The
Xmastorial!
I'm not sure of the timing of this special issue, but Cyclone was planning
for a Xmas day release, so you are possibly starting to read this, when you
are near the end of the day, only just able to pull yourself away from the
rest of the family for some belated quality time in front of your screen,
and feeling a little bit bored and over-stuffed with Xmas dinner?
Well here we are again, and so soon after the last one too. Woss goin' on?
you might ask. Well Cyclone, possibly experiencing early symptoms of a mild
stroke, skidded onto the idea of doing a Xmas special issue of Alive, mere
seconds after releasing issue 11.
It is a lot smaller than a regular issue (no surprises there), but it can be
considered as a nice little Xmas present for the scene. I guess we won't
have too many complaints from the double sided floppy contingent, this time
around!
It's not as if we've been that good at doing Xmas in diskmags in the past.
The 10th Anniversary issue of Maggie had a Xmas tinge to it, as it was
released mere days before in December 2000, but that was an accident, due to
extreme lateness from the original due date. Apart from that, our track
record, going right back through the Maggie years, has been dismal when it
comes to a Xmas release. So a deliberately planned one is a first for us!
Anyway, here it is. It is technically Alive 12, and counted in as part of
the regular numbered issues.
As Xmas and the end of the year is a time to stop and reflect. We've managed
to get a little bit of a retro theme in, with a couple of new emulators
looked at, a retro website review, and also a retrospective on the fabulous
Enterprise 64, possibly the greatest 'also ran' computer of the 8-bit era!
I've even managed to squeeze in some Xmas flavour with a couple of my
'regulars' starring in a Xmas special of sorts!
Owing to the short lead-time for this issue, a lot of people won't be in
here. That is unavoidable. But there are one or two from whom we haven't
heard in quite a while. The following IRC extract might prove illuminating?
cxt: a pity moondog isn't available
cxt: i would have liked that
CiH: Wassup with Moondog?
cxt: dunno
cxt: he doesn'T respond to my mails
CiH: Just silent then
cxt: gave a comment at dhs some days ago
cxt: and i tried to kick his ass a bit :)
cxt: but i guess the subtitle of this issue will be
cxt: Alive vs UCM -> 2:0
CiH: How about Alive WHERE'S UCM
cxt: Is UCM still Alive?
CiH: Hmm ;-)
cxt: scenenews:
cxt: UCM has gone undercover, its so very undercover that nobody has yet
seen the tiniest bit of it
CiH: "One of our UCM's is missing!"
cxt: Former head of UCM dead?
cxt: it seems Moondog has been taken hostage by some hideous aliens, they
probably plan to do some nasty experiments on him, perhaps we should
send a task force to rescue him from this terrible fate?
CiH: No, not the ANAL PROBE!
cxt: YES and there is no time for lubricants :)
cxt: moondog: THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR ... ARGGHH!
But seriously, Moony, where are you? Just give us a wave, let us know you're
still alive, eh?
21.12.05 Note:- And just when I'm putting this lot to bed, Moondog has the
audacity to turn up again! I'll repeat, there is no time for lubricants!
Anyway, I'm in the final stages of this and more than ready to wrap it up.
All the best to the Atari scene, Merry Christmas, and a happy and productive
new year to you all!
Oh, and see you in the next issue, of course!
CiH, - Alive Xmas Special, Dec 20th 2005.
Hi there, Cyclone on the keyz...
Well it seems either the asskick on DHS or the indirect communication channel
via Lotek Style has worked and Eric finally called in. Of course it is already
late and he won't be able to contribute much content therefore, but at least
it's good to know he is still "Alive" :) From what I heared he is still busy
with real life activity and has no Atari hardware up and running atm.
Well this will apply to myself too, it seems real life is taking over and so I
will take an extended rest from any Atari related activity. I might still be
around at #atariscne now and then and will probably appear at some parties but
I surely can't stick to the activity rate of the past few years.
Whatever, I wasn't suffering from any stroke like CiH suggested I just wanted to
see if it is possible to create a magazine with half the scene busy with other
prods (DHS Compo) and quite close after the last issue. I am not sure if this
issue is still up to the quality and fun of the last ones, since we would have
needed a bit more time to achive that, anyway it feels like doing a compo prod.
Always start as late as possible and put some 32 hrs shifts in to finish the
last second before the deadline or perhaps a week later ;) I am glad it worked
out and it seems we didn't even got in trouble because of the compo...
Anyway I guess the next issue will be after outline, depending on the amount of
contributions we will get during the next few month, it should be no problem
to put the mag together.
It seems the weekly meetings at #alive served it's purpose to gather all kinds
of nice people to work on a product like Alive. Therefore I wish to thank all
sceners who supported us since STS has retired from his duty as Alive editor
and wish you all a merry xmas and a happy new year with lots of new Atari prods.
Cyclone for Alive, 2005-12-22
Meuh! Do you recognize the writer of those lines by this word?! The steady
readers should do... Yes, moondog is still alive (arf, moondog is still ucm
sounds kinda dumb) but not that much kicking atm. Since Heinz told me to write
some lines for the editorial I'm doing so right now, but to be precise, I don't
know right what to write. I was stumbling around over the DHS site from time to
time in the past few months, but somehow I never felt that much motivated to do
anything... until Heinz asked me for some contribution, esp. for a live-
discussion about the DHS Compo demo. Since I like those live-ideas, I moved my
ass lately, the result can be found in here, as well as some other fast written
lines... Dunno if those will be the last activities for the next time, you know
the .tSCc. slogan "no promises - no demands"?!
Anyway, hope you enjoy this issue, a great work for the obviously very short
time it was created in... I'm happy to see at least one magazine still going...
and so contribute if you want to see it Alive!
moondog of .tSCc. - 23.12.2oo5
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