Thursday, February 28, 2008

Operation Full Burn

A 'Verse to publicity
Having written last time about a new 'Faces of Serenity' petition I've discovered many and varied examples of other action taking place all over the, well, place. 'Operation Full Burn' is a shiny campaign that is completely free and requires so little effort it's embarrassing. But try to make that tiny effort if you'd be so kind. The idea here is that Universal is going to show the whole series in High Def (Yea!) starting in March 08. This is fantastic news and to maximise the impact "we get as many Browncoats as have ears to sign up to these Universal HD Firefly Fan Forums as we can. It don't cost nobody a nickle yet it lets Universal (makers of Serenity) know that we are still here and we still want more of the 'Verse. It's as easy as lyin." (quote from campaign lit).

So, a quick 'n' easy way to show your appreciation of Firefly/Serenity - go do it!

Fireflyfans
And another site well worth a lengthy visit is Fireflyfans. This is a beast of a site (in a good way), full of information and some very active message boards. A great place to find like-minded folk of the Joss-persuasion. Try the Caption Competition for some Firefly-fan-fun-n-frolics. I've added them to 'Further reading' section.

Conventionally speaking
So, where are you going this year? I've not booked any hols yet but maybe Mexico, LA, New York...no, wait! This is the year that I go to my first Convention. Yes, it is. Now I've done some quick research and unfortunately the Buffy Con at the Paley is sold out and the guest list is to die for. Nevermind. I need to get to see Joss this year, preferably at a Con that also features Firefly/Serenity. With Dollhouse finally underway Joss will be busy busy busy, but they'll have to be publicity...when I get some places shortlisted I'll let you know. In the meantime let me know where you plan to convene.

Google Analytics
Which brings me nicely to the subject of comments/posts/reader. Now, I'm new to blogging (dur!) but I've got a good grasp of the essentials. I've made a sitemap (after much puzzlement), submitted it via Google Webmaster (very easily) and waited to be listed. I'm still waiting, so you and me could be here on our own for a while yet. I wonder if I'll be listed before I get the 'Star Wait' dvd? I know there is a couple of you out there (unless Google Analytics is up the spout) and don't think I don't appreciate you swinging by this way - I surely do. But more would be, you know, more.

England shock quake!
Yes, the earth did move for various people in England on Tuesday night with the first 'significant' earthquake there for 25 years. It was only 'significant' when equated to other British earthquakes, however, and compared with many parts of the world this earthquake was typically English - not too outspoken, didn't do much damage and went away quickly. A quick call to the old country confirmed that while it woke people up, no damage was done and all the family were right as rain.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Jayne's hat - breaking news!

California here I come..
Big excitement today when I saw on the California Browncoats' website that Jayne's hat - the actual one worn by Adam Baldwin in Firefly - is to be auctioned between Sept 24th and Oct 04th. The proceeds are going to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation. I expect that this will be the subject of intense bidding so check their CABC eBay page to make sure you don't miss it.

Once more into the breech
And so it goes on - the campaigning, I mean. Faces of Serenity have launched a campaign designed to persuade Universal to make a Serenity sequel movie. The nature of the campaign appears a little, well, arduous, at first but I think it is based on the very sound notion that Universal will be most swayed by proof that there is a fan base that is willing and able to shell out to see the movie and buy the merchandise. And the photo part should be good fun.

Wheatonesque
Wil Wheaton is still recovering from his op, though things seem to be going well. He's not updating his website as much as usual while he convalesces but he has posted a very apposite photo. I'm not sure whether Anya (from Buffy) would be pleased or terrified!

Ploughing (plowing) your own furrow
I watched 'Our Mrs Reynolds' from Firefly again last night and now I'm wondering where that expression comes from. Not to worry, it is a perfect example of why Firefly was such a great program. Anyone who is yet to see Firefly/Serenity would be well advised to watch that one episode - chances are you'll be a convert. The script and acting are fantastic.

Good Bible
So endth the lesson for today.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

It's a biege alert

Do fans of 'The Exorcist' have re-enactment parties?
Hubby asked this question today as we cleared the fountain of vomit one of our offspring had hurtled all over the landing. It's an interesting question and one for which we might never have the answer. As for the carrots....

Geek is the word
For light relief I found myself perusing the 'Dear Margo' pages. It always cheers me up to read about the problems of others and I do not in any way feel guilty about that. It's part of the human condition. Some of the questions are heart-felt indeed, and obviously one can hardly not be moved by some of the terrible predicaments people find themselves in, so I don't always laugh. I was happily reading away when I came across a letter entitled 'Computer nerds are people too!' (scroll down the page to find it). In it the writer complains that he knows plenty of great guys in computer-based jobs who fail to find women because once women know they are in that line of work they stop being interested. The letter ends with the writer advising single women to go to a Star Trek or comic book convention because there "are plenty of single men with great jobs who are just aching to meet a nice woman."

Is the word that you heard
Margo, in her wisdom (and I do think her answers are generally spot on), seems to think that it is not necessarily the job that puts women off because even funeral directors get dates. But she does wish the nerds well in their bid to find dates, which is encouraging. I'm going to refrain from any other opinion on the matter for fear of bias, but I'd be interested in what you have to say (and by that I mean for goodness sake someone make a comment!).

The XX factor
But what about the female geek? How do they get on with dating? Clearly having brains and possibly glasses does not always guarantee prom-queen (that's PROM) popularity but I never had a problem finding a date. Maybe because I had brothers and found it easy to talk to boys. I didn't suffer from the shyness say, Willow, in Buffy had. Most guys worth talking to are actually interested in women who have an opinion on technical stuff. This was beautifully realised in the scene in the 'Firefly' episode 'Shindig' where Kaylee (who can be thought of as a mechanics geek) starts out at a posh party (shindig) as the butt of the popular girls' jokes but ends up surrounded by men hanging on her every word as she details the pros and cons of the 80-04 (space craft?). *Sigh*. Joss knows how to tell 'em.

Call me 'yu bun duh'
Anyhoo, got to dash. Need to be ready to deploy the mop and bucket at a moment's notice.

P.S. 'Shindig' is also the episode where Kaylee calls Cap'n Mal 'Captain Tightpants'. Yes, indeed....

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Jayne's hat

What did you do today?
I know what I did; research, writing, house stuff and created some new links for the blog (as I'm sure you've noticed). I've also added the feed from the Kids Need To Read website. Co-founded by Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal Reynolds from Firefly) this site is updated regularly and raises money for reading projects. It's a great site that's well presented and a cause worth suppporting. They also have ebay auctions of all sorts of very exciting items and are at the moment auctioning a signed photo of James Doohan (I don't need to tell you who he was, surely). It's been so productive today the engines cannae hardly take it.

Feed the what?
But I'm having some trouble with feeds, so I hope that will be sorted out soon. If anyone has tried to subscribe using 'Atom' feed button at the bottom of the blog and had any problems please let me know. Especially if you know how to fix it!

A boy called Jayne
Actually I wanted to talk about the girl first. Jane Espenson's website is witty, well written (of course) and full of advice for aspiring writers. Her writing credentials are impressive and include Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Ellen.

Kneedly done
One look at the pattern for Jayne's hat (as worn by Adam Baldwin in Firefly) has convinced me that I'm better off either bribing someone to make it for me or buying one. And where did I see the pattern? On the Vancouver Firefly/Serenity meetup site.

Over and out
That's all for today except to say that Star Wait should be on it's way soon. And (wait for it) there are some follow up interviews in there! Thanks to Michael for that, I'm really looking forward to watching it.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Do the math

That coat looks kinda brown
Yes, I know on my last blog I promised you postulations on the Google search results 'tomorrow' but I've been ill and busy in the meantime. But I'm back now, with added phlegm. So straight into the stats. As you will see from the table in 'News from the 'Verse', Google shows a fair amount of pages devoted to Firefly, Buffy, etc. Now before we go any further, and because we are who we are, let me note the following:


1. The number of pages returned on a Google search does NOT necessarily represent the popularity or otherwise of anything
2. The shows and movies being compared differ in many respects not least the amount of time since release and numbers of follow-ups/sequels/prequels
3. Stats can be made to show anything
4. All the calculations are 'real' because I know you will check them

So you keep saying, Professor!
The first thing to note is - Star Wars TV series - who knew that was coming out next year? A new sci-fi series...interesting. But enough digressing, already! According to my calculations, Star Wars is only 4.5 times more popular than Serenity.
How do we get that figure? Well, the raw data shows that 'Star Wars Movie' vs 'Serenity Movie' gives:
1780000 / 66500 = 26.8

However, there have been six Star Wars movies released so we can divide the original Star Wars figure by 6 so now:
(1780000/6) / 66500 = 4.5

That is a stunning result! Star Wars is one of the most successful franchises of all time, netting altogether about US $4.3 billion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars ). And the first one was released 22 years ago, as opposed to 3 years ago for Serenity. Now the Internet has not been around in it's present form for all of the 22 years but you can bet you bottom dollar that some of the first web pages were about Star Wars. Certainly some of the first newsgroups were.

But what does it mean?
Of course, it means nothing. But if you can accept the dodgy premises of the calculations (come on - you can suspend your disbelief for Luke - use the Force!) it shows us that for every page written about Star Wars, there is almost a quarter of a page written about Serenity. And that gives me a new hope. With popularity like that, a new Star Wars TV series to come next year and Joss back with a new Fox show, things are looking better than they have for a long time. Probably.

Isn't it 'maths'?
I still can't quite get my head around saying 'math' instead of 'maths' - I'm from England so you'll just have to excuse me. I'm over the physical pain part when I say it, but it still doesn't seem right. But I'm in Canada now, so I must adjust. But however you say it, we mustn't be scared by the concept of math. I was for a long time (before I embraced my inner-geek), but now numbers are my friend. Just don't ask me to do any of Skytopia's impossible math questions http://www.skytopia.com/project/imath/imath.html.

Will Wheaton?
Wil hasn't updated his blog for a few days so we're going to have to assume he's taking his doctor's orders seriously and resting up. I haven't heard anymore re the Grauman's lineup and I'm still waiting for Star Wait, but all good things....

Saturday, February 16, 2008

News from the 'Verse

I don't wanna explode!
Ok, so far not much about Firefly, Serenity, Buffy, Angel or even Joss. What's going on? Well lots, just I'm a little shy. If I tell you too much then that's like sticking your head (or other bodypart) over the top so it might get shot off. But then again, that one other person who read the blog that wasn't me might get upset if I don't write something soon. Probably.

A leaf on the wind.
Firefly was cancelled in 2002, 5 years before I saw it. There were differences in opinion between the show's creator Joss Whedon and Fox, the episodes were shown out of sequence and some of the completed episodes were never aired. Maybe you've never seen it or the film it eventually spawned, Serenity. That would be a real shame, because both are excellent. Really, really, on lots of levels and planes, excellent. Joss Whedon, who created Buffy and Angel (and so much more) was surprised by how vocal the fans were when the series was pulled. The fans were so active, in fact, that a follow-up film, Serenity, was released by Whedon and Universal Pictures in 2005.

I read a poem. Try not to faint.
So what? Weeell, it's hard to say. Mr Whedon has said that he would revisit the Firefly/Serenity 'Verse but that funding and timing are the major issues. Plus he has a new TV series in the pipeline with Eliza Dushku ('Faith' from Buffy) called 'Dollhouse' that's supposed to be out this September. But I really loved this series and I would really like to see it return to TV. Which it will be doing this Monday! The SciFi Channel are doing screening back to back episodes (spotted on the http://www.fireflyfans.net/ website). Not quite the same as a new series, but hopefully will attract some new converts.



You can't take the sky from me
So hope flies eternal. It would be a great shame if Firefly didn't have another TV or cinema outing, but stranger things have happened. And the fan sites are there and growing. And Steven Brust has just published a Firefly novel that's available to download from http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html which I've just started to read and looks to be very promising. So in the interests of science (I am a nerd and a geek) I took a quick look at the Google search stats for Firefly, Buffy, Angel and, as a comparison, Star Wars.


Google search results





























Search phraseType: all the wordsType: exact phrase
Firefly tv series362, 00016, 600
Buffy tv series474, 00012, 600
Angel tv series2, 340, 00026, 400
Star wars tv series1, 040, 00049, 000
Star wars movie5, 930, 0001, 780, 000
Serenity39, 000, 00039, 000, 000
Serenity movie234, 00066, 500

(thanks to Blogger tips and tricks for help on table formatting! http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/2007/06/avoid-large-white-space-above-table-in.html)
Tomorrow, we will postulate on what the figures mean, but for now - not even 6 million pages for Star Wars movie? The shame!

Friday, February 15, 2008

No news is good news?

In [cybergeek]space, no-one can hear you...
ask a polite question. Apparently. Well, still a big nothing on the lineup dudes in terms of making direct contact. My email appears to have been delayed/deleted/ignored. But then, how long do you wait after you sent an email before you know you aren't going to get a reply? Email is an instant communication tool, but only if the other person checks their email. And I guess it could easily have been be filtered and never even got to the actual inbox. So maybe I'll wait a bit longer before I email another member.

A new hope...
I've not been entirely unsucessful, though. I have ordered a new DVD for myself. Entitled 'Star Wait' it chronicles the Revenge of the Sith lineup in all its apparent glory. I am really looking forward to this - perhaps we will get some answers after all! Let me know if you've seen it already but no spoilers, please!

You're getting a burning sensation?
And while I was not receiving email and comments from people guess what I found? The transcript to 'Raw'. Now, when I first saw Eddie Murphy on a worn-out video at a friend's house I nearly choked to death. It's hard to imagine now, perhaps, but as a teen who had only ever attended Catholic school and college such a barrage of swearing and vivid imagery had a profound effect. I kept thinking that the police would charge in at any minute to put a stop to it but I could not stop laughing. It was so wrong and so funny. And all that summer we communicated to each other using references to it. But with only 10% of the swearing. Which, actually, was still a heck of a lot of swearing. Happy days! I can't wait for my kids to be old enough.....


No, chicken liver shoot out my nose!
Better news on Wil Wheaton. He is recovering well from his surgery with only minor side effects like high blood pressure and chicken liver bogies. His description of this is great (and disgusting) http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2008/02/i-dont-want-to.html. Let's hope they clear up in time for his next convention appearance or he might get wrongly ushered into the special effects arena. Be well again soon, Wil (I tried to use Trackback to your link so I would appear to be a worthy geek, but apparently Blogger doesn't support it, so no go).


Back in the Dollhouse?
The Writers strike has now finished - hooray! That should mean that Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku can get their new series Dollhouse underway. A new TV series from Joss? And I know about it BEFORE it is released? Things are improving indeed. It was slated for an Autumn (sorry - Fall) release but no word yet on whether that will happen now. As soon as I know more...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Once more, with feeling...

So blogs, how do they work, then?
Ho hum, this is still pretty new for me so clicking on 'Publish Post' instead of 'Hide Preview' is an occupational hazard. They aren't even near each other, my only excuse is that's it's been a long day. Anyhoo, there was more exciting news - I had my first comments on the Blog!

Thanks to haley and annonymous for your posts, much appreciated. And Wil Wheaton is still blogging though apparently recovering from some nasal surgery which sounds quite nasty.

To comment or not to comment
I'm not sure on the etiquette of replying to comments - should you add a comment to your own blog? I did for haley but then I wondered whether it looked like I was trying to make the comments list look bigger so I didn't for annonymous, so don't think I was ignoring or dissing you. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually, now I'll just try the 'Preview' again...

404: page not found

Fly casual
Well I should at least get some points for trying, shouldn't I? I mean, how hard can it be to find out what happened in a remote (from me, at least) place nearly 3 years ago? To be sure, there was obviously quite a bit of interest in the 'lineup vs Grauman's/FOX' case at the time leading up the the opening of 'Revenge of the Sith', but what happened afterwards? Did they all troop round the corner to the Arclight and see it there? How do they view what they did now with the mellowing effect of time?

Good questions, I think you'll agree, and ones that deserve an answer. We need to know how it all ended and if indeed it did end for the people involved. Perhaps they are still scarred by the whole event, have become embittered and are even now plotting the downfall of civilisation through the use of viral ringtones. Or maybe some met life partners in the lineup, found a god other than George Lucas and have donated their pristine collection of action figures (see, I didn't say 'doll' - I have few myself, actually...) to charity. Hopefully the charity work they did in the lineup has continued and maybe they still do lineups for other events, too.

Well, I have no idea the answer to any of these questions. But I have tried to find out. I've used my extensive list of insider contacts (i.e. posted a couple of questions on Yahoo Answers) and even used search engines other than Google (don't you miss Webster?) but no joy. Until...I did find a message board that looks like it might be connected to the lineup people. I don't want to say too much but I emailed someone and hopefully I'll get a reply. I love it when a plan comes together.

Star Wars Trek?
The great part about not finding out what you wanted to on the 'net is finding out about lots of other things. Useful things, illuminating things, geek-based things...like HTTPanties. Now, as a carbon-based geek of the female persuasion there are few places on my highstreet that cater for the more discerning geek. But anyone in need of a lastminute Valentine's gift could try 'ThinkGeek' for inspiration http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/itdepartment/6792/. The 'action' shots are fantastic (and tasteful, so no worries there). It's up to you whether you chose to sport the '200 OK' or the '403 Forbidden'...

No, Star Trek Wars.
And Geeksta rap - apparently it's the new thing. Although I'm a big fan of Weird Al's 'White and Nerdy' I had no idea that it was (nearly) going mainstream, but there are examples on iTunes if you want to check it out. See http://www.wordspy.com/words/geeksta.asp for a great primer.

It's Pasadena all over again...
And I've heard from my local Browncoats. They are still in business and there are some gatherings coming up. I've been to exhibitions before but never a convention or a fanmeet, so I'm a bit nervous. Plus finding a babysitter is a problem. But I'm excited. There will be conversations about favourite episodes, dialogue and characters so I'd better watch the Firefly boxset again (no chore there!). Plus I get to meet some new people. I bet the lineup people could give me some pointers...

Monday, February 11, 2008

cybergeekspace - did I create a new word?

Legends of the scrawl

I was not too disappointed to find out that no-one took the time to let me in on the in and put me out of my misery about what's happening and what's not. Rome wasn't built in a day and I've obviously lived in ignorance for some time now so another few days/weeks/months probably won't hurt too much.

Honestly. I don't mind at all. And I certainly wasn't checking my email every few minutes. Or checking that my wi-fi hadn't packed up. Or checking Blogger's status. Not me. I've got a life, you know!

But I got to thinking. If I got a comment and it was negative, would that make me feel bad? Or if I found out something really big (like David Boreanaz was married or something) would I wish I hadn't known? And, how long is the longest time a blog (of any description) has been available but didn't get any comments? Or even any viewings? How do you tell if your blog has been viewed anyway? Yes, questions.

So, being bored and unappreciated I Googled cybergeekspace and guess what - no listings! And because I am the sad person I am I actually screenshotted (is that the right word?) it and saved it in a word document. Ah! I have made my own happening and now everyone else is out of touch! At last I am the first to know! In years to come other, lesser, geeks will pore over these texts and say......cybergeekspace? Man, that is so lame! Tsk.

Tomorrow is another day and my self-appointed task is to find out what happened to those geeks who lined up waiting for Revenge of the Sith to not arrive from Wil Wheaton's blog (see yesterday). How long did they wait? Did the cinema show it eventually? Are they still there?

Of course, if you already know the answer please let me know and I can spend the time more productively. Like doing some real work. Or something.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

numfar, do the dance of shame.........

Ever feel like you're out of step with, like, everything? Apparently, when I wasn't looking, the following happened:

Joss Whedon (bow, you dogs!) had a show murdered by Fox.

I bought the Firefly box for Xmas and was completely blown away by it. I knew Joss was Boss through Buffy and Angel, but I couldn't believe that this series had been killed. The worse part is that is was cancelled in 2002! How did I not know? 5 years? I had heard a few comments on other websites but being based in the UK until very recently it had slipped me by. So now I have got to become a Browncoat - but am I too late?

Wil Wheaton started blogging, then apparently stopped
Look, say what you will about the CHARACTER Wesley Crusher (and believe me, I hated that CHARACTER as much as the next geek), I hope I never really believed that the ACTOR was anything like that. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And what a witty guy Will turned out to be when I saw his blog on Wil Wheaton dot NET. His description of Star Wars Ubernerds queueing outside the wrong cinema in protest of the non-screening of 'Revenge of the Sith' still has me laughing ( see http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/003246.php). But guess what? It looks like that site hasn't been updated since 2005.

Still, he was also working for suicidegirls apparently, so I looked that up and 'horror!' he got the boot in Dec 2007 sonogo there.

England are not playing in the World Cup this year
Actually, I was all too aware of that, but it still sucks anyway. And yes, they play FOOTBALL, not soccer. Except they haven't been playing it very well. At all.

What else have I missed?
Now I'm a bit worried. I used to know all about geekdom, what was cool (relatively speaking), what was good, what I shouldn't waste my time on. But I must have taken my eye off the ball at some stage because there is so much I don't know - and even worse - lots of it happened a long time ago.

I need help
That much is obvious, but not for the reasons you're thinking (come on now, I could hear you from here!). What don't I know that I should? Why didn't I know about it? How can I make sure that I do know about it in the future without chaining myself to the 'net 24/7 (not necessarily a bad thing, but I got other stuff to do, too)?

I don't want to miss the last geek bus home so this is my SOS.

I need you to tell me what I didn't know about what's going on in the world that matters most - cybergeekspace.