Just for laughs: Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!

I just found this on Digg, and thought I share it with you all. I have a feeling Outlander will be much better than this! Cheers ~ Jim

Outlander screening at EMP|SFM

Exposed: Inside Film - Outlander with special guest writer/director Howard McCain

Presented in partnership with The Warren Report

Don’t miss February’s Exposed: Inside Film featuring the new science-fiction/action adventure film Outlander, followed by an in-depth conversation with writer/director Howard McCain. In Outlander, it’s 509 AD, and a mysterious space ship crashes into majestic Fjords of ancient Norway. From the wreckage of this craft emerge two bitter enemies: an unstoppable, terrifying creature known as The Moorwen, and a man from another world, Kainan. As the deadly creature proceeds to lay waist to the Viking world, Kainan is forced to join forces with them in order to kill the Moorwen before it destroy them all.

Warren Etheredge of The Warren Report will host the evening and conduct the interview with Mr. McCain following the screening.

Following in the footsteps of his childhood filmmaking heroes James Cameron, The Wachowski Brothers and Ridley Scott, Howard McCain is making his big-budget directing debut with Outlander. Staring Jim Caviezel, John Hurt and Ron Pearlman, the film is being distributed by the Weinstein Company and scheduled for release in early 2009. A graduate of New York University, Howard’s short films Truman and Los Pollos won best short film at the Sundance Film Festival and at the Student Emmy Awards. Howard has directed television movies for Showtime, HBO, and the Disney Channel. As a writer, he and his partner Dirk Blackman wrote Underworld 3, and recently sold the action/adventure pitch, Amazon. The writing team has also been hired by Lion’s Gate to write the script for the new Conan reboot.

With the Exposed: Inside Film series, EMP|SFM screens cult favorites and classic sci-fi films in the state-of-the art JBL Theater. Each screening is followed by a behind-the-scenes look through an interactive discussion with local filmmakers and experts in the subject matter, or with actors, directors or screenwriters associated with the film. Discussions are recorded for posterity and added to our archive of oral histories. Conversations are also available online as podcasts.

Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Time: 7:00 pm

Ticket Info:
Free to EMP|SFM and The Warren Report members; $5 general public, 206.770.2702 or 1.877.EMP.SFM1.
Reserved seats unclaimed 10 minutes prior to the event are subject to be released to the wait list.

Venue:
JBL Theater
325 5th Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

Boxcar Astronaut - Go Team Dog & Robot!

Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! As you can see, Diogee is at it again. He's running down that poor squirrel that pops up in the backyard every now and again. But, just when it looks like Diogee has lost he prey up a tree, in walks Robot. Now, together, canine and automaton, they combine to form an unstoppable force that no squirrel can escape! Check out the action in an All New Boxcar Astronaut!

Boxcar Astronaut - Caveman vs. Robot

Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! Everyone knows how Robot always shows up the boys by outdoing them at everything they try. Well, this week it's Caveman's turn to be outdone by our mechanical friend. Poor Cavie is trying his hand at the simple ancient craft of rock stacking only to have Robot show up and steal his thunder right at his proudest moment! The amazing automaton learns a very valuable lesson, however, when Caveman shows him that not everyone likes being shown up. Witness Caveman and Robot's "rocky" relationship in this week's All New Boxcar Astronaut!

2008 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced

The judges of the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce six nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:


EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos Books)
FAST FORWARD 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr)
JUDGE by Karen Traviss (Eos Books)
PLAGUE WAR by Jeff Carlson (Ace Books)
TERMINAL MIND by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
TIME MACHINES REPAIRED WHILE-U-WAIT by K. A. Bedford (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
(Nominees listed updated 01/13/09)

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Last year’s winner was NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra) with a special citation to FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey). The 2008 judges are Tobias Buckell, M. M. Buckner (chair), Walter Hunt, Rosemary Kirstein, and William Senior.

For more information, contact the award administration:
David G. Hartwell (914) 769-5545.
Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551

For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, http://www.psfs.org/:
Contact Gary Feldbaum (215) 563-2511

For more information about Norwescon: http://www.norwescon.org/:
Contact NorthWest SF Society: (360) 438-0871

January MFR will be combined with the Norwescon post meeting social

NWSFS and Norwescon would like to invite you to a special My FavoriteRestaurant.

This Saturday (Jan 17th) after the Norwescon ConCom meeting (approximately 5:30pm) we will be having a combined MFR and post-meeting social. We will be going to the Jasmine Mongolian Grill at "The Commons at Federal Way" (AKA the SeaTac Mall ).

This will be a good time for NWSFS members to find out what is being planned for the upcoming Norwescon, and possibly to volunteer to help.

If you are NOT attending the Norwescon meeting, and want to attend the MFR please RSVP to info@nwsfs.org or the hotline at 360-438-0871. We'd prefer to get your RSVP by early evening of Jan 16th, but any attempt to RSVP will help us plan for you.

1948 S Commons
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 529-9566

Jasmine's does not have a web site, but this site might be useful:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jasmine-mongolian-grill-federal-way

Boxcar Astronaut - Devin Returns!

Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! Last week, Devin made his dramatic return after suffering with chicken pox. Now, as the boys catch up, Devin is concerned that Ben might have caught the ailment. Ben, however is confident that he is immune. But, is he? DUM DUM DUUUUUMMMM!

Catch the latest all new Boxcar Astronaut!

(I've been posting notices for Boxcar Astronaut on the NWSFS MySpace blog for some now, and I have decided to go ahead and also post the notices here. Give these crew a look, it's a fun little strip ~ Jim Cox / NWSFS News)

"Save Our S00j!" on LiveJournal.

A new blog is up over on LiveJournal called "Save Our S00j!" that I think a lot of fen will be interested in.

This quote from the blog can describe the purpose of the blog much better than I can:

"s00j, a touring musician with no health insurance, recently ended up in the hospital for nearly a week, and was released on Christmas Eve to await test results and more tests. At this time, we still do not have a solid diagnosis. We've gone through all the scheduled tests, and now await a consultaion with the primary doctor. Need for imminent surgery has not yet been ruled out, but it's looking significantly less likely. Still, most hospitals charge thousands of dollars per day for inpatient hospital stays and, if it's necessary, we may be looking at a bill for tens of thousands of dollars more for surgery."

Take a look at the blog. Hopefully fandom can help her out.

Also take a look at s00j's (aka S.J. Tucker) own blog "spaces between notes"

Seattle Times Comixtravaganza article

If you're at all interested in comics then you might want to check out this recent Seattle Times article on Comixtravaganza which is going on throughout the month of January:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2008596618_zart07comix.html

Twilight the movie helps regional tourism.

The affect that the movie"Twilight" has had on the local tourism industry has made news all the way to the Philippines. The web site Business Mirror in the Philippines recently ran the story "Vampire movie adds lifeblood to northwest tourism" about the effects the movie has had on the town of Forks Washington, and other regional communities such Portland, and Corbett Oregon.

Give the article a read and then check out these links:

• Forks Washington Chamber of Commerce
• Forks Washington Chamber of Commerce Events Page: Twilight tour of Forks/La Push
• Forks Forum - Twilighters For Forks
• Forks Forum Twilight Fan Guide
• Official Website of Stephenie Meyer
• Breaking Dawn
• Stephenie Meyer Wikipedia Site
• Twilight Lexicon
• TwilightMOMS
• The Twilight Saga

While some of tour packages are on the pricey side, Forks is close enough to make for an interesting day trip for Seattle fans.

Steamcon organizational meeting Sunday, January 4th

The next Steamcon organizational meeting is:

Sunday, January 4th
at 3:00 P.M. at the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library.
425 Harvard Ave. E. Seattle WA

The parking in the library garage is free, but it does fill up.

For future reference, the next meetings will be :
February 8th (usual time and place)
March 8th (usual time and place)