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The January meeting will be held at Amy Denton’s  house (Map of 3510 La Costa). The January Video Party will be held at Dee Beetem’s house (Map of 4737 Kingfisher St).

Editor’s Announcement

Because of postage costs, we are sending out newsletters electronically. For a hardcopy, email eekfrenzy@gmail.com. The PDF of each newsletter is also posted on the Several Unlimited website and on the Several Unlimited Yahoo group.

January Birthdays

• Dee Beetem     January 30

Prez Mez January 2009-Dee Beetem

Once again Steve Dial’s New Year’s Open House was a great success. Most of our Houston Several showed up sooner or later—although Jamie had to work and Erika was visiting her sister’s family in Austin.

At the Open House I brought up one item of Several business to which the members in attendance agreed. I recommended that we purchase one or two dealer’s tables at Revelcon and throw a fannish garage sale to sell off—at deep discount—the zines, t-shirts and memorabilia that the club has accumulated over the years. (It’s really hard to just throw away zines but they do no good in the garage.)

This won’t be a full Zine Sale and won’t go onto the Net. Members’ used zines can be sold on the table too IF you accept that we won’t input them into a sales database—just have a sales box for sticky notes with names and prices—like most garage sales.  For security reasons we can’t sell for outsiders that way. As usual we can discount the dealers’ memberships for the fans who agree to work the table.

Does anybody want to go to the Mardi Gras this year? Margaret is getting information on the Galveston Mardi Gras (Feb. 13-24)—we could go as a Several excursion and to support Galveston.

The Video Party will be at my house this month and I’ll also be celebrating my birthday then (a little early). Erika has agreed to prepare videos for a Doctor Who night: the Doctor Who Christmas special and the Sarah Jane Adventures episode featuring the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart! And, if people want to stay up that late, we might talk her into showing the animated Dr. Who adventure.

If you have fannish friends that are interested in Doctor Who, invite them! But tell me ahead of time so I’ll know how many chairs to borrow.

By the Video Party we should have a progress report on the Several Fanfiction Archive.

Happy New Year!

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Con-Jour, January 30-February 1, 2009

Gaming, Fantasy & Science Fiction Convention

http://con-jour.ndos.net/

University of Houston, Clear Lake, Houston, Texas

Guests: Glen Welch, Larry Friesen, John Moore, Scott Padget, Kevin P. Boerwinkle, Richard Leon, Simon Nightingale, Paul Abell, Amy Sisson

Gaming, guests on writing and fandom, and we will be showing sci-fi/horror/fantasy films. Presented by the UHCL Gamer's Guild in partnership with the UHCL Film & History Club.

OwlCon XXVIII , February 6-8, 2009

Gaming, Fantasy, & Science Fiction Convention

http://www.owlcon.com/

RMC/Ley Student Center, Rice University, Houston, TX

Gaming convention that features table top and live action role playing games, miniatures games and events, historical miniatures, board games, card games, a dealers' room, and more. OwlCon 2k2 gaming events include RPGA events, official tournaments for Warhammer 40k, Warmaster, Shadowfist, and Mage Knight, Matchbox-scale Car Wars, World of Darkness tabletop games, a Vampire LARP, a Call of Cthulhu LARP, a Crossroads fantasy LARP, and many other games with prizes galore! OwlCon will have official demos for various game systems to give you a chance to try some of their great games. We will also have open gaming, an anime room, a TV lounge running movies, some "all nighter" events, and our second annual OwlCon party and costume contest in Valhalla.

Ikkicon 3, February 6-8, 2009

Japanese Animation & Pop Culture Convention

http://www.ikkicon.com/

The Hilton Austin, 500 East 4th Street, Austin, Texas 78701

Anime Idol, Anime Music Video(AMV) Contest, Anime Poetry Slam, Dance Contest, Media Gallery (Artist Alley & Exhibitions), Dealers Room, Art Show, and more!

ConDFW VIII , February 20-22, 2009

A Science Fiction & Fantasy Event

http://www.condfw.org/

Crown Plaza Suites Dallas - Park Central, 7800 Alpha Road, Dallas, TX 75240

• Author Guest of Honor: Jim Butcher
• Author Guest of Honor: David Weber

Art Show, Autographs, Dealer's Room, Con Suite, Panel Discussions, Gaming, Readings, Freebie Tables

And the Unexpected:

Annual Sci-Fi Spelling Bee, Pro Artist Drawing Challenge, Charity Book Swap, Hard Science Panels, Short Story Contest, Beauty Pageant...of Sorts..., "Late Night Double Feature", Sci-Fi Pictionary

And The New Doctor Is...

By Graeme McMillan

The BBC has announced the name of the actor who'll take over the lead role in Doctor Who next year, following David Tennant's departure this year [after the 2009 mini-season of the Christmas special and 4 episodes]. Let's just say that it's not who we expected.

Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor

26 year-old Matt Smith will be the eleventh Doctor, starting in 2010's fifth season along with new executive producers Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger. The announcement was made on a special episode of the BBC's Doctor Who Confidential series, although noted rumormeister Rich Johnston broke the news via Twitter an hour earlier. Smith, who's starred in television adaptations of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North alongside Billie Piper, has been known more for his stage work in the past, appearing in The History Boys and Swimming With Sharks (alongside My Own Worst Enemy's Christian Slater) in London's "glittering" West End.

Houston Area Doctor Who Club

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/nitro9/

From their Yahoo Page:

Welcome to Space City Time Lords! This group is a Houston based fan organization, devoted to Doctor Who. Anyone can join our discussion online, but do attend our meetings - it helps to live in or around the Houston area.

In addition to our viewings and online forum, we also feature several links to other sites, and a Houston area Doctor Who Media Library. Space City also sponsors Space/Time Excursions to the Texas Renaissance Festival and Dickens on the Strand, as well as a cookout every July and an all day Doctor Who marathon to celebrate the show's anniversary in November. Join us today and help us celebrate the return Doctor Who.

Shadow' illustrator Cartier dies at 94

Goodnight to Edward "Edd" Cartier, an amazing pulp scifi illustrator who contributed to "The Shadow" as well as countless book covers, who passed away on December 25 at his home in Ramsey, New Jersey, according to his son, Dean Cartier. The elder Cartier had suffered from Parkinson's disease in recent years, his son said.

His Eyes Were Filled with the Loneliness of Space by Edd Cartier

Cartier's artwork appeared in works by authors such as Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, but he is perhaps best known for the hundreds of illustrations he did for "The Shadow" in the 1930s and 1940s.

Written by Walter B. Gibson, "The Shadow" novels appeared in pulp magazines and detailed the exploits of a mysterious, black-attired crime fighter. Cartier began doing illustrations for the novels in 1936. Not long after that, he turned down an offer to be an assistant to Norman Rockwell, according to Anthony Tollin, editor of "The Shadow & Doc Savage" reprint trade paperbacks.

In addition to more than 800 illustrations for "The Shadow," Cartier drew hundreds of illustrations for numerous other science fiction magazines. He also was the premier artist for the Fantasy Press and Gnome Press book publishing houses in the 1950s. Dean Cartier said his father created a Christmas card that he sent to family and friends each year starting in the late 1970s. The last one, drawn in 2005, depicted Santa Claus handing "The Shadow" a gift.

John C Freeman Weather Museum Review

http://www.wxresearch.org/

5104 Caroline (Museum District)

• 10-4 Monday-Saturday
• 5.00 adults, 3.00 students and seniors, Thursdays-free from noon-4PM
• Guided tours- 8.00

I was surprised to learn we had a weather museum in Houston. It isn’t one of the better-known attractions, but the description in Houston 002 magazine sounded interesting.
My schedule was hectic that week, and I had just enough time for a half hour visit before they closed for the day. I hurried from one room to another, making mental notes about what to spend more time on later…a tornado in a container, hands on exhibits, displays of old weather instruments, notable and notorious Houston weather events…and then I stopped in the Ike exhibit.
One picture after another flashed by on the big screen TV…compelling, powerful, riveting images. I stayed in that one room until closing time. This museum has much to offer. Plan to spend at least an hour, don’t rush, and don’t skip it because you’re a long time Houstonian, and you’ve seen it all before. You’ll probably get more out of the visit!

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