So after being put on hiatus by Fox, the news is now that Firefly has been cancelled. Despite the fact that they will still be running next week's new two-hour episode, which is actually the original pilot, it seems that the first shall be last, and Friday will be Firefly's last huzzah at Fox.

While things don't look good, there's still the possibility that UPN, WB, or one of a handful of cable stations (SciFi and FX come to mind) might make a bid to pick the series up. Nobody was saying it's a bad show, just that the ratings aren't up to the standards Fox has set for that time slot.

If you've watched the show and liked it, then I heartily recommend contributing to the letter-writing campaign targeting UPN and suggesting they be a suitor to take over the show.

While I don't think anyone is expecting verbosity on a postcard, here's my letter:

While so much new TV gravitates to the lowest (and widest) common denominator, Firefly represents a new calibre of show that has keen intelligence and great depth, while still remaining highly accessible and viscerally pleasurable to the larger audiences.

It saddens me that Fox has given the show such short shrift, but it is my hope that UPN will recognize this as an opportunity to add another jewel to its crown.

Please consider acquiring Firefly, the smartest and most promising new show of the last two years.

Sincerely, Kevin Fox, 29, San Francisco

Here's hoping...

Got up when the girls got up this morning. They prepped to go to Dickens Fair, and I made ready for an afternoon shopping with Dawn in San Francisco.

Cousin Sara (and Ingrid and Heather) conspired this Christmas to organize presents, asking each of us to give them a list of five things we want. They compiled the list and send it back out to (all 20 of) us, so we can each pick a few things off of the list, coordinating with the self-appointed elves, so everyone gest what they want, and nobody feels like they have to get something for everyone (flashbacks to second grade valentines...)

I printed out the list and set forth for BART, where I would meet Dawn's train and we'd head into the city, where wind vied with rain, conspiring to create a sense of adventure, or at least dampness. Funny how outdoor bluster can make interiors (and company) shine like warm gold.

Driving back from Fruitvale BART, after seeing Dawn off, I was greeted by the sun, making its first appearance of the day. Grabbing my camcorder, I crossed the street from Karen and Crystal's to Alameda's Kings Beach, where I found today's moment of Zen (quicktime, 1.7 megs). This video completely exemplifies my day.

It's nice to be home...

In a bit I'm off to see Em, Chris, and Kisa. Kisa-kisa-kisa. I've so missed my kitty. I hope she remembers me.

Argh, the site would break the same day that I'm away from computers, travelling to California, and MacWorld comes out with a big plug for the Bait and Switch movie, driving folks here in droves...

More later. Right now I'm in the Apple Store in Emeryville, loving Apple for setting up so many net-enabled computers to let me fix my site.

Oh, and it's pouring, but it's 55 degrees, which is quite a change from the freezing rain and snow I left.

...I am done.

Granted I haven't slept since yesterday morning, and I have two hours to pack for four weeks away, including a little housecleaning so I don't feel it nagging me in the back (2700 miles back) part of my mind.

There's a little story about Christmases and my own personal holiday tradition, but it'll have to wait until after I sleep, because it's about all I can do to type this, and I shouldn't even be doing that in the face of folding, packing, forgetting, remembering, forgetting again, cleaning, and oh the lugging.

But it doesn't matter, because the semester's done.

yay

Today's your last chance to buy holiday chorus greeting cards! At $7, it's so worth it, and people really love and remember them.

I'm just sayin'...

Oh, and here's the direct link.

Wow. real-life blogging emotion can come from the most unexpected of places. After 25 years, I truly feel for Wesley, or rather, Wil Wheaton. After being snubbed at various reunion events, after being invited, then cut, from Star Trek Nemesis (he got the phone call from Rick Burman after his scenes were shot), now he's been surruptitiously excluded from the premiere.

Despite Wil's personal log (hah. He should call it 'personal log, stardate blah-de-blah') that's been running for over a year now, this post more than any other makes me see him as just another real person, fragile and hurt.

I've no idea if this is normal or not, but getting ready to drive to my final this morning, scraping the ice off my windshield, I had to do double duty and scrape off the ice that formed on the inside of my windshield. Burr...

In other news, my final went well. My last scholastic responsibility for the semester is a multimedia project that's to be presented tomorrow morning. I'm actually kind of miffed: the coure was supposed to teach us Director with Lingo, and Flash with Actionscript, but we mysteriously never got to Flash at all. I can't recall such a truncation of a curriculum since my 11th grade AP US History class never made it up to World War II. No wonder that was the only AP test I didn't pass and that's including AP Government, even though I've never taken a government class in my life.

I've got half a mind to bring up a plain white screen tomorrow and say, "I decided to do my final project in Flash, and so I incorporated all the Flash and Actionscript I learned in this course." Even though the instructor likes John Cage, something tells me this assignment wouldn't fly... At the end of the semester, with only one thing left on your plate, such things do get so tempting though.

Idle thought for the day, watching a TiVoed Buffy episode from last season (the one where buffy turns invisible): At first glance, it seems that characters in the buffyverse can easily hop the fence from good to evil, or evil to good, and back again, but thinking about it more, it's more complicated. There seem to be three clear states: Good, evil, and amoral.

Willow, Anya, Spike, Jonathan and Angel, of the top of my head, all waffled between good and not-good, but the ways they did so fall into two distinct groups: those who caused destruction and pain for its own sake, and those who simply ditched their moral compass to get what they wanted.

Bad Angel is evil, but bad Spike is amoral. The primary difference being that the amoral will on occasion help the side of good, because they don't find it distasteful; they don't care much either way, but when doing good gets in the way of getting what they want they'll jump ship.

Anya's a weird case. In the beginning (of her appearance on the show) she was evil. Bad for bad's sake. Then she became indifferently good. Call it amoral, but in a position where being good helped her get what she wanted (Xander, the Magic Box, friends). Later she went back to vengeance, but this wasn't an attitude shift. She was still amoral, only now she could better serve her own internal needs for an identity by doing bad things. Though she was friends with Halfreck, she wasn't as close as she had been to Hally or the others before, because she wasn't evil anymore, just amoral. It was her distaste for evil-for-evil's sake, masked by a facade of righteous vengenace, that led to her eventual repentance.

Jonathan's pretty much the same way. He's always been an idealist, but his insecurities drive him to amoral behavior because it got him the attention he wanted (the one where he's in the clock tower with the rifle, then "Superstar," and later with the Trio). His inner struggle was swaying to good to the point that he moved beyond his own insecurities, but too late.

Warren, evil. 'Nuff said. Andrew, amoral. Ditto.

Evil Willow is kind of a conundrum. I don't think that she actually sought out evil, but it's easy to make it seem that way when her desire was so focused that she would do anything to achieve it. I'd still call it amoral. After all, she wanted to end the world because she felt its suffering and wanted it to stop, not because she wanted to kill everyone. Vamp Willow I think was also amoral, but that's a trickier subject.

Spike, chip or no chip, is amoral. The very fact that his love for Buffy makes him soulful, even without a soul, shows that however well greased his moral compass may be, it always points to what Spike wants. Give him a new loadstone and it's as good as giving him a soul, or taking it away.

Just some thoughts I wanted to share to possibly spark discussion. I forget if there are other characters straddling Nietzsche's fence... Of course there's the supervillans: Adam: amoral, Glory: amoral, Master: evil, First Evil: um, probably evil, Mayor: quintessentially amoral, despite his standards... Anyone else?

Remind me, once my final (6 hours away) and my last project (32 hours away) are over, to tell you about the dream I had, where I could run and fly.

It felt so real. It felt like I could understand it. Just a few inches off the ground, but for dozens of feet at a time, as long as I kept concentrating the right way.

I think it ties into the diet story. Remind me to tell you about that, too.

Wow. After a 12 year hiatus, it looks like Men Without Hats just put a new album to the presses, for sale online later this month, and in the stores this Spring.

I find it funny because I thought today "I wonder whatever happened to Men Without Hats?" (probably the only person on the planet today to think that) and decided to find out. In other news, they're looking for two new band members for live shows, so if you've always dreamed of being in a new-wave '80s band, it's not too late.

Oh, and I should note that ths post prompted me to create a new topic category: only I care.