CompuServe Thread

#MartinF's a Virgin! eh?

31 messages in this thread
#129539From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 17, 1994 11:29 PM
hello all, as of today, I'm a Virgin! ….. a Virgin employee, that is <g> I just wanted to let anyone who gives a tinker's cuss that I started working for Virgin Interactive Entertainment today. In the highly respected position of … <fanfare>… lead 3D ferret-strangler! (with a chance of promotion to tea-lady within 6 months if things go well). Following months of negotiation, thousands of cups of tea and chocolate digestive biscuits, Richard (Branson, you fools) and I came to an employment agreement …. Sorry, it wasn't really that exciting and I never met Richard, but I heard he likes tea and I got carried away – the product of an overactive imagination <g>. Anyway, seriously "Animatrix" lives on and this doesn't mean you should all stop sending me money, or work offers, or both. There's 168 billable hours in a week (336 using LZW compression) and Virgin's only getting about 40, my wife gets 7, the cat 3, the dogs 2. That leaves …. duh …. duh ….. well, quite a lot for other work, so there's no excuse for ignoring me. OK? Good. stroll on. Martin
#129559From: Oct 18, 1994 2:56 AM
Martin: Congrats, mate! Sounds like too much fun to handle! Does that mean that you'll be staying around for a bit longer? I was afraid we'd loose you to Zephyr-Down-Under or something! Greg Pyros PS – But that still doesn't excuse you from not attending our 3DS User's group meeting last Saturday!
#129570From: Ted BoardmanOct 18, 1994 5:27 AM
Martin Are you going to be doing 'toons for those tiny TV;s on Virgin Air? 30×20 should be good enough<G> Congrats! TedB !^NavFont01F0007MGHHG64A747
#129646From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 11:16 AM
Ted, >> Are you going to be doing 'toons for those tiny TV;s on Virgin Air? << naw, Ted. That must be some other division <g>. I'll be working on games for PC-cdrom and the new 32-bit/64-bit game platforms (Sega, Sony, Nintendo etc)
#129575From: HARRY DUSENBERGOct 18, 1994 6:04 AM
Hi Martin… Congrats…… Harry D….
#129647From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 11:17 AM
Harry, >> Congrats……<< thanks. What are you doing these days?
#129720From: HARRY DUSENBERGOct 18, 1994 3:46 PM
Hi Martin.. I'm working for Suburban Cable Tv doing graphics I finialy got 3DS R3 about a month ago and Im in love <g>… I also have written a chapter for a book called PC Graphics Unleashed , that will be out in Nov on Computer Painting Tech. I just got 3ds Special Effects yesterday I like the Bottle <g>… Gotta go Im cooking dinner and the wifes hungry <g> Gotta feed her or she'll un plug my machine <g>.. Talk to ya later.. Harry D.
#129805From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 10:23 PM
Harry, >> I'm working for Suburban Cable Tv doing graphics << congrats! Hope to see more of you around the forum here.
#129935From: Alex KaramanoglouOct 19, 1994 2:26 PM
Hi Martin! Congratulations!! I'm jealous! (g) That's great though, I'm sure you'll do very well. Cheers! Alex K.
#130074From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 20, 1994 12:56 AM
Alek, >> Congratulations!! << thanks very much. things are going quite well.
#129673From: CSA/CAOct 18, 1994 12:53 PM
Martin, Congrats. Could you fire off your latest phone# (since the house sold) to me for referral purposes? Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
#129680From: David J. MarksOct 18, 1994 1:31 PM
>> I'm a Virgin! Congrats!!! Sounds like a great opportunity. (But… what ever happened to your thoughts on the corporate thumb?!?) – Dave
#129800From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 10:16 PM
David, >> (But… what ever happened to your thoughts on the corporate thumb << Well, if you know anything about Richard Branson (Virgin founder) and his style then you'd realise it's not your average American corporation. There's a lot more flexibility than most, but if not ….. I'll be a freelancer again 🙂
#130115From: David J. MarksOct 20, 1994 8:18 AM
>> it's not your average American corporation Sounds like a real winner!! Best of luck with it.
#130154From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 20, 1994 10:55 AM
David, >> Sounds like a real winner!! Best of luck with it.<< thanks very much 🙂
#129780From: John TissavaryOct 18, 1994 9:10 PM
Yeehaawww! sounds like you'll be in a position to abuse as many ferrets as you like <g>. I've heard they've got those new robotic armature, servo controlled 3D ferret real-time input devices on every desk at Virgin… or is that only on YOUR desk? John Tissavary | LUNA cie, inc
#129801From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 10:18 PM
John, >> I've heard they've got those new robotic armature, servo controlled 3D ferret real-time input devices on every desk at Virgin… or is that only on YOUR desk? << Not everybody gets the ferret work. The really senior people get gerbils and a training session from Richard Gere <g>.
#129977From: Constance R. RothOct 19, 1994 6:34 PM
Thanks, Martin and John T! My mood heretofore was entirely too somber!<BG> Connie
#130075From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 20, 1994 12:57 AM
Connie, >> My mood heretofore was entirely too somber!<BG> << I hope that means we amused you. I try to inject some levity whenever I can 🙂
#129793From: Robert A. WeilOct 18, 1994 9:44 PM
Martin – Congratulations! You're already able to animate images the size of a postage stamp in your current line of work – what will Virgin have you doing with ferrets??!!! Sounds kinda kinky to me. . . <BG> Best o'luck. ( Don't let your PAR gather dust, though – or give me a special deal on a slightly used unit!) bob
#129802From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 18, 1994 10:20 PM
Bob, >> what will Virgin have you doing with ferrets??!!! Sounds kinda kinky to me. << if I do really well, I'll get promoted to director of sheep-shagging. However, the competition is really stiff from the New Zealanders who have a huge advantage in that field <G>.
#130121From: Accu-WeatherOct 20, 1994 8:49 AM
Go get dem ferrets, boy!
#130155From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 20, 1994 10:55 AM
Wade, >> Go get dem ferrets, boy! << yeeehaw! <g>
#130717From: krazy imagesOct 23, 1994 2:30 AM
Way to go, Martin! 🙂 Now, let me open this e-bottle of Dom Perignon <bg> ana /krazy images
#130767From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 23, 1994 2:03 PM
Ana, >> Now, let me open this e-bottle of Dom Perignon <bg> << I'll drink to that! BTW, where've you been? I haven't seen you around the forum for a while ….
#130970From: krazy imagesOct 24, 1994 4:09 PM
I am always here. I don't have nothing to say, though <g> Or have a lot of things to say but little time to do it. Or who knows? Maybe I am tried about all this modem thing <bg> Maybe I have found too many unpleasant experiences online that keep my mouth closed. I was in europe two weeks ago, if that's what you mean, but I was connected to Compuserve throught a Powerbook there. However, it was not time to write about anything 🙁 Well, I will say something interesting I found today on Byte: With 345,000 PowerMacintosh computers sold in just four months since its introducion, Apple computer has become the largest RISC-based workstation manufacturer on Earth. ana /krazy images ps. I bet that you can see the random dot stereogram wishlist item for r5 I have attached in this reply <g>
#131041From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 24, 1994 11:28 PM
Ana, >> Maybe I have found too many unpleasant experiences online that keep my mouth closed. << sorry to hear that 🙁 It can get unpleasant around here sometimes, but overall I like it – I must like it I've been a regular for 3.5 years now 🙂 I hope you had a good time in Europe. I needed 3 weeks rest in the USA to recover from my 5 weeks trip to Europe <G>. >> Apple computer has become the largest RISC-based workstation manufacturer on Earth. << Sounds good. Although, it's not difficult since RISC systems sell in such small numbers compared to CISC. Over at Virgin I don't think anybody has PowerMACs – they are still using Quadra's for Photoshop.
#131333From: krazy imagesOct 26, 1994 12:12 AM
My point about Apple being the largest RISC manufacturer in the world (because they have the cheapest systems and other nice features 🙂 is not to say that they will kill CISC (at least, not the PowerMac alone <g>) but that they represent the biggest chunk of the RISC market, and that's something very significant in marketing terms. This is something that we could speculate about, but the people at Wall Street seems to have no doubt about Apple's future. The company's net profits were $144.6m, compared with just $2.7m last time, on turnover up 16.5% at $2,493.4m. Net profit for the year to September 30 rose 258% to $310.2m after a net gain of $78.7m to reverse part of a restructuring charge this time, and a net restructuring charge of $198.9m last, on turnover that rose 15.2% at $9.188.7m. Net earnings per share was $0.95, up from just $0.02 last time in the quarter, and rose 257% to $2.61 in the year. (bwahaha, yes, this has been a quote, but I bet that it has surprised you <BG>) What all this economical chat mean? Simply, with over 600,000 machines sold in 7 months, the PowerMac is not something to laugh about. And if you compare this number with the numbers of any other new architecture sold during that first-7 month period in the last two decades… well, you will be surprised. Indeed, the PowerPC chip is being the most succesful chip in the story of computing. Now, I only hope it continues that way. So I will say it with Bela Lugosi's voice : "Beware of the PowerMac, Beware!" <g> ana /krazy images
#131350From: MARTIN G FOSTEROct 26, 1994 2:45 AM
Ana, >> Net profit for the year to September 30 rose 258% to $310.2m after a net gain of $78.7m …. << So, you are saying I should buy shares in Apple? <g>. Maybe I will 🙂 I like Apples. I always have. I used to eat one every day when I was growing up. Macintoshes are great too. I say: "take one with you whenever it's raining – and an umbrella as backup" <G>. But seriously, I do use Quadra's a little bit in my game work and believe that Powermac's will be very successful as long as the software developers go that route – I think they are. Personally, I will go with whatever platform my software supports. This year I've used PC's, Quadras, and SGI Indy's – I'm not particularly loyal to a machine. Software is different though.
#131734From: krazy imagesOct 27, 1994 9:03 PM
. tools-loyalty . 100% agree 🙂 ana /krazy images
#131361From: Alex KaramanoglouOct 26, 1994 7:05 AM
Hey Ana! Haven't talked to you in a while. How are things? Everything is great on this end. Just wanted to ask you if you've been using Puppeteer because I'm trying to figure out how to assign a motion file to a mesh. Have you had any experiences with the program? Are you still in Miami? Let me know, maybe we can get together sometime. Talk to you later. Alex K.