2005
Whats in a year?
Just occasionally, it is interesting to stop for a moment, and take a longer
view of the passage of time. We are coming up to one of those years, where a
whole bunch of significant anniversaries cluster together, like bumblebees
of remembrance buzzing around the hive of nostalgia. I'm talking about the
next year, or 2005 in old money.
Next year, we have the 5th birthday of Alive! It is amazing to think how
quickly and effortlessly the last few years have passed. We are already
rubbing up against the half-decade, an event back in Maggie days which was
significant enough to celebrate.. What will we do this time? Out of
interest, at the current rate of issue production, the birthday issue will
be probably issue 11. All ideas for anything that we should do, over and
above the regular issue, are awaited with interest.
A bit further back, is the 10th anniversary of the Fried Bits 3 party. This
was considered to be the high point of the original Falcon scene by many
people. For these, no party has quite come as close to the sublime heights
of coding skill displayed since (although there are many very close
candidates, but let's not get into the EIL 2001 argument right now!) Who can
say that they don't still have a copy of 'Lost Blubb' somewhere? Maybe even
in a ready to run condition to impress casual passers-by.
There is a large cluster of significant dates around the 15 year mark. The
year 1990 was a very big time for the Atari scene in general. We got the ST
News International Christmas Coding Convention (STNICCC) back then. This was
the high water mark of the "old" ST scene, the people that were there at the
very beginning. And you will get some aged atarians that will argue that
things haven't been as good since! The next official date for an STNICCC
related event, is their 25th anniversary. Only ten more years to go!
The biggie, as far as I'm personally concerned, is the 15th anniversary of
the Maggie diskmag. This coincides with my 15 years in an active role on the
scene. So far, the passage of time has been well documented, with a very
tiring but enjoyable 5th birthday party back in '95, and the release of the
delayed final(?) 10th anniversary issue at the STNICCC 10th birthday party.
Will we be commemorating year 15? Well, we'll have to get back to you on
that one. Nothing has been ruled out, on the other hand, nothing has been
ruled in yet either!
But the ultimate anniversary, for those people who care about such things,
is the 20th anniversary of the ST itself! It was 1985, when the first plush
and expensive "Jackintosh" ST's arrived to tantalise a jaded world. The rest
of it you all know by now, with rapid commercial success in the latter half
of the 1980's, and a slow decline thereafter. But for those people who do
care, the platform lives on! It might be appropriate to ask how this
landmark in particular is going to be celebrated?
So it looks like we're under a massive pressure of commemoration next year?
Which dates will cause us to party hard and enthusiastically, and which will
we merely note wth a momentary nod of recognition? We are open to your
suggestions at this point! Or are some of you working on top secret projects
of your own?
CiH, for Alive Mag,July '04
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