Thursday, July 24, 2008

Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project Tests 50

The first accounts of the "tests" at the Dharma booth at Comic-Con are rolling in. Lucky recruits are required to enter a booth where they are asked to choose a test, and then answer some questions aloud.

Ryan and Jen from The Transmission, have an interview with an early test taker, and also have taken it themselves. Jen took the Ganymede test and Ryan took Amalthea.

The questions for the latter were:
1. What was your first live concert?
2. What is the sound of terror?
3. What was the first album you bought?
4. Who is your constant?
5. What is the sound of red?
6. When were you last truly happy?

Word association photos:
1. A tree-lined road at night.
2. Skeletons.
3. A child in a sprinkler.
4. Little Red Riding Hood in bed with the wolf.
*
Thanks Memphish for posting this in comments.

Tapdawg
took the Callisto test and also managed to get a camera in the booth. You can see his video at DocArtz.com. His questions (posted at DocArtz.com) were:
1. State your name while holding up a number (they give you the number when you take the test).
2. Repeat the word Continuum three times, louder each time.
3. How are you feeling right now?
4. What animal do you relate to the most?
5. What 3 words best describe you?
6. What's your first memory?
7. Who is your constant?
8. Something like, if anything can happen does that mean that nothing can happen too?
9. Do polar bears make good pets?

Word association photos:
1. A Young boy is squirting a hose onto a young girl.
2. A sign posted an a tree said 'surprise?'
3. A picture of a single lane road in the dark woods.
4. A skeletal side view of the teeth and jaw.

Lost ARGs spacerThe names of the tests, in order are: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Amalthea, Himalia, Elara, and Leda, based on screen shots from Comic-Con Live. They are all moons of Jupiter, and also tied to Greek mythology.

*Thanks Maven for pointing that out in comments.

50 comments:

Ange said...

So, do we look at moons or mythology? Or both?

Also, it seems that the questions and pictures are designed to illicit an emotional response as well as a sensory one. What is the sound of terror? What is the sound of red? And both lists of questions asked Who is your constant?. I find it slightly creepy, especially since they are taping all of the tests and showing them on a big screen for everyone at Comic-Con to see.

memphish said...

I'd say mythology given their former use of Apollo bars.

But . . . There are 63 moons of Jupiter. What other names do we think thy might use? I'd guess Io, Hestia (the former name of Himalia) and Elara. I think the first guy said there were 7 choices. But if there are 8, I'd also guess Pasiphae.

maven said...

Wonder how Greek mythology will figure into this recruitment drive "project".

Anonymous said...

Here are the tests i rememebr of the 8:

Io
Europa
Callisto
Himalaya


and the ladies at the booths said that if you didn't sign up for a test you should look for the dharma employees outside and give the secret word 'jupiter'.... i think jupiter is important here.


Tapdawg

Anonymous said...

so that means we know for sure:

Callisto, Europa, Amalthea, Io, Himalia and Ganymede.

There are two more... and I'll try to figure them out tomorrow.

maven said...

Thanks for stopping by here, Tapdawg. You're doing an awesome job reporting in at DocArtz!

It is interesting that the moons of Jupiter are chosen for this 8 different aptitude tests, and they also were named for Greek mythology. More to research!

Dennis said...

Here's the complete list, in order:

Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
Amalthea
Himalia
Elara
Leda

Twinkle said...

Hey all! There's a condition called synaesthesia that makes people see numbers as colors or taste words. Sounds like hearing colors to me. Sounds irrelevant but it's pretty cool. And it reminds me of one of my favorite songs, "Smell the Color Nine." :-)

Thanks for reporting on this and keeping tabs on everything with this blog!

Patch said...

Hi guys! So we're on again, eh? :)

Just a nonsensical thought but
I wonder if Apollo had 'daddy issues' with his father Jupiter?

Anyway, cant wait to get stuck into this. I hope it's as fun as the last ARG's.

Ellen said...

Checking in to say "hi"!

Dennis said...

Hi Ellen!

Ellen said...

Hi Dennis! This is an awesome place you've got here!
xxoo

Capcom said...

FWIW, the only moons of Jupiter that are visible via backyard stargazing with binocs or an amateur telescope (or people with reeeally good eyes) are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. If it ever comes down to picking four of them at some point, that might be where to start.

Ange said...

So these symbols that are making up the icon for Dharma and on the DWY page, do you think they correspond with the moons in some way? Maybe each symbol represents a moon, or a moon phase.

HERE is a great NASA page on Jupiter's moons. Incidentally Io is teaming with volcanic activity.

memphish said...

Well, the DWY bagua is different from the baguas we've seen on the show previously. There's a couple of translations for the bagua segments on that page as well.

maven said...

Here is a concise article on Jupiter's moons. Here's what it says about the naming of the moons:
"For the literary minded: the names for the satellites are all taken from Greek mythology, more specifically, from lovers or amorous adventures of Zeus/Jupiter, the top god on Olympus."

lost2010 said...

8 sides to an octagon - 8 symbols making up the new dharma icon - 8 tests - what else is there 8 of?

memphish said...

Santa's reindeer. (Rudolph doesn't count. He was made up later.)

memphish said...

More eight.

lost2010 said...

I hadn't realized quite how much Zeus/Jupiter got around - I wonder if he ever met Captain Jack from Torchwood. . .

Io

Europa

Ganymeade

Callisto

amalthea

Himalia

Elara

Leda

lost2010 said...

There are the 8 trigrams -

Wiki article on trigrams

Earth
Mountain
Water
Wind
Thunder
Fire
Lake
Heaven

Capcom said...

Whoa! It's all blue here! :-D

Triva: I was told a while ago from an electronics expert friend that Io is so volcanic because of its position gravitationally in its orbit, and that it affects the eletrical field of that moon. There was more to the story, but it involved theories of electrical Current ("I"o) and I wasn't smart enough to remember all that he said about it. On the other hand, I had never read that about Io before, so I wasn't sure if he was just pulling my leg about it or not.

Barb said...

In addition to regular ComicCon coverage. ... reflections on the serialized phenomenon concerning castaways, Others and others are shared in Lost: A G4 Special, premiering Friday, July 25, at 10 pm/ET on the G4 cable network.

Twinkle said...

I've heard it too, Capcom. Jupiter's gravitational force on Io, the location of its orbit, and other factors causes tidal forces which generate volcanic activity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)#Tidal_heating

memphish said...

Something has happened at the Dharma booth at Comic Con. They are canceling the afternoon appointments according to people who are there.

memphish said...

From jopinionated (the person who was/is Jeremy Bentham) Holy sh*t...The ODI has an unbelieveable exclusive - the Dharma bluetooth video! He will post it soon... So we have that to look forward to soon.

memphish said...

The ODI is getting ready to post the bluetooth video to his blog. He says it's very Room 23.

Ange said...

Whoa my feed reader is going nutso...lots going on. I like it :D.

Also, over at Dark UFO they have managed to connect some of the moon names to Dharma stations, in a round about but interesting way.

Memphish: What was it that you mentioned about Dharma appointments being canceled for this afternoon? Is there any more info on that?

Lost2010: AWESOME info on trigrams. It's funny but when I was reading the NASA page about Jupiter's moons I was thinking that it was neat that each moon seemed to represent a different trigram:
Io=sulfer/volcanic (fire).
Europa=water/ice (lake or water)
Ganymede=is covered in craters, mountains, and valleys (mountain)
etc.
Oh also that each trigram has an animal to go with it, some we've seen around the island: horse (Kate's), dog (Vincent), cow (at Patchy's cabin), dragon (Smokey?), fowl (Mr. Cluck's Chicken/swan, pig (wild boar on the island in a variety of instances). I just like connecting things :D.

Capcom: You'd be happy to know that page also details Io acting as an electrical generator and causing lightening in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter.

Okay, going to go sit on my hands now and wait for more from Comic-Con.

memphish said...

Ange, all I know about the Dharma testing is that 2 folks at Comic Con reported that it had been cancelled for the afternoon. No reason why given. Maybe it will come up on G4 tonight since they are supposed to be covering it. Unfortunately, I can't watch tonight. I'm heading up a 9-year-old spend the night birthday party and we'll be at the theater watching Space Chimps. (Well I'll probably be hitting refresh on my iPhone while they watch.)

memphish said...

Jay and Jack have posted a vidcast of their Dharma booth experience. Nothing new, but you can see the choice screen pretty well when John Norton masquerading as Jay enters the booth.

Capcom said...

Thanks Twinkle and Ange! Now I know that he wasn't kidding me about it. :-)

I like your connections Ange.

That's weird about the cancellation. Any word from the people there whether it seems like it's something in the "script", or more like the Apollo fiasco where they got overwhelmed by the huge response of participants so they bailed?

Ange said...

Tapdawg just live-blogged the Lost panel from Comic-Con. You can read his transcript at DocArtz. Seems pretty straight forward panel stuff, but Tapdawg does mention that, "Two dharma woman entered and are sitting in the reserved section... interesting"

Incidentally Hoodlum (the company that ran Find 815) is also doing this new ARG...
So I guess we wait and see what Saturday brings.

memphish said...

From Jo who was at the EW panel -- Overheard Octagon staff say they are having 'technical difficulties.'

maven said...

For the day that's supposed to be the calm before the storm there's a lot of news! Thanks for all the coverage and links to help me catch up!

I like how those at DarkUFO tried to work the moon names in with the stations. We know that things and people on LOST are named for a reason. Maybe the "test" you pick steers you towards the work that a particular station does.

maven said...

There's also some discussion on various sites that the Greek mythology names might relate to the ancient civilization that was on the island...a tie-in to the 4-toed statue and other ruins. Maybe the island was a vacation spot for the Greek Gods! LOL

Capcom said...

Geez, let's hope that it ties in with the 4-toes! That would be great to finally have something there.

BTW, not to deter anyone from going or anything, but I just got back from seeing "I Want To Believe", and I found it sadly underwhelming. :-( Scully is the star of it though, IMO.

maven said...

FYI: Damon and Carlton, along with Doc Jensen, took the Dharma tests today...check out the pic on Tapdawg's post. They took Io and Jensen took Europa.

Ange said...

Interesting Maven! I wonder if that's why the afternoon appointments were canceled, to clear the schedule for the "celebrity" applicants :D. This is so neat (have I said that like 11 times already?!)

Capcom said...

Crikey, this G4 show is 1/3 adverts, 1/3 actual content, and 1/3 repeating announcements about what's coming up next! :-(

maven said...

That's why I'm DVRing it, Capcom! LOL

Capcom said...

Yeah, old fashioned me with my VCR! LOL!

The Lost special on right now is very good!

maven said...

I'm enjoying this special...especially when they're talking about the internet fan base! I saw DarkUFO, Lostpedia, DocArtz and the Fuselage, but no TLC! :(

Capcom said...

I know! The ABC site forum was on there too. Oh well.

The DHORKMA clips were pretty good also.

Capcom said...

ODI posted a cellphone tape of the Rm.23-ish Dharma booth film.

maven said...

Is that cellphone video supposedly "hacked" by RuckusGuy via bluetooth?

They've got some screencaps of the video up at DarkUFO.

Anonymous said...

“The Transmission” has the audio for yesterday's comic-con panel. Probaly old news by now but thought I'd post it.

This special edition features the audio from the Entertainment Weekly “Visionaries - Showrunners” panel on Friday.

http://www.hawaiiup.com/lost/

Anonymous said...

* make that today's thought it was Saturday already.

Yet again. (posted this on ITE first)

Anonymous said...

I thought it was fun to listen to much better than just a few lines from the bloggers..

Don't get me wrong they are doing a GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

But it's closer to being there....

Tapdawg is awesome in the job he's doing... and in the audio from the panel today.....

Unknown said...

I made some searches on the Atlas Comics website (atlastales.com): the artist that drew this story published in the same month this:

There'll be Some Changes Made 4pg Ditko
Reprinted in: Curse of the Weird 4
Notes: Signature is on bureau in background.

Along with the story In Mystery Tales 40(published the same month) this was Ditko's first published work for Atlas.


on "Journey into Mistery 33". Looking at the cover, it seems to be some kind of story about time travel. And it seems that there should be a Booth concerning Ditko Artworks at the San Diego Comic Con too. Could it be a trace for the game?

Ange said...

New post, just a recap of yesterday's activities at Comic Con.