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Floppy 2005 - Sweaty Databoy Inferno!
February 25th -27th, Helsingborg, Sweden
a personal party report by Jonatan "macx" Forsberg
www.jonatanforsberg.net

It was a rough nordic winter and polar bears were attacking elderly people on their way to the market igloo. As I had moved up to the more northern parts of Sweden due to some immense medical school I had decided to take part of, I was shoveling myself through tonnes of snow every day on my way from lectures in order to get the latest gossip of what the upcoming Floppy was to be about. After setting up the diesel generator properly, I managed to kick-start it and get the extra electricity, badly needed for my c64 and the TV-set. The dog's breath turned fumey as I was getting online: atdt antidote.hopto.org. In the seventh sub I was at this particular day reading a post by Rave Guru whom was wondering what he would forget at the party this year. Stan had dug himself up from some graveyeard and badly wanted to come over, but was reluctant anyway for some reason. Some american sceners were envious about everything being so close in europe, making it possible to c64 party a lot.

That was the talk building up the atmosphere pre-Floppy back in February. The usual preparations were made in order to create the chaotic weekend we need to get our veins and arteries flowing in the cold. My brother was coming up from back home in the south the week before in order to see some wilderness and then to join me on the night train back south. A 20 hour trainride is, no matter how small the part of europe called Sweden is, a 20 hour trainride. The more the merrier, especially if watching films on the youngster's laptop. I packed the picture I had almost finished and the first attempts to achieve something similar to sounds on a black beautiful 5,25" and we went out just to miss the bus, and to get saved by an expensive cab. Towards helltown it was.

After all these floppies I am starting to know the citycenter of Helsingborg as my backpocket. The trainstation and the walk up to the party place passing 7-eleven, pizzerias and falafel mongerers. The sharp left and the first glance of the obscure red cinema which is the signal telling any self affirmative scener that everything is just fine. Despite the city not being that far from where I am from I believe I only know these parts of Helsingborg from a February outlook. The usual signs were put up, just like the flower dresses in plenty of colours to attract the bees. But bees were nowhere to be seen, hibernating as they do in the winter. Fellow good thinking sceners had gathered around the hot blue screens down in the dark underground. The fire was lit.

The first greeting was, as always, made by the Fairlight posse as they always protect the entrance of the party hall. Noone knows what could show up in the long pale corridor leading down to the Floppy crypt. Present with Maktone, Puterman, Hollowman and Vodka were some younger boys, some kind of groupies I assume. They were all sitting around a table watching demos and making weird noises. Later into the party, several members of the Fairlight crew would take off their pants in order to do get into a mood of what is commonly known in Sweden as "kalsongdata" (I have got photographic evidence).

In the background, beyond the sign clearly stating "PRIVATE", Dane and HCL were hiding, secretly preparing something that would later be known as a preview of Tsunami. Deeper into the dungeon Jucke was found sleeping, taking a nap and escaping from all the heavy duties as an organizer. "I didn't sleep at home like Taper did!" was the comment I got a few hours later. We are not getting younger, year by year the number of people finding their way to hotels and hostels for some better sleeping facilities than a concrete floor increase. Another proof of us getting older is the fact that we are becoming the new generation of parents, which I believe was a reason why Zyron did not show up this year, taking on the responsibilities of fatherhood.

Though still, the vast majority are partying like evil beasts in front of the screens, discussing or mingeling until the tiredness is overwhelming. Then, a good scener knows that nothing beats a couple of hours in a sleeping bag somewhere in a dark corner trying to conceal oneself from all the different sids playing in disharmony. If it is possible to hide away, the spot is a treasure and a good scener does not want to make it known to the other partyanimals. As a consequence, if a good scener needs to puke he or she has to do it there, in the hidden palace. This was exactly what happened at Floppy the previous year, and believe it or not, but at the same spot a good scener had hidden away in a desperate attempt to get a few hours of rest, only to discover that he or she had to let the food and beer come back up.

With all these people gathered something mysterious is bound to happen. But even when Blackdroid disappearing or Oxidy getting drunk, the biggest question remains: Will Jejk ever show up at Floppy again, and who was he? Me and Zzap69 have spent many a good phoneconversations on this topic. I mean, Goto80 showed up this year after a couple of years absent, but that could be because we know him. What about Jejk, was he ever for real? He had to be real back then, he drew a picture for a demo by Swappaz Wid Attitude. A good picture even!

Whilst I am on the subject of Zzap69, I can tell you that he was pretty mad at iopop for not playing his tune on the right chip (6581 or 8580). He had spent drunken hours coding a routine making it possible to choose either, and the message had not come through all right it seems like. Later on, as the liver took care of the alcohol, the anger turned into the everyday madness we all know from him.

The count of sceners present at Floppy 2005 were not as many as the years preceding. This year, however, Nightlord had travelled all the way from Turkey to pay hommage to the c64 together with weird Swedes. Murdock had come from Poland and was often seen demojockeying the bigscreen. Rumours were also saying that a german geezer had been rocking the partyhall the first day, perhaps someone from Go64!, but maybe the language barrier had been too thick or the unpresence of Slator played its role. However, despite the number of sceners not being the best, the quality of the demos released were brilliant. If we do it, we do it with style (which was expressed to the utmost in the c/g-compo).

After the party, in sub 7 at Antidote the post-party discussions were going on up until recently. They would most certainly still had been heated and perhaps even the mystery of the puke in the wardrobe had been solved, if it was not for the fact that the Taper had closed it down awaiting Floppy 2006, stating sub 7 was his brainchild. Oh well, up until then we get by on our diskbox sniffing.

Jonatan "macx" Forsberg, May 14th 2005

Releases:

DEMO Competition:
1. TRIAD/The Throckmorton Device
2. 1000000 Million Miles To Earth/FairLight
3. Tsunami 73%/Booze Design
4. Broken/Civitas
5. Poland/CWA
6. Dancing Snowmen/Macx+Zzap69
7. 24Hours/M&M

PETSCII (C/G) Competition:
1. Jucke/G*P
2. Dino/Uprough/Divine Stylers
3. Abba/ELG
4. Murdock/Tropyx, Taper/TRIAD and Maktone/FairLight
5. Goto8o/HT and Macx/Onslaught

GRAPHICS Competition:
1. Twoflower/TRIAD
2. Vodka/FairLight
3. Dane/Booze Design
4. Wiggen/TRIAD
5. Macx/Onslaught

MUSIC Competition
1. Goto80/HT
2. Puterman/FairLight
3. Avalon/Wrath Designs
4. RaveGuru/Instinct
5. Dane/Booze Design
6. Maktone/FairLight
7. Murdock/Tropyx
8. Johey
9. Zzap69/Noice
10.Macx/Onslaught
11.Nightlord/Civitas