Fluffy

Okay, so I have been a bit of a slacker in posting. But seriously, I have been busy. I have to put in a full 8 hours of work per day now (gee there’s an idea) in a building that’s a long, cold walk from the library.

“Serenity” finally made its way to the AAFES theatre. I figured I would contribute my 2 cents worth and post a brief review. SPOILER ALERT - ONLY READ IF YOU HAVE ALREADY WATCHED THE MOVIE, OR NEVER INTEND TO DO SO. IF IT’S THE LATTER, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

The opening sequence in which Mal walks thru the ship was a beautiful shot. But I don’t remember the Serenity logo being painted on the ship in the tv series. Anyway, I disgress (it’s the occasional OCD). They breeze thru the backstory awfully quickly, so the non-Browncoat fans are likely to be quite confused. River suddenly goes from being a frightened, very confused, and occasionally creepy girl to an action hero with psychic abilities, thus forming the basis of the film. That’s fine and dandy, but what about the other 8 members of the crew? Since when was the series about River? It was a series about a motley crew of people who found a family in their beloved firefly, not one girl and her 8 sidekicks (that’s not a criticism in any way of Buffy, for the record). Kaylee was portrayed as little more than a horny grease monkey, while in the series she was a kind-hearted, optimistic, and very talented mechanic. Jayne was there for comic relief, but didn’t seem as funny as he did on TV. Inara had what, 3 lines? Couldn’t they have at least given her a little more screen time since she is so dang beautiful? I was concerned that Wash and Shepherd Book were barely used, and I guess that’s why they had to be killed off. Hmm, Mal and Wash get kidnapped and tortured by sadistical Niska in the series, and the rest of the crew rescues them unscathed. Book gets shot defending his homestead and Wash gets impaled in a crash; not fair, they deserved better. Zoe is awesome as usual, but I truly expected her to kick a little more ass after watching her husband die. Simon was OK and finally got to lay a little Kaylee-shaped pipe (but Mal didn’t even get so much as a kiss from Inara?). And Mal, wonderful Mal. Oh well. I would have rather seen less River and more Serenity family. So the film was not as great as I had hoped for, but I’m still grateful for it simply to close the voids left when “Firefly” was cancelled.

Not much else to report around here. I went to a Christmas market in France the weekend before last and met a nice guy on the bus. Actually, I met him last Christmas at a dinner party, but it took me a few hours to remember why he looked so dang familar. He gave me his number, so we’ll see what happens.

This was kind of bizarre - the baby Jesus was missing at all of the public nativity scenes. Maybe it’s because he is not supposed to be born until Christmas? Or maybe all of them were stolen? Who knows.

Oh my does it feel good. I’m wearing sleek boots, a lovely wool cape, a butterfly crystal necklace, and my hair is down to my elbows. And I am at work.

I intended to send a farewell email out to everyone before I officially left the military, something along the lines of “So long and thanks for all the fish, and by the way this is how you can reach me from this point forward”. However, my email account got disabled Monday only to be reactivated on Wednesday only to again be deactivated on Thursday, my first day as a government contractor. I was not particularly upset. I figure if someone really wants to reach me, they already know how to do so.