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Cathy’s Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233

Cathy's BookGo ahead, do it. Call the number on Cathy’s Book. You know you want to. Don’t worry. I guarantee she won’t answer. You’ll get her voicemail. You don’t have to leave a message. … But if you’re clever, you can figure out her voicemail access code and learn a little more about her. And you know … this book is Cathy Vicker’s personal journal. If she’s in trouble, it might be your duty to poke around in a bit to find out what’s going on. But wait — what’s all this crap glued to the inside front cover in a baggie? Newspaper clippings, vital documents, a take out menu, business cards, sketches, a ripped up photo? Aw man. This could become pretty time consuming.

At least it did for me. I’ve spent the better part of two days following up on every lead I can find in this little parcel. I’ve been calling phone numbers, cracking access codes, comparing signatures, and piecing together dates. Seems that this precocious 17-year-old girl has hooked up with a fella named Victor of about 23 — probably too old for her to be dating in any case — and he may be involved in drugs? Questionable genetic research? The Chinese Mafia? At any rate, Victor’s co-worker has been murdered, Cathy’s got a mysterious needle mark on her arm, and her best friend Emma needs Cathy to pitch in on their joint Biology project.

To solve the mystery I’ve mostly been investigating web sites: both factual, pre-existing ones and fictional ones constructed for the conceit of this ARG. (That’s “alternate reality game,” Mom.) Cathy and Emma have their own My Space and AIM pages, of course. But there’s even a site for a fictional wireless phone company with a forum in which all of Cathy’s new helpers can share secrets. Here, let me get you started in your investigation.

I really can’t say enough about this book. It’s quite ingenious. Of course, this sort of strategy has been used before to market products, as in the ingenious ilovebees.com ARG for Halo 2, but this is the first full-scale attempt (that I’ve been aware of) to actually incorporate real world knowledge discovery, interactive media, realia, and Web 2.0 applications to complete a literary work. And some of the reasearch is kinda hard, so to get the most from the book, you’ll likely have to spend some time engaging in the online community. It really raises this use of social networking tools from “viral marketing” to “community building” — from a trick to a tool, from a gimmick to an experience.

Of course, you can just read the book if you want. It’s not Proust or anything, but it’s written well enough. I’m sure the young women it’s marketed to will appreciate that Cathy is both amazingly confident and a bit of a screw up. She has no problem driving into San Francisco and wandering Chinatown by herself, but she has a problems fulfilling the basic responsiblities of friendship. And her problems range from the amusingly minor to frighteningly serious. It’s a wild ride worthy of Buffy Summers.

Really, though, if you don’t follow through on the questions you still have by getting your nose out of the book, you know you’ll regret it. Go ahead. Open up the baggie. Pick up the phone…

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Take a look at this, Bitches!

My main fascination with YouTube are the music videos and live performances. I am continuously thrilled and amazed by all of my favorite obscure artists popping up there! Talk about the Long Tail. Anyway, I’m sharing this video after discovering it over at the Sardonic Bomb. It’s mainly for Hilary and Susan B., who I think will appreciate it the most, but the rest of you should go check it out too. You may find it a little annoying at first, but it’s quite adorable and fun. Susan, I can picture you doing something like this in your youth, and Hilary… well, you’ll know why I sent it to you when you watch it. I mean, come on.

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Is the Ultimate Matriarchy Our Goal?

honeybeeThanks to to Howard I caught this fascinating article over on the CNN website about the genetic lives of honeybees. Those of you who know me well, also know that I have a fascination with honeybees, those adorable, industrious insects whose work ethics and social life have often been praised and suggested for emulation throughout history.

A report in the journal Nature by a consortium of scientists reveal that the genetic code of the honeybee has been unraveled, including clues to its complex social nature, it’s sense of smell and its African origins. Scientists plan to use these findings to continue their work on social behavior in humans. This is something that I find somewhat fascinating due to my recent work-related intensity on social networking applications on the internet. The honeybee, with its tens of thousands of (female) workers maintaining the day-to-day existence of the hive, the single, long-lived queen fulfilling its sole role of perpetuating the species, and the embarassingly single-minded male drones who serve basically as genetic material, has a complex, highly workable social structure. Bee Wilson’s The Hive: the Story of the Honeybee and Us is a pretty remarkable history of the honeybee. I read and reviewed this quick-read back in June, and provided me with much insight on my beloved honeybees and how they have related to human society through history.

Still, while the social structure of the bee is fascinating and certainly works for this tenacious, industrious species, I’m not so sure it’s something enviable for us. I know I wouldn’t relish my place in bee society as a drone, and for the ladies, those workers don’t seem to understand the meaning of the word fun.

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The Way Marriage Should Work

I was very interested to read an article in today’s Boston Globe about the Episopal Diocese pondering whether they should quit the marriage business. According to the article, a group of Episcopal priests think that the gay marriage debate has them feeling that perhaps they should not be acting as agents of the state by officiating at marriages. They propose that couples should be married by a justice of the peace, and then, if they want a religious ceremony, they could come to the Episcopal church to seek the blessing of a priest.

A couple of years ago when Massachusetts allowed gay marriages to be legal, spawning a huge controversy in religious circles, I oftern argued that there is nothing religious about marriage in the purest sense. It was merely a legal issue. I proposed that anyone should be allowed to marry, then if you wanted a “holy marriage” those who were eligible could seek one out at a church. This way, everyone is equal under the law, and if religious organizations wanted to discriminate against non-heterosexuals, that could be their decision.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.