Welcome to the belated fourth release of  maiTen1,  deemed the 9612,  the final release of this year  (1996 for the lunkheads of the crowd  [I've always wanted
to use the word "lunkhead" in a sentace...  Thank God I finally have.]).   This pack has a lot in the making, since the last pack was 4, count them FOUR months
(numerically  speaking) ago.   We've had a  few communication problems in  this
pack, a few problems with myself  (murcurochrome) getting my act  together, and basically, just a few problems.  However, we are back on track, and we're ready to,  once again,  put out the best art that we deem possible for this  group of
artists.    As always  (insert  plug for group here),  we  are looking  for new members  of the group,  but I'm sure with the  scene in the condition  it is in right now,  being in shambles and everything,  ::smirk::,  we can only hope for
what we have -- which happens to be one of the most talented groups  of artists
this person,  being me,  has ever seen.   How is that for a  compound sentance? I'd hate to have to diagram it, frankly.

Moving  on to  the most  somber parts of the  information file...   information
file...   What a somber word in itself.   Perhaps we could spice  it up somehow
with  some other word?   Some  other word  that doesn't have  the shorthand  of "nfo"?  Ehh, who  cares?   We're all in this together,  we can all stand to see
yet another group put out the 'information' file.   Seems interesting enough to
me.  Quite frankly, it doesn't  matter to me... wait... yes it does.   And yay,
murcurochrome  is rambling,  YET  again.   Seems fairly likely,  what with this column to just tell  everyone who wants to hear it about  what I want to say...
As if  there is some  schmuck  actually reading this...  And if you are reading
this, as I am sure you are, I didn't mean you.

As always,  I am updating the maiTen1 web site,  and will be  putting up a  new
version  of it as soon as  I possibly can,  hopefully on a new site.   However,
the current URL is http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7253.   It isn't much to look
at right now,  but give me a couple more days,  I should have it up to speed...
I've got a whole new layout planned out for it,  and have done most of the  gfx
for it, I just haven't had the chance to put it on the actually site yet, since
I am too damned lazy.

The group itself, if you really want to know, is doing fairly well.   We're all
fairly happy with how it's being run (I hope), and fairly happy with what we've
accomplished, but it seems to me that we're not getting the publicity that this
group of artists DESERVES.  There is an awful lot of talent in this group, none
of which should be wasted worrying whether or not their talents are being shown
anywhere.  Some would say that ansi is a dying art, but I doubt it will ever go
away.  There is no possible reason for it.   BBS's all over the world DEPEND on this artwork.  I would also go so far as to say that the art of hires  graphics
is definatly on the climb.  Art groups like  ACID and ICE  are going gung ho on the hires jpeg side of the computer artwork.  And I tend to agree with them, as I have found that I am just a tad  better at hires than I am at ansi,  but that
is simply my opinion, shared by few others.

One peice of  fairly good news is the addition of another artist,  Paradox,  to
our fine  ranks of members.   We welcome him with  great open arms,  as he is a very talented artist, skilled in both ansi and ascii.  Welcome, Paradox!

In any case, I want to welcome you,  again,  to this wonderful new pack that M1
has produced, just in time for the holidays.  I wish you all a merry Christmas,
a happy new year,  a happy Channuka(sp?),  and all other such holidays that all
people, great and small, celebrate... We are, after all, in this together.

This is murcurochrome, the man with the biggest mouth in town, signing off.

murcurochrome/maiten1