Have you seen Transformers in the movie theaters, and if so, have you seen the JJ Abrams new movie trailer? The plot? Exploding New York disrupts a yuppie's party. Actually, the trailer code-named Cloverfield, is nothing but a clue, the first of long series of clues that form the game more commonly known as alternate-reality game (ARG). Simply put, it's an online quest.
Where's the trailer leading us? By watching the trailer frame by frame, you'll notice that one of the characters wears a Slusho t-shirt. Slusho drink was a fictional drink from Alias (produced by J.J. Abrams), which leads us to the Slusho Website.
Many Internauts have joined online forums to brainstorm on the clues from the Slusho page: On the Slusho page, a big mouth relates happy talks, with many seemingly clues and hints.
First, one of the quotes says "Of course I am, I love Slusho. I enjoy your product, and I feel Ganu's dream when I drink it". Gymanfa Ganu is a Welsh festival of sacred hymns, sung with four part harmony by a congregation. The event takes place anywhere the Welsh heritage is present. Now what's interesting about this event is the wngga's logo (organizer of the event), a red dragon.
That's a good hint for two reasons. One of the Slusho's customers says "Thanks for turning me into a whale" and another says "Am I a whale?" Well, consider the Gymanfa Ganu from above: Isn't it the people of Wales (whales like Slusho's customers) who are part of it? It's a little far-fetched but it's not over.
Another guy craving to find answers on Cloverfield opened the Slusho.org Website. He found a trailer on Youtube that reminds him a lot our mysterious trailer: "The beast from the 20 000 fathoms", a fifties movie where a dragon attacks New York. The name of the trailer is "It's alive", a close resemblance to the Cloverfield's trailer quote where a person in the teaser shouts, “i saw it. it’s ALIVE. it’s huge!” Now we're getting closer to the dragon thing.
This Website links toe abz3293.com. ABZ 3293 is a licence plate number of one suv in one of the frames when the statue of liberty’s head flew off. There's a lot of talk on that page. People are convinced on this Web page that it is about a monster indeed. Someone says the ARG promo is for a new video game (same ARG-type marketing was done for Halo 2).
The comments focus on Start Trek (Star Trek IV was about whales?!), and on a Godzilla-like monster invading New York, or even ten different monsters coming from the depth of the ocean. Unfortunately, this Website quickly became spammed as the audience grew.
Back to the Slusho Website. In the Slusho History section, Ganu drank a deep sea ingredient that turned him into a whale. That's the ingredient that turns people into whales, and it is the principal ingredient of the Slusho drink. Now, online, people don't believe in a Godzilla-like movie, but it sure seems that it is strongly correlated: Monster - deep sea - transformed - New York.
Another mystery: Why can't you drink just six, and why the "Help! I had 7 ... is that bad?" That's a real brain-teaser. When you actually send a mail to Satoshi@slusho.jp, the customer feedback email address, you will automatically get this reply: "Slusho! loves your mails!! You Can't Drink Just Six!!!"
The JJ Abrams' marketing team has opened Myspace pages for each members of the group of yuppies from the trailer. One Myspace member, (M)Sgt Rodney Dean, gave a Kudo to Rob's blogpost seven empty bottles of beer, and check out what Rodney is fund of.
Another great hint from the poduction crew. On the pics page of Rob Hawkins, his friend Beth outlines that he keeps on wearing the same t-shirt. The t-shirt says "adios" and has a strange hard-rock metal-like drawing on it.
What I've learned from searching? Don't even try to figure this out: There's so many possibilities and so little concrete hints that anybody can make up anything. What if I tell you that Das Ganu, in the Hindu religion, dreamed that the godly Shri Baba told him he was going away because the oil merchants were harassing him. You could also start from there.
Or if I tell you that Ganu.com is a classic(/crappy) Website for a real estate company, dedicated to sell only one house in Maryland. I've checked out the site directory on Sunday (29 July): The directory was posted in 2002, but the same day I was on it, changes were being made and new directories were being imported. If you check it out now, Ganu.com has simply disappeared.
I'm still going to work on it though (next step the flavor pages). It's too addictive!
