Today’s password is…the name of our gamer friend who is no longer with us (firstnamelastname, all lower case, no middle name included).

Also, for the record, I brought this up both because it was interesting, and because I played the role of Inspector Chelmey.

Back when I thought it was an advertising campaign, I figured I’d have a bit of fun by being another character from it and seeing how they would react. I was pleasantly surprised when the person orchestrating the events welcomed me into the fold. So, I just started playing the character throughout a series of events planned by the guy running it.

I was very disappointed that he revealed himself. I think he handled the situation poorly, and I’m beginning to agree with some that say he used it as a publicity stunt to get more popular on Twitter/his news network.

It made me sad. I did it because - as I said - I have thought about how to best execute a Twitter narrative, but it would be really tough. Frequent tweets constitute spam and annoy people, plus, how can you engage with your audience in less than 160 characters. Professor Layton was the perfect way to execute a story through Twitter. The Professor interacted through brief riddles, and people could submit responses. Solving riddles grew to greater importance when Layton was kidnapped by Don Paolo, and people got to follow along with our adventures, and many enjoyed it. We have been called the most successful ARG/viral marketing campaign in recent memory, and people cannot believe it was all unofficial. Credit obviously goes mostly to the head honcho, but the guy playing Don Paolo really went above and beyond in his portrayal. It was awesome.

Anyway, I figured I’d come clean about that. Don’t want to do it publicly, lest I have all the haters jumping down my through.

I merely did it as a creative outlet, to entertain, and to experiment with the medium. It was fun while it lasted, and I’m glad people had fun with us.

Also, it is kind of sad that I got up to 540 followers at its peak as a fictional character, whereas I will never achieve that on my actual Twitter.

Oh well.

Cheers all.

Received a blunt reminder about why I hate cell phones so much, or - at least - the culture that they foster today. I’ve always said that the worst things about cell phones is that people will no longer plan things in advance. For a while, I hadn’t been seeing a lot of that going on (perhaps because I am only participating in UW events planned ages in advance). But today, I received a rude awakening.

Literally.

I woke up this morning (or rather, was still awake from last night) because I was working on my Complex Analysis assignment, due Friday at noon. 8:30 - 9:00 rolls around, and I start feeling a little hungry. Wondering if I should go downstairs and eat some eggs or cereal, now that my mouth is freed up from surgery related stuff.

Since my computer is on from watching Conan O’Brien last night, I give the mouse a little tap to see what’s new in the world quickly before I head downstairs.

GMail - slow to update because I was disconnected from wireless - chugs along while I check my Twitter updates (thanks Binks for posting a few this morning that made the timing work out). After I’m done reading Twitter-related stuff, I notice an e-mail from “Michael Jackson” in my inbox. I almost dismissed it as Spam, except I read the first bit of the subject line, which said: “The Car: If you get this in time, dad and i…”.

Now, I begin to wonder if this is from my brother. Check the e-mail address. Yep. Sent at 7:30 AM. Better check it out.

The message reads as follows:

[quote]if you get this in time, dad and i are coming to get the car this morning. hopefully you havent already taken it with you to class. if so, thats not a big deal, i’ll be at the tim hortons on ***** st (carolyns work) i have my cell.###-###-#### [/quote]

I read that and think to myself, “Oh crap. My brother has come to Waterloo to get the car. I guess my mother didn’t tell him that Katie and I were coming to Stratford this weekend, both to visit and return the car. I’d better tell him.”

So I send him an e-mail. But then I realize, if my Dad is driving him, he’ll have his Blackberry, I should send him an e-mail and then call to be sure. Fire my dad off an e-mail so he can check it en route, then head downstairs to the phone.

And wouldn’t you know it. The car is already gone.

So, if I hadn’t been reading Binks’ Twitter updates, I would have gone downstairs before reading the e-mail, noticed my car was missing, and phoned the fucking police to report it stolen. Then, I would have had an emotional break down, phoned my mother (out of fear of telling my father that the car was stolen), and my day would have exploded in sadness and terror.

So, yeah. This is what I hate about the culture that cell phones has propogated. This idea of immediacy in communication, and that as soon as something is “out there”, everyone is in the loop. It just isn’t the case. The proper thing to do before taking something like a car would have been to notify me in advance (by, say, 24 hours notice so I could have the car in the right spot and get my shit out of the car). And not through e-mail. Through a good old fashioned phone call.

I’m so furious right now, and tired, and my assignment still isn’t done because I was freaking out/fuming over this for about 45 minutes. Now I have to bike to campus, finish my assignment, and hand it in.

GAH! Stupid cell phone culture! Planning in advance isn’t that hard. There was a plan and it got disregarded.

Well, that was short-lived.

Turns out the Layton thing wasn’t an ad campaign. Some game journalist created accounts for Professor Layton and Flora, while an associate of his was Luke, and two random unaffiliated people got on there and took on the roles of Inspector Chelmey and Don Paolo. It was all still pretty fluid though, for the most part, which is odd considering the ring leader didn’t know who Inspector Chelmey and Don Paolo were (or who they were behind the scenes).

It was fun while it lasted, but now the people at NeoGAF are acting like he blew up a bus full of children, and they’ve spread the word around and shut him down. Luke hasn’t posted since, and Don Paolo and the Inspector seem to be winding down and saying their farewells.

People really shouldn’t have made a big deal out of this. The guy spontaneously began an extremely successful viral marketing campaign for something he didn’t own and made not profit or earning from. He gained nothing, but entertained people with an engaging storyline and riddles for a month or so (if I recall correctly). I really don’t get why people had to ruin the fun. Now Twitter will resume being boring.

Crap.

Pretty cool advertisement campaign going on in the Twitterverse for Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. Nice little narrative being carried out between Twitter accounts. Inspector Chemley just diffused a bomb with the assistance of Professor Layton, in addition to audience participation.

I’ve got to say, I’ve always wanted to do or see someone do some sort of I Love Bees like thing over Twitter. I guess this is kind of the same. Very interesting, with daily riddles and the like. Classic Layton. I cannot wait for this game.

They started off with just Layton and Luke, but now they’ve got Inspector Chelmey, Don Paulo, and Flora. They’re all interacting in this really immersive world, and its really cool. People are helping to further the plot. It is like I Love Bees (with puzzles that unlock future storylines), but it is more immediate to everyone because you follow the characters on Twitter, and anyone can contribute (you don’t have to get to a phone booth in a hurricane or anything like that).

Very cool. Check it out.

EDIT: Niamu pointed out that I forgot to link to the profiles. I kind of neglected to because I wasn’t sure if you could check Twitter pages if you weren’t signed in.

Anywhere, here they are.

Professor Layton His apprentice, Luke London police officer, Inspector Chelmey Flora Reinhold, Layton’s ward Don Paolo, the Professor’s arch-nemesis

Had my surgery today. They cut a piece of tissue off from under the roof of my mouth and grafted it under existing tissue on my gum line at the front of my mouth (on my lower jaw). In case I haven’t already told you, after visiting the periodontist about my receding gum line, I was informed that the piece of tissue that connects your lip to your gum (on the bottom jaw) was connected way to high in my mouth. Instead of being attached to the soft muscle that moves your jaw, it was attached to the rigid gum that your teeth are rooted in. So, every single dentist visit, dental surgery, orthodontic work, and tooth brushing where my lip has been forcibly pulled down to access my bottom front teeth, I have actually been tearing away gum tissue.

And wouldn’t you know, the procedure to cut and replace this thing takes all of five minutes. But, the damage being done, I needed the graft.

So, got it done today (because I need to do it and get my wisdom teeth removed before Queens). The procedure was painless. They stuck one of those giant needles in five or six places, and then started cutting me up. I was worried because the periodontal assistant seemed to have no idea what the fuck she was doing. The periodontist would ask for tools, or suction, or whatever, and the assistant would stare blankly into space. And then she was talking about Michael Jackson. Hello? You’ve got blades and shit in my mouth. You’re dangling hooks with stitches on them near my eyeballs. Pay attention to what the fuck is going on.

This surgery was also an ordeal because I cannot swallow pills (one of those weird things about me, like the not drinking pop thing). So, they gave me a nice big bottle of codeine to use. I have taken two swigs already, and I’m looking forward to a third helping in a few minutes to get me through the night.

Hopefully the pain is gone by Monday. We’ll see. I’d hate to still be in agony and drugged up while attending lectures…have enough trouble focusing as it is, with such a sexy sexy woman beside me all the time. ;) Since you’re reading this over my shoulder Katie. Tsk tsk tsk.

Anyway, there you go. Consider yourself updated.