{"id":32739,"date":"2025-01-11T12:30:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T17:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=32739"},"modified":"2025-01-09T11:22:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T16:22:29","slug":"january-2025-monsffa-meeting-post-1-of-2-1230pm-introduction-and-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=32739","title":{"rendered":"JANUARY 2025 CLUB MEETING; Post 1 of 2, 12:30PM \u2013 Introduction and Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>1) INTRODUCTION<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Welcome to MonSFFA\u2019s first meeting of 2025! Happy New Year to all, and we trust everyone enjoyed the Holiday break!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Today\u2019s proceedings will be getting underway shortly. We are meeting exclusively<\/em> online, today; join our ZOOM-chat and take part in the meeting from the warmth and comfort of home! See the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate on ZOOM.<\/p>\n

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up 30 minutes before the meeting\u2019s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure.<\/p>\n

A closing post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today\u2019s presenters\/discussion moderators, and to publish the date of the next MonSFFA event.<\/p>\n

For your amusement during this pre-meeting half-hour, here are a half-dozen sci-fi movies set in the year 2025! These are depictions of what filmmakers of the past expected our world to be like by now!<\/p>\n

Futuresport<\/strong> (1998)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2025, a revolutionary sport is the only way to stop a revolution,\u201d reads the film\u2019s tag line! This is a made-for-TV movie starring Dean Cain and Vanessa Williams, and centered on \u201cFuturesport,\u201d a combination of basketball, baseball, and hockey featuring hoverboards and rollerblades! Our heroes must prevent a war from breaking out between the North American Alliance and the Pan-Pacific Commonwealth over control of the Hawaiian Islands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Futuresport (1998)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her<\/strong> (2013)<\/p>\n

In near-future\u20142025\u2014Los Angeles, a lonely, introverted man, played by Joaquin Phoenix, buys a new AI-powered operating system for his computer and falls in love with the artificial entity, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.<\/p>\n

2025 Armageddon<\/strong> (2022)<\/p>\n

Hostile aliens misinterpret as depictions of Earth mythology the decades of monster movies produced by real-world film studio The Asylum, and create simulacrums of the creatures as part of a plan to invade our planet! The \u201cdelightfully meta\u201d plotline sees twin sisters, one a naval commander, the other with NASA, who as children were avid fans of The Asylum\u2019s low-budget, straight-to-video creature features, now battling a battalion of rather familiar monsters from the studio\u2019s film library!<\/p>\n

Repo Men <\/strong>(2010)\u2014Advanced medical technology has been developed, allowing the Union Corporation to sell expensive, artificial organs to patients on credit. But when a patient fails to pay, the corporation dispatches so-called repo men, played here by Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, who are tasked with repossessing from that patient their artificial organ, often at the cost of said patient\u2019s life!<\/p>\n

Endgame<\/strong> (1983)<\/p>\n

No, not that one! This is an inadequately budgeted Italian post-apocalyptic actioner riffing on films like Mad Max<\/em> and The Running Man<\/em>. The nuclear war-devastated wastelands of New York City are populated by bands of scavengers and telepathic mutants persecuted by an elite cadre of survivors who stage gladiatorial-like games broadcast as a reality television program called \u201cEndgame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Endgame (1983)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pacific Rim<\/strong> (2013)<\/p>\n

Guillermo del Toro\u2019s homage to kaiju movies takes place mostly in 2025, when cities are regularly attacked by giant monsters, who have been emerging from the deep-ocean \u201cBreach\u201d\u2014an interdimensional portal\u2014since 2013. But mankind fights back using massive mecha robots called Jaegers!<\/p>\n

2) MEETING THEME FOR JANUARY 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Organize your SF\/F book collection! De-clutter your stash of comic books! Finish that genre novel you\u2019ve been writing, on and off, for years! Actually finish building a sci-fi scale model spaceship kit! What, if any, New Year\u2019s resolutions have you made for 2025?<\/p>\n

3) THIS AFTERNOON\u2019S AGENDA<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Today\u2019s programming agenda is as follows:<\/p>\n

1:00PM<\/strong> \u2013 Who Dares to Mock Cthulhu?\u2014The Dreamer, The Great Old One, and More\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who mocks Cthulhu? The answer seems to be\u2026everyone! Perhaps it\u2019s the horror industry’s version of whistling past the graveyard, but everyone likes to poke fun at the most evil of the Old Gods. From children\u2019s stories, board games, and the world of literature to Broadway and beyond \u2013 people mock Cthulhu. They even make a few bucks off him. Watch out for the recipes in those Cthulhu-based cookbooks! Today\u2019s presentation will review this arcane history, and will end with a singalong!<\/p>\n

2:00PM<\/strong> \u2013 Villains!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We look at the villains of our favourite genre, and the villainous villainy<\/em> they bring to the table!<\/p>\n

3:00PM<\/strong> \u2013 Break and Club Elections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Executive Reports for the previous year, 2024, club elections for 2025, other club business, and raffle.<\/p>\n

3:30PM<\/strong> \u2013 Jumping SF\/F\u2019s Shark!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Multi-part, seemingly endless book series? Epic tales centered around a \u201cChosen One\u201d or rightful heir to the throne? Palace guards or battalions of spacetroopers who can\u2019t shoot straight? Superhero movies? Dragons? Dystopias? AIs that inevitably prove evil? We discuss and debate those themes, trends, or tropes that we believe the genre has overworked to the point of exhaustion, clich\u00e9, banality! Put forth your examples of shopworn SF\/F, and outline why you find those particular works so irksome!<\/p>\n

But on the other hand, we\u2019ll also cite those tropes of which we just cannot get enough, and trumpet examples of SF\/F subject matter well executed despite the timeworn cog upon which the piece is built!<\/p>\n

4:30PM<\/strong> \u2013 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We close the afternoon with final thoughts, questions, and commentary on today\u2019s topics, as well as other club-related matters. Your feedback, dear members, is always welcome!<\/p>\n

Please Note: While we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda for one reason or another, or reschedule planned presentations\/discussions. Therefore, please understand that all programming is subject to change!\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

FYI, Regarding the Club Elections Taking Place This Afternoon:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The club begins each year with the election of its Executive Committee for that year. These elections take place at our first meeting of the year, in January, and are officially confirmed by the following meeting, in February. All MonSFFA members in good standing, having paid in full their annual membership fees, are encouraged to participate.<\/p>\n

The club elects annually a president, vice-president, and treasurer, who together form MonSFFA\u2019s Executive Committee and are charged with the responsibility of running the club on behalf of the membership. These executives recruit advisors and appoint officers to assist them in carrying out this responsibility.<\/p>\n

Any MonSFFA member in good standing who is responsibly and reliably able to carry out the duties of office may run for any one of the Executive posts. Candidates may nominate themselves, or accept nomination from another member in good standing. Nominations are received by the chief returning officer, or CRO, usually just before the commencement of voting on Election Day.<\/p>\n

All MonSFFA members in good standing are eligible to cast a ballot. Members are asked to be present at the designated place and time in order to exercise their right to vote. Proxy voting is not permitted, except under special circumstance and by approval of the CRO (out-of-town members unable to attend the vote, for example, may have their ballots cast by the CRO in their absence).<\/p>\n

4) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON\u2019S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

To take part in this afternoon\u2019s meeting online, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts:\u00a0This Afternoon\u2019s MonSFFA Meeting on ZOOM<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you\u2019re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is:\u00a01-438-809-7799<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:<\/p>\n

Meeting ID: 831 9399 0929<\/strong>
\nPasscode: 292667<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1) INTRODUCTION Welcome to MonSFFA\u2019s first meeting of 2025! Happy New Year to all, and we trust everyone enjoyed the Holiday break! Today\u2019s proceedings will be getting underway shortly. We are meeting exclusively online, today; join our ZOOM-chat and take part in the meeting from the warmth and comfort of home! See the instructions, below … Continue reading JANUARY 2025 CLUB MEETING; Post 1 of 2, 12:30PM \u2013 Introduction and Agenda<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32739"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32754,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32739\/revisions\/32754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}