Hey, Joss Whedon fans: This is your weekend at the Loft Cinema!

First, there's the screening of Serenity, the movie that wrapped up at least a few of the plot lines left dangling when Whedon's cowboys-in-outer-space series Firefly was canceled by the no-good dingbats at Fox about halfway through the first season. The movie is not only a chance for Browncoats to gather; it's also a benefit for Equality Now, a cause that's near and dear to Joss' gal-empowering heart.

The Loft is promising "an out-of-this-world raffle for fabulous prizes, a 'Whedonverse' Costume Contest (dress up as your fave characters from Serenity/Firefly or Buffy/Angel), a taped introduction by Joss Whedon himself, games, fun surprises and more!"

The Loft is following up with another screening of the Buffy the Vampire Singer Sing-a-Long, which features the musical episode "Once More With Feeling." If you're a Buffy fan, you so need to see this all big-screeney.

The Serenity extravaganza starts Saturday at 7 p.m.; Buffy shows at 10 p.m.

Tickets to Can't Stop the Serenity are $10 in advance, $12 the day of the show. Tickets to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sing-a-Long are $5. Tickets are sold separately, and both are now available at The Loft box-office.

Hey kids, it’s been a while, but I am tuning in to you from the lovely and quaint Laguna Beach, Calif.

My family has had a cute little two bedroom condo out here for years, and I just can’t stay away. If anyone is out in California this summer or in the near future, I recommend everyone to visit this eclectic little beach town, saturated with liberal residents, passionate artists and fabulous places to eat and window shop. 

I would like to recommend two activities. My significant other and I had drinks and appetizers last night at this place at the top of Hotel La Casa del Camino called The Rooftop. On this rooftop terrace we enjoyed pinot grigio and shrimp and pork wontons. As the red orange sun sank into the ocean, we were accommodated with warm blankets as the ocean breeze was upon us. This place is exquisite and affordable while showcasing the famous Laguna Beach shoreline on the cusp of the beach. If anyone is in the area, I suggest you indulge in the sunset and yummy food at The Rooftop.

Today, we voyaged down Pacific Coast Highway to San Clemente where we visited the Rainbow Sandal Factory (where their prices are dangerously low!) and walked the Pier. After walking down the San Clemente Pier and even witnessing a man fish and catch a sand shark, we sat down at the restaurant at the end of the pier called Fisherman’s Restaurant. There we sat hovering over breaking waves and zealous surfers and enjoyed a colossal mudd pie dessert and their specialty drink, called Cottons. San Clemente, similar to Laguna Beach, features cute little shops and great food. Not to mention the views of the coast from the pier are reason enough to visit.

Here are a few events that were received too late for inclusion in our print issue.

• Thursday, June 21 at 4 p.m.

  Borders

  5870 E. Broadway Blvd.

  Harry Potter Pottercast. A live broadcast with Hary Potter editors, cast and crew is scheduled. Includes discussions, trivia, games and a question-and-answer session. Free. Call 584-0111 for info.

• Friday, June 22 from noon to 3 p.m.

  Green Valley Library

  601 N. La Canada Drive

  Citizens Water Action Coalition. Kristine Uhlman, UA geologist, will speak about the interrelationship between ground and surface water. Free.

• Saturday, June 23 at 8 p.m.

  Arizona Ballroom Company

  5536 E. Grant Road

  Black and White Ball. A night of dancing: From 8 to 8:30 p.m.: mini-group West Coast swing lesson; from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.: Open dance floor. $7. Call 290-2990 for info.

• Monday, June 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

  Tucson Children's Museum

  200 S. Sixth Ave.

  Thunderstorm Safety Activities. Explore the dynamics of weather. Make a tornado pattern; experiment with weather instruments; try "wash-safety" experiments and more. Free admission. Call 792-9985 or visit www.tucsonchildrensmuseum.org for info.

Here's a slightly trippy picture of the prizes. Weep with joy if you feel the need.

After gathering together the on crack staff and vetting the entries from the four people who entered the first-ever Dick Cheney Photoshopping Contest, we have decided on the winners!

It was reaaaaaly close between William Bell's Shrek-themed entries and Max Vectar's potpourri of Cheney in prison/Total Recall/collage suitable for framing. Both had substantial support from our more-sober-than-normal judges. But in the end ... we picked William Bell's entry to win. The Iraqi flag in the background pushed him over the top.

For winning this contest, William gets an amazing package of prizes. The booty includes:

• A large Transformers Optimus Prime action figure! (Mint condition, in the box, sent to us by movie promoters for some odd reason.)
• A movie pass for two to the Tucson premiere of the Transformers movie on Thursday, June 28! 
• Two tickets to the July 5 Reno Tucson Sidewinders game!
• A Weekly mug that has flashing lights!
• A plastic Weekly shot glass!
• A Weekly bumper sticker, worth literally a penny or two!

Because we appreciate the work soooo much of Max and the other two people who entered—Fozzie Pumpah and Homer Pyle—we're awarding Max, Fozzie and Homer movie passes, Sidewinders tickets and the Weekly paraphernalia trio as well.

Congrats to all, and thanks again!

So, as a lowly intern, I have been pondering what my first blog post would pertain to for quite some time. But habit endure, so to no one's surprise, here is a music recommendation of sorts.

Right now, I can't stop listening to these albums:

No Shouts, No Calls by Electrelane

These girls—yes all girls, four to be exact—are from Brighton, England. Their most recent album has been on repeat on my iTunes, iPod, and car stereo. Their single "To the East" is so catchy, it literally forced me to purchase the entire album—which was a valuable purchase, indeed. I recently went to the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington, and these girls blew me away. I am moderately pretentious when it comes to “girly” music (damn you, Fiona Apple, for setting such a high standard). Thus, I was skeptical when they took the stage. My goodness—I was wrong. My friends and I couldn't stop talking about their immaculate performance. I love them, I love them, I love them—I want to be them.

Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird

All my close friends were obsessed with singer/songwriter/violinist/musician extraordinaire, Andrew Bird, when his album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs came out in 2005. While that album was noteworthy, and it brings back memories of some good times for me, his most recent release, Armchair Apocrypha, won over my heart and soul. Bird has set a new standard of songwriting—at least for me and the many others who attended his April 2007 show at the Rialto. His whistling and nostalgic voice even caught the attention of my dad, the one person who defined my musical taste with Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and David Bowie. I promise this album is worth a listen—especially tracks "Cataracts" and "Yawny at the Apocalypse."

Until next time, I hope these albums bring as much musical awe to your ears as they did to mine.

As loyal readers of this blog know ... the boss, the ad director and I headed to beautiful Portland, Ore., last week for the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A good, educational time was had by all, and while we were there, we picked up some awards that are worth noting.

In the annual AltWeekly Awards contest, the Tucson Weekly nabbed four awards—putting us among the Top 10 alternative newsweeklies in the country in terms of the number of awards won.

Tom Danehy won first place in the Column (less than 60,000 circulation) category for “A Jury’s Strange Decision May Let a Murderer Back on the Streets in a Decade” (March 2, 2006), “The UA Showed a Lack of Heart When It Revoked Sarah Low’s Music Scholarship” (April 27, 2006) and “An NCAA Committee Shows That Efforts in the Name of Gender Equity Can Go Too Far” (Dec. 21, 2006). This is the second time in three years that Danehy has earned an AAN award for his column.

Margaret Regan and John Peck each won second-place awards, in the Immigration (less than 60,000 circulation) and Food Writing/Criticism (less than 60,000 circulation) categories. Regan took her third AltWeekly award in the last five years for “Back to Mexico” (Sept. 7, 2006). Peck earned his first AltWeekly award for “The Modern Maitre d’” (Jan. 26, 2006), “Cheese With Care” (July 13, 2006) and “In the Kitchen” (Dec. 14, 2006).

Finally, we won third place in the Web Site Design category (less than 60,000 print circulation) for the second year in a row.

Congrats to Tom, Margaret, John Peck and everyone who contributes to our Web site, from John Banks and the good folks at DesertNet to corporate Web dude Sean Fitzpatrick to the loyal commenters on our blog.

For more on the awards, click on his here link.

The Vatican has issued "Ten Commandments for Drivers."

This reminds me of the time my friend flipped off a nun while driving. I wonder what that means for my friend's soul.

You may recall how we all kicked and protested when we heard about the $14 garbage pickup fee. (I recall vividly.) And how one politician practically put her whole platform on removing that fee.

Well, we still have the fee and if the city of Tucson has its way, we'll have more soon enough. Those of us who live in urban infill will be supporting others in far flung places.

Get a petition and get it signed by like minded folks. Fight back! No more water fees!  The deadline is drawing near to get signatures.

The Yes Men are back!

The political pranksters—former Tucsonan Andy Bichlbaum and his partner in crime, Mike Bonanno—have slipped into conferences and onto cable news networks posing as representatives of the likes of the World Trade Organization and Dow Chemical.

Some of their adventures were chronicled in The Yes Men, a hilarious documentary that’s available at Casa Video. The giant inflatable penis/television monitor that inflates at a textile conference is worth the price of admission alone.

The Yes Men’s latest prank involved crashing a Canadian oil expo as alleged ExxonMobil bigwigs and announcing that the company had found a way to extract a new fuel source from dead bodies.

Their description of the event:

Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.

The speech was billed beforehand by the GO-EXPO organizers as the major highlight of this year's conference, which had 20,000 attendees. In it, the "NPC rep" was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study.

In the actual speech, the "NPC rep" announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive exploitation of Alberta's oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.

“We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant," said "NPC rep" "Shepard Wolff" (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), before describing the technology used to render human flesh into a new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum. 3-D animations of the process brought it to life.

"Vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production," noted "Exxon rep" "Florian Osenberg" (Yes Man Mike Bonanno). "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left."

The oilmen listened to the lecture with attention, and then lit "commemorative candles" supposedly made of Vivoleum obtained from the flesh of an "Exxon janitor" who died as a result of cleaning up a toxic spill. The audience only reacted when the janitor, in a video tribute, announced that he wished to be transformed into candles after his death, and all became crystal-clear.

At that point, Simon Mellor, Commercial & Business Development Director for the company putting on the event, strode up and physically forced the Yes Men from the stage. As Mellor escorted Bonanno out the door, a dozen journalists surrounded Bichlbaum, who, still in character as "Shepard Wolff," explained to them the rationale for Vivoleum.

"We've got to get ready. After all, fossil fuel development like that of my company is increasing the chances of catastrophic climate change, which could lead to massive calamities, causing migration and conflicts that would likely disable the pipelines and oil wells. Without oil we could no longer produce or transport food, and most of humanity would starve. That would be a tragedy, but at least all those bodies could be turned into fuel for the rest of us."

"We're not talking about killing anyone," added the "NPC rep." "We're talking about using them after nature has done the hard work. After all, 150,000 people already die from climate-change related effects every year. That's only going to go up—maybe way, way up. Will it all go to waste? That would be cruel."

Security guards then dragged Bichlbaum away from the reporters, and he and Bonanno were detained until Calgary Police Service officers could arrive. The policemen, determining that no major infractions had been committed, permitted the Yes Men to leave.

The Gas and Oil Expo folks responded with a very amusing press release.