Hello Browncoats of North Texas!!

I'm happy to announce the dates for this year's events.

*UPDATE*
Women's Music Showcase Part 2 is scheduled for SUNDAY JULY 12 at POOR DAVID'S PUB IN DALLAS 4:00 - 10:00pm.
http://www.poordavidspub.com/

Line-up....
The fabulous PATRICE PIKE BAND from Austin, TX.
http://www.patricepike.com/

And awesome, returning Dallas band INNER FREQUENCY http://www.innerfrequency.com/

A talented band BLUE PETAL with lead singer Manya Repnikova.
http://www.myspace.com/bluepetalmusic

Quick Magazine's NEXT BIG THING 2009 IRIS LEU singer/songwriter.
http://www.myspace.com/irisleu

Plus, returning phenomenal singer/songwriter KRISTINA MORLAND http://www.myspace.com/kristinamorlandmusic


The CSTS Dallas website has tickets for purchase & more information.
http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/dallas/
*UPDATE*
As for the CSTS "Serenity" screening....
Can't Stop The Serenity 2009 North Texas will take place SATURDAY JULY 11 from 11:30am - 4:00pm.
Doors will be open at 10:30am. Please come as soon as you can, we'll have lots of activities planned.

Location is Studio Movie Grill ADDISON. This is the same place as the 2006 event.
http://www.studiomoviegrill.com/addison.html

Oh, and we'll be showing DR. HORRIBLE Sing-A-Long Blog on the big screen too!!

If you have any questions, please post here or email:
Dallas@CantStopTheSerenity.com

Can't Stop The Serenity global team has issued a call to arms for your
mad graphic design skills. I'm the t-shirt & poster promotion
coordinator, so I am pleading for your help.  Please see below for
website posting note from Anne, 2009 CSTS Global Organizer.

CSTS Website Topic:
http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/?p=77

CSTS Forum site Topic:
http://community.cantstoptheserenity.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=490


Do you love all things Serenity?  Do you love doing good works?  Do you have mad artistic skillz?

Then there’s probably no power in the ‘Verse more compellin’ then a request for you and your awesome creativity.

Calling
all Big Damn Artistical Heroes… We’re putting the signal out to those
of YOU with the guts and artistic skills necessary to create the
Official Promotional Artwork for CSTS 2009.

One lucky winner
will be featured on t-shirts, posters and promotional material - and
we’ve got some great prizes to lure you in.  Not only can you achieve
world fame, but you’ll also become the proud owner of a very shiny
plaque commemorating your supreme artisticness and a Serenity poster
signed by the Captain himself - Nathan Fillion!

Should you
accept this mission and seek to become an artistic part of the CSTS
2009 crew, you’ll have to follow the basic guidelines listed below. The
reward is shiny, the cause is mighty and we’re sanguine (as in the
hopeful sense of the word) that the competition will be mighty fierce…
what with all the amazing and compelling art you’ll be sending in.

So
saddle up, release your inner muses and submit your artwork to us
today! We look forward to seeing all that positivity and creativity we
know all you Browncoats have stored inside you.

Keep flyin’ shiny!
Anne

And
now, we’d take it as a kindness if you’d read up further on the
competition guidelines. For more information please visit the forums.

Well, kiddies, this is a stunning bit of news on the Can't Stop The Serenity front. We just booked the guest for the Dallas event:

Tim Minear.

He'll be there to sign whatever bits of Firefly / Angel / Drive paraphernalia you wish to adorn, and answer your questions about anything under the sun.*

Ticket information will be announced in March, with tickets going on sale on 7 April.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go bouncing about a bit.

* Questions about "Drive" will be limited to one per hour. Some things are just too damned painful.

First and foremost, we're sold out. In the last two days, we blew through the fifty tickets we had remaining, and now we have a packed house for Saturday night. If you didn't buy your tickets, you can still come out to the Jane Espenson book signing at the Arlington Highlands Borders -- it's turning into a nifty little shindig in its own right, and it's free!

Now, to the good stuff. We've got a great array of door prizes and auction items to give away Saturday night. Bring your wallet and checkbook. Seriously.

Oh, you don't believe me? Fine. Here's the list, starting with the item that just arrived on my doorstep this morning:



Courtesy of the Prop Store of London, this is an actual costume from the movie 'Serenity.' It was worn by Erik Erotas, the student in River's classroom dream who talked of Reavers, and how they'd eat you, and wear your skin, and rape you for hours... charming lad. And you can own his costume. We'll be taking silent auction bids on the costume from 6:00 pm until 9:30 pm, with the winner announced during the pre-show festivities.

Now, on to the contents of this year's Big Damn Bag (auction):

• Firefly DVD box set
  
• Serenity: Special Edition DVD (voucher)
  
• Finding Serenity signed by Jane Espenson
  
• Serenity Found (voucher)
  
• Serenity: Those Left Behind graphic novel
  
• QMx's Alliance Currency Money Pack (Fan Club Exclusive Edition)
  
• 'Done The Impossible' DVD
  
• On The Drift by the Bedlam Bards (signed)
  
• ReadMyChest.com Gift Pack
  
• FanDone.com Gift Pack
  
• CSTS 2007 t-shirt
  
• CSTS 2007 final movie poster (signed by Jane Esoenson, Cedric, and more)

...and a couple other items. Last year, we had two Big Damn Bags, and they each went for $300. This year, there's twice as much stuff in the Big Damn Bag... and only one bag to auction off. Bidding on the bag will start at $50.

In addition to all of that loot, there are individual door prizes as well:

• A copy of the 'Serenity: Special Edition' DVD from Universal Home Entertainment -- two months before it will be available in stores (voucher)
  
• A copy of BenBella Books' upcoming release Serenity Found -- months before you can buy it in stores or online (voucher)
  
• A copy of Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly, courtesy of BenBella Books, autographed by editor Jane Espenson
  
• A set of 'Serenity' PVC figures from Dark Horse and Things From Another World (voucher)
  
• A copy of Dark Horse Comics' graphic novel Serenity: Those Left Behind
  
• A Serenity "Alliance Currency Money Pack" from Quantum Mechanix
  
• A set of Ariel "ambulance ID badges"
  
• A copy of 'Serenity' on DVD or the "Firefly" DVD box set, courtesy of Best Buy at Arlington's Lincoln Square
  
• One of three limited edition Can't Stop The Serenity 2007 teaser posters, autographed by Jane Espenson, Equality Now Director Amanda Sullivan and designer Adam Levermore-Rich
  
• A copy of 'Done The Impossible: The Fans' Tale of Firefly and Serenity'
  
• A "Miranda" poster from Black Market Beagles
  
• A set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer PVC figures (Vamped Out Buffy, the Master, Liam / Angelus, Subway Spike, Xander, Willow), from Keith's Comics
  
• Copies of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and Runaways comics, from Keith's Comics
  
• A knitted "Jayne" hat from WearWithStyle.com
  
• One of several copies of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" comics with variant covers, courtesy of Things From Another World
  
• One of several gift packs from ReadMyChest.com
  
• One of several gift packs from of FanDone.com
  
• A 'Serenity' pendant, courtesy of DragonWeave Jewelry

...and yes, there are more prizes as well.

Every ticketholder has an entry into the door prize pool... and you can purchase additional entries at the event for $1.00 each.

Oh! How could I forget the t-shirts and posters? If you missed your chance to pre-order 2007 CSTS merchandise, we'll have a limited amount of the items available for purchase at the Studio Movie Grill, beginning at 6:00 pm Saturday.

Remember, all of the proceeds from tomorrow night's screening go to Equality Now, an international women's rights advocacy group near and dear to the Browncoat community's heart.

So... like I said: bring your wallets. There's a LOT of great stuff available, and you'll want some of it.

There are ten tickets remaining for Saturday's Can't Stop The Serenity event at the Arlington Studio Movie Grill. At the rate the tickets have been selling, I can pretty much guarantee they won't last through Thursday night.

Sooo... if you have not bought your tickets, thinking you'd be able to walk up and buy tickets, please rethink that. Quickly.

Head to dallas.cantstoptheserenity.com and buy your tickets while there's still tickets remaining to buy.

If you're waiting to purchase tickets to the Can't Stop The Serenity event in North Texas on Saturday, 23 June 2007... don't wait any longer.

There are only 50 tickets remaining, and last year there were 65 "walk-up" tickets purchased the night of the show.

To ensure you won't be on the outside looking in on Saturday night, buy your tickets now.

There's the Q&A session with Jane Espenson, writer of the "Firefly" episode "Shindig," as well as 23 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," two episodes of the current incarnation of "Battlestar Galactica," and co-editor of the BenBella Books publications 'Finding Serenity' and 'Serenity Found.'

There's the performance by Cedric of the Bedlam Bards, who recorded the Verse-themed "On The Drift" and won the Best Band award at the 2006 Renaissance Festival Music Awards.

There's the plethora (si, Senor Guapo!) of door prizes to be won, including copies of the Special Edition DVD of Serenity, advance copies of 'Serenity Found,' autographed photos, and a helluva lot more.

There's the chance to win a cabin for two on the Browncoat Cruise.

There's the Big Damn Bag auction.

Seriously, if you are a North Texas Firefly fan, and you're not at the Studio Movie Grill in Arlington on Saturday night... I simply don't know what to tell you.

For the last six months, you've heard me go on and on about the Can't Stop The Serenity screening events, and how the event at the Arlington Studio Movie Grill is going to be an amazing thing to behold. We've got a fantastic lineup planned, starting with the pre-show book signing at Borders with Jane Espenson; the performance by Cedric of the Bedlam Bards; Jane's "must-not-be-missed" Q&A session; the door prize giveaways; the "Big Damn Bag" auction... oh, yeah, and the actual screening of 'Serenity.'

The main way people find out about the screenings, for whatever reason (*Cough*MainstreamMediaDoesn'tGetUs*Cough*), is word-of-mouth. So, we're relying on you to spread the Signal.

Two ways to do it:

* E-mail or call your friends, neighbors, family members, high school BFFs, co-workers, spam bots... whomever you think would enjoy a Saturday night out at the movies for a great cause. (You can copy-n-paste this blog post if you need to get the e-mail out in a hurry.)

* Print out this PDF and post the flyer wherever you think it would get a lot of attention. Remember, this is a charity event, so if the place you're looking to post the flyer is skittish, let 'em know it's karmically sound.

We're looking to crush last year's donation total of $3200 to Equality Now, and we've got a great shot at doing it... but only if we pack the place with good, strong folks like yourself.

Spread The Signal.

In conjunction with the 2007 Can't Stop The Serenity screening event on Saturday, June 23, Jane Espenson will be signing copies of Finding Serenity at the Arlington Highlands Borders (store page: http://www.bordersstores.com/stores/store_pg.jsp?storeID=249)
beginning at 6:00 pm.

It's a great way to get some face time with one of the best writers in episodic television today... and a good way to get ramped-up for the night's screening of 'Serenity' at the Arlington Studio Movie Grill (in the same shopping center as the Borders in question).

Jane doesn't do many appearances outside Los Angeles -- work demands it, y'know -- so don't miss this opportunity. Just don't!

We've been planning, plotting, and pulling our hair out for the last nine months, and all of the hard work is about to come to fruition. The 2007 Can't Stop The Serenity screening events are just a few days away, and you need to be there.

You need to be there because it's a rare opportunity to see 'Serenity' on the big screen one more time (or for the first time). I don't care how good your home theatre set-up is at your house -- a theatrical 35mm exhibition trumps a 60" plasma with 8.1 surround sound any day of the week.

You need to be there because you'll have an excellent opportunity to walk away with great Verse merchandise, like the Serenity: Special Edition DVD* from Universal Home Entertainment, an autographed copy of Finding Serenity from BenBella Books, an autographed CD from the Bedlam Bards, and so much more. (Check with your local organizer for the rundown of giveaways in your area.)

You need to be there because you won't get a better opportunity to thank Jane Espenson personally for putting the phrase "Captain Tightpants" in Kaylee's mouth.

You need to be there because the proceeds go to a great cause. Equality Now is doing amazing work around the globe, bringing the vision of gender equality closer to reality every day through campaigns against issues such as rape, female genital mutilation, spousal abuse.

You need to be there because this will be the event Browncoats worldwide will be talking about this event for a long time to come, and regret doesn't sit well with your complexion.

You need to be there because the shindig won't be the same without you.

Don't miss this event -- buy your tickets now. Head to Dallas.CantStopTheSerenity.com to reserve your seat for the science fiction charity event of the year.

---
Devin Pike
Global Coordinator,
Can't Stop The Serenity 2007

* Winner will be given mail-in voucher to redeem for the 'Serenity: Special Edition' DVD upon its release in late summer 2007.