The Utterly Grumpy Holomove Guide

A Buddhist cries

RK was true to his word that he would be contacting us soon. He sent out a mass email to all of those who had given him a correct answer to the phone puzzle. §

If only we knew what it meant. RK must know that we're having trouble with his latest message, because he put up a new picture on Flickr. It's of Dr. Gough looking like he's ready to go diving. It actually appears to be a copy of the picture that you can see as Nate goes through Dr. Gough's office. Does RK have his own copy of the picture? Or does he have much better access to Dr. Gough's office than Nate does? And what does the caption of "Stabbed, in the back" mean? Did AJ stab Dr. Gough after the accident to put him out of his misery? Or was the accident actually sabotage in order to get Dr. Gough out of the way of someone else? And how exactly does this picture help us with "A Buddihist cries"?

Another Long Day

While we ponder that, might as well go check out Nate's latest update. He has video taped another conversation with Eliza. You can see her oh so subtly closing a laptop on her desk as Nate comes in. Not that he seems to notice as he's going on about margaritas. What does Eliza not want him to see? Information about the death of Dr. Gough? Evidence of her affair with Chairman Eric? The fact that she's an alien lizard sent down to Earth to gain control of the planet's water supply and to make humans a food source for her dying planet? §

Alert! Alert! This just in! Nate had a fight with Eliza. Can we all say 'awwwwwww' and throw him a pity party now? I wonder how he's gonna take it when he finds out she's been 'working' with Chairman Eric. Probably about as well as if he saw her eating rats for lunch. You just wait. One day she's gonna peel off her face and be all lizardlike and then you'll be all 'Arrgh! She's an alien lizard!' and you'll never look at her the same way again.

Wow. Nate is just the update machine today. He's also becoming more and more emo as the day progresses. I swear, if he becomes any more emo, I'm gonna have to start calling him Howard. And we all know how I handled Howard. §

Sadly, we can't just ignore Nate or shoot him to put him out of his misery. We need him because we figured out what the "Stabbed, in the back" message from RK meant: that we need to look at the back of the photo in Dr. Gough's office. And since Nate is our only contact at Holomove, he's the only one we can get to play spy.

Stabbed, in the back

Luckily, Nate better at spy missions than he is at life in general. He was able to get into the office and check out the back of the picture. Someone decided to write a cipher on the back of it. §

Overall, the message on the back of the picture gives us a a telephone number plus an extension: (641) 715-3900 x64676. Dialing it, you get a very crappy recording of Dr. Gough talking. It sounds like when he was talking during his interview, however this new clip is much longer. §

But what the hell is the point of any of this? Was the email just to give us the keyword for the back of the picture? But then why wait two days to put up the Stabbed picture if that was the key to the whole thing to begin with? And if Dr. Gough's ramblings are so important, why couldn't RK provide a clean copy? Come to think of it, if RK can write on the back of Dr. Gough's picture and slip puzzles onto Nate's desk, why not just give him a copy of the recording flat out? Why the hell do we need to keep jumping through hoops to prove ourselves? If I have to keep putting up with much more of this crap, I think I'm just gonna have to start talking to the managment of Holomove and tell them they have a mole in the company who is trying to undermine them.

Eliza Marks née Gough

So Emo Howard, I mean Emo Nate (can I call him Emo Nateard?), has posted more about his breakup with Eliza. Long story short, in the midst of drunken dialing/texting, he found out that Eliza is actually the estranged daughter of Dr. Gough, she owns 19% of Holomove, and she only slept with Emo Nateard to get him to work better. §

I'm beginning to think that there is no one at Holomove with any corporate sense. I have no idea why Eliza really dumped him since their overall stupidity makes them perfect for each other. Maybe Chairman Erik (note to self, it's Erik with K not with a C. I swear I had checked before I started typing his name out five million times, but nope) got sick of her sexing up the hired help and threatened her and that's why she dumped her boy-toy. Maybe Chairman Erik just got jealous. Maybe she loves Emo Nate too much and can't bare to hurt him when she kills his entire family as she takes over the world. Who knows? Who even cares at this point? If I really wanted this much drama, I'd go watch one of those cheesy teenage soap operas on the CW or whatever channels they are on.

Real Life Fun!

OMG! I feel just like Nate! Today, someone left me a puzzle on my desk. It's gotta be a clue about some nefarious plan within my office, because I really can't imagine why someone would leave this for me otherwise (or more like I don't want to imagine why). And because it never hurts to let more people in on mass conspiracies, I've recreated the puzzle for you. It probably has more than one typo in it, so I'll try to fix them as I find them. §

Update: It turns out that one of my coworkers handed this puzzle out to everyone in the office. I no longer feel special or that this was a game launch. *sigh*

Memorial Day Relaxation

Ahh, three day holidays. Lots of lazing about the house doing nothing except laundry. The only problem is that come Tuesday there seems to be an awful lot of catching up to do on games and crap. But you're still in the lazy holiday mode and you don't want to do it. Especially when you've already had a crap morning because your cgi:irc has gone down for the count and you had to find a new one. And then you see some utterly verbose twit going off in other threads about how all their ideas are correct and the rest of us are just wankers and you want to respond saying how they've misintrepreted everything you said, but you know it'll just be a waste of time because they haven't understood you at all so far, so you play a few games of solitare when you'd rather be blowing up stuff to let off steam, but you don't have any of those types of games on your work computer.

So yeah, I'm grumpy. There had better be some really awesome updates to this game otherwise this whole guide is going to get really cranky and will probably end up in the 'I don't care if I never finish it' pile.

ASQA

Random Googling strikes again, this time in the form of a potentially new site: ASQA.com. They have an article up about how they have received a $500k grant from Holomove. Nothing of corroboration from Holomove or Freyja, but the site does pre-date our discoveries, so who knows. Other than the news blurb though, there's nothing really of interest on the site. There's a place where you can sign up for a login to view additional content - but even after logging in, you still get messages saying you can't view the protected pages.

So is it in-game? A hoax site? Someone trying to capitalize off of the Holomove buzz and steal emails and passwords? Who knows at this point. Probably can't hurt to keep an eye out on the website, but you might want to hold off registering until we get more of a confirmation.

Fringe Material

Ever since this game started, people have been wondering just what it is promoting. Personally, I didn't really care, although I was hoping that it was going to be for something I already liked. Sadly, it seems to not be the case.

A post appeared on the Future on Fox blog talking about our civilians died numbers. Although the post has several different tags, everyone has decided that the Fringe tag is the most important one, and that we are playing a Fringe ARG. And now I want to go kill a puppy.

Seriously, if there was one promotion that I didn't want this to be for, it would be Fringe. I had absolutely no desire to see this show. I've stuck JJ Abrams in the same category as I've stuck George Lucas. The 'used to be brilliant but now so strung out on Nazi crack that they have no idea what they are saying anymore' category. I know there are a ton of people out there who will shout from the rooftops about their brilliance, but I'm not one of them anymore - so please don't write me telling me how wrong I am. You won't convince me. I was hoping my paying to see Indy 4 would be my last relapse into the drug induced crap visions (oh Steven - why did you give into the peer pressure?) but if this game really is for Fringe, I'm afraid I'll fall back again. And then I'll be a sad drugged out bunny.

But then again, maybe I won't fall under the thrall if they keep pissing me off by jerking us around with the stupid fraking puzzle solves.

Not So Garbled

Remember that phone number we got with garbled message? Turns out that is yet another hoop, I mean puzzle, that we have to solve for no apparent reason other than the fact that we're lemmings. Luckily, this went down during the weekend, so that I didn't have to put up with it at all. Normally I hate missing solves, but in this game I'm beginning not to care. §

Step One was to take the garbled recording and rearrange it into it's proper order. Easier said than done since we really weren't too sure about Dr. Gough's train of thought through the interview (or even what all the words and/or breaks were). People ordered the conversation a number of ways, but this seems to be the order that RK wanted us to work with.

Well, I never presume too much, I assume / that / in science what is known to / be possible or not possible, is always subject to change; after all, scientific laws, / they're not really laws, they're not the last word. / Science / only describes, through their laws, nature. Nature has the / last word. And nature's last word may often surprise us so I've made it a goal in my life / to find those areas where people want something to happen but think that it is impossible, and then I try / to figure out how to do it and / just often enough I've managed / to do precisely that. The last several years I've been focusing / on holography and how we / can extend the boundaries of holography. Up to this point we've known that we can create real images of objects virtually, that you could see /

J5 then came up with the idea that maybe it was word counts of the correctly ordered segments and then coverting the counts to letters. Despite the fact that he was working with a wrong ordering/breaking of the segements, he did get the first (and most important word) correct, even if he didn't know it at the time.

8  H  Well, I never presume too much, I assume
1  A  that
6  F  in science what is known to
14 N  be possible or not possible, is always subject to change; after all, scientific laws,
9  I  they're not really laws, they're not the last word.
1  A  Science
9  I  only describes, through their laws, nature. Nature has the
19 S  last word. And nature's last word may often surprise us so I've made it a goal in my life
20 T  to find those areas where people want something to happen but think that it is impossible,
      and then I try
8  H  to figure out how to do it and
5  E  just often enough I've managed
11 K  to do precisely that. The last several years I've been focusing
5  E  on holography and how we
25 Y  can extend the boundaries of holography. Up to this point we've known that we can create
      real images of objects virtually, that you could see

The answer that we get then is: Hafnia Is The Key

Hafnia is the Latin name for Copenhagen and where the element hafnium gets its name from. The really bad thing about this solution is that once again, we get absolutely nothing out of it, except another piece of yet another fraking puzzle. Exactly how many steps have we had so far? At this rate, RK had better give us the reason why Dr. Gough death was covered up, the truth behind the Roswell UFO and who really killed JFK. Seriously, why do we need to keep jumping through hoops?! Enough is enough!

Same Old Nate

So what the hell has Nate been up to as we've been jerked around by RK? Probably whining about how much his life sucks since he is an emo crybaby who cannot understand women. Let's see.

May 22, Part 1: Whining about Eliza using him.
May 22, Part 2: Whining about people on his job 'spying' on him.
May 22, Part 3: Corporate espionage.
May 23, Part 1: More corporate espionage.
May 23, Part 2: Holy crap! He's happy! Probably because he's working out his corporate espionage maneuver.
May 25: Time to wallow in some melancholy.

In otherwords, not much has changed with Nate. § Maybe when he attempts to break into the router, he'll get caught and fired and then we can play 'bail the emo out of jail' game. That'll be fun. Better than solving pointless puzzles for faceless individuals.

Holomove Application

Oh, almost forgot. Holomove now has an application that you can take online. Maybe there were too many people failing the original puzzle. Maybe they hated going through all of our fake CVs. Who knows, but you're now basically required to take the stupid quiz if you want a job. After you submit your answers, you'll get a password that cannot be used at this time. But I'm sure we'll get a chance to use it (although I'm betting not before we get another step in the 'Puzzle That Will Not End' from RK).

Hackers Unite!

Nate seems to be good for something after all. He decided to work on Memorial Day, and he was able to snoop around some more. He found that there was a large amount of traffic coming from 69.60.10.106 and now needs our help because it's password protected. He's guessing that the username is "eandersen" but the passwords that he tried didn't amount to much. I'm rather surprised he didn't try 'nateisanemowanker' just on the off chance that it worked.

Camouflage! When You Need to Hide the Important Stuff! Or You Know... Not

I swear, I'm gonna lose it. First we get a ROT puzzle. Then we had some stupid, pointless, long-ass puzzle trail. And now a fucking camouflaged picture. Three things that drive me absolutely bonkers in ARGs. Can I just say how utterly rubbish Camouflage is for hiding information in pictures? Not only can you see that a picture has been camouflaged simply by opening it up in a text editor, you don't even really need to know the stupid password beforehand. That's because it's so stupidly easy to crack. But you know what the worst thing about this has been? That stupid, long-ass puzzle trail we had to keep slogging through just gave us the camouflage password. A password I could have gotten in about 30 fucking seconds! Arrgghhh!

If it wasn't for the fact that I know people are reading this guide, I'd go shove it up Nate's ass and be done with it all.

So, where the hell was I? Oh yeah, RK the Moron (not to be confused with my buddy RK the Goat God because he's just awesome). He (RK the Moron) sent out an email § that also included a camouflaged version of the Copenhagen airport photo. Using the password hafnia that we worked so bloody hard to get, we were 'rewarded' with three files: an article about Gough's accident, a blurb about the dive boat captain getting fired, and a note from Dr. Gough that was to be delivered in the event of his death. §

December 27, 2007

La Jolla man presumed lost at sea near Belize
By Vince Hatch
Staff Reporter

A La Jolla man is missing and presumed dead following a diving accident near the coast of Belize.

Eugene Gough, 60, a scientist and experienced diver, was on his third trip to Belize's famed Blue Hole when the accident occured.

According to his business partner, Giorgoes "George" Poulopatis, Gough went into the water in the Gulf of Mexico on the night of December 20 with a larger group of divers, but apparently drifted apart from them while exploring a deep coral reef.

"Eugene had hundreds of dives under his belt," Poulopatis said. "His venturing off... it's not uncommon for divers and certainly in character for Eugene. He wasn't one for following the pack, to say the least."

When the rest of the group returned to the boat, the crew did not immediately become concerened because they knew Gough was an experienced diver.

However, when he did not return within a reasonable amount of time, the crew began the search.

Subsequent air and water searches by the Belize Coast Guard turned up nothing, and the search was officially called of on Monday afternoon.

Members of the dive boat, the "Pampero," have also continued their search efforts. The captain and crew are being question [sic] in connection with the incident, according reports out of Belize.

Gough earned his PhD at the University of Califnornia, San Diego before founding his own company, Holomove, Inc. The San Diego company has brought in grief councellors to assist the employees, Poulopatis said.

Family information for Dr. Gough was not available at press time.

Memorial services are scheduled or January 9th at Scripps Pier.

Boat operator loses license after missing diver investigation
BELIZE (Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 2:07 PM)

A Belize Harbour dive boat operator accused of negligence in the death of an American tourist has lost his license. The Belize Maritime Centre announced that Benjamin "Poppy" Gerlitz will not be eligible to reapply for a charter license until at least 2011.

On December 20, 2007, American tourist diver Dr. Eugene Gough went for a night dive in the Gulf of Mexico along with other tourists. Investigations revealed that an accurate headcount was not performed thus delaying the subsequent search. Dr. Gough's body has yet to be recovered.

The action comes as part of a lager series of enforcement measures by the Tour Operators Licenscing Committee in recent months.

Btw, the above article was awesomely stolen from this page. That's fantastic. Thanks CCS for making my day.

You have reached a point where, I hope, you have begun to question Holomove and its leadership.

I have set up this trail in the hopes that, in the event of my untimely passing, someone will pick up the mantle and learn THE TRUTH.

Be warned. If you are reading this, the odds are that I am not alive. And if I am dead, who's to say that they aren't looking for you?

There is someone inside the company, someone you can trust implicitly, who has been given instructions in the event of my death. This message should be accompanied by evidence which might be helpful in your investigation.

As Lincoln said, I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

If I made mistakes, if I was blind to the dangers, may all forgive me.

Remember when I said that we had better get something big out of that stupid puzzle trail? Yeah, this didn't even come close. Dr. Gough is right about one thing, however. I am beginning to question Holomove and its leadership, although not quite in the way that he wants me to.

Erik's Equity

So while we've been trying to crack the password, Nate's been all manic depressive again. First he's Mr. Emo whining about how hard he's being worked. Then he's all bunnies and buttercups when he solves the coding problem. But he didn't really give us much insight into Erik's password other than telling us it was probably a 'weak password' due to Erik's 'weak leadership' and hinting that we could go ahead and just start hacking away at the system. §

So that's what we did. Or at least some of us. Nicole/jabroni used a program named Brutus and a dictionary wordlist and started checking. Eventually the program stopped and she discovered the login to Erik's site.

http://69.60.10.106/

username: eandersen
password: equity

I do suppose it would have been possible to guess equity as the password. It does show up on the Freyja Capital site under one of the headlines (07 Holomove, Inc. Receives Millions in Equity Funding), but I think it would have taken a while to get there.

So what is in the Offsite DVR? Lots and lots of videos - 46 when we first discovered it (although a couple were duplicates). Nate wasn't kidding when he said the entire office was under surveillance. We have videos from 15 different cameras, and I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more. §

A lot of the videos are duplicate angles of the same scenes, and if you've seen all of Nate's video blogs, you've 'seen' half of these videos then. There are a few interesting bits - mostly the dynamic between Eliza, Erik, and George, and the fact that they are going to be taking the company public in 30 days. That'll be interesting. §

Note: All the links are to the Youtube channel that Mapmaker set up, because it's a lot easier to see the videos there than trying to get them to load/download from Erik's site. If you do wish to download the videos, they play best using either VLC or MPC.

Tuesday, May 6th
11:06 am

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CCTV2_hall2_5-6_1106_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nate and Eliza make a video blog. Jean-Paul is sitting at his desk today.

Thursday, May 8th
9:37 am

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George thanks Nathan for the IP phone idea.

Friday, May 9th
10:20 am

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Nate gets his first paycheck.

3:55 pm

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CCTV2_R4_5-9_1555_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_hall3_5-9_1555_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Noelle and Jean-Paul go for sexyfuntime in the bathroom. A bathroom that no one ever seems to clean or change the toilet paper on. Must be the men's room. George seems to be pretty anxious in finding Jean-Paul and wanders around looking for him. There is a very suspicious mailboy who steals something from the cubicle above Jean-Paul's.

Monday, May 12th
9:20 am

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Very odd clip. It's long, but not all that much happens. First, we see our mailboy come by with a mail bin and stashes it in the reception cubicle. At the same time, he takes a different mail bin from reception and stashes it in the first cubicle. Then, you get the weirdest moment out of all of these videos (except maybe seeing the bathroom cam). A guy comes out in this really weird helmet so they look like Kenny from South Park. They sorta wander around for a bit, and then they head back down the hallway. Our mailboy comes back in, grabs the mail bin from reception and the one stashed at the desk and leaves down the hallway.

Meanwhile, George starts puttering around reception straightening the chairs and acting like a Nervous Nellie. At about 6:30, you can see Jay and Nate walking out. By this time, George has progressed into a full-on tizzy. He straightens the chairs like he has OCD. He checks his watch every 10 seconds. He keeps straightening his jacket. I just wish we knew who he was meeting. Clients? Investors? A reporter who knows the truth about Alien Eliza and is going to expose the entire company?

10:01 am

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CCTV2_hall2_5-12_1001_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nathan whines about not being able to drink beer at work. JP is at his desk and the mailboy delivers some mail.

7:13 pm

CCTV2_EM2_5-12_1913_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

We get to see the chair races from Eliza's office. She doesn't exactly seem to be thrilled about their little game.

Wednesday, May 14th
10:52 am

CCTV2_hall2_5-14_1052_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg
Nate and Jay try to fix a problem that they're having with their code. There is a girl sitting/working at Jean-Paul's desk (the Jean-Paul references make sense now, huh?). There's also a new mailguy. Or at least a mailguy with shorter hair than the thieving mailboy. The mailguy gives the mail to the girl at Jean-Paul's desk. §
Nate: It's been a pretty long day, and Jay and I have been working on this problem for a while. Little problem that turned into a much bigger problem than we thought. What do you think is going on, Jay?

Jay: I think it's just the syntax problem.

Nate: Yeah?

Jay: Quite honestly.

Nate: So, I don't know. We'll keep chipping away at it. Umm... alright, so what do you think? Any thoughts? I mean I'm open to, you know, what ever kind of decision we come up with, here.

Jay: Umm, we can go back through and just go line by line.

Nate: So just go line by line? Alright. We decided that the first ten were fine. Well, I guess we should go through the first ten anyways.

Jay: Yeah.

Nate: Yeah. So I'm gonna go line by line.

Jay: From the very beginning.

Nate: Okay, okay.

Jay: Wait.

Nate: What's up?

Jay: Lemme just... Looking at that same thing over and over again.

Nate: Yeah. Do you want to try, um... try constructing the other library then come back to this one?

Jay: I...

Nate: You know, kinda refresh a little bit? Or...

Jay: I don't know. I feel like if we go there we're just gonna end up back here.

Nate: Right, okay. Lemme pull up something real quick. So I had a thought on this one thing. Yeah. Okay, so... what's up?

Jay: Naw. I thought I had it.

Nate: I think... Okay, so from page one, these match up. And then I tried, I tried putting... tried putting these last lines...

Jay: Alright, so wait. Let's just...

Nate: Sure...

Jay: Alright so, Display bound box delegate.

Nate: Okay.

Jay: Function note get set private enum sort access x and y

Nate: Sorry, go back? One more time?

Jay: Alright.

Nate: Just the last one. Okay, yeah. Lemme... you read it off and I'll put it right in here, okay?

Jay: Alright.

Nate: Alright, go ahead.

Jay: Display Bounding Box Delegate...

Nate: Sorry, a little slower?

Jay: Capital D Display. Capital B Bounding. Capital B Box. Capital D Delegate. Get colon set colon.

Nate: Sorry, hold on. Okay.

Jay: Private enums sort access. Function note x and y. Umm, and distance equals convert function.

Thursday, May 15th
6:31 pm

CCTV2_ELot_5-15_1831_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg
CCTV_Patio4_5-15_1831_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg
Erik and Eliza share a kiss in the parking lot before Erik leaves for the day.

Friday, May 16th
2:31 pm

CCTV_Recep6_5-16_1431_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

The thieving mailboy looks like he's back. It also appears that George and Eliza have a rather heated argument in the top cubicle.

4:27

CCTV2_hall2_5-16_1627_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

If the previous video was any indication about how George's day went, I think we now know why he was so grumpy with Nate.

Monday, May 19th
3:42 pm

CCTV2_EM1_5-19_1542_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_EM2_5-19_1542_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nate talks to Eliza about margaritas

Tuesday, May 20th

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CCTV2_hall2_5-20_1537_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

The ranting voicemail from Eliza. Jean-Paul is at his desk and the mailboy is wandering around again.

Wednesday, May 21nd
10:26 am

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This is right after Nate found out Eliza was Dr. Gough's daughter.

Thursday, May 22nd
4:03 pm

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Nate has discovered the cameras in the office. You can now read the note that he wrote: "They are watching us". And Jean-Paul still has his desk today.

Friday, May 23rd
1:11 pm

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CCTV2_hall2_5-23_1311_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nathan says hello to Larry.

Note: The video from Nate's hidden desk camera is actually from a different take than the vimeo and hall2 versions. Makes you wonder how many times they had to film these videos. I bet chair racing day was fun.

6:17 pm

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Eliza and Erik have a conversation, presumably about George. Eliza wants him to have a spine and Erik tells her that he'll make it happen. Listening to this conversation, Eliza seems to be the one in control of everything. Although, it is possible that Erik is just sitting back and letting her think that. Their whole relationship is bizarre. §
Eliza: I don't know Erik. Do you think he can do the job cause he's looking a little nervous.

Erik: He does exactly what I ask him to do.

Eliza: Every time?

Erik: Every time.

Eliza: Okay. I need him to have a spine.

Erik: If I tell him to have a spine, he has one.

Eliza: You sure?

Erik: He's been with me for eight years.

Eliza: You trust him?

Erik: Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it.

Note: There was one more file from this day on the website (CCTV_EM2_5-23_1817). However, this is a duplicate of the EM2 version so I'm not really sure why it was uploaded.

Sunday, May 25th
6:42 pm

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Eliza and Erik have moved into Erik's office this time around. Erik seems fairly down and Eliza tries to boost up his confidence, so maybe she really is in charge of things around there. I also think that Erik might be fan of The Princess Bride. §
Erik: I-I don't know. I don't know how to break this. We're not...

Eliza: Yeah, but we're this close.

Erik: But that's not close enough. We need to make this happen.

Eliza: I know, but we're gonna get it. We're gonna get it.

Erik: What makes you so confident?

Eliza: Because I can taste it.

Erik: *sighs*

Eliza: Don't worry about it. Okay?

Erik: Okay.

Eliza: Let's call it a night and try this tomorrow. Okay?

Erik: As you wish.

Eliza: *laughs* Come on.

Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day)
12:07 pm

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CCTV2_EM3_5-26_1207_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Eliza has a phone conversation with Erik - and it doesn't go to well. It sounds like Erik and Eliza's positions have reversed: he seems to be the assertive one and she's reduced to whining. Meanwhile, AJ (Dr. Gough's assistant from the Nobelium video) is sitting on Eliza's couch looking very jittery and uncomfortable. §
Eliza: Yes, I'm looking at it right now. Yes, Erik, it'll work. Trust me. Yeah, he's here. He's been working around the clock. Erik! You need to...*slams phone and throws stuff off the desk*

Note: There was one other video listed on this day (CCTV2_hall2_5-26_1832) but it is a duplicate of CCTV2_hall2_5-28_1832.

Tuesday, May 27th
4:23 pm

CCTV2_EA1_5-27_1623_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_EA2_5-27_1623_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_hall6_5-27_1623_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Erik (and Eliza too, I guess) are interviewing a reporter. This is another one of those weird conversations where you think you're just missing out on something important. The whole conversation is rather threatening. It makes me wonder if Erik caught the reporter doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, and now Erik is blackmailing him. Maybe it's not blackmail, but there is something screwy going on. §
Erik: How long have you been at the paper?

Reporter: Fifteen years.

Erik: Fifteen years. Good job?

Reporter: Pays the bills.

Erik: Yeah? You nervous?

Reporter: No.

Erik: You sure about that?

Reporter: Dead sure.

Erik: You oughta be. You know what you're doing?

Reporter: Sure do.

Erik: You're gonna make me look good.

Reporter: No problem.

Erik: You're absolutely right that's no problem. He'll do.

Eliza: Come with me.

Wednesday, May 28th
2:53 pm

CCTV2_EA1_5-28_1453_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_EA2_5-28_1453_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_hall6_5-28_1453_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Erik has really turned a corner. He's positively evil today. Maybe lizard aliens can swap their brains and now Alien Eliza is residing in Erik's body. Regardless of whose brain is in control, Erik wants his trained monkey George to perform, NOW. And if Erik has to lull monkey George into a false sense of security before whipping him into action, so be it.

Poor George though. After all these videos, you sort of get the sense that he's not in on whatever stupid little scheme Erik and Eliza have going. I know a lot of people have been suggesting that George might have been a part of cover-up regarding Gough's death, but I'm beginning to wonder. I'm not sure it would be in your best interest to keep walking all over a guy who could bring down your entire company with just a few words to the media - even if he was heavily involved. Everyone has a breaking point where the current conditions become worse than the expected punishment §
Erik: (into phone) George.

George: (over phone) Yeah.

Erik: (into phone) Please come to my office.

George: (over phone) Okay.

Erik: *sighs*

George: Hey, what's up?

Erik: Hey, George.

George: Hey.

Erik: Good to see you. Come. Take a seat.

George: Okay. Uh, what's up?

Erik: Oh, just wanted to see how you were doing. How you feeling?

George: I'm great. Thank god. Thank god.

Erik: Yeah?

George: Very busy, you know? Think everything is going great.

Erik: Yeah? Do you remember that time, back in INSEAD, when you had that crazy week long Scandinavian party?

George: *laughs* I mean, how can I not forget. That was... wow. That was so long ago.

Erik: Yeah, it was a while ago, I know.

George: Wow.

Erik: Shipped in all that snow. I think, wasn't that your first time on skies?

George: *laughs* Yeah.

Erik: Cross country in the quad?

George: I almost broke my leg. Thank god for you or else I would have been all over the place.

Erik: Well I'm sure those potato sack outfits you were wearing didn't help in any. Listen, we have a performance issue. Okay?

George: Okay.

Erik: A serious performance issue. We're going public in thirty days. And I'm not seeing the numbers that I want to be seeing, George. Do you understand me?

George: Well, I-I think it's just...

Erik: I don't care what you think, George.

George: Okay.

Erik: I just want to see what you can do. Make it happen.

George: Okay. You know I'm here for the company and you...

Erik: Stop the small talk. Just perform for me. That's all.

George: You got it.

Erik: That's it.

George: Okay.

Erik: Thank you.

George: Alright.

Erik: Thank you.

George: Okay.

5:23 pm

CCTV2_GP_5-28_1723_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

George is working in his office. It's a really odd angle so it looks like he's working in a very barren room, almost a cell. Based on views from hall3 and EA1, George's office shares the same window style as Erik's and Eliza's, so it's not a stretch to believe that the interior is fairly similiar as well - which would mean he would have painted cinder block walls as well. I think in the case of Erik and Eliza's offices, they have better lighting and actual stuff on the walls. George might have stuff on his walls as well - the angle makes it really hard to tell.

6:32

CCTV2_NB_5-28_1832_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_hall2_5-28_1832_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nate discovers the secret camera hidden in his desk. He doesn't look to happy about it. And that brunette girl is back sitting at Jean-Paul's desk. §
Jay: Hey man, you gonna go home?

Nate: Yeah, no, in a little while. I'm just gonna... just wanna keep chipping away at this, I think.

Jay: Alright. Good work.

Nate: Thank you. Thank you, sir. Have a good night.

Jay: You too.

Nate: Shit.

Thursday, May 29th

CCTV2_NB_5-29_1925_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

CCTV2_hall2_5-29_1925_NTSC_2Mbit.mpg

Nathan thinks that he has solved the coding issue.
Note: This is an alternative take from the original video. These videos also show up listed as taking place on 5-30, so if it wasn't for Nate's blog post, we would have no idea when these took place.

Press Conference

Everyone who was subscribed to the RSS feed got an update that Holomove planned to hold a press conference on May 30th. We were all hoping we would be able to watch it live, but alas, they didn't broadcast it. Nate was around though and was able to tell us that the Erik sorta glossed over the whole hideous death of Dr. Gough bit. Probably not a bad mood if you are trying to promote the company. Although maybe not so smart if you're trying to launch your IPO in 30 days and don't have all the kinks worked out yet.

Holomove did put up the video of the conference the next day, so we can see just how bad it is. And it is pretty bad considering just how much information they leave out. While they show significant bits of the Nobelium video, because they claim it was recorded three days ago, you never see Dr. Gough. And of course they cut the video right before the screaming death scene. But it's nice to see our old friend the reporter back and asking softball questions to Erik. Too bad Erik didn't threaten all the reporters, because he didn't look too happy when the bald guy asked a question towards George. §

Erik: Thank you all very much for coming. This is quite a lovely turnout. I can only assume it's a slow news day for so many of you to have graced us with your presence. Our good fortune. You've got deadlines to meet, stories to file, this story to file, so let's get started. My name is Erik Andersen. I'm the primary stakeholder in Holomove Corporate. I'm also the Chairman of the Board. To my right here, is George Poulopatis. He's the Chief Executive Officer of the company. You'll find his CV in the media packages that were provided for you on your chairs. To my left here, is Eliza Marks. She's the Director of Production.

Today is a very interesting day. Because almost 109 years ago, to this very day, the US Patent Commissioner uttered these very infamous words: 'Everything that can be invented, has been invented.' *everyone laughs* Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you today that nothing could be farther from the truth. What changes is the truth. Which is to say, the scientific truth. The so-called 'laws'. The notion of what's possible. What you're about to witness today is a working prototype of a technology the world has not seen, or even expected. It's a unique synergy of what's been proven, tested, and of conventional technologies. Video please. George, perhaps you could narrate this for us?

George: Certainly. What you're about to see is a video which was shot three days ago. This is our haptic holographic projector. The image you see here, the hand, is a holographic reproduction of our technician's hand, which has been placed in our laser scanner. Measured at 10,000 points per second across x, y, and z axes, this quality of moving images is absolutely state of the art. But our projection system utilizes lasers as well as high intensity sound waves to create kinetic energy (also in three dimensions). These sound waves generate reverse haptic forces which when, coupled with gravity, and about a million lines of code, create a sense of touch. Look carefully. A holographic projection. Yes, that is correct, a projected image is manipulating a real object in real time. This is a first. One for the books.

*everyone claps*

Erik: so ladies and gentlemen, how does it feel to have glimpsed the future. A three axis hologram with full motion. Able to be manipulated and interacted with. Real time, real space. This is a major breakthrough in many areas. Holography. Reverse haptics. And sound projections at remarkable levels. All pioneered here, with Holomove technology. And obviously, getting into the details of the technology is beyond the pale, but I do welcome your questions. Please.

The reporters all start asking questions at once.

Erik: Sir.

Reporter 1: (This is the reporter from Erik's office) This is a remarkable technology, Mr. Andersen. Can you talk about some of the commercial applications you invision?

Erik: Well, that's an excellent question. Well, skies the limit, really. For one, imagine a doctor being able to operate remotely. Perhaps even a miner having to excavate an area previously that deemed to dangerous to explore. It's even crossed our minds that the military might have a little interest in this technology.

Reporter 1: I have a follow-up.

Erik: Of course.

Reporter 1: What's next for the company?

Erik: Well, at the risk of sounding a little immodest, this truly is one of the biggest technological breakthroughs of the century. I'll explain why. The hardware you see before you has been available for years, generally speaking. But, it's our refinements and the firmware and the software that's actually behind that technology, well that's made all the difference here. And that actually sets us apart from the competition. Which is to say, it would set us apart from the competition if we had any. *laughs* That's why I'd like to announce that we're going public within the next 30 days.

Reporter 2: I-I have a question for Mr. Poulopatis.

Erik: Very well.

George: Yes?

Reporter 2: But if the technology is so promising, I'm wondering why we didn't get to see an actual demonstration of it in person rather than this video. Wouldn't that be more credible?

George: Well, the machine is a prototype. The alignment of the optics, the haptic generator, it's very precise. It takes weeks, and to bring this machine over here...

Erik: Beyond all that actually, the military, as I just mentioned, is taking a very extreme interest in this technology, which precludes complete transparency, as I'm sure you can all understand. In any event, we hope to gain some concessions from our friends at the pentagon, certainly before the public offering. Thank you so much for being here today ladies and gentlemen. I really do appreciate your time. But that is all the time we have for you today. Thank you. We'll be in touch.

Beware of Empty Offers

RK updated his blog again, this time telling us to "Beware of Empty Offers but build your army. Here is something to add to your arsenal" and includes a screenshot of a CodeMetrics result. The only thing you have to know about CodeMetrics to understand this image is that the Maintainability Index cannot go above 100. So you know that three out of the four red marked numbers are fake and were put in there for a purpose. If you string all the numbers together, you get an IP address: 162.138.185.34 which just so happens to be the IP address of the Securities and Exchange Commission. RK obviously knows about the upcoming IPO. Maybe he wants us to alert the SEC of the shady practices of Holomove. I can't imagine they'd take too kindly to the Chairman making up a fake death for the founder of the company.

Team NateJay

It's been sorta quiet on the Nate front. He's been a little confused about what to do about the videos on Erik's DVR. So he decided that he needed to confide in someone else at Holomove, and so he chooses Jay. Probably not a bad move considering Jay doesn't have any evil videos on the offsite dvr. Once recruited, Jay even comes and posts on Nathan's blog giving us a little more background on AJ. All he can tell us is that AJ was a quiet guy before the Doctor's death, and now he's even more so. And while he tried to continue the work that they started, he hasn't been very successful on his own. Poor guy.

The First Cut

After a very quiet couple of days, everyone who emailed RK was sent a small image file with the email subject of "The first cut is the deepest". It didn't take too long to see that the images were all different (more or less) and that they each had different names. It was also discovered fairly quickly that these small files were part of a larger image and so we set about placing them in their correct spots, both with and without the letters from the file name superimposed. Obviously the letters are some sort of cipher, but the question is what kind and what does the picture have to do with it? §

Once again, we do a puzzle for RK and get practically nothing in return. His message certainly wasn't mindblowingly important.

you may be asked soon to sit at the table to carve up the world so be ready nathan

Was there really a reason that had to be spread across so many different people to keep safe? Couldn't he just have called Nate and left a morse code message on his phonemail? I'm rather sick of RK and his puzzles now. I'm not going to solve them anymore. Someone else can go be his pet monkey.

Brand & Market Interview

Erik really wants to get the word out that Holomove is going public soon and had Brand & Market conduct an interview with him. It's amazing how utterly arrogant he is in the interview considering they haven't progressed the prototype any further since Dr. Gough died. They're taking a huge risk that they'll get the bugs ironed out before their new investors start pounding on the door. §

Brand & Market
The Game Changers

Interview with Erik Andersen of Holomove, Inc. June 2, 2008

Reporter: We're here with Erik Andersen of Holomove. Thank you so much for meeting with us.

Erik: Pleasure is all mine.

Reporter: Your company seems to have the next big thing in technology: a hologram capable of interacting with real life objects. Tell us more.

Erik: Well, the next big thing sounds like a fad. This really is a lot larger than that. No, this is a whole new way of interacting with the world. In software, we call this user interface, but honestly, it goes beyond all that. To place our accomplishments in the category of technology, well, that's really just small-minded.

Reporter: So, if you had your way, this would be the story of the year?

Erik: *laughs* This is the story of the year. Make no mistake. That really should be quite clear by now. No, every company will ponder how the innovations of Holomove will affect them. Every person, as we say, will reach the future.

Reporter: Ah, yes. "Reach the Future." We've seen the site, the shirts, the advertising. It's all very audatious for a tech brand. Some marketers predict you aren't going to be able to sustain this level of buzz.

Erik: Well, companies that have nothing to say usually just whisper and mumble. That's not the case with Holomove. There's nothing tentative about Holomove. We've challenged the givens of science. Our marketing will act accordingly.

Reporter: I guess we'll be hearing a lot from Holomove. The IPO market has been uncertain given what's happening in our country and the economy. What's your read on the news?

Erik: We're not concerned. No. I mean, there's always a market for big game changing ideas. I mean, if a company as basic and as simple as Visa can raise $18 billion, well I don't think we have a problem.

Reporter: You'll have money to burn. What's next? A Super Bowl commercial?

Erik: *laughs* This isn't the year 2000, is it? *laughs* No, that's a very American idea advertising in the Super Bowl. And although I do love American football, no the truth is, for this brand, and perhaps it's our European management team bias, our sights are set on a grander stage: the world. Perhaps the World Cup.

Reporter: Erik ANdersen, Chairman of Holomove. Thank you so much.

Erik: Thank you.

Brand & Market
The Game Changers

Run Forrest, Run!

The channel was in a bit of the doldrums since we hadn't gotten any updates in two whole days. Then someone checked the DVR site. New videos! §

Friday, June 6th
12:33 pm

6/06 12:33 ErikAndersen1

6/06 12:33 Hall6

6/06 12:33 WB2

6/06 12:33 WB3

Erik is working at his desk when he sees George and Nathan talking on one of the security cameras. He gets really upset and makes a phonecall. Meanwhile, George is trying to explain things to Nathan but stops once he finds one of the hidden security cameras. He never does tell Nathan what's going on, but at least Nathan lets us know what's going on via his blog. §

Erik: What the hell? *dials the phone* It's time. I need you here right now. *hangs up phone* Oh my... *breathing heavily* Arrgh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M05k_n3qK4

George: Ohhh. I got a phone call the other day, Nathan. I sent my parents that IP phone you set up. It's brilliant. My father called. He was all excited. He added up everything. $2500. That's how much money they made last year. I had a simple dream, you know, I wanted to give them a way out. They did everything for me and I wanted to return the favor no matter what it took. Look, look, this is the home I'm building, for us all. I had such... high hopes.

Nathan: What's the matter George. You okay?

George: I lost my way, Nathan, and I need your help today. Now. Please, Nathan.

Nathan: Yeah, what's going on.

George: I need your help.

Nathan: George I don't.. I don't know what...

George: What the hell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXXfmKnWi8

1:47 pm

6/06 13:47 ELot

A blue car drives into the parking lot. Two guys (now nicknamed Starsky and Hutch) get out of the car while Erik comes out of Holomove. He hands them a think envelope and two pictures then goes back inside. Starsky and Hutch then leave in their car.

So has Erik just put out a hit on George and Nathan? He really isn't a master criminal is he? Setting up a hit at his office and recording it so that the prosecution will have no problem convicting him when the time comes. Is it any wonder they can't recreate Dr. Gough's work if they are this dumb?

3:52 pm

6/06 15:52 ELot

6/06 15:52 Patio4

Starsky and Hutch come back to Holomove. This time they're on foot instead of in their awesome blue car. They hang out by one of the entrances just chatting away and drinking coffee. George comes out through the patio and heads to his car. The goons then rush him, but because they are so incomptent, George manages to get up and run away. Run, George! Run! I'm a little surprised Starsky and Hutch didn't just stand there going 'Which way did he go?' but kudos to them that they realized that they did have to chase George down. Gold star for the day, boys!

4:20 - 4:21 pm

6/06 16:20 ElizaMarks2

6/06 16:20 Hall2

6/06 16:20 NateBozeman

6/06 16:20 Recep6

6/06 16:21 Hall8

6/06 16:21 Recep6

Lots of excitement here! There's actally someone waiting in the Holomove reception area (although she doesn't stay there long). Plus, Starsky and Hutch have come back to Holomove for a third time. This time they forgo subtlety and start pushing employees out of their way as they go looking for Nate who is working at his desk. Nate then gets a phonecall, presumably warning him about the goons and takes off. Run, Nathan! Run! Starsky and Hutch give chase through the halls of Holomove. Eliza sees them and yells for Nate to stop. Nate, finally growing a brain, doesn't listen and does a nice little leap over the reception area chairs and escapes. §

Eliza: What?! Who? Nathan! Get back here! Get him! This way!

Goon: Come on!

Eliza: Erik!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHCS6lavVP4

Nathan: I am this close to solving this thing. Hello? Who?

Jay: Hey, what's going on?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUTNF-5EsMc

Such an exciting day! George is on the run. Nathan is on the run. Or else they're both at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Even Jay has no idea what's going on.

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