This is Post 3 of 8 this afternoon.

6) WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING?

On ZOOM at this moment, we’re asking “What are You Reading, or Watching?” Give us your quick book report, or your brief review of a film or TV show you’ve recently been enjoying!

For those not participating in our ZOOM chat, today, you may still contribute by submitting your concise book reports or movie and television-series reviews via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.

This is post 2 of 8.

5) PRIMER: FRAMING YOUR SF/F ART

On ZOOM at this time we are offering tips on framing your SF/F artwork or costuming photographs.

Selecting the right style of frame for your painting, illustration, or print will greatly enhance the work. To paraphrase the old realtor’s adage: presentation, presentation, presentation!

While there are general rules of aesthetics to follow, few are carved in stone. It really comes down to one’s personal taste, so the framing of any single work of art may be approached in more ways than one.

We’ll also be looking at creative, eye-catching methods of displaying your models, crafts, and collectibles to best effect.

1) INTRODUCTION

This is the first of eight posts this afternoon; welcome to MonSFFA’s February 2023 e-Meeting!

Before we get underway, we would like to take a moment to offer sincere condolences to our own Lynda Pelley and her family with regard to the recent passing of Lynda’s cherished mother. We were all saddened at this news. The day a beloved family member departs this life is always one of our most difficult days, and we can only commiserate with our dear friend on her loss.

Diagnosed with what was thought to be pneumonia, Lynda tells us that further blood work then pointed to acute leukemia. “Sadly, she passed away,” Lynda writes, her mother succumbing to the disease during the evening of January 22 at age 85. “This happened very quickly, in a matter of about three weeks,” Lynda additionally noted, and we are comforted to hear that she was able to be with her mother during those final days, her presence, we are certain, a comfort to her mother.

This afternoon, we’ll offer tips on framing your prized SF/F artwork or costuming photographs, and displaying your coolest sci-fi models, crafts, and collectibles to best effect.

We’ll also be talking books, focusing on how attached we become to our favourites, and how difficult it can be to part with our collections. We’ll touch, too, on how increasingly arduous a task it’s becoming to sell off used books, or even donate them, and on how churches respectfully—or not!—dispose of holy books.

This will be a group discussion, so your opinions are most welcome!

And, we’ll introduce our Special SF/F LP Record Offer.

Among the items our late friend and fellow MonSFFAn Sylvain St-Pierre collected were sci-fi film soundtracks, and related material. As part of our commitment to liquidating his vast genre collection, we have organized his numerous records into sets, or lots, and will make these available to any club members who may be interested in acquiring one or more of them..

Later this afternoon, we’ll peruse together the list of what we have available, detail the procedures we’ve set up for acquiring these records, and field any questions club members may have regarding this offer. But for an advanced peek, you can download the list as a PDF document right here and now (Sylvain’s Sci-Fi LPs, Complete List).

All of this and more is on the agenda today!

And so, let us begin.

2) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re 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: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 840 2199 8871
Passcode: 600149

3) MEETING AGENDA

Here is the agenda for this afternoon’s get-together:

As always, all scheduled programming is subject to change. 

4) RELEASE (PHOTOS OF) THE KRAKEN!

Before we plunge ahead with today’s principal programme, we proffer the following images, captured earlier this month by scuba diver Yosuke Tanaka off the coast of Japan. This is a giant squid, one of the ocean’s strangest and most mysterious denizens. Likely at the root of ancient tales of krakens and similar sea monsters, these squids can reach lengths of some 40 feet!

For about 30 minutes, Tanaka swam alongside this specimen, estimated to be a little over eight feet in length and approximately two or three years old. Deep-ocean creatures, giant squids are rarely sighted near the surface. Scientists viewing Tanaka’s video footage noted that the squid appeared to be in poor health, and perhaps near the end of its life—giant squids tend to rise from the depths when ill or near death.

Sightings of giant squids date back to Aristotle’s Greece. Over the centuries, numerous carcasses have been discovered washed ashore worldwide, but sightings of the living animal have been decidedly infrequent. The first images of a captured, living adult were recorded in 2002, the first of a live specimen in the wild in 2004.

Disney’s film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), adapting Jules Verne’s novel, famously includes an encounter with a giant squid, and sci-fi writers and illustrators have often imagined grotesque, multi-tentacled alien entities inspired by these and other cephalopods.

During the club’s January 14 e-Meeting earlier today, MonSFFA’s sitting Executive ran unopposed for another term in office, and have thus been acclaimed as the association’s 2023 Executive Committee. The recording of votes was, therefore, unnecessary.

Congratulations are proffered to Cathy Palmer-Lister, president; Keith Braithwaite, vice-president; and Joe Aspler and L. E. Moir co-treasurers.

MonSFFA elects annually a president, vice-president, and treasurer—who together form the Executive Committee—and charges them 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.

Also, the term BoA (Board of Advisors) was retired, replaced with the more fitting GBM, or General Board Meeting.

This post officially closes today’s MonSFFA e-meeting.

12) THANK YOU!

Our thanks to Joe Aspler, Josée Bellemare, Keith Braithwaite, and Cathy Palmer-Lister for their contributions to today’s programme. Your efforts are very much appreciated! We thank, as well, all of our supporting contributors this afternoon.

And of course, to those who visited with us today, and took in our online get-together, thank you for your interest and attention, and don’t forget to comment!

13) NEXT MonSFFA e-MEETING

We sincerely hope you have enjoyed your time with us these past few hours and encourage you to visit www.MonSFFA.ca regularly for additional content.

As club members are no doubt aware, our hoped-for return to in-person club meetings has unfortunately been stymied by pandemic-related circumstances; we will keep you updated as to any progress regarding our continuing search for a new meeting room!

We invite you to join us again next month, right here at www.MonSFFA.ca, for another MonSFFA e-Meeting, scheduled for Saturday, February 11, beginning at 1:00PM.

14) SIGN-OFF

Until next month, then, we bid you farewell, and include our wishes for your good health and safe travels.

This is our seventh of eight posts this afternoon.

11) WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING?

On ZOOM at this moment, we’re asking “What are You Reading, or Watching?” Give us your quick book report, or your brief review of a film or TV show you’ve recently been enjoying!

For those not participating in our ZOOM chat, today, you may still contribute by submitting your concise book reports or movie and television-series reviews via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.

This is Post 6 of 8 and will, effectively, serve as the club’s 2023 AGM (Annual General Meeting).

10) AGM/ELECTIONS

Of particular interest to MonSFFA’s membership, we have a couple of official club reports to table, which we will now proceed with on ZOOM. That will be followed by our annual election of the club’s Executive Committee for the coming year.

For the benefit of MonSFFen and in accordance with our practice, we outline here information concerning, and procedures for the election of the club’s Executive Committee:

PRIMER: ELECTION OF CLUB’S EXECUTIVE COMMITEE

MonSFFA begins each year with the election of its Executive Committee for that upcoming 12 months. These elections always take place at our first meeting of the year, in January, and are confirmed and officially announced before or at the following meeting, in February. All MonSFFA members in good standing are encouraged to attend the January meeting and participate.

All MonSFFA members in good standing, having paid in full their annual membership fees, 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 chief returning officer (CRO). Out-of-town members unable to attend the vote in person, for example, may have their ballots cast by the CRO in their absence. Potential candidates are encouraged to advise the CRO of their intention to run for one of the three specified offices as soon as possible in advance of the election.

This year we again find ourselves in unusual circumstances requiring that we adapt our procedures. As we are, for the moment, carrying out club meetings exclusively online, this year’s will be a cyber-election. Our 2023 Executive will be selected during today’s ZOOM session by those club members present online. The vote will be conducted by a show of hands, excepting those participating via a non-visual connection, who will be able to either verbalize or indicate in the text/comments field their choices.

For the benefit of any members taking in today’s meeting at a later time, the names of the candidates and the positions for which each is running will be posted on the club’s Web site at 6:00PM today. Check the site for this post, make your choices, and e-mail your votes to us at webmaster@monsffa.ca before the end of this month, January. Your votes will be added to the tally recorded during the Zoom session.

In the event of a candidate, or candidates running unopposed, the names of the acclaimed candidate, or candidates, will be posted. Post-Election Day voting will not, then, be necessary with regard to that candidate, or those candidates.

All votes received will be tabulated, confirmed, and the election of MonSFFA’s 2023 Executive Committee officially announced either before or, at the latest, during February’s virtual meeting.

MonSFFA elects annually a president, vice-president, and treasurer—who together form the Executive Committee—and charges them 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.

Our sitting Executive is as follows: Cathy Palmer-Lister, president; Keith Braithwaite, vice-president; Joe Aspler, treasurer. In addition, L. E. Moir sits as the club’s financial auditor and a member of the Executive.

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 CRO, usually just before the commencement of voting on Election Day.