The New Wash

Last night I dreamed about what I would write on the blog today.

"Aha!" I thought in the dream. "I'll write about who would have replaced Wash as the pilot of the Serenity had the show been renewed after the movie, given Joss Whedon's habit of hiring from his favourite stable of actors and friends."

So I guess that's what I have to write about. Here's my short list:

• Charisma Carpenter as a sassy, flighty colonist escaping a low-tech frontier world in search of a better life as a pilot-for-hire. 
• Wil Wheaton as a drug-addicted madman with a price on his head (that he conveniently forgot to tell Mal about). 
• Enver Gjokaj as a professional merchant pilot who's signed on with the Serenity strictly for the money. Secretly works for a space mob. 
• Felicia Day as the perky (is she ever anything but perky?) pilot who relies on faith and superstition to do the job. Big believer in crystals and sky fairies. 
• And finally (and this was dream-Earl's idea, and probably the best one), Clark Gregg as a veteran who fought on the Alliance side of the war, providing lots of juicy friction between him and Captain Reynolds. 

Sadly Firefly is long dead, so none of these possibilities will ever come to pass. But when you keep dreaming about a show ten years after it's been cancelled, it must have had something going for it.

Sweeping Generalizations

The Barefoot Sweeper

Saturday night the gang gathered at Pete's place for our second round of the Serenity roleplaying game. The common theme that night was spillage and cleanup. As seen here, Mike was so disturbed by Pete's filthy back deck that he felt compelled to sweep up. Later in the evening, Steve dropped his Brute on Pete's shiny hardwood floor(the sandwich, not his actual brute, not that he has one or anything that I know of) and promptly wiped up the mess. This prompted some gentle ribbing and reminded us of the night, not long ago, that Jeff spilled Pete's expensive port all over Pete's expensive table. The mess was promptly cleaned up.

According to a common stereotype, men don't enjoy cleaning. But among my particular tribe of geek friends, cleanliness is clearly a virtue.

Stealing a line from my friend Leslie...

What I'm reading: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. Unusual and compelling, despite being a finalist for the Man Booker prize (rimshot!).

Speaking of awards, I found out today that E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, which I have always assumed is a mainstream novel, was nominated for the Nebula award - an SF prize. I haven't read Ragtime - anyone know if it has any speculative content? (Some of you may remember the story from the film adaptation - widely publicized as James Cagney's last film.)