You find yourself tagging the hottest new tourist destination on the globe.
You were lured by the name: Split is quite the place to put 3.0 to the test.
Split has transformed its dynamism of opposites...
...to become the cultural, entertainment and nightlife capital of the Adriatic Coast--and beyond.
See tickets for the seashell Pol(o)jud Stadium, a global entertainment venue reflecting Marco Polo's Dalmation origins.
Your journey here begins in the Wonderful World hostel. The Dalmatian owner, Dominick, has a face that stuns you into reverence. He asks how long you are staying and you reply: "I am not leaving until I capture your face!" Alas, the merrymaking goes on through the night, and digital relief is not an option due to breakage in your wiring. You set out to find batteries for your camera and more durable earbuds in the marketplace...and that is how...
...MISSING JAMES FRANCO 3.0 delivers you into THE SACRED CENTER OF SPLIT!
split (splɪt)
vb, splits, splitting or split
1. to break or cause to break, often into two roughly equal pieces: to split a brick.
2. to separate or be separated from a whole: he split a piece of wood from the block.
3. to separate or be separated into factions, usually through discord
4. to separate or cause to separate through a disagreement
5. to divide or be divided among two or more: split up the pie among the three of us.
6. slang to depart; leave: let's split; we split the scene.
7. to separate (something) into its components by interposing something else
8. to betray the trust, plans, etc (of); inform: he split on me to the cops.
9. to mark (a ballot, etc) so as to vote for the candidates of more than one party
10. (Tanning) (tr) to separate (an animal hide or skin) into layers
11. split hairs to make a fine but needless distinction
12. split one's sides to laugh very heartily
13. split the difference
a. to settle a dispute by effecting a compromise in which both sides give way to the same extent
b. to divide a remainder equally
14. the act or process of splitting
15. a gap or rift caused or a piece removed by the process of splitting
16. a breach or schism in a group or the faction resulting from such a breach
etc.
It happens by magic. Barač approaches you and asks if you need an accommodation. You have no money, you tell him, and could use some luck. He is persistent, and insists on guiding you to TOP CENTAR, his luxury accommodation on the very edge of the world's most complete remains of a Roman palace.
Diocletian Palace was finished in 305 A.D. The first emperor to abdicate the throne naturally expected a grand retirement, as fitting the son of Jupiter.
...where you can work, shop and dine among the gods and emperor ghosts outside the Roman mausoleum transformed into the Cathedral of St. Dominus.
After a night in Veritas with an unrelenting American yachtsman in which the Shadow of the 2 is split over a bottle by the Third, a compassionate Costa Rican, you spend the morning by the sea with a ritual.
The sign of the hieros gamos suggests a culmination...and an ending. At last, you can surrender and let Jupiter manifest your dreams with his magnitude!
The next day, you move inside the majestic mansion of the classical Croatian author...
Having transformed fate into destiny, you head for the beach where you meet Zlato, whose name means Gold in Croatian. You respond with your natural manner of following the alchemical sign...and end up on the nude beach. "Welcome to the Belly Button of Split Bay," says Joss. This Bare Buddha of Split tells you that you have arrived in the land of coincidences, known as The Split of 2 Cases.
This explains your repeated returns to capture the Face through the labyrinth of the Thirds...
Three times three stools await your tagging in the old neighborhood of Veli Varos.
...circling back to Wonderful World where you are now 3X "Missing Dominick", the amazing face of a holstic icon named for the patron saint of Split...
You discover Alexander from Newcastle--whose very name points you south towards Macedonia and your timeless Muse--with a trio of Aussies fondling your objet petit a d'art.
Lisa Paul Streitfeld is a Kulturindustrie theorist out to prove Adorno wrong and appropriate Lacan for the feminine. "Missing James Franco 3.0" is a collaborative multimedia project anticipating the real time Web collaboration of quantum computing.
Participate on Twitter #missingjamesfranco and www.missingjamesfranco.com
All photos copyright LPS.