I’m not a member of Whedonesque, the Joss Whedon website (can’t cram any more folks into the stateroom) but I kinda want to address a few of the questions raised on the comments to the post about the River Tam notebook.

First off, I’ve been corrected a number of times about Joss’s being on television before. He made an appearance in an episode of Angel (heavily made up, I assume) of which I wasn’t aware. I was only going by what Joss apparently said on the set. Perhaps he meant it was the first time he acted in front of the camera without makeup. I dunno.

batmarlowe sez: There wasn’t any reason during the shoot for him to write down specific observations about River.

I totally agree. But my friend says he watched him write as he acted. Twice. So there were two takes (this prompts me to check the rest of the notebook for another set of notes. See below for what I found.) I guess that’s just something JW wanted to do.

vera (form NZ!) sez: I think the handwriting is very messy, but dont know if that would mean it is made up.

True. I don’t have any handwriting for comparison’s sake, but I suspect if he’s trying to focus on acting the scene, he’s not gonna be too worried about penmanship.

CHRi5 sez: If he was handed it so long ago – Why is the blood still wet?

Well, amystar answers that one later: As for the “wet blood” thing, it all depends on what kind of fake stuff they were using. Some stuff never really dries.

Yes, indeed. It’s not exactly wet. It’s just sticky. I have to keep it in a plastic bag to keep my waffle iron from getting bloody (I’ve got it stashed in a kitchen cabinet. Why? Hell if I know.)

embers sez: I was surprised they called us intense, 14 (so far) posts to a thread isn’t very intense…

I guess I wasn’t referring to the number of posts. Fourteen posts isn’t exactly a feeding frenzy. But the subject of handwriting analysis came up by the third comment. That’s intense. But member serge is right when he says, it’s one obsessive fans who tries to, at least in part, copy Joss’ handwriting.

I’m a fan. No doubt. But please. Aside from posts like this one, and this one, I’ve got too many other things to do…

Now I’m no viral marketing plant (a quick look around the bulk of this blog should help quell some of the skepticism) but these next photos aren’t going to persude the cynics. When my friend tells me that Joss did the shoot twice, I realize that I hadn’t flipped through any other pages of the notebook (they’re stuck together) So I carefully pry them up to take a look at the first page.

Whaddya know?

Click on the pic above for a hi-res version (for those who want to seriously scrutinize the work.)

Here are some more pics:

Anyway, there you go. I’m curious to hear what people make of the scribbles. I don’t think they’re as funny as the one I posted about this morning (no mention of “udderific”??) But still interesting.

And there are other props, I’m told. My friend is in San Antonio now. He says he has a copy of the script (which is also marked up) that he’s going to try and photograph for me. And there are stills, but, we’ve decided to keep them to ourselves (not to tease, but we just don’t want to hurt any business relationships that might suffer as a result.)

How did we get this stuff? This is Hollywood for Chrissakes. This sort of thing happens here. We used to chat with Camden Toy all the time. Sarah Thompson was a regular at the store where I used to work. So were Nick Brendan and Kelly Donovan. That’s the way it is.

And hey, Serenity comes out in a couple weeks.

Numfar! Do the dance of Joy!

UPDATE: Fer the love of–! I found yet another page.