Demoscene Summer Tour 2005 - The Epic Voyage

Saturday, July 30, 2005

30.07.2005 23:30 (T 7 days 17:00 D the same...)

One week past since the beginning of the Epic Voyage! Due to the enormous quantity of compos, it seems that much time has passed since we are here in Helsinki, but it has been only 3 days. Hard to believe... The intro compo will start in a few minutes, so I better be quick.

Let's just upload some pictures, shall we?


This was our last home made meal before all the demoparties. Rice with vegetables and bacon with tomato and cheese sauce. It tasted better than it sounds.


Demozone. 303f were already playing when we arrived. Great concert!


Another picture from Demozone.


ps and skrebbel: scene boy love.


From Germany to Denmark by ferry.


From Denmark to Sweden by bridge.


Must have a nice view...


Travelling inside the Epic Vehicle.


The Epic Vehicle has travelled 111.111 km during his life!


We travelled form Stockholm to Turku with the ferry from Silja Lines. In front of us, the Viking Lines boat.


Arrival in Helsinki. ps is phoning with our scene friends so that they can pick us up.



The pre-party in some garden in Helsinki. Rulez0r!!


ps during the pre-party. Looks like Raven from that game... errr forgot it.

Friday, July 29, 2005

ASSEMBLY'05


View from the grand stand.

29.07.2005 21:38 (T 6 days 15:08 D 3764 Km + some more by boat and train)

I've survived the pre-party, the first AND the second day of Assembly. Or at least, I think I did. It is great to meet old and new friends - "meeting sceners is so nice, what's your nick? ..." - and the ambience is great. It is rather strange to be surrounded by Finnish people, because normally I would only see them at demoparties, completely wasted, and here they walk sober in the streets. Weird...

The boat trip was boring, exhausting and boring. Yes, it was double boring. I can't stress that enough. People were tired from the trip, so they went to sleep and I stayed awake, trying to produce some music without the tools I need... Unfortunately, nothing good came out, except one or two notes. Which anyway don't fit with anything else.

Once in Turku, we took the train to Helsinki. 2 hours trip and we were in the heart of the capital of Finland. What a trip! And 4 days before we were in Portugal!...

After unloading the stuff at Matti's place, we went to the city to get something to eat and proceed to the pre-party. There were all the oldskoolers that we are used to know from slengpung or bonfires, and it was great! Boozing, playing soccer, badmington or flying saucer (or whatever you write it) and talking with loads of Finns and Swedes and Greeks and Americans and British and who knows what else... The day ended perfectly with us going to some kind of company with a projector to record our comments to amiga demos, in order to appear in the upcoming Mindcandy DVD. It was lots of fun, though I doubt that any of it will ACTUALLY appear in the DVD... :)

The next day (thursday 28th) was cool, Rup and I we participated in the basketball compo, where we lost with some kids. Actually, I don't know why I still do those kind of things, today I played soccer and lost with some kids - it seems to happen a lot these days.

The worse is that the bad luck - or shall I say bad planning... - also happened in the demoscene category... I was making music until 4h in the morning, but the deadline for it had been the day before at 20h. The deadlines were not so explicit. Or maybe I'm just too stupid to understand them.

While I try to participate in compos and fail, ps is getting absurdely drunk and Rup is leeching warez and watching movies. I don't know who is doing best, I would say ps, so I should probably join him.

Today, we went to a "behind-the-scenes" tour with Abyss. That was really nice, to be able to see how this ENOURMOUS machine works. We took some ideas to implement at InérciaDemoparty and exchanged ideas with other fellow organizers from demos around Europe. Most of all, we got the impression of what is to organize such a big thing. If we want to become that big, there has to be a change in mentalities and such, but of course even with that accomplished we won't make it in the next 5 or 10 years. But, who knows...?

Right now the instrumental music compo is starting, and while ps will continue boozing and Rup continue watching Top Gear, I will try to get some sense in demopartying... :)

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

25.07.2005 16:30 (T 2 days 10:00 D 2150 Km)

Rup and I we get the Epic Vehicle from the garage. It feels good, it handles like a dream - not really - and we are sure ready to continue our Epic Voyage. Before we go to Demozone, time to eat decent food. I'm the chosen one to prepare the Epic Meal, which consists of rice, vegetables, bacon, cream and cheese. Everyone eats until they're sick of it. Meanwhile, in the other side of the country, ps is having fun at Demozone, while sms'ing us every hour to ask about the car. We manage not to tell him what really happened until we get there, there's no need to worry him.

22:00 (T 2 days 15:30 D 2302 Km)

Arrival at Demozone! 303f is playing as we come in. What a kick ass concert!... Even though there was a PA outtage and the monitors were not working properly, they still managed to pull it off and entertain the few sceners that were enjoying their sound.
It's nice to be at a dutch demoscene party... The scene was kind of dead there since Takeover and it's pretty cool that someone tries to revive it. Too bad that it happens as I leave the country!
Ok, concert over, we do have to hurry if we want to get all the ferries we need to get.

26.07.2005 06:35 (T 3 days 00:05 D 2906 Km)

That was some nice driving! I just drove over 500 Km, Rup was resting so he can drive in Denmark - and I can sleep. We are taking the ferry boat from Puttgarden to Rodby, and because we are crossing borders we can buy stuff tax free. Brainpower and I, we bought a 24 pack of Red Bull. It's preparation for the mega-super-ultra sleepless nights at Assembly.
The ferry only takes 45 minutes, just enough to stretch the legs and think about something else than keeping the speed of 110 km/h constant and the Epic Vehicle on the road.

16:00 (T 3 days 11:30 D 3764 Km)

We are in Stockholm! It rains cats and dogs, or at least is what it sounds like, because we can't see a damn thing! My friend Tobias, who picked us up by bike, is soaked wet from head to toes. We will take care of the Epic Vehicle while we are at Assembly. It's so VERY nice from him to look after it while we are getting wasted in the other side of the Baltic...
We make it on time (ALRIGHT!) for the 17:00 ferry boat to Helsinki, but unfortunately it's fully booked. We don't have any alternative besides waiting for the 20:15 boat to Turku, and from there take a train to Helsinki. We make the reservations and wait. The luxurious boat is waiting for us.

Sunday, July 24, 2005



Yes, we are kind of stuck. It's now 22:00 local time in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and we don't have any transportation means for our Epic Voyage.

But first, let's start from the beginning - I was too tired the other day to write.

Somewhere last year...

ps and I start thinking about a Demoscene Summer Tour. It would include a portuguese committee travelling around Europe for a month, an Epic Vehicle, lots of demoparties and everything associated with all of this.



1 - Demozone (Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands). 23 - 26 July
2 - Assembly/Boozembly (Helsinki, Finland). 27 - 31 July
3 - Scene Event (Harridslev, Denmark). 04 - 07 August
4 - Buenzli (Winterthur, Switzerland). 19 - 21 August
5 - Evoke (Cologne, Germany). 26 - 28 August
6 - InerciaDemoparty (Porto, Portugal). 02 - 04 September

Somewhere this year...

Rup and brainpower join the team, making the DST'05 a possible project. Expenses are calculated, meetings are held, everything starts to become a definite image of a great summer tour.

April - May 2005 (T minus a couple of months)

We don't have an Epic Vehicle yet. We try to get ps's father car, which is a Diesel one, but ps's father tell ps that he can dream of it during his sleep. Maybe not with these words, but we get a definite "NO" (what a trend, these days). The only possible solution would be my mother's car, an 15-year old Peugeot 205, which was stopped for many years and only recently had been of some use. But, of course, who would be crazy enough to drive it for 9000 km?

June 2005 (T minus 1 month)

The decision was made, the Epic Vehicle is going to be the Peugeot 205!! It's a great car, I'm sure it will work just fine!

01.07.2005 (T minus 22 days)

I arrive in Portugal, moving out from the Netherlands. As soon as I touchdown, I get the news that the Epic Vehicle is not available during the period of the demoparties. Everyone can start to panic. I have to figure out a solution, and fast.

14.07.2005 (T minus 9 days)

My father gives up the car. We have an Epic Vehicle!! It's beautiful, all dark grey and pretty. It needs some fixing, so I will take it to a garage.

21.07.2005 (T minus 2 days)

I pick up the Epic Vehicle at the garage. It responds like a dream car would. Well, not exactly, but in comparison with the previous state, it was quite amazing. The following day I would pay more than 300 Eur for the repairs, but hey, it was worth it, right?

There was still that strange little noise whenever we would turn to the right... but the mechanic said that shouldn't be a problem. Right... who am I to disagree?

22.07.2005 11:00 (T minus 18 hours)

The Epic Vehicle is fitted with 4 brand new Epic Tyres. Total cost: 200 Eur. Now the car seems to have glue on its feet!

17:00 (T minus 12 hours)

Finally, the Epic Vehicle has a sound system! For all these years, the car drove in silence - well, the engine makes that beautiful Epic sound, but apart from that... - and now it plays everything! Thanks to a special Epic Adapter, it plays all the systems that connect with a mini jack. Really nice!

20:00 (T minus 9 hours)

Time to buy food for the first part of the trip. Some cookies, fruit, water and of course the Epic Cereals. Like that, I'm all set for the trip.

23:00 (T minus 6 hours)

Everything is packed and I should be sleeping already. The Epic Vehicle rests outside, waiting for the big trip. The anxiety level is huge, but I NEED to rest!

23.07.2005 04:00 (T minus 1 hour)

The Epic Breakfast was delicious. A good start for the day! I do feel a bit tired, but I am completely awake and excited! I will pick up the other two guys now.

06:00 (T 01:00 D 0 km)

The brand new iPod from brainpower is taking ages to load. We are waiting for him to copy all his music so that we have a broader choice while driving. It's an Epic Morning, misty and cold, so we are confident.

06:30 (NEW REAL T 00:00 D 0 Km)

The Epic Vehicle is fully loaded with the Epic Gasoline and we are A.O.K to go. This is it! The Epic voyage can begin!

14:25 (T 07:55 D 689 Km)

The first Epic Refuel. We are somewhere in Spain, where the gas is cheap and the women hot. Ok, doesn't sound too good... Anyway, so far the trip has been a pleasure! To cross the Marão Mountain is like a dream... The mist, the sunrise, the landscape, it's really nice. Spain itself is also fascinating, so many different settings for the same country. It's really hot now but the Epic Vehicle is handling everything superbly. Or almost, because the noise is still there, and only when we turn to the right. The mechanic said it shouldn't be a problem, so I'm not worried.



22:00 (T 15:30 D 1250 Km)

We are driving slower than expected, that's because we want to spare the car and not burn it in the first part of the trip. We are close to Niort, in France, and we are not going to make it to Paris on time. I call Knos, a french scener that would host us for tonight, telling him that we are not stopping in Paris - that would be around 2 am and we don't want to bother him - and that we just go straight to Rotterdam. After all, it's only 5 hours extra or something like that.
We take the opportunity, now that we know that nobody is waiting for us, to eat and rest properly. So far, the rests have been between 15 and 30 minutes, which is enough, but now we do deserve a bit more. They have great sandwiches in France, and loads of different types! But we wanted something warm... Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed, so we all eat this instant soup that tastes like spaghetti à bolognesi, but without the pasta and without the sauce. It's warm, at least, so it burns our soul.
Time to depart again, now direction Rotterdam. We have to pass Paris anyway, Rup wants to have a sandwich beneath the Eiffell Tower, we shall see about that.

24.07.2005 09:00 (T 1day 02:30 D 2150 Km)

After leaving France and crossing the misty Belgium, we enter the Netherlands. It's funny for me to be here, it's like I never been gone. I recognize immediately the landscape, the language of the signs, the way of driving. Until now, Rup and I we've been switching in all the stops, and right now it was my turn to drive, quite convenient as I know the way quite well now. We enter Rotterdam, watch the beautiful skyline, and feel glad we are almost in bed. As we stop in the first stop lights, the noise that was bothering me gets harder, and the car wants to turn always to the left - maybe some influence from the people who uses to drive it. The noise and the turning gets worse with each stoplight. We get extremely worried. Right now, after almost 27 hours of travelling, all we want is to sleep. The car barely makes it to the doorstep, it's cracking and bursting with each curve. I guess the problem is much worse now.
After unpacking, I call the insurance company, and they send a mechanic. We wait for one and a half hours, and he finally arrives. A very nice guy, Peter was his name. He speaks dutch, english, french, spanish and who knows what more. He detects the problem right away - indeed the transmission axel from the right wheel - and assures us that it's an easy problem to fix, we might the have the car the next day. All the paper work is taken care and we can finally go to sleep.
Just a quick shower, some water and I fall on the bed.

19:00 (T 1 day 12:30 D 2150 Km)

We wake up like new men. We deserve some real food, and some resting. The plan is to go to the italian restaurant and then do some walking in the city centre. It's raining, just like In Porto, and we cool off our Epic Minds.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

T minus MINUS 1 hour

We are 1 hour and 10 min late already. Things seem to be working alright, we are 75% complete for the Holland - Stockholm part of the trip, and the car is packed full. We are just waiting for brainpower's iPod to be fully loaded and then we are set.

See ya in Paris!

Friday, July 22, 2005

T minus 8 hours

What is the Demoscene Summer Tour? Well, it's the epic voyage of four young men, ready to travel the whole of Europe for the quest of the Demoscene. Travelling by car, they will visit the biggest and most important summer demoparties.

(...)

I'm so tired of organizing everything... The last 5 days I've slept almost nothing, so I will keep this short for now. If I have time, I will add photos and maps as we go. Well, that's the goal at least.

And now, I will go to sleep... It's 1600km tomorrow.

Over and out