joss whedon needs to die. uh, i mean, now he can die happy.

Oh goodness. That was really good. Took a lot out of me, though, emotionally. I just got back from watching Serenity with Jo and a bunch of her friends and their friends. (The same friends who stood in line for hours that we 'met up with' for Phantom Menace.) One of the guys was dressed as Simon Tam.

Sean Maher, who portrays Dr. Simon Tam in both "Firefly" and "Serenity," was present at last week's L.A. premiere of the new film and saw one attendee dressed in his character's trademark white button-down shirt and vest.
~from The Hollywood Reporter

Yep, that was him. He's even got a picture of with Sean Maher in front of the Terminator 2:3D ride at Universal Studios to prove it. He came dressed the same today. There were other people dressed as Jayne and Wash, too, and a general 'browncoat' wardrobe. I wore a brown jacket, mainly because I like them, almost changed when it looked like I would match Jo, then decided not to because I didn't care that much. In the car, she was like, oh yeah, they told us to wear brown coats, and I was glad that I had just bought her her own brown jacket from Target a couple days ago. There was definitely an atmosphere of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars opening days, with someone sporting the ever-popular (Joss himself mentioned it in an interview) "Joss Whedon is my master now" tshirt from PVP.

That was probably one of the few good movies I've seen this year, a list which includes Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (where Chris was dressed as Arthur Dent) and Batman Begins (where a different "Chris" was dressed as Bruce Wayne). Part of (my theory on) why these movies are so good is that you have this extended emotional attachment to the characters and stories of the world created outside of what the movies themselves give you. In most movies, you spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours with the characters, and if any emotional attachment forms, it could be said to be successful. Which is why you get movies that are either blatantly trying to manipulate your emotions, or those that try to make you forget them. Maybe that's why there's such a dearth of original movies around. Original movies mean you start from scratch with the audience. Adaptations have their struggle to please fans and newcomers, but ultimately, if you're a fan, you're going to know the world already, so the movie either kills whatever feeling you had for it or satisfies for a moment a need for more. Of course, the actual product itself has to be good for it to be good, but a certain familiarity with the universe involved helps to make the movie a thoroughly enjoyable event.

Also, (*English major alert*) Mal reads Coleridge, and that makes me happy.