ZX Spectrum Support Scene
As we march into 1995 many people don't realise that the Speccy is still flourishing on the underground scene. In truth nothing really dies out completely, enthusiasts will always devote spare time to keeping their cherished things chugging along. At a recent New Years Eve party here at SC towers, a constant stream of people fought with each other to be next in line to play Xeno. Oh yes we got stupid comments from the headless sheep but then you get them everywhere. The two main PD libraries in the UK will continue to be a very important focus for us all; where we all swap programs and thrive with new ideas and direction. Please don't take sides during this prolonged war of words between them. It's clear there is a clash of personalities going on and there seems no easy answer. The reality is, they are there to make life easier for us, they are there to serve us; use them both and enjoy the scene in a positive way.
I've recently joined the Specci Profi Club, run by the lovely Wolfgang and Moniker from Koln, Germany. Their enthusiasm excites me and the list of demos they offer excites me even more! A good few blank C60's will continue to fly Airmail I can tell you! Thomas Eberle holds regular Speccy meetings in Filderstadt - I should very much like to get to one of those........ And what do we get? A fair held by FORMAT; Bob the Bench's hench-men, striving to sell us one of their fucking Coupes as if their lives depended on it. I've always felt the whole FORMAT organization is geared to making money over any other reason for exsisting. That leaves a very sour taste in this mouth. They really shouldn't promote them-selves as supporting the Speccy when they obviously don't give a toss about it. It gives me no pleasure slagging anything to do with Spectrum support.
OUTLET is still over-priced and tragically on the wane. When will people realise you can't make money out of the Spectrum anymore. It's 1995, not 1984. I was very pleased to see CRASHED fanzine coming into exsistance. It is a superb read for 1, as is FISH. Both written from the heart and gushing with honesty. Prisms PD POWER gets better with every issue, ALCHNEWS gets ever longer and SPECTRUM UK continue to blunder from one cock-up to the next. But we love you still; you boast about yourselves until our ears go numb and then you go and put your great smelly feet in it all over again. Less self praise and more fact-checking before you publish please.
The UK PD demo scene is thriving at the moment. More coding groups are springing up all the time, growing and developing with every release (look out for CLIFFY T from the North-East). The days of megademos from the likes of ESD and PENTAGRAM may be gone forever but with names too numerous to mention, demos are still being released and devoured by the faithful. Just ask Martyn or Andy about the new stuff they are getting. I maybe gushing a bit here and I may cringe when I read this back, but 95 is going to be a really good year, I can feel it in my throbbing white-hot Z80. (Amanda)
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