[Channel Open]
[Incoming Transmission from Psi Phi, Office of Communications]

Minutes

(10/15/2003)

Call To Order: 10:03pm

Attendance:

• Ryan Woodrow (Captain)
• Kevin Zepp (First Officer)
• David Henderson (Chief of Operations)
• Elizabeth Koprucki (Grand Nagus)
• Laura Zadrozny (Constable)
• Kristen Zidon (Communications Officer)
• Jeff Hibbard (Faculty Advisor)
• Kristi Aulenbach
• Marisa Bonomo
• Andrew Conrad, aka Señor Bob
• Curtis Erickson
• Julie Faas
• Joel Fried
• Joan Johnson
• Andrew Kalafut
• Doug King
• Jon Lascelles
• Scott Liekis
• Mikiko Okamoto
• Meaghan Porter
• Don Steiner
• Erik Wills, aka Xeen
• Guest: Becky Payne
• Stuffed animal: Neko (cat)

There were 23 attendees and one stuffed animal.

• The Captain started the meeting by apologizing for any unpreparedness on the part of the Communications Officer, the Grand Nagus, or himself, as these three officers were in Geisert when the fire alarm went off, and Ryan is also sick.
• Apparently, Ryan has been chugging NyQuil and seeing entirely new colors. Someone commented that soon he'll be an art major.
• People comment on the niftiness of Meaghan's Borg action figure. She apparently got it for free.

Minutes:

The minutes are still in Geisert, so the Comm. Officer attempts to give a summary, and this summary is approved.

Committee Reports:

• David has contact information for eight more alumni: Eric Gustafson ('95-'96), Brad Boyer ('95-'97), Paul Mulka ('95-'98), Nate Sullivan ('95-'97), Don Wood ('94-96), Josh McMinn ('95), David Rowe ('94-'95), and Christy McVety ('94-'95)
• Don Wood was the club's first and only Chief Medical Officer. His duty was to relieve the Captain if he or she was deemed unfit for duty.
• Christy McVety is now Christy Rowe, as she married David Rowe. Psi Phi: The Matchmaker!

• David contacted Velma Hayes, the Bradley Alumni Records Coordinator. She can get contact info for the members who graduated, and may be able to find information for some of those who left for other reasons (transferred, dropped out, etc.).
• David has some possible leads on some more original (1994) members. There will be more information when he finds out if they lead anywhere.
• Addendum: David has a new url for the reunion: www.psiphi.org/reunion.

• Jon has yet more movie lists, as well as The Matrix Reloaded (and the metallic DVD case that came with it).
• Evidently the Sci Fi channel has invented time travel, as its schedule for Sunday, Oct. 19 has a Mad Max sequel (with a 94 minute running time) starting at 2:00 and then has the next program begin at 3:00.
• Jon gives a review of Blood Hook, a horrifying (although probably not in the originally-intended way) movie where the killer murders his victims with giant fishhooks. Oddly enough, this does not narrow down the list of suspects, as everyone seems to be using giant fishhooks in some sort of fishing competition. Also, the killer keeps his victims on a line in the water, but it seems no one has noticed the string of bloated corpses with giant fishhooks in their mouths.
• Ryan asks if people want to see the second season of Next Generation; the response is positive. Ryan has the DVDs, we just need a place to show them.
  • Joel!
  • Joel's place has no DVD or VCR, which presents a problem.
  • We could rent a room at Baker or somewhere, but they tend to be less comfortable and create problems with setting up equipment.
  • The Next Generation-watching will take place in Ryan's room this weekend, starting around 1:00 or 2:00 pm.

• The couch still hasn't been moved to the office yet.
• Joel!
• Ryan will contact Greg about moving it.

• Joel!
• No report.

• No report, as Laura's not here.
• Addendum: Laura arrived later, but had left her T-shirt information at home, since she'd arrived straight from work.

• Joel!
• "Good, I was feeling left out."
• (Jon is made deputy Constable in Laura's absence.)
• Julie gives an example of how Amy would roll if Anti-Joel brought the SBAM.
• It is noted that several members don't know what the SBAM is, many of them don't know Anti-Joel, and most of them don't know Amy. This must be changed! Or something.
• No report.

Officers' Reports:

• The Comm. Officer went to visit her older sister, Karina, and took Elizabeth along with her.
• They went to a tea shop, which had tea, coffee, chocolate and various sorts of "tea paraphernalia", which includes tea cozies and teapots but, sadly, no tea-shirts as David suggested.
• They also went to the farmers' market, which had jewelry stands that made Elizabeth go into ferret shock, and one stand had hemp necklaces with large metal nuts (of the nuts and bolts variety) in them, leading to the guy at the stand saying, "You're staring at my nuts!" and telling his girlfriend, "Honey, your nuts are bigger than mine."
• Chocolate cheesecake, tea, cookies, and a good time were had by all.
• Karina rocks!
• The Comm. Officer wants a cool phrase to mark the end of her reports, like "Everything's under control." The phrase "This is the end of my report" is suggested, but lacks flair. Suggestions are welcome.

• The Constable was absent at the time, so no report was given.
• Addendum: When the Constable arrived, she informed the club that Waldenbooks now has a "Buy four books, get the fifth book free!" deal on all of its books.
• She also shared a quote she found when stripping comics:

  "I march. I protest. And I have a giant robot with a killer body.
  "It's very complicated."
  --Natasha Irons, inventor

• No report.

• The treasury currently has $390.35.
• The Nagus needs to pick up the pumpkin for the Jazz up Your Jack-o-lantern contest. Pretty much any form of decoration is acceptable, with the exception of carving.
• The mystery of the Pepto-Bismol pink canvases is solved--Ken and Kristi painted them earlier.
• The Nagus shows off her T-shirt, which features Trinity from The Matrix, and her Matrix-colored jewelry (black and green).
• David went to CEFCU and got forms for the club checking account. He asks to see the officers after the meeting to fill out forms.
• The Nagus's email account has been added to the officers list.
• Up to three people can be authorized to use the account. David suggests having these people be the Captain, the Grand Nagus (both of which will eventually change over time), and David (David personally, not whoever is the Chief of Operations).

• The First Officer saw the movie Kill Bill: Volume 1, and deemed it very cool. It has Uma Thurman kicking...butt.
• Ryan confirmed that it was very good, although it's not for people who aren't fond of gore in their movies.
• It's a bloody good movie.
• The website has a feature where you can "assassinate" your friends.

• "Letters" was sung.
  • The "letter" was half of a flyer for the Jazz up Your Jack-o-lantern event.
  • Joan demands a refund and is told to sing the song backwards.

Old Business:

• The Star Trek convention in Champaign was cancelled. Ryan still has Heidi's check, and can either give it back to her or shred it, depending on which Heidi prefers.
• We're still planning an away team to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The tickets are a flat $15. Ryan will be collecting money at the Oct. 22 meeting. We'll be going shopping for props as a group sometime to save money, although people can go shopping on their own. If you need a props list, contact Ryan.
  • Use good judgment: nothing that will rot or be too messy (hot dogs, toast with butter or other toppings) or will set thing on fire (like lighters or candles. This is especially important as most people will have newspapers on their heads at this point).
• GKC is showing The Matrix as part of their rerun film series this weekend. We set up an away team to go see it.
• We consider setting up an away team to the LotR marathon in Springfield. People comment that tickets need to be obtained soon, as they're selling out quite quickly.
• Julie brings up the Rope of Hope. It calls for teams of four to six people, and will take place on Friday at 3:00. It costs $12 to register ahead of time or $15 to register that day. Julie doesn't have much information and was unable to contact anyone about registering ahead of time.
• Ryan suggests we have Julie pay for registration if she can do so before that day, and we would have Psi Phi pay her back. Otherwise, we would pay $15 that day. We vote to do so, with 16 for, zero against, and three abstentions.
• Some members who had previously said they'd be there said that they were unable to do so, so other members volunteer to replace them. The team ends up being Sr. Bob, Xeen, Joan, and Kristen, with Elizabeth and Ryan being unlikely to make it, but saying they'd try.
• Laura arrived at this point and shared the comments found in the addendums for T-shirt Committee and Constable's Report.

New Business:

• David brings up the Mini Con for Comics. He adds, though, that it's not all that great.
• Note: This is a convention that is mini. It is not for mini comics, and it does not have miniatures, although both of those sound really cool.
• The Con will take place on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Signature Inn by the mall, on 4112 Brandy Drive from 10:00-4:00.
• We decide we'll want to have an away team for The Matrix Revolutions, which is coming out on Nov. 5.

Other Organizations' Announcements:

• None. Again. Apparently we're the only organization that's doing anything these days.

Scifi News:

• David departs from his usual pattern by showing us his s.f. acquisitions first.
  • The TV Guide for next week has multiple items on the upcoming season of 24, which will be starting on Oct. 28, such as pictures and recaps. There are two actors in the series with s.f. connections: D.B. Woodside, who played the principal on BtVS, and Andrea Thompson, who was on Babylon 5 and will be playing a virologist.
  • David has DS9 season five, which includes the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".
• Rick Berman said that Enterprise DVDs (whenever they eventually come out) might have deleted scenes in them. For instance, last season's finale included a scene with Archer and a friend on Earth but it had to be cut to make room for more commercials.
• An Enterprise episode on cloning ethics was just filmed. "Similitude" will air on Nov. 19.
• Enterprise and Jake 2.0 were broadcast in HDTV for the first time tonight. But in order to see it instead of the regular view, your cable company has to send the HDTV signal (or you have to have an antenna capable of picking it up), your TV has to be HDTV-ready, and you have to have extra equipment. This is the first night of UPN's HDTV broadcasts.
• Star Trek (the original season) DVD season boxed sets will be out in 2004 in the UK, according to dvdanswers.com. There's no word yet as to whether they will also be appearing in the U.S. in 2004, but it seems likely.
• Patrick Stewart has filed for separation from his wife, Wendy Neuss (who's also co-producer for ST:TNG).
• Alyson Hannigan (Willow on BtVS) is set to star in an NBC sitcom in fall 2004.
• The first "season" of SW: Clone Wars animated shorts will begin in November. The second "season" will start in March 2004. They are set about three months after AotC.
• Reviews for the DVD edition of The Matrix Reloaded say that the extras are generally poor. This may indicate that the filmmakers will be releasing a special edition DVD next year after The Matrix Revolutions comes out on DVD (possibly a boxed set?).
• Actors Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Kiera Knightly; producer Jerry Bruckheimer; writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot; and director Gore Verbinski are all back for the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean. Arr!
• The movie Kill Bill, Volume I used that ancient Klingon proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
• Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien, TNG/DS9) co-stars in the new western movie Blueberry, about 1870s U.S. Marshal Mike S. Blueberry, who deals with murder, bounty hunters, a lynch mob, and rumors of a gold mine guarded by a ghost. The cast includes Dennis Hopper and Eddie Izzard, and the release is tentatively scheduled for February 2004.
• Rumor has it that the Star Wars original trilogy will be released on DVD in fall 2004. Will it happen? Who knows?
• Three free Star Wars short stories are downloadable from starwars.com, at http://www.starwars.com/eu/news/2003/10/news20031001.html.
• You can get a copy of SW: The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force that has been signed by author James Luceno at www.e-signings.com. This must be ordered by October 25.
• Brannon Braga, from Enterprise, won a Distinguished Alumni award from Kent University. It will be presented to him Oct. 18.
• Weekly World News tabloid reported that a group of anti-French Trek fans started a petition to change Jean-Luc Picard's name to "John Luke Pickerd." However, no such petition exists.
• Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Janeway, Voyager), Dwight Schultz (Barclay, TNG/Voyager), Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun, Farscape), Michael T. Weiss (Jared, The Pretender), Ron Perlman (Viceroy Vkruk, Star Trek Nemesis), and others lend their voices to the new Lords of Everquest PC strategy game.
• Harry Potter is #3 on the Forbes Magazine annual list of Top-Earning Characters. #1 and #2 are Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse. Spider-Man, Frodo Baggins, and Darth Vader are #4, #5, and #6.
• China launched its first manned outer space mission Wednesday morning (Tuesday night our time); the astronaut is Yang Liwei, age 38. He landed around 6:00 pm Central Time. Welcome to the '50s, China!
• Kristen talked about the Farscape information she mentioned last time, which was found on www.toughpigs.com, a site for older Muppet fans. The site said that Farscape will be coming back for a four-hour miniseries.
• Ryan comments on the cliffhanger ending of Farscape, and the cliffhanger ending of ALF is also discussed, in which ALF was kidnapped. The cliffhanger was later resolved in a television movie.
• Someone notes that ALF must have gotten out of that situation and been okay, as he's now doing 10-10-321 commercials. Kristen replies that audiences only *think* that's ALF. In reality, he's been disemboweled and is now being used as a puppet.
• Jim Henson's The Storyteller is now out on DVD, and can be found at Wal*Mart (or ordered through www.psiphi.org/dvd).
• Scott remarks that the temperature of Hell is now 33 degrees and rising rapidly. The Apocalypse has been narrowly averted. In other words, the Cubs lost.
• Jon ordered the immensely disturbing Hell Comes to Frogtown from amazon.com. However, he did NOT order it through www.psiphi.org/dvd. ::sobs in dismay::
• The fifth post-meeting meeting will take place at Steak 'n' Shake (the previous four dealing with the Matrix away team, pumpkin decorating, the Psi Phi checking account, and the small comic convention).

Adjournment: 11:01 [meeting time!] pm