LASFS

LASFS membership

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:02:41 GMT

I was wondering if anyone knew, or had an idea, of how many members LASFS has?

Since "Death Does Not Release You", I'm really only looking for the number that is on the earth, not in, or under. In other words warm bodies (LOL).

Thanks for the help,
But Wait...There's MORE!

Jim Terry, Jr. on the Sick List

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:23:38 GMT

I got word from spsmyth that longtime Star Trek and Doctor Who fan Jim Terry, AKA captserek is in the hospital, undergoing an operation for a hernia. He's been ill for a few weeks, with what we assumed was gastritis aggravated by dehydration due to the heat.

I know we all wish Jim a speedy recovery.

Menace 3699

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:58:27 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3699
3 July 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
With great power comes great responsibility, or at least that’s what they say in the Marvelverse. And lo, there on the head table had appeared a new implement, devised by the ever-creative David Okamura, bearing the following inscription: "Whosoever holds this gavel, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THORSEN." As thus wielded by incoming President Michael Thorsen, there was a "blinding light and a peal of distant thunder," or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and meeting #3699 was called to some semblance of order at 2010 by the atomic clock, or "8:00 fannish standard time." Mr. Thorsen had two bananas in front of him at the start of the meeting.

Under Special Orders of Business, CL made note of the passing of Larry Harmon, well-known Bozo, at least on the bus of L.A. television, and who produced a series of comedy-based cartoons. Marty Cantor had a report closer to our fannish hearts, as we had lost Jack Speer, longtime fan and fandom historian who had died in his sleep in Albuquerque. Jack wrote the first history of fandom, was the first editor of the Fancyclopedia, and had even once served in the Washington State House of Representatives. In 1937, at the age of 17, he was one of the founding members of FAPA. Jack had many accomplishments, fannish and otherwise, and had lived "a full life for a wonderful person, and it really is a shame that we lost him." In view of his importance to fandom, and to many of those present who had known him personally, Charles asked for a long moment of silence out of respect for the late Jack Speer.

Menace of the previous week’s meetings were read to a respectfully quiet crowd, fiddled with a bit, and finally approved as "Dr. Pournelle’s favorite set of minutes so far this year" – "I object!"

Doug Abe was the week’s honoree as Patron Saint. Your humble Scribe remembered Doug as having been a regular attendee in the 1970s; he came to Southern California from Hawaii, was another of those members known as a "human wallet," and endeared himself to club members with his habit of giving out free paperback books at meetings. Joe Zeff remembered Doug coming here on his Saint’s night a few years ago and doing exactly that. Marty Cantor recalled that Doug had once been sent by his employer to Japan, and complained afterwards that people would come up and speak to him in Japanese, which he doesn’t speak or understand. We awarded Patron Saint Doug Abe three "Banzais" "and a very small tree."

Registrar Michelle Pincus reported that we had no new guests, but amazingly, some had returned from last week. No Gouge.

Old Business: None! New Business: None! And there was much rejoicing.

Appointed Committee Reports: Tom Safer said that TSPC would be held on the 19^th, noting this is the birthday month of Bugs Bunny. The contents of the program are thus left to the reader’s imagination.

Moment of Science: Karen Anderson marched to the head of the class wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan, "If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate." She reminded us that the 100^th anniversary of the Tunguska Event had been a few days earlier, and the possible cause is still being debated to this day. One interesting point she mentioned was that, if it was a meteoroid and if it had struck a few hours later, it would have destroyed St. Petersburg. (What a loss – no Shostakovich!) The Scribe recalled that Karen had recently reminisced that a con hotel had illustrated their in-house magazine’s cover with Karen’s costume, "A Leigh Brackett character in search of a story." And by a strange chance, he had turned up his copy of that very issue, and presented it to Karen as a gift, to the delight of all those present.

Timebound Announcements: Eric Hoffman rattled off a long list of some DVDs of interesting TV shows and/or movies, including a Holmes pastiche, "A Taste for Honey." Sony’s "Icons of Adventure" series includes some pirate movies, but unfortunately is not rated "R." Hare Hobbs said that Bill Mumy has a new album coming out Tuesday. (Buy it, or you’ll get sent to the cornfield.) Mumy and his band will be giving a free concert Saturday night, July 12^th, at Universal City Walk. Dr. Pournelle said that David Morrison of the University of Hawaii has collected an interesting summary of theories about the Tunguska Event; this is referenced at ~~dvorak.org/blog~~ www.jerrypournelle.com . Doug Crepeau had a spare headset for a Motorola cell phone, and so was offering it for free for anybody who needed it to be in compliance with the new hands-free law. How odd; your humble Scribe has dated many women who told him they have their own hands-free laws.

Tom Safer had brought some Snickers & Milky Way bars; he wanted to get rid of them because he’s on a diet! Also, he advised us that the original series "Eureka" is returning to the Sci-Fi Channel on the 29^th.

From the Treasurer’s desk, a virtual Elayne Pelz (greatly resembling Brett Achorn) wanted members to pay their dues.

Dr. Pournelle was pleased to note that Baen Books is publishing a combined hardcover edition of two of his books from the 1970s; buy often and read! The book, Exile and Glory, can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com, for example. Eric Hoffman had read that somebody is making a feature film about the Shaver Mysteries; some discussion ensued.

President Thorsen joined the throng by reminding us that the 1^st Saturday of July would be time for Estrogen Zone; he gave us no clue of what the video program will be, but was certain there will be Mah Jongg. The 1^st Sunday will be TRIPE, projecting "images of times past, present and future on the big screen" from noon on. Since the day after this meeting is July 4^th, there was some discussion: should we have some kind of non-con? There could be fire if so desired.

Reviews: Tom Safer highly recommended "Get Smart," especially if you are a fan of the original tv series. It has lots of references and interesting cameos, although he was warned against giving spoilers! Hare saw "The Incredible Hulk" and enjoyed it "immensely" (not "incredibly"?), although he thought it does look a little cartoonish. It is not a remake or sequel to Ang Lee’s film, but a reboot. He also liked Sunrise Alley by Catherine Asaro, about an android becoming a human, with a couple of nice twists but nothing really spectacular. Doug Crepeau strongly recommended The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter, a sequel to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Your humble Scribe agreed with Doug’s favorable assessment, and noted that it had been authorized by Wells’ assigns. Jesse Weinstein found "Attack of the Pattern Snatchers" from the latest issue of Analog "wonderfully imaginative," about control over the biological aspect of pattern recognition.

Fannish Committee Reports: Joe Zeff had a head-shaking story about his visit to a Rite-Aid in Camarillo, where the pharmacist didn’t know what witch hazel was. (Perhaps Irwin the Troll had something to do with it?) Doug Crepeau mused that the present flak about the CERN supercollider reminded him that the Brookhaven Cyclotron had gotten the same sort of flak from about the same sort of people, ten years earlier. (In the discussion which ensued, Jerry Pournelle was heard to intone, "We’re all gonna die!" at least four times.) Charles Lee Jackson, the Second said that his cable TV provider in Glendale has a "Sounds of the Season" music channel which has lately been running patriotic American music, but which included "The Colonel Bogey March." And as though this could possibly be topped, Hare said that Barenaked Ladies have issued a children’s album. Well, if Shel Silverstein could write children’s books, why not?

Miscellaneous: CL said that his magic number (feature films seen so far this year) is 180, slightly under par. "I’ve been spending too much time with women," he explained. Dr. Pournelle was livid: "Shame on you! Shame on the women!" Scratch Galloway said he is teaching D&D again. "The first week, I had 74 kids." (Wow, that’s more than that fertility doctor had!) Frank Waller said that he’s still normal. Some in the crowd wanted to precede that with "Abbie." CL had word from Phil Castora, who says he’s "subnormal as usual."

President Thorsen thanked David Okamura for "crafting up this mighty uru-hammer," noting that "you never know when a troll or a frost giant is going to wander in through the door." [At this moment, Frank Waller really ought to have entered the room, but unfortunately he didn’t.] Albert had read that Tolkien’s heir hasn’t received a penny from the Lord of the Rings movies. (Evidently they lost money on the whole thing?)

"President" Scratch Galloway tried to take over the vote from Thorsen in order to have us adjourn at 2107. Mr. Thorsen had eaten one of those two bananas during the course of the meeting.

Hugo voting deadline is tonight!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:26:49 GMT

The deadline for Hugo voting is midnight Pacific time tonight.

Cast your ballot here.

Menace 3698

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:50:11 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3698
26 June 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
It was not without a vestige of a tear in her eyes that President Marcia Minsky surveyed the crowd before her: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and children of all ages" she intoned one final time as she called the meeting to order with the Spoon of Fannishness, at or around 2020. Charles Lee Jackson, the Second, was off somewhere having a fine dinner on his birthday. Under Special Orders of Business, Tadao Tomomatsu led us in mourning the death of George Carlin (whom he had actually met and worked with). The counterculture comedian had played roles in several fantasy movies, but was most famous for his "seven words" sketch, which combined humor, philology, and social commentary. We had also lost Kermit Love, who had helped to create many Sesame Street characters, and had played Willy, the hot dog guy. In an unrelated health report, Frank Waller had had his head examined at the USC Free Clinic, and was pronounced "normal." That is to say, the bump on his noggin is nothing serious.

Menace of the previous week’s meeting were read, corrected, and finally approved as "LASFS doing its part to combat global warming by running the air conditioning with the door open." Twenty years from now, someone reading these here Menace will read this paragraph and smirk.

It was the week to celebrate Patron Saint Alan Frisbie, also objectified as the "Sacred Flying Disk." Joe Zeff gleefully told of the time when then-President Ed Green threw Alan out of the meeting for being noisy and obstreperous – and then found out that it was Alan’s own Saint’s night. (Normally Ed would tell this one himself, but as he was absent, Joe told it on his behalf.) Your humble Scribe explained that Alan was part of the Caltech bunch that had favored the club years ago, that he was a quiet and good-natured person, and was one of those who over the years had laid claim to the title of "human wallet." Lee Gold told how Alan’s old business cards proclaimed "engineering, programming, natural seminal injections, and fresh strawberries." (Try not to get those mixed up.) Another of his business cards read "Alan Frisbie – Thaumaturgist." Alan had claimed that the famous throwable toy had been named after his uncle’s pie factory in Massachusetts. Scratch called Alan "one hell of a nice guy," and Karen Anderson added that he was also a good photographer. We awarded Saint Alan Frisbie three cheers, and "a spinning object."

Treasurer Elayne Pelz had sent a written report to the front of the room, indicating that we have all of $90,097.74, with the usual admonition: "You can’t spend it!"

Karen Anderson stepped to the front of Freehafer Hall for a Moment of Science. A new theory suggests that the disparity between the smooth northern and rough southern hemispheres of the surface of Mars may have been caused by a collision with a real big asteroid about nine billion years ago, give or take a week. This could also explain the red planet’s known magnetic field anomalies. Your humble Scribe asked if all had heard the new theory that the "white stuff" at the pole was water ice. Karen referred us to www.space.comfor further info. David Okamura added that the Phoenix probe has found soil more alkaline than previously assumed, just right for growing asparagus, "so be careful if you go into your grocery and find the asparagus looking at you." One cannot help but wonder – does he take tips?

Registrar Michelle Pincus bounced happily as she introduced the evening’s guests: Jesse Weinstein, who admits to being a student, a filker and a literature fan. He also enjoys contradancing and computer hacking, and works at a coffee bar. Fandom is just the place for him, in a nice way of course. Craig Christensen thought LASFS might present a good opportunity to bring his two kids; he’s a gamer, a media fan, and a literature fan. Said offspring are Ivy Rose Christensen, student, gamer & artist; and Vincent Christensen, a student and gamer who wanted to meet people interested in outer space. We also had Chris Daugherty, a gamer, artist, writer, and filmmaker, who lists sf, fantasy, time travel, space travel, and "deranged folklore" as among his interests.

Committee Reports began with Milt Stevens informing us that print copies of the latest De Profundis were on Elayne’s desk, so take yours if you’ve got it coming.

Arlene Satin had an update on the LASFS’ participation in the West Hollywood Book Fair – author Steven Barnes would also be joining us. A fifteen-minute reading by Shawn Crosby is expected to be a highlight of the event. See Arlene if you’re able and willing to help out, such as with decorating the booth.

An auction by the Committee to Gouge Money Out of the LASFS included books about the FBI and the Secret Service, while a Celeron processor went for the grand sum of 25¢. Your humble Scribe failed to record which item caused the biggest competition, but it turned out that the expression, "let the wookie win" was found to apply to Ed Hooper.

There was much rejoicing because we had no New nor Old Business. Yay, yay!

Announcements: Ed Hooper exclaimed: "I’ve got a mortgage!" And of course you know we’ll have cause to cheer again in a bunch of years when he comes here to exclaim that he no longer has a mortgage.

Reviews: darcee had seen "Get Smart" and enjoyed it. Qarl Lembqe thought the new "Indiana Jones" movie was "loads of fun – park your brain outside the theater, the laws of physics and logic do not apply here. Even though they’re called driver ants, you don’t want them in the car with you. It goes to show that thirteen heads are better than one. Definitely worth going and seeing; doubly because of the A/C." Frank Waller thought "Iron Man" had some good images, and enjoyed the fact that it had lots of whizzing around, hardware, armor, lots of weapons – real guy stuff, you know. Robert, whose surname your humble Scribe failed to note, heard advance buzz that the upcoming Disney-Pixar film "Wall-E" has "good, hard science." Tadao thought "Kung Fu Panda" was actually funny; he needn’t have worried. Albert said that "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" is "a hoot; it had me laughing my backside off." Rob "Gizmo" Powell had enjoyed "The Middleman," saying it was "fast-paced with top-notch writing, and clean for family viewing."

Faanish Committee Reports: Hare Hobbs said the saga of the replicant robotic head of Philip K. Dick lives on in a court of law. It seems this incredibly expensive artifact was left in an airplane overhead bin, and subsequently lost, after which the owner sued the airline. The judge had had a little fun when writing his decision, including some Dickian references including the words "total recall." Your humble Scribe was heard to mutter, "Hey, at least it wasn’t a cello!" Joe Zeff had been one of the millions to have downloaded Firefox 3. On the whole he likes it, but was greatly amused to find that the spell checker includes neither "Firefox" nor "Thunderbird." Barry Gold said the new, new website is up and running at www.lasfsinc.org (also .info) – register as a user, and you can contribute to the interactive portions. Dan McCarthy had word that Beijing’s air, at its current average, is worse than L.A.’s worst ever. Perhaps the Olympic events will include a running choke and cough? He also solicited recommendations of primary care physicians in the Encino area for his wife, Karen Stampley.

Miscellaneous: Michael Thorsen said he’s been working on a TV show lately, and has found odd websites and Youtube stuff which should have incurred the wrath of a certain well-known religion, but did not. Qarl Lembqe, in his role as Chairman of the ~~Bored~~ Board, noted it was the end of another procedural term, and extended thanks on behalf of the membership to the elected officers who had served. Hare noted that rock musician Brian May has a website devoted to his career and also about science: www.brianmay.com .

The evening’s program was to be filksinging led by Lee and Barry Gold, and so we wound up screaming into the program at 2120.

Yes, Virginia, there is a LASFS 4th-of-July Party...

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:45:50 GMT

...At the LASFS clubhouse, starting at about 2PM and going until whenever.

There will be refreshments, gaming (computer and real), possibly a movie or two, and, on the off chance that all of fandom isn't in Las Vegas attending Westercon or at some other convention somewhere else, we may even fire up the BBQ and burn meat to celebrate the Independence of our Great Nation from foreign tyranny and illegally imposed 2% sales taxes on tea and other staple foods.

See you there.

(Timebound -- 7/4/08 only)
(also posted to www.lasfs.info/forum)

MWT

Menace 3697

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:39:04 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3697
19 June 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
President Marcia Minsky was dumbfounded. Here it was, 2010 on a Thursday evening, rather early for a LASFS meeting to start, and people were sitting quietly in their seats. Not wanting to miss this rare opportunity, she called the meeting to order with a gentle tap of the Spoon of Resilience. And, wouldn’t you know it, right away people started dying. More accurately, we had a report from Charles Lee Jackson, the Second, memorializing departed souls of relevance to science fiction and fantasy. First mourned was Stan Winston, special-effects man extraordinaire, who had worked on a large number of important science fiction movies of the last 20 years and essentially redefined the field. Next, but no less dear, was Cyd Charisse, a wonderful dancer who was also a very fine actress. Science fiction films in which she had appeared included "The Silencers," which Charles described as "a really bad Matt Helm film, but science fiction nonetheless," and "Singin’ in the Rain," which definitely qualifies as a science fiction movie because it shows the effects on society of advances in technology. She was also in "Brigadoon," a classic fantasy movie. We observed a moment of silence for these individuals.

President Marcia took the opportunity to thank, and disband, last week’s Election Committee for a job well done. The new president, Mr. Thorsen, will assemble a new such Committee as required.

Menace of the previous week’s meeting-like event were read by the Scribe, out loud, to the members, in something resembling idiomatic Bronx English, and approved as "This is going to be a long meeting."

Our Patron Saint of the evening was Ted Johnstone, a much-missed LASFSian departed three decades now. Len Moffatt said he had been one of the first to meet Tedron back in the 1950s, after he got a phone call from some kids who were interested in visiting fellow fans. They were using pseudonyms: "Steve Tolliver" (Fred Langley), "George W. Fields" (George Williamson), and the youngest-looking of the lot, "Ted Johnstone." Tedron soon got assigned to the task of finding propellor beanies for the 1958 Worldcon in South Gate. "His career was all too short to say the least, and we miss him a lot," Len concluded. Milt said that David McDaniel (Tedron’s real-life name) wrote a bunch of "Man from U.N.C.L.E." novels, known for being fun and cleverly-crafted, with a lot of fans (LASFS and others) Tuckerized within. Frustrated at not being able to get more money out of publisher Ace Books, Dave worked in "A.A. Wyn is a tightwad" as an anagram from the chapter titles of The Monster Wheel Affair. Karen Anderson said she has read The Final Affair, and feels she will bear the responsibility of explaining all the Dean & Shirley Dickensheet references should it ever be published. "I really miss him now that he’s gone," Karen added. "He was a treasure, he really was." Our Saint’s close friend, CLJII, had the final words: "Mr. McDaniel was my associate for the last few years of his life. I was delighted to meet him because I had read his novels, including The Vampire Affair, which included a character named ‘Forrest J Ackerman.’ While he could be quite good at stringing together words, his actual passion was cinematography. He was an extraordinarily good cameraman and filmcutter, who didn’t get a chance to use those talents very much. I am assuming that Ted, Bruce Pelz, and Jack Harness are all playing a three-handed card game that Dan Alderson is trying to explain to them without much luck, all while waiting for an editor to call them back." We gave Patron Saint Ted Johnstone three cheers, "and 100 feet of B-roll."

Registrar Michelle Pincus had scoured the room, with steel wool yet, and was delighted to serve up three guests for our delectation: Craig Chapman (no relation to Celia), who says he’s a stage manager, and who learned about us at a bookstore; and Daniel Scheinert, an intern and student in theatre in film and comedy.

The word had come via psychic connection from Treasurer Elayne Pelz, busily shaking down members from her desk by the door: We had $90,347.49, "and no, you can’t spend it!"

For a Moment of Science, Karen Anderson had two brief items: one about how the amphioxus is likely the closest living ancestor of all vertebrates, including "supermodels, bats, and everything else with a backbone." In other news, a Delta 2 rocket was scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base tomorrow morning, a site worth watching if you are able to do so.

CL had what he called a mini-moment of science, noting that NASA scientists studying Mars via the latest probe had announced that they have discovered "white stuff." So what is that substance? Stay tuned!

De Profundis Editor Milt Stevens said the latest issue of our monthly newsletter was available to members for the taking from a box on Elayne’s desk. Marcia reminded us that every copy taken from the Clubhouse will save the club some postage money.

Committee Reports: CL said that FWEMS, or Fourth Week-End Movie Sunday, was coming up, a double feature of two serials, shown as alternating chapters. "They’re not what you’d call outstanding examples of the art form, but they’re fun."

Karen Anderson was granted a Sage Break long enough to show us that she has a contribution to the new issue of Skeptical Inquirer, giving some memories of Arthur C. Clarke along with other contributors.

The Committee to Gouge Money out of the LASFS floated up to the top of the tank to do what it had to do. Christian Bainbridge McGuire evoked memories of the Spanish Inquisition as he waved an object used for filing compact discs and sneered, "It’s the rack for you!" Other items for auction evoked other references: A towel, for remembering where it is; and an orb, unfortunately not the one from "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr."

There was no old nor new business. And there was much rejoicing.

Arlene Satin said that the West Hollywood Book Fair, an event to be held toward the end of September, had approved a panel submitted by the LASFS, entitled "Foundation and Empire: Political Climates, Economic Uncertainty, Religious Controversy, and the Writer." Or something very much like that. We will also be doing a writing workshop of some sort, and the effervescent Shawn Crosby would do a story reading for children, bringing his famous H-Wing automobile, of course. Other esteemed presences expected there will include Larry Niven and Harry Turtledove, and maybe more.

Cathy Beckstead shamelessly touted Loscon this November, announcing the general committee meeting to be held here at the Clubhouse on July 26^th at 11:00 a.m. Attend if you’re already working on it, or would like to do so. Memberships cost $35 until July 31^st, and will then go up, so buy soon, and buy often.

Krystal Rains said that she and Richard Costas were presenting the program tonight, photos and videos of the Very Large Array, which they recently visited. Timon said that the San Diego Comicon (that’s the Big One, Elizabeth honey) is now already sold out for Saturday, and there are no 4-day memberships left either.

Reviews: Hare Hobbs had seen a TV pilot, "The Middleman," which he said was about spies hunting for aliens and mythical characters, or something like that. He enjoyed it, but thought it was just a little too deadpan. Milt said he had seen it too, and it had made him think. What it made him think was, "That was completely stupid!" He was nonplussed that the protagonist talks something like Dudley Do-Right. Scott Beckstead saw "The Incredible Hulk" and liked it very much, but suggested seeing "Iron Man" first. Evidently there’s some effort to link films from the Marvelverse in advance of the "Avengers" movie. CL wanted to know if the CGI in the finished film looked any better than what he had seen in the trailer, but Scott hadn’t seen the trailer, and so couldn’t make the comparison.

Under Faanish Committee Reports, Doug Crepeau had enjoyed a news item about how some stolen cameras "phoned home" with some pictures taken by the thieves, enabling the real owner to send the photos to the police and effect an arrest.

Miscellaneous: Hare was going to have his schnozz repaired, or overhaul his beak, or something. It’ll now turn up instead of hangin’ down. Actually, the hope was that it would also put paid to his snoring.

Scott Beckstead saw a daring opportunity and moved to Rob Cole, which we did, at 2058.

Menace 3696

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:37:34 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3696
12 June 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
President Marcia Minsky was in total control. From past experience, she knew that this would be a long meeting, on account of the procedural elections. With that in mind, she wielded the Spoon of Sanity and called us to order a tad early, at 2007. Under Special Orders of Business, we learned that George Mulligan’s mother had passed away; a real-life-appropriate card had already been sent, offering the club’s condolences. Marty Cantor announced the passing of A[lgis] J Budrys, well-known fan, pro and editor; his best-remembered book was Rogue Moon, and he served as a judge for the Writers of the Future and Artists of the Future. Finally, Heide Nichols offered condolences to Tony Benoun on the loss of his father.

Menace of the previous week’s meeting were read and somehow got approved, without changes, as "The Restaurant at the End of the Election."

Marcia warned us that we would be on Agenda Lite tonight on account of the procedural elections, and it was going to be a long meeting.

As so often, we had two Patron Saints to celebrate: St. Sandy Cohen @ & St. Hare Hobbs. Sandy begged our indulgence to explain first that he is not only a Patron Saint, but has achieved the even higher level of a Sacred Object, namely the Sacred Chancellor of Chocolate. (Other Sacred Objects include the Flying Disk, the Spryngbok, and the Elephant.) "We need more sacred things," he continued. "Rather than be an object of scorn and ridicule, you could be a sacred object of scorn and ridicule. So as the Sacred Chancellor of Chocolate, I declare this to be a chocolate-eating day." And with that, he unveiled a selection of chocolate candies, cookies, and the like, which were gleefully consumed by the crowd. Heide said Sandy is the best mentor she could imagine having, thanks to his helpfulness and advice, and she truly values him. Tom Safer said he appreciated Sandy’s "marvellous treats," presumably the chocolate again. Sherri Benoun said that she and Elayne Pelz had enjoyed Sandy’s company in Japan when they were all there for last year’s Worldcon. Charles Lee Jackson, the Second had a summing-up, of sorts: "He’s also about poker, which is where he earns the money to buy the chocolate. And playin’ poker with LASFS members, you’re earnin’ it!" We saluted Saint Sandy Cohen with three cheers, "and lots of chocolate."

Our newer Saint for the evening was the gentle Hare Hobbs, of whom Scratch Galloway succinctly noted: "He brought food." Ruth Forster added, "He was one of the first people I met here, and he is very jovial and kind." Michelle Pincus called Hare "a nice and very sincere person, a welcome member of the club." Christian McGuire was impressed by Hare as "a phenomenal appreciator of all that is music." ~~(Particularly Brian Wilson.)~~ And along with wearing green, he is probably one of the greenest, that is to say, most carbon-friendly people, he knows. Maahtin Young agreed that Hare knows his music. Joe Zeff recalled that the Hobbs family entries in the LASFS Gift Exchange have always been lots of fun to unwrap. Pride of place went to Hare’s mother, Shirley Hobbs, who lavished praise on him and offered an origin story of sorts: "The fact that he’s known as ‘The Hare’ is an accident." Her nickname for him as a child had actually been "Thumper." (Hey, at least it wasn’t Flower!) We finally saluted Saint Hare Hobbs with three cheers, "and a bushel of carrots!" And finally we had to move on, because it was going to be a long meeting.

Michelle, Registrar, had a few guests to introduce: Karen Hurwitz, who loves sf, horror, steampunk, and who works as a program assistant for a nonprofit; Nadia Hernandez, who admitted to be "searching for a sci-fi convention in LA"; and finally Maahtin’s brother Lawwwwrence, visiting here from the UK, if you can imagine him being from there; he’s also a teacher.

Karen Anderson said she had but a Quick Moment of Science (since after all it was a Procedural Election night and it was going to be a long meeting), and referred us to an article in a recent issue of Time about people’s responses to great disasters. In one instance, some people on a sinking ship heard the sirens and basically ignored it, as most of us do with the ever-present car alarms on the city streets. On the other hand, a stockbroker who had survived the earlier attack on the World Trade Center insisted his employees take part in regular fire drills, and wound up saving an estimated 2600 people on 9/11 because of these preparations, even though he didn’t survive himself.

Committee Reports: Arlene Satin admitted that the Reading Rocketeers’ first event on Monday had gone very well with Shawn Crosby doing a wonderful job reading to a select audience of kids and their parents. She thanked David Okamura for the paper rocket decorations, which fascinated the kids; and of course Shawn’s car was a highlight, as always. Arlene also thanked the following for helping in advance, or even just showing up: Hare Hobbs; his mother Shirley; Ed Hooper, Joyce something (but not Sperling or Hooper); Michelle Pincus; Tadao Tomomatsu; and your humble Scribe. The next book is My Teacher is an Alien, by Bruce Coville; the event is planned for 14 July at 6:30 p.m., and the target age range has now been expanded to 7 – 14. Our program, in fact, has inspired the library to start a regular reading program every Monday.

CL showed off a nice thank you letter he had received from the Margaret Herrick Library of the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills, and if you can say that particular phrase three times in rapid succession, you have an exciting career in store as an auctioneer.

Old Business: Well, it was time for those Procedural Elections which always seem to make for a long meeting. As is his tradition, CL explained the duties of each office as we came to them. Christian Bainbridge McGuire filled in for the absent Board Chairman Qarl Lembqe by reopening nominations for President. In addition to the nominated parties from the previous week, namely CL, Michelle, and Joe Zeff, we had a refusal from Adam Wills, but Michael Thorsen foolishly accepted. (Diane Lass asked, "Is it too late now to impeach?" Charles answered, "It is never too late to impeach, but if you impeach an officer, that person can run to replace himself, as Jack Harness did at least once.") When the dust, and ballots, had settled, Michael Thorsen had been saddled with the terrible task of presiding over the Thursday meetings for the second half of 2008.

Vice-President: Mr. Thorsen remarked that the "traditional" duties (essentially those which Bob Null added because he felt they needed doing) are now recognized by the Board as not being an actual part of the job; the Veep is basically an "emergency holographic president." Nominations were opened: Tadao declined, Bob declined, CL declined, and Christian declined. With nobody apparently willing to do the job alone, we saw some quick negotiations between Mary Ann Canfield and Rob "Gizmo" Powell, who accepted. Nomination as a tag-team. Nominations were then closed, and the two victims were railroaded into office with a loud "Toot-toot!"

Scribe: In a moment of total insanity, the incumbent accepted renomination, and then looked on in ever-increasing fear as Mahhtin Young declined, Joe Zeff declined, nobody else seemed to want to nominate anyone else, and nominations were then closed. Your humble Scribe realized too late the unwisdom of volunteering, as he found himself run down by the "Toot-toot!" of the oncoming railroad.

Registrar: Michelle accepted renomination; nominations were then closed, and she was railroaded. "Toot-toot!"

Treasurer: Sandy Cohen was recognized: "I would like to nominate Elayne on the condition that she is not allowed to decline." Elayne nodded silently in the affirmative. Guess what? Railroaded! By now, you should know what happened next: "Toot-toot!"

Well, so much for it being a long meeting. Christian exclaimed that this was the quickest and least painful election he could recall. Marcia wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass, so she took a motion to adjourn, and we did just that, at 2111.

new website up and walking: lasfsinc.info

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:42:05 GMT

The LASFS's Joomla! website is now usable -- at http://www.lasfsinc.info.

The old html website (at http://www.lasfs.info) will be declared Officially Archaic as soon as the LASFS Chairman of the Board okays this, but will continue as a backup, probably at least through the end of the year.

Please encourage LASFSians and other fans to go to our new website and register as users.
The Editorial Board will upgrade them to authors if we've heard of them, and they can then post on Reviews, on the Discussion Corners, Eavesdroppings of stuff they saw and heard at LASFS, new Links, etc.

When you're at the new website, please click Webmaster and write Barry if you notice anything confusing, annoying, incorrect, or otherwise in need of correction. He'll fix it as soon as he can, as well as he can. (We also take compliments.)

Barry sends his thanks to George Van Wagner for recommending Joomla! as desirable website software that wouldn't require skilled html programmers to put up webpages.

--Lee Gold, staffer

Thursday June 19th Meeting special program

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:26:37 GMT

Recently Richard Costas and I, Krystal Rains, made a trip to the Very Large Array, (VLA) radio telescope facility outside Socorro, NM. We have brought back a DVD with a few short presentations that were shown in the visitor's center, to share with the LASFS members. We also hope to share a display of our pictures from the visit, given time to get them printed (we have tried to do this three times already, but we will keep trying!)

for more info about the VLA, http://www.vla.nrao.edu/

Hope to see you on Thursday evening

Hugo Deadline is July 7

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:01:10 GMT

The deadline for Hugo Award voting is 3 weeks away. Ballots must be RECEIVED by midnight Pacific Daylight Time at the end of Monday, July 7, 2008. If you plan to vote by snail mail, allow ample time for the post office to do its thing.

Ballots here.

Menace 3695

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:31:28 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3695
5 June 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
Our doe-eyed President, Marcia Minsky, stated that we had a big meeting to get through tonight, and so ever so gently, she wielded the Spoon of Servitude (well, it looks more like a spoon for tossing salad than one for serving it) to ease us into an early start at 2006. "Have we any special orders of business?" she asked of Charles Lee Jackson, the Second, who informed us of the passing of actor Mel Ferrer, known for many movies including "Scaramouche." Technically, Robert Towne Sutcliffe, co-creator (with Art Clokey) of "Davey and Goliath," qualifies for this portion of the meeting, as that show is obviously a fantasy with a talking dog and all. And we had one more original-"Trek" passing, that of Robert Justman, a producer and creative factor therein, and to a lesser extent in "ST:TNG." In fact, it had been he who persuaded Gene Roddenberry that the Enterprise should be helmed by a bald captain, rather than one who wears a piece. We observed a brief moment of silence for these individuals.

Menace were read, out loud, in some form of contemporary American English, in this room, to the club, and after a few tweaks were approved practically anonymously as "The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to LASFS."

Old Business: CL explained the procedure for the evening, in that we would be accepting nominations for LASFS President, Second Half of 2008. He read out the duties of the office, and Marcia called for the nominations. Surviving their sanity throws were: Tadao Tomomatsu; Marcia Minsky; Maahtin Young; Christian Bainbridge McGuire; Michael "Scratch" Galloway; George Van Wagner; and Bill Ellern. The prospective victims were: Charles Lee Jackson, the Second; Joe Zeff; and Michelle Pincus. With this, nominations were recessed until next week.

Appointed Committee Reports: Arlene Satin reminded us that the first program of the Reading Rocketeers was this coming Monday evening at 6:30, at the Valley Plaza Branch Library, with set up scheduled for the preceding Saturday. Also, our bookmarks are done, specially designed by David Okamura. Tadao waved some free passes, left by a PR agent before the meeting, for a screening of "The Incredible Hulk" next Tuesday. He also had the announcement that La La Con has been postponed; obtain refunds from Treasurer Elayne Pelz if you bought memberships.

The Usual Committee had returned for the Big Moneygouge Auction, which included a PC CPU which elicited some spirited bidding until it finally went to "Wild Bill" Ellern for $150.

Registrar Michelle Pincus introduced a couple of guests for the evening: Alan Marder of Burbank, an illustrator; and Larry Vane, a professional dog walker. Also?

This week, our Patron Saint was Jim Glass. Dr. Jerry Pournelle remembered that he was very useful to the LASFS in several capacities, including that of Librarian. He added that Jim had received the Evans-Freehafer Award, after which he never came to another meeting. We saluted Saint Jim Glass with three cheers, "and a Huey, Louie, and Dewey Decimal System."

Marcia reminded us all of the Board of Directors meeting this Sunday at 11:00 a.m., followed by the usual Second Sunday Open House.

It was getting really late, so Marcia allowed only the most truly Timebound Announcements. First, "Whiskey" said William Shatner would be appearing at the next Los Angeles Comic Book Convention, presumably to promote his new book. CL had flyers for American Cinematheque Los Angeles for June.

Committee Reports resumed with Charles showing off the latest acquisition to the Video Archive, the entire series of "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." This will be available for loan once he has finished processing it. "Bowler! Flip me the bird!"

Michael Thorsen announced Estrogen Zone, to take place Saturday here at the Clubhouse at 1:30 p.m.; he didn’t yet know the theme, but promised that there will be Mah Jongg.

It was already a late-running meeting, so after some hasty motions to adjourn, we did just that, at 21:33.

Andi Shechter

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:17:15 GMT

Hello!

This is Rachel Heslin -- I've been involved with UCLA's Enigma for more than a decade and have sometimes hung out at LASFS events as well.

Anyway, if there are any long-time LASFS members who have been friends with Andi Shechter, she's having some difficulties right now. Her medical condition has degenerated to the point that she needs to get a wheelchair. Although, intellectually, she understands that it's a useful tool that allows her to retain mobility, emotionally, it's been pretty hard on her to accept the necessity.

She just got a call that the chair she ordered is ready, about a month before she was expecting it, and she doesn't have the $60 or so to pay for the materials needed to build the ramp. If anyone is moved to kick in $5 or $10 to help out, Andi has a PayPal account attached to the email address in the header of her blog.

For that matter, if you're just an old friend who wants to say, "hi!" she could probably use that just as much right now.

Thank you for your kindness!

Diamond Anniversary Committee

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:53:10 GMT

Does anyone know when the next Diamond Anniversary Committee meeting is? I think I might have to be in 2 places at once tonight.

Menace 3694

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:59:49 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3694
29 May 2008
Punctuality is not exactly a common trait among fans, but President Marcia Minsky is one of those rare exceptions. "It is time once again," she stated at 2010 as she wielded the Spoon of Responsibility to call the typical assortment of members and others to order. There was a bit of discussion about the meeting number, but this was straightened out fairly easily. Under Special Orders of Business, CL said, "Sadly we got a fistful." First we had confirmation of the death of fan and writer Robert Asprin, who had passed away peacefully at home while reading a Terry Pratchett novel. Even more tragically, he was to have been Guest of Honor at a convention that very weekend. We had also lost two gents associated with the original "Star Trek": Joseph Pevney, who directed many episodes, including some of the best-loved ones; and composer Alexander Courage, creator of the original theme music with its iconic fanfare.

Another television composer had journeyed to the great studio in the sky, namely Earle Hagen, known for "Harlem Nocturne" and numerous theme songs, as well as the underscore music for every episode of "I Spy." He did borrow from himself a little, but that’s what you have to do when you need 45 minutes of music every week. Take that, JS Bach! Also lately deceased was Harvey Korman, one of the great comic actors; "That’s Hedley!" Dick Martin was included in our roster of losses, not merely because of fantasy elements in programs featuring him as actor or director, but more directly because he is the father of LASFS member Cary Martin. There would be no more polka dancing for Ernst Stuhlinger, 94, one of the last surviving members of Wernher von Braun's rocket scientists who worked on the US space program. Somebody in the peanut gallery asked about producer-director Sydney Pollack, 73, but Charles was not aware of a genre or fannish connection – until your humble Scribe remembered that Pollack had been his next-door neighbor in Pacific Palisades, many years back. So there was our "fistful," which unfortunately had all of eight fingers.

Menace of the previous week were read to the usual silently respectful house. Karen Anderson, absent that week, had read American Nerd, briefly noted in the Menace, and amplified on the flip remark about the welcoming nature of LASFS. Evidently Mr. Nugent’s take on us was much kinder than the excerpts had suggested, as Karen found many positive things in the characterization. (That makes one wonder why Mr. Nugent hasn’t ever returned!) But she thought it a badly organized book, mostly about the author himself, although to his credit he recognizes that LASFS is about literate people reading and appreciating literature.

With that noted and some errors of fact corrected, the said Menace were approved as "Lavender Blue, Dee Dee, Dee Dee."

Ed Baker was Patron Saint this week. Fred Patten called Ed "probably the most devoted member we had to Esperanto, even including Forry Ackerman." Milt Stevens reflected as how Ed, a member of an amateur press association called The Cult, translated one issue entirely into Esperanto… which got him thrown out. Ed was very shy around women, so the females in the club enjoyed talking to him to make his ears turn red. "Good guy, Ed Baker." Tom Locke said Ed was "interested in promoting free communication, freedom and capitalism." CL told a story that Phil Castora would have told if he was here, about an aftermeeting at Cal’s or Al’s where Ed kept spooning sugar into his coffee, all to set up some schtick that just wouldn’t work in print. Marcia noted that it was Fred who had introduced Ed to LASFS. Len Moffatt confirmed this, saying that Ed and Fred were often mistaken for one another, even though they looked not at all alike. Karen Anderson remembered Ed as a kind soul who was often doing favors for people, including strangers, but that this had proven his undoing: he was murdered by a hitchhiker he had picked up. We gave Patron Saint Ed Baker three cheers "and a green star, a candlestick maker, and a spoonful of sugar."

Registrar Michelle Pincus was delighted to introduce us to our evening’s guest, Eric Young of North Hollywood, who wrote on his green card that he was interested in SF media, which got some nods from the crowd, and is a teacher, which got applause. (We like teachers just as much as we like librarians!) [At the reading, David Okamura added, "They’re delicious!"] She also noted the return of an infrequent visitor, Michael J. Walsh (not the Michael R. Walsh who was known around LASFS in the 1980s).

Treasurer Elayne Pelz had sent up an owl to tell us the news: $90,083.26, and we’re keepin’ it!

Moment of Science: Karen didn’t have one because she wished instead to read that passage about the LASFS from American Nerd, and she had already done that, so there you have it.

Arlene Satin, Marketing Committee, gave us a reminder of the premiere of the Reading Rocketeers. She showed off the book that will be read from, A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivian Vandervelt. We will have to set up the room at 2:00 Saturday afternoon, and must finish by 3:00 or we’ll run into a class on how to play poker. Arlene promised t-shirts to volunteers, so see her so she can size you up.

With most of the regulars off at cons somewhere, we had instead a Legion of Substitute Gougers, namely Nick Smith and Sherri Benoun. Sherri won the bidding for the privilege of selecting next month’s Flavor of the Month in the soda machine, and stuck Nick with the choice.

Neither Old nor New Business threatened to dampen the evening’s festivities, and there was much rejoicing.

Announcements: George Van Wagner said that this month’s screening of Asian Cult Cinema was to be cancelled because he will be elsewhere. Said CL, "You’re going to Boston?"

Elayne Pelz announced a bid for Westercon at the Pasadena Hilton in 2010.

Nick Smith confided that the LASFS has now infiltrated Book Expo America, the trade show formerly known as ABA. He will be on a panel devoted to sex and violence in graphic novels. Several science fiction publishers will have booths there, and there are several author events scheduled, including one with Ray Bradbury.

Michelle said that Francis Hamit’s new book, The Shenandoah Spy, is now available. She didn’t say where, but Amazon.com seems to have it. She also invited members to stick around after the meeting for her program, "The JPL Story," all about the US’s response to Sputnik, Explorer 1. Len Moffatt had heard that Francis' book will be available at Barnes & Noble "Real Soon Now."

Rick Foss said he had sold another science fiction story to Analog, a novelette, "To Leap the Highest Wall," but he doesn’t know when it will be published. He was applauded by the membership.

Charles Lee Jackson, the Second, said that the Margaret Herrick Library of the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills (whew!) has accepted Extra Added Attractions to their film research collection, probably in the (ahem) serials department.

Hare Hobbs was looking forward to TRIPE this Sunday, and he was displaying a Spike Jones DVD collection for some entirely unrelated reason.

Marcia reminded all present that next week’s meeting would include nominations for president, and a big auction. June 12^th will be devoted to elections of all procedural officers. "Vote early and vote often."

Reviews: Rick Foss said that if you felt that Paul Melko’s story, "Not By Strength Alone," seemed a tad incomplete, that’s because it was intended as part of a novel, Singularity’s Ring, about a group of individuals who also merge into a group mind. (Your humble Scribe was reminded of Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human and Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, but then what does he know?) He also touted Jeffrey Thomas’ Blue War, about a planet which recently had a civil conflict in which Earth humans had participated. Charles had gone to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and felt that it was built on a template made out of the first movie, only done on a bigger scale this time. For this reason, he was puzzled at some of the negative reviews, because he enjoyed it quite a bit. Without giving a spoiler, he said it had the most preposterous potential cliffhanger for a character to survive, and admitted, "If you like Harrison Ford, you should like this just fine." He was disappointed in the first trailer for "The Spirit," which he said "looks like Batman with a red necktie." He added that fans of the character may not like it, but it’ll probably be really cool-looking.

Hare had also enjoyed the new miniseries of "Andromeda Strain," although some pesky reviewers had the temerity to disagree with him. Qarl Lembqe also said that if you’ve seen the earlier movie, you’ve already seen 2/3 of this one, and that it’s been updated to present day sort of things, with an additional subplot about Piedmont, Utah. "It has the usual number of science howlers that you seem to have to throw into a science fiction film." For example, a character claims that Buckyballs were invented by R. Buckminster Fuller, although they were merely named after him.

Nick said the animé "Gance" has been adapted into a manga which exemplifies the LASFS motto of "Death will not release you," since it’s about an alien device which resurrects the recently-dead and sends them on random quests. George Van Wagner had some pithy words about "Prince Caspian": "If you have any liking or respect for C.S. Lewis’ work, and his themes of faith and respect, stay away. But if you like CGI and battles, go see it and you will probably have a swell time." Was that pithy, or pithed? Eric Hoffman said that Russian Communists don’t like the way the new "Indiana Jones" film makes them look like, well, how shall one say it, losers. Think about that for a moment.

Miscellaneous: Frank Waller showed off a big bump on the top of his head, from having hit his head on a solid wood bed. His prognosis is unknown, and members wished him luck. Hare Hobbs was a little nervous because he was reading the same book Robert Asprin had been reading just before dying, so he is afraid to read anything by Michael Crichton. That sounds like a tall order! Milt Stevens was heard to say, "Read H.G. Wells!" John DeChancie said his son Jason had just been awarded his Ph.D. in physical chemistry. "This is one brilliant kid, and I’m proud."

Marcia recapped the program one last time before we adjourned, to run screaming into the night, at 2114.

And The Winner Is....???

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:22:57 GMT

LASFS members love to auction stuff. When we run out of objects to auction off, we turn to less tangible issues. The color of ballots. The method of random selection for the Gift Exchange. Parking Spaces. Most recently, we have opened the monthly selection of the final flavor in our soda machine to choice by auction. We try not to bog the process down by excessive rulemaking, but there are some we must impose for the sake of practicality.

No glass-bottle flavors, because cleaning out a vending machine filled with shattered glass and sticky puddles of half-dried soda is no damned fun at all. No mylar pouches or cardboard cartons, because they will jam the machine. The more we have to pay per case to stock a flavor, the higher the per-unit price will be set.

Most importantly, the winner of the auction needs to actually complete the process by naming a selection. Otherwise, what's the point? Unfortunately, at the May 29 Thursday meeting, someone did in fact win the Soda Flavor auction and then leave without specifying his choice. Not only that, he has since dropped off the face of the Earth.

Nick Smith, a frequent attendee of the LASFS Friday Night open house, failed to show this Friday evening. Repeated attempts to contact him by phone have met with failure. And here it is, Sunday morning, June 1. The new month is here, and we still don't know what brand or flavor of beverage the auction winner wanted us to provide.

Therefore, as the LASFS Quartermaster and Speaker-To-Vending-Machines, it is my sad duty to make an executive decision. Sorry, Nick, but, unless Fresca was your unspoken choice, you paid whatever you paid at the auction for nothing. Next time, win the auction and then tell us what you want.

MWT

Menace 3693

Sat, 31 May 2008 06:12:09 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3693
22 May 2008
Cut to the chase, because that’s what President Marcia Minsky did, pretty much, when she purred, "Good evening everybody," and ~~gavelled~~ spooned us to order at 2009. It was a loud gavelling, enough to have made David Okamura say, "Ouch!" CL, called upon for Special Orders of Business, said he had none, so we managed to skip a recitation of the dead, for a change.

Menace of the previous week’s meeting were read, given a passel of necessary corrections, and finally approved as "Written too fast."

This was the night to celebrate Patron Saint Dee Dee Lavender. Unfortunately, Len & June Moffatt, who among currently active members had known her best, were not in attendance. Tom Safer said mournfully, "I wish I knew her." Karen Anderson had not been around the Los Angeles area at the same time as Dee Dee, so she had principally second-hand reminiscences, such as that Dee Dee’s daughter had been engaged to Ron Ellik. Marcia summoned hagiographer Vanessa Van Wagner, who reported that Dee Dee and husband Roy had been active in First Fandom and put on a Worldcon in Ohio in the ‘50s, and also that she was a nice lady and excellent hostess, who was involved in mystery fandom as well. Fred Patten remembered both Lavenders as among the club’s more literate members, who read and reviewed a whole bunch of books. We saluted Patron Saint Dee Dee Lavender with three cheers, "and a lilac paint job."

Treasurer Elayne Pelz had sent up a little bill, er, message, saying that we had $90,262.39, but as usual, we are charged not to spend it, more’s the pity.

Karen Anderson, in charge of Moments of Science, reminded us that Phoenix would be attempting its soft landing on Mars on Sunday, Earth time. Live coverage could be viewed locally, starting at noon.

Jerry Pournelle continued the science theme by relating that his friend John Derbyshire had attended a conference on consciousness in Tucson. "Psychology doesn’t pay any attention to consciousness and introspection," or in other words, it ignores two of the things it should actually be about. In one study, subjects were shown photographs either of scantily-clad young women or landscapes. Eventually it was observed that their reactions actually occurred before they saw the photos. "What if they weren’t shown the pictures, once the reaction had been noted? Perhaps the universe will explode." Your humble Scribe theorized, "And everybody will blame it on the supercollider." Unfazed, Jerry continued, "This test may turn out to be a repeatable demonstration of precognition." And again the Scribe wonders irreverently whether one of the scientists will carry on and investigate the properties of Thiotimoline.

Committee Reports: Arlene Satin had color flyers for The Reading Rocketeers’ upcoming shakedown flight, all in color for not even a dime, on Elayne’s desk. Members were urged to take some and advertise the event, June 9^th. In response to a question from the house, Arlene said the target audience was ages 7-10. David Okamura’s "Crayola fleet" of little rockets has been completed, and will be on display at the Library. Arlene needs help setting up the Saturday before, June 7^th, starting around 2:00 p.m. Michelle Pincus and Hare Hobbs were the first volunteers, but the more, the merrier. We were also going to have a presence at the West Hollywood Book Fair; see her if you have any ideas on decorating the booth.

Charles Lee Jackson, the Second announced FWEMS, this Sunday from 2:00 p.m., themed as a salute to Republic movie westerns. It’ll take place right here in air-conditioned comfort, on the big projection screen in glorious black-and-white, with Natalie Kalmus nowhere in sight. In other news, Tom Safer may have to think again about his choice for mid-June, because the Cartoon Fantasy Organization has already picked the movie he originally wanted to show.

Guests: Registrar Michelle said that returning member Tim Griffin had brought a friend, Aroun Sannuti, one of the librarians at Cal Tech. Thunderous applause followed, showing that fans really respect librarians, and that’s no joke. It even received a bigger ovation than Marcia’s statement that we had neither Old nor New Business.

Announcements: Marc Schirmeister showed off a new book, American Nerd, by Benjamin Nugent, not unsurprisingly a history of nerdism, which mentions the LASFS explicitly in one chapter. The meeting reported upon was #3518, and several people were unmistakably recognizable by name or description. Marc will donate his copy of the book to the club Library and let readers decide for themselves whether the characterization is negative or not. Meanwhile, members can take solace in the fact that the club has been described as "The only place in L.A. where strangers are welcome that is not a temple." (Oy!)

Tom Safer described his program for the evening, a selection of cartoons about pirates and sailors. Then, noting that his other talent is singing, he promoted an upcoming evening of choral music performed with the Pasadena Pops on the steps of Pasadena City Hall, this Sunday the 25^th at 7:30 p.m. Wendy Wiseman said there was a used book sale in Westchester, tomorrow through the 31^st. Patty Kim said her fan group will be hosting a Manhattan beach fantasy CloneTiki party on June 7^th, with kids welcome during the day, followed by a kidless event in the evening. They also feed a podcast at clonepod.org devoted to short story readings. Michelle reminded us that next week she would be presenting "The JPL Story."

Reviews: Wild Bill Ellern described the new "Indiana Jones" movie as "one of the better popcorn flicks of these days." What happened was that Anne got the book a few days ago and they just had to see the movie. He also recommends "Iron Man" and "Prince Caspian." Hare Hobbs recommended Terry Pratchett’s "We Three Men" trilogy, particularly for the way Pratchett makes fun of his own genre. Doug Crepeau enjoyed a show he had seen on the History Channel, projecting avionic technology and dogfights into the future by twenty years. Tom Safer had reacquainted himself with the 1960s kiddie cartoon series "Cool McCool," a parent of the various spy spoofs done around that time. CL compared it with Bob Kane’s "Batman" and "Flash" villains, not surprising considering that Bob Kane was one of the writers. Don Wenner had good words for a John Nance book, Orbit, about a man who wins a contest to go into orbit with a commercial space group, and when something goes wrong, he writes his life story.

Marcia said that Tadao was at Baycon this weekend (probably explaining why we had no Moneygouge), but he had sent word to remind us about La La Con in all its usual details. Your humble Scribe relayed an unconfirmed report viewed online that fan and author Robert Asprin had died today.

Faanishness began with a report from the Committee for the Preservation of Jerry Pournelle – guess who! Monday, Jerry had met with his oncologist, who said that his blood proteins are back to normal. The even better news is that an MRI shows the tumor is now half the size it had been. He can talk somewhat better, as was evident to all. His tinnitus is almost gone, and his weight is now 200 lbs., down from 230, due to the radiation treatment. He doesn’t recommend 30 days of radiation to the head as a weight-loss method. One of the unpleasant side effects is that he now sleeps ten hours a day, but even so he has survived better than Charles Sheffield and Robert Forward, who had brain tumors take them far too early. His energy level was still quite low, so he thought he might be sitting out Worldcon this year. The conclusion of his report was the kicker: "Like it or not, it looks like you’re stuck with me for another few years." Your humble Scribe is not alone at being delighted with this likelihood.

Tom Safer had seen silly news about somebody who made a call to 911 in order to say, "Help, I have an alligator in my kitchen!" Yes, but was it glad to see him?

Under Miscellaneous, Joe Zeff had seen on Slashdot a report of a radio astronomer who just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time to detect the 5-minute X-ray burst that signals the birth of a supernova.

After a few other suggestions caused cricket chirps, somebody had the bright idea to "move to animate," and so we did just that, at 2120.

Menace 3692

Sat, 24 May 2008 21:48:39 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3692
15 May 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
The chatter in the room got louder and louder, then softer and softer as President Marcia Minsky made a determined face and called us to order at 2010. Under Special Orders of Business, CL first eulogized Danton Burroughs, known to some of us here as archivist and detailed cataloguer of the works of his grandfather, Edgar Rice. Also recently departed was actor John Phillip Law, "who now gets to reprise his role as an angel, if he was a good boy." His best-known movies include "Barbarella," and "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad." Another deeply felt passing was that of cartoonist Will Elder, one of the founding zanies of Mad. A moment of silence was observed for these three individuals.

Just then, to show that there could also be good Special Orders, your humble Scribe confided that it was the birthday of LASFS member Clare Lasby, who was in attendance that evening. Members were invited to help her celebrate by assisting in eating a very large birthday cake that had been placed on the freebie table. Members were very obliging, and the cake disappeared into the group subconscious, or maybe stomach.

Patron Saint of the evening was the delightful Tom Digby, who had been a regular attendee for many years before his move to the Valley of the Silicon. Hare Hobbs celebrated Tom for his humor and strange jewelry, as well as his polite and soft-spoken nature. Milt Stevens recalled how Tom had come up with "practical" applications for fantasy ideas, such as coin-operated crypts for traveling vampires, as well as the famous frog/prince perpetual motion machine. A conversation with Tom was "like explaining things in our dimension to friends and family in another one." CL reminded us that Tom’s home had been a sometime locale for the LASFS during its travelling years before the Clubhouses. Tom had an assortment of wall clocks, no two of them displaying the same time; these included one which went backwards, and one which moved a random number of minutes ahead or back, at random intervals. Tom was "the sort of person who would live around the corner from a place that would sell dill pickle ice cream … and he did!" Karl Lembke noted that Tom’s webzine Silicon Soapware contained what he called "observations from a slightly parallel universe, well worth reading." Michelle Pincus hadn’t known him in the olden days as some of us had, but when she finally met him a few years ago, she found him "a pleasure to be around." Doug Crepeau said Tom had claimed to have been hired by a group providing habitats for non-human sentients, which turned out to be the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, or Minbari. Almost. Dr. Jerry Pournelle said that Tom was famously the inspiration for the central character in Larry Niven’s "What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?" "Fortunately," Dr. P. added, "Niven found a lot to say." Jerry said he had once asked Tom why he wore that thing through his nose, and Tom answered, "Why does anybody wear jewelry? To make themselves attractive." Here Jerry added, "I did not dare to ask the next obvious question." Joe Zeff had seen Tom last year at Westercon, wearing a green sari leaving half of his chest exposed, and also did not ask Jerry’s question. Scratch Galloway remembered Tom’s novelty song, "Little Teeny Eyes." Karl opined that it is now old enough to be a traditional drinking song. And your humble Scribe hauled out his tired old story of Tom Digby being the first fan he ever met at a fan convention, helpfully suggesting that "That man over there might know where Larry Niven is." (As it happened, that man over there certainly did know where Larry Niven was!) We saluted St. Tom Digby with three cheers "and a bubble machine."

Registrar Michelle Pincus said the drought was over, and we had 4! Count ‘em! 4 guests! These were Clare Layendecker, a makeup artist by trade (you could tell from her sapphire-blue hair), interested in social networking, time travel paradox and cyberpunk. There were also three very technically-skilled visitors from JPL and Caltech: Ratatosk Lamar, Jeremy Yager, and Eric Chi. Also with us again was Diane Lass, who used to attend regularly back in the 1980s.

Word was passed to the front of the room from Treasurer Elayne Pelz to the effect that we had $88,687.22, with the usual admonition.

Michelle Pincus had for us a Moment of Science, an article asking the musical question, "Where are the Milky Way’s missing supernovas?" Dr. Pournelle scoffed at some sloppy phrasing in the article claiming that some astronomical object in the center of the galaxy was 140 years old, when what was really meant was that it’s been 140 years from the time we first observed it. Diane agreed.

Committee Reports: Arlene Satin, Marketing Committee, had some welcome news: The Reading Rocketeer’s first voyage was to be piloted by Shawn Crosby. She will talk to him about "caping up," and he will be bringing his famous "H-Wing," a Honda del Sol customized as a "Star Wars" X-Wing fighter, because it’s what he travels in. David Okamura created all of our logos, including one for the visors, and Arlene made him stand and accept applause from the room. Also, "The Other Scott" had designed one of the bookmarks, so she thanked him as well. We will have a booth at the West Hollwood Book Fair, September 28^th, in a tented outdoors area, and volunteers were requested for set-up and tear-down. She will be sending out invitations to various area authors, so we will have a presence there beyond our booth. See her or Tadao if you are able to help make it a success, and keep in mind, there will be t-shirts for those who volunteer!

The aforementioned Tadao Tomomatsu strode to the front of the room and gave his spiel for La La Con 14, our annual relaxacon, this year scheduled for the last weekend in June. Membership is a mere $20, plus a further $6 for the optional banquet, so spread the word. There will be all the usual fun program items, video sweatlodge, a lemon-tree-watching marathon, and of course, an auction.

Milt Stevens’ labors had brought forth the latest issue of De Profundis, living a sort of papery life in a cardboard box on the Treasurer’s desk. If you have a copy that’s waiting to go home with you, why not pick it up and save the club some postage?

A Money Gouge included a printer and a teddy bear with a lei. For some reason, they were very easy to tell apart.

Under Business (and your humble Scribe is not certain whether to count this as Old or New), we heard from Michael Donahue. As you may recall from previous chapters, he was responsible for the Library remodel 15 or so years ago, and has lately been speaking with building contractors in order to get estimates for various substantial building improvements that could be made on this lot. Wouldn’t you know it, there are legal limitations on what we could do – we can’t change our stated purpose for existing, so we’ll have to operate a science fiction club, not a taco stand or anything else. (You don’t want to know what sort of a business Dr. Pournelle asked about.) We are allowed to build up to 5,000 square feet, so long as we have a suitable amount of parking. He laid out several of the possibilities, some of which include enough space for lounges, libraries, bathrooms, kitchenette, etc., and so forth. Bill Ellern’s face lit up with an evial grin: "Does this mean that instead of buying two parking spaces every month, I could buy four?" Mike showed off a jar for cash donations toward this project. The Southern California Institute for Fan Interests had already been sounded out, and was potentially interested in some sort of capacity with funding if possible. CL had made a drawing on the whiteboard depicting a locale in Anaheim that he thought would be ideal for various S.F., Fantasy, and Western-themed areas, or "lands," and has plenty of room we could work with, if we could rid it of all those pesky mice, ducks, bears, and so on. Bill Ellern had the capper, from a fannish tradition of long ago: "Do we still get to put a tower on top?" Mike replied, "Only if we have the money for it." Don’t ask how, but Bill’s gleam suddenly got, well, gleamier.

Announcements: Doug Crepeau had some favorable news about his health, in that a clinical trial had thusfar allowed him to reduce his weight from 265 to 239 pounds. He also introduced his friend, Mrs. Pamela Culshaw, who is recuperating after surgery. Qarl Lembqe reminded us that there is a convention coming up in November. He is running the Con Suite, and is looking for able bodies and weak minds to help him run the thing. He said he intends it to be really nifty, and could use some help.

CL relayed a message from Tom Safer, who wanted to say that his Tom Safer Presents Cartoons series (Saturday morning at 10:00, according to a helpful Whiskey) will be running some film or other which can’t be mentioned here under pain of seriousness. Also, CL added that he has responded to requests and produced a list of his 150 favorite motion pictures, and hopes to have it as a web page if you are interested in seeing it. Send him email at the-emperor@cljii.com and he’ll send it to you. Hare Hobbs, not to be outdone by Doug, had some news of his own, namely that he has received a mostly clean bill of health.

Reviews: CL, that movie-watchin’ fiend, had gone to see "Iron Man" and was pleasantly surprised to note that it did not offend him for messing up the characters. The picture had many good things about it, except for one bit of business at the end, which he found racist. The film was accompanied by a trailer for "The Incredible Hulk," which looked very realistic – until you saw the Hulk, who looks all CGI and very fakey. (See your humble Scribe’s remarks of 11 years ago, in which the mini-series "The Odyssey" was described as having "the best cheesy CGI griffins I’ve ever seen.") The trailer for the new "Indiana Jones" movie looks exciting, even though it reminds him of "The Mummy Returns." Qarl said that he and Kevin enjoyed "Iron Man," as well as a "triple-wide" trailer for "Prince Caspian," which makes him really want to see it. Hare Hobbs was one of the lonely few who had seen "Speed Racer," and noted that the little brother and chimp have what he called "The Jar-Jar Syndrome." Still, it’s a "wonderful eye candy movie," and he does recommend it. CL was reminded of "Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure," in which Cheetah is told at the beginning of the picture that he has to stay behind, and is never seen again. The audience cheered in wonderment that such a thing could have happened. Ah well, those were the days of old.

Richard Costas had gone to see the Very Large Array, and was very impressed. By luck he even got to film them moving one of the 27 telescopes. Krystal Raines bought a DVD that she thought people might like to see. Jerry Pournelle wrapped up the "Iron Man" critiquing for now, saying he had liked it a lot, particularly for "the way they found 35-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow to be an ingenue … but then she’s probably one of the best actresses in the business."

Faanish Committee Reports: We still couldn’t shake the "Iron Man" references, as Doug reported that Sarcos Inc. has built an exoskeleton which can multiply its wearer’s strength and endurance 20 times, and yet weighs only 150 pounds. Charles had received an article from Greg Bilan about a Swiss pilot named Yves Rossy who jumped from a plane, using a jet-powered wing to fly solo and perform stunts over the Alps. "That was to impress the girls," Rossy said afterwards. Dan McCarthy was impressed by the film footage he saw on TV, which really looked like a flying man. His flight time was nine minutes, much more than you can get with a JetPack. Hare Hobbs had an addendum to a previous report, that safety in stock car collisions has been helped by a sort of artificial rock, made the same way as styrofoam. Your humble Scribe noted that Honda’s ASIMO robot had been programmed to conduct at a recent concert of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This would make it the first robot to perform in public with an orchestra, that is if you don’t count Anthony Daniels or Glenn Gould.

Miscellaneous: Milt asked the assemblage to recommend humane ways for dealing with gophers. Your humble Scribe suggested, "Watch ‘Caddyshack.’" Charles Lee Jackson, the Second told the room, "Don’t forget, elections are coming next month." Marcia noted that while we had no program tonight, that for the 22^nd will be a showing by Tom Safer of cartoons about pirates and sailors, while Michelle will have a program for us on the 29^th, a presentation of "The JPL Story."

And with that, there was no place to go but out, so we did that, adjourning at 2130.

Menace 3691

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:23:06 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3691
8 May 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
Considering the lateness of the hour, President Marcia Minsky was just a little bit impatient as she waited for all of the bub, hubbub, and rebub to die down. This was, after all, to be a meeting of the LASFS, that well-oiled machine we all know and love. Say, does "grease" count as "oil"? Anyway, it wasn’t until 2013 that the froggy spoon went splat and kathunk on the front table. "We are mikeless tonight," quoth Marcia, but it’s possible she may have overlooked Mr. Thorsen. Asking CL if there were any Special Orders of Business, the reply came back, "None that have reached my shell-like ears." Marty Cantor did have calamitous news, that the postage rates would be going up on Monday.

Menace of the previous week’s meeting were read, had one teeny correction made, and ultimately were approved as "Not rich and famous."

For a saint this evening, we had a Null set, namely our own Merlin R. "Bob" Null. Hare said that Bob had preceded him only slightly in joining the LASFS, but was already doing things for the club by then. CL made the irrefutable observation, "He’s the Bobnulliest Bob Null we’ve had." After a bit of actual thought, he added, "Bob puts the lie to the old expression, ‘Never buy teeth through the mail.’" Barksdale Hales noted Bob was "a member of the old crew who moves LASFS back and forth, and served as Soda Fairy in his time as Vice President." Mary Ann praised Bob because he has consistently done just about anything he saw that the club needed doing. Milt Stevens thought Bob had become so indispensable to local cons that there now exists essentially a "Bob Null position." Christian B. McGuire recalled the general L.A.con III committee meeting when people were introducing their staff, and said that when Elayne introduced Bob, he received the only standing ovation of the day. Zed Null (no relation) said Bob always had a ready smile. (See CL’s earlier remark about teeth through the mail.) Scratch Galloway called Bob "a quiet man with a phenomenal sense of humor." Michael Thorsen said that Bob "occasionally does infuriating things, but unfortunately it’s impossible to stay mad at him." Marty Cantor essentially agreed – he said he "has never gotten annoyed with Bob, ever, for any reason," uniquely in the club. Your humble Scribe noted Bob as a local expert on such varied subjects as exonumia (things resembling coins which aren’t), Turkish history, and Stephen Foster. We gave Saint Bob Null three very loud cheers, "and an old gray mare."

Michelle Pincus, Registrar, had a surprising announcement for us: we had no guests! Charles Lee Jackson, the Second, suggested, "Go out and shanghai a couple." Michelle surveyed the room and said, "But Ed Green’s back." Your humble Scribe disagreed: "No, that’s his front!"

Marcia had a report from Treasurer Elayne Pelz with the news that we had $92,411.98 what we can’t spend, sorry.

Moment of Science: Michelle read an article on "the first science fiction library on Mars," contained on a disk supplied by the Planetary Society. They will hold Planetfest on May 25^th in Pasadena. See their website for details. Bill Green added that he had a publication from them with more information.

Committee Reports: Charles said this month’s FWEMS was to consist of screenings of a slate of Republic B-Westerns, featuring such familiar stars as Roy Rogers, Rex Allen, Gene Autry, and others.

Arlene Satin announced that the children’s story reading event now had a name, The Reading Rocketeers (courtesy of Tadao Tomomatsu), as well as a date for the first go, June 9^th at 6:30 p.m. at the Valley Plaza Branch Library. The book to be read from is A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivian Vandervelt. There is also a logo and other artwork (including a couple of cool 3D cardboard rockets!), designed by David Okamura, as well as other publicity to advertise the event. Arlene led the club in applause in thanks for David’s hard work. The venue is a nice-sized conference room, with an on-site sound system. Zed Null suggested approaching book publishers for bulk prices, and Arlene said she will suggest it to the Library.

A Money Gouge performed by Christian B. McGuire and Cathy Beckstead moved some stuff out of the Clubhouse in exchange for some of the green stuff living in members’ pockets. No, not algae.

We had no old business, but there was some new business. Ed Green spoke to the attendees, saying he is resigning from the Board, and any other appointive positions, because his career is making him busier than ever. He did this with great regret, but felt it was only fair to the club since he has so many other things on his plate. Members awarded him a standing ovation.

Announcements: Marcia said we had a postcard of the Pyramids from Bill ~~Squiggle~~ Anderson, a British fan, who wrote to us all the way from Cairo, Egypt. Edwin Austin said that Digital Media Artists are hosting a special event in honor of Mad’s 50^th anniversary, with a tribute to Sergio Aragonés, Tuesday May 20^th, at the Gallery Theater at Barnsdale Park.

Marcia reminded us that this Sunday is the 2^nd Sunday of the month, an opportunity for all interested to see just how the sausage will be ground and made. In other words, it’s another meeting of the LASFS Board of Directors. Chairman Karl Lembke said it was expected to run a tad long, as there would be a presentation of possible plans for a new building for the Clubhouse. Marcia added that the usual open house, gaming and socializing would commence once that meeting is over.

Reviews: Hare Hobbs had seen "Iron Man," and had mixed feelings about it. His parents had worked in the aerospace industry, and he didn’t like the fact that weapons-builders were the bogeymen here. (Frank Waller reminded him, "It’s only a movie.") Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, he enjoyed it for the cool special effects and action plot. Michelle started to defend the movie, but her possible spoilers were shouted down, so she just concluded, "Best superhero movie to date." Dave Morgan said that he and his son were very pleased with it, especially the performance by Robert Downey Jr. playing a drunken playboy. Who said that Method acting is dead? Nicole Rubins said to be sure to sit through all the credits.

Milt Stevens had seen "The Perfect Creature," a sort of an alternate-universe steampunk movie on HBO, featuring lots of dirigibles in a weird 1950s New Zealand, with vampires posited as as the next step in evolution, with their lifestyle presented as generally normal as the Church of England. Qarl Lembqe said he was enjoying "The Sarah Jane Adventures," a sort of a spinoff of "Doctor Who," which inherited a lot of the quirkiness from that series and added loads of fun featuring silly monsters. Sandy Cohen added that it’s aimed at a younger demographic, much in the way that "Torchwood" is aimed at an older audience. It’s still rather simplistic, but it’s a sort of gateway drug to The Doctor. Your humble Scribe finally got around to extolling the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory." It’s sort of the opposite of the old hit series "Friends," except that while that one was about five hip, cool young people and one nerdy scientist type, this one is about five nerdy Cal Tech scientists (including Sara Gilbert in a recurring role), and only one hip, cool young adult. (Well, she does appear to have two hips, but you know.) Zed Null suggested that the writer’s strike had caused them to rethink the focus of the show, which made it much funnier. It succeeded where "Chuck" failed … but in hindsight, that wouldn’t be so difficult, would it?

Fred Patten said that Disney is collaborating with a studio in India to make a feature-length CGI Bollywood version of "Lady and the Tramp," called "Roadside Romeo." It’ll be out around October, but only in India, not in the United States. Well, that’s what they’re saying, anyway.

Faanish Committee Reports: Hare reported on some politician who was running without opposition, and somebody decided to run and campaign for the other guy. Your humble Scribe tried to make sense of it, but seems to be having some pronoun trouble.

Miscellaneous: Edwin Austin reported on a substitute teacher in Florida who performed a little sleight of hand in his classroom, making a toothpick seem to disappear and reappear, and who then was canned because a student complained that he was performing "wizardry." Marc Schirmeister wondered, "When do they burn him at the stake?" Maybe they have to determine whether he weighs the same as a duck. Oops!

Marcia said there was no program tonight, but Tom Safer planned to be here on the 22^nd with cartoons about pirates and sailors. Christian has planned another big auction for June 5^th, after nominations for President, "so beside doing something foolish, you can bring money and spend it foolishly."

By this time it was 2107, and Fred Patten moved to adjourn. Marcia happened to find a convenient bowling pin, so she decided to strike it on the table, and we split, with no time to spare.

Menace 3690

Sat, 10 May 2008 02:43:48 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3690
1 May 2008
Things were a tad more chaotic than usual, as the usual time came and almost went, while various LASFS members stood and wandered about Freehafer Hall. President Marcia Minsky purred, "We’ve got plenty of seats, so come on in." "I’ve already got one," said your humble Scribe, and before Marcia fully recovered she had already wielded the Spoon of Responsibility to call us to order at 2010. Under Special Orders of Business, CL handed off to Fred Patten, who noted that SF cover artist John Berkey had died Tuesday, aged 75. CL then memorialized composer Bebe Barron, who with husband Louis had been a pioneer of electronic music in science fiction films, namely "Forbidden Planet."

Menace of the previous week’s meeting were read and approved, by suggestion of Larry Niven, as "Scarlet."

And speaking of Larry Niven, it was his night to be celebrated as Patron Saint, so we did so. Scratch Galloway said, "Niven and Pournelle are wonderful writers, thank you." Charles Lee Jackson, the Second noted that of his favorite writers, Larry Niven is the one other people recognize. Elayne called Larry "a generous person, who cares about people, and has cared about this club for as long as he’s been in it." Mike Donahue said, "Larry has a very wicked sense of humor, in a very sly way. When he makes a joke, it’s always worth it. I like his books, and especially the books he writes with Jerry." This prompted Dr. Pournelle: "I suppose I should say something. I’m certainly a wealthier man for knowing Niven. That’s all right; he’s a wealthier man for knowing me. When we started writing together, he said, ‘stick with me, you’ll be rich and famous.’ And he was already rich!" We awarded Patron Saint Larry Niven three cheers "and a flying horse."

A Treasurer’s report from Elayne Pelz indicated we had $92,471.06. Your humble Scribe asked, "who gave us six cents?" Quoth President Marcia, "Everyone."

Registrar Michelle Pincus said we had no guests, but happily noted the annual attendance of LASFS member Ken Ozanne, who was visiting us, as he tends to do, all the way from Australia.

Timebound Announcements: Fred Patten noted that kind fen have been donating their unwanted cell phones to help defray his medical expenses. Anybody yet to do so could bring their old phones to the next couple of LASFS meetings to be passed along to Glen Wootton, who is expected to be attending Califur. [Ad lib: "That reminds me, I left something in the trunk of my car. No, not an ex-girlfriend."]

Committee to Gouge Money from the LASFS: Lots of ~~junque~~ really valuable stuff was moved by Christian McGuire and Cathy Beckstead.

Moment of Science: Michelle stood at the front of the class and read a newspaper obituary for Bebe Barron, pioneer electronic music composer, as mentioned at the top of the meeting. Jerry Pournelle said that he had known both Bebe and Louis very well and thought they were "quite nice."

The usual semi-enthusiastic cheers greeted the revelation that we had neither Old nor New Business.

Timebound Announcements: Michael Thorsen announced the Clubhouse would be hosting Estrogen Zone, with the theme of "Hugo nominees," on Saturday, and ~~twice~~ TRIPE on Sunday. Bill Ellern announced JPL’s open house would take place this weekend, and suggested that anybody interested look on the Web for more detailed information. Fred Lazzelle said the Orange County S.F. club’s latest meeting had featured speaker Jude-Marie Green (known to us regular fans as "Kelly"), who was also scheduled to appear at a booksigning in Glendale on Sunday. CL said that the transcript from the live chat room from Corflu Silver may remain available at the previously-stated URL if it gets enough hits to demonstrate sufficient interest in keeping it there. Bill Mills got a spontaneous award at the convention for doing the work to make the live video feed and chatroom work.

We closed with some news on the health of LASFS members. First, Marcia said that George Mulligan is suffering from an MRSA infection in his other, thusfar "good" foot, but the sulfa treatment seems to be working, and the doctors think they won’t have to amputate any toes this time. The Scribe was directed to send the club’s good wishes to George, preferably in the form of an appropriately inappropriate greeting card. Dr. Pournelle said he would be having an MRI on Friday to see how much of the "damn thing" (i.e., the tumor in his head) had gotten killed, so think good thoughts. Your humble Scribe notes the good doctor’s voice is sounding stronger and clearer, which seems like a good sign.

And on those hopeful notes, the meeting was called to a close at 2124.

Website progress

Fri, 09 May 2008 03:56:41 GMT

The LASFS website home page (hit REFRESH if you don't see it) at
http://www.lasfs.info/html/mainmenu.html now has a Google search for the LASFS website.
I checked this and it worked for me, but please let me know if you find any problems.

Barry has also amalgamated all the contact webpages into one so people won't have to search among
three of them (BoD, Club, Appointed) but can instead jump from the links at the top of the page to the section they want or just do a Control-F to find the appropriate official. The Contact Us at the bottom of the webpage now goes to this webpage, so it also gives people the club's address and phone number.

There's still a LOT of stuff that needs doing, of course. I have been keeping track of suggestions, and Barry hopes to be able to eventually get around to dealing with all of them.

If Sunday's Board meeting leaves Barry still able to add to and improve the LASFS website, he will continue adding content, deleting typos, and otherwise attempting to improve the information level of the webpage.

He also hopes eventually to offer users a choice of websites
* the present Dreamweaver website with its rather complex and confusing site map
* another website (presented as a second skin, in PHP) with a cleaner site map
* a website written in Joomla, a content management system, so that everyone (or for some webpages, just the appropriate official or officer) can add content
We can then let users choose which website they prefer.

--Lee

Menace 3689

Sat, 03 May 2008 02:06:17 GMT

MENACE OF THE LASFS, MEETING #3689
24 April 2008
By Matthew B. Tepper, Scribe
President Marcia Minsky was in no mood to waste time, and rapped the Spoon of Perseverance to call us to order at 2011. There were no Special Orders of Business this week. Hare Hobbs asked, "Have they stopped dying?" CL replied, "no, they stopped telling me." Previous week’s Menace were subsequently read and approved (without corrections, again!) as "Roman Totenberg, where are you?"

This week was the time to honor Patron Saint Bill Warren. Sandy Cohen said he would be having brunch with him on Saturday, indicating that he’s still alive and kicking. Billybond is still doing film reviews for Audio Revolution Online (and wife Beverly has retired). He has been a film reviewer for decades, and produced the seminal book on the topic, Keep Watching the Skies! After Bill Rotsler died, Billybond compiled several issues of Masque for him posthumously, with monies received going to SCIFI to fund the Bill Rotsler Award, and is still giving out Rotsler illos to faneds upon request. Marty Cantor said that Bill had been Lord High Janitor at our previous building back around 1975. Bill used to contribute to Apa L, but has since gotten away from the fannish things as a lot of other people have, but none of this has detracted from his career. CL said Bill has been working on the 2^nd edition of Keep Watching, revising it heavily because he has been able to see lots of movies previously unviewed before the days of VHS and DVDs. In fact, FWEMS’ Summer Festival will be a tribute to the book. Scott Beckstead said that he ran a BBS ‘way back in the late 80s called "Paradise Alley," and Bill was one of his frequent users. "He always had something to say," added Scott, "Always." We awarded St. Bill Warren three cheers "and a Hawaiian shirt with Gorts on it."

Registrar Michelle Pincus had joyous news: We had a guest! He was David Parker, an animé lover, and "geekdom is what encouraged him to visit us." He likes science fiction and fantasy, is a gamer and a media fan, and his occupation is that of city clerk.

Marcia read a report from Treasurer Elayne Pelz to the effect that we have $93,649.20 all told, but let’s not spend it right now. Perhaps there’s a ceiling on our spending?

For the Moment of Science, Michelle returned and read an excerpt from an article actually written by Karen. Ken Fraser, editor of Skeptical Inquirer, had written asking Poul for an article about the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Karen wrote back tactfully informing him, "Poul is dead." "Well, that explains why I haven’t heard from him."

Committee Reports: Milt Stevens said the latest De Profundis was still available from the box on the Treasurer’s desk. Pick it up this week if you haven’t already done so.

Librarian Vanessa Van Wagner showed off a few newly-acquired books, including Lynd Ward’s God’s Man. (Your humble Scribe waxed enthusiastic about this wonderful "novel in woodcuts," having learned about it from, of all people, Fritz Leiber’s first wife Jonquil.)

Charles Lee Jackson, the Second said that this weekend’s FWEMS would consist of a Salute to Boris Karloff. He had a lineup of titles, which sounded really interesting. Showings begin 2:00 p.m.

Committee to Gouge Money out of the LASFS: An auction that was very short was performed by Cathy Beckstead, who was very enthusiastic. We moved the three parking spaces (a nice trick in itself), two of which went to Bill Ellern for $30 each and the third to President Marcia Minsky for $25; and the selection of May’s Soda of the Month went to David Parker, who paid $15 for the privilege of selecting Propel, the sports drink.

We had no Old nor New Business. My, how unusual!

Announcements: CL had written on the whiteboard a URL relating to this weekend’s Corflu, thanks to the tech skills of Bill Mills. Bill Mills’ tech skills? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if the woodchuck were Chuck Crayne? Whatever. Anyway, at the time of the meeting the feed was said to be running a slideshow from past cons of that series, but it was scheduled to "go live" over the weekend and display events as they took place. Whiskey asked for an explanation of Corflu, and CL described the substance as once used by faneds, its name now adopted for what is essentially a fanzine fan’s convention. Joe Zeff heard from Marty Cantor that a guest of honor is selected at random from among the attendees.

Don Wenner said that Tom Safer was planning a program, planned for the 5^th Saturday consisting of one movie, the title of which will not be mentioned by request of the Board.

Faanish Committee Reports: None. Mark the day. It may not happen again in our lifetimes. Well, not in yours, maybe; your humble Scribe is descended from Howards and Vincoeurs.

Reviews: CL had enjoyed revisiting the 1961 TV series "Diver Dan," with marionette fishes as characters, originally shown as part of "Sheriff John’s Lunch Brigade"; it had a strong storyline, and included Suzanne Turner as Miranda the Mermaid. Vol. 1 cost him 99¢, so he would be delighted to find more at that price.

Miscellaneous: Karl Lembke had a work story, which gets kind of interesting when you’re a water quality tester for the DWP. It seems that there was bromine contamination, and so while reservoirs were emptied, somebody had the bright idea that it also might be a good time to clean out the gunk, a task which went much faster than originally expected. "If the Harbor Freeway winds up being washed up into the L.A. River," quoth Qarl, "you’ll know what happened." Don Wenner reported on a presentation by the local Neighborhood Watch, which claimed that the area is the safest it’s been in forty years. Milt said this was always a fairly fortunate zone due to the proximity of other police stations. David Okamura said scientists have indeed determined that mammoths and mastodons were closely related to modern-day elephants. Imagine that! Also, it is speculated that T. Rex tasted like chicken. Your humble Scribe prefers the wings, please. One of them ought to last a few days. CL had another silly scientific discovery, namely the odd fact that microbats and megabats are not related to each other at all, but actually developed separately on different continents. Mary Ann Canfield wanted to know: "Which ones live in the belfry?" CL replied: "Not the fruitbats."

Marcia had seen neither hide nor hair of Heide (even though Hare was sitting in the front row), so the planned rescheduled program item won’t be happening after all. She then added an announcement of the Loscon 35 committee meeting come Saturday morning at 11:00, right here at Clubhouse. CL "moved to disembowel," which idea was not well received by the crowd, which largely went "ugh." Karl moved to table that motion until after we adjourned, and then moved to adjourn, so we did so, at 2101.

Happy birthday, lady_spoon!

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:10:39 GMT

With the wish that you are able to celebrate many more of them with us, your friends.