[10C. [9C.d [26Cd. [16C__...,,,,...__ dy [3C.d$$b [23C,dP "^ ` [5C_.,s#S$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$S#s,._ ` * s* $$$$$Ss,. ###############P',$l ,d$$$b ,d$$$$$$$$S "^^" S$$$$$$$$b $bsss#b,` S$$$P $$$$$$$$$$$$$',7$$$.`7$SS$d$$$$$$$ ` ,s [11C` $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$P d$$$ s`$$$$$$$$$$P s $$$$b,. _ `$$$$$$' ,P [15C`.` $$$$$$$`:$$$'.d$b. .` 7$$$P s',d.`$$$b s,..,$$$$$l ' [1m [0m `$S##S$ $$$$$$l l$$$ l$$$$b.`b.` ',d .d$$$.`$$$:`$$$$$$$$$: [1m [20C:$$$$$ $$$$$$l $$$l $$$$$$$.`$bd$P ,$$$$$l $$$l $$$$$ "^" $$$$$ $$$$$$',$$$l|$$$$$$$$ l$$P d$$$$$$$.l$$$|$$$l [1mWelcome to Massive #1 [0m l$$$$ $$$$$P d$$$l$$$$s$$$$: $P d$$$$$$s$:l$$$$$$$$$#ssd [6C [1m [0m l$$$$ $$$$'.` $$$l|$',$$$$$l $`.$$$$$$$$$Llb,`|l$$$$$s$$ [5C [1m [0m ^"7$$ $$s$$ $$$,`,d$$$$$$$ l l$$$$$$$$$ll$$b `$P'd$$$$: [20C [1m [5Cl$ ' : $$s$. ss$$$$$$ . $$$$$$$$$l'$$$$e `,$$$$$$l [19C, [1m [0m .,d$$ $$$ : ld'd$$$.`$$$$$$$,.,$$$$$$$$$',$$s$.` S$$$. [17C. $$$ssss d$$$$$b ` S$$$$$$$$$$$$$P',$$$$$$$l ::#s$s$$b. [13C` .d$$ss$$l `'.d$$SP "^~ .`^ ^` * S$. ssss$$$$$$$$dS#s,,....,,s#S$$$$$$$$P [5Cs [15C `b [7C`^,d$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$S ` [37C` [8C$$$$$$`^^^""""^^^`` [1m [0m d$b ` ------------------------------------------- ` ' -------------------------------- [8CWell, here it is; the first issue of Massive. As some of you might recall I originally started Massive nearly a year and a half ago, but for one reason or another I never got the time to put it together and eventually gave up. I'm reviving it now because I think emags, (regardless of whether they are coded or not), go hand in hand with productivity in the scene. And while I like Cyberia, Skills, and Tyrone the first two are basically dead and the latter is still in the developmental stages. Hopefully the commitment I put into Massive to release regularly will result in increased activity in what was once a prosperous ascii scene. [8CI want Massive to represent the essentials of an emag: news, articles, interviews, and pack reviews. Massive is not and will never be coded simply because I don't have time to learn and relying on others to code it has already delayed the release date of Massive by three weeks. There is no official "staff"for Massive, but I am looking for someone to do pack reviews and the news. [8CThat sums it all up. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the mag. Sendall articles or anything for Massive to pariah@alienz.org or pariahFAT on irc. I hope you enjoy the mag... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1m [0m _______________ __ | $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ` ________ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$`'' XXXXX '` | _____ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ | | \ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ . ##XSSSXX#x . / | `^' XSSX ` `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$' | / `$$$$$$$$$$$$' | | . x#XS$$ `$$$$$$$$$$' | | `$$$$$$$ `$$$$$$$$' _, |_______ |___________ `$$$$$$ `$$$$$$' $$$$$$$$ $* | $$$X# ,_ `$$XXX `XXX$' ,$$$$ '` | _ $$$$$$$$/. `$ ' .$* '` | | `' $$$$$. ' ` | / `' \ | ., x##XX$$$$$$$$$$$XX# ,._ | | `$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$# | | ___________$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. | |___________/ |_______| [26C Table of Contents [24C01) News and Ab-use by Meatpod [23C02) Stability in the Ascii Scene by Pariah [24C03) Interview with Meatpod [24C04) Interview with The Prodigy [24C05) Grill #04 Pack Review [24C06) Karma #02 Pack Review [24C07) Noname #11 Pack Review [24C08) Odelay #17 Pack Review [24C09) Remorse #23 Pack Review [24C10) Picks of the Month [24C11) Massive #1, The Outro --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: News and Ab-use [37C Author: Meatpod Wow! Phenomenal goings on in the ascii scene! Groups die! Fuck! Actually, it's not that exciting at all... just boring. Maybe you've all heard this, maybe not, but Odelay!Ascii has bitten the digital dust, just as the venerable Homo!Ascii would subsequently do. Here's an explanation, a sort of one-sided explanation, for Pariah so that he can take up space in his little riot-boy e-zine. You may notice this article does not meet up to my normal high creative standard. I just finished a particularly draining term paper. I had joined Odelay like three packs ago, in the hopes of getting into the whole major group mentality -- I was looking for structure and, yes, as Sargon had said, I was looking for a spot in the limelight. Blah blah blah, Odelay was neither sturdy nor glamorous, although it was fun. Konami (and Prodigy, in absente) had a hard time managing the members and collecting the work, since the group had no email-based contact or any kind of channel or bot or what have you. You and Neil talk about the Odelay "thing," Robin, but to me, that "thing" was that you were trying to run a group with little effort, committment, or any kind of expertise. The only reason you kept it going so long was because the artists worked hard to get their artwork to you. There's a reason you're the president of a group and not just some scumbag. Thanks for making me senior staff, Rob. I did, you know, try to get some kind of organization set up so that if, perchance, I had to leave the group (I had told you from the beginning, btw, that I would eventually be leaving), it would be able to run itself -- a web page, a channel, a mailing list. So, the reason Odelay is dead has nothing to do with me quitting. If you had instituted the policies I had proposed, instead of clinging to some kind of bullshit nonexistant hippie ethic, your group would be running itself even on days when you weren't feeling happy and elite. Discofunk was a loser whose ascii wasn't even stellar... no offense, Dave, but you picked the wrong attitude to have in the scene if you planned to make a big splash upon your exit. Who was the other senior staffer? Exactly. Discyple never really did much, but he's busy hiding his girlfriend's phone number from me and Brad. Odelay's dead, it's leaders have no one to blame but themselves. Will I revive Odelay? Yes, provided that the members are interested in sending me their art every month, and especially since Neil and Robin don't want me to. Fuck off. I could run the whole show if I had a cabinet of people who would help me set up some kind of management net. Odelay is a lame IRC group anyway, so all you guys will probably be reading this. Do you want to keep it going? Or are you all going to jump ship to Remorse or to Noname? It's up to you. Back to me quitting for Homo. Yeah, I quit Odelay for the revival of Homo!Ascii, the MAD TV of the elite computer ascii scene. Boy was, that project ever short lived... Sometimes I feel like me and Sargon are the only ones in this whole fucking scene who ever PRODUCE anything at all. Fuck, man, fuck Computer Man, fuck you Sam with your Remorse bullshit. Fuck Nahal. Discyple, man, you've got to draw something, man... Fuck all. Oh yeah, and fuck Tzeentch, too. Here's a Homo story for all of you. Me and Brad had a killer time trying to scrape together work for the Homo revival pack, Fallopian Tubes. I mean, Homo is partly based on a satire of the scene around it (much unlike the boring and un-satirical Satire!Ascii), and when there's no scene to speak of, it loses material. We still managed to round up some killer funny stuff, but it was a smaller pack than we had hoped for. Anyway, Tzeentch sent us this ascii colly with a little "funny" bit at the front, about how funny it was that stuff that is dirty is also cool. Brad read it to me over the phone, and it became extremely evident that this little piece of literature was not as full of levity as Tzeentch seemed to think. I came up with the brilliant idea of censoring the offending material with ansi blocks, and Sargon readily agreed. What began as a simple operation to relieve the ascii populace from some totally unfunny crap turned into a censoring party, and a few of Tzeentch's asciis fell under the block of the censor, as well as a few greets to people me and Brad felt were lame. I was accosted by Tzeentch on IRC, who remarked that while he thought it was okay to censor his work, we should have informed him of our intentions beforehand. I replied that he was crazy and that we would do whatever we wanted to do. Come on, John-Paul, I know you were pissed off that we censored your little walk in the comedic sunlight! Get mad, man, don't crawl to me humbly and ask me if I could please warn you before defacing you work. God, have a backbone. Tzeentch quit Homo later on, and Brad decided to put the group into stasis for a while. When things pick up again, we'll be back. Tzeentch's departure had nothing to do with the dissolution of Homo at that time. Dude, just so you know, you were never the star of Homo or of any of the funny shit we did. You're LUCKY that we let you hang out with the big-boy newschoolers. Christ, man... act like a fucking person. Oh yeah, before I end this thing, here's another little interesting tidbit. Some of you may have heard of Chronic!Ascii, some of you may not have, but it was one of the most brilliant pranks in scene history, concocted by yours truly, and intended to herald the release of the Homo revival pack. What is this fantastic idea, you ask? What did meatpod come up with? Brad and I began to recruit members out of other groups for a new big-deal, no-dualing organization in the scene. Once enough people had quit their groups and joined ours, we would announce that Chronic!Ascii was a fake -- it did not exist -- and leave many stranded, groupless. We got The Upright Man to leave a senior staff position in Remorse for us, among many others, and Kayozz actually merged whatever trailer-park group he was currently running into us. Why did the plan fall through? To tell the truth, we couldn't stomach it. Sargon and I DO have consciences, small, shriveled, and twisted as they may be, but we do have them. There you go. Fuck off. meatpod (+o flashTRAFFICK [212]595-2798) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Stability in the Ascii Scene [26C Author: Pariah [8CWhy does the ascii scene always seem like it's going to fall apart? Evensince the ascii scene's beginnings as a stand-a-lone division of the computer art scene it has been unstable. No group has been around for two years or more without dying and being revived. Sure, there were/are some great groups: s0ap, Wicked, Endow, Basic, Remorse past and present, Odelay, Noname, and Serial to name a few, but if you look over all of these great groups they all share a common flaw: poor leadership. Except for Necromancer, who was not responsible for Remorse's past death, all the leaders of the aformentioned groups temporarily or permanently killed/merged their respective groups. If you comparethis to the history of the ansi scene you'll notice that while the ansi scene has had its share of failed revivals and mergers several groups have become constants: ACiD (no longer producing ansi, yes, but still a perfect example of stability), iCE, Fire, Dark, and CiA. That's five stable groups with at least two years of continuous experience compared to none in the ascii scene. [8CBased on that fact alone several people, including myself, are starting to question the position of the ascii scene as existing independently of the computer art scene (namely the ansi scene). I don't think any ascii artists would actually choose releasing in the ascii department of a large ansi group over releasing in an established all ascii group, but that looks like what the ascii scene is coming to. There is no solution that I can think of. Stability islike trust, it is built over time, and the only thing we can do is sit back and watch if any of the current ascii groups last. But if history does indeed repeatitself, they don't have much of a chance... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [29CInterview with Meatpod okay, let's start.. give us the basic information, hobbies, etc.. My real name is Jules =) I'm 16, and I play guitar how did Mr. Jules get started in the scene? tee hee, well I started calling BBSes in 1993/1994 and that really kind of opened my eyes to the underground. the sysop of the board I was on gave me my first ACiD pack, which probably did it. err one of the boards I was on did you start out wanting to draw ascii or did you try ansi first? well, I think everyone wants to do ansi, so that's what I tried first I don't know, I just couldn't do it, so I started dicking around in newschool ascii. I think the difference between ansi/ascii is sort of like the difference between paint/pencils some people are really good with line, others with color yeah.. personally I find ascii (newschool) much smoother than ansi. it's easier to get away with a bad curve with ansi than with ascii. righteo what was the first group that you joined and released with? the first group I released with was grill, the almost-all-israeli gro group run by mart. the first thing I released was this fucking weird weird-ass picture of a hot-dog on a barbecue saying "GRILL!" it was bad. I really appreciate mart for giving me my first break, even we've subsequently gone our seperate ways. ahh.. I remember Grill.. yeah, grill was absorbed into serial, the next big group I was in. I ran it with sargon, the single coolest guy in the scene. =) Serial is probably the answer to my next question, but just in case I'll ask. from being a senior in Serial, a founder in Homo!a, to being a senior in Odelay which one has been the most fun to participate it? hah... that's a tough question to answer each group had it's own high points okay, well.. in which group do you feel that your style has developed the most? serial was fun because we totally kicked the ass of every other group in the scene, and we did it all in like under 6 months. personally, I was sort of annoyed that sargon decided to kill it so soon. homo was (is) also a blast because we had total freedom of expression and we did (and do) whatever the fuck we wanted. it pissed a lot of people off and shook things up a bit, I think, which kicked ass. and Odelay? odelay was cool, too, since I felt like I was doing community service to the scene in a way, by helping keep one of the stable groups alive and kicking. it was a bit more responsibility than I liked, however my style? my style probably changed the most in serial, since that was the group I was in for the longest period of time. I don't think the group I'm in has any bearing on my skill -- I'll keep getting better no matter where I am there's a few questions that probably everyone in the ascii scene would like the answers to. one of them is what's the deal with you and Sargon and is a Homo revival in the works? it initially seemed like you guys weren't the best of friends anymore. well, that's just a vicious rumor me and brad have always been tight with regards to homo, you'll just have to wait and see about that... I'm sure you're all biting your nails what do you think of the current situation with Odelay? konami can handle things and if he can't, I'll take the group, I guess *** pariahFAT changes topic to "BEEF, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!" okay.. some people might find it odd that you've never joined Remorse. wha is the deal with you, Remorse, and Necromancer. sometimes it seems like you and Mark hate each other but other times it seems like you respect each other a lot. haha good question I don't really know Mark that well, but there are times when he seems like a pretty cool guy, and other times when he seems like a kind of humorless geek I guess my main beef with remorse is that a lot of their members take themselves too seriously like if I was at a dinner party with them and I farted, Omi would shoot me or something haha but yeah, I like Mark a lot when he's not banning me and Sargon from #ascii I admire the quality of remorse packs when they're good I SCOFF AT THEM WHEN THEY SUCK okay, well, it's nice that we cleared that up :0 now, in closing.. if you could thank 10 people for helping you enjoy your scene experience and for influencing your style who would they be and why? haha okay first and foremost, Sargon, for being the best then Discyple, for being the only guy in the scene as smart as me then you, for letting me rip off your coloring style, I guess =) blah blah blah... Prodigy is a cool guy, so is Konami that's 5 all the members of HOMO ascii for being the bomb -- that's compuman and nahal tzeentch and uh... I don't know who else whatever, I don't have that many friends =) okay, well, that's good enough :) no more questions? one more.. and then greets do you have any more ambitions in the scene? like, running a group or anything else ambitions in the scene? no, fuck the scene. I hope to destroy the scene that would be pretty cool =) maybe me and brad will run a serious group one of these days, but I doubt it that would be pretty nice.. I've always said you'd make a good group leader.. anyway, that's it.. any last greets, etc? I LOVE YOU JUSTIN RATHONS that's it h0h0 oh yeah, I'd like to greet Ace Puffy Combs, who just joined Homo hehe.. well, it's been a pleasure interviewing you. best of luck with Homo and anything else you get involved in. thanks you too Session Close: Thu Apr 09 12:15:30 1998 [24C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [27CInterview with The Prodigy hi hi! okay, lets get this started.. i think ive found the next 'prodigy' to the ascii scene, neil. way to stroke my dick, nathan heh please, continue everyone probably knows who you are, but just in case go over your beginnings in the scene um, i really got started in the summer of 1995, calling local board and stuff. i sort of happened to find my way into a group of people who drew ansi. i was not really aware of an art scene per say, but i knew of groups like TRiBE and ish. i drew my first ascii in or around october of that year. for "flux land", i believe. i could probably find it if i looked for it. oh yeah, id like to give mad props to the guy who set me on my path corrupted evolution. he's the man. and that's how i started. =) did you have any early artistic influences? also, when did you get into ansi? I remember in the summer of 95 you posted an ansi you drew for Doink and since then you've joined Dark as an ansi artist. wait, look at this. Go to http://www.mr-cash.com/cgi-bin/welcome.cgi/raw_36/ 2/ for the highest quality FREE porn!!! woah.. I'll brb ;) i dont think that person is in remorse... i think you should tell them to stop fronting. anyway, my early influences were just stuff i thought up. it wasn't terribly innovative or anything, i just sort of evolved on my own. my influences (period) were unsane, lord jazz, and stuff like that, i liked clean art. dieznyik was also a big influence later on. but my biggest influence was probably golgotha in hindsight. remember him? he rocked vaguely.. yeah. i started ansi in a fit of ascii block, i just wanted to try something different. it came in fits and spurts. okay.. now that we've covered that lets move on to some of the questions people would like answers to. golgotha is best remembered for user stats ansis on warez boards. i wish i could be remembered for something like that. you're one of the most innovative newschool asciists ever, that's an accomplishment in itself :) oh, alright. thank you. don't let anyone who says they don't enjoy praise fool you, cause they're damn liars. heh.. anyway, is it true that you're through with ascii? through? i probably won't be through with ascii for a while yet. i still like drawing, i just have a very... interesting life that's popped up recently, which makes it hard to do ascii, which has always been a "bored weekend" sort of activity. but my output of stuff will never be like it used to be. plus, i like to think of myself as at least a fairly creative person i do a lot of other stuff too, writing, painting, etc. i'm starting to try my hand at music and stuff, which i'm digging. yeah.. I still have that .ra on my desktop.. so i keep busy. =) for real? damn, i thought you may have destroyed it in a fit of rationality no way.. that's a nice beat.. especially considering what you used to make it :) well... thanks. but i dont think anyone else gives a rats ass about my musical endeavors. its cool =) anwyay.. with Odelay now dead, where are you going to release? I was thinking maybe a solo thing like Dieznyik does, or maybe starting you own thing.. there are a lot of possibilities with the scene the way i is. i don't think it would be fair to start a group right now with the way my art output is now. i don't like being a figurehead, but i also don't want it taking a big chunk of my life, like it did before. solo packs always kind of bothered me. i don't want to be an ascii diva, kinda. but if i were to do anything, it would definitely be a joint venture with konami. so unless that happens you're not going to release with Noname? um, the noname situation is kind of precarious. nathan wants me to stay, i want to go. i'm just sort of bidding my time before the group dies, cause i can't be bothered arguing with him. nathan is a cool guy, and i give him props, cause we do go back a bit. i just don't care for the way he runs his group, and at this vantage point i'd sooner complacently stay with noname and maybe release something once in awhile than make him my enemy. but i'm not sure if that answers your question. at all. that's good enough :) oh, okay. please, ask me another question. onto the next question.. what exactly do you think was the problem with Odelay? do you have any regrets for deciding it was time to end it? and would you be a part of a revival under any circumstances? when I talk about a revival I'm alluding to Meatpod saying that if Odelay was killed he'd consider reviving it. and if meatpod revives Odelay i would kill him. its all very circular, isn't it? even if it's with good intentions? the odelay decision was a long time in coming. it didn't affect me like it would have 6 months ago, when the group was still very much completely my handiwork. but it just seems like another ascii group to me. which is probably why i don't really care all that much. i think we released some very nice packs, probably some of the best ascii packs ever, without sounding egotistical i hope. fuck good intentions. the group is not the same as when i started. evolution is inevitable, i know - but the group did like a 180. to me, there was no real intrinsic difference between it and say, remorse. any attempt on anyone's part to bring it back would only serve to do discredit them and cheapen the innovative and creative forces that came from the group. yeah.. I see what you're saying. when the first releases came out Odelay had a distinct character that seperated it from Remorse, Kwest Noname, etc.. but near the end it was just like another ascii group, the art was always there, but the character wasn't. i blame myself for not being there more. but hey, i had things to do i sort of became more in developing my own art, which always feels like it's slipping from me. but that's something else. yeah.. I could never lead a group.. it just requires too much time and devotion. you have to put the scene before real life. true, that. about Remorse though.. throughout your ascii career you've never joined Acid!a/Remorse. only a few other "big" artists haven't (Meatpod and Holocaust). why is that? a lot of people say ACiD is "too corporate", but perhaps you have another reason. i'm sure at some point holocaust was in trank or something, but that is superfluous. um. the facelessness of remorse kind of alienated me, but at the same time it's more like a "family". i've seriously thought on more than one occasion to join remorse. i don't know. i think i'd have a problem knowing i wouldn't stick out as much in remorse. i like being in control, as well. working on my own deadlines, and stuff. then again, Holocaust pretty much damned himself into obscurity. hive? get real. two years ago, holocaust would have been regarded probably as the best ns artist in the ascii scene. now he's like a nobody. just my opinion, though. that's what I tried telling him. he's still a great artist, but he doesn't seem to like being in any group that he doesn't run (hence the original Basic, the revival, and now Hive). you've had more success i running your own groups. anyway.. i know. i used to kind of get compared to him a lot, because we were both local to each other (toronto 416/905 represent) well, he seems happy doing it.. i guess. I just remembered something.. you were in Endow weren't you? no... i'd just started drawing ascii when endow came up. =) but it, along with s0ap, is probably my favorite ascii group. oh.. nevermind :) yeah.. s0ap ruled.. I came into the scene too late for Endow too s0ap probably moreso, cause it kind of got me in a coloured art frame of mind back to the present.. you seem pretty tight with Konami, and he's become a success in the ascii scene as well as the ansi scene. what do you think of him as an artist and as a group leader? konami is to me the best ascii artist, and one of the best ansi artists ever. he has style up the ass, and he's probably got some more to spare. rob did the best job he could under the circumstance and kept the group alive really since pack 12 or so. you have a couple years of experience in the scene and you've probably seen trends come and go, what do you think is going to happen to ascii (if anything) in the next few years? hrm.. not to sound defeatist, but i really don't think there'll be much of a newschool scene in the next year or two. the new artists aren't popping up fast enough, and slightly older artists are content to sort of not keep reinventing their art. the "art" part of the whole scene is dying, that's what i think. i mean, it's good fun during the summer and stuff, but i'm getting older. it's not like when i was 14. i have things to do =) keep asking me questions, i'm running upstairs to check on my jello to make sure some bastard didn't eat it. yeah.. I understand what you're saying. when I first got in the scene the summertime was when I'd be at the computer 24/7, drawing almost once a day, etc... this summer I have various important real life things to deal with. just enough time to draw once a month and put Massive together if I'm lucky. okay.. okay, well, that's about it.. if you have any advice for people just getting started in the scene, greets, or crazy ramblings you'd like to say, say them now :) hrm. i don't know. i think unless you're bringing something new to the table everytime you draw, you're kind of wasting your time. that's just my opinion. oh yeah, get outside and enjoy the real outside and world, cause it'll do you wonders. that's about it. who am i greeting here... long list of people? ;) not really. konami (THE PILLAGE! THE PILLAGE!), gravedancer, massm (peace out, john), scott (my spiritual/creative mentor) and a very special lady... your mom! no, no. and jenny. even though you're at a cottag and you'll never see this. i love you! sigh... what a dork i am ahh.. okay.. btw, about Massm, was that Odelay ascii his last? that's what i was told. can i make some musical reccomendations? it'll be longer than my greets list =) sure. cool um, let me see - dj shadow, u-ziq, kid koala, luke vibert/plug, aphex twin/richard d james, prince paul, kool keith, sir menelik, cut chemist, invisibl skratch piklz, dj premier(in ANY capacity)... yeah. and any/all djs. oh shit! squarepusher too. i'm done. =) okay, it's been a pleasure interviewing you and best of luck with any future scene and non-scene related endeavors of yours. Session Close: Sun May 17 12:01:43 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [25C [25C Grill .s$$$$SSs.Ss .' [25C pack s$$$$$'o`$$Ss" . [25C #4 $,C'$$$$$$' ". o [25C ,$$$$$$$$$$$$s"\\ _O__ [25C ,$$$$$$$$$$$$$$' \\\ / [25C .s$$$$$$$$$$$$$$' \__/ [25C $$$$$$$$$$$$$"' [25C $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. [25C $$$$$$$$$$$$$`$$. [25C $$$$$$$$$$$$$s`$$ [25C $$$$$$$$$$ ' ,$$s [25C $$$$$$$$$.,$# """" [25C $$$$$$$$ [25C The beaver's back@!#$ [24C Grill #04 pack review 242-CURV.ANS - (Good) Metal Militia's style has developed a bit. The shaping on his logos is a little odd sometimes, but that seems to be his style. 7R-*.*.ASC - (Mediocre) It's nice to see Tripulogic incorporating pics into his logos, but he needs to concentrate more on the shaping of his logos. ARL-*.*.ANS - (Mediocre) The coloring on these asciis is pretty random and the shaping seems a little rushed at some places. Arlequin has an experimental styleso I guess this is just a phase in his development as an ascii artist. GDR-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Gravedancer's everywhere this month! While these pics aren't as nice as some of his other releases this month, they're still nicely proportioned, shaped, and shaded. JZM-*.*.ASC - (Good) This guy's pretty good considering he's relatively new to ascii. His shading seems a little unnecessary at times but I'm sure he'll work it out in the future. KTR-*.*.ASC - (Good) Another promising newbie. The Discyple style works pretty well on the Bleak ascii and the inverse pic is nice and original. OL-*.*.ASC - (Good) The Bleak ascii is really nice but the other logo is too bigto not have a background. PS-*.*.ASC - (Poor) The logos themselves are pretty nice and if they were actually original they'd deserve a Mediocre/Good rating, but unfortunately they're not. All of these logos look a LOT like Cain's old logos. Being influenced by an artist is one thing, but copying their style is pretty cheap. US-TWO.ASC - (Good) Arlequin and Tripulogic work pretty well together. The shaping could use some refining, but overall it's a promising ascii from two developing artists. US-VILL.ASC - (Good) This logo could've used a background, but regardless it's still nicely shaped. The cursive style isn't used much in ascii, but Holystone shows he can pull it off. OVERALL - Grill doesn't have the big names that Remorse and Noname do, but it's full of promising new artists that'll probably carry the group in the near future. Overall it was a fairly good pack, look out for these guys in the next few months. HIGHLIGHT OF THE PACK - Gravedancer. He's the "big" artist carrying this group at the moment and his art lately has been amazing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [20C K t A w R o M o A [20C ...... ___________ ___________ ...... [20C.: ____(__ _Y_ __)____ :. [20C: _\\ _____) (_____ //_ : [20C: | | / __ __ ___ ___ __ | : [20C | |_/_ __) __)_\ Y /___)_ | . [20C. | | [20C | | | | | | . [20C: | | | | | | | | | [20C _|__ | | | | | | | ___|_ [20C(____\ | | | | | | | \____) [20C | | | | | | | | | [20C | | | | | | | | | : [20C. | | | | | | | | | [20C | i i i i i i i | [20C: | : : : : : : : | . [20C |_ . .___. . . .___. _| [20C5f //____ _ ____\\ [20C ... (____________|____________) ... [20C : _ -----| |----- _ : [20C : ( ((__ we're eurotrash __)) ) : [20C :...... | with attitude | ......: [20C -----|_____|----- [24C Karma #02 pack review 5F-DESP.ASC - (Good) The shaping on some of the letters is slightly off, but it's hard to nicely shape a large logo. Other than that the coloring is nice. MK-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Mankind simply rules :) The development of his logo style combined with his pic skills makes him one of the better artists releasingcurrently. [69C OVERALL - Well, Karma really doesn't fit the blueprint of a regular group, and it's not supposed to. Mankind is the newschool "department" and the oldschool looks nice, even though I didn't judge it. It's extremely small, but quality wise it's a very good release. HIGHLIGHT OF THE PACK - Mankind, no doubt about it. If you thought his stuff in Remorse was good, this is taking it to another level. Excellent pics and some ofthe most innovative logos I've seen in the past few months. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [20C .. .. [20C THE LEGACY CONTINUES [20C .. .. [20C .. Noname Brand Ascii!! .. [20C || ._____ #11 || .____/_ [20C ______ | / .__ _______ | (_ [20C \ \| /__| /______\ \| / [20C /___\ / |/ /____\ / [20C |\____\____________\ |\_____\ [20C _||_ _||_ [20C ( || And this time we're || ) [20C \|| here to STAY. ||/ [20C ||\ /||zz [20C _ __||_\ /_||__ _ [20C\\featuring;EP producedby;Karachi// [27CNoname #11 pack review 7R-*.*.ASC - (Mediocre) This is a good first release for Tripulogic, it'll be interesting to see how he develops his style. The potential is definitely there.BIZ-*.*.ASC - (Poor) Bizzarro's a good ansi artist, but it looks like he really didn't practice ascii at all. The shaping needs some serious refining. DSP-NON.ASC - (Good) The subject matter for his pics is getting slightly repetitive and the proportions are a little off too, but nice detail. H4-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Haji's everywhere this month. Not as much as his stuff in Odelay, but still a solid effort. More of what you've come to expect from Haji: nice shaping, nice shading, and some original layouts. KA-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) This is Cain's best release in awhile. The Defiant styled ascii simply rules and the other asciis show how much Cain's developed since he started refining his new logo style. KN-*.*.ASC - (Good) Kresile's come a long way too. The shaping on these two logos is good and the backgrounds aren't anything special but get the job done. PM-BABY.ASC - (Excellent) Polymorph shows why he is the master of using blank space when it comes to drawing pics. The connection between the Noname logo and the pic is an additional nice twist to this overall great ascii. PR-*.*.ANS - (Excellent) The Gradius logo is nicely shaped and colored and the 23 liner is a nice abstract piece. SCK-*.*.ANS - (Good) The pics are nicely done but the logos could use some work Don't focus on coloring until you get shaping down first. WE-ECKO.ASC - (Mediocre) Cain didn't do enough with this and Bizzarro isn't at level where he can contribute to a joint. First he needs to work on his individual style. WE-NONAM.ASC - (Mediocre) This didn't receive a Poor rating only because nothingbetter could've been expected from these two artists. Tripulogic has potential, but an established artist should've gone over this before it was released. The fundamentals of a good ascii (shaping and a layout) are missing. OVERALL - Noname has always been a group that has two different levels of artists in it. There are the experienced artists and the unexperienced, the ideais that the unexperienced will learn from the experienced. New artists like Psylock and Tripulogic have a lot of potential, but they still have to develop it. The experience of Cain, Haji, Polymorph, and Prodigy saved this pack and made it an overall good release. HIGHLIGHT OF THE PACK - Polymorph's pic. One excellent release is worth 10 mediocre releases. Polymorph took his time with this and made it great. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [20C ODELAY #17 ,a\\a, `\$ [20C :$$$$$$S/ad$$$$$$L ; [20C ., |$ ;$$$$$$$$$$$$$F $: [20C . %S$$$$$$ 8$ $$$$$F'`` ' ,d$| [20C ,\$$$$$$$$$$ $$ \$$$$L ., s\$$$ [20Cj$$$$$$$$$$$ $/ \$$$$\, `Y$$$$$$$8 [20C$$$$$$$$$$$$ / /$$$$$$$$L Y$$$$$$$ [20C$$$$$$$$$$$$ /$\* */$$$$ $$F [20C$\ '```' 4$$/$F` .,. ` $$ $| [20C ,a\ /a, `Y$$; :\'` / ; j$$L [20C ; ; $$$L ' ' ,$$$$$$$$ [20C ` |F'` ,d$$$$$$$$$ [20C ; ., a\$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20C 88888S/ss\$$$$$$$$\\\SSSS$$$$ [20C___ `Y$$$$$$$$$$7` .,,. [20C$$$$$$S/a, ` /$$$$\ ` .a\S$$$$$$L [20C ,a\$$$$$$/. `''` ,$$$$$$$$$$$$; [20Cd$$$$$$$$$$$ Arle ,$S$$$$$$$$$$F [20C$$$$$$$$$$$$; .., $$L.` *S$S* [20CY$$$$$$$$$$$$ZZ$$$$$$$$$$$/a ,.., [20C ` */S$$ZZ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [20Cd$$$$$$$$\.`'\$$$$$$$F'`' */$$$$$$$$ [20C$$$$$$$$$$$L Y$$$$$$$, `^' [20C$$$$$$$$$$$$; $$$$$$$$\a [20C$$$$$$$$$$$F j$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$/a. [20C$$$$$$$$$/` ./$$$$$$$\*$$$$$$$$$$$L [20C$$$$\* ' /$$$$$$$$$\ $$$$$$$$$$$$; [20C$$$$$$/a. `Y$$$$$$$$$$d$$$$$$$$$$$$; [20C$$$$$$$$$L ;$$$$$$$$F`/$$$$$$$F``P [20C$$$$$$$$$$ $$7``\*' `' [20C$$$$$$$$$F `''^` [20C$$$$$$\*'.qp. I Wonder if heaven [20C '` ,g\ ' got a ghetto. [20C\/p,\/p` [20C [25C Odelay #17 [1m [0mpack review ARL-*.*.ASC - (Mediocre) ARL-BUGS.ASC is what brought what would have been a Good rating to a Mediocre rating. All the art is pretty smooth, Arlequin has a nice abstract/original style but the trash talking really wasn't needed. CM-GRAD.ASC - (Excellent) This ascii rules. The inverse G is subtlely drawn in the background and the smallscale logo fits right in. GDR-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Gravedancer's a great pic artist. He uses shading to his advantage and shapes nicely. H4-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) The first 2 asciis are a little below Haji's standards but he follows them up with a series of great logos. I especially liked the two graffiti-esque ones. KO-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) More great pics from Konami. The Transformers pics are really nice. Konami adds his own anime influence to them. Konami even had some pretty nice logos in this release. MA-FINAL.ASC - (Good) Massm probably wouldn't want this ascii being reviewed, and even though it was probably rushed, it's still good. Good use of the high ascii characters. REP-SRK.ANS - (Good) Another up and coming ascii artist. Nice shaping on the inverse S and a unique coloring style. OVERALL - It's pretty hard to judge the last release of a group. Because the artists are no longer drawing to make the group the best, but just to end a great legacy. It was a very good artistic release, but an abrupt ending to what had been a great group. HIGHLIGHT OF THE PACK - Konami. The end of Odelay brought out the best of him ascii-wise. He drew longer, more complicated pics and ventured as far as to draw some nice logos too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [25C [27C Remorse #23 pack review 9L-RMRS1.ASC - (Mediocre) Ninelives was never known for his logos, and this is a standard logo with a pd-ish background. BJ-ASC99.ANS - (Excellent) It's nice to see Jeff drawing again. In this pic Blackjack uses the Mrk-ish shading to a tee and it works perfectly. CM-*.*.ASC - (Good) no comment. DX-*.*.ANS - (Good) The pic on its own would have received an Excellent mark, but the coloring on the logo isn't effective and it's a little too abstract. Regardless Drax really picked up the quality of his releases this month. ESS-NFO.ANS - (Excellent) Great logos combined with an innovative layout make this a great ascii. KAL-RMRS.ASC - (Excellent) Kaleidas shows off a fresh new style. MK-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Mankind's logo style is really innovative. He mixes theuse of oldschool characters to extend inverse logos where the background ends. The amazing thing is that this guy is better known for his pics. SP-OZ.ANS - (Mediocre) Spinsane's obviously a little rusty. Like he said, the coloring's a little off. Give him a few months and he'll be back into the mix. TUM-*.*.ASC - (Excellent) Tum has established himself as not only a great pic artist but also a very good logoist. In this release Tum does it all. US-CIRCE.ANS - (Good) The blue on blue and cyan makes it a little illegible and I had to adjust my eyes. The logo itself is nicely done though. US-HAZE.ASC - (Mediocre) Holocaust didn't do enough with this logo. The shaping on the E needs some smoothing out and the outline background just doesn't work for this logo. US-JOIN.ANS - (Excellent) I happened to see this before the release, and it still rules as much as it did before. Tum and Revolve compliment each other nicely. The pic is smooth, and both logos are smooth. OVERALL - This was a very good release from Remorse. It came at a time when a lot of people were doubting Remorse's position in the ascii scene and the best remedy for that is releasing a high quality pack, which is exactly what was done. HIGHLIGHT OF THE PACK - All of Tum's stuff was amazing. He's the one ascii artist who's probably developed the most over the last year, and he's still getting better and better at fonts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [28C Picks of the Month [8CYou really wouldn't get a good view of the Picks of the Month if I attatched them in this, so to do the artists' work justice I've included them inthis .ZIP as PICK1.ASC - PICK6.ASC. [18CPICK1.ASC - joint ascii between Tum and Revolve. [18CPICK2.ASC - ascii by Mankind. [18CPICK3.ASC - ascii by Polymorph. [18CPICK4.ASC - ascii by Konami. [18CPICK5.ASC - ascii by Gravedancer. [18CPICK6.ASC - ascii by Haji. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [28C Massive #1, The Outro [8CThat's all. This inaugral issue was a little skimpy on articles and I attribute that mainly to the fact that a lot of people didn't know about Massivemuch. Writing articles seems to be a touchy subject, a lot of people shy away from writing articles because they say they can't write well. Massive isn't a grammar magazine and I really believe that EVERYONE in the ascii scene has something on their minds that they would like to write about. Massive is a scenerelated mag, but feel free to submit any types of articles. Lastly, as I stated in the introduction I am looking for someone to do the pack reviews on a regularbasis and someone to do the news on a regular basis. If you can help email me atpariah@alienz.org or contact me on irc and we will work something out. If you have anything you want published in Massive send it to pariah@alienz.org or to me on irc as well. I hope you enjoyed this issue of Massive and the next one will be out the last week of July. Now ending transmission of Massive #01... SAUCE00Massive #1 19980614