entirely ruined her disposition with books

gabrielleabelle just posted a really lovely post on fandom eyeware and the way we're all watching different shows. It's awesome, and you should all read it.

In said post, elisi linked to this really awesome article about how we're not all watching the same show. You should all read this one, too, because the rest of this post will not make sense without it.

A lot of her names for the shows are hilariously awesome, and it inspired me. To share with you some of the shows that I've watched.

For instance, I'm always watching this show called the Buffy Summers Is the Coolest Person In the History of the Universe—Especially in the Later Seasons—Show and I'm also always watching the Spike Owns My Soul, So What Does He Need One of His Own For? Show. In earlier seasons, I watched the Oz Is Existentially Awesome Show and/or the Cordelia Chase Thinks It and Says It Show or the Giles is British-er Than You Show. I was also really fond of the Spike and Dawn Are Outcasts of the Universe Together Show, but that one got canceled. Thankfully, the Girls Kick Ass--Sometimes with Rocket Launchers!--Show stuck around. S7 is not only the Buffy and Spike’s Private, Beautiful Love Show but also the Andrew Wells Makes Me Laugh So Hard My Sides Ache Show and the Dawn Summers Is Cooler Than You Show.

And, of course, whenever I watch any Joss show, I'm also always watching both the the Witty Banter and Punny Quip Show and the 1000 Ways to Fail at Racial Sensitivity Show.

There was this other show I watched that was called the Veronica Mars is Smarter Than You Show (obviously), but also went by a lot of other names:

- the Logan Echolls: Snarking His Way into Television History Show (thanks, Joss!)
- the The Papa Mars Is a Badass and Should Say ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Every Episode Show
- the Wallace Fennel Proves He Is the Greatest BFF Ever—Again! Show
- the Kendall and Cassidy Take Over the World Show (I think I may be the only one watching this one)
- the Every Line Is Quotable Show

So. Ask me about other shows-within-shows that I watched! Tell me which shows you were watching! Let's turn this into a thing! Don't leave me hanging! I'm excited!

I'm writing Firefly fic (I know?  Isn't that crazy?  It feels so good!), and I glanced at the Firefly Wiki to try to figure out how old Mal would have been during the War.  But I did the math and the first thing I figured it out is this:  do you know how old he was during the actual show? 

49.

Okay, there is no way on God's green earth that I buy that.  Do they honestly expect me to buy that?  Nathan Fillion as 49?  Here's what the wiki says:

"Malcolm Reynolds was born on September 20, 2468. This is taken from the Serenity movie when the Operative is viewing his file. This date has significance in that September 20, 2002 is the day Firefly premiered, and September 20, 1968 is Firefly writer/producer Ben Edlund's date of birth. "

Okay, I adore Ben Edlund (fun fact: did you know he was the one who came up with the idea for Bad Horse?); he's written several of my favorite Jossverse/Supernatural episodes, and I think the guy's a genius.  I love that they gave him this short of shout-out in the movie.  However, that's all it is.  A shout-out.  I don't believe that's canon.

So I figure that means that I get to completely disregard that, much the way we get to completely disregard the various canon contradictions about Buffy's birthdate. 

However, I am very interested in how old you think he is during the War.  The War started eleven years before "Serenity" (the pilot episode, not the movie) and ended five years later.  I always sort of imagined Mal as this fresh young kid going off to fight for glory and freedom and all that stuff.  But I do want to be realistic about his age when he went off to fight.  I'd love your opinions.  Any thoughts?

Also, I just want to give a shout-out to my icon.  "Out of Gas" is my favorite episode of Firefly by a whole heck of a lot, and this icon makes me ridiculously happy.

"Let me show you the rest. And-and try to see past what she is and onto what she can be."
"What's that, sir?"
"Freedom, is what."
"I meant, what's that?"
"Oh, yeah, just step around that. I think something must have been living in here."

I DIE.