Are YOU "Ossifer" Material?

February Meeting is the time to Declare Candidacy!

KaCSFFS only accepts self-nominations.

It is a time-tested KaCSFFS tradition for those who want to be officers to speak for themselves. We only accept self-nominations.

At the February meeting (6:30 p.m. Feb. 18, 2012, at The Writers Place), self-nominations become open for the offices of:
     Director/President
     Secretary
     Treasurer
     Communications Officer
     2013 ConQuesT Chair

New incoming officers have the option of up to a two-month orientation period, when the outgoing officer helps get them oriented. KaCSFFS officers serve for one year. No one may hold two elected Board of Directors offices at the same time, but there currently is no Bylaws-mandated limit on the number of consecutive terms one may serve.

This slate of officer titles is different from past years, and so is the timing. Here's why: The Bylaws Committee has been laboring to complete a set of Bylaws that will comply with all federal and state regulations for a 501(c)3 corporation--including changing "Director" to "President" and adding a fifth elected person to the Board.

Members WILL have a chance to see, discuss, and vote on the new Bylaws before we hold elections in April! But some of the changes are not going to be optional, if we want to take advantage of the benefits of a 501(c)3 corporation (trust us--we DO!).

All dues must be paid by the March meeting (6:30 p.m. Mar. 17, 2012, at The Writers Place), if you want to vote.

Voting is scheduled for April (6:30 p.m. Apr. 21, 2012, at The Writers Place),.

PHOTO CREDIT: The "candidate" image is from the Dixie County website.

Laser Rangers Are "All Alone in the World" January 28

Date: January 28, 2012

Time: Around 4:15 p.m., “fan time”

Place: David Sooby’s home theater with 51-inch Samsung HDTV, a 5.1 Surround Sound Dolby Digital sound system, a full set of audiophile-grade speakers, and brand new seating for about 15 people without crowding.

Food Theme: TBA (fresh, theater-style popcorn available throughout the evening)

Captain Laser: Corey Barber

The Program: "Sad to be All Alone in the World"

Check the Laser Rangers website for more information.

The Before-Dinner Movie: 

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)

Stars Julie Andrews, James Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, John Gavin, Jack Soo, Pat Morita, and others.

IMDB synopsis: "Millie comes to town in the roaring twenties to encounter flappers, sexuality and white slavers." 

Storyline: "In 1922 New York City, Millie Dillmount and Miss Dorothy Brown are just two of the girls living at the Priscilla Hotel for Single Young Ladies run by Mrs. Meers. 

"Orphaned, Miss Dorothy, just recently arrived, is a naive, old-fashioned girl from a seemingly privileged background who has aspirations to be a stage actress. From more modest means, Millie, in New York for three months, used to be old fashioned, but now has a new modern sensibility and look to match, complete with bobbed hair and dresses with hemlines above the knee. 

"Included in this new modern sensibility is Millie's goal of getting a job as a stenographer, with a quick promotion to being her wealthy boss's 'Mrs.'. Love is not to factor into the equation. She believes she's found the right employer in the form of chisel-jawed Trevor Graydon of the Sincere Trust Insurance Company." 

Written by Huggo  

Adapted from a hit Broadway musical, this movie is based on a now-classic musical theater standard that is in near-perennial production somewhere all the time, in regional, community, college, or high school theaters around the world.

This movie won an Oscar in 1967 for Best Music, Original Music Score. It was nominated for five others, as well.

The Laser Rangers take a dinner break between the two features of the evening, to share a potluck dinner and discuss the movie they have just seen, or get caught up on other events.

The After-Dinner Movie:

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Directed by Frank Capra, this movie stars Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, and manyothers.

IMDB synopsis: "A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family."

Storyline: "Mortimer Brewster is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse." 

Written by John Vogel

As with Millie, it would be hard to enumerate how many productions of this play are put on each year by companies from regional equity to local high school. This is an enduring classic.

The home of the Laser Rangers is located about two miles north of the Kansas Speedway, NW of the intersection of I-70 and I-435 on the Kansas side of the Greater Kansas City area.


For the exact address and directions, e-mail David Sooby at the email address given here.

PHOTO/IMAGE CREDITS: The information and movie poster image for Thoroughly Modern Millie come from the movie's page on the IMDB website. The information and movie poster image for Arsenic and Old Lace come from that movie's page on the IMDB website. The movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Many thanks to these websites!

SF&F Literati Meet January 23, 2012

SF&F Literati meet at the Oak Park
Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Join SF&F Literati, the KaCSFFS Book Club!
SF&F Literati meet every fourth Monday of the month at the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park. The book group will meet at the 2nd floor nearest the windows, they will have the area set up for us. 

The January selection is
The Unincorporated Man.

January's book is 


The Unincorporated Man by Dani & Eytan Kollin
Overview from B&N:
     "The incredible has happened.  A billionaire businessman from our time, frozen in secret in the early 21st century, is discovered in the far future and resurrected, given health and a vigorous younger body. He awakens into a civilization in which every individual is formed into a legal corporation at birth, and spends many years trying to attain control over their own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
     "Justin Cord is the only unincorporated man in the world, a true stranger in this strange land. Justin survived because he is tough and smart. He cannot accept only part ownership of himself, even if that places him in conflict with a civilization that extends outside the solar system to the Oort Cloud.
     "The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that people will be arguing about for decades."

February Selection Available Now: 

Start reading the February selection NOW!

Order your copy of the February selection now! The group discusses  I am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore February 27, 2012.

Overview from B&N: Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.
But they know.
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.
I am Number Four.
I am next.


Locator map:

View Larger Map


PHOTO/IMAGE CREDITS: The image of the Oak Park Barnes & Nobles store is from the store locator website. Images of the covers of The Unincorporated Man and I am Number Four are from their respective pages on the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers website.

Informative, Relaxed, and Tasty!

KaCSFFS Kicks off its Meeting Year January 21, 2012

We're back at The Writer's Place for
another meeting on 1/21/12.

Location: The Writers Place
3607 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO 64111-2820

(Map at end of this post)

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Informative!

For the program, The X-Ray Delta One Podcast group is taping a panel discussion about views of Fandom and how it is changing. The panelist list was still being worked out at publication time.

Cassandra offers Massage Therapy at
Be Well on 39th.

Relaxed!

Prepare for bliss, at the hands of Cassandra Schultz, Massage Therapist! Cassandra will be available all evening to give massages just like the ones she gives at Be Well on 39th, a local holistic health center. 

"Manual muscle manipulations [are] used to decrease pain, stress, and tension, and increase immunity and body awareness," she writes on her website. She specializes in Reflexology and Craniosacral Therapy.

If you like what you experience at the meeting, you can book an appointment with her later, at 816-456-7945.

Tasty!

The January meeting hosts the Third Annual KaCSFFS Chili Cookoff! Bring your best chili, and take on all comers! 

Here are the rules for this year's event:

1. The tasting starts AFTER the meeting.

2. Each chili will receive a number, on a card placed in front of its pot.

3. The club will provide spoons and tasting cups for samples.

4. Tasters vote for their Top Two (2) chilis by marking a ballot.

5. Ballots will be tabulated by Board Members who did not bring chili.

6. The Top Three Chili Cooks will be covered in glory and lauded in the presence of all!

If you choose not to bring chili, please consider bringing crackers, cornbread, butter, cheese, sour cream, or other things that go with chili. You also could bring dessert!  And as always, bring your own drinks, ice, etc. as you prefer!

Do YOU have a great chili recipe? Show us your stuff!

We promised you a map:


View Larger Map 


PHOTO/IMAGE CREDITS: The photo of The Writers Place is from their website. The photo of the Be Well on 39th building is from their website. The image of the rulebook, Da Rules, from the Fairly Oddparents cartoon came from a forum on the Notebook Review website.  Left and center chili bowl images came from Wikimedia Commons, and the bowl with oyster crackers is an image from The Chili Guy's website. The promised map is from Google Maps.