Interview
Handle: CRT or later on even my real name John.
How did you come up with your alias ?
I don't know. Catodic Relay Transmitter or something like that.
City / Country:
Stockholm, Sweden.
Born year:
1972
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
I got my first computer in 1984 (or 1985?) and it was a Commodore 64. I was inspired by a friend that at this time played games on his VIC20.
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
My math teacher misplaced me on a bench next to a guy named Andreas (handle: Lord Death). We didn't got much math done during this year in school but we discussed programming. At that time I was an excellent (??? Hmm, well) programmer but I knew nothing about the VIC chip. Andreas thought me the tricks to make a smooth raster controlled $D016 character scroller. What more can you ask for? I became a demo programmer!
I joined Andreas group MCC (Macabra Cadabra Crackers, please forgive me if I didn't get the spelling right) as a musician but I never produced any music. Suddenly MCC got in contact with The Pirates international, and ACT (Allied Computer Terrorists) and Paragon was formed. Then the story is long, the original Paragon lasted for quite some time. I got in New Triad, Light, New Triad and finally Censor.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
Hey I'm 24 years old today! I'm planning to live for another 40-80 (depending on my lifestyle) years and have not yet reached my top. -I do not live in the past!
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
I'm not. Besides some good demo parts I haven't achieved much on the commie. To mention some demos: Chaos/Paragon, Censor/Paragon, Censor2/Paragon and some of the demos from The Wonderland series.
What would you like to be remembered for ?
You'll meet me again.
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
Money, girls, friends, and lack of inspiration. Actually I stopped several times but I came back. I'm not sure I've stopped for final yet.
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Nope.
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
Chamus on VIC20 played on a B/W TV! Scramble on Arcade, Defender of the Crown on C64 (I still play it) and Borrowed time on C64 (I haven't made it yet, I will).
Today I'm playing Warcraft II on PC, Wipeout on Playstation and Daytona on Sega Arcade.
DEMO(S)
All the 1001 and Judges demos, Chaos/Paragon and All Censor demos.
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
OVERALL GROUPS :
COMPOSER(S)
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
BEST GRAPHICS
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
MEMORY(S)
This looks like any magazine vote-sheet I got 10 of every week in my snail-mailbox. I didn't answer them then and I do not answer them now.
DRINK ?
Selected Scotch Whiskey, Tea (plenty), Beer, Water.
What are you doing nowadays ?
Working with game/software developing (more than 8 bits. I hate the fact that not being able to access more than 256 bytes via an index register.). I've found myself more comfortable with C and Assembler on 16/32/64 bits processors than on the 8 bit 6510.
What are you doing on your spare time?
Planning the day of tomorrow. This is real life and I don't have it.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
Be gentle and nice to each other. The morale in the world is getting too low.
What is the meaning of life?
It's a complicated and my favourite question! Here goes my philosophy:
In short terms the meaning of life is based on the primitive monkey/human instincts: Survive (food, protection and sleep) and reproduction of the own specie (sex and territory). I think every act of the modern man is based on these rules. Do not forget that these primitive terms of life are only a few generations behind and if anything unexpected happen it might just be 2-3 generations to come before we're back there again.
In a long term the meaning of life is more complicated. First we need to define what life is. Is it a chemical process of coal (like life on Earth?) or is it any process that in the end might end up having consciousness awareness; (an animal (some animals don't know their own existence), a computer program, an electromagnetic field in a crystal, you name it). Then we need to figure out how this process started (who wrote the computer program and why? Is the programmer God?). In an even longer term, life end up being a circumstance and not of any value. Some scientists say that this universe is created from nothing and will return to nothing. If this is the case, it doesn't matter what great thing we achieve since it will all be gone in the end of time and none will ever knew we even existed.
Have a nice life!