Post about a fruit? That takes over your brain? Or something?

February 25, 2016 6:36 AM

There was a Metafilter post a while back and it was about a story that was like a science fiction/horror story. It's told like a series of transmissions I think? From what I recall it was about aliens invading people's brains, something about a fruit? And a color? I'm so sorry this is such a hopeless description but maybe it's enough to trigger something in the hivemind?
posted by like_neon to MetaFilter-Related at 6:36 AM (15 comments total)

Zack Parsons Instructions for a Help series.
posted by muddgirl at 6:39 AM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]

And here's the thread where it was discussed: RED WORM TIME is begin

(It is definitely hard to search for - I found it because I remembered it was a work by the modern genius Zack Parsons).
posted by muddgirl at 6:42 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

ITS RED WORM TIME
posted by charred husk at 6:42 AM on February 25, 2016

Alien fruit?
posted by octobersurprise at 7:18 AM on February 25, 2016

It is indeed RED WORM TIME. Thank you!!
posted by like_neon at 7:23 AM on February 25, 2016

So Instructions for a Help is one of my favorite Internet things ever, and has been for a long time. Just the other day I was introduced to the joy that is Zach Parsons via this post. Today I find out Zach wrote Instructions for a Help. Put a fruit in a bodie, indeed.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:37 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

anyone read his liminal states?
posted by andrewcooke at 12:49 PM on February 25, 2016

I was just think about Instructions for a Help the other day! God, what a fabulous piece.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:49 PM on February 25, 2016

+1 for genius strangeness that works for me.
posted by anotherpanacea at 2:18 PM on February 25, 2016

One had not seen this. One has seen this now. It is.
posted by Splunge at 4:05 PM on February 25, 2016

Also I've always kinda wondered, do you think The Last Of Us was at all inspired by this? Cordyceps is not exactly a common fungus.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:20 PM on February 25, 2016

This was such a fucking cool thing, and that's not just the red worm talking.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:43 PM on February 25, 2016

Congratulation! You have a filter!

A filter is not ready currently. You must post a filter. The color to question a filter is green. The color of a filter to taste great and put inside your brain is blue.

A filter when green is curious.

A blue filter become a self is bad. A filter at gray carries a vengeful riposte.

Do not snark. Get a hug.

To love a life a filter needs links. Take some up from your web and give it to a filter.

Tenderly place a filter on a page. The letters cut deep. The sharper the word, the less the pain.

Speak to a filter within the webs. "You are not all we need," tell a filter. "We need the link only. I love you filter. You will be happy. You will be happy."
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:01 AM on February 26, 2016 [11 favorites]

anyone read his liminal states?

I have, and I enjoyed it a lot, though it has some weaknesses. I got super excited when I saw the promos for HBO's Westworld because I thought they'd gotten the rights to make Liminal States into a series, then I was disappointed when I realized my mistake.

Instructions for a Help is amazing.
posted by trunk muffins at 9:55 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

My god am I glad I decided to randomly scroll through metatalk, which I never do, and click on this. Instructions for a Help is amazing, and so is the companion piece from the perspective of the Mans from Below.
posted by neonrev at 1:27 PM on March 6, 2016