Category Archives: CSTS Global

2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events

Can’t Stop the Serenity Goes Around the World This Weekend!

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It’s a truly international weekend with Can’t Stop the Serenity events across 3 continents.

It all starts this Friday night in Lawrence, KS at the historic Liberty Hall with a screening event. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start, watch Serenity rise again on the big screen and sing along with everyone’s favourite villain Dr Horrible. If you’ve never experienced Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog* at a CSTS event, it is something truly special, a great story with most of the audience singing.

Tickets are just $10 and are available at the Liberty Hall box office in advance or at the door on the night. All proceeds go to Equality Now. For more event news visit the Facebook page.

We then jump to the other side of the world on Saturday where founding city Melbourne, Australia celebrates their 10th year as a Can’t Stop the Serenity city!… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events

A Can’t Stop the Serenity Debut this Saturday!

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Fairfax, VA joins the Can’t Stop the Serenity family with their first screening event on Saturday.

The event kicks off early at the Cinema Arts Theatre, with doors opening at 9.30am and a brief introduction before Serenity starts at 10am. You’ll want to get there early as this year’s Intro Video is not to be missed!

Make sure to dress in your ‘Verse finery for the costume contest after the movie, a $50 gift card will be awarded to the winner. And make sure you bring some cashy money for the silent auction which will feature some Serenity related items and gift cards donated by local businesses. There will also be some tshirts for sale.

Tickets are $15 and available from De Clieu Coffee, the theatre or online here.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events

Two Cities Celebrate Can’t Stop the Serenity Milestones!

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This week we have two big Can’t Stop the Serenity multi-event celebrations on opposite sides of the world!

It all starts this Thursday in Minneapolis at the Riverview Theater with the first of 3 nights of Can’t Stop the Serenity. Minneapolis was part of the first CSTS in 2006 and has held events every year since, making this year extra special as they celebrate 10 years.

The Thursday night will feature a raffle and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog* in addition to Serenity on the big screen. But not to fret if you can’t make the Thursday night event as they will be screening Serenity again both on Friday and Saturday night at 11.30pm. Tickets are cash only at the door and cost $10 for Thursday’s event and only $3 for either the Friday or Saturday screenings.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

A Double 10 Year Can’t Stop the Serenity Celebration this Saturday!

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Two founding Can’t Stop the Serenity cities celebrate ten years of events this weekend!

We start off on Saturday with the Pennsylvania Browncoats Rivers and Bridges Brigade proudly celebrating 10 years of Can’t Stop the Serenity events in Pittsburgh. The doors of the historic Hollywood Theater open at 5pm where the evening kicks off with games, raffle ticket and merch sales followed by an accoustic performance by Sean Faust, his third CSTS event this year! And of course Serenity on the big screen.

Entry for the event is free but since this is a charity event, a minimum $10 donation to Equality Now is strongly encouraged. And don’t forget to bring lots of cashy money for the shiny merch and raffle which includes some CSTS 10TH Anniversary items, Serenity soaps, Train Job posters by Caroline Moore and some gorgeous hand made items from Expressions by Jen.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

Beware the Monsters at Can’t Stop the Serenity Gaffney This Week!

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This week’s Affiliate event is something a little different and just goes to show how varied Can’t Stop the Serenity fundraisers are.

It’s Can’t Stop the Serenity Gaffney at MonsterCon! As we mentioned this event is a bit more unusual as it’s solely a raffle. Prizes include a copy of Serenity: Leaves on the Wind signed by Summer Glau, Done the Impossible DVD, Firefly-inspired music CDs and a hat that when you walk down the street in it, people know you’re not afraid of anything. Tickets are just a dollar each and all proceeds go to Equality Now. You can find them in the vendors area, so make sure you drop buy and buy plenty for your chance to win lots of shiny.

MonsterCon runs from 23-26th July and is a convention for lovers of comic books, toys, and films, and also pays tribute to historical monsters that evolved into both the sci-fi and horror genres.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

A Weekend Full of Can’t Stop the Serenity Screenings

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It’s a bumper weekend coming up with four Can’t Stop the Serenity events!

First up the 42nd Brigade Beestonians have a fantastic shindig planned catering to Browncoats of all ages this Saturday from 4pm at the White Lion Bar and Kitchen. They’re starting off with a screening of Big Hero 6 before screening Serenity and finishing off the night with a live music performance by Kezia Gill.

If that’s not enough, there’ll be raffles with some shiny prize. Every ticket holder receives a raffle ticket and the limited edition 10th Anniversary Can’t Stop the Serenity postcard designed by Phil Towle. All this for just Adult £10, Concession £8, Child £3, tickets online here or at the door. All proceeds go to Equality Now.

We then jump across the Atlantic Ocean to Miami Springs for the SRF Browncoats CSTS screening event at Tom’s NFL Sport’s Bar & Grill!… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

Equality Now Shows its Gratitude

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On Friday June 19th, the Browncoats of New York City had their CSTS event. That’s nothing new – this was the 9th time they’d done it. What was new, was their partner.

Equality Now, which is based in New York City, were co-organizers. Equality Now had decided to show their thanks to Can’t Stop The Serenity in as tangible a way as possible.

Upon entering the Chinese restaurant where it took place, it was our EN contact, Helen Stewart who greeted attendees, checked their name off and handed them a few small items.

The silent auction table had 2 bundles donated by Equality Now including the Joss Whedon designed Tshirt.
And it seemed as though every Equality Now staff member was there, having fun and learning what Browncoats are all about.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

Can’t Stop the Serenity at Montreal Comiccon!

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Can’t Stop the Serenity lands at Montreal Comiccon this Saturday night with a screening event!

You’ll find it at 513a – Panel Room 1. Doors open at 8pm for an 8.30pm screening.

You must have a Saturday pass for Comiccon to access the event and you can purchase CSTS tickets for just $10 here or get them for $12 at the door. With Jewel Staite a guest at the con, why not take advantage of your Saturday pass and get an autograph or photo.

In addition to Serenity on the big screen there’ll be prizes and items for sale and auction so make sure you bring lots of cashy money! All proceeds go to Equality Now and the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

For event updates keep an eye on the facebook event page.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

A Music Filled Weekend of Can’t Stop the Serenity Events!

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Norfolk returns for its 6th year of Can’t Stop the Serenity with the Big Damn Shindig this Saturday!

Mikey Mason, Browncoat, geek rocker, comedian and CSTS sponsor, will be performing live. There will also be trivia and of course Serenity on the big screen.

By getting your tickets in advance online you’ll go into a special raffle draw, one of the prizes for which is a Jayne hat. Tickets are $15 and available here. And if you can’t make the event, you can make a donation on the ticket page.

Proceeds from the event will go to Equality Now and Samaritan House. Don’t forget to bring unopened jars of peanut butter for the Foodbank Drive!

And on Sunday Can’t Stop the Serenity returns to Germany with an affiliate event in Brake.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events

Coast to Coast Across North America!

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Three Can’t Stop the Serenity founding cities are holding events this weekend!

First up on Friday the Browncoats of NYC have joined with Equality Now for a CSTS 10th Anniversary celebration screening and dinner at Jing Fong’s! It will be a night not to be missed with a costume contest, dancing, live auction and of course the big damn movie.

Sean Faust, making his second CSTS appearance in a week, will be performing live and leading a Hero of Canton sing along. Entry includes dinner, a door prize ticket, a special thank you and 1 adult drink coupon and is just $35. Get your tickets online here now as they may not be available at the door!

CSTS then breaks atmo in Vancouver at the H.R.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

Two Big Ten Year Celebrations!

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It’s a huge weekend coming up as two of our founding cities hold events for the tenth consecutive year!

On Friday 12th June Portland kick off a two night extravaganza with their CSTS screening. In addition to screening Serenity, there will be a performance by a PDX favourite, comedian Barbara Holm, and a special appearance by musical guest Sean Faust who will be attempting to help Portland break the live onstage sing-along of “Hero Of Canton” record.

Night two at the Melody Ballroom is the 10th Anniversary Gala, walk the red carpet on arrival and get your photo taken at the free photo booth before dancing the night away to some great music! Kirby Krackle, a Seattle ‘nerd rock’ band will be performing.

Perhaps most exciting is on both nights the air ambulance from the episode Ariel will be on site for photo opportunities.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

A Wee Scottish Shindig

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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.

If these events aren’t local to you, have you checked our Find an Event page?… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

Memories of Your First Can’t Stop the Serenity

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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…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

A Trivia Night Far, Far Away

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This week we break atmo on the other side of the world in Perth, Australia with a Sci Fi Quiz Night Affiliate event on 21st May.

Gather your favourite sci fi fans and form a team or be assigned to a team and meet new Browncoats. Don’t forget to dress up as prizes are being awarded best costume and quiz winners! Thanks to local sponsors White Dwarf Books, Comiczone, Game City and PokéPerth there’ll also be lots of shiny up for grabs in raffles and an auction.

Tickets are just $18 and are available here. All proceeds go to Equality Now and Living Proud LGBTI Community Services of WA.

This event sold out last year so get your tickets before they’re gone!

And not to fret if you can’t make it, Perth has some cunning plans for more events this year.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

So It Begins

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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…

2015, CSTS Global, Sponsors

Big Damn Sponsors!

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Our global sponsors are awesome.

They make events shinier by providing prizes, help us raise more money by donating amazing items for our end of season auction and keep us online.

We’re so pleased to welcome back some long time sponsors and excited some new ones have come on board. The one thing they all have in common? Their love for Firefly and desire to do good works.

This year’s sponsors have been very generous, check them out because your support thanks them for sponsoring us.

Sponsor packs
One way our events increase their fundraising is through raffles and auctions of some awesome shiny. Every event has access to a sponsor pack which often forms the base of prizes.

Browncoat’s Patch Packet – The Browncoats of NYC, the Utah Browncoats, and artisans pennausamike and Yellowjacket have donated their group and expanded Verse patches to the sponsor packs.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

A Short History of Can’t Stop the Serenity

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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…

2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events, Firefly and Serenity

My Journey to a Million Dollars with the Browncoats by Mandy Sullivan

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Thirteen years ago, I had never heard of Firefly. I had been working at Equality Now for quite some time and, as usual, we were struggling for funding. I got a call one day, from Renee Balmert from something called “the California Browncoats.” She wanted our address in order to mail out a check to us representing proceeds from “ComicCon.” The check was for over $3000, a staggering amount of money from one donor, at least it was in our experience. Apparently Joss Whedon had told them we were his favorite charity and they decided to give all the money to us. We were thrilled and grateful and Renee and I started up a conversation as she explained to me what Firefly was and what the Browncoats were.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

Help Celebrate Our $1million Achievement

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Announcing we’d passed the one million dollar mark in donations was a momentous occasion for us.

This is an achievement that belongs to everyone who ever helped organise, attended, sponsored, spread the signal about or donated to a Can’t Stop the Serenity event. Big Damn Heroes all of you!

To celebrate all the thrilling heroics we want to show the world the amazing Browncoats who made this possible. We’re looking for photos of Browncoats with signs celebrating that globally we’ve raised over 1 million dollars.

We would love pictures of you holding a sign along the lines of:

“Congratulations CSTS on raising $1M for charity from (Your name here) #CSTS1Million”.

It can be just you or a crowd of Browncoats. Have fun with it, be creative.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

Give It A Go!

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Never been able to get to a screening? Or maybe there’s not been an event in your city.
Then it’s time you thought about running a screening event!

Screening events can be fun and seeing Serenity with Browncoats, both new and veteran, is an amazing experience.

The beauty about screenings is they vary in size depending on how big you want your event to be, from things like small screening rooms for 20 people at a local bar to big events at theatres with a capacity for 300 and everything in between.

In a way, taking on a screening event is a lot like Firefly. To start you need to recruit a trusty crew!

Finding the right venue can be the tricky part but with a bit of research and some thinking outside the box you can find the perfect one.… Read more…

2014, 2015, CSTS Global, Equality Now, Events

Can’t Stop The Serenity Raises One Million Dollars For Charity

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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…

2013, 2015, CSTS Global

A New Organizer Speaks

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(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…

2015, CSTS Global, Events

Registration for 2015 is open!

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Join Browncoats around the world celebrating 10 years of Can’t Stop The Serenity. Whether you have a big screening or gather a small group of friends together to raise money, every event is very welcome.

Not sure what goes on or how to get started? We have lots of excellent information here.

Many CSTS events are known as “Screening Events” where Joss Whedon’s “Serenity” is shown on the big screen in conjunction with auctions, raffles, contests, merchandise sales and other multimedia (pending licensing arrangements).

If you’re unable to organize a Screening Event (due to funds, location or proximity to other Browncoats), an Affiliate event may be the answer. This can be any kind of event, such as a BBQ, dance party, trivia night, or video night, etc.… Read more…

2015, CSTS Global

Welcome to the CSTS 2015 Global Team

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Can’t Stop the Serenity 2015 is very lucky to have a great crew make up the Global team for our 10th year.

Most if not all of these knowledgeable and hardworking people have been involved with CSTS at a local level, and many of them have been on the Global Team before.

They are bringing a deep enthusiasm & joy for our 10th year which I hope you will see over the course of the next months.

  • Global Event Coordinator & Sponsorship – Sheilah O’Connor
  • Webmaster – Stephanie Leisure
  • Communications Director & Donations – Julia Svaganovic
  • Merchandise & Swag – Annie Burnaman
  • Art Director – Phil Towle
  • Video – Liam Merrick
  • Shepherd – Anne Barringer
… Read more…
2015, CSTS Global

Introducing our new Global Event Coordinator for 2015…

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As we finalise all the loose ends to formally close out the 2014 Season, we’ve also been hard at work behind the scenes to get things ready to kick off the 2015 Season! This year sees us reach a fantastic milestone. Can’t Stop the Serenity turns 10 years old in 2015! For a decade, Browncoats all over the world have donated thousands of hours of their spare time to organise events both big and small to celebrate our fandom and to support some amazing charities.

We’re pleased to announce that this landmark season will be coordinated by Toronto’s Sheilah O’Connor. Sheilah (aka Lioness) has been involved in CSTS since our first year back in 2006, organising the Toronto event for five years. In 2011, she joined the Global Team as our Shepherd and has guided countless organisers through the trials and triumphs of putting a CSTS event together.… Read more…