8/12/95                        CompuNotes                      Issue #19
                  Patrick Grote, Publisher and Editor
     CompuNotes is a weekly publication available through an email
           distribution list and many fine on-line networks!
    We feature reviews, interviews and commentary concerning the PC
                               industry.


This is late ... Will explain in next issue which should be delivered in two days . . . 

Still looking for a listserv site, please help . . .


                         This Week's Contents:
                         =====================
                                  NEWS
                                  ====
                    -=> Corel Draw Names Winners <=-
                -=> Novell Cracks an Alleged Pirate <=-
                                REVIEWS
                                =======
              -=> Dark Forces Retrospect, By Doug Reed <=-
                          WEB SITE OF THE WEEK
                          ====================
               -=> Virtual Radio Celebrates One Year <=-
                          FTP FILE OF THE WEEK
                          ====================
                     -=> Mortal Kombat Trailer <=-
                          -=> New Web Site <=-
                               INTERVIEW
                               =========
         -=> Michael Part, Writer behind a hit Disney Movie <=-

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------------------------------------------------------------------------
   NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . .
       All News (C)opyright  Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   International Panel of Judges Honor Computer Artists From Europe,
                      The United States and Canada

        OTTAWA, Canada, August 11 /PRNewswire/ --  Twelve international
artists collected top honors in Corel's $2 million World Design Contest,
held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada on August 10, 1995.
The sixth annual event drew more than 7843 entries (by 2803 individuals)
from over 60 countries worldwide.
        The "Best of Show" prize was awarded to Radim Mojzis of the Czech Republic for his design entitled "The Drops of Life."   The "Best of Show" prize package is valued at $150,000.  It includes $50,000 in cash, a $70,000 color printer from Xerox, and a $30,000 color digital printing system from Summagraphics.
        "The Drops of Life" also won the Goodwill Poster Category.  This
poster was originally created for T-shirts to promote the Czech Red
Cross organization and then reworked for Corel's contest.  Throughout
the year, Corel contributes $5 for every design contest entry and $1 for
every CorelDRAW 5 registration card sent in to the following seven
charitable organizations:  Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth
International, International Red Cross, UNICEF, B'nai B'rith, The Lung
Association and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.  In total,
Corel contributed $150,000 to these charities.  At the event, Corel
presented a cheque to representatives from each of the six charitable
organizations for their portion of the donation.
        "This gala awards night showcases some of the best digital artwork in the industry," said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief
executive officer of Corel Corporation.  "With $2 million in cash and
prizes and $150,000 awarded to the overall winner, the Corel World
Design Contest is the largest of its kind in the world."
        Of the finalists, the following first place winners were selected in the following 12 categories:


    People, Plants and Animals          Robert Travers, Canada
    Landscapes, Landmarks
     and Abstracts                      John M. Morris, USA
    Product Illustration                Michael Koester, Germany
    Page Layout and Design              Theodor Ushev, Bulgaria
    Corporate Identification            Radim Mojzis, Czech Republic
    Specialty and Leisure               Amedeo Gigli, Italy
    Goodwill Poster Category-Charity    Radim Mojzis, Czech Republic
    Corel Professional Photos           Matthias Gleirscher, Austria
    CorelMOVE (animation)               Valerie Lennox, Canada
    Corel VENTURA (publishing)          Jim Bisakowski/Lee Gabel,
                                         Canada
    Best of the Americas                Silvio Martins Alegre,
                                         Brazil
    Best of Europe and the
     Rest of the World                  Alexandre Kojouchner,
                                         The Ukraine

        All 12 Grand Prize Winners receive a prize package valued at
$21,000.
        All but one of the finalists attended the ceremony to accept their awards.  Corel provides round-trip airfare and accommodation as part of the finalist prize package.  Finalists received prizes contributed by Xerox, Canon, NEC, Summagraphics, Pixar, Kodak, Wacom, Hewlett Packard, Inset, Future Domain, Wacom, Visual Software, Diamond, Creative Labs.
        Corel will publish the designs from the 1995 $2 million World Design Contest in ArtShow(TM) 6, a full-color coffee-table book with a
companion multimedia CD-ROM.  Corel will donate $5 to the consumer's
charity of choice for every ArtShow 6 book sold.  Available early in
1996, ArtShow 6 will feature more than 3,000 designs from over 60
countries.  ArtShow 6 will serve as a valuable reference tool for users
as it allows them to view and learn techniques used by CorelDRAW experts
worldwide.


               U.S. Marshals Seize And Impound Equipment

        PROVO, Utah, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL)
today announced that it has filed a civil suit against the operator of
the Planet Gallifrey Bulletin Board System (BBS) of Salt Lake City,
Utah.  Novell filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Utah, Central Division, asserting that the BBS infringed on Novell's
copyrights and trademarks by duplicating portions of Novell's network
operating system, NetWare(R) and illegally distributing them over
telephone lines to BBS subscribers and members.  Novell is seeking
injunctive relief, monetary damages and attorney fees from the
defendant.
        Pursuant to a court order, U.S. Marshals and members of the Novell Anti-Piracy team entered Planet Gallifrey facilities on July 26 and seized and impounded the equipment used in the BBS.  As part of Novell's anti-piracy program, pirate BBS are monitored world-wide.
        Novell's Senior Vice President and General Counsel, David Bradford said, "Bulletin Board Systems provide valuable services, however, in those cases where Novell copyrights and trademarks are violated, we will aggressively pursue the violators.  Our customers can rely on us to ensure the integrity and serviceability of our products across our entire family of network operating systems, network applications, and information access software."
        Novell has established an anti-piracy group and telephone hotline for reporting illegal use of Novell software or making related
inquiries.  Call 1-800 PIRATES (801-747-2837) or direct E-Mail to
pirates@novell.com.
        Novell, Inc. is in the business of connecting people with other
people and the information they need, enabling them to act on it
anytime, anyplace.  The company's software products provide the
distribution infrastructure, network services, advance network access
and network applications required to make networked information and
computing and integral part of everyone's daily life.
    NOTE:  Novell is a trademark of Novell, Inc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Alert Rebel Forces!
                   Dark Forces Have Besieged The Web!

                       By Doug Reed (Jedi Master)
 
        So, young Rebel, did you think you had defeated the Dark Troopers? Did you complete the fourteen levels and defeat General Rom Mohc and Boba Fett? Did you think that was all there was? Guess again, young arrogant fool!
        Dark Forces is the hit from LucasArts that puts the player into the Star Wars universe in a Doom-style game. The original game (available only on CD-ROM) came with fourteen levels. Although these levels were longer, tougher, and better thought out than those in Doom or other first-person shooters, many have complained that the game was too short. If you are one of these people, the answer to your prayers is here.
        One of the big reasons that Doom was such a hit was the multitude of 'homebrew' levels that were made by gamers and that can be found posted all over the net. Fans of Dark Forces are trying to follow in this tradition. They have already founded a newsgroup (alt.games.darkforces), a FAQ,  and several new web sites which have popped up on the Web. And some of these sites contained - you guessed it - homebrew levels that can be run with Dark Forces! This article will give you a brief rundown of the levels available and where to find them.

The New Levels:
1) Jabba's Ship (revenge.zip). Investigate Jabba's ship, looking for
advanced Imperial weapons technology.

2) ESCAPE FROM HOTH (escape.zip). Rescue Marcus Alliance, and kill
everything that moves -- if you can on the planet Hoth

3) ESCAPE FROM SECBASE II (dons_df1.zip). You have been captured. Your
mission: find the key that will get your ship back.

4) OPERATION DETHSTAR (don-df22.zip). Escape from the Detention Center and retrieve the Death Star Plans.

5) TIE DEFENDER BASE (paullev.zip). Infiltrate the Tie Defender factory.

6) SECBASE REVISITED (secrev01.zip). Redone mission to retrieve the Death Star plans.

7) STAR BASE (starbase.exe). Escape from a star base under attack by the Empire.

8) Terminate (terminat.zip). Penetrate Boba Fett's lair and terminate him. Adds a lightsabre to your weapons arsenal. Most of these homebrew levels come with *.bat files that load darkforces for you with the new levels.
 
             Where to find the FAQ and the homebrew levels:
           http://deepthought.armory.com/~tdalton/Dark Forces
      http://www.princeton.edu/`pjcreathx/df.html (for Mac Users)
      ftp://ftp.wpi.edu/starwars/Computer_Games/Dark_Forces/Levels
 
          Go forth young Jedi, and may the Force be with you!
 
dreed@panda.uchc.edu


------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Virtual Radio

        SILICON VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 11, 1995--  Celebrating its One Year Anniversary on the World-Wide Web Today,  Virtual Radio(TM) is clearly an International Hit! 
        Featuring Music and Videos from bands around the world, Virtual  Radio is tuned in by 86 countries regularly as well as the United  States.   
        Virtual Radio is enjoyed on the Internet by using a World Wide  Web Browser with the URL address of http://www.microserve.net/vradio/.   
        Talented Virtual Radio DJ, Vicious Rumors is excited about his  new bands from Russia.  From within the most prominent continent on  the globe come two fascinating and talented bands -- Karsoway and  Traviata.  Karsoway is a female a'cappella group singing forgotten  folk songs of yesteryear.  The melodies are somber and the lyrics are filled with emotion.  You will witness this in a song about a tragic  letter received by a family during the war.  As the song plays  through, you'll feel centuries disappear as the revelation of pain  being a historical constant while the no-frills recording emulates  this traditional troubadour event.  Current popularity of 200+  year-old music among Russia's youth is a testament of their historic  past and its role in their present culture.  On the other side of the spectrum futuristic-industrial-machine-core is also a Russian staple  among the youth.  Traviata is a carefully composed movement of sound  which will question and haunt your ears.  As you listen, you'll  forget the fact that this is from Russia and begin to swim in the  rolls of the fusion-noise while the neighbors try to figure out what  you're up to.  Traviata has all the instinct and ability to be one  of "New York's finest" grind-core bands; but, without the stereotype of copying everyone else's effects.  They truly are original  "NOISE-DUB."  Traviata's popularity in Russia has put them on the  television circuit in Moscow several times.  Music is entering a new  phase of exposure.   
        From Eastern Canada, comes a Video from Fire Rooster.  Vicious  Rumors says, "Fire Rooster shows the rest of Canada what a band from  Nova Scotia has to offer in the way of rock and roll.  From "The  Trees", members Dave Robert and Bruce Nelson are the front men.  Tom  Bona and Paul O'Brien take care of the rhythm.  After many  engagements in battles of the bands, these talented individuals beat  twenty-two other countries at the Budokan in Tokyo.   
        Not to be out-done, Japan brings us the Blue Hearts.  Forget  Godzilla!  The biggest Japanese export is The Blue Hearts, the  post-punk powerhouse rock 'n roll quartet from Tokyo.  Check out the  cybertune "A Boy's Song" from "Blast Off!", The Blue Hearts' new  12-song LP on Juggler Records.  Singer Hiroto Kohmoto commented, "We  grew up listening to bands like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles,  who all sing in English, and we couldn't understand them either.  So, we think it can work."  Since 1985, they have been called "Japanese  Beatles", or the result of taking the Ramones, giving them a lot of  sugar-heavy food!  --Vicious Rumors  
        Of course, the United States brings us a slew of talented bands. Tortilla Records, brings us New Texicans and the Moon Festival, Bob  Blumenfeld, producer, states "It's a great way to spread our bands'  name to a wide audience.  It's great exposure.  We are receiving name recognition and contacts from around the World."   
        For more information about Cyberspace Promotions, Inc. and  Virtual Radio contact us at 4546 B10 El Camino Real, Suite 322,  Los Altos, CA 94022, 800/674-8460 ext 3555,  E-mail vradio@ugly.microserve.net, Web Site http://www.microserve.net/vradio/.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------
COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        OK, remember the trailer for Mortal Kombat that ran full screen in Windows95 at the Windows World Tour? Remember the crowd going nuts? Remember my search for it? Well, I found it. I found the trailer and many other .MOV files from http://www.directnet.com/kombatbegins/.
        I have zipped the file up I liked and here it is. This is a complete movie trailer in .MOV (QuickTime) format. If you use Windows 3.1 you'll need a driver; Windows95 ships with one.

    You can find this as TRAILER1.ZIP on the following FTP site:

        WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/trailer1.zip

        Due to popular demand we now have a new FTP site. Some folks had no luck getting into Wash U.'s ftp site, so I have set up a weekly site on my provider. The only files that will remain on this FTP site are the week's current offerings. New and older files will always be on Wash U.'s site.
        For this week only, if there is an older file you wanted, but could never get from Wash U. send me an email message and I will put it up on the new site.

    You can find this as TRAILER1.ZIP on the following FTP site:

              FTP.CRL.COM:/users/su/supportu/trailer1.zip

------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Just in case you haven't seen the movie A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S
COURT, rush out and buy a ticket today! 

    Our interviewee is the person responsible for bringing you this
movie from Disney! MIchael Part is his name and writing is his game! Our
interview highlights what it takes to get the movie from birth to screeening! Enjoy!

PG: Tell us a little bit about your movie that is now appearing across
the country . . .                                                               

MP: Well, two years ago Tapestry Films called me into their offices and
said they wanted to do a new update on A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT with a kid going back this time.  They had read some of my earlier scripts and believed I was a good writing match for what they had in mind.  I agreed to do it and went to work.
 
A month later, I turned in a very rough draft of A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S
COURT and both Tapestry Films and Trimark Pictures read it and agreed
to make a film based on it.
 
  Twenty-five drafts later I found myself in Budapest Hungary sitting
around a table with Thomas Ian Nicholas (Calvin), Joss Ackland (King
Arthur), and Paloma Baeza (Princess Katey), reading the script and
making it better!
 
A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT is a true international production.  We
shot most of it in Budapest, Hungary.  We shot the baseball sequences in
London, England and Sherman Oaks, California.  We shot a bunch of the
exterior castle shots in Wales.  We scored the music in Prague, Chech
Republic, and did the final sound mix in Melbourne, Australia.
 
Also, what most newspapers and magazines do not know...  it was a real
low budget production.  After we were finished, the film only cost $2.3
million dollars!
 
After we were done shooting, we put together a 20-minute promo film.
Walt Disney Pictures saw this reel and immediately offered to distribute
our film in the US, Canada, England, Australia, and Germany!
 
We were thrilled!  Our little film we made for our kids was going to be
a Disney movie!
 
Six months later, two years to the month after I was originally hired to
write A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, our movie opened, and is doing
great in the theaters.  The best thing about A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S
COURT is that the audiences like it.  We made this movie to entertain
children and adults and so far we have succeeded beyond our wildest
dreams.

 
 
PG: Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are
you in to?                                                             
 
MP: I have probably heard everything recorded by Pearl Jam and tried
very hard to get their music into our movie, actually!  Unfortunately, none of the newer bands wanted to make a deal with us at the time... remember, this was before Disney came aboard... We also tried to get
Crash Test Dummies too.  And, I remember, Thomas turning us on to Offspring... we wanted Offspring for the rock-and-roll sequence in King Arthur's Court.  Unfortunately, they were just coming off doing a bit for BATMAN III and wanted almost as much money as our movie cost, so obviously, we passed.
 
However, I like to listen to all music.  I surf the radio channels
constantly switching between 60s and 70s oldies stations, the
alternative rock station out here, KROQ, and a classical music station.
 
Most of my music at home is classical, but when I was on the road making
A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, I spent a lot of time in London and got to
buy some great CDs... I even bought a Junglistic CD!


 
PG: Were you actually involved in the shooting of the movie? If not, why not? If so, describe the experience.                                      

MP: I was involved in all aspects of production of A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT.  As I said, I wrote the script for Tapestry as a labor of love. In other words, I didn't make a whole lot of money doing it.  In exchange for this, and the fact that Tapestry was very happy with the
results, they brought me aboard to help make the entire film!

I spent a month in Budapest, Hungary, rewriting the script up until and
during the shooting.  I was there for the 1st week of shooting, then I
had to return to the States to fulfill another writing committment.
 
After Budapest, I went to London and spent a month there writing ADR
lines for the actors.  ADR stands for Automatic Dialogue Replacement.
Basically, we assembled our film and then filled in the story gaps with
new gags and story points.
 
Also in London we shot the Merlin sequences with the wonderful actor Ron
Moody (Oliver!).
 
After London we all flew to Prague in the Chech Republic where J.A.C.
Redford conducted the score he wrote for our film.
 
On the way back from Prague, we stopped in London for VE-Day and
re-recorded some stuff with Ron Moody.
 
Then we flew to Melbourne, Australia where we mixed the movie.  Our
mixer was Roger Savage, who also mixed THE ROAD WARRIOR, RETURN OF THE
JEDI, and BABE.



PG: Ok. Just like everyone asks a car reviewer or mechanic what kind of
car they drive, what is the configuration and type of your primary PC?

MP: My writing PC is a dx2-80 486 (AMD cpu) nestled in a 3-volt
motherboard with 16mb of RAM, an ATI Graphics Pro Turbo video card (2 mb vram), a Promise EIDE 2300+ enhanced ide controller, a Maxtor 1.26gig hard drive, a Soundblaster 16 sound card, a Conner 420mb tape backup and a Mitsumi Quad CD-ROM.  I run the whole thing in Windows 95 and have been for the last 10 months.
 
I plan on upgrading to a 133MHz Pentium when the prices drop.
 
I also have a Gateway Colorbook DX4-75 notebook computer, which I take
on the road with me.
 
I also run a writers BBS called The Wicked Scherzo, which I have done
for the last 9 years.  The BBS is connected to my other computers via
Windows 95 and NE2000 compatible ethernet cards.



PG: With this soon to be success all over the place, has your door been
knocking with other offers? What is on the horizin for you?             
 
MP: Ever since I wrote A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, Tapestry Films has kept me busy with various other projects.  Right now my partner, Robert L. Levy, is on the road in Tunisia and Morocco scouting locations for the sequel... A KID IN THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, which will be out next Summer.  I am currently writing a Christmas movie which will start shooting in January and February.



PG: Describe your perfect vacation . . .

MP: My perfect vacation would be in London with my family and my
computer. (grin).



PG: What is the neatest computer program you have used in the last
month? Why?                                                                       

MP: Well, not to make this an infomercial for Microsoft, but I would say
Windows 95.  I have it installed on all my computers and it works great.
Some programs that weren't stable before, like my dos-based BBS
software, is now running beautifully in the background with no problems
whatsoever.  I am also very happy with the new 32-bit Microsoft Word
7.0, which runs in Windows 95.  It is a whole lot quicker than Word 6.0x
and makes my writing job a lot easier.



PG: Do you have a home office you work out of? If so, what are the
challenges you face? If not, why not?                              

MP: I have a guest house in my backyard and that is my home office.  I have 5 computers out here, a bathroom, TV, and a yellow-naped Amazon parrot named Burrita.  It is also situated right next to the swing set, so my two children, Elizabeth and Nicholas, are frequently at my office door wanting to use the bathroom.



PG: What toppings do you like on your pizza? For that matter what type
of pizza is your favorite?                                                    

MP: My favorite pizza is the Garbage Special from Del-Cor on the beach
in Venice, California.  When I can't have that I'll take a thin-crusted
pizza with mushroom and sausage.



                             --END ISSUE --

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