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The Alternative Party 2003
mkoskimi writes "The fourth consecutive Alternative Party is arranged this weekend (Friday to Sunday) in Helsinki, Finland. As before, we expect up to 300 people joining this round-the-clock event, bringing along all kinds of weird machines (previous times have seen a
Magnavox Odyssey,
a M6800 Evaluation Kit II and the Vectrex). It's not yet another retro computer show though; there will be Competitions, artists and our guest of honour, Jeff Minter! There be llamas here..."
A good ole geek party... maybe the name should be "The alternative *sausage* party" ??
I'm always amazed at the skill displayed in all those demos. I used to try my hand at some assembler programming back in the days, but boy, those people have genius. Recently I even went to a small rave and they had lots of big plasma screens in the club with what was clearly demo stuff running... it was really, really cool :-) .
I wonder how they do it now, anyone know? Do they still run DOS to have access to all the intricacies of the hardware?
Respects to them, in any case.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Bloody amazing...
Will there be a return of the mutant camels?
This seems like a traditional finnish party. You better not go if you can't drink booze ;)
Think I'm kidding? No, I'm not. Check out these pictures from finnish geek parties!
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I was imagining some kind of retro computer programming contest, but along with "Most Obscure Computer Competition" the events include:
- Photography Competition
- Short Story Competition
- Live Vocal Music Competition ("You do not necessarily have to sing, you can also make other sounds/noise with your mouth(s).")
- Love Music Competition
- Black and White Video Competition ("Shades of gray are not allowed.")
I love it. It's a shame I'm nowhere near Finland or I'd stop by just to see the spectacle of 300 retro computer geeks in a love song competition...
It's Slashdot's evil twin... SlashNOT
No, I'm not connected with these guys.
But this is just such an obviously cool product I had to flag it. A load of guys have done a 4 hour plus DVD-Video of Demos running on the machines that ran them best. Everything from 1990-2001, including (of course) 2nd reality.
I got it on release day and it's superb, even with easter eggs and original music from demo artists for the menu.
http://www.mindcandydvd.com
Entries for the invitation competition are already available, featuring intros/videos, music/posters/flyers/pictures, text files and even a feast recipe invitation!
The intros have wide variety of entries, some working on Win32, some made with Perl, a 4k intro, invitation for GBA and Vic-20 and more.
Some stuff from Alternative Party III held in January 2002 is also archived and available.
Here is a pouet-link to one demo from the party, "Partaitiö" by tAAt (Platform: 386SX, works in Win2k box with VDMsound). (tAAt ry is also helping in organizing the party this year)
Check out also pictures from the overhead projector compo called "Valoköysiviljelijä".
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Party Schedule
Note that (almost) all times are estimates.
Mission Statement
The demo scene has almost been a stifling force against creativity. It seems to be content to operate within its own secure borders, defended by angry troops and barbed wire. Almost afraid to explore new grounds and afraid of the world outside. Anything that is different is scorned at. It's not technically challenging. It's silly. There's no *wow bang*.
Demo coders end up becoming game coders and tracker musicians become game musicians. They become anonymous. Why can we not look at the world beyond? With the fourth incarnation of the semi-legendary Alternative Party that is what we are trying to do. Trying to make sceners realize there's more to life than having simply technically superb results, with no personality, style, originality or attitude. We want people to look at new solutions -- both for their hardware and, more importantly than ever, for their productions.
Please do contact us if you have ideas how best to do this. We are always looking for comments.
I'd just like to throw an extra greet to Antti Silvast for making me realize why the Alternative Party is important again.
--Kristoffer Lawson (Setok / Aggression)
The Facts
What: A new kind of computer party.
When: 10th-12th January 2003.
Where: Kulttuuriareena Gloria, Helsinki, Finland.
How much: 20/25 EUR. Ticket info
Background
The last Alternative Party was the most successful event, and the most challenging event we have ever organised. It was a truly memorable weekend in many respects. The music, the contributions, the people and the unbeatable spirit. Everyone combining together to prove to the world that change can take place. We honestly believe you cannot experience anything like that at any other scene event. In January 2002 we passed the 200 mark. Can we now reach 300?
The event is organised by Alternative Party ry, a non-profit organisation, in co-operatin with tAAt ry.
Contribute
If you wish to take part in discussions and hear the newest announcements, join the Alternative Party mailing list:
mailto:majordomo@fishpool.com
Body: subscribe altparty [address]
If you are only interested in announcements, use subscribe altparty-announce [address] instead. Note that all announcements will be posted to the altparty list as well.
Contact
For more information about the party, contact Setok or visit the Contact page.
Competitions
Note that the deadline is over -- this competition has been closed.
10th-12th January 2003
Gloria Helsinki Finland
http://www.altparty.org/
Prizes
Common Misconceptions
We keep hearing things from people about our party, or the people involved, which simply are not true. Here are some of them.
This has never been true, although it is by far the most common misconception we run into. So much so that it is potentially damaging. The Alternative Party has always been about doing and thinking things differently. Right from the very beginning we have allowed a wide range of computers to take part in the compos, from Vic 20s to Macintoshes. In fact we would very much like to see a modern supercomputer or UNIX workstation taking part. So just to emphasise this:
The Alternative Party is not only for old computers
This is simply not true. We do not turn anyone away because of the machine they bring with them and welcome anyone and everyone who has paid the entrance fee. Specific compos might have rules which limit the machines or technology that can be used, but they do not apply to the party on the whole.
While some people might think that, we put a lot of serious effort into working out new ideas for compos. This is indicated by the fact that a certain large computer event has used some of the ideas for their own compos.
Not true. In fact many participate at Assembly every year. While it could be said that we do not consider Assembly to be the best party in the world --- that would naturally be our own --- we are on good terms with several Assembly organisers and would like to keep it that way.
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The company I work for ordered a demo from one of the demogroups. It was displayed on a wide screen plasma-tv with hifi speakers at popular trade show. It was like a magnet for the customers. Most of the customers had never seen anything like it before and they stood there for minutes just staring and blinking their eyes.
The demo cost only few hundred euros because it was made by teenagers. But the quality was way above anything what we would've got from a design office for thousands of euros. I sincerely recommend everyone in a management position to use the skills of these democoders.
Party: Good music, dancing, drugs (some maybe legal in different countries, some maybe not, careful in your choices, you wouldn't want alcohol in Saudi, you wouldn't want tobacco in California..), girls, boys, mixing it up and some people getting very friendly, lots of laughter...
Alternative Party: ... ok guys, you really sunk this article with this headline, you want to tell me why I want to come to an Alternative Party which presumably has none of the above ? :-))
though my hardware that i'm taking isn't exactly computer related, i'm just taking my(i'm supposed to be fixing it, which i guess i did already but i can't know for sure since i don't have tapes for it) grundig tape player(NOT c tape player, this one has tubes and all, and jury rigged line in, for hooking up to c64/lpt-dac whatever). pics are at here
:P.
and then i'm taking my camera, 'canon still video camera', that saves the stills on a video floppy disk(kinda hard to find them, the video is afaik saved in straight analog form on the disks too.). 50 bad or 25 better(interlaced) pics per disc.
a piece of totally pointless technology
one irc-friend is bringing an alpha..
still, the more important thing is the people.. as this doesn't lure 14y cs 'vets'... too bad it's a little too cold for the right style scene bonfire outside(i don't know though if theres even proper forest near enough for it, no sense making it somewhere where you can drive because coppers are sure to come and put it out.)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
With temperature of between -5 degrees (Celsius) and -30, you'll sure need to heat the room ! :)
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Jeff Minter used to live just around the corner from me(when I was about 5!), I still at the same place, I don't think he does any more (haven't seen him down the pub?)
Talley is a small town right, out in the countryside , next to the Aldermaston Nuclear establishment (The reactors probably less than a mile from my house, he says radiantly). I should imagine the radiation contributed to the llama fetish.
well that's my claim to fame.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
A shame that the relaunch of Llamasoft doesn't seem to have taken off. Anyone else remember Psychedelia? I was into that long before I even *saw* a spliff...
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
I know some people that would've gladly taken that off of your hands. Although, I guess any shipping of the monitor may have disturbed the fine balance that produced the effects.
My friends are welcome to use these pictures without any obligations.
Clearly he's not a lawyer.
SpamNet - a spam blocker that really works
Gaming on mobile phones, PDAs and other embedded devices has allowed the 8 and 16 bit kings and queens to come out of retirement and show the world what great games they produced.
:)
Those gadgets remember much of the 80's computers in two aspects.
First is the small resolutions: it's difficult to put something with 1024x768 in your pocket
Second (and this is a REAL issue on mobile phones) is tight memory: unless you own a Smartphone, you can't simply put more memory, and even if you own one, the cost of a SD or a CF is higher than your standard el-cheapo DDR for the same amount of memory.
It's natural that all those greats from the 80's are back on mobile gadgets, and still kicking!
Cesar Cardoso can be found at cesar at zyakannazio dot eti dot br (or at least I believe so)
Sorry to hear that. My first thought when I saw this article was "gosh, a lot of potential comers will be disappointed by it being too soon." Hopefully they'll be able to announce it earlier here next time. Then again, the place can only hold a few hundred people :/
I'll probably pop by although I have no idea what I'd be doing there except getting jealous of others' unuseless skillz.
Old-skool-skene people should have some means of int'l communications of their own.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
...Ok, I'm a square...can somebody please define the "demo scene"? I gather it has something to do with indie music and computer graphics...
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
AltParty is not always the most popular of the demoparties - usually there is Mekka, but this year they have cancelled it. Speaking from the perspective of an 8-bit GameBoy scener, I can only hope that this doesn't have a negative impact on the scene - luckily there's Breakpoint this year. 8-bits still rock!
--j
P.S. if any of you langaymers are trying to get into Breakpoint, good luck. we DON'T allow gamers in, you'll be deemed 'non-creative' and possible ejected.
Apparently Mr. Tempest 2000 has been working on PocketPC games. (We need 'em ported to Zaurus. Eon Games, where are you!?) :^)
-bill!