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[Xicon]

The book is either Chekov's Gun or Cow Tools, leaning toward the latter.

The tape is majorly important and will answer some lingering question.

Alex wanting to stay in the woods was one of the creepiest things I've heard and seen from this series. It could not have been creepier unless Alex said it while staring into the distance and without moving.

[Gold Knight]

Long time lurker (since Entry #40), first time poster. First of all, I liked seeing how both Jay and Alex were getting smarter about their situation, with Jay taking a knife and several extra tapes and Alex putting his keys in his pocket when Jay was behind him. Also, Jay was getting better at stealthy, successfully stealing the tape this time. Hopefully 51 will be soon.

[Randoman96]

A, what does Cow Tools mean, Xicon?

B, I think the book has no significance, it's obviously a real book, and they've mentioned before they don't want to show brand names or anything copyrighted.

C, The book is not what they fucking ordered, god damn, it's been seen before

D, I was really hoping Tim stopped to do something with Jay, and then nothing happened.

E, Tim is totally teleporting, or he's got a Back to the Future hoverboard.

F, I hope we get something new soon. SOON.

G, What was the metal thing on Alex's seat? It looked like an older flash-bulb camera, but I can't get a good look.

H, JESUS CHRIST JAY, TAKE SOMETHING OTHER THAN A GOD DAMN TAPE. THERE ARE DRAWINGS, THERE'S PROBABLY SHIT ON HIS COMPUTER, AND THERE ARE OTHER ROOMS TO LOOK THROUGH. WHAT THE FUCK

[Gold Knight]

[tijde]

We should be careful about drawing conclusions based on Tim's limp. As someone who lives with one, I can attest that limps, even bad ones, can come and go. I walk with a pretty pronounced limp (alá Tim in Extraction) on bad days, but I can book it without one if I need to. The adrenaline overrides the pain. I can't do it for long and I'll pay for it later, but it's possible. Healing isn't as cut-and-dried as people seem to be thinking; with a nasty bone break, scar tissue would likely be a bitch, and that kind of pain wavers a lot. 

This might be getting a little meta, but if Tim always limps like he does in Extraction, he'd probably regularly use a pimp cane. Maybe that's an OOG oversight, but the lack of one makes me think Tim's limp comes and goes, or at least wavers in its severity. Though how awesome would it be to see Masky with a pimp cane during tta [ok, ok, or Masky Coalition] meetings?!     

So many refs to tta vids in Alex's apartment and his drawings. Is it possible that the tta videos are meant to trigger something in Alex? Or is it the opposite--Alex incorporates parts of tta clips into his drawings, as a way to connect to tta somehow? Point The Operator in their direction, or tune into their plans or location or something?   

Why didn't Alex hide the tape better, considering Jay had already stolen it once, and the key went missing? My guess is it's further evidence that Alex wasn't thinking straight. He should have seen Jay steal the key, after all, but it seems like he *doesn't* really know Jay took it. Maybe he was under The Operator's influence at the end of the apartment theft. I'm still convinced that Alex mistook Bruce for someone else, despite the fact that Alex saw Bruce clearly before the attack. I think Alex's Operator trances (for lack of a better term) mess with sensory input and logical thought. 

I'm also puzzled about Alex's motives here. A few possibilities:
- Alex didn't intend to hurt Jay himself. He was luring Jay out then sending him back alone, hoping the Maskies would attack Jay and get him out of Alex's hair. Alex knows the Maskies are aggressive toward himself; maybe he assumes they feel the same about Jay. It's pretty apparent by now that they don't. 
- Alex was asking about Jess. Maybe he intended to take Jay out of the picture, via rocksmash or memory wipeage, but something changes his mind. Jay gives Alex a reason to suspect that Jessica knows too much too, thus Alex delays his plans till they're both in Rosswood.
- Alex was attempting to lure the Maskies to himself

One last (spec) thought: There are at least two masked characters--TiMasky & Hoody. What if Tim was drawing Jay away from Alex, so that Hoody could ambush Alex?!

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Inb4 tape is of a 10 year old Alex trying to do the Macarena. With TO suddenly appearing in the background, of course.

On a more serious note, I kind of got a feeling that Jay knew he was going to lose his memory at this point. The way he showed the label on the tape to the camera made it seem he was showing it more to future present Jay than to present past Jay. After all, how hard would it have been to just head back to the hotel/apartment/wherever he was staying at the time and watch the tape immediately? This was before he had a shitload of tapes, so it's not like there was a great risk of losing it.

[Xicon]

[tijde]

[pravado]

prob posted already but jay looking at the knife in the beginning is symbolic

he brought the knife with him into the house in entry... 18? and then tim takes it off of him

moves miles away from his house

tim stabs alex with the knife in entry 35

jay looking at the knife he's probably thinking "i have a stalker who traveled all this way to stalk me some more"

[pravado]

also what jay labled the tape as has to be significant in some way, we're not looking into that enough

[ermac26]

I read up to page 11 and didn't see anything on this...

Alex is wearing glasses in Entry #50, Alex isn't wearing glasses in Entry #38.

[Zarggg]

[ALEXGORDON]

[12th]

[Syne]

Not sure if this possibility has been mentioned yet, but...

Anyone else think that perhaps the 12 minutes of blank video was a result of Tim/Mask leading Jay somewhere to talk to him? 12 minutes seems long enough for a conversation and Jay's exasperation when the video returns could be interpreted as just having learned something heavy(Like Alex killing a guy perhaps?).

Just a thought.