tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10966026057524065412024-02-20T07:44:16.454-11:00The GloomA webcomic better known for its intense beauty and amazing art than for its political commentary.ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096602605752406541.post-20639209951424047722010-09-11T08:00:00.003-11:002010-09-13T14:20:17.258-11:00Dark Bit FactoryAfter several prominent members of legendary demo crew Hanissis V broke away to form Dark Bit Factory, The DBF Demo crew has undergone many changes down through the years. As with everything in this horrible scene, DBF never remained a peaceful group. 17 lawsuits, 75 award-winning demos, 9 former members, 6 years, and one mysterious death later the current line-up of DBF is as follows:<br /><br />Clyde (vox, drums)<br />Parabellum (synths)<br />Shockwave (guitar, autoharp)<br />Holdock (drums, backing vocals)<br />Jim Shaw (lighting, tour manager)<br /><br />A scientific survey of over 3,000 demo groups that were active between 1953 and 1982 concluded that the number one reason that 93% of all groups stagnate and die is that the members do not keep in touch.<br /><br />DBF buck this trend. Releasing a new demo once every two months, they continue to amaze everybody in the Scene. Leaked documents revealed that group leader Jim Shaw forces every new member of DBF to sign a ten-year contract that requires over 8,000 lines of new code to be delivered every week. Could this account for the quality output of DBF?<br /><br />Maybe so, maybe not. Another reason could be the semi-annual group meets in Wales. Every actve member is flown in to the resort town of Pinkilton where they are treated to 4 days of lavish parties and coding sessions. Pictures from these events are popular with tabloid newspapers due to their pornographic and narcotic content, but sadly we are unable to reproduce them on this blog. Each event is paid for by advertising revenue from the DBF Interactive website.<br /><br />Never far from the headlines, DBF are currently experiencing legal troubles in the Netherlands. Group leader Nic "Shockwav" Soothead is to appear before the courts there charged with incitment of hatred after being arrested while decapatating several wooden effigies of the Dutch Parliament. When asked for a comment, the DBF Press Office replied with the following statement:<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">"</span><span style="font-size:85%;">As we cannot comment on cases due before the courts we will instead address the decriminalised status of canabis in the country in question. Were one to imply that any member of DBF had ever ingested this wicked substance, we would also be unable to comment except to say that drug induced psychosis is the number one cause of effigy burnings in Holland and Nick thought he was chopping wood back home in Plymouth, some blighty pimp took advantage of a sick mind and sold him those fucking manequins under false pretences and they're lucky he left his lighter in the coffee shop!"</span></blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">DBF's new megademo, "Scenes in the key of Chilean Minor" is released at the end of the month through <a href="http://www.dbfinteractive.com">Dark Bit Factory</a>.</span>ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096602605752406541.post-92179081911134140652006-01-02T07:22:00.002-11:002009-07-17T14:45:07.386-11:00The Gloom, A History, Part 1<div style="text-align: center;">Gloom-fan Clyde Radcliffe recently <a href="http://www.dbfinteractive.com/forum/index.php/topic,147.msg55894.html#msg55894">asked</a>:<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xTzm3uNEfC340higMHSMDQoc-lfi4ckIshSU-YVNpVZy6bUHXiiiG3lLDs6v-PcQg7wDj7SEM9HXkWl5YDP1D2kdlMvOUggsjJsATtz6k6s7t311wCsl-LpIFKuF1WSWHkryqDWnHHsh/s1600-h/avatar_17.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 64px; height: 61px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xTzm3uNEfC340higMHSMDQoc-lfi4ckIshSU-YVNpVZy6bUHXiiiG3lLDs6v-PcQg7wDj7SEM9HXkWl5YDP1D2kdlMvOUggsjJsATtz6k6s7t311wCsl-LpIFKuF1WSWHkryqDWnHHsh/s400/avatar_17.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358754768628460898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> - "</span>Is there some history to Gloom's origins, also is Ted Archer famous</span>?<span style="font-size:180%;">"</span></div><br /></div></div>Well, Clyde, thank you for asking. Feel free to ask any time you want. A simple man might look at your question and answer it all at once; here at The Gloom, however, we like to take the tortoise's approach and win races through sheer boredom. So here's some kind of an answer:<br /><br />It all started on the Internet, as many things do. A man known to many as Dan Danby bought some dial-up internet and after several years of typing random expletives into the address bar, he finally found an old website known as <a href="http://pub51.ezboard.com/byabasicprogramming">yabasic.co.uk</a>. This was a precursor to the Dark Bit Factory fourums in that the DBF crew stole a ll the good ideas, simply renaming everything, stealing all the members, and changing the colour scheme.<br /><br />Anyway, at the same time as this, there was a young man known as Edd Biduolope, from near Nothingham, who used to trick wild cats into coding demos for him, and then making huge profits from these demos. One day, Danby met Biduolope and they decided to form a demo group known as Byulope. This demo group sadly failed but the two went on to raise money for several charities by running in 12 marathons that year.<br /><br />Afer the running season was over, they set to work on a new project which would become known as The Gloom. They worked on the first three episodes but after that they were sadly lost at sea and The Gloom was sold to the Ultrapaste Corporation which still runs all Gloom related sites today.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsoRC7Q61EQT8XmmqEtYcCLQxDm11sJCZ9XIDlDYAVwL8oSCdLH88e52tK7SNG9slTsphyphenhyphenWlMrq9jp72d8OI1Md582OrFVB2IcdIbIIklzf69VT1NDJYSYbr0wj7ptxNNY8sx1JYVgl56/s1600-h/jim23.PNG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 98px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsoRC7Q61EQT8XmmqEtYcCLQxDm11sJCZ9XIDlDYAVwL8oSCdLH88e52tK7SNG9slTsphyphenhyphenWlMrq9jp72d8OI1Md582OrFVB2IcdIbIIklzf69VT1NDJYSYbr0wj7ptxNNY8sx1JYVgl56/s400/jim23.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358767465982167810" border="0" /></a></div> <span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Gloom in an earlier life</span></span><br /></div><br />We do realise, Clyde, that we haven't answered the second part of your question, re: Ted Archer. This will have to wait until a later date when The Gloom, A History, returns.ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096602605752406541.post-20090856657638967642004-02-03T12:56:00.002-11:002009-07-15T07:29:01.234-11:00The Gloom Season 1, Part 3<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighxXUxRu4TanWYl02bDhclSitFytJdBkBhG9tftjqSVlGoAAkGkrMKE8_7pX1YcrxH0lhQ-q0SfvQmCmpkUs3PsraTs89_PDGzUMyUOm3-r2XoLJ72ZR7sDW6PBchI9X7ahZQfcuR1PfU/s1600-h/8.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighxXUxRu4TanWYl02bDhclSitFytJdBkBhG9tftjqSVlGoAAkGkrMKE8_7pX1YcrxH0lhQ-q0SfvQmCmpkUs3PsraTs89_PDGzUMyUOm3-r2XoLJ72ZR7sDW6PBchI9X7ahZQfcuR1PfU/s400/8.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356242641775907250" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:78%;">episode eight. the tree-like mushrooms that appeared in early episodes of The Gloom were the subject of several theses at the University of Inner Cardiff. An investigation followed.<br /></span><br /></div></div>A history of The Gloom will some day be written, and after that happens, there will be a lawsuit, and a legal victory, the final alterations to the text will censor the following facts:<br /><ul><li>In 2002, there was a new comic written by a young Swiss student by the name of Tomsan Kaffas. This was called Nouvelle Sam.</li><li>The original creators of The Gloom bought the rights to this comic for a minor sum, discarded Tomsan's artwork, and proceeded to build their new comic, The Gloom, around the story of Nouvelle Sam.</li><li>Shortly before the Ultrapaste Corporation entered into negotiations to buy The Gloom, Tomsan Kaffas was found dead in Eastern Europe. No autopsy was performed.</li></ul>As above, this website will continue to provide useful trivia about the process behind the making of The Gloom where possible.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsq60TKTuSYpxtpZOb4_ar4chyphenhyphenyi34DTWN_-f5aOCCG3s5VI70kqQWnAaiiJGIn7yVldyMIBD06aJTPPi9QA2TyvK6xZ3K3xUcQS880kY8nCMDZ8159wBjmW-iCXNFhyphenhyphen_OCyzZbSaLFT_/s1600-h/9.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsq60TKTuSYpxtpZOb4_ar4chyphenhyphenyi34DTWN_-f5aOCCG3s5VI70kqQWnAaiiJGIn7yVldyMIBD06aJTPPi9QA2TyvK6xZ3K3xUcQS880kY8nCMDZ8159wBjmW-iCXNFhyphenhyphen_OCyzZbSaLFT_/s400/9.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356246532306134082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >episode nine</span><br /></div><br />Episode nine, shown above, has always provoked vicious debate among fans. On the one hand, it introduced the most hated character in the entire comic, the clown. However, episode nine was also the point where The Gloom mushroomed in popularity. Before this it barely had ten hits on its website every day, but with a move of servers to devisland.net and an article about the comic in the Atlanta Times Monthly, The Gloom suddenly had twelve new readers an hour an expenses bill to match.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXlcNE9ooE1JJDP0bDw78jBwEVYCn9IKCQjaGk5YUyENxCmqB5WIOVl-pCmjaxZwkXJL9hSVK83aQScj5aFbsPni5bfrH7OvXzSp4BJqYQT2tB6xQKW6PWf8pazcmiuCFiBAd0OvVShYT/s1600-h/10.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXlcNE9ooE1JJDP0bDw78jBwEVYCn9IKCQjaGk5YUyENxCmqB5WIOVl-pCmjaxZwkXJL9hSVK83aQScj5aFbsPni5bfrH7OvXzSp4BJqYQT2tB6xQKW6PWf8pazcmiuCFiBAd0OvVShYT/s400/10.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356248020331175970" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlAWENyWdDGK4xlL-eOgBXwtkHn_YM74OUjH3dj3_SYZbBpciXF46TWU5vMHsCdNr8LkrZHxalHWpHITB4viQYK3k62WgmMLVzDVNxmbm55JD_6P6SZa_uqAyv37enNaSzCaDiMDlTPxu/s1600-h/11.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlAWENyWdDGK4xlL-eOgBXwtkHn_YM74OUjH3dj3_SYZbBpciXF46TWU5vMHsCdNr8LkrZHxalHWpHITB4viQYK3k62WgmMLVzDVNxmbm55JD_6P6SZa_uqAyv37enNaSzCaDiMDlTPxu/s400/11.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356248081896123282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >episodes ten and eleven</span><br /></div>ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096602605752406541.post-22877410216807117332004-02-02T07:30:00.000-11:002009-07-08T12:44:09.305-11:00The Gloom Season 1, Part 2<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJA2xbYrZp8gI8TDaqpqXDm3LVqQ-bIhwAmiCUWrjYEQZ8Hg5cHqqZROexMqOKikUm2xOEAnohE_WuuhH4ACDG6-Wn5fO7a05_o560bev9hOafsE2VvMx75xDdfXgMNwx99j3Hx96xQBsi/s1600-h/5.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 72px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJA2xbYrZp8gI8TDaqpqXDm3LVqQ-bIhwAmiCUWrjYEQZ8Hg5cHqqZROexMqOKikUm2xOEAnohE_WuuhH4ACDG6-Wn5fO7a05_o560bev9hOafsE2VvMx75xDdfXgMNwx99j3Hx96xQBsi/s400/5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356237604465805490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">episode five, informally titled "energiser"</span></span><br /></div><br />And so it happened that the comic continued. In those early days, we'd spend days and nights extracting codeine from paracetemol just to have enough fuel to keep us coming up with ideas. It was never easy, but we never gave up.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARR9Yf4w8iovTnaqkPuGqBSPgbH3uwNUutZ-rZRupJgHD12crJWszWllZOG-aJ5UBZD3JI33Isjucr7DdMZYTKVnOVMPwG7ylYhYlJeOE6HsNgwceSIywnvgmRyZiDbsTQKt6whynTBAq/s1600-h/6.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARR9Yf4w8iovTnaqkPuGqBSPgbH3uwNUutZ-rZRupJgHD12crJWszWllZOG-aJ5UBZD3JI33Isjucr7DdMZYTKVnOVMPwG7ylYhYlJeOE6HsNgwceSIywnvgmRyZiDbsTQKt6whynTBAq/s400/6.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356238030497559762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">episode six, made in anger after the inexplicable death of a local cat</span></span><br /><br />We didn't have much staff in those early days, but people rallied around to help. We had connections to many of the coders at the Dark Bit Factory and if we were short of soup or carrots, these kind men and women would send us packages full of Tesco own-brand food. Hopefully we can repay them in the future.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwG4KlAmrjh1vUcKulEh25SIo-4FUl3a0fS0rJA7GcKwx_11HABfLeWPTRoS0ww965TIEOIixzTrhiW0XyRBUW-7n1I71FXLueCwI5HHjXxQenvwVg8XkKOWGBnJNLUPLpXwhhv8hbsqUo/s1600-h/7.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwG4KlAmrjh1vUcKulEh25SIo-4FUl3a0fS0rJA7GcKwx_11HABfLeWPTRoS0ww965TIEOIixzTrhiW0XyRBUW-7n1I71FXLueCwI5HHjXxQenvwVg8XkKOWGBnJNLUPLpXwhhv8hbsqUo/s400/7.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356238874945397234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">episode seven<br /></span></span></div>ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096602605752406541.post-18162462371205262592004-02-01T06:57:00.000-11:002009-07-08T10:58:41.888-11:00The Gloom Season 1, Part 1<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgYnfUFFsJsU5hLcPSQiCeviMeIs4VBLPU4Mv4KHIxwu-PclP37R86Y71LZl2XNQSRs-ZnPlr4cAvemvJ-bb9SMV67hCLcw2bpn88pOWogHDoVWfu4A5Eri5uUBymIvTzdCFwbyXEMvAS/s1600-h/01.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 67px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgYnfUFFsJsU5hLcPSQiCeviMeIs4VBLPU4Mv4KHIxwu-PclP37R86Y71LZl2XNQSRs-ZnPlr4cAvemvJ-bb9SMV67hCLcw2bpn88pOWogHDoVWfu4A5Eri5uUBymIvTzdCFwbyXEMvAS/s320/01.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356150481907964242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">episode one, a summer classic</span></span><br /><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here they are, verbatim,untouched, heavily edited,</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> t</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">he first episodes of The Gloom. The quality has certainly crashed since then, but what did you expect?<br /><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLou4EwHvf2cOIj5sIgdl9IZqZrONyuapn6l-Zh_cUQwxjMh9RvYzR-2AtqCKfXIZICFKF44g8_oLKObmE0EIzXlenCjFwPiJHILAAmHhDZTB575j7H_AvoawY88Vumif7I6iR6SBlYlH/s1600-h/02.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLou4EwHvf2cOIj5sIgdl9IZqZrONyuapn6l-Zh_cUQwxjMh9RvYzR-2AtqCKfXIZICFKF44g8_oLKObmE0EIzXlenCjFwPiJHILAAmHhDZTB575j7H_AvoawY88Vumif7I6iR6SBlYlH/s320/02.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356150985433179074" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >episode two, a continuation</span><br /><br /><br />This was February 2004. It was a hard time for the computer graphics community, and things didn't get any better for many years. The Gloom continued to be the only source of glee and mirth for over 35,000 unemployed graphic artists until the Tory government introduced the Computer Graphics and Assault Legislation Bill, 2008 (Misc. Provisions) in June, 2006.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLfI_js77zvs-xifCZ7C-RRTzAAuRTlu-PNlDb6HaPNEysqEsNjs8DfIEVa0meWQ4lyGKElTNNrrA4tSWxnXDVHkpKHXGn_bQkowxf2c7kBV2xE4W_guJap4H9hKLZldkpiUO7Dxkq1W9/s1600-h/03.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLfI_js77zvs-xifCZ7C-RRTzAAuRTlu-PNlDb6HaPNEysqEsNjs8DfIEVa0meWQ4lyGKElTNNrrA4tSWxnXDVHkpKHXGn_bQkowxf2c7kBV2xE4W_guJap4H9hKLZldkpiUO7Dxkq1W9/s320/03.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356151271070993090" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnlgc-gUZdO9A46iMGgy8jYUPGltTqC1hADs7E2QfOy4kwapMTOvigvU4x4gpul4XQE4_ngm7cks_g11Yi7w0j6KYX312PS43e-ZMBA6Xc2R8FgZGbABOZ8FrWFVIl-PuzcwlocFLnnaZ/s1600-h/04.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnlgc-gUZdO9A46iMGgy8jYUPGltTqC1hADs7E2QfOy4kwapMTOvigvU4x4gpul4XQE4_ngm7cks_g11Yi7w0j6KYX312PS43e-ZMBA6Xc2R8FgZGbABOZ8FrWFVIl-PuzcwlocFLnnaZ/s320/04.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356151337103250882" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">episodes three and four, The Gloom's first foray into multi-part episodes</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span>ultrapastehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11890221647264671383noreply@blogger.com0