»CL6:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- »CL0: TRSAC Autumn Partyreport »CL6:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Written by »CL5:Dr. Doom »CL6:of»CL5: IRIS »CL1:Ok, first of all, I was ORDERED to write this article, it was never my decision to do a party report. I hate this. »CL8:Right, TRSAC then. This party has become somewhat of a tradition around these parts. It's hosted by a bunch of Danish Amiga owners, users and sceners, as well as (we assume) a bunch of sorry PC gamers. »CL1:The location is whatever hall is available and big enough to accommodate the fairly impressive number of sceners who usually attend. »CL7:Sceners travel from as far away as Norway, Sweden, Germany, and even from the UK in order to attend, which is quite impressive. »CL1: It features the standard compos you'd expect from any party (even a 4ch compo, get that, Mekka people?), and whether you like it or not, PC sceners are allowed inside. They are even given a few compos, which I think is a very decent gesture on behalf of the organizers. This semester the party was held in some sports hall on Amager, a small island east of Central Copenhagen. The facilities (toilets, baths, etc.) were good, in fact as good as anyone could hope, and the hall was very big, »CL8:in fact there were plenty of tables left unused despite the large number of attendees (I'm not sure of the exact number, but the impression I got was that around 200 people showed up).»CL1: In other words the party hall itself was very well chosen, however its location did leave something to be desired. The nearest pizza place was miles away, which bugged us somewhat, and shopping facilities of any kind were hard to find and took a while to get to as well. The building itself was constructed much like a maze, with pointless dead ends, locked doors all around you and never-ending hallways everywhere. So although there WAS a cafeteria IN the building, it took about TEN MINUTES to get there. And when you did get there, you would turn back immediately upon seeing the ridiculous prices. »CL7:The party progressed without too many unfortunate incidents, such as people hurling on the big screen, knocking over speakers, and so on. »CL1:So in that respect you could say it did get a bit boring. At one point we were forced to drive around the hall in shopping carts to keep our spirits up. Surprisingly enough, the organizers didn't mind. It was nice to see relaxed, laid-back organizing (such as you'd see at a party like Scenemeeting), really a breath of fresh air when you're used to dealing with the fascists who run The Party in Aars. They did not, however, allow us to enter in the wild compo. And we had the perfect entry; it was me, being spun around in a shopping cart, until I got sick at 120 RPM. Wicked, hm? Anyway, we were denied this, and there was much relief. »CL8:The deadline for some of the compos was a little early, since the party was shorter than most, but on the other hand the organizers were reasonably flexible.»CL1: They didn't come dressed up in riot gear, they didn't call the police the minute we opened our mouths, and they didn't mind if an entry was an hour or so late, so long as they had time to enter it. We were even told that they'd arrange any compo as long as they received enough entries for it. This was impressive and again added to the relaxed, friendly atmosphere which is essential to a good party. »CL7:Now for the really good part and the really bad part: drinking was allowed but smoking was not. Any smoker knows that a cigarette hanging casually from the side of your mouth makes you look twice as mature and intelligent,»CL1: and any smoking coder knows that Asm-Pro simply doesn't work if you are not smoking at least once every half hour. Besides, it really disrupts everything if you have to leave your computer every once in a while to satisfy your urges. So why weren't we allowed to smoke? Well, being a civilized human being, the first thing you do before you light a cigarette is search for no-smoking signs. If you see none, you ask the people sitting next to you if they mind, assuming you don't already know whether or not they do. If they don't, you go ahead. So where's the problem? »CL8:Apparently one of the organizers had a problem with smoke. A really old jerk, probably a PC scener (yeah, I know, there's no such thing, but I am TRYING to be kind here). »CL1: He wanders the hall, telling everyone to take his filthy habits out into the hallway. So, we head for the hallway, find a nice stationary ashtray (apparently people are expected to smoke here), and are greeted by a makeshift sign saying "Smoking by stairs" with a hand pointing towards the stairs. »CL7:The mood is slowly switching from annoyed towards agitated, so we ignore the sign (and the seemingly dead Norwegian on the floor) and grudgingly do our thing, »CL1:all the while wondering why we weren't allowed to do this inside the large and well-ventilated partyplace. This negative attitude towards smokers really puts a damper on any party, no matter how well organized. I mean, if it's the smell that bothers anyone, they should enforce mandatory daily showers for everyone. If it's a health issue, well, everyone is filling up on cola, beer, booze and junk food anyway (and probably plain junk as well). But never mind. »CL8:Let's not be all-negative here. The entrance fee was reasonable, around 100 DKK which equals about 25 DM or 9 UKP for those interested. »CL1:There were no prizes on the other hand, except painted plastic ducks, but this is as much a good thing as it is a bad thing. It's nice to go home with a trophy to put on your shelf rather than a slightly heavier wallet which will eventually be restored to its natural vacuum-sealed state anyway. In addition, I gather it promotes genuine competition and makes votefaking that much less justified for those who are sinister enough to do it in the first place (hello Loonies). The equipment was quite excellent, a large big screen, large speakers, etc. Sadly, the organizers didn't know how to operate all of it. Here's a hint guys: although the bass knob can be turned all the way up and the treble knob can be turned all the way down, it doesn't have to be that way! But whatever, »CL7:it wouldn't have been so bad if we could have avoided the infantile Loonies with their supposed-to-be-annoying-in-a-funny-way Livitas music. »CL1:While we're on the topic, Leet Radio was there, playing their gabba-hip-hop music or whatever it was. It was ok FOR A WHILE, but really not diverse enough to be interesting. But then again, we in IRIS expect scene music when we go to a scene party. So while slightly disappointing and annoying to us, others may have been delighted. Who knows? »CL8:The compos were good, though, and as usual there was an oldsk00l compo, which we think is a more than excellent initiative. »CL1:A hand-drawn graphics competition was held as well, another original idea, involving actual pencil sketches and real paintings, delivered physically to the organizers, then scanned and shown on the big screen. The usual compos had their usual, not entirely overwhelming number of entries, and they were enjoyable. The HD-throwing compo was cancelled though (much to the dismay of Ransom/IRIS who possesses an unusual talent for pitching retired hardware across football fields), but there was no appropriate location for it anyway. »CL7:With that, we left the party and the capital, heading for home. We were, on the whole, satisfied, although TRSAC Autumn was by no means the best party ever. »CL1:It ranks somewhere between "ok" and "good" (which is not to be taken lightly, of course). We are sure to remember a few moments from there when we grow old and grey. So thumbs somewhere between up and down. Eh..