Cartoon / Fantasy Organization
November 1997 Meeting
The 247th meeting, on 15 November at Gustav Baron's home/comics shop in Sun Valley, drew 20 attendees: 16 members, 1 guest and 3 public. Fred Patten sold Yarf! and gave out the C/FO BY-Laws and convention flyers for Loscon 24 in Burbank in November, the Gallifrey One Doctor Who con in Van Nuys in February, and Conucopia in Anaheim in August 1999. Steve Schultheis took orders for manga imports.
The Business Meeting was chaired by V-P Jeff Roady, in the absence of Pres. Don Yee who was "representing the C/FO" at the Anime Weekend Atlanta. Roady read animation-related news from the latest issues of Animerica (v.5 #10) and Starlog (#245). It looked like all the anime videos based on battle video games would be released in America, notably Vampire HunterlDarkstalker. Starlog had advertisements for "Manga Spawn" action figures and a Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury video game with incredibly realistic CGI recreations of the actors. The movie Starship Troopers had opened to universal scorn. (Some attendees did not seem to agree with this.) Roady reviewed the dubbing of Armitage III: Poly-matrix as excellent, and an example of why the anime video companies should hire talented actors rather than the cheapest available to dub all their tapes. "Red" Baron objected that Pioneer had hired Elizabeth Berkley and Kiefer Sutherland to dub Armitage III for its theatrical release in Japan, which justified a higher budget for voice talent than the average American anime company could afford for its average anime video titles. Roady & Baron got into a debate over the newest releases in the Evangelion series, with Roady insisting that volumes 8 & 9 would be coming out soon, and Baron insisting that they were already on sale at the Banzai Anime shop.
Roady asked if anyone else had any anime news. Ralph Atwood reported that there was some confusion as to whether Hayao Miyazaki would be retiring now that Mononoke Hime was out, or would just leave Studio Ghibli now that it had been "practically bought up" by Disney, and might undertake new anime projects elsewhere. There was discussion of the Sept. 30th Hollywood Reporter article about Disney's plans to begin releasing Miyazaki's films in 1998, and speculation as to how Disney would treat them. ("A new Mickey Manga division?") It was suggested to table this until after the rest of the officers' messages.
Sec. Fred Patten reported two items of new business: the opening of nominations for President for 1998, and a vote on whether to shift the January meeting since it fell on the same weekend as the ConFurence 9 convention. It was agreed to vote on these between the officers' messages and the general announcements. Patten had copies of the C/FO By-Laws for any members who wanted a copy. He announced that the Loscon XXIV convention in Burbank over the Thanksgiving weekend would have a three-day anime video program and a panel on the 20th anniversary of anime fandom. Both Richard Reichman and James Lomax had received glossy brochures the previous Wednesday for a $300 seminar on Japanese anime this weekend in Banff, Alberta, Canada, but the C/FO itself had not gotten one.
Treas. "Red" Baron reported that the Treasury at the beginning of the meeting had stood at $403, of which $250 was owed to Don Yee for the 20th-anniversary T-shirts leaving an actual $153. However, several members had begun paying their 1998 dues during the meeting, so it was roughly $100 more than that now.
Programmer Richard Reichman said that our programs for the next few months would be full of new titles, thanks to Jerry Shaw allowing us to tape his latest laser discs for the club's Video Library. We now had Nadesico up to episode #18, Shamanic Princess up to #4, and we had just taped AiKA #1 & #2 this afternoon. Reichman made the usual request for requests, which brought votes for Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Escaflowne, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Gundam Wing for anime, and Cats Don't Dance, any early Ralph Bakshi features, and Yellow Submarine for American/British animation. A query as to whether another special "nosebleed day" program was worth holding, led to a consensus to wait until February or March to try scheduling one. Greg Villagrana volunteered his house for special programs once or twice a year, when his parents were absent visiting relatives in Mexico.
Librarian "Red" Baron had printed an updated Video Library catalogue, but he had forgotten to bring it to the meeting. Steve Schultheis said that the SB3A in Santa Barbara had gotten a request from another anime club for copies of its tapes, and he wanted to know the C/FO's official policy on tape-copying for non-members, to use as a model. We were not sure whether the C/FO had an official policy or not, except to not allow any copying of commercially available videos. After discussion, a consensus developed that we should adopt guidelines rather than a formal, written policy. We approved exchanging copies of original Japanese videos unavailable in America, on a straight trade basis for the mutual benefit of anime clubs. We should provide a limited number of free copies to new clubs without anything to trade, to help them develop their libraries. Clubs wanting copies from our Library should be asked only to provide their own blank tape and the return postage, or a pre-paid return mailer, to avoid any implications of copying for profit. Any copying would depend on the free time of the Librarian, and would be abridged if requests piled up faster than he could make copies.
Bulletin Editor Steve Paschke complained about being given gag titles for the program schedule, since he wasn't familiar enough with new anime titles to be sure of recognizing them all. He had caught "Those Who Hump Elves", but "The Mighty Gets the Bird" had gotten past him. It was agreed to give him serious titles in the future, or to not complain if he printed what he was given in good faith.
At this point, "permanently absent" Mitchell Beiro phoned from his new home in Onyx, about 150 miles away. Eric Bitton served as a "speaker phone" to relay greetings and messages back & forth. Beiro promised to attend our next anniversary meeting in May 1998, but did not have much hope of returning to the C/FO before then.
Voting on the January meeting: due to our normal January meeting falling on the same weekend as ConFurence 9, it was asked whether we should hold our meeting as scheduled or move it to a different weekend. A motion to move our January meeting to the fourth Saturday (January 24th) passed by a vote of 9 to 0.
Don Yee was nominated for C/FO President for 1998. There were no other nominations. We were reminded that nominations and voting for all 1998 offices would be held next month. All candidates must have paid their 1998 memberships to be eligible.
General announcements: Fred Patten reported that the Anime Hasshin club had requested a copy of our Library catalogue, to find out whether our clubs might trade tapes to mutual advantage. "Red" Baron promised to provide a copy.
The November program shown was:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, #2, 'Unfamiliar Ceiling/The Beast'
Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, #3, 'Shocking Supernatural Comments; Malice of the Hypodermic Needle!'
Magical Hop Step! [The Magicians' Club!], #I, 'I'll Follow You!' ['Hanging Bells and Koso Sempai and Magicians Flying Through the Sky']
Flash Gordon, #9, 'Monster of the Glacier'
Those Who Hunt Elves, #2, 'Birth! The Invincible Party'
Hyper Police, #4, 'Bed and Breakfast'
Birdy the Mighty, Act 1, '2 Hearts in 1 Body'
feature: Tenchi Muyo! In Love (Pioneer LDC, 1996)
-- Fred Patten, Secretary
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