Let's talk about LOST! THE LOST EXPERIENCE ARG.
Posted on MySpace November 11, 2007
This information may contain spoilers! {I know, I HATE SPOILERS!}
The ARG was NOT spoilers for me or the fans who consider themselves active participants in the show. They were part of our investigation into everything. I just want to touch a little on what it was all about for those who did not participate.
In the summer months between season 2 and season 3, we were introduced to a wonderful hands on experience with our beloved show LOST. The LOST Experience was launched.
The powers that be over at LOST gave us an honest to god ALTERNATE REALTY GAME to immerse our entire heart and soul into! WOW, what a summer that was! It all began toward the end of season 2. Right there in our regular LOST episodes we were given tid-bits on clues in the "outside world". Clues were given not only in the episode itself but with commercial ads. Our wild goose chase (or was it a treasure hunt?) was on!
It was a constant flow of clues via TV commercials, print ads and links to the most amazingly elaborate websites. We searched and researched sites, books and documents. We discovered connections/identities to persons of interest. Along with all of this was the hunt for '"glyphs" and codes that were hidden all over the world. Then there was the search for video segments to an Alvar Hanso orientation video. We had to find and arrange this video in its proper order to view it to get the information. That was friggin fun! GOOD TIMES!
I cannot go into the whole of this project that we were part of, it would take weeks, possibly months, for me to detail everything for you.
In short we learned some info about Alvar Hanso and The Hanso Foundation. Also about the Hanso history, the creation of the Dharma Initiative, Gerald and Karen Degroot, The Black Rock, Apollo Candy Bars, Paik Heavy Industries, Widmore, Widmore labs, Widmore Construction, Widmore Industries, Connections between (what appears to be) Anthony Cooper involvement with certain companies, VIK Institute, Spider Protocol, Virus, Missing Organs, Global Welfare Consortium and so much more.
Keep in mind that even though this game made it fun for us to play detective we did not get all of the answers at all. But just like the show, we are shown and given info that points us in a direction of "something" and then from that MORE questions are raised.
A couple "special points of interest" for me are the following:
* The correlation of what the Dharma project was and the hatches on the Island.
* There are still clues to time and space.
* The Helgus Antonius: A hospital/container ship set sail from Sanremo Italy on July 6, 2006. We learn a few things about the ship including the fact of whose name is associated with this ship and that there are quarantine bays on the ship. But because I've become somewhat jaded, do I dare ask more questions about it? Like, what really goes on, on the ship? Hmmm?! {Wink, wink}
* In 1881, Magnus Hanso owned a company called New World Sea Traders. The Black Rock, a slave-ship, was lost. Magnus may have been the Captain of that voyage. After the Black Rock disappeared the New World Sea Traders was sold to a company called the East Ocean Trade Group. In the 1950s the East Ocean Trade Group was taken over by the Hanso Group. The Hanso Group renamed that company Allied Copenhagen Marine Merchants.
* Enzo Valenzetti and the NUMBERS: Princeton University mathematician Enzo Valenzetti developed an elaborate math equation born out of the global hostilities of Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War era's. We learned (and are led to believe) the numbers are the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself. Okay, that sounds…logical. lol. I was hoping that the numbers really were a math/scientific equation for the ability to make time travel or space/time travel possible.
* The Valenzetti Equation "book" was written by Gary Troup.
* The Bad Twin book written by Gary Troup. I'll leave it at that.
* The Battersea Power Station, located in Battersea South London. Power Station A was first built in the 1930s, and Power Station B was built in the 1950's.
* Because we learn there are also 5 hieroglyphs involved with the numbers and the Swan hatch countdown clock, could it mean something more?
Damn that creative team over at LOST is brilliant!
Here is the video that we got to put together. Enjoy!
You can check out these websites, although I am positive some will not be up and running any longer. Also check out the vast LOST network of sites on the Internet for The LOST Experience breakdown.
I have listed here, with the help of my friend Trailz, who was able to provide me with websites to make the list as complete as we can……
http://thelostexperience.com/
http://www.insidetheexperience.com/
http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/lostninja
The original original Hanso site:
http://lxicon.com/hanso/activeproject.html
The Hanso Foundation - http://www.thehansofoundation.org
Hanso careers: http://www.hansocareers.com/
Hansoexposed.com (Site is now gone.)
Rachel Blake:
http://rachelblake.com/
http://stophanso.rachelblake.com/index2.html
Persephone.thehansofoundation.org
Gary Troup's website; Bad Twin -
http://www.garytroup.net
http://www.garytroupbooks.com
DJ Dan,Shuttin down the man:
http://www.djdan.am/
The fragment uploader (you need email and password though)
http://hansoexposed.com/
Retrievers of Truth (Site is now gone.)
Mandrake Wig - http://www.myspace.com/mandrakewig
The Apollo bars and picture uploader:
Apollocandy.com (Site is now gone.)
WhereIsAlvar.com- http://www.whereisalvar.com/
Valenzetti Equation (Site is now gone.)
Letyourcompassguideyou.com- http://www.letyourcompassguideyou.com
If you click on the names on the left, it linked you to things like those original Persephone photos we had to use Photoshop on, and some of the files from "Let your compass"...:
http://lowkeysoft.com/LostARG/monitor.php
http://richerdeeperbroader.com
"Let your compass guide you" 'richer deeper... (verizon site) and 'retrievers of truth' and unfortunately so is oceanic-air.com with the seating chart are down.
Sublymonal.com - http://www.sublymonal.com
Pictures:
http://lost.cubit.net/pics/
http://Oceanicworldair.com
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Category:The_Lost_Experience
Things to Note...Questions to Ask...
* How do all the above puzzle pieces fit together?
* How do the clues of The LOST Experience fit with the show?
* How do the clues we find throughout the show fit into the ARG?
* Does the show and the ARG even go together?
Even after this amount of overwhelming information we received I still don't know what is real and what is not real. Go figure. But I sure had lots of fun!
Questions and more questions. What does this all mean? I'll be damned if I know! I can't help but ask myself if I am serving a purpose with all my research to finding answers or am I just a victim of the tricks and foolery of the writers of the show? Either way, I have dedicated so much of my time to it; time I will never get back and I don't want back.
I wish we had a continuation of the game this year. It would have helped us through this long hiatus.
Love to all who are "LOST"™
