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Playing Catch-Up | |
I'm so behind on everything. Stuff didn't update until after I left work on Friday, and then I spent the whole weekend working on the 3rd Annual Care Bear Birthday Trail. Monday was spent finishing up the coding on the trail, and Tuesday and Wednesday saw me supervising everyone's progress through the it. So now it's Thursday and I have no idea what has happened in the game (except for one little bit which made me smile, but I'll get to that much later). Of course, I completely forgot to get the files from Sun-Yi's Myspace page before I left for work, so all of her stuff won't get done until Friday - a week late! Hopefully next week won't be so out of synch.
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What We Know About Dr. Genero |
So Matt's Friday update was just a major recap about everything we know about Dr. Genero. (He also finally acknowledged the emails that I had sent him before, so I guess I'm off the ignore list.) However, there was no new info or codes to solve, which is good news for me, bad news for the people wanting an update from him last weekend.
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On Dr. Genero, from John Wheeler's journal and Dr. Tinneman's notes:
- 7/5/66: My grandfather refers to Genero as "one of the world’s leading geneticists." Interestingly enough, my grandfather also writes that "[Dr. Tinneman] said...he didn’t go to Harvard Med School to learn how to work 'for this Nazi.'" When I first read this, I assumed it was just a pointed insult, but in hindsight, perhaps Tinneman had his suspicions even then.
- 8/4/66: Genero exhibits almost superhuman reflexes and agility, especially for "a man of Dr. G’s age," as he kills a baby King Cobra with his bare hands.
- 8/7/66: Genero reminisces about a lodge in Upstate New York and gives my grandfather some photos of it. Based on the cars in the photos, they appear to be from the 1950s--could Genero possibly have stayed at this lodge during his tenure at Plum Island? It is arguable whether this area would be considered "Upstate" New York (map), but this journal entry did grab my attention again within the context of the newly discovered Plum Island section of M-A-R-A.org (see below.)
- 8/19/66: Dr. Tinneman tells my grandfather, "At last I have some proof," presumably the photo labeled "Overseeing CHASE." The meaning behind this acronym was later revealed in Tinneman's "Pudding Code" message:
I found a letter of commendation about Genero's work on something called Operation CHASE. One of my Saigon contacts told me that stands for Cut Holes And Sink Em, a program to dump toxic waste chemicals at off shore sites around the world. He's been involved in these chemicals programs longer than he told us about.
- 8/22/66: "[Dr. Genero] went into town to check into reports of a local village boy who claimed to have been bitten by a 'dragon' while playing in the Mekong." Given the new perspective on Genero's past experiments such as "Reptilian Mammalian Synthesis" (see M-A-R-A: Plum Island, below) this journal entry struck me as particularly noteworthy when I read it again. A couple of phrases always struck me as peculiar, even for a non-native English speaker, in this sentence:
He tried to get more information out of the girl, but she just kept saying Dr. G. “make bad sex-it” and that he was a “non-tah” by which Dr. T. said she meant “non-touch” or “untouchable.”
Why "sex-it" instead of "sexy" or just "sex"? And a "non-tah"--even if mispronounced, I'd think there would be at least some consonant at the end of the word "touch." I started looking at these phrases phonetically, and in the context of Southeast Asia, and did a little research. "Sex-it" actually might be "saksit," a term for supernatural powers used in Thailand and Laos. "Ananta" (a non-tah) could be a reference to a mythological serpent-god that represents eternity in Asian cultures. Of course, I can't be sure if that's what the Thai cleaning woman really meant, but it's feasible that she might have regarded Genero this way.
- 9/7/66: "He wondered why Dr. G. was in Germany in 1949, while at the same time having bank accounts in the US under multiple names." (See M-A-R-A: Bergstrom AFB, below.)
- 9/10/66, coded message from Tinneman: "Watch your back." There's also the odd drawing, dated the day before, of a child walking a huge lizard on a leash.
- 9/15/66, coded message from Tinneman: "The things he is doing. God help us all! Find my notes. I've left something to help you read them, too." (the 6x6 decoder)
- Another coded message from Tinneman: "What the hell is Genero doing? The new lab he is building is some kind of giant cooler or refrigerator. The GI I talked to said they are bringing in cold weather gear from a base in Goose Bay but routing it through the 25th Infantry stationed at Clark Air Base to hide the trail."
- 10/1/66, coded message from Tinneman: "Creatures, monstrosities like I've never seen. Abominations down in this hell hole on earth. I don't know if Genero is studying them or, God forbid, creating them somehow." In addition, "There was a drawing on the back of it, an eerie still life probably sketched while he was in G’s secret lab." Note the similarity between the fish-like thing on the right side of the drawing and the creature from the video found in the M-A-R-A: Plum Island directory (see below.)
- 10/11/66: A busload of children arrives at Genero's private lab compound in the middle of the night.
- 10/18/66: "Only a madman would call this Agent Yellow a 'great success.'" This is another indication that Dr. Genero's goals may have been greatly divergent from what would appear to be the official goal of Project Rainbow, namely, to develop an antidote to Agent Orange.
- Another coded message from Tinneman: "Genero conducted some secret program with the Chinese shortly after Paperclip at Bergstrom." (See M-A-R-A: Haneda Air Base and M-A-R-A: Bergstrom AFB, below.)
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Contest Winner |
Congrats to Sylvia who won the Yellow Eyes video contest. Us other losers are supposed to be getting something in the mail from Derek. I'll probably get like naval lint or something since I really think I'm on their shitlist nowadays.
In other news, Amie and Sun-Yi have become almost like best friends. Derek and Matt are acting like best friends again. And Sun-Yi has something to say to her father in Korean, so I don't have a clue as to what it is. But I'm sure it's not about shiny balloons and puppies.
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Hey folks, Sun-Yi here. Happy March! I'm looking forward to spring, and all the games of renewal that come with it. My fresh start here in New York has taken a turn for the strange, and I'm just ready for a vacation or something.
First of all, I would like to congratulate the first prize winner in the Yellow Eyes Video Contest. Drum roll please. All the entries were really excellent, and it was a very tough decision, but in the end, I chose Sylvia's video to win top honors. Once again, I would like to thank everyone who submitted something, and I'm pretty sure that Derek has something he would like to send to all the participants, so keep an eye out for that. Congratulations Sylvia!
So, lately I've been working with someone that I never thought I'd spend an extended amount of time in close proximity to. Amie and I have been like the original odd couple. She and I have had our heads together so that I can learn everything I can about Jon Paine and what he was up to, as well as the circumstances around the time he disappeared. Maybe I'll be able to ask some questions from the mysterious Gemalte Seele MHC contact when we meet. Whenever that that will be. I sure wish I knew why he wants to see me.
I'm also trying to pick up some tips so I don't stand out like a total sore thumb in the body modification scene. Not that I'd ever get a tattoo or anything, but let's face it, I'm pretty sheltered. If I see someone with an eyeball piercing, or something, and I don't expect it, I'm more likely to gawk at them than I am to listen to what they're saying. So, Amie is preparing me for what people are in to and what I might be seeing. I feel a little like Red Riding Hood setting off through the deep dark forest. What big eyeballs you have!
In the meantime, the boys are playing nice with each other, for which I'm grateful. They're working together on the Rainbow of Death material, and trying to see where cryptidtruth fits in. As you might imagine, I'm pretty curious about that myself. Matt's also busy getting ready to go to Florida this weekend to meet with Nate Shiffer. I hope he gets some good information and doesn't have to deal with too many early spring breakers.
And for my Dad, or his bosses, or whoever else monitoring what I'm doing, <starts speaking in Korean>
Have a good weekend everyone. Take care.
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Smelling Salts and Syringes! | |
Thebruce finally got his Bionic Bigfoot in the mail, along with some extra goodies. There was a 10cc glass syringe, a couple of glass cylindars, and a roll of Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia. My only question is, how did this stuff get into thebruce's package? Did the mysterious puzzle stalker intercept the package to put his stuff into there? Or has Derek been holding out on us?
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One Big Happy Family |
Amie appears to be getting along better with Sun-Yi, although she still resents her. The two of them have been discussing Jon in preparation of Sun-Yi's meeting with the Mystery Man. I don't know Sun-Yi's take on it yet (why does she have to be the one on Myspace? Amie's the emo kid. It seems like she'd be more at home on Myspace than Sun-Yi), but I doubt if she's thrilled about the idea of working closely with Amie. You know Sun-Yi's only doing it to get rid of Amie so that Derek will focus on her.
But it appears that I'm not the only one who thinks Amie killed Jon. Warlock467 left a comment saying "did you kill jon? cause that would make you dream about his death. maybe you did in your sleep. ha". I'd say 'great minds think alike,' but as he has been portrayed as somewhat of a troll on Amie's site, I really don't want to think about what that says about me. Just cuz I'm snarky doesn't mean I'm a troll, does it?
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Maybe Derek Does Care |
Since Matt has left for sunnier (and warmer! - it's been absolutely freezing this week) conditions, Derek has been left in NYC with the girls. And since he hasn't gotten any puzzles addressed to him lately, he hasn't had any massive amounts of thinking to do, so he's been obsessing over the M-A-R-A logins that we have solved. This in turn has led to him having weird dreams, including one involving Sun-Yi. And despite the fact she gets decapitated in his dream, the fact that he's horrified and screams out her name would suggest that he is terrified of losing her. Aww, so sweet. I wonder what kind of dreams he is gonna have when Sun-Yi ends up 'leaving him' for Matt. Probably ones involving Matt's decapitation, except that this time, Derek will be doing the decapitation.
Okay, I guess Derek hasn't been completely sitting on his ass all week. He did email the guy from Civilization Mutation, Scott Johnston, but hasn't heard back from him. All he knows is that he is a grad student (NYU, remember) who is working from his home in Seattle. That's all we need. A website that updates late on Pacific Time.
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Watch The Host on Friday (if you can find it) |
Sun-Yi is all excited about the premiere of The Host on Friday. I'd be excited too, except for the fact that the closest showing to me is 3 hours away. For a moment I was okay with it, because I saw that the next round had a showing in Albany, and I'm gonna be in Albany next week so I can catch it then. Only problem is the movie doesn't open up until a week after I'm in Albany. Crap! There are like 5 theatres in NYC, and the rest of the state is left with Albany or Rochester. Where is the love for the middle of the state, say around Syracuse? That's only an hour away. I could easily make that drive. Three hours for a movie is a little excessive though. Especially when I have to explain why I want to spend the night at my sister's house instead of driving straight back home. Concert for my favorite band is one thing. Watching a movie which will eventually come to video (and that I might even get a trailer for. That's how I saw Wendigo!) is another.
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Hey everyone, Sun-Yi here with a case of anti-Monday's. I've got a lot of things on my mind lately, but I have to say that I'm just so excited about Friday, that I could just burst.
*boom*
Because you know what? The United States premiere of The Host is finally at hand. And, oh my gosh, I just can't wait. It's just one of those things like you discover something wonderful and you want to share with everyone you know. You know? And it's been getting a lot of good press lately, too. I've seen a mention in the San Francisco Guardian, the New York Post, and Variety, all in the last few days, not to mention the ads on the internet and The New York Times. Great coverage for it.
Anyways, if you get a chance, go see it next weekend. I think there's a list of theatres on the magpictures.com website, if you click on the Monster poster.
So that good news is helping keeping my mind off what else is coming this week. Namely, my meeting with Painted Soul's contact on Wednesday night. One of my professors was talking about going to college back in the 1980's before they had much modern technology really. A guy asked her out on a date and she didn't know him, so she brought a can of pepper spray with her and kept her hand in her purse all night. Luckily, she didn't have to use it, but nowadays, we have nice things like Helios. Derek's setting it up so that Amie and I can stay in touch with Buddy Beacon service on our Drifts and that way she and Derek can know where I am at all times.
But, just in case we get separated on the subway or something, I was wondering if anyone else out there has a Helio who wouldn't mind playing backup for us. Let me know if you do.
Okay, I'm gonna try to actually get my homework done. Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how things go on Wednesday.
Bye.
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The Miller Checks You In, But You Don't Check Out |
While Derek has been sitting around watching creepy videos and daydreaming, Amie has been hitting the pavement again, this time armed with the name 'The Miller'. It turns out quite a few people have heard of him, and know that a friend of a friend has gone to see him, only to never be heard from again. I get that these people are desperate to have modifications done that no one else will do, but at the same time, why haven't the rumors of these people's disappearance spread as much as The Miller's reputation?
As far as I can tell, his reputation only seems to be 'he does body mods that no one else will do'. That might sound like quite the reputation, but really it's not. If anyone wanting to see him took two seconds to actually think about it, no one would be going to him and there would be alot more questions surrounding doctor. "Yes, I know The Miller. A friend of a friend went to him to have some work done." And? "And what? That's it." What did the friend of a friend have done? "Dunno. As far as I know, he never came back." Never came back?! "Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe there's a problem there."
If Jon Paine did go to The Miller (and wasn't killed by Amie) he probably got was he deserves since he's an idiot.
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Cryptidtruth's Answers |
Cryptidtruth is getting to be a bit annoying. He posted another puzzle, with no explanation. How exactly is he finding out about all of this stuff? Is he the illicet love child of Dr. Genero and has access to all of his files somehow?
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EbXmGnDcDoFtIbRcSmElTqHiOpPwEcDrBtGyHeYpVm
FrWnSwDzCxCtFfQbSnAoBdRsMhAjNxEoNpVtByAnNm
ReCqWdCaCvEmYiYeCrWfTaMaRaRoArRgRbWsZmSkPo
VqAcUdOeCvPiNoQpWcOrVyXuCrItUdYeEvScHiHkEj
NeBcFtAhMiPaQvPoLhMtAwVoToAvTeSrUtIvNxVuDi
XfTpRmTnStEvGcNdKwBaNdSaDiReZjOpPaUlArTnPi
LgObPzYuTmOrNvBeOnDaViCaLePwRoIbTrEbOnZaZs
IwEcRyEaSuTiBvWrMcMwHqFnUvEqBvNuXiBvQuFeUe
EnMsMcAtRlEiGsHaEdOrDuEsCaBaRlAvLwArLgTaEl
RmApTqIbOcSvPeToUpOaIfWoNrUtYeDeCaElWcSoRb
UcWcVdHeAvSiFmHlCgCeBmUiEaRrTb
Step One: Sort the Uppercase from the Lowercase and arrange as a 5per puzzle.
E X G D D F I R S E T H O P E | b m n c o t b c m l q i p w c
D B G H Y V F W S D C C F Q S | r t y e p m r n w z x t f b n
A B R M A N E N V B A N R C W | o d s h j x o p t y n m e q d
C C E Y Y C W T M R R A R R W | a v m i e r f a a a o r g b s
Z S P V A U O C P N Q W O V X | m k o q c d e v i o p c r y u
C I U Y E S H H E N B F A M P | r t d e v c i k j e c t h i a
Q P L M A V T A T S U I N V D | v o h t w o o v e r t v x u i
X T R T S E G N K B N S D R Z | f p m n t v c d w a d a i e j
O P U A T P L O P Y T O N B O | p a l r n i g b z u m r v e n
D V C L P R I T E O Z Z I E R | a i a e w o b r b n a s w c y
E S T B W M M H F U E B N X B | a u i v r c w q n v q v u i v
Q F U E M M A R E G H E O D E | u e e n s c t l i s a d r u s
C B R A L A L T E R A T I O S | a a l v w r g a l m p q b c v
P T U O I W N U Y D C E W S R | e o p a f o r t e e a l c o b
U W V H A S F H C C B U E R T | c c d e v i m l g e m i a r b
Step Two: Drop the lowercase (as there doesn't appear to be anything of value in there) and Solve.
E X G D D F I R S E T H O P E
D B G H Y V F W S D C C F Q S
A B R M A N E N V B A N R C W
C C E Y Y C W T M R R A R R W
Z S P V A U O C P N Q W O V X
C I U Y E S H H E N B F A M P
Q P L M A V T A T S U I N V D
X T R T S E G N K B N S D R Z
O P U A T P L O P Y T O N B O
D V C L P R I T E O Z Z I E R
E S T B W M M H F U E B N X B
Q F U E M M A R E G H E O D E
C B R A L A L T E R A T I O S
P T U O I W N U Y D C E W S R
U W V H A S F H C C B U E R T
Permanent Change Structural Alteration in DNA or RNA = Mutation
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Some Crackpot Theories | |
Civiliziation Mutation has been updated with an article about Scott Johnston and his new book, Civilization Mutation: The Process of Unnatural Selection and is written by Bill Boyd. Who knew Pippen was a freelance journalist? Anyway, the article goes onto explain about Unnatural Selection is. According to Scott, "Unnatural Selection is the process or force that keeps causing or even requiring the human genetic code to change or mutate in radical and hitherto unforeseen ways. It is the yang to Natural Selection’s yin." He seems to think that each succesive generation is less human and more mutant, and Civilization is causing all of these mutations. Oi. He must be loving cryptidtruth's mutating fish - or is it really a mutating human that just looks like a fish now? Oh the possibilities.
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R.I.P. Nate |
Matt's trip to Florida didn't turn out quite as planned. He was supposed to meet Nate at 6pm on Tuesday, but Nate never showed. After waiting around for 45 minutes, Matt got a 'bad feeling' and decided to go drive by his house. With no answer at the doorbell, he decided that looking for another entrance into the house might be in order. After finding an unlocked side gate, Made made it to the backyard, where Nate was floating face down in the pool.
Pause for a moment of silent giggling.
So that's takes care of the three M-A-R-A members - all by drowning, by the way, since Matt confirms my suspcions that Ted died that way too. I think I'll give myself a chocolate chip cookie now. I also like how the deaths were all about a year apart (if they all occured in March, I'm getting myself a cake).
The only sad part is that Matt now feels responsible for Nate's death. He somehow forgets that the other two were murdered before he even met Nate. It's just coincindence that Nate didn't get whacked before Matt met him (although I guess it is possible that the timetable was moved on up Nate after he started talking to Matt - but I firmly believe he was living on borrowed time).
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Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
Local Man Found Dead
Nate Shiffer, 61, a dedicated veteran of the Vietnam War and local businessman, was found dead Tuesday, March 6th, 2007, from an apparent drowning while swimming in the pool behind his home. Mr. Shiffer's body was discovered by an out of town associate, who had come to the residence on a business matter.
Nate Shififer was born in Homestead, Florida in 1945 and served in Vietnam as an army seaman, specializing in materials salvage and underwater reclamation work. Shiffer owned a local business specializing in recovering military artifacts since 1979. Mr. Shiffer had no known immediate family or relatives. Pending a full autopsy and coronor's report, the death has been labled accidental by local police.
But you know what's even weirder about this whole thing: that Nate's house was broken into while he was gone. And the police are automagically labelling this an accidental death? They would never make it under Grissom's watch in Las Vegas. You'd think that they'd be a little suspicious of being called back to the same house just hours after they were there the first time. But nope! "Completely accidental! Kinda like how there was an accident with my bank account and suddenly I have $50,000 more in there than I did yesterday. I have no idea how these things happen."
Besides casting doubt upon the police objectivity, we did learn one little bit of information. It's regarding something found in HAFB files, that CLSRETEP_2005_FDMD_ records file. The job at Haneda Air Base was paid for by a Mr. Peters. He was "a reporter researching some secret government program he'd thought he'd uncovered". After the HAFB job was done, he contracted M-A-R-A to do a second job at Fort Detrick, but died before the mission was complete. CLSRETEP is Peters L[inked] C[ase] backwards, and 2005 FDMD refers to the Fort Detrick, Maryland job being done in 2005. It appears that some of the materials recovered in this assignment were part of the things stolen from Nate's house before he 'accidently drowned'.
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The Big Meeting |
So today's the Big Day - Sun-Yi is off to meet the mystery man with Derek, Matt and Amie as backup.
This can't end well.
After five million screenshots of Amie's Helio showing Sun-Yi's location, Matt decides to go to Central Park (he and Amie were in some cafe) to see what is happening, since Derek (who was supposed to be trailing her) has no idea where she is, and she's no longer reporting her position. After 10 minutes of hearing no updates Amie, she decides to go off to Central Park to see what's happening herself.
Don't any of these people watch horror movies? If you think someone is in trouble - don't go looking by yourself! I was watching Criminal Minds last night, and if these 4 had been in it, they all would have been victims of the Mill Creek serial killer in a heartbeat.
In the meantime, cryptidtruth is already at the Park and has been filming Derek and Matt as they look for Sun-Yi. Masters of Observation, those two. I bet Sun-Yi could be lit on fire in the middle of the park screaming her head off, and they would walk right past her because 'thats not where her phone says she is'. I can maybe understand not seeing someone filming you when you're in an open space of the Park, but when you're trampling through the forest and you can't see someone sitting on the ground in the trees filming you, you deserve to get eaten by a grue. There are 9 videos
( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 ) taken by cryptid, and with each one I start giggling a little bit more. Haven't they ever heard of asking people for help?
If Matt and Derek had asked for help from the guy filming them, they would have found her, as cryptid ended up finding Sun-Yi by video 6 (not that she notices). In fact, she's so freaked out, she doesn't even know where she is. Then she gets the bright idea of using her phone to send her location to Matt's phone. Pure genius! However, I must take away genius points as she decides not to silence her phone, so that when she gets a message, it rings with a cheery little beepy song. And of course that gets the attention of someone and by the last video, you see Green Coat Man putting his hand over her mouth and holding her hostage. Props to cryptid for maintaining his journalistic integrity and not getting involved when he saw someone getting kidnapped. You deserve a Pulitzer.
Sadly, it appears that we won't be having to rescue Sun-Yi as everyone has made it home safely. Where is the fun in that? Nothing brings a group of people together like trying to come up with a ransom before another random body part is mailed back to you.
And why is that? Because cryptid decided that saving Sun-Yi's life was more important than a Pulitzer and ran over and tackled the Green Coat Man and saved her. The Green Coat Man got away, but not before leaving his coat behind. I guess we have to call him the Coatless Man now. Which has gotta suck because it's been really fraking cold lately.
After teasing us for a couple of hours, Matt finally let us in on what they found in the coat. And one of those things was a picture of Jon Paine, looking kinda dead. Unless he spends a lot of time face down on the floor with his arms splayed out. That picture really reminds me of something, but I don't know what. Maybe it's just the video of the creature, but I still think there is something else that it reminds me of.
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Film Clips |
So before he decided to go run around in the park looking like an idiot, Matt uploaded a bunch of film clips he got back from the restorer. Not really sure what we're supposed to get out of all of this. For some reason, he only decided to put up 26 clips at once, with a sort of vague wording suggesting there might be more. So I spent a couple of hours matching up just a handful of the clips with what was available.
With the second batch of strips, it was much easier, but there are still pieces missing. Even removing the one duplicate clip (D/AE), there are 11 single clips and 13 groups of clips. The longest clip is just about 1 minute long and spans 11 clips. If only all the other ones behaved as nicely.
From my best guess of the order, the film starts out near a table bench with candles all around it. It pans back and forth over the items here a few times, before John grabs an artifical light source (you'll notice everything start to have a blue wash to it). With the new light, he exams some shelves and a cabinet filled with boxes of medical equipment. He finally finds some (covered?) burned bodies before he ends up dropping the camera to the ground.
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My best guest of the order of the film clips.
r-ag-m-aq-aj-av-g-ay-al-y-i / ba-z-aw / f-x-ad-a-h / e-v-af-n / b-l / ae / ab-o-as-be /p-ah-w / am-s-az / j-c-bd / q / bc-u-at / ap / ar / aa / t-ak / bb-k / ai / ao / an / au / ac-ax
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Recap #7 |
It felt like a slow week, but maybe that's because I skipped most of it. We found out who won the Yellow Eyes video contest. Amie and Sun-Yi became bosom buddies. Most of the country probably won't be able to see The Host. Matt found Nate floating face down in his pool. And Sun-Yi almost got kidnapped. Hmm, I guess those last two bits are pretty exciting. But we had nothing to do with either one. Would have been cool if we had only 2 hours to save Nate's life or had to track Sun-Yi down via her GPS. I wonder if we all had Helios if things would have been different with Sun-Yi's kidnapping.
Sites we've visited: (since the last recap) none
Things that are unsolved:
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March 9th and Onwards >>
Confused about how to use this guide? View the Intro page where many different things are discussed. |
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