Yesterday evening Nathan and i attended an event called Can’t Stop the Serenity. (Here’s the page for the Des Moines Chapter.) Basically, it was a showing of the cult movie Serenity down at the Fleur, but it was so much more than that.
The first time i saw this movie was about three years ago and I pretty much hated it. I was told that without the context of the Syfy show Firefly on which it’s based, it probably wasn’t as good. So this spring when Nathan started watching episodes of Firefly on Netflix Instant Play, i wasn’t very interested at first. However, unlike Stargate which failed to interest me even after several chances, the show soon drew me in and Nathan and i finished up the one and only season together in no time. Afterward we watched Serenity, which was SO MUCH BETTER the second time.
So then a couple weeks ago i heard via twitter about this event called Can’t Stop the Serenity. There are a lot of Firefly fans out there (called “browncoats”) whose love for the series has only been fueled by the fact that it was canceled so early on and by their hopes that it might be revived again some day. These fans get together once a year in quite a few different cities around the world to watch Serenity on the big screen. I figured the event would probably be a nerdfest and thus a pretty awesome time. I had no idea.
First there was a costume contest which we missed and which we realized once we got there that we probably could have won if we’d dressed up. There were door prizes which included Anime box sets, chopsticks-and-pocky combinations and Firefly fanclub memorabilia. We won some fake Firefly universe currency – w00t! There was a showing of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which we discovered is a short musical starring Neil Patrick Harris that was directed by Joss Whedon, the same guy who did Firefly (and a lot of other stuff, it turns out). That was pretty enjoyable. And then, of course, there was Serenity. (Which was STILL BETTER the third time around.)
But besides all of the delightful nerdery, there was a really good cause for all of this. I knew that the proceeds were going to be donated to a charity, but i was excited to learn that Equality Now is an organization that essentially fights against the things i hate the most in this world: rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights violations, trafficking, female genital mutilation, and gender discrimination. Unfortunately, i didn’t learn about this until after the silent auction had ended or i probably would have ponied up at least fifty bucks for a graphic novel to benefit this organization right then and there. (I can still donate, of course, but i won’t get a sweet comic book out of it.)
The main aim of Equality Now is to facilitate awareness about the atrocities being committed against women every day all over the world. It upsets me enough that i find it hard to write about, but this is something i think is really important so please check out their website and be sure to like them on facebook!
So nerdy sci-fi love + proceeds going to a great cause = a really awesome event that i’m already planning to attend again next year. And with that, i’ve just destroyed whatever “cool points” i may have gained with my big bro by drinking IPAs with him over the past couple of weeks. 
If i believed all the things that the people i love have been trying to convince me of lately, i would believe that: the government has been secretly spraying us with mysterious toxic chemicals by way of commercial airliners; the president is on the side of terrorists and is slowly turning our country into a communist regime; there is a mystical power in the universe that is real the same way physical objects are real except that it can only be experienced by people of faith; and that because i don’t have that faith my immortal soul is bound for eternal hellfire and dragging my fiance’s soul with it.
How do you people sleep at night?
I cannot sit here and not sound off about PETA right now. Which is probably what they want, but whatever.
I was a vegetarian for two years. I started eating meat again because i felt like i was missing out on a lot that the world had to offer. But i still believe in the ethical treatment of animals. I hope i’m never associated with PETA though, because they’re complete idiots for what they’re doing right now.
I dismissed it when they went and freed a bunch of animals that wouldn’t be able to survive on their own. I chuckled a little at the “sea kittens” idea and moved along. But now they’re using sex to get attention, and it just doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve made my peace with porn. I’m okay with porn for porn’s sake. I like the Victoria’s Secret fashion show as much as the next person. Women are smart enough to make their own choices about what they want to do with their bodies. But seeing a naked woman holding a sign that says “i’d rather be naked than wear fur” galls me, because ANIMAL RIGHTS have NOTHING to do with sex. In fact, the correlation of the two is almost as gross to me as snuff films, which correlate sex and murder. I don’t want someone looking at my body and thinking of dead animals. Nor do i want someone looking at a steak and thinking of my body. Neither situation would do a fucking thing for PETA. In fact, the latter might work against them. And the former might drive me to burn them down.
It’s no secret that sex is used to sell pretty much everything – alcohol, chocolate, TIRES – but never so blatantly. Looking at photos like this, i’d think i was looking at an actual advertisement for Penthouse. Not for fucking ETHICS. Isn’t PETA in need of the attention of some pretty conservative people, anyway? Aren’t more conservative people likely to be disgusted by such liberal tactics? The only people likely to approve of these ads are extremely liberal – and probably already vegetarians. You know, maybe those people who carry around giant pictures of aborted babies should try this tactic. And maybe PETA should start carrying around big photos of slaughtered calves.
Come to think of it, maybe if i posted a photo of myself in pasties a lot of people would read my blog…
Check me out! I’m Steph Palin. 
Actually, i did one of those “What would Sarah Palin have named you?” things and my name became Stag Tunnel Palin.
This is my Halloween costume. I think it’s pretty darn good.
I’ve been waiting for just the right opportunity to tell all my readers about MY favorite blog, dooce.com. I think today is the perfect opportunity. She’s gone on a rant about all this political mumbo-jumbo we’ve been subjected to recently, and it nearly brought tears of pride to my eyes. Thank god there are still people in this country who see this whole thing the way i do.
I’d go on my own rant, but i think the bottom line is that i want you, the people i love, to know that i expect you to vote and to choose your vote based on something greater than your own tax burden. Please.