Archive for March, 2009

Kazia Hodges is many things. She's a wife and mother. She suffers from depression. She has put on too much weight. And she's a Browncoat, something she credits to helping bring her back out of the depression. She's become involved with the local group, the Austin Browncoats, and also begun working with Kids Need to Read, the children's literacy program started by author PJ Haarsma and our captain, Nathan Fillion. And being a Browncoat, she decided to make her weight loss efforts also help others.

Kazia has started her Healthy Giving Pledge Drive, a personal weight loss challenge she is undertaking, and all pledges and donations she collects during the drive (Jan 23-May 23) are going to support KNTR.

Besides the fact that you're encouraging a friend to get healthy and raising money for an excellent cause, you might also win stuff. At the end of the challenge she's be drawing for prizes donated by the Austin Browncoats, including an autographed Better Days comic, some Browncoat Essentials stuff from www.whedonwares.com and more comics.

More information is available at www.healthygiving.org.

See, I step away for a few minutes and you guys go nuts with new stuff. QMx released this stunning signed lithograph of the Fruity Oaty Bar ad, by original designer Geoffrey Mandel.

The Fruity Oaty Bar artwork created by Serenity Designer Geoffrey Mandel was the basis for the most memorable power bar commercial in movie history. With it's vibrant colors and anime-style characters (and subliminal message implanted by the Operative), the Fruity Oaty Bar ad triggered River's Alliance programming, after which much ass-kicking ensued.

Although this ad was original planned to turn into a billboard, it never actually made it on film due to budgetary constraints. So, with the exception of the commercial it inspired, fans never got to see it. And we just didn't think that was right.

That's why we arranged with Universal Studios and Mr. Mandel to take the original high-resolution Fruity Oaty ad and print it in all it's glory as a limited-edition, extra-large collectible lithograph, only 1,000 in the edition. Measuring a huge 24" x 36" (61cm x 91.5cm), the Serenity Fruity Oaty Bar Lithograph is printed on 100-pound, satin-finish paper and is hand-signed and numbered by Mr. Mandel himself, for just $39.95.

Head to QMx for more of the story behind it, and to order one from them or from TFAW.com for $39.95.

Meanwhile, TFAW has all your Fruity Oaty Bar needs covered (apart from actual Fruity Oaty Bars). Shirts, ladies shirts, hoodies, and the ever-popular lunchboxes are waiting for you!

The Daytona Beach Browncoats are brand new for this year's Can't Stop the Serenity showing, which means there's finally one close enough for me to get to without crossing the state.

Like many other showings around the world they'll have raffles, auctions, door prizes, a costume contest, and, of course, Serenity on the big screen. If you're in the central Florida area or along the east coast check 'em out and buy your tickets! Remember, proceeds go to benefit Equality Now. The event will be June 27 at the OceanWalk Theaters.

If you're not in the area, there's still probably a Serenity showing somewhere near you this summer. This is the 4th annual Can't Stop the Serenity showing, where money is raised for Equality Now and Browncoats get together around the world in fellowship and not a little raucousness, and if you're reading this site you probably know all about it already. Check here for a list of the cities screening the movie in your area.

After an exhaustive amount of research and skullsweat, QMx finally brings you the official Map of the 'Verse! This gorgeous thing has been in production for months now and it's finally here for you to goggle at. And goggle you will.

(Yes, I'm still catching up, but check out the end of this post for free and cool stuff).

Over two years in the making, the Map of the Verse measures 25 inches by 38 inches and is printed on both sides of a sheet of 65 lbs cover stock (believe me, we needed the space). It documents the names, positions, sizes, populations and other never-before-published details of the 215 terraformed planets and moons orbiting the five star systems that comprise The Verse of Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity.

The Map of the Verse encompasses every bit of information about the Verse we could lay our hands on. It not only includes all the worlds from the show and movie, but also extended canon from licensed products and even a few from popular fan fiction. A team of researchers including folks from The Signal Podcast and other luminaries of the Browncoat community worked diligently on the science of The Verse, factoring in distances, orbits, masses, stellar classes and a lot of other astrophysical stuff that frankly made my head hurt. It was our goal that The Map of the Verse makes sense – scientifically and in terms of story continuity – and thanks to the help of many, many dedicated people, I think we were able to come pretty close to achieving that goal.

I was in the Brain Trust helping compile all this stuff, although I was pretty much useless when they started talking about planet masses and orbital mechanics (and there was a LOT of orbital mechanics discussions). Mostly, I helped compile names and then watched the smart people run with it. But they got input from just about anyone, official or unofficial, who ever speculated on Joss' universe to make it as complete as anything could ever be.

And the stunning art by Serenity graphic designer Geoffrey Mandel makes it all work. He designed the maps for the movie (and they were considered during this as well) and he's good at this stuff: he created the official and popular Star Trek Star Charts. The Map of the 'Verse has been his dream project for quite a while, and it really shows in every loving detail.

The Map of the 'Verse is available from QMx in two different formats: : a folding roadmap style ($26.95) and a print shipped rolled into a tube ($34.95). You can also buy the rolled version from TFAW.com for $31.45.

You can also download the new "The Verse in Numbers", a white paper on the discovery, colonization and structure of The Verse. Free! (Use this link, the one at QMx is wrong at the moment). J. Chris Bourdier has accomplished the gargantuan task of pulling together everything ever said about the structure or history of the 'Verse and compiled it into a 100+ page work. Really incredible.

New from QMx (or rather, it was new a month ago when I was updating regularly): the Cerberus!

QMx is continuing to expand the world of Firefly and Serenity and is presenting this somewhat more military Firefly series ship as a gorgeous poster.

Part of QMx's new Serenity: Unification War print series, The ISV Cerberus is a Series 3 Firefly ñ just like Serenity ñ but with a military refit that made it one of the baddest ships ever to take up arms against the Alliance

The Firefly Gunboat variant was the backbone of the Independents air and space forces during the Unification War, equally capable of taking on ground targets and capital ships. Inexpensive to operate and heavily armored, the gunboats gave the Independents an early advantage in the guerrilla battles that dominated the war. For her debut, we see our "Big Dog" taking a much-deserved break, reinforcing an Independents encampment in one of the deserts on Persephone. Look closely and you can see some of her crew and Browncoat marines moving under her shadow. This poster is full of little details and surprises, from the tattered 12th Cavalry flag hanging from the side of a gun emplacement to the "Eat This Purple Bellies" scrawled on the sides of Cerberus' big missiles.

Each poster is 12.5 by 19.5 inches and ships rolled.  $11.65 from TFAW.com,$12.95 direct from QMx.

As someone who occasionally struggles to come up with new ideas and new storylines, it is incredibly gratifying/frustrating to see Pixar continue to produce stuff like this. See? It's still possible!

Although Cars was basically an animated Doc Hollywood, and that cheered me up some.

Can't Stop the Serenity 2009 is now in full swing, and local groups are already getting ready for this year's movie theater blitz.

If you're organizing a local event, and you've always wanted a Bard around the place, why not bid on Cedric? He's half of the Bedlam Bards, filkers extraordinaire and creators of such Browncoat hits as "The Ballad of Joss," "Big Damn Trilogy," and the "on the Drift" CD of verse-inspired music. Or, as he puts it:

A multi-instrumentalist, James "Cedric" Hazlerig, of the legendary renfaire/filk group the Bedlam Bards, comes to performances armed with two fiddles, a mandola, and a strong, manly voice. His philosophy of music stresses passion before perfection, death before dishonor, and whiskey before breakfast. For over ten years, Cedric has been performing at renaissance festivals and science-fiction conventions from coast-to-coast, including the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, Dragon*Con, and the Browncoat Backup Bash. His music has elicited compliments from Nathan Fillion, Ben Edlund, Greg Edmonson, and Sonny Rhodes, in addition to causing Joss Whedon to grin from ear-to-ear. After releasing their third album, entitled On the Drift: Music Inspired by Firefly and Serenity, the Bedlam Bards have become the premier bards of the Browncoat movement. Several of Cedric's songs were featured in the documentary Done the Impossible. Besides appearing at the Browncoat Ball and the Browncoat Cruise, Cedric led fans in song as they picketed in support of the Writers Guild of America strike in front of Fox Studios in Los Angeles.

Win the auction and Cedric will come perform at your Can't Stop the Serenity event. Also, you'll win a heap of amazing stuff, such as Browncoat flags, patches,  a "Tragic Space Dementia" T-shirt, a Companion fan, some prop replicas, a QMx money pack, a
Kaylee Maquette, the "Done the Impossible" DVD,  an autographed photo of Felicia Day (not versy but cool), a Jayne Hat (of course),  "something shiny autographed by Joss Whedon", and more.

Well worth the bidding, and proceeds go toward the CSTS screening of your choice. Bid him high, people!

And so ends another wild weekend of scantily-clad women in bizarre costumes.

What? No, Bike Week is still going strong. I meant MegaCon, the annual science fiction convention in Orlando. Thousands of fans of science fiction TV shows and movies and comic books and Japanese anime, gathered together to put on costumes, meet their heroes, and buy stuff. And they did, in brightly-colored droves.

Cosplay (which sounds way better than "dressing up as") is huge at cons when fans take their opportunity to become the hero — or villain, or animal or yummy snack — they've always wanted to be, and with a lot more ingenuity than the old rubber pointy ears shtick.

They take their work seriously, they do, and their costumes often are intricate works of professional-quality art. But what if you're a beginner fan? Never fear! Cosplaying is only as complicated as you want to make it, and I have some handy tips to get you started.

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