!Sane Interview
Wade
Sane is Back  

Interviewed by Wade    


Introduction

Over a year since the death of the quintessential scene magazine, Seenpoint, the Dutch co-editor has found his way back to the Amiga scene, ready once again to provide us with more humour, more controversy, more diversity, and the very qualities which helped make the Sardonyx/Scoopex publication number 1.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome into the Devotion Staff, an old friend, and former Seenpoint counterpart: Pieter van der Horst - better known as Sane. 






"Another brilliant head in the Seenpoint staff." - Bytebreaker.


"His opinionated and often hard hitting style makes him one of my favourite 
writers of the modern scene." - Wade.


"Sane is one of the top three writers on the scene." - Soda.

Sane - Back in the Spotlight



Wade:
It is a privilege to welcome you back to the Amiga scene. I guess the obvious question is, where have you been during the last year and half?

Sane:
Hmmm ... well, concerning the Scene ... nowhere, really. I was brain-dead for 1 year and 7 months and only did some utterly lamish things with my peecee. I just surfed the web, logged on to IRC whenever I had some free time and that was it. My Amigas (A500 and A1200) were still in my parents' attic as I hadn't even bothered to bring them along when I moved to my own house in December 1999. In September 1999 I got a great job. I am a lawyer since May 1999 and I could tell you all about the job and tell you very difficult things, but I won't ... Even my parents don't get exactly what I am doing. Haha, that's really true. It has something to do with claims of single advocates, advocate-firms and notaries which I (try to) handle. Sometimes the claims rise up to 1 billion guilders. Anyway, it's a tough and difficult job and I try to do my best. You could say it distracted me from scenelife. At some point (around the summer of 2000, when I was in Egypt and Israel) I even forgot who Sane once was ...  


Wade: 
What made your eventual decision to quit the scene?

Sane: 
I didn't really 'decide' to quit. It was more a few things coinciding with one another, making me leave. For starters; Seenpoint was dying and eventually died. Then I moved to my own house and the easy life was over. I also got a job and on top of all that I left my Amigas at my parents' place. Those things were not helping me cling to the Scene as you might understand.  The thing which eventually made me leave the Scene though was the upgrading madness ... The one thing Amigians had always hated and which I loved so much about our Scene was the fact we tried NOT to upgrade. That was what we hated about the PC Scene, remember? When, at some point, I couldn't even run simple magazines on my standard A1200 (I REFUSE to upgrade) I thought it was time to fade away. I told many friends I would only be away for one sabbatical year. Deep inside I knew I would never return though. But...look at me now! 


Wade: 
What went wrong with regards to Seenpoint? What, in your opinion, caused the most popular disk-magazine of its day to close its pages for the last time? 
  
Sane:
I think Fishwave was already thinking of letting Seenpoint die because his co-editor (that was me) was getting more and more uninspired because of the reasons I gave on the question before. In September 1999 I officially said farewell to the Scene and Scoopex and thus to Seenpoint. Then you (Wade) also quit and Fishwave couldn't do anything but let Seenpoint die. In my humble opinion we should have released a proper goodbye issue. We (you, Fishwave and me) should have written a few articles more and we should have released one last issue. Maybe Fishwave was a bit too fast with his release of `issue' 10.  Who shall say? Then again, you and me had already left, so what else could he have done? Looking back on the matter I say it's really a sad decision but we can't turn back the clock though.


Wade: 
So, Seenpoint died and the staff decided to quit the scene. Did you - like me - come to regret the decision? How do you feel when you look back on your days amid the Seenpoint Staff? 

Sane:
I am so glad you ask this question because I feel so extremely sad about it. Really ... When I think of Seenpoint and the fact we let it die without any glory, tears well up in my eyes. I am an extremely sentimental bastard and I sometimes even cry when I am in my bed thinking about Seenpoint and her death. Of course it goes too far to cry about a diskmag but then again, the Seenpoint time was the best period of my Scene career so far (I roughly had three periods; 1990-1994, 1994-1996, 1996-1999). I met some of my best friends because of Seenpoint, so I owe her a lot. 
  

Wade: 
Prior to you (and myself) quitting the scene, the original plan was to have Seenpoint evolve into a Web based, multi-format publication - Seenpoint Online - containing a regularly updated source of articles. What became of these plans?

Sane:
Hmmmm .... what shall I say about that? I guess that idea faded away together with Fishwave and me. We two got really lazy concerning Scenic activities and basically did nothing for 2 whole years. We did not even get passed the idea of a Seenpoint online. We did nothing constructive for an online version of our magazine. Fishwave does own www.seenpoint.de, so we can always continue. I seriously doubt if that will ever happen though. 


Wade: 
What would you say was the formula of Seenpoint's success?

Sane: 
We, the writers, were rebellious and Fishwave especially kicked everybody below the belt. Most readers like that. Seenpoint was full of articles which really moved the readers and that's more inspiring than irc-log nr 125 or another email-based interview annex article. Seenpoint was something different and people noticed that and of course liked it. 

Fishwave was also one of the best main-editors I have ever witnessed. He was really IN CHARGE and maintained a real sense of quality-control. For example: He bluntly told friendly people like Ghandy he wouldn't use some of their articles in Seenpoint because they were not good enough. Fishwave never sucked up to anyone and told you the truth. He told me once that he corrected some of my spelling mistakes and pointed them out for me. GREAT! That's what a great mag needs; a cool main-editor who does what has to be done and who says what has to be said. He didn't care (or seemed not to care) whether he hurt people's feelings, he just wanted the best for his magazine. Because of Fishwave Seenpoint was really good. I added something and so did you. And that was what made a great magazine.  


Wade: 
What do you think of Fishwave? 

Sane:
Fishwave is a great writer, a fantastic main-editor and a very good friend of mine. I have to stress it; I have never seen a main-editor with so much power, will and courage. I've met hundreds of Sceners in the last decade, but Fishwave is one of only four people I know I will always remain into touch with. Scene or no Scene. For the curious amongst you, those four are Fishwave, Wade, Soda and Puh.



Wade:
Fishwave's name became synonymous with Seenpoint; the mag, its contents and its glory will always be accredited to his name. Did this ever spark any professional envy on your part? 

Sane: 
Yes, I felt like I was in his shadow, but I think that was how it should be. After all, I was 'just' a co-editor. Even though I think I was also a key in the success of Seenpoint, I really think Fishwave is owed 90 percent of the credit. He started Seenpoint and made nine great issues. He collected all articles, wrote hundreds himself, collected gfx, cliparts, modules and the lot. I just sent in 12 to 15 articles per issue and that was it. At some point I was number 3 in the writer entry of the Eurochart (Fishwave was 1 and Rokdee number 2), that was the fame I deserved.


Wade: 
During your absence from the scene, have you kept in touch with any scene related releases? 

Sane: 
Nope! I haven't seen ANYTHING since November 1999! I didn't have my Amiga 1200 here at my own place and besides; since then nothing ran any more on my standard computer. Everything needs fastmem now and I couldn't have watched ANYTHING even if I wanted to. The last few months I have read some articles of recent mags in ascii files (thanks Wade).


Wade: 
That being the case, where did you find the motivation to return to the scene?

Sane: 
I was supposedly coming back in September 2000. But, when my 25th birthday approached (September 15th 2000), I was not even thinking of coming back again. My job was too hectic and my new life (new reallife friends, my own house, etc.) was eating me up. I had, and still have, almost no spare time, and when one wants to write one needs a lot of spare time. Of course the upgrading madness marched on and my reappearance became somewhat impossible. I also lost all contact with my Scenic-friends. 

But then, in February 2001, I met Glenn Lunder (the guy behind scenery online) and read his awesome Amiganews archive on the internet. I became real sentimental when reading the archive and the time looked right for the reappearance of Sane. Then, you (Wade) suddenly mailed back, Ghandy mailed me more often and I even got mail from my two great Scandinavian friends, Soda and Puh. Soon after I went on a little holiday to Tunesia and had all the time to think about the Scene. I came to the conclusion I missed her and when I came back from that vacation and heard about Devotion issue 2 being in the pipeline, I decided this could not be a coincidence. I just had to make a come back. Here I am. 
  

Wade: 
Why did you decide to write for Devotion?

Sane: 
Three simple reasons:

1. It's one of the last mags which runs how it should run: NOT using fastmemory!

2. It was just the right time. When I thought of making a comeback, you and Darkus told me Devotion issue #2 was in the making.      

3. Darkus and you are good and old friends of mine. I decided to give you two a helping hand.


Wade: 
What do you think of current magazines and writers? 

Sane: 
I can't say much about that. I haven't seen the current magazines and didn't read most of the articles. When I hear that most magazines need fastmemory nowadays, I do think the Scene got crazy. Why should mags need so much power when the best magroutines (RAW and ROM) ran on ECS-machines? 


Wade: 
Have you ever considered leaving this backwards community behind and transferring your talents to a more thriving platform?  

Sane: 
I would certainly consider it. I even tried it out a few years ago. I wrote an article for Adok's Hugi. The problem is that I have nothing in common with the PC Scene and do not know its history. That makes it a little hard to write quality articles for a pc magazine, don't you agree? It's not that I do not want to write for a pc mag, I think I am just not able to write for such a magazine.


Wade: 
Rumour has it that there might be a PC version of Seenpoint emerging in the near future (although my sources indicate that this is highly unlikely). If this ever became a reality, would you be tempted to re-join the Seenpoint Staff?

Sane: 
When Fishwave is the maineditor, you and Soda the co-editors, Scoopex the producing group, Made the panel drawer and Virgill the main musician; then yes, CERTAINLY!


In the meantime, you can check out Sane's latest articles right here, in Devotion Issue 2! Enjoy!