October 27, 2012

Laser Rangers 2012 November Meeting

Marvel Superheroes II (Special Thanksgiving Edition)

Date: November 3, 2012
Time: 4:45pm (Fhanish 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.
Captain Laser: Ken Keller
Food Theme: Thanksgiving Dinner
Dress Theme: Fine attire, Classy dress or leftover Halloween costumes (super hero themed please, but not required)

See more at the Laser Rangers Website. 


Short features will precede our main features!

X-Men: First Class


(2011, Appox. 132 minutes); Starring James McAvoy, Micheal Fassbender, Rose Byrne, and Kevin Bacon 

In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III.

Check out this awesome trailer!










~~~~~
During the break we will have our annual MOVIE MEETING where in we will plan out next year's movie schedule. This will be a longer dinner break than normal so we can all enjoy wonderful food prepared by the Laser Rangers and come up with the best possible movie agenda for the year to come.
~~~~~

There will be more amazing shorts between dinner and our main feature.


Captain America: The First Avenger

MAIN FEATURE!
(2011, 124 minutes); Starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones & Hugo Weaving
 
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending USA ideals.

A truly fantastic super hero movie and the awesome trailer!







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.

IMAGE CREDITS: The information and movie poster images for all of these shows come from the invaluable IMDB or the movie's  respected distrubutors. 
The movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Many thanks to these websites!

October 18, 2012

The Haunting of the Writers Place Happens Saturday!

Who: All KAXFEN and friends are invited!
What: Monthly KaCSFFS meeting and Annual Halloween Party
When: Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012--Party setup begins 5:15, Board meeting 5:30, KaCSFFS Boo!-ness meeting begins 6:30 (Diana: "KaCSFFS Halloween party will start after the boo!-ness . . . so let's see how short we can make it!")
Where: Our usual: The Writers Place (see map link at end of post)
Why: Because it's fun!
How: In costume, of course! How else?
Sherri Dean, Ken Keller, and other
KAXFEN enjoy the food at our 2011
Halloween event.  
This from our Zombie Queen:
"Yes, indeedy, Boils and Ghouls! The rumors are true! The KaCSFFS Halloween Party is going to rise again! Bring yummies for your mummies, bats for your brats and brains for ... well... someone who needs 'em! We have the best cooks around, just don't ask what's in the food! [Editor's note: more on food, below!]

"Our special guest, the Mysterious Mystie will be hosting a terrifying game show Trick or Trivia in which one lucky winner gets to live! Yay! For those nice, quiet serial killer-who-lurks types we'll be having a special trivia contest and of course our costume contest.

"There'll also be treat bags for our younger (12 and under) fans- ya gotta plump 'em up before ya eat 'em, right? Did I say that out loud? Quick- to the buffet table!

One of the 2011 food tables.
"And in honour of our food contest I present to you RETURN OF THE MEATHEAD! So plan to meat, eat and greet as we scare up a night full of fun!

"Sin-cerely yrs, Scary Sherri"
Madame Prez notes: "Sherri is our Zombie Queen ... I mean, fearless leader for this year's activities. She has planned "stuff," and you don't want to piss off the Zombie Queen ... I mean fearless leader by not showing up! So be there, or be coffinated! (Does anybody do de-cof?)"

Regarding the Food:
Again from Madam Prez (Diana Bailey): "Bring your best spooky dish! We LOVE 'finger food,' 'eyes cream,' 'brain pudding,' 'Man-wiches,' and such. Be creative! But please, no 'knuckle sandwiches.'

James Holloman and Sherri Dean
both made fashion statements
in orange at the 2011 event.
"The Food Idea is 'People as Food.' Think, To Serve Man, or the 'Human Buffet' from Galaxina. The gory cats ... I mean categories ... will be voted on. Like, you know, well, most 'scary creative', best 'scary taste,' and as always, the winners will be determined by the voters. Voters are the attendees. That's right! You get to vote!

"Gypsy" Susan Ives
in 2011.
"I am planing on bring 'bones' and 'bloody scabs' for the buffet table. What are you bringing? Be sure to bring your own drink and ice, too.

"The Dead Will Dine! . . . But only if you contribute!"

We also can hope certain persons have exhausted their supply of puns, at least till spring!

Regarding the Costumes:
Granted, KAXFEN rarely need much of an excuse to dress in costume or put on bizarre makeup. You say there's a Zombie Walk? We're there! Hall costumes at sf cons? Well, duh. 

So during the Halloween season, the very season itself is sufficient excuse!

Tanya Holthouse and Jeff Orth portrayed the
Skellingtons in 2011.
No, if you're not into the costume thing we won't bar you at the door, and we promise not to point and laugh, either! But if you're even slightly so-inclined, this is a great place to indulge your inner child with a game of dress-up.

To help get you inspired, we've included some photos of costumes worn to last year's event. We apologize to the many KAXFEN who had superlative outfits last year, and were not portrayed here! Choices were dictated by the practical questions of which costumes this editor had managed to capture, and of those which pictures turned out the best!

But wait! 
What happened to Joel Sanderson?
We had announced some time ago that Joel Sanderson would be our special guest at this meeting.

Joel Sanderson as Gunther Dedmond on "The Basement
Sublet of Horror" on the Monster Channel.
As you may know, Joel hosts a Tuesday night horror/comedy program each week, "The Basement Sublet of Horror," on the Monster Channel. If you have not watched the Monster Channel, it might be a great idea to tune in! His show is a quirky mixture of B-movies, horror, comedy, educational videos, gladiator movies, and cooking shows.

If you are a fan who wanted to see him, we are sorry to have some bad news for you.

Unfortunately, Joel has been dealing with a number of health issues, and will be unable to present a program as scheduled. Perhaps he'll be able to join us another time. Meanwhile, we wish him the very best, and especially a swift and complete recovery! A get-well card for Joel will be available at the meeting.

One-Act Pod Plays also are due!
As announced in June and again in September, our 2012 Pod-Play contest ends Oct. 20. Turn in entries at the meeting, or email as .DOC files (there was a mail-in option as well, but the window of opportunity for that will already have closed by the time this is posted).

Once the pod-play entries have been received, they will be posted to the KAXFEN Yahoo Group within a week. We will announce on KAXFEN and in this space when and where the scripts are available to be read and voted upon by KaCSFFS members. The winner will be announced at the November meeting, November 17, 2012.

Where is The Writers Place, again?
Here's the map, in case you need it:


View Larger Map

PHOTO CREDITS: All but one of the photos in this post are by Jan S. Gephardt, taken at the Oct. 29, 2011 KaCSFFS meeting. They are available for repost with no alteration and with credit given. The lone exception is the image of Joel Sanderson in character. It is from the LJ World website, courtesy of the Lawrence Journal World.

October 08, 2012

Laser Rangers 2012 October Meeting

Lovecraft Love

We've got a triple header for you all!!

Date: October 13, 2012
Time: 4:45pm (Fhanish 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.
Captain Laser: Mike McCain
Food Theme: Something HORRIBLE
Dress Theme: Halloween

See more at the Laser Rangers Website.

Short features will precede our main features!

The Call of Cthulhu


(2005, Appox. 47 minutes); Starring Matt Foyer, John Bolen, Ralph Lucas, & Chad Fifer
The film follows the story's three-part narrative construction, and it moves from the 1920s to 1908 to the 1870s and back, as the story does. The story embodies HPL's nihilistic world view, his cosmic perspective, and his sense that mankind is doomed by its own insignificance.

Check out this awesome trailer!







 

Dagon


(2001, Appox. 95 minutes); Starring Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Raquel Meroño, & Macarena Gómez
A boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they should discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring.

Based loosely on 'Shadow over Innsmouth'.


Check out this awesome trailer!






~~~~~
We will break for a pot luck dinner between features to discuss what we've just seen, what is coming, and more. Usually a lively conversation. You can bring what you want to share or just something for yourself.
~~~~~
There will be more amazing shorts between dinner and our main feature.


Cast a Deadly Spell


SPECIAL FEATURE!
(1991, 96 minutes); Starring Fred Ward, David Warner, Julianne Moore, & Clancy Brown
 
In a fantastical 40's where magic is used by everyone, a hard-boiled detective investigates the theft of a mystical tome.


Oh the 90s really knew how to make an awesome trailer!






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.

IMAGE CREDITS: The information and movie poster images for all of these shows come from the invaluable IMDB or the movie's  respected distrubutors. 
The movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Many thanks to these websites!

October 02, 2012

We have a Hotel! And Logos! And Books to Read! And a Game of Thrones Marathon!

The water resort part includes some outdoors and some inside.
Major announcements have been coming in like meteors in a Perseid meteor shower, recently. Here's a rundown of our top "breaking news" stories:
 
We have a Hotel!
ConQuesT, or science fiction convention, is moving to a new hotel for ConQuesT 44, held on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-26, 2013. It is the Holiday Inn Southeast CoCo Key Resort, 9103 East 39th Street, Kansas City, MO. 

The convention room rate is $85/night (discount cutoff is May 1, 2013). The room fee includes free wi-fi, free parking, and discounted access to CoCo Key Water Resort. For more information, please see the ConQuesT website or the hotel's website.


View Larger Map  


We have Official Logos!
Not tired of it yet!

The votes are in, and we have "new" logos for KaCSFFS and ConQuesT. We will be using these on our official communications.

The new ConQuesT logo
"New" is in quote marks, however, because the KaCSFFS logo chosen by the majority of our voters is the original 1977 logo! Designed by Ken Keller and clearly still meaningful to our members, this perennial classic will continue as our "mark."

The new ConQuesT logo really is new, though! Designed last spring to be updated with new numbers as years pass, the round shape of this Keri O'Brien design should complement our KaCSFFS classic well. For creating the new logo, Keri wins a free membership to ConQuesT 44, a Certificate of Recognition, and a box of Annedore's Artisanal Chocolates or suitable alternative of her choice.

Read it by October 22, and join in!
We have Books to Read!
The SF&F Literati group has announced a new list of selections for the next four meetings. Don't wait a moment longer to get your copy of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys for the October 22 meeting! The group meets to discuss the book selection of the month at the Oak Park Barnes & Noble Booksellers, second floor at 7:00 p.m., on the fourth Monday of most months (No meeting in December, and 3rd Monday in May).

The Barnes & Noble Overview says of Anansi Boys:
"When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie 'Fat Charlie.' Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.

"Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is to day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun . . . just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

"Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion; he is able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, baffle the devil, and cheat Death himself.

"Exciting, scary, and deeply funny, ANANSI BOYS is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth, a wild adventure, and a fierce and unstoppable farce, as Neil Gaiman shows us where gods come from, and how to survive your family."

The rest of the lineup looks pretty good, too:
Nov 26, 2012  Redshirts by John Scalzi
(No meeting is planned for December: the 4th Monday is Christmas Eve.)
Jan 28, 2013  Leviathan Wakes by James A. Corey (Hugo Nominee)
Feb 25, 2013  The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss  (ConQuest GOH)

And we have a Game of Thrones Marathon! 
Looks as if they're going to do it after all!  The Laser Rangers have just announced they will host a special showing of Season 2, Episodes 5, 6, and 7.

Proceedings begin at 4:45 p.m., enjoying the amenities of David Sooby's home theater . To follow the food theme, ample help is on hand from the Inn at the Crossroads.

Here's an atmospheric warm-up video you may enjoy, produced by Karilene Reynolds and available via YouTube:

IMAGE CREDITS: The exterior of the Holiday Inn Southeast/CoCo Key Resort is from the hotel's website. We are indebted to Ken Keller and Keri O'Brien for their logo designs. Barnes & Noble Booksellers provided cover art for the SF&F Literati selections, and the movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Karilene Reynolds is responsible for the video about the Game of Thrones.