Endnotes and Digressions:

1. Grey-tones for this installment by Chad Essley.

2. I'm a pretty serious "Firefly" geek myself, so I'm hardly impartial -- but I thought "Serenity" was nearly as funny and moving as the show. Like "Firefly," its best bits are smallish character bits, so I don't want to oversell it -- but most fans will adore the film (and the final-act mayhem may leave them quaking).

3. Want to explore the fan community? You might want to start with the excellent Browncoats Forum. I also recommend FireflyFans.net, the Whedonesque "Serenity" blog, the original (and still very active) "Firefly" Prospero forums, and some amazing guerilla-marketing posters for the film, designed by "11th Hour."

You can learn more about Portland-area "Firefly" fans at PDXBrowncoats.com.

4. During the screening, Universal reps handed out mini-posters and keychains:

Also, many Browncoats wore fan-made T-shirts (purchased from the now-defunct BlueSunShirts.com) and played with pricey PDAs while chatting in line. They were also surprisingly mellow -- even when the first 30 seconds of Whedon's taped message ran without sound and the movie stopped for 20 minutes after a couple of reels were accidentally flipped.

 Type too small? You can download a high-rez PDF of CulturePulp 028 right here: CulturePulp28a.pdf