The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 36

6 Green Guide '13 May JOE SABLJAK Kerry Armstrong: "I fitted into whatever that icon of starletism is and, before I knew where I was, I was all dressed up with nowhere to go." The Microarts 486 Power Pro STEALTH has just been awarded Australian PC World's "BEST intel inside Yes it's Official! The Microarts Power Pro STEALTH was also recognised as the fastest machine tested. In a starstudded line up, which included COMPAQ, HEWLETT PACKARD, NEC, DEC, ACER, AMSTRAD, ARROW and many others, the Power Pro STEALTH stole the show to win the coveted "BEST BUY" award for 1993. For the 3rd time Microarts has won the coveted award, and scored a hat-trick by winning the fastest CPU, Windows Graphics, and Disk Throughput tests. In fact the Microarts Power Pro STEALTH was 5 MINUTES ahead of the nearest competitor in the disk throughput tests. PC World said "It blew the doors off the Windows Graphics tests quote "the Microarts with its STEALTH VESA accelerated graphics card was over five times Microarts Power Pro family of computers are now Intel P5 Pentium 586 Upgradable, furthering our claim as Australia's most advanced computer family once again! Microarts 80486-33 50MHz Power- Pro Local Bus Intel 80486-33MHz DX CPU Intel 487 Maths Coprocessor Intel 80486-66MHz Overdrive Upgradable 256k OPTI Write Back Caching Latest A.MI Bios 2x VESA 32 Bit Local Bus Slots (6x ISA) 4MB Ram on Board expandable to 32MB Panasonic 1.2 MB or 1.44MB Floppy Drives Conner 170MB Jaguar Caching Pro-Drive IDE P5 Pentium 586 Overdrive ZIF Upgrade Socket (SAdded Value) 1MB Super VGA Graphics Display Adaptor Supports 1024 768 256 Colours Win 3.1/OS2 Drivers ViewSonic 4e Multi-Adjustable Colour Monitor .28 2 Serial 1 Parallel 1 Games Ports Smart IDE Microarts Designer Series Digital Display Desktop Case Mouse Pro 3 Button Mouse Package Pad and Drivers BTC 101 Key Enhanced Soft Touch Enhanced Keyboard Exclusive 5 Year Warranty Inc 2 Yrs Parts Initial On Site Full System Manual Full Parts Manuals Free Tech Support April Special $2595:00 tz DX2 Version $2795 66Mitz DX2 Version $3095 Armstrong finds MARK LAWRENCE speaks to Kerry Armstrong, an intense actor who is undaunted at stepping into the gap left by Rebecca Gibney's departure from 'All Together Now'.

INTERVIEWING Kerry Armstrong is, to put it frankly, disarming. So sincere is she, so eager to convey her often complex, near-mystical observations of life on and off the screen, and so warm is she in her desire to please, it almost feels as if she is about to reach out and embrace the interviewer. Combine this with two of the largest and most alert eyes that remain fixed (caringly, not obtrusively) upon your own, and the effect is near-mesmerising. She talks about quantum leaps, spirituality, people being defined "by what you say no to" (someone else's quote) and "sometimes letting the car drive You see, you really do need to be on your toes. Armstrong is about to enter the mayhem of Nine's All Together Now as the back-fromthe-dead mother of twins Thomas (Steven Jacobs) and Anna (Jane Hall), themselves the product of a brief union between Beth (Armstrong) and Bobby Rivers (Jon English).

Even in this role, it is possible to draw a nottoo-tenuous parallel between her real life and her sitcom character's lot. Beth Sumner disappeared for a long time. Armstrong also "disappeared for the '80s be- AUSTRALIAN PC cause I felt like one of those dolls you see on the end of a stick at the Melbourne Show. 1 I felt that in order to get the stick out of my arse (she laughs embarrassedly at her minor indulgence in crudity) I had to get away. "So I went away so everyone would forget about me, which they did very quickly," she says.

"I just saw myself on a lot of covers of glossy magazines living up to something that had no soul, had nothing other than external trappings. If you're stuck there and you're only 17 or 18, and you're told you fit the mould bone structure, eyes, the long blonde hair you believe it. I fitted into whatever that icon of starletism is and before I knew where I was, I was all dressed up with nowhere to go." So she headed for the US for six months and stayed seven years. She grimaces when asked about her three-month stint on Dynasty. It gave her the clout she needed to earn her green card, but it still hurts that people remember that rather than the majority of her work, which was on stage.

"It's just that if I live to be a 100 it (Dynasty) will be just a minute of my life," she says. "I was only going to stay in the US for six WERLD THE MAGAZINE FOR HUSINESS BEST BU Microarts 486-33MHz STEALTH Local Bus Intel 80486-33MHz DX 32 Bit CPU 8k Cache Intel Hz Upgradable 256k 2nd Level OPTI Write Back Caching Latest AMI Bios Advanced Features STEALTH 32 2 VESA 32 Bit Local Bus Slots 4MB Ram on Board exp to 32MB TEAC 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB Floppy Drives Conner 170MB Pro-Drive 16ms Cached P5 Pentium 586 Overdrive ZIF Upgrade Socket (SAdded Value) 32 Bit Diamond Stealth 24 High Colour Graphics Accelerator 1MB Video Ram $3 86C801 Engine 16.7 Million (24 Bit) Colour Free Licensed Enhancement ware for ViewSonic 5e VESA Non-Int'd Col Monitor Mouse-Pro 3 Button Mouse Package Pad and Drivers 2 Serial 1 P'llel 1 Games Port (Opt Promise 32 Bit VLB Cont) BTC 7339 101 Key Soft Touch Enhanced Keyboard 5 Year Warranty Plan Inc Yrs Parts Initial On Site Limited Special $2995:00 STEALTH 24 VLB Version $3095 STEALTH 24 VLB DX2 Version $3295 Halo Professional Imager, Panacea ACAD Driver Kit, Winspeed. Announcing the DIAMOND STEALTH PRO AND VIPER VLB Accelerators. The WORLD'S FASTEST graphics accelerator All display cards. With 1MB or 2MB of VRAM (special high speed Ram) the Diamond Stealth Pro and Viper VLB Accelerators are ideal for Graphics, Windows and CAD users.

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