Interview with Mindcrime
By Shrike
as appeared is acrylic weekly issue five

(shrike ) howdy
(mindcrime) werd.
(shrike ) Hi, I'm shrike from Acrylic Weekly, and this is an interview with Mindcrime.. woowoo!
(mindcrime) (i rule)
(shrike ) to start off, I'm gonna get the basic's out of the way.. what group have yew been in, founded, etc.. (how did yew start)..
(shrike ) blah.. :)
(mindcrime) well, i started off in a local 908 group called rancid back in like july of 1993.. the leaders of that group bailed, and i didn't want to let it die, so i assumed control.
(mindcrime) i released like 3 rancid packs, then decided that i didn't really like the direction the group was going.. so i started blade in janurary of 1994.. our first pack was in march, and we've released consistently since then.
(mindcrime) then only other group i've been in is acid, and i've run the bbs modification division (acidic) for about a year now, after being just an obv/2 modder for a little over a year.
(mindcrime) .

(shrike ) And Do you enjoy running a group and being a coordinator of another group? (ie: is it difficult, what kinda problems do you come across etc)
(mindcrime) It doesn't really present any problems since Blade doesn't have a bbs mod division. So they pretty much stay completely unrelated.. I do enjoy it alot, though. It's harder running acidic now, though, because of the decline in bbs activity and the will to mod.
(mindcrime) .

(shrike ) How do you feel about the decline in bbs activity.. Is there anything that Acid can do about it?
(mindcrime) Naw.. there's really nothing that can be done about it.. I hate the fact that it has declined, and I wish people would get hip to the awesomeness of the bbs scene.. but the internet is just taking over and that's natural progression.
(shrike ) yes it is.. that is too bad.. :)
(mindcrime) I would like to see more telnet boards, though. I think that would solve the problem of BBS's declining due to LD fees and the unwillingness to pay them.
(shrike ) that's true.. that's why I got so pissed at yew taking yer time to process my app 2 years ago.. :) damn LD charges. hehe
(mindcrime) haha.. yeah, it can really hurt.. i remember the days of $500 fone bills nearly every month.. i'm lucky i had lenient parent.s
(shrike ) ahhha
(shrike ) I had muh $400 and got kix0red off da puter for a month.. :)

(shrike ) so, what is your opinion on group wars out in the "art scene"?
(mindcrime) group wars... that's such a bad way to put it.. years ago, there was competition among groups. these days, it seems no one cares who is on top.. now you can say that "it shouldn't be about the competition it should be about the art".. and to an extent, that is true. but when the competition ceases, what then is the motivation to do better art? there is none, then the art starts to lack. we NEED competition to drive people to put their best effort into t
(mindcrime) groups "wars" are stupid, but sometimes they are the only way to promote competition between groups.
(mindcrime) when it starts to get ugly, and one group starts playing cheap, or taking it too seriously, that's when the problems arise.

(shrike ) true.. and your opinion on the current "twilight vs. acid" ?
(mindcrime) twilight vs. acid is getting ugly. at first i thought nothing of it but then i go into #acid and i see someone banned by the bot with the reason "twilight member".. that is just out of hand. we don't need hate, we need competition
(mindcrime) .

(shrike ) right.. and your opinion of the cia vs. blade competition (this coming from a cia senior staff member to the blade president feels kinda funny :) )
(mindcrime) this is where it gets juicy..
(shrike ) ahaha
(mindcrime) blade vs. cia wasn't even something i started. one night, i was feeling wacky and decided to try to promote some friends group competition with a few groups. i started with #fire, first, then #cia, and eventually #dark.. the next thing i knew, cia blew it WAY out of proportion and we started having cia members take over #blade and bankicking us from #cia..

* shrike hides in a corner :)

(shrike ) hehe
(mindcrime) it was stupid.. so i decided to further things, and we said a few words in the blade info file that were intended to highten competition and try to put a more friendly spin on it at the same time. but evidentally, i forgot to use a million smiley faces, so they didn't get my sarcasticness.
(mindcrime) napalm got it though. he retaliated with a tremendously well done cia info gile, that featured a nice large font that said "we own blade".. it was obvious that the whole thing was in jest, and that was the exact thing i wanted to start: a friendly competition.
(shrike ) ahaha
(shrike ) donut forget acrylic #4 :)
(mindcrime) my article in acrylic 4 wasn't meant to really do anything toward our competition.. but i got carried away and threw that one liner in just for a few laughs.. i don't think anyone really responded to it as i had already explained my situation to alot of the #cia guys.
(shrike ) hehe.. :) (shrike ) that's cool.. of course, you heard about the acidjazz event didnt you?
(shrike ) how do you feel about acidjazz ripping ansis?
(mindcrime) i'll really only say one thing regarding acidjazz.. why would someone who has been in the scene for years, releasing quality art with cia decide one day to rip a font from unsane (of all people)... it just doesnt make alot of sense to me, so i tend to believe his story.
(shrike ) anyway..
(shrike ) :)
(mindcrime) heh.

(shrike ) now to lighten this interview up..
(shrike ) :)
(mindcrime) good idea.
(shrike ) how is your "real world" life going anyway? (you have a girlfriend, etc. )
(shrike ) (you know the dirt and grime) :)
(shrike ) hehe
(mindcrime) i'm a gigantic loser.
(shrike ) AHAHAH
(mindcrime) heh.
(shrike ) (that goes wifout saying comeing from a blade member.. much less the president) :)
(shrike ) hehe
(shrike ) anyway.. :)
(mindcrime) most of my life centers around the computer, these days.. my job, my social life (even my real life friends started out as computer friends)...

(shrike ) so, you work.. are you in high school?
(mindcrime) and those who weren't computer friends have even started migrating over to using the computer. we have alot of influence on feeble young minds.
(shrike ) hehe.. that we do.. :)
(mindcrime) naw, i'm in my second year of colleg.. studying computer science, of all things ;)
(shrike ) woowoo!
(shrike ) :)
(shrike ) I'm doing cryptology
(shrike ) :)
(mindcrime) i can't even spell college.. see how much they teach me?
(shrike ) where do you attend?
(mindcrime) woah.. cryptology.. that's pretty rahd.
(shrike ) ya.. it is..
(shrike ) but off of me.. (hehe)
(mindcrime) a local college, monmouth university.. (www.monmouth.edu, send mail to the webmaster and tell him his page sucks.. he's a nerd.)

(shrike ) hehe.. okay..
(shrike ) well.. there you have it..
(shrike ) mindcrime.. prez of blade and acid senior..
(shrike ) mindcrime- if you have anything yew wanna throw out.. go for it.. :)
(mindcrime) lemme throw some props out to the staff.. belial, edicius, grey hawk.. dimes, grymmy, kiwi, cappacino.. you guys rock.
(shrike ) well one more question.. do you know anything about "jed and the devil's playground"?
(shrike ) :)
(mindcrime) tell napalm he's never getting his $30 if he keeps telling people about my ripped ansis.. heh.
(shrike ) hehhe.. :)
(shrike ) well.. I'm going to say one more thing before this interview ends..
(mindcrime) I RIPPED AN ANSI ONCE. IT WAS MY FIRST EVER! it was rahd..
(mindcrime) heh.
(shrike ) . X ( C I A O W N S B L A D E ) X .
(shrike ) :)
(mindcrime) no!