Minutes
March 6, 2009, First Friday
Meeting called to order at 9:17 PM
Treasurer's report:
Tina Abel$9088.22
Provident Bank (our bank) is being acquired by M&T Bank. What this will mean to WSFA (and Provident's other customers) is uncertain.
Our CD rolled over with no problems. The new one is $5708.82 at 2.23% for 24 months; if interest rates go up, we can upgrade once. Our next CD rolls over May 19; we'll probably do the same thing, depending on interest rates. The third CD rolls over 19 August; we'll probably want to keep that one on a shorter term for emergencies.
Capclave Present:
Bill LawhornIs present (although perhaps not prescient)!
Nothing to report. There will be a meeting tomorrow (7 March) at Peggy Rae's house (aka the Middle of Nowhere) at 2PM.
Chris Abel gave Bill a black hat. Could this be an official Capclave Cap?
Lee Strong passed out flyers at SheVaCon in Roanoke.
Capclave Future:
Gayle Surrette is still looking at hotels.Entertivities:
Sam LubellWatchmen is out; is anybody interested in a theatre party? Someone else will have to run it; Sam isn't going to be doing movies for a while. Lee Strong says it's a faithful adaptation, asking “what is morality”? R rated, very violent.
Publications:
Steve Smith (Editor), Paul & Gayle Surette (Webmasters)- Brian Lewis sent in a proposed WSFA flyer. He has one print copy to show around.
- If you want announcements, etc posted on the WSFA website, e-mail them to the webmasters.
- The Capclave domain name has been successfully transferred from Sam Lubell to the Webmasters.
- Colleen Cahill currently has custody of the WSFA address list, but no time to work on it. If somebody else wants to do it, they're welcome to.
Awards:
Colleen CahillWe have 66 nominations. Two were made by WSFAns — up 100% from last year! Gayle needs list of all official WSFA members in order to give out passwords; there's no hurry.
The Committee to Actually Discuss Science Fiction:
Bill LawhornSince this is March, they'll be discussing the March issue of F&SF. They're switching their publication schedule to bimonthly; we'll cope.
Trustees:
Colleen Cahill, Judy Newton, Lee StrongTaking nominations for trustees' slate for May elections. (Sam Lubell volunteered for Worldcon Chair 2013, but that's outside of the Trustees' duties).
No news on the IRS.
Finance:
Tina AbelThere will be a committee meeting after the meeting. Tina needs minions for auditing.
Old business:
Brian Lewis's flyer. No action.
New business:
None
New people:
Lincoln Farish was at his second meeting.
Announcements:
- Our Honorable Hostess tells us that the coolers in the kitchen are labeled as to contents. Leave bottles & cans on the table.
- Adrienne Ertman has a new camera! Smile! It's a Canon FX110.
- Bob Macintosh tells us that Baltimore 1998 no longer exists; it is now Baltimore-Washington Worldcon Association.
- Emily Whitten wants to know who else had a birthday in the past week? Somebody put an anonymous comment on LJ and she'd like to know who.
- Lee Strong reports from SheVacCon that Larry Niven is a nice guy. He and Jerry Pournelle are the Laurel & Hardy of SF [which is which? —ed]. Niven autographed all 3 of his first edition copies of Ringworld (the one that has the Earth turning the wrong way).
- Judy Newton went to Philadelphia flower show; they have socks.
- George Shaner reminds us that time changes this weekend.
- Cathy Green feeds our book jones by telling us that the Stone Ridge Used Book Sale will be April 3-6 Monday, books are $10/bag.
- Gayle Surette has a new Kindle; she'll show it off after the meeting.
- Emily Whitten reminds us of Diskworld Con; they're up to 550 members. It will be Labor Day weekend in Tempe, AZ.
- Cathy Green informs us that there will be an advance screening of Alien Trespass on 18 March at 7PM at the Landmark E St. There's an announcement on the WSFA list
Meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:59 PM.
Attendance:
Charles Abel, Christina Abel, Colleen Cahill, Adrienne Ertman, Cathy Green, Paul Haggerty, Sarah Katz, Bill Lawhorn, Brian Lewis, Ernest Lilley, Sam Lubell, Bob Macintosh, Chris Neumann, Barry Newton, Judy Newton, George Shaner, Steve Smith, Bill Squire, Lee Strong, Gayle Surrette, Emily Whitten, Ivy Yap, Madeleine Yeh
March 20, 2009, Third Friday
Minutes by Steve Smith.
Meeting called to order at 9:18 PM
Treasurer's report:
Tina Abel$9098.22
Capclave Present:
Bill LawhornWas at Stellarcon in Highpoint NC and gave out flyers. We may get some new addendees. It rained and the con was infested by basketball players and cheerleaders. Our party shut down at 4AM; we were too noisy.
Locally, we'll be giving out bookmarks, cards, and so forth at Ravencon and Balticon.
There'll be a Capclave meeting at Cathy's before the April 1st Friday meeting.
Capclave Future:
Gayle SurretteGeorge Shaner looked at the Marriott Business Center in Rockville and the Doubletree Bethesda; The weekend of 22-24 October is available; the previous weekend (the one we've been using) isn't. They'll talk again 2 weeks. He hasn't talked to other hotels. The main idea is to get something to use for negotiations with the Hilton.
Entertivities:
Sam LubellCapt. Chris Christopher is doing another book affair for the Homeland Security conference, right before Balticon. It's set for Reiter's Technical Books on 20 May.
Publications:
Steve Smith (Editor), Paul & Gayle Surrette (Webmasters)From the Editor: nada.
The Webmasters have Ideas and are waiting for them to gel. One idea is an ad exchange with other groups and cons.
Awards:
Colleen CahillAll the stories are in; we have 60 after weeding out duplicates. We got lotsa Good Stuff!
The Committee to Actually Discuss Science Fiction:
Bill LawhornThe Committee will be reading the short stories in the March Asimov's. They'll be reading F&SF for First Friday.
Trustees:
Colleen Cahill, Judy Newton, Lee StrongNo news from the IRS
We have an election coming up the First Friday in May. The new officers will take
over office the First Friday in June. We'll also be electing a Capclave chair for 2011.
Finance:
Tina AbelThe Treasurer has sufficient minions and is searching for data.
Old business:
Brian Lewis's flyer has been posted on the WSFA Website. Brian had copies. Chris Newman had some suggestions to punch up the language. The President formed a committee with Brian Lewis, Eva Whitley, Chris Newman, Sam Lubell, and Charles Abel
New business:
Brian Lewis had signed petitions for bylaw changes to:
- Remove the Capclave chair from the Board of Directors
- Change the Trustees' terms to overlappig three year terms.
Neither amendment passed
Lee Strong pointed out that there is a conflict in the rules in the Bylaws that doesn't allow for a separate Convention treasurer. He is gathering signatures for a petition to change the Bylaws. Lee also pointed out that he is not God.
New people:
Lincoln Farish was at his third meeting, and joined up, despite the lack of a Treasurer. He also reminded us never to move on a Friday -- nobody is available to help.
Announcements:
- John Madigan gave us the standard announcements (the white bunny bites, don't feed chocoate to the dog, keep the dogs out of kitchen, the change is supposed to be there), and notes that the room has changed!
- Lee Strong tells us that the Bittners are planning to return to WSFA soon — all three of them.
- Brian Lewis has a new flyer. The flyer committee will get together after the meeting
- Lydia Ginter's school is doing an MS walk. Her group is the
King Cobras
Lee Strong pledged 20 KM - Erica Ginter tells us that Steve Featherhoff says hello to anybody who still likes him. He's on Facebook.
- Madeline Yeh was in the Cherry Blossoms parade, with her naginata.
- Steve Smith passes along an announcement from Jared Davis that Yuri's night is coming on April 11th.
Meeting unanimously adjourned at 10:50 PM.
Attendance:
Charles Abel, Adrienne Ertman, Carolyn Frank, Erica Ginter, Lydia Ginter, Cathy Green, Paul Haggerty, Bill Lawhorn, Brian Lewis, Sam Lubell, Bob Macintosh, John Madigan, Sarah Mitchell, George Shaner, Steve Smith, Bill Squire, Lee Strong, Ivy Yap, Madeleine Yeh.
Proposed Amendments to WSFA Bylaws
Relief of Capclave Chairs
Reasons:
- To make the mumber of the members of he Board of Directors an odd number
- Since the Capclave Chairs report regularly to the General Membership, attending the meetings of the Board of Directors will usually be redundant.
Proposed Amendment: Amend the WSFA By-Laws (Article III, Secion A), to delete:
- The Chairman of the Convention for the current year; and
- The Chairman of the Convention for any future year or years
from the list of the members of the Board of Directors.
Terms of Office
Reasons:
- To provide an Institutional Memory for WSFA and its Board of Directors
- To reduce the number of people needed for the ‘slate’ each year
Amend the WSFA By-Laws (Article III) to:
- Change Section B-5 to:
The Election of any Trustee(s) shall be done before any other offices. No one is eligible to hold multiple simutaneous titles of Trustee within WSFA.
- Add Section f:
The Term of Office of anyone elected by WSFA shall equal one calendar year times the number of people with that title.
- To increase the length of a Term of Office, one person, per General Election shall be elected to the new term while the other holders of the title retain their current term. This will continue until only one position per title is elected each General Election.
- To decrease the length of a Term of Office, no one shall be elected to that titled office unless both the number of people holding that office has decreased to match the new specification and a Term of Office has expired.
- To increase the number of people holding a specific title, a Simple Majority of
the entire voting membership is required, and will be treated as a
Vacancy in Office
, but will not affest the existing Term of Office for anyone currently holding the position.
Reviews
Alien Trespass Reviewed by Charles Gilliland
"The Best SciFi film from 1957 made in the 21st Century"
Just outside a small town in the deserts of California (as filmed in
Vancouver), a flying saucer crashes and a monster escapes to feed on the local
inhabitants and multiply. Of course, if left unchecked the monster will
overwhelm the Earth eradicating all life on it. The pilot, a space marshal,
possesses
the body of a local celebrity scientist, who came to
investigate the crash site, in order to track down and capture said monster,
with the help of a plucky waitress. Of course, the events unfold to the
disgust of the local sheriff who is to retire in a couple of days. Add in your
teens and colorful locals, coupled with effects that either duplicate or
simulate the techniques of 1957 movie making, and with the newsreel at the
start, and you get the idea of the kind of movie to expect.
Make no mistake, this is a pastiche of 1957 SF Movies — in particular “It Came From Outer Space”, “War of the Worlds”, and “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, in general, every other film from that period — and everyone on the cast and crew worked to capture, both in spirit and the particulars, everything that one loves about those films — seeking not to make fun of those movies, but rather to set out and MAKE one of those movies. As such, they have succeeded most admirably.
The movie is just plain fun with equal parts scares, laughs, romance, and drama — and it manages to avoid modern cynicism, recapturing the optimism and innocence of the times as depicted from a Hollywood feature. The acting and writing is about on a par with what one would expect from a 1957 SF feature, and it certainly plays better than the recent “Day The Earth Stood Still”.
While not for kids under 10, this is definitely a film that a family could see and enjoy, and when it opens on April 3, I recommend that you go see it.
— Charles Gilliland.
WSFA History
Ten Years Ago
March 1999
Sam Lubell gives us capsule reviews of coming books:
Teletubbies: The Novel by Alan Dean Foster. (Ace: $6.99) In a post-apocalyptic landscape, the teletubbies live in a spaceship, follow orders from a voice broadcast over loudspeakers, and have televisors implanted in their bodies. Are they humanity's last children or the descendents of its conquerors? Novelization of the PBS television series, by the author of Nightmare on Sesame Street.
Twenty Years Ago
March 1989
The Secretary had been having problems getting the Journal put together; imagine that! (At least she had an excuse.)
Thirty Years Ago
March 1979
Balticon was going to be showing Rendezvous with Rama, a feature-length semi-pro
movie made not for commercial release
Robert Heinlein has written a new novel, one with a "straightforward plot", he claims. The first draft ran 213,000 words.
Letters
From the Editor
I'm intrigued by that Rendezvous with Rama movie from 1979. If it wasn't made for commercial release, why was it made? And what happened to it? There doesn't seem to be any info in the usual places (Wikipedia, IMDB, YouTube)
— Steve Smith, Editor, The WSFA Journal
Yuri's Night
Dear officers of the WSFA,
I contacted you (Cathy if I recall correctly) last year in regards to the annual celebration of the first human spaceflight, Yuri's Night. Well, its that time of year again...We have a really great lineup this year, and lots of Sci-Fi related art and music. Could you please post the announcement below on your calendar of events? I look forward to seeing you at the Warehouse arts complex on April 11th!
Thanks,
Jared Davis