This blog is dead, for obvious reasons: it was for one game that imploded and for another game that arguably wasn't a game to begin with.
I have moved on to bigger pastures with the creation of my company, Darklight Interactive, and my new blogging project: Brain Clouds.
I invite everyone to go to my new blog, and see what's left of my mind there...
[www.brainclouds.net]
Feeds
859 items (554 unread) in 16 feeds
Related
(535 unread)
-
We'll Miss You Rob
-
Semidi
(19 unread)
-
01-18-08 (91 unread)
-
1-18-08 (17 unread)
-
Cloverfield News
(165 unread)
-
Project Cloverfield (133 unread)
-
The Gossip Rag » Cloverfield
(6 unread)
-
/Film
(79 unread)
-
Welcome to My Mind (25 unread)
MyspaceBlogs
(19 unread)
-
Jamie - MySpace Blog (2 unread)
-
-
-
-
-
-
«
Expand/Collapse
Items by Nighthawk
-
Death to the Blog! Long Live the Other Blog!
» Welcome to My Mind -
No, Not THAT Resort...
» Welcome to My MindReceived today, 9/28...Thank you for visiting our website. If you would like additional information about the World Quest Resort, (www.worldquestresort.com), please send me your name, address, and phone number and I would be happy to send you a complete package for you review.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Karen Cunningham
Weichert Realtors
World Quest Resort
Orlando, Florida 32821
941-779-0798
Nice to know that someone else is following up on a two month old inquiry that stemmed from us looking for Thomas McLaughlin...
As for Alpha Omega, site's a ghost town. No more news of it, well, anywhere. Whatever hype they had they killed it, violently and without remorse. The few people that still frequent the boards continue to wait for the product, hoping that it might come out eventually. And I kinda feel sorry for those people who pre-ordered it, primarily because they spent upwards of $40+ on... well... something.
I don't know why it keeps crossing my mind. Maybe it's because of my past experience in advertising and marketing venues and seeing how MSL has systematically done everything wrong. I continue to wish them the best of luck, but it seems like a lost cause. -
Van Mantra's Getting Desperate
» Welcome to My MindYour time is running out!
You solved the riddles and discovered the code word Divinus but
it's power to help you will not last much longer.
Return to www.ethanhaaswasright.com and decide whether you
are ready to see what lies ahead for all of us.
If you take the next step and prepare for what is coming, Divinus can
give you an edge.
Ethan Haas was right; we will all have a role to play and the time to
act is now.
- Van Mantra
"Time is running out" indeed... if only there was an actual product we can buy and read...
I'm probably not buying this product. After all, I don't have anyone to play with anyway, and I barely have the time to do something that extensive online, least of all a whole new game mechanic and system. And I admit I am still a bit disillusioned as to their approach and the way they are handling things.
Nonetheless, I wish them the best of luck. -
A Break In the Silence
» Welcome to My MindYou know, I must have some sort of supernatural gift... every time I make a post about nothing going on, something happens. I should do that more often!
Yesterday the news broke that Jamie has a bladder infection, through the newly discovered website JamieAndTeddy.com. If you click on the image and enter the password "jllovesth", you get a video.
Still very "experiency", and not an actual "game" per se. People are dissecting the video looking for clues, and I doubt there will be something monumental. Unlike TLE, there's nothing secretive or covert about all this; why would they hide secret messages and codes in a video?
And people are already equating her statement about a bladder infection as something to do with the movie. I don't think so... I think that's simply thrown in there to make them more human, more vulnerable.
Nonetheless, this has at least renewed interest in the public, and I'm sure we can expect more videos in the future. -
Dead Air
» Welcome to My MindNothing of importance new from Mind Storm Labs; they're even still having issues with their "player finder." The massive Internet hype they created has turned to no more than one forum post a day, and their attempt to restart the ARG was effectively ignored by everyone. Amazing how quickly an advertising campaign can go from bang to bust, eh?
And as far as Cloverfield... nothing, but I kinda expected that. I continue to feel that it's more of an "alternate reality experience" than a "...game". People are expecting a game... of what? How can the premise of this movie become a game I don't know, but if it does I don't think it will happen until shortly before the movie comes out. Or perhaps the next trailer. Hell, who knows.
I'm not updating this forum as often as I use to because, frankly, there's nothing to report. Everything's dried up, and people are giving up on these things, whatever they may be.
If something dramatic happens, I may post again. Until then this blog will remain as vacant as the sites it was reporting about. -
Find a Player And...?
» Welcome to My MindMind Storm Labs, to start off September, has added the "Find a Player" option on their website. It's an interface, using Yahoo maps, that links map pointers to registered forum members. For some reason, I don't appear on the map, so I question how well it's working.
My question: why? I can find someone in my area and... do what? Game's not even out yet! They expect us to blindly start contacting people so that, eventually, we might be able to arrange to play a game that doesn't really exist yet?
Also, they're making it sound like that, although this is a TABLE TOP game, the Internet is the only way to reach people. They have apparently made no effort to do any sales and marketing initiatives outside of the Internet realm. I've checked with numerous people in the industry, including one local RPG store, and they still haven't heard of Alpha Omega. THOSE are the people that should be targeted, because they're the ones actually interested in playing face to face. What difference does it make me that the nearest person to me, according to the site, is 70 miles away; does that mean I can never play AO?
I wish they'd focus on what's important - marketing, getting the product out, getting the site tools up - and not this comparatively useless stuff. -
Follow the Dropped Ball
» Welcome to My MindMind Storm Labs, in my opinion, is silently imploding. Van's 30 days have come and gone, and now forum people are wondering if "Divinus" means anything anymore. They still don't have a tangible product, but are taking pre-orders.
Forum posts state that they have gotten more sales than they expected from the pre-order, but the way their marketing's going those expectations shouldn't be too high. I have not seen or heard of AO being marketed *anywhere* else. Some can argue that it's not being marketed because it's not available yet... if that's the case, what was the point of doing the ARG for an entire month with the sole purpose of driving traffic?
They still don't have the website tools. And, after all that traffic they generated during the month of July, their forum has trickled down to only a couple of new posts a day. In other words, dead.
And they tried to restart the ARG... and were promptly ignored. There are two people that I know of (and I'm not one of them) that have even bothered to look at the email and determine meaning. Too little too late I guess.
Some say that everything that went wrong is not MSL's fault. I beg to differ... *everything* that happens is *their* fault; they are the decision makers, and they are the ones that are supposed to be in control. It's their product, and the success or failure of their marketing and network support is what's going to make them rich or bust them.
As far as Cloverfield... oooo, we got a roar now. People are still looking for a game that, in my opinion, simply isn't there.
Just sit back, get to know the "Slusho Seven", and keep praying for their violent, painfully bloody demise at the hands of the Voltron Whalezilla. -
Cue the Tumbleweeds
» Welcome to My MindMind Storm Labs, a few days ago, attempted to restart the ARG. And... nothing happened.
There were posts on the forums for about an hour after the mail went out (with screw ups I have alerady mentioned). Since then, four days later, it's as if it never happened. No new posts on Unfiction, EH.org or the AO forums regarding it. ARG interest simply up and died.
I still don't buy the claim that there are pages that we've missed, or things out there waiting to be found. There's no real point to it right now; the Ethan Haas ARG wasn't storytelling at its finest; in fact, the ARG was rather cryptic and sparse as far as story development.
But, no matter, guess it's dead. Life goes on as if nothing happened. -
The Bumpy Ride Restarts
» Welcome to My MindAt 1:30 AM I received the following email...Triton Enterprises apologizes to our customers and the families of our employees for the recent events at our Washington State facility.
The funny thing is that I received that email from VAN MANTRA (van@ethanhaaswasright.com).
Acts of sabotage to our new facility and our website have taken a heavy toll on our resources and staff. We lost several employees in the brutal act of terrorism including our Press Secretary Kellie Graham.
Data gathered by our internal security teams and Federal law enforcement all point to a small paramilitary group bent on disrupting our work towards a better humanity.
New press secretary Jill Davidge states, "We have moved our research facility off shore to ensure we can continue our work without distraction"
If you had any pending orders with Triton they will be processed as soon as possible. If you were waiting for a job interview we will be in contact with you shortly.
Ten minutes later I receive the virtually identical email, with the first paragraph changed...Triton Enterprises apologizes to our customers and the families of our employees for the recent events at our Washington State facility and for the recent hack of our email system by the group led by Van Mantra.
...this time from Triton (info@tritonenterprises.com). Note that it's only "info@..." and not "information@...", and "info@..." is a non-existant address. That's error #2.
Furthermore, Triton Enterprises updated their corporate website with another PDF. I haven't looked for clues in it yet, but the first thing of note is the document properties:
Name look familiar? Error #3.
Seems to me like they're now trying to rush things out, and hoping that people will somehow, for whatever reason, latch back on to this ARG.*EDIT: Even B!X isn't following it anymore...
Time will only tell if this works for them.
-
They're Back...
» Welcome to My MindThe Alpha Omega website is back, now with the store open.
The forums are back... devoid of posts, and with some user accounts deleted. Down for two days and come back blank; I don't know if that's a "whoops, sorry I deleted everything" situation or if that was the plan. Either way, I still think someone in their IT department is leading them off a cliff, 'cause this just isn't the way its done in the real world.
I still don't quite like the concept of having one all-inclusive book. I guess I'm use to traditional D&D where there was a separate book for each and every thing. If I wasn't a GM, I didn't need the DMG (is it still called that?), and I could live life with a thin $20 book.
Best of luck, guys. Hope it works out for y'all. -
Thundering Silence (version 2)
» Welcome to My MindThe Alpha Omega forums have been offline for over a day. The main AO site was down most of the day yesterday.
I actually sent an email to Mind Storm Labs, trying to understand what they are doing, and trying to see if I can help them in any way. Because this, especially at a time when they're running trade shows and scrambling for interest, trying to get their business going and profitable, is unacceptable from a business sense.
I use to work with a service provider for one of the largest banks in the United States. If we were down for 30 minutes or more, we were literally out of business. We had a network operations crew of three people, thirty-seven servers and three facilities (one primary, two "disaster recovery"). We spent $120K to get a completely fault tolerant database cluster (IBM fiber optic storage solution), and spent much more on development in order to create a system that can be easily load balanced and moved around as conditions change.
Now, I'm not expecting them to spend that level of money, but you have to do something about it when your business depends on it.
Mind Storm's sites are apparently running off of ONE server, and it's not a particularly good one as it seems. It's not fault tolerant, susceptible to load conditions, and it seems like every site is on this one box.
Also, apparently, they don't have any test servers or any deployment strategy. When I update a website, it takes no more than a minute because I know what I'm sending up to the server works; their updates are day long events where it seems like all their testing and bug fixing is done on the live server. And you can't tell me that a test server is a cost issue; I can get a test server at any number of colocation facilities for less than $10 a month.
Now at least the primary site is up, and apparently... nothings changed. Down a whole day for what? Being down a whole day I expected something new and major, yet we see absolutely nothing has changed. And their forums, the doorway to their public, are closed.
And this isn't the first time this happens; we all remember the fiasco that occured on August 1st.
MSL, if you're reading this, you need help. Whoever is currently working your network operations is jeopardizing the future of your company. Downtime at such a critical point in your existance, when your corporate future depends on it, is unacceptable.
Hope you read my email... -
In the Meantime...
» Welcome to My MindWell, at least *something* is coming out of all this Cloverfield business. Considering that the only "official" thing that is available is an overly expensive Slusho! shirt and hat, we have to resort to fan-generated humor...
[video.dotcomedy.com]
Great punchline, all things considered. -
It's... It's... Huh?
» Welcome to My MindThanks to "TXRebel1861" on the Unfiction forums, we now have a photo of what the Cloverfield monster looks like:
No words can express how I feel about this. -
Another Ethan Haas Site?
» Welcome to My MindI don't like posting about unconfirmed sites, but there's something about this one. If this is a "gamejack" it's one of the more thought out ones I've seen.
A poster named "Bjorn Nitbo" (anagramers, start your engines, 'cause that name can't be real) posted on both the last Mezin blog thread and on EthanHaas.org a link to a new company that appeared a few days ago: Nereid Communications ([www.nercomm.net]).
At first glance (and I admit I spent a whopping twenty minutes on it), it all seems right. The WHOIS information has an address in Stevenson, Washington and a man named Archibald Graham, who according to the website is the founder.
The description of the company and the setup seems to follow the existing Ethan Haas lore (at least as far as the ARG is concerned), but what sets this apart is the "Client Login" link on the left, which goes to a completely separate subdomain (calypso.nercomm.net) and has a full secure login and password setup for "Corporate Mail Services".
The only thing that hints "gamejack" in the WHOIS information is that it was created a few days ago. It's hosted on GoDaddy servers and apparently written in ASP.NET (clear by the ".aspx" extensions), which goes contrary to the technologies that Mind Storm Labs has used up to now, but that could mean anything.
Finally, there's the Wikipedia article on Nereids:"They often accompany Poseidon and are always friendly and helpful towards sailors fighting perilous storms."
Poseidon, in Greek mythology, is Triton's father (this company's address is "100 Poseidon Circle" in Stevenson, Washington). Triton's mother, Amphitrite, was a Nereid.
Don't know what to make of it yet. If it's a real site, there's no official "in game" link to it yet.
Guess we'll wait and see what happens. Maybe there's hope still. -
They Speak... Sort Of...
» Welcome to My MindYesterday I received a personalized email message from Mind Storm Labs, in response to inquiries I've sent them in the past, questions that were not related to the "game" that was in progress.
I am not at liberty to state in detail what was discussed because some of it is personal information (like my resume, for instance... hey, I tried!), but suffice to say:
- Somebody's out there, and they're listening.
- They are not upset.
- They are busy at work with their trade show planning.
- There's "more to come," but they weren't specific as to what that relates to.
And here I was expecting a restraining order or summons... -
Coming Clean
» Welcome to My MindWell, at least some people out there know when to put an end to the ruse...
[www.abz3293.com]
Although I don't buy the reason they say they created the site, and the subsequent leading on of people for the next month, they came out and put a stop to it all.
But why do I feel that people will *still* believe that site to be part of it all? -
Join the Experience
» Welcome to My MindI've been giving this some thought as of late, trying to get my thoughts off MSL.
I see people turning every piece of the Cloverfield elements apart, trying hard to see things that just aren't there. They are analyzing the music on all the sites, running words and phrases through anagram detectors, and coming up with number theories that are quite creative.
Yes, in a sense this is how it was with The Lost Experience, but there was a big difference there: in TLE, we EXPECTED secrecy. Be it Hanso Corporation, or the DHARMA Initiative, or whatever the hell else it was... there was an inherent cloud of mystery to begin with. So, obviously, the clues had to be cryptic and hidden in order to maintain the atmosphere of being covert.
Also, Ethan Haas was covert because that was the basis of the storyline: good guy hiding the truth from the bad guys.
That's not case with Cloverfield yet. People are analyzing every byte of information... why? We see the blogs of seven Manhattan yuppies. We see a website that's promoting a drink and selling some T-shirts for it. Where's the expected secrecy? Why would these people encrypt information, and hide things? They have no reason to, and it's not their nature.
The MySpace blogs are your typical blogs; there's nothing hidden. Why would there be? They are just seven people recanting their lives the same way I would on this blog if I didn't have Cloverfield and EHWR to talk about. Hell, they're even allowing friends to be listed, and personally responding to people that play along.
Therefore, right now we are experiencing an "Alternate Reality EXPERIENCE." There's no game. The stage is being set.
I think that this *might* turn in to an "Alternate Reality GAME" once we figure out what's going on with Rob. Let's say that Rob ends up working for a big corporation in Japan that's doing some weird things... well corporations are inherently secretive. THAT fits in to the "ARG" style. I think that the seven MySpace pages won't mean a hell of a lot beyond character development, but eventually we're going to start learning about the corporation or about what created the monster. And the clues will not come in the form of MySpace pages, blog entries or Flickr images, but through corporate web pages, documents and other insider information accidentally made public through creative means.
And there's no guarantee this will turn in to a "game" anyway. Frankly, it wouldn't matter if it did at this point; people are already seeing this as a game and coming up with their own theories, however ludicrous there may be. Heck, I know of at least two people that still think Cloverfield and EHWR are connected; no matter what you say, or how loud you scream it, people will believe what they want to believe. People will create a "game" in their own minds and roll with it.
For now, just go and become friends with Rob and Beth and Jaime and the gang. Get to know them, 'cause you never know when something terrible might happen.
Beth answered me personally regarding a comment I left her. I'm happy that an imaginary person responded to my email... how messed up is that? -
And It All Boils Down To...
» Welcome to My Mind...a coupon.
[alphaomegathegame.com]
(Good luck getting there. They're having serious DNS issues)For everyone who solved the puzzles on the EthanHaasWasRight website you will soon be able to use your code at the Alpha Omega Store, for a limited time, to receive discounts for various Mind Storm Labs and Alpha Omega products.
Great... considering the code has been plastered all over the Internet and on their forums...
I feel so special. Can I get a free Seraph cupie doll? -
Thundering Silence
» Welcome to My MindAnyone else find it amusing that the only information on the Alpha Omega site launch and product is coming from people that were playing this supposed "game"? They supposedly released a press release, but I'm having a hard time finding it anywhere online other than the MSL site itself.
I honestly don't know what are the "in" sites for RPG gamers. I only know of two: (1) the "Wizards of the Coast" site, which would be hard pressed to have any mention of a competitor, and (2) RPG.net, which only has the June press release.
Maybe it's me, but it looks like this viral marketing campaign has collapsed like a house of cards. -
Hard Launch
» Welcome to My MindYesterday the Alpha Omega forums were giving PHP/MySQL errors every third page refresh. Today the domain's down entirely. Looks like they got more of a reception than they originally planned. That or there are people out there giving them a DoS in appreciation.
I've been getting mixed comments over my previous post, the "Public Request for Closure." Some comments on the responses I've gotten from the public:- Some people have gone and posted my comments from the past. Comments in the past expressed my opinion in the past, and who's to say I haven't evolved those concepts? At first I thought MSL was a front, sure, but now I know they're not. Granted, they're a bit misguided and very amateurish in their product launch (the server issues they're having is unacceptable, considering the load they originally had on the EHWR site), but they're a company nonetheless.
- Some people state that MSL doesn't owe us anything. Well, frankly, they do. Those that mention that probably don't know how ARGs work, and this my friends was an ARG whether you realize it or not. You can't just suddenly terminate the "game" and do whatever the hell you want without any explanation; it doesn't work that way.
- The groups of people that I associate with are RPG-ers of the highest caliber. I run in circles with published authors of fiction and non-fiction, and some of them have had modules released under the Wizards of the Coast label. I am not going to name names or post links for their own protection, but I personally know certain people that have a hell of a lot more experience combined than MSL says they do.
- Why waste all the time and resources? Why purchase at least FIVE otherwise unnecessary domains (the journal pages; Triton and Divinus URLs could conceivably be used by the game environment), spend the time creating the artwork in Photoshop, spend the time recording voicemail messages and auto-responders?
Last I checked on the forums (last night at midnight, when they were still accesible), there were only 30 or so total posts on the entire forum, none of which were by a staff member. So they show us all this and leave us to interpret it entirely on ourselves, without any clarification. Also, for the record, the admin of the forums is from Red Interactive (some guy named Rob), so Mind Storm Labs is running with the internet engine on this thing completely hands off.
I'm not expecting a resonse yet - they have enough issues with their servers - but I hope they realize that they have a lot more disappointed people now than they do potential customers.
-
Public Request for Closure
» Welcome to My MindPosted on the Alpha Omega forums...Subject: Public request for closure
I, and several other people, am horribly confused right now.
Perhaps most of your fans that are now visiting these forums came here because of the expectation of something new on August 1st, following the promises of the mysterious Van Mantra.
Others, however, delved much deeper in to the world you created.
We found Triton Enterprises' website. We found four of Ethan Haas' journal pages. We understood Divinus was to be a resort of some sort, and even discerned the planned domain of it. We analyzed auto-responders from Triton, Divinus and Van Mantra himself. We diligently added the "Ethan Haas Was Wrong" blog to our RSS feeds, then rushed over there to see what was new. We copied and pasted all the messages in to a descramber to see what the Mezin had to say. We tried to piece together the snippets of images provided there.
All that hoping that something "big" was going to happen on August 1st.
Well, this wasn't the "big" sort of thing we were expecting.
Yes, we understand that Alpha Omega eventually had to make its glamorous experience, and we expected as much considering you have major trade shows forthcoming. But during that time you didn't just put on a viral marketing campaign, you created a game, an "alternate reality game", that people diligently followed, and spent a considerable amount of time pursuing, ever hoping to reach the next step, the next discovery, and to try to figure out what it was all about.
But, through the release of this website, you've basically opened the curtain and revealed everything, effectively putting an end to a month of searching. Those that played what they thought was a "game" stand dumbfounded, wondering what happened. Wanting closure.
If you understood what an ARG was like, and understood what the expectations of others out there was, you could have easily released this site but disassociated yourself from the game. You didn't have to have all roads point to this site; the Triton site could have remained as such, the Mezin could have continued clouding the subject, and Van Mantra could have continued preaching, but now all of them in a unified front point here.
Those of us that have followed this from the beginning knew it was for Alpha Omega. We did our research. Did that stop us from pursuing the game? No, because we were in a sense role playing. And, silly me, I thought role playing was the whole point of this.
And you do this all without explanation. Basically you've given all the people that have been playing your "game" a big Nelson-like "HA HA!" You think those people you left hanging are going to be interested in this? You haven't created potential sales in them... you've created seething hatred for being let down.
So I now ask, openly, that the "puppetmasters" of this whole charade come out and explain what sort of "game" we've been playing for the past month. Try to convince us that we didn't waste our time. Try to convince us that all roads don't end here. You pride youself at the amount of traffic your site got; now it's time to provide an explanation to some of the people that kept this going and gave you that traffic.
Thank you
Nighthawk
http://nighthawkdf.blogspot.com/ -
The Curtain Is Lifted
» Welcome to My MindWell, didn't see this until now...
[www.alphaomegathegame.com]
And, thus, the curtain is officially lifted, the illusion shattered. They spent the last few days teasing us with clues to something that simply wasn't there. And, in so doing, pissed off a hell of a lot of fans.The teaser website www.ethanhaaswasright.com attracted over 6.5 million hits in 14 days, allowing visitors to solve a series of puzzles and problems to reveal clues leading up the release of the new Mind Storm Labs game, Alpha Omega. Mind Storm Labs, headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, launched the viral Ethan Haas site to engage visitors in a challenge to unlock some of the mysteries of the Alpha Omega world.
Co-creators David Carter and Earl Fischl began their quest to create the rich, diverse universe of Alpha Omega in early 2005, after being inspired by theories of alien races visiting Earth and affecting the outcome of humanity. To this end, two of the main catalysts in the ever-evolving plotline, the Seraph and the Ophanum, are alien species fighting an ancient war on Earth. Beyond that, an unlimited virtual world full of exciting characters, locations, situations and plots await the players of Alpha Omega.
Alpha Omega takes place in a futuristic, war-torn, and savage Earth, where society as we know it no longer exists, once great cities have been reduced to rubble and decay. New city-states literally rise from the ashes and offer refuge to those survivors that dare to carry on. New species of animals and plants populate the Earth, mixing, interacting and fighting to survive.
Alpha Omega has positioned itself to stand alone from other RPGs. Carter and Fischl have created a richly painted universe that is limitless in detail, expansion and content, supported by a layered system of game mechanics which allow players to customize their game play experience. Even those uninitiated into the world of RPGs will be able to enjoy and participate in Alpha Omega. Alpha Omega is all about imagination and players are encouraged to use their own to create characters, equipment, powers, abilities, etc. to make Alpha Omega their own.
On August 1, 2007, the www.AlphaOmegathegame.com site will go live, allowing visitors to experience the world Mind Storm Labs has created, and to preorder hard or electronic copies of the game.
Alpha Omega can be experienced live at Wizard World Chicago Convention (Rosemont Convention Center, August 9 – 12, 2007) and GenCon Convention (Indiana Convention Center, August 16 – 19, 2007).
Mind Storm Labs has retained Red Interactive Studios, Studio City, California www.ff0000.com for web design, and Promoguys Marketing Group, LLC, Red Bank, New Jersey, www.promoguys.com for marketing, event and press.
All press inquiries should be addressed to Michael D’Alessio, Promoguys Marketing Group, LLC, media@mindstormlabs.com , 732.758.8303 phone, 732.758.8302 fax.
Mind Storm Labs, Orlando, FL.
info@mindstormlabs.com. www.mindstormlabs.com.
David Carter, World Designer.
Earl Fischl, World Designer.
Tom McLaughlin, Managing Partner.
I myself am still horribly confused. This doesn't make sense to me. It seems like they dropped the ball in epic proportions, and said a very unpolite "HA HA!" to those that were actually pursuing this "game".
I don't know yet if I will continue to pursue this. I don't even know if there's anything to pursue yet.
We'll see. -
It's Official
» Welcome to My MindYesterday, the Alpha Omega site was password protected; I'm guessing due to reasons that should be obvious now.
Ethan Haas' site now redirects to [www.alphaomegathegame.com] , which sure enough is the Alpha Omega game by Mind Storm Labs. Triton's home page ( [tritonenterprises.net] ) also links to Alpha Omega.
If you go through the site, specifically the "key players", you learn a few things:
- Triton Enterprises is "one of the most powerful corporations on Earth", and the single largest producer of "manufactured species."
- Ethan Haas was a prophet who foretold the future.
- Van Mantra is a revolutionary leader in the 23rd century.
Well, there you have it. Apparently, a very abrupt end.
I can't help but think two things. either (1) we missed something blatant, and effectively didn't finish the game in time, or (2) the game is somehow still going on, but we just have to clear our mind of the commercial aspects of it.
I somehow feel it's #2 above, 'cause there is no explanation of the emails left yesterday. I have the strangest feeling that, although we now know what it truly is (we had ideas, but none confirmed), we're not done here.
As far as Mind Storm Labs... well, OK, they're official. There, I said it. I'll stop the witch hunt against them at least. I don't know if this gimmick will work for them, but only time will tell.
At least they have a snazzy new Flash website, even though it's one of the most content heavy websites I've ever visited.
*EDIT*
As one forum poster so eloquently put it, "be sure to drink your Ovaltine..." -
Alternate Reality Darwinism
» Welcome to My MindIt'a August 1st.
The EHWW blog has 450+ comments in it about people anxiously waiting for... something.
Counteless people across the world are pounding the EHWR website, checking the Divinus URL, sending mails to Triton, sending mails to poor Kellie, waiting for... something.
And then there's... nothing. Nada. Not a damn thing has happened so far today, the "beginning of the end" day.
What role will I play? How 'bout the cynic?
I'm considering this a sort of digital Darwinism. Those people that saw this as a passing fancy, that merely chanced upon the EHWR site not knowing what's going on, will now give it up.
But then there's us, the die hard few, that know what the whole story is about. We know every step up to know, and know what the game isn't (*cough* Cloverfield... *cough*) related to. We will remain, willing to accept that Van Mantra might be a little late. After all, he's got a lot to deal with.
I had another thought: the EHWR link was sent to everyone and their grandmother. A million people probably tried that link. How many of those received te Van Mantra email and instantly deleted it? How many of those know about Triton? How many of those know about the EHWW blog? How many people know Divinus is a resort? How many know of the facility in Washington?
For these people that made it through the game they only have two pieces of the puzzle: August 1st and the word "Divinus". For those that come back, the site has to provide them *something*. Those tens of thousands of people will return, oblivious to the "game" being played, and it would be silly to not give them anything. They shouldn't be required to know the whole story; only if you dug as deep as we have would you realize a story existed to begin with.
But then there's us, the elite few, who seek more than what's on the surface. For us, it's so much more.
Van Mantra, take your time. No rush.
Kellie, hope things work out for ya. I'll buy you dinner once all this is over and you're safe.
*EDIT*:
Some people are suggesting a "massive get-together" on the EHWR site, hoping that the spike in activity will make the "puppetmasters" update the site faster.
Because, you know, the best thing to do to get someone to update a website is to pound the website with thousands of simultaneous connections and flood their connection and bandwidth limits.
[/sarcasm]
***sigh...*** -
Clarification
» Welcome to My MindNeed to clarify something from the unfiction forums.
In the conversations regarding sending emails to Triton Enterprises, I jokingly put the following email as an example...Dear Sirs,
I never really sent that message myself, and I thought it would be clear that it was a joke because of the "resume available upon request" comment. I joked in this sense because, whereas everybody's been getting pesonalized responses from Triton, arranging interviews and whatnot, I haven't heard a peep beyond the auto-responders.
I know what you're up to, and because of that I've planted numerous explosives in your Stevenson, Washington facility.
I demand ten million dollars in exchange for safe retrieval of said devices.
You will be contacted on August 1st with the drop point.
P.S.: Resume available upon request.
In light of current events, I'm now being both accused and praised for directly affecting the events of the game. In a sense, I wish that were so, but I feel that this is completely coincidential. There would never have been a mention of the Stevenson facility by Triton unless something was going to happen there. And I refuse to believe that the "puppetmasters" are making this up as they go along.
Now, once this is said and done, and it is revealed that I DID have an impact... well... wow.
Anyway... game on. -
Cry for Help
» Welcome to My MindSend an email to information@tritonenterprises.net and you get:Subject: [Security Protocol T1987E] Temporary Security Measures
...but sending a message to kellie.graham@tritonenterprises.net has a whole different response...
Due to a recent breach in security at our facility in Washington State Triton Enterprises has been required to engage a DoD level 4 security lock down.
This security protocol is a requirement for all Department of Defense contractors when a minor security violation has been detected.
Unfortunately due to the requirements of the lock down we must postpone all scheduled tours of our facility.
Please be patient as we clear up this minor problem. We apologize if this lock down impacts any orders you may have with us.
Once we are back online we will continue towards our goal of building the future one vision at a time.
If you need more information please contact me at anytime.
Kellie GrahamSubject: Help Us!
Don't believe what Triton is telling you. I didn't write that security protocol notice.
Something has gone terribly wrong at the facility!! If you are receiving this message please send help! There are several of us trapped on the lower D-ring testing platform. I had no idea what they were doing here, if I don't make it to the surface may God forgive me for any part I have played in this.
I should have listened to him but I thought what he was talking about was nonsense, now I'm afraid he may be right... -
"Overnight"?
» Welcome to My MindTaken from a new poster to the unfiction forums...I recently stumbled upon trademark #77232885, "Overnight." It was registered to Group One Productions, LLC, and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer on July 18, 2007, and described as "motion picture, television and music production and distribution services."
The Attorney of Record for the trademark is Lori N. Boatright. She is also the Attorney of Record for "SLUSHO!," "SLUSHO! YOU CAN'T DRINK JUST SIX," and "BAD ROBOT", trademarks 77229623, 77229614, and 76340985, respectively.
I googled for "GROUP ONE PRODUCTIONS, LLC," yielding nothing. The LLC, however, is registered in the State of Delaware, formed on 11-08-2006, with its registered agent being ERESIDENTAGENT, INC. It's just a resident agent service. Considering there's no real information on the company, I think it's just a hollow LLC, perhaps formed to conceal the real parties involved. They only own one trademark, "overnight."
I then googled for "Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer." Jim Jackoway is an attorney, known to represent J.J. Abrams -- and happens to be the registrant for BadRobot.com.
What are the odds that a lawyer (Jackoway) who represents Abrams would register a trademark using the attorney of record who registered Slusho (Boatright)? Further googling shows no previous connection between Boatright and Jackoway.
Is "Overnight" really the title of the film?
As the trailer so eloquently stated, "this is going to be the best night ever..."
It's a logical possibility, albeit reaching a fair bit.
***ADDENDUM***
Paramount Pictures is registered in Delaware. According to Google searches, "Paramount Pictures Corporation ('Paramount') is a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business in Los Angeles, California."
Hmmm.... -
The Enigma Continues
» Welcome to My MindI've directly contacted the artist that did the images posted related to Alpha Omega earlier this year. I wanted to do that anyway - I do have a software development shop and I need good artists - but I figured I'd ask about MSL.
His partial response...In regards to the Mind Storm Labs project, I haven't spoken to them for months. The work I did for them was preliminary work only. I can't forward any contact information your way as I'm still, potentially, involved in the project and as such am bound by the NDA I signed. That being said, from what I know of this project it is an RPG for publication in book form only. I do not believe they are moving towards any computer based gameplay. Sorry I can't help out more...
So the ONLY person we know of that has done any actual work for them isn't an employee, is all "preliminary", and has been out of contact for several months. -
Error Retracted
» Welcome to My MindIf you're wondering where the last post went, I deleted it.
It was an error, a visual fluke while reviewing the Slusho site. To avoid further confusion and speculation, I decided to remove it entirely; editing it would basically leave an empty post, and there was no point in that.
Anyway... carry on. -
*Thunk!*
» Welcome to My MindGotta hand it to these guys... a lot has been updated in a single day on the Cloverfield front.
What's got my attention the most is the new "Flavors" page on the Slusho site. I'm absolutely convinced there's more to it.
Some things to note on how it works:
1) The order the robots go in to the cup is dependent on the order of the sliders, from greatest to smallest. The exact value of the slider is apparently irrelevant as far as the order the robots go in.
2) If you add less than five robots, there's a distinctive "thunk" when each one goes in to the cup. When you add all six, there's an EXTRA "thunk" added at the end, where you don't see what's being added, but something definitely goes in.
THAT is the "secret ingredient", and it only goes in when all six robots are selected. -
Game Seems To Be On
» Welcome to My MindThe 1-18-08.com site updated with a new picture, and the included ability to flip over certain pictures.
From the relation to Jaime Lascano, who is mentioned on the back of the 5th picture, we get a number of MySpace pages:
www.myspace.com/jamielascano - blond girl from fifth pic on 1-18-08.
www.myspace.com/robbyhawkins - Rob, our main dude.
www.myspace.com/beth_mcintyre - "Rob, have fun in Japan" girl from trailer.
www.myspace.com/lily_ford - shocked girl in street in trailer.
www.myspace.com/jj_hawkins - slusho t-shirt guy.
www.myspace.com/hudson_platt - second guy from fifth pic on 1-18-08.
www.myspace.com/marlenediamond - possible blond girl from trailer.
Talk about sensory overload. Well, you all asked for it, didn't ya?
And, damn it, why did this game have to include MySpace pages with annoying music?!? -
It's... er... um... Oh, hell, I don't know.
» Welcome to My Mind
J. J. Abrams walks up on stage, tells everyone that the name of the movie is NOT "Monstrous."
He then screams that the name of the movie is "GIGANTOR!!!", then begins to walk on top of the tables, making roaring sounds, imitating a dinosaur, at least until security subdues him.
No, not really... apparently the only thing that has come out of ComicCon so far is:- It's something completely new, although apparently inspired by Japanese monsters.
- It's NOT called "Monstrous."
- The movie poster we've all seen is confirmed to be real... sort of. The officially released one does not have the word "Monstrous" across the top, leading me to believe that that was either fake or "monstrous" is simply an adjective.
- More to come in the next six months.
- We are all J. J. Abrams' bitches, but we already knew that.
-
Occam's Razor
» Welcome to My MindOccam's RazorOccam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"):
This is often paraphrased as "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest hypothetical entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.
This might be sailing over the head of those to whom it's directed.
I'm getting in to arguments about whether Cloverfield and EHWR are related. I know they're not, I and others have proven they're not, but people still refuse to accept that. I am stunned at the fact that I have to spend more effort proving that they're NOT related in order to convince the zealots who believe that they are related.
What proof do they have that they are related? Well, there have been three prominent themes:
1) Paramount removing the Van Mantra videos from YouTube. We proved that this was because the person who originally uploaded them mislabeled them as "Cloverfield". When YouTube was instructed to take down anything Cloverfield related, they did so without prejudice.
2) The similarities in IP addresses. Yes, I admit I made that assumption in the past, but that was before I knew for sure it was GoDaddy (who literally has thousands of servers, including some of my own). Also, they are using this reason to accept as authentic other sites, like that "far universe" crap.
3) The media. The media didn't help in this matter. When the Cloverfield trailer came out, they immediately associated it with the hottest, unknown thing on the net: EHWR.com. They had no basis for this assumption, and have since then stopped bringing it up.
So that's all they have that it's linked. And we have volumes of information that they're not linked. Not to mention that they're completely different themes ("monster eats New York" compared to "nineteenth century prophet has visions of the end of the world").
But they still won't listen.
I give up that fight. If you all want to continue with your little hunt, assuming that everything you see is fact and involved in the grant conspiracy that is "Ethan Haas is Cloverfield", knock yourselves out.
For me, I'll continue to play the EHWR ARG, and will continue to be involved in the Cloverfield whatever-it-is, knowing full well that they are separate entities.
Anyway... Game on. -
It's Huge!
» Welcome to My MindAccording to someone on the unfiction forums, they caught a glimpse of a movie poster that had the Statue of Liberty, sans head, the date 1-18-08, and a big tagline across the top that said "MONSTROUS".
Well, lookie here...Whois info for, themonstrousmovie.com:
Registrant:
Paramount Pictures
Corporation
5555 Melrose Avenue
MOB 3111A
Hollywood, CA 90038
US
Domain name: THEMONSTROUSMOVIE.COM
Administrative Contact:
Lester, Judson dbms-admin@verisign.com
5555 Melrose Ave
Hollywood,
CA 90038
US
+1.3239563208Technical Contact:
Lester, Judson
dbms-tech@verisign.com
5555 Melrose Ave
Hollywood, CA 90038
US
+1.3239563208
Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 07-Jun-2007.
Record expires on 08-Jun-2009.
Record created on 08-Jun-2007.
Note the date...
Conicidence? -
The Coming Chaos
» Welcome to My MindOut of my own curiosity, and as a personal learning experience, I looked through the other games in progress or completed at the unfiction forums.
Those other games are so... sensible. They show a logical flow of events, and people systematically working together to resolve a specific issue. No mindless speculation. No banter. No off the wall numerology or attempts to link two completely unrelated issues. Everything in those games makes so much sense, especially when the answer is discovered and you think "yeah, that makes sense."
Then we look at the chaos that is "Cloverfield" and Ethan Haas. EHWR perhaps not as much, as most of the mindlessness that is rampant there is on other forums (trust me; don't go there). The recently organized threads on the unfiction forum are what they are supposed to be: logical flow of events, with some mild speculation but nothing Earth-shattering.
"Cloverfield" is a whole other monster. The main thread there is at 4300 posts, inching closer and closer to 300 pages. And, through all that, I admit that not a whole lot has been discovered to further along the game (if it is in fact a "game"... yet...), but we have volumes of information on what it's NOT.
We've proven sites to be fake or made to exploit the fan base. We've proven disassociation with EHWR. We've stated time and again what the monster is not.
But, even by screaming that at the top of our lungs, people don't listen.
I admit I'm not putting much effort in to this whole "Cloverfield" thing, because frankly I don't think it's started yet. I think the "game" will start at ComicCon, where J. J. Abrams himself will reveal information we don't have yet, or do something wild, a-la Rachel Blake:
[www.youtube.com]
Then, and only then, will this game proceed. I trust that, when that times come, things will simmer down and this game will proceed the way it should.
We can only hope. -
There Is No God
» Welcome to My MindI spent a good two or three hours going through multiple forums and other sites, trolling around to see how things are going elsewhere other than then unfiction forums.
I can safely say that I now feel stupider than when I started.
This is a phenomenon of epic proportions, and the psychological aspects of this are enough to get a Ph.D. with. People creating fake sites for either monetary gain or for exposure, people dead and preaching about opinions as if they were gospel even though they've been disproven multiple times, people making deluded assumptions based completely based on fantasy, people making numeric correlations in Cloverfield and Ethan Haas that would confuse nuclear physicists. People continue to look at sites that have not only been proven fake but have been created to take advantage of the public, and continue to analyze these sites and their made up content as if they were the Dead Sea Scrolls. It's unbelievable.
And people continue to harp about how it's Cthulhu, Voltron, Godzilla, Gozer, Dagon, Gamera, etc... And, I have to say, there are some rather amusing theories out that, theories that you can't help but laugh aloud at hearing. Like the guy that says the monster is a seven headed snake because he sees it in the first picture on the Cloverfield site. Or the other guy that continues to make references to Hinduism and other Asian religions, even going as far as involving the Kama Sutra in to his theories.
Notice I'm not posting any links. I can't stop the chaos that's going on out there, and I'm certainly not going to help propagate it.
I have my theories based on information provided, but given a sufficiently strong argument I can be swayed from that opinion. I am not dead set on an opinion I pulled out of my ass because it sounds good. I base my opinions on research, and if I express said opinion I'm ready to reasonably defend it. And, if I am wrong, I expect to be proven wrong and not simply told "you're wrong."
I've given up trying to convince people. I'll continue my research, follow the leads and come to my own conclusions, then post the results for the world to see. Take it with a grain of salt.
Ever forward. -
And, Like That, They're Gone...
» Welcome to My MindAccording to this search engine...
...I can't find any proof that Mind Storm Labs is officially registered as a company IN CANADA.
I'm not sure how it works in Canada, though; all that kind of information in the US is public record and could be searched for any number of ways (such as through Florida's SunBiz site, on which "Mind Storm Labs LLC" *is* registered). Everything other than the link above requires one to pay. So I'm left with the above, which although I am using it to find other companies in Canada I know of, still can't be 100% sure of the coverage it may have and if it includes every corporation, big and small, in all of Canada.
But, if that's the case and that search is accurate, the company didn't officially exist internationally until it was registered in Florida mid-June.
Again, I'm probably wrong about this, becuase any of the "high end" searches (using "NUANS Real Time System") cost money as far as I can tell. And I'm not that eager to find out.
That's another thing that gets me about this company: it's a phantom. The *only* three people that we know work there (Thomas McLaughlin, David Carter and Earl Fischl) appear on the corporate registration in Florida (which, BTW, Thomas signed on the 6th but didn't get filed until the 13th), and that address resolves to a UPS store in Winter Park. We have absolutely no trace of anyone else that works for this corporation, past or present.
The forum posts made earlier this year asking for artists ended with MSL effectively saying "thank you, but we have enough applications. That is all." No notice about anyone actually getting a job and start working for them. No buzz from anyone about what they're working on, which when you think about the fact that they recruited people from an Internet forum to begin with - a site on which people inherently talk about things - is not normal.
There also aren't any apparent former employees (I remember mention of someone listing it in their resume; I'll have to search for that), and for that matter we don't know of anyone that's even *seen* their offices. We don't even have any trace of the Alpha and Beta testers they say they've been using; where did they find the testers, and where did they go when they were done?
Can anyone confirm the above search link? Is there a more comprehensive source for searching for corporation records in Canada?
-
Ethan Haas, You Sly Dog
» Welcome to My MindWork has had me bogged down as of late, and apparently I'm now behind in the quest to reveal the truth about Ethan Haas.
To make it official, based on the discovery of bix at OMG WTF EHWR?!, it is now official that Ethan Haas is directly related to Mind Storm Labs; the most recent clues are hosted on the same server and they all resolve to the same IP address.
Now, personally, I still don't know what to think about Mind Storm Labs. They're little quest is far more exciting than the other (*cough!* Cloverfield... *cough!*) one, but I admit some aspects of it do seem a little... well... amateurish, which would be consistant with a small company doing this internally.
For example, we feel that Thomas McLaughlin early exposure was probably an accident, and this quest was probably not supposed to get so personal from the beginning. Also, in this latest discovery, I personally find it unorthodox that you would create all these sites and such on the same server as your corporate website.
There was also another discovery recently: a while back I reported the existance of the words "Seraph" and "Ophanum" (which I still feel is a misspelling of "Ophanim", but it's too late to fix that) as keywords on the Mind Storm Labs page. Well, once again through the investigative work of OMG WTF ETWR?! (damn, it's a pain to type that), we see that "seraphophanum.com" is hosted on that server as well, but there's nothing there... yet... Also, for the record, "seraphophanum.net" is there as well.
The owner of that site also reports that he knows where Divinus will eventually be, but he won't say because we're technically not supposed to know that. I'm seeing that now: there's a certain unwritten code of ethics, where you're only supposed to discover things that have been revealed or that you're supposed to discover, but our agressiveness has led to several discoveries that were... well... outside of the script, so to speak.
We'll just have to keep playing along for now. August is looking to be an important month in the Ethan Haas world.
And then... there's Cloverfield. The ARG-to-be. People are getting tired of speculating, and I think that's a good thing. I think that's the equivalent of Darwinism; I don't think it's officially launched yet, and I feel it will do so at ComicCon next week, but when that happens the people that will still be around are the people that want a game for real and know how this works. None of this "pulling theories out of your ass" bit, no looking at the latest photo and seeing lions and aliens. The elite few that will be around when the game takes off for real are the ones that know how to play these things, and by then the game should be pretty enjoyable.
Well, one can only hope it'll be like that. There are some out there that still think that the Cloverfield movie is going to be Godzilla vs. Voltron vs. the Mezin Source, and not even J. J. Abrams himself can convince them otherwise.
God help us. And, J. J., don't screw this up. -
And Then There Were Four
» Welcome to My MindOK, so I was wrong... Another picture posted up on 1-18-08.com, and once again we have another round of speculation and "pulled out of ass" theorizing.
In the little time that it's been up, people have already started to reaffirm theories that they've had before about people being affected, people turning in to aliens, Slush is bad for you, etc... etc... Well, at least they haven't reaffirmed that it's Godzilla yet, but I've seen one or two people basically state with the highest degree of conviction that this picture reaffirms their theory to be true.
Me? I wasn't expecting the picture to reveal anything dramatic. I expected the picture to come out sooner or later, and this new picture will provide probably another twenty pages of banter on the unifiction forums. I still feel that the "key" is out there, waiting to be found or revealed, and we simply don't have the tools yet to proceed.
I have reason to believe that this "key" is going to be given to us at ComicCon, and if the game's going to have a start it's going to be there. I consider what we're going through now a sort of "pre-game", a foreword to the real thing.
OK, Abrams, fine... Ignore my suggestion about the pimp outfit, but you know we're still your bitches. -
The Answer Is Out There
» Welcome to My MindAccording to the Lostpedia, one of the segments of The Lost Experience began at Comic Con...Stage 3
The third stage of the game was announced at San Diego Comic Con during the Lost Q&A panel where Rachel Blake stood up and accused the show's creators of conspiring with the Hanso Foundation. Near the end of her irate speech she intstructed for all who "want the truth" to go to hansoexposed.com.
This happens to be the same Comic Con that J. J. Abrams is making a big appearance at exactly one week from now.
I don't think the timing is a concidence.
While having a 1000 calorie meal at Burger King, I had an idea... What if the movie never shows you the monster, or doesn't focus on the monster's history at all? Rather, the movie simply starts with a big, unexplained monster showing up and tearing through New York City? It is, after all, from the perspective of the "man on the street," who arguably wouldn't have any insight in to that type of information anyway.
Furthermore, what if the purpose of this ARG is to reveal what the monster's history is? Go beyond the story of the movie and go in depth as to its beginnings. The Slusho site already makes reference to science experiments, deep sea elements, etc... What is the goal of the ARG is to discover the back story and all the parties involved that led to the creation (or discovery) of the creature and it's subsequent release in to the wild that is New York City?
I still think we're missing a key, or "codex" as someone else has referred to it as. Something tells me that the key will be a hell of a lot more visible at Comic Con.
If you, or anyone you know, is going to this event, please let us know and keep us informed as to what happens. -
Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another?
» Welcome to My MindI have reason to believe that the next picture posted on 1-18-08.com is going to be J.J. Abrams himself, dressed up in full pimp regalia - bright purple, full length fur coat and a big white fur hat - holding a replica of the Statue of Liberty's head in one hand and in the other a huge sign, made up of rhinestones and screenshots from the unifiction forums, that says "YOU ARE ALL MY BITCHES".
Hey... it can happen! -
Try and Take Me, Mezin!
» Welcome to My MindSchedar (Alpha Cass):
[279fh7691.com]
Caph (Beta Cass):
[417stjneh.com]
Gamma Cass:
[6ld9102.com]
Just posted. Ethan Haas was around over a hundred years ago.
*EDIT*: For the cheap seats... Two of the domains were hidden in the properties of the PDF posted by Triton Enterprises.
The third is in the footer of Van Mantra's last auto-responder. -
The Circle is Complete
» Welcome to My MindThanks to an anonymous post on the unfiction forums, we have this gem...
There he is, mystery man Thomas McLaughlin, who apparently worked at the legendary TSR in 1992 and is sitting next to Dale "Slade" Henson, who has written a few modules for Greyhawk (Including Howl From the North) and Gamma World.
Amazing this took so long to dig up.
So it's definitely looking to be for Alpha Omega, and Mind Storm Labs is looking more and more to be the real thing. And we've managed to potentially uncover the mystery venture capitalist that's funding the whole shindig.
Here I am wondering why they don't get a real sales and marketing department; then I realize that WE are it...
Anyway... The game goes on...
-
Thomas McLaughlin
» Welcome to My MindI signed up for the World Quest Resorts newsletter, and got this page thank you...
[www.worldquestresort.com]Regards,
Thomas McLaughlin
Director of Sales and Marketing
WorldQuest Resort
Keep in mind that the above is CURRENT. None of this speculation on where Thomas has been the past few months. This was received TODAY.
We are led to believe that he releases a press release for a game company on May 30th, and suddenly becomes the Director of Sales and Marketing for a company three thousand miles away in less than two months. Lucky man...
So, unless World Quest Resorts is the single most elaborate front in the history of the world, or Thomas McLaughlin never worked for Mind Storm Labs. Or Mind Storm Labs' a facade. -
Triton Enterprises and Mind Storm Labs
» Welcome to My Mind
And so it begins... OK... Now what?
I'm still here questioning the credibility of Mind Storm Labs. I mean, if you're here trying to publicize a game, that shouldn't stop you from providing contact information. Look at their website: no phone number, no address, no email other than "info". If I was CNN or whoever and wanted to contact them for marketing reasons I can't? I don't buy it.
Company appears out of nowhere (the appearances of it earlier this years were made by an individual, not the company as a whole) with mysterious employees, no contact information and a huge cloud of obscurity... I don't know what to make of it.
At least Triton Enterprises posts an update now and then... -
Triton Enterprises - It's Official!
» Welcome to My MindWelcome to the wonderful world of ARG. Triton Enterprises updated their website with a notification:
[www.tritonenterprises.net]
They've locked the PDF so we can't even print it or cut/paste from it. Gee, thanks guys!
There's some text at the bottom that's illegible because we can't cut/paste it, but you can right-click and get each word, one by one."I've discovered several pages from Haas journal have to be careful how distribute these pages there are forces here on earth and beyond that would destroy them they could
will reach out to all of you with clues on how to find them we will all have role to play"
Well, THAT helps... Gah! I can't be sure if I got all the words, symbols, etc... Can anyone confirm?
-
The Mystery Key
» Welcome to My MindThe way I see it, one of two things are going on with Cloverfield.
1) The "key" hasn't been revealed yet, so we have no basis on which to proceed.
2) The "key" is wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and is standing in front of us, giving us the finger, and we can't see him.
I hate to think it's #2, but it's a possibility. The unforum thread is nearly 300 pages, and every 50 pages or so the same crap is revealed over and over again. It's become unmanageable. And that's 300 pages of pure speculation, people pulling theories out of thin air without even thinking of it."I know it's going to be Godzilla for sure!"
"OK... What makes you think that?"
"Well... I just know it! It's gonna ROCK!"
Ugh... Page 232 and we're still getting speculation that it's Ctulhu or Godzilla, that sites that have been debunked seconds after they were discovered should be revisited, that it all has some deep convoluted religious meaning that makes The Da Vinci Code look like Green Eggs and Ham. People are seeing demonic images in hair, numbers that aren't there, and think Satan himself is reciting King Lear if you play the audio backwards.
I've read people seriously make long posts and state their case that, with every ounce of seriousness they can muster, it's going to be:- A Rampage adaptation
- Voltron
- Godzilla, Gamera, et. al... Your radioactive Japanese monster of choice.
- Cthulhu, Dagon, Deep Ones, et. al... Your Lovecraftian horror of choice.
- Shiva
- Some Hindu deity I can't even pronounce
- The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (Revelations has been getting some good press as a result of this)
- A hippocampus (Ooooo... scary...)
- Pokemon (OK, this really is scary)
- A giant squid
- The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
- The Leviathan, Behemoth or Ziz (I propagated these concepts simply because, of all possibilities proposed, these were the most thought out and best presented of them all).
- A giant cow, sheep, pig, et. al... Your domesticated farm animal of choice, but 600' high.
So it boils down to it: either we have the key and are oblivious to it because of self-propagated informational overload, or the key isn't there... yet...
I can't say it hasn't been educational; I now know the exact structural dimensions of the Statue of Liberty. I've learned about explosives and how to analyze them. I've learned more about a number of unpleasant religious themes than I probably should have. I've learned acousitcs and the effect of non-uniform rotating bodies in motion and the resulting sounds due to air resistance. Heck, I now know how to use Sound Forge and Macromedia Fireworks better than I did a week ago.
Thank you, J.J. Abrams. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to better ourselves and get educated in the most awkward way possible. Now... where's the damn key?!? -
Bring It!
» Welcome to My MindSo, after shelling out the money to actually have QuickTime Pro, my computer decides to no longer play QuickTime movies. OK, fine, so I open up VMWare, create a brand new Windows XP session using CD images I downloaded through my MSDN subscription, spent I don't know how long downloading and installing seventy billion Microsoft Service Packs, and installed QuickTime.
Then I waited until the entire 1080p hi-def video was available to my machine, and then saved that locally in both QuickTime format (125Mb) and Windows AVI format. For the Windows AVI version, I saved it without using any audio compression (44.1KHz, 16 bit Stereo) or video compression. For the record, the resulting file is 2.6Gb.
All that so I can have the video offline, in highest detail possible, just so I can analyze it frame by frame.
Also, at the same time, within the same QuickTime session I exported the audio track to WAV format, again uncompressed 44.1Khz 16-bit Stereo, so I can analyze it in Sound Forge. That WAV file is a modest 9.26Mb.
On a side note, I also created a brand new website under IIS7 and moved in to it all the files from my Internet cache for Slusho.jp, renaming the files as need be (IE insists on adding a "[1]" to the files), including the site map XML and the main HTML page, ensuring that all files are in the correct directories and all that. Now I can run the Slusho website (well, at least the part of it we know about) on my local machine, again without the need for Internet access.
Now I have the tools to dissect... It's ON now, buddy! -
Numbers
» Welcome to My MindWell it seems like a lot of people are getting on the Big Three Bandwagon. Wish I could take full credit for that, but I can't. So I take some credit in reiterating it and saying "yeah... maybe."
Anyway, back to the task: figuring out what the hell to do.
On my way home today I've been thinking about it, and I'm now reasonably convinced the number "163" has *something* to do with it. It appears in two places:
1) The news report, where NY1 is reporting 63 degrees. It also helps that New York residents have stated already that the temperature isn't that big on screen, leading us to believe that we were meant to see that.
It also doesn't hurt that the newscast and the Slusho guy pretty much appear on screen at the same time; he suggests to go to the roof immediately after the broadcast.
2) On the Slusho page, the footer: one full cup, the number 6 (written out in English, but numerical in Japanese), three full cups.
Now, if I only had the first damn clue where that would be useful... -
The Big Three?
» Welcome to My MindPosted by someone in the IMDB forums, since you have to register there...If you look at the trailer you can see the number 3 being referenced to everywhere. The 63 degrees on the news channel, The 12:36, the 2004 ACE, numbers that are all dividable by 3.
Last, but not least, you hear the thundering monster sound three times, each sound accompanied by a different event.
Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness"
So what in biblical mythology has connections to the slew of references in the trailer? The three great monsters.
In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky.
1) The first monster roar is accompanied by an earthquake (Behemoth)
2) The second monster roar is accompanied by a huge fireball (Leviathan, for it can breathe fire)
3) The third monster roar is accompanied by the flying Statue of Liberty head (Ziz).
Not convinced?
The guy who says "maybe we can get a better view from the roof" has the Slusho logo on his shirt. Slusho is a classic J.J. Abrams icon, and it has appeared in both Alias and Lost, which are his shows.
Slusho.jp has, by now, been confirmed as a part of the viral marketing campaign revolving around 1-18-08. Japan. Strangely enough, the character Rob, who is present in the trailer, was gonna fly to Japan a day after that party and the monster events.
Let's have a look around on that site. Not all pages are accessible. But there is an odd feature about the pages that are available. The main page background is on land, the Downloads page background is on air, and the History page background is on sea.
Furthermore, the six buttons on the main page cause popups of various animals, namely a Horse, a Whale and a Bird. Behemoth, Leviathan, Ziz.
GG, J.J. Abrams.
Quite frankly, that's the most reasonable explanation I've heard so far.
I hinted at the Leviathan in a previous blog post, but I admit I didn't pursue it as much as this person did.
Now that I think of it, let's consider the roars...
FIRST ROAR (the party interruption): Very low pitch, three distinct tones (first one apparently an inhale), causes the earthquake. If you go based on the above, this can be attributed to the Behemoth, which is depicted as a giant ox.
SECOND ROAR (on the roof): There is no earthquake; all you see is fire. This can go with the Leviathan, which is sea based and capable of breathing fire.
THIRD ROAR (on the street): This one I haven't been able to analyze along with the video because of system problems, but shortly after the roar, before the SOL hits the first building, you hear a "whoosh, whoosh..." sound. I refuse to believe that the SOL makes that sound spinning through the air, as it doesn't really have anything to cause the kind of air resistance needed for such a powerful sound. When I analyzed it two days ago, it sounded to me similar to the flapping of wings... like Ziz.
Maybe?
