SpockSoc

Last week’s screening was heaps of fun – we had maybe twenty-four people, or thereabouts. Probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen in a while, and I’m hoping that will continue. =D

This week, we’re showing Defying Gravity. This show takes place in the near future and focuses on the lives of eight astronauts from five different countries on a six-year mission through the solar system. The team is on a mysterious mission that is closely being followed by ground personnel. It strikes me as a
a spaceship, but we’ll see. It was reasonably well-received in America.

In any case, we’re still in Quad G032 this week – I’m hoping to move to a better room next week, but if not then certainly by week four. For those who didn’t see last week’s directions in pictures, here they are:

http://www.spocksoc.com/map/quad-g032/

The screening starts at 5pm, pizza run at about 7pm – $5 per half pizza. It shouldn’t take quite so long for the pizza to be ready as it did last week. At least, it had better not…

To all the new members, welcome to SpockSoc. To returning members, it’s good to see you again – but remember to pay your membership fee for this year if you haven’t done so already.

This Friday’s screening is Mystery Univrse – we’ll most likely be starting over from the start of the season (since channel ten’s dismal attempt only managed four episodes) though that’s up for discussion at the screening proper, and we’ll manage seven episodes before we run out of time. I’ll let you know which room later in the week (Quad G032) - we’re still jumping through the administrative hoops to actually get a room booked.

For those new to SpockSoc, the way screenings go is like this: the screenings start at about 5pm on Friday (entry is free for members). At about 7pm or so, I’ll pass around a piece of paper taking orders for dinner, which is pizza from Pizza Hut. Feel free to order whatever you want – we charge $5 per half pizza (though we may ask for a bit more if you rack up too many surcharges) and arrangements can be made if you want garlic bread or pasta. You also get one free can of drink per pizza-ordering person, or you can pay $1 to get one without pizza.

Over dinner, we’ll usually sit and discuss what we’re watching, what’s on TV at the time, or other interesting happenings that might be going on. After dinner, we then return to the screening. Screenings usually finish at around 11pm, at which point security come and toss us out.

In other news, we’re considering a Babylon 5 marathon on a Saturday within the next few weeks. Also, if you’re interested in going to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie as a group with SpockSoc, then send me an e-mail – SpockSoc offers a $2 discount per ticket if you go with us.

UPDATE:  We have a room booking! For the first few weeks of session, we’ll be in Quad room G032. I’ll try to arrange for a map and some photos showing the way up on the website soonish (that’s http://www.spocksoc.com ) but it’s basically underneath where the sundial is in the Quad, through a set of glass doors on the Western side of the passageway. It’s opposite the main stairwell, so if you go through some glass doors and see stairs, you’re on the Eastern side – go the other way. =)
For those who have been at uni a while, it’s the room next door to where the second-hand bookshop used to be (in fact, the shop’s sign and opening hours are still on the wall outside). In any case, I’ll hang the SpockSoc banner in the window so you can see it – the same one that was hanging on the front of the stall at O-Week. Remember, we’re starting at 5pm tomorrow.

We’ll probably change rooms to something more comfortable and easy to find after week three or so – I’ll keep you posted.

Almost time for session to go back – O-Week starts next Monday, the 22nd. Don’t forget, everyone, last year’s membership is only good for last year – you’ll need to sign up again if you want to be a member again. For those who have graduated, we’re still happy to have you as members.

In any case, we’ll be running a stall all through O-Week on the Quad lawn, so feel free to drop in for a visit and to reapply – otherwise you can come to any of our screenings. Expect a tentative screening schedule to be posted on the website sometime this week, with screening location to be posted next week.

SpockSoc won’t be having an O-Week Friday night screening, but instead we’ll be showing not one but two movies as part of the O-Week festivities. On Wednesday the 24th we’ll be showing Labyrinth, starring David Bowie, and on Friday the 26th we’ll be showing the new Star Trek, with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Both movies start at Noon in the Red Centre theatre – there should be signs up around the place – and entry is free for anyone.

We’d really love to have lots of people both at the movies and signing up to the club, so if you’ve got any friends in first year (or not, it doesn’t matter) who you think might be interested, then feel free to drop in and drag them along, even if it’s just to a movie screening.

Membership for SpockSoc is still $5 for the whole year – Arc membership (which is not required to be a SpockSoc member) is $69 for the year. We’d like people to also be Arc members, as we get more funding the more Arc members we have, but it’s by no means required.

Hope to see you there,
-Joel
el presidente

It’s been pointed out to us that this session has thirteen weeks. Who woulda thunk? Mind you, it’s MEANT to have fourteen, but we won’t go there.

In celebration of an extra week of session, we’re having an extra screening. Yay. So this week, the second half of Dollhouse season one – we showed the first half in week eight. Starting at our normal time and place – 5pm in Goldstein G06.

Last week of session. I know everyone’s got exams coming up, but come to SpockSoc for one last break before exams start.

First off, thanks to those who turned up for the AGM – we just managed to scrape through with fifteen members. And congrats to Caroline, who’s joining the Exec as the new secretary and ARC delegate. The Exec for 2010 are as follows:

President  – Joel
Vice President & Webmaster – James
Secretary & Arc Delegate – Caroline
Treasurer & Publicist – Erin
Immediate Past President – Kate
Chief of Staff – Matt

Secondly, we’re going to end out the session by starting a whole bunch of series – this week we’re having a pilot episodes screening. Basically, we’re going to screen the first episodes of a whole bunch of Sci-Fi and Fantasy series that have started in America within the last few months, to see what series people like, in order to have full screenings next year.

We won’t have time to get through all of these at the screening, but the list of pilot episodes include Better Off Ted, Defying Gravity, Eastwick, Eleventh Hour, The Vampire Diaries, Virtuality, Warehouse 13, and the big one you’ve all been waiting for – Strgte Universe.

Starting at 5pm as ever in Goldstein G06.

Hey all!

Only one more week of session after this, aww. But on the plus side, this week’s our AGM, yay! Come and hear how the club is going, and maybe even run for a position on the exec. All positions are up for grabs, but remember you have to be a student and arc member to be president, secretary or treasurer.

Oh, and we’ll be showing Sanctuary. Starting from episode eight (since we showed up to episode seven at our last screening). The series stars Amanda Tapping (Sam Carter in Stargate) as Doctor Helen Magnus, a woman who became immortal as a result of experiments with vampire blood. Now, she runs a sanctuary for all sorts of creatures who need her help – werewolves, lizard men, creepy worm-paratise things from Chernobyl. Et cetera.

We’ll be starting at 5pm in Goldstein G06 – come at 7:30 for just the AGM. Pizza run as normal during the night. I’m also bringing a tasty oreo cheesecake as incentive for people to come to the AGM. Don’t take it as bribing for votes. =)

This week at SpockSoc, we’re showing classic episodes of Supernatural. We’ll decide on the night which episodes we want to watch, but we’ll probably just start from the very start and see how things go from there. It’s in Goldstein G06 as usual, starting from 5pm. Pizza run during the night.

Also, remember: AGM next week. I’ll be bringing a home-made oreo cheesecake as incentive. =) It’ll be in the room during the screening – if you can’t make it to the whole screening, we’ll aim to have it around 7:30 or so, so you can just try to turn up then. Be there. =)

This week at SpockSoc, we’ll be continuing showing Legend of the Seeker. It’s based on the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. The series follows the epic journey of a young woods guide named Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner), a mysterious woman named Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan), and a wizard named Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (Bruce Spence) to stop Darken Rahl (Craig Parker) from unleashing an ancient and terrifying power.

In our first screening last session, we showed roughly the first third of the season, and we’ll probably manage another third at this screening. We’ll start at 5pm in Golstein G06, as ever. Pizza run during the night.

Also, our AGM is coming up in two weeks, in week eleven. Be there, or be… without a club. Cause, you know, we can’t get reafilliated if people don’t show up to the AGM. And that’d be a Bad Thing. Yup. So… please? All exec positions are open for the taking, but we’ll only allow nominations of people who are present at the meeting. Also, president, treasurer and secretary must be UNSW students, and should also be Arc members.

Hope you enjoyed the mid-session break. This week at SpockSoc, we’re showing Dollhouse, right from the very start. Dollhouse is the new series by Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Firefly fame). I haven’t seen any of it before, but it’s apparently good.

Eliza Dushku plays a young woman called Echo, a member of a group of people known as “Actives” or “Dolls”. The Dolls are people whose personalities and existence in the world have been wiped clean to be imprinted with any number of new personas. Contents of an imprint may include semantic memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, as appropriate for different assignments (referred to as “engagements”).
A new persona can be an amalgam of several real people, and the end result necessarily incorporates both strengths and flaws from the template personalities. The Actives are then hired out for particular jobs, which can be anything from committing a crime to enacting a fantasy to performing the occasional good deed. On engagements, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between engagements they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dorm/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed “The Dollhouse”.
The Dollhouse is located somewhere in Los Angeles and is a subsidiary of a mysterious research group known as the Rossum Corporation. The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

I’ll be away this week, so James will be running the screening. 5pm in Goldstein G06, pizza run as usual.

On a side note, our AGM will be coming up in the next few weeks – we’d really like people to turn up to that so we can be re-affiliated, so some indication of a Friday that most people have free would be helpful.

Hope you’re enjoying your mid-session break. We will be having a screening this week, and hopefully things have been sorted out with security so that the alarm won’t be going off.

This week, we’re showing the second half of Crusoe. It’s a thirteen-episode series vaguely based on Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe (played by Philip Winchester) is stranded on an island – for six years, his only companion has been Friday (Tongayi Chirisa), a man he rescued from being eaten by cannibals. When last we saw our heroes, a possible rescue had come, in the form of a ship damaged when it drew near the island. Unfortunately, the ship is lead by mutineers, who keep the crew in line with fear, and keep the captain imprisoned.

Over the course of the series, it’s been revealed in flashbacks that Crusoe is married to Susannah (Anna Walton, who looks exactly like Lalla Ward, but isn’t) with two children. Since his father was executed for rebellion against the British throne, he himself falls under suspicion of joining the new rebellion against James II, lead by the Duke of Monmouth. Finanically ruined by his unscrupulous brother-in-law and wanted by the law, he is forced to turn to long-time family friend and godfather to his children, Jeremiah Blackthorn (Sam Neill), who smuggles him onto a ship bound for the New World… though some signifcant glances were going on between Jeremiah and the ship’s captain. It’s this ship that was wrecked, stranding Crusoe on the island. Now, unaware of what has happened to those he loves, Crusoe is desperate to return home…

Which brings us all up-to-date for the first episode we’ll be showing on Friday. We’ll have time enough to finish the whole series. We’ll be starting at 5pm in Goldstein G06 as ever, pizza run as normal.