Id rather read binary than this ACiD News -- mHz
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Issue No.18 An Official ACiD ProductionsTM Public Update August98
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by Cthulu
The mercury is boiling and 1998 has universally been recognized as
the hottest year on record, the summer months breaking all previously
established records. That noise you are hearing is the sound of thousands
of troglodyte computer users crawling their pale, blubbery masses back
indoors to dank, cool, air-conditioned basements and computer rooms,
finding that the scene or at least computer fans and .GIFs of Antarctic
glaciers is one more way to beat the heat.
This increased activity and introspection has made the scene a vital
and lively place to once more be a part of, and though the plants outside
are wilting in the heat and grass is turning a dead brown from drought,
activity in cyberspace is burning up. All mediums are holding their own,
equally making good use of the new resource of the Internet for perhaps
the first time - galleries of ANSI, ASCII and Hirez all on the web,
forums instant, like IRC, thoughtful, like the alt.art.hirez newsgroup,
and fine-crafted, like the current renaissance of e-mags and above all,
awareness of the scene outside the individual and the individuals
relation to it all.
For the first time in forever the entire scene is strong - no single
group widely recognized as preponderating over all the inferior scene
proceedings - and the computer artist is beginning to find relevance in
their creations outside the failed context of the moribund underground BBS.
Much as no one group is seen as dominant, no one art form is accepted in a
position of supremacy, and the various aspects of the computer art scene
are beginning to gel, solidify and become solid and legitimate once and
for all.
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DEMO-LISHING
XXXXXQQ THE COMPETITION
7b,. ..,d 7b,.,d by Shart
RaD Man
ACiD made its presence felt this year at the Jolt-sponsored
Summer Encounter 98 Computer Arts Festival, held in Harridslev, Denmark,
July 22-25. The intro Swallow placed third in the 64k competition.
Coding by Macaw, graphics by Jason, and music by Seffren. Swallow will be
soon be made available at ACiDs website, as well as complete source code.
The party version is available now at the Hornet Archive www.hornet.org.
For more details on Summer Encounters past, present, and future see their
site at www.summer.dk.
Another strong showing was made by ACiD at the Spring Break 98 Demo
Festival which took place at the University of California, San Diego
between March 20-22. There ACiD presented its first demo ever titled
Out of Sight, Out of Mind. A collaborative effort, it was coded by
Macaw as well, featuring graphics by Jason and RaD Man, with music and
3D models by the members of Renegades. Out of Sight, Out of Mind, or
OOSOOM for short placed first in the SB98 demo competition. Additionally,
ACiD placed second in the graphics compo with madASScow and RaD Mans
graffiti-styled hirez piece No Guts, No Fame. No Guts, No Fame was
released as a part of ACiD Acquisition Update 67 and separately as
us-nogut.zip on the Hornet Archive.
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XXXXX . . HIREZIDENT
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by Hack
Once again, a first in the hirez scene instituted by ACiD. For some
time ASCII-art has had its place in the Usenet feed. Now those involved
in the art of fine pixels have a place to speak as well. On May 29th, 1998
news:alt.art.hirez was added to the plethora of Usenet newsgroups. A place
to find links to the latest releases, discuss but not upload hirez
graphics, applications and tools, and the state and direction of the scene
is now available in that oh-so-familiar format. Most internet service
providers are already carry this group in the alt.art.* hierarchy, but not
all. If your provider doesnt list it, just send an email to your news
administrator requesting that they add alt.art.hirez to their feed. Thanks
to RaD Man and everyone who gave their support throughout the lengthy, time
consuming proposal process that brought about this new channel of
communication.
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XXXXXQQ XXXXX 7b,.,d CORRECTIVE
..,d 7b,.,d 7b,.,d 7b,. SURGERY
by RaD Man
Arrogance has changed his handle to Alcoholik. He was unable to
comment when asked if this was done solely so he could get mentioned in the
newsletter.
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FRESH
XXXXX XXX MEAT
7b,. 7b,.,d 7b,.. by Hack
Spire
This issue we proudly welcome three fine artists back to ACiD.
Formerly known as Soul Assassin, madASScow makes his return known by placing
second in the Spring Break 98 graphics competition in his first month.
Malcolm X, also a resident of Montreal, Quebec, and one of ACiDs first
VGA artists resurrects himself to the hirez team. And last we are pleased
to announce that Haji, one of the ASCII scenes most innovative artists
has reunited once again with Remorse.
Along with the reception of the old, we greet many new faces as well.
From Milford, Ohio joins Digital Interface. This former iCE member creates
his awesome renderings using a combination of 3DS Max, Alias, Lightwave, and
Photoshop. From the depths of Fire comes FFathom, an inhabitant of
Pleasonton, California. He creates amazingly realistic imagery using
Aldus Photostyler, for which he accredits its awesome finger rub.
FFathom likes to describe his field as honest art. From Westwood, New
Jersey we have Francis Seven, or F7. His prior affiliations include RCA,
CIA, and FUEL. But not necessarily in that order. Armed with his favorite
tools Photoshop and Fractal Design Painter, you can bet to see more of
the fantastic artwork youve come to expect from F7. Joining us all the
way from Tel-Aviv, Israel is Jekyll. Before he joined ACiD as a hirez
graphician, Jekyll was drawing in the textual medium for FUEL, the Belgian
ANSI group. Jekylls preferred paint program today is, you guessed it,
Photoshop -- without the filters. From the northwest we welcome Octane
in Seattle, Washington. Rumor has it that he used to work for CIA, but
thats classified information. His apps of choice include Photoshop, 3DS
Max, Lightwave, and Softimage. Another descendant of Fire is Remission,
who specializes in photomanipulation and natural media. Wrapping up our
fine additions to the hirez crew is xEDGEx of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This former MOP-mate and Hirez Coordinator of Blade seconds F7s selections
of graphical editors.
Weve rolled out the carpet for our new members of the ASCII
department. Abstrakt, Ender Wiggin, Discofunk 1974, Hellspawn, Mass
Murderer, Palmore, and Sargon. Greets and sincere apologies go to Merlin,
Miasma, Subsonic, and Zerohour for not mentioning them sooner. Welcome to
Remorse, you wont regret it.
Our music division, pHluid meets two new artists. Kuroi Neko, or
Kneko for short has been assisting Protocol with the general coordination
of the group as well as composing some eargasmic tracks. And our must
recent addition to the group, SIN. When someone has that much talent, you
cant blame them for feeling guilty.
AIS, ACiD Productions information services and technology division,
also witnesses two new members. Micah administrates our private free
mail server, while Skateguy continues to contribute to the new design and
development of the Artpacks website.
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MEMBER-
XXXXX XXX MENT
7b,. 7b,.. by Hack
Spire
Over the past six months some individuals have fallen from the ranks.
Departing from our hirez division is EvilOne, Phonosys, and tweed due to
stagnating inactivity. The Knave was dismissed for failing to credit
original authors in his work. You may now find him in iCE. Kyo resigned
based on mutual differences and has recently submitted some great work to
the RIPscrip group, Souls.
From the Remorse ASCII division leaves Black Jack and Serial Toon to
form their own group, Mimic. Deadsoul also took leave and is now rumored
to be coordinating the hirez division at Mistigris.
A cleansing of the dead weight in pHluid resulted in the removal of
Arclight, Bejrutt, Cylus, Future Assassin, Lord Pegasus, Stone, Taurus, and
Tosh10. We wish them the best where ever they may be.
Fu aka Crayola, the coder of pHluids first music disk has dropped out
due to lack of time to devote to scene activities. Sabbath was let due to
the serious questionability of his programming know-how.
Sodium was released from ACiDs writing division, acid!press due to
inactivity.
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XXX 7b,.,d SON OF
7b,.,d 7b,.,d 7b,.. 7b,.,d 7b,.,d OBITUARY
by Spire
A new website dubbed the ACiDic Memorial is currently underway.
The groundwork is being planned by former Advisor of ACiDic and
leader of Blade, Mindcrime. This website will server as a final closure
and tribute to this highly regarded division of ACiD, one of the premiere
BBS modification groups ever. The site will host the entire collection
of ACiDic mods and utilities that have amassed over time. Enlisting the
help of generous people from UseNets alt.bbs.* and comp.bbs.*, it was
possible to ensure that every last mod released was archived at the
memorial. Consequently you will see many more files available for download.
This division of ACiD Productions was officially closed on January 31st,
1998. Other miscellaneous details of this affair will be made available at
the memorial site, http://acidic.acid.org.
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7b,.,d 7b,.,d 7b,.. 7b,. BAY WATCH
by RaD Man
The most recent ACiD get together to date, ACiDCon 5, was held on
May 2nd, 1998 at The Garrett in Campbell, California. The Garrett is
well-known for its phat gourmet pizzas and is conveniently located next door
to a pool hall. This was a night to remember. A night of clove cigarettes,
beer, good pizza, shooting pool, and a stolen container of Grey Poupon. Who
would have thought that 151 would have shot into Necronites blood stream so
quickly. Attendees included Apox, Diabolos, Eporue, Fatal
Haluzination FH, Mass Delusion, Necronite, Necromancer, Pneyz
that would be pronounced Penny Yz, Prisoner1, Ravaged Wanderer RW,
VectorX, and Xenopraxis.
What began as a simple meeting between massd and lord sloth evolved
into what is now known as iCECon 1. On July 27th, 1998 the 408
heavyweights reunited once again at the only place where a kid can be a
kid, Chuck E Cheeses in San Jose, California. Festivities included beer
yes they serve it, multi-player racing games such as RUSH, and the
mass-destruction of velociraptors and other prehistoric creatures in
Jurassic Park. Im sure what proved to be the most entertaining was
watching others engage in a game or two in the simulation games PropCycle
and Sports Fishing. Who turned out for this gala event? Betrayer,
Calvrak, Degenerit, Dominus, Eporue, Lord Sloth, Mass Delusion, Necromancer,
Necronite, RaD Man, RaD Woman RadBaby, Ragnarok and his significant other,
Ravaged Wanderer, and Sprite!
We have big plans in store for AC6, set to be held some time in
January 1999. If you want to keep posted on the latest scene party news
you may subscribe to our list by sending mail to majordomo@four20.acid.org
with the words subscribe party in the body of the message.
ACiDCon 6... Worth the trip.
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XXXXX ECHO ON
7b,. 7b,. 7b,.,d 7b,.,d by Midnight
Sorrow
...and on the BBS homefront, CCi, or the CyberCrime International
Network continues to provide an outstanding mode of communication for all
those who enjoy the camaraderie provided by a well-run BBS. Riding the
crest of this new return to BBSing and oldschool flavor, CCis been rocking
hardcore for the past fifteen months, with no sign of death or slowdown
which has been otherwise predicted by the flocks of The BBS Scene is
Dead! naysayers. Created by iCE do-nothing member and former senior
staffer Midnight Sorrow the same guy who, with RaD Man, founded the
ACiD Paramount Network back in 1993, CyberCrime is here to show the world
that the BBS scene remains an incredibly viable and active sector of the
computer underground community.
Yes, CyberCrime has it all - or at least, it damn well tries to:
Featuring 120 BBSes in 20 countries, 38 message echos covering art,
tracking, demos, warez, bbs modding, hacking, phreaking, system security,
operating systems and technology, world politics and controversial
discussions, and more... NNTP/UseNet feeds containing every scene-related
newsgroup, including the entire news:scene.org backbone, as well as
Mailing Lists, Private Point Nodes, Fido/QWK/WWIV networking, and one heck
of a lot more.
If youre drooling at the mere thought of taking part in such a
dubiously invaluable resource, head on over to our website at
http://cybercrime.home.ml.org - or visit Power Rage at
telnet://powerrage.ml.org
In the beginning, there was CyberCrime. Today, theres still
CyberCrime. Check it out now, you wont regret it.
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XXX 4L XXXXXQQ
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ARTPACKS
XXXXXQQ XXX XXXXXQQ DOES THE
..,d b,.,d 7b,. 7b,.. ..,d SPLITS
by Hack
Maintaining the excellence that the ACiD Artpacks Archive has shown
for years, we have moved forward more great changes. Together RaD Man and
SkateGuy have redesigned both graphics and HTML layout, while Shivan Bastard
continues to develop the scripts that make navigation so simple. Walnut
Creek CD-ROM, the native host of artpacks.acid.org has boosted its user
limit to a whopping 3,200 simultaneous users, adding to the capacity that
was already phenomenal. This speed can only be achieved with its three
45mbps T3 connection to the internet backbone running FreeBSD FTP. In
recent weeks cdrom.com broke the record for the most downloads in a single
day on a solitary FreeBSD server, previously held by Microsoft running
over forty of their servers.
As of July 31st, artpacks.acid.org was split to two separate
machines. File transfers are now being served from
ftp://ftp.artpacks.acid.org from the /pub/artpacks/ directory, while
http://artpacks.acid.org continues to host the web pages and search engine.
If you had any links to any non-HTML file on the archive they are now
broken and need to be updated. Since the split there has been a noticeable
speed increase for searches.
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FISHIES
7b,.,d 7b,.,d 7b,.,d 7b,. 7b,. ON A ROLL
by Epitaph
Twisted Fishies. Need I say more? Is that a rhetorical question?
Is that? How about that? Can I indeed write an article entirely in
questions? Why dont we find out? Huh? Why dont we?
Founded in 1994, Twisted Fishies is a collection of do-nothing
layabouts who merely serve as conversational stimulation in the part of the
group thats the most important -- the interaction between the members.
Productivity is last on the Fishies agenda, what, with so much wackiness
to be had. Twisted Fishies or TTFI our acronym, which sands for TwisTed
FishIes shuns the classic idea of a group made up mostly of contributing
members. 90 of the people in Twisted Fishies are, in fact, department
heads, which is why we consider ourselves the most versatile group in the
scene. Not only that, but they arent required to DO anything! Theyre
merely figureheads. Sound sweet? YOU BET! Plus, they all get wacky
fishie-deformed names. For example, Carnifex is Carpifex. Mass Murderer
is Bass Murderer. What fun!
We do, of course, release things, and theyre all silly, wacky, zany,
madcap, you name it. Most of all, theyre fun. Weve released prank
calls, silly WAVs, funny animations cartoons, i.e. Bill Gates graphic
death, decapitation, and mutilation, useless utilities like Cookie Eater
v1.0 and Divide By Zero v1/0, and basically anything members WANT to
release. Well have our network of couriers on the job as soon as your
file is packed, and fishies all over the globe will be enjoying it within
seconds. So, join up! Visit the Twisted Fishies WWWAQ World Wide Web
Aquarium at http://twistedfishies.ml.org/
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XXXXXQQ START TO
..,d FINNISH
by Tabaqui
He came from a land near the roof of the world - a place where the sun
does not sleep... he came from dark woods and chill waters and the solitude
of the true artist. His name was Tomi Holmberg, and he came in peace...
He landed in Hell.
Well, actually, he landed in San Francisco International, but what
with customs, luggage loss, and a horrendous delay in New York, it was
pretty damn close. RaD Man, our intrepid travelers host, was experiencing
his own hell, having to fend off airline The White Zone Is For Loading and
Unloading Only parking-ticket writers every time he put his car in park.
This was all in January, when RadBaby was little, so Tomi spent the
next week or so liberating the alcohol from RaD Mans liquor cabinet
and whod have imagined ANYONE could do that... joining the folks at
Cluck-U for ACiD Gathering 98, and touring Alcatraz. A wonderful,
uplifting place we hope all foreign tourists get to see.
From San Jose and land of the RaD Man, Tomi traveled to Arizona, to
stay with a reclusive sculptor chick in the desert. While this was
spiritually uplifting, it was gastronomically demoralizing as she only
served him pasta and bread. Damn all vegans!
His connection in Flagstaff stood him up, and if not for a friendly
gallery owner, our hero would have had to sleep in a telephone booth. But
this cool guy liked Tomi and his art enough to let him sleep in his
gallery. Tomi can, no doubt, provide a web address for anyone interested.
I saw the gallery brochure and the stuff there was KILLER.
Then, Tomi arrived in Missouri - in our famed Capital, Jefferson
City. He was, by now, traveling via train, and spent something like 16
or 20 hours in what is basically a GreyHound Bus seat - no sleeper car!
So when he got to the house of CatBones and Tabaqui, he was zoned, to say
the least. He passed out for awhile in the spare room. The next four
weeks were spent in computer graphics-ing, eating, getting so fucked up
on various drugs he had hallucinations, and painting. And marginally
improving his English, which was really good already, but sort of
eclectic. Of course, listening to Jerky Boys and ICP didnt help much,
but it did add a few new twists.
The coolest thing for me about this visit, besides the awesome Tomi
Originals I now have gracing my walls, was his devotion to Modern Art.
Normally, I dislike that particular school, and have never found much good
to say about it, but Tomi loves it, and managed in a few days and a few
conversations, to show me a whole new perspective, so that I can now
proudly say, I actually like some of it.
During this orgy of art and drugs, Tomi was suffering a financial
crisis, due to American inflation and an uncooperative bank in Finland.
So before he left, he gathered up all his pot-hazed works and had an
auction at the tattoo shop, to make a little traveling money. And he
actually broke the 300 dollar mark! Just think what he could do at an
ACiDCon!
Gathering his wits and his laundry, Tomi made his way to Delaware,
and the tender mercies of Vengeance, where all was well... a little guitar
playing in the band, the consumption of more beer then is allowed by law...
Then the trip home. Speaking of which, personally Im going to
boycott Delta airlines for life. When Tomi switched to train travel, he
called Delta and told them he was going to be flying to Helsinki from New
York and wouldnt need the San Fran-New York part of his ticket any more.
As a penalty for NOT riding the airplane NOT sitting in a seat they had
THREE WEEKS to sell, and probably did sell twice over... Tomi was fined
150 dollars!! The bastards.
So there you have it - approximately 9 glorious weeks in the US of A
and what does it come down to? Airline fines and a hangover that takes a
month to go away.
Tomi, i miss ya. :
Editors Note: When we last spoke with Tomi to see what he was up to, he
insisted we mention the URL www.cat-scan.com because, well, it r0x0r.
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GET
WITH THE
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by Ellis
This first half of 1998 has been one of excitement and change for
ACiD Productions. Not only have they provided six artpacks crammed with
mouth-watering hirez goodness, but theyve also released new versions of
the scenes favorite software programs.
April 1st, 1998 marked the latest release of ACiD View for DOS.
Skull Leaders version 4.63 continues to set the standard with its
capability to handle a wide range of image formats, configurable file
masking, and full SAUCE support. ACiD View may be downloaded at
ftp://ftp.artpacks.acid.org/pub/artpacks/programs/viewers/avd-436.zip
Speaking of SAUCE, an updated version of ACiDs own SAUCE editor,
Spoon II was released July 31, 1998. Bugs such as the irritating divide
by zero error generated by computer processors 200 MHz or faster have been
fixed. Thanks to Tasmaniac for solving this pestering problem. Spoon II
can be found at
ftp://ftp.artpacks.acid.org/pub/artpacks/programs/editors/spoon216.zip
Paving the way towards their new open-source philosophy, ACiD
Productions released ACiD View X v0.05 code to the unix community.
Celebrating AVXs second birthday, MrK put forth this source with the
intent that others may continue to develop such a fine viewer. Any direct
questions you might have can be fielded to seank@u.arizona.edu. AVX source
is available at
ftp://ftp.artpacks.acid.org/pub/artpacks/programs/code/avx-005s.tgz
Rumor has it that ACiD View 98 for Windows is now on the drawing
board, expect it to set the standards for viewers to come. Stay tuned, we
dont want you to miss a thing on its ongoing development as we feel it
will be highly anticipated.
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by Cthulu
The foundations we lay during these times will determine whether or
not computer enthusiasts and artists of the 21st century will choose art
over craft, end result over function and form. Now that were no longer
restrained by the limitations of the BBS scene we have been freed to make
our artworks more complex and involved than any 2400 baud modem could ever
have encouraged, and we are free to pursue computer art as a medium
dedicated to technique and style, rather than to the ritual and political
bickering which have dominated the past decade. A mark you make now will
have repercussions felt into the next millennium the opportunity to rise
above a myopic community and to ascend to art history is now before us.
Will you make the choice to go to that level? If so, well see you there.
ACiD Editor: RaD Man Artists: Haji TUM ACiD
Writers: Cthulu, Ellis, Epitaph, Hack, Midnight Sorrow, Shart, Spire Tabaqui
ACiD Thanks: Eerie, Filth, God of Lice, mHz, and Tomppa1 ACiD