Raithe

Woke up a couple of hours early and realised it, so tried to fall back asleep. Went into some weird dreams, then woke up at a more appropriate time albeit with an annoying brow-pinching headache. At least it's being a day with some sun rather then completely overcast. Also, my sister's birthday. After poking her a bit with electronics and text messages I finally got some ideas and thoughts from her and ended up sliding an amazon gift card to her. She's a serious pain for Birthday and Christmas presents.

I managed to get a bunch of friends to go see Serenity, but most of them had never watched Firefly so while they enjoyed the general sci-fi stuff, it never really clicked for them since so many references are based on the series. But then, I was one of those folks who managed to download the Firefly episodes when they were first shown in the US and before they got shown here in the UK, then picked up the dvd's the moment they were released. Now I've also got the Blu-ray version of the series as well. So it could be said I'm one of the serious fans.. Edit: I think it was Adam Baldwin who said something along the lines of "If we'd had 3 million more viewers at the time, the show wouldn't have been cancelled. If we'd had 3 million more seats sat in for the movie, we'd have likely been able to get a sequel or two to that."

I think part of the trouble is that a lot of the really interesting concepts for tv series tend to have more of an arc nowadays, rather the purely episodic style. So the first season always tends to be laying groundwork and establishing the frame of everything, while the actors are getting a feel for their characters and the writers are shaking down all the loose ends and how it actually hooks together. Which tends to mean when viewers miss a few episodes or don't start watching it until the 3rd or 4th episode it makes it harder to follow everything. Then it suddenly gets axed because the networks don't consider it "exciting" enough or hitting the "right" audience.

Well, in the novelisation of the Serenity film they drop a bunch of innuendo about how Book was basically an Operative ala the main bad guy in the film, but who lost his faith in the Alliance years ago and disappeared. But they did "A Shephard's Tale" as a 3 part comic that revealed he'd actually been a very troubled teenager who got pulled into the Independents before the war began, and then given a false identity to enlist in the Alliance as a deep cover agent. During such, he became one of the leading military officers of the Alliance known for ruthlessness, brilliance and general aggressive capability. Which positioned him to set things in motion for the worst disaster the Alliance suffered. Of course by then, only a few people on the Independent side knew who he was, but to the majority he was a key bad guy. Then the Alliance viewed him as the guy in charge of their worst disaster, and they do what they usually do and swept it all under the rug and discharged him from service. During the 10th Anniversary, Whedon did let slip that Inara's secret was that she had some form of terminal illness which is why she'd left the home planet and gone a-wandering.

Interesting thing is that the various Firefly comics that Dark Horse have published have sold more then any other comics they've released. Well in the original pilot, Simon has only just met the crew when he gives a rough "this is how I got my sister out", but if you've just met a suspicious bunch of characters would you really tell them the exact truth? The Serenity movie provides the "security camera" viewpoint of Simon directly rescuing River from the facility, but as such never shows how they managed to get off world and out to the rim planets. I don't know, some people say it's overhyped, but I find the chemistry between everyone on set really does make it feel like a family group and they generally have interesting stories and fun dialogue. I can re-watch Firefly more then I can re-watch Buffy or Angel or Dollhouse. Joss was certainly loyal to the cast, he kept trying to get them parts in things he was doing after Firefly which is one of the reasons most of them turn up in Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse at one point or another. Edit: heh, and for a slight woah moment - a very young looking Zac Efron played a "young Simon" in one of the episodes.

For the Doctor Who fans.. While for the Breaking Bad ones.. Oh, and Ros, yup, that was a general push on current "yoof speak"

Well when it was put out first, it was battling against ..I think it was the Baseball (or one of the other big American sports) playoffs, and the first season of American Idol. That and Fox pretty much had put out no advertisement for it. It's like it was set up to be killed.

A little over-rated, yes. And absence makes the heart fonder. But there's so little decent sci-fi TV series (imo) to pick from, it always sucks when they cancel one of the good ones. Sci-fi shows rarely seem to find enough of an audience to stay on air for long. Sometimes, perhaps, because they can be more costly to make than yet another Law and Order or reality show. Sigh. Heh, Joss Whedon has gone on record saying that Firefly actually had a smaller budget then either Buffy or Angel, even the pilot's of both series, let alone later seasons. But there does seem to have been a lot of weird office politics going on at Fox on how they threw Firefly around and put it out without advertising or a regular slot.

Just watched through that Firefly 10th Anniversary Browncoat Reunion that got shot at last years SDComicCon. When you see the cast and writers just chatting back and forth with each other, you really get the feeling they're practically family, even 10 years after the show was cancelled.

From what's been said, everything about the stronghold is purely OPTIONAL. If you're only interested in the main story, you don't have to do anything related to the stronghold. So you get offered the chance for it, but it's not something that's demanded of you, and you can breeze past without worrying one bit about any of all of these features. If you do want to spend time exploring some of these sidelines, that's fine. If you do spend time, effort, and potential wealth you've gathered from your adventures on establishing a stronghold, you will get benefits. Both passive ones, and even more content that's available for you to explore and adventure with. But again, that's if you choose to do so. You don't have to.

Seriously, no. If I'm not wearing my glasses and you're more then about a foot and a half away from me, I wouldn't be able to recognise you. You'd basically be a [insert appropriate skin colour] blobby head on a body. Dealing with somewhat steamed up glasses and scatter of water across them is something a lot easier to deal with then complete lack of sight.

Hey, to be fair, I wear my glasses in the shower. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell what's showergell, what's shampoo and what's something else..

For all those Breaking Bad fans.. http://youtu.be/duKL2dAJN6I

Heh, for that random interest.. Everything Wrong with America in one single graphic...

The weather has definitely turned past summer here. No sunlight, lots of greyness, and its pretty much been pissing it down with rain all day. Also noted I hadn't had anything to eat today. So I went in the kebab shop and picked up a super burger. Which is a rather delightful, if incredibly unhealthy, but tastey collection of just over 3/4 pounds of cooked meat, slathered in assorted sauces, slices of cheese and fresh salad between some oven-toasted baps..

Hm, well the whole future-flash of "Walt buying the M60 and returning home" happens after he turns 52.. So since Hank found the book when Walt was turning 51, only a little time has gone by. There's going to be some gap of almost a year happening.

A chemistry friend of mine always said he got best results with a piece of cheese and a box on a stick with string. Or using the line "does this cloth smell of chloroform to you?" He even says that's how he got the lady he ended up marrying. Hm. Realised I've gone through the day without actually checking my email. On the one hand, that's a good sign of not being net-addicted, on the other it could mean I missed anything related to serious work...

Well, as I said, its a pretty faithful adaption of the style of the book.

Well, not so much weird but still.. BBC News - Voyager Prove 'leaves the solar system'

Had an early morning doctors appointment. The wheels of the NHS grind steadily..but slowly. It took three weeks from attempting to book it for there to be a slot open. Of course, then I had to set the alarm for earlier then normal and went to bed thinking to myself "you have to get up early" - so I found myself waking up on the hour, every hour from 3am onwards. Then after the GP listens and pokes, she decides she wants me to have an ecg and fasting blood test, so I go to the nurses station to book that..and get told it'll take two weeks before I can have that appointment.

There was a reason I said "If you like those slightly kooky supernatural tinged thrillers." I've actually read the book it's based on this week, and I have to say they actually did use a lot of the dialogue from the book, not just the usual Hollywood adaptive screenplay. Sure, some of the lines were shifted in scenes to suit a movie rather then a book, but they were still pretty much as is. And that "character talking to the audience" is how the books are written.

Catching up on season 4 of Justified.