NOWSHOWING
THE9thMISTIGRISPACKOF2020
WEEK-LONGFILMFESTIVAL
Greetings from Cthulu! Im on day three of this cinema marathon -- Im not
sure what theyre lacing the popcorn and soda with, but its strong stuff,
havent fallen asleep yet and the bathroom breaks are really starting to trail
off! The Mistigris Theatre hasnt hosted a screening like this since their
MIST0918 artpack collection released two years ago this month, and ... come to
think about it, it probably would have taken two solid years to watch all of
the movies celebrated in this collection of computer fanart!
The theatres have been on our minds through 2020, notably because ... for most
of this plague year, they have been a stark example of a public space where
culture wars are fought, abruptly forbidden in the interest of the preservation
of public health! Bizarrely, drive-in theatres have lurched back from the dead
while for most of us, Netflix has become a household institution. Actually
going out to the movies was a rare occasion in 2019 but from here its a little
difficult to imagine doing it anytime in the near future.
But I digress.
So, as you might well ask of a given installment of the Fast and the Furious
movie franchise, we must investigate what is interesting or unusual about this
months artpack? Spoiler warning: Vin Diesel does not appear in it, though
there is a rendition of The Rock! Most interestingly, on Cthulus request LDA
whipped up a tiny ANSI art movie theatre, Tradewars-style, and we invited
artists to draw scenes from their favorite movies projecting on its blocky
screen. Several distinguished artists took a bite, including LDA, Odd, Zeus
II, Pinguino and Warpus, Cthulu himself, and presenting an exclusive artscene
debut, a guest shot from the hottest new member of the Legacy Krew, Hayn9.
Stay tuned for their next collection, when the unveiling of the rest of her
recent works will blow your little minds. And if you like getting your little
mind blown by movie-themed artwork, watch out for the imminent Blocktronics
collection which will assuredly blow us right out of the water, right on
schedule. But I digress. Also worthy of note is that Pinguino managed to get
double duty from this exercise, as shes in the middle of a campaign which
would have been a great fit for LAST MONTHS MIST PACK, sigh 8 of daily cat
drawings, and drew us the best scene of a cat in a movie ever.
Speaking of last months Mist pack, I need to note that despite mentioning in
its infofile that we hadnt seen CoaXCables demoparty compo entries and hence
couldnt discuss them, they were in the final accounting included in the
artpack. They simply arrived after the infofile was written. If you somehow
missed them based on poor intel you got from expired information you got from
the infofile, you can go back and enjoy them now! But I digress.
Im not just jumping around, Im deftly jumping between different times and
parallel narratives, like Pulp Fiction or Memento. If you recut this infofile
to run sequentially, its quite a bit drier. OK, so where was I?
Introductions? Yes, welcome also to Jackie Bats, who makes wonderful Hensonian
creatures at her crafting table and has been coaxed out to indulge in a long-
nascent curiosity about pixelart and taking a walk on the blocky side.
Back to that aside about last months infofile, its complicated circumstances
were of course due to Cthulus computer dying this pack was put together on a
replacement machine that Zeus II didnt even have to crowdfund!, but some
work on it was also conducted... on Cthulus dead laptop, brought back from the
dead in a matter of minutes it took longer to debate the matter with j33p33
than to solve by Zen Render of Geckos Temple BBS, cosmic payback for the
unprecedented promotion we lavished on his rather Public Domain system 30 years
ago. So hats off to them! In conclusion, I didnt need to invoke our cadre of
emergency senior staff again, but Im still very touched that they emerged
seamlessly when they were most needed. Now if they have any suggestions as to
how I can keep my kids from getting up after they go to bed, this pack could
have been released on time also!
Are you thoroughly muddled yet? I hope so, because I sure am! Weve visited
the present and the past... I guess the only place left for us to venture here
is into the future! Opens lid of Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor, drops in a
handful of MOS Technology 6581 SID chips and crams in an IBM Model M mechanical
keyboard, leaning heavily on the lid to get it to close. The far future of...
October 2020, coming at us in some nine days. Exasperated, kicks Mr. Fusion,
scattering e-waste everywhere. In October we get all spooky up in it, so if
youre just about ready to indulge the oppressive civilization-death-throe
darkness weve all been quietly stifling since March, please consider sending
us in your worst nightmares, low resolution version. And if your particular
flavour of dystopia is the cyberpunk variety, save it for our November artpack,
when well be celebrating 26 years since our establishment!
If your worst nightmare is Christmas holidays then, well, strange flex but OK.
I can see the case for it. Well be releasing that artpack in mid-December,
supposing theres still a world to release it into! Just kidding, even if
there are only cockroaches around to appreciate our January artpack, it has too
much momentum behind it to be held back!
On that happy note, thanks for joining us at this stop along our computer art
voyage and take heart -- the end of 2020 is nearly in sight! And before we go,
a special thanks to Odd for gracing this pack with its FILEID.DIZ and
newsletter iconography!