Milkman came through the other night, having picked up tickets to a preview screening of Serenity. Joss Whedon (the director) was kind enough to speak to us (on film) before the film started. I'll paraphrase his remarks, which were twice as fantastic as I remember:

Most of you are probably here because of a show called Firefly. When it came out, Firefly was immediately hailed as one of the most cancelled shows ever. (It premiered alongside the World Series, and was thus pushed all over the schedule from its originally bleak Fridays at 8 time-slot. Firefly episodes were aired out of order, with the 2 hour pilot last.) Most shows that do not make it through one full season do not end up as major motion pictures. This film, by all accounts, should not exist. We the Browncoats, (Firefly super-fans named for the coat worn by Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his fellow revolutionaries) have triumphed. We...and that makes us mighty.

After the inspiring words from the creator and director, the show began. I have no interest in spoilers or recounting the film. The entire cast returns to reprise their roles, the story-line is fresh, original, and in tune with the main elements of the show. Something Maelstrom pointed out to me, the story feels like a 2+ hour episode, which places it firmly in sequel territory. The net effect of the cast, the writing, and direction all sum up to an amazing story; Hilarious, intriguing, and propelled with great fervor. Most appealing to those who may not be familiar with Serenity's television roots is the complete lack of A-list stars. Because you don't recognize anyone in this film from the last Bernie Mac/Julia Roberts/Snuffelufogus/Al Pachino/Catherine Zeta-Jones/Colin Farrell/Jenna Jameson/Jude Law/Rainbow Brite/Ashton Kutcher/Mr. T dramatic action romance comedy, you have a greater willingness to accept and believe in the characters of Serenity. The underlying power of this film is that while it exists clearly in the sci-fi genre, you don't need to be a geek to enjoy it. Because tech and futurism are not Serenity's primary fuel, it is not a film reserved for Jedi wannabes and Trekkies. The films plot, character, and conflict elements make it approachable to anyone that enjoys a story of mystery, excitement, danger and comedy. Overall Serenity is a cinematic revelation, reminding you what makes a great film worth watching again and again. Rolling out of the theater at 12:15 after a full day at work, I was ready to stand in line for another two hours just to see it again. I can't wait to drag everyone within reach to see it this fall.

El Cargo by Amon Tobin. This is the perfect synthesis of music and video. The song drives the game footage, and simply convinces you to buy the damned thing. Robot Rock by Daft Punk. These French bastards have dug deep into my childhood id and unleashed a kitsch 80's electro-orgy of overlit, oversmoked, overglinted glory! I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance. Gotta love the clear reference to Rushmore. That and the giant jewfro on the guitarist.

Flickr has gone through some plumbing evolution, and now you can embed links into photo notes...click on the above to check it out!

Best NIN-With teeth review ever! Really does some it all up. A runaway BMW in Southern Cali. I swear this wasn't me!! A visual history of music sampling. Awesome use of Processing. The programming environment used to create the above. Drawing with type. Some gorgeous sand creations. Hottest hot sauce ever. Sign me up. Lego Han Solo in carbonite.

Great Flickr widget. Lord knows I need a way to get more and more photos onto the web. Xbox 360! Woohoo-leaked thanks to MTV not barring cameraphones from the early taping of their launch party extravaganza!

Moment of Zen: Joe Monzel / New Townships

"I think we should start our own town; call it Palo Altoid. It'll just be a curiously strong town."

Some cool shit I found today: Collection of pulp fiction book covers. Some great crap here. I am dying to find an online collection of PDFs of these books, I think they'd make fantastic WC reading. Strange Japanese accessories that hold your business cards, wallet contents, and beach crap using the static quality of vynl. Backpack by 37 Signals is a fabulous web-based information management tool. Some of the most beautiful design I've seen for an ASP in a while. Totally hot Tijuana Brass album apparently has a serious history. Linkin Park wants to go label-less. While ABC has completely missed the point with their headline, the more important issue is a band with a powerful brand choosing to strike out on their own and embrace new technology. The Seven Gummie Sins. The continuing brilliance of Flickr shines brightly. Marumushi Newsmap. This could be one of the coolest uses of Google's open APIs. Take the headline streams from Google News and visualize them...might be my new homepage.

My Romanian music television post didn't seem like the sort of thing you could just leave hanging there for very long, so I wanted to float some other great videos that have made it into rotation on the iTMS lately: Helena by My Chemical Romance. The jazz hands in this picture are just a taste of the fantastic choreography applied to a classic downtroden punk rock theme. If you dig pseudo-heartfelt yelling, this is fabulous. Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz. Feels good to see that the anime-rap-reggae supergroup is still kicking. Not sure how much life this single's got to it, but it will keep my interested until the rest of the record crowns. Dirty Little Thing by Velvet Revolver. Equally good to see that someone still loves being heroin skinny, wearing pants only a 15-year old girl could fit into, and being surrounded by fake tits. It's a dirty job and we should all be thankful that the world gave us Scott Weiland, because I don't know who else is up for it.

I finally uploaded the photos I took with the girls polo team. We went to see the Ring 2, and of course requisite levels of circus behavior cropped up before the movie even started. Check out the rest of the photos.

This post goes out to two of my readers who seem to have a sick obsession with this song. Perhaps better known for being the soundtrack to the dancing fat guy sailing across the interweb, this horrendous song (I've been told it's Romanian) is made only more hilarious by the actual video. Thankfully iTMS does not play favorites, and they have now put it on display. Sit back and buckle up for the faggiest experience in recent memory...except maybe for that strange text from Brian Tong. Watch the video in iTunes.

HandBrake 0.7.0-beta3. Geeks rejoice! This is probably the best tool to start enjoying h.264 video. Thanks to the lil' bro for pointing me to it. The miniMate! USB, FireWire, and up to 400 gigs of storage in a footprint that matches the Mac mini to perfection. This is THE accessory for mini media centers. Bell & Ross watches. Gorgeous watches developed after military instruments. I'm positive I'll figure out these beauties are like eight hundred thousand dollars, but in the mean time I can dream. Penny Arcade: If I have Told Him Once. A hilarious bit of comic that will hit home for anyone that's watched Firefly. Pirates of the Caribbean MMORPG. Disney will launch the family-friendly online game in 2006 alongside the sequel hitting theaters. Why Geeks and Nerds are Worth it...An awesome essay by an anonymous Craigslist user in support of dating the slightly less-than-Pitt of the male gender. Totally rad, and something that should be forwarded to women everywhere. In particular those who you're on a 'good friends' basis with.