Minutes, 9.29.02 From: Kaitlin Branson Heller Date: Sun Sep 29 2002 - 21:59:57 EDT --------------------------------------------------- Cassia accused Noteables SIG of being a pretender SIG. The Infernal's secret identity was revealed. Dennis: Is this corporate finance? Tony: You stupid git! The Sergeant at Arms opened the meeting and then left to practice killing things, admonishing the attendees, "Stay good, HRSFA! Stay good!" First on the agenda was to argue over in which order to carry out the agenda. [insert fancy-schmancy flow chart here] b.u.s.i.n.e.s.s. ...:IGNOBELS:.... The Igs will be this Thursday at 7:30 pm in Sanders Theatre. These awards celebrate scientific achievements which cannot, or should not, be reproduced. Tickets are free for HRSFA members; if you want them, email Dan immediately. Also, if you have a good description of our association in mind, send that to Dan ASAP. The theme this year, which we should try to dress up for, is Jargon. We took a vote and determined that Jargon being the unholy love child of Qui-Gon and Jar Jar is the worst idea ever. ++++++ bartlet@fas Dennis: Oh dammit! HRSFen: [nervous silence] Dennis: I realized something horrible, which I will bring up later. ...:HRSFA'S 15TH BIRTHDAY:... It turns out that because the Igs are this Thursday, the original founding date of HRSFA was *not* October 3rd, but October 10th. There will be Next Generation, cake, and fun games. The Star Trek SIG leader needs to decide on a room and contact officers pronto. ...:COMING OF THE HOUR:... All hail Kronos. From 2 am to 2 am on the 27th of October, we will spend an hour in contemplation of Kronos. We will walk through the Yard dressed in black, carrying candles, and chanting. We will confuse the drunken freshmen and definitely will not burn a clock. Kaitlin desperately needs a clockbearer. Anyone, ANYONE, anyone at all, who is interested, should email her yesterday. ++++++ kbheller@fas ...:KING RICHARD'S FAIRE:... There is a Renaissance festival out in Carver, MA, which we are planning to attend on Columbus Day. (For those of you who don't know the faire, the website is kingrichardsfaire.net.) It appears that our only means of transport there is by car, so only eight people besides our wonderful drivers will be able to go. Please email Kaitlin right away if you are interested. HRSFA will pay for part of the admissions cost for you. We may plan a costume trip beforehand as well. ++++++ kbheller@fas ...:MAGE:... On October 11, starting after dinner (or before if there is pizza), there will be a Mage one-shot game in the Quincy JCR. Mage is a roleplaying game in the White Wolf system. You don't have to know anything about it to play; all will be explained. You are also encouraged to come just to watch. If you think you will be playing, please write to the GM. ++++++ kbheller@fas ...:WYLD HUNT:... Objective: paint selves blue with wode and run through Cambridge howling, chasing the stag, and confusing the tourists. There are pictures from last year's Hunt up on www.hrsfa.org. David Molnar has volunteered to be this year's huntmaster, and will try to get us a room. Henri, who ran the hunt last year, can provide the antlers for the stag, some wode, and a room if necessary. And he promises "not to be stuck in a Russian restaurant surrounded by Russian mafia." We need a stag. The stag must be a freshman, and this lucky freshman will get a free membership. Since no one raised their hand to volunteer, we'll try again later. If you want to volunteer secretly, you can email the huntmaster. ++++++ dmolnar@fas ...:VERICON:... This is our annual SF con, which happens during intersession. Rebecca McKeown is our con chair, and she is looking for volunteers to run things (especially the art show!) or just for people to give her good guest ideas. If either of those things catch your fancy, please write to her. ++++++ rmckeown@fas "Mwahaha." - Rebecca ...:MEMBERSHIPS:... Tony, our beloved treasurer, will sell this to you at any hour of the day or night. He lives in Lowell, so you can go bother him whenever you want. Memberships are wonderful things: they get you free Igs tickets, partial admission to the Faire, the use of the HRSFA library in Pforzheimer, membership to Pandemonium Books, 10% off at Your Move Games, and $1 off movie tickets for HRSFA movie outings. In short, it more than pays for itself. Memberships are $5 until after the next meeting, at which time they go up to $8. ++++++ avila@fas s.i.g.s. "I'm munging my quantifiers. Get away from me." - confused co-chair ...; BUFFY / ANGEL / SMALLVILLE / FIREFLY SIG needs a shorter name. Buffy will be Tuesdays at 8. The title of the upcoming episode is "Beneath You." Charles assures us this is perfectly innocent. Right after Buffy, Smallville opens with an episode that does, in fact, have a title. It should be good. Firefly is at 8 on Fridays. Angel is Sundays at 9, and we will watch the season premiere live this Sunday, but after that the plan is to tape it and watch it before Firefly, at 7. For anyone who cares, which does not appear to include Charles, the Alias premiere was tonight at 9. It will conflict with Angel. Watch if interested. ;... cwood@fas ...; GAMING SIG will meet a lot in the upcoming weeks, as Charles is doing an ethnography project on people who play Cataan. He needs your help. Yes, you. ;... cwood@fas ...; B5 SIG plans to meet Mondays at 8 in the Lowell Grille. Tony has kindly agreed to wait outside and let people in tomorrow. Dennis claims this is a wonderful series and plans to make all HRSFen watch it before they die. ;... dclark@fas ...; wSIG (WRITERS' SIG) "will happen. Because Fusion will also happen." Or so says our beloved Editor-in-Chief. Delicately put, Fusion is the "literary enforcement arm of HRSFA". Less delicately put, it's our publication, containing our stories, comics, and other scribblings, as well as those of HRSFA affiliates and random people. wSIG often helps contribute submissions to Fusion. The SIG will meet soon, over a meal. ;... venkatr@fas ...; rSIG (READERS' SIG) is attempting to rise from the dead, with the help of anyone interested in reading and then discussing short stories. This generally happens over one dinner a week. Please contact Dennis if you're intrigued. ;... dclark@fas ...; STAR TREK SIG quasi-met last Saturday. It will soon settle on either Wednesdays or Saturdays for its regular meetings. Last week's episode apparently featured some Vulcans who crashed in Pennsylvania fifty years ago and invented Velcro. ;... kowarsky@fas ...; BIZZARENESS SIG has no leader, as she was sacrificed last fall to disseminate the power of bizarreness among the people. Tony has taken it upon himself to advance the SIG by organizing a Telepathy Table. Much as French- or Spanish- or Russian-speakers gather over dinner to practice their language, we will gather to practice our telepathy. This will happen in Lowell on Sunday, October 6, at 5 pm. ;... avila@fas --- SIGlet for Performing Arts and Media (SPAM) has been working on the skit for the Masquerade ball we hold in the spring. The skit has apparently evolved into a full-blown operetta, with music provided by Arthur Sullivan and lyrics provided by dedicated, if kooky, HRSFen. If you're interested in writing it, or just in finding out what's going on, contact Warren, Elizabeth, or David. ;... tusk@fas, ehcohen@fas, kowarsky@fas Dennis: Milk and cookies -- HRSFen: [wild applause] Dennis: [stunned silence] Dennis: MILK AND COOKIES!! HRSFen: [WILDER APPLAUSE] ...; MILK AND COOKIES is a time when HRSFen gather around a fire to eat milk and drink cookies (or sometimes drink milk and eat cookies) and read stories and story-like things aloud. There will be another one as soon as possible. ;... dclark@fas ...; MST3K SIG has revived from an almost-death, as its leader has stepped in to claim it. Jason convened some MSTers last week, and plans to do so again soon, hopefully around a working VCR. Mystery Science Theater was once a TV show on which the main characters watched bad movies and made fun of them. The SIG both watches old episodes of the show and riffs movies on its own. In the past two years, The Fantastic Four and Dungeons & Dragons have both fallen under the SIG's axe. We haven't decided on a movie for this year yet, so suggestions are welcome. Currently we have three or so movies under consideration: "Episode I, because it's begging for it; The Scorpion King, because it's begging for it; and Battlefield Earth, because it's just too easy." As for attendees, "Ideally, we would like people who are funny and do funny things; in practice, we'd love you just to come." Do. It's great fun. ;... morrow@fas ...; ANIME SIG is really a pointer to the Anime Society, which used to be part of HRSFA, but branched out on its own. They watch anime formally; we watch it much more informally. If you're interested, you can contact the society itself, or just complain to the SIG leader. ;... morrow@fas ...; COOL MOVIE ZIG is a zig instead of a sig or a zag for long and complicated reasons which no one admits to remembering. This Wednesday at 9, possibly in the Quincy JCR, Dev and Starr will show Transformers! Be there or be square. ;... purkayas@fas, starr@fas ...; YOUR SIG! Well, not yet. But you could have one if you wanted! Go ahead - make a SIG. Heck, we let Enterprise and Babylon 5 do it. Why shouldn't you? HRSFen are very enthusiastically gullible, and we'll be happy to join you in whatever endeavor you come up with. ;... In absence of a Sergeant at Arms, the meeting was closed with a lightsaber. Tony took memberships. Recorded September 29, 2002. Kaitlin Heller Infernal Secretary _______________________________________________ hrsfa-announce mailing list hrsfa-announce@hcs.harvard.edu http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/hrsfa-announce