ÜÜÜ ° ß ÜÜÜßßß ÜÜÜÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÜ ÜÜ ß ÜÜܲÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß ßßßÜÜ ßß ÜÜÜ ÞÛ²ÛÛÛÜ  ÜÜÜ ßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ Û²ÛÛ²Ü ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛÜÜÜ ÞÜÜ Ü ßÛ Þ²±²ÛÛ  ÜÜß Þ²ÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜ ß²ÛÛÛÛ ²°²²²±² ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ Û²Û²ÛÝ ²ß ܲ²²Ü Þ ±°±ÛÝ  ÜÛß Þ±±²²ß²²²Û²Ü ßÛÛ Û°Û ±Þ°±°Ý ßßßßßßßß²ÛÛÛ ÞÛ±Û± ² Üܲ²°°°°ß Û°Û±Û ÞÛÜ ÜÛ² ÜÝ ±°°±±°±±±± ÞÝ ÛÛÛÛ Þ °ÛÝÞÛÛ²ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜ ß Þ ²°²°±²²²°°°ßß Ü ÞÛ Û°Ý ßÛÛÛÜ ÛÛ° ÛÛÝ °ÛÛ°° ÞÝ °Û °°Ý Û°ÛÛ Þ°°Û°  ²²°ßßß²²²²²Ü ±°Û±Û°°°° ßß ÜÛÛÛ ÞÛÛ ° ÞÜ ßÛÛÛ ÛÝ ÞÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛ Û°°Û Û°±° ±±°± ±±Ý ÞÜ Û±±±±°° Û°ÛÛÛ°Ü ßÛÛÛÛÝ ±Û°° Ý ÛÛÝ ÞÛÛ ÛÝ ÞÛÛ Þ°ÛÛ°Ý ÛÝ Þ°± ±Û²°±²²²²±±²²±²ÝÞ°Ý ÛÛÝ Þ°Û°°°ÛÛ°ÛÛ°±° °Ü ßßÛ Þ²°±± ÞÛÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ßÝ °±Û°± °ß ܱ±²²°Û±²Ûßßßßß ÛÛ²ÛÝÞÛ Þß ÜÜÛÛÛß ±Û°±° ß²±±²±²Ü ÞÛ±²² ÞÛÛÝ ÞÛÛ ÛÛÛÜ ±²°±²Üܱ±²²²Ûß²Û²ÛÝ ÛÛÝ ßßßßß ÛÜÜÛÛÛÛÛßß Þ²°±²Ý Ü ßÛÛ²ÛÛß ÛÛ²ÛÝ ÛÛ² ÛÛÛ ²ÛÛÛÛ Þ²Û²²ÛÛÛ²²ßßß ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÝ ±Û°± ÛÛÛÛ°°ÜÜ ß ÞÛ±²ÛÝ ÛÛÜ ß Ûß Ü ßß ÞÛß ÛÛÛÜ °²ÛÛÝ ßßßßß ÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ Þ²°±²Ý ßß± ±²±²ÜÜÛÛ²ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛ ÜÛÛÛÜ ß ÜÛÛ °ß  ß°°ÛÛÛÜÜ ßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛ±²ÛÝ ÛÜ ßÛ²ÛÛÛÛÛßßß ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ßÛÛ²ß ÜÛ°°Ü ß  ßÜ°Û°°±²ÜÜ ßßß²ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛ ²ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÜ ßÛß ÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß ÜÜÜ°° ßß ßß°²ÛÛÛÛÛ²ÜÜ ßß²ÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ ÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ²ßßßß ÜÜܲ²±±ßßß ßßßÛÛ²±°ÛÛÜÜ ÞÛÛÛÛÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛ ÛÛ²²ßß ßßßß°°ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ ÜßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ Û ÛÛ°°±²²²Û²Ûßßßßß ß ÞÛÛ ßßßßßßßßß ÛÝ "darker than the nightmares of a blind man" A Short Story by Cthulu ---   It came to pass in the age of Polaroid that late one night, as is   wont to happen after holidays and natural disasters, a clerk was busy at   work developing rolls of photographs; pictures of the Grand Canyon and Aunt  Martha and the 400 foot ash cone that had been left in the back yard after   the eruption.  As the witching hours drew longer and the reek of chemicals began to   cloud his mind, as legend dictates, he began to deviate a bit from standard   photo developing technique. Now, some will say that it happened because of   a spilled can of cola, and others say that he was a spy technology smuggler   from Japan. Some fancy an errant bolt of lightning during that dry and   tense night's atmosphere, but these are all just rumours, drawing away from   the soul of the story; it turned out that he discovered a new technique for   developing film, one which produced prints so vivid and realistic that they   were generally held to be an improvement on the original subject matter.  No one knows who this legendary technician was, or if he ever  existed at all, but that's not important to the account. What is important  is that he forgot to patent the process, and thanks to his negligence the  whole world was given the gift of this awesome reaction. Film stores  everywhere adapted to the new standard or went out of business; thus was the  public's hunger for these improvements on reality; for an escape, albeit how   slight, from the world in front of them.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  A Short Intro by XypherMC ---  I awoke early on the first of April to the sound of knocking at my front door. Snarling, disheveled, and breath like a post-game jockst rap, I went to see who'd decided to join the hoops anchored at the bottom of my pool. "Hi! We're the members of Mistigris! We're here to tour with your  group, Dark Illustrated. May we come in?" chirped one of the overly cheery little hobbits wavering in front of my eyes. I turned and slammed the door and headed back for my welcoming bed. "!@#*&$ canvassers." This was going to be a bad day. No sooner had I breached the threshold of my room did I hear an odd sort of gnawing sound at the door. By the time I'd made my way to the hall  half the door had been consumed by one of the grinning zealots among them.   "Neophyte, cut that out!" said what appeared to be their leader.  "Sorry about that. It's been a long trip. We'll replace it when our work is done. They immediately stormed the place and made themselves at h ome. Over the next month and a half, they'd use every imaginable surface  of my home to draw, write, or produce nearly symphonic barrages of noise. And boy, they sure do talk a lot. In the end, it turned out for the best. They got along beautifully with the members of my DARK clan, and very few of my neighbours left the  area. They didn't replace my door though.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  Now there was just one side effect of this process which could be  considered bad; whatever occured to animate the prints so as an aside also  irrepairable damaged the negatives. This was a stark concern for two months,  as multiple prints required tremendously greater quantities of film and even  so the results couldn't always be duplicated. This was all solved, however,  when some anonymous mind (again, one philanthropic in his laxity under  copyright laws) came up with the ingenius idea of taking pictures OF the  pictures, and this is where the problem first made itself apparent.  You see, as the first set of pictures were improvements upon the  mundane reality of the original subjects, the second iteration improved the  image that much more - a print at this stage would seem four times as  appealing as it originally was.  Advertizers went nuts. They reasoned, and quite correctly, that  this process was exponential - hence you could take pictures of pictures  indefinitely until you had arrived at a vision of an infinitieth away from  perfection. Chaos broke out in the streets of the developed world.  Husbands and wives would whisper most passionately in each others' ears when  diverting their eyes from the base and real and instead addressing a  tenderly held framed print of "sur-reality," as it was described, as an improvement on reality.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü DARK News --- From out of the MIRE, the FIST shoves DIRT  in your MASK. Or, to be a little clearer, after a successful tour with FIRE, MIST's  World Tour '97 continues on it's next leg with yours truly, DARK Illustrated. If you aren't aware of it, Mistigris is a sort of West Coast counterpart to DARK. They're incredibly talented in nearly all fields of the art sc ene, and they've brought back what was thought to be a dead art in DARK's pack: literature. It's been years since we've seen anything like desalvo's  "Bradburies". This month has, without a doubt, been one of the most hectic in recent memory, and the pack is definitely the largest. We have here a complete representation of multimedia. And I don't doubt you'll enjoy it all! I'll give you a rundown of the happenings in DARK, and a little later into this document, Cthulu will share his mind with you on Mistigris. Seraphim returns from his OWN tour of the underground world, and we'v e all rejoiced with his decision. His ANSI skills are one of the most unique and entertaining out there. Expect him to blow your mind (again) soo n. The Lethal Aspect Online is gone. www.interlog.com/~xmtrx still ha s a few links to things like the DARK Home Page, and Blender Compo Stats, but the major content will come with TURF. More on that later. (The rea son TLA Online was killed had a lot to do with the nightmare job of updating  each individual group's memberlist, links, and information. With DAR K alone, there was too much duplication in terms of memberlists in each pack, on the main page, on TLA the BBS, and on the web page to make it worthwhile.) While we're on the subject, DARK's WHQ, The Lethal Aspect, will be undergoing a complete overhaul very soon, with a change of software to clear the cobwebs from the old Renegade setup. Members are urged to keep i n touch and to re-apply once the time comes. The Telegard setup will feature many things never before seen on the original system, or any BBS anywhere. Purple Dye has recently vowed to revamp the DARK Home Page. This'll make it a "site" to see. A note on next month's Collection: don't be too surprised to see a different spin on the way it's done. I'm turning the duty over to a trio of our Senior members, who'll show you what they've got beyond nice l egs and ANSI skills. It'll also give me a chance to work and worry on/about things other than pack collection. I've been doing it for too long. =) -XypherMC (DIRTMASK)  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  People began attaching, through clips, tape or other solvents,  idealized photographs of themselves to their foreheads, so that they could be addressed directly without dishonouring their co-conversor by forcing them  to see gritty, filthy reality.  New mothers in hospitals waited three hours for the prints to be  returned before bringing the purple monsters to their swollen breasts;  adolescent boys would masturbate at sur-realized representations of cars,  aeroplanes, cans of Campbell soup. Doctors and employers both were  concerned as workers would gaze for hours on pictures of dolphins, raw meat,  or even themselves (as they might be depicted in their greatest and most  fantastic dreams,) forgetting to show up to work, call in sick, or even take  the time to eat or defecate. Still, stylized graphs, charts and x-ray  diagrams always cast the bad news in the best light possible.  Indeed, medical practices of many kinds managed to prosper from this  strange love from the public, especially those involving cosmetic surgery.  Tattoos were no longer removed but instead recieved special layered  enhancements underneath the skin, whereby grafting the pictures directly  onto the patient's surface not only improved the reception of the pigmented  image but also ameliorated the general tone of the skin and such reflection  of the patient's well-being on a whole. A tattoo on its own was worthless,  but after a few repetitions of this formidable procedure, it became  obviously more pleasing than the most flawless of natural skins - even the  highlights of sores and past scars coming to life and telling their own  stories in marvelous reproduction. The richest of the rich, not content to  see their waking share of beauty, arranged for such sur-real images to be  implanted on the insides of their eyelids, out of sharp focus to compensate  for the extreme closeness, and illuminated by small lightbulbs inserted into the tear ducts. A popular imitation in poverty-stricken lands was to merely  tear off the eyelids completely, leaving the optic sensors open to recieve such visible delights even when one was asleep.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü   ...Mistigris Meanderings and Musings...  The tour goes ever onwards, fading from the bright flames of fame to a calmer sense of shadowy obscurity. We can open our eyes again as the reassuring shadows draw longer upon the floorboards and the music of bats on moths begins in earnest.  Here we are, enjoying a place out of the sun with our Canadian compatriots in the superstar anti-art-group, Dark. It's quite a change from last month with Fire, but again many things are the same. Odd how that works out.   We're working with Samurai here in Dark, after missing touring with his group, Project 301, in March, 'cause it died, leaving us in the breach. But no hard feelings 8). In case you missed us before that, by the way, we appeared in the last new release of the art group Fistful of Steel before its retrospective and then reincarnation as a mag, and with Blade before that.  But we're here now, producing art which could arguably be called our best ever, working with giants in the scene and accomplishing things which we never would have been capable of nine months ago without the peculiar bonding experience this road trip has thrust upon us.  Are we having fun yet? As an administrator, I'm having a ball. Going nuts. Ripping hair out, smashing heads into things, staying up all night on the IRC and almost managing to put an infofile together. (This?) But the trip is taking its toll on the members... they're starting to look back home rather than forward ahead. If they're unhappy, there's no good motive to keep going... though if we turn back, we might never come this way again.  Look, kids! The world's largest artechoke!  Mist's co-op relationship with fellow 604-based music group Sonic Equinox has resulted in a release, SE_D0597 .ARJ and A01. In addition to that, their local pursuits are flowering in upcoming releases from New Media productions, such as the TrackerFix disk part 2!  Catering more to the eyes than the ears, Silent Knight's comic book company Dream Factory is in full stride, and the first promotional issue should be out any day now. He's looking for artists, writers, inkers, letterers, exotic dancers and lion tamers, among others, so if you want to apply those skills towards the production of a non-profit comic book, contact him at knight@intergate.bc.ca!  Being in the tour has given Mistigris members time off from focusing on the petty politics and power games of the art scene to explore their other creative avenues and expand their repetoire of styles and forms. Normal migration patterns have slowed to a halt, and while new members are coming in from month to month, the lack of pressure to release a pack competitively has kept them producing at a level which makes them happy, catering to their creative impulses but not demanding tedium from them.  But sometimes a little tedium is a good thing. Unexercised muscles atrophy, and after spending all of this time developing, pumping up, perhaps it's just about time to flex a bit, discovering our new space and stretching our improved abilities, without distraction or crutches. On our own and loving it.  Whether we go back to releasing in monthly packs like everyone else or not depends muchly on the reception of this pack; I will be the first to admit that the art in here is first-rate. I would even venture that, quality and quantity considered, there's more great ansi in this pack than in the past year of ACiD packs. (Then again, who can't say that?) If the artists can see that their innovation is really paying off, we will continue to spiral off into the unknown, leaving a trail of imagination behind us.  Third star from the right, and straight onwards 'till dawn.    -Cthulu (MistiDark)  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  Now it had been known for quite some time that the augmenting effects  remained puissant, though to a far lesser degree, on pictures where there  was contained text; stop signs and corporate names typically underwent the  process a few times over to ensure that they weren't ignored but the process  to render mere words more appealing proved costly and inefficient, where 10  iterations of a catchy icon could supplant thousands of repetitions on an  exposure of more alphanumeric symbols. By and large the written word was  phased out, for a picture was, after all, worth at least a thousand words.  Intelligentia, academics, philosophers, logicians, engineers and scientists of all sorts, no longer hunched over desks or tables but rather  reclining in lounge seats, gazing placidly at wall-mounted poster-sized  blow-ups of images gotten from the long-disused eyepieces of microscopes,  precise gradiations of drafting equipment and readouts of gauges and dials, were alarmed. Words had always been the primary means of expressing precise  logic, identifiers et cetera. Pictures were quite handy but things were  getting to the point where one aptly presented graphic could sway the  reception of major theses and proofs. Obviously academia had to do  something to save the human race from falling into inescapable hedonism, with  its descent briefly broken by bouts of illiteracy, endemic ignorance, and a  renaissance of the Dark Ages, oxymoronic though the thought may be.  They immediately set about tinkering with the various elements and  forces in that elusive but widespread mysterious photographic process,  putting what remained of their brainpower to work, fighting for its very  survival, and within months a solution had been found; a refinement of the process by which text could be rendered simply and inexpensively as  appealing as photographs which had undergone the process many times over.  It was deemed a full success and students at institutions around the world  celebrated by covering university campuses with graffiti; graffiti which was  soon covered up with pictures of the same.   Pages torn from dictionaries enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, if  only as a novel wallpaper pattern, and books and writing became the objects  of a brief but intense love affair from the public. The regurgitated text  allowed people to feel good about investing hours spent poring over sheets  of dead tree, and long-closed bookstores were restored in the second  childhood that only a passing fad can trigger, inundated by callers for the  most aesthetically pleasing, the least offensive and above all else the most satisfying reads possible. Complete volumes of Camus and Kafka went  untouched but with minor revision, the vast majority of literature could be  distilled into palatable tales of two optimisms - where it was the best of times in the best of all possible worlds.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü Support Sites (DARK) ---  The Lethal AspectWorld HeadquartersXypher Matryx The RegencyInternet HeadquartersHalaster  Mad Cows?!?DARK Member BoardNight Stalker Savage ExileDARK Member BoardAcidic Soap  Sight & SoundDARK Member BoardDrone-Fly  Special SauceDARK Member BoardSamurai  Abraxas/DiabolicDARK US Support SiteMegga Hertz  ABCD CafeDARK Support Site Kyo  Where to obtain DARK Collections ---    Via the Internet, DARK packs can be obtained from The Reg ency's FTP  site, at tregency.res.cmu.edu, or from the ACiD Artpacks Archive at ftp.cdrom.com (/pub/artpacks/incoming/artpacks/).   Most DARK members can be contacted through e-mail (addresses available in the memberlist), and some may be found lurking on the IRC, in chan nel #dark. (EFnet)  On the World Wide Web, you'll find support for DARK Illustrated, as well as the latest pack, via www.darkillustrated.org.  For more detailed information on DARK Illustrated, DARK's own F .A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) text file is included in this archive. Filename: DARK-FAQ.186  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  The greatness of a work soon became apparent by virtue of the speed  with which it could arrive at a satisfying conclusion; if past works of  great literature were lacking such, ghost writers joined forces with ghost  editors and together gave literary plastic surgery to the greatest works of  the twentieth century and beyond, so that the masses responded to the Savage's attentions to Lenia in much the same way as they did to the feely  theatres, and these professional hacks knew that they had outdone themselves  when they managed to leave a reader sympathizing with Alex's forlorn need  for the stirring tunes of Luddy Von and Winston's ultimate love for Big Brother. No one spoke out about the rearrangement and omission of a few ugly words and distasteful phrases - they couldn't remember the book ever having been this beautiful in the first place, and they certainly weren't going to act against this wonderful process.  Eventually this comeback, however, was given a boost by the  still-impressive forces of the graphic, which had not been forgotten by the  public. Indeed, when the two medias combined forces once again to provide  the formidable and venerable vehicle of the picturebook, the flaring heyday  of the word was already over. Passages of nice things were enhanced, then  supplanted, by pictures of nice things, and convoluted plots were slowly but  surely broken down into images of fewer twists and turns, until the length  of a book could be diminished tenfold while the enjoyment of it still be  increased, and this desperate attempt to preserve society as we know it was  pronounced dead when they started replacing book titles and author names  with tasteful reproductions of kittens, palm trees and carrion birds. The focus had returned, inveitably, to the instant and gratifying fix that a sneek peek could provide over the slow and imperfect thrill derived from wasting time skimming over dialogue, literary devices and plot development and then pondering and considering its washed-away message, often while  looking at nothing more beauteous than the insides of one's eyelids; a  complete write-off.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü Support Sites (Mistigris) --- The Jade Monkey (604) 730-2467 Happyfish / Cthulu WHQ / Net  C1ty iZ Burning (418) 841-3410 The Extremist CHQ / Net  The Regency tregency.res.cmu.edu Halaster USHQ  Daemon's Gate (604) 948-0363 Mavrik KiTSCHNet WHQ/Ne t  Harvest Moon (216) 951-7059 Qur'An Twingle HQ / Net  Savage Exile! Critical Illusion Underground HQ  The Fuzzy Doorknob (604) 943-4626 Sylphid Old Warez HQ / N et  StupidMop (604) ups-000n Geekboy Deep Cove HQ/Net  The Undiscovered Point (604) PRI-VATE Dr. CPU Member / Net  Dreams of Dark, Enchanted   Lizards (604) 299-5191 Etana Member / Net  Entrance to Obscurity (604) 525-2767 Eto Member / Net  Neosporin (604) 942-9772 Rage Member / Net  Peaches (604) 943-1482 Xavier Member  Paradoxius (604) 931-6984 Pure Voltage Member  Crimson Helm (604) 465-4247 Onyx Member  Sneakers (604) 501-2395 Crystal Meth Member  Biproducts (408) 372-7712 neoNEGRO Site  Power Station (353) 041-32568 Madmax Site  Out of Order (510) 796-5780 risu Site  Kongo! (714) 693-0511 Cheeze Monkey Site  Tantalized Dreams (204) 632-0684 Javist Site   (204) 632-0685  Caffeine. (360) 336-5976 Prong Site  Blue Moon +(618) 8332-3403 Pulse Site  Juice (604) 522-9797 Infinite Madness Net   WWW URL @ http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1758/mist.html  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  It was decided that man's ultimate calling truly was the organized  and ritual viewing of such images, and clever and cunning machines and  software were crafted to allow every adult to spend only a half of an hour  of every day at work, mostly in vast film-developing complexes, and the rest  of the day being dedicated to sitting in long rows in frugal chairs,  uncomfortable but unnoticed, gazing upon a wide, vast gallery of enhanced  pictures. A surreal spectacle, that of the silent and awed masses  enthralled by the sur-reality of visions of beaches, forests, the eyes of a mighty stag and those of a killer.  While it was to have been expected, it was surprising that this did  not happen sooner; a blind man, whipped into a frothing rage at his apparent  inability to appreciate those finest things in life, managed to find his way  to a gallery despite an inability to consult large friendly reproductions of  maps and street names, and, white cane flailing erratically like a lizard's  broken-off tail, ripped a poster in two, tearing a terrible crevice down its  flawless sheening surface. A jury of twelve sighted folk condemned him to  death for the crime of blasphemy. This started a chain reaction where  hordes of God's Chosen, those who could see the divine apparitions He had  allowed his children to create, rose up and, in a swift, bloody movement,  executed savage pity upon those whom had been deprived of the ability to  worship properly - the blind were rounded up and locked away, and those who  required glasses or bifocals were regarded, when at all, as highly suspect.  As has been noted, the subject matter of the picture of the picture  of the picture mattered hardly at all in relation to what pleasure was  derived from its viewing - masses reacted equally well to displays of  rippling puddles, miraculous fetuses in-the-womb, and man's ultimate  expression of power - mushroom clouds billowing menacingly but  beautifully. Of course, everyone was too busy looking into sur-reality to  actually spend the time singing in the rain, making babies or detonating bombs, but archives provided an ample supply of past experiences which could be re-lived, and better, through this irreplacable process. Any image,  given sufficient dedicated repetition of the process, could be rendered  equally appealing and they could all attain the penultimate pinnacle of  beauty regardless of what their source was - but eventually even that rule  was broken.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü IF ART WEENIES RULED THE WORLD... ---  Seeing as Mistigris and Dark are two of the more prominent canadian art groups... We took a little political poll. (Yes, politics and the art scene shouldn't mix, but this is a great training ground for ruthlessness and empty campaign promises...) In any event, we phrased the question to participants in #mist and #dark  thusly: "Which party would you vote for, out of the below choices, regardless of whether or not you actually can vote - because of restraints of age, country of citizenship or laziness..." And here are the results. votes % Party (Oaths, comments and other editorializings are in brackets.) 8 23.5 Liberals (Jean Cretian r0x0rs.) 4 11.8 Reform 3 8.9 Green (green party. because they never get anything good to happen..) (I'm voting Green. Not because I think they will get in, but because then my vote is actually counted and I don't have to feel apathetic.) (Cthulu voted Green!) 3 8.9 Spoil your ballot (soil my ballot.) 2 5.9 Conservatives 2 5.9 an Independant 2 5.9 Natural Law (Natural Law will Legalize Pot.) 2 5.9 Rhino (even if they're not forwarding candidates this election) (I dont know what you're talking about. But I like the sound of this guy.) 1 2.9 Bloc Quebequois 1 2.9 MAX HEADROOM FOR PRIME MINISTER! 1 2.9 New Democratic Party 1 2.9 Robin Williams 1 2.9 I vote for DON KING. 1 2.9 i vote for you going the hell away. 1 2.9 Self-exile! 1 2.9 Timothy Mcveigh  12.9 Royal LePage  0 0.0 Canadian Action party 0 0.0 Christian Heritage 0 0.0 Marxist-Leninists __ ____ 34 100.0 So you can see that although the government and even the opposition would have been the same, the distribution of votes and of the remaining seats would have been drastically different. Kind of a powerful political statement that Don King got more votes than any of the bottom three legitimate political parties. So what have we learned from this little exercise? Man, I've gotta get hair like that...    -Cthulu (Mistidark )  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  Perhaps it was instinct, or mere shadows of a mother's whisperered  warning long ago, but there was one thing which was rarely gazed upon and  never captured on film - the celestial orb above. Traditional photography  made it nearly impossible to take representative pictures of the celestial  orb above without running the risk of over-exposed film and damage to  equipment, both of the camera and of the photographer's eye. This unwritten  rule followed through in this aesthteic movement but, when all else had been  captured to film and honed to a perfect print, this lonely star alone remained to be immortalized on cellulose.  With only two or three iterations, prints of the sun quickly came to  note for their unique and exquisite beauty - singular and unique among the  blocks and blocks of static sur-real glaciers, lions, hummingbirds and  paramecia. Heads began to turn to the rising star, or at least wallet-sized  versions of it, and soon its shining face was seen peeking from every street  corner and in the wrapping of any package. This was to be the era of the  Sun, the dawning of a new age, and cults sprung up in veneration of its perfect image, considered by many to be the face of God.  Weather machines were devised to divert clouds to uninhabited  regions, and early one morning, midway between dawn and noon, a joint  project sponsored by the twelve greatest nations on Earth took place many  miles up, where a series of shuttles and sattelites came together to  construct what had long been thought blasphemous but now was universally  regarded as the only remaining course of action. Tubes and reinforcements  came together in zero gravity, and by the time the sun was at its highest,  measured in the time zone of the most populous region on the planet, of  course, the field was activated. The Sun had been framed and new images of  itself, propagated through hologaph and lenses, appeared in the sky,  showering the entire world with the benign rays of a more perfect star.   One truly could make out divine features in the radiant face, and as  one, the world turned to see the most glorious sight possible. Faces  twisted and contorted into grotesque masks of rapturous ecstasy, and their  minds exploded as their eyes turned dark, to savour forever the most perfect  sight possible in the universe. The legions of the newly blind, though it  would no longer serve them, tried to position themselves so that they would  be facing the heavenly object, that God might see them as they had seen Him, and as it swept over their faces the light reflected in their rotting eyes slowly clouded and faded to a dull sullen glow of decay and eternity.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü Filename Conventions ---   Filenames work like this: XXXXX-##.*   XXXXX is a five-letter abbreviation of the artist's alias. (Should the alias fall within five characters or less, the entire alias will be used.)    ## represents the current number of pieces the artist has pro duced for  the year of 1997.    * can be any valid extension for images, executables, data fi les, or musical compositions. The most common are DRK for ANSI images, JPG/G IF/BMP/ etc... for high-resolution graphic images, and MOD/S3M/XM/etc... for music date files.  *SPECIAL* Filenames with the MASK-## prefix are joint e fforts by DARK and Mistigris Members!  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü  After the cities and megalopolises of the world were silent for many  days, the few remaining blind freed themselves from their captivity. Coming  upon the silent and unmoving shells of their former friends and relatives,  many still living, they moaned and beat their breasts and poked out their  own eyes in tragic fury. Still, theirs was the world to inherit - they had  lost nothing, and their daring resourcefulness allowed the world to live  again.  You may have noticed than many a grizzled storyteller is blind.  This hearkens back to tradition of the Norse and the Greeks and beyond, for only one posessed by the spirit of the story can repeat it properly,  objectively, without clouded interpretation from personal sights and past  images. Their visions are the most perfect, their relations with God the  most personal, and they truly are set apart, for they smile more and greater  volumes with their useless eyes than most of us do with our sardonically  turned lips. Remember that behind the darkened glasses is inspiration and  prophecy beyond the most tantalizing of sights, and that the tinted glass is  there to protect your naked mind from being destroyed by the great forces  which operate beneath them.  Ü ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ  ÜÜÜ ÜÜ Ü The End --- It's odd. Despite being relieved that the packing job for this month is over, I'm somewhat saddened too. This DARK/Mistigris collaboration was... fun?  I can't find a word for it. Suffice it to say though, that it' s been an memorable experience. To Cthulu, and all Mistigris members, from myself and the entire DARK clan (and local hanger-ons): Thank-you. And good luck with your future endeavors. -XypherMC (DARK...) ÜÛþÜþÜ Ü ÜÝÞþ°ÝÞß°Ý ÞÛß Þ°ÜÜß þÜÞ± Üß ² ÜÛÜ ß Ü ÜÜ °Þ±°²° ÜÜ Ü±ß ÜÝÞþ°Ýß°Üß°± Ý° °ßÝ ± ÞÜþß°Üß°Ý ° ÜÜ° Þ°ÜÞ²þ ß° Ü Ü°° ßß ± ° þ ß°ßßÜþÜ° ² ° ßßÜ ß ÜþÜ ÜÜÞÜß± Þ Ü°Þß ßÜ°°°° Ü Þ Ü°Þ ÜÜÜÞßÞ±ß Ü Þ °ÜÜÞÜÞ߰߰ݱÝþ° ß °ÜÞ°Ýß°±ÜÛ °±²±± °ß°Üޱݰ±±°ÞßÜÝÜ °Ý °±²°Ü±þÛ²Ü Þ±°²Ü°ÛÞ °Ý°Ü°ß²°Ü Þ°² Û°°ß Ü °Ü° °°ÜÜÞ° Ý °ÜÞ° ÜßÜÛݱßÜÜ ß²°ßßÜÜßßÛÜßÝ° Üßß±°ÜßÞßß ßþß° ±Þ°ßÜßÜþ ² °ÛÝÜÛ°ÜÜþ ÜÞÛßܲ²±°Þ±ßÜÜ ² °ÛßÜÜ ²°±ßß ÜÜ °ÞÛßÞ°þÜܲ± Ü °ÜÜÜÛ ßÜÜÜÜßÜ ÞÝ°±°°±°°±Ý°Ü±° °²Ý °þ±° °±Ý°°±±° °± Ý°ßÜÛÛ°°ßÝß°ß ±°Û±Û°°ßÝßÞß þß ÜÞ° °Ü °þ°  °°Ü °Þ° °Ü ° ÜÞ° °Ü ÜÛ °±Ý þÜß ÜÞÛ۰۱ݰ °ß° ±Ü Üþ ß Þܰݲ °±Ý°Û ݲ °ßÝ°°Ý² °± ÝÞÜþݲ °±Ý° ÞÛ°ßÛÞ±ÞÝßÝßÛÛ ° ±°Þt ÜÝ ±Ü ÜÜ ²ßßÜÜßßÜ°ßÞÞþÞ°ßÜÛ °Þ±° ÝÛÛ °Þ±°ÝÛÛ ° °ÜÛÝßÜÛ ÜÞ±ÝÜ °ÛÝßÝÜß°ÜþÜÛ ÜÞÜÜ zßÞßÜÛß²ßßÜ°²  Þß Þ ßÞ߱ݰ²°Ûܲþ Ý°²°Ûܲ°Ý° ²°ÛÜ ß±Ý°²° °Ü²þ°±Ü°°ß °þ°Ý°°²°± Üß°ßþ Þß Þß Þ°ÝÛ Û°ÝÞÝßÞ  Û°ÝÞÝßß Û°Üþß° ÝÛ Û°Ý ÝßÜ°ß° ÜÜþ°þ Û Û°Ýßßù þÜÛ°Ý° °°±°±°° °°± °°°° °°±°°°Ý° °°± °±°Þþß°±°°Ü °°  °°±°±°Þþ Þ°± ± ÝÜßßÜ ± Ý ÜßßÜ°± ÝÜßßܱ ±  ÝÜßßÜ °ßÞ± ÝÜ °±±  ÝÜßßÜmß ÜÝ°±±ÛßÞ°±Ý±±ÛßÞ °±Ý±±ÛßÞ°±Ý°±± ÛßÞ°±ݲÝ°±±ÛßþÜÜ° ±ÛßÞ°±Ýi ßÜÞ°ÜÛ°ßÛßÞ°±° °²°ßÞ° Üܲ° ßÜÞ° °Û °ß°° ÜÞ°ܲÜÞþÞ° ÛÛ ° ßs ßÜßÜßÝ°ÝÝÜß°ßÝßþÝÜßÜßß °ßÝßÜßÜßÝß°Ý°ÝܲßÜ° ÜÞßÜßÜßÝÞ°Ý t Ü ÜÜ ± ßþßþ ± ßþßþ²±ÜÛ°² ²Ü °Ýþ ß ßþ þßÝ°°ÜÞ±Ý Þ± ß ß° ° "by the artists, for the artists" ß ÜÝ Þ°Ü ß We now return you to your regularly sched--TZRTCH! Transmission Terminated. SAUCE00DARK Newsletter 05/97 Multiple Authors DARK Illustrated 199706 5 Ç