#4-May 1999

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT OUR NEXT MEETING!
    Persistence pays! Thanks to the dogged determination of Mr. Dave Henederson we now have a new permanent home! We've gotten the meeting hall attached to the Perry Hall Presbyterian Church located at 8848 Belair Road in Perry Hall. This is very important information. We're going to spend some time on this. So work with me, please.
    Directions: Take Baltimore Beltway 695 exit 32 North onto Route 1, Belair Road. If you're coming from I-95, after you've gone through the tunnel, take the Beltway west toward Towson and take your first exit, exit 32, north. Drive about 2.5 miles on Belair Road. The church is on your left, just prior to the intersection of Belair Road and Joppa Road. The back entrance to the church is just beyond the miniature golf course on the left hand side. According to Mr. Henderson it's easy to miss. There's ample opportunity to turn around and try it again. The hall is apart from the church but it's easy to spot.
    If you get lost: To quote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Don't Panic." Get to a phone and call 410-598-8005. That's Dave Henderson's cell phone. He'll gladly talk you in.
    The amenities: Now that we've talked about how to find it let's talk about what you'll find. There's is ample free parking, a large well lit room, and the use of a complete kitchen facility. The kitchen includes a refrigerator, stove and microwave. The room is air conditioned and includes ample tables and chairs. Additionally, we're not too far from the White Marsh movie theaters and dozens of restaurants if we decide to explore other activities in addition to our meetings.
    Meeting times and dates: Our next meeting is scheduled to christen our new home on Saturday evening, May 29th. We're back to Saturday nights! This meeting is scheduled from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. The meeting times may alter slightly, but in general keep the last Saturday night of each month open.

DUES NEWS!
    In other news, just a friendly reminder to pony up those dues. As of this newsletter everyone has a 2 issue grace period to pay up. The dues are $20 per individual and $30 per couple. While we're in the process of opening a new account we prefer to get cash from you. And once again, if you're busting to be a member but just can't find the funds to spend, let the Board know. We'll do our best to accommodate you.

NEWS FROM THE SELDOM SEEN
    We may think that the club is made up entirely of people that we see at the meetings. T'aint necessarily so. This newsletter is reaching out to many people who've expressed an interest in the club but may have missed a couple of meetings. They're with us in spirit and (we hope) in the flesh now that we've returned to Saturday nights.
    Jack Tydings of Ellicott City sent us a nice letter, along with his dues. Jack was actually attempting to set us up with a lodge in Dundalk as a meeting hall. The good news is that it was available to us. The bad news is that it would have cost us $285 a night (ouch!). Jack, even though it didn't work out, we really appreciate your efforts. Thanks!
    Ralph and Peggy Gervasio have been off gallivanting around the countryside during our last couple of meetings. One of those sojourns was to say "hello" to their new grandchild in Tennessee. Congratulations Peggy and Ralph!
    Polly Lynn contacted us recently. Schedule conflicts make it difficult for her to join us but we hope that somehow we can arrange to get her among her fellow ICS'ers! She made a request that we're about to acknowledge below:

MONSTER RALLY REGISTRATION
    Things are bubbling for the August Con in Crystal City. Polly needs our help. People need to work 6 hours to get in for free at Monster Rally. If you're planning on working, Polly could use some of that assistance at registration. She tells us that there are already more people pre registered than have attended any prior Fanex! The registration hours are as follows: Thur 7 PM-9PM, Fri 3PM-9PM, Sat 7AM-7PM and Sun 8AM-2PM. If you're available contact Polly at lynnfam@erols.com or at 410-969-0865.

A BIRD WITH A BROKEN WING
    ICS'er babe Cindy Ruth Collins (of Brian and Cindy fame!) has been grasping life a little more delicately lately. It will be a while before the bones in her broken wrist mend. Get well soon Cindy! And let's put an end to that silly gossip right now. There is no truth to the rumor that a maddened John Clayton caused the break when demonstrating how he planned to collect club dues. I think that even with a broken wrist Cindy could could still kick John's keester!

IMAGINATIVE TELEVISION IN MAY
    In his epic poem, The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot lamented that "April is the cruellest month." But for those of us who are fans of series television May is nastier by far. It is in May when we bid farewell to our favorite characters for the summer (and sometimes forever if the show is ending). Below you'll find an alphabetical list of series and when their last  new episodes are slated to air along with the episode name.

"7 Days"                                 5/26/99                   "Lifeboat"
"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"     5/18/99 & 5/25/99  "Graduation" parts I & II
"Crow: Stairway to Heaven"    week of 5/17/99      "Gathering Storm"
"Earth: Final Conflict"               week of 5/17/99      "Crossfire"
"Hercules"                               week of 5/17/99       "Revelations"
"The Pretender"                    & nbsp;  5/22/99                    three hour episode
"The Profiler"                           5/15/99                    two hour episode
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"  week of 5/31/99      "What We Leave Behind" (two hour series finale)
"Star Trek Voyager"                 5/26/99                   "Equinox"
"The X-Files"                           5/16/99                    "Biogenesis"
"Xena: Warrior Princess"          week of 5/17/99       "Deja Vu All Over Again"

    So take the opportunity this summer to check out one of the above series that you may have missed before. Who knows, maybe this autumn you'll have a whole new set of TV obsessions!

ELSEWHERE ON THE GLASS TEAT
    For those of you who missed it, "The Glass Teat" is the name that Harlan Ellison (Monster Rally guest) gave to television (he used to write a column about the medium under that name). Following are some interesting tidbits that I've gleaned recently about that very teat!
    "THUMB WARS:" On Tuesday, May 18th, at 9:30, UPN will air this parody of Star Wars. The entire cast is made entirely of thumbs.
    "SPAWN:" HBO is about to air a new season (6 episodes) of "Spawn." This has got to be the most violent and depressing show ever aired (I love it). The original 6 episodes will air Friday, May 21st, at midnight. The next 6 episodes will be shown Saturday, May 22nd, at midnight. The first of the new batch of 6 will air Sunday, May 23rd at midnight and will be broadcast every night at midnight until Friday, May 28th.
    "FUTURAMA:" Whew, I just got a nose bleed moving from the blood-soaked alleys of "Spawn" to this bright new science fiction comedy. "Futurama's" ratings were cut in half when it moved from Sunday to Tuesday. Despite that, Fox has just renewed for a new season. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It laughs at every silly over-used science fiction contrivance but it does it in a good way.
    "INDEPENDENT EYE." If you haven't seen it, check it out. It airs on Maryland Public Television on Thursday nights at 10 P.M. We get to see what regional independent film makers have been up to lately. If you watch it long enough, George Stover is bound to pop up!
    A NEW SCIENCE FICTION CABLE CHANNEL: Sumner Redstone, chairman and CEO of Viacom (the little mom & pop company that owns such things as MTV and Blockbuster Video) announced that MTV Networks plans to launch a new science fiction cable channel. As I learn more I'll let you know. The mind reels at the thought of two networks fighting over reruns of "Manimal" and "Land of the Giants"!

UNFAIR ARGUMENTS WITH eXistenZ
    I've seen the new David Cronenberg film, eXistenZ. It's not the best Cronenberg that I've seen. You could probably wait for 6 months for the video. But, like all David Cronenberg films, I think that it's worth seeing. Cronenberg has a way of worming under an audience's scalp and making the viewer feel uncomfortable. eXistenZ is no exception. The creepy biologically based gadgets in the film (like the gun made out of bone and flesh, designed to fire teeth) are very disturbing. Perhaps the movie's most disorien t i n g e l emen t is constant uncertainty if this is reality or the hyper unreality of the game pods featured in the movie.

MEETING IDEAS!
    We had a creative consultation at our last general meeting about things to try our future meetings. We've discussed holding panels, going to movies before a meeting and discussing it at the meeting, having special nights where people with well defined tastes (such as Lorne Marshall, Linda Conrad and Mike Schilling) show us their favorite films. Please keep the ideas coming. Many of you are receiving this newsletter via e-mail. Use that "reply" button when you have an idea you'd like to share with us. You snail mailers make the phone ring. Let us know how we can best serve you.

LOGO WARS
    Well okay, not really wars. But we had some spirited (and wonderful) discussion over which way to go on our new logo. We're just feeling our way around on this but we'll get there. Democracy is a messy process but it works. If you have any ideas for logos, let us know. We're still pondering.

VIDIOCY
    There's plenty of news going on in the field of home video. Each week two different categories of films are released. there are rental titles that are appearing on video for the first time (usually) and are fairly pricey (usually). Then there are sell-trhough films. These are usually premium titles that have been available for rent for a while that are often in the $14.95 to $19.95 range. Following is a partial list of May releases for rental and sales that may interest the club.
    Video rentals releasing May 11th:Orgazmo, Trey Parker and Matt Sone's (creators of "South Park") spoof of the porn industry, is coming out in both an NC-17 and unrated version. The latest Star Trek incarnation Star Trek Insurrection will be out that day. Lycanthrope, a David Carradine film about a group of scientists becoming monster- chow in the Amazon jungle, will be out.
    Video rentals releasing May 18th:Arrival II, the DTV (direct-to-video) sequel of the 1996 Charlie Sheen sci-fi feature will be coming out. This one features Patrick Muldoon and Michael Sarrazin. We're advised "Stop watching the skies . . . start watching your back!" I, Zombie is being "presented by Fangoria Magazine" which humbly describes itself as "the world's leading horror/fantasy magazine." It's the story of a newly minted zombie struggles to hold onto his life as he feels his mind and body decay. Alien Arsenal features a stalwart group of students battling a nest of aliens they discover in their high school's basement (mine just had a sleeping janitor).
    Video rentals releasing May 25th:Johnny 2.0 (with Michael Ironside and Jeff Fahey) features a scientist that has perfected cloning battling a thieving corporation with disastrous results. And the movie that I think was the best movie of 1998, Saving Private Ryan, will be released. If you delayed seeing it before, check it out. If you saw it before, see it again!
    Video sell through releasing May 4th: Universal's 1932 The Mummy (starring Boris Karloff) is set to come out about the same time as the new version hits the screen. It will include the original theatrical trailer. The suggested retail is $14.98.
    Video sell through releasing May 11th: The original Blues Brothers movie is being re-released. It will have 17 missing minutes of footage and a 15 minute "making-of" documentary. The regular ol' cropped pan & scan is 14.98. The widescreen is $19.98.
    Video sell through releasing May 18th: That timeless family classic from 1977, I Spit on Your Grave, is being re-released by Anchor Bay. This digitally re-mastered gem is a mere $14.98!
    Video sell through releasing May 25th: Today we soar to new heights! Those of you who look skyward will want to run out and buy the Star Trek duo being released at $14.95 each. There's Star Trek: The Real Story with documentaries and interviews about the original series. Then there's Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond hosted by Ted Danson (Ted Danson?). This looks at the best moments from 30 years of Trek. For those of you interested in more earthbound flight we're given those cheeseball charmers, Narcotic (1933) and Reefer Madness (1936). For a paltry $19.95 a piece you can turn your home into a slimy exploitation theater! Whadda deal!
    Video sell through releasing June 1st: Some high-end features hit sell through today. Blade and Eraser are $14.95 each. Road Warrior is 19.98. The Alien Series is offering a confusing mess of options. Pan & scan are $14.98 each, a 4 pack for $54.98. Widescreen are $19.98 each, a 4 pack for $59.98. DVD run $29.98 each, a 4 pack for $109.98.