We’re so pleased Edinburgh is returning to Can’t Stop the Serenity for the first time since 2007!
They’re warming up with a traditional pub quiz on Friday 5th June before their screening event in August.
Entry to the pub quiz is a mere £2 and the grand prize is 2 tickets to the main shindig. There will also be some shiny merch for sale so don’t forget to bring some cash.
So brush up on your sci fi trivia, grab some mates and head down to the Southsider this Friday at 7.30pm for a night of fun and meet some fellow Browncoats.
Keep an eye on the Edinburgh Browncoats Facebook page and website for all event info and updates.
In celebrating our tenth year, we’ll be looking back at some of our history.
And what better to follow our facts post than talking about people’s first Can’t Stop the Serenity, whether it was in 2006 or just last year.
Our Global Event Coordinator Sheilah reminisces about her first one:
“In 2006, I decided that Toronto would be part of the new Serenity Now/Equality Now events that were going to happen in June. The previous August we had run a Fan table at a local con promoting Serenity and I knew that there were lots of local Toronto Browncoats who would be glad to help out and to show up at the screening. My co-organizer, Heather, kept me grounded as I kept coming up with ever wilder ideas of what we could do!… Read more…
The start of the 10th Can’t Stop the Serenity season is here, and what a way to kick it off!
The honour of the first event of 2015 goes to Salt Lake City, this Saturday 16th May which is already sold out! The event at Brewvies Cinema Pub (brilliant concept, why are there not more cinema pubs??) features a screening of Serenity, trivia, a costume contest and auction.
With plenty of shiny including patches, stickers & more from Firefly Cargo Bay, James Hance prints, a whole pile of Malcolm Reynolds’ dog tags, comics, signed Frank Beddor books and Salt Lake Comic Con passes up for grabs, not to mention CSTS merch for sale, make sure you bring plenty of cashy money.
If you missed out getting a ticket this time, don’t forget to buy one early next year!… Read more…
Keeping flying for 10 years is no mean feat for any event, but it is a real achievement when every single person involved volunteers their time and resources for free.
To celebrate our tenth season we want to highlight some of our history. While many of you have known about us for a while now, one of the greatest things about Firefly is new Browncoats are discovering the series, and in turn us, all the time.
Here are a few things you may or may not know about Can’t Stop the Serenity.
It all began with one man’s idea. The One True b!X wanted to celebrate Joss’ birthday with a charity screening of Serenity, realizing it was a great idea he mentioned it on the message boards.… Read more…
There’s still time to register events to be held from June to October!
We want as many Can’t Stop the Serenity shindigs across the world as possible to celebrate the 10th year of Can’t Stop the Serenity and the 10th anniversary of the big damn movie Serenity.
Every size event is very welcome.
Some of you may be up for running a Screening event but if you want to start a little smaller or turn an existing event into a Can’t Stop the Serenity fundraiser, why not organise an Affiliate event?
The fantastic thing about Affiliate events is they can be almost anything.
Here’s a few ideas to inspire you:
With so many Firefly board games out there, a games day makes a great event.
A trivia or pub quiz event
A costumed picnic
A pajama party
Dinner at a Chinese restaurant
Get a group of friends together to see a movie, buy a book of discounted tickets or do a group booking so it’s less per ticket and either charge everyone slightly more to or pass the hat to raise money for Equality Now.
CSTS is immensely proud to announce that as of the end of the 2014 year, our 9th, we have raised One Million dollars U.S for Equality Now and the other charities our event cities have supported.
One Million Dollars.
It has come in as Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and American dollars. In Pounds and in Euros. Small amounts and large, from big cities and small groups of friends.
We probably can’t measure exactly how much good this money has done, but we can feel it. And we know what we are.
Those of us who have run events, those who have donated time, money or swag, and of course those of us who open up our hearts and our wallets when we show up at a screening or affiliate event.… Read more…
(This was first heard on The Signal podcast. Our thanks to Craig Kurumada for allowing us to reprint it here)
I confess that when I first heard of Can’t Stop the Serenity, I thought that these events would be something I personally might visit, but never help create. I imagined them to be similar to a big conventions. Well, not as big as DragonCon, but big enough to be put on by professional organizations and have a few celebrities. The cities were generally large metropolitan places with hundreds and hundreds of Browncoats able to raise thousands of dollars for Joss Whedon’s favorite charity, Equality Now.
Big league stuff.
So it took a while for me to connect a couple of dots. Please understand, I live in a small town: Arcata, California has 16,000 people when school’s in session.… Read more…
The events are over for the year. Thanks to all the Organizers and crew who put so much time and effort into making their events the best they could be.
The Virtual Shindig run by William and Thomas last week was great fun. It was good to see people from around the world participating. The Utah Browncoats were good enough to donate items for an auction which added still more money to Equality Now.
Speaking of auctions, the annual CSTS eBay auction will be coming up in November. There are always some must have items but this year there are a couple of items which will astonish you! Keep an eye out for more details as they come available.
And don’t forget, 2015 will be the 10th year of Can’t Stop the Serenity.… Read more…
This coming week sees the final events of the CSTS season but what a finish it is!
The Browncoats of Tampa, FL are having their first ever Can’t Stop The Serenity screening on Sunday Oct. 12. Entry is by donation so give generously but be sure to save some money for the raffle which has an astonishing number of truly shiny items. Everything from the Firefly Car air fresheners to the new Firefly Clue Game with Tshirts and actions figures in between. There will be tough trivia, Board Games, an RPG game scenario demo and of course, a screening of Serenity.
Salt Lake City is back with their Serenity Screening. Accompanying the BDM will be several fan films, including ‘Operation Night Watch’,& ‘The Verse’ by Julian Higgins.… Read more…
The shiny just keeps on happening! This weekend there are events in Australia, Canada and the United States.
First up is Nowra, Australia holding their third CSTS screening. If you have been following the posts on their Facebook page, you’ll know they have an exciting evening planned with all sorts of amazing prizes. As well as Serenity there will be Dr. Horrible’s Singalog blog, a Costume contest, an auction and door prizes.
After a great success showing Serenity, Toronto is back showing Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog. There will also be games and prizes. Wonder what exactly is Wonderflonium? Find out this and more. Follow them on Twitter for daily updates.
The day ends with the Arizona Browncoats having their 2nd event in as many weeks! This time it is Tucson’s turn.… Read more…
Another busy CSTS weekend with 6 events in 2 days.
Halifax is back with 2 back to back screenings of Serenity, as well as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a silent auction, merchandise for sale, trivia contest and door prizes. Come in costume and be immortalized by their very talented photographer! There will even be a Hero of Canton sing-along. Halifax is known for getting unusual auction items such as the Kaylee Special. (It runs on batteries);-). They will have a wide assortment of unique Tshirts and a comic signed by both Nathan and Adam. If you are in the area, it is not to be missed.
Sandy Utah is having its first CSTS event ever and it is already sold out! Serenity will be showing in an intimate 56 seat theater and will be accompanied by a raffle and an auction with shiny goods that have to be seen to be believed.… Read more…
The weekend of Sept. 13-14 sees a wide assortment of CSTS events. Montreal is back with its first event since 2006 and it promises to be worth the wait! It is happening within Montreal Comic-Con so if you weren’t going to attend, you might want to think again! Tickets are only $10.00 to get in CSTS Montreal but you do need to be attending Montreal Comic Con already. There will be a showing of Serenity, a costume contest, prizes for trivia, an auction, Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog and a few special things for sale.
The Beeston Browncoats can always be counted on to run a fun Affiliate event.This year they even have their event on the same day that SyFYUK is showing Serenity. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe SyFyUK recognizes the perfect time to show the film!… Read more…
It’s been a long time since Rhode Island had their very own Can’t Stop The Serenity Screening, so be sure not to miss it on Saturday Sept. 6th! It’s being held in the Columbus Theatre, an historic Opera House in Providence. Just imagine how great people cosplaying Captain Tightpants and Kaylee in her dress will look in a setting like that! Besides showing Serenity, the RI Sci-Fi Club will also be hosting a food drive – bringing food items gets you a free raffle ticket! And what a raffle! Prizes will even include something signed by Joss Whedon himself.
Tickets can be bought here.
The Utah Browncoats are bringing an Affiliate event to Salt Lake City Comic Con. Dr. Horrible will be shown on Saturday, Sept, 6th.… Read more…
(Moon, who has been running Denver’s CSTS since the beginning tells us why.)
I’ve been asked many times over the last nine years, why I organize the Denver CSTS screenings. My stock answer is something along the lines of, “I’m a Browncoat,” “It’s for Joss’ birthday,” or “Equality Now is a wonderful charity that fights for the rights of women and girls all over the world!” While these statements are true and I always say them with a smile, it’s only part of the story that drives me to continue working with CSTS and Equality Now. Personally, I do it for my mother, the strongest and bravest woman I’ve ever known.
My mother, Sim Chae Yop, was born 1943 in a small fishing village in what we now call South Korea.… Read more…
On Saturday Aug 23, the SRF Browncoats are hosting a screening at the Hurricane Bar & Grill in Miami Springs, Florida. There will be raffles, Dr. Horrible, Serenity and a local fan group will be hosting a Firefly themed Wheel of Fortune Game. The Hurricane has a full menu and bar. There is no admission for entry but hey – this is a fundraiser, so donations will be gladly accepted in cash, checks, paypal and credit cards. There will be special gifts for all who donate $25.00 or more.Even more details here.
On Sunday, the North Texas Browncoats are back with Can’t Stop The Music, an evening of awesome live music, burlesque and a showing of Dr. Horrible. The fun starts with Dr. Horrible at 6:00 with the last musicians starting at 12:30.… Read more…
Minneapolis is never content to do a screening like most other cities. Instead, for many years now, they have three screenings in a row. Everything starts on Thursday Aug 14 with Dr. Horrible at 7:45 and Serenity at 9:35. On both Friday and Saturday the events starts later – with Serenity being shown at 11:30 both nights. Please note that this is a cash only event so bring lots! Which screening will you attend?
Portland also feels that one screening is never enough, so they are holding 2 screenings in one day, Aug. 16th.
Both the afternoon and the evening events feature Dr. Horrible and Serenity as well as raffles with awesome prizes. Tickets can be bought online.
Browncoats all recognize the importance of Shindigs so Pittsburgh is starting their screening not at the theater but up the street at Fredo’s Market Deli from 3-5.… Read more…
Can’t Stop The Serenity is still flying in Raleigh, North Carolina where it looks to be a sold out event for the 5th year running, on Sunday July 27.
This is their 9th year so you know they are doing something right! Those lucky enough to have a ticket are urged to come early and have food and drink with your fellow Browncoats before the raffle and costume contest get underway. Yes, costumes! Dust off your duds and come dressed as an inhabitant of the ‘Verse. Following the raffle and contest will be a showing of the big damn movie, Serenity.
But before you head over, if you don’t have a ticket, be sure to check the website to see if any are left.
As temperatures rise in North America, cities in Canada and the United States are adding to the heat. (Luckily all events are air-conditioned!)
On Friday night Halifax, Nova Scotia is showing Seasons 1-3 of the Guild. Tickets are only $5.00 and attendees will have their names added to the door prize draw at the main event in September – bonus chances to win some great stuff! Concessions will be available.
Down the coast Can’t Stop the Serenity is returning to Washington, D.C. on Saturday with doors opening at 11:00 AM.
This year’s event includes Serenity & Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog, a costume contest for best dressed Firefly/Serenity character & a second costume contest for best dressed as any character from any Joss Whedon production. There will also be raffles, door prizes, and a silent auction!… Read more…
The weekend of July 4-6 sees three shiny screenings in Canada, the United States and England.
First up chronologically is Toronto. The Royal Cinema once again plays host to an afternoon of Serenity, door prizes, and an auction full of unique items. Tickets are only $12.00 in advance and $15.00 at the door. The screening will be followed by a shindig at a nearby pub but RSVPs are neccessary for the shindig.
Albuquerque has a very full day planned on Saturday. Besides shiny shopping, raffles, an auction, a shindig, Serenity, catered dinner available for purchase at the theatre, there is also comedy and music! Comedians Drew Wayne and Genevieve Mueller will open the event and Mikey Mason will play right before the dinner break. Costume are encouraged and anyone who buys their ticket in advance gets a Fruity Oaty bar and other shiny swag!… Read more…
Continuing the celebration of Joss’s birthday, 3 U.S. cities are holding their events this weekend. Their names also all start with N but the similarities end there!
The Nashville/Murfreesboro event is a concert featuring The Secret Commonwealth and Kasey Lansdale. There will also be a raffle and auction and probably a few surprises. Tickets will be available at the door.
Norfolk, Virginia is putting on a big damn shindig, also on June 28th. It starts at the Naro Cinema with a showing of Serenity in Hi Def. Doesn’t matter how many times you have seen Serenity. You owe it to yourself to see it digitally. You’ll see & hear content you never knew existed.There’s a costume contest and rumours of a silent auction; a showing of Dr.… Read more…
Every year many CSTS cities hold their events around Joss’ birthday, June 23rd. This year we have 4 cities celebrating.
First up is Lawrence, Kansas. They always put on a good time and this year promises to be more of the same. They will show Serenity of course along with some of the other content we have been lucky enough to get permission to show. And then there is the Prize raffle. You’ll want to bring extra credits for that!
Boston is back for their 9th year holding a midnight showing at the historic Coolidge theatre. Their 2nd charity is Rosie’s Place and anyone who brings a non-perishable food item will entered into the raffle for some fun prizes. Their website has a list of what items are most in need so check it out!… Read more…
Morgan B, age 12 wrote this essay for school. We think you will be in awe at this young woman’s grasp of what is important.
We all know that sometimes terrible things happen in the world, but did you know that in many countries women have almost no rights? In places like Yemen, Sudan, and Pakistan, young girls may be beaten, married, or even sentenced to death by their own families with few or no legal consequences. However, human rights organizations like Equality Now are working to change that. Can’t Stop The Serenity is a series of movie screenings held annually to benefit Equality Now. Serenity is a Sci-fi movie created by Joss Whedon, so if you are a Whedon fan and care about women’s rights, you should definitely come to a CSTS event near you.… Read more…
Last May Vancouver Organizer Samatwitch wrote about why Vancouver holds CSTS events each year. Thanks to her for giving us permission to reprint this from their website.
Why do we do this? Why do organisers spend so much time and money for each event? Why do people volunteer, paying for their own tickets to do so? Why do Browncoats – and others – keep coming out to CSTS events?
Partly of course, because the events are fun. Each city is different and has ideas and plans that work for them. A lot of people come out to see Serenity on the big screen or to sing along to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Some people come to spend an afternoon or day with their friends at a fun event – or to bid on an auction item they can’t find anywhere else, especially handmade items.
Salt Lake City is seeing the CSTS event season out with style!
On Oct. 26th,the Utah Browncoats will gather to see Serenity once again. There will be an auction and raffle and some shiny swag for sale. Firefly/Serenity costumes are very much encouraged!
Tickets are $10.00 in advance and $15.00 at the door.… Read more…
On Saturday, Oct. 12, CSTS Philly will be showing Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. The fun starts at 2:00. $10.00 advance tickets are only for sale until the end of Wednesday Oct. 9th, then they are $15.00 at the door.
There will be a costume contest with two categories – come as a character from the show, or invent your own Super Villian, Hero or Side-kick! There are also games, snacks,& raffle items. … Read more…
Can’t Stop the Serenity (CSTS) is a unique opportunity to indulge your geeky side while doing some good! Since 2006, fans have organized screenings of Joss Whedon's Serenity to raise funds and awareness to support Equality Now in their work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Join us as we aim to misbehave for a good cause!
There are two ways to fight a battle like ours. One is to whisper in the ear of the masses, try subtlely and gradually to change the gender expectations and mythic structures of our culture. That’s me. The other is to step up and confront the thousands of atrocities that are taking place around the world on an immediate, one-by-one basis. That’s a great deal harder, and that’s Equality Now. It’s not about politics; it’s about basic human decency.
