TITLE The Bastich By Hart
PANEL 1 (HACKER-LAD sits at his computer while FAITH approaches.) HACKER-LAD: 25-hour modem limit!? How will I fill out my MOD collection now?! FAITH: Hiya, Hacker-Lad! D'you have any idea when 'Stich is due back?
PANEL 2 (Close up on HACKER-LAD while BASTICH speaks off-panel.) HACKER-LAD: I dunno, Faith. BASTICH: Hi-Ho everybody, the 'STICH-MAN is BACK!! HACKER-LAD: SIGH. So long, peace and quiet.
PANEL 3 (BASTICH approaches, waving at HACKER-LAD and FAITH.) BASTICH: Hi guys! HACKER-LAD: howdy. FAITH: Hey! So, how did your internship in "The Valley" go? BASTICH: Oh, it was OKAY.
PANEL 4 (Close up on BASTICH who raises a finger.) BASTICH: I worked hard for 3 months and spent all my money on a brand-new computer that's already in the throes of obsolescence... My unruly cube-mate bound my workstation in a chain of paperclips... Y'know. The usual.
PANEL 5 (FAITH and HACKER-LAD face BASTICH.) FAITH: Uh.. Cool. Anyway... We were thinking of going out and meeting up with some of our friends for Thai food. Are you interested in-- BASTICH: Did somebody say "MEETING?" HACKER-LAD: Uh-Oh...
PANEL 6 (BASTICH cowers under a desk while HACKER-LAD peers over.) HACKER-LAD: Yep, definitely an advanced case of "CUBE SHOCK' if l ever did see one. BASTICH: Bzzt! Bastich is currently not in the cubicle. Please leave a message and he will get back to you at your earliest inconvenience. Thanks! Bzzt!!
CREDITS Bastich (c) 1997 Joshua Adam Hart
Commentary
The first strip of the school year kicks off Bastich's summer internship in Silicon Valley. This thread was inspired by my own internship at Hewlett-Packard HQ in Palo Alto. Those were fun times, and I was hoping to mine the experience for material.
Hacker-Lad mentions his MOD file collection. MOD was a popular music file format for its relatively small filesize and a lively community originating with the Demo scene. The format lent itself to techno and dance genres, but the community pushed the limits of the format with a kind of punk-rock DIY zeal.
I used to scour places like Simtel and
wuarchive.wustl.edu(RIP) for MOD and MIDI files, gathering a massive collection of favorites that remain in my collection to this day.For a (more) modern way to find MOD files, check out the MOD Archive.
The paperclip prank Bastich mentions really happened, and the culprit will be a regular fixture of this storyline.