spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

More from Sanitarium Island.



(With the advent of Zydrate and better organ-transfer procedures, organ theft is a serious concern.)

Mr. Rottissimo Shilling is the leader of GeneCo in Second Life, and he is no less firm on the ravages of organ theft as his movie predecessor. Repo postulates a society where organ theft, and black market organ transfer, are not ethical concerns but financial ones: with the development of genetic medicine, vat-grown organs removed and transplanted became an issue of commerce, not morality.



(The Bates Motel...in Repo?!?)

All right, I admit, finding this amused the hell out of me. The marquee sign of the Bates Motel, urging enjoyment of the courtyard pool.



(Don't let the children in there.)

The, err...courtyard pool. But that does bring up an interesting point: Shilo, in the movie version, is the only child we see, and even she's a young adult by the time the story opens. We hear of her mother's mythic pregnancy, and the hazards surrounding it; but it begs the question of what the rest of the society is doing. Has pregnancy become that lethal? Is everyone more afraid of dying, than passing on their genes?

Where are all the children of Repo??



(Pirate radio stations advertise in the same governmental font on back alley posters. There's somewhat sketchy evidence for the pirate radio broadcasts being government owned and operated--maybe...)

One would assume that in a culture devoted to life at all costs, Zydrate would just be a momentary inconvenience: sure, it's highly addictive, but if the alternative is organ failure and death...But the existence of a pirate radio network posits the concept that there are those who reject the lure of Zydrate, and likely from a moral standpoint, considering how Zydrate is produced.



(Graverobbers will be shot on sight.)

In a society where death walks apace with life, where death is oddly celebrated, funerary fashion is the largest fashion industry, and artifacts of the past are embraced easily and completely...graverobbing as an industry would be both embraced and rejected. Necessary, and loathed.

More to the point, though, Graverobber--reduced to a title, not a name--in Repo serves as narrator and Greek chorus, advancing the story moment to moment. He knows all, sees all, and links the tale from beginning to end.

In world, his representative is Graverobber Placebo, a devil-may-care fellow who may not be quite as erudite, but might be significantly closer to the character, as he's presented in the film.



(Even highways die.)

The twisted, mostly-destroyed suspension bridge that (once?) connected Sanitarium Island to Falln Sanitarium. Will it be repaired, or will civic funds go towards more lobbying for organ repossession to remain legal?

(A tip: though flight is absolutely not allowed--and listed as a bannable offense--on Sanitarium Island, if--once it opens--one ports to Sanitarium Island, peruses the hair and skin offerings, the howlings of the mad in the substructure, then exits the back door and walks into the ocean ravine separating the two lands...one can walk up the other side, ending up in the graveyards of dream.)



(A view of the graveyard, looking towards Nathan Wallace's home.)

The graveyard on Sanitarium Island isn't that large, all things considered, but one would imagine half the planet remaining in Repo would be memorials, commemoratives, crypts and mausoleums, gravestones and funeral statues. All the earth would be a place to mourn, one assumes.



(Looking towards Falln Sanitarium from the graveyard.)

Usually I don't cross my movies, but the sight of the taxi-cab, nearly falling into the sea, reminded me stunningly of Silent Hill for some reason.



(One of the many gravestones in the graveyard, this one set flush into the ground.)

Memorials are everywhere. As they might easily be in a society built on the dead.

There's still another entry full of pics in this to go. Stay tuned.