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I've been watching Firefly on SciFi (in addition to Battlestar Galactica, of course). Firefly didn't last a season on Fox, but because of the high quality of the show and the rabid loyalty of its fans, a movie (Serenity) following up the series is to be released late this week.

Unfortunately a full analysis of the show is beyond the scope of this post (and would take a mountain of paper). The pilot and his wife were the odd couple with loyalties only to each other and the captain. The preacher seems friendly but has an unknown past with the government. The mechanic -- I loved her interaction with the doctor. She had a little crush on him, and he distractedly stomped on her feelings. Any other show would have had her pine away for him, but instead she struck back. The courtesan is the most interesting character, but she didn't have much to do during the season (admittedly I haven't seen every episode yet).

I'm not sure what the movie is going to be about. It may revolve around the doctor's sister's abuse at government hands, which frankly I felt was the cheesiest part of the series. However, I could grudgingly admit that the question of her origin was probably integral, and the long term consequences of harboring her (and her brother) added another dimension that gave her brother motivation and put the ship's crew in further danger. The captain being more or less an outlaw, and an honest one, he has no desire to turn her in.

Serenity's promoters have set up a marketing experiment. Take a quality product with a small but loyal fanbase, get the fanbase to generate excitement (at no cost to the movie company), and see what happens. A relatively inexpensive movie, its financial backers can afford to tinker.

I signed up for the "Serenity blogger bonanza" and hope to see it tonight at a free preview. (If I can't make it, I'll pay to see it later since the series is pretty good.) The email I received asked me to blog about it and contained this:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

This kind of marketing wouldn't have worked with a bad product -- no one would have volunteered to promote a crappy movie. And they didn't have to tell me to link to them, I think highly enough of the show to do so anyway. With quality products, companies could certainly count on customers to evangelize for them.

On the other hand, companies with crappy products have also been found to try and promote their products online. I've seen these attempts try to come across as unbiased promoters, but typically people see right through them. It's just too hard to fake true enthusiasm or to put lipstick on a pig.

I hope to go to the movie tonight and will post a review later. If I can't go, I'll pay to see it later, unless the reviews are negative.

Given the high quality of the series, I doubt that will happen.

The ACC Basketblog ranks the Hoos at number 13: "Virginia ('til their late season swoon, of course)".

Oh come on. It's quite clear from the quote that they want to push us up only to enjoy tearing us down.

UVa was a MUCH better team last year than this year. And now that D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Ahmad Brooks (who hasn't played yet this year) are injured, we're missing our best player on both sides of the ball. Duke might have given us a game if they weren't totally inept on offense. You would know we aren't a particularly good team if you had watched or read about any of our first three contests.

Marques Hagans might be the most valuable player to his team in the conference. His scrambles on third and long have singlehandedly saved two games for us. This past weekend against Duke he threw four touchdown passes. Nobody knows how well backup QB Christian Olsen would play in a starting role. He certainly doesn't have Hagans' scrambling ability. Without Marques, Virginia might be a four win team, and we've already won three games.

We'll learn a lot more about Virginia this weekend against Maryland. Until then, if the Basketblog wants to rank us 13th only to feign surprise when we go 7-4, it's their own fault.

ESCAPE

I managed to leave my old crappy job with my integrity intact and without losing a limb. Fortunately the new job is much better, higher paying, nicer people, fewer sociopaths, etc. My relief is palpable.

See more progress on: get a better job