On Saturday, May 25th, Vancouver returns with their 8th Annual CSTS Screening.

But they're not sitting on their laurels. This year promises to be better than ever.
There is a scavenger hunt on now, with the winner to be announced at the screening.

Jewel Staite dropped by to sign all sorts of items for the auction. She has even offered to record a ringtone for some successful bidder!
There is trivia bingo, and since it is Towel Day there will even be some Vorgon poetry! There's an Evil Laugh contest, a screening of Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog and more!

And of course, Serenity itself. It all starts at 12:30 and details can be found here or here.

Three wonderful 2013 calenders have been donated to CSTS and we want you to have one. Even though some of the year is gone, we think you won't mind when you see the pictures!
One is a Xena Princess Warrior calender and the other is Supernatural.

How do you enter? If you are on Twitter, just retweet an @CSTS or @EqualityNow tweet, then send us a tweet and tell us which calender you would like. Include the hashtag #signal

If you are on Facebook, share one of our posts or one of Equality Now's and again, let us know you did it, and which calender you would like.

The contest will run from now till the end of Wed. May 1, Pacific Time.

Retweet and/or Share as often as you like.

This Saturday April 20 there is 2 events in 2 countries, doing what we do best.
Raising money for charity and having fun while doing it.

The Tidewater Browncoats in Norfolk, Virginia have the first screening of the Season. They will be showing Dr. Horrible's Sing a long Blog, Mikey Mason is doing not one but two sets and new this year is Comedian James Rodatus. There will be many funny videos and last and certainly not least, the movie itself. Serenity. Proceeds go to Equality Now and Samaritan House.
Costumes are encouraged and you can buy tickets at the door.

Up Canada way, the Alberta Browncoats are starting with an Affiliate event at Happy Harbour Comics in Edmonton. Watch Dr. Horrible and some great videos of the nerdy kind. Admission is by donation - be generous. The money goes to great charities; Equality Now and YESS. For details see the website.

Interested in having an event yourself? Registration is still open for August and September. Check out Host an Event just up there ^, for details!

As we launch into another season of Can't Stop the Serenity, you may find yourself being asked why you attend these events and what your support means. You may even be asking this of yourself. Can't Stop the Serenity is not just about watching Serenity on the big screen, enjoying the company of Browncoats, and winning prizes is raffles, contests and auctions. It's much bigger than that.

Being part of Can't Stop the Serenity – as an organizer, a sponsor or an attendee - means that you are helping to put a stop to violence and discrimination. By using your voice and opening your wallet, you are helping to change the world for the better. For each friend you tell about the work of Equality Now, you are adding a voice to the chorus for change. For every dollar that you spend on tickets, merchandise and donate, you are giving Equality Now the ability to make change happen.

It's the people at Equality Now and their partners who do the really hard work, who help rebuild the lives of women and girls who have experienced horrific treatment at the hands of individuals and governments, and who fight to change the communities and laws to protect instead of injure. And by giving generously of your time, energy and money, you give them the power to do what they've been called to do.

But what exactly does Equality Now do? This month, we’d like to highlight one of the areas where Equality Now has been working for change.

Alma is a survivor of commercial sex exploitation, coerced into prostitution by the owner of a bar near a US military base in the Philippines. Alma’s story is the first in a series of Survivor Stories. Each month, a new story will be published at www.equalitynow.org/survivorstories amplifying survivor's voices to expose coercion, trafficking and sexual abuse in Cambodia, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, the US, and the UK. The series highlights the work of anti-trafficking advocates around the world and offers online actions readers can take to support global efforts against the multi-billion-dollar trafficking industry. The Survivor Stories series aims to firmly establish the link between trafficking and how it fuels the large and diverse commercial sex industry. Equality Now and its partners are committed to reducing the demand for commercial sex by advancing policies that criminalize buyers of sex while decriminalizing those who are sold for sex and providing them with support services.

So you want to have a shindig with your fellow Browncoats. But everyone is so busy and it's hard to agree on a time or a place. And everyone is well meaning but nothing ever quite gets off the ground.

Do we have just the thing for you! Hold a Can't Stop the Serenity Event! It's BIG (or small), Splashy (or sedate). We will help you promote it and it will be the event to attend!

Think about it. You get to see Serenity if you choose to do a full screening, or with an Affiliate event, Dr Horrible and a whole slew of other videos we got permission to show this year. You are surrounded by fellow Browncoats and anyone else you choose to invite. (Maybe your great aunt Ethel needs a night out?) And you raise money for charity.
Win Win Win.

Intrigued? Check out the details just up there at Host an Event.

Note: If you want to hold an event in June or July, the deadline for getting a full registration in is March 31st.

Registrations is now open for the 2013 Can't Stop The Serenity screening season.

We've made a couple of changes we think you will like. The event window now starts April 1st and goes until Sept. 30. We hope that this will give colleges, universities and other schools a better chance to run either a full screening or an Affiliate while school is still in. Cities that have a good sized school in their area can consider if they will get students if they hold their event in one of the spring months.

There are 2 kinds of events.
Screenings show Serenity and may or may not have a variety of other things as well, such as raffles, auctions, contests and other multimedia (pending licensing arrangements). The majority of CSTS events are Screening events.
Affiliate This can be any kind of event that doesn't feature a screening of Serenity, such as a BBQ, Dr Horrible screening, dance party, musical performance, trivia night etc. The options are only as limited as your imagination! We have a wide assortment of videos that we have been given the license to show, from the Guild to an episode from The Daly Show. If you can't organize a Screening Event, an Affiliate Event may be the answer. The money raised goes to Charity just as the Screening events profits do. 75% goes to Equality Now and the other 25% can also go there or you may choose to designate it for other charities.

Want to know more? Check the details at the Host An Event tab above. This includes the all important deadlines.

If you are interested in running one of these but don't have all the details set, fill in the short Expression of Interest Form.

If you have everything all set, then go straight to the Registration Form and fill that in. Either will let us know you are working on it and you will get access to all sorts of information and help.

Welcome to Can’t Stop The Serenity 2013. We are glad to have you onboard.