Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 13:51:44 -0500 To: swil @ cc.swarthmore.edu From: mshaner1 @ cc.swarthmore.edu Subject: type AB+ SWILnews It was Hallowe'en. We sang. We partied. There were costumes. There was a duck. Brad broke a nail. We didn't grind too many M&Ms into the carpet. Special thanks for Hallowe'en organizing go to Daver, for coordinating pumpkin caroling, and to Beth, for throwing the party. We'd give you kudos, Beth, but Lynn Yeakel promised "all the kudos in the world" to her campaign adviser last night. I think there are leftover potato(e) chips, though.... *Philcon* is happening Real Soon Now, specifically, the weekend after next. Those of you who signed up on the SWILboard should get together and figure out transportation - getting a van might be tricky, but there's always the train. It would be great if people went; it's a nifty thing. If you're curious about how Philcon works, there are flyers on the bulletin board, or talk to someone who has gone in the past, like Nao. If you're suffering a post-election depletion of adrenalin, or if you were too young to vote yesterday, well, fear not. More elections will be coming your way after Thanksgiving. Yes, it's time for us to think about passing the torch to a new generation (unless Bondage wants to run for reelection, me, I'm - sniff - ineligible) and turning over the leadership of this fine organization to someone different. If you're interested in running, nominate yourself, Aaron, or any small woodland creature you fancy on 21 November (the meeting before Thanksgiving). Speeches and platforms, in which, no really, you present your ideas for things that SWIL should do in the coming year, are the meeting after that, 5 December, and elections are the following week. The presidency is a one-year position from January to December, and as president, you, well, preside over meetings, write the SWILnews, keep SWIL abreast of speculative fiction events in the area, reserve space for events, organize the Schlock FIlm Fest, come up with fun ideas, and delegate other stuff. Other available positions are Treasurer (for which only current freshlings and sophomores are eligible, since school policy prohibits seniors from handling money), and Minister of Propaganda. Curious parties should talk to Beth and Andrea, respectively. Submit to BEM! Stephen is this year in charge of the Buge Red - 'scuse me, Bug-Eyed Magazine, SWIL's speculative fiction literary magazine, and he's planning a Big Impressive Issue to commemorate BEM's 10th year under that name. Consequently, any submissions of stories, poems, or artwork should be given to him by around January, in any one of a number of computer formats. See the sign on the SWILboard for specifics. Two new books were brought up at the meeting, Douglas Adams' _Mostly Harmless_ and Pat Cadigan's new book, _Whatever it's called_. I (B) recommend the first, Nao recommends the second. There follows a brief review of the fifth Hitchhiker's book... REVIEW by jere7my tho?rpe (ML4320, x8020) I honestly enjoyed it (laughing out loud numerous times in the airport, and occasionally finding it necessary to wander away from the book for a moment to give myself time to calm down). It was similar in maturity to _So Long..._, but closer in comedic content to the first few. Some of the passages were brilliant, a few were a bit tedious, but overall I found it to be a fitting conclusion (?) to the series. Some things to watch for: Ford Prefect and his orgasmic robot sidekick Colin, Arthur's daughter Random Frequent Flyer Dent, and Arthur wearing an _analog_ watch... (due to parallel universes and stuff). Caveat: do not read the jacket blurb, as it spoils most of the action in the story. If you borrow the book from me, I won't give you the dustcover. Ha ha. ATTENDANCE FOR 31 OCTOBER, BOO(K), EEK Jacob "small puddle of liquid" Mattison; Don "The Diminutive Freshling" Lehr; Evan "Oh geez, I think I'm about to self-immolate again..." Dorn [bwa ha, and you're pass/fail... --D]; Daniel "crumpled oak leaf" Long; Jen "Papaya in my left ear" Setlow; Nao "Greensleeves + Yellow Lace" Parkhurst; Kylian "Dead Again is a moronic, cheesy movie" Robinson; Andrea "Happy Halloween" Hall; Charles "Kylian, them is fightin' words" Danforth; Beth "Cavalry w/CD" Bruch; Kendra "Rejected by Ed McMahon" Eshleman; Robert "Chocolate rules the world" Richardson; David "sweet transvestite" Randall [Too bad you're not a chocolate transvestite, or you could rule the world. Oh, well. --B] [Everybody wants to rule the world -- Tears for Fears]; Deb "It's over already?" Sam; Dan "hope the pipe don't burst" Wells; Geoff "barely here" Noer - Briga & Doon