26
Nov'08

This week, on Blackstar No Blackstar

   Posted by: thebruce

Ways to make your brain asplode:

1. Go to thisismymilwaukee.com and watch the tourism video.
2. If and only if your brain hasn’t yet asploded, spend some time reviewing it for any semblance of meaning.

That should be sufficient to lead to imminent brain asplosion or breakage.  If however, you successfully survive the ordeal, you’ll quickly find that the video actually does begin to make some sense. In its own, warped, alternate reality, of course.

Meet Terry Nanny. He will be your guide.


TERRY NANNY

The video itself is a mishmash of strange visuals. At the very least it seems as though it could just be a humorous film school project.  So what is the video really trying to say?

The website displays contact information for the Milwaukee Tourism Commission – a phone number and email.  The phone number 414-688-7035 is live, and since people have been calling, two other numbers have been revealed. Each with a real destination.  The MTC has real people who answer, most of the time (Todd and Joey – but Joey hates his job), and answer questions for those who are considering moving to Milwaukee.  Another number 414-688-8914 is the personal contact number for an MTC member, Mike Russo, who also answers questions.  A third number, 414-688-8471, was discovered hidden in a book at the New York Public Library…

TIMM.com led people to a youtube account for the user 14251612181818198HD, who had one video posted – another strage video, containing a string of letters – a code at the end of the video: *R-RMRR AI3 .A23  This was determined to be the call number for a book in the Rose Main Reading Room at the NYPL. The name 14251612181818198HD was decoded to alphanumerically represent NYPLRRRSH84 — SH84 meaning South Hall, 1984 edition.  This led community member BigT to the book and the discovery of the last phone number, jotted on a note inserted in the book’s pages. The number led to a voicemail message asking the caller to leave a fax number.

 

The live people interacting on the other end of the phone numbers seem very well-immersed in this “Milwaukee”, and the videos discovered thus far appear to have a very quality creative touch.

So… what does it all mean?
Is it a new viral marketing campaign for something? Will it be a vast, immersive alternate reality game about aliens or genetic engineering gone wrong?  Is Milwaukee changing its tourist advertising tactics?

synydyne It gets more confusing once the creators of video are brought in for consideration.  Synydyne and its crew have created other videos, some containing the very same elements used in this one (like tinfoil man). Are all the people credited in the video real, or fictional?  Does Synydyne’s Hoopeston trailer have anything to do with it?  What about Nim Projects? Why was the entire Milwaukee video filmed in New York? What in God’s name is “Go.D.S.E.E.D.“, and these Godseed ‘fragments’, said to be the result of Blackstar?

In the end, which certainly isn’t the end, all these questions point either to an intricately design story and plot that will be revealed in some way or another, or one brain twisting hoax project. Either way, one may walk away with a strange craving for a hamBURger.

If your brain hasn’t asploded even yet, I’ll leave you with the lyrics to the video’s theme song, shown at the end of the video captioned over the credits (don’t get it stuck in your head!).  Enjoy!

Download
(724kb mp3)

I keep on the side of the heart of your dream
And the light of the Go.D.S.E.E.D.
will show me the thesis
Spirit no Sanctuary
Now we look dimly,
I never forget,
and the will to improve.
Charming yasai
Exquisite ankoku
The flax seed blossom
Its oils rich and milky.
Bubblegum Millennium
Slow Jazz Millennium
Do you want this nightlife?
Bubblegum Millennium
Slow Jazz Millennium (Champion Dynasty?)
Do you dream this nightlife?

Next week, on ‘Blackstar no Blackstar’!
“Glad you found me Terry, I thought I was toast”
“Here’s your ball back, kid. Now for a slam dunk of my own!”

Tags:

Categories: ARGs General, Viral General

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 10:53 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 comments so far


Aline
 1 

Does this have anything to do the game “The Blackstar Chronicles”?

December 6th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
swift360
 2 

So far it doesn’t seem so because that game was (from what I can tell) put on hold or totally cancelled. But, if anyone knows what the ARG is for, I’d really like to know.

December 14th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

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