Maggie

THE IRON BOYS STRIKE - FIENDISHLY AND FEVEROUSLY
by John de Bruyn

Since ST NEWS officially died and entered the darkest realms of
death and mayhem beyond the river Styx, another disk magazine has
popped up.
Well...'disk magazine'?

OK. Let's try to be somewhat objective here, which is altogether
hard as we all know that I'm writing for a disk magazine myself -
towards which I am not wholly unbiased as you will agree.
For starters, it is called "Disk Maggie" (which seems to call to
mind a rather round shape of an English prime minister), and it
is published by some not completely unknown people in the ST
society by the name of The Lost Boys (or, more mysteriously,
TLB).
At the time of me writing this article, two issues have been
finished, which have both been getting rave reactions from all
over the globe.
And, I might add, quite just so.
Filling maxi-formatted double-sided disks to the brim with
demos, demos, demos, demos and articles (in that order of
importance, I guess), they succeed in glueing the beholder to the
keyboard for quite some hours in a row.

For those of you who don't know: The Lost Boys (formerly even
called "The Lost Boys of London") are a bunch of English demo
programmers who already wrote some pretty stunning demo material
like "The DEFinitive Demo", peaking in spring of this year with
"Mind Bomb". Their members are Sammy Joe (a German who lives in
England, who - by reasons unknown that surely have nothing to do
with his capacity to write English properly - seems to fill most
of the new Maggie), Manikin (the main demo programmer, an awfully
talented chap) and Spaz (the graphics artist - an hopelessly
perverted Heavy Metallunatic that seems to enjoy it when people
spill blood and come all over him).
More recently, the demo programming team has been enriched by
the entry of In Flagranti (now named Oxygene) and Digital
Insanity (yeah...Stefan!) to their illustrious ranks.

So what's better than to call Manikin (alias Tim) and ask him a
couple of questions?
ST NEWS: Why did you start "Disk Maggie"?
Tim: You should actually be asking Michael (Sammy Joe, ED.) this
as it was his idea to start the magazine in the beginning and he
is the one who organises the production of it. Basically it was
simply to fill the void left by the departure (?) of ST NEWS.
ST NEWS: Hmm. Yeah. Well. Why do you think Michael selected such
a....let's say 'highly pronounced' style? I think many people
will read "Disk Maggie" and think it's written by one (or,
indeed, several) rather weird persons that have subjected
themselves to severe brain injury by over-zealous headbanging?
Dave (he just dropped in and took over from Tim): I've just been
told to conceive which I think is what Stefan is doing tonight
(? This is beyond the scope of the ST NEWS editorial staff to
explain, ED.).
Tim: I think the individual style reflects Michael's rather
individual personality. After all he is German and he does listen
to rather crap music which has obviously affected his brain in
rather abnormal ways, also if you had as many facial deformities
as Michael then you would be pretty weird too!
Dave: The individual style is actually caused by Michael being
drunk when he writes the articles for the Maggie.
ST NEWS: I am afraid Michael will not like all this crap that's
written about him. But, what the heck, he's enjoying a free Copy
Party Holiday at Marseille now...
Dave: He'd probably say "Wattaf.ck" anyway...
ST NEWS: What do you think is better? ST NEWS or "Maggie"?
Tim: Depends on what you want. If you want something to read, ST
NEWS is. If you want something more aimed at demos, a freaky
thing in general, "Maggie" is probably better.

So far a very interesting telephone call with the Lost Boys
(English division).
Let's get back to the actual Mag (I could barely refrain from
writing "Maggie", know that?!).

As could be understood from the above, "Disk Maggie" has, what
is surely beyond the slightest hint of the shadow of a doubt, a
'pronounced style'. Therefore, the first text screen of each
issue clearly states that 'this magazine may be offensive to the
odd parent; all complaints will be ignored'.
This surely leaves the innocent and possibly slightly naive
reader with a sense of what he's about to read, not?
The articles in "Disk Maggie" range from gossips and software
reviews to certain stories that explore the dark depths commonly
found below bed linen, as well as in-depth eye-witness news of
oddities such as Gwar concerts and International Coding
Conferences.
ST NEWS influences are clearly visible, if only by the fact that
they've got 'real time articles' as well. Also, all the texts are
written in an extremely zany way - although sometimes almost
reaching beyond the vast borders of understandability and basic
English grammar.

I can now almost hear you panting, craving for an answer to the
ultimate question:
Is "Disk Maggie" bad?

Like hell it isn't.
For those perverts that are deep into freaky stories, hot demo
tips and biology lessons, "Disk Maggie" is surely just about the
best you can get, though honesty compels me to say that a certain
'style' is still lacking from it. The main magazine program is
also somewhat buggy (even crashy) and quite slow. The demos,
however, are first-rate and the humour is blatantly funny - I
only somehow doubt that the mag will appeal to a large audience.
If you're the kind of pr.ck that drools while reading the stuff
you could find crammed in the hidden articles of recent issues of
ST NEWS (including this one, as matter of fact), you'll adore it.
You'll want to plaster your walls with it.
If you don't, you won't.
Just read the last comment of Lost Boys' Tim in the interview.
It reflects my personal opinion entirely.

"Disk Maggie" is no ordinary Public Domain, but so-called
licensed Public Domain. This means that the authors receive a
proportion of the money collected by PD libraries, thus
encouraging them to do more (my God....the sheer thought...). In
England, people who are interested in getting this cult magazine
will have to contact any PD library selling Budgie UK software,
or directly from The Lost Boys PD Library (12 Cambridge Road,
Teddington, Middlesex TW11 8DR, England). They will need to lash
out approximately three quazoolies (that's Pound Sterling to
you). The rest of the world (outside England, that is), must
kneel and pray to all Gods of misfortune and bad taste (it might
help when doing this in the direction of Mecca), or alternatively
send money in the direction of a small rural town in the vicinity
of London.

That's about it from me this time. Michael Jackson is the best,
and f.ck Metallica and all that shit!

Editorial remark: Michael might be without all the plastic
surgery, but now he surely ain't. And I don't even dare to merely
mention the sound he produces (please note me using the word
'sound' instead of 'music').