290) --- Soundtrack, Explanations, and Other Stuff -------------------- For anyone who's interested, here's the "Soundtrack" for part _one_ of SERENDIPITY (part _two_ coming sometime!), available from Sticky Turtle Records: Spock Walk : Star Trek - The Motion Picture King Of Wishful Thinking : Go West Theme from BACK TO THE FUTURE 3 Red Barchetta : RUSH Thunderstruck : AC/DC Princes Of The Universe : Queen Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way : Spectre General Hunger : Spectre General Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic : The Police Dare : Stan Bush It Feels Like Christmas: The Muppet Christmas Carol The Speed Of Love : RUSH Ok. Now that you've gotten through part one, I feel that I owe you all an explination or two, and answer any questions you may have. One of the questions I'm sure you have is: What the heck is this all about? It's all quite simple, really - This is a case study of _Serendipity_- the faculty of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. This is what happens when an Anime Newbie exposed through text, fanfic, and pictures, has (totally by accident) dimensional entities pass through his head and take the definitions for their personalities and physicalities from his thoughts, impressions, emotions, and images (Hey, it could happen!). However, the images are somewhat "scrambled", therefore the the first three entities that use the mental definitions end up being a mix of characters, instead of being one specific character or another. Of course, the villans also come from the same mind, but they had more coherent images, so they came out more "well defined". However, with their "images" intact, they naturally followed their original impluses, which were to _take over the world_. The three entities who had fuzzier definitions had some of their original personalities still showing through. Now that that's out of the way, I'll take care of some of the things in the story that you may not be familiar with (in the order you encountered them): Gryphon, ReRob, and Megazone: The three original authors of _Undocumented Features_, see below. The University Of Maryland, College Park: As you may have guessed, UMDCP is the setting for this story. It is a _large_ campus, but a nice one; with a lot of buildings, concrete paths, grass, and trees. All the buildings and roads (with a few exceptions) are oriented to be square with the four cardinal directions, making the entire layout easier to draw. The campus, being so big, is also slightly (yaright) hilly, with the lowest portion at Route One to the east, and the highest part to the west with Adelphi Road. The campus itself is often divided into four areas: North Hill, South Hill, the High Rises, and everything else. The dorms on campus are named after counties (on South Hill and North Hill) and cities (the High Rises) in Maryland. WAM lab: The WAM (Workstations At Maryland) labs are the primary public- access computer labs for UMCP. Each lab has a mix of Macintosh, IBM, and NeXTstations, all linked together by ethernet with the WAM UNIX servers (the Macs and IBMs use terminal emulators, while the NeXTs connect directly). These servers are acessable through modem or direct ethernet connection. The various labs are as follows. Parking Garage Two (PG2): Situated in the basement of Parking Garage Two is one of the largest labs on campus, with a pretty even mix of Macs, IBMs, and NeXTs. This lab also has a public-access scanner, and is very nicely maintained. Radios don't work so well in there, so people play tapes instead. It is open 24 hours. Engineering and Physical Sciences Library (EPSL): On the second floor of the EPSL library (in the Math Building) is another lab, with a small contingent of NeXTs and Macs. This lab is only open when the library is open (Duh). Worcester (WOR): This computer lab, which has _nothing_ to do with _Undocumented Features_ ;), is in the basement of an all-girls dorm, yet is still open 24 hours (it has a separate entrance). It's also close to the South Campus Dining Hall and other various North Hill buildings. Undergraduate Library (UGLI): In the basement of Hornbake Library (everything seems to be in the basement, doesn't it?) is the other large WAM lab. This one is filled with Macs and IBMs, and also has a large study area attached to it, which is open 24 hours, even when the library is closed. Centerville (CVILLE), Computer Science Center (CSC): Although not visited in the story, these are the other two major WAM labs. The one in Centerville is in the basement of the building, while the one in the CSC is split into three teaching labs, one for each type of machine. The UNIX servers and Cmsc class servers are also located in the basement of the CSC. GLUE labs: The GLUE labs are another set of public-access accounts run by the Compsci and Engineering colleges. They aren't as well used, since they're all on the east side of campus, but they hold the more powerful machines, consisting of DECs and SPARCs. Telly Monster: From _Sesame Street_. If you don't know this, man, you need to watch PBS more often. _Undocumented Features_ (sometimes referred to as UF): _Undocumented Features_ is, IMHO, the _GREATEST_ anime fanfiction series ever written. Originally written by three guys up at WPI (Gryphon, MegaZone, and ReRob) as a one shot story, it began to grow. And grow. And grow. Until even other authors began adding to it, making it grow even more. It has a little of everything, and is almost guaranteed to turn even the most ignorant person about anime into an anime addict (like it did to me ;). READ IT! The instructions in chapter six are no longer exactly the ones you need to get them, the directory is now just /anime, and all the files are gzipped instead of compressed, but the rest is still the same. Do it, and your life will never be the same again [For those of you who have no idea how to FTP, here's how to get the stories: 1) type 'ftp wpi.wpi.edu' on your account 1b) if that doesn't work, try 'ftp 130.215.24.1' instead 2) type 'anonymous' at the "Name" prompt 3) type your _full_ user name as the password 4) Once inside, type 'cd anime' to change directories 5) type 'ls' to get a _long_ list of files 6a) type 'mget dp.undocument.*' to get the original UF stories 6b) type 'mget dp.uf.*' to get all the short stories 6c) type 'mget dp.u*' to get everying on UF (be sure you have plenty of filespace first!) 7) answer 'y' to each query to download 8) type 'quit' when done All the files are gzipped with the .gz suffix, you may need to rename each file with .z before unzipping them with gunzip.] The _Diamondback_: The campus newspaper. Gordo, Rufus, and Aerianne: When I started this story in the summer, I was planning to have the three authors of UF pop into the PG2 lab, scaring the hell out of me and starting the story. However, in an Email message from Zoner, he dissuaed me from this tangent, as he and Gryphon were planning their _own_ spinoff for the authors (which became _Hopelessly Lost_, also available at WPI). Instead, he suggested a slight modification, which brought Gordo, Rufus and Aerianne into being. Gordo, Rufus, and Aerianne are not based on any one anime character, but instead are based on anime archtypes. Gordo is a cross between the Big Guy(tm) and the Educated Man(tm), Rufus embodies the Anime Inventor(tm) archtype, and Aerianne is the classic Anime Woman(tm). However, these archtypes are not the be-all-end-all for them, as the story illustrates... Ray: You'll find out who he is in part two... Korzon, Gleepians: Borrowed from Dan Sandler's comic books (a friend from high school) that he drew, Gleepians are green, floating aliens that have no limbs and a single eyestalk with eyeball. They have natural telekenisis, and can also fire megawatt beams from their eyes. Melmacians, General Larson Petty and his Aide-de-campe Sloop: Stolen from the ALF cartoon. Tigris, Felizians: A standard felinoid alien type, not really stolen from anywhere. Fred: Read part two, folks... _Forum_: The shortened form of _A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum_, a really cool musical that I like. It is based on the Roman comedies of Plautus, which had a lot of slapstick humor. Wildwood Summer Theater: A summer nonprofit theatre that I'm involved in that is run entirely by young adults from 15 to 25. We do one show a year, a musical, and we have a lot of fun doing it. _Hopelessly Lost_: The other major fanfic series created by Gryphon and Megazone, this one is more of an... interesting version of BubbleGum Crisis. Although not a part of the UF story, it's "started" by an event in UF, and runs to somewhere else...(like _I'm_ about to tell you what happens, read it yourselves!) It too is available from WPI, under 'bgc.hoplessly.lost.*' Trevor Syndrome: The inability to have a steady relationship for any major length of time (anything greater than 1~2 weeks is considered a 'major' length of time). The Bagel Place: A small restauraunt at the intersection of Route One and Regents Drive, across from the Maryland Book Exchange. Their main food item, naturally, are bagels. The Closet Of Comics: A comic book store that also carries manga and anime, this store is situated on Route One to the south of The Bagel Place, just a short walk away from my dorm :) . It is staffed by a real cool group of guys, including John Staton. Daniel "Deeds" Dukke and Ferdinand "Ferdy" Fox (sometimes referred to as DD & FF): The creation of former student John Staton, the team of Dukke and Fox starred in _the Diamondback_ for four years, starting in 1988. They are _Action Heroes(tm)_, and their motto is "We fight for truth, Justice, and Anything We Can Get Away With." Kei and Yuri would be proud of them. IRC: Internet Relay Chat. Don't get involved with it unless you _really_ want to, it is as addictive as hell. Unicron: Watch _Transformers: The Movie_, and you will understand... FOWL: The Fiendish Organization for World Larceny, borrowed from Darkwing Duck and taken over by Ray, making it a _hell_ of a lot more efficient in the process. Erasable Inc.: UMD's own improvisational comedy group, which is really cool. The Atrium: A room in the Stamp Student Union, which has three large skylights. Last year, Inc. performed there often, but nowadays, they roam about more often. The Citation-From-Hell: A 1982 Chevy Citation that has outlasted anything else our family has owned. _We_ don't call it the Citation-From-Hell, this is just an allusion to the vehicles from UF and Otaku Rising (also available from WPI). Star and Infinity: The activation sequence for the time-travelling- telephone booth from _Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure_. Trevor's Nosebleed: For those of you who don't recognize this standard Anime/Manga convention, this refers to the fact that when a male views an attractive female and is sexually aroused, blood rushes to the male's head with such pressure that it breaks the capillaries in the nose, causing a nosebleed. This reaction _can_ be taken to extremes, but it was decided that we didn't want to bother with cleaning the floor. Pooh Bear: From A.A.Milne's 'Winnie The Pooh'. Basically, this refers to the fact that I associate with Pooh, owning at least two stuffed versions of him. He's been with me for a long time, and anyone who says I _can't_ have stuffed animals because I'm in college has another thing coming! The Midnight Movie: Every midnight on Friday and Saturday, the Hoff Theater in the Student Union shows a more _unusual_ movie at a reduced price. These movies are often well recieved. _Highlander_: You don't know what this is?! Go to your nearest video store and rent it _NOW_!!! TBGTSTUAKA (The Beginners Guide To Saving The Universe And Kicking Ass) This is a little concept I came up with one night on IRC, still unwritten, that serves as a handbook for the prospective hero and/or hero team. Inspired by UF, but taking stuff from a lot of other sources, TBGTSTUAKA has chapters on such subjects as: "Becoming A Hero", "Morals", "Looking Cool", "Vehicles", "Public Relations", "The Enemy", and various classic Situations you could encounter. TAS: The Terrapin Anime Society. Meets every other Sunday in Hornbake for four hours, and shows a varied selection of anime. Currently, we're working our way through Maison Ikkoku two episodes at a time, as well as showing other OAVs and shorter series. Anne Arundle Hall: The honors dorm, recently refurbished, across from Tawes Theatre. Tawes Fine Arts: The fine arts building, housing the Dance, Music, and Theatre Departments. It holds the mainstage theater, Tawes, as well as Pugliese Theatre (A 99 seat thrust stage) and a 25 seat black-box Experimental Theatre. The building is due to be outdated, since a new performing arts complex is being designed, but it won't be finished until I graduate :P . Velociraptor Rapensis: See _Jurrasic Park_. Shampoo: From _Ranma 1/2_, this refers to the Character's propensity to explode from walls. While Aeri doesn't do this in the story, there is a general feeling that she could do it if she wanted to. 'Shampoo' can also refer to charging into a battle swinging heavy objects, which Aerianne _does_ do. Fly System: The system of couterweights, cables, and battens that lifts and lowers scenery and electrics above the stage. Bill Brandwein: The master electrician at Tawes. David (Kriebs): The Technical Director at Tawes, and my Thet 170 (stagecraft) instructor. Brighton Beach Memoirs: The Fall '93 show on Tawes Mainstage, written by Eugene O'Neill. Hellicott Hall: Another comic from _the Diamondback_, created by Eric L. Dunn, this one featured the denizens of "Hellicott Hall" (a bastardization of _Ellicott Hall_). It started a year earlier than DD & FF, and ended a year before they ended. The characters of Hellicott Hall are: Horse: The "Author Character" of the series, Horse is 6-5, well built, loves rock, and is a Design major (?) Shaggy: "thespianique reject from the hair cuttery", known for his love of rock, theatre, skateboarding, and other intellectual pursuits BJ: the eternal freshman of the series, who serves as a foil the other characters Spud: The token rich/short/stuck-up kid Jim Hooligan: The token redneck of the group Lugnutz: The MechEng. from the first 2 years of comics. He was the main modifier of "Black Betty", a station wagon with an F-15's engine Sarge: Horse's pet alligator. Ok, so he's bipedal, and can talk. Deal. Iggy: Horse's cousin. A small, black, horned furball on rollerskates. He carries around large weapons and a bad attitude. CVR, Battler Cyclone, Sabre Cyclone, Lite Cyclone: See Robotech or UF for the details on this very "amusing" power armor system. DOE: The Department Of Energy, in Washington, DC. "Strangers In Paradise": From one of my favoritiest musicals of all time, _Kismet_. "Pretty Women": This song is _not_ from the movie _Pretty Woman_, but from the musical _Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street_. What a nice love song is doing in a play about a psychopathic barber is beyond me. "Dulcinea","The Impossible Dream": From the musical _Man Of La Mancha_. The Valkyrie Helecopter: "Borrowed" from the DD & FF comic, the Valkyrie (no relation to the mecha from ROBOTECH) is the world's first nuclear stealth hypersonic attack helicopter. It was stolen from the US Air Force by a unit of New Zealand Sheep Commandos, after which it was stolen _back_ by DD & FF. After that, the Valkyrie has been on indefinite loan to the Dukke and the Fox. It's stats are: Power Plant: Dual GE 80002B Nuclear Reaction Turbines Top Speed: 6.87*10^-5 c (~~ 61.42 mach) Flight Ceiling: 85,000 feet Defensive Systems: ALQ500 Electronic Missile Countermeasures 50 Kiloton emergency cumpulsory self detonator Offensive Systems: 4 Vulcan M61E 20mm guns 1 Gannon MBTY6 variable targeyting 50mm auto transmission cannon 40 assorted missiles and antimissiles [Don't expect to see this in the WDF registry any time soon. -- Ed.] FM 99.5: The local 'easy listening' station, which has a tradition of playing Christmas Carols and other related songs as the days get closer to Christmas. Bull Shannon: The big, loveable bailiff from the 80's tv series _Night Court_. Montgomery Blair High School: Just north of Silver Spring, MD, bordered by Sligo Creek and Dennis Avenue, sits a red brick amalgam of buildings known as Montgomery Blair High Scool. It is the current housing of the Magnet and CAP programs (see below), and has a reputation for Westinghouse Finalists, guns in school, Superquest Projects, and Inner-City Mayhem. If this seems confusing to you, then think what it must be like to actually _go_ there for four years! Roy Fokker: From Robotech, this top-rated pilot was able to fly a state-of-the- art mecha while having one eye entirely covered by his wild hair. The Magnet Program: A Math, Compsci, and Physical Sciences program run by Montgomery county, housed at Blair High School. The magnet program takes the best students from all over Montgomery County, and ships them every day to Montgomery Blair, an "Inner City" school. How Silver Spring, MD can be considered "Inner City" is beyond the author's ability to comprehend. Once you are in the Magnet, your cirriculum is pretty much set for the first two and a half years, after which you start to diversify. However, you still _also_ have to satisfy the Montgomery County requirements as well. Also, due to the extra course load, the magnet day has one more class period than the rest of the school. Even so, the Magnet is a... unique experience, and suffice it to say, _neither_ of the authors would be what they are today if it wasn't for the Magnet. Study Hall: A Magnet icon, for 3 years the Study Hall was _the_ place to be during lunch periods. Magnet students would come in to eat lunch, work on the Mac Plusses, play games, talk, juggle, and other things. Unfortunately, due to the increasing class size over the past few years, the lunchtime crowd has been pushed out to make room for classes. Mrs. Wiz: The "Math Assistant" who resides in the Study Hall, she is another Magnet Icon, as she has pretty much been there since the beginning of the magnet's existance. Without her, it would probably fall to it's knees. Rev. Xmos: The creation of Jeff Hostetler, Kevin Yeh, and Aaron Greenhouse, the good reverend's writings (the infamous Poems Of The Day (POTD)) have been appearing on the Study Hall's whiteboard ever since my (philip's) sophomore year. However, as the study hall declined and the original authors left for different colleges, Rev. Xmos. faded into obscurity. But don't count the good Adm. Lieut. Dr. Prof. Mr. Mrs. Miss. Reverend Xmos, DDS DMV PDQ CPR Jr. out yet. :) --- This story was written on the University Of Maryland's WAM Unix system over a period of who _knows_ how many days and nights, on whatever editor was available (either vi or Edit), using many different sources, inspirations, aspirations, complications, degradations, aggravations, alleviations, elevations, passions, and affections. We thank you for your support. Live long and prosper. Philip Moyer---------------Qapla'------------pmoyer@wam.umd.edu "To boldly go where no one has gone before!"-Capt. J. L. Picard "Roads? Where we're going we don't NEED roads!"-Dr. E. L. Brown "Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection, The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me."-Kermit The Frog ---------"If it can be dreamed, It can be done."- ReRob-------- ************************************************************* Trevor W. Schadt (412)862-2305 paladin+@cmu.edu Box 4813, 5115 Margaret Morrison St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-3890 Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University "There are more things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy." -W. Shakespeare >THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE<