It worked!

Back to Black

Sorry for the long delay in posting; I’m in the middle of a very busy month, work and personal projects-wise.

It’s also been a very busy week for Find The Lost Ring, as all the characters traveled to Beijing to play out the last chapter.

It’s hard to describe how I’m feeling right now. Last week, I had kinda steeled myself for the end of it all, and tried to wrap up loose ends – the forums slowed down to a few threads a day, I sent emails to the two people I’d communicated with the most (Diego and Mei Hui) to wish them luck, and I started an outline for a summary video (as requested by Ariadne).

But once they arrived in Beijing, it became clear that it wouldn’t be that easy. They wore t-shirts that Weezel designed early in the game, they wrapped up a plot point using a ritual created by the Couberteam, and they did a dance choreographed by Canzonett and Dav. They had one final task where they asked for our help (encoding a video address in a website and emailing it to the bad guys).

But now, that’s all over. We’ve been rooting for these people to succeed for five months, so when they return to their home worlds (and the pms/actors stop talking to us, because the game is over) – it really will – in a non-This Is A Game sense – be as if they’ve left the planet. We’ll also be losing the community of friends and support that we’ve all had for the last five months, as we’ll all disperse, having accomplished our goal. And we’re all feeling a very real sense of loss at that.

The athletes have been posting farewell videos, and seem to be feeling quite emotional themselves. For example, check out Diego’s; you can hear it in his voice.

The final event happens during the closing ceremonies. They’ll harness the power of 91,000 people in synchronization by performing the official Olympic cheer:

…which on top of the massive synch power from the global omphalos net, will allow them to return to their home worlds and families.

I’m wishing them luck, but at the same time, I’m still sad that it has to end.

Ten hours to go.

Gamespotting – El Orfanato

“Uno, dos, tres, toca la pared!”

These words, part of a child’s game, open the scene in the Spanish film The Orphanage (El Orfanato), a subtle, well-wrought horror film produced by cinema master Guillermo del Toro.

The film is well spooky – there were a couple of instances where I shrieked (apparently making it that much scarier for the friend I was watching with). The plot (which you can read about, spoiler-free, here) focuses on a woman who returns to the orphanage where she grew up, and the mysterious and disturbing events which permeate the household after her son makes an imaginary friend.

The game she and the other orphans play is known as “Un, dos, tres, chocolate inglés“. One child faces a tree (or a wall), and counts (in the film they say, “Un, dos, tres, toca la pared”) while the other children creep forward, freezing when the counter turns to face them again. This is similar to the American game “Red light/Green light.” There are also variations in the UK (“What’s the time, Mr. Wolf?“) and Japan (“Darumasan ga koronda“).

The game appears a few times in the film, a way to show both the clarity and inscrutability of their innocence, which serves as both a source of joy, and of terror. Similarly, a scavenger hunt played by mother and son is great fun for the child, naive of its implications, while the mother grows increasingly frightened as she becomes aware of what it could mean.

In trying to research this part of El Orfanato I found a few references to the childrens’ game, but many were related to the film, making me wonder if its box office success in Spain helped generate a renewed interest in the game. (According to Wikipedia, it took in $8.3 million over four days, giving it the biggest opening of the year and becoming the second highest-grossing debut ever for a local movie.)

But for my sanity’s sake, I hope that’s not the case. Considering how spooky the film is, I would be really freaked out should I ever come across packs of children playing this thing.

PMOGgin’

Heads up, peeps – episode six of the Tubenauts podcast (“2Shoats1Crate”) is up and ready for your listening pleasure. I host, we talk about benefactoring and shoats, we interview Trustee Marc Adams. As usual, it is full of win! Listen here.

We also got blogged by community liason Joe “burdenday” Wagner!