The 1-18-08 Mystery

Good news everyone! Leah called me today and told me that we got the apartment. I'm really excited to get out there and start living in it (even though I've never had to pay for my home...the concept is foreign to me). Anyway, that kinda got me up a little early. So, I went upstairs...and found Amber staring at her computer.

Seems that my little sister is obsessed with the trailer I posted about yesterday. She "Googled" and "YouTubed" this thing, and let me tell you--I'm impressed. The research she's done is pretty good. Here is what she told me:

1. This is NOT a new Godzilla movie. Apparently it's being put out by Paramount (which puts out J.J.'s TV show LOST) which does NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO GODZILLA. Godzilla is distributed by Tri-Star in this country. Now that could have changed, but it would have been news.



2. There is an official website for 1-18-08, you can find it here: http://www.1-18-08.com/. It's very basic, just two time-stamped photos. One is a pic from the party (one dude giving another dude a shot). The other is more interesting, it's a close up of two chicks...who seem scared out of their minds. We thought there might be something hidden in it...and it seems there is an image of a devil in the girl on the left's hair (in between the faces, do you see it? Or are we crazy?).

3. A guy on YouTube did an analysis of the sound, and when he slowed it down proved that the people on the street are saying: "It's alive, it's huge." You can go here and see all his (super-nerdy) research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uHbwPF5yJk. So no "lions" thank God.

4. The movie is not listed on Paramounts website as an official project (with a release date). Why is that? Also there are a bunch of websites out there claiming to be related to this strange marketing campaign, but on Ain't It Cool News, J.J. himself claims that the only site people have thus found is the official 1-18-08 site. You can read his open letter here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33261.

5. Apparently, this film is known as "Cloverfield." Where she got that I don't know, but we both think that's a red herring/fake name or "project handle." This is common in Hollywood. I read that RETURN OF THE JEDI was called "Project Blue" or something like that.

Also, anyone with Bible knowledge think 1-18-08 could be Biblical verse? That's a claim that's out there...I haven't looked it up (alas, my heathen family has no Bible).

I'm sure this bores some people to tears, I also know that this level of interest is exactly what J.J. and his studio are hoping for. I think that as we get answers we're all going to be disappointed. Me and Amber talked about that aspect and have decided that we're going to see this thing no matter what. The way we see it, Abrams is ALREADY entertaining us by giving us such an interesting mystery. I remember when they did this for "A.I." and wasn't pulled in...not sure why I got sucked into this one, but I'm sure this won't be my last post about this film.

UPDATE: IMDB had a link on it's main page to an article on the website Filmthreat.com that has an outline of the 1-18-08 mystery. You can find the story here: http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=1990. Ignore the "Ethan Haas" stuff, if you read the J.J. Abrams note on Ain't It Cool...he debunks these sites (or is he trying to throw us off track?).