That was ... Unexpected

I saw Serenity. It ended about 2 hours ago. It was a good film, I thought, though any in-depth analysis will require a second viewing. I was too busy enjoying the ride to observe technical stuff. I didn't stay for a second viewing because of the emotional impact it had upon me; as a fan of the series I was surprised and affected by various events in the narrative. Still, it is a good film and it cleared up several questions the series had raised. I encourage you to go see it and take your friends (who knows, they may yet succeed in getting a trilogy out of this series).

House sitting. It's good money, and fairly easy (feed pets, hang out, stuff like that) but danged inconvenient for my online gaming schedule. However, I still have tonight and I plan to make my players' pay heavily for any further mistakes.

Something I'm probably unqualified to discuss

Serenity comes out Friday. I am excited.
I was not part of the original fan-base of Firefly. When the series aired in 2002 I was either deployed or ignoring television. Though I now have a few regrets on that score, I still think it was the correct decision. In July, the Sci-Fi channel began rerunning the series, and on the advice of my friends and the influence of the film trailers I began watching the episodes. I was intrigued by the pilot, almost lost by the second episode (the Train Job), and entranced by the subsequent episodes. I recently ordered the entire series from Amazon and have been enjoying the episodes immensely, including the Train Job. I am a recent convert of the series but I am as enthused about it as my friends who have loved it since it first aired.
Like all fans, I have my favorite characters, lines, scenes, and episodes; but unlike with most shows I can honestly say that I enjoy every character, scene, line, and episode for their own qualities. Each was well conceived and well executed and I am so pleased to have been able to enjoy them. I am even more pleased that I shall be able to see where one of the major story arcs was going by attending the afore mentioned film.
Bonus: you learn some interesting Chinese cursing from the show. As a former Marine, I appreciate fluent and flexible swearing appropriate to any situation.

Man, why aren't there more like this?

I'm taking a British Literature course (renaissance and earlier). A lot of the pieces we've covered so far are old, as much as 1400 years old. The thing is, they are good. Really good.
I read a lot of fiction, especially science and fantasy, and I've become adept at determining if a book is worth looking at (poor writing, predictable plots, flat characters, and similar problems are to be avoided) with a quick examination. I haven't wanted to turn away from most of these; the characters are interesting, the plots are either unusual or were so new that they don't feel like the cliches they have become since, and the pacing and imagery makes it relatively easy to wade into the tales. My only question is, why don't more authors write like this? It's disappointing.

More rants, complaints, and raves later.