OK, this installment requires a bit more explanation. If you are reading this, and are a fan of web-comics, chances are you are tilting the geek meter a little to the left already. If so, you probably know about QR codes. If not, you may have noticed them popping up in magazines and newspapers. If you are oblivious of them, the skinny can be found HERE.
It takes a mobile smartphone or pad to read them (using a free app.) I am not trying to exclude anybody; I’m just trying to make it a bit more fun. So slip your geek on and give it a try! (And YES, these codes do actually say something.) (The link above also has some web page QR readers for those without smart phones.)
Because of the nature of these little flash fiction vignettes, I thought it would be helpful to index previous back stories and journal entries. Although Artiste’s tales are non-linear, it can help to read some pages in groups by threads of associated content. Of course you could just read them randomly, and trust that it will all come together at some point.
The beginning back story is always a great place to start:
• The Artiste Gullible back story
For this particular installment it also may help to read:
• Home Sweet Home
• Paying Debts
Translation follows:
Tomorrow's path a lonely road retread.
As recent past looms forward in the night.
My love forever shares with me a bed,
a shadow of a dream beyond my sight,
who spoons a common time inside my head.
Though separate lives leave echos in the stone;
a dungeon of duplicitous design,
through time and space our miseries atone
for errant sins who's origins are blind,
Forever bound together and alone.
Beneath this link is a QR code that URL's to the Artiste Gullible web site.
[text] To the left of my front door, on a large stone slab, a curious petroglyph greets my guests. Ancient in years, it calls from the depth of time and space, across the void; a curious mix of prehistoric malaise and modern marvels.
The stone was blank when I first discovered my home. It appeared shortly thereafter to my amazement and consternation. For eon stretching months, I stared at its pattern, contemplating its significance; wondering, in fact, if some future self had put it there as a warning or a muse?
It wasn’t till an early 21st century push that I deciphered it’s meaning.
It was later still, that I uncovered the author and added my own mark under its joyful lament.
Found a QR capturer at the link you provided, but it can’t read the QRs in the comic…I’d guess because they’re tilted. Can you provide flat copies?
…Or, I suppose, a translation…
I’ve seen a few comics do variations on this lately. As somebody who does not own a smart phone, I don’t really appreciate them. I’ve tried online QR readers, and none of them work on this one for me, even when I crop out everything else. And “Click the image of the petroglyph for a transcript” didn’t work, either.
Just saying…
I’ll just let it remain a mystery. I don’t have a smart phone and the ‘click the image of the petroglyph for a transcript’ didn’t work for me either.
Oh well, with all things techy comes the cutting edge of failure. I did test this a number of times on my smart devices and it worked great. It helps to zoom in on the image if your browser allows using command (or control) + or – before scanning the code. Also centering the mark in the middle of your camera helps as well. I did not try it with any of the browser readers, but I imagine that in that circumstance the outside material might give it a hiccup.
In any case, I have uploaded the poem into the transcript part of the post.
Thanks for being unexpected guinea pigs. On a side note: the installment was not supposed to post until Monday morning. So that bit of tech slipped through my fingers too. Such is life in the techno fast lane.
Thanks again!
FWIW I did get the “glyphs” to work on a smartphone so it wasn’t a complete technology failure. The first one was a mood-dampener, however. Tags “angst”, “lament”, “lonely”, and “love” sum it up rather well.
Thanks for the translation! It’s a lovely poem. I’m only semi-techy so help is appreciated.
Loved it! I downloaded Google Goggles for my Android awhile back, but haven’t run into too many practical uses for it yet, so this was fun. Lovely poem, too. A nice little Easter egg for your technophile fans (like myself). I’d been eagerly awaiting your next post, and was not disappointed. Thanks!
It’s really easy to find out what it means without a smartphone or whatever.
Just save the image, crop it so that it surrounds the first QR code, then enter it into a QR reader online; I found one, literally by searching Google for “QR reader” and it worked.
I did the same with the second image, but I did have to blow it up in size and sharpen it a bit in order for the computer to read it. This was nifty. I’ve liked this comic for a long time and I liked the challenge in this one. =)
A quick Google search allowed me to translate it. I’m not entirely sure if it’s correct, but alas.
“Tomorrow’s path a lonely road retread.
As recent past looms forward in the night.
My love forever shares with me a bed,
a shadow of a dream beyond my sight,
who spoons a common time inside my head.
Though separate lives leave echos in the stone;
a dungeon of duplicitous design,
through time and space our miseries atone
for errant sins who’s origins are blind,
Forever bound together and alone.”
@Plunger101: Looks like you got it. I had forgotten what a downer this installment was. Teenage angst must have finally caught up with middle aged melancholy. Hope you enjoy the rest!