Montfort

The participants, Nick Montfort:

12 Feb 2004, Midnight - 12:30am

I viewed and clicked on the piece for a while earlier this week, seeing images of what seems to be a possessed girl (apparently -- despite the male name in the title of the piece) at various places around a curious village, with a single house, a church, and four oddly enormous buildings. The small tree to the right grows taller when moused over. In this interaction, I clicked on the ladder to the treehouse at first; the other options that I noticed (satellite dish, cross) were removed. One section showed a sleeve of some sort that, upon clicking, would attach to her arm;
it could be seen in another section as her arm wobbled out from behind her. There was not a great deal of connection or progression, but evidently the acquisition of this sleeve happened before the section that portrayed her wearing it. She is seen in another section vomiting objects near a church. In another section, a larger boy leads her by the hand to see a scientist or doctor, who watches her vomit an object. Interactions at various points animate pinwheels and cause plants or flowers to transform. These seem very vaguely, texturally related to the people or events; a similarity of interaction, as much as visual style, unites the experience of these with the experience of those sections that portray people.

In the current interaction, I have selected the cross from the three initially "active" features that I noticed. A moment ago, I immediately clicked on the clock within this section, ending the sequence (presumably because this ended the reverend's reverie). So, I restarted and clicked on the drawers to see what is in them. I began with the lower-right drawer since people keep interesting things in their bottom drawers (particularly in interactive narratives). Indeed, a voodoo doll of someone like the girl is there. When I opened the drawer above it while it was still open, what seems to be an unfortunate visual effect occurred, and the drawers seemed misaligned. (The doll could be placed in the whatever drawer is opened fourth, if the intention is that should always be found last.) I found the bible-like book in the upper left and read the first text: "I am the right Reverend James Brisbane..." The "close" button in the upper left is functional but perhaps too amusing -- or maybe not. "... 1693" interesting, as there is a satellite dish and electric sign visible; I assumed the book described a figure who is currently alive. I cannot advance to the next page in the usual manner, so I begin again. I read on the "first" page of the book, this time, "This is my brother..." After reading "For a while now witches..." I again seemingly cannot advance, but after randomly clicking I move to the next page. Since a high-rise building is visible, I imagine that anachronism may be at work. There is also a reference to Salem, where which hunts would be occurring contemporary with the 1693 date. The book contains a picture like that of the girl: "Abigail Williams Ages 11/12." The "close" button produces a doorway, into which a punctured girl wanders.

After clicking on the clock to close this section, I note that in the main scene, there are features upon the round mass in the foreground. I click on the shape coming from the lower left of the large "Blue Lagoon" building. Unfortunately, only a blank screen results. I start again.

This time, I try the satellite dish, which makes the scene into a sort of musical instrument -- the windows of buildings illuminate as I mouse over them, making different sounds depending upon the building. (Neither the doorway of the church nor the two tiny windows of the house yield any sounds.) A tree near the pond, when moused over, grows taller, revealing fruits which fall when moused over. After visiting the church scene again and exiting from it, I try again to click on the shape protruding from the lower left of the "Blue Lagoon" building. Again, there is just a blank screen. I'll try again later...

17 Feb 2004, 10:30pm - 11pm

This time I found another book near the "treehouse" -- beginning "My name is Christian Shaw." I could get to one other caption for the photo, indicating the child is 10 years old. (This seems to be the individual I referred to as a girl earlier, and who may have also been identified as Abagail -- as was suggested by stockings and longer-than-boyish hair, I think.) I couldn't read anything else. Clicking on the satellite dish, I saw the building enlarged and was able to see cutaways by mousing over it. Clicking on a small protrusion, a new multi-level scene was revealed; children populated the space and clicked on their own keyboard-like instruments as I moused over them. An alarm clock there returned me to the changed "village" scene that I had seen before, with the round mass in front sporting a flower and an "active" cylinder of some sort. Clicking on that shows me a scene with Christian/Abagail in front of two fires. I click to depart and return to the scene of vomiting by the church, where strange creatures are present in the slide-away parts of the scene.

Generally, I feel that I'm always probing and playing, never making anything happen intentionally by doing as meaningful an action as opening a door or leading a character into a specific place. (I understand the conventions: click on a small X to shift within the current space of a scene; mouse over vegetable life and perhaps cause it to grow and change; orange in the main "village" shows that something is active.) If my actions are supposed to have repercussions and be "right" or "wrong" (e.g., "don't touch the flowers and make them change" or "explore and
manipulate everything") I don't know about it. This isn't a problem, but it makes me less likely to try to get to the bottom of the mysteries of this piece, and less likely to think that there is a bottom. I enjoy the texture of the piece and the strange anachronisms, confusion of gender, and mechanical plant life, but I am not driven to solve it.

I will interact a bit further, though: Clicking on the "fire" atop the round mass again, I find a witch-like creature, this time, reaching towards something firelike that is just off screen. Clicking on a stick in another part of the village, I move around until I see peach-colored child-creatures, as before, in the "fire" scene, running. Clicking on Christian/Abagail strips him/her, in this scene. Clicking on the snowman-like creature opens it up rather lewdly and grotesquely, and a small cat or child appears within. Viewing other scenes ... Christian flying ... I suspect there is more to see (the "unactivated" house in the upper left particularly suggests this to me) but I'm not sure how to proceed except by further clicking around. I feel that I'd probably see more of interest and revise my perspective in an interesting way, whether or not I did reach any sort of a solution or resolution. The images and the feeling of the interactivity work together well to create a sense of disturbance, and I'm interested to experience more and interact with the published piece.

--- END ---

Follow up Email:

Donna,

Thanks very much. With your help, I did reach the conclusion of the piece, which I enjoyed. Visually, I liked the "drive-in theater" effect. It was clear during this session that girl was being led to the doctor by the reverend, which I may not have noted before. I don't think it occured to me earlier on, although the visual connection is clear.

I took it on the authority of a Cantabrigian who had lived in Edinburgh that "Christian" was not a female name in Britian either -- perhaps that has changed over time, or perhaps it remains rarely used as a female name.
I suppose my confusion of Christian's gender only occured because of the piece's subtitle and the identification of Christian in the book within the piece.

Please let me know when you are making the piece public, as I'd like to at least write about it on Grand Text Auto when that happens.

Yours ever,

Nick

February, 2004