Preview
Spring Break 1999 Demo Party and Multimedia Convention
DEMO-MUSIC-CODE-SYSTEM-ART-SCENE-PARTY-TRIP-ELECTRONIC
April 2-4, University of California, San Diego
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// What
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A celebration of computer graphics, electronic music, and digital art. It is f
or the Demoscene, the Music Scene, the Art Scene, creative expression, technica
l acheivement, underground culture, computer enthusiasts, and curious on-looker
s. Come feel digital media.
Presented by Cataclysm, the Computer Multimedia Development Club at UCSD, and c
o-sponsored by Associated Students of UCSD.
/* Web Pages */
Main page for UCSD students and any non-Demosceners
http://events.ucsd.edu/cmdc/
Main page for Demosceners and experienced Demoparty-goers
http://skaro.scene.org/sb99
/* News */
990107 - Made reservations, preliminary version of info file released.
990210 - All necessary funds for party allocated by ASUCSD. Thank you!
990215 - Web page up, full version of info file released.
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// Who
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The Spring Break 1999 Main Contact Email:
god - whutchin@ucsd.edu
Other places you can direct questions/comments/other:
CMDC general email - cmdc@ucsd.edu
Nemesis - atwise@earthlink.net
RaD Man - radman@acid.org
Silvein - silvein@skaro.scene.org
/* Organizers */
Will Hutchinson (god / Cataclysm) - main organizer
Andy Wise (Nemesis / Cataclysm) - designated ogre
Eric Lai (CMDC) - Will's ex-helper monkey
Jimmy Rimmer (Rimbo / Cataclysm) - studying
Joy Garg (CMDC) - Will's current helper monkey
Matt Chretien (Silvein) - chauffeur
Matt Hohlfeld (Thanos) - b.o.f.h.
/* Puplicity / PR */
Ava Hristova (CMDC), Ben Ashbaugh (CMDC), Christian Radman (RaD Man / ACiD), Da
ve Menkes (Behemoth), Max Sayles (Fysx / Xi), Paul Bragiel (Pyromaniac / Beyond
), Scott Ellis (CMDC, ASUCSD), Tom Carey (Mindbender / Analogue), Wes Middleton
(Desperate / Cataclysm)
/* Attendees */
Orange Juice demoparty page list of SB99 attendees:
http://ojuice.citeweb.net/e/frames.htm?/parties_incoming.htm
Don't worry - this list is far from comprehensive. But if you're planning to a
ttend, make sure to add yourself to this list! In general, I'm sure most of th
e people who attended SB97 or SB98 will be coming back this year, along with ma
ny other sceners. Of course, along with Demoscene veterans there will be many
other on-lookers, from potenial new sceners and fans, to experienced multimedia
developers and professors of related academic fields to share expertise and en
ergy with the Scene. Forget the demos, forget the music, forget the compos, fo
rget the computers, Spring Break rawks because of the people.
/* Rumors */
I really don't want to try and keep track of everyone who tells me they're comi
ng (that's what the Orange Juice page is for!), but I can't help but pass on a
few interesting tidbits of attendee info here:
- The genious musician behind Spasm95.s3m and ever impartial, fair, accurate (d
epending on how many stars he gives you of course ;)) Hornet demo reviewer may
be attending...
- Swivel is considering DRIVING from Chicago again... *boggle*
- Sylphin is going for the "most distance traveled" t-shirt prize by flying fro
m Montreal. Not too late for one of you Euro's to steal it away though... ;)
- All of the sceners who attend the ever-diligent sister University of Californ
ia school in Berkeley have decided that their studies are just too important fo
r them to make a quick hop south for the weekend and attend SB99...
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// When
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/* Friday, April 2 */
Nooon - Party opens in Gallery rooms (location of SB97)
Nooon-6:00pm - Open jam session, carpool trip to Matrix-opening
6:00-10:00pm - Demoshow in Movie Theatre
11:00pm - Party moves to International Center (location of SB98)
Midnight - Sample pack released for 18-hour tracking competition
/* Saturday, April 3 */
All day - Demos, socializing, working on competition entries, networking, party
ing
6:00pm - Deadline for tracking competition entries
7:00-11:00pm - Demo, music, and art competitions in Movie Theatre
/* Sunday, April 4 */
6:00am - Outdoor competitions
9:00am - Open jam session
2:00pm - End of Spring Break 1999
3:00pm-3:00pm (Monday) - Organizers nap
/* Random things you can expect to occur at uncertain times */
- Big scary looking people (Radman, Thanos, Wes) will wander around with video
and still cameras interviewing, demanding handles, zooming in on the ogre (Neme
sis) snoring on the floor in the aisle by his computer
- Groups of strangers will band together under a common goal and trek out for c
affeine and food, returning as great friends
- Steve (Fineline) will hit the kitchen and bust out some fresh baked Spring Br
eak pizza
- Jimmy (Rimbo) will want revenge for last year's "battle of the stereos" compe
tition :P and the apocolyptic battle that ensues will render everyone legally d
eaf
- People who only claimed to come for the party will be heading out for the bea
ch, Tijuana, and some birthday party in LA with cast members from Buffy the Vam
pire Slayer
- Some demo I (Will, god, party organizer) show on the big screen will so overw
helm me that I am forced to pause for a moment of contemplation before starting
another, and some poor uninformed soul will claim that I fell asleep
- At the moment Babylon explodes into its deepest bass, San Deigo and Los Angel
es will finaly break free of the California mainland and float off into the Pac
ific
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// Where
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You can find Directions to UCSD and a Campus Map here:
http://www.ucsd.edu/visit/directions.html
Spring Break 1999 is will take place in three locations at UCSD: the Price Cent
er Gallery Rooms, the International Center, and the Price Center Movie Theatre.
/* Gallery Rooms */
The Price Center Gallery Rooms were the main location of SB97. The Price Cente
r is the main campus student center, which is located in the center of campus r
ight next to the main library. The main library is the big eye-catching buildi
ng shaped like the Death Star (actually, it's supposed to be shaped like a tree
, but who's kidding who here?). Gallery Rooms A and B are located on the side
of the Price Center closest to the library, right above the big movie theatre m
arquee (ie, on the second floor).
We're only using the Gallery Rooms for the first day of the party (from party s
tart at Noon till 11pm on Friday, April 2), because of a scheduling conflict at
the International Center. Of course, that means at 11pm we're going to have t
o move _everything_ into the International Center (which is just down Library W
alk), so while there will be power, 10baseT Internet connections, tables, and c
hairs in the Gallery Rooms we do not recommend that you set up computer equipme
nt there. The plan is instead to have socializing, food, a jam session for any
one who brought music equipment, and other hang-out style activities for Friday
afternoon until 6pm, at which time we will be in the Theatre for one of our tr
ademark megademofests.
The deal for handling people's stuff at this point of the party is as follows:
just drop off your equipment we'll watch it until 11pm and then move it over to
the International Center for you (gotta keep up with my Friday work-out schedu
le). If you really want to setup in the Gallery Rooms, just keep in mind you'l
l have to un-setup around 10-10:30pm.
/* International Center */
The International Center was the main location of SB98. It is located south of
the Library, straight down Library Walk. To get to the nearest unloading spot
, take Gilman Drive until you cross Library Walk (at which point the Library sp
rings into view) and then either your next right (if the Library was to your ri
ght) or the left you just passed (if the Library was to your left) is Mandevill
e Lane. Go up Mandeville Lane and turn right into the first parking lot off it
, which is right behind the International Center. Unload here, and look below
for parking details.
After Friday at 11pm, the International Center will be the main party location.
It has two large open rooms that should each fit 40 or so people with compute
rs, and additionally there is a kitchen and other rooms that are at our disposa
l. There should be plenty of tables, chairs, and power (at least, we didn't bl
ow a fuse last year...). The kitchen is a large restaurant-style arrangement,
with big ovens, stoves, and refrigerators. Make sure to contact us if you want
to contribute to the party cuisine! Of course, there will be restrooms in the
party place, but no showers. There are outdoor, gym, and swimming pool area s
howers nearby.
The party area will be setup so that most of the social scene activity is in th
e main room, and other activity like last-minute demo-making, network gaming, a
nd other things will take place in the second large room. We plan to have a sm
aller third room sectioned off for sleeping. The party network will be similar
ly split into two physically separated LAN's served by an IP masquerader. No m
ore netgame broadcast packets interfering with "legitimate" internet usage. ;)
However, all static IP's will be reserved for official party servers.
We're planning to have a much larger Internet presence this year. In addition
to the IP masquerader (which will be worked out ahead of time this year ;)), we
're going to have multiple webcam and/or realvideo servers setup broadcasting t
he party online, along with a web page that will hopefully be updated various t
imes during the party... We also will have something serving files to the part
y, making sample pack and competition entry transferring go much smoother. If
you have any other ideas for party networking, want to help out with a "realtim
e" party webpage, aren't going to be attending but have a preference for which
streaming format you'd like to see online, or have other related comments don't
hesitate to contact us.
/* Theatre */
The Price Center Theatre is directly underneath the Gallery Rooms and is where
we will be showing demos on Friday and holding the demo, music, and art competi
tions on Saturday. 25' screen, 1000+ watt digital sound system, acoustically d
esigned environment, etc.
/* Food */
Do not count on any food or drinks to be provided by us at the party. Some peo
ple may share things from their own personal stashes (as I did last year) and a
t some point Steve (Fineline) will most probably be making a bunch of pizza for
anyone who wants some, but for the most part be prepared to take care of your
own food needs. During the day and early evening there are many sources of pre
pared food on campus (mall food court variety stuff and college cafeterias -- I
don't recommend the latter ;)), and there is a 24 hour Ralph's grocery store w
ithin not too long a walk. Groups of people are likely to be going out togethe
r for food at various times and one can usually hook up with other people this
way, but I'd advise planning to hit the grocery store either before the party o
r right after you get to the party to stock up on snacks and drinks to last you
through the weekend.
/* What to bring */
Computers, surge suppressors, power strips, heavy duty extension cords, keyboar
ds, mixers, headphones, stereos, caffeinated beverages, simple carbohydrates, 1
0baseT cables, hubs, competition entries, funny animations, and anything you ne
ed to sleep if you're the type of person who engages in such activity.
/* Security */
First I must say that I am sorry but neither myself, Cataclysm, the Computer Mu
ltimedia Development Club, the Associated Students, nor UCSD can take any respo
nsibility for any equipment brought to the party that is lost, stolen, or damag
ed.
However, while we cannot make a legal guarentee, we do take precautions to see
that any equipment brought to the party is secure. There will be security pers
onnel on site for the entire duration of the party. Further the party will be
small enough that most people there will be aware of whose stuff is whose, and
demo sceners are extremely good about looking out for each other and their equi
pment. I personally will have most all of my valued material possesions presen
t, and I'm confident that the greatest risks to equipment at the party will be
heavy keyboard wear-and-tear, audio cord mix-ups, and code rage. ;)
We've had questions before about the general safety of the campus, and in respo
nse to that let me say that UCSD is one of the safest colleges around. It's lo
cated in one of the lowest-crime areas of San Diego (La Jolla) and further the
surrounding communtity tends to ignore the campus anyway. Walking alone at nig
ht is almost totally safe, and there will be plenty of people to group together
with anyway. Certainly a group of hyperactive computer freaks has nothing to
worry about.
And as a final note to concerned parents of potential party-goers, the demoscen
e is really an incredibly safe activity for North American teenagers. Negative
incidents at demo parties anywhere in the world are few and far between, and I
personally know many people who have had no trouble traveling to these kind of
events all over the globe. Of course guarentees are not possible, but compare
d to other computer-oriented scenes and other teenage hobbies that I know of th
e demoscene is always the safest.
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// How
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How to get to Spring Break 1999:
/* Driving */
Directions for driving to the UCSD campus can be found at:
http://www.ucsd.edu/visit/directions.html
Info on carpools coming soon.
/* Flying */
To fly to SB99 use the main San Diego Airport:
http://www.sandiego.com/cic/san/sdiatitlepage.htm
If you need transportation to and from the airport and UCSD, let us know (whutc
hin@ucsd.edu) your flight arrangements as soon as possible!
/* Train */
A great way to get down to SB99 from the LA area is on Amtrack:
http://www.amtrak.com/
If you want to do this make sure you plan to get off at the Solana Beach statio
n (SOL), NOT the main San Diego station (Solana Beach is closer to UCSD than is
downtown San Diego). Also let us know (whutchin@ucsd.edu) when you plan to ar
rive as soon as possible if you want us to pick you up.
/* Virtual */
For those poor souls who are not able to attend SB99 in person, we would like t
o be able to further agonize you by providing live video footage of the party o
ver the web. We will have multiple cameras and servers set up using various me
thods of video streaming (realvideo, web cams, etc), and of course there will l
ikely be people from the party hanging around on irc at various times (most wil
l be on irc.scene.org #trax). The exact details of all of this will be availab
le on the main SB99 page (http://skaro.scene.org/sb99) during the party. Note
if you're not attending and have a preferred video format for us to use, let us
know ahead of time so that we can make sure and support the stuff that will be
used.
/* Other */
Useful link for transportation around UCSD and San Diego:
http://parking.ucsd.edu/ride/ripublic.html
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// Compos
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your excuse to transcend the plague of laziness in the North American scene. T
here IS some competition at SB99 that you can enter. Do it.
/* General */
1. Except where noted you must be present at the party to be eligible for compe
tition prizes. However, if you want to enter in a competition remotely anyway,
please contact me (whutchin@ucsd.edu) and your entry will be shown and compete
with the others, you just can't win a prize other than fame and glory. (Note
this is still a great way to release something if you can't attend any competit
ions in person. Even 10 months later I am still getting requests for me to sen
d people SB98 competition entries.)
2. All competitions involving works of digital art will take place on Saturday,
April 3rd, from 7-11pm in the Price Center Movie Theatre, others will take pla
ce when specified below.
3. All competition entries must be new, unreleased work that has not previously
been entered successfully in other demoscene competitions (entries disqualfied
from other competitions and not released in the interim are welcome at SB99).
4. Most competitions will be somewhat loose and informal as in previous years,
but due to a substantial increase in the value of prizes in some competitons, r
ules will be strictly enforced wherever there is a controversy.
5. We reserve the right to change competition rules, prizes, or cancel competit
ions at any time if we feel it is necessary.
/* Prizes */
For most competitions, prizes will consist of party t-shirts (see below). Howe
ver, due to generous donations there will also be a pool of cash and other priz
es to be distributed to the winners of the more significant competitions. Curr
ently, this pool consists of at least $500, a complete spage-age computer syste
m ;), and a motherboard. If you would like to donate something to the prize po
ol to encourage better competition entries, please don't hesitate to contact me
(whutchin@ucsd.edu).
/* Equipment */
Theatre competitions, of course, will take place on a 25' screen with 1000+ wat
t digital sound system. The specifications of the computers I would like to ru
n the competition entries from are as follows:
1. p2-504, 128 ram, ATI rage128 (fury) [not definite until they release it of c
ourse], Canopus Voodoo2, Turtle Beach Montego A3D, Win98 boot, latest JVM insta
lled
2. p5-292mmx, 64 ram, Diamond Stealth64, Canopus Voodoo1, GUS PnP (SoundBlaster
16 available if absolutely necessary), Win98 or DOS boot, VESA 2.0 support (mo
st 8/15/16/32bpp modes available), latest JVM installed
However, if your entry requires some special equipment to run that you have bro
ught with you we may still allow it. Basically, if it's not a hassle and the e
quipment does not obviously provide a great advantage over either of the two ma
chines specified above then we'll let you compete. For example, demos written
for Linux, BeOS. Nintendo 64's, or a k6-3Dnow chip would be allowed to enter, w
hereas something written for an SGI Infinite Reality would not. (Don't let tha
t stop you from bringing the Infinite Reality to the party though!) We reserve
all judgement on this matter.
/* Demo */
Prizes:
1st - 30% of cash pool, space-age computer system, t-shirts
2nd - 10% of cash pool, t-shirts
- Maximum size in archive (ZIP, self-extracting EXE, etc): 4MB (4194304 bytes)
- Maximum playing time is 15 minutes
- May not be a pure 2D animation file and player
/* Handicapped Demo */
1st Prize: 10% of cash pool, t-shirts
The idea of this competition is to make a demo under some adverse condition. S
uggested acceptable handicaps:
- size (may not be over 100K, or 102400 bytes when uncompressed/unarchived)
- processor (code for a 286, we'll have one to verify that it works)
- graphics (textmode, ANSI, EGA, etc)
- language (BASIC, COBOL, etc, bring source for verification)
- other (email whutchin@ucsd.edu to see if your handicap idea is acceptable)
/* Open Music */
1st Prize: 10% of cash pool, t-shirt
- No filesize limit
- Maximum playing time is 8 minutes
- Composition must be original, not any sort of cover or remix
- Any digital format we can find or you can provide a player for (preferably XM
, IT, MP3, WAV, or cd-audio)
- A computer must have been used as some part of the production and you may be
required to prove it
/* Tracked Music */
1st Prize: 10% of cash pool, t-shirt
- Maximum filesize (with any in-file sample compression): 2MB (2097152 bytes)
- Maximum playing time is 8 minutes
- Composition must be original, not any sort of cover or remix
- Any tracked format we can find or you can proivde a player for (preferably XM
or IT)
/* Fast-Tracked Music */
1st Prize: 5% of cash pool, t-shirt
- Maximum playing time is 5 minutes
- All samples will be provided, none may be added or removed (though you do not
have to actually use every sample)
- Samples may be modified with tracker-extensions/commands such as looping, sus
tain, and volume, but not CHANGED in any way
- The sample pack will be released at approximately midnight Friday night, and
you will have until 6pm Saturday night (18 hours total) to complete your entry
/* Open Graphics */
1st Prize: 10% of cash pool, t-shirt
- Maximum resolution is 1024x768 (WARNING: the theatre projector allows only 64
0x480 maximum resolution so any images larger than this must be scaled down to
be shown)
- Maximum color depth is 24bit
- Any image format readable by ACDSee32 v2.2 or Photoshop v5 allowed
- Images must be static; no animations or color-cycling effects
- Any rendered 3D objects included must be self-made
- No content may be scanned, ripped, or otherwise not original
- Entries must include 3 "semi-finished" pictures to show the progress of the p
icture
/* Open Animation */
1st Prize: 10% of cash pool, t-shirt
- Maximum running time is 15 minutes
- Contributions should be delivered on S-VHS or VHS. Tf your entry must be del
ivered on a computer, you run the risk of whether it will be properly displayab
le in the theatre. (Best bet is some sort of standard avi/mov/mpg/quick time f
ormat running in at most 640x480 and fitting on one standard length cd.)
- All visual art (including 3D objects) must be self-made
- Audio can come from any legal source, but original scores are prefered
- Only comptuer generated animations are allowed (both 2D and 3D)
- Entries must include 3 images on disk that show the development of the animat
ion (eg, screen shots of unfinished models in modeler, unfilled-in sketches in
drawing program, etc)
/* Pixel Graphics */
1st Prize: 5% of cash pool, t-shirt
- Maximum resolution is 1024x768 (WARNING: the theatre projector allows only 64
0x480 maximum resolution so any images larger than this must be scaled down to
be shown)
- Maximum color depth is 24bit
- Any image format readable by ACDSee32 v2.2 or Photoshop v5 allowed
- Images must be static; no animations or color-cycling effects
- The entire picture must be pixelled and neither rendered nor raytraced.
- No content may be scanned, ripped, or otherwise not original
- Entries must include 3 "semi-finished" pictures to show the progress of the p
icture
/* Other */
- Bunny chasing (will take place Easter Sunday, April 4th of course)
- Hard disk throwing (REAL hard drives, not sissy modern 5"x3" things)
- CD throwing
- Keyboard playing
- Ironman (who has the highest caffeine/sleep ratio for duration of party)
- Longest distance traveled to SB99
/* T-Shirts */
There will of course be an official SB99 t-shirt, designed again by Behemoth, a
nd available as the most common competition prize. However, if you aren't able
to win one they can also be purchased for $10-15 (exact price still be to be d
etermined). T-Shirt pre-orders may be available sometime in March.
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// QFA
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1. What's up with starting the party in the Gallery rooms and then moving to th
e International Center?
Someone had already reserved the International Center till 11pm on Friday, Apri
l 2 when I went to make initial reservations back in October.
2. Where are pics from SB98?
Where can I read an SB98 party report?
When the hell are you going to update the SB98 page?
Real soon now. Note though that the "god" account at crl.com might be disappea
ring before then. :( This of course means that the old SB98 page url will beco
me broken and any mail send to god@crl.com will float around in bit-limbo.
3. How many people are you expecting to show up to SB99?
Lots.
While it will probably never be close to comprehensive, you can check out a lis
t of potential attendees on the Orange Juice demoscene/demoparty page (and make
sure to add yourself if you plan to attend!): http://ojuice.citeweb.net/e/fram
es.htm?/parties_incoming.htm
4. Is the party definitely going to happen?
Is it safe to go ahead and make arrangements to attend?
SB99 WILL HAPPEN. I have a pretty good track record with these things (as this
will be the THIRD Spring Break party, and I've carried through with all the ot
her scene gatherings I've organized as well). The facility is confirmed, the f
unding has been allocated, and all my recent presient visions indicate that the
party will totally kickass.
5. Why is the party scheduled when it is?
Why isn't the party during the real UC spring break vacation?
What about Easter?
The dates of SB99 were chosen because they made the most logistical sense for t
he party. While I certainly want as many sceners all over as possible to atten
d, one of the other major purposes of the party is to expose non-sceners to the
demoscene, most especially UCSD students. Last year's scheduling of SB98 duri
ng UCSD's spring break vacation resulted in few curious UCSD students dropping
by to investigate due to being on vacation. So the primary consideration for t
his year's party dates are that it is one of the best weekends for curious UCSD
students looking for something to do.
Now, that is not to say we have no interest in demosceners outside of UCSD, but
the difference in scener attendance is slight compared to the potential differ
ence in UCSD student attendance. Personally, as a die-hard scener I'll go to a
ny scene event I want to badly enough, regardless of the timing. But as a UCSD
student I'm certainly not going to stick around on campus during a vacation ju
st to check out some strange club I might find interesting. Of course, anytime
an event is scheduled, many people will have conflicts they just can't escape.
I understand this, and I'm regretful that many of my close scene friends may
not be able to attend SB99. But April 2-4 really are the best dates for the pa
rty as a whole.
As for Easter, I'm sorry for anyone for whom this is a conflict. Most of the i
nteresting activities are scheduled for Saturday however, so if you have to mis
s Sunday you can still enjoy the bulk of the party.
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Links
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
/* Official SB99 Pages */
Main page for UCSD students and any non-Demosceners
http://events.ucsd.edu/cmdc/
Main page for Demosceners and experienced Demoparty-goers
http://skaro.scene.org/sb99
/* Additional sources of useful information */
Orange Juice demoparty page list of SB99 attendees
http://ojuice.citeweb.net/e/frames.htm?/parties_incoming.htm
Virtual Visit to UCSD including Directions
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/visit/index.html
Almost anything you could want to know about the UCSD campus
http://www.ucsd.edu
/* Old Spring Break pages that may be interesting, informative, or nostalgic */
Spring Break 1998 Pre-party Information
http://www.crl.com./~god/sb98/
Spring Break 1997 Party Report and Pictures
http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~jrimmer/sb97/
Spring Break 1997 Pre-party Information
http://sdcc13.ucsd.edu/~whutchin/
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// End Of Infofile
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Cya at the party!
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PS - PASS ON THIS FILE TO EVERYONE IN NORTH AMERICA!!
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