Interviews with Candidates for Minister of Arts and Entertainment

Well elections begin tomorrow, so I decided to kick off election week with an interview with each of the candidates running for the position of Minister of Arts and Entertainment.

Black = Ator People
Green = James2Spooky
Blue = Democratic Donkeys

How long have you been playing Nationstates?

I created my first nation called Peaceful Malaysia on March 2004. That time I have also created an account in TNP forum but didn't take part in the activities of the forum.

I've been playing for a little less than two years. From November last year till may this year i've been without a computer. So not quite as impressive as it sounds. I tend to make up for it by being very vocal.

When did you join TNP and when did you become active in TNP regional politics?

Fortunately, the server dropped my nation onto TNP and from then on I am stick with TNP. Later I also created a few more nations and moved to certain regions.

Whew, I think that (TNP Regional Politics) would have to be when UPS Rail came along. One of those UN delegates not remembered fondly. You'd have to go ask Poe. But I distinctly remember helping organize and carry out the first unendorsement campaign. Sending hundreds of telegrams made it very memorable indeed. I joined the region last year when I left the ADN, this place rocks as a retirement center.

Why did you decide to run for Minister of Arts and Entertainment?

The Ministry of Arts and Entertainment forum category is the main attraction of the forum. I would like to be able to maintain the condition and the good-looking of it and try to improve it. Furthermore, I am always in the forum. Other than that, I would want to make sure no one post something that is against the forum rules or that is dissent with the constitution.

Because it's what I fell in love with when I came here. I wanted to do as much as I could to make sure it kept the same appeal as it had for me when I first came here.

What is your favorite part of the Ministry of Arts and Entertainment?

The favourite part...well, I like to see the many forum members spend their time at the same place together, sharing their interests and thoughts. That's what the Ministry of Arts and Entertainment forum category's main purpose.

Fun and friendly banter! I love the conversations we have in the OOC. Plus politics is not part of it!

Do you have any major plans (changes) for the Ministry if you are elected?

Yes, of course I do. Since I became the (previous) Minister of Arts and Entertainment, I have something planned on hand. As most forum members noticed that the Out of Character subforum has many topics while the Role-Play and Games & Arts subforums only have 100+ topics. Therefore, I am currently woring on balancing these 3 subforums. Other than that, I was planning to organize some events to let the forum members enjoy their time during the events. However, during the past 3 months I was holding this position I couldn't do much because in the beginning TNP was not in a good mood.


Nothing drastic planned. It will be my job to help the ministry evolve to continue to meet the fun needs of everyone. Also to keep the place appealing. The whole forum dies when the OOC dies. I've seen it happen.

What is the main reason people should vote for you?

Plain simple - I would like to continue serving TNP as the Minister of Arts and Entertainment. Although I am not as good as the others, but I have the spirit of not giving up, the guts to try and experience.

The main reason they should vote for me is that they feel that I will be able to continue to make the Ministry of Arts and Entertainment a fun and inviting place.


Thank you both for your interview!

*Though these interviews were taken seperately, I have placed them together because they were both asked the same questions.

Candidates Verified

BREAKING NEWS:

Prime Minister Tresville has verified that the following nations are eligible to run for their chosen positions:

Tresville
Poltsamaa
Romanoffia
Baribeau
Blackshear
Grimtash
Great Bights Mum
Sydia
James2spooky
Democratic Donkeys
At0r People



Also verified were two delegate candidates:

Flemingovia
Punk Daddy
Fulhead Land (Added after verification)


Elections will start 8/1/05 so stay tuned for up-to-date election coverage.

Candidates for Cabinet Positions to be Verified

For a week, interested nations have been announcing their intention to run for positions in TNP's government. As the time for nominations has ended, here is a list of those who announced their candidacy:

Tresville - Prime Minister
Poltsamaa - Prime Minister
Romanoffia - Speaker of The Regional Assembly
Baribeau -Immigration and Internal Affairs
Blackshear - Minister of External Affairs
Grimtash - Minister of Defense
Great Bights Mum - Attorney General
Sydia - Minister of Communications
James2spooky - the Minister of Arts and Entertainment
Democratic Donkeys - Minister of Arts and Entertainment
At0r People - Minister of Culture and Education

Security Council:

• Gracius Maximus II
• Ator People
• Blackshear
• Great Bights Mum
• Free4All
• James2spooky
• HoneySheep
• Baribeau
• Grosseschnauzer

Now, these nations are not officially up for election yet, as the Prime Minister must first verify their candidacy. We will try to update you once the candidates are approved.

Boolari: Baphometist

Pentagrams and goats are both signs of extreme evil, ungodliness, and demons. Demons such as the infamous Baphomet. Demons, the epitome of evil, the source of all that is wrong with the world, the pinnacle of simple wrongness. Yet demons also have a great ability for subversion, corruption, and temptation, preying on the most primal instincts of greed and lust to convert goodly people to their will, creating Satanists and Occultists.

Baphomet is most well-known for corrupting the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages and turning them to Devil Worship. Luckily, Pope Clementine V and the French King Philip caught wind of this plot and removed the corrupt Knights from power before any further damage could be done.

Now this same demon has turned its sights on The North Pacific. Boolari, one of the most beloved and respected members of both the TNP and defending community, has recently been discovered as a Baphometist. It was a result of this reporters constant vigilance and diligence, coupled with an unmatched devotion to uncovering the truth (and breaking the big story), that this disturbing discovery was made.

Now, we should clarify some terms. Satan long ago gave up the futile quest of conquering mankind and storming the gates of Heaven, instead opting for an eternities supply of beautiful virgins, Baphomet is still out for revenge, and only all the more enraged at Lucifers change of heart.

This reflects in their followers. A Satanist is someone who prances around in tattered robes offering sacrifices to Satan himself, hence “Satanist”. Baphometists are much more dangerous. They want power. They need to fulfill their dark overlords wishes. They also prance around in dirty robes offering goat sacrifices to Baphomet, and spitting on a picture of a lazy, fat, and opulent Lucifer eating grapes.

They also have certain peculiar habits, such as randomly shouting the word “Goat”, or chewing on tin cans, presumably a reference to their overlord’s goatlikeishness. Of course, like any prudent reader, you demand proof. How about the following excerpt from a messenger conversation?

[13:07] Heft: So, anything new?

[13:07] Boolari: Goat!

[13:09] Heft: ….what?

[13:10] Boolari: Oh, no, nothing new here, just fondling my pentagram necklace

[13:11] Heft: ermm…cool

[13:11] Boolari: *eats a tin can* yes it is

As you can see, I’ve put myself in harms way to bring you irrefutable proof (not that I expect any glory or awards for my efforts, of course). I also managed to sneak a peek into her bathroom, obtaining this shocking and disturbing image of her shampoo bottle (warning: not for the faint of heart): http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/Heft/product_shampoo_bottle.jpg

How will the region, especially the North Pacific Army (within which Boolari is a commander), respond to this travesty? This reporter sure isn’t sure, but will certainly keep watching.

The North Pacific Army - It's back

Feeder regions, like The North Pacific, are not impervious to invasions. However, due to the tendency of a feeder delegate to have upwards of 300, 400, or even 500 endorsements, the chances of an external invasion are minimal. Yet The North Pacific still has an army. What is this organizations mission? Surely they don’t simply stand around waiting for an overly bold (some would say crazy) group to attempt to invade The North Pacific.

The North Pacific has never been focused on military, instead focusing on OoC fun or internal civil wars or political disputes. Nevertheless, there has always been a group of military-minded people who are both willing and able to assemble an army for the region. With little exception, these people are Defenders, diametrically opposed to Invaders (although a few TNP citizens were involved in invading prior to becoming involved in TNP).

The feeder to the North has always prided itself on compassion and kindness, and these traits carry over into its military branch. The North Pacific Army is a defending army. Invaders look for player-created regions whose founder has Ceased-to-Exist, thus making them vulnerable to the whims of the regional delegate. Invaders will move numerous UN’s into one of these regions and endorse one of their own. Defenders watch for these actions and then move in to try and foil such plans by endorsing either a native or a defender delegate, who (assuming the defenders win) will usually eject the invaders from the region and leave the region in the hands of the natives within a few days at the most. Many Defenders see their mission as ensuring that natives keep control of their region, and the NPA is no exception.

Monte Ozarka was the last elected Minister of Defense prior to the NPD seizing power. She left the region, thereby resigning her post, in early January. After this, the NPA became largely inactive, to the point of generally being considered “dead”. The NPA would later be revived when the NPC held elections, resulting in Free4All becoming the Minister of Defense. From this point until June, the NPA was still active only sporadically.

The end of May saw the end of Pixiedance as delegate. Those who wanted to turn the NPA into a truly active and effective defender force suddenly had the time to do so. Through the combined efforts of longtime members of TNP, newcomers to TNP with extensive defending experience, and newcomers to all of NationStates, the NPA has finally begun to turn into what so many people wished it to be.

Official Forum Chosen

The people of TNP have spoken, and the official forum for The North Pacific is now The S2 Forum. Thirty-six voters (slightly under 60% of the RVs) turned out to participate in choosing their forum.

For months now, people have been debating on which forum should be the official forum of TNP. After Stars of Sky took the delegacy the Referendum forum was established to run the Constitutional Convention, and many people thought this forum would be fitting for the "new" era of TNP. Others thought that we should stick with the main S2 Forum, which has over 147,000 posts. Still other nations thought the best course of action was to create a new forum for this "new" government. Finally, after much wait, a referendum was created to vote for the forum and the S2 Forum was chosen.

This s2 forum has stood the test of time. Starting in 2003, this forum has been home to many discussion ranging from government to who-will-post-next. It has built up a community of over 1000 members and the admins have run it quite well. Chances are, it will continue to be one of the best regional forums in NS.


Written By Ator People

A Chronology of May 26th

May 26^th, 2005. This is the day that The North Pacific was finally freed from the delegacy of Pixiedance. It was one of the most exciting days in TNP. The day started with an unusually long wait for the update. Pixiedance had resigned from the UN, and nations were vying for the seat of delegate. Endorsement swapping was going on like crazy. Here is a little timeline of some important events right before and after Lungwallabad finally took the delegacy:

About 3:30 PM –Leonardo Da Vinci is ejected from the region by Pixiedance.

3:40 PM - “The Insane Power of Pixiedance ejected The Confederacy of Lungwallabad from the region.” – Regional happenings.

3:40 PM (slightly after) – The update finally occurs after hours of waiting and “The Confederacy of Lungwallabad replaced The Insane Power of Pixiedance as UN Delegate.” – Regional happenings.

3:55 PM – The XML feed for the region shows Lungwallabad as delegate, but he had been relocated to The Rejected Realms when Pixiedance ejected him.

4:15 PM – Lungwallabad removes himself from the ban list and updates the World Factbook Entry. It now no longer promotes the endorsement of Thel D’Ran. It has also changed the regional forum from s9 to s2. Lungwallabad then makes a speech on the Regional HQ acknowledging his delegacy.

So what happened? Nations logging in that day were shocked to see what was happening. Conspiracy theories and speculation filled the Regional HQ. If you wanted to see what was being said you had to constantly reload the HQ page, since posts just kept coming and coming. So much for regional advertisements!

All day nations had been endorsement swapping to try to claim the delegacy. Leading endorsement holders throughout the day included Flemingovia, Thel D’Ran, Stars of Sky, and Lungwallabad. The World Factbook Entry posted by Pixiedance asked people to endorse Thel D’Ran. Outside forces from various regions and organizations put their resources towards The North Pacific. It was a close race. One nation would pull ahead in the endorsements and then, suddenly, another would.

Stars of Sky was ejected early on by Pixiedance. Near the update, Pixiedance ejected Lungwallabad. Thel D’Ran also held many endorsements at this time, but many were from out of region nations, and he ended up losing the delegacy because those nations updated first and these endorsements were lost. The update finally occurred and Lungwallabad took the delegacy about 3:40 PM, regardless of his being in The Rejected Realms. A little while later, he removed himself from the ban list and announced his delegacy.

Lungwallabad would only hold the delegate position of The North Pacific for a day or so. After that Stars of Sky (having been removed from the banlist by Lungwallabad) overtook him in the endorsement count. Her lead had been quit high in endorsements, so no major endorsement was necessary on her part. However, Lungwallabad was still a vital part in the step towards TNP Democracy.

It was truely an exciting day in TNP. As Flemingovia said on the Regional HQ that day:

“Attention all regional advertisers.
Do not even try to make out you region is more fun than this one.
this is, possibly, the most bizarre happening in all my time in Nationstates.”

By Ator People, with help from Free4All

NOTE: All times are EST