Alternative Party 2004
Happy for a change
A rare but powerful MSX Turbo R computer
After the success of the previous party, we were a bit confused about what to do next. After the legendary Jeff Minter, what more could we offer? Revolution must continue, so we booked Gloria for another party to be held in January in 2004. The previous parties had had kind of militaristic theme, so this time we tried something different. The theme was happy hippyism, reflected in the colourful website and posters.
People having serious demoparty fun
Alternative Party 2004 was held on 9-11 January 2004. As a change from the previous year, we had musical performances on two floors: The main "CPU" stage had "bigger" acts and bands while the "FPU" stage hosted DJ's and single artists. Yrjänä Sauros with Bass Cadet produced a very intriguing musical and poetic journey while Älymystö performed a noisy industrial set. Siniaalto's electronic tunes and Helsinki Computer Orchestra's noise were not left unnoticed.
Even more experimentation
Juustomaariageneraattori by Exile Studios successfully combined animated characters and randomly generated speech samples for humorous effect
Last year we had finally allowed modern PC's and Amigas to take part in the main demo competition but this year we tried something bold. We introduced the dynamic demo competition in which the demo must be different every time it is run. This new competition got a mixed reception, while the winning entry, Juustomaariageneraattori by Exile Studios got raving applauses. We also had a Basic demo competition in which the only allowed programming language was Basic. Ananasmurska's Excellence™ — made with MS Excel Visual Basic — was the winner.
This year we had two sponsored competitions: a mobile photography competition sponsored by Nokia and a mobile gaming competition sponsored by Sumea. New Nokia phones were given as prizes.
Erkki Pirtola as the concert master during Helsinki Computer Orchestra's noisy performance
As one of the epic competitions ever, the world domination competition was won by IRC-Galleria. This picture gallery website had, by our opinion, come closest to world domination among the competitors.
One of the most memorable productions from this party was probably Vihannexia - Vegetables by Gluterol. It won the silent movie competition which had interesting entries. In the background, the video was accompanied by a piano player. Kameli's legendary Harmu detective got the second place.
We also experimented with TV production - a project called AltTV made interviews and other programs during the party. Finnish movie makers, the guys behind the Star Wreck movies, came to present their ongoing (but soon finishing) film, Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, to the party crowd. The new trailer was shown on the big screen. Jyrki Kasvi was our special guest this year. Kasvi is a member of the Finnish parliament and also the author of many home computer related books.
Official
Pictures and party reports
- CiH's party report
- Pictures by Msk
- Pictures by DiamonDie
- Alternative Party 2004 at Pouet.net
- DiamonDie's party report
