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Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

  1. About Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
  2. Active SIGs
  3. 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 | Baking SIG | Bizarreness SIG | Buffy the Vampire Hunter SIG | Cool Movie ZIG | DDR SIG | Gaming SIG | Go SIG | Hitting People with Sticks SIG | Macrame SIG | Magic: The Gathering SIG | The Man SIG | Milk & Cookies SIG | MST3K SIG | Puzzle SIG | RPG SIG | Battlestar Galactica SIG | Tapestry and Chainmail SIG | Writers' SIG

Anime SIG TV

Don't watch entire good anime series alone in your dorm suite; instead, watch them with other HRSFAns! Right now, we're on hiatus since Kathy is running Battlestar Galactica SIG, and we will likely not resume until next semester.

Baking SIG

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

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

Buffy the Vampire Slayer SIG TV

Buffy the Vampire Slayer SIG is watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series from season one. To fit as many seasons as possible into the school year, a few episodes each season are skipped, and three episodes are shown per meeting.

Cool Movie ZIG TV

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 TV

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

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!

See also RPG SIG.

Go SIG

HRSFA makes an attempt to learn the ancient strategic board game known as Go. There will be white stones, there will be black stones, and there will be boards. Come whether you know how to play and are seeking new opponents or if you're simply interested and wish to learn the game.

Nigiri!

See also Gaming SIG

Hitting People with Sticks SIG

Hitting People with Sticks SIG, also known as Swordplay SIG, gathers in a large area to hit other members of the SIG with boffing weapons and other elogated objects. It has a guide book. In this book are techniques for grappling, dagger fighting and swordplay (Book of hitting people with various sized sticks, some sticks of size zero).

Macrame SIG

Macrame SIG ties knots into fascinating shapes. It is currently making a penguin and a jellyfish. As always, all skill levels are welcome to attend.

Magic: The Gathering SIG

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

The Man SIG TV

  • 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

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 TV

"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 Redline.

Puzzle SIG

  • Leader: Andrew Lin
  • Meetings: Thursdays 9:00pm-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
  • Meetings: Saturdays, 2:00-5:00pm and Sundays, 8:00-11:00pm

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.

See also Gaming SIG.

Battlestar Galactica SIG TV

This SIG meets to watch Sci-Fi Channel shows, currently playing Battlestar Galactica, season 4. Missed last week's episode? Busy Firday nights when it airs? Come watch with HRSFA the following Monday!

Tapestry and Chainmail SIG

Tapestry SIG invites you to come weave a dragon tapestry in purple and gold. Lettering and boarders have been completed, and the dragon is slowly rising. No experience is needed: if you but join us, we will teach you.

Chainmail SIG deals with the art of putting metal links together. We are currently working on a maille shirt, with several smaller jewelry projects on the side. You can finish some pieces of jewelry in just one meeting, so come by and try it out!

Writers' SIG

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

Apathy SIG | Assassins SIG | Builders' SIG | Comic Books SIG | Cartoon SIG | Elvish Orthography SIG | Readers' SIG | Real Magic SIG | SmallVIG | Stating the Obvious SIG | Star Trek SIG | VALU (Virgins Against Lonely Unicorns) SIG

Apathy SIG

Who cares?

Assassins SIG

Assassins SIG has been killed, but autopsy reports are available.

Builders' SIG

The team of engineers Built Shit and Blew (Themselves) UpTM.

Comic Books SIG

Comic Boos SIG went back in time, messed something up, and lost existance in this continuity.

Cartoon SIG TV

Cartoon Network has some really funny shows on late in the evening that no one in HRSFA is watching anymore.

Elvish Orthography SIG

Practiced elvish calligraphy, and as dead as its language and script.

Readers' SIG

HRSFA doesn't read (nor write). (Sadly.)

Real Magic SIG

Not the collectible card game. Not the parlor tricks of illusionists. Real magic. Thus far, they've made themselves disappear.

SmallVIG TV

Smallville SIG is as permanently dead as Superman was in 1993.

Stating the Obvious SIG

Stating the Obvious SIG liked to state that it was a SIG. And that it existed. That was all.

Star Trek SIG TV

The oldest SIG of all has died of old age.

VALU (Virgins Against Lonely Unicorns) SIG

"Get your fucking head off my lap."

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