                          /\_____________________/\ .
                        ._)       2  0  0  1      (_:_ _
                        |                           |
                        |   T  H  E    Y  A  R  D   |_ _
                        | - --------------------- - \///_ _
                        |                           |
                        | Amiga/Ascii/Graffiti/N64  |
                        | Gameboy/NeoGeoPocket/Snes |
                        | Psx/Ps2/Dc/Smd/Oldies/Mp3 |
                        | Unix/Drugs/Chiptunes/Mods |
                        |                           |
     __________    _____|      ________             |
 _ __\_ ____   \_ _\_   |__ _ _\_____  \_           |
        /  \    /      ___/       _/    /_ __ _     |
   _ __/   \\__/        |         \____/            |
      /      \_         |______                     |
        _ ___ /_________|    /___  _____ _ __ _     :
            \/          |        /\                 .
                   _____|       /  \   _______    _______
                _ _\_   |      /   .\ _\_____ \_ _\_____ \_ __ _
                     \____    /     \\    _/  _/__    /
                        |/   /       \\   \    _ /   /
                            /          \   \   //
               _ ___________\__________/____\  /_________ __ _
                        .                    \/     .
                        : AHS/DTR/AGEEMA!/ROYAL/PHT :
                     _ _| AEROSOL/LiGHTFORCE/MANGOO |
                     \\\/ LP!/BAD KARMA/UP ROUGH/DS |
                        | SOiA/MOPLAYAZ/TQL/PVM/100 |
                        | H E A D   Q U A R T E R S |
                        |                           |
                        | the  idea  of  s t y l e  |
                        |                           |
                        |     is  the   k  e  y     |
                        |                           |
                        |   to  all  f o r m s  of  |
                        |                           |
                        | r   o   c   k   i   n   g |
                        |_          __             _|H2o!
                          )_______ /\_\ __ _______(
                          \/       \/_//_/\      \/
                                     __\_\/
                                     \/
[SOF]


@BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ._ __________ ______ ____   _______________.
| \\ _    _ /_\___ /_  _/___\ _            |
|  /_/    /_\   _   /  \    \\/   tHE      |
|tR!/    //     / _/        / aSCii cHARTS |
+--/_____\\_______\________/---------------+
                                           |
     yOUR fAVORiTE aSCii ziNE iS bACK!     |
         nEW yEAR, nEW cONCEPT...          |
                                           |
- -- - ---------------------(12.o2.2oo1)---'@END_FILE_ID.DIZ






                  _       __.    ______.                    _
           _ _ __ ¾ _ __ _) l___ \     l__ _ _ _______ __ _ ¾ __ _ _
           :\\\\  ¾ ¾   \\  .__/--\   ._   \ / ._    //   ¾ ¾  ////:
           |      ¯ ¾   _\  !/        !/    /  !/___( _   ¾ ¯      |
      drn! |        ¯   /___/     ____/     __ /    __\   ¯        | lp!
           !     ________   `----'    `----'  `----'          _.   !
          _______\_     /___.                     _.    ______\!_____
         _\       ._    _  _|_____ __________ ____\!____\           /_
     < - /______  l/  __\____.    \\  ._    //          ____      ___\ - >
           .    `----' /___ /!  ___   !/___( ___      __\   `----' .
           |               /---'  /__  \   __\  `----'             |
           !  _______.               `----'         __.            |
      ________\ __   l______    ________  ._________) l___   ____. !
      \   ._   \ /  ._   _ /____\_     /--l _      X  .__/___\  _|______
      _   !/____(   !/    /      ._   /     /     _   !/      )___.    /_
      /__  \   _____/     _____  l/  ___    \-----\___/     ____ /!  ___\
         `----'     `----'     `----'   `----\        `----'    /---'
           ¡                                                       ¡
           |       - >  t h e   a s c i i   c h a r t s  < -       |
           !_ _                        _                        _ _!
           :////____________________ _ ¾ _ ____________________\\\\:
                                     ¾ ¾ ¾
                                     ¾ ¯ ¯
                                     ¯












                        «·»    iSSUE jANUARY 2001    «·»









                             _. _________ _ _ ._
                             \|_)           (_|/
                     -×ßL/SEA |             __|____:
           ____  _ ________   |            _)      |_______  _ ________  __
        .//       ___  ____ .__    ____ ___\_      |      /            \\_(
        |        _\_ )_\   \| /___(__ /_) __/             \              |
        |        \    /    \\  \  __/    _/        .      / __           |
       (_)_____  /    \_____\     \|     \|        | ____ _ \_\\_______ (_)
                 \____/  /_____\___|______\___     |_\
                              ·              /_____L
                             _|               |_
                       - --- \|---I N D E X---|/ ----



     EDITORIAL..................................................by.Dipswitch
     NEWS.......................................................by.Dipswitch
     PICKS OF THE MONTHS 12/00 AND 01/01.................................by:
     .............................................................Abhorrence
     .................................................................Daeron
     ..............................................................Dipswitch
     .............................................................Lord Chaos
     .........................................................Mortimer Twang
     INTERVIEW WITH LORD CHAOS/DTR.................................by Daeron
     INTERVIEW WITH DAERON/LP!.................................by Lord Chaos
     IRCNET #ASCII ARTICLE.........................................by Threaz
     RELEASE LIST FOR 12/00 AND 01/01...........................by Dipswitch




                 ._______
        -×ßL/SEA |      //   e D i t o r i a l
       _____ _ __|__   /___   ___    ____     ___   ____    ______  ____.
     __) __/_\/  __/  _\__ )_(  /___( _ /____(_ //__\__ )__( ____/_/    |
    \\  _/   \\  |/   \     \_    _/  \   /   /    \     /   \|    /  __|__
     _  \|   /   |    /     \|    |       \   \ _  /     \   _\    _  \    \\
   /_/___\__ \   |___ )_____/|    |_______/\   \\__)____ //   |___\\_ /_____/
  - --------- \_____\ - ---- |____| -------/___/---------/____| --------------


     Dear Sceners !

     As you see, your favorite Ascii magazine is back... Pretty surprising,
     eh ? =)  Well, I really planned to stop the whole TAC thing because
     the amount of work seemed not to be proportianal to the interest for
     a new issue, but as there was a really big amount of quality collies
     in the last two months, I thought that the Ascii scene is in need for
     an news zine, and so here we go...

     Of course, TAC'2k1 won't be the same like TAC'99 and TAC'2k. I am sick
     of all this charts'n points stuff, and damn, who cares if one group got
     more points than another one ?  I'm also sick of having to review EVERY
     damn colly, even the worst and most boring ones. So what ? TAC'2k1
     neither has charts nor a point system. There is, as always, a month's
     complete list of releases, so you can see what you've missed and what
     you haven't. But, there aren't reviews of ALL collies. Only the
     most interesting ones are reviewed as "Picks Of The Month". Each colly
     is commented by many reviewers, to give you a large spectre of oppinions.
     The comments are short, the sort of you see in console scene mags
     like "GBScene" or "Corrupt".

     Instead of all this pointsystem crap TAC'2k1 features more actual news
     from the Ascii-scene and also some "gimmicks" like interviews and
     articles. I hope you have fun with the new concept !

     How you can contribute ?  First of all, we are always glad for logos.
     If you like to draw us a new set of logos ("editorial", "news" etc.,
     look through the mag to see what is needed), please don't hesitate to
     do so, send your stuff to asciicharts@gmx.de !  "The Ascii Charts" logos
     and "TAC" file_id's are also very welcome.
     If you feel to write an ascii-scene related article you're welcome, send
     it to the above-mentioned and we'll be happy to publish it. Same goes
     to interviews with ascii-sceners.

     Of course you are also VERY welcome to send all ascii-related news
     to asciicharts@gmx.de to be sure that anyone knows about changes
     in your ascii group and stuff.

     And remember - TAC is an _Amiga_ Ascii scene zine ! We also, to a certain
     extend, write about Amiga-style Ascii drawn by PC-based groups, but
     please don't bother us with PC-news unleast they are about Amiga-style
     art.

     Yours honestly,
                     Dipswitch/DTR (main editor)

     PS: The scene portal WWW.SCENET.DE, maintained by Ghandy/FTH^DKG, has
         the exclusive permission to republish interviews published in TAC.
         Big respect for your work for the scene, Lars !






           ______ _ ____ .___  _____ _____       ___  _____ ________
       __(\\      __\   \|  /__) __/(    / ______\ _)_____         //)___
                  \     \\      _/      //\\    //___    /
               _  //_____\    _ \|       /\      \ |/    \  _-×ßL/SEA
       _ ______\/___ _ /______)__\______/  \____ /_____ _/ \/__________ _



     What's happening in our beloved Ascii scene ?

     Well, first of all it's to mention that two Ascii forces of the past
     seem to refound again. First of all it's good old Divine Stylers,
     in the linup of the active-again Dino, perhaps-will-be-active-again
     Nike and steadily-active Mortimer (who is NOT going to leave Low
     Profile btw against all rumours). One dS! colly was released by Dino
     in 12/2k (see comments in the review section), and I am sure there
     will be more in next future.

     The other re-birth is even more spectacular - the mighty Epsilon
     Design started to show massive lifesigns. Like through a magic trick,
     4 of the old e^D'ers popped up from nothing in nearly the same time:
     Fatal, Cybergod, Chrombacher and Juan (who is present in some warez
     buisness as mADMAX&jUAN! - but not many realized it's THE Juan from
     back in the days). The first three announced to take requests on
     www.thuglife.org, the fourth one on some boards. Then, in the last days
     of 2000, Ftl, Cg and Crb released "Haresis vs. Majs" (see reviews).
     Other lifesigns were not present till now, but who knows what the next
     months bring ?

     And what's up with the groups which dominated 1999 and 2000 ?

     Abhorrence, the only active member of Inhale, left for Twisted. That
     means that Twisted has now one man more to perhaps kick some serious
     shit in 2k1. That also means that Inhale is quasi dead though =(.

     It became very quite around Aerosol. The shooting stars of 1999 seem
     to have more and more faded away in 2k to finally dim out in 2k1 -
     or perhaps not ?  Whatever, the last ASL colly was released in 09/2k,
     and except of Darkus and h7, no members popped up on irc since ages.
     Well ok, Darkus became dad, so that might be the reason for his
     ascii-wise abstinence, but whats about the others ?  Even ASL's new
     hope Nasone hasn't been seen a long time - hey Nasone, it's no
     good to let things hang after one colly, eh ?  But whatever, we'll
     see if the future brings us a new ASL colly rush.

     Not much to say about Lp! too... Volatile released a colly which was
     a little bit too rushed perhaps (see reviews). The other newer Lp!
     member, Daeron, is working hard on his Lp! debut. Rumours tell that
     it will include 99 logos, and according to top secret previews I've
     seen it will include VERY VERY hi-quality design. So prepare yourself
     for a real ascii-bomb from Daeron in near future.
     That's all bout Lp! i think. Out of the older members only Mortimer is
     around on a regular base, doing music and WB icons, but not much of
     ascii =/. Ramone is also back since a couple of months, hanging around
     on ircnet and even drawing logos, but he strangely decided to release
     his stuff under House Of Style although he is the only one "alive"
     member of it.

     Dream Theatre got their ranks filled up: Sperm Whale joined in
     December 2k. That might bring some action to DTR - or not ?  Dream
     Theatre kicked its last colly in August/2k, the break is becoming
     someway TOO long. The only hope is the rumour that some co-ops with some
     top groups are in planning...

     And what's happening with our brothers in the east ? =)
     K0re seems to have disappeared, at least I havent seen new K0re collies
     since nearly half a year, or did they just failed to reach me in the
     snailmail jungle ?  SEA (or at least what is still available from SEA
     after the SEA->L124 split in early 2k) still throw out collies
     constantly, represented by Xball and Far. Strange things are going on
     in Link124: they kicked their (and perhaps Poland's) most talented
     artist Krs for inactivity (he wasn't inactive even for a full year)
     and let misfit Hazh of the newbie group SOC join. I doubt that this
     step will raise the, at the moment, pretty low quality level of L124.

     At last, news from the group some do love and some do hate:
     Remorse 1981. Volatile of LP! took over the leadership of the "oldschool"
     (=amiga-style) division of RMRS to clean it up and build some good
     out of it. Will he be able to repair the (at least in Amiga scene)
     bad image of the group ? Things and time will tell.

     That's all, folks !

     Dipswitch/DTR


                           _ __ _ _________ __ _
                             _//           \\_
                             \_             _/
                    -×ßL/SEA  |____         |   r E v i e w s
                ___  _________|   // ____   ·____ _____      ___
             __(_ //_) __/\   |     _\___)__) __/(    / ____ \ _)____
           //   /     _/      .     /     /  _/       /\\    /___   //
          _\    \ _   \|      |     \     \  \|       /\    \  |/   _\_
         /__/____\\____\_____)|_____/_____/___\______/  \___/_______\__\
    - --------------------------------------------------------------------- -
                             _|__         __|_
      p  i  c  k  s    o  f  \  /         \_ /  t  h  e    m  o  n  t  h
                           _ /               \ _
                          __\\__________ _ __//__


                        The reviewers of this month are:

                                 Abhorrence/-T!
                                   Daeron/LP!
                                  Dipswitch/DTR
                                 Lord Chaos/DTR
                             Mortimer Twang/DS!^LP!

       This is just a selection of the most interesting collies which came
      in December/2k and January/2k1. If your colly is not included, it was
           either not interesting enough or it didn't reach us in time.




 .\\----------------------//.                    Filename: dn-drofa.txt
 |                          |                       Title: "Droid Factory"
 / d R O i d  f A C T O R y |                      Artist: D0n
 |                          |                         Tag: d0n
 | a colly by d0n/thelo0p   /                       Group: TheLoop
 |_                        _|                 Releasedate: 24.12.2000
  //---------- 24.12.00 --\\


ABHORRENCE:
What can I say? A basic colly with a basic logostyle and some design. The
problem is that this one right here have been seen so many times, one can't
possibly find any real interest any more.

DAERON:
This collection has originality level set to zero. A style what I have
seen a thousand times before combined with lousy design. Maybe you should
include some original ideas to your next collection, Don?

DIPSWITCH:
Logowise this collection is very very far from being perfect. The letters
don't really fit together and, well, it seems that D0n first has to create
a unique style. Imho the ascii-wise strenght of D0n lies in creating of
ascii figures. I concidered the robot asciifigures as very nice, and this
"ascii star" cartoon put a big grin upon my face (i remember this ascii
stars and cubes too well=). Big up to D0n for some really funny ideas,
but there is very much work to do on the logos.

LORD CHAOS:
Regarding it is his second collection ever, this one surprises me quite
positive. I am not a too great fan of the style but partly the logos appeal
nice to me and some good tries at background designs here and there.

MORTIMER TWANG:
nice collection. its okay looking, i personally dont jump up in joy,
neither do i cry out in vain. i just get a nice smile, and a "dooh"
i feel you brother when reading that don has been dumped by his girlfriend.
ouch, it seems that being left by a girlfriend is the most common reason
to release an ascii-collection. if it werent for the girls the asciiscene
there wouldn't be a scene at all. mark my word. (=



   .--[asc2]-- aµææø -[ d¡ViNE sTYLERs ]-.       Filename: ds!-d00.txt
   |           ¬ØØØØø   ________.        |          Title: "Is 1995 here ?"
   ¦  µæØ*ÑØØÑæµØØØØ#ø ØØØØØE      ©Mt   ¦         Artist: Dino
   ·gØØØ#   ¬¶ØØØØØØØF °¤ØÑØ#ææµµ____    :            Tag: dNo
   øØØØØL     °ØØØØØ# ¸µæµææ¯¬°¶ÑØØØØØæw··          Group: Divine Stylers
 mØØØØØr     ___ØØØØØWØØØØØF      ¬¶ØØØØØ#w   Releasedate: 24.12.2000
øØØÑÑØØ--'°¬"¯¯  ¬""ÆØØØØØK________.Ø#ÑØ#ØØø
   |-------------------------------------|
   | divine stylers & jedi arts presents ¦
   | dinos xmas presents - is 1995 here? |
   `--------------------------[00/12/24]-'

ABHORRENCE:
Dino starts up with a text that I can agree with, but the actual colly lacks
design, and to be honest, I don't really find his logostyle so stylish. In
fact, the guestlogos outshines his. ANYWAY, it's nice to see something new
from an old DS!-fella. Keep the graffiti alive!

DAERON:
It's nice to see Dino making a comeback, but I must confess that I hoped
this collection to be a little better. It shows that he has been away for
so long, because his style isn't too good and his collection lacks of
design. The collection contains some great guest logos though.

DIPSWITCH:
Nostalgic feelings come up from seeing the file_id... Finally a new dS!
product hits the boards ! Unfortunately one notices that Dino was away for a
long time: some logos look even really newbish, or is it perhaps caused by
using awful edit.com ?  Other logos look quite cool, although Dino's style
in general is very specific. Whatever, but all in all, regarding the legendary
label and the cool design and the cool guest logos, it's a must leech !

LORD CHAOS:
Dino has a very special style of his own, which does not quite match my
personal taste, thou I kinda like his a bit 'larger' asciis. Nevertheless,
this collection is done how it should be done and as its name 'Ascii
Flashback' already says, it reminds me of good old times. And: great to
see DS! back on track.

MORTIMER TWANG:
eh, is this legitimate me commenting this release? we, the divine stylers,
reign supreme. i spoke with orlingo and it looks like even he will start
asciing on his imac again.



.e^D.vnvnvsnivnisnopanNISBO;BNONADOBDNO;NINQ     Filename: e^d-mvh.txt
NIBNUWAGACHUJaNBONIANBANIBAN.cG.IBSNIBANPBBQ        Title: "Majs vs Haresis"
NFAKEGERMANOBIDNBAONIBANIABOONIBOSNIBPONIABA       Artist: Chrombacher/Cybegod/
FACEOFF                              KUKUKUK               Fatal
AEFAEFF MAJS VS HARESIS VS THE WORLD UKUKUKU          Tag: cRb/cg/fTL
FBJIB9B                              KUKUKUK        Group: Epsilon Design
AANIAVS      * APA APA KENT *        UKUKUKU  Releasedate: 30.12.2000
AFAFAWS[2000-12-30 | Org. Size 42000]KUKUKUK
ianivndndvnnivqisnoppanNISO;BNON.cRb.NO;NINV
NIjagVILLSECROUCHINGTIGERFILMENBAJSsFBANPBBB
NIIBNIBNIBNOB.fTL.ONIBANIABOONIBOSNIENONIABN

ABHORRENCE:
Ahmm. Fatal and Cybergod having some fun. I guess that's something asciiscene
have lacked for some time now. It's just that I would probably enjoy the colly
a bit more if I could understand shit about anything in it :)

DAERON:
I have never been a fan of these joke collections and this collection doesn't
make me think otherwise. Art-wise this collection is a little better. There's
some nice logos here and there, but I remember seeing artwork with much
higher quality from Fatal, Cybergod and Chrombacher. Maybe their break is
shining through.

DIPSWITCH:
Aaaaah, just great. This stuff i missed for a long time... Of course it's not
the kind of a perfect asciicollection, but it's also not ment to be one. I
think the scene needs this fun stuff, of course as long as the amount of it is
lower than the amount of "serious" collies. As a German-speaking person I
had a good laugh about this "tourist"-german stories and stuff, it's just
a pitty that for someone who doesnt speak any germanic or nordic language it
just seems a pile of junk. About the logos: Sure, the break is shining through,
but the most logos are still cool, especially Cybergod showed that he still
is capable of the art of Ascii. The only think I was a bit surprised was
Chrombacher's logo - I remembered his style in a very different way.

LORD CHAOS:
I never was a great fan of 'fun' collections and it's no difference here.
Cool to see Epsilon Design active again, some nice logos by cg in here.
I was a bit disappointed about Chrombacher's styles because I remembered him
as one of the top artists of the past years.

MORTIMER TWANG:
hehehe i give this one ten out of ten. its hilarious full of nonsence and
with asciimen and illustrations. the mere fact that its all written in some
tourist-german makes it a future classic.. feta proppar!



         _ _____
       . \_\_   \____  ___/\__________ _ _       Filename: hos-tage.txt
  ·    |    ·\   \   \/   _    /  ___/_ _/          Title: "Hold no hostage"
 _ \ _ _ _ / _\   ·   \   \   _\____   \___        Artist: Ramone
|    _/ \_     \___\   \_____/     /   / _ |          Tag: rN!
- -·( ·_· )·- -  -  \___\rN! \___ /___/   ||        Group: House Of Style
·    )___(                                 |  Releasedate: 31.01.2001
:  /   .   \  [ Hold no hostage · rAmON ] .|
| ·    |    ·                            _||
`=--------h-o-u-s-e--of--s-t-y-l-e--------='

(note: because the colly reached us kinda late, only three reviewers managed
to comment it)

DAERON:
Once again I have to start my comment with the words; I have never been
a fan of styles of Ramon. Though I can clearly see why people like his
stuff. His styles are ever changing and so are his designs. Still they
follow that certain pattern so you can recognize an original. I must
admit that I don't like his collection a lot, because it's messyness,
but it has its moments. Some nice logos and great ascii character
designs. Definitely worth a leech if you like Ramon's styles...

DIPSWITCH:
Great to see Ramone back, even if I see no point of releasing collies in
a quasi one-man-group. Well, the long ascii break is sure shining through
(like in the file_id and in some logos in the colly), but all in all this
colly if for sure an absolutely must-leech !

LORD CHAOS:
Ramone from the Oldschool shows that he masters way more than just one style,
most of the Asciis inside look a bit quick and dirty but I am sure it's all
straight from the heart. And who else gives you such a lot of nice characters
in a collection nowadays? Welcome back, Ramon!



____.    .______.______._____.    .
    ¦____¦      ¦      ¦     ¦----¦              Filename: l124-asf.txt
_   \   _|_     |_     |_ ___|    |                 Title: "#Ascii fuckers"
/_______\·/_____|/______|spk/_____|                Artist: Noches
-----------------------------------                   Tag: no
      noches/link124 present                        Group: Link124
    new colly `#ascii fuckers'                Releasedate: 10.01.2001
-------------------[10/01/2001]----


ABHORRENCE:
No design, just logos. Noches' style could be more original, but I ain't
gonna start accusing him being a ripper neither. My message to people:
experiment! We are in ascii biz, what can we possibly loose? :)

DAERON:
I don't like Noches' style. It looks rather boring to me. Letters don't
connect well into each other and background design is always the same (if
there's even some), but anyway this is still one of the best L124 collections
I've seen. I just hope that Noches tries to develop his style a bit further
and try different background designs.

DIPSWITCH:
Quite nice colly. Concerning the current L124 lineup, Noches is, together
with Azzaro perhaps, the only good artist at L124. Of course, the style needs
touchups here and there, on some places the letters must better fit together,
but I am sure that people will remember him as one of the few good ascii
artists from the east, like they do remember The Founder today.
Btw i really do wonder why the heck this colly has this name...

LORD CHAOS:
Thou noches' style is a bit hard to read sometimes, I think most of the
logos look quite nice (with a few exceptions). The collection design is
just ordinary but does for me. To make it a real good collection, this
one lacks something 'special'.

MORTIMER TWANG:
this is the first time i ever heard of this link124 group, (shame on me,
when i reached the end of the coll there was a gigantic list of releases).
i had a hard time viewing it since jennyjones is on tv while i write this.
i did however think that the logos where a bit too, straight. i mean they
arent twisted and bent and fucked up as i like them... hehe. kind of too
complicated for me and jenny, jones that is.



   ___   _____.  _____ ______
  /  /___\_   |__\_   \     /____.               Filename: l124-sim.txt
 / _//  (_|   |     __/    /|    |                  Title: "Stronger..."
/  \     /|   |     \_     ¯¯    | l124 pL!        Artist: Azzaro
\___\___/ |   |______/______.    |                    Tag: az0!
«-diP/dTR-|___|-------------|____|---------»        Group: Link124
      stronger (impressions millennae)        Releasedate: 10.01.2001
     a z z a r o  versus  l i n k 1 2 4
        effect  v e r s u s  design
«-[10/jan/01]------------------------------»


ABHORRENCE:
This time Azzaro hits us with some average design and logos. If you like
his style, you'll like this. If not, then you don't. I find the logos somehow
messy, or maybe messy ain't the right word here, but right now I can't find a
better. Maybe you'll get the idea. And it was funny to see Strode's respects
logo there, eh. You won't understand.

DAERON:
Azzaro's new style is horrible. I cannot find anything good to tell about
it. It's very unbalanced and messy. His designs follow the same pattern so
there's nothing good about them either. Only good thing that I could
come up with are the lyrics that Azzaro has included to this collection.

DIPSWITCH:
I am very impressed concerning Azzaro's colly design this time. Not messy
at all, and the lyrics create a very special athmosphere. I'm not a big fan
of this letterstyle, though. Too messy and unproportional in my opinion...
But whatever, big up to Azzaro for steadily being active for so many
years ! Everyone's picking on Azzaro for his (for western standarts) messy
style, but noone really gives respect to Azzaro for being true to the ascii
thing for such a long time and being active without big pauses, and that's
a pitty.

LORD CHAOS:
While noches' collection seemed rather nice to me, I can not find many
good things about this one, sorry - azzaro's style does not give me anything
and looks very unbalanced in my opinion.

MORTIMER TWANG:
i like this one more than l124-asf.txt. azzaro has a fucked up style. me
likes... me likes...



 ___________. ___________
_)          ||          (_                       Filename: lp!-pimp.txt
|           ||           |                          Title:"Pimpin Aint Easy #1"
| lo' profile|     DUREX |                         Artist: Volatile
|           ::           |                            Tag: vol
| Pimpin' Aint Easy      |                          Group: Low Profile
|           ::           |                    Releasedate: 22.12.2000
| Pt.1 : The White Trash |
|           ||           |
|  DUREX    ||           |
¯)__________||__________(¯


ABHORRENCE:
Volatile has progressed in his logostyle, but I don't think he has really put
his mind on the design. It looks a little fastmade. Vol's stories are above
the average blaablaa. Damn, you might even start feel like fucking :)
Btw. Vol, I guess that doing twenty minutes what you described would
be sort of a mission: impossible even for a veteran pornstar :)

DAERON:
COLLECTION OF THE YEAR! :) (no, I cannot comment on artists that are in the
same group with me)

DIPSWITCH:
Nice that even in his army time Volatile finds time to put a colly together.
The army is also perhaps the reason for the apperience of the colly to be
a little bit rushed. The logostyle is cool, but imho there are not enough
logos for a colly. The design is just average. The stories are not *that*
my taste, but it's cool to see a colly with stories nowadays anyway.

LORD CHAOS:
I don't like the collection design very much here and some of the logos
don't look good to me at all. As his second affiliation Remorse already says,
volatile comes from the PC scene and this is just too obvious in some places.
Some of the stuff works for me, anyways. And the storytelling makes this
collection something special these days!

MORTIMER TWANG:
eeeh, again, im biased here. im a member of lopro. (= but if i can say
something id say that volatile has made better collections. even though
the divider in this one is sexy (hahahaha).



     __________ ________ _____
   ._\_____   /____    /     .\                  Filename: p^a-snth.txt
.--|    _____/   _/  _/_      \\-----------.        Title:"Something..."
|  l_______|_____\     /_______/ pro arts  |       Artist: Nup!
| ______ _________\___/_______ _______     |          Tag: ©nup
._\___  \ _____    /    _    /_\  ___/__   |        Group: Pro^Arts
|   _    \   _/  _/_    \___/   \___   /   |  Releasedate: 27.12.2000
l________/___\     /_____\ ___________/    |
|     -mNt/aC!\___/                        |
|·smth so i can say i did a colly this year|
`------------------------------------------'


ABHORRENCE:
No colly design at all, but I don't really even care that much, 'cause I
don't think that there are nor have ever been many artists that can fuck
with nup's magnificent style. And that's it.

DAERON:
Reading the preface explains a lot. This collection contains absolutely
no collection design, just the basic parts. Nup's style isn't one of
my favorites, but there's some quality logos in this collection and of
course some weaker ones. I cannot decide whether I like this collection
or not, but I guess that's the whole point. If you like Nup's style,
you'll like the collection. If not, skip this one.

DIPSWITCH:
Even though the collection contains no design, it is one of my favourites
of this issue. It's not the average request colly, but a group-logo&file_id
colly like they were released in the early 90's. That's cool, that's what
applied art is about, there we see who supports the traditional contacts
of asciiers with the pirate scene and who doesn't. Unfortunately some logos
look quite rushed, but therefor some others are just _magnificent_.
Big up for this one Nup! How about some design additions next time ? =)

LORD CHAOS:
Nup definitely on the old school tip here, sometimes I get the impression he
really tried to 'force' his asciis to look old-fashioned. Ascii-wise for sure
the best collection I had to review but unfortunately, a real collection
design is not existing at all - read Nup's preface text which probably
explains why. I would have expected a bit more here.

MORTIMER TWANG:
hehe, my man, nup, represents. slick collection from the slickest of the
slick! (=




                               . _ ____________
                             __|              7__
                            \\                  //
                           ./                    \.
    i N t e r v i e w s  .:|             _____    |:.      _____-×ßL/SEA
    ____   ___ .__  ____  _·___  ___ ____|   //  _|__ ____(    /____ ___
   _\__ )__\  \| /_(   /__) __/_(_ /_\   |     _(__ /_) __/   / )    \ _)_____
   \     /    \\  \     _/ _/    /       .     /     / _/     /\\   _/___    //
   /     \ ____\        |  \|    \ _     |     \     \ \|     /\    \  |/     \
   \_____/  /______)____|___\_____\\____)|     /_____)__\____/  \____\________/
  - -----------------------|---------- - |____/ - |- --------------------------
-
                           ·                      |
                      ____ | _                  _ | _____
                      \     \\_                _//      /
                      /__    _/_____ _      ___\_     __\
                        (____\                  /_____)


     This time we have a double pack here - first Daeron interviewing Lord
     Chaos and then Lord Chaos interviewing Daeron. Have fun !
     - diP/dTR

[LORD CHAOS OF DREAM THEATRE INTERVIEWED BY DAERON OF LOW PROFILE]

1) Tell me about yourself (real first name, age, nationality, group(s),
   school/work and stuff like that)

As most people already should have noticed, my first name is Alex, I am 21
years old, from Germany, current Group affiliations are a lot but the most
important should be Lightforce (Console), Bypass (PC Demo) and Dream Theatre
(Ascii). The best time I had while I ran the group Shoot! (active on Amiga)
together with my old school mate Krypton! I have finished school and made my
'Abitur' (after 13 years of school - well, 14 for me due to lazyness) and at
the moment (after a short stay at the university) I am unemployed.

2) Tell me about your ascii career up to this point in time.

When I got into Amiga scene, first thing I started with was doing asciis.
In the beginning I did not quite understand it at all because someone told me
the tags on the Asciis were the signs of the Traders who uploaded the files
Back in those days you didn't have an included file_id.diz and stuff..
and had to paste the descriptions after your upload if you wanted to have
nice logos along with your upload (but I guess most out there will remember
this time better than me). At the beginning I was quite into ripping because
as I said, I did not get the sense of it. But later on I started with my own
styles, ofcourse. Well, I started doing Ascii while i was in Latex (not the
group Latex that has been active the last years but way before), later on
I released a collection for Shoot and then, due to the possibility to call
out, I became good friends with Count Zero and Acid Kid from Whale! and so
when they started the group, they invited me to join aswell! I released two
very average collections for them and already during that time, I almost
totally lost connection to the other members, then Amiga in general started
to die slowly and I got myself a PC. There I one day ended up in Black Maiden
and on Amiga I joined Dream Theatre. I haven't drawn Ascii for a long time
but recently I made some tries again which looked rather promising to me,
so expect something to come in the future.

3) What do you want to be when you grow up?

I guess I am kinda grown up now, with 21. But I got no idea what I want to
be at all. Just being healthy and satisfied with myself for all the future, I
think, would be a great gift already.

4) When did you draw your first ascii?

Speaking of the year, it would be 1992 or 1993.

5) Why did you start drawing ascii?

I needed a default signature for the boards I called..

6) Did you have a mentor when you started or did you learn all the hard way?

No, I did not have any contact to other Ascii-artists back then. Collections
by the true oldschool gods showed me how things should be done.

7) How do you draw your logos? Do you have a solid idea before you start
   drawing a logo or does the idea shape itself along the process? What
   programs do you use?

Now as I am operating on PC, I use Aciddraw to draw and then maybe in the end
have a look at it with an Amigafont and the standard Dos-Edit. I couldn't be
bothered to install WinUAE + CEd yet and I doubt it will bring great
advantages cause I am used to watch asciis with the ugly PC-font for years
now.

8) If you could change your personality into some other artist, who would you
  be?

Tough question. Honestly I wouldn't feel good when drawing someone else's
Asciis, I think :).

9) What inspires you to do ascii besides ascii done by other artists?

Boredness probably. Or people from outside the Ascii-scene requesting and
'admiring' art. Sometimes I just need to do something and in some cases it is
Ascii then.

10) Look back and name your best collection. Explain your choise.

Look below!

11) Look back and name your worst collection. Explain your choise.

I don't like all the collections I've released yet very much.. none of them
has been a real good designed one or something very special. If there'll be
a best collection by me, it is still to come!

12) If you could change one thing in your ascii career, what would it be?

Having the bad start with ripping, that really was not good at all. But
luckily very few of those logos were around and I was really a kid back then.

13) Have you ever regret that you started drawing ascii?

No, why should I? In the end some of my stuff got used and that's good!

14) If you couldn't draw ascii, would you be in the scene? If so, what would
    you do?

Meanwhile I got myself some minor coding skills and also got teached how to
do some Trainers, so this is what I am doing mainly these days. Thou, mainly
I just hang around and do nothing.

15) What's the recipe of a good collection?

Good logos, good overall collection design, not too much guest art and if
possible no guest art that outshines your own stuff. Additionally, a real
good collection should have something individual - whether its a real own
style that catches the viewer's eye or some personal experiences, stories
or whatever. Thou some Artists don't need all the surroundings - their style
just makes up for everything and doesn't need a real collection design in my
opinion. But ofcourse when speaking of the art of making a 'collection', you
should put some effort in that too.

16) If you could take different skills from different artists and combine
    them into a Super_Ascii_Artist[tm], what skills would you take and
    from who?

The workaholicness from Mogue, the graffiti-likeness from Desert and Maz mixed
with the simple but very effective oldschoolness from Rotox, the skills for
dot-letters from Desoto and the balls from Mark Ryder.

17) What are your biggest benefits as an artist?

The experience I have back from the days, just to have felt the spirit of the
scene back then leaves marks on your attitude and style, I guess. And ofcourse
my good taste and amount of collections and different styles I have seen to
see how experiments can go wrong or on the other hand can work out good.

18) How about weaknesses?

I am much too lazy and I gotta improve my background-layouts.

19) Who are the artists you look up to?

There are many artists I look up to. But first of all, all those who started
the whole Ascii-thing and have showed all us young cats how it should be done!
All those who released superb collections back in the days with awesome styles
like Shapechanger, Skin, Amblin, Desert, Maz and so on! Then dudes like Mogue
who showed that one can seriously work his way up from zero to the top of the
Ascii-business! And some of the newer artists also inspire me to kick some
stuff again for bringing new innovation into the scene!

20) Are there any newcomers with potential to become a real artists?
    If so, who are they?

I don't really know if newcomers fits them right, but recently I've seen some
stuff from dudes like H7 or Daeron and I really like their works! Those dudes
are one of the reasons why I decided to pick up Ascii again! On the other
hand I also see a lot of shit collections going around which I can not see
anything good in, which also motivates me to kick something for real!

21) What's your opinion on these polish artists? They seem to pop up like
    mushrooms in the rain. Is it good or bad? Why?

I don't associate much good things with the polish artists but also, I don't
really know who is polish and who is not. But I remember to have seen some
collections by polish artists who really were very bad. But nevertheless,
they seem to have fun while doing the ascii-thing and at least are somehow,
somewhere a part of the scene and maybe inspire the 'better' artists to kick
something again! But in the end you for sure can't generally say all polish
artists suck, thou I can not remember anyone being good..

22) Have you ever thought of retiring? If so, why?

I never thought about retiring once and for all. I think when you lose
interest in Ascii, it just happens - I don't wanna decide once and for all
'from now on I will never draw again', that's crap in my opinion. You will
end up like 2fast quitting scene and coming back for like 10 times.

23) Have you ever had these blocks when you can't draw a single logo? How do
    you get by them?

Basically I almost always have problems when drawing something, at least
at the moment while I am developing my new style. But if you have your style,
you shouldn't have a block. And if you need to get by the blocks, you
should just take a break..

24) What are your future plans? In real life and in the scene?

I should get myself a place to work and get some things back in order again.
Scene-wise I don't have any concrete goals.. I'll just see what happens.
Putting out a good collection throughout this year would be one of my goals.

25) Someone said that ascii is one of the hardest computer art forms
    to master. Was the beginning hard for you or were you a natural? How
    about now? Do the chars bend to everything you want them to?

The beginning is hard for everyone, I suppose. Nowadays I have some problems
to keep a certain harmony in the final logo but I keep working on the Logos
till they satisfy me, more or less.

26) Has your taste in ascii developed during your career? Do you like
    different styles than back then or has your taste stayed the same?

I can't really judge if I had liked the styles of nowadays' artists back in
the days, but I think so. And I still respect the artists I respected back
in the days. But probably I've become a bit more open-minded when it comes
to experimental stuff nowadays.

27) A perfect artist doesn't exist. How can you still improve your skills?
    What areas need some work?

I still need lots of work, starting from the style and the harmony between
the letters, over to more background layout and finally ending with a real
good and unique collection design. But if I'll manage to put out that
collection of mine, I will try to make it as good as possible.

28) What are your thoughts on TAC?

It's nice to have a mag that kinda holds the scene together and gives an
overview about releases and people still involved. But to bring the old
spirit back, there would be some more things needed. But it's a step in
the right direction!

29) Is the ascii scene dead?

Compared to former times, yes. But if you can live with very few action
and very few good asciis, it's not. I doubt it will really be living again
but 2001 seems to be a year in which a lot of artists step back into Ascii
business. So there might be some cool stuff to come!

30) You took a long break from the world of ascii. What was that all about?

I have almost totally lost the connection to both the Ascii and the Amiga
scene and so I didn't put up with Asciis at all.

31) You have been around for quite long. How is the ascii scene changed
    since you started?

I think definitions of respect and such have really changed. Nowadays
artists who are just around since 3 years are rated as 'top artists' thou
their styles don't really rock at all. And none of the new artists seem
to know the roots of the ascii scene and can't really feel what it's all
about and therefore also can't feel or love the art from older times like
you could when you had been around in those days. I mean, seeing asciis only
in collections or seing them 'in action' on the boards, in the infofiles and
such is something different. Ofcourse it's mainly about collections but
today you don't have the 'surrounding' elements that you had years ago -
and those mainly made the exciting atmosphere of ascii and amiga scene.

32) Greetings & last words

Greetings to my mates in all the groups I am in. Some ascii-wise greetings
fly out to those I got the opportunity to chat with during the last few
months: Desert, Daeron, Rotox, Mogue, Mark Ryder, H7 and Taxi!

Last words: Know where you're at, where your position is, what you've done,
who you are and behave according to that. Not more, not less! Show respect
to those who deserve it.


[DAERON OF LOW PROFILE INTERVIEWED BY LORD CHAOS OF DREAM THEATRE]

1) First of all, give us some general personal information (like first name,
   age, nationality, groups, your current job, social situation if you like
   to talk about it). You decide how much you tell us.

My name is Marko. I'm twenty years old dude living in middle of Finland
in a small town called Siilinjärvi. It's about 25 kilometres north from
a larger town called Kuopio. You might even find that from a map of Finland.
I'm currently working as art director at Golden Cee (http://www.visio45.com).
It's a small firm which maintains a local tv channel, a radio station and a
nightclub. It also produces music videos, movies, commercials and such. I
also do some freelance work for various clients. Mostly websites for big
bucks. In the scene I'm currently an active member of Low Profile, Galza
and the infamous LTC.

2) Give us an overview about your scene-life/ascii-career so far.
   How did you come to draw ascii, why did you draw ascii? Which stages
   of evolution have you gone through?

I took my first steps in the field of ascii back in '94 when I saw an ascii
collection for the first time. I remember saying to myself that this couldn't
be that hard. Oh how wrong was I. I was only involved with the scene through
my cousin who had a modem. Time passed and I lived my scene life thru this
cousin of mine, but the passion for ascii wouldn't die. I doodled an ascii
every now and then just for the sake of it. No one has ever seen these asciis
and that's only a good thing. Anyway, in '96 I got a modem from my other
cousin to my amiga and my scene career started. In this year I released my
first collection which sucked as much as you can imagine. My skills in ascii
didn't show any development as I put out my second collection later that
year. Soon after this I decided to take a break and it lasted almost a year.
I made a comeback to the scene, but I wasn't drawing as much as I was before.
Not until Tropic!Ascii affialiated with this board I was calling. Then I
decided to develop a new style and really try my wings in the ascii scene.
When my new style was ready for the public, I showed some of my works to
Horizon and Orthex and they accepted me to join TA!. I released one
collection under TA! in '97 before it died mainly because of its bad
reputation. I haunted Behemoth for a while that he would let me join his
new-founded group Alien Technology and, what surprises me the most, he let me
join without any extra hassle. I wasn't entitled to call myself an artist
back then you know. I wasn't too good at drawing ascii. Anyway, I managed to
put out another collection in late '97. The next one came out in early '98.
That collection still remains to be my latest real one. The next big turn in
my ascii career happened in '99 when I accepted Otium's offer to join a PC
ascii group called Galza. A while after that I decided to leave the sinking
ship once known as Alien Technology. Behemoth had disappeared from the face
of the earth, Venturus quit doing ascii and H7 left for SOS. So I asked Red
Demon if I could join to Low Profile and after some consideration he said
yes. I felt like I was on the top of the world. I mean being in the same
group with the artists I look up to is something else. Almost two years
has passed since I joined LP!, but still I haven't released a debut
collection. I released some small ones during the year of 1999, but they
were only spread in Galza packs. That's pretty much my ascii career until
today. Only time can tell what fate has planned for me. So I'll just wait and
enjoy the ride.

All my older releases have been just some practice. Finally in the 2000
I found my own way of doing ascii. Now I'm totally satisfied with the shit
I'm designing and that's a great thing. Now I can look back to my old
releases and laugh at them. I guess the evolution is been pretty straight
forward. I've always been trying to find my own style and finally I have
succeeded to find one that pleases my eye and public's too if I hear the
comments correctly...

3) What programs do you use to draw your asciis?

I tend to use edit.com with topaz-font. Never afs.com, because it shows
most of the chars wrong. I cannot imagine why most PC people use it.

4) How do you see your own ascii-past from the point where you are now?
   Are you satisfied or is there anything you would like to 'undo'?

I'm a perfectionist as most of my associates know. I cannot be satisfied
with the shit I have released in my past. Especially I would like to erase
the first two collections of mine from the face of the earth. Luckily only
one of them is spreaded to the public.

5) What do you think makes your style individual and different from
   the hundreds of styles out there?

The fact that it's mine.

6) In which parts of the ascii-art are you skilled and in which do you
   consider yourself as rather weak, if any? What would you like to change?

I'm okay in all areas of ascii. I'm especially good at making background and
collection designs, but naturally all areas still need a lot of work. I guess
I don't want to change a thing. I like myself the way I am for the first time
since I started doing ascii. As an artist I mean.

7) What other artists inspired you? And what apart from other ascii-art
   inspires you?

Along the way many different styles from many different artists have
inspired me to try a little harder. I would like to especially thank
Stezotehic, Shock G, Mogue and Shapechanger, because if there weren't them
I would never have started drawing ascii. Also I would like to mention
three rather new artists who have given me inspiration: Native, H7 and
Holmez aka Shank. If you want to see more names, I advice you to check
my upcoming collection's respect-list. Haha, Shame on me!

Apart from other ascii-art music has a great impact on me. When I'm at
home, I always listen to music. One could even say that music is my life's
fluid. Also good-looking web or graphic design inspires me in so many ways
that you couldn't imagine. I think I mostly feed on those two things when
I'm looking for my lost inspiration.

8) Which artists have done something remarkable in ascii scene and what
   is it that they have done?

Of course I must give credit to the artists who shaped the ascii scene as it
is today. I'm talking about the guys who started this shit and made the
ground rules. We and I personally owe them a lot. They were the pioneers.
I also want to show my graditude to the artists who come after them.
Artists of the second generation. Some of the top names of this generation
are the reason why I started drawing. I'm not going to mention any names
here, because I'm sure that all know who I'm talking about and, if I mentioned
names, I would leave someone out and that wouldn't be fair.

I don't know if this qualifies as remarkable, but Dipswitch has done
great work with this TAC project. It has really given some extra kick to this
half-dead scene of ours.

Karma has actually done something really astonishing. His first collection
ever was quality stuff. I love that style. I don't remember seeing anyone who
directly started from the top. Isn't this one weird point of view? :)

9) Which newcomers do you think are promising and have potential to
   make it to the top?

I cannot get a single name to my mind so I guess there isn't one brighter
youngster. Although there are couple of promising newcomers, but I'm not
sure if they have what it takes to make it to the top. I don't want to
give any names here, because the artists I'm talking about could take
too much pressure from it. I don't know where I got this idea to my mind,
but I think almost any newcomer can become a real ascii artist with years
of hard work, enough of devotion and a little bit of talent.

10) What do you think of the quite active polish ascii scene? Where is their
    position in the ascii scene?

About 99,9% of the ascii that is released in the polish ascii scene is pure
crap. Lousy design combined with even uglier logos doesn't count as good
ascii in any scale. Because of all these releases, the small percentage that
is actually quality stuff gets lost in the mass. This small bit contains some
nice styles and innovative designs. I don't know if there's talent involved
or just luck, but I think because of these releases polish ascii isn't all
bad. 99,9% of it is and the percentage could easily change to hundred if some
artists don't stop releasing crappy collections every week.

Polish artists don't really have a position in the ascii scene I know.
That's mainly because they don't know who started this shit and they don't
know who Shapechanger or Mogue are for example. They don't know their roots
and because of this they can never be a part of this scene totally. Maybe
I'm wrongly putting all the polish artists into one catagory, but I have
to do just that to make a point.

Polish artists should learn to use space in their advantage. Now they fill
their collections up with useless texts and non-necessary design. There is
no empty space for the contrast and that isn't good. If I look through two
regular polish ascii collections in a row, my eyes get sore and I feel like
jumping off a bridge and that can't be good.

11) What do you think is the significant difference between the artists who
    have been around for longer and the newer ones? Is there any? If yes,
    would you like to tell the newer artists something?

It's all about skill. The artists that have been drawing a longer time have
developed their skills further and can do pretty marvelous things with the
chars. Although there are some exceptions to that rule of mine. Couple
of newer generation artists who have so mad skills that they are almost
on the same level with the artists that have been here longer. My advice
to the young artists is this; experiment a lot. Also work hard and never
stop trying, because if you do, it's all over. Try to constantly develop
your style until it pleases your eye completely then it will please
public's eye as well. And yes, don't forget to design. Background and
collection design are big parts of ascii art.

12) Do you consider ascii as an art? And if so, do you think everyone who
    draws ascii is to be seen as an artist? And how do you see your own role
    within this discussion?

Ascii is art whether we like it or not. Of course anyone who draws ascii
cannot be counted as an artist. As in real life, you aren't seen as an
painter just because you can paint a flower with crayons. Same goes for
ascii. It requires a certain amount of talent and devotion to be an ascii
artist. I don't know what's my role is, but I want to fight for the name of
ascii art against the evil forces who say that ascii is just something we do.
In my opinion those people aren't entitled to do ascii, because if you have
any love for ascii, you will call it art. I call it art, because it's greater
than trading, coding or anything like that. Get my drift?

13) What role does the computer itself take in your life? And which role
    plays the scene and especially ascii?

Computer is just a tool for me. I have to use it to get the butter on the
bread. You know Zeus was partly right, when he said: "if you work with a
computer daily, it kills using it as a hobby". That goes for people who
aren't masochists, but I am. I'm using computer a way too much, because I'm
involved in countless projects and I cannot leave them in trouble. Now can I?

I'm not that active in the scene anymore. That's because most of my friends
have retired. Actually the only two things I do in the scene nowadays are
drawing ascii for the crazy people who still need it and being the devil
in the details in the Daydream project. Although I have become more active
within these last months: helping Dipswitch with TAC and helping couple of
sysops by designing an outlook to their BBSes.

Ascii is just something I do when I feel like it. It's another form for
expressing myself. Don't take this in the wrong way. I hold ascii and
the scene around it high up, but it's not even near the center of my tiny
universe. I have this love/hate-relationship with ascii art. It has given me
much, but maybe taken more...

14) In which situations do you to decide to sit down and draw ascii?

When I feel down, bored or inspired. Sometimes I have these moments
when I say to myself: "Hey! Now I gotta do some ascii". Then I sit down
and draw. After these occasions I usually end up drawing what they call
good shit. Also time to time I force myself to open up my editor and
start drawing ascii. This happens more often when I have many requests
waiting to be fulfilled. Forcing myself to start drawing isn't good
at anytime, because then I end up designing crap that is no good for
anyone. But it's still a part of the process.

15) If you should name some of your favourite collections,
    which are those and what makes them special? What makes a good
    collection in general?

Nukeproof series by Stylez first came to my mind. They weren't nothing
collection design wise, but the styles he introduced were out of this
world. When I first saw those collections, I was stunned by such a great
art work. Also "In Fire In Which You Burn" collection by Native of Aerosol
has burned into my mind. I think that's mainly because of the killer logos
this collection contains. I have to mention two more collections here.
They're both from the finnish miracle H7. They set new standards for
collection design. "Enjoy the Silence" and "Streetlife" are definitely
worth checking if you haven't seen them already. They contain the best
collection designs seen 'til today. I know there's plenty of other great
collections out there, but these are the ones I remember straight from
the top of my head.

16) Which artists would make up the perfect ascii-group for you? Who
    would you put together to form the overall best group?

Line-up would be Shock G, Native, Mortimer Twang, Stylez, Chrombacher,
Karma and Mogue. All these artists have put out nothing but quality when they
were active. I mean this would be the perfect group for my viewing pleasures
if all artists were on the peak of their form and formed a group like this.
Uhuh, I'm drooling here...

17) What do you think about the releases of the past months?

I haven't seen a quality release in ages.

18) What would you wish to see in the future of the ascii scene? Or is the
    ascii scene dead as meat already?

More quality releases of course. I'd like to see the old artists returning
and starting to release once again. I'd like to watch the artists from my
generation developing their skills and challenging the masters. Ascii scene
isn't dead 'til it dies in our minds and if it's up to me, it'll never
happen.

19) What are your personal plans for the future? In scene and in real life?

I'm planning to release my eternity project soon. It'll be one huge
motherfucker of a collection containing 99 logos and couple of lyrics of
mine. No need to tell that it'll be my best collection so far.

I'm going to change my job soon. I mean if there's a better one available
than the one I have now. Also I'm going to get the proper education I
need for becoming a real graphic designer so I'm applying to a bunch of
schools this spring. Hold your thumbs up!

20) Ever thought of giving that whole ascii-shit up and leaving the scene?
    If so, why didn't you leave then?

I have taken couple of breaks from the scene, but I have never considered
to leave it permanently. I don't know why really. Scene of today isn't what
it used to be.

21) Are you interested or active in any other art-forms besides ascii?

Of course. I do graphic design for living so I guess I have to be a little
bit interested in it. I also take photographs every now and then, but
they cannot be counted as art just yet. Music and movies have caught my
interest aswell, but I cannot play any instruments, sing or act so
that's it.

22) What is your opinion on the Internet? What is different from the BBS
    scene of old times? Do you see any sense in running a BBS nowadays?

Internet is a great thing, but it has more or less single-handedly killed
the board scene. The major difference from the board scene days is that
internet has killed the intimacy. That certain feeling that we had on the
board scene has been lost forever. I really cannot explain this to someone
that hasn't experienced it himself. I have to see a point in running a board
in this age of internet, because I'm involved with couple of projects whose
goal is to open up a brand new board. I think boards of today give us
a mouthful of what was left behind and that's important. Besides who
would use your asciis, if there wasn't any sysops around?

23) What is your opinion on The Ascii Charts? And how do you see its
    importance in the ascii scene of today?

TAC is an important part of today's ascii scene no matter who says and
what. It's a forum where artists can discuss about ascii art in general
and read reviews and stuff. I don't know if that's important for you, but
it's for me. As I said earlier, I think TAC has done some good things for
us; boosted up the ascii scene a bit.

24) Name your favourite movies/music/webpages/books/girls/food/drinks.

Movies: Usual Suspects, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Matrix, Fight Club,
The Crow, Dark City. There's plenty of good movies missing, but I cannot
remember them. Maybe some other day.
Music: Dream Theater, In Flames, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead,
Chroma Key, Sentenced. Those are the bands I've been listening lately.
Webpages: Member13.net (my own site), Visio45.com, Feelingsinister.com,
Halfproject.com, Kiiroi.nu, Thespot.nu, K10k.net, Surfstation.lu,
Factory512.com, Cemgul.com. There's too many good websites to mention here.
Books: Tolkien, William Gibson. Good authors. I have read "Lord of the Rings"
over 15 times.
Girls: Janina Frostell. Nothing more to say.
Food: Good steaks, Pizza, Pommes Frites.
Drinks: Pepsi Max, Fanta, Sweet Perry Cider with or without a vanilla twist,
Long Island Ice Tea, Lipton tea!

25) Have you ever been on one of those cruises with 2000 students where
    the only target is getting drunk and afterwards getting laid?

Absofuckinglutely!

26) Why do you think we have chosen you to give us an interview?

I have no idea. Maybe I just got lucky...or not.

27) Everyone deserves some last words. Here you go.

I'd like to quote a Dream Theater song called "A Change of Seasons" here:

           "We can learn from the past
            But those days are gone
            We can hope for the future
            But there might not be one"

I'll save greetings for my upcoming collection.




                                                                   . · .
         __    ____   ____     ______  _____ ________              .:. .
 ·     __\/____\_  \ /  _/_____\_    \_\_   \ _   _ /              :::::
 :_.__/     /  _/ _//_  \    \  /    /  /   /_/   /_\______________:_:.:__  _
 |/| /     /   \     /       / /    /  /___/ /   /                  : ·:
_|  /______\___/____/_______/__\____\_______/____\   (· iRCNET #aSCii ·)
\|   tR!/-T!                            ______ ___    ____      __  .:_:
 ·     _ ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ __\___ /_  /___/_ _/___ __\/_:__\/__
 |\ \ \\\\  //\\  //\\  //\\  //\\  //    _   /___    / \    \     /     /
 |¯      \\//__\\//__\\//__\\//__\\//     / _/  /    /       /    /     /
 :                                  \_______\________\______/_____\_____\
 ·                                                                 . ...
 .                   written by: tHrEAz / Twisted                  ::.::
                                                                   :::::
Even if amiga ascii scene went downhill a long time ago, the place :.:::
   where to meet your mates still exists: IRCNET #aSCii! This year :::::
     plenty of real deal amiga asciiers have shown up there, like: .::::
  Mogue, Desert, Rotox, h2o, Adon, Tango, Gravedancer, Stezotehic, :::::
   Zeus and Speeddevil for example! Never heard about ascii art at .::.:
      all? Never mind, #ascii on EFNET is like custom made to you. :.:::
                                                                   :::::
 I remember, that I came to #ascii first time in 1996. Earlier all :::::
  the ascii artists used to hang on #amielite with traders, sysops :.:::
  and other amiga peeps. After #ascii was found, it kinda isolated :::::
  some of the artists from amiga scene and caused them to get less :::::
       requests. The first bot on #ascii I remember was AsciiGawd. :::::
   Artists I remember on the channel from those days are Fatal and :·:::
     Chrombacher of Epsilon Design, Folar of Style, Wise-K of Jedi :.:::
    Arts and Rooster of Head. Of course there was plenty of others ::..:
                  too, but I remember my chats with them the best. :::::
                                                                   ::.::
Pretty soon channel came hip thing in amiga ascii growd and in the :::::
 evenings there could be 30 peeps at the same time. Those were the ::::.
   days of ascii scene. You had dreamed to be able to request from ::::·
    your favourite artists, but you had no clue how to reach them. .::::
          Suddenly you were in the same channel with them having a :::::
conversation. Of course boards had made it possible to be in touch :::::
with your ascii mates earlier, but this was something even better. :::::
      Leave and take requests while you are online and sending and :::::
                           receiving the requests in a short time. :..::
                                                                   :::.:
This may sound that I am some sort of IRC fanatic (and maybe it is :::::
    even true), but I got so many good scene memories from #ascii. :.:::
      Deep, a couple of hours lasting chat sessions, plenty of new :::::
  contacts and friends and a plenty of taken away time from school ::.:
                                                   and work, ehm.. ·:::
                                                                    ::·
These are the regular peeps on IRCNET #aSCii these days. They will  ·::
       bash you with their sarcastic remarks every time they get a   ::
change. And beware, many of them are bad ass black belt idlers, so   :
 even if you try to have a fight, they just may totally ignore you   .
                         and keep snoring.. (which is the default) .:::.
                                                                    ·:·
                                                                     .
Handle:   aBHO (aBHO)
Country:  Finland                                                   ·:·
Groups:   Twisted, Flo
Asc-Past: Inhale
Function: ASCII, Sysop (1996-1999)
To Scene: 1995
CoolShit: http://www.saunalahti.fi/pikka/pl/menu.htm

Handle:   bOhEmE (bOhEmE)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Style, Bombsquad, Abuse
Function: ASCII, Webmaster
To Scene: (I couldn't reach him for all the info)
CoolShit: http://www.purkamo.com (I expect he would have said this one)

Handle:   Cleaner (Cleaner)
Country:  France
Groups:   Used, Revelation, Just For Fun, Moonrise, Aeroholics, Drunken
Function: ANSI/ASCII on PC, BBS Modding, Sysop, Democoding
To Scene: 1996 (pc ascii 1997)
CoolShit: http://cleaner.planet-d.net

Handle:   D'Artagnan (dtn)
Country:  Previously Australia, Currently USA
Groups:   Twisted, G^Force, Conspiracy
Asc-Past: Whale, Honey
Function: ASCII, Leader of Twisted and Conspiracy, Webmaster, Sysop & Cosysop,
          Courier, Cracker
To Scene: 1990 (amiga ascii 1992)
Coolshit: If you know me your cool 8)

Handle:   Daeron (daeron)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Low Profile, LTC, Galza
Asc-Past: Tropic!Ascii, Alien Technology
Function: ASCII, web design
To Scene: 1996 (amiga ascii 1995)
CoolShit: www.halfproject.com

Handle:   Desert (d3sert)
Country:  Germany
Groups:   Dezign
Function: ASCII, GFX
To Scene: 1991
CoolShit: http://www.breakbeat.co.uk

Handle:   Dipswitch (dip^dCS)
Country:  Germany
Groups:   Dream Theatre, DCS, Bad Karma, AHS, Black Maiden, 100%
Asc-Past: Arcade, DKB
Function: ASCII, Music, Cosysop
To Scene: 1995 (amiga ascii 1998)
CoolShit: www.reggae-riddims.com

Handle:   Dwarf (dwarphie)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Mimic, Killkrazed
Asc-Past: Hazmat, Impure
Function: ASCII
To Scene: 1995 (ascii 1998)
CoolShit: http://www.thehun.net

Handle:   Exile (Exile)
Country:  Holland
Groups:   Inhale
Asc-Past: Grand Royal
Function: ASCII
To Scene: 1989 (amiga ascii 1993)
CoolShit: http://www.newpic.com : A free new pic with every click

Handle:   h7 (velikani)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Aerosol, TRSI, Mimic, Hirmu
Asc-Past: Save Our Souls, Alien Technology, Karma, Aalto
Function: Ascii, Hires, Sysop (1995-2000)
To Scene: 1995 (amiga ascii 1997)
CoolShit: http://www.thuglife.org

Handle:   Lord Chaos (aleks__)
Country:  Germany
Groups:   Dream Theatre, Bypass, Mo'Playaz, Aeroholics, Black Maiden
Asc-Past: Shoot, Whale, DKB
Function: Ascii, Music, Coder
To Scene: 1992 (amiga ascii 1994)
CoolShit: www.shaemarks.com

Handle:   MC Laser (MC_Laser)
Country:  Germany
Groups:   TSCC (Atari), Icebird
Function: ASCII, Music (Chiptunes, Synthstuff)
To Scene: 1991 (ascii 1996)
CoolShit: http://tscc.atari.org

Handle:   nasOne (nasOne)
Country:  Holland
Groups:   Aerosol, Mimic
Function: ASCII
To Scene: 1998
CoolShit: http://www.mimic.ca

Handle:   Nup! (bdcs)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Pro^Arts, DCS
Asc-Past: Mo'Soul, Whale
Function: ASCII, pixel gfx, siteop
To Scene: 1993
CoolShit: www.sokeri.com

Handle:   poskgubbe (posc)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Katharsis!ascii
Function: ASCII, Fucking eleete trad0r
To Scene: 1992 (ascii 1993)
CoolShit: http://ktsascii.net

Handle:   red demon (oO]red[Oo)
Country:  Holland
Groups:   Low Profile, Paradox
Asc-Past: Grand Royal, House of Style
Function: ASCII, Leader, Trader, Smoker, Lover
To Scene: 1987 (amiga ascii the night before christmas 1995)
CoolShit: http://trendsportworld.com (when its open)

Handle:   Repe (Repe\SE)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Style
Function: Music (modules & "real" stuff. Building a homestudio at the moment,
          so pretty seriously in the biz..)
To Scene: 1991
CoolShit: http://www.subakt.fr/

Handle:   sycotic (sycotic)
Country:  New Zealand
Groups:   Plague, Department 38
Function: Sysop (1993-2000), Trader
To Scene: 1987
CoolShit: http://www.sbp.org.nz

Handle:   tHrEAz (tHrEAz)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Twisted, Damones
Asc-Past: Head
Function: ASCII, Swapper (1988-1997), Cosysop (1992-1999), Webmaster, PC-Code
          pr0nl0rd
To Scene: 1988 (amiga ascii 1993)
CoolShit: http://www.damones.net (cool shit, no design)

Handle:   tribe (tribe)
Country:  Finland
Groups:   Mimic, Killkrazed, Phantasy, Woe, ISO
Asc-Past: Pen15, TheLoop
Function: ASCII, Sysop (1997-2000)
To Scene: 1996 (ascii 1999)
CoolShit: http://girls.c64.org/

Handle:   warder (warder)
Country:  Hungary
Function: ANSI, Cosysop
To Scene: 1992
CoolShit: http://daydream.iwn.fi

Handle:   zANEr (zANEr)
Country:  Germany
Groups:   Dream Theatre, Lightforce, Bad Karma, Aeroholics, SOIA
Asc-Past: Arcade, DKB
Function: ASCII, Sysop, Supplier
To Scene: 1993 (amiga ascii 1996)
CoolShit: http://www.artcrimes.org


   As you see, there are mainly Finnish barbarians and German scumbacks on
    the channel these days. It seems like ALL the Swedes have quit. Well,
         Holland with it's three asciiers should be mentioned too.

  Just as a little hint to newbies, try checking who is who and remember it.
  Newbie who expects scene  to be like a day in a play school is dead wrong.
  That should go and mostly goes  with #ascii too.
  Heh, just pop in, if you got the guts...

  - tHREAz/-T!

  - some words by Dipswitch:
  This article was written by Threaz over half a year ago. I tried to update
  it a little bit due to the developement of #ascii. I added some people
  who are regular attenders on #ascii nowadays, and also some people which
  Threaz simply forgot. Unfotunately, I couldn't not reach anybody for the
  necessary infos. Big sorry to all of you who feel like having to be listed
  here. If we'll bring an update of this list, we will include anyone who
  have to stand here. -diP/dTR



                                              ______ _
                                      _ ______)    //_____ _
                                    /_//                  \\_\
                                     |                      7
       r E l e a s e - l i s t     .:|                     _|
       ___  _____ __   _____  _____ _·_     _____          \____ _
    __(_ //_) __//  |__) __/_( ___/_\ _)____) __/__         |      -×ßL/SEA
   /   /     _/     |__ _/     \|  _/___   / _/      ____ __¦_  ___    ___
   \   \ _   \|     | / \|   ___\  \  |/   \ \|     /   |_\__ )_\ _)__(  //_
   /____\\____\_______\__\____/____\\_____ /__\____     |___   //___ \_   _/
  - ------------------------ -       \           _.     |  /   \  |/  |   |
                                     .         /__||_______\___/_____ |___|---
-
                                     |                      ·
                                   __|  .                .  |__
                                      \\|_              _|//
                                        _// ---------- -\_
                                    ____\                /___ _

* = reviewed in this issue


.-- dECEMBER 2000 - -   -     -
|--------------.---------------------.-------------.--------------.----------.
| Filename     | Colly Title         | Artist      | Crew         | Date     |
|--------------|---------------------|-------------|--------------|----------|
| soc-hano.txt | Hard Nova Days      | Sqlim       | SOC          | 03.12.00 |
| r-angel.txt  | She's An Angel      | Whodini     | Remorse 1981 | 10.12.00 |
| r-horiz.txt  | Quivering In The... | Mukumdi     | Remorse 1981 | 10.12.00 |
* lp!-pimp.txt | Pimpin' Ain't Easy  | Volatile    | Low Profile  | 22.12.00 |
* dn-drofa.txt | Droid Factory       | D0n         | The Loop     | 24.12.00 |
* ds!-d00.txt  | Ascii Flashback     | Dino        |Divine Stylers| 24.12.00 |
* p^a-smth.txt | Something I Can...  | Nup!        | Pro^Arts     | 27.12.00 |
* e^d-mvh.txt  | Majs vs. Haresis    | Ftl/Crb/Cg  |Epsilon^Design| 30.12.00 |
`--------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+----------'

.-- jANUARY 2001 - -   -     -
|--------------.---------------------.-------------.--------------.----------.
| Filename     | Colly Title         | Artist      | Crew         | Date     |
|--------------|---------------------|-------------|--------------|----------|
* l124-sim.txt | Stronger (Impres... | Azzaro      | Link124      | 10.01.01 |
* l124-asf.txt | #Ascii Fuckers      | Noches      | Link124      | 10.01.01 |
| mkd-bye.txt  | -                   | Mukumdi     | Remorse 1981 | 25.01.01 |
| lot-luvu.txt | I Lahve You!        | Lahve       | Layout       | 27.01.01 |
* hos-tage.txt | Take No Hostage     | Ramone      |House Of Style| 30.01.01 |
`--------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+----------'



- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
                          THAT'S THE END, MY FRiEND!

                                  - Credits -

                                Ascii Work by:
                              Daeron/Low Profile
                           Lord Chaos/Dream Theatre
                                Threaz/Twisted
                               XBall/Sative Mea

                       People involved into this issue:

                         Abhorrence/Twisted (reviews)
                   Daeron/Low Profile (reviews, interviewer)
           Dipswitch/Dream Theatre (main editor, reviews, compiling)
                Lord Chaos/Dream Theatre (reviews, interviewer)
                     Mortimer Twang/Low Profile (reviews)
                        Threaz/Twisted (article writer)

                                - Disclaimer -

 None of the material may be republished on websites, in diskmags etc. without
 permission of TAC. All material is (c)TAC'2000-2001. Ascii art is (c) of the
         artists who drew it. No material may be altered in any form.
 Every opinion expressed in any TAC issue is just an opinion of the author who
 wrote it. TAC as whole can not be hold responsible for opinions expressed in
    any TAC issue. TAC sees itself as a forum for Ascii artists to express
 opinions, not as an oppinion-forming organisation. No staff member of TAC can
   be hold responsible for an opinion expressed by another TAC staff member.
                     Spelling and other errors may occure.

           Cologne, Germany. 12.02.2001. Dipswitch/DTR (main editor)

                      Contact e-mail: asciicharts@gmx.de
              BBS World Headquarter: The Yard BBS (op: Zaner/DTR)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
[EOF]
                                              ¡ "bEYONd thE EdGE Of REAlitY..."
>> ¡ -------------------------------------- - |.
  .|                                          ||
  ||  AEROhOliCS / MO'PlAYAZ / dREAM thEAtRE  !| _
  |!  MANGOO / AEROSOl / diSCiPlES OF AGEEMA   | ;
  |                   bAd kARMA / ARCAdE WHQ   |   _
  |                                            |   ;
  7    liGHtfORCE / ROYAl lOW PROfilE / SOiA   |
  :          UP ROUGh / PUNGAS / 1OO PERCENt   |
  ¡       tEQUilA / PhUNk GHQ / PhANtASY EHQ   |
_ |                                            | "...dON't PlAY US ChEAP!"
; |   AMiGA/ASCii/GRAffiti/dRUGS/N64/GAMEbOY   !
  |   GAMEbOY COlOR/NEOGEOPOCkEt/SNES/OldiES    ___.     ______.      drn\lp!
  |   PSX/PS2/dC/SEGA/MP-ThREE/ChiPtUNES/MOd   \\  !___  \     !__ _ _ ________
  |   =C64/SPECCtRUM/AtARi-8/cPc/liNUX/*NiX!   \\  .__/--\\   ._   \ / ._     /
  |                                            _\  ;/     \   !/    \  !/____/_
  |   PRiVAtE SYStEM With thREE diAlUP NOdES   /___/     _____/     __ /    __\
 _!   fiVE BlAStiNG 24h tElNEt NOdES ON ADSL       `----'     `----'  `----' 
\\;     . ______   ___ _ _ _________   _______                              ¡
 \      !/  __ /___\_  \ /   _  __ /___\_    //   t h E   Y A R d   _______,| 
 _\    _/   \ /     _   /    /  \ /     /    /______________________\   ____|_
 /_____);  ______   )  __    \ ______  /_  ___,_________________________\   !
     ,_____\     `----'  `----\      `----'
