Scenergy #02 31 декабря 1999

VIP - The most noble tale of the scene.

THE MOST NOBLE TALE OF THE SCENE
here it is, seven years of marriage thanks to breadbox
by raver / phantasy

Recently i've interviewed a couple (yeah really couple) of c = 
64 sceners for c = 64 magazine Domination. Since they have 
something special to thank scene about, i think this one could 
be of interest for speccy dudes as well. Additionaly, one of 
these sceners is responsible for diskmags, as he invented a lot 
of things in that scene producing legendary Sex'n'Crime and 
later Propaganda magazines back in eighties.


Let me introduce you Oliver and Debbie or better known as

Antichrist / Genesis Project and The Sorceress / Genesis 
Project! 

Most of the answers came from Sorceress, since Antichrist was
quite busy speaking straight only a couple of times. It's a
family game!

[?] Hello Debbie and Oliver! prepare yourself for little 
flashback as we will talk about past, and be ready to drop an 
eye in future, while for a start we could examine present time 
a bit. 

TODAY

[!] Since Oliver is working on many projects right now, I am
typing the interview and reading / answering the questions for
him aswell as myself. We have two computers in the same room so
he is right next to me.

[?] So, how the life is for you right now? where are you living
and what are your occupation and hobbies?

[!] Oliver and I are living in New York not far from Manhatten.
Oliver works for a local newspaper in our area as Production
Manager and he just had his 3rd book published called
"A Treasury of Pet Humor". He is also doing Cartooning and we
both do web designing. As for hobbies, I guess you can say that
the computer is our hobby since we spend alot of time on it
doing work and playing our favorite game "Rise of Rome" and
maintaining our websites. Other then that we are into watching
movies, having a good time and alot of laughs.

[?] I guess you're not active scenewise anymore, but perhaps
you're still connected to some digital devices, just like almost
everybody these days. what technologies are you using and for
what exactly?

[!] We both have computers and we use them for what I listed
above. I also run a graphics group which I like doing. As for
the scene. No, we are not active anymore. There is not much left
that we could offer the scene these days. It was fun while we
were on the 64 but being on the pc, it just wants to make you go
on to do other things.

[?] C = 64 can affect destiny. bullshit! i should better say, it
is destiny! and this time i don't mean importing team. and so do
you still keep in touch with people you got to know in the scene
times?

[!] We have been in contact with old 64 sceners but most of them
have gone on to get married and / or developed their careers so
the contact is there but its limited. It is interesting to find
out what happened to people we have not heard from in years. As
for the scene affecting our destiny ... most people would say it
did not affect the directions in which their lives went, but in
our case that would be different because Oliver and I met
through the 64 scene and we got married, so yes it did affect
our destiny in a good way. We will be married for seven years 
this Feburary.


[?] So maybe you know about fact that Newscopy was recently
kicked out of F4CG?

[!] We both remember Newscopy. He was in Genesis * Project a 
long time ago but we never knew he was in F4CG. Im sure his 
talents can be used elsewhere.


[?] There's an affair with him being accused for stealing money
he got for a game.

[!] We can't give any oppinions on Newscopy being accused of
stealing money because we have no idea of ​​what happened. I 
hope he didn't do it!


[?] What about the scene itself? do you know what's going on, do
you check new releases?

[!] No, actually in America the 64 no longer exists so until we
stumbled onto a c64 site we thought the scene was gone. What a
suprise that was to see that there were sites up and groups
still going at it. We did look at some old releases but aside
from that we do not know what is going on with the 1964 scene 
now and we do not keep ourselves updated on new releases. We 
just don't have the time right now to do it.


[?] Well one might say there are still some more or less active
groups in the states but the illegal scene can be counted as
dead really. hats off to Fungus the one and only active american
cracker though. do you think that because of the burning 
decreasing of illegal activities, the scene is dead? is a demo 
scene something really different for you?


[!] I think the scene is dead in the US because they no longer
sell games or c64's and people went on to bigger machines. If
the companys would have kept the games coming, the c64 would
probably be very active today because it was so affordable. But
although we had fun on the 64, we would not trade the PC for it.
I don't think many people would. It just has so much to offer.
As for the Demo scene, we were not really active in the demo
scene although Genesis * Project did make demos.

[?] Question for Oliver: what do you think about magazine scene
and journalism nowadays as the pioneer of it?

[!] I haven't really seen any scene mags lately, but it's nice
to know they're still around. I did see a voting sheet for one
scene mag recently, and I saw they were using the word 
"graphician" in it. The funny thing is, I invented that word! 
There is no word "graphician" in the English language. In 
German the words Musiker (musician) and Grafiker (graphic 
artist) end the same. So I figured it works the same way in 
English. But it doesn't. But I used to use the word in 
Sex'n'Crime all the time, and later also in Propaganda ... And 
now the whole computer scene still uses it, after about 10 
years! I think that's pretty cool! I acually invented a word!


YESTERDAY

[?] Past ... for some this word have almost the same meaning as
scene, how about you? am i right saying that scene changed your
lifes, forever and for good?

[!] Yes, you are right about that:)

[?] There is a beatiful story behind the scene for you both.
will you share it with our readers? it might be not only an
interesting but also inspirating for the these who are part of
scene today.

[!] The scene does have a beautiful meaning for us because as I
mentioned above, it changed our lives and Oliver and I became
family. We met over the phone. Oliver was working on Propaganda
at the time and there was a section in it that asked the readers
what they thought about the last months issue. One day Oliver
(Who I did not know at the time) called me and asked for my
feedback on the last issue of Propaganda. I told him that I
thought the issue was great although I did not tell him I didnt
read it yet. The issues were always good to my taste and I was
embarrassed to tell him I did not load THAT issue yet. Well, we
started talking and he told me a little about himself. I was
very suprised when he told me he was from Germany because he had
no accent. We talked for a very long time and became friends.
After that he started calling me often and we never ran out of
things to talk and laugh about, and not to mention the group
G * P. I ran a bbs and spread the warez that G * P put out. We
eventually started talking daily and became very close. You have
to understand that when your dealing with an overseas friendship
you actually talk more then if you were together in person 
because its all over the phone. Well this went on for a long 
time and I always felt sad that one day we would lose contact 
because of our locations (being on two different sides of the 
world). It can make things difficult at times. The closer we 
became, the more frustrating it got. Well, this was not going 
to happen. Because of the six hour time difference Oliver would 
be going to work at 12am my time ... Did I mention we were very 
tired during those days? The time difference took its toll. But 
back to my story. So he would get up and after he would go to 
work, I would go to sleep. One day he left as usual to go to 
work but he did not call at the usual time when he normally 
would get home. I worried that something might have happened to 
him but there was no way for me to find out. At this point we 
were talking on the phone for way over a year and have grown 
very close. At 12am my time (U.S. time) someone rang my 
doorbell. I went to look out the window but it was dark and I 
could not see who was there. I just saw the chest part of the 
person BUT tucked inside the neck of his shirt was sunglasses. 
Oliver had bought new sunglasses and sent them in a picture to 
me and those were the same ones. It crossed my mind that this 
could be him but I ruled that out because he was in Germany. 
(Suprise on me!). Well, I didn't answer the door because I was 
not dressed and my mind would not stop bothering me. Was this 
actually him??? Within 10 minutes my phone rang and it was him. 
As soon as he spoke I knew he was here because I didn't hear 
that beep or echo as you would on an overseas call. I will tell 
you one thing ... I would rather meet someone right away rather 
then speak to them for such a long time and then meet. I was 
not dressed and I was shocked!!! He was supposed to be at work 
in Germany! I told him to give me 10 minutes to get dressed. I 
showered, dried my hair at warp speed and my stomach was in 
knots. Would this guy be a stranger to me now or the same 
Oliver I knew? I did not like this feeling at all, who would? 
But I went out (he had rented a car) and the car was in front 
of my house and got in. When i think about it now I have to 
laugh. How strange it was to actually SEE him talk. We had 
exchanged pictures but I always wondered what it looked like 
when he moved, or talked. Things like this cross your mind. He 
was shy in the begining and I asked him in a loud way (because 
I was still shocked) "What are you doing here ???". He laughed. 
It was a suprise he told me. (For anyone reading this in a 
similar situation, NEVER suprise a girl in that way. It can 
cause bodily harm when she kicks you!). Girls need a chance to 
get ready! We started talking and I just stared at his mouth 
moving and the voice coming out. It was amazing. But before 
long we were ok. This was the same guy I knew for so long on 
the phone and visa versa. On that trip he stayed for three 
weeks and we had the best time ever! His leaving was so sad but 
he came back. And within One year he came back and forth six 
times. We just fell in love over and over. How powerful the 
feeling is! We decided to get married and almost seven years 
later here we are. Now that more people have access to the 
internet a long distance relationship is more comon. Not 
easier, just more of an average thing but 99% of them probably 
will not work out because it is a very hard thing to do. One 
person must make a big move and thats scary. But you will get 
those couples who beat the odds and have a wonderful life from 
it. 

[?] What did scene meant to you back then? and what does it mean
now, even if not as important part of your life, but as
phenomenal thing at all. you know, it's alive.

[!] Back then the scene meant alot of competition, fun, 
creativity and work. Not to mention huge phone bills. We had 
good groups and excellent fixers. A group called Empire fixed 
our games and they were the best. They were also our friends. 
This is another thing that the scene meant. Meeting some awsome 
interesting people who really made you laugh and sometimes 
drove you crazy. It was a love / hate relationship between 
groups too. What confusing creatures we 64 people are.


TOMMOROW

[?] Silly question which i simply had to ask - will you ever
come back and do something for the scene?

[!] There is nothing for us to do in the scene right now except
to share memories for the people who were in it with us during
those days and letting the people newer to the scene and who are
interested know what it was like back in the days when new wares
were coming out non stop and how different it was back then. The
Euro scene was over just about the time that we got married. (Or
so we thought until we saw the 64 sites on the internet) So im
speaking of 6 to 7 years ago. And the U.S. scene was over long
before that. The companys stopped making 64 games and computers.
Thats when they (the Americans) turned to fixing.

[?] Are you planning to visit Europe somewhen? some copyparty,
old friends, relatives (for Oliver) and the continent itself?

[!] Well, Im a chicken when it comes to flying especially when
its a 6-7 hour plane trip but Oliver does visit his parents
around once a year and maybe one time I will hold my breath and
get on that plane. His family dont speak english that much so it
makes it all the more harder for me. We do keep in contact
through the internet and phone aswell. The copy parties are a
thing of the past because everyone is new. There are no old
friends (or very few friends) that attend them that we know
these days. Plus there is so much going on over here between
work and living. Our location is a factor aswell. If they had
some more local it might be a different story.


Its hard to fit all the exciting stories into one interview
because so much has happened concerning the scene back in those
days. I can actually fill a book filled with interesting and
funny stories. There are so many people in the scene today who
will never know the great crackers and fixers that came and left
their mark in the history of the c64 and its sad because they
made the scene what it is today. But I learned that if you take
one group that stays productive and sticks together through the
good and the bad, you can consider them an Elite group because
this is what its all about.

[?] So maybe you could once start writting for some magazine!
why should we be taking the scene so serious, but what is 
serious then? only the things which helps you to earn money? i 
think that scene history is just as interesting as movie 
producing history, for example. it's more strange though and 
it's sad nobody is really working on the historical chronicles 
or something like that. it'll all be gone soon. maybe the 
Propaganda could be released again (Newscopy stopped the 
production a couple of months ago saying that it'll not be here 
till he or Antichrist decides to release it again)?


[!] Antichrist won't be going back to doing Propaganda because
he has very many projects he is working on right now and they
are all time consuming. He has his cartooning, his internet
work, plus he is working for a newspaper so doing a scene mag
again is not likely going to happen. Plus sinse he is no longer
in the scene he would have no idea of ​​what to write about. 
There will never be a Propaganda the way he used to make it. Im 
not saying that in a selfish way. But he risked many people not

liking him for being truthful in the original Propaganda and I
think thats why it was so popular. People hated him for writing
it but they also couldnt wait for it to be released.

[?] And at last, maybe Antichrist have something to say about
OMG matter? another question is, do you still have the breadbox 
(es)? there's some game, probably you've played it, called C64 
Scene Adventure, made by Gotcha, and it's really funny! 

[!] No, we don't have a 64's anymore. Oliver or I have never
heard of the game called C64 Scene Adventure but I can only
IMAGINE what the game is like. It must be really funny. As for
the OMG and Antichrist names ... They are one and the same 
person. All Oliver's friends knew it was him so it was not to 
hide fool people. He had trouble twice in the past from the 
police concerning the c64 and wanted to create a legal name. 
People just blew that way out of proportion.


Thank you for letting us do this interview and if you would like
to come and visit us, here are our urls:

(Debbies) http://www.thefunnypage.com
(Olivers) http://members.aol.com/GSPZ

Signed: Antichrist / G * P and The Sorceress / G * P