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Octigene |
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Being the Jupiter 8, it's very hard to resist all things
related to the number 8 or to the mighty planet Jupiter. And so with the date of
8th August 2008 (08/08/08) looming it was impossible to let it pass
without something Jupiter 8 related happening. And so at 08:08 on 08/08/08 the Octigene (pronounced Oct-tee-jeen) was born. The idea was to create a friendly virus that would multiply itself up to 8 times each generation with the help of willing participants. The payload for the virus was a brand new track that I
recorded named Octigene. The track is 888 seconds in length (That's 9 minutes
28 seconds if you look at it on you MP3 player). So, on the morning of 08/08/08 at 08:08 am, my esteemed colleague Andy C from A-Frame Media sent out an email to 8 people who we thought would most likely to help cultivate and nurture the Octigene. Here is the Email: Subject: Celebrate 08-08-08 with a new track from
the Jupiter 8 Hello out there… In order to celebrate this monumental date of 8th
August 2008 we decided that we would release a one off track from The Jupiter 8. A number of ideas occurred to us about how we would
distribute it in a Jupiter 8 kind of way. So we picked 8 people that have shown an interest
in the Jupiter 8 over the last few years. You are one of those (lucky) people. So here is a link to the new Jupiter 8 track
OCTIGENE that you can download for free! (Note: link is not present to
preserve the integrity of the experiment) But, its does not stop there… What we thought we would do was to see how far the
Octigene would travel… So now that you have received this mail, you can
optionally do any of the following eight things: 1) Send this note to up to 8 people (zero is also
an option if you don’t feel like it). Ideally send it as a blank carbon copy,
so the recipients don’t know who else has got it. This way, some may receive
the note several times. 2) Download Octigene and enjoy the track! 3) When you receive this note, Mail us at info@aframemedia.co.uk With the following details Your First Name (or a made up
nickname) Where you are located
(County/State/Country will suffice) Who you got it from (i.e.
from the Details above)
Any other info about yourself you would like to add. (Note:
I won’t use your email for mailing lists or for spamming – I don’t have a
mailing list and I’m not too keen on contributing to spam landfill myself). 4) If you email me back, it would be nice to see
the email trail so that I can see how far and wide the Octigene has travelled.
So forward the note with the history on it if possible. 5) If you do send me back a mail, optionally send
me a picture of something related to the number 8. This could be a
straightforward picture or something cryptic, it will add to the fun! 6) If you do receive this note more than once,
send it back to me with the trail, it will be interesting how often the Octigene
crosses the same path. 7) Take a deep breath, count to 8 and relax. 8) Take it easy, you’ve worked hard today, well
done!! I must stress that all these things are entirely
optional. This is not a chain letter and so you won’t be cursed for doing
nothing or accumulate loads of money/status/partner’s etc if you do all eight
things. I hope you enjoy the track and taking part in the
Octigene experiment. Cheers OJ and Andy C And so, the send button was pushed and we waited to see what would happen. We had no idea how long the Octigene would live and how far it would travel. But, later that day it got played on the radio in Spain at 20:08 by Jorge from Articmist (thanks Jorge). We also had our first mutation which resulted in the Octigene multiplying 11 times. Thanks to Phil Derby who sent it to 11 people, which was very spinal tap (Eleven, that's three more than eight init Nigel!). At this point I also decided that in order to keep the integrity of the experiment I would not release the Octigene track in any other format, and so leaving it in the hands of chance and goodwill that it may reach people who enjoy The Jupiter 8.
The only gauge we have for determining if the Octigene is still alive and multiplying is the counter on the Octigene.mp3 file. As far a we can see, things have gone quiet, but somewhere out there the Octigene may be quietly multiplying.
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