If you read this blog, you're probably something of a nerd, so if you haven't seen Joss Whedon's movie Serenity, or the TV series Firefly that spawned it, do yourself a favour: turn off the internets right now and go find a copy of both. Really, do it, you can thank me later.

Now that we're all up to speed on background, June 23 is the one-year anniversary of the third and final advance (US) screening of Serenity, and also happens to be Joss Whedon's birthday. Serenity Now/Equality Now is a worldwide effort to organise charity screenings of Serenity on June 23, proceeds to benefit Whedon's favourite charity, Equality Now.

Regular readers are no doubt aware that the mere suggestion of paid advertising on this site would cause me apoplexy, but b!X never paid me a cent. I applaud the effort and the sentiment behind it, and wish him and his fellow Browncoats well in this. If you live in Portland, I hope to see you at Cinema 21; if you live elsewhere, click the "Screenings outside PDX" link to find the showing nearest you. (And if this idea really floats your boat, it may not be too late to organise a screening yourself.)

One final word: this is NOT the same thing as "Serenity Day", a seperate and entirely selfish endeavour aimed at convincing Universal Studios to revive the Firefly series or make a Serenity sequel or something, by having fans everywhere buy a copy of the DVD. Serenity Now/Equality now is about taking the energy of fandom and doing something positive with it -- something in tune with some of the ideas Whedon's heroes stand for, perhaps. So go ahead and buy an extra copy of Serenity if you like, but on June 23 or thereabouts, spend the money on a charity screening.