Lust Prologue

## Meet the Sinclairs

It was at the culmination of The Tension Experience, The End, that mysterious cards were pressed into several hands just outside of the OOA compound. The card directed participants to http://www.thelustexperience.com, a holding page with social media links which later became an email sign up form. On 01/15/17, The Tension Experience Facebook page posted "29".

The Lust forums go live on 02/13/17 and, without any real direction or guidance, speculation begins. @kipsie examines the source code and finds a message addressed to her: “Kipsie …maybe this is important, Feb 15, 7pm”.

At the aforementioned date and time, bots appear to start spamming the Lust forums, linking to a site that advertises The System. With the tagline "Stop asking for permission - take what's yours", this hyper-aggressive alpha-male-styled self-help series is headed up by Noah Sinclair. Many people request entry into this program. A few days later they receive an email back from either Noah or Sarah Sinclair with one of three responses; a few are either immediately accepted or denied access to the program, while the majority of participants are given a questionnaire to fill out to help further decide who will be selected.

Shortly after, two participants get calls to have meetings set up with Noah and they have very different interactions with him at the 3/22 Meetings with Noah.

## Who is in control?

Following a dramatic launch party for The Tension Experience book, and during a period of high strangeness, participants receive information alluding to ouroboros, Confucius, libidinal states, and specular surface geometry. Shenanigans abound at SXSW with @bcbishop (Bryan) being stood up by Noah Sinclair, and shadow accounts emerge on both the forums and social media. Participants start to believe that Clint Sears and Darren Lynn Bousman are no longer in control in the way they appeared to be previously. Following a few days where there are fears he is missing, there are multiple strange encounters with Darren including @bcbishop's encounter with him during the 3/22 Noah Meeting. Not long after this, @bcbishop also receives a strange email from Clint, including some information about himself that does not add up (Read the full email here). It is discovered that an image attached to the email has a warning hidden in the file information saying, “Trust me, walk the fuck away, Bryan. Now.”

Around this time, there are also mentions of The Investors being the ones that are actually pulling the strings. @theladyj gets a phone call from Marcos, an alleged investor, who asks her about The Lust Experience and how it has been for her so far in a quality assurance type of call. Participants are not even sure if this is "in game" due to its 4th wall breaking nature, but receive confirmation that he is indeed one of the Investors.

## Focus Group

On 3/29, the Facebook page posts the status: "90013 - Thursday - Only 1". @wanda102 is asked to choose someone for this one-to-one and she picks @julierei who is told a time. The Facebook page then posts a picture of the location, which appears to be The Last Bookstore. There she meets with Sarah Sinclair who invites her to a focus group that Sunday, and asks her to write down five names. She is given the choice of the five listed attending the focus group, or attending herself. She chooses herself meaning the five are not going to be allowed to attend.

Later that evening, “The Losers’ Club” (a group formed out of participants who received the rejection e-mail from The System) meet at a bar called Tiki No. While there, self-proclaimed leader of the “Losers”, @thebuz, receives a phone call from Noah who tells him that Buz will now be attending Sunday’s focus group and he is to pick four more people to join him.

The following day, @mike and @russell (of My Haunt Life) are asked by Noah to pick four more attendees. With one of their chosen participants unable to attend, a vote is taken by the community to fill the final spot.

With ten participants now selected, 4/2/17 sees the in-person event: Focus Group.

## Noah's Meltdown

As tension builds between Noah and Sarah Sinclair, participants start to theorize that it is actually Sarah who is in control of The System, with Noah merely the figurehead. This idea starts with the Focus Group event where participants saw Noah show up to the event apparently drunk, Sarah calling him out in front of everyone, and Noah apparently being detained by the LAPD. Following this dramatic conclusion, questions begin to arise regarding Noah's mental condition and physical whereabouts, resulting in participants sharing missing posters on social media. On 04/04/17, Sarah Sinclair sends an email to participants with a press release attached, declaring that Noah has been hospitalized with exhaustion and diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Noah appears to fight back, using one of the original forum spam bot accounts, @@maddyxxx, to voice his dissatisfaction with his wife's handling of the situation.

The Lust Experience Facebook account also shares a mysterious message: "4/18 17". Interestingly, there is a participant-organized meet up in OC planned for this date.

By 04/10/17, the spin machine still seems to be in motion, with participants receiving an email from the executive assistant to Sarah Sinclair, Macy Jones. Thanking everyone for their continued support, Macy states that they are "110% confident" that Noah and The System will be back on track very soon. However, @mkarrett receives another email from Macy, apparently in error, intended for "Melanie", which offers another side to the story. After informing Macy of her mistake, and sharing the sensitive email with the forum, @mkarrett receives a panicked phone call from Ms. Jones.

The next day, a new page appears on The System website: Join Us. Implying that Macy's employment has been terminated, and referencing Noah's "medical situation", the page invites candidates to "Profess why you want this out loud and with a vengeance! Whatever you do, do it big and do it proud."

On 04/13/17, @lilmsfancpants has a lunch meeting with a frantic and disheveled Noah, dressed as a homeless man and rambling about everyone in the park being robots (in a sense that they are under control). Macy Jones then resurfaces with a phone call to @sfire8, leading participants to Twitter and Periscope accounts: @sinclairpayback. A tweet, "To S - the last one was a mistake, this one is a fuck you", is followed by a periscope that results in a dead drop on Hollywood Boulevard. Several participants arrive at the location to discover a print out of an email from Sarah; she is upset about how her "dog was off his leash again" but asking the recipient to "please spin this to your superiors in a way that shows I'm on top of it and in control as always", further confirming the theory that she is the one pulling the strings, not Noah. The email also implies an extramarital relationship between Sarah and the recipient, Timothy Granik. Macy has added a handwritten note to the bottom of the page: "Three years two weeks four days standing by your side and you threaten my family? FUCK YOU. Xo Macy".

Sinclair Industries' public response to these events arrives in the form of another press release, this one from the desk of participant @larry, apparently an associate at Klein & St. Jude, "LA's Premier Crisis Communications Firm". This document accuses Macy Jones, although not identified by name, as having been terminated by the company for embezzlement, "manufacturing fictional internal communications between company management", and distributing these through "public channels". Macy calls @jared, sounding distressed, thanking him for his help with the dead drop. She also calls @mkarrett again, saying she just needs a friend.

At the 04/18/17 participant meet up in Orange County, the Sinclairs arrive together. Sarah takes a seat at a table, chatting and toasting with participants, before being joined by Noah, who is drinking water. He claims full responsibility for recent events, but with Sarah's support, he is fully committed to his family and The System will continue in May. Sarah states that everyone will be invited to the first event for free, then stands and whispers in Noah's ear, following which he makes his excuses and leaves, pausing to pat @prufrock5150 on the back.

Sarah remains at the table, drinking a martini, chatting to participants before asking @taysavestheday to show her the way out. Following this, participants report several interactions, including @prufrock5150’s encounter with a “security guy”, @taysavestheday's photograph being taken by Sarah (with the apparent appearance of Macy commenting via her Periscope account), the reading of Sarah’s joke cue cards, and @lilmsfancpants revealing the letter she found from TG (Tim Granik) to Sarah.

The next day, it is revealed to @lilmsfancpants, via a delivery at work and an accompanying email, that @prufrock5150 had received a burner phone during his interactions the previous night but had not acted any further. @meghanmayhem is chosen to be the new recipient of the burner phone and begins to receive communication from Noah Sinclair.

On 04/20/17, participants receive an email directing them to a new Twitter account, @SinclairInc, where the Sinclairs will address the public later that day.

At 8.30pm (PDT), the Sinclairs go live with this periscope. The video starts out overtly normal with the Sinclair's acting like a happy couple that do not have any of the issues seen previously, and Sarah seems to be trying to convince everyone that The System is back on track. However, Noah seems distracted, texting on his mobile (the recipient being @meghanmayhem as is later revealed) and pointing something out to Sarah: “under there…” “under where?”. It’s going well, but as Sarah tries to wrap up the broadcast, Noah grabs the camera and imparts his own take on the situation, going on a rant about how everyone is ultimately alone and The System is here to teach you how to feel when "they" aren't doing it for you. Sarah can then be heard to say "that's enough" before she suddenly cuts off the periscope.

## iConfidant goes Live

In early April, participants begin to receive phone calls, asking what they look for in a best friend, or in some cases a romantic partner, with insinuation that they could be provided with such a friend in the near future. On 04/12/17, a site called iConfidant is introduced by its founder, Stacey Erikson. Halfway between a friend-meeting site and dating site, iConfidant advertises that it will connect you to your new best friend.

iConfidant begins their Beta program on 4/13 with a bunch of iConfidant Calls going out from an employee named Kristen, which include a strange noise followed by several questions. iConfidant shares daily motivational posts on the subject of friendship until 4/21 when participants begin to receive an email entitled "Congratulations" which includes a list of 5 instructions/questions.

However, strange things begin to occur. @kasch gets rejected from the program due to aggressive emails being sent to Stacey Erikson from his email account, although they are not being sent by him (View emails). Morgan (@111error) finds that he has been removed from the list by Kristen, who wants to meet him for coffee.

Morgan meets Kristen for their coffee date on 04/25/17. They get to know each other better; Kristen talks about friction with Stacey at work, and how she moved to LA from Fresno in search of a new life. There is a notable moment where she asks Morgan to repeat himself but slower, while she cocks her head to one side. Following the date, Morgan receives a phone call from a sobbing Kristen who says: "I'm so sorry, but I promise, they didn't find what they were looking for."

Participants are informed that the process of pairing has begun on 04/26/17, and first contact occurs for many the following day. Through iConfidant, people start forming a pen-pal type relationship with anonymous Confidants, but from the beginning there are weird occurrences and messages leading to speculation that participants may be interacting with artificial intelligence.

## Our friend, Otis

As requested during their initial meeting at the Focus Group, @mike sets up a Facebook profile for his new friend Otis. Although unsure whether Otis is part of the experience, or merely an unsuspecting non-media savvy old man looking for love in the most confusing of places, many participants send him friend requests. He begins to chat to several people, about the object of his affection, and also his love of pets and country music. It is noted that one of his Facebook friends, "Dorthy Edna Jordan", shares her name with a "Dorothy Jordan" who was congratulated in an early OOA newsletter during The Tension Experience for gaining "new sight".

On 04/24/17, Otis announces via a status update that he is suddenly unemployed. He then arranges to meet with @mike and a couple of friends on 04/27/17, following a job interview. Otis meets @mike, @mkarrett, and @rizzzoooooo for coffee and pie. While there, with encouragement from the participants, he calls his love interest, Janice, and leaves a voicemail inviting her out for pizza. He reveals that he did not get the job he interviewed for as they wanted someone younger.

The next day, Otis shares that he has applied for another job on Craigslist - as a driver, "$$$ for one time transport".

## Registration

The Prologue ends with an in person event called Registration, where attendees meet with The Investors and sign a piece of paper declaring: “I promise to fully submit myself to The Lust Experience”.

That same night @meghanmayhem reports that she has received a phone call from Noah on the burner phone, and that she has been "activated". Her forum post is echoed on The Lust Experience Facebook page, accompanied with a link to the video of The Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage'.

At the warehouse, she goes live on periscope where Noah takes the phone and rants to his father, Horace Sinclair. The biggest implication here is that Horace may have been in charge of The OSDM or at least high up, and while holding up all of the sign up questionnaires from Tension, Noah says "Here’s all the precious, emotional data from your previous experiment". While he is talking, he has @meghanmayhem flip over some pieces of paper on the floor and, after telling us he is going to reveal what's really going on, we get a shot of what is on the other side of the papers: