[weirdness] IF dream
Adam Cadre
it was also real life, and also a movie. It was real life to the extent that
I was experiencing it just like I experience real life in dreams, except I
wasn't me -- I was Leonardo di Caprio. It was a movie in that when I wanted
to rewind or fast forward to a particular part, suddenly I was in front
of a TV/VCR, watching it on the screen. And it was a text game in that
when I wanted to do something, I had to first figure out how to phrase it.
I knew that it was a Zarf game for two reasons. One was that every time I
got a non-standard error message, I found myself thinking, "Wow, I can't
believe Zarf included that!" For instance, at one point in the game/dream,
this fat hairy old guy who was my/Leonardo di Caprio's father (nothing like
my father in real life, thank you very much Sigmund Freud -- for one thing,
he was white) starts beating up on my/Leonardo di Caprio's pregnant younger
sister (played by, of all people, Danica McKellar of "The Wonder Years") and
I had to figure out how to stop him. I remembered that he'd already beaten
my/Leonardo di Caprio's older brother to death years ago, but instead of >ASK
FATHER ABOUT OLDER BROTHER, I accidentally put >ASK SEATTLE ABOUT OLDER
BROTHER, and the parser replied, "The populace of that city has no reply."
I remember being impressed by that.
The other reason I knew it was Zarf was that at various points I/Leonardo di
Caprio was in a classroom, and Zarf was at the chalkboard, explaining things.
For instance, he was very pleased at the fact that every building in the
game had a number on the front door, which was associated with a radio
station, and if you found the radio, you could get information on what
was going on behind each door. He put up a chart of which house numbers
went with which stations, but I couldn't see the connection, so I raised
my hand and asked about it. Zarf rolled his eyes and explained that he
had simply numbered each house after the radio station's "perriation
number." I raised my hand again and asked what "perriation" was, and
Zarf rolled his eyes again and explained that when you transmit a radio
wave through a liquid medium, a certain number of molecules are going to
be displaced in the "perriation direction," which is something that every
second-grader knew, or something. I felt stupid so I stopped asking
questions.
The dream ended after the credits to the game/movie/dream rolled. There
was a notice thanking the people of Chestnut, Washington, for letting the
movie be filmed there. I don't know if Chestnut, Washington, exists, but
if it does, I guess I have to go there now to see if it looks the same.
-----
Adam Cadre, Anaheim, CA
http://www.retina.net/~grignr
Andrew Plotkin
> I raised my hand again and asked what "perriation" was, and
> Zarf rolled his eyes again and explained that when you transmit a radio
> wave through a liquid medium, a certain number of molecules are going to
> be displaced in the "perriation direction," which is something that every
> second-grader knew, or something. I felt stupid so I stopped asking
> questions.
And well you should be.
> The dream ended after the credits to the game/movie/dream rolled. There
> was a notice thanking the people of Chestnut, Washington, for letting the
> movie be filmed there. I don't know if Chestnut, Washington, exists, but
> if it does, I guess I have to go there now to see if it looks the same.
So what did *I* look like? Or were you going by the out-of-focus picture
on my web page? Was I out of focus?
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
Adam J. Thornton
I wish I had your dreams.
>Zarf rolled his eyes again and explained that when you transmit a radio
>wave through a liquid medium, a certain number of molecules are going to
>be displaced in the "perriation direction," which is something that every
>second-grader knew, or something. I felt stupid so I stopped asking
>questions.
Oh, my.
I see a need for a transcript...
Adam
--
ad...@princeton.edu
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman