-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------subversion (sub-ver'shon)(n), Act of subverting
; overthrow; destruction; ruin.
subvert (sub-vert')(vt), To ruin utterly; to overturn; to pervert
.
--------------------------------------------------------------[su
bversion 2.0]--
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"See things the way I do, walk a mile in my shoes
Don't assume and damn it, don't praise me.
 My thoughts would drive you crazy."
-Anthrax


2.1 -- You Want A Piece of This?  Huh?!

I thought that's what you said, so here is Subversion 2.0, in your fa
ce
and as soft and cuddly as your average hand grenade.  This time aroun
d,
I'll have my usual stirring social commentary, blatantly biased slant
s on
scene happenings and all kinds of good stuff.

2.2 -- On the Scene

Nothing too terribly breathtaking happened in May, or the latter part
 of April
now that I think of it, which was the last time I sat down to write S
ubversion
(and coincidentally the last time I had to suffer through a long peri
od of
brain activity).  I was really hoping June would prove to be a little
 more
exciting, but halfway through, it's not looking like it.  A lot of ho
-hum       packs all across the board, for the most part.  Thi
s is not to say that there
weren't some good points.  Let's see...what were they?

It goes without saying that iCE had the best pack.  Keeping i
n mind that they
release at the end of the month, their April pack bested everyone els
e's May
pack, and likewise their May pack also ruled (although not as much IM
HO).
Rival is coming back strong since there revival a few months 
back.  One of the
few groups I can stand despite a ton of logos.  The logos were good, 
dammit,
and Kid Krylon showed me some previews of his own for the nex
t pack.  It's all
good.  However, diehard ANSi fan that I am, my favorite art this mont
h so far
has been the awesome anime VGA of Winbee.  And for the first 
time, I bothered
to look at ASCii for a change, and Echrist had some nice work
.  As luck would
have it, both are FiRE members.  Nice job, fellaz.  

The other releases I looked at failed to impress me very much, but I 
can live
with it.  With Teklordz and CiA both releasing annive
rsary packs later this
summer, things should pick up.  Lastly, hats off to Jaded for
 his "request
raffle" concept.  I don't know how well it'll work, but it sounds coo
l enough.

2.3 -- ACiD and the Bad Trip

What's the deal with ACiD?  Once upon a time, they were the cream of 
the
crop in virtually every medium the underground art scene has ever see
n:
ANSi, VGA, RIP, music and coding.  But since last fall, there has bee
n a 
steady decline in both quality and quantity of ANSi art in ACiD packs
.  The 
VGA is good as always, but easily matched by iCE.  Obviously, ACiD is
 being
run as a business and not as a group of people in it for the fun of
drawing.

This is not to say that ACiD is without any skilled ANSi artists, but
 there
should be a lot more to look at when you take into account the fact t
hat
groups like Saga and Integrity merged into ACiD, themselves rightfull
y
boasting impressive ANSi divisions.  I don't have some vendetta again
st ACiD
or any of its members, but anybody who calls them the undisputed "bes
t"
group needs their head checked.

2.4 -- A Day in My Hood

Disclaimer: This has nothing to do with the scene, it has to do with 
real life.
Please note that I do not have a white pointy hat and robe in my clos
et, nor
do I consider myself a racist.  I consider myself a minority in my ow
n 
neighborhood who is very observant.

I live in a suburb on the fringe of North Minneapolis.  A nice lookin
g 
apartment complex conveniently located near three major freeways, a l
arge mall
and two theaters.  I am one of the few white tenants.  This does not 
bother 
me, but certain things I see do.  It occurs to me that the knowledge 
that my
lease is up at the end of the summer is no longer a bad thing.

One day, my roommate (who works for a large telecom company) was taki
ng an 
inventory of the equipment in his company van.  Mostly modems, CSU/DS
Us and
various diagnostic gear for ISPs, banks and the like.  He was instant
ly 
surrounded by a number of our fine, upstanding neighbors.  They said 
nothing,
but crowded around him, looking over his shoulder to see what was in 
the boxes
in his van.

Why would they care?  I don't know, but I hope none of them ever mana
ges to 
see what's in our apartment.  How would that happen?  Well, one night
 (laundry
night to be exact) there was a bunch of Bloods hanging out in our hal
lway.  If
you don't know what a Blood is, you must live in Wanker County, so st
op reading.Cell phones and pagers beeping away, amidst the occ
asional "yo", "bitch" and
a lot of words that aren't in any English dictionary I've ever read.

If I stop by the apartment on a service call (in MY company truck) my
 neighbors
aren't at work, they're sitting on their porches, living off my tax d
ollars 
while I live paycheck to paycheck.  It's not so bad, but they're all 
watching
for me to go inside, and when I look out my window, sure enough, they
're 
securing the perimeter around my truck, trying to see what's in there
.

None of this is an exaggeration.  It's just an honest observation.  I
 don't
see why things are the way they are, no matter how much else I see.  
America
is going down the toilet, not because of race, but because certain gr
oups of
people feel entitled to MY STUFF.  Stop the insanity.

Get a fucking job.

2.5 -- Until Next Time

That's it for this mind-boggling issue of Subversion.  Hopefully, thi
s will 
soon be a solo operation, maybe even released more than once a month.
  If not,
see ya in next month's Teklordz pack.

o-tron
fos/teklordz ss
xrist@primenet.com

--------------------------------------------------------------
------------------If you have questions, comments or wish to r
eceive future issues of Subversion
directly in e-mail, please respond to the address listed above
.  (c)`96 O-Tron
--------------------------------------------------------------
------------------SAUCE00Subversion 2.0                     O-Tron              Teklordz            19960616®

P