Wednesday 24 November 2010

How much have I told you?

A lot of my life could be summed up as 'a history of obsessive scribbling' - I've been dabbling in various fictional worlds of my own invention since the year dot.  Some have been bigger, better and/or longer-lived than others, and while some have been shared, others have been kept private.  Some are co-created with other people, while the rest are mine all mine.

Now, I've thought up a little research project which I'd like to conduct, but it'll need some help from outside - specifically, from you, if you can spare a minute (you're obviously not that busy, judging by the fact you're reading this blog right now, right?): it's basically a scientific(ish) attempt to work out mathematically how much of my creative output I've shared with people.  The 'test' is very simple: I’ve compiled a list of fifty names from my various films, comic strips, artwork etc (arranged alphabetically, because I like alphabetic-ness), and you can score up to two points per name – one for recognising it, the other for knowing who or what it refers to.  (If you only knew a character by the short version of their name, you still get the points – the longer versions in brackets are for clarification only.)  After you’ve counted your way to the end of the list, stick a % sign after your number, and report it back to me.  That’s all I need you to do.

There's a bit of a special exception for name #40, because a lot more people will know what a Rhugestian Swamp Dog looks like compared to how many will know what it's called.

There aren't any categories for you to fall into - this isn't about classifying some people as good friends and others as not-so-good.  It's about how talkative I've been, more than anything else.  If your score is low, that doesn’t mean I don’t like you; more likely, I either haven’t known you for very long and/or just haven’t spent very long rambling on at you about the bizarre stuff inside my head, and/or you haven’t spent much time watching my YouTube channel and reading the other weird stuff I put on the internet.  I'll just say that if you score 80% or higher, there's a decent chance that your name is Tim; if you score 99%, you win a packet of Maltesers; and nobody will score 100%, because there are at least a couple of trick questions in the list, i.e. things that have never been published, and nobody knows about yet except for me.

So, having got the explanation off my chest, here's the list:
  1. Acid Gulps
  2. Albert S. Broccoli (not to be confused with James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli)
  3. Alex Lanning
  4. Arthur the Pensioner
  5. The Blue Danube, with Walnuts
  6. The Binary Triumvirate
  7. Black Antarctic Cryogenics
  8. Bradley Stanton Park
  9. Cylinder the Cylinder
  10. Distant Prayer – Fragment III
  11. Deep Glass
  12. Doctor Murkum
  13. Dyngaria
  14. Edwin (full name Edwin Leonard Hall)
  15. The Essence of Fandom
  16. Emily Arkley
  17. Empire Theatre, Mars City
  18. Establisher II
  19. The Fifty-Seven Meme
  20. First Dabox
  21. Forkley
  22. Fort Paradox
  23. Gastropo Thrush
  24. Gavin the Head
  25. Greenchester
  26. Harry Dixon
  27. Hooper (full name James Richard Boris Montgomery Hooper)
  28. The iKon Cinema
  29. I See the Light at the End
  30. Jason Meddings
  31. Lost in Minehead 2006
  32. Mark Coleridge
  33. Matilda Ferguson
  34. Metaphysical Violation Drive
  35. Mike Half-Left
  36. Pascal Davis
  37. The Prayers of Thousands
  38. Quantum Shampoo
  39. Redwood 257
  40. Rhugestian Swamp Dog (if you don't recognise this name, you can still score one point for recognising the critter in this drawing)
  41. Ron Haggard
  42. The Square
  43. The Suitcase
  44. Tarberford
  45. Tasmin (full name Anna-Beth Tasmin Linden)
  46. Tharryk
  47. Tom (full name Tom Thomason)
  48. Turbo Gran
  49. TW-A42
  50. West Spottlington
I shall look forward to hearing your answers, and for the sake of not leaving you in the dark, I shall post an explanation later of where some of these things come from.

Thanks in advance for your help =]


- The Colclough

4 comments:

  1. 31%.... I think!
    hmmm im obviously not spending enough time in the kitchen with hot chocolates after 10pm. :)
    -your sister (the elder)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My name is Tim, and I did get over 80%. 85% to be precise. I'm mildly annoyed that 1; I thought I might do a bit better, and 2; I don't get any Maltesers, though. Never mind... it was a very enjoyable exercise.
    -Tim

    ReplyDelete
  3. 10% Then again, I've pretty much only discovered Fort Paradox, Grace and Caffine, Intergalactic Hamsters, and Megastropulodon and I also have a very bad memory with names so yeah... I was never going to do well was I?! Then again, for knowing you since August I'd claim that's not too shabby :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think my score is pretty telling: I reckon 79% comes out as not-quite-Tim-but-almost. It also confirms that a certain three people are very well acquainted with the contents of the others' heads...

    ReplyDelete