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Khyron

1.16.8

:: Cloverfield Preview ::

I am just a sucker for viral advertising.

It worked with Halo 3, it worked with Snakes on a Plane, and by God it's working with Cloverfield. By now I'm sure that you've seen the ads for it. From Lost producer JJ Abrams, Cloverfield promises to revitalize the modern monster movie genre and give to America what Japan got with Godzilla. Only the catch is that no one knows what the monster looks like yet. A carefully guarded Hollywood secret, the nature of the Cloverfield monster is being kept hidden until the movie's release this Friday.

Step into this part 1 of 2 look at the mystery and hype surrounding this sure to be blockbuster...

For many, our first glimpse of Cloverfield came with the cryptic teaser trailer premiered before Michael Bay's Transformers this past summer. It starts out innocently enough with what appears to be home video footage of a going away party in a swank New York apartment. However, after the building begins shaking and the power goes out, the party goers find themselves standing on the rooftop starring at a massive explosion and running from falling debris. It ends with a shot of the head of the Statue of Liberty sliding through a city street. There was no title, simply the words "In Theaters 1-18-08."

As is often the case with big movies like Transformers, I end up getting so blown away by one of the trailers before it that tend to forget about the main attraction. This was just such a case.

From then on the movie went through a series of names, from 1-18-08 to the mysteriously vague Project Cloverfield. It was also during this time that a series of faux MySpace pages and Alternate Reality Games surfaced to promote it. Similar to the Halo 3 "Iris" ARG I wrote about in my Viral Ufology column a few months back, this Cloverfield game likewise requires players to hunt through the Internet to find clues to further the story. Unfortunately this time around there was no mockery of the UFO community the likes of Society of the Ancients.

There are far too many aspects to this viral campaign for me to describe them all, but the folks over at cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com have been doing an awesome job keeping track of everything. Some notable sites to check out for Cloverfield initiates wanting to bone up before the release are slusho.jp and 1-18-08.com.

First off, at Slusho.jp, you'll be greeted with a cutesy Japanese Flash website seemingly devoted to some kind of flavored drink. For astute JJ Abrams fans, you'll recognize Slush-o as a fictional drink featured in Alias and Heroes. For sale on the website is various Slusho-branded merchandise that, according to those that have purchased it, come with memos describing some sort of accident off of the Japanese coast. Also described on the website is that its primary ingredient is some substance found deep in the ocean floor. Considering the Cloverfield monster most likely emerges from the ocean, I'd say it will have something to do with this Slusho ingredient.

Over at 1-18-08.com, you're in for a bit of a surprise. Just leave the site sitting there for 6 minutes and you'll hear an enormous roar blasting from your speakers. Well worth the wait.

As I said at the beginning, I just love these massive viral ad campaigns. Sure, there can be a dark side to them--especially when they involve hidden shills weaseling their way into Internet communities and secretly promoting something through deception--but ARGs and websites designed to create their own communities for promotional and fanbase purposes are one of the best examples of properly and effectively utilizing 21st century mediums. A far cry from the invasive pop-up ads and email junk letters that absolutely nobody likes, these new forms of web advertising are a win-win for all parties concerned.

Back to the movie, however, I'm still dying to figure out what that dang monster looks like. As a special treat to you, I just so happen to have some insider information about its possible appearance. We won't know for sure until Friday, but my sources tell me that it’s a 10-story tabby cat with a chitinous shell and aggressive demeanor. Here is my expert artist rendering. Rumor has it that if you place a mirrored reflection of the film's poster next to itself, you can see the face of some kind of monster as well. Though honestly it's not as frightening as my creation.

Spoilers abound, be sure to check out next week as I provide a full review and get to the bottom of this Cloverfield stuff. Until then, keep watching that Internet.


:: Dead End ::

Well, that's all for this week. I trust you enjoyed your trip into this shadowy nether-realm known only as the K-Files.

For the latest updates on the world of Khyron, bookmark http://www.khyron.net/. With content updated regularly, you're sure to find your fix for all things entertaining and paranormal. As always, feel free to send any questions/comments/suggestions to KFiles@khyron.net.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next  K-Files, arriving sometime next week. Later.

~Khyron, 2007.


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