talking with cool-t, co founder of acid!ansi and ansi artist elder (been drawing since 88).

Session Start: Fri Jan 03 09:18:17 1997

dangermouse: any comments on acid!ansi?
dangermouse: just to get my news file looking at least decent.. this split is wierd..
cool t: comment? for whom?
dangermouse: for acheron - a scene related web page opening up soon..
cool t: We have roughly 30 ansi artists right now, and will be releasing our first ansi-only acquisition on february first.
cool t:We also plan on releasing a series of font sets(A-Z and 0-9) to the public, within the next month.
dangermouse: cool..
dangermouse: how did youse split?

cool-t and a few others within ACiD weren't happy with how the ansi department was being run..

cool t: so we decided to form acid!ansi..
cool t: at first, we asked rad man if he'd be "ok" with our idea to improve the ansi department.
dangermouse: what did he say?
cool t: when he didn't approve of it, we went ahead and formed it anyway.. without his approval.. and so it's not affiliated officially with acid.
dangermouse: jeeze.. has acid got any ansi artists...
cool t: when I left acid, i was informed that there were 14 ansi artists left in acid. I doubt this number is true however, since I recently found out that a lot of EX-acid artists are still on the acid member list.
dangermouse: has acid got any ansi artists left? who did you manage to get from the ansi department? all the best artists?
cool t: ..as well as the fact that quite a number of acid productions artists have left for acid!ansi.

dangermouse: what about that rumoured merger with twilight?
cool t: who? acid!ansi? we have no plans on merging with twilight.. though they did offer a merger very early on.
cool t: If I wanted to be in twilight, I never would have formed acid!ansi in the first place.
dangermouse: yes.. i thought they might of - who would pass up a gift in the mouth of ex-acid ansi artists.. i mean.. it was worth a try ;)

cool_t said something about there not being many active ansi artists within ACiD - which from looking at their recent packs - he's right.. so they had to do a lot of recruiting from outside sources.. (god damn log is stuffing up again!)

dangermouse: ahh.. yeah i noticed the decline in ansi output in a couple of ACiD packs..
dangermouse: so, basically you are the leader of acid!ansi
dangermouse: the new radman so to speak ;)
cool t: no, i'm not the leader, really.
cool t: napalm death and i are sharing most of the "leader duties" of the group right now.
cool t: there is no official senior staff or even president of acid!ansi.
cool t: Napalm Death has done a lot of work getting us a homepage, mailing list, and recruiting.

dangermouse: anyways.. so, how about some background info on ya.. age? live?
cool t: Well, I'm 22.. and i'm from allentown, pennsyvania.
dangermouse: hmm.. what's your background within the scene.. such as previous affils.. etc..
dangermouse: (btw im 18, oz)
cool t: I started drawing ansis in december of 1988.. (i was about 13)
cool t: Then in 1990, I founded my own ansi group called Ansi Maniacs, which was decent for its time.
cool t: We had a lot of good artists that went on to join groups like iCE, ACiD, Mirage,etc..
dangermouse: when did you join ACiD?
cool t: i joined acid around february or march.. a couple weeks after saga merged into acid(1996).
cool t: I almost joined acid in 1992.

dangermouse: cool.. i couple of ppl i've interviewed believe (including myself) that the ansi scene will prolly only have a few years at best left in it because of the more web based sites now opening.. bbs' will slowly die - it's happening as we speak..
dangermouse: a scary thought?
cool t: it's clear that ansi is a dying art form.. because bbses are slowly dying.
cool t: hhm.. scary? not really.. unless you don't make the transition into high-res.
dangermouse: yeah good point.. some ppl won't however.. i'll prolly be one of them not to make the transistion.. but then again i didn't want to be drawing ansis for this long too ;)
cool t: I suppose we'll always have our old ansis to look back on..
cool t: ..which reminds me - George Ramos is working on a homepage that will be sort of an "ansi museum."
cool t: It should be pretty cool when it's completed.
cool t: For now, I'll keep drawing ansis every now and then.. as long as I see *some* kind of a need.
dangermouse: ahh.. a fitting site... it'll be popular that's for sure..
cool t: Yeah, I was going to have a nice acid promotional ad in the acquisition, but quit before it would have been released. cool t: Ofcourse, for all I know.. catbones might still put it in the acquisition, unless rad man takes it out. dangermouse: do you dabble in hi-rez?
cool t: I've recently begun doing high-res work for the web.. and am pretty excited by what i've been seeing on the web(as far as slick design and animation). I like the possibilities it offers.
dangermouse: yeah, soon, i believe, we will see java coders within groups, perhaps as departments even..
cool t: Right now I'm doing some hi-rez for "east coast web productions," but haven't been doing much more hi-rez than ansi, really.

dangermouse: have you ever heard of fORCE Productions?
cool t: hhm.. I don't think so. I don't keep up with all the groups and whatnot.. as much as I used to. Is that an ansi-type group or a web design group?
dangermouse: an aussie based ansi/hi-rez group that i'm in..
cool t: well, i'd be interested in checking out a force productions release some time.
cool t: i'm always interested in checking out other artists' work any time i can.
dangermouse: yeah we're on ftp.cdrom.com..

now for some fun stuff..

dangermouse: umm, can u email that zip, dcc fucking slow for some reason..
dangermouse: what's your email address?
dangermouse: mine's weepie@hotmail.com
cool t: coolt@postoffice.ptd.net
cool t: sorry for the delay.. an acid!ansi artist just messages me..
dangermouse: hang i'll email you some of my work.. you can do the same..
dangermouse: okies.. done
cool t: brb
dangermouse: check ya email man..
dangermouse: hello?
cool t: ok.. there you go.
dangermouse: just got email from radman.. ehhe.. he's not to happy about acid!ansi ;)
cool t: haha.. i know.
cool t: "cool t must be on crack if he thinks he can use the acid name like that!" -- rad man
dangermouse: yeah it went something like.. he said i could quote him on that too!

*** THeRMiTe (rad@acanthopholis.execpc.com) invites you to join #credit_card_numbers - a little something we recieved whilst chatting.. what a nice man for sending it to alieve our obvious boredom..

dangermouse: umm... did you send an email? have you got mine yet?
cool t: yeah, i sent mail and got yours.
dangermouse: cool.. have a gander..
cool t: ok..
dangermouse: they're over the past six months i think
dangermouse: still have't got it.. :(
cool t: ok.. back.
cool t: hhm..
cool t: hold on a sec.
cool t: would it be a problem if the file attached was 70k?
cool t: i know some BBSes and small services don't allow files over 50k to be attached.
dangermouse: ahh.. prolly why it's taking a little longer..
dangermouse: hmm.. just wrote up the news file.. bwahahaha..
dangermouse: still haven't got it..

*** caynan (~poison@port-03.ndh.com) invites you to join #credit_card_numbers - yet another spunky message.. jeeze, these ppl are so thoughtful!

cool t: hhm..
dangermouse: weepie@hotmail.com
cool t: weepie@hotmail.com
cool t: is that right?
cool t: ok.
dangermouse: perfect match
cool t: yeah..
cool t: heh..
cool t: echo
cool t: that's what i sent it to.. hhm..
dangermouse: hehe.. had a gadner at the zip?
cool t: gadner??
dangermouse: gander.. wopps
cool t: yep..
dangermouse: woops.. my spelling's rooted.. hehe
cool t: i'm gonna' try dccing just one ansi..
dangermouse: hmm good luck ;)

dangermouse: umm, how many of the ansi depart from acid quit? more than 50%?
cool t: i couldn't tell you, really.. since i have no idea how many were still with acid at the time we formed acid!ansi.
cool t: rad man told me there was 14 shortly before we formed acid!ansi..
cool t: though i highly doubt it.

* weepie screams loudly at the prospect of never recieving some of cool t's work!

cool t: i think we only took about 5 at the most from acid..
cool t: the rest were outside people..
dangermouse: hmm.. not much then.. don't you have any quams about using the acid name as such?

cool t: 40% of the dcc completed...
cool t: wow.. this dcc is just screaming by..

cool t: naa, not really. maybe if i took the ansi scene more seriously, i might.
cool t: on another note, I had enough respect for the history of ansi art in acid, that i thought it deserved better than just 1 or 2 ansis shadowed by 15+ high-res jpegs each month.
dangermouse: hehe.. hang i'll up the news file to our web site.. you can have a read..
cool t: rad man wasn't willing to make any changes in order to help the ansi department.. so i thoguht i'd do something about it, myself.

let's stuff around again!

dangermouse: ok go and check out http://www.gil.com.au/~rgt/
cool t: wow.. the dcc is nearing completion. i can't believe it.
dangermouse: holly shit!
dangermouse: gone to our webpage yet?
cool t: naa, i wanted to let the dcc finish before i loaded up any other applications..
dangermouse: okies.. on ya bike then.. ;)
cool t: hhm.. still haven't received my mail?
dangermouse: hang
dangermouse: nope..
cool t: welp..
cool t: i just sent a test message through to you..
cool t: tell me if you get it.
cool t: i'm gonna' check that web page now.
dangermouse: coolness
dangermouse: i'll prolly be chucked off ansi in a min, just insulted Tgaurdian, thought my name is lame ;0
cool t: tell me if he bans you.
dangermouse: yeah will..
dangermouse: that's better
dangermouse: liking it?
cool t: liking what?
dangermouse: the page
cool t: oh..
dangermouse: duh
cool t: you changed your nick, i see.
cool t: didn't notice that.
dangermouse: aha.. it's what it's sposed to be anyways..
cool t: yeah.. i noticed the ansis were wk-*.*
dangermouse: hehe. what did ya think?
cool t: hold on.. i connected to the page just now..
dangermouse: ah.. slow eh?
cool t: I was just chatting with some other people..
cool t: i like the title screen ansi..
cool t: err
cool t: jpeg..
cool t: not ansi.
cool t: heh
cool t: what is "acheron?"
dangermouse: it was the name of our old scene bbs, but a virus trashed it.. well, we didn't see the point of opening another bbs, so we went to the net instead..
dangermouse: umm, go to the info page to see the meaning of acheron..
dangermouse: having fun yet?
cool t: it's pretty cool..
dangermouse: what ya reading?
cool t: i read a little of the news..
cool t: then i went into the file area..
dangermouse: hehe.. should go to the info page.. funny..
cool t: i'm checking out the interviews now
dangermouse: ahh.. cool..

dangermouse: woo.. got ya email!

Session Close: Fri Jan 03 12:13:39 1997