|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OSOAWEEK--ISSUE 097--5/31/96 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 8  ||  -------> (Cup OWis097, Created v1 (4/27/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [[BEGIN097OW]] [[01097CV]] * * * O S O A W E E K 0 9 7 * * * May 31, 1996 "The weekly ezine of Obliviana Super Occult Amusement!" by Frank Edward Nora CONTENTS 01 097 CV--Cover 02 097 LA--Lord of Obliviana 03 097 LM--Life Mysteries 04 097 SU--Superior OsoaWeek097, May 31, 1996 Sixth issue of OsoaWeek Book Eight Written by Frank Edward Nora (except where noted) Published weekly by Obliviana Super Occult Amusement obliviana@aol.com 1-800-OBLIVIANA http://www.obliviana.com/~osoa All contents copyright 1996 Frank Edward Nora Regarding this file, you are free to make digital copies, so long as they're not altered or sold. All other forms of reproduction require permission. An Obliviana Cup containing this file will be available. Stay tuned for more details. ASCII Characters: 21709 / Words: 3922 / Lines: 539 Days late: 65 *OW* [[02097LA]] Lord of Obliviana Sun 7/12/96 * 8:09 PM * Home * Tarb 4349 Sitting here in my apartment, my life is like a blur all around me, and I know that within a week a new era of Obliviana will dawn. I know this because no matter what, I will get Obliviana Primal started this week. The first game, as I detailed somewhat last issue, is... hmm... I better come up with a name for it... Storm something... Storm Luck? Lucky Storm? Maybe... Storm Chaser? Storm Pursuit. Cool. The word "Pursuit", as in "Trivial Pursuit"... Anyway, it's the first game, a game of chance. The REASON you're playing the game is, ultimately, to customize and improve your Fonosta. At launch, there will be two Fonosta models available, each with several color variations. Digital Artifacts are central to Obliviana Primal. And all Digital Artifacts in Obliviana Primal are Cups. Collecting, using, and trading Cups is a central activity in Obliviana Primal. Frontier Cups are the central Cups at the launch. Every new Fonosta receives 13 Frontier Cups, which can be used to bet on the game of Storm Pursuit at first, with additional games to come in the future. Frontier Cups can be bet any way you like... multiple FC's on a single bet, spread out among different bets--any way you like. Playing all 11 Flip/Columns, for example, will guarantee you at least breaking even, but if 2, 4, or 8 Storms are chosen, you'll get a great payoff. Such a scheme wouldn't work in a real casino, because the odds favor the player. But in Obliviana, Storm Pursuit can favor the player in the long run because it is not a competition between the house and the player, but among the players--and Obliviana has an unlimited ability to mint Cups, of course! I'd like to talk a little about the nature of Obliviana Cups. Each Obliviana is a unique digital artifact, which means that each one is individually numbered and kept track of. Each Cup has a number of attributes. 9:10 PM Okay. Here is the direction I want to go in. EVERYTHING is made up of Cups. The idea is that Cups are the building blocks of the world that is Obliviana Primal. So, Obliviana Primal itself is represented by the FIRST Cup, Cup #0001. In the graphical image of The Obliviana Primal Cup are Cups representing the Raceways, which are the realms within Obliviana Primal. It is important to note that each cup is represented by a graphical image that is a circle of 418 by 418 pixels. 9:48 PM So I have the system. Everything is based on Cups. Each Cup has a number of attributes, and the set of all Cups, each with its own attributes, makes up the world of Obliviana Primal. Fonostas are themselves Cups. As are the Raceways/Roads in which they exist and move around and act. As the name implies, Cups are digital artifacts which contain things. Cup contain other Cups, and also content. The content of a Cup, other than other Cups, can be of a wide variety of kinds. The graphical image which represents the Cup is content, and is not itself another Cup. Obliviana Primal is a world which is based on the paradigm of classic video games, and is thus a two-dimensional world with a black background in which Fonostas and other Cups move around and act. Therefore, certain contents of Cups regulate their properties when moving around and acting in the world of Obliviana Primal. These properties include movement, defensive and offensive capabilities, building and destruction capabilities, access levels, etc. One idea, which just came to me, is the idea of Vehicle Cups, which Fonostas can enter into and operate. This would allow, for example, a tank combat sort of game to be played. This brings me to the subject of the creation and destruction of Cups. All Cup creation is done by Obliviana. That is, no player may create Cups on his own within the game without the sanction of Obliviana. As far as the destruction of Cups, I have to decide when and if Cups may be destroyed... but Fonostas can never be permanently destroyed. It may be possible, however, for a Fonosta to be disabled for a time. Regarding Fonostas, the general rule is that each Fonosta must be controlled by a single person, and no person may control more than one Fonosta. There will most likely be programmable "Pawns" which will move and act in similar manner to the Fonostas, but these will not be Fonostas themselves. One potential problem will be people registering multiple Fonostas under different names. I want to discourage this as much as possible, and that is why I will be asking for a mailing address from each player. I will then mail out a Certificate of Fonosta Establishment, which will require either something to be signed and returned through the mail, or more likely, a code number to be sent back via E-mail, to confirm the address. In any event, groups of players will be able to form groups, perhaps with a King, with all the players' Fonostas working toward the empowerment of the King Fonosta. I do plan on requiring all players to make their E-mail addresses public within the game so that players can converse with each other. This all assumes that Fonostas will be able to conduct free trade, that is, transfer Cups back and forth freely. This is where the problem of a single person controlling multiple Fonostas comes from... it would be the same idea as the King Fonosta, but instead of real players giving Cups to the King, the player will have his falsely-created Fonostas do the same thing, and therefore he could gain an unfair advantage over other players. Having a mailback card would discourage this more than an E-mailback code, but I don't want to put up needless barriers to getting players. 10:59 PM * Tarb 4350 What I need to do is set forth the parameters and guidelines for Cup minting. I want to make it as simple as possible, since if everything goes as planned, there will be thousands--or maybe even a lot more--Cups that I will have to keep track of. It is clear that each Cup will have a unique code, which will contain information on a number of attributes. First of all, there is the overall serial number, which is a sequential number, and which is, basically, the amount of Cups minted prior to the one in question, plus one. Then there will be a serial number within the specific Cup "issue"--that is, when a number of Cups of the same kind are minted, they will be numbered sequentially, also. As well, the time of minting will be recorded, using the Tarb system. Another code will represent the place in which the Cup was minted (ie, Raceway/Roadway/Road/etc.). Then there will be codes for both "Title" and "Issue", using a comic book sort of paradigm. This stuff is really important. The Cup attributes are really the foundation of the entire world of Obliviana Primal. So, along with its code, a Cup has its contents. One piece of content every Cup has is its graphical representation/image. The code is imprinted upon this image. Another piece of content is the other Cups contained within the Cup. This can be a list of the raw serial numbers, since the system will be able to look them up and see which Cups they are. So here's an important thing--each Cup is ultimately identified by its serial number. Additional contents are attributes and data. Attributes are the game-related abilities of the Cup, which include movement, weapons, powers, etc.--as well as a record of what the Cup has been through, as well as variables related to distance, points, laps, etc. Data is raw content, and can include text, graphics, audio, video, etc. The plan that I have set forth here is very ambitious, and there is no way I am going to get to full implementation right away. For example, each of the Frontier Cups, which would be visible as stored within your Fonosta, should be clickable, and then the individual serial number should be seen on a full-size image of the Frontier Cup. This will not be possible at first. because of the technical limitations I am currently under. I don't think that I will even be able to keep track of who has what serial numbers of what Frontier Cup. But this is no problem... the serial numbers can be there... and once I do implement the system, I can randomly assign the numbers retroactively to the existing Frontier Cups. 11:33 PM So what I have here is more than a game, really. It's the basis of an operating system interface. The say you should aim high, and I guess I am! I think I have achieved my goal of creating a strong foundation for Obliviana Primal. The system I have described can be implemented in stages, with the ultimate implementation being a real-time, 24-hour, networked system where you can guide your Fonosta through the realm of Obliviana Primal, playing games, exploring, talking to other players, etc. You'll be able to click on any Cup and see its image, and the Cups that are within THAT Cup will also be clickable. But such an implementation is far off. The launch implementation is NOW, this week! So this is what I am planning on... the Storm Pursuit gambling game, and a few different Fonosta variations. 7/22/96 * 11:26 PM * Tarb 4356 11:38 PM Worked on the StormSnatcher! board at work this evening... that's what I'm calling it... "StormSnatcher!"... I decided there will be one color design for Fonosta Model A, and three for Model B. I also just decided that there will be two activities your Fonosta can be performing each week... racing and digging. Racing brings in one Frontier Cup per week, while digging is less predictable, uncovering nothing, a little, or a lot each week. Now I have to determine what kinds of Cups will be available for the first Trick Sojourn. Thu 7/25/96 * 1:09 AM Well, at work I updated "StormSnathcer!" to "StormLustLuck!"... and I realized that it is fully like a game you might vaguely remember from a dream. It's just that awesome! Anyway, addicted to Loony Labyrinth Pinball on the Mac... alotta pinball stuff going on in my life... Two days to launch. I'm sure I'll throw something together. The StormLustLuck! board looks pretty awesome, with those 209 Storm Pelters and all... So... Obliviana will definitely have a weekly interaction... that is, I'll update the site once a week... with new winning Storms... results... etc... The first Trick Sojourn of Obliviana Primal will be starting from a dead halt... I hope to get at least a dozen players entering their moves every week... Obliviana Primal has gotta start sometime, and that sometime is right about NOW!!! Sun 7/28/96 * 8:07 PM * home * Tarb 4391 I was gonna do a lotta OsoaWeeks in a row, but I stopped at 97 here, and this is where I've been putting my thoughts down and stuff, even though it's dated almost two months ago. Anyway, I got Obliviana Primal on the WWW yesterday. It was tough, and it's still pretty sketchy in parts, but it's on there. I just slept for most of the afternoon. My girlfriend Denice left to go see a Broadway show around 2 or 3 o'clock, and I slept after that, getting up about 7. Now I'm doing laundry and thinking of going to Fun'N'Games at the Willowbrook Mall to play pinball and video games and then head up Rt. 23 for coffee and 209ing. I had a dream this afternoon, and in it I went back in time to 1991. I was buying these comic books from this guy Alex, and I tried to pay by check, but he saw a code on the check and said that the checks were PRINTED in 1993. I admitted that I was a time traveller, and I even showed him one of the newfangled $100 bills as proof. Only in the dream it was like 11 inches by 17 inches. And the stripe you can see when you hold it up to the light, it was like a centimeter thick, with ornate type and stuff. I remember I was buying issues of The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, stuff like that. Anyway, I'm a little pissed-off cuz the AOL Browser I'm using is only picking up like half the data in my Storm Pelter Totem JPEGs, and it looks like shit over the WWW. Gotta look into this further, but I shudder to think how big these files will be a GIFs! So I'm feeling a little down after the high of getting finished yesterday. It was weird yesterday--I put on a videotape of Repo Man and was watching it, and I wondered when, if ever, I'd get to see the TV version. Then Carmine from work called, and he said it was on the Sci-Fi Channel. And TV Guide doesn't list the Sci-Fi Channel! I only caught the end, but was obsessed with taping the whole thing, so I tried to go online to the Sci-Fi Channel Website, but it took like 15 minutes of trying before I got on AOL. It was frustrating! Then I got to the Sci-Fi Channel's website, and it look me awhile using their search "Schedulebot" thing to find out they were showing it again at midnight! HOORAY! I was so thrilled. I taped it and watched it, and it was indeed weird seeing the extra scenes. I mean, this is a movie I know backwards and forwards. One of the coolest things was how they substituted the word "motherfucker" with "melonfarmer". Also, "Fuck you, queer!" became "Shove off pervert!". And "John Wayne was a fag." became "John Wayne was a freak." All sorts of cool stuff like that. Herr's Dill Potato Chips taste good after smoking a La Corona Whiff. So anyway, I have made a major step toward Obliviana becoming a real company. Obliviana Day 1994 I started OsoaWeek. Obliviana Day 1995 I started the Obliviana Website. And yesterday, Obliviana Day 1996, I started Obliviana Primal. So what is in store for Obliviana Day 1997? My goal is that on that day, I will be able to start working full-time for Obliviana. This is a very difficult goal, because it means, in the final analysis, that lots of people will have to be entertained by Obliviana every day, and that a lot of them will be spending money on it as well. I mean, to make money with an online entertainment sort of thing, the money comes from direct fees, advertising, and selling stuff mail order. Advertisers are gonna need to see ten or hundreds of thousands of hits per month, or something like that, to be able to justify purchasing ad space on Obliviana. So clearly, I'll have to have something going on before that. I have a vision, and let me tellya, making that vision a reality is a bitch. For the past few weeks I've been totally busting my ass, and yet what I now have online is a sketchy version of what I really want. 9:14 PM I think I'm gonna get going soon. Gotta get out of this apartment for a little while... But anyway, on the subject of my goal... there is a great divide between my vision and the manifestation of my vision. Not that there's anything special about that--I mean, a lot of people have visions, and most of those visions never see the light of day. But my visions ARE seeing the light of day. The fact is that making dreams into reality is very difficult, and that why so many people can't do it. When I say "very difficult", I don't mean just a great challenge--I mean enduring all sorts of self-doubt, despair, discouragement, second thoughts, all that. I have been enduring these to make Obliviana a reality. And I'm sure I'll endure much more before I can truly call Obliviana a success. Sun 8/4/96 * 1:46 PM * home * Tarb 4431? Ohhh.... where am I at?... what a mess... creativity is fucking chaotic... I started Obliviana Primal last week, and now, Sunday, I am in a very chaotic day. Yeah yeah... What can I say? It's been tough dealing with the strain of all my creativity. Yeah. What's going on... I wonder how late THIS issue is? I was going to finish Book Eight over a week ago, but I got sidetracked with Primal... and it's understandable... and now I am here wallowing in chaos and I have to overcome it. I will finish Book Eight today. Bear with me. Get all Obliviana. *OW* [[03097LM]] Life Mysteries LIFE MYSTERY 5 "The Women of Rhode Island School of Design, Class of '92" by John Nora Even if I were to meet them today, they wouldn't be members of the same genus as when they were so crucial to the ecology of my Art School world circa 1988-89. We went on a whale-watch during Freshmen Orientation. These were the sharpest, shiniest women I will ever know. They were all about eighteen years old. I recall I missed a quick-sinking obsidian shoal. Meanwhile, these women walked through woodlawns of my childhood puke. Let's go back to the first day of my Freshmen Orientation. The most powerful fact here was that these women were completely different in every face and body from the female population of my high school, which was the only population of that type I had ever had any knowledge of. It was a whole new Fall line-up of some canny new network's. That is, young women, some made of dead-serious flesh-wood. Warren Littlefield was popping a champagne cork, a wild grin on his face. They may have all been fated to become pearl-skinned, cafe-mountaineering, black-wearing NYC mistees. But I was very nervous that morning out of the Hilton by the highway, and couldn't possibly have had the soul-ballast to fantasize of such things! Our school had a big, annual dance called the President's Ball. You're kidding. At the first President's Ball it was the first time I had seen a crowd of young women dressed sexily in dresses. (In high school I hadn't been to a single prom or dance!) So of course that is all a dark and mythic Lautrec painting, all red lips pried into blow-your-house-down wolf smiles, and backless boned dresses haughtily pluming from the aged dance-hall boards the Ball was held on. As if on the sea, you couldn't tell. We'd been bussed in through some efficacious, brown-black route, and I was from New Jersey. I must say I was mentally unbelieving of many of the skin-tones and musculatures I saw that night. They just weren't possible. There were clearly different groupings. One I've just mentioned, as the incomprehensible, or Quantum Physics, group. Sometimes I would have to sit down on a bench and collect myself after one of them walked by in a slinky suit. There was a group I could grope if I would, and if you will, and then there was the most vexing group&#151;they all lived off-campus, wore leather jackets, were extremely beautiful, but had a stressed air of being forty years old. They wore black, thick-rimmed glasses, and these forty-year-old eighteen-year-olds were really just too beautiful for words, though they always looked in need of a good, long-ablutioning shower. They didn't know the Quantum Mechanical way of cleaning one's body. One other belonged to the group of Jim Henson's daughter. For some reason I never even laid eyes on Jim Henson's daughter. After Jim Hensen died later, she was only lost deeper to the interstated, steeply clapboarded annals of Art School Women's History, all awash in a Kermit the frog light green. *OW* [[04097SU]] Superior SUPERIOR 540 * 5/14/96 Knowing laughtude and cloudhood, jestingheard. You, little cutie, in my brain, in my brain, the way you look, the pattern of you, into my eye, into my brain, you're in there. Thought about hotels, yeah they're closer to heaven than home. Idea of "too many people". Idea of "thriving". I am unknown, I mean much. The turtle is as he does, the World Turtle, and so I am. SUPERIOR 541 * 5/14/96 Was having jinktude. Ninctude. Nude. Humid dream Broadway, abandoned offices, there with a lover, there with messages to deliver. The way to dress, raw power in engines, New Jersey my darling, how many pieces of ass do you house? Unthoughted. Thought about night clubs and they are no good? Where I have seen. No more betting there are the rambling stairways of nature there. Been... stupid allowance, stupid aspiration, been, cannot, you know, ascending sound, foreign and good, we are totalled, getting you, for more trembling goddesses, the stout and jolly mistake or military. SUPERIOR 542 * 5/14/96 Though you could cut the grass, that would be, you can't pay for it without your own money, we used vocals, your own. Timer Jennifer restart to mail master link, too was fraught in keen bewilderent, Lamp. To lamp, a lamp, by howitzer and lamp. This... SUPERIOR 543 * 5/29/96 True to form, true to form. The time has come to write of experiences. And I will write it. It has come to this today, I said, and rain is such a mirror of emotions it's not funny anymore, or it is winter by the fire, but apartments don't have fires, and it is driving late at night and the song is over and it's a loud commercial. What I said. What I was. What I am. My psychic powers awakening, but I know the dangers. Deep, frightening powers, but I've been through that, and I can deal with that. And it is okay. Crochet, making something, turning yarn into a thing, I think it can work. And I'm drinking wine out of a Carolina Panthers coffee cup from 7-11. And I'm working on it in my mind, the poem I will write for her. *OW* [[END097OW]] -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----