A PUBLICATION OF THE WASHINGTON SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION INC, WASHINGTON, DC
Virtual November 1994
ISSN 0894-5411
The regular First Friday in October business meeting convened at 9:20 7 October 1994 in Chez Gilliland. Before the meeting, someone noted that turnout was pretty light. Well, we usually go for quality, not quantity. President Covert Beach hollered, "Oh, time for a meeting. Pomeranz [sit down]!"
Covert asked if Secretary Lee Strong had "Any words of wisdom?" Of course not. Treasurer Bob MacIntosh reported $2363.44 in the Treasury. Terilee Edwards-Hewitt suggested a party. Joe Mayhew suggested a yard sale. Both ideas failed for lack of seconds.
Trustee Dan Burgess reported that the Trustees were putting up
with a slate of people for the elections at the next meeting.
The Trustees' candidate for Disclave Chairfan 1996 was Bob MacIntosh
and the candidate for 1997 was Robyn Rissell. Nominees from the floor
will be accepted. Dan stated, "If you'd like to run, see a
Trustee." "Or your psychologist," suggested Lee
Gilliland.
Brian Lewis noted Bob is serving as Disclave Finance Chairfan for 1995. Has some thought been given to the potential overload?
Joe had two separate lists. One was his Mailing List and the other was a club attendance list.
Disclave 1994 is out of town. Disclave 1995 Chairfan Dan Hoey reported on budgetary matters. "We will have a budget."
Peggy Rae Pavlat reported an Outreach Committee meeting on 11 November.
Alexis Gilliland, Chairfan of the Entertainment Committee, reported a C5A planeload of cream pies was on its way to Haiti, but was hijacked to Baghdad. Another load is going to the Virginia Senate candidates.
Lee Gilliland reported, "We won. Disney left town." Yeah, there's nothing mickey mouse or goofy about Washington, DC!
Covert asked if there were any Committees That I'm Forgetting About? No. The former Committee to Spend a Great Deal of Money on Something Incredibly Controversial and Expensive disbanded. Yeah, no need for that committee in Washington, DC!
Old Business
The Ginter residence will be unavailable for Third Friday meetings for several months at least. There was a pregnant pause. People with ideas should contact Covert. We might use a hotel in the April-May timeframe. Charles Gilliland suggested, "Break them in gently."
New Business
Nope.
The New Tradition
"The New Tradition was terminated," stated President Beach.
Announcements
The Secretary announced that anyone who wished their announcement to appear as they would like should submit to the Secretary in writing after the meeting.
Brian Lewis announced a meeting of the poker group. He is actively job seeking. He expects to complete certification as a network engineer in the near future.
Joe has 5 SMOF T-shirts for sale. Covert doubled as Joe's fashion model.
F.L. Ettlin will be the sacrificial registrar at Disclave.
Tom Schaad announced that Robert Jordan, author of The Wheel of Time -- the epic that will never die --, will be in the Washington area 1 November for a signing and a Fast Forward interview. Jane Hill will autograph at the Cheshire Cat 19 November.
Terilee announced that Hannah Shapero Ecumenicon VII T-shirts are being sold at WSFA meetings at $10 each. However, she can be bartered with. These are the Frederick's of Hollywood crotchless T-shirts. They are rated XL and XXL.
Eric Jablow recommended Henry IV Parts I and II. See it.
Alexis announced that Dead Right by David Frum is an engrossing conservative political analysis. He suggested that The WSFA Journal review it. We're working on it.
John Pomeranz announced that he has a job. "Flipping burgers?" asked Mike Walsh. John asked, "Would you like fries with that?" Actually, he is a new fellow at the Harrison Institute for Public Law in Georgetown. He will be developing positions for progressive politicians. Don't quit your day job.
George Shaner said, "For a mystery theme, see The Advocate.
Lance Oszko announced that the National Guard has preempted the Baltimore Convention Center on the proposed Baltimore Worldcon weekend. Therefore, the bid has been moved to 5-9 August 1998. The Pennsic War is the following weekend.
Lee Gilliland is trying to inventory her books. They were alphabetized by a teenager.
Mike has books, including Scream for Jeeves. My notes say something about a fruit bat. Mike also has flyers for next year's World Fantasy Con. Is the fruit bat one of the flyers? "So, don't bother me," said Mike. "But, it's so much fun," retorted two others.
Mike also announced Robert Bloch died. Only his body did, Mike.
Tom reported a rumor on the net. Amblin Entertainment will create an American version of Dr. Who. The story will focus on the Daleks and the Doctor's expulsion from Gallifrey. Will the character be renamed Dr. What? Why? Why not? One of the Doctor's companions said, "I can't imagine Dr. Who with a special effects budget."
Joe moved that we dissipate, and the club unanimously dissipated at 9:44. We never did find out about the fruit bat.
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The WSFA Journal is the official newsletter of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA), Inc. All material is © 1994 and 1995 WSFA, Inc.
The regular Third Friday in October business meeting convened at 9:18 21 October 1994 in Stately Ginter Manor. President Covert Beach declaimed "Might as well get underway."
Secretary Lee Strong reported three items. None of them were worth repeating.
Treasurer Bob MacIntosh reported $2379.44 in the Treasury. There were calls for a party, a Disclave and some entertainment. None of these suggestions passed for lack of a second.
Covert asked, "Do the Trustees perhaps having something?" Trustee Dan Burgess reported there would be an election after the meeting. Pay your money; we need your money. If you want to run, do so. Our worthy candidate for Disclave Chair 1996 is Mr. Bob MacIntosh. The election for Disclave Chair 1997 will be at the next meeting. Our worthy candidate will be Mr. Robyn Rissell. The Treasurer is controlling the voters' list.
Alexis Gilliland, Chairfan of the Entertainment Committee, watched an account of O.J. and a lawyer in chambers. "I am innocent," proclaimed Alexis. And, besides, the statute of limitations has run out.
Alexis also watched the Robb-North debate. They couldn't agree on which bakery would furnish the cream pies.
Peggy Rae Pavlat, Chairfan of the Outreach Committee, has the draft of a letter for Disclave attendees in the DC area not "known" to us. Mike Walsh checked on the price of bookmarks. They are about $15-17 per eight hundred for printing, cutting and the 65 pound paper. Joe Mayhew reported a preprinted list of attendees is circulating.
John Peacock, Chairfan of Disclave 1994, reported he is going to "get this the heck over with." Bring your financial transactions to the Treasurer.
Dan Hoey, Chairfan of Disclave 1995, will go to Psycon, Philcon and Darkover -- all in the interest of Disclave. He will then give up disclaves for Lent.
Disclave Future is not quite with us, noted Covert.
Old Business
The question of meeting sites was brought up. There was a rumor that Stately Ginter Manor would be more constrained than previously thought. Erica Van Dommelen, hostess de jour, stated that the rumor that Karl & she would move to California is NOT true. Someone said, "It's Colorado!" This produced some laughter. Karl and Erica would be in California in November-December. She hopes to find someone to host the Third Friday meetings during that time period. The other constraint still stands. Covert stated we will eventually need another Third Friday site. Joe requested, "All you alternate site people, step forward." Dead silence followed.
Covert suggested we thank Erica for her great patience. The club gave our gracious hostess a round of applause.
New Business
There was no New Business conducted.
Announcements
The Secretary asked people to submit to him. Pleeeeeease!
John Peacock has a video tape. He asked someone to tape Attack of the 5'2" Woman for him.
Joe had one large SMOF T-shirt left. Paula Lewis snapped it up at hyperspeed.
Paula referred to Erica's announcement that Karl and she would not be hosting any WSFA meetings. John and Paula will not be hosting any WSFA meetings after March for the same reason. The club applauded the announcement.
Peggy Rae Pavlat thanked Erica & Karl and John & Paula on behalf of the Outreach Committee for increasing the WSFAn population. Dan Hoey interjected, "It's not considered 'outreach'!"
Alexis hmmmmed and stated that he had been busy taking boards up to the attic over the living room. Whatever turns you on.
Brian Lewis has finished school and is hunting for a job in computers.
Miles Weismann noted that The Puppet Masters is an action film. It's O.K.
George Shaner is in the process of getting a 5 year run of Locus ready to give away.
Dan Burgess announced an election meeting 15 minutes after the close of the business meeting. No one gets cookies until the names are read. The club began chanting, "Read, Bob, read! Read, Bob, read!"
The ceremonial reading of the names followed the chant.
Persons present at the meeting (other than those mentioned above) included Elspeth Burgess, Chris Callahan, Marshall Coleman, Steven desJardins, Chuck Divine, Eric Jablow, Samuel Lubell, Dick and Nicki Lynch, Winton Matthews, Bill Mayhew, Walter Miles, Michael Nelson, Barry Newton, Oliver North, Robyn Rissell, Chuck Robb, Dick Roepke, Rachel Russell, Sylvia Rutiser, John Sapienza, Steven Smith, Michael J. Taylor, and Ben Zuhl.
The club unanimously adjourned at 9:33.
Election Report
Bob won.
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During the latter half of 1994, publication of The WSFA Journal has, unfortunately, become rather irregular. Readers wishing to keep up with the latest Journal and/or wishing to file their issues in order should examine the date or dates of publication shown on the front cover and in the upper left corner of each page. Even when late, the Journals are published in the correct chronological sequence. The term "Actual (month)" means that the issue was published during the month named. The term "Virtual (month)" means that the issue was published after the month named. As Editor and primary production staff, I apologize to our readers for the inconvenience. The reasons for this problem will be discussed in a later issue of The WSFA Journal.
O.K. This action movie isn't science fiction. It's "just" good stuff.
I think a lot of fans are going to be turned off by the film's origin as a video game, but I enjoyed it. It has well defined characters, lots of action, good cinematography, good music, humor, drama, and a lively, fast paced plot. What more could you ask for?
Basically, the plot is the war between the multinational "Allied Nations" and the evil warlord General Bison and his band of thugs. The "A.N.", led by Jean-Claude Van Damme as heroic Colonel Guile, are trying to find Bison's secret hideout before he can murder a bunch of medical personnel taken hostage. Complicating the search are the multiple subplots as groups of good guys and gals bump into the bad boys and each other. Bison is skillfully played by Raul Julia -- in his last role -- as a eerie combination of madman and social reformer. (The film is dedicated to Raul: Vaya con Dios.)
On the minus side, the film is rather "cartoonish" in action, and the multiple subplots threaten to overwhelm the main plot. Fortunately, things get straightened out, and the two forces coalesce for the final confrontation. In the best game tradition, the sides are helpfully color coded! The makers of Dune could learn much from this movie.
Overall, I rate Streetfighter as a Superior film. Bring on the next level! -- LS
Star Trek, like baseball, must be a great sport. It survives the people that run it into the ground.
I found this movie to be rather O.K., but just O.K. On the positive side, the cinematography, special effects and music were good. Most of our familiar friends from both generations went thru their familiar paces, with a few minor changes to suggest character development. I especially liked Data's discovery of emotions (Yes!), and the (new) stellar cartography room aboard the Enterprise-D. The crash landing on and destruction of the planet were both very well done. The linking of the generations via Guinan's story and Kirk's time jump further developed the continuity of Roddenberry's timeline.
But, overall, the film was just O.K. The details were nice but they didn't coalesce into a stirring whole. Starfleet's collection of stiffs simply don't engage the emotions the way others can. The Next Generation makes it clear that the scriptwriters will always invent a technological fix to a dramatic problem. Once you establish that in the audience's collective mind, real drama and concern for the characters' wellbeing disappear. The rest is colored lights and shadows.
It's a pity that Kirk died here rather than Picard. Kirk was the last one in the Trek universe who knew how to have some fun. On the other hand, maybe it's just as well....
I rate Star Trek: Generations as Above Average. -- LS
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Welcome to 1995. It's time for you to make an important decision. Intersection, the 53rd Annual World Science Fiction Convention, will be held next August in Glasgow, Scotland. And the site for the 1998 Worldcon will be chosen at Intersection.
To be eligible to vote, you must be an attending or supporting member of Intersection and must also pay a voting fee. Your voting fee automatically gives you a supporting membership for the winning Worldcon site.
The field is quite crowded for 1998. These are the five current competing bids: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Niagara Falls. Committee members from any of these bids would be quite happy to talk to you about the whole Worldcon bidding process.
Just look at our two states. Maryland is a lot easier to spell than Massachusets. Our state flower is the black-eyed Susan. Their state flower is the Mayflower. Our flower stands tall for all to see while their flower creeps along the ground.
The bright and colorful Baltimore oriole is the Maryland state bird. Their state bird is the chickadee; a noisy and puny little bird too dumb to fly south for the winter.
Did you know that the official state sport of Maryland is jousting? Isn't that cool and fannish? I believe the Massachusetts state sport involves codfish in some manner.
The National Guard have taken over the Baltimore Convention Center for the 1998 Labor Day weekend. Therefore, we have decided to move our bid to August 5-9, 1998 (Wednesday through Sunday).
baltimore98@access.digex.com