INTERVIEW WITH ESTRUP / STATIC BYTES

Interview with

Estrup

of

STATIC BYTES


Done by Wolfman / BALANCE

(BLC = Wolfman / BALANCE)    
(STB = Estrup / STATIC BYTES)

Estrup / STATIC BYTES is as most of you
probably  know, the  new main-editor of
The  Official Eurochart after CRUSADERS
quit the job. We have had a little chat
with Estrup to hear some of experiences
and generally  drill  into his personal
life... Anyway, here goes!

BLC: Hello Estrup, let's get right down
to   it  shall  we?   Please  introduce
yourself  as  a reallife person for the
readers?   That  is:   Real  name, age,
height, weight, eye-color etc. etc.


STB: How original... :-) -oo-8 (That's
the Masturbating Smilie, in case you
didn't know...) OK, here we go:

Name:      Christian Estrup
Age:       20
Height:    Around 175 cms
Weight:    Dunno :-(
Eye-color: Blue (Interesting...?)
Etc:       Misc.

BLC:   What  kind  of education are you
taking?


STB:    I'm   studying   economics  and
business   science  at  the  Copenhagen
Business  School  (BOY,  did that sound
strange...   Well,  it is!) Danes might
know this as HA-datalogi.


BLC: What does that involve when it
comes to the time and job opportunities
afterwards?


STB:    The  basic  education  takes  3
years, and the 'extended version' takes
another  2 years.  That is, if i choose
to take that one as well!


BLC: What kind of interests do you have
besides computer?


STB:   Answering interviews...  Kicking
swappers.   Writing  to  Daryl  that  I
don't   want   to  swap  with  him  (no
offence,  guy),  you  know,  the  usual
stuff.   No,  seriously,  computers  is
(are?)  pretty  much  my main interest,
but  I  also  like  watching movies and
visiting parties once in a while.  That
is,  when  I  can  get out of my house!
The   door   is   always  blocked  with
fan-mail   from  girls  like  Sherilynn
Fenn...  She simply doesn't take no for
an answer. Girls! Þ


BLC:   When  did  you  get interest for
computers   and   what  was  the  first
computer you ever got?


STB:  My first computer was a Commodore
64, which my father bought in the early
80's,     around    1983,    I    guess
('early'...).   That pretty much got me
started  with  computers.   I  actually
programmed a Pac-Man game in BASIC, but
when  I  was  going  to  save it to the
'datasette', the computer crashed.  And
as  I'd  totally forgotten how the game
was   programmed,   my   career   as  a
professional     game-programmer    was
postponed a couple of years.


BLC:   Okay,  let's  get  to  the stuff
people  want  (No Estrup, not a picture
of  you!-ed.), the scene-stuff!!  First
of  all  tell us when you first started
in  the  scene  and  what  made you get
interested in the scene!


STB: I  started  in  1989 (sluk for det
Niels  Hausgaard,  William,  eller  jeg
tager hjem! -Estrup) when I got to know
TMB Designs / Spaceballs  and Vention /
Kefrens  through  an advertisement in a
Danish   computer   magazine.  We  then
decided  to form a little group, but at
the time (like now) TMB Designs was the
most   active  one,  so  the number  of
releases  from  that  group  equals the
number of brain cells in the new Danish
Prime Minister... Nykup.


BLC:   In  which  groups  have you been
before  you joined STB, and under which
handles?


STB:     Well,   the   before-mentioned
'starting-group',  then  a little group
called  Cycron,  then  Prologic, then a
short   visit   as  a  Danish  division
(together   with   some  others)  of  a
Finnish  group  called Extreme, and now
finally...  Static Bytes.


BLC:  What do you think about the scene
nowadays?    Has   it  changed  to  the
better? To the worse, or what?!


STB:   The  need  to  create  something
alternative   has   resulted   in  both
groups,  single persons and productions
being  a  lot  more different (or is it
'differenter'   ???)  than  before.   I
really  like  the  design  of  many  of
today's productions, design seems to be
the most important thing.

When it comes to friendship, it's a bit
harder (NO perverted comments here...),
but  in  general, I think friendship is
ruling most of the scene.

Unfortunately,    some    people    are
destroying   the   scene,   namely  the
CRACKERS.   A  Danish  expression talks
about  people  'cutting  the  branch on
which  you're  sitting',  and  that's a
perfect  description  of  what crackers
are  doing.  They don't care whether or
not  their  actions  will  destroy  the
Amiga  market, 'cause then they'll just
move  on  and  start  cracking  PC-  or
console-games   (which   will,  in  the
latter  case,  result  in  articles  in
Stolen Data where Anarchy-members write
something  like 'cracking console-games
is  lame', but FORGET to add 'because a
lot  of  our members would like to make
money on making console-games'!  Double
standards  rule!).   My point is:  Stop
supporting crackers and their actions
(how    about    a    boycot   of   the
'cracking-groups'-chart in the
chart-mags that have such a chart?)






THE EUROCHART


BLC:   I  guess  one of the things that
have   made   you  most  known  is  The
Official Eurochart which you (STB) took
over from CRUSADERS.
Could  you  maybe  give us some unknown
history  of  how it all came up to what
it did with you finally making it?

STB:   Well,  it  started  some  months
after  Crusaders  stopped producing the
Eurochart.   We wrote to them and asked
if  we  could take over; I THINK it was
Playboy's  idea,  but  I honestly don't
remember.   Anyway,  they didn't reply,
so  we  had  to  travel  all the way to
Norway  to  ask  them.  Fortunately, it
just so happened that they held a party
together with  Deadline  at exactly the
same  time!  How  nice... (I'm  talking
about 'The Gathering 1992') Well, after
I'd  been  there  for  about  36  hours
without  any  sleep, I decided to go to
sleep  right  under  our  tables (which
should  tell  you  that  we're  not  in
Aars...) After around 4 hours of sleep,
I woke up,  finding myself staring into
the ducky  face  of Quackbuster. Quote:
'We just talked to the Crusaders. We're
going  to  make  the Eurochart. We must
make  an  intro'! In the latter case, I
seriously doubted that he actually ment
'we'.  Guess  who  got  to  code  it???
(Guess  how  ugly   it   was...)  Well,
Hawkeye of  Kefrens  spent  40  DKR  on
calling  some  other Keffers in Denmark
and  ask  them if they were interested.
They  said  yes,  so we (and the intro)
told  people,  that the Eurochart would
be a  cooperation between the forces of
the  triangles, sorry pyramids, and the
forces  of  the Static Byte. As you all
know,  Kefrens  backed out later, so it
turned out to be a STB-only production.


BLC:   Did have any idea of taking over
the  chart  when  it  died in the first
place?


STB:  Personally, I didn't, but I don't
know  whether  or  not  Quackbuster  or
Playboy thought about it THAT fast.


BLC: How do you feel about it now?


STB: Feel about what?


BLC: You, taking over the Eurochart.


STB: What Eurochart?


BLC: Think...


STB:   Well,  I,  or actually our whole
group,  have  got to know a lot of nice
people   because  we're  producing  the
Eurochart.  Also, of course, we've been
able  to acknowledge  (YEP, William kan
ikke   stave   til   anerkende...)  the
immense  amount  of  work the Crusaders
put  into  producing  the  chart,  as I
think  our amount of work is almost the
same.

Of course, in a lot of situations, like
the  last  couple  of  days  before the
release  of  an  issue,  I  curse  most
voters   who   can't   use  a  readable
handwriting  (yes,  William, Gart/Bronx
WOULD  be  a  good  example  of that!),
don't know that 'best demo' means 'best
demo'  and not 'groups', or in general,
anyone  that  seems  to  have stocks in
World Anti-Stress-Pills Inc...  BUT, in
general,  I  think it's nice, because I
get  a  good idea of what's going on in
the  scene  and  how  people feel about
this and that (mouth-shit forever...)


BLC:   Just  how much time do you spend
each  day  with  the  chart  in the two
months between release?


STB:   The first month after a release,
around  no  time at all.  The last week
or so before a release, practically all
my spare time.


BLC:   In  each issue there is a lot of
stuff  about  vote-cheating,  just  how
much cheating have you experienced?


STB:    There  was  the  'Mike  and  El
Diablo'-case,  which  we consider ended
now.   Apart  from  that, I don't think
there  has  been any serious attempt of
cheating.


BLC:   Do  you  think  that there's any
cheating that you do NOT discover?


STB:   Of  course,  if you hide it well
enough   (i.e.    don't  use  the  same
handwriting  on  all  sheets,  send the
sheets   from   different   towns),  we
haven't  got  a  chance  of discovering
that  it's  cheating.   Anyway, I don't
think  many  people  would  go  to THAT
extend in order to enter the Eurochart.


BLC:   Could  you  give  us  some juicy
stories   of   different   attemps   of
cheating?


STB:   Not  of  cheating  itself  (read
about it in the Eurochart issues 16, 17
and  18!),  but  in  the  last issue, I
actually   thought  there  was  a  very
obvious attempt of cheating.  A guy had
sent  us  8 sheets, and he claimed that
he'd  collected  the  votes  by  phone.
Anyway,  he didn't mention, exactly who
he  was,  so  if  he really existed, he
could  be just about any of the 8 whose
names  were mentioned on the sheets (he
mentioned  7  phone-calls,  so number 8
had  to be himself...) The problem was,
on  all  8 sheets, people had voted for
the  same  best  coder,  the  same best
graphic  artist  and the best musician.
Also  the votes for best one-part-demo,
multi-load-demo,  music-disk  and group
were exactly identical (when it came to
the  guy/group/production  voted for as
number 1, that is).  I honestly thought
it  sounded  QUITE  suspicious that ALL
members  of a group agreed THAT much as
to who and what was the best.

Anyway,  in Aars, when I was just about
to  copy  the  Eurochart  issue  18  to
floppy-disk,  the  guy  who sent us the
votes  came  to  our tables and claimed
that   the  votes  weren't  faked.   He
showed  me a pack that he'd made, and I
told  him  that he'd convinced me.  But
then  he got VERY angry.  First of all,
he   seemed   to   want   me  to  watch
everything  his  group  had  made, even
though I had admitted that I was wrong,
and  even though I HAD removed the part
about      his     group     in     the
'Cheating'-article.     Secondly,    he
wanted  me  to  count  their  votes for
issue  18,  even though I told him that
the  cheating,  which turned out not to
be cheating after all, was not the only
problem:   The votes had simply arrived
too  late,  namely  2  days  after  the
deadline, which was specifically stated
in  issue  17.   He said something like
'I'm a swapper, and I know when to send
stuff for it to reach you in time', and
I  told  him  about  the post strike in
Copenhagen, and I said, that I couldn't
be  responsible  for  that.  I mean, he
might  want  me  to  include  some more
votes, others wanted me to include more
ads  etc., but there simply has to be a
deadline.   Anyway,  I  of  course told
him, that the votes would be counted in
the next issue, issue 19, but he didn't
seem satisfied. It's a strange world. 


BLC:   How  well do you think the chart
reflects the opinion of the scene?


STB:   It SHOULD reflect the opinion of
the  voters...   :=) Anyway, I think it
DOES  reflect  the opinion of the scene
rather  well.   And  if  anyone  thinks
anything  else,  it's  probably because
they don't vote!


BLC:  When will you ever quit doing the
Eurochart?   When  do  you think you'll
get tired of it?


STB:   Do  you  want me to write 'We'll
quit  after issue 41, released November
1st  1995  (that's right, it will!) ???
We    will   continue   producing   the
Eurochart,   as  long  as  people  keep
voting in it, or in general, supporting
it.

BLC: How much money do you think you
are making from the advertisements?


STB:   From the first 3 issues, we made
a  total  profit  of DKR 1000 (to share
between  5  people!).   Not too much, I
guess,  but money isn't all there is to
life (but a major part of it :-)


BLC:   How  about short little story of
how the process of making the Eurochart
is,  I  mean from the first vote-sheets
come in and till you are all done.


STB:   Oh  no,  not again.  VERY short:
The  first 6 weeks after the release of
an issue, the votes are just piled in a
corner  of  my  room,  I don't remember
which corner...  (hmmm...) Then, during
the  last  weeks,  the pictures for the
Gallery  are scanned and converted, the
votes  are  counted,  and  Quackbusters
spelling-mistakes  are corrected.  Some
days  before the release, we decide the
winner  of  the competition, and around
the  1st  in  the  month,  the finished
version  is  sent out for testing.  The
day  after  that,  well...  You can get
the newest issue.


BLC:    There've   been  some  negative
voices  about the huge amount of Danish
comments  in the news-section.  What do
you think of that?


STB:   I  know that there were a lot of
Danish  comments in the News-section of
issue   18,   but   these  were  mainly
comments  I  wrote with the news when I
sent  them  to  Quackbuster(here we're
talking about  the  huge amount of news
that are sent to the wrong address ÓÔ),
and   which  he   'forgot'  to  remove.
Anyway, we'll 'translate' most of these
comments in the next issue, promise.


BLC:   How much mail do you average get
a  week?  Mail concerning the Eurochart
that is!


STB:   Oh,  I  thought  you  meant  the
fan-letters from Sherilynn Fenn!  Well,
personally  I  get  an average of 15-20
letters a week, I guess.


BLC: What do you think of your rival,
the Equinox Top 20?


STB:   They  seem  to put a lot of work
into  it.   I  really like their music,
and  I  actually  agree  with  all  the
people  who  say that the Equinox chart
is  more  innovative  than ours when it
comes  to  design and chart-categories.
Anyway,  I  think  it's  nice  having a
chart like that AND a more 'traditional
chart', like ours.

Anyway,    I    think    the    Equinox
Newsfile-user-interface   SUCKS.    The
mouse-pointer  moves  so slowly, that I
have  to lift my mouse from my mat if I
want  to  move  the  pointer  from  one
corner  of  the  screen  to  the other.
Also, the speed (or lack of it!) of the
text-plotter is a pain in the ass.


BLC: What do you think about charts in
general?


STB:   They  are definitely keeping the
scene  alive,  by 'awarding' people who
do a great job for it.


BLC:    Okay,  let's  go  back  to  the
reallife  part  of this interview...  I
remember  having  read  in  an  earlier
interview   with  you,  that  you  were
interested in politics, is that true?


STB: Yep.


BLC:   In  what kind of way?  Are you a
member of any political group or what?


STB: No, I don't think so! (I was, but
I stopped paying money to them, and now
I just hear from them occassionally!)


BLC:   What  do you think about all the
mess  with  the  goverment,  the Tamil-
case and all that?


STB:     Ninn-Hansen    rules...    No,
seriously,   that   case  is  the  best
example of the problems that arise when
the law and common sense doesn't match!
There's no doubt that something illegal
has been going on, but even though it's
illegal,  it's my impression that a lot
of  Danes  think, that what Ninn-Hansen
did was right (On the other hand, Danes
are  becoming a minority in Denmark, so
he  probably  doesn't  have  a majority
behind him!) (Do I feel a little hint
of racism?!?! Uuuh Estrup, din slemme
dreng...-ed)


BLC:  What is the first thing you would
do   if   anyone  gave  you  a  million
dollars?


STB: Buy an A4000! Or actually, buy a
lot of A4000's, and give them to the
other Eurochart-editors (except Sauron,
the bastard, who already bought one.
Gotcha Sigurd, now I won't give you
one!)


BLC:   Okay,  on the edge do you have a
few  persons on the scene who you would
like to greet?  (hoho)


STB: INCLUDE "DH5:Includes/greets.S".
No, seriously, the people who(m?) I'd 
greet knows it already.

move.w coder(PC),d0
cmp.w #lazy,d0
beq.b $fc0000 (hmmm...)
clr.l $4      (even more HMMM...)


BLC: And any last words?


STB: Oui, thanks for the interview. Of
course,  remember  to   vote   in  THE
OFFICIAL EUROCHART at:

The Official Eurochart
Skolegade 3
8850 Bjerringbro

- more than just a Top 20 -