Today's Flash MX 2004 experiment is: Bees - A Sidescrolling Video Game.

This game took me quite a while to complete. I've been working on it, on and off, for about a month now. If anyone is interested in checking out the source file, feel free: Bee Sources (example fla). The file may be a bit hard to understand as there are few comments, and I was busily climbing the learning curve while I was building the game.

If you are using Mozilla or Opera to view this flash experiment I recommend you upgrade your Flash plug-in to version 7.0.

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Download winamp 5. Use their new Media Library (ALT-L). Load up the video stream entitled demoscene stream in the Internet TV section. Enjoy your fill of the old school demo scene. (Other winamp streams of note: The 1000kbps Bjork promo stream, #Rapkings - German, French and American hip-hop. Rapping sounds wicked cool in German and French.)

The demo scene stream lead me to Pouet.net, a scene related resource centre. From there I discovered a real treat! (More info on that, later.)

Back in the early 90s, I was into the local BBS scene. I witnessed the peak and the near-death of this digital phenom. Before the internet gained wide spread popularity, millions around the world were using their computer modems to connect over their phone lines to Electronic Bulletin board systems. There were even globally connected BBS networks like Fidonet that rivaled the early 90s internet in terms of ease of use, community strength and content. Worldwide communities were formed that promoted the distribution of knowledge, creativity and the fellowship of man. Of these communities and scenes, I was drawn to phreaking, hacking and the demo and ansi-art scene. I remember when my cousin first taught me how to make free long-distance modem calls through the Univerisity of Manitoba loopback switch. The world's BBS systems, like giant digital community built encyclopedias, were at my disposal.

This is where I learnt to love learning. Using the word "where" in this context is such an abstraction. For "where", was I while I soaked in this info from this proto-noosphere? I was at home. Sitting in front of my computer. And yet my consciousness was connecting to people and ideas around the world. Bringing 'home' some inspiration from a beautiful ANSI image created in Germany. Debating the finer points of shareware video games on a BBS in Hawaii.

And then I discovered the Net. Sure, sometimes I miss the BBS world, (especially it's lack of corporate sponsorship), but there's no turning back once you witness the future.

The treat I mentioned earlier is the final Artpack from the legendary ANSI-art crew, Acid Productions. These digital artists weave complex images with a limited colour palette and a collection of squares. (Download with BitTorret: acid-100.zip.torrent)

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"These 9 drawings were done by an artist under the influence of LSD -- part of a test conducted by the US government during it's dalliance with psychotomimetic drugs in the late 1950's. The artist was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject is the medico that jabbed him."

What blew me away was the similarity of this image with the painting composition work of Wassily Kandinsky

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