You know, it’s been a while since we had a nice big contest around these parts. Fortunately QMx and Dark Horse are stepping up with something huge.

Starting today and lasting until September 30th, you can enter to win one million dollars in Alliance credits, complete with labeled sacks based on the ones on the covers of “Serenity: Better Days.” Just enter at QMx for your chance to win. One entry per household. Or you can buy an Alliance Money pack (on sale for $17.95 for the promotion) and you’ll get entered automatically for every pack you buy.

And there’s lots of other loot:

- One of only three Little Damn Heroes Kaylee maquette prototypes in existence, and the only one signed by Jewel Staite. This unique item is an artist proof of the upcoming “Little Damn Heros” limited-edition animated maquette titled “Shiny.”
- A Malcolm Reynolds Stunt Pistol replica, complete with stand and signature card signed by Nathan Fillion. This is the same pistol handled and reviewed by Nathan himself!
- An original set of the sold-out Serenity Blueprints, signed by the designers Geoffrey Mandel and Tim Earls. This is one of the extremely rare Final Engineering Proof sets.
- 10 hardcover copies of Serenity: Those Left Behind.
- 10 test prints of John Mullaney’s “Serenity in Flight.”
- 10 copies of the fabled “misprinted” Londinum posters.

Winners will be drawn at random.

“It’s been a little over a year since we introduced our very first Serenity product,” said Andy Gore, CEO of QMx. “That was the Serenity Money Pack, a screen-accurate replica of the money seen in the film’s bank heist. With that money showing up in the comic, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to partner with Dark Horse to say a big ‘thanks’ to Serenity fans for a fantastic first year.”

Friends and neighbors, how can you pass up the chance to roll around in a million bucks of cashy money? Head over to qmxonline.com/bighaul right now and enter!

“Lemme guess. It ain’t what we  bargained at.”

“It ain’t. It’s more. It’s millions.”

Keep checking back, or check qmxonline.com in a few hours to find out about something big, something free, and something incredibly cool. Details coming very, very soon.

Hunter Ansley Wryn, the actress who played young “River” in Serenity attended the Can’t Stop the Serenity screening and was kind enough to sign autographs. One of the items she signed, the hardback collection of the Dark Horse miniseries “Serenity: Those Left Behind,” is being given away, and all you have to do to enter is something you’ll probably enjoy anyway.

In the spirit of Can’t Stop the Serenity, if you’d like a chance to win the signed book and map just respond to this Equality Now action alert: Stoning to Death for Adultery—Discriminatory Laws Target Iranian Women (details of the issue and contact information are listed on that page.)

Once you’ve sent your letter, forward a copy to dollrific@gmail.com with your name and mailing address (don’t copy me on the original e-mail—that’s wicked tacky. Please just forward it after.) If you’d like to respond to a different Equality Now action, that’s fine, too. There’s a list here.

In two weeks I’ll pick a random letter and e-mail the winner. Good luck!

A great prize, and a great cause. Thanks for doing this! More details here.

Did you know you can win free stuff from Universal HD on Saturday night while Firefly is airing on UNi-HD? Easy as lying!

Just head over to their forums and make a post in the door prize thread when it opens. The mods will choose a winner.

Recent prizes have included Done the Impossible DVDs and this way cool Jayne ornament.

And be sure to stop by and thank Uni for running Firefly as regulalry as they are. Keep ‘em flying!

Suzy Seigel, one of the winner’s of “Win a Dinner with Joss” a few months ago is now giving away a Serenity movie poster signed by Joss.

I’m thrilled that Joss signed this poster for an auction supporting Equality Now. Since I already gave it a big check, however, I’d like the poster to now do its magic for people with leiomyosarcoma. 

Think of us as inhabiting the outer planets of the cancer ‘verse. Many of us, including me, have stage 4 LMS. Some of us don’t expect to survive this fight (although that’s not Plan A). But we think: “The future is worth fighting for.” We have lost friends. Few people know our world exists. We see millions go to more common cancers, while we go begging. With that said, let the begging begin!

Details on how to enter are here. Contest ends March 1, 2008.

In one day the Serenity CE shot up in Amazon’s sales rankings from #51 to #11. I see this as a good sign, probably due to Universal’s increased advertising, IGN’s great review, and Amazon’s “By the way” e-mail to Firefly-purchasers (and, of course, my nagging).

And yet, it’s still not enough. The word must be spread. So I’m offering a bribe.

Post about the new Serenity DVD on your blog, on forums, in comments sections. Post a review at an online bookstore or music shop or Netflix. And comment here to let me know about it. I’ll draw a winner at random from the comments and send a DVD your way.

However, don’t spam anybody. No mass e-mails, no mass posting in forums. All you’ll do is annoy people and annoyed people won’t buy the DVD. Stick with your own blog/MySpace/LiveJournal/whatever, and forums and other places where a mention of this great new DVD would be appropriate. Spamming will get you disqualified.

The winner will be drawn at 11:59 pm EST Aug. 20, so you’ll know by Tuesday morning if you’ve won or if you need to go buy a copy. (If you win, buy a copy anyway) If you need talking points, feel free to copy from (or just link to) 25 Reasons Why You Should Buy the Serenity Collector’s Edition DVD or Serenity Collector’s Edition DVD - What’s new, what’s not. If the place allows it (not all review sites do) You can also link to the Amazon page, or TFAW.com, or your favorite online seller, or the Universal page, or SerenityMovie.com, or anywhere else where folks can get more info or buy a copy.

Then come back to this post and put the link in the comments. Be sure to include your e-mail address so I can get to you. If you’d rather not make your e-mail public, post the link in the commetns and then send a copy to cabridges @ gmail.com.

FireflyStore.net is holding a massive raffle to raise money for Equality Now, and I can help you get free tickets! Go ahead, love me, you know you do…

From now until October 28, 2007, they’ll be selling raffle tickets for chances to win great prizes ike movie props (an entire Reaver costume!), signed items (Astonishing X-Men #1 signed by Joss and Stan Lee!), a Serenity blueprint set from QMx, original artwork from Grant Gould and Urban Fine Arts, the three ‘versy Companion books from Titan (Serenity, and Fireflys 1 and 2), a “Done the Impossible” DVD, and more prizes will be added. Winning tickets will be drawn at an event in LA on November 3.

And, aside from the wonderful things you’ll be doing for Equality Now, everyone who enters will have their name added to a poster created by the go-to guy Adam Levermore-Rich of BlackMarketBeagles.com to be presented to the cast, crew, and media that were involved.

Tickets are available in batches of 5 (for UK£5) or 10 (UK£5), but if you use the promo code STUFF you can get 3 extra tickets for free! Hurry up, this code is only good until June 30th.

Help the cause of equality, and get stuff. Life is good.

“I want to marry Saffron!
I want to be her man.
One of those she’s hitched
and then left ditched.
We are a mighty clan!
I want to marry Saffron!
I want her for my bride.
Even though my tale
will end in jail
You know it’s worth the ride!
You know it’s worth the ride.”

OK, you could do better. And you really, really should.

It’s dawned on me that although fans have written beautiful, funny, emotional songs about Mal, and the crew, and the ship, and the ‘verse, we’ve never heard any original songs about my favorite character, Saffron. As far as I can tell, there are exactly two: Saffron’s wedding song from the soundtrack (later covered by The Bedlam Bards on their “On the Drift” CD) and “Saffron,” a filk to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” by the immortal Lux Lucre.

That’s it? I can’t understand this. YoSaffBridge is definitely someone who would inspire songs. Cautionary ones, at least. We’ve seen stories, poems, even limericks, but where are the ballads about this beautiful, deceitful redhead?

Well, they’re here. During June, anyway. I’m announcing “Sing a Song of Saffron,” a month-long contest for great prizes, to be judged by me, The Bedlam Bards, and Saffron herself, Christina Hendricks! Check below for details.

Read the rest of this entry »

And the answer to last week’s question, According to Mal, what should a woman do if someone tries to kill her? was “try to kill them right back!” Steve McCord knew this, and he shall be rewarded with one of Black Market Beagle’s ”I Am Dua Kahlil” shirts. Remember, you can buy your own and $5 of the price goes to Equality Now, or you can just download the image and make your own — here.

No trivia contest for this week, folks. Not because I’m avoiding contests, but because I’ve got a BIG one coming up for the month of June and you’ll need your rest. Check back for more details tomorrow night!

FireflyTalk is having their second contest, and they’re not skimping on the prizes. First prize is either a metal Reaver short sword from The Prop Store of London or an artist’s proof of Mal’s pistol from Quantum Mechanix (winner’s choice, the remaining one goes to the second prize winner).

Other prizes include diferent versions of the Alliance money packs from QMx (including a unique gold-leaf set), a signed “Bound by Law” poster from Serenity graphic designer Geoff Mandel, and more!

They’re looking for articles, and the more the merrier. You’ve got until March 31st, so get cracking. More details here.