ASD's "Metamorphosis" was one of those demos that made us all "think" for a while. Very deep and meaningful, and also very fresh from the design point of view. "More of this please" is definitely something that I was thinking while watching that demo over and over again. Well, I guess somebody heard that, because now we can enjoy some more of that... or perhaps I should say "even better than that". =)
Yesterday I woke up pretty early in the morning to check out ASD's new demo "Midnight Run", which happens a sequel to "Metamorphosis". It's very interesting that the demo didn't only bring me back the "Metamorphosis" feeling, but I also experienced a bit of "Lifeforce" feeling too. The visuals of this demo are extremely beautiful, and the music is simply ingenious. As expected there's a ton of depth of meaning, enough to again keep us all thinking for the days to come.
You can download the demo and read the related comments here.
Hey all, how was your long weekend? With the current Toronto weather, mine could have ended up quite boring. But of course it didn't, as I was saved by the miracle of ASD! =D The Breakpoint demoparty was held during the weekend, and there were quite a few awesome demos competing in various categories, including ASD's new demo by the name Metamorphosis. This demo is one of the most different, artistic and refreshing demos that I have seen up to this day. I'm not going to say more about it here, because you just have to see it. And by the way it seems that the Rogers problem with pouet.net has been resolved somehow, so you're not going to have any problems accessing the page hopefully. Make sure you also check out other demos released in Breakpoint 08. Some of my favorites: - Masagin by Farbrausch[This one is incredibly cute! =) ] - Challenger Deep by Traction & Brainstorm[Extremely Beautiful] - theBeauty by Einklang.net[Colourful demo] - Linear by SQNY[Darn kool style] - Concentrate by Adapt[Some very cool effects] - Diego on e - Unfortunately I have no clue who made this[Very very colourful and pretty demo] - 60 Seconds for Mr. Light by Anadune[Underrated unfortunately.. I found it absolutely adorable] - Wild Demo: Craft by lft[Oh Jeez... this one is awesome in ways I can't possibly explain!]
On a bit of a different topic, NVISION anyone? A couple of weeks ago I sent a whole load of information out about NVISION, for people who have left an email address with me to be kept in the loop with any demoscene related events. But so far no one has got back to me. Is there anybody who's going? In case you're wondering what this is about, check here. NVISION is a newly born demoparty which will be held in the San Jose, from 25th to 27th of August, and from what my understanding is, it's going to be pretty darn cool. And yes it's true, unfortunately I can't go because at that point in time my plane will be going to the opposite direction. But you can be sure that I would go if I were to be around. So if you're going, let me know. And if you're not sure yet, well, just GO! =) Don't miss this!
Update: ALSO ALSO... Jeez how could I forget to write this? The scene.org awards ceremony was also held during the Breakpoint, and you can find a complete list of winners here. Congratulations to ASD for winning the award for the best demo, as well as a couple of more categories. Make sure you check the winner for Breakthrough Performance too, it's very cute. Sumotori Dreams by Archee.
Last night I was notified that the Zine #13 headlines has been released! This intro which has been created by ASD, Brainstorm and Bitfellas gives you a general idea as to what you can expect to read in the upcoming Zine issue, but that sure is not all that it offers! The modeling of this intro has been done by Navis, and the music has been created by aMUSiC, which mean that YES, there is an ASD mini demo here that you really don't want to miss. =) The intro looks quite similar to the "Beyond The Walls Of Eryx" that was created for last year's Intel demo competition. And well you see, it has mini robots. And I guess I've already made it clear how I feel about mini robots. =D Wee! I have to mention that aMUSiC has definitely done it again with the superb music. As for the headlines, honestly I couldn't read every single word of it. But from what I was able to get out of it, seems like Zine #13 is going to be quite a ride, as was the case with #12. Hey, I know that you know what I'm talking about because almost everyone reading this blog had checked out the "Life Force Development Journal". ;) So, I'm very much looking forward to reading the upcoming issue. Meanwhile, don't forget to check out the intro!
Update: I know some of you guys have problems running the intro or reading the text. I'm still looking for a video version or the pure text for the headlines, but so far no luck. I tried capturing it myself, didn't work out too well. I will definitely let you know as soon as I find something. On the other hand, some guys seem to have problems seeing the pouet.net page for the intro. Well, not surprisingly I also have the same problem. I have not been able to see any pages on pouet.net for half a year now! I think it's a problem with our beloved provider the bloody Rogers with their perfect DNS system. [Did I mention I bloody hate Rogers?] Instead I use pouet.scene.org and that works just fine. So the working link would be this one. Or you can download it directly from the ASD website with this link. And yes, something weird had happened to some of the comments while re-publishing this article and they were showing up in the wrong place. I've fixed that and moved the comments back here.
UPDATE: Well well, ladies and gentlemen who couldn't run the demo or read the text, worry no more! =D We've been saved by Genox^Vantage^Calodox a.k.a my Other Half, as he has just captured a video of the intro. You can download it from here: http://genox.ch/pub/asd_-_zine_13_headlines.m4v
Well well, let's see what we've got here....well here we've got me, who's been sitting here on this couch watching "Lifeforce" on my notebook over and over and over again for so many times I've lost count by now, and trying really hard to figure out what I'm gonna write here about the demo and still not knowing what. I mean what can I possibly say about this demo that would really describe either the demo or how I feel about it? aMUSiC just told me that ASD has been working on this demo for 6 months... what can I write in a few lines to be a fair comment about something so beautiful that has taken so much hard work? For the first 30 minutes all that came to my mind was "Oh My God" and even now it's mostly that. ASD's new Assembly winner masterpiece causes quite the movement in one's mind. I'd been told that I was about to have a new favorite ASD demo and that's totally the case! =) The visuals bring you this beautiful mix of amazement and astonishment, way to go Navis, AMV and Archmage. And the music... well ... what else can you expect from aMUSiC and Leviathan? It's a fascinating soundtrack which is completely perfect for the demo. There really isn't much more that I can say... you have to carefully watch this demo, it speaks for itself and it has a lot to say actually. Do make sure to read the "read me" info as well for some extra hints. Thanks again ASD! =)
OK ladies and gentlemen, the Intel demo competition has officially started! I was just having a look at all the demos that are competing this time and I have to say a big good job to all the groups. They were all quite nice. As for the ASD demo, "Beyond The Walls Of Eryx", well.... I was surprised, and not! I wasn't surprised that the demo rulez... after all it's ASD, what else would one expect? But the demo was so original and so awesome that it actually did manage to drop my jaw all the way to the floor! So, BIG kudos to the ASD demo from both me and Genox! The demo has great visuals, great concept and great music. Another BIG kudos to aMUSiC for the super soundtrack. So if you haven't already, make sure you see the demo now. You can also download the demo from the same Intel page. Enjoy! =)
ATTENTION ATTENTION: Important news everyone! =D I was just checking my shoutbox, which is finally bug free thanks to Genox, and I found this message from aMUSiC of ASD:
"Hear ye, Hear ye! http://www.intel-demoscene.de/ (there is a button on the bottom to switch to english. 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds, and no DJ Hell this time."
Wellllll I guess we all know what that means. =) Another Intel demo competition, a new ASD demo to come soon, and this time with original aMUSiC tune. I was just having a look at the list of this time's competitors and I had my eyes going like => Oo since the teams are all my favorites! So for me this means candy shop on July 2nd. WEEEEEEE! =D Here's who they are:
ASD
Fairlight
Still
Synesthetics
XPLSV
You can have a look at the Intel page for a little memory refreshment, these are all teams that we actually have watched their demos on the big screen pretty often. =) I have to mention here, there's a certain other team that I really wish to see more activity from. You know who you are. But just in case you don't, well you're Vantage. Move IT guys!
I also have a message from Optimus reminding me of the yet to be used CDCz that I have on pouet. Well, I guess I'm waiting for the Intel demo competition! ;) And on a little side note: Yup my blog has a new home now. Please change your bookmarks and links to blog.aasemoon.com, thank you. =) Of course it's not a problem to keep the old one, cause you'd still be forwarded to the right address.
Some good news: Bookmark www.asd.gr , the brand new ASD website. Although it's still under-construction, but the weblog is already up and running: http://asd.gr/WordPress . :)
Also, I just heard some guys saying that they didn't get the chance to vote for the ASD demo in the Intel competition. Well guess what, you STILL HAVE TIME, and as far as I know you can vote till the end of this month. So go ahead people, VOTE, NOW! =D
Ok I'm in such a hurry to post this log, and I'm so bloody excited right now, that I don't even know where to being. Ummm, ok, there's a 30 second demo competition held by Intel, and 5 of the best demo-groups out there have been invited for the challenge. One of these groups is of course our beloved ASD. Voting for the demos is done through this website, so guys and gals, GO FOR IT, ASD RUUUUUUUUUUUULEZ! :) I also have to add that I sincerely wish all the best for ASD, because their demo honestly blew my mind. AGAIN! :)
I've decided to start a new log for this part of the report, since the comments are already showing signs of difficulty while loading, and I think we still have a lot to talk about. At this point in the show we had a bit of a change of directions. Next demo to go on the big screen was different from so many aspects compared to what we had seen up to that point. O Kyklos Tis Zwis [The Circle of Life] by Dragonil was the show's only flash demo, which was also the representative of a rather different style of demos. If you're reading this and you haven't seen this demo yet.....I have a warning for you. A very serious one that is. Ladies and Gentlemen, this demo successfully broke my heart to a thousand and one pieces, and believe you me, it will do the same to yours. It didn't just impress me, it actually made me cry. Yes. Honestly. Twice. And hey, I'm not exactly your example of an overly emotional person, and fortunately all the accusations of that sort were recently removed, thanks to the display crowd! They showed that it wasn't just me; that this demo actually had something different about it. The amazing concept of this demo added to the cute graphics and the great music, makes this demo quite a memorable one, as I was told by the viewers. Next came WHEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA ASD again! :D Dreamchild, another ASD masterpiece. I was told by some of the viewers that this demo was not meant to be watched for simple entertainment purposes. The comment was pretty interesting for me. I think we can all see why that is. => CONCEPT <=. This demo definitely has a lot to offer to apprehensive minds. Besides that, the visuals rule and don't even get me started on the music. Kudos to aMUSiC and Leviathan for doing it again. There's also some super Kudos to go to aMUSiC [again] and Amoivikos for the lyrics: I'm not a product of your dreams, I'm not either injected into your fantasy by some conspiracy or diabolic plot. I was, I am and I will be a part of your crystalite world. Omnipresent, spreading my roots deep into your nightmares. I cannot be removed. I am just there. Because I am, none other.. than you!
You are a dream. You are the whispering twilight, shining into my world of illusion. You are the warmth of my mortality, A moment in time. You seek after me. You are forgetfulness, but you are forgiveness also. You are the child I wish I had been, the innocence I could never recapture. You wish to embrace me. You are but the candle's flicker, yet you can set my heart ablaze. You cried for me, yet not one tear has reached me. You need not despair. You'll be there still for me to long for. For you to be reflected, into the stare of my loving eyes. For you to be dreamt of. For you.. am I.
Yes, it finally happened. After weeks of dealing with all sorts of ridiculous problems, we were finally able to hold the second Demo Display, which turned out to be well worth all the trouble. Given the amazing experience of the first show, and the amount of positive feedback that I received, we decided to be a little more organized and do some actual preparation for the second one. [For anyone who might not know this, the first show happened out of the blue and based on a sudden mental spark that I had!] Although the preparations didn't exactly happen in the most smooth manner, but we managed to get things done and send out the news to our Engee and Artzee friends and post some flyers for the rest of the world, on time. As a result of that, the crowd was considerably larger than the first time. The show was huge....a huge emotional outburst. I don't think I had ever seen Artzeez and Engeez agree so much....let alone going crazy over the same thing. Once again my Artzee friends did an awesome job helping me running the show. In addition I had the luxury of having 2 very special friends with me, who came to Toronto just for this. Soren, Kay [KayOS], you guys rule. I had actually came up with a solid list of the demos that I wanted to show this time, but as the crowd grew larger, we decided to prolong the show. As a result I was happily able to add a few more favorites to the list, including a couple of demos from the last display. So here's what we showed:
And of course to close the show we listened to a couple of great tracks:
Chloral Hydrate by aMUSiC [ASD]
Music On The Moon by aMUSiC [ASD] & Amigo [The Lab]
Now as you're suspecting I'm going to talk a little about the demos that we watched, and I'd be glad to know what you thought of each. The size of the crowd this time made it impossible for me to gather what everyone had to say about each demo, so lets do that here. But first I suppose I should mention a few facts, based on some interesting questions that I've received lately. Nope, I'm not a scener, neither are most of the people reading this blog. I came to learn about the Demoscene just recently [although I had seen some rather old demos a while ago]. Yup, I code a lot, Yup, I do some graphic design too, but Nope, I haven't ever done anything remotely related to creating a demo. Currently most of the coding that I'm doing is Microchip Assembly anyway. Given the way I came across Demoscene first, [watching Iconoclast completely confused & without the slightest idea of what was going on and with my jaw resting somewhere on the floor the whole time and enjoying the experience immensely that is], I've developed a tendency to pay more attention to the eye-candy/ear-candy aspects of the demos. Same applies to most of my friends here. [Not that I can ever completely ignore the behind-the-scenes!] Basically, we gathered to watch the demos for the joy of it. :) The people who were present at the first display, came to the second one expecting particularly to see some more ASD demos. That, and the fact that me and my gang are huge fans, were the reasons for us to start the show with ASD's trilogy [and to include 5 ASD demos in the show of course :D]. ASD's trilogy is a superbly artistic symbolization of the 3 basic elements: Air [Antidote], Fire [Aphorism] and Water [Ambience]. Given all the discussions that were raised among the crowd specially over the "fire", I believe I should present here the very helpful explanation that aMUSiC of ASD has posted on Pouet: "The trilogy is focused on the Aristotle's element line of Aether, Fire and Water. Aphorism is the Fire part. You can control fire up to a certain extent, but fire is always unpredictable both in its movements and constraint. The various backbone synch points and imagery is depicting the control and constrain of the fire, while the distortions and artifacts are representing the randomness and unpredictability of the flames, that however begin with a seed.. the flammable material (which is the music and its frequencies). The style of the music is harsh and expands into a multitude of frequencies to show the wildness and mercilessness of fire." What seemed very interesting to me was, although to a rather minor extent, it was apparent that each part of the trilogy seemed to be more appealing to a group of people with rather similar tempers! I'd definitely appreciate it if you people let me know whether you observed something similar. What I do know is that a theater room full of people was on fire while watching each part of this masterpiece! :)
After a the trilogy, came the only Amiga demo of the show, Ocean Machine by The Black Lotus. Of course I was pretty curious to see what everyone would think of the Amiga demo and watch some reactions. And of course I wasn't disappointed; having enjoyed watching this demo as much as I have, naturally I was hoping that the crowd would enjoy it as well, and gladly I should say that apparently they did. It seemed that the scene with the black dancer touched the hearts of most of the viewers, and I really didn't have to go asking around to figure that one out. I just had to stand behind the panel and observe the reactions! ;) In addition, the incredible sound track of this demo turned into a common favorite.
The next demo to go on the screen was Tokyo by xplsv. Yeah the same bloody demo that got me mistyping [yeah I know that most of you know what I'm talking about since you all had your ball making a huge fuss out of my tiny typo! :P]; the significance being the fact that my speech skills resembled my spelling skills for a few hours after watching that demo. But hey, it wasn't just me! The colors, the awesome music and all the beautiful effects in this demo managed to create the Tokyo feeling for the whole crowd, and from what I could see, it was quite an enjoyable one too. Another interesting fact is that no one out of that crowd has so far told me that the demo was too slow for them. Anyone thought so? Let me know. Personally I think the slow pace was a must for this one, in order to have "the" effect. Anyhow; off to the next part.
Update: Since a lot of people were asking for this, do check aMUSiC's comment regarding the ocean machine lyrics. [Yup, half a gallon Mustard/day for me from now on!]
Important Update: Ok I have to add this here so it won't get lost in the comments pile: Starting from the show day, I've received so many "who did what in the where" questions regarding the producers of the demos, a lot of which I honestly don't know the answers to. True, I do a whole lot of reading up and tracking down, and I do have "some" info, but I can not possibly have the answers to the kind of detailed questions you seem to have. So I suggest that you check out the group pages on www.pouet.net and from there find the website URLs of the groups that you have questions about [that is if they have one], and you probably know what to do after that. I also have to mention this: NO I won't post those questions on pouet.net BBS. I'm still enjoying my life. If you like, you can try that yourselves. :)
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
