   ENGLISH ZONE

   Motiv8 is dead.  [line: 16]                                       Mason
   Windows95 ^ TBL  [137]                                         TBL Team
   PD: Boring zines?  [210]                                          Gutek
   PD: Interview with Teque/Trauma  [286]                              VIG
   PD: 45 FUN WAYS TO TAKE A FINAL THAT DOES NOT MATTER  [434]
   PD: ANARCHISM AND POWER  [593]                              Ron Carrier
   PD: CHRIS CARTER Creator, "The X-Files"  [691]                   Wrbel
   PD: Interview with BLALA [732]                                   SirFux
   Interview with Probe/The Black Lotus  [871]        rem.xms^pcn..luk.pcn
   Skin/Quad story - part I [972]                                Skin/Quad
   Mekka^Symposium'98 - report.  [1045]                   Shark /Ultimatum

 
  Motiv8 is dead.                                                   Mason

   Well.  I  guess  you all know what this text is about, because the news
   got  around  in  the scene faster than fire. It's true - Motiv8 is dead
   now.

   You may ask why it's dead? To explain you that I must start telling you
   some Motiv8 history. 5 years ago Crossfire started the C64 division of
   Motiv8 and I got a part of it from the beginning as cracker. Motiv8 C64
   has run for years, but now most of the members of the C64 division left
   Motiv8  to  join C64 division of Fairlight and Motiv8 C64 died. After I
   got  the  news  I  was a little bit shocked, but I understood Crossfire
   100%. I started in the PC scene 5 years ago and created the PC division
   of  Motiv8  - I wont tell their story, because I think you already know
   it.  Now  C64 division of Motiv8 is dead and it had the rights to their
   name.  It  means  that  Motiv8  PC  would  be  fake.  Alot  of you wont
   understand  this  point,  but  I  know  Solar  of  Divine  & F4CG will.
   Personally  I  wont  end up like Class did and steal the groupname from
   some  other  people.  If  you  wonder  why  I bring Class into this is,
   because  there  have  been  a  C64 group called Class and none of those
   people are in Class PC - nothing I will judge on.

   Motiv8  has  been  around  for  a long time and alot of people has been
   through.  If  you  look  on  the couriergroups today most of them is my
   "kids"  or  they have been teached by my "kids". Im glad to see most of
   you  got further in the scene and it has always been the most important
   thing for me.

   Before  I  end  this  note  I  will thank alot of people - I cant write
   everyone here as this note will be pretty big:

   Motiv8 Members: Thanks for your great work - Im sure you get further in
   the  scene  and  I  hope  you  will  keep  the spirit that the scene is
   friendship.

   Blastman : You get a personal note as you has been in Motiv8 for a very
   long  time  and helped me many times when we had those famous splits. I
   know  you  have created a new group and I wish you good luck. You did a
   great work in Motiv8 and I know you will do the same in your new group.

   Vortexia  :  A personal note for you too. Thanks for helping me several
   times.  You  did  alot  of  good  things for Motiv8 too, but didn't you
   forgot to finish the setup of the SQUID machine. Good luck with the new
   group together with the rest.

   Thoran  : Well - We have been together in the same group since fC died.
   It  has  been  fun  and I know you will do alot of good work in the new
   group with Vortexia and Blastman. Good Luck!

   Igor  :  One of my best scenefriends ever. Thanks for the great time in
   Motiv8. When you and me ran Motiv8 the scene was totally different from
   what  it  is  today.  NIHIL  FOREVER!  Keep  up  the  good  work on the
   university while studying.

   Tommiy  :  You're a great pal too. Thanks for your time in Motiv8 - You
   did a great work. NIHIL FOREVER!

   Metalfan  :  Thanks  for all the help - even when it was worst fighting
   against  my  old  admin  at the school. Keep up the great work. I gotta
   send you Remoulade soon.

   Las : We still got alot to do even after Motiv8 is gone.

   Solar  : One of the few active people from the C64 scene, who got to do
   something  big  in  the PC scene. Good luck pal - I know you are one of
   the few guys who understand me in this situation.

   Ex. Motiv8 Members: Thanks for being in Motiv8. I don't know if you see
   this as alot of us already left the scene. To all the people who was in
   Motiv8, but still are active in the scene keep up the good work - I can
   see alot of you use your experience.

   Ordnance&Ninja/RTS:  Keep  RTS  alive!  You  and  Risc  is the only old
   couriergroups  around  now. You had ups and downs like Motiv8, but like
   us you know how to get it running again. Btw Tech is doing a great job.
   It was fun when RTS, Motiv8 and RiSC were alone.

   Porter&Eagle1/RiSC:  No  matter what happend RiSC has always been here.
   Keep  the  old  spirit  pals. It was fun when RTS, Motiv8 and RiSC were
   alone.

   Dizzident/Devotion:  Now  I  aint  busy  anymore  - wanna play fish? :)
   Anyway  I know how you feel about the news that Motiv8 died. Most of us
   has  the  same  feeling,  but keep up good Dev work. Did Wazza join you
   yet? If not - get him as he's a great guy.

   Paradigm  Members  :  Looks like I get some more time for Paradigm now.
   You are all great friends and I love seeing that the old guys keeps the
   same spirit as me.

   #warez  :  Alot  of you has been in Motiv8 too and it's great we have a
   place  where we still can talk. This is generally for all #warez people
   for all the irc-networks (Efnet, Alter, Dbn3).

   Specific Siteops : You all know who you are and I wont mention you with
   name  here  because  all the lamers will flood you with mesgs. I'm glad
   that  you  wanna  spread  this  note for me, so everyone knows the real
   story.

   Well  -  I could continue for hours saying thanks to several people. If
   you  doesnt  aint in this note it's not because I forgot you - the note
   will  be  in the same size as 1 disk. So to the rest who aint mentioned
   here these lines is for you.

   A  last question I will answer before I end this note. What is going to
   happend with me now?

   Right  now  I  don't  be  in any courier group as alot of group changes
   because  of  the disappear of Motiv8 and the groups shall be able to do
   it  without  my  influence. In meantime I will stay in Paradigm, but if
   you  think  you have a great offer for me - tell me - and I will prolly
   choose one of them soon.

   Thanks  for  reading  this  note  and  Thanks for the support of Motiv8
   through  all  the years. I know a big part of the courier scene history
   disappears now, but we all has to face it.

                                                          Mason
                                                   Ex. President Motiv8

 
  Windows95 ^ TBL                                               TBL Team

   Attention please:

   We  in  TBL like the scene, we like competition, we like competing with
   other  groups,  competing  with  other  groups  we have always competed
   with,  we  also like to create our demos in Win32, so you can all watch
   it  easily.  Most Party Organizers are taking the competition away from
   us, they think we should compete in a seperate competition, because our
   demos  do  not run in DOS. Why can't we compete in the same competition
   as the rest? Do you understand? Do you think it's normal? If you don't,
   and  you  think this is stupid, let them know as well, and tell them to
   follow  the good example set by for instance The Gathering 98, TakeOver
   98  and  Coven 98. You could mail for instance assembly@assembly.org or
   theparty@theparty.dk.  We  would  like groups creating demos in Windows
   (with the same hardware as people using DOS) to be able to compete with
   other groups in a normal way. Not in a separate competition.
   _________________________________________________________________

   Problems?

   The  demos should work on any system running Windows 95, Windows 98, or
   Windows  NT  4/5 with a Pentium or better. The music should work on any
   system  which produces sound in Windows, independent of which soundcard
   is present.

   To  run  the  demos  in their full glory, full screen, you will require
   DirectDraw  2.0  or  higher. DirectDraw 2.0 is automatically present in
   Windows  NT,  and  will  in  most  cases be present on every Windows 95
   system  as  well.  If you don't have it, you can get the latest version
   of  DirectX (also required to play all modern games) from the Microsoft
   DirectX 5 Download page.

   If  the  demos  still  won't produce a fullscreen image this means your
   current  drivers  are not capable of the desired resolutions, you could
   try  getting  the  latest driver for your card from the website of your
   card  manufacturer.  For  instance  www.matrox.com,  www.atitech.ca  or
   www.tseng.com.

   If  you  really can't get things to work as you think it should, let us
   know,  if  a  lot  of  people  experience  the  same  problems a simple
   replacement  for  the  iXalance  loader  would  fix the problem in most
   cases.

   You can email about iXalance at nix@overflow.concepts.nl.

   _________________________________________________________________

   How to do demos for Windows 95 and NT?

   The  iXalance  system itself is not very suitable for a public release,
   and  for  that  reason is not available to 3rd parties. However, if you
   want  to create demos running in a compatible way in both Windows NT as
   in Windows 95 you should check out the Win32 Demos Programming Page.

   _________________________________________________________________

   Windows sucks, Linux rules?

   If  you think windows is just a piece of crap, and you would rather the
   demos  available  in  Linux,  you  will have to do it yourself. I'm not
   going to do it for you.

   If you know everything about how to get fast and compatible framebuffer
   access  in  Linux,  and are serious about wanting to create an iXalance
   loader  for  Linux,  send  me a mail. And I'll discuss it with you, and
   send you all the necessary info and sourcecode.

   _________________________________________________________________

   For any comments or questions: nix@overflow.concepts.nl

 
  PD: Boring zines?                                                Gutek

   TRANSLATE: De Monus

   As  the  title could show, the subject of thiz art will not be treatin'
   about  how  to make a nice mag, becoz in my opinion there is no uniform
   recipe  for  that.  My  contemplations will be about diskmagazines that
   from  audio-visual  sheet  look  not  bad at all, but worse is the most
   importnant  thing.  Namely  I  mind  the articles. But, to not keep you
   bored I take myself to writting.
   To  the  boring kind of zines one should include "Tankard" by Grinders,
   "Lush"  by  Fused  men  :)  and  maybye "Kasztanka" (thats the horse of
   Piusudski  :).  But  with  the  last  of them the case iz a little bit
   diffrent.  Coz  this  zine  became famuos because of stupid texts, wich
   despite  of that were funny sometimes :). So "Kasztan" is a provocation
   of  its authors, and it is removed from this garbage can. But, let's go
   back to the subject.
   "Tankard"  for eyes and ears looks nice. It is seen from the start that
   the  Grinders  wanted  to  make somethin' "on level". Eyes are happy of
   great  logos  of  Extend and quite kewl panel. Ear is not more poor. It
   was  treated  by old but very ql mods of XTD. And for addition zine has
   got something that I never seen before: a crossword. Well, a novel idea
   :).  Well,  unfortunately thats end of adavantages. Worse zine sides is
   thin code, and those misfortune arts, wich are about half of meg. Quite
   a  lot for a first issue, but those interesting and worth of readin' we
   can  count  on  the  fingers of both hands of a lumberjack. And most of
   them  are  boring  becoz  they are about things so evident, that even a
   blonde  would  understand  it (but I'm not definately sure becoz 90% of
   jokes  'bout  blondes  they do not understand :) or the arts are so old
   that they were read many times in other zines. It is felt that the most
   were  written  for  "fuck  off"  to make mag bigger. There is a lack of
   author's  will  and  in  my  opinion  the  most  was written because of
   compulsion.
   The  same  thing  could be said about "Lush", but here the case looks a
   little  bit  better. Articles are on the higher level, but the subjects
   are  still copied. But let somebody tell me, how many times he read art
   reviewing a few other zines? Not enough the idea is old as the Wolrd is
   then  for  addition  we  may  only see a several sentences. If only God
   would  make author writting about every zine albout 3 kilobytes showin'
   its  disadvantages  and  hiz  option  of  removing them and showing its
   advantages  then  one  could  be  tempted  to read it. And for instance
   reader who didn't see "Kashanka" will learn a little more about it. The
   name  will stay for longer in his grey cells and he propably will start
   to  torment  his  contacts  to get this magazine. Otherwise information
   will  stay  for  a  few  days  in brain and then will fly to Neverland.
   People! Respectworthy scene members! Editors! Think more about theme of
   arts.  I know that the new, interesting subject is not so easy to find,
   because I often have a problem what to write. I'd like to give myself a
   break  than to write some shit as "A few advices for swapper" or an art
   "How to get on the scene". This kind ov texts are nonsence, what for to
   talk  about  something that has been written a long time ago? Diffrence
   is  when  we  have something to say about a particular art. And you see
   Lexus  why  I'm  writting  so  litte  number  of arts. This is not some
   laziness,  but  maybye  a little. But I'm not living of the scene only.
   No,  this  period  is  finished.  I  just simply prefere to write `bout
   someting new than give borin' stuff. Well that's my opinion about this,
   but you do not have to agree with it.
   I  will finnish this boring because many of you must be sleeping by now
   or  at least yawn (me anyway too becoz is 9:22 and I did not sleep long
   enough). I appeal to you one more time, think up sth new, sth original.
   Leave  old  subjects.  I  would  like  rather  read some cool story not
   connected  with the scene than about advices for swapper :). And that's
   all.

   .gutek.electrocute.ans.

   ps.  Swapper  advices  suxx!  Maybye  soon I'll write what I'm thinkin'
   about it.
   ps.  Despite  that the subject of tis article is quite new then my text
   is seem to be boring to me. And to you?


   LEXUS:  It  is  not a new idea! :) I had written similiar article
   ealier...

 
  PD: Interview with Teque/Trauma                                    VIG

   Interview  with  Tero  Kostermaa alias Teque member of Trauma, actually
   working for Remedy Entertainment

   >---- So, lets start:
   >o Tell me about Your actual position. How You get to the
   >  Remedy Ent. ?

   My  job here at Remedy is making sound effects and music for our games.
   Makging sound effects is my primary job here, since I'll be making them
   for  every  game  Remedy  makes.  I also make music for one of Remedy's
   forthcoming titles.

   I  first  came  to Remedy with our group (Aggression) to make our game,
   Utopos,  with  them.  !Cube  and  I made the music and I made the sound
   effects.  People  here  at Remedy liked my work and I just became their
   main  sfx  engineer.  And I'm very pleased that I can do music as well.
   Making music is in my blood, so to speak.

   >o Do You want to be in some music band, or to have one ?

   I have a kind of a band project with !Cube, but we'll see what happens.
   We  have  done a couple of tunes together before and working with !Cube
   is easy and efficient.

   And  if  this  thing  works  out  we'll be recroding some albums in the
   future. With synths of course. I couldn't even dream of making an album
   consisting only or partly of mods.

   >-- Music, wide-look
   >o What do You think: music unites or divide people ?

   Depends totally on the style of the music. Every extreme style of music
   divide people.

   >o What music styles dominates in Finland, and Your city ?

   Europop  (techon & dance) is in the charts always as well as the normal
   pop music. And of course finnish pop music, which I hate very much.

   >o Have You always listened to one music style, or tell me how
   >  Your music favourites changed in time.

   I don't know if the style of music I listen to has changed. I would say
   that it has expanded to new areas of music.

   I  was  about 11 years old when I first discovered my interest in music
   and composing. My first influences was Vangelis. My dad had a couple of
   Vangleis' records from the 70's. That's when things got started. Next I
   discovered  Jarre  with his early production (Oxygene & Equinoxe). Then
   after  Miami Vice started on the Finnish television I found Jan Hammer.
   And  somewhere  between  all that I had found Mike Oldfield's inspiring
   music.

   From  those  early  influences  I  still  listen to Vangelis, Jarre and
   Oldfield  and  I  have  bought  almost  every album they have made. Not
   those rare one's of course, they are so hard to find here in Finland.

   In  1991  I somehow began to like death metal with Sepultura along with
   Pantera.  I  never  liked heavy metal though. Maybe just this jump from
   plain  synth  music  to  very  hard  metal formed a big part of that so
   called "Teque" tm sound & style.

   This  whole  industrial things started some time in 92 or 93. It was my
   groupmate  Xenit/Aggression  who  played  me  Front  242  for the first
   time. It was the Tyranny for You CD, which is still a very good record.
   A month from that I bought FLA's Tactical Neural Implant and then there
   was no return.

   >o What is Your definition for industrial ?

   It's quite dark music with a clear beat. It's not fast, but it is hard.
   And of course it has lot's of samples from various industrial machines.

   >o Is there some music You hate and want to destroy?

   Yep,  it's  rap.  I'm  not  sure  can you really call it music. No, I'm
   serious  about  destroying  rap, but I still hate it. People have their
   freedom  to  make  rap and I have my freedom to choose not to listen to
   it.

   >o Do You like that in novadays music styles are breaking to
   >  more and more separate sub-styles ? (like: many kinds
   >  of metal)

   It's  a  good  thing. Why should people just make strictly this type of
   music and that type of music. It's a natural thing for music to evolve.
   I  know  that  it  will be harder to categorize music in the future, bu
   that's not important. Actually music is not meant to be categorized.

   >-- Comps.
   >o Making module is being like one-man-orchestra, does not it
   >  sometimes make You feel powerless, when You got to make
   >  more complicated composition ?

   Only  thing  that  makes  me  feel  powerless  is the limitations of xm
   format.  Other  bad limitation is the memory on my GUS. 1 meg is simply
   not enough after I began to use 16bit samples. I always keep on my mind
   that I make mods for fun. For serious music I allways use synths.

   >o Do you like actual position of things: one man for one
   >  module ? Don't You think that making group like normal
   >  music group (specialists for percussion, guitars, etc.)
   >  is more fun and productivity ?

   I  think  that  this  would only cause trouble. One mod one composer. I
   think  that  every  one who makes mods likes the fact that he/she is in
   control of everything.

   >o How You choose Your pseudo ?

   It  came from my initials T.K. The letter K changed to Q. And TQ became
   Teque because of the way the letters are pronounced. Most of my friends
   call  me  teque  nowadays. So I couldn't even dream of changin it. It's
   become like my second name or something. I've had it since '87.

   I'm  also  aware  that there is a software company called Teque, but it
   really doesn't bother me.

   >o Who is Your favourite musician(s) and why (shortly) ?

   My  personal  favourities  are: FLA, Front 242, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield
   Sepultura  &  Pantera.  And they are my favourities because their music
   give me a lots of inspiration and pleasure. Of course I like many other
   bands & muscians & composers as well.

   >-- Miscelanous
   >o Do You like building cults based on opinions of some bands ?

   It's really the same to me. I don't care.

   >o What about some UFO-religion, and religion in wide-look,
   > do You think people can come to understanding about basic
   > life values ?

   I  think  that every religion is dangerous one. No sense killing people
   in the name of god, especially the same god...

   Religions  are  made  for  those  weak  minded.  Of  course some of our
   religions are harmless and good for people. No harm in that, but I just
   don't like the way they advertise their religions.

   >---- end

   Vig

 
  PD: 45 FUN WAYS TO TAKE A FINAL THAT DOES NOT MATTER

   1.  Bring  a  pillow.  Fall  asleep  (or  pretend to) until the last 15
   minutes.  Wake  up,  say  "Oh  geez,  better get cracking!" and do some
   gibberish work. Turn it in a few minutes early.

   2.  Get  a  copy of the exam, run out screaming "Andre, Andre, I've got
   secret documents!!"

   3.  If  it  is a math/science exam, answer in essay form. If it is long
   answer/essay  form,  answer  with numbers and symbols. Be creative. Use
   the integral symbol.

   4.  Make  paper airplanes out of the exam. Aim them at the instructor's
   left nostril.

   5.  Talk  the entire way through the exam. Read questions aloud, debate
   your  answers  with yourself out loud. If asked to stop, yell out, "I'm
   SOOO  sure  you  can hear me thinking." Then start talking about what a
   joke the instructor and the class are!

   6. Bring cheerleaders.

   7.  Walk in, get the exam, sit down. About five minutes into it, loudly
   say  to  the  instructor, "I don't understand ANY of this. I've been to
   every  lecture all semester long! What's the deal? And who the hell are
   you? Where's the regular guy?"

   8.  Bring  a  Game  Boy (or Game Gear, etc...). Play with the volume at
   maximum level.

   9.  On the answer sheet (book, whatever) find a new, interesting way to
   refuse  to  answer every question. For example: I refuse to answer this
   question on the grounds that it conflicts with my religious beliefs. Be
   creative.

   10. Bring pets.

   11.  Run  into  the  exam room looking about frantically. Breath a sigh
   relief. Go to the instructor, say "They've found me, I have to leave to
   country" and run off.

   12.  Fifteen  minutes into the exam, stand up, rip up all the papers in
   very  small  pieces,  throw  them  into  the  air  and  yell out "Merry
   Christmas!"  If  you're really daring, ask for another copy of the exam
   Say  you  lost  the  first  one.  Repeat  this  process  every  fifteen
   minutes.

   13. Do the exam with crayons, paint, or fluorescent markers.

   14.  Come  into  the exam wearing slippers, a bathrobe, a towel on your
   head, and nothing else.

   15.  Come  down with a BAD case of Turet's Syndrome during the exam. Be
   vulgar as possible.

   16. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don't know one, make
   one up! For math/science exams, try using Roman numerals.

   17.  Bring  things  to throw at the instructor when s/he's not looking.
   Blame it on the person nearest to you.

   18. As soon as the instructor hands you the exam, eat it.

   19.  Walk  into  the  exam with an entourage. Claim you are going to be
   taping  your  next  video during the exam. Try to get the instructor to
   let   them  stay,  be  persuasive.  Tell  the  instructor  to  expect a
   percentage of the profits if they are allowed to stay.

   20.  Every  five  minutes,  stand  up, collect all your things, move to
   another seat, continue with the exam.

   21.  Turn in the exam approximately 30 minutes into it. As you walk out
   start commenting on how easy it was.

   22.  Do  the entire exam as if it was multiple choice and true/false. I
   it  is  a  multiple  choice  exam, spell out interesting things (DCCAB.
   BAB etc..).

   23.  Bring  a  black  marker.  Return  the  exam with all questions and
   answers completely blacked out.

   24.  Get  the  exam.  Twenty  minutes  into  it, throw your papers down
   violently, scream out "Fuck this!" and walk out triumphantly.

   25.  Arrange  a  protest  before  the  exam  starts  (i.e. Threaten the
   instructor  that  whether  or not everyone's done, they are all leaving
   after one hour to go drink).

   26.  Show  up  completely  drunk. (Completely drunk means at some point
   during the exam, you should start crying for mommy).

   27. Every now and then, clap twice rapidly. If the instructor asks why,
   tell  him/her  in  a very derogatory tone, "the light bulb that goes on
   above my head when I get an idea is hooked up to a clapper. DUH!"

   28. Comment on how sexy the instructor is looking that day.

   29. Come to the exam wearing a black cloak. After about 30 minutes, put
   on a white mask and start yelling "I'm here, the Phantom of the Opera!"
   until they drag you away.

   30.  Go  to  an exam for a class you have no clue about, where you know
   the  class  is  very  small,  and the instructor would recognize you if
   you belonged. Claim that you have been to every lecture. Fight for your
   right to take the exam.

   31.  Upon  receiving the exam, look it over, while laughing loudly, say
   "You  don't  really  expect me to waste my time on this drivel? Days Of
   Our Lives is on!!!"

   32. Bring a water pistol with you. Nuff said.

   33.  From the moment the exam begins, hum the theme to Jeopardy. Ignore
   the instructor's requests for you to stop. When they finally get you to
   leave  one  way  or another, begin whistling the theme to the Bridge on
   the River Kwai.

   34. Start a brawl in the middle of the exam.

   35. If the exam is math/science related, make up the longest proofs you
   could  possibly  think  of.  Get  pi  and  imaginary  numbers into most
   equations.  If it is a written exam, relate everything to your own life
   story.

   36.  Come  in  wearing  a full knight's outfit, complete with sword and
   shield.

   37.  Bring  a  friend to give you a back massage the entire way through
   exam. Insist this person is needed, because you have bad circulation.

   38.  Bring  cheat sheets FOR ANOTHER CLASS (make sure this is obvious!)
   like  history  notes  for  a calculus exam... otherwise you're not just
   failing,  you're  getting kicked out too! Staple them to the exam, with
   the  comment,  "Please use the attached notes for references as you see
   appropriate.

   39. When you walk in, complain about the heat. Strip.

   40.  After  you  get  the  exam, call the instructor over, point to any
   question, ask for the answer. Try to work it out of him/her.

   41. One word: Wrestlemania.

   42.  Bring  balloons, blow them up, start throwing them around like the
   do before concerts start.

   43. Try to get people in the room to do the wave.

   44. Play frisbee with a friend at the other side of the room.

   45.  Sit  around  until the exam invigilator tells you to stop writing.
   Keep  writing as every exam is collected and wait till they're all in a
   big pile. Then walk up and say you've finished. (Assuming you've missed
   all  your  classes  too)  you can then say "Do you know who I am?" very
   loudly  if  hassled about handing in the exam late. The instructor will
   say no, and you can shove the exam randomly anywhere in the pile.

 
  PD: ANARCHISM AND POWER                                     Ron Carrier

   A  common  description  of  anarchism  is  that  it  has as its aim the
   abolition  of  the  state.  Now,  while this is certainly correct -- it
   would indeed be hard to find an anarchist who is positively enamored of
   any government apparatus, be it located in Chicago, Washington, Moscow,
   or  Baghdad  -- , it is not (to my mind) the best way of describing the
   anarchist goal.

   Rather,  anarchism  should  be understood as aiming at the abolition of
   all  forms  of  domination. That is, anarchism is resolutely opposed to
   any  relations between humans in which one decides for another, without
   the  other's  consent, how that other is to live and coerces that other
   into  living  that way. So anarchism is opposed not only to government,
   to  the  police  and military and legislature and judiciary. It is also
   opposed  to  capitalism,  in  which  a  few  possessing  the  means  of
   production  compel  the rest, on pain of starvation, to produce for the
   profit  of  those  few in return for a wage; and to racism of any form;
   and to any sort of oppression on the basis of one's sexuality. In place
   of  all  this,  which  is  inherently  reprehensible (and if you want a
   justification  of  this claim, try living in an explicit state of being
   dominated  and  see  what  you  think of it!), anarchists seek to being
   about  a situation in which everybody determines for oneself as much as
   possible,  in  as free and cooperative as can be devised, how one is to
   live one's life.

   So anarchism is opposed to power, right? All we need to do is overthrow
   all  the bosses who are repressing our desire for freedom, and all will
   be well? -- Well, not quite. I don't think it's right to identify power
   with domination and domination with repression, as was just done in the
   two questions just posed. Here's why.

   What  is  power?  It  seems to me that power shouldn't be thought of as
   some  mysterious  substance  which some people (at the top of the heap)
   possess by some means or other and which others (at the bottom) do not.
   Rather,  power exists only as a certain kind of relation between people
   in  which one person does what another person wants the first person to
   do.  Now, simply described that way, power relations are not inherently
   relations  of  domination:  one can do what another wants her/him to do
   because  the  two of them have both freely consented to this as much as
   because  the  latter  person  has  coercive control over the former. So
   anarchism,  properly  understood, does not seek the abolition of power,
   in  the  sense  that  it  does not seek to eliminate the possibility of
   power  relations.  For  it  is  hard  to  see how this could come about
   without  the  abolition  of  any  and  all  social  relations, which no
   anarchist  wants!  Instead, anarchism seeks to foster and maintain only
   those  power relations which do not involve coercive domination, and to
   destroy those that do.

   Furthermore,  not  all  those  power relations which involve domination
   operate  by repression alone. That is, domination does not, to my mind,
   consist  only  in  keeping people from doing things. Rather, domination
   also  involves  a  certain  positive  aspect,  in  that it involves the
   dominator acting positively (and not just by denial) upon the one to be
   dominated  (upon both her/his body and mind) so that the dominated will
   reliably  act  in  a  docile and obedient fashion. For example, part of
   that  power  relation which is wage slavery consists in making the wage
   slave  an  obedient  slave  by  a  careful  and meticulous technique of
   training  by  which  the  wage  slave-to-be  is  brought  to  act in as
   productive  a manner for the employer and not otherwise. (This training
   does  not  take  place  only  within the factory gates -- our system of
   compulsory  education  contributes  mightily to producing docility.) In
   other  words,  relations  of domination have the force they do in large
   part  because  they endow kthe dominated with positive characteristics,
   with real abilities that they did not have before.

   What  this  means  for  anarchists  is  that  it  is not sufficient for
   eliminating  domination and establishing a free and cooperative society
   merely  to eliminate repression. (Which is not to say that it shouldn't
   be done; only that this isn't enough.) For the ability to act in a free
   and  cooperative fashion is not something that one possesses naturally,
   is  not  a  natural  capacity  which  one  already possesses in a fully
   developed  way and which is somehow being stifled by the oppressors. On
   the  contrary, it is also a product of training, of a training in which
   one is encouraged to act freely and cooperatively, to develop one's own
   singular  capacities and one's ability to think for oneself (so that is
   training  is  necessarily a self-training). Just as one's domination is
   something  that  is  made,  so  one's  liberty is something that cannot
   simply  be  uncorked, but also has to be made. If all one does is throw
   the  bums  out,  one  does  nothing  either  to undo the effects of the
   training  which one has received or to actually bring about the ability
   to  live in a cooperative and uncoerced fashion. If throwing the bosses
   out  is  all  one  does, it will not be surprising to find a new set of
   bosses  setting  themselves  up in short order; for the greater part of
   the relations of domination will remain, relatively unscathed.

   In  short,  anarchists  should  not  trust  to  the  so-called  natural
   proclivities  of human beings toward freedom and cooperation, for there
   are   no  such  proclivities.  Or  rather  such  proclivities  are,  as
   proclivities,  no  stronger than the equally antural human proclivities
   to  dominate  and  be  dominated.  The  task must be to encourage these
   proclivities,  to  make  them into really existing practices of freedom
   and  cooperation,  for  it  is  only  in this way that there can be any
   realistic hope of bringing about a society without domination.

   Ron Carrier

 
  PD: CHRIS CARTER Creator, "The X-Files"                          Wrbel

   "What  I've attempted to do was scare you ia a smart way that makes you
   think."

   To  every  generation,  there  is  a  lelevisionary. First, Rod Serling
   enfolded  a  still  innocent  America in "The Twilight Zone"; then Gene
   Roddenberry   launched   the   U.S.,  disguised  as  the  multicultural
   "Enterprise",  on  a  voyage  in "Star Trek"; David Lynch led audiences
   away  from  cosmopolis  and back to the sudenly unfamiliar heartland of
   "Twin  Peaks".  Today's  seer  is  Chris  Carter,  39,  creator of "The
   X-Files",  a show that takes America's odsession with truths impossible
   to  ignore  but  too  terrible to be told, and transforms that paranoia
   into  a compelling amalgam of hipness and horror-proving it possible to
   be both cool and unnerved.
   The  saga  of  two  FBI  agents  skulking  along  the  fringes  of  the
   paranormal,  "The  X-Files"  sparked  a  genre  renaissance  (including
   "Profiler"  and  Carter's  own  "Millennium")  and  spawned a legion of
   young,  wild-eyed followers as fanatical as the older army of Trekkies.
   Why  does  "X"  mark  the files and the generation? "Clearly, there's a
   widespread  belif  that there are secrets that can explain an otherwise
   unfathomable  world," says Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology at New
   York University. And with the approach of the millennium, he says, "the
   odds sure go up" for paranoia.
   Carter  is  wary  of  claming  to reinvent the form. He feels he's just
   pumping his love of truth-seeking movies like "All the President's Men"
   and "The Silence of the Lambs" into a medium thet he feels has locked a
   good  frightfest  since  the  mid-'70s.  "What I've attempted to do was
   scare  you  in a smart way thet makes you think and question," he says.
   "If  you  just  put on special effects, you're not storytelling, you're
   pandering."
   A  TV series can't go too far wrong with killer cockroaches and sinster
   government  agents.  Yet  the show's biggest draws remain the sly, sexy
   agents  Mulder  and  Scully,  who  represent  the  true beliver and the
   skeptic.  Their  intertwined  quests  mirror  the  popular  thirst  for
   certainty as well as the hope that "the truth is out there," even if it
   is way, way out.

   Based on "Time" from April, 28, 1997. WRBEL

 
  PD: Interview with BLALA                                        SirFux

   *1* Hi Blala...
   hello sfx!
   *2* How do you feel before interview ?
   huhh..  first  of  all, i must declare that my english suxx.. so please
   forget about spelling mistakes! :) by the way, i'm quiet happy now.. :)
   *3* Have you ever heard about Poland & our scene before ?
   yes,  of  course, poland isn't so far from hungary.. for example i know
   you  have  at  least  one party :)) - general probe - and i heard about
   some groups (for example pulse.. :) too, and i saw some demos from your
   country too..
   *4*  How  would  you  describe  2  any  non-scene  dude  what is scene,
   demos,intros, etc ?
   i  think it's quiet difficult to explain the scene to any nonscene dude
   without  showing  some demos and intros.. :) anyway, i'll try it: scene
   is a collection of some mad people (like me), who spend their time with
   sitting  in  front  of  their  computer  and  hitting the keyboard, and
   meanwhile  they  make  something which is called 'demo'.. a demo can be
   best  compared with a music clip, but while in music clips the music is
   the  most  important  and  the visual experience is secondary, in demos
   these  two  things  have  at  least  equal  significance; altough in my
   personal  opinion the visual things are more important than the music..
   (let  me  quote  from  a hungarian scenedude: "a demo is an audiovisual
   experience"..  :) but these mad computer-freaks make demos not just for
   themselves   -   they   go  to  socalled  'parties',  where  they  have
   competitions - 'compos' - and they can win, they can get fame, and last
   but  not  least,  they  can get some money too :) finally, being in the
   scene  is  good  feeling  too:  you feel that you are something, you do
   something  (yes, you are right: demos are unuseful somethings; but they
   are so nice :), you are creativ, and it is a good thing..
   *5*  Tell  something about yourself. (hobbys... some things what u like
   besides comp, etc.)
   i'm  blala  of  byteam,  i'm 18, male :), i'm a coder, i like girls (of
   course  :), sleeping, drawing, maths, books, coding (sometimes:) i like
   doing  unuseful  things  (instead  of  working  on  some  scene-related
   products  :),  for  example writing letters, textfiles, watching demos,
   etc..  or  just laying in my bed and do nothing... i like playing doom2
   in  network like many other scenedudes :) i like being at parties.. you
   are  quiet  surprised  now,  aren't  you?!  :)  i  hate doing homework,
   learning,  working,  multitasking  operating  systems  and  high  level
   (especially object-oriented) programming languages, etc..
   *6* yeah... biggest scene problem = school :).
   yes,  one  of  the  biggest  scene problem is the school.. but the real
   problem  of  the  scene  is  that  people  need at least a few hours of
   sleeping in a day.. :)
   *7* You like parties :) ?
   Ohhh...  i probably know why :)... can you tell about famous parties in
   Hungary  ?  Maybe  about  organization...  is it good ? Something about
   atmosphere... hmm.. there're a lot of parties in hungary - i think very
   lots   compared  with  other  countries..  the  biggest  is  definitely
   'scenest',  mainly organized by astroidea, with cool organization - but
   there  are also parties with shit organization.. once there was a party
   ('liqid')  WITHOUT  organization  too!!  the organizers stool the money
   from  the  entrance  fees  and  after  they  went  away..  really!! the
   amosphere  is  mainly cool - like all parties around the world... there
   was  a party in budapest last weekend (now it's monday) called 'kernel'
   so  i  may  write an almost realtime party-feeling description, but you
   all    know    what    are    parties    like..    :)    ..loud   muzax
   (rave/house/metal/other  sounds  :)  lotsa  people  playing  dooom, few
   people  coding,  and other people do nothing.. and lamers everywhere :)
   (see  below)  (btw:  in  my  opinion dooom forever, and quake suxx, and
   dukenukem suxx, and descent suxx.. :))
   *8* What is the best method 2 win one of the most known party ?
   using  that  fuckin'  watcom  c  (which i never used) with tran's pmode
   (which  i  never used..) and midas system (which i never used.. :), and
   using  some  fuckin'  truecolor  effects..  by the way i can't know it:
   we(i) won some compos in 1995 for the last time :(
   *9*  Some  dewdz think... that most of sceners only want 2 take part on
   charts... & then get out from here. Do you agree with that ?
   nooo.  for me, win at a party is at least equal important than being at
   the  top  of  the  charts..  :))  the main situation is that in hungary
   charts  aren't  so  important  (or at least i think it.. :) - and there
   aren't so many charts either..
   *10* I think that most of us know what is: lame, elite, friendship. Can
   you  tell  us what you think about that words ? Maybe you have your own
   definitions ?
   no  i  haven't  got my own definitions.. friendship is coool, eliteness
   isn't so cool - some socalled 'elite' dudes are bigfaces and they think
   they  are  gods..  (i also think i'm the god, but i never say it.. :)))
   and  some  of  the  socalled  lamers  are  only  beginners; but: LAMERS
   EXIST!!!  unfortunately..  and  they are at every parties, and you have
   just  to  see  one  of them, and you know he's a lamer.. ^^ (i've never
   seen female lamers.. :))
   *11* What you think about scene generally ? About new people, etc. ?
   scene  is  a  coool think.. :) new people are usually called lamers :),
   but  some  (hopefully much) of them will be cool people soon.. scene is
   growing..  the  growing  of  the  scene is also growing.. so the second
   derivative of the scene is positiv => the scene is a convex function of
   the time.. :))
   *12*  Now  we  have  internet.  Tell  what  you think about swapping or
   spreading  stuff  via internet. Now we can find even internet parties !
   Is it good 4 scene ?
   i  think  internet is mainly good - but it's together with the speeding
   up of the life.. at the good old times, when there were 1-2 parties per
   a  year, people were making a demo for at least a half years - later we
   were  making a demo for months - now i do 4ks in every month, i do 64ks
   at  the  parties..  and it isn't certainly good! swapping and spreading
   the  stuffz  via  internet is good, because people get it fast and it's
   more cheaper than bbsing or mailswapping - and also nonscene people can
   get  them..  but once it will make bbs' die, which isn't so good - bbs'
   are more personally; for example you can chat with the sysop, a bbs has
   its  own  users, etc, etc.. internet parties?? i don't think it is good
   for us.. where's the atmosphere??! :)
   *13* How many hours/day do ya spend in front of yar killin' screen & of
   coz what are u doin' then :) ?
   too  many  (at  weekdays,  2-4 hours, at weekends, much more) usually i
   watch demos.. because i'm too lazy to code something :)
   *14* What do ya prefer & why:
   1. prods with great fx & music
   2. prods with psychodelic design (and almost no fx) i prefer prods with
   psychodelic  dezign  and great fxs and great music and great gfx.. why?
   no comment :)
   *15*  If  you're  lookin' first time at demo... what are you lookin' at
   (as a coder of coz) ?? design ? fx ? great code ? speed ? ... ?
   firstly great code (good&complex fx), then speed and then dezign.. (and
   the music is also very important.. :)
   *16* What do ya think about scene prodz 4 windows ?
   suxx. it's a quiet compact opinion, isn't it? :)
   *17*  Place  here  yar favourities demo/intro/... what ya want just put
   here  (only 1st position of coz :)
   hmm..  i  don't  know,  there're  so  many  stuffs  nowadayz.. maybe my
   favourite intro is cyboman2 from complex; maybe not :) but i don't know
   which is my favourite demo..
   *18* & now... tell about the other side... worst prodz :)
   there're so many shits; i simply can't choose from them.. :)
   *19* Finally quote here some advantages & disadvantages of scene.
   some  advantages:  -  friends  - scene-feeling (the feeling of being in
   something)  -  possibility  of  winning  sum  money  in the compos (not
   really..)  - etc.. and some disadvantages: - wars (but wars keep up the
   work!)  -  the new 'commercial scene' - needs too many time.. - i don't
   know :)
   *20* And now... place for your advertisenment :) :
   we are not dead!! :)
   *21*  Thanx  4  time  which  ya  spent on writing answers 4 that stupid
   questions :)
   :))

 
  Interview with Probe/The Black Lotus              rem.xms^pcn..luk.pcn

   (M) - Measure MAG : Rem and Luk
   (P) - Probe/TBL


   (M) Hello Probe!

   (P)  Hi Rem&Luk! I am sorry it took a while until i was able to do this
   interview, but here we go! :)

   (M)  At  first... we wouldlike to thank you that you're so kind to give
   our  readers  some  answers  for couple of questions. For the beginning
   give  us  some  information  about yourself, i mean you real name, age,
   where do you live & learn... etc.

   (P)  Well,  here's  the basic stuff about me.. My real name is monsieur
   Linus  Elman,  i'm  a  23 year old bachelor phreaking like hell here in
   malm  city,  in  the  very south of sweden.. it's a really crappy city
   with  loads  of  crime  and stuff, but i still like it here.. ;) I live
   with  my  older  brother  and  we  both  run  a  company  each..  i  do
   soundsynthesis, he develops laser technology.. And we sure enjoy it!! I
   quit  my  studies  a  year ago to found this company.. but i hope to go
   back to the university of Lund some day.. it was great fun! ;)

   (M)  Tell us about your scene life.....How long have you been on scene,
   what  was  the  beginning of this experience, previous groups. Have you
   always been a musician ?

   (P)  Well, we've all been lammahs, havn't we? I was a gamer until i was
   like  11  years..  then  me and a friend found some ancient trackerlike
   thingy,  and  we started playing around with it.. My friend dropped out
   but  i  was  totally hooked and when i found soundtracker1.0 by karsten
   obarski,  i  couldn't  let go. So, i've been tracking ever since, doing
   allsorts  of  music.. the only music that has followed me during all of
   my musiclife is trancy techno, and i am still into that stuff.. you may
   have  noticed..  So. What have i done before? Well.. on amiga, i joined
   razor1911,  but then some suckers claimed to 'resurrect' the group (non
   members!)  and  i  don't  know what those dudes were up to.. but then i
   joined  virtual  dreams  of  fairlight..  those  were my gods back then
   (still  are)..  I became somewhat silent after that, but then i came to
   know  danny/tbl  a  bit..  he liked my music so i joined and made these
   intros  (jizz&stash)..  We'll  see  what's next, possibly another intro
   before i disappear again..

   (M)  At  the  moment you're not only a member of TBL but you're also in
   second  group  which  is  on  the  amiga scene. Where is better : PC or
   Amiga scene group for you to work ?

   (P) Well, as i mentioned, I am in the rather idle but classic demogroup
   virtualdreams  too..  and  i  most  likely won't quit ever, it's a nice
   group!  I  must  say  i enjoyed the amigadays more.. it's just too much
   now, but it's fun enough to keep me running a while more! :)

   (M)  As we know.... you make music. What was the beginning of it ? What
   was  your  first music program (maybe a tracker?), style of music Which
   programs do you use to make music (in presents)?

   (P)  I  started  out in some proggy that i don't even remember the name
   of.. it sucked. But i didn't know that back then.. there wasn't much to
   choose  from  so  i guess it was good enough! Then soundtracker and the
   following protrackers and clones.. then i moved to pc, started out in a
   very  unfamous  and  commercial  tracked  called  dynamic studio.. some
   friends  convinced  me  to  move  to fasttracker, and that's where i am
   now..  however,  i  mostly use my companys musicproggie, but that's not
   suited for demos, it uses a shitload of cpu power.. :)

   (M)  In  the last period of time you've conquered all "hearts" of scene
   guys  with  music  for  two  TBL productions.... which are JIZZ & STASH
   (jizz  2).  As  we all know JIZZ won the Wired'97 party & Stash won the
   TP7.  Music  from  this  productions  kills  with  incredible quality &
   "coolity"... We can't forgot to mention that JIZZ & STASH are only 64kb
   long...  You  make music now in other way.... you do not use tracker so
   what is this "program" ? Tell us more about it...

   (P) Well, it's actually a small synthesizerroutine.. 4kb approximatly..
   i 'code' the music in the sourcecode of this routine, and that's HELL..
   so  the  routine  makes  sequences (long samples) out of this data, and
   then  i  simply load those sequences into fasttracker for easy replay..
   so  it's not exactly tracked in a normal way.. I'll release those .xm's
   so you can see what i mean..

   (M)  Scene  is  not everything.... so what so what do you do besides it
   What are your hobbies, specialities, favourite things to do ?

   (P) Mostly i make music. That's really the one thing i seldom get tired
   of  doing.. Then i do alot of programming, but that's not even close to
   the  fun  making  music!  :)  Then  partying, slacking and that kind of
   stuff..  it's  nice  being  in a big city with loads of friends, always
   something  fun  to do.. Like.. today, i'll spend a shitload of money on
   clothes.. one has too look good this summer, fishin' babes! ;)

   (M) Big thanks for your precious time ...... and good luck. P.S: We are
   waiting for the next part of JIZZ :) :)

   (P)  Hehe!  I am glad you are! And i hope it turns out well! Thanks for
   interviewing me pals! I hope you'll mail me a copy of the mag! :)

   probe^tbl..rem.xms^pcn..luk.pcn

 
  Skin/Quad story - part I                                      Skin/Quad

   Hi!

   Let me introduce myself. I'm Bart Pustjens aka Skin/Quad. You think Who
   the hell is he ? and what is he doing in this diskmag ? Well, Quad is a
   young  demogroup  founded  2  years  ago  by  Skin,  Sarix  and Arzamas
   (ex-scener), we were just some friends who thought it was nice to start
   a demogroup in our hometown Weert, The Netherlands. We have won several
   Dutch  Demo  Parties  but  our  best/famous  release  is Erratic (1e at
   Ambience  64k  compo). Since we are often on IrcNet someone asked me to
   write  an  article for the diskmag. And here it is! I'll tell you about
   my experiences as a newbe in the demoscene.

   Since  we  were  a  very young unexperienced group when we released our
   first  demo at X96, we didn't thought we win. And we didn't, we got 7th
   at  the  demo  compo.  We did everything by ourself, Arzamas did music,
   Sarix  did  the  code  and I did the gfx. We just kept on going and got
   some  help  from  some more experienced coders. At the next demo-party,
   Bizarre   96   (The  Netherlands),  we  released  another  demo,  again
   disappointement,  no  prizes.  Arzamas left us, and several other dutch
   people joined us, we kept on going.
   <flash>
   A  miracle  happened!  We won the democompo at Bizarre 97 with our demo
   Focus.  We  didn't  expect,  we  thought  we  were  getting better, but
   this_wowie!  Our  ego boosted! As sceners we got the know more and more
   people, for two reasons more people helped us,
   a)  we  weren't  the  newbe's from a couple of years ago, we showed the
   scene  we  weren't  just  some  stupid  one-time group and that we were
   trying  to  make  good  demos by ourself, making us and the dutch scene
   back  to  the  top  (the dutch scene has always been at the top, but we
   tried to make it even better!)
   b) we won a compo, a lot of people didn't expect this some years ago.

   Just  a  couple  of months later, we released our first serious 64k (we
   released  some fun-64k at several party's), we decided to make this 64k
   as  good  as  Jizz  by TBL just some weeks before the party. All coders
   started  to  work  like idiots, and even our musician Darkxceed started
   coding and made his own sample generator, Our ego told us we were going
   to  win  (well there wasn't any other really serious 64k at the party),
   and  yes  we won! A week later a lot of people were complaining our 64k
   looked  too much like a TBL release. Yes indeed, it looked like a intro
   by  them, so what! Do it better your self, our group is so young, don't
   bother  us!.As  a  young  group  we were a little bit overruled by some
   scene  dudes.  But what the hell, a lot of people liked the intro, most
   of them were young sceners.

   At  the  same  time  there  were some troubles with the best dutch demo
   party  ever,  X97  -  Takeover.  Rumours went that X98 - Takeover would
   never  be kept, at the same time we were asked to support/organize with
   Stack  the  TakeOver 98 (the X wasn't in the name because of some fight
   between  Nostalgia and Succes, organizers of X97). We decided to help a
   bit,  we  would make the pre-invitro and the official invitro. It is an
   honour to work for a party like TakeOver and we sure could use the name
   publicity  for  Quad.  Stack  and  Nostalgia  got  permission  from the
   Technical  University  Eindhoven  to  keep the event at their location,
   just like X97-TakeOver. The facility's are great, fast internet access,
   sleeping area with hot showers, big party hall with a huge high quality
   big  screen,  etc.  At  the time of writing there is still a lot a take
   care  of,  the  invitro  is  soon to be released and sponsering is been
   taken  care  of. X97-TakeOver has been a great hit in the dutch because
   of  the  atmosphere  and  the high quality releases at all the compo's.
   Especially  the demo compo, 303 by Acme is/was a huge succes all around
   the  world and is still at the top (watch the ranking and the polls and
   www.hornet.org).  This  and  all  the  other  outstanding  quality's of
   X97-Takeover  has put this party in the spotlight internationally. This
   year we expect more sceners and especially from foreign countries.

   See ya
   Skin@Quad98.net
   http://www.quad98.net

 
  Mekka^Symposium'98 - report.                           Shark /Ultimatum

   I  couldn't get much sleep through the night (always happens before any
   party).  We  were  to leave at 5.30 and hence I had to wake up at 4.00,
   retrieved  my  mail. Dan arrived on time. Our car was packed with stuff
   like  Copystation,  a  Stereo  system etc. in tow. Despite the holidays
   there  was  hardly  any  traffic  so we managed to arrive at 10:00. The
   party  place  was  the  same  as  the last time - Fallingbostel, on the
   outskirts  of  Hannover  .  The  Heidmarkhalle  is the ideal spot for a
   party.

   The  official  time  for  the  admission  was  12:00, however 10:00 was
   perfect in order to grab a nice place as the hall was almost half full.
   On  entry we were greeted with a sign which read "No Weapons, Drugs and
   Alcohol  permitted".  The machine gun had already been left in the Car,
   so  we cornered 6 places - 2 for us and another for Han Solo/Simple and
   the rest for the 3 former members of Skid Row from Denmark.

   The  first  shock - there were no Hubs on the tables. After a few short
   inquiries  it  turned  out  that  they could only be issued against our
   Personal ID.

   The entire equipment unpacked and ready. At 11.30 comes an announcement
   -  everyone  should  take  their asses outside. We stood out and waited
   outside the door - what a load of shit, but it's better than on several
   other parties where one must fork out extra money in order to enter the
   party place before the official opening.

   After  12, the hall began to fill up rapidly. Finally Han Solo arrived.
   His  monitor  didn't  work  during  The  Party 97 and hence had left it
   turned  on  this time to warm it up. It is a little paranoid but that's
   that.  Later  he borrowed a hub from some bloke and then we immediately
   got  to work on setting up the net and checked it. The party server had
   a  few  difficulties but the situation improved later on. The net was a
   lot more stable than the other parties. Not perfect but satisfactory.

   I  later  met  Lordaeron - I should have reserved 3 places for him, but
   received his mail only later at the party.

   The  big  screen  was  the same as the last year - really awesome, just
   like  the  sound  system.  The  organizers  started off by embarrassing
   themselves  by  pulling  a  really dumb stunt. The big screen sported a
   headline  "We heartily welcome you to Mekka & Symposium 98". It sounded
   more  like a meeting of a Retired Pensioners Organization rather than a
   Scene  Party! The organizers had taken pains - from beginning there was
   a real party feeling. The Mekka T-shirts were available for 30 DM. They
   were no better than rags, no wonder that hardly anyone purchased them.

   I  slept  on  the  comfortable floor for a couple of hours. There was a
   sleeping  tent,  but it would have been a really good idea only if were
   not  so  cold  out there. Woke up after 5 hours. The dudes from Denmark
   finally arrived.

   Dan  was  already busy writing the CD's. The stuff that Ace had brought
   (over  10  CD's  of fresh warez) were distributed. Then the toaster was
   plugged  in  and  guess  what  ?  No  power failure - yuhuu !It's quite
   understandable  that  after the Party 97 debacle that one must not keep
   the toaster under the table ;-)

   I  then  messed  around in the party IRC. Some dudes were talking about
   the  new  BeOS  Intel release. There was a CD-image on the party server
   (300 MB packed)

   After  the  CD  was  burned  in,  began  the BeOS crisis. We took Dan's
   Computer  for  the  installation  (I  had  my  HD  full).  After  a few
   installation  tries  it  was  apparent  that  BeOS  does  not work with
   multiple  primary  partitions.  We  ended up 2 hours later with a large
   primary  and  a secondary partition. It took about an hour to split the
   1.5Gig  of  C  to  create  a  500MB as a BeOS partition. The conversion
   process  was  a  major  pain.  It  was  interrupted after 90% due to an
   internal  error.  Finally  frustrated and desperate I came upon a bloke
   with  a  BeBox  system. After the Booting problem was taken care of, we
   tried  to  load  the  OS  from  the CD, - no chance - The CDROM was not
   detected.  We  thought  then that only SCSI devices were supported, but
   the  guy  said  that BeOS only supports ATAPI drives. After a couple of
   minutes  it  was  apparent  that  it  does not work as a slave. When we
   changed  the  jumper  it  worked.  After a 30 second booting period the
   welcome  screen  was  displayed,  but  the  gfx  card  was not detected
   properly  and  gave  graphic  errors without end (nothing could be seen
   properly) and that too with a S3 Virge chipset, which is supposed to be
   supported!  Later I tried to boot it. No graphic errors - unfortunately
   the mouse didn't work.

   The  atmosphere  of  the party was better in the evening - the hall was
   full  to  the last place, by my estimate I would say that there were no
   less than 800 people there.

   A  couple  of  tables  away  from  us sat Mad!/Ozone. He is a scener by
   profession, [He was chosen as the coolest freak at the party] I spoke a
   bit  with him. Most of you know him already. He comes from Spain, lives
   in  a  Ford Fiesta, possesses an ancient Amiga 500 without a case (with
   an  external keyboard). He visits every party in Europe, came this time
   from  Hungary  where  the party was cancelled. I asked him: what did he
   live  on, he said that he sells joysticks and such small wares, but the
   most  comes  from  the  donations  from  the  scene  people (there is a
   paperbox for coins on his desk). Moreover he doesn't eat much, he lives
   from the party feeling.

   Han  Solo designed a level for a game for the 32K compo - Giana Sisters
   32k.  The  game won ! The compos took off in the evening, the Gfx compo
   was  HQ just like in the last year, there were over 50 entries. The Big
   screen  was  used  most  of  the  time,  at night Simpsons and ID4 (not
   again!) were shown. Earlier the 4channel mod compo took place with only
   12  entries, they must probably have been screened and preselected, not
   of  nominal value. The live act of Ronny/Teklords was not as convincing
   as the last year, but all things considered it wasn't all that bad.

   It  was  Sunday,  the  last  day  of  the  party and the atmosphere was
   awesome.  Mekka/Symposium  is  perhaps  the  last largest noncommercial
   party in Europe. A lot of people think that The Party is the best event
   in  the  years.  The  most  of them have definitely not visited it. The
   Party  is  not  a  scene  meeting but a warez conference, with children
   within the network people who only play Quake and are fetched back home
   by  their  parents.  The  motto of the party was only to collect money.
   There  was  no  party feeling, it was so bad, all unplanned, plagued by
   power  failures,  most  of  the  time,  I  prefer not to talk about it.
   Apart  from  The  Gathering  and  the  Assembly  (also  commercial  and
   expensive  on  account of the travelling costs) Mekka/Symposium remains
   perhaps the only event in which one must participate in.

   There were several twits at the party, who came without their computers
   only with their stereo systems. They sat around and constantly listened
   to  Modern  Talking  !  They  appeared like rappers, but they must have
   taken  Drugs  before the party to hear that crap. What really struck me
   was  the  fact that there are a few less amigas at every party (at this
   party  there  were  perhaps 5%). I worked with an Amiga for 6 years, it
   moves  me especially when several Amiga Sceners are of the opinion that
   PC  is  lame  without  showing  some  of  the  things  that an Amiga is
   capable  of  in the compos. The difference b/w the compos increases not
   because  the  development  with  the  Amiga  has ceased but because the
   productions  always became worse. The most of the Amiga demos today are
   worse  than  the  ones 3 years ago ! The large compos took place in the
   evening.  There  were  only 4 entries in the PC64K compo, but 23 demos.
   Who says that the amiga demo compo is not worth mentioning, Haujobb won
   it.  The  standard  of  the PC demos was quite high - at least 10 demos
   were  worth  seeing.  Fulcrum  from  Matrix is perhaps the best demo in
   general, it beats Tribes/Pulse&Melon without any trouble at all. I have
   seldom  seen  the  guys  so jubilant during a demo. In short: realistic
   shadows,  morphing  particles, bumpmapped textures, texture filtering -
   and all this without a voodoo Chipset!

   The  mood during the PC compo was at the highest. What really pissed me
   off was the fact that a few C64 lamers in our vicinity began packing up
   during  the PC compos. After the PC carried on with the C64 demo compo,
   the  guys  were  so  freaked out that the mood became worse. The reason
   could be that the first few entries were rather pathetic. Smash Designs
   had  created  a masterpiece with 'Our Darkness'. In the scroller of the
   demo  AEG  asked  his  girlfriend  whether she would marry him, she had
   little to say about it.

   Dan  stretched  himself  out  on the floor. I'd written the rest of the
   stuff  on  the CDs and just hanged around with Ace. After the customary
   prize  giving  came  the  closing ceremony. The entire party took place
   under  the  motto  "We are Family", it gave me a feeling that the scene
   has  a  future.  Mekka/Symposium 98 was by and far the best large party
   till  now.  The  only thing that pissed me off was that the hall was so
   badly ventilated, I had to adopt several weird and diverse tricks for 3
   days to get the cigarette stink out of my hardware.

   When the organisers throw a Mekka/Symposium 99, it's not to be missed -
   BE THERE!

   Shark /Ultimatum

   shark@flix.de
   http://ultimatum.home.pages.de
