Fire Newsletter for 5/96 by Halaster
Fire Newsletter for 5/96 by Halaster
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- I Babble -
Muhaha! Were going to release tonight! Its about damn time,
I must admit. Its also about damn time that Im done with
my finals here at CMU. : As you might have guessed, I have
plenty of excuses ready as to why this pack is late. Since
you now know this fact, I dont need to bother mentioning them.
This months pack isnt the best ansi weve ever released, nor
ascii, sadly. It sure as hell is, however, the best assortment
of hi-resolution art and coding that fire has ever offered.
Maxwell went crazy what else is new? and coded a new version of
pyroview for your enjoyment. This time he did it in a month
instead of a day, but we love him anyway. We also now have a nice
appgen from Dragoon Kain to allow all you fire wanna-bes to
organize yourselves before coming before the allmighty fire SS! :
Pyroview really is quite cool. Be sure to use it! It views JPGs,
has LOTS of nice bugs and is definately one of the most off-beat
looking viewers to date. Thanks to Squidulator2 of iCE for
the spiffy main interface we did use it, you p00p! :
Thanks to iCE again, this time for the fire archive located at
ftp.ice.org. You can get all our packs, plus the latest revision
of the pyronet nodelist there. Thanks also to Friar Tuck, for
personal reasons. :
On to the gripes:
- The Gripes -
Ive been giving a lot of thought recently to the whole concept of
E-Mags, reviews, and the artistic value of most of the work put
out in the scene. Regarding the first topic, E-Mags, I have the
following to say: If you want to review, you better be damned sure
that you qualify yourself. Im sick and tired of reading reviews
by people who think that what they say about a work is the be-all
and end-all of that works value. Joe Shmoes opinion is just as
valuable and valid as the views expressed by Ankh and BTH and all
the other review mags out there. Im not necessarily saying that
any of the reviewers for the mags I mentioned are claiming to be
the ultimate word in ansi value, but there are people out there
who take them that way and the reviewers are certainly doing
nothing to dispel that misconception.
Gripe, The Second: The term artistic value has been used in the
scene recently to elevate certain artists to a new, elitist level
above their less-original peers. In my opinion, everything
created in this scene is just that, a creation. Even the lowliest
comic book rip has artistic worth and value, as does the most ill-
concieved ascii font. Everything done in this scene is the result
of human creativity and effort, and shouldnt be blatantly dissed in
some high-handed fashion because it wasnt of a certain style
sloppy shaded, non-comic book oriented, abstract. Personal tastes
are just that, personal tastes, and should not be treated as
something more. If you dont like comic rips, FINE, but that
doesnt give you the right to call the creations of others Yes,
ansi art, regardless of the source, is a creation. Artists change
what they see, colors dont translate directly, fonts are original,
layout is a creative enterprise etc etc etc ad infinitum. somehow
inferior to yours simply because you draw cats shitting on keyboards.
Gripe, the third: This groups memberlist. Ive heard several
comments over the past 2 or three months about people Not deserving
to be in Fire. Ive heard these comments from E-Mags, from members,
and from IRCers. My response is the same to all of you: WHO ARE YOU
TO DECIDE WHOS OF FIRE QUALITY? Fire is an art group for pros
and novices alike, so long as you have dedication and some of the
novices who have been attacked recently in mags are some of the
coolest and most dedicated people that I have encountered in this
scene. In the words of Ian of Minor Threat, slightly paraphrased:
AT LEAST THEYRE FUCKING TRYING! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!
I dont want to make it seem like Im really mad at the scene in
general, because Im not, and Im still having a lot of fun doing
this stuff. I just really needed to get that off of my chest. :
On to the Facts:
- The Facts -
The Regency is going down for the summer, as the computer that
houses my baby board is coming with me to Atlanta, far away from
my internet connection at school. Ive begun work with os/2, so
next year expect tregency.res.cmu.edu to replace arpeggio as well
as house the scenes greatest telnet board with ZMODEM this time!
In case youre wondering, my email access will remain when Im in
Atlanta, so keep sending those queries to halaster+@cmu.edu, as
you always have.
On to the Newbies:
- The Newbies -
Fire has new members again! This month we welcome Genosha, a true
newbie if Ive ever seen one! This kid was somehow ignorant to the
existance of the art scene imagine that! until Maxwell showed
him the true ways of the world. Fire also says howdie-ha to
Eklypze, who was just a tad too slow in coding a fire application
generator. : Eklypze promises to turn in a cool loader from time
to time, as well as do general coding work for the group, but I
think hes just lying. : Prisoner1s Spy ring brings us another,
extremely-talented VGA artist this month, by the name of Fathom.
As you can most likely tell by his VGA this month, this boys damn
good and is certain to only get better with time. Fire also
welcomes another Its about damn time! : Surreal Logic,
formerly of iCE. Surreal will be doing his normal assortment of
amazing artwork, Web design and political manipulation, this time
on the fire side of things. : Im very happy to have him along.
Surreal also drags along his good friend Spark, whove Ive never
talked to or scene. I am assured, however, by Surreal and by some
of the cool samples that hes sent in, that his coding skills will
come in very handy in the future. Sorry, Max, I had to go over
your head on this one! : Another long-time-should-be fire member
has finally joined us this month: Psychoholic! PHs a really cool
guy, not to mention a really good artist. Expect more work from
him, as well, in the near future!
On to the Closing:
- The Closing -
Welp, Its been a fun school year, and Im looking forward to the
normal Scene Boom that takes place during the summer! Its great
to see some of the greats of the scene returning to grace us once
more with their artwork. A greet to all the producing groups out
there, without you, obviously, we wouldnt have a scene at all! :
Halaster 5/8/96
halaster+@cmu.edu