Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

About Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Active SIGs
Defunct SIGs

About Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

The heart of the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association are the Special Interest Groups, called SIGs for short. Any HRSFA member can attempt to create a SIG on just about any area of interest. SIGs with more than eight members can be approved as real SIGs by the general membership; many others continue to exist as unofficial SIGs. The rest of this page contains alphabetical lists of HRSFA SIGs, divided into those active and those that have no longer exist through lack of interest. See the main page for the weekly SIG schedule.

Active SIGs

Anime SIG

Leader: Alessandro La Porta '09
Meetings: Tuesdays, 9:30pm, location TBA

Don't watch entire good anime series alone in your dorm suite; instead, watch them with other HRSFAns! Right now, watching Gundam Seed. Giant Robots in Space get their Gundam Funk on.

Baking SIG

Leader: Antonia Menard Pugliese '12
Meetings: TBA

Originally, this SIG was meant to bake, but it has since begun to include such things as grilling, Dutch ovens in the middle of the Yard, having a mass HRSFA-makes-dinner-for-itself event, and cooking large hunks of meat on sticks. So, its formal name is now Baking, Broiling, and Preparing Food SIG. For short, you can call it Baking SIG.

Bizarreness SIG

Leader: Daniel Lewis '10
Meetings: TBA

Does bizarre things:

controlling the weather
going squirrel fishing
handing out blank flyers
hosting a trampoline party
making tabouli
playing tag in Widener Library
dancing in the snow (in gowns and tuxedos)
pretend you're a time traveler and confuse people

Cool Movie ZIG

Leaders: John Bestoso '10
Meetings: TBA, usually Mondays starting 7:45pm

Known by many names (*IG, pSIG, ZIG, Dojo), we come together, on an approximately weekly basis, to watch movies we think should be watched, movies that are cool, movies of the people, movies not forced upon us by "the Man." More information can be found on the Cool Movie ZIG page.

DDR SIG

Leader: Mandie Klimczuk '10, and David Wu '11
Meetings: Wednesdays (alternating with Magic: The Gathering SIG) 9pm-11pm

DDR SIG gathers to play Dance Dance Revolution on foam pads. One day we may take a field trip to MIT and play on their machines. All skill levels welcome. We have people who've just begun and people who pass ten-footers

Gaming SIG

Leader: Kevin Carde '09 and Kathy Zhang '09
Meetings: Fridays 9pm-late; also, just about anytime

Have you played a game since setting foot in the Yard? If so, congratulations—you're a member of Gaming SIG! Board and card games are the other staple food of HRSFA. The most commonly played HRSFA boardgames range from ancient ones like chess, Chinese chess, and go to modern ones like Settlers/Seafarers/Cities & Knights of Catan, Diplomacy, Buffy: The Board Game, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and Star Wars: Epic Duels.

Card games include Apples to Apples, Munchkin, and even straight-up poker. Got a fun game you want to play? Bring it over. Chances are high someone will play.

Gaming SIG also plays videogames. Current favorites include Super Smash Brothers Melee, Guitar Hero (both of them), Tetris Attack, and Halo. As with games of the board or card variety, if you have a videogame you'd like to play with us, bring it over!

Magic: The Gathering SIG

Leader: Kirby Haugland '12
Meetings: Wednesdays (alternating) 9:30pm-11:30pm

Some HRSFAns play Magic: The Gathering, both constructed and draft, whenever they can. Not to be confused with Real Magic SIG.

The Man SIG

Leader: The Man (or the Woman)
Meetings: TBA

Watches pretentious foreign films, far above the lowbrow, unintellectual, lowest-common-denominator, so-called "cool movies."

Milk & Cookies

Leader: Nora Moseman '10
Meetings: Every few weeks on a weekend night from 9pm-1am

HRSFAns like reading stories. And drinking milk. And eating cookies. So way back when, someone had the idea to do it all at the same time. Unfortunately some of the wires got crossed, so now we eat milk and drink cookies, but we do read and listen to stories, including masterpieces of fantasy literature such as the classic "Eye of Argon" (available from us in both HTML and text format). Though M&C generally occurs from 9PM-1AM, feel free to stay for as long or short a time as suits you. It's all good.

MST3K SIG

Leader: Rachel Storch '10
Meetings: Tuesdays 7:30-9:30, location TBA

"Mystery Science Theatre 3000" was a wonderful show that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel and then Comedy Central, in which a guy and two smart-mouthed robots watched really terrible old sci-fi movies and heckled them. Hilarity ensued. We carry on this tradition proudly, having skewered The Fantastic Four, Dungeons & Dragons, The Phantom Menace, Wing Commander, The Order, Timeline and most recently The Da Vinci Code at Vericon. Until a movie to lampoon is decided upon, we watch classic episodes of the original series for inspiration; then we begin the two parts fun, three parts unholy pain of watching one bad movie over and over and over again until we've squeezed every last drop of humor from it. This year's movie is National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Origami SIG

Leader: Rebeca Hammann '10
Meetings: Wednesdays 8pm-11pm, location TBA

Origami SIG folds interesting objects out of paper. All skill levels welcome.

Puzzle SIG

Leader: Kevin Carde '09
Meetings: Thursdays 9:30pm-1:00am

Puzzle SIG solves puzzles of the type you'll find in the Harvard Puzzle Hunt or the MIT Mystery Hunt, including a variety of word, logic, physical, and other puzzle types. We are currently solving the 2002 (Monopoly) Mystery Hunt. All experience levels are welcome.

Pencils, paper, and laptops are recommended.

RPG SIG

Leaders: Kevin Carde '09, Tom Dimiduk, John Bestoso '10, Alessandro La Porta '09 (LARPs)
Meetings: Scheduled Weekly -- email leaders for more information

In roleplaying games (RPGs), a small group of people collectively tell a story from the perspective of individual characters, under the guidance of a Game Master (GM) who controls everything else. Live-action roleplaying games (LARPs) are like RPGs except players actually walk around instead of sitting around a table. Several extended campaigns and a few one-shot sessions are being planned for this year; if you are an avid roleplayer and want in, or are curious what it's all about, join RPG SIG, which meets regularly to play roleplaying games of both the tabletop and live-action varieties.

Perhaps our most notable invention is Live-Action Clue. We've also recently played the Metal Gear Solid LARP, which ran several times in 2003-2004, wherein a dozen or so people tried to outwit and outspy each other in the tunnels under Lowell House, with the threat of giant robotic destruction looming around every corner.

Doctor Who SIG

Leader: Kathy Zhang '09
Meetings: Mondays 10:00pm - midnight

This SIG meets to watch Sci-Fi Channel shows, currently playing the new Doctor Who, season 3. Possibly showing old Doctor Who or Firefly Marathon durring reading period.

SCA SIG

Leader: Antonia Menard Pugliese '12
Meetings: TBA

SCA SIG works with the Harvard Society for Creative Anachronism. More information forthcoming.

Writers' SIG

Leader: Nora Moseman '10
Meetings: Fridays 3:30pm-5:00 pm

Got the creative gene in you, or just have a love of language? Join Nora Moseman, Fusion Editor-in-Chief, for peer workshopping of stories written by HRSFen / submitted to Fusion, creative writing prompts to get the words flowing, word games and poetry games just for fun, and excellent tea and cookies. No prior experience necessary; "I'm no good at writing" will not count as an excuse.

In the past, the writers of HRSFA have compiled songs such as "Banned from Harvard".

Defunct SIGs