Anomalous Item #4742: A set of 173 VHS tapes with blank labels.
When a tape label is filled out (there are provided fields for title, director, and year) and then placed into any functioning VCR, the film listed will play, regardless of if it existed before the tape was played.
This was first believed to be an effect limited to the tapes, ie, the tapes were somehow generating the movie themselves through some method similar to AI art generation, but after initial tests were performed the paratime division discovered the effect is actually antichronological: when played, the tapes don’t simply create the movie named, they alter the past so that the movie mentioned was created.
Thus, after a tape is labeled and played, it can be found on streaming services and in DVD rental stores. The directors, if still alive, will recall making the film, and actors who were active at the time the film was “made” will have anecdotes about events that happened in the film.
This can have ripple effects as well; during the 9th test, the film Big Trouble in Little China, 1986, directed by John Carpenter, was created. Besides the immediate effects of creating a new film that hadn’t existed, an indirect effect was that the film Alien 2, 1985, John Carpenter, ceased to exist. Instead, the sequel to the 1979 film Alien (directed by Ridley Scott)was titled Aliens and directed by James Cameron. It’s believed that by adding a new movie to the timeline of John Carpenter’s direction, he no longer had time to direct one of the works he had directed in the original timeline, as he would have been busy directing the newly-added film, and directing roles therefore passed to another director.
Use of the tapes can also implicitly affect the lifespan of directors. In test #17, Researcher J. Calhoun attempted to generate a film that couldn’t possibly exist: a prequel to a film made by a director who had died decades beforehand.
According to paratime research, the writing of “Star Wars: Episode 1, 1999, George Lucas” on the tape and the subsequent viewing undid the 1981 death of Mr. Lucas, causing Star Wars: Episode 6: Revenge of the Jedi to come out in 1983 instead of 1985, be titled “Return of the Jedi” instead, and it would be directed by George Lucas instead of Steven Spielberg.
This obviously had additional effects as it didn’t merely extend the lifespan of George Lucas by an additional 18 years: at time of writing in 2022, he is still alive at the age of 78. It’s therefore believed that the object doesn’t unnaturally extend the lifespan of the director, it instead reshapes the flow of time so that any events that would stop them from filming the listed movie do not happen.
After discovery of their history altering nature, the remaining anomalous objects have been locked in secure storage at site #22. No further testing is authorized, and emergency use requires level #6 authorization, which will only be granted in the face of imminent disaster requiring paratime remedies.
Article update[2022-11-20]: an incident occurred where it was discovered that former researcher K. Synnol had acquired one of the tapes (see investigation document 2483 for details) and was attempting to use it for history modification, without approval. The paratime division detected the impending history alteration and an assault team was dispatched. Synnol was apprehended before they could complete the use of the tape, however the label WAS filled out but the tape remained unwatched. What effects, if any, the partial use of the anomalous artifact would have on the timeline is unknown, but in previous testing the film only came into being when the labeled tape was placed into a VCR and watched.
See photo attachment #2, below, for artifact 1B, recovered after the Synnol event.
Tags:
#Goncharov #storytime #unreality cw #amnesia cw? #death tw? #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
I am the very model of a shrewd Ferengi businessman
I’ve been on Deep Space Nine since it was run by the Cardassians
My bar provides each alien that passes through its double doors
With gambling and alcohol, and holographic paramours
But that is not to say that I’m impervious to harder times
I’ve often been accused of larceny and graft and other crimes
My righteous indignation is becoming quite demonstrable
Especially with my old friend, the law-enforcing Constable.
I’m singing this while sitting in a holding cell familiar
So Odo comes and lets me out before he goes peculiar
That good-cop, bad-cop subroutine he just took to employing
Could use some work (or one more cop) – it’s really quite annoying.
Of course he can, his brother’s friend’s a famous weapons wholesaler!
He simply chose the path of peaceful station spirits retailer
But a little extra traffic under counters still is not a sin –
He is the very model of a shrewd Ferengi businessman.
Tags:
#Star Trek #DS9 #poetry #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
i dont think that is what consumption usually means
Tags:
#Gävlebocken #puns #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #illness tw? #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
My nayme is bird
And wen it’s Yule
And Swedish snow
Lies cold and cruel
I look for seeds
With many friends
But food is scarce
Where flock descends
But then we hear
Of ancient rite
We leave the trees
We all take flight
If fire not
Its end promote?
We do the deed.
We eat the goat.
Tags:
#Gävlebocken #poetry #i lik the bred meme #Christmas #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
With full respect to the Professor, if I were to ever work a “subject cannot be killed by any living man” prophecy into one of my stories, I think I’d want to actually play with the ‘living’ part of the condition instead of ‘male’ or even ‘human.’ Imagine the drama if Bob Redshirt, beloved secondary character, looses an arrow at the villain, kicks the bucket himself while it’s in flight, and posthumously lands a perfect shot.
i love both equally
The other option of course is to place an entire army of dead men on the same battlefield, and then have them not intersect with prophecy dude at all.
Tags:
#Middle Earth #fun with loopholes #story ideas I will never write #death tw #murder cw? #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
hmm no wikipedia i didn’t know that. i mean that’s pretty high praise tho how impressive could it beOH GODDAMNIT IT’S THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE
[ID: screenshot of a Wikipedia factoid that reads, “Did you know that Script Ohio has been called one of the most impressive examples of American folk art in existence?”
The video shows the Ohio State University Marching Band performing its traditional Script Ohio routine, in which the drum major leads the band single-file to form an enormous cursive Ohio on the field. The crossovers require absolute precision timing. It is a FEAT. At the end, the drum major leads out a sousaphone player, who kind of high-kicks his way to dot the I. (Wikipedia calls it a “bounding goose-step.”) He gives a sweeping bow to each side of the stadium. The band then sings “Buckeye Battle Cry” while accompanied only by the sousaphone. Here’s the Wikipedia article, which has a much better description than mine. ]
Did you know that Script Ohio gets me teary-eyed? Just something about the decades of work that sousaphone player has put in with a difficult and (forgive me for saying it) somewhat unpopular instrument, all leading up to this moment, and the double high-five with the drum major, to say nothing of the song, the precision when the marchers cross through the lines of the O and the h, everything.
I’m sure part of it is nostalgia–I grew up in Ohio, most of my friends were in marching band in high school–but I think there is also something actually special about Script Ohio.
Tags:
#art #home of the brave #the more you know #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
#overly literal interpretations #language #food #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
you never truly appreciate good internet unless you have bad internet
if you have a solid, timely connection that isn’t blinking in and out right now, take a minute to really live in the moment. for me. because mine is currently dogshit
i once lost internet at home for a month. that’s completely changed my stance on physical media and downloads. people are too reliant on streaming. you need DVDs and CDs and mp3s and books and magazines and mkvs and whatever else. you will not always have perfect access to the internet. it’s a good idea to make sure that doesn’t leave you without anything
#(2023-11-28) #<3 #technically it’s more like half a tag but #yes this #101 Uses for Infrastructureless Computers #disappointed permanent resident of The Future #this post was queued because my to-reblog list is too long and I didn’t want to dump it on you all at once
Brinens and Things 