Introductory Meeting From: Michael Richard Von Korff Date: Sun Sep 26 2004 - 10:28:55 PDT --------------------------------------------------- Welcome, new HRSFen! (Welcome back, old HRSFen.) This Wednesday, we held our first official meeting of the year. Here's what happened: "First order of business: pigs. Second order of business: HRSFA." Co-chairs Kaitlin and Elisabeth introduce HRSFA as an organization of people who enjoy science fiction, fantasy, gaming, and/or being strange. To get memberships to HRSFA, pay $5 to our treasurer, Yves, before the end of our next meeting (one week from today). Members receive access to our vast science fiction and fantasy library, cool-looking membership cards, and discounts to various movies and events during the year. Also, mailing lists: to join them, visit http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/hrsfa-announce, http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/hrsfa-discuss, and http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/hrsfa-social. "No, you can't be my closed captioning."-- Kaitlin, to Elisabeth. IGNOBEL PRIZES Noam, HSRFA's exfernal secretary, reported that the Ignobel Prize ceremony will take place September 30th. Tickets will be discounted for members. Also, we're co-sponsors of the Igs, so we'll be doing fun stuff there. WYLD HUNT Cody, the hunt-master, invited us all to the Wyld Hunt the last Friday in October. We'll paint ourselves blue and chase a stag through the Yard, then kill it and feast on its flesh. Elena kindly volunteered to be the stag. Elena: "Does the stag have to be naked?" COMING OF THE HOUR ...will take place on Halloween. The heretics call it "Daylight Savings Time"; we know it as Chronos' yearly gift to us of one additional hour. In celebration of this gift, we'll walk around the yard for one hour, from 2am to 2am, chanting and not burning a clock. VERICON Kartik, the VeriCon chair, told us all about HRSFA's annual science fiction and fantasy convention. We play games, hold a masquerade ball, invite lots of famous guests to speak, and lots more. Anyone interested in joining the VeriCon staff can email conchair@vericon.org. Kartik: "So we have a little thing we like to call 'spreading the love'... or, er, 'VeriCon'." FUSION Ed, Fusion's editor-in-chief, told us that we publish a sf/f magazine and that we're currently accepting submissions. So if you have a short story, send it along to him at fusion@hcs.harvard.edu. SIGS (Special Interest Groups) TV Shows ---------- STAR TREK: If anyone wants to watch old Star Trek episodes, you are David Kowarsky's last, best hope. He will be more than happy to supply them. (kowarsky@fas). David: "When Enterprise came out, a small part of me died." BABYLON 5: Kaitlin has all 5 seasons of this celebrated series in her room. Now she wants to share it with the world. Talk to her if you want to watch some B5. (kbheller@fas.) Peter (getting ready to talk about Stargate): "But Kaitlin, what if we want to watch a show that's like Star Trek, only better written?" Kaitlin: STARGATE: $IG meets Fridays at 9. Currently, they're watching old episodes, so if you aren't yet indoctrinated into the series, you'll be able to catch up. They usually meet in Quincy or Lowell. SMALLVILLE: Meets Wednesdays at 8, usually in the Lowell JCR. It's a coo' show about Superman's younger days. ---------- BIZARRENESS SIG Last year, when Matt Granoff reformed Bizarreness SIG, we stood outside the science center and handed out blank flyers. We also definitely did *not* play Capture the Flag in Widener library. This year, as Tim is generously donating us some penguins for use in his master plan "Operation Summer/Winter", we'll be flocking these little flightless birds across the yard sometime soon. MAGIC We play lots and lots of Magic: The Gathering. We'll be drafting every other week, hopefully, and maybe even playing some constructed games. Details TBA. MST3k Mystery Science Theater 3000 SIG will choose a really, really bad movie and watch it over... and over... and over... all in order to make fun of it. The chosen film will be shown (along with amusing comments and skits by members of HRSFA) at this year's VeriCon. The bad movie currently under consideration is 'The Order'; if you want to subject yourself to pain for a funny cause, watch it soon with MST3k SIG. GAMING Poker, bridge, the Paper Game, Mafia, Settlers of Catan, Epic Duels, Magic, Mao, Kill Dr. Lucky, Set, and so on. During any given week, nearly all of these will be played somewhere on campus. If you want to play games, email the HRSFA-Social list. VIDEO GAMING ...is going on All the Time. Several members of HRSFA have comprehensive video gaming equipment. Talk to them. COOL MOVIE ZIG If there's one thing this SIG doesn't do, it's watch uncool movies. This week, we're watching Clue, Monday at 9:30pm in the Lowell JCR. MILK AND COOKIES Comes together every three to four weeks to read stories, drink cookies, and eat milk. No, wait... Kaitlin: "We... eat... cookies... and drink... milk. That's the only time you're going to hear me say that right all year." WRITER'S SIG This is the literary enforcement arm of HRSFA. If you want to write science fiction and/or fantasy and/or other speculative fiction, join us-- we read and critique each other's work, talk about writing, and generally encourage each other to write. RPGs We do lots of this sort of thing. Kaitlin will be running a year-long LARP, Warren will run an Exalted campaign, and Michael will do some AD&D campaigning. If you've never been in an RPG before, now's the time to start... REAL MAGIC Last year, Real Magic SIG summoned a demon. It cursed our grandchildren. This year, more magical things. Talk to Emily if you're interested in doing some Real Magic. That's about it. So sign up for those mailing lists, pay your membership dues, and see you all soon! Michael Von Korff Infernal Secretary _______________________________________________ hrsfa-announce mailing list hrsfa-announce@lists.hcs.harvard.edu http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/hrsfa-announce