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      - I Babble -

        Muhaha!  We're going to release tonight!  It's about damn time,
        I must admit.  It's also about damn time that I'm 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 don't need to bother mentioning them.

        This month's pack isn't the best ansi we've 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-be's 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 -

        I've 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.  I'm 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 work's value.  Joe Shmoe's opinion is just as
        valuable and valid as the views expressed by Ankh and BTH and all
        the other review mags out there.  I'm 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 shouldn't be blatantly dissed in
        some high-handed fashion because it wasn't 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 don't like comic rips, FINE, but that
        doesn't 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 don't 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 group's memberlist.  I've heard several
        comments over the past 2 or three months about people "Not deserving
        to be in Fire."  I've 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 WHO'S 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 THEY'RE FUCKING TRYING!  WHAT THE FUCK HAVE _YOU_ DONE?!"

        I don't want to make it seem like I'm really mad at the scene in
        general, because I'm not, and I'm 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.  I've begun work with os/2, so
        next year expect tregency.res.cmu.edu to replace arpeggio as well
        as house the scene's greatest telnet board (with ZMODEM this time!)

        In case you're wondering, my email access will remain when I'm 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 I've 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 he's just lying. :)  Prisoner#1's 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 boy's damn
        good and is certain to only get better with time.  Fire also
        welcomes (another "It's 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. :)  I'm very happy to have him along.
        Surreal also drags along his good friend Spark, who've I've never
        talked to or scene.  I am assured, however, by Surreal and by some
        of the cool samples that he's 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!  PH's 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, It's been a fun school year, and I'm looking forward to the
        normal Scene Boom that takes place during the summer!  It's 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 wouldn't have a scene at all! :)

                                                     Halaster 5/8/96  
                                                     halaster+@cmu.edu
SAUCE00Fire Newsletter for 5/96           Halaster            fire                19960509F&

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