Let's get this thing straight...

[WretchAwry <vickie@pilot.njin.net>]

Re: Jorn's Tape-tree

Vickie here,

I don't particularly want to get involved in this, but it could get
very ugly very quickly and I just want to clear up a few things from
our point of view.

First, part of this is just a classic case of miscommunication.
Michael (MJM) *thought* that we had conversion equipment. We
don't have and we never have had. Chris does all our conversions
in Kansas City, where he goes on business fairly regularly.

We *do* have a PAL machine for playback only.

We *do* have an official copy of the "Rocket Man" video, not a dub,
it's on "The Brit Awards" which we have an original of on PAL.

This part is *NOT* a result of miscommunication:

We *were* led to believe that if we were to convert the Aspel to NTSC,
add the RM and possibly other goodies and return it to Jorn for the
tape tree. While I am opposed to posting e-mail, Jorn is twisting
this part of the flame war to make us look greedy and materialistic.

This was relayed to us via MJM:

================================================================
Message 454 (1038 chars)
Date: 28 Jun 93 10:37:37 EDT
From: Mike Mendelson <MJM@zylab.mhs.compuserve.com>
To: <vickie@pilot.njin.net>, <katefans@chinet.chi.il.us>
Subject: diplomatic mission

Jorn wrote me to this effect:
>I now have a PAL version of Aspel, and several options for converting it
>to NTSC, with an eye to starting a tapetree.
>But I really think it needs to include Rocketman, too.
>There's only one copy of Rocketman in Chicago, that .I. know of (so 
>far...
>I'm still investigating).
>I'd be willing to trade the PAL Aspel original for access to the PAL
>Rocketman, so that the tapetree starts off with the clearest Rocketman
>possible...  (Access does not mean me going to C&V's.  It would mean 
>some
>intermediary rendezvous.)

What do you guys think about this?
-mjm
=========================================================================

And that's how it all started. *Jorn* changed *his* mind about giving us the
PAL original, and wouldn't even let us see it. That's fine, no problem,
we can get it elsewhere, but I would really appreciate it if Jorn would
quit making it sound as if we *demanded* the original in exchange for
our stuff.  

...just so we have it all nice and crystal clear!

This flame war *cannot* continue in gaffa! Everyone is confused. Jorn
has to decide what he wants to do, and if he wants our help (which we
are happy to give, just for the sake of the tape tree.) This animosity
between Chris and Jorn cannot be cleared up in public, because it 
involves issues that have nothing to do with gaffa or Kate. I would
like to see the tape problem solved, and soon, but it's all on Jorn's
shoulders, not ours. Chris has been working furiously on a *major*
free-lance project (yes, I'm a computer-graphics widow :-)) but will be 
going down to Kansas City to fix some systems damaged in the floods down
there. He's more than willing to take the original Aspel, and our Rocket
Man, with him to convert, for free. The ball is in Jorn's court. 

Btw, we can *NOT* make dubs at home, at this time, because our dubbing 
decks are broken (they broke one by one, over time, and before we knew 
it we had no way to dub) and we haven't had the money to get them fixed 
or replaced. We do owe people tapes but at this time there's nothing we
can do about it. 

Vickie (involved and *not* happy about it!)