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DeformedUncleLouie · Decorated Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 220

I thought of 1984 as well but also a book called A Brave New World. Any read that one?

**Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:00 pm

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hatetodd · Boot Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 43 Location: Scott AFB

Orgy Porgy.

**Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:33 pm

Falafel · Veteran Joined: 30 Dec 2005 Posts: 73

**Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:02 pm

Paulzilla

Read some of it in a bookshop once. Think I grasped the plot pretty much. It's what I thought of, too, even before Orson Welles, which is odd.

Really want to know what the 18 lovers could refer to, its driving me nuts.

Archer, with the ability to use a laptop and type really quite erudite prose, I doubt Parliament is a dog. How could he hit the keys? Smile

I agree the terms his captor/saviour use about him sound quite animalistic though.

Like Jame Gumb in Silence of The Lambs, is the captor trying to dehumanise his victim, to make it easier to deal with him?

*goes to puzzle over puzzle*

Hang on, concrete BEAM... I have a horrifying vision of Parliament dangling from the ceiling by his leg. Shocked

Maybe it is a long chain. Maybe I am sick. Who knows...

**Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:00 pm

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DeformedUncleLouie · Decorated Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 220

Isn't there a part in the Oddessy where he shots an arrow though 18 ax heads?

Also what is that book where everyone has a gem in thier hands and when you get old it flashes and they come and kill you?

**Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:40 pm

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Hold, my cold dangerous fink.

Falafel · Veteran Joined: 30 Dec 2005 Posts: 73

Towards the end of the Oddessy, he has to fight of his wife's suitors, which could be lovers, but I don't know if there were 18 or not.

**Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:48 pm

GasparLewis

I was thinking BNW, too.

"Eighteen lovers" as a reference to the enforced promiscuity? The numbing of the mind through continuous pleasures?

I remember something from Wiki which put the spirit of "Brave New World" very well. Paraphrasing:

1984 said what we hated would kill us.
BNW said what we loved would kill us.

Think I'll be joining this one; this 'James' character seems someone worth talking to...

EDIT: Googling "eighteen lovers" gave me the LiveJournal of a man in
Luxembourg who speaks in poetry or riddles. Other things, too, but "Lust, etc." proved to be the most curious of results. His interests include reality, truth, death, and phonemes. What say someone drop this man a line and determine whether or not he's a player in the tale this is Methargo?

http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=lust_etc

Paulzilla

In the Odyssey, he shoots an arrow through some axe heads to fend off his wife's suitors - no idea how many there were - of either. No one else can even string the bow, proving that he was indeed the king, tough as old boots and very pissed off, now would they please bugger off.

DeformedUncleLouie, I believe you're thinking of Logan's Run. Never read it but really like the film Smile

I think I am making headway on the code. I could be totally wrong of course, but he's given us

**Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:05 pm

_________________
"Leg or no leg, I trust you about as far as I could throw Manhattan." ~~Guybrush Threepwood~~

LatentMoths · Unfettered Joined: 01 May 2005 Posts: 523 Location: Texas

Using the partial cipher...and some trial and error...i got a website www.livejournal.com/users/j_whitmore. The method was the same as Paulzilla's...each pair of numbers is a set of coordinates. My trial and error started with the 11 being the period...figured "com" should come next and then it all fell out. I didn't complete the entire cipher, only what I needed to crack the code. I'm sure somebody could write that up if they thought it would be important later on. I went ahead and posted a comment with the solve on it. And I haven't had a chance to look at the LJ site yet. That's about it...good night.

ETA: OK...it was eating me alive. I had a look at the LJ site and there is a link in the last post where it says "goodbye". It links here. It appears it might be the start of a puzzle trail (yes, another one). Have fun.

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:21 am

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81 117 105 116 32 108 111 111 107 105 110 103 32 97 116 32 109 121 32 65 83 67 73 73 33

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Tonamel · Veteran Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 104

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:32 am

bartmans

Good solve, ilikepucks.
Now we know the name of our 'kidnapper', and also his relation to Methargo: he works (or rather worked) there.

His blog does not include much detail, only the two books that he has read are mentioned specifically (House of leaves from Mark Z. Danielewski and Vernon God Little from Pierce. However, I do not see any connection here with the rest of the story, nor with the Odysseia; it only shows the literacy of our James.

The hidden link is also no that helpful. I will e-mail Amanda to see if that brings some more.

EDIT: no help there, e-mail bounced. Saw a nice detail on http://www.freewebs.com/mi22287/: the picture is titled 'stopgiveupquitturnaroundgoawaystop'.

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:30 am

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Paulzilla

Haha, plugging Amanda Keeling into Google finds a real Amanda Keeling on the cheerleading team of some high school in Kentucky. Two of the friends are on the team as well! Shocked

I sincerely doubt that's got anything to do with anything though, because that particular school's "football" (Its not football, its like rugby but armour-plated. Wusses Razz

) team is the Cougars, not Owls.

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:01 am

_________________
"Leg or no leg, I trust you about as far as I could throw Manhattan." ~~Guybrush Threepwood~~

GasparLewis

That kite picture is bothering me. I isolated it while rummaging in the source code. It's really very large... I would flip the colors or steg it or something.

And why are her friend links all to Yahoo! and nowhere else? Could this be something to decipher?

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:57 am

bartmans

GasparLewis, you are right about that kite picture. One way or another it should have a meaning, because it is not related to anything else.

And the text that goes with th epicture is also cryptic. I understand from Paulzilla's remark that probaly Owls is the name of a football team, but it seems that many US football teams call themselves Owls. So, no direction for a clue there either.

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:16 am

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Life is just like a game. You know it has to come to an end.

archer · Veteran Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 70

i dont know if this helps but its the only link i could connect odyssey with 18 lovers The Odyssey: A new, complete, downloadable, English translation, ... The Heroides:
Letters from eighteen mythological women to their lovers or ex-lovers.
which comes from this link http://www.tonykline.co.uk/ Rolling Eyes

**Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:13 pm