Disconnected Jolts of Synapse Fluid

 So after watching a bunch of movies tonight, I have rediscovered my love for Evil Dead. Not really posting about it, just a nice memory of times when I was learning about my own tastes.

Long day at work that was more or less spent in constant bantering and undirected conversation with friends. It's good to be back but I have to remind myself to WORK when I'm at work. That being said I felt highly creative and extrospective (if that wasn't a word before now, I'm declaring it should be!). Feeling intellectual if a bit manic. Still happy day! Now to figure out what to do with my night now that my brain wont shut off and go to sleep!

So while reading a 4chan thread, it showed a picture of some little plastic army dudes (the same type in the first toy story) and I fondly remember when I was a child, throwing the ones with parachutes up into the air. I wonder if they still make those little guys. 

Grand Theft Auto : Chinatown Wars
So watching videos made me think this game would be an oldschool GTA experience. While that's true to a point, I'd like to think that this a fantastic representation of how the DS doesn't simply need to be a wholy mobile affair. Yes, the game allows for us to take it on the go and play a bit here or there but it's truely a full game wrapped up in a tiny cart. Gameplay itself is entirely from the overhead and while I'm a big fan of the 3d models I will note the sprites aren't as nice as the old GTA's (perhaps this is a bit of nostalgia however. I'll have to load up 1 or 2 and give em a shot.) The controls are perfect (even if my phat DS hurts my hands when driving.) Now like any GTA game there are on foot and driving portions. The on foot controls are fine but while driving I find myself wanting to peer at my GPS and when I do I often end up either passing where I wanted to go or smacking into stuff because I wasn't watching the top screen. Physics of the cars is very similar to the old GTA's, which partially makes me wonder why they didnt tip up the scale a bit and make the cars into sprites so they could be bigger. The new transition from foot to car is fantastic being composed of a car jacking minigame. Sound wise, the game is fantastic. Spoken words from pedestrians and the noises of the city are all excellent quality and the music is all wonderful. My only complaint is that there isn't any spoken words during cutscenes. Perhaps I'm a bit pampered, but I feel a greater connection when I can hear a voice and recognize a character even if I can't see them. 

Overall Score : 4


Peggle Dual Shot
Months ago I had purchased my fiancee the game Peggle on steam. She played the demo for a long while and I thought for ten bucks it was worth it. Of course this got me watching her play the game and I realized that they really had something going on. The lights, the colors, the sounds... it was all classic video game addiction at it's finest. So fast forward to this year and I find out that there is not only a DS version of peggle but it comes with both Peggle and Peggle Nights. As I work in a call center and sometimes have free moments I thought this would be an excellent game as the gameplay facilitiates the pick-up/put-down momentum of my work. So after getting the game and loading it up I realized that the conversion from PC to DS had only one effect : it was more addicting. Inevitably I found myself playing the game on my breaks (which I never do with ANYTHING. Breaks are for taking a break) and even worse, bringing it home! Well a few weeks later I had finally finished the last insidious puzzle and now feel that peggle itch coming back. I hadn't yet beat the challenges (which are even more intense than the normal puzzles) but I doubt I'll finish them. Peggle has something for everyone with the casual player having the puzzles (over 80 in total) and the hardcore player having their challenges. Worth picking up, but try the PC demo first!

Overall Score : 3


Burnout : Paradise
A recent LAN party had introduced to me the newest iteration of the Burnout franchise. Now, when I had first purchased my PS2 years ago, I found Burnout 2 for cheap and picked it up. While it had racing and normal modes, it was the crash mode that had me. You would have a full highway of cars, and you would have to launch your car into the steel cage and watch the fireworks. It was fresh, pretty and fast. Everything I could want from a crashing simulator. So we fast forward a few years and I'm living in kitchener with my old workmate Kai and his Xbox and WOAH! Out of nowhere comes burnout 3. It's everything I loved about 2 and more which of course had me instantly hooked for weeks. I can't remember if there was a 4 before "Takedown" or if it was "Dominator" or whatever, but there were a few more releases (I suppose once EA had the franchise, there was no stopping them from releasing shitty burnout after burnout. I say shitty but I never did play them so who knows!) but one day in a best buy my friends and I stopped to look at the newest iteration of the game and while it was fun and I picked it up, it wasn't the burnout I remember but it was worth the price of admission. So now we have Paradise, where EA has tried to start everything fresh and pick up a new audience. Well the game itself is stunning and the physics are spot on. Crashes are jarring (I've even found myself cringing during a big pile up) but it lacks one thing. Every version of the game prior to this one had full on, multi car accidents. This one lacks that, somehow. The roads either aren't full enough or the physics are too real meaning a lot of the impact is lost during the crash. I'm not sure what it is, but I miss that. Overall the game itself is good but as someone who feeds on nostalgia I wouldn't think the game itself is worth the price tag, nor it's overpriced DLC.

Overall Score : 3


Fallout 3
As a hardcore RPG player, Fallout is a holy grail. When we go back to the 90's you have the glorious Black Isle and Interplay and all the wonderful companies who worked hard to pull you into their universes, make you believe that these could exist then make you crave them so you have to try every story, in every way to find the full breadth of their creation. New RPGS are content to give you every line of dialogue to choose from at once, but these games were designed in such a way that you couldn't see everything without making a new character be it simple choices with the merchants or the actual end of the story. It's something that's been missing from the Genre for a long time now. However while my memories of Fallout are tinted with the pigment of history, golden edges curling with freshly dried ink luring you in, I tried not to let it affect my vision of Bethesda's attempt at the series. And I failed. Fortunately for Bethsoft, this was a good thing! I loved Fallout 1, and while Fallout 2 was 'better' in that it was more of the same but bigger, Fallout 3 is actually more what I wanted from a sequel than 2 was. I can nitpick all the differences in the world, but the game itself is at its very soul, a fallout game. It gets the black humor, the gore, the... everything. Reading the "Fallout Bible" created for the first game they nailed every aspect of the game down. The graphics are superb, with all of Oblivions little issues either removed or fixed. The sounds are just as wonderful. Level design doesn't get repetitive, nor does the difficulty. No everything about this game is a gem, and anyone who is a fan of the genre would be sorely misled to miss it. Even the DLC seems worth it, which is hard for me to accept since I'm usually so against paying for things that should be in the game!

Overall Score : 5

So about half-way done painting my minis. I'll post pics when finished.

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So I'm not ashamed to say it's been a while since I've really digested a book. Oh I've read, or more specifically, reread, recently. The first four temeraires, all the harry potters, lord of the rings, American gods and so on but they were all books I read with intent. The same intent I go with while playing games or watching movies: to finish them and add to the 'finished' list. Long has it been that I've wandered about a library, reading spines and allowing my fingers to slide from on cover to another before choosing one and reading the back I'd jacket cover to see if it interests me.

With my iPhone, I've attempted to get ad many 'productive' apps as possible. One is Stanza, a free ebook reader linked with an online store just swelling with literature. After browsing for a while and settling on a book that seemed interesting, I perused the interface and sampled the very core of the writing, carefully evaluating the form and function of the content and reader, and am happy to report that together they effectively allowed me for three days to digest a book in a way that I haven't in many, many years... I sat down and read it and enjoyed the journey as much as the completion.

Now the book itself (Beasts of New York: a Childrens Book For Adults) was a fantastic read from start to bitter finish. I won't say a word of the story suffice it to say that the book is out there, free and wonderful so there is no reason not to read it. All I will say is that it was a fantasy adventure that is so highly normal it's only the method in which it's told that gives it the epic fantastic scope.

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So at work I dropped my iPhone and it was only, like, one inch but the case broke. Stupid cheap plastic. On top of that I haven't sticking to my new years resolution... :( not a great feeling.

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So obviously owning an iPhone means apps, those wonderful little codebundles designed to add functionallity. Today I discovered fring. Voip, msn, gtalk, yahoo Im, aim, twitter and much much more. It's highly useful!

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So today I begin my classes at work. I'm excited as it's been ages since I've had any formal education. I miss school very much and I hope my new classes are interesting. I'll be taking 'mentoring and coaching' and 'introduction to microcomputers' which promises to be archaic but required. Best of all it's paid by work and the credits count towards the college (indeed, it's a full student entry as I get a student card and everything.) first step towards going back full time.

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Today had been hell at work. Sooooo many calls and none of them easy. Norton needs to have more people on Sundays. Getting 5 calls in a row sucks when you're used to 15 minutes of time between calls.

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Okay, so the first day if wii fit has finished and at least it feels good to have that 'workout' pain although with wii fit I'm not sure I should. Anyway, it said I have gained 10 lbs since I had last weighed myself. This puts me at 226.6 lbs which while not terrible, is obese for my height. I'll record my results weekly just to see if there is much of an improvement. I hope Tara feels as good about doing this as I do, it's always nice to have help with this stuff.

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So I figures out why I like the iPhone so much... It's like a padd from star trek. Well, almost, as the functionality isn't nearly there. Still it's a neat start towards the real life padd.

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So Tara and I were talking, and we decided that getting fit was a good idea. So, as of the first, I'm committing to at LEAST half an hour (I want a full hour but I'm setting reasonable goals for now) of wii fit, just the stregnth training ones. I'll post results and see where I am by the end of the year. Wish me luck!

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I Has one now. Pretty sweet, can't wait till I get myself the sdk and play with that a bit.

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1: Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search:
Bryan needs a Top (Apparently, I'm topless)

2: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search:
Bryan Looks like satan. (Um...)

3: Type in "[your name] does" in Google search:
Bryan does it all for the audience (hehe)

4: Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search:
Bryan hates Sprinkles (TO DEATH!!!)

5: Type in "[your name] goes" or "..has gone" in Google search:
Bryan goes 2-2 at Cumberland (I dont even know where to start with that one)

6: Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search
Bryan loves you (2008) (It WAS a good year...)

7: Type in "[your name] eats" in Google search:
Bryan eats 3 Carl's Jr Monster Thick... (Honestly, it's the first search)

8: Type in "[your name] has" in Google search:
Bryan has never been mistaken for ryan. (Nope, not even once)

9: Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search:
Bryan wants congress, pleads for a silver house of representatives (Won't SOMEBODY think of the children!?!)

So I'm gonna rant, regardless as to the fact that this will never be read by anyone. A lot of face has shown lately towards the wii. Being excitingly popular has lead to the platform containing more or less casual games. However, with this generation it seems that some of these casual games can be in and of themselves highly popular. Games like rock band and guitar hero. There are some in the community, however, who believe that since the wii is less than capable for DLC (microtransactions allowing you to purchase overpriced songs with your game, downloading it into the system) pass up these games on this system. Indeed whenever it comes to "downloadable" content on the wii developers turn a blind eye. Well, Harmonix and Activision listen up. I've solved your problems in a very easy way.

Modular programming.
Got it? No? Ok let me explain. Program the core of the game, no graphics and no songs. This would consist of the rules the wii follows to READ the music and place the notes as well as rendering characters and stadiums. So lets say this costs, um, zero wii points. That's right, it's free, on WiiWare. Gets it's own "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band" channel. Click the channel and it checks for a disc to be inserted or an SD card present. Simple enough right? See where I'm going yet? *sigh* ok well then I'll continue. So we have this shell game, which will do nothing at this point. It's free, you've made no money. Gasp.

Well let's solve this problem by selling "game discs" (which may or may not, although I'd prefer if it did, contain your WiiWare title.) and "DLC packs". The DLC packs are downloaded to the SD card (which I know can be read from when a game is running, Excite Truck and Endless Ocean both do it for music) where they are read by the Shell game, which then renders the character and stadium information (which would also have to be downloaded, although you'd probably have a "default" pack for free so people can play the music they spent valueable WiiPoints on).

Ok so you now have a WiiWare title that fits within the 46 Megs or so you're allowed. Because graphical data and music are store OUTSIDE the program and read only upon runtime, we now have a game that can be updated for free with patches (so you can fix problems like Mono sound. Tsk tsk Activision) and can have downloadable music. Of course, this brings me back to the game disc. Ok so yes, it'd probably have the shell on it too (46 megs isnt THAT much of the disc) but it'd mostly consist of a theme. Say the "Guitar Hero : Hardcore Death Metal" disc has Lars (the Kiss guy) and maybe two other characters. Give us a few clothing options, maybe guitars (Do people even use those things?) and that'd be like, 1/4th the disc. The other parts of the disc would be the songs themselves (in this case, Hardcore Death Metal) where the Shell reads from. Again because of this modular idea, you would never have to rebuild your program because it's kinda like a viewmaster... the data to display is stored elsewhere.

End result? We have a program that can easily be downloaded, updated and shared by all. It's free, but useless without the master discs that you're selling for 29.99 a pop, or the DLC which is more just proof of concept. Because you arent rebuilding the game, you can press out more discs without the worry of invalidating your own game. It can be expanded upon without fear of being your own competition, sold like candy because people are grabbing the shell program for free and because it's cheaper it becomes a more visible option to consumers who want something new. There may be a few compatibility issues (making sure that each disc has the same amount of songs, because the data structure of the core doesnt change) but other than a few TECHNICAL details, your company would be the first and best with downloadable content as well as the license to print money on one of the most popular consoles.

You're welcome. Make the check out to "Cash" and send it to me please.

Sincerely, Bryan Holmes

(Response to http://users.livejournal.com/_allecto_/34718.html)

Firstly, let me state that you are entirely entitled to your opinions and I do not wish to impede upon them at all.

My commentary :
A Rapist's View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly
This is a really long rant about Joss Whedon's Firefly. Why? Because I'm angry and I think it is really important that feminists don't leave popular culture out of the equation. Especially considering that popular culture is increasingly being influenced by pornography.
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A Rapist's view? So you either put incorrectly that you rape people, or you really do. Anyway my comment is not directed here at all, it's more towards your considering of popular culture being influenced by pornography. It's a matter of contrast. Yes, some of our popular culture is being influenced, but there is MUCH more culture, than culture that's been sexualized. You can argue this all you want, but I'd say you're only including the popular culture that you're part of the target audience for.
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I have become increasingly interested in examining Joss Whedon’s work from a feminist perspective since I had a conversation with another lesbian feminist sister at the International Feminist Summit about whether Joss was a feminist. I am really quite shocked by how readily Joss is accepted as a feminist, and that his works are widely considered to be feminist. I decided to start re-watching Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and also to watch Firefly and the movie Serenity.
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A perfectly wonderful idea. If someone declares a statement, and you want to investigate it, you find out more about them. However, realize that really, you only are looking into two franchises. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923736/ gives you a quick start at his impressive folio. Let's focus on what he's written. Yes, Buffy/Angel and Firefly/Serenity are on there... but a few movies as well. The point I want you to see is one show called "Rosanne". This was a show that, while I was never a fan of, depicted PEOPLE being people. No sterotypes, no cliches (except perhaps for a few stinging truthful ones.)
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I have to say that now that I have subjected myself to the horror that is Firefly, I really am beyond worried about how much men hate us, given that this was written by a man who calls himself a feminist.

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Ok so now we've gotten to the heart of the problem. You hadn't watched ANYTHING but a SINGLE series and already you mention how much MEN hate you. No Joss, MEN. The only conclusion I can draw from that is predilection towards judging things with a small, or non-existent basis. That is the start of forming conclusions BEFORE you've gathered all the evidence and facts, which is a sloppy research method.
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I find much of Joss Whedon’s work to be heavily influenced by pornography, and pornographic humour. While I would argue that there are some aspects of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer that are feminist and progressive, there is much that isn’t and I find it highly problematic that there are many very woman-hating messages contained within a show that purports itself as feminism. But Firefly takes misogyny to a new level of terrifying. I am really, really worried that women can call the man who made this show a feminist.

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So now there is the STATEMENT that Joss's work is influenced by Pornographic styles and humor. Well then I need to ask you one of two questions... how much of an expert are you in pornographic humor, or who are you to judge what is and isn't such a type of humor?You say that while you find that there are feminist messages within Buffy, much of the show is a women hating message. You haven't said you watched it yet, which is simple speculation. Let's assume you HAVE re-watched the show. It so happens I am currently re-watching it with my girlfriend and we find that the characters strong heroine is refreshing. Firstly there is Buffy, although in later seasons Faith, Dawn and many many other females are also much much stronger and tougher than men in most situations. This fact is reinforced by Xander. He starts out around women who grow in power and experience and he's left behind. At the end of the series, he's only as powerful as he started and he finds it DEMORALIZING, yet admirable that women attain such positions. He's happy for them and sad that he's incapable of the same potential. A person who believes that women are stronger, and capable of more than men doesn't seem to hate them very much to me.
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For myself, I’m not sure that I will recover from the shock of watching the malicious way in which Joss stripped his female characters of their integrity, the pleasure he seemed to take from showing potentially powerful women bashed, the way he gleefully demonized female power and selfhood and smashed women into little bits, male fists in women’s faces, male voices drowning out our words.

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Somehow, I doubt that a television show has damaged you personally that there is a chance you'll never recover. So you state that he strips women of integrity and voice. You say he takes pleasure when women are dropped down, and crushed. Well if you're talking about the universe of Firefly, I would start to agree with you. It is unfortunate that women have such a poor lot in a world run without equal chances. That females should be basically left alone. It is however, probable that since Whedon writes about people being REAL and fully realized in that manner, that he would logically create a universe that reflects the real world. And since, yes sadly, the real world doesn't treat women and men equally he did the same in his. Just because he is a feminist, doesn't mean that every character needs to be a gung-ho women are everything, men are nothing feminist too. Also, you'll note the most vile, women debasing men in the series are demonized as well. (Shindig - Inara's "date" debases women and is a bad guy. Heart Of Gold - The father of the child in the episode, as well as all his male friends, are all bad people.)
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There is so much hatred towards women contained within the scripts and action of the series that I doubt very much that this post will even begin to cover it. I am going to try to focus on the episodes that were written by Joss Whedon but I will also refer to the series as a whole. As Joss Whedon was responsible for the concept development and was a producer, ultimately I hold him accountable for the depiction of women in the entire season. Only one episode was written by a woman. It was no better or worse in its depiction of women than the ones written by men.

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Joss Whedon SHOULD be held accountable for the entirety of both the series and the universe in which it exists. It's a setting rich with diversity, and conflict that creates an interesting tension. That one, female written episode I will note, is also one of the best of the series.
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The pilot episode, Serenity, was written and directed by Joss Whedon. The basic plot of the series is Malcolm Reynolds and his second in command Zoe, have made a new life for themselves after fighting a war against the Alliance, which they lost. They bought a Firefly, an old space ship, and Mal calls it Serenity, after the last battle they fought for the Independence. The pilot of the ship, Wash, is Zoe’s husband. Kaylee is the ship’s mechanic and Jayne, the final member of the crew, is the brainless brawn. This bunch of criminals go around stealing things and generally doing lots of violence.

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So we have a very deep Captain, his first mate who has never left his side even after losing a war and seeing his downfall. Her husband who cares for her so much he'd follow her to the end of the universe. Kaylee, a lovable mechanic who is smarter than almost everyone on the ship. Jayne, who is a brainless brawn but gives much needed contrast to the rest of the crew. Later adding River (the most kick-ass woman on tv), her brother Simon who would do anything to keep her safe and Book, giving the crew some spiritual ponderance. A diverse crew that is rife with as much conflict as the universe itself, creating an interesting dynamic for television. Sounds better than porn to me.
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They also take on board passengers. There is Inara, a Companion (Joss Whedon’s euphemism for women in prostitution). She rents one of the ship’s shuttles. Simon, a doctor and his sister River. And a Shepherd (which means preacher), a black male character.

The first scene opens in a war with Mal and Zoe. Zoe runs around calling Mal ‘sir’ and taking orders off him. I roll my eyes. Not a good start.

The next scene is set in the present. Mal, Jayne, and Zoe are floating about in space. They come into some danger. Mal gets all panicky.

Zoe says, “This ship's been derelict for months. Why would they –”

Mal replies, (in Chinese) “Shut up.”

So in the very second scene of the very first episode, an episode written and directed by the great feminist Joss, a white man tells a black woman to ‘shut up’ for no apparent reason. And she does shut up. And she continues to call him sir. And takes his orders, even when they are dumb orders, for the rest of the series.

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So, you'd prefer an army that has women lounging around all day balking about how superior officers are always giving them commands like 'shoot the bad guys' and 'give him cover fire so he doesn't die'? I'm sorry if I prefer my army to have some discipline and a sense of order. Maybe even a chain of command, if it isn't too much to ask of the women folk. </sarcasam>Also, it's been established that the people of his stories are real. Not one dimensional cut outs. Mal isn't a nice guy, he isn't a good guy. He tells people to shut up, he doesn't do the right thing and he does what he pleases. Just because he isn't a nice guy, doesn't mean he isn't interesting. Being the main character doesn't mean he's the representation of "Right."
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The next scene we meet Kaylee, the ship’s mechanic. <- Lookee, lookee, feminist empowerment. In this scene Mal and Jayne are stowing away the cargo they just stole. Kaylee is chatting to them, happily. Jayne asks Mal to get Kaylee to stop being so cheerful. Mal replies, “Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” Yes, that is an exact quote, “Sometimes you just wanna DUCT TAPE HER MOUTH and DUMP HER IN THE HOLD FOR A MONTH.” Kaylee responds by grinning and giving Mal a kiss on the cheek and saying, “I love my Captain.”

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It's a good thing I included that "End Sarcasm" comment earlier, because you obviously can't grasp it. Yes, he did say that verbatim. You'll also note he calls her "Bao Bei". The words Bao Bei translate to "little darling", or "baby treasure" in the Chinese language. He thinks of her as a little sister and is VERY protective of her. So what's a little conflict between siblings.
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What the fuck is this feminist man trying to say about women here? A black woman calling a white man ‘sir’. A white male captain who abuses and silences his female crew, with no consequences. The women are HAPPY to be abused. They enjoy it. What does this say about women, Joss? What does this say about you? Do you tell your wife to shut up? Do you threaten to duct tape her mouth? Lock her in the bedroom? Is this funny to you, Joss? Because it sure as fuck ain’t funny to me.

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I think Michal Jackson put it best... "It don't matter if you're black or white." So if the captain was black it'd be ok? Or if Zoe were white? She calls him sir because he's earned her respect. And she listens when he says shut up because he's both earned her trust that if she does, it'll be better than if she doesn't and because she doesn't have a better idea. In the comic book bridging between the series and movie, Zoe DOES talk back to Mal when she has a better idea. It wasn't supposed to be funny, it's REAL. No one said they're happy, they just respect that it's his boat. Again, being Captain doesn't make it right, it just means he doesn't have to say he's sorry.
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Our first introduction to Inara the ‘Companion’, Joss Whedon’s euphemism for prostituted women, is when she is being raped/fucked/used by a prostitutor. I find it really interesting to read the scripted directions for this particular scene:

We are close on INARA's face. She is being made love to by an eager, inexperienced but quite pleasingly shaped young man. She is beneath him, drawing him to his climax with languorous intensity. His face buried in her neck.

He tightens, relaxes, becomes still. She runs her hand through is hair and he pulls from her neck, looks at her with sweaty insecurity. She smiles, a worldly, almost motherly sweetness in her expression. He rests his head on her breast, still breathing hard.

So, Joss Whedon refers to rapist/fuckers who buy women as sex, as ‘eager, inexperienced but pleasingly shaped’ who ‘make love’ to women in prostitution. Obviously, ‘love’ to men like Joss Whedon, requires female powerlessness, force and coercion. Women in prostitution enjoy the experience of being bought for sex. They feel ‘motherly’ towards the men who have just treated them as property and bought them as sex.

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For the record, the peddler of sex is the worlds oldest profession. Yes, it may be a debasement of the love BETWEEN people, but at least in his universe, the people offering the service hold the power. It's a positive reversal of the real world. And in case you're wondering, the females are not powerless or forced or coerced. Just because she's a female doesn't imply any of those things. That was a conclusion drawn without any evidence at all.
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In Joss Whedon’s future world prostituted women are powerful and respectable. They go to an Academy, to train in the arts of being a ‘Companion’. They belong to a Guild which regulates prostitution, forces women to endure yearly health tests and comes up with rules to make prostitution sound empowering for women. For example, one Guild rule is that the ‘Companion’ chooses her rapist, not the other way around.

But there is one really big question that does not get answered. The women who ‘choose’ to be ‘Companions’ are shown as being intelligent, accomplished, educated, well-respected and presumably from good families. If a woman had all of these qualities and opportunities then why the fuck would she ‘choose’ to be a man’s fuck toy? Would being a fuck toy for hundreds of men give a woman like Inara personal fulfillment? Job satisfaction? A sense of purpose? Fulfill her dreams? Ambitions?

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Ok so you accept that he states that these women are powerful, educated and well off. This position in life then, MUST be beneath them. Or, and this is simple speculation, she could enjoy it. It gives her wisdom that many lack, a venerable golden chest of power. She doesn't choose to be a fuck toy, she chooses to be an educator. And it isn't hundreds of men, she gets to choose each and every job and for the record it's been stated within the series that it isn't always sex. Companions are paid for when someone is in need of just that... a companion. Being alone is the worst thing any human being can experience - Mother Theresa (Paraphrased.) So what's so wrong with paying someone who has been taught how to take that sadness away from you? And calling clients rapists would indicate they're raping her. In a worst case scenario, she's placed herself there, she chooses the client. If anything, that means she's taking advantage of them.
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Money doesn’t seem to be the motivation behind Inara’s ‘choice’ to be a ‘Companion’, presumably she just ‘enjoys’ swanning around in ridiculous outfits. And being used as a fuck toy by men is seemingly a small price to pay for the pleasure.

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Seemingly small? Except that in Heart of Gold she mentions that the Whores of that planet are whores for that reason... they can't join the guild. They aren't well off. THESE women are paid little and are abused. Want to say someone's being raped, that's the episode with your arguments in it.
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At any rate, Inara’s apparent ‘power’ is merely a figment of Joss Whedon’s very sick imagination. In a later episode, Inara is shown to have set down three very specific rules in relation to her arrangement to hiring one of Mal’s shuttles as her base of operations. 1) No crew member, including the Captain would be allowed entrance to the shuttle without Inara’s express invitation. 2) Inara refuses to service the Captain nor anyone under his employ. And 3) the Captain cannot refer to Inara as a whore.
Mal agrees to all of these rules but he breaks every single one of them. Blatantly and deliberately. The third thing that Mal says in the first interaction between Inara and Mal is, “She’s a whore…” Does Inara stop him from calling her a whore? Nope. She just goes on smiling and being gracious. So he calls her a whore again. Lovely man this Mal is, dontcha think?

And in regards to her first rule, Mal takes every opportunity he can to break it. In the first episode Mal barges into Inara’s shuttle. The interchange goes like this:

Inara: What are you doing on my shuttle?

Mal: It's my shuttle. You rent it.

Inara: Then when I'm behind on the rent, you can enter unasked.

Scenes like this continue to occur for the rest of the series. Mal never apologises for breaking the terms of his agreement with Inara. And although Inara gets a little annoyed, she does not get really angry at the Captain for consistently undermining her power and invading her space. She tells the Captain to get out but he rarely complies. The point is that a man should never invade a woman’s personal space to begin with. Especially when he has been told expressly that he is not invited. But Mal delights in pointing out Inara’s powerlessness, it makes him feel all manly.

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Once more, not to reiterate, MAL ISN'T A GOOD GUY! He loves Inara, but that doesn't mean he knows how to do the right thing. He's a deep character and those are his flaws.
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In regards to her servicing the crew, she begins to service the Captain and the male passengers of the ship from day one. The following is an excerpt from the script of Serenity. Book is a black male character. He is a Preacher and disapproves of Inara’s ‘profession’.

BOOK Is this what life is, out here?

INARA Sometimes.

BOOK I've been out of the abbey two days, I've beaten a Lawman senseless, I've fallen in with criminals... I watched the captain shoot a man I swore to protect. And I'm not even sure if I think he was wrong.

INARA Shepherd...

He is shaking a bit, tearing up.

BOOK I believe I just... (a pained smile) I think I'm on the wrong ship.

INARA Maybe. Or maybe you're exactly where you ought to be.

He lowers his head. She puts her hand on it, a kind of benediction. We hold on them a second.

It is clear from the outset that a large part of Inara’s service involves addressing issues of male inadequacy and fulfilling many other emotional needs of her clients. The ability to do this IS a resource and it is therefore a service that Inara must perform. BUT Inara services all of the male passengers and the Captain in this way. She also services Kaylee but the relationship between them is a little more reciprocal. In any case, Mal makes it pretty obvious that he expects his emotional needs to be serviced by Inara and she willingly obliges. Mal also allows the male passengers to demand her emotional services and does not tell them to stop, despite the terms of his agreement with Inara. Inara is not paid by any of these men for her time, energy and emotional support.

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Ugh. She isn't servicing them. She's being a friend. If any time a woman does something nice for a man, or anyone else, it's her being a whore then I shudder to think of what sort of world we live in. If anything, that would mean the people who PAY women for any reason are the good people and everyone else is abusing and, well for all other reasons, sodomizing women. This, sadly, cannot possibly be your opinion. I reject it and replace it with either the assumption you were inarticulate or simply have not reviewed the material and do not live in any socially active place, which would negate your entire post. If it is your opinion, it's amazing you've figured out where the power button on the magic typing box is.
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Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Joss uses his own wife in this way. Expects her to clean up his emotional messes. Expects her to be there, eternally supportive, eternally subservient and grateful to him in all his manly glory. I hope the money is worth it, Mrs. Whedon. But somehow I doubt that it is. No amount of money can buy back wasted emotional resources.

Aside from women being fuck toys, property and punching bags for the men, the women have very little importance in the series. I counted the amount of times women talk in the episode Serenity compared to the amount of times men talk. The result was unsurprising. Men: 458 Women: 175. So throughout the first episode men talk more than two and a half times as much as women do. And women talk mainly in questions whereas men talk in statements. Basically, this means that men direct the action and are active participants whereas women are merely observers and facilitators.

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Actions speak louder than words, so women have as much to say as men. Oh except that there are more male actors than female... so really, they have more. Oops, forgot that math is involved when comparing numbers? Ok, being less offensive, I want to bring up that you don't know Joss, or his wife. You cannot go around saying whatever you like about these people. That's deformation of character. It's against the law.
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Given the fact that women are largely absent from the action and the dialogue of the majority of scenes it is unsurprising that the action onscreen is highly homoerotic. Men jostle with each other for power. Pushing each others buttons, and getting into scuffles. This intense homoeroticism is present from the outset as Mal asserts his rights as alpha male on the ship.

Completely unnecessary and unprovoked violence is a spontaneous result of this hypermasculinised male character. In Serenity, Mal enjoys using a character called Simon as his personal punching bag. In one scene he walks up to him and smashes him in the face, without any provocation or logical reason. In another scene Simon asks Mal a question and Mal smashes him the face again. No reason, no explanation, just violence. Violence is a part of the landscape throughout the whole series and Mal is often the instigator. He is constantly rubbing himself up against other men, and punishing wayward women, proving and solidifying his manliness through bashing the shit out of anyone and everyone.

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Firstly, he's punched simon twice for good reason. Well not for good reason but for A reason, which is not "without provocation". He did it for arguing with him and putting them in danger. Later he not only respects Simon but adds him to the crew. He told Simon that Serenity is his home. I don't know about you but someone who takes another person in, especially a wanted criminal (you will note while Mal is a criminal, he isn't actively being chased by the law.) is at least trying to be a good person.
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Zoe, the token black woman, acts as a legitimiser. Her role is to support Mal’s manly obsession with himself by encouraging him, calling him ‘sir’, and even starting the fights for him. Zoe is treated as a piece of meat by both her husband (Wash, another white male) and the Captain. Wash and Mal fight each other for Zoe’s attention and admiration, both relying on her submission to them to get them hard and manly. In fact there is a whole episode, War Stories, devoted to Wash and Mal’s ‘rivalry’. By the word rivalry, I mean violent, homoerotic male/male courtship conducted over the body of a woman.

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War Stories wasn't rivalry for her. It was jealousy. Wash is jealous of her respect for Mal and he's trying to prove himself BOTH of their equals. He's married to her and has her eternal love, but will never have the bond that Zoe and Mal share. Hrm. Once more, real people actions for characters designed like real people.
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Zoe is not shown to have a personality of her own. She has no outside interests, no ideas or beliefs, no conversation with anyone other than Wash or Mal. She has no female friends, in fact she tends to dislike women. For example, she is the first one to insult Saffron in the episode Our Mrs. Reynolds, calling her ‘trouble’.

Zoe, of course, is meant to be our empowered, ass-kicking sidechick. Like all sidechicks she is objectified from the get go. Her husband, Wash, talking about how he likes to watch her bathe. Let me just say now that I have never personally known of a healthy relationship between a white man and a woman of colour. I have known a black woman whose white husband would strangle and bash her while her young children watched. My white grandfather liked black women because they were ‘exotic’, and he did not, could not treat women, especially women of colour, like human beings. I grew up watching my great aunts, my aunty and my mother all treated like shit by their white husbands, the men they loved. So you will forgive me for believing that the character, Wash, is a rapist and an abuser, particularly considering that he treats Zoe like an object and possession.

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Ok, this is the worst sort of research I can imagine. You used your personal life to grade someone else's work. He wants to write REAL people, and you are basically boiling men, and WHITE men especially, into a single homogenistic pile. Just because it's all you've seen doesn't mean that different can't exist. Saying Wash is a rapist is basically saying that not only have you not SEEN the show, but you didn't even bother to read it on wikipedia, imdb or any number of other websites that could tell you a FRACTION about who he is.
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Joss Whedon does not share my view, of course, and he paints the relationship between Zoe and Wash as a perfectly happy, healthy union. If anyone is interested in portrayals of relationships between white men and black women written from black women’s point of view, I would suggest watching Radiance, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Serenades, skip Joss Whedon’s shit.

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WOOT! A great point. He doesn't share your view. Now, I must bring up this point. You offer links (that I WILL check out because they seem interesting) to a "black woman's point of view". This tells me you really only care for banners and ads. You only want the "Black", "Lesbian", "Feminist" or, when it all is boiled down "Your" viewpoint. Looking for a single persons opinion is what gets us the crappy television we HAVE. Infact, it's as bad as the pornography you claim to hate. It's designed for a single person, to enjoy. So because it's a black womans point of view, and I'm a white male am I not supposed to watch it, or will I just "Not get it." I was told that BS from a feminist before... that I just "didn't get it". All I ever did to her was ask her why she thought the way she did. Apparently, wanting to have equal rights with the male sex, to her, could never happen because not only can we not see things from a feminist point of view, but because we're men. Equality for all, I see. Anyway the point is that stories, or entertainment of any sort, should be written for people to enjoy it. PEOPLE, not women, men, children, animals, pedophiles, rapists, police officers or any other number of subgroups. If you write an entertaining story, with REAL people you will get REAL people watching.
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Also if you are interested in the reality of women in prostitution/prostituted women rather than the candy floss version that Joss Whedon has produced, I highly recommend Rebecca’s story Lie Dead. Skip Joss Whedon’s women-hating bile.

I can assure you that this is just the beginning of my rant on Firefly. There is so much more disturbing stuff later in the series. In particular, an episode called Our Mrs. Reynolds, another episode written by Joss, which completely demonises women as well as pornifying male violence against us.

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The final point. After COMBING over your post all I can see is that you hate men, you hate white men, you think that they demonize women and black women in particular. Because YOU feel that way, and HIS writing isn't fitting into your homogenious viewpoint, then HE must be the problem. He's the bigot, the facist, the misogynistic asshole who ruined every relationship you've ever had, seen or heard about. He's the reason pornography is on television, the reason men beat wives and the reason women are trod upon. It couldn't possible be the blame of the people who DO those sort of things. Nope, it has to be actors portraying these types of people that MAKE others do it. You hold no responsibility for your actions, the actions of your fellow people (man AND women) and you use your opinion to debase those people who choose to inform us that the world isn't shiny or pretty.
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Overall, I find your work poorly researched, with conclusions drawn entirely from your own preconceptions. And, yes, with the irony of the internet dawning upon me that while I find a lack of content, or really of anything other than a flawed opinion, to be totally unworthy of my time whilst still spending a good portion of the last half hour deriding it, at least I know that when I go home, I can rely on the knowledge that there are people like Joss Whedon out there. That writers and directors can choose to show more than a single viewpoint, or characterization. That I can be entertained, and not have to worry if I'll "recover".

So, after months of not posting anything I finally have something worthy of reading. Or at least by my estimation it is. This morning I was required to go get water for our dispenser from the hardware store. Upon returning I saw something odd coming from the empty wooden dresser with all its drawers removed that sits next to our porch. Upon closer examination I found a pair of puffballs that scampered under the porch. After waiting for a bit, one poked it's tiny pink nose out and I saw a grey ear against the black silken fuzz of fur it had. Going inside I informed my mum about what I found and she grabbed a bowl and sliced some luncheon meats (specifically corned beef) and walked outside with me. Waiting for the kittens to come out took too long so she moved it on the top of the porch and went to watch from the back door. The mother cat came out, entirely black, and began to nibble. It was then that not one, nor two, but FOUR tiny heads popped out. I say tiny, but really they are probably about six weeks old. Old enough to chew meats, and dry food (which my mom had also provided for them.)

So while not stealing them inside (which was her first impulse, as my mum longs for pets I think, since my dog died), she decided she'll leave a blanket out for them. There is a grey and white kitten which will probably be dubbed smokey, a pair of midnight black kittens without any breakage except for the pink of their noses which are going to be named "The Puffballs" and a Brianna wannabe (as cute as a tiny kitten is, all black with white "socks" and underbelly going right up to her muzzle, my girlfriends roommates kitten who is patterned similarly is way cuter.) that was much braver than the rest. After opening the door and having every other feline on the porch, kitten and cat alike, only the Briannabe was left uncaring about the noise on her left. Oh HO! No only the food in the bowl (of which she SAT in to eat) existed. All else was less than secondary!

So yesterday, my third day at work, I spent the first hour and a half of my shift organizing porn on the shelves alphabetically. Weird.

So now I work at Movie Gallery in Belle River. After a bit of orientation I was prepared for my first sale. So some guy comes up, and puts a bag of movies on the counter. All of them to rent, all porn. One hundred and seventy five dollars of rented porn. Plus taxes. That's too much porn!