Art, Play & Ritual

Here's an interesting quote from Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "Art, play and ritual probably occupy more time and energy in most cultures than work. While these activities may serve other purposes as well, the fact that they provide enjoyment is the main reason they have survived."

Later, in the same chapter, "One of the most ironic paradoxes of our time is this great availability of leisure that somehow fails to be translated into enjoyment. ..... Opportunites alone, however, are not enough.We also need the skills to make use of them. And we need to know how to control conciousness - a skill that most people have not learned to cultivate."

That touches on an element of Tuscan River that has not been discussed much as of yet - our desire to make the Tuscan River one that enriches Guests' lives on a level that contributes to long lasting enjoyment - an not simply momentary pleasures. Personal enrichment will be a feature of the entertainment parks.

The Arpiann Confederation

I was asked some questions about the Arpiann Confederation the other day. The Arpiann, aka the bad guys, are collectively the antagonist in the Portal to the Edge of Time story. Below is one part of my response.

"The Arpiann are the result of a mistake. A single Arpiann was created with the intent that the creature be an obstacle to be overcome during a portal race. Whether it was created as a living flesh and blood creature, or some kind of robot isn't explained in the book, but my thought was that it was created flesh and blood as part of a fabricated reality." (Tuscan River people fabricate realities and alternate dimensions all the time there was a great program on the Science Channel the other night - Traveling to a Parallel Universe Sci Fi Science - http://science.discovery.com/videos/sci-fi-science-videos/)

"The Arpiann is gender neutral and incapable of producing offspring. The Arpiann creature took its mission to stop portal racers too far. It was supposed to simply capture a careless portal racer and return them to Tuscan River, disqualifying them from finishing that particular race. The Arpiann, understanding its mission as to stop portal racers, grew frustrated that the racers it captured would return to race again, and that it would end up catching the same racers over and over again. It deduced that if it locked them up some place instead of returning them to Tuscan River it would be serving its programming more effectively. That’s when the trouble began. The good people of Tuscan River, realizing their racers were not be returned followed the Arpiann to the world it now created for purposes of imprisoning captives (The Arpiann was given portal technology to facilitate its role in the portal race, which meant it too could create new realities). All the captives were freed once unattended by the Arpiann, who went off to capture more racers. This frustrated the Arpiann even more, and it now determined it had to end portal racing on Tuscan River forever, and prevent portal racing from ever taking hold in other parts of the universe. It realized that this job was too big for one creature – so using the time displacement feature of the portal technology it created many, many copies (billions and billions??) of itself. For example, if two Arpiann were seen side by side, what you really are seeing is the same Arpiann at two different points in the timeline of its existence. They may be a mere five minutes apart in age, or maybe as much as 5,000 years apart. (or maybe 5 billion years?)"

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

I'm enjoying a great book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow has some great insights into what makes for the enjoyable and rewarding times in our life. The book examines the process for achieving happiness through control over one's inner world. Not surprisingly adventure plays a role in creating happiness. Although Csikszentmihalyi does not (at least so far in the book) explicity use the work adventure, he observes that by accomplishing meaningful challenges, whether primarily physical, mental or social, we achieve states where we are both focused and happily engaged. I hope that in building Tuscan River we succeed in creating an environment that provides meaningful adventures with the Parks and inspires people to take on desired challenges outside those properties.

Family Fun

As a Destination for Adventure and Family Fun it is certainly possible that people see Tuscan River is a place just for people with kids. And to that end we have done what we can to ensure that the Tuscan River experience is terrific for a parent or parents to share with their children.

By Family Fun we also mean to serve an audience broader than Mom, Dad and the Kids. A Family is a group of people with something in common, and includes groups of adult friends, couples, sports teammates and work colleagues.

One great value of leisure time is the opportunity that strengthen the friendships and relationships that make life enjoyable. That's our goal at Tuscan River. We look forward to building these properties for you.

Tuscan River Planning National Network of Entertainment Parks

Tuscan River Corporation is planning an initial group of Entertainment Parks at up to eight U.S. locations. The Entertainment Parks are conveniently located multi-activity leisure venues, designed to provide Adventure and Family Fun to people seeking to enjoy time together with in a festive community atmosphere. These entertainment parks will provide a balanced and varied blend of venues that include four restaurants, leisure oriented retail shopping, sports recreation, movie cinemas and amusements to create an integrated leisure experience for adult and family Guests visiting the parks. These parks will include themes from the Tuscan River series of stories, beginning with Tuscan River: Portal to the Edge of Time, expected to be published in 2010 followed by a major motion picture release possibly in 2011.
The eight locations will be in regions throughout the U.S., including New England, the New York / Philadelphia corridor, the Great Lakes, North Texas, and Northern California. As the Tuscan River development team continues its efforts specific locations in each of these regions will be determined. In New England, the Company continues to pursue a location in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, at the crossroads of Interstate 84 and Interstate 90.

St. Louis Steakhouse

Another reataurant planned for the Tuscan River Entertainment Parks is the St. Louis Steakhouse. This restaurant is not found on the Tuscan River world, but in one the historic Earth timelines the children visit with Lisa during the Portal to the Edge of Time story. Located along the Mississippi River in 19th century Hannibal, Missouri, the restaurant is in a white Victorian building with a red mill wheel spinning as the river flows underneath. In a private dining room the children meet a famous author, and the only 19th Century human privy to the portal technology.

Danza el por Rio

One of the restaurants planned for the Tuscan River Entertainment Parks is called Danza el por Rio. In the Tuscan River stories this restaurant is featured as a favorite hangout of Seep, a bounty hunter who plays a key role in the first story. Danza el por Rio is one of many restaurants on the entertainment metropolis of Tuscan Falls, located on the Tuscan River world. The restaurant specializes in South American and Latin cuisine and features a ballroom dance floor in the center of the dining room for both entertainment and Guest dancing.