Inteview with Jas

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  JAS OF PHENOMENA


It is  very  silent  around  Phenomena
these days.  But don't worry, they are
not  dead yet.  Joyride managed to get
an  interview  with   JAS,  the  coder
behind Crystal Symphonies I and II. 

X&C = Xerxes and Calvin  JAS = JAS/Pha

X&C: Hi! Please introduce yourself and
     give  us  some facts  about  your
     life.

JAS: My  handle is  JAS.  Some  people
     think  it's a peculiar handle but 
     it's just an  abbreviation  of my
     name, JAcob Stré°‰.
       I am a coder of Phenomena,  and
     I  coded  the  two  music  disks;
     Crystal Symphonies I and II. I am
     born in 1972,  and after school I
     started  at the  University.  The 
     school is named  Lund's Institute
     of   Technology  (LIT)   and   is
     situated  in the  city of Lund in
     the  very south of  Sweden.  I am 
     studying  for a master  degree of
     Computer Science. 
       Celebrandil and Kaktus are both 
     attending the same school.

X&C: Tell us a bit about your scene
     history.

JAS: Previous groups: Omikron (a group
     consisting of  only Mantronix and
     me),  SOS  (Software of  Sweden),
     Empire,  Supreme,  Fairlight  and
     Rebels.
      I released an intro for Omikron,
     a  demo for  Empire and  an intro
     for Fairlight.

X&C: Rumours  are  saying that  you're
     living  very close  to Mantronix.
     How are your relations to him 
JAS: Don't believe rumours... Well, as
     I am now  studying and  living in
     Lund  it's  about  80  kilometers
     between our homes,  but two years
     ago  when I  still lived  with my 
     parents the distance was only 200
     meters.  My relations  to him are
     good.  We  have  always  (almost)
     been  in  the  same   groups  and
     worked together. I appreciate him
     as  a musician as well  as a real
     friend.

X&C: What  are your  relations to  the
     rest of the Swedish scene

JAS: I have many  friends in Rebels as
     it was my former group. I've also
     good  relations  to Voice,  but I
     can not  say that  I really  am a
     "scene freak".
X&C: Phenomena has been  very inactive
     for quite a long time now. What's
     up

JAS: Well,  many of  us has  commenced
     university  studies   which  take
     more of your time than  the upper
     secondary   school.   (In  Sweden
     called gymnasium). In addition to
     that,     some    members    like
     Celebrandil  and   Azatoth  think
     they're  famous enough  and don't
     need  to release any  more stuff.
     However, this is not the case for
     me.  I really  want to  release a
     demo,  and have been  coding some
     since   last   summer.   We  then
     planned to release a demo made by
     all  coders in  PHA at Christmas,
     but when  christmas arrived,  not
     many  of us  were ready.  I saved
     the parts  I had done  for an own
     demo   to  be   released  in  the 
     future.
X&C: Guys like  Celebrandil,  Mr Gurk,
     Color,  Azatoth and  Twins,  what
     are they doing nowadays Are they
     all sunbathing

JAS: Yes.  Celebrandil  and  Gurk  are
     sunbathing in studies, Azatoth in
     his own computer language.  Twins
     however are quite active, but not
     in  the  demo scene.  As no demos
     are being  released, Color hasn't
     got  anything to do.

X&C: Do you  have any contacts  in the
     software  business   How   about
     Mantronix and Tip

JAS: No.   The   only   thing   is  an
     agreement  with  17 bit  software
     concerning the
     spreading of CS II. We got half a
     quid  a  copy  and  that  made 27
     English pounds. But that's better
     than nothing!

X&C: What does  your  dream demo  look
     like What is  your dream routine
     that  you never have  succeded to
     complete

JAS: Dream demo... Well it must run on
     a faster  computer than the A500.
     After  having  completed  my demo
     I'll probably  buy  an A1200  and
     start making demos on it. I think
     there will  be quite a difference
     as  the A1200  is more  than four
     times  faster and  the blitter is
     running at the double speed. Well
     a dream routine would be a travel
     through  a VERY detailled  vector
     lanscape running every  frame and
     with  realistic movements  of the
     objects.  Maybe  I'll  make  some
     routine like that  for the A1200.
     Or for the A4000...
X&C: You're studying computer science.
     How do  you like  the  university
     and the student life

JAS: I just love it. I don't know, but
     I've heard that  the student life
     here  is  rather  unique.  In the
     rest of  Europe  (apart  from the
     Scandinavian countries) they seem
     to study  at the University  only
     for the studies. At least in Lund
     that's  not  the  case.   We  are
     getting  high  quality education,
     but we are having fun at the same
     time!   There  are  lots  of  old
     traditions  here,   like  singing
     special  students songs etc.  The
     student  life   is  one   of  the
     reasons why I don't  code as much
     as before. 

X&C: Are there any other  Amiga freaks
     in your school
JAS: There  are  some  "scene freaks",
     but  they are  not as  famous  as
     Celebrandil and Kaktus  which are
     both studying at Lund's Institute
     of Technology.  At the University
     however,   Cato   of   Voice   is
     studying Computer Science. 

X&S: What is your  favourite food  Do
     you as  every other student,  eat
     pasta with lots of  ketchup every
     day

JAS: My favourite  food is  maybe home
     made meatballs. They take time to
     cook,  but the result  is so much
     better than  the  ones  you  buy.
     When I  came to  Lund, I  had two
     alternatives. Either to eat pasta
     with ketchup every day,  or learn
     how to cook for real. I chose the
     last alternative. 
X&C: Have  you   done  your   military
     service

JAS: No, and I won't as I am suffering
     from astma.  (Nowadays however, I
     am  taking  a very  good medicine
     twice a day so I don't notice the
     astma anymore.) 

X&C: Were you happy with our questions
     or do you have anything to add

JAS: Well,  I'd just say thank you for
     interviewing  me  and  happy  new
     year!

X&C: Ok, thanks for the interview. And
     remember to have a happy new year
     you too!