated movie, the space-western-adventure Serenity, is now showing on general release in (most) of the English speaking world.

You’ve heard me go on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Firefly. You’ve read my gushings about when I went to the Serenity premiere in Edinburgh, and met the cast (said brainless things infront of the cast, more like). I strongly, strongly encourage you to see this movie, whether you like sci-fi or not. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

But don’t take my word for it. I challenge you to watch the first 9 minutes of the film, free of charge, and then decide whether you want to go see or not.

Click on this link, plug in your speakers, and see whether you’re hooked or not.

Serenity Opening Sequence

Come back here, tell me what you think.

OK, so I’ve been in this new job for almost 2 months now. 2 months!! The job which was supposed to be for just 3 weeks… Who knows if they’ll keep me on. Who knows even if I want to be kept on, but it’s a comfortable place to work. I know what I’m doing now, and I enjoy talking to folk on the phone. I’ve finally had need to learn how to use MS Access, and I’ve built a sweet little database to make my life easier, and the idea was to encourage the rest of the office to use my database too, which would not only make my life even easier, but it would possibly even make THEIR lives easier! They being the partners (sounds a bit Wolfram and Hart, really, doesn’t it, all this talk about The Partners?), or at the very least, the partners who deal with the property side.

There are six partners at this firm. Some have been there for nigh on a quarter of a decade. They’re established. Been around awhile. I really quite like them – they’re a laid back, humourous bunch, and I get on well with them.

So why is it that since I started working there, two of them have resigned?! And one of them, my favorite one (who shall henceforth be known as FP, as in, Favorite Partner), the one I chatted to about sci-fi all the time, he’s leaving! I was just getting all settled, was easing into my relationships with these folk, and FP had even trawled his way enthusiastically through my boxset of Firefly in less than a week! *sniffs armpits* so what is it? Am I really that stinky that after years of being with the firm, these lawyers leave as soon as I get there?

Humph.

On a happier note, I took one of the trainee lawyers to see Serenity with me this weekend, and bless her, she was totally enthusiastic about it. She might have been doing that to be polite, perhaps, but FP told me that she’d enthused to him about it too, so take that, naysayers!

Saw the film one more time tonight. That makes three times. And I have to say that I enjoyed it the most this third time.

First time was the Marketing Screening by United International Pictures in Sydney months and months ago. It was a rough cut, much of the special effects weren’t finished, the lighting was all wierd and dark, the whole film just felt… well, unfinished. And quite rightly so! And the whole time I was concentrating so hard, trying to get every last detail, and then mulling over something that had just happened, thereby missing a bit of the dialogue in the next scene.

So then when we saw it on Monday, I sat there concentrating on how the finished version compared to the rough cut. Once again, missed out on bits which would have made the film more layered to me.

But this last time, I just sat back and enjoyed the film as a fab story, and experienced what was really a breathtaking ride at times – there were some scenes which made me gape like I haven’t done in years. And with the signing today, I saw the cast in a whole different light. Found myself paying more attention to Adam, and noticing a stack of stuff that I’d missed the first two times. Laughing at jokes and lines I’d not heard before.

Seriously, if this movie does not make it big then the world has gone mad and lost all sense of good taste.