I saw Serenity again Friday night with several other friends. Because 1 person couldn't make it to an earlier movie we went to the 9:50 showing. We stayed at work and played games until we headed to the theater. The game of choice was Bang! from DaVinci games. Several of us have been playing it a lot lately so the games can be fairly quick. The part I hate is where some of the other guys are always trying to tell the rest of us how to play. Every time you play a card they tell that they wouldn't have played it that way and then go into a long dissertation about every possible strategy and why they would have chosen their strategy over yours. There are times when I just don't feel like playing because I don't want to deal with that. I really like to play games, but Bang! is an elimination game (players are eliminated until only the Sheriff remains) and I don't really care for elimination games. Some of the other games we have been playing are Oriente, Bohnanza, Totally Renamed Spy Game, Spite and Malice, and of course any version of Munchkin (from Steve Jackson Games).

Anyhow, I saw the movie for a third time and it was late in the evening for me and I didn’t nod off once. I was still kept engaged throughout the entire movie and I stilled jumped when the Reaver pole comes through the Serenity view port. It was still funny in the funny parts and still sad in the sad parts. I can’t wait for a soundtrack. After three times, I am still enthralled by the music. The score just works so well with the cinematography. It works better than in the TV series, which I think is saying a lot. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more people in the theater, but I heard the estimated take for the weekend was just over $10 million. It is second after Flightplan for the weekend. I think all the Browncoats are a little disappointed in the numbers, but there still seems to be a lot of energy around keeping the movie going. Personal messages from director Joss Whedon on the Browncoat website are keeping spirits up. A lot of us are really hoping for a sequel to the BDM.

"You know what the first rule of flying is?"

"Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home."

Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity