Category: Uncategorized

St. Pi’s Day Party was FUN!

  By

On 3/14/15 we had the annual beer tasting and potluck party. This year we merged the St Patrick's Day motif (some were dressed in green) and the once-in-a-century Pi Day observance. At 9:26:53 we dropped a pie in honor of the moment (note that Pi = 3.141592653...). Not too many others can say that!

The group really outdid itself with the round food theme. We have round cheese, meat, bread, cookies, cake, appetizers, potatoes, salads and more! We actually had to start placing food on the bed because we had so many great items. Great job, everybody.

The beer tasting had lots of entrants this year and we tasted in four rounds, two semi-finals and a final round. The ultimate winner was Barb Pucel with Shiner Birthday Beer, which is brewed with chocolate malt and real cocoa. The second place prize went to Jane Dusek for her Brau Brothers Moo Joos, a classic oatmeal milk stout. It's interesting to note that this is the first year we have seen two dark beers win the prizes. They were both yummy. The coveted (or maybe not) USS Nokomis Bad Beer Board went to Joann Hall, whose beer was so yucky we can't mention the name. Congratulations to all, and see you again next year!

Mary and Jack

New Feature: The Newsletter Archive

  By

There's a new feature on the Nokomis website - the Newsletter Archive.  Need a copy of a past Newsletter, or need the current one when you don't have your email with you?  Go to the archive.  It's under the My USSNOKOMIS button.

You'll need to be logged in to see the archive.  Each time the newsletter goes out, the site automatically puts a copy on the archive page too, so there's no delay.  If it's sent, it's in the archive.   For now it's limited to the newsletters that we've sent from the website itself, we don't have back-issues beyond 2015 posted.

Remember to log in when you visit the site - there are some events and news stories that don't show to the public.  They're the perks of membership.

Captain’s Log — Stardate 1504.05

  By

Captain's Log

Greetings, crew! As I write this, we have gone from yesterday's 65 degrees to today's snowstorm. I love March! My family is lucky to be spending Spring Break in Texas, so we are all hauling out our summer clothes once again.

Thanks once again to those who helped at MarsCon with the blood drive, which turned into the  Leonard Nimoy Memorial Blood Drive at the very last minute. We collected 27 units of blood, which will be used to save up to 81 lives. We also collected money for the COPD Foundation, as Leonard died of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Several club members added to the donations at the March meeting, too.

Check the newsletter and website to find information on multiple spring and summer events and activities. There are several fun things coming up soon that you won't want to miss, so keep checking back regularly!

See you around the galaxy,

Mary

MarsCon 2015 Report

We had a great time at the convention this year. It was much more laid-back than some, with fewer people coming through our room. To give you an idea of scope - we usually serve about 500 drinks during a MarsCon weekend and this year we served 200.

However, drinks were not a measure of our room's popularity! The new props, thanks to Mr James Kline, were absolutely Oz-some, and many people came to see. Guests loved speaking into Wizard's microphone and hearing their voices come booming from the Wizard's form. We had Dorothy, Glinda, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, munchkins, the Emerald Princess, the Wicked Witch with one of her Winkie Guard and the Wizard in his human form. We could never quite locate the Tin Woodman, but he left his oil can behind in case we needed it. The Emerald City was there in the distance, too. It was very lovely and fun, too.

Thanks to everyone who participated, helped with set-up and take-down, and visited the room.

Mary

Journey To Babble Brewery Tour Tentative Itinerary

  By , , ,

Welcome to my tentative Nokomis Beer Crawl itinerary! Yes, we’re taking a jaunt through the Twin Cities on Saturday, May 2, 2015, to enjoy what Minnesota’s burgeoning craft beer industry has to offer.

I hope that I have put together a fun beer-tasting tour. I tried to keep this roster full of interesting, off-the-beaten-path brewers who offer something unique. On our four-stop adventure, we’ll start off at a brewpub where we can also grab a bite to eat before embarking on the rest of the tour. Beer-tasting on an empty stomach isn’t a good idea, after all.

Even if you’re not a beer drinker (like me), I believe you’ll find this daytrip interesting, at least from a beverage production perspective. In any case, I’m sure your beer-enjoying comrades wouldn’t mind having a designated driver along.

Below are 2015’s selected stops and their philosophies, all in their own words. Who better to tell their stories than the brewmasters themselves?

In the meantime, if you have any questions, be sure to let me know. Hope to see you there!

—Lynne

More inside...

Captain’s Log March 2015

  By

Did you smell that whiff of warm air outside? Did you see the palm trees? I did – either in my dreams or on my work trip to California. Either way, they were pretty, and they reminded me that spring begins this month! Let’s get through the March snowstorms and on into the thaw.

I hope we get to see everyone at the party on the 14th. You only get one chance each century to celebrate Pi Day, so this may be your only chance!

The passing of Leonard Nimoy has affected many of us quite a bit. I have heard multiple comments like “it literally took my breath away” and “this is the big one.” It’s hard to believe that he is gone, and somehow it’s so much more impactful that other losses we have endured. Is it because this tips the scales and we have now lost so many, or that Leonard was just such a good guy? It’s probably a combination, but for me it’s the latter. Of all the stars I have worked with in my travels, he was the most………………Seriously, he was a good man and he did many things for many people. I know that we will all miss him. We all have a chance to honor him by donation of blood or money - see the article on the website/newsletter. And that's all I have to say about that.

See you around the galaxy!

Mary

Fourteen Things We Didn’t Know About Leonard Nimoy

  By

We probably know a lot more about Leonard than many people, but Variety published a great article about some obscure talents and experiences that even die-hard fans may not know. Here is an excerpt from that article:

  • The first reference of “Leonard Nemoy,” as he was billed in some of his earliest appearances, came in the Oct. 17, 1950, edition noting that he had joined the cast of the C-grade indie film “Queen for a Day.” It was stitched together from three segments featured on the radio program of the same name that later transferred to TV.
  • Nimoy scored in his first mention in a Variety review in the April 17, 1952, edition, for his work in the C-grade indie “Kid Monk Baroni,” in which he plays a hoodlum from Little Italy who turns himself around by becoming a boxer. The reviewer found the pic mostly forgettable except that it “serves to introduce a young actor named Leonard Nimoy in the title role. He is a capable juve who merits attention.” Roles in “The Brain Eaters,” “Zombies of the Stratosphere” and “Them!” would follow.

  • Nimoy’s tour of duty in TV Westerns and dramatic anthology series of the late 1950s and early 1960s is well-documented in Variety’s casting notices. In the March 22, 1961, edition, Nimoy’s talent agency took out a small ad to tout his guest shot in a “Wagon Train” episode — a precursor of things to come, as Gene Roddenberry would later pitch “Star Trek” to NBC as “‘Wagon Train’ to the stars.”
  • By 1962, Nimoy and Vic Morrow, star of ABC’s “Combat,” teamed to option the film rights to Jean Genet’s “Deathwatch,” according to an item in the Sept. 24, 1962, edition. The pair plan “independent filmization” of the project about two male prisoners fighting over the affections of a third inmate. The project becomes a six-year, $125,000-odyssey for Nimoy and Morrow, who directed. Paul Mazursky and Michael Forrest co-starred with Nimoy, with Gavin MacLeod in a small role. Nimoy and Morrow faced IATSE picketing during their non-union shoot in 1964 and indifference from distributors. The pair finally decided to book it into select theaters themselves, starting in San Francisco in 1966. It was picked up for limited distribution by Beverly Pictures in 1968.

More inside...

The February 2015 General Membership Meeting

  By

The February 2015 General Membership Meeting will be held on February 14, 2015, at the Champlin Library on Ensign Avenue in Champlin, MN. It's a site we have met at many times before over the years.

***Here’s the map and meeting location details.***

Come and hear about

  • MarsCon and our place in it
  • The Chuckwagon Dinner event
  • How the Feed My Starving Children event went
  • Blood saves lives, and our way of helping
  • Sledding, Sliding... and mayhem, oh myy.

After the meeting, we’ll be gathering at the Elm Creek Park reserve for our Annual Sledding Event. See its Event listing for details.

More inside...