Firefly-fied
Tucson, AZ
From a cultural standpoint, I am a bit of a failure as a libertarian. Although I do enjoy science fiction, I am not a fan of Robert A. Heinlein, L. Neil Smith, or J. Neil Schulman science fiction. I have not yet managed to read a single Ayn Rand book all the way through let alone The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. The thought of having to do so makes me start wondering how bad poking both my eyes out really would be. I may have heard some Frank Zappa music in my lifetime, but if so I was not educated enough to recognize it as such. I'm not a big Rush (as in the band, not the druggie talk show host) fan either-it's okay, but not something I'd think to buy for myself. I'm sure there is all kinds of other stuff that I'm missing- probably because I am enough of a failure at being culturally libertarian that I've never even heard of most of it.
But there is one little bit of libertarian culture I do enjoy- Firefly. It was an unlikely show for me to get into. Libertarian space western isn't a description that is likely to attract me. That I'm not a Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel fan was another strike as Joss Whedon is the creator of all three.
So how did I become Firefly-fied? There was my sister Megan- she hadn't seen it either but was a Joss Whedon fan by way of Buffy, and she alerted me that I might be interested. Then I met up with Misfit from The Claire Files while on vacation and she and her husband raved about it. They insisted it was a must-watch. Then later on that vacation, my friend Steve actually sat me down in front of a television and I sort of watched the first episode. I am notorious for falling asleep in low-light, high volume, movie-type situations, and this was no exception. Plus, Steve's shoulder is really comfortable to fall asleep on- I can't be blamed for that. A couple of weeks later I spent Thanksgiving with my friends Terry and Jenny. Terry tried to get me to watch Firefly while everyone else was in the kitchen cooking- I opted to lay around petting their dog Buck instead. Then he sent me home with his DVD set for the series.
Finally, many weeks later I got around to re-watching the first episode. I was smart and watched during the day when I wasn't tired and had all the lights on. It was smart and funny and not at all the cheesy "space western" I had envisioned. I am all the way through Disc 3, and there has yet to be an episode during which I did not find myself laughing out loud. I even teared up during one episode.
Unlike most of the crap that comes back season after season, this was good television. Maybe that's why it never stood a chance.
I now eagerly await the movie Serenity to be released on 30 September.
From a cultural standpoint, I am a bit of a failure as a libertarian. Although I do enjoy science fiction, I am not a fan of Robert A. Heinlein, L. Neil Smith, or J. Neil Schulman science fiction. I have not yet managed to read a single Ayn Rand book all the way through let alone The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. The thought of having to do so makes me start wondering how bad poking both my eyes out really would be. I may have heard some Frank Zappa music in my lifetime, but if so I was not educated enough to recognize it as such. I'm not a big Rush (as in the band, not the druggie talk show host) fan either-it's okay, but not something I'd think to buy for myself. I'm sure there is all kinds of other stuff that I'm missing- probably because I am enough of a failure at being culturally libertarian that I've never even heard of most of it.
But there is one little bit of libertarian culture I do enjoy- Firefly. It was an unlikely show for me to get into. Libertarian space western isn't a description that is likely to attract me. That I'm not a Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel fan was another strike as Joss Whedon is the creator of all three.
So how did I become Firefly-fied? There was my sister Megan- she hadn't seen it either but was a Joss Whedon fan by way of Buffy, and she alerted me that I might be interested. Then I met up with Misfit from The Claire Files while on vacation and she and her husband raved about it. They insisted it was a must-watch. Then later on that vacation, my friend Steve actually sat me down in front of a television and I sort of watched the first episode. I am notorious for falling asleep in low-light, high volume, movie-type situations, and this was no exception. Plus, Steve's shoulder is really comfortable to fall asleep on- I can't be blamed for that. A couple of weeks later I spent Thanksgiving with my friends Terry and Jenny. Terry tried to get me to watch Firefly while everyone else was in the kitchen cooking- I opted to lay around petting their dog Buck instead. Then he sent me home with his DVD set for the series.
Finally, many weeks later I got around to re-watching the first episode. I was smart and watched during the day when I wasn't tired and had all the lights on. It was smart and funny and not at all the cheesy "space western" I had envisioned. I am all the way through Disc 3, and there has yet to be an episode during which I did not find myself laughing out loud. I even teared up during one episode.
Unlike most of the crap that comes back season after season, this was good television. Maybe that's why it never stood a chance.
I now eagerly await the movie Serenity to be released on 30 September.
posted by Kirsten | 4/30/2005 04:08:00 PM
3 Comments:
Dude. You are killing me. His name is Joss. Not Josh. Joss.
-- Megan
Once again, I have proven myself a failure. Do I not at least get credit for getting it right in the first instance?
That depends: which do you think is worse? Making a mistake because you didn't know better or making a mistake even though you knew better?
-- Megan
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