|| -------- -- -----  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 233--1/12/99 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 18  ||  -------> (Cup OWis233, Created v1 (4/27/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ------------------- OSOAWEEK Ezine of Obliviana Issue 233, 1/12/99 by Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana ----------- ------------------- LORD OF OBLIVIANA ----------- 1/26/99 now. Book 19 of Obliviana begins today, but I'm two weeks behind. 1999 has been pretty weird so far. Every day for the past few weeks I've been feeling very close to a breakthrough, and indeed, I have been making significant progress just about every day. I'm referring to the core "game system" of Obliviana, here. It's strange. I have just about everything I need to get Obliviana started EXCEPT the core system. Instead of starting with a basic idea and expanding from it, I started with expanding ideas, and I'm now narrowing in on the core system. At some level, I am still profoundly confused by all of this. But at a deeper, subconscious level, I know that I'm going in the right direction. If Obliviana does indeed succeed, all these issues of OsoaWeek, and all my other writings, will be seen in context and make some kind of sense. If I fail to manifest Obliviana, all of my work will seem pretty pointless. I have tried many times in the past to "force" my current blueprint for Obliviana into reality, just to get it done. But this has never worked. I am faced with a standard for Obliviana which I can apply to idea and see that they are wrong, but I cannot directly get the right idea. At this stage, I have the basic idea of Obliviana--which is to focus on 209, do Wanderings, and record them in your Fonosta Device. What I am currently working on is the idea of converting a large set of Wanderings into a small set of graphical symbols, which would comprose the Fonosta Device. And incorporated into this process are the game elements, which I envision being compelling enough to help break through mental barriers and short attention spans--as well as enabling Obliviana to spread on its own, through word-of-mouth, from person to person. As of right now, I do not have the core game system for Obliviana, but I am darn close. In other news, I have started working on Severe Repair again, and I am very happy to announce that "Carne's Moisture Detection Friend", which I have been writing here in OsoaWeek, will be a part of Severe Repair! I started OsoaWeek on July 28, 1994--around 235 weeks ago. And I'd already been developing Obliviana for 7 or 8 years when I started OsoaWeek. My own persistence is a thing I can hang onto for support. Had I know back in the Fall of 1987 that well over 12 years later I'd still be in development... I don't think there's any way I would have been able to motivate myself. There was always success looming just a few months ahead... Oh well. Get all Obliviana. ------------------- LUCKY STORM ----------- Lucky Storm 233: 101 (Flip 2, Dire 6, Storm Pelter "MapleReactor", Voodholo Stormpost 27) Previously: 209: 27, 210: 126, 211: 20, 212: 140, 213: 170, 214: 175, 215: 177, 216: 83, 217: 111, 218: 77, 219: 119, 220: 100, 221: 128, 222:198, 223: 189, 224: 17, 225: 150, 226: 44, 227: 54, 228: 31, 229: 137, 230: 23, 231: 114, 232: 60 Note: The Lucky Storm is drawn randomly, using a deck of 30 cards (called a "Storm Codex"), one for each Flip and Dire. ------------------- SONG OF THE WEEK ----------- Phish, "Fee" (Album: "Junta") ------------------- CARNE'S MOISTURE DETECTION FRIEND Episode Twenty-Five ----------- CARNE: Powerful. Yeah, with real power you aren't burdened. My Moisture Detection Friend always tells me... PACER: There you go again. You always start every conversation mentioning your Moisture Detection Friend. CARNE: Um... uh, what... uh what's the matter with that? I mean, I know I talk about him a lot, but he's about the most interesting person I know--besides you, of course. And I don't start every conversation talking about him. I mean... I mean I don't think I do... I mean... PACER: Just cool off, man. I didn't mean anything by it. I'd like to be hang gliding right now. Hang gliding through a thunderstorm! Or no--ABOVE a thunderstorm, yeah man, that's it. CARNE: Kind of a non-sequitor there, eh? PACER: Yeah, okay. I criticize a type of statement you make and now you have to criticize what I have to say? CARNE: Why are we fighting? I don't see any need to fight. It's just... there's a certain tension in the air... like a big change is looming.. Why is that? Why? PACER: The Talking Heads. Now there's a band. They kinda sucked, but they had some really good stuff too. But they took themselves too seriously. So they had their fifteen hours of fame, what do they want, their own godhead? CARNE: What? Godhead? What the hell's that supposed to mean? PACER: It's just an expression man. Oh, I played this shitty Playstation game, called "Doc Pourri", about a pot pourri superhero or something. It looked cool on the cover, like some hippie dude, but it really sucked. There was an opening FMV with a CGI Washington Square Park that was pretty cool, but it was like this 2-D side-scrolling platformer with 3-D elements, and... and... and I don't know. It really sucked. CARNE: Uh-huh... PACER: Look man! We're cracking up! We gotta get some direction! We gotta build our dark ride thing! Come on, you know you wanna do it! CARNE: I know, but we don't have a pot to piss in, and this thing could cost maybe a billion dollars to build! I mean... we could try and find investors, venture capitalists, and... I mean, I don't give a shit if we make any money off it, I mean, I don't know if you care... PACER: ...I don't care... CARNE: Y'know? I mean, just like my Moisutre Detection Friend, with that strip mall and the underground entertainment complex? He didn't give a shit about the money, he was just thrilled that they actually built it. PACER: Yeah, I know what you mean. CARNE: And I know, y'know, I know I have no life, but I've been trying to come up with a name for this thing, and I've been spending a lot of time on it, and I came up with a pretty cool idea for a name. PACER: What is it? CARNE: "Pacer and Carne's Darkider". I took the term "dark ride" and got rid of the space, and then I moved the "r" three spaces over. I don't know, but I think it's a pretty good name. ------------------- INFORMATION ----------- Obliviana Super Occult Amusement is at "www.obliviana.com" Send all E-mail to "obliviana@aol.com" OsoaWeek is copyright 1998 Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana. It may be copied for personal use only. No part of OsoaWeek may be published, either digitally or physically, without permission. The Obliviana Mailing List is currently holding steady at 23 members. ------------------- END ----------- -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----