_//\\________________________________________________________________________
_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_________________________________________ June, 2000
__\\_________________________________________________________________________
\\//__ Monthly Scene E-Zine ________________________________ 130 Subscribers
_____________________________________________________________________________


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Table Of Contents
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
     Opening:
           Message From the Editor
           Letters From Our Readers
     Features:
           The Root -- How They Got Involved (This Month: Screamager)
     Columns:
        Music:
           The Listener -- Music from Esem, Chimera, Xhale and many Others
           Retro Tunage -- Ambrozia by Pulse
        Demo:
           Screen Lit Vertigo -- 'Nature Suxx' by Federation Against Nature
           Intro Watch -- 'Fungi' by Throb
        General:
           Scene Dirt -- News & Rumors
           Call to Keyboards -- Organization is Key -- A Note From BZZ
           Link List -- Get Somewhere in the Scene
     Closing:
           Credits

--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Message From the Editor
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Thank you all for your patience.  I like to pride myself on (before this
  issue) always making deadlines.  I have not once missed my own deadline,
  and Static Line has always been delivered on-time to your mailbox.
  However, this broke this month -- but I'm sure you'll understand.

  Without going into too much detail, my mother was diagnosed with Kidney
  Cancer.  She went for surgery early this week to have her kidney
  removed.  Unfortunately, that will not be the end of this ordeal, and I
  have made efforts to deal with it.  Needless to say, Static Line was not
  at the top of my mind these past few weeks.  Thus, I worked on it when I
  could, and unfortunately that means it is late.

  Well, All said and done, this month is completed.

  There are a few articles that were sent to me from outside sources.
  Please realize that though I make efforts to publish most things that
  come to my mailbox, I will not publish EVERYTHING.  The two most common
  reasons I don't publish an article are as follows:

     1) A Poor Article:  If it doesn't make sense, it doesn't get
        published.  I will correct grammar and English, but I will not
        rewrite articles so that they make sense.

     2) Legal Issues:  I gotta watch my butt too!  If there is something
        mentioned in the article in which I do not have ample proof, the
        article will not get published.  If you have any accusations about
        song ripping, code ripping or any sort of legal issue, please send
        proof.

  Please keep that in mind if you send me an article.  Thanks.

  Well, here's the June issue -- Enjoy!

             --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Letters From Our Readers
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Letter from Wayfinder -=-
  Hi :D

     First of all, thanks for all the kind treatment in this last issue of
  Static Line...this goes out to you (coplan =), setec and tryhuk :D)  But
  I want to say that "Hymn" was not written be me alone, but in a
  cooperation with phace. So these flowers belong to him just as much. I'd
  be  glad if you could mention that in the next issue of static line..
  thank you!

                --Sebastian (Wayfinder)
                   wayfinder@ber.netsurf.de

  -=> Reply from Coplan:

     My appologies to Phace!

     It happens, sometimes I have too much sugar before doing a review,
  and I get carried away.  But, Wayfinder is correct, Phace deserves just
  as much credit as Wayfinder.  The tune was incredible.  =)

     A very honorable message from you, Sebastian.  Thanks!

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The Root
     How They Got Involved
  By:  Screamager
  Sponsored By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Editor's Note -=-

     The Root is an unplanned mini-series of sorts.  Tryhuk actually
  surprised me with this little project of his.  Apparently, he has been
  tracking down some old-skool trackers and asking them to write a bit
  about how they got into the scene and their influences, as well as their
  opinions about the scene today.  This is the first of (hopefully) more
  articles to come

             --Coplan
  -=-


  Hello,

     My name is Mehran Khalili. I am a 22-year-old e-Business consultant
  living and working in Luxembourg. Some time ago, I would write music
  under the name 'Screamager'. I am a member of the Kosmic Free Music
  Foundation, and Radical Rhythms. I was part of a scene of people who had
  a damn good time writing music, sharing music, dissing music, dissing
  each other, writing articles, going to demoparties and sleeping on dusty
  floors in large assembly halls. I want to share with you a few thoughts
  about how it started, and how it ramped off for me.

     Somewhere at the back of the cupboard with the GlitterBaby lava lamp
  on top of it lies 'The Ultimate MOD collection'. This is a CD that has
  pretty much all the Amiga modules every released from the end of the 80s
  (that far back?) to around 1993. This shiny shareware disc with orange
  writing on it, that I ordered by chance from a magazine, changed my life
  for a couple of years.

     Hearing the tunes on the CD, playing with the different settings, I
  was encouraged to experiment and make my own stuff. I discovered that
  you didn't need much musical ability to make a song, just a reasonable
  ear and some persistence. I remember how happy I was when I finally got
  my Soundblaster Pro to play modules in stereo, like an Amiga. This seems
  almost silly now.

     But it was much more than just making coherent musical output. What I
  discovered over the next five years was that writing music was like
  making a mental bookmark. If something happened to me, good or bad, it
  was automatically recorded in the music I wrote at the time. It's that
  subliminal message, those minor chords that turn the stomach. That girl,
  that party, that stupid thing you said, winning that tracking
  competition, wandering home from the University computer lab at 5am
  after a 12-hour IRC session in which you chatted about nothing in
  particular, that quote, that online fight, that logfile...and the spine
  of it all, the sound that makes you sit there with your eyes closed,
  hands squashing headphones to the sides of your head to sqeeze out every
  last decibel not to miss that bass, those drums, that chord change,
  thinking 'I MADE THIS?!'.

     However, gradually - and predictably - other, non-musical pursuits
  caught up with me. So now, I'm just a casual observer, a back-bencher.

     And what of the scene now? Well, I have no idea. I know that people
  still release music. I know that the scene has grown and grown into a
  rather unmanageable mess. I know that bandwidth is wider, and mp3's are
  an accepted standard, at least in the US, for transferring modules. I
  know that the demoparties died somewhat, somewhere along the way, and
  the old trackers 'got real lives' or now while away their hours on IRC
  without releasing.

     And every day, I tell myself that I'll write a few more tracks, that
  I will put up a new home page, upload all my songs to mp3.com like the
  rest of the old #traxers, and see how things go. And one day, I will.

                --Mehran [Screamager]

  For modules:  http://www.valain.com/scrm

  For MP3's:  http://www.scandal.org


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  The Listener
    Music from Esem, Chimera, Xhale and many Others
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- fluid & ttidi            -=-
  -=-        -- twilton & esem -=-

     Somehow I forgot to include review of this track in previous issue,
  but because Stereoman released another excellent track, at least I
  won't have to write about him twice.

     "fluid & ttidi" is electronic IDM meditation somewhere between dune
  (brothomstates), md and lackluster. On the strong rhythmic basement
  Twilton and Esem play with the sounds and build unseen soundscapes and
  go right into the heart of electronic music. Even being a lot
  experimental, they still keep the form of normal music, maybe because
  the most important instruments (bass, some of the percussion) are only
  light filtered, rest of the instruments move between normal sounds and
  unrecognizable fragments. In some parts it reminds me a lot on
  brothomstates, in some parts it sounds very original, but both parts are
  impressive and if you're a lover of electronic music, I think you should
  not miss it. If you are into this style, you may also try guest release
  "Uncompleted Consummation" by Teinai, which is more to orchestral music,
  but still very electronical.

     Another excellent release of stereoman is TDR prisoner numbered 164
  and named "come visit my life". With this track stereoman turns back to
  his older music with lovely ambient structures, repetitive melodies,
  great drumlines and awesome atmosphere. Get it and listen to lovely
  trumpets.

  Song Information:
     Title:  Fluid & ttidi
     Author:  twilton & esem
     Release date:  4.2000
     Length:  5m06s + 15m42s = 20m48s
     Filename:  twilton-noise_fluid.mp3 + esem_noise_ttidi.mp3
     File Size:  4.8mb + 14.7mb = 19.5mb total
     Source:  www.noisemusic.org

  Song Information:
     Title:  come visit my life
     Author:  Stereoman (Esem) / Noise
     Release date:  24.apr.2k
     Length:  5m20s
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  tokyo164.zip / sm-cvml.it
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  1084kb / 1198kb
     Source:  www.tdr.scene.org


  -=- epoq ep                  -=-
  -=-               -- chimera -=-

     Surfing on the net I found on "noerror" link on this, for download
  quite a big, EP and decided to check out this, for me a new, artist.

     This EP is announced as ambient, but as you start first track you'll
  immediately hear that the ambience is mostly caused by minimalistic
  attempt which in some tracks reflects in too monotonik sound. To be
  more exact, it is actually more movie sound which is based on variations
  of main theme. While in the movie goes one theme across all tracks, in
  this EP has every track different theme and style and so the main link
  of all songs is only this movie style.

     All 5 tracks sound very professionaly and I quite like them, I only
  don't like their a bit monotonik ambient sound - it's more for people
  who normally listen to soundtracks. I think that best way to decide
  whether you shall get it, is to get one track only (and information txt
  file). I personally like most "stagger" - track four, maybe because of
  its Buzz, Orbital and Underworld influenced sound. Well, if you don't
  mind downloading mp3 files, try it.

  Song Information:
     Title:  epoq
     Author:  chimera
     Release date:  5.5.2000 (planets in a row and this happens)
     Length:  27m36s
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  ch-epoq.zip / many files
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  25mb
     Source:  come.to/chimera
              hellven.traxinspace.com


  -=- Night wool               -=-
  -=-                 -- xhale -=-

     Xhale is not only an excellent musician, but he is also a great
  graphician and belongs among few people who are really good in more
  kinds of art. Since the end of 1999 you can find in the web new
  group called "miasmah". Right now there are 10 releases out and it
  is a bit one man show with two guest releases only, but it's
  interesting show anyway.

     "Night wool" is in my opinion best music release of this one man
  group. Xhale's ambient style with occasional and instable beats
  is in this track influenced by european movie atmospheres and
  reminds me this way a bit on "Helden der Stille" by Vivid. Still,
  both tracks are very different and their common is a fact that they
  somehow describe empty, dark and strange world by sound. It would
  be also great music for a document about insects. Get it!

     Another excellent release hides under number 3 and it is called
  "Mohamira". Xhale writes: "I made a sort of remix of this tune which
  i released at asm99 called "smal red grapes" .. but i like the
  original (mohamira) much more .... The style is a bit jazzy chilly
  trip hop i think". I agree, but style doesn't include only jazz and
  triphop, but also dnb, breakbeat, ambient music and many other
  features which make xhale's music unique. Not that good as "Night
  wool", but still interesting track.

     Last track I want to mention is theralite release #7 called
  "Subjective fuse". It is different than the previous two tracks,
  influence by jazz and dnb is much stronger and so the most
  experimental are the trumpets as the leads. They play in unusual
  way, sometimes they are funky, sometimes sad jazzy. A song to
  finish with this three track xhale session. Good night.

  Song Information:
     Title:  Night wool
     Author:  xhale
     Release date:  20.4.2000
     Length:  7m50s
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  mia9.zip / night_wool.mp3
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  7 305kb / 7 358kb
     Source:  www.miasmah.cjb.net


  -=- Other tracks -=-

     Charlie Brown Records (CBR) active again and have two new releases
  out there. One is "Silent avantgarde", a very specific sort of triphop
  by Pedro (author of "Camel without filter"), available in XM and MP3
  format. Second release is "Useless" by Dustbin, sounds like 1meg chip
  tune and didn't catch me, although it looks good.
  http://www.cbr.avnet.it

     Tokyo dawn records has a bunch of new releases by prymer, falcon,
  stereoman, looza, twister, etc. Grab music by your favourite artist,
  because they are too good to choose only some.
  http://www.tdr.scene.org

     Goodstuff has some new reviews and among them is a link on "Feels so
  Far", beautiful guitar track with vocals, composed by Radix and Lluvia.
  http://artloop.de/goodstuff

     Readers of "noerror" already know it, but rest of you, Skaven's fans,
  can scream, because he has a new page on mp3.com with some new tracks.
  I expected something a bit different, but it's still worth listening.
  http://mp3.com/skaven

    Azure has again some new cool releases. I was very surprised when
  I found out that Wayfinder doesn't appear in any charts. People, get
  his music and vote for him!
  http://azure.zerion.com

     Search for underrated artists brought me also to mp3.com pages of
  kilobite, because I wanted to get some music by Jobe. His style is here
  mostly weird mix of techno and electronica and many of the tracks aren't
  too interesting, but I've enjoyed track called "Avatara". It gives to
  the usual boring electronic techno stuff more scene sound with ambient
  background and chip style leads. Not bad.
  http://mp3.com/kilobite | jobe_-_avatara.mp3 | 4859kb | 2000

     Living in spring is a musicdisk released by hellven in may 2000. It's
  compiled out of 15 tracks by many artists, Darkhalo and Xerxes are most
  known. They've both contributed with nice tracks and Darkhalo's song
  is like a lighthouse on this disk. It's most distinct and evolved track
  and only one which I would really recommend you to get. It's a lovely
  ambient shore meditation. Other tracks aren't bad, but you won't listen
  to them twice. Anyway, some people of this group will be worth checking
  in a year.
  http://hellven.traxinspace.com |
              11 - twilight fireflies - spring mix (darkhalo).mp3 | 5,6mb

  -=-

     If you've heard any interesting tune that no one seems to know about,
  e-mail me or write a review. We have to support novices. Also, if you're
  owner of SB Live, check out listen.to/sblive page and grab program that
  patches EMU10K1.VXD and adds a Parametric Equalizer Effect.

     Send any comments you have.

                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Retro Tunage
    Ambrozia by Pulse
  By:  Tryhuk
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

     After reviews from the time of 1995/1996 I thought I could go back
  more to roots and check out a part of my mods collection. I've found
  many interesting pieces, like original "overture" by jogeir which has
  been done in 1992 and last year released on "Audiophonik" (in completely
  different quality). It's unbelievable, how the scene changed since the
  days and how a simple play with sounds turned into something more. But
  back to mods. This track together with "fountain of sighs" reminded me
  on "Ambrozia", overlooked musicdisk by Pulse, released in 1997.

     To be exact, "Ambrozia" contains music by Jogeir and Scorpik. It
  consists of the old hits like "field day" or "fountain of sighs", but it
  also has some newer songs, like excellent "ambrozia" or scorpik's "my
  styles" which is in the first part kind of celtic dnb ballad with
  excellent flutes, and electronic dnb in the second part. All songs in
  this musicdisk are of this kind. Guitars and flutes often dominate, but
  both authors don't defy of using electronical sounds and scene music
  structures and create this way unique style of music with very strong
  melodies.

     All 12 songs are very good and together with original interface they
  make a really excellent musicdisk, unfortunately oversighted by too
  many people. It's funny, because this musicdisk ended up first in Hugi
  #18 charts (maybe because of too many Polish voters). Anyway, get it and
  see how much can be done with just a little bit of effects, noisy 8 bits
  and a lot of talent. Don't make same mistake twice and get it.

  Song Information:
     Title:  Ambrozia
     Author:  Pulse (Jogeir+Scorpik)
     Release date:  4.4.1997
     Length:  ~70m
     Filename (zipped/unzipped):  pls-amb.zip / many files
     File Size (zipped/unzipped):  5.5 mb / 10 mb
     Source:  www.hornet.org -> search for "ambrozia" or "pulse"

                --Tryhuk


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Screen Lit Vertigo
    Things I remember from: 'Nature Suxx' by Federation Against Nature
  By:  Seven
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Disclaimer/Rambling: -=-
     This month has been one of the busiest of my life. Prime culprit is
  my master thesis, that must be submitted today (it's 2:50 at night now),
  and that wasn't nearly finished a week ago. Add to this the last
  lessons, a bunch of projects and exercises and the forthcoming exams,
  and you won't be surprised that my scene-activity has been very low. As
  a matter of fact, the only slightly demo-related thing I did was
  reading my mail and csipd.

     Things should have been different, because I actually bought a 3D
  card. A Creative TNT2 32MB model 64, so almost all demos should run on
  it. Too bad the damn thing was incompatible with my 1.5 years old
  mainboard. 3D acceleration did work, maybe for 5 seconds, after which
  everything locked up. And even under normal operation my PC was about
  as stable as under Windows 1.0. After a week of downloading patches,
  fiddling with detonator drivers and calling the PC shop, I returned the
  card and re-installed my S3 Virge, so I could at least continue working
  on my thesis.

     Why am I boring you with this ? Well, the good thing about it was
  that I had, for 1 week, a card that supported 32-bit colors in 2D.
  Which meant that I could finally run Nature Suxx/Federation Against
  Nature. Too bad I forgot to write a review, and I only realized Coplan
  was waiting for a .rev from me after I returned the card ... Sigh.

     Since it's the only new demo I've watched this month, and since it's
  one of the most impressive demos I've ever seen, I decided to `review'
  it anyway, and at the same time give you some info about raytracing, so
  you can fully appreciate it.


  -=- Raytracing: -=-
     Raytracing works by shooting a ray through every pixel, and checking
  which object it hits. Then you find it's color, and by tracking even
  more rays from the hit-point to all light-sources and checking if there
  are other objects in between, you can know how much light this pixel
  receives, so you can create  shadows. Needless to say, the whole process
  is very "maths", very complex and very slow. Federation Against Nature
  (FAN) recommends not to run Nature Suxx in 512*384 unless you have an
  Athlon 800, so that's an indication.

     Since raytracing does not benefit from that really expensive 3D card
  in your PC, you may wonder what's the point of doing real-time
  raytracing (RTRT), besides showing off your coding skills. Here are the
  main points, which you can also use to judge whether that new elite
  demo is really using RTRT, as it claims, or whether it is fooling you
  by using some clever tricks:

     * RTRT can use shadows. Not the usual circular blobs or simple
     projections on the floor, but razor-sharp 100% exact shadows that
     are cast on intersecting walls, other objects, and even the object
     itself, even with multiple lightsources. This IS possible to
     incorporate in a "normal" 3D engine, but I've seen only one demo
     pulling this off with more than a few cubes: The Fulcrum/Matrix.

     * RTRT can work on spheres, ellipsoids, cylinders and cones, without
     faking them with zillions of flat polys. In fact, the simple
     mathematic formulae to describe these objects are much more suited
     to RTRT then a big collection of surface-definitions.

     * RTRT can calculate reflections. Granted, most 3D engines can do
     this too, but can they show recursive reflection (mirrors in
     mirrors)? Can they show also spherical mirrors instead of just flat
     ones? RTRT can do this easily.

     * pixel-perfect intersecting objects. Another feature that's
     possible, but hard to do in polygon-based engines. Either you draw a
     whole poly at a time, resulting in jagged intersections, or you
     calculate the intersection line and you draw partial polys, but this
     is _slow_! In a RTRT engine, it's almost for  free.

     * Certain special effects, like fog or volumetric lights. I think it
     works like this: you define a transparent object, and when a ray
     intersects it, the color of the ray becomes more or less bright,
     proportional to the distance it travels through the object.

     Real-time raytracing has long been upheld as the pinnacle of truly
  impossible-to-do-on-a-PC things. But around 1996, the first scene
  productions with some  primitive RTRT showed up. Transgression 2 by MFX
  showed 3 scenes: 1 sphere on  a floor, 2 cylinder-segments, and 6
  pillars on a floor, forming an abstract  temple. Very simple, and it
  looked extremely fuzzy, because they didn't use  one ray for each pixel,
  more like one ray for each 8*8 block of pixels, and  interpolating or
  blurring the colors. Later demos and intros improved on the  sharpness,
  by using smaller blocks, 4*4 or 2*2, but the objects stayed the  same: 3
  or 4 spheres or cylinders and a floor.

     Since a few years, things have started to improve. Control/Green (2nd
  at Biz98) showed 3 spheres and 3 cylinders in 320*240, pixel-sharp.
  Myth Of Orion/Anaconda (1st at Euskal 7) had as far as I know the first
  "meaningful" objects, like an oasis with trees, albeit fuzzy. Last year,
  Slumpism/Pathos won the Ragest'99 64K intro, featuring sharp RTRT with
  reflections and some good design, and at this years Mekka/Symposium
  intro compo, the scenes in Heaven7/Exceed were the most beautiful ever.
  Planets circling over a landscape with craters, lit by beams of
  volumetric light, a small star-filled temple guarding a reflecting
  globe, spherical islands in wavy sea... Visual poetry.

  And at the same party, Nature Suxx was released.


  -=- Nature Suxx by Federation Against Nature -=-

     Found at www.scene.org
     3rd place at Mekka Symposium

  System requirements:
     Extremely heavy CPU. PII 450 or better recommended, with 64 MB RAM
     A video card that supports 32-bit colors (24 does NOT work).
     DirectX 6.0, and a DirectX compatible soundcard.
     Windows9X.

  Test Machine:
     PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98 in dos-mode (BOOTGUI = 0)

  The demo:
     As you might have guessed, Nature Suxx is 100% raytracing. No
  pictures, no 2D effects, no flatshaded hi-res objects: just raytracing.
  And it's the most impressive raytracing I've ever seen. To start with,
  there are rooms, stairways, and doors... These things are easy to do
  with polys, but in RTRT, it's more the number of objects that counts
  rather than their form, and these objects require a lot of surfaces.
  The scenes have been carefully chosen to show the power of RTRT: rings
  rotating around a cylinder, volumetric lightbeams shining in a narrow
  corridor, pipe-filled room with reflecting floors, a lot of spheres
  bouncing in a  disco-room with several multi-colored lights... The most
  impressive parts are a human figure, build from over 20 spheres, that
  is juggling with 3 balls, and a train that drives through an
  underground station. The way the light insides that train shines on the
  floor... Wow! You can check that this is true RTRT by pressing 'c', and
  move around with the mouse. When Quasar/Green came to help me with some
  LaTeX problem, I showed him Nature Suxx. He's the one who coded
  Control/Green's RTRT-engine, and at first he thought it might be faked.
  We use the mouse to move close to the edge of a cylinder, and we
  couldn't find individual polys... A nice gimmick is the eye that serves
  as the camera. You can see it's reflection on the walls, or  when you
  use the mouse, the eye continues its flight through the rooms :)  I
  don't remember much about the music, although I think it was in a
  house/techno style.

  Overall:
     Nature Suxx is a coder's demo: it wants to be technically top-notch,
  and it manages to do so. It's less beautiful then Heaven7, mainly
  because the textures look quite fuzzy, but technically it's better: way
  more complex scenes, more advanced effects,... It might be only a
  camera flight, and the font used for the greeting is too blocky, and
  ... Who cares? This demo has set the new  standards for RTRT, and it
  certainly deserves a place in demoscene's history  for that.

                --Seven


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Intro Watch
    'Fungi' by Throb
  By:  Gekko
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Winner 64 kb intro at Paradox 2000 (Russia)

  Requirements: 32 MB RAM, Windows'95, DirectX, 320x200 (32/24/16)
  Download: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/parties/2000/paradox00/in64/fungi_f.zip
  Credits: Ubi (programming), Head (music)

  (Note: The intro starts with a precalculation. After a short while the
  progress meter stops. Don't press reset, the intro does not hang, after
  a time it goes on.)

     'Fungi' is a Russian intro. It is the latest Jizz clone and it is not
  bad. Although what one notices the first time is the lack of originality
  and design.

     It contains a small poem which is not really good but is at least not
  annoying. The theme of it is dreaming. It tries to catch the moment when
  one awakes, but is not yet fully conscious and still dreaming. This
  theme -- dreams -- is a cliche in the demoscene, which serves as an
  excuse for putting together everything without any connection.

     There is a psychadelic trance/goa soundtrack which fits the intro and
  it is quite good, provided you like the style.

     The intro is quite fine from the coder's point of view. There are
  numerous effects. There are blurs and flashes synchronized to the music.
  The bitmap effects (plasmas, etc.) are miming the ones in Jizz. There is
  a good software rendering 3d engine with texture and environment
  mapping. Different 3d scenes are shown with it. There are very
  impressive 3d morphs; though it is possible that this is not an effect
  but a pre-keyframed animation. The intro ends with metaballs - this
  seems to be a compulsory part in Jizz-intros.

     Unfortunately the lack of design and the ugly colors spoil all the
  positive aspects. (eg. red, blue and purple together - this HURTS!) The
  textures are fine - except for the palette of a few of them - the font
  is not.

     All in all, this intro is not the best one, but is indeed quite
  promising. Technically it is already near the top, but there is a long
  way to go in design.

                --Gekko


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Scene Dirt
    News & Rumors
  By:  Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Kosmic Signs on to MP3.com -=-
  It's true, Kosmic is now officially part of MP3.com.  Some have coined
  the move as a "sell out" move.  But, Maelcum has a point:  Kosmic will
  always be around this way:  http://www.kosmic.org/what.html

  -=- Formal Appology from BZZ -=-
  We have a formal appolgoy posted from BZZ (the name nutorious for the
  ripping of the prize winning Carlos song in Mekka).  The English
  translation is included in this weeks 'Call to Keyboards'.

                --Coplan


  Scene Dirt is a semi-regular column offering the latest tidbits of
  information to its readers.  If you have any bits of information that
  you think should be here, contact coplan (coplan.ic@rcn.com) and offer
  as much information as possible.


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Call to Keyboards
    Wrapup:  Demoparties Required
    New Topic: Organization is Key -- A Note From BZZ
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--

  -=- Wrap Up: Demoparties Required -=-

  Psychic Symphony's Reply:

     I hope I am not too late with this reply, but this topic is to
  important to let pass unanswered.

     Why people go to demoparties? I am Portuguese. There never was a
  pc-demoscene demoparty in Portugal. I have attended 6 demoparties in the
  past 2 years and i'm planning another European tour with at least 4 more
  demoparties in mind this summer.

     I really don't know why I travelled alone to my first demoparty,
  which was wired98. I have no idea why I went! I didn't know many people
  and all I had was a crappy demo that I had made in a hurry. But
  something in my 18 year old body changed that weekend, and it wasn't
  puberty! I went beyond the stuff I had read and seen on my monitor and
  into the midle of the whole culture. And yes i was bored to death most
  of the time and that is very normal for the first demoparty.

     So why did I go again? The problem is you start knowing people and
  you want to meet more. You want to know how that guy came up with those
  ideas, and you want to share watching these things on the bigscreen for
  the first time. You want to know what this crew who has been making
  demos for the past 6 years look like.  A norwegian scener said to me
  once and he was completly right: "If you are a scener, and i mean a REAL
  scener, then you are probably a friendly person." And he was right
  (despite that we were all a bit drunk for the occasion). Demoparties
  give you excuses to travel to far places, to live away from the boring
  surrounding society for at least that one weekend. You can say "I was
  there!" and the more you travel the more you want to re-meet friends.
  And nothing beats the awesome feeling of beeing able to say when it is
  time to go seperate ways: "Thank you for everything! I hope to see you
  around...at the next demoparty maybe?"

     There are people who prefer not to travel, there is nothing wrong
  with that either. Why would you want to be walking around a party place
  doing stuff you probably wouldn't do near your house? If you don't like
  socializing that doesn't make you any less of a scener. Demoscene is not
  just about going to demoparties, it's also mainly about the new-media
  art and the artists that have been working hard for the past week to
  release something in the compos. The important thing is participating.
  It's each person's way of living. Sometimes I wish I was home -- instead
  of being in a strange place full of kids playing an Unreal tournament --
  just idling with style with 2 or 3 friends waiting for the compos to
  start.

     But hey, isnt idling with style what it's all about? =)

                --PS
                   psychic_symphony@clix.pt


  -=- New Topic: Organization is Key -- A Note From BZZ -=-

  First a bit of an introduction is needed here.  For those of you who
  weren't aware, the Mekka Symposium ended shortly before out last issue.
  Thanks to members of my staff, as well as many astute listeners, we were
  able to pin down a song "rip" titled: "I've A Jazzy Feeling".  The song
  was released for the compo by BZZ, but is actually written by Carlos of
  Mandula.

  Well, it's been a month, and someone turned up an english translation of
  BZZ's letter in response to the acusations.  Thanks to Tomcat/Greenroom
  for the translation (it was orginally in Hungarian), and to Seven for
  bringing it to my attention.  The following message was found on  the
  Greenroom Forums.

     Dear Interested!

     As I heard some correspondence has been started in my name, in which
     the responsibility bounces around, so I would like to clear the case.

     I am definitely responsible for what happened.

     The short story. Some time, around one or two years ago I wrote many
     musics, for which I ripped the samples from other musicians' songs.
     Those times have I fould the song by Carlos, perhaps on a PC-X
     Magazine CD or so. I really liked it, so I kept it, also and did some
     slight changes to the instruments and the panoraming.

     Later many of my own musics had been saved to that directory, which
     others - unsuspiciously, thinking those are all my works - copied for
     themselves. It was my mistake, because when they started admiring
     these songs (among them also this one) I felt proud undeservedly,
     although I were be able to apologize then without any consequences,
     saying "sorry, it's not my work, I just edited it, but it's a rip."

     And so later - also unsuspiciously - Mr. Pixel and Lord had the idea
     of entering this song to the Mekka-Symposium music competition,
     because they thought it's mine. So there was no way back: the song
     was out, entered the compo, and I only learned about it when it was
     late. I was still too coward to confess that it is a rip, so I simply
     prayed (to whom anyway?) that it must not win.

     It did.

     I didn't know what did I trust then. Like if a rock has fallen from
     my heart when it finally came to light, and I confessed that I am the
     guilty one. Of course the prize will be sent back to the Symposium
     organizers as soon as possible, so they could give it to the true
     winner, Carlos.

     I have signed it to the guestbook on the Mekka-Symposium website now,
     that I heard different versions about what happened. I am
     responsible, Mr. Pixel and Lord are innocent, and the true winner is
     Carlos.

     Thank you for reading this. And of course after sending the prize
     back I will disappear from the scene, I won't even enter compos on
     other names, I think this is fair.

     Greetings: BZZ

     Now I'm going to give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt, and I'm
  going to admit that I believe his story.  But the issue here is not who
  ripped who, and what not.  The issue all comes down to organization.

     I get picked on constantly because I have my entire hard drive sorted
  out to little itty bitty things.  My music collection is sorted by
  group, then by artist, then by year (if my collection of that artist
  warrents more organization.  My Subliminal and Setec Collections do).
  My own works are sorted in a similar manner.  First my artist (Coplan,
  duh), then by finished or unfinished, then by format (my old stuff is
  still in MOD format, then some S3Ms then some ITs, and a few
  experimental XMs), then by style.  Okay, so I get a bit carried away,
  I'll admit it.  But no one ever has a question as to who owns a given
  song on my hard drive.  There is also the issue of why anyone would want
  to steal my tunes -- they should probably have their heads examined.

     Back on track.

     The point is, you gotta somehow keep track of what you've done, and
  what  you didn't do.  Even if it simply means that you stick your name
  on the  first line of any song before you start.

     Beyond that, there are no excuses.

     On a different note, I don't think that BZZ should leave the scene.
  But, that doesn't mean he shouldn't be flagged.  It doesn't sound like
  he'd be a repeat offender, but one should possibly realize that he's
  learned his lesson either way.  If not, just make sure someone checks
  out the tune for authenticity.

     So, you're assignment this month:  Send in some tips and tricks for
  organizational methods.  Also send in what you think BZZ's Fate should
  be (I assume that this will get a larger response).

     You're opinions here, please.

                --Coplan


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Link List
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  Featured Site:  ACiD and Phluid
                  http://www.acid.org
                  http://phluid.acid.org
  Writeup By:     Coplan

  Many of you will at least recognize the names ACiD and Phluid.  Much to
  my surprise, they are both still alive and kicking.  And here are the
  links to get you started.

  For those of you who know nothing about the groups, ACiD (and its
  daughter group:  Phluid) are both old-skool groups in the scene.  ACiD
  is known for its GFX of many styles -- though I remember it most for the
  ANSI GFX.  Phluid is the musical counterpart of ACiD, and it would be
  hard to think of one without the other.  There is still a lot of music
  to be heard there, but the only drawback is that they release in packs
  still -- even after the average song has gotten large enough to ask for
  a personal download.  But if you got the time and/or the bandwidth, grab
  some stuff from their site -- and get a taste of the what the scene used
  to be like.

  Groups:

      3g Design..............................http://3gdesign.cjb.net
      Aardbei.....................................http://aardbei.com
      ACiD.......................................http://www.acid.org
      Acid Rain..............................http://surf.to/acidrain
      Agravedict........................http://www.agravedict.art.pl
      Anakata..............................http://www.anakata.art.pl
      ANDESA Soft International..................http://andesa.da.ru
      Astral..............................http://astral.scene-hu.com
      Astroidea........................http://astroidea.scene-hu.com
      AtomiK....................................http://atomik.ini.hu
      Bomb..................................http://bomb.planet-d.net
      BlaBla..............................http://blabla.planet-d.net
      Blasphemy..............................http://www.blasphemy.dk
      Byterapers.....................http://www.byterapers.scene.org
      Calodox.................................http://www.calodox.org
      Chrome..............................http://chrome.scene-hu.com
  <*> Chrysalis.....................http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~s8149kez
      CoPro.....................................http://www.copro.org
      Damage...................................http://come.to/damage
      Dance...................................http://dance.flipp.net
      Defacto 2..............................http://www.defacto2.net
      Dolops......................... ........http://dolOps.scene.hu
      Exceed...........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~exceed
      Fobia Design...........................http://www.fd.scene.org
      GODS...................................http://www.idf.net/gods
      Green.....................................http://green.dyns.cx
      Grif........................http://arrabonet.gyor.hu/~rattgrif
      Haujobb......................................http://haujobb.de
      Hellcore............................http://www.hellcore.art.pl
      IJSKAST.............................http://www.ijskast.cjb.net
      Immortals..............................http://imrt.home.ml.org
      Infuse...................................http://www.infuse.org
      Just For Fun...........................http://jff.planet-d.net
      Kilobite...............................http://kilobite.cjb.net
      Kolor................................http://www.kaoz.org/kolor
      Kooma.....................................http://www.kooma.com
      Label zero.........................http://labelzero.pganet.com
      Mandula.........................http://www.inf.bme.hu/~mandula
      Monar................ftp://amber.bti.pl/pub/scene/distro/monar
      Nextempire..................http://members.xoom.com/NEXTEMPIRE
      Ninja Gefilus.........http://www.angelfire.com/or/ninjagefilus
      Noice.....................................http://www.noice.org
      Orion..............................http://orion.arfstudios.org
      Quad........................................http://www.quad.nl
      Rage........................................http://www.rage.nu
      Replay.......................http://www.shine.scene.org/replay
      Retro A.C...........................http://www.retroac.cjb.net
      Rhyme................................http://rhyme.scene-hu.com
      Skytech team............................http://www.skytech.org
      Sunflower.......................http://sunflower.opengl.org.pl
      Suspend......................http://www.optimus.wroc.pl/rappid
      Tehdas...................................http://come.to/tehdas
      Tesko..........................http://www.scentral.demon.co.uk
      The Black Lotus.............................http://www.tbl.org
      The Digital Artists Wired Nation.http://digitalartists.cjb.net
      The Lost Souls...............................http://www.tls.no
      TPOLM.....................................http://www.tpolm.com
      Trauma.................................http://sauna.net/trauma
      T-Rex.....................................http://www.t-rex.org
      Unik.....................................http://www.unik.ca.tc
      Universe..........................http://universe.planet-d.net
      Vantage..................................http://www.vantage.ch

  Music:

      Aisth.....................................http://www.aisth.com
      Aural planet........................http://www.auralplanet.com
      Azure..................................http://azure.zerion.com
      Blacktron Music Production...........http://www.d-zign.com/bmp
      Chill..........................http://www.bentdesign.com/chill
      Chippendales......................http://www.sunpoint.net/~cnd
      Chiptune...............................http://www.chiptune.com
      Da Jormas................................http://www.jormas.com
      Fabtrax......http://www.cyberverse.com/~boris/fabtrax/home.htm
      Five Musicians.........................http://www.fm.scene.org
      Fridge...........................http://www.ssmedion.de/fridge
      Goodstuff..........................http://artloop.de/goodstuff
      Ignorance.............................http://www.ignorance.org
      Immortal Coil.............................http://www.ic.L7.net
      Intense...........................http://intense.ignorance.org
      Jecoute.................................http://jecoute.cjb.net
      Kosmic Free Music Foundation.............http://www.kosmic.org
      Level-d.................................http://www.level-d.com
      Miasmah.............................http://www.miasmah.cjb.net
      Milk.......................................http://milk.sgic.fi
      Mah Music.............................http://come.to/mah.music
      Maniacs of noise...............http://home.worldonline.nl/~mon
      MAZ's Sound homepage.............http://www.th-zwickau.de/~maz
      Mo'playaz..........................http://ssmedion.de/moplayaz
      Mono211.................................http://www.mono211.com
      Morbid Minds..............http://www.raveordie.com/morbidminds
      Noise................................http://www.noisemusic.org
      Noerror......................http://www.error-404.com/noerror/
      One Touch Records......................http://otr.planet-d.net
      Park..................................http://park.planet-d.net
  <*> Phluid..................................http://phluid.acid.org
      Radical Rhythms.....http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/merrelli/rr
      RBi Music.............................htpp://www.rbi-music.com
      Ruff Engine................http://members.xoom.com/ruff_engine
      SHR8M......................................http://1st.to/shr8m
      Sound Devotion................http://sugarbomb.x2o.net/soundev
      Soundstate.........................http://listen.to/soundstate
      Sunlikamelo-D...........http://www.error-404.com/sunlikamelo-d
      Suspect Records........................http://www.tande.com/sr
      Tequila........................http://www.defacto2.net/tequila
      Tempo................................http://tempomusic.cjb.net
      Theralite...........................http://theralite.avalon.hr
      Tokyo Dawn Records........................http://tdr.scene.org
      UltraBeat.........................http://www.innerverse.com/ub
      Vibrants................................http://www.vibrants.dk
      Wiremaniacs.........................http://www.wiremaniacs.com

  Others:

      Arf!Studios..........................http://www.arfstudios.org
      Calodox demolinks exchange.....http://calodox.planet-d.net/cde
      #coders..................................http://coderz.cjb.net
      Comic Pirates.........................http://scene-central.com
      Demonews Express.........http://www.teeselink.demon.nl/express
      Demo fanclub........................http://jerware.org/fanclub
      Demoscene.org news forum..............http://www.demoscene.org
      Digital Undergrounds.....................http://dug.iscool.net
      Doose charts...............................http://www.doose.dk
      Dreams2 CD.........................http://nl.scene.org/dreams2
      Freax...................http://freax.scene-hu.com/mainmenu.htm
      GfxZone............................http://gfxzone.planet-d.net
      Hugi size-compo...............http://home.pages.de/~hugi-compo
      Orange Juice.........................http://ojuice.citeweb.net
      PC-demos explained.....http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained
      Pixel...................................http://pixel.scene.org
      Scenet....................................http://www.scenet.de
      Sunray..............................http://sunray.planet-d.net
      Swiss List.................http://www.profzone.ch/vantage/list
      Swiss Scene Server.......................http://www.chscene.ch
      TakeOver................................http://www.takeover.nl
      Textmode Demo Archive.................http://tmda.planet-d.net
      Hungarian scene page...................http://www.scene-hu.com
      Trebel...................................http://www.trebel.org
      Zen of Tracking.........................http://surf.to/the-imm

  DiskMags / SceneMags:

      Amber...............................http://amber.bti.pl/di_mag
      Amnesia...............http://amnesia-dist.future.easyspace.com
      Demojournal....................http://demojournal.planet-d.net
      Dragon......................http://www.wasp.w3.pl/pages/dragon
      Fleur................................http://fleur.scene-hu.com
      Heroin...................................http://www.heroin.net
      Hugi........................http://home.pages.de/~hugidownload
      Music Massage......................http://www.scene.cz/massage
      Planet Chartmag...........http://www.agravedict.art.pl/planet/
      Pain..................................http://pain.planet-d.net
      Scenial...........................http://www.scenial.scene.org
      Static Line......................http://www.ic.l7.net/statline
      Total Disaster...................http://www.totaldisaster.w.pl
      TUHB.......................................http://www.tuhb.org
      WildMag...........................http://www.wildmag.notrix.de

  FTPs:

      Amber.......................................ftp://amber.bti.pl
      Cyberbox.....................................ftp://cyberbox.de
      Flerp.....................................ftp://flerp.scene.hu
      Scene.org..................................ftp://ftp.scene.org
      Skynet archive.................ftp://acid2.stack.nl/pub/skynet
      ACiD2 Archive.............................ftp://acid2.stack.nl


--=--=--
----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------
  Editor:            Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
  Assistant Editor:  Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu
  Columnists:        Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
                      Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
                      Gekko / Gergely Kutenich / gk@scene.hu
                      Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net
                      Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
                      Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be
                      SiN / Ian Haskin / sin@netcom.ca
                      Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net
                      Tryhuk / Tryhuk Vojtech / xtryhu00@stud.fee.vutbr.cz
                      Virt / virt@bellsouth.net
  Technical Consult: Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org
                      Jim / Jim Nicholson / jim@kosmic.org

  Static Line on the Web:  http://www.ic.l7.net/statline
                           ftp://flerp.scene.hu/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine

     To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message
  to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line <your e-mail>" in
  the message text. You will then be asked to confirm your addition to the
  mailing list.  Expect a new issue during the first weekend of each
  month.

     To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to
  "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "unsubscribe static_line <your e-mail>" in
  the message text. Your subscription will then be removed.

     If you would like to contribute an article to Static Line, be aware
  that we will format your article with two spaces at the beginning and one
  space at the end of each line.  Please avoid foul language and high ascii
  characters.  Contributions should be mailed to Coplan
  (coplan.ic@rcn.com).

     See you next month!

-eof---=------=--=------=--=--
