Beware, my Friscoey peeps! There’s nothing more disturbing than a dire warning delivered via SMS:

ALERT-We’re on the move! Tune-in 2 Radio Nonchalance (Dispatches from Elsewhere) 107.9FM Upper Dolores Park for further instructions
Beware the Jejune Institute

You may remember The Jejune Institute from our previous post on the subject. Or you may already have clicked away from this page in bored disgust.* Take us with you!

*Because we don’t live in San Francisco.

The animated version of Neil Gaiman’s children’s classic, “Coraline,” opens tomorrow (in Real3D at select theatres!) and as of this posting it’s already received a score of 86% over on Rotten Tomatoes. In honor of the mainstream premiere, W+K Radio will be hosting NPR’s Ketzel Levine as she interviews Coraline’s director, Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare before Christmas) and the secretive Travis Knight, who (according to the best information available to us through a random Google search) may or may not be the Vice President of Animation at Laika Studios and the animation lead on the Coraline production. Laika is the phoenix resurrected by Nike co-founder Phil Knight from the ashes of the old Will Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon.

The show is scheduled to air via the interwebs at 10:00 a.m. PST tomorrow, February 6, 2009 (that’s 1:00 p.m. on the east coast US and 2:00 a.m. in China). W+K Radio is a production of local advertising house Wieden+Kennedy, which handled the promotion of the Coraline film.

Apparently we sent ourselves a package recently, if the battered box delivered to us yesterday was any indication. It was stamped all over with stickers proclaiming its lack of postage and poorly addressed shipping label, which bore our address as the return address as well as the destination. Inside was a padded box containing a hunk of etched glass along with a love letter from the United States Postal Service. We thought all these years that they didn’t care but it turns out they do! Hurrah!

Yes, that love letter did mention something about a smelling, leaking box but we’re totally above making a crude sexual innuendo out of it. Get your minds out of the gutter!

Inside the padded black box (technically bouncing around loose in the shipping box until we replaced it anyway) was a paperweight bearing the following inscription, under which appears some Hebrew-resembling gibberish:

And I saw as it were a Sea of Glass mingled with fire

Paperweight (click for larger size)

It’s a good thing we have friends in the business (what business? Why, the business of intertubing, of course!) because otherwise we would have had no clue what to do with this, besides brain zombies with it in the event of an uprising. Luckily, discussion of similar packages came up in a recent episode of the ARGNetcast, so we knew where to look!

It seems there are slightly different versions of the zombie-clocker floating around and, when placed together, they become a multi-dimensional alien, wake up, and fly off in their damn flying saucer. No wait, they just spell out a link to a website.

The missive appears intended to sound a call for an upcoming Prototype161 event in New York City. We only know this from checking out the discussion at Unfiction, where the zombies usually keep to themselves. More pics of the shipping package and note from the postal service after the jump, if you care (which you do, because its funny. Unless you’re a damn zombie).

Paperweight in Box

Package

USPS Notice (click for larger size). Handwriting reads, “Smelling/leaking; contents not leaking something spilled onto parcel destroying parcel & part of address.”

Interestingly (or not), the package contents did have a bit of a whiff of Lemon Pledge about them when they arrived. Or was it bitter almond? We don’t feel so well all of a sudden.

Hooray, more priority mail even though Elan Lee tried to put the kibosh on the whole sort of exercise at this year’s ARGFest-o-Con! We survived the inquisition and all we got was this lousy hat!

Actually, the hat is kind of a cool touch. We’ve been admiring your hat for years, after all. Check out our package (we know you can’t help it):

Interestingly, the return address is listed as Seattle, Washington, while the postage label reads College Station, TX, again, which is how our incredible deductive powers told us this was related to the whole Eklipse Global thing from before. The Unfiction denizens have already grabbed onto this one and are currently chewing it to shreds like a pack of rabid hamsters.

The photos have words and or ideograms inscribed on the back (and yes, we’re quite aware how high-falutin’ it is to describe writing in black Sharpie as “inscribed”). The monkey looks like we felt after last weekend.

First Photo – Reverse reads “Berlin”

Second Photo – Reverse reads “Tenome Labs”

Third Photo – Reverse Unreadable by Our Uneducated Asses

In addition to the photos was this cool hat! From the numbering on the inside, it appears to be an officer’s cap for a member of the North Vietnamese Army but it has a pin on it with German writing.

Cool Hat

Cool Hat – Interior

Cool Hat – Pin

Holy crap, sometimes being a whiny bastard pays off! Just under the wire before our little sojourn across the pond (hooray, vacation!), and in response to our previous plea for frivolous finery, we received a package in the mail. When we get free gifts, we go like this: :O

Anyway, there was also a bunch of other crap like a button and stickers and things to do with “the cause,” which is to protect all them fairies and junk. Like on our free T-Shirt! Did we mention that part? Thanks, Svelte Harlots!

There was also a letter dated May 13 thanking us for our (spiritual, we suppose) support and presenting us with an authentic historical reproduction of some squiggly lines. Enigmatic!

Swag pics after the jump, discussion at Unfiction.

Letter (click for larger size)

“Reproduction” (click for larger size)

Stickers and Tag

Button

Free Freaking T-Shirt!

The verdict? Ron Perlman continues to be the shit but that Del Toro dude may be catching up.

How about that? Our sources have come through yet again, with more snail mail moseying its way into our Big Room inbox. Go sources!

This time, it’s an update to a previous post about Looking Glass Laboratories. Apparently the ‘Labs are located in an alternate reality where it’s more convenient to send out hardcopy spam than the electronic variety. Curious!

Anyway, the flyer speaks of artificial intelligences and potential incentives, and includes a link to the previously-revealed site.

Looking Glass Laboratories, one of the most well known software development companies in South Florida is actively looking for qualified individuals to help test their latest creation: the Learning Artificial Intelligence Platform.

No experience necessary! Anyone and everyone can participate! All ages are welcome!

Scan of the flyer after the jump; bigger version at the uF forums.

Note: Our home is not that comfortable, dammit. Can we do this from the comfort of yours instead?

In mid-September a post on the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) forums for the upcoming movie Cloverfield lead a small team of forum goers, seemingly by fate, to the 48 Hours website located at www.48-hours.net, on which was a picture that seemingly made no sense. Soon the picture on the page changed frequently and the team discovered what this was about. The site turned into a well-made website for a movie titled 48 Hours in Purgatory which was being directed by a man named Brody Hawkins with his team at SKG (Skeleton Key Global) Films such as Veronique who acted as the Office Manager, receiving phone calls and organizing events related to the film, Jagt (pronounced like “jut” but he is commonly referred to as “Jet”) Tanner who on the website is listed as the film editor, as well as a cameraman, and Arkham X who secures and manages location sites.

Shortly after, an In-Game (IG) forum was created at fortyeight.freeforums.org. On the forum end, people were confused and intrigued at the same time. The Puppetmasters (or PMs, referred to IG as the “architects”) seemed to have drawn in the right people. Led by an poster only referring to him/herself as “Trailmaster”, they sought to uncover more about the project. Leith Noweder, one of the most active players on the forum describes the beginning as such:

“I was on the Cloverfield forum at IMDB. Someone posted the site (48 hours.net) there supposedly thinking it was connected. I found the email hidden the source code x@48-hours.net. I sent the first email to them and kept everyone updated on the responses and everything. A lot of people were interested and it was highly debated on whether or not it was Cloverfield. The forum elected me spokesperson along with Caity….then I think that’s when you came in. Not sure if I have that sequence of events perfect, but yeah, basically that’s how it happened.”

Brody also had a blog that he set up and was analyzed by the players for any possible clues and theories at brodoc.blogspot.com. The blog showed Brody quite the depressive state, as well as alcoholic tendencies and spoke of his sister who died the day he was going to propose to Veronique (henceforth referred to as V or Ronnie). Brody then became very superstitious and was hesitant to get close to V and became more and more into his new film project which involved paying subjects $10,000 to spend 48 hours in a purgatory the film crew set up. The players found out later that V was the one who came up with the idea.

On Wednesday September 19, 2007, Veronique died in a car accident. Brody was driving the car but he survived with minor injuries while V was declared dead that night and was shipped off to her parents the next day. Brody then became very withdrawn and possibly slightly insane.

On the players’ end, the Trailmaster revealed that another group would be joining the forum and that group (codenamed group thr3e) was from Unfiction. A user on Unfiction, nobuofanxiii received an email from a girl named Sasha Breslaugh saying that she received a DVD with his email address on it. That video was the beginning of the “Bones” section of the story which can be referenced here.

Unfictioners were led to a completely different forum just for them which was led by a “Traildude” who led them to find certain puzzle pieces before they merged into the regular forum. The forum has received complaints that a certain member or two has been harassing and verbally attacking new members but since that incident, it is safe to say that there will be no more of that and any new members are welcome. Members such as “Will”, “Tresbien” and “Amandel” have been very useful as to finding new clues.

Shortly after the merging, Brody writes remembering that V suggested creating a street team, assuring him that it would be successful. He follows up on that advice and asks contacts on the forum (though email, not knowing about the forum of course) such as Idta and Leith to set up a street team website and help promote the film. A page is set up at www.48hoursonthestreet.com which has rarely in use as of now.

Brody then started talking about this Suicide Girl he met that looked just like V but with a lot of tattoos across her body. Her name was Serena and Brody made her his newest subject which was subject number 6. The players then found videos from a user called “Isshestillalive” on youtube showing various videos about the project, each relaying a little bit of information but mainly the shocking question which was is she really still alive and how is that possible?

Since the merging, the search for the 15 puzzle pieces has been underway and as of press time 14 have been found. Trailmaster has reported that it is placed with many people across the net and has hinted at asking users at places such as Unfiction to see if they received any clues regarding the last piece.

About 3 weeks ago, a guest tip at Unfiction’s Bones thread has led players to www.48hoursinpurgatory.com which has messages left by Jagt but in the year 2009 which is a rift in time as Trailmaster has explained. As explained by Jagt, after the film came out it was widely praised and won many awards, including Best Documentary. Soon after however, Brody and Arkham both were nowhere to be found. Jagt tells the players though email that he wants to recruit the old Street Team (from 2007) to help distribute a “director’s cut” of the film, saying that he needs to show the world the truth about the film.

As of now one puzzle piece is the only thing standing in progress’ way. The completed puzzle will unlock the website at www.skgfilms.com which has been reported to be the next step in the game.

Since the game has began there are many references to Cloverfield and Stephen King books as well as lyrics from bands such as Faith No More, 30 Seconds to Mars and Sixx A.M. For all of you out there wondering, Cloverfield is officially non-related to the game, despite the coincidences.

At this time there is also speculation that this ARG is actually promoting a real film with the same name. A look on major studios’ upcoming releases shows no film of that name has been announced which makes it likely that if it does exist, it will be an indie film. Nothing has been denied or confirmed at this point.

As of now it’s been quiet on the forum front, maybe the winds will pick up soon. Only time will tell and the only time here….is 48 hours.

That’s right, now you have yet another reason to hate Mondays! The Red Monday site updated yesterday and players discovered the first episode, downloadable free, in a series of podcasts styled as an audio play with a story centering around a nuclear attack on Los Angeles, California. Go, go, apocalypse!

Early reports from Unfiction players who have listened to the first episode (the only one available so far) have been overwhelmingly positive. The first episode is a free download and subsequent episodes will be $1.67 each, or $5.00 $4.99 for all four remaining episodes. It’s a forty dollar value!

ARGNet’s news came shortly after many Jericho fans began receiving emails directing them to the ongoing investigation at Unfiction. Interestingly, some Tom Tooman players had speculated some time ago about the possible connection to Jericho but were unceremoniously shot down. Well, who’s laughing now, bitches?!*

*Probably not the puppetmasters; we’d imagine they were literally tearing their hair out trying to get players to follow that Jericho connection. It’s a little known fact that 97.2% of puppetmasters are bald. Oh yes, those are mostly toupées. Yes, even on the women, but they prefer the term “wig” for some reason.

P.S. Yes, however, we still find the brunette hot. Rowr!