Can't Stop the Serenity or Izzybella's First Ever Fan Event Frakkin' Ruled

So Saturday night was Can't Stop the Serenity night for North Texas. I went with Chaucerian Girl, Jehara, V and her husband, C. It was so awesome that there just isn't a word awesome enough to describe it. Except for awesome. Which is slightly overused, but if I imagine Neil Patrick Harris saying it, along with a hypothetical high-five, I get all giddy with happiness.

I'm so weird.

Anyway, we got there around 6:30, picked up our tickets and then meandered over to Borders where Jane Espenson was holding a Q&A. We couldn't hear very well, though, so since CG needed food, we headed over to McAllister's where she ate, and J and I had really good sweet tea. It was so fun--we talked for about two hours about Harry Potter theories. It was really fun geeking out like that. About 8:00 we headed back over to the theatre to get in line. And I'm really glad we did because we got there early enough that it enabled us to get really good seats. We were in line for about two hours and we talked Firefly, Buffy, Angel, Equality Now and Juarez. (happy side note--J wore one of our Juarez shirts to the show and when she went to the bathroom, someone asked her about it. J didn't have a program card on her, but she told her all about the show and how it benefits the families of the women killed in Juarez. The girl was really excited about it and she took a photo of the front and back of J's shirt. Hopefully she'll be at the show in July. The more people who come, the more likely we'll be able to raise the money they need. So exciting!!!)

Finally, they let us into the theatre and it was a good thing too, because I was really hungry. Very nice theatre, too, with a great big movie screen the perfect size for showing a BDM. They started with the Cedric from Bedlam Bards (I think?) I'd never heard of him before, but he's really talented and the Firefly-themed songs he sang were terrific. I liked the Joss-focused one. Because I have a really geeky fangirl crush on Joss. 'Cause he's real smart and talented and adorable and could I love the man any more after watching the speech he gave for Equality Now? I think not. Anyway, after Cedric, Jane Espenson came onstage for another Q&A. I sound so gushy and I'm really sorry, but she's so marvelously witty and humble and down-to-earth. They showed some clips from Shindig and a few Buffy episodes that were credited to her, only it turned out later, as she told us, that except for the Shindig episode, every single clip that played was actually written by Joss. She was a really good sport about it. I also liked the answer she gave to the question, "Would you ever consider doing a screenplay for a movie?" She said, and I'm not using quotation marks because I'm totally paraphrasing here, that she wouldn't because television affords the opportunity for her to go into much greater depth. She likened movies to a short story and television to a novel. Both are great story-telling mediums, but a novel allows you to spend more time with a character and, as a writer, she finds that incredibly rewarding. Someone also questioned her about whether she'd consider doing a radio-type show. There was a bit of debate about that because she felt like radio theatre was pretty much dead, but then this one guy raised his hand and said he was a truck driver and there was more call for something like that than she might realize. And then Jane was like "Really??" and then she made this hmmm..something to think about face. It was funny. Honestly, I enjoyed that part so much that I would have paid just to see her, but I got to see a BDM TOO. These Can't Stop the Serenity people just rule.

Next was the door prizes and raffle. I won nothing and neither did anyone else in my group, but J did score one of those cute little Chinese boxes containing many fun stickers and magnets. She gave me an I'll Be In My Bunk magnet. Which is funny except the magnet also has a knife on it, which seems very phallic and odd. Then they auctioned off the BDB (big damn bag). There were so many wonderful things in that bag and J and I both really wanted it, but alas, we are poor. This girl behind us got into a bidding war for the bag and J and I found ourselves really rooting for her to win it. We even scraped up $25 between us and passed it to her and I think someone in her group ponied up $100. She wound up winning the bag for something like $1100. I was really happy she got it and she even gave J and I an autographed CD, which we gave to CG because J knew CG would appreciate it more. It was so fun. I know I'm overusing that word right now, but J and I really enjoyed rooting for her to win.

And then the movie. Love the movie. I've seen it a zillion times and so has everyone who was with me, but that didn't stop CG from crying when a VERY bad thing happened to a certain beloved character, nor did it stop J and I from biting our nails during the big fight scene. And it was so cool watching it with an entire audience filled with BDFs (big dorky fans) like ourselves. The audience would applaud during certain scenes and laugh at others and you just know everything was a little funnier and a little sadder because we were all together. This was my first fan-type outing and I would totally do it again.

Oh, and costumes!!! There was a Wash and a Zoe who came together and they looked so great. And there was an Inara and a cute little Kaylee and more than one guy wearing a brown coat (in our really HOT Texas summer--very dedicated fan there). I'm not a go in costume person myself, but I was really impressed by the care they put into their costumes. These are the coolest people in the world.

Definitely will be doing this next year!!

I could enthuse more, but the real world (e.g. my job) would like me to return to it.

(is it me or does this read like a what I did over the weekend essay for high school English???)