ICS Update - August 21, 2012

Good Eve-e-ning, Ladies and Gentlemen. Ahead of us this weekend, for your enjoyment, is the August ICS Meeting. We will be having JUDY PENTZ doing a presentation on that Master of Mystery and the Macabre, ALFRED HITCHCOCK. As John Ward once remarked, "Hitchcock is a genre of his own". I think we can agree with that- we've all heard this film or that as referred to as "HITCHCOCKIAN" in style.

We're coming to the traditional end of Summer, and we'll briefly recap some of the highs and lows in the movies this summer, led by John Ward.

So come on out and have a good time at the next meeting!

Hendo

ICS Update - August 10, 2012

Greetings one and all!

I thought I'd fill you in with some stories and photos for a summer's night.

First off, we had a meal of salads and sundaes at our new SUNDAES and SALADS NIGHT- suggested by Gary and handled by Tom Proveaux- at the last meeting. It was a wonderful suggestion- and lighter fare sits better on a hot humid night than pizza does! Never fear, we will be having a PIZZA NIGHT later in the year.

Also at our last meeting, we played ICS-ACADEMIC, the ICS quiz show. We had 3 teams compete against each other, with Jolly John Weber acting as the MC. The winners- Dave W., Darryl and Skip aka The Headless Ghosts- all won a double vote card for their mastery in answering genre-related questions. I have attached some photos of the teams, along with Charlie Wittigs' masterful invention, THE BRAINIAC- used for "chiming in".

After that, Nina Hawes gave an interesting presentation on TIM BURTON. The movie selected for the evening was Sleepy Hollow- one of my favorite Burton films.

SEE OUR PHOTO ALBUM FOR THIS EVENT

Today I burned a vacation day at work and went to the MID-ATLANTIC NOSTALGIA CON, aka MANC, at Hunt Valley. While there I got to see guests Ron Ely (Tarzan), James Darren and Robert Colbert (The Time Tunnel), Shirley Jones (the Partridge Family), Sherry Jackson (of the classic ST episode "What are Little Girls made of?") and Hammer favorite Veronica Carlson. And along with them outside they had THE GOTHAM SUPERCAR, aka the 1966 Batmobile. As we can all guess, BATMOBILE is now trademarked. I'd have called it the BATCAR if it were me. The were showing movies and TV shows periodically throughout the day. Autographs ran $20 and up.

Now let me get on my soapbox (Tide Detergent, of course) here. I enjoy conventions. I don't go as often as I used to, though. I haven't been to a Shore Leave in years. Horrorfind is too far to drive now. I went to MANC this year because I'm an Irwin Allen fan, as you all know, and a chance to see James Darren and Robert Colbert was one I didn't want to miss. I spent a fair amount of time walking through the dealer's room, but I was not in the mood to empty my wallet there. Can't say any of the things they were showing in the movie rooms interested me, and there weren't multiple showings going on.

And that's the rub. There was nothing else to do.

I found that Veronica, Sherry and Shirley had done a panel the day before, and had nothing else planned. James Darren and Robert Colbert would not be on until late evening, and I couldn't stay that long. I'm cutting back on DVDs and "toys", so the dealer's room was nice to look at, but I wasn't really looking for anything special. Nowadays thanks to the Net, there's a good chance I could order most of the stuff. Older, hard to find items I wouldn't be able to afford.

Which made me think of one of the best local cons ever- Gary and Sue Svehla's FANEX. By the hoary hosts of Asgard, THAT was a convention. Every hour had something going on- and one had a lot of choices. I heard at least once a patron say- "There's two things I want to see but they're both at the same time!". They had multiple movie screenings. They had panels- panels made up of movie lovers interacting with the audience. They had guests that you could see each day in some form or another. Oftimes walking around, intermingling with the patrons and staff. And the guests... believe it or not... were not allowed to charge for photos! 

The admission price was very reasonable, the dealers' room was packed (although dealers always complain). And the guests weren't herded into the dealer's room like other vendors- each had their own signing room (and signing times, which worked very well but would not work today with them charging. Except when some guy named Ron, I think, showed up with an armful of items he wanted signed. That I believe led to a 2 item limit). I worked a lot of those cons, beginning with I believe FANEX 6. It was thoroughly enjoyable. The staff members would often hang out in the bars tween working sessions, have a fun time shooting the feces. I remember when the theme was "It Came From the Drive-In", where they were going to do a promotional spot on Channel 13's morning show with Don Scott and Marty Bassho.

 I was asked if I could bring the old Camaro out to be a prop, since it was live from the Bengies Drive-In. I got up at 4 in the morning, drove down to my sisters (she had a garage we used), drove out to the Bengies, being one of the few cars on the road. The burbling V-8 sound in my ears, and the lights of those round headlights stabbing the darkness, with Todd Rundgren on the cassette player. There was no trace of sunrise yet. Made it out there- Channel 13 used a filter that made it look like early morning when I swear it was still dark out. Shot the spot (I have it recorded somewhere) and drove back to my sisters, then back to my place, then on to work.. zzzzzz  It was fun, it didn't cost you an arm and a leg, and there were a lot of memories to be made.

But the only thing constant is change, they say.

Attached you will find photos for you to peruse of the last meeting, and of some MANC Stars. The person's name is the name of the image, in case you don't recognize them.

Til next time! Nuff said!

Hendo

ICS Update - July 26, 2012

Greetings!

With the hot weather returning, it will be a perfect time to have our FIRST ANNUAL SALADS AND SUNDAES NIGHT! Come cool off this weekend with a salad or a sundae. The club (meaning all of us through our dues and amazon paybacks) will be paying for all the necessities. We will also be having our game show ICS-ACADEMIC. And to top it all off, it's TIM BURTON NIGHT!

I went to see Dark Knight Rises on Monday. In a movie theater. With quite a few others. I, along with those other folks, refused to let a nutjob who opened fire in a theater at the Batman movie midnight show make us afraid. Because if we do, then this nut wins. Him, and all others like him.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Hendo

ICS Hot Update - July 15, 2012

You know, the upcoming generation may be able to find out almost anything with a few keystrokes. And that's probably a good thing- because they sure don't have much knowledge stored in their heads- at least not the kind we were taught to make us a "well rounded person". I was in B&N today, when a bookperson comes up to me and asks if I need help (what a loaded question). I ask her where I could find Jules Verne. She said let's find out, and went to her computer. "Wow, he's everywhere!" she proclaimed. Sci-fi, classic, fiction... in total surprise. I said, you've never heard of Jules Verne? Nope. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? No, they didn't make me read that one in school. WELL, they didn't make me, either! I read it on my own! And who the hell has never heard of Jules Verne? Good grief! The World as We Know It, is doomed...

 
Hey, Tim Fleming reports that some fellow named Higgs discovered a new type of Bison. I'm always glad to hear when an endangered species is making a comeback.
 

For those who remember her, our biggest Godzilla fan, Linda Conrad, is selling stuff at the G-Fest Con in Florida.
 

Come July, we'll be having our "Salads and Sundaes" night, featuring again the renowned French Chef, Msr Thomas de la Proveaux. Also we'll be playing a round of our game show ICS-ACADEMIC! For those new folks, it's just like IT's ACADEMIC, with genre related questions. Our electronic and computer wiz Charlie Wittig designed and built the BRAINIC device for it. The board has come up with a list of 100 questions that will be used that evening. Jolly John Weber will be host, because in the past any team John was on blew away everyone else. :)  The winning team gets a double vote card! You're probably saying, "wow, how could this night GET any better?". Well, to top it off, Nina Hawes is having- Tim Burton Night! Yes, Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice and the Headless Horseman and many others will all be there that evening for us to vote on!
 

We'll also chat on some of the movies out there- a certain webslinger debuted a short time ago, and a dark knight is on the horizon this week. So stay cool, and we'll see you at the next ICS-MEETING!
Hendo

ICS Update - July 4, 2012

"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

--John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

Well, gang, as we can see, John Adams, the Forgotten Founder, was off by 2 days. July 2nd was the actual day that Congress took a vote to declare its independence from England. July 4th was the day it was proclaimed throughout the colonies.

It's easy in hindsight to see how this all turned out. But at the time... these men had taken a large bold step. They were aware that what they had done could be considered treason. 

These representatives from 13 assorted colonies, who often were in competition with each other for trade and business, had united on this monumental issue (ok, NY abstained, but it was not a "nay" vote). As Franklin put it, "We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately", as in 'on the gallows'. And he was right. Had history taken a different turn, Benedict Arnold might be considered a hero, and Washington a traitor. It was by no means a "slam dunk". As Adams put it, "1/3 of the country was for independence, 1/3 for loyalty to the crown, and 1/3 just wanted to be left alone". He was quite right.

As we gather for our cookouts and parades, let us think for a minute of the men, and the women who stood by their husbands as they put themselves in harm's way, who took such a chance in those heady days of July, 1776.

I want to thank all of those who came out on a very hot and humid June night to attend our meeting. We had a nice turnout of 21 people that evening. Courtney Spies brought in some very good Roger Corman Poe movies. We wound up watching the excellent "Masque of the Red Death". A big "thank you" to Daryl for setting up the projector, since Charlie was catching Joan Jett in concert.

That evening showed how unpredictable showing movies outside can be. The heat was unbearable. We will probably try to have these in September- it's cooler, and it gets dark earlier than 9:00.

Next month we will be featuring our "Salads and Sundaes" meeting- a change from our usual Pizza Night, which we will hold later in the year. It's also an "ICS-ACADEMIC" night. A reminder to da board and Onederful John Weber- send game questions to me, please, and I will put together a list. John Weber will be our host. The winning team gets "Double Vote Cards"- where you get a card that you can use to get 2 votes that night for a movie rather than one. We'll explain it more later.

Speaking of sending things, if you get a chance over the holiday, send your top 150 list to John Ward. I know it's hard to remember- I haven't done one yet, either. But John needs them by the end of July.

Our treasury is in great shape. I don't have the exact amount on me, but it's over $1,900. We are getting bucketfuls of cash from Amazon.com. So remember to go to our website, click the "Amazon" button, and we get a kickback each time you do when you purchase something.

ICS Page

Hey, are you on FACEBOOK? Well, we have a page there, too. Why not like us? Also, if you've seen a movie, or something else you think the club would like, post it!

FACEBOOK PAGE

That's all for now! May everyone have a safe and enjoyable July 4th Holiday!

Historic Hendo

ICS Update - June 28, 2012

Hot enough for you? I Know it is for me.

As you know, Saturday was supposed to be our "Movies Under the Stars" night. Well, there's been a change in plans. Due to the fact that Charlie will be out of town, and due to the fact it's supposed to reach 100 frikking degrees, we will be showing movies INDOORS this Saturday! As usual, your friendly neighborhood Hendo will get there early to turn on the A/C.

Also a reminder to bring in your lists for John Ward!

See you then!

Hendo

ICS Update - May 24, 2012 - Annual Memorial Day Cookout

Greetings one and all! I hope that everyone is doing well these rather cool days of May. Even so, this weekend is our ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY COOKOUT, and we're hoping the church didn't double book again! We'll start serving food about 3:30 to 4. Remember to bring a dish of some sort- the hamburgers, hot dogs and rolls will be purchased out of club funds.

And DON'T forget- the 150 favorite genre list that John Ward is putting together! If you can't come up with 150, then send what you can... 5, 10, 50, whatever!

See you Saturday!

Dave