I’ve made four attempts at learning Esperanto, but lacking any good reason to do so I’ve always given it up after a few days. The Lost Ring might be the motivation that I need to pick it up again. The Lost Ring is an Alternative Reality Game just unveiled, and it’s the task of all players to uncover the lost event of the Olympic Games.
Lost Ring is a worldwide ARG, and it looks to be really interesting. There are a bunch of blogs and wikis set up already, with translators standing at the ready to assist the playing community – go check it out: thelostring.com.
ARGs have a tremendous potential; they can be used to solve actual problems, be purely entertaining or used as promotional tools for companies (these are the most common, since it takes a lot of money and resources to pull this crap together) and the more we blend everyday reality with a fable or mystery, the better. Warping your mind can be a good thing, although those with paranoid tendencies might want to take a pill before engaging – pretty soon you’ll suspect everyone of being part of the game and wear tinfoil clothing.
I saw a trailer for the movie Meet the Spartans, a pastiche of 300, and started downloading a screener of it. I’ve seen a few awful movies lately (I would advise you to stay away from the latest Rambo) and thought I’d hit www.rottentomatoes.com for some info. The movie had a rating of 3%. No-one had anything good to say about it, and I subsequently canceled the download. The comments are a hoot to read though: Rotten Tomatoe review.