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[ljm]

A few notes, in no specific order, and none of them particularly related. But worth talking about and I did search, so hopefully I'm not trouting. Anyways...

1. The email address. hlm1963SPLATyahoo.com. I think it's safe to presume that "hlm" stands for hook line and minker, as we'd expect. But the 1963 is interesting. People usually use dates in their email addresses to mark significant years in their lives, for instance birth year or high school/college graduation year (usually college in my experience). In this case, considering the timing of the mother's death, I would assume that Josh was born in 1963, which puts him at 47 years old. I think this is the right call because in the About Me section on hlm.com he says he has "two decades" experience with rare fish. That seems to jive with a 47 year old.Furthermore, it's also the year of the JFK speech from the JFK article on the first printout. That coincidence alone is pretty major.

2. It seems very plausible to me that the coelacanth is some sort of trailhead. With some googling I found some information that may or may not be pertinent:

-68 specimens caught between the years 1938 and 1971.
-As of 1990, 172 total specimens caught.
-Most of them caught off of Comoros. Which makes all this talk of northeast fishing sort of... fishy.

3. The Moby Dick reference is pretty interesting. If he read it one summer when he was little, it puts him reading it some where around 1970-73. Interesting date range.

4. The Ceolacanth is so sought after because it's considered a "transition" species that represents a major stage in evolution. Not sure how that's related, but it seems very poignant.

5. The calendar seems very weird. All the time periods seem to be around 35-40 minutes.

Sort of all over the place, but it gives us a little bit clearer picture of Josh.

Also, not sure what aquarium he would be talking to. Vancouver has a Coelacanth specimen. So do some others. I also did some googling on the Shelly name, but the 8 Xs after are clearly there to hide the last name, I would think.

[Headman]

Your right Smartmart, he does come off as a bit childish for an adult. I get the feeling he is an eccentric or even a bit mental with his childish naivety.

Who tries to buy rare fish which I am sure are probably illegal to own? Even if he could get his hands on one I am sure the tank he would require would need to be enormous, very expensive to build, difficult and expensive to maintain. A Ceolacanth is a fish that very little is known about and there are a very few people in the world that even know the little information about them. You cannot attempt this unless you are either an expert or mentally disturbed.

And if it is illegal to own such a species of fish (which I think it is) why would you post info online about your efforts to purchase such an animal?

To me it appears that he has an obsession with these rare fish. Now considering the fact that he is obsessed I can assume that he must be involved in this area of work somehow. He never did say what his job was so I assume it must be something connected with fish? I know it's a broad field but something must have peaked his interest in this hobby?

[ljm]

^ That's why I'm starting to think Coelacanth might be a code word.

There is evidence for and against the "coelacanth actually means something else theory":

For:
The fish is not native to the north Atlantic.
The fish is too large to keep in a normal person's aquarium.
The fish is insanely possible to find, and generally exists off the coast of Africa.

Against:
IF the coelacanth is a code word for something related to the film/video/proof/etc. that he apparently inherited, then why would he post about it before he inherited it?
Seems that this being a codeword would be taking the situation a little too far.

There's also the possibility that Josh is "not all there" as some have suggested, but the phone message sure sounded normal.

[smartmart]

keeping a coelacanth in a tank

[Headman]

Your right, the phone recording did sound normal. If it's a coded message why would he post it on a public website with his true identity? I would have used an alias. Then again this is an ARG about a movie so anything is possible.

[SyNeSTro]

The Coelacanth is a Lazarus taxon, meaning that it disappeared from one or more periods of the fossil record, only to appear again later. Perhaps this movie is about something or somethings that disappeared ages ago and came back eh? Or ET coming back or something.

Did i just blow your mind?

[multipsychoapopheniosis]

Photo origins

[ljm]

^ I think he was implying that they aren't fish in the biological classification sense of the word, not that they don't exist in the real world.

[Eleven72]

I missed a lot. No more sleepovers. Oy... where to begin...

[Eleven72]

*sorry for the double post*

Okay, so a woman died, her relative (son/grandson?) is selling off her things on Craigslist. Her funeral or whatnot is on something 16th.

and I should just do this for myself.

[Xeno Lambrose]

Don't believe Josh is looking for a real Coelacanth

[ljm]

^ Read the posts on hooklineandminker.com, it says exactly when she died, basically, given the context.

[Xeno Lambrose]

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[emato]

Coelacanth and old movies

[AzureWolf]

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