No te enojas. No vale la pena.

Not surprisingly, no vale la pena is my favorite idiom ever.

largely b/c the Chinese is never explained (and I've watched the original 2-part pilot through....the one where Mal gets married-but-not-really, and there's been no explanation as to why they all swear in Chinese, and sorry, but that bugs).

It's never explained on the show, maybe, but Joss's explanation is that in the future, America and China are the two superpowers, such that everyone from the bottom of the social ladder to the very top knows a bit of Mandarin.

Hmm. I think having to find that out from a source outside of the teevee makes it a weak element. Everything the viewer needs to know should be accessible through the show itself; granted, not everything must be spelled out in 50-foot-high anvils, and not everything must be revealed in the first episode, but as a viewer, I expect it to eventually be explained on the show itself.

I never felt a lack of explanation ... well, okay, it wasn't explained, but I just thought "Huh. The Chinese must have gained cultural or political power between now and then." and figured the how of that gaining may or may not be interesting to tell.

I'm with Tep. And that whole "Let's get in the spaceship, consarn it," tone gets on my wick sometimes. But maybe I'm just sad nobody's made "Space Balmer" yet. Oh, God, an asteroid hit Mount and Fayette...

I agree that the Chinese thing wasn't very well executed. I think it's not explained because it's supposed to be sort of a texture thing. But it would've seemed more natural if they had done a little more with getting some chinese people/architecture/whatever in the background to show that there had been some significant cultural melding sometime over the last several hundred or whatever years.

I thought the same thing as ita. I saw enough clothing, signs, accessories (like Kaylee's parasol in the pilot) to get the idea that Chinese culture was predominant in this 'verse. Swearing in Chinese just fit with all that.

I agree that the Chinese thing wasn't very well executed. I think it's not explained because it's supposed to be sort of a texture thing. But it would've seemed more natural if they had done a little more with getting some chinese people/architecture/whatever in the background to show that there had been some significant cultural melding sometime over the last several hundred or whatever years.

This.

And that whole "Let's get in the spaceship, consarn it," tone gets on my wick sometimes.

I was prepared to hate this part, because Westerns just aren't my thing. But I ended up being won over. And when I watch Firefly, I start talking like Mal. If I'm not careful, Jack in the wip talks like Mal (he already looks a lot like him, but I did that on purpose), which is kinda problematical, what with him being English and all.

Off for the weekly grocery run.....

Wow.

You remember when I said the drinking corrected my schedule?

Yeah. I lay down to let a quick wave of nausea pass at about 12:30, and just woke up.

12:30 this afternoon?

(Oh, and I guess this means that you had a Happy Birthday?)

JZ: I'm so sorry for your loss.

Teppy -- I really think that seeing the episodes of Firefly in the correct order, helps with the enjoyment of the show. (What I mean in -- as they are on the dvds.)

Quiero una vacaciones.

I've been at work too long; I read this as "I want vaccinations."