24th-Jun-2008 02:33 pm - Black Rock City is Expanding!
The city map for Black Rock City 2008 has just been published.
Black Rock City is growing substantially for 2008!
Did you feel the squeeze in 2007? Well there are some BIG changes to our city this year! Remove 2007's three inner blocks -- Esplanade through "C" -- and you have our new Esplanade for 2008. After the Esplanade, the streets for 2008 run A-K. Since we've taken the three shortest concentric streets from the inside, we added two longer concentric roads at the back of the city. The distance from the Man to the Esplanade road is increasing from 2200 to 2700 feet, which also means the length of the Esplanade grows over 2500 feet longer than last year.
There will be a LOT more open playa area to explore this year, and nearly a half mile of additional Esplanade to wander.
And appropriate to the theme of "American Dream", the suburbs of Black Rock City will be further spread out than ever before.
The theme this year has inspired some interesting art projects. On the list of funded projects are things ranging from a 38' long oversized Hummer sculpture (titled "Bummer") to a 31' tall ketchup bottle.
Other interesting projects include a recreation of the US Capitol Building turned into a birdcage full of Native American imagery, and a fire breathing robotic horse puling an Old West style covered wagon.
I can't wait to see what sort of creativity will be on display in the desert this year.
We've been listed in the 2008 Burning Man theme camp directory at BurningMan.com, and just today we submitted the following official camp events to be included in the printed and online "What / Where / When" guide.
The vision of Camp Nomadia is to bring together as many cool nomadic spirits as we can to share stories, resources, passion, and community.
To foster nomadic community, we are hosting a Nomadic Happy Hour on Tuesday and Thursday (4pm to 6pm) and Sunday (3pm to 5pm).
Come and stop by - whether you are a current nomad, future nomad, wanna-be nomad, part time nomad, domestic nomad, international nomad, technomad, lowtechnomad, former nomad, land nomad, rail nomad, backpacking nomad, open water cruising nomad, friend of a nomad, or you just want to be around nomads.
Bring some food or drink to share, and come mix and mingle. Tour a few truly mobile homes. Learn what it is like to live full-time on the road. Ask questions. Swap stories.
Or just come hang out and meet some cool folk.
See you there!
GIANT Settlers of Catan Game - Daily Open Gaming, Monday thru Saturday, 8am - 7pm
Play the strategy game Settlers of Catan on a 25-foot-wide board! Why play with resource cards when you can have resources? Form coalition governments and strategically build the city of your dreams! Get lots of hex in the process! Prove that the playa hasn't reduced your attention span to mere seconds! A photo showing off the 2007 version of mega-Catan...
You can see more pictures and read more about the giant Catan game here. nasu_dengaku has created a thing of beauty indeed, and I am thrilled that he has decided to join Camp Nomadia (and that he is bringing his toys!)
The planning for Camp Nomadia is being discussed at forum.technomads.net. Anyone interested in camping with us or getting involved somehow is welcome to join in there.
And if you are going to be in Black Rock City at all this year, be sure to stop by and hang out with us at the Nomadic Happy Hour!
22nd-May-2008 12:01 am - Camp Nomadia @ Burning Man 2008
serolynne and I have decided that rather than joining up with another group, this year at Burning Man we are going to organize a theme camp of our own - Camp Nomadia.
Our vision is to bring together as many other cool nomadic spirits as we can to share stories, resources, passion, and community. And we'll be giving back to the Black Rock City by hosting a Nomadic Happy Hour (or something similar) where other nomads and wanna-be nomads can converge and connect.
This camp is open to current nomads, future nomads, wanna-be nomads, part time nomads, domestic nomads, international nomads, technomads, lowtechnomads, former nomads, land nomads, rail nomads, backpacking nomads, open water cruising nomads, friends of nomads, or folks who just want to be around nomads.
If you know any of the above, please spread the word, and invite them to join us.
We have to submit our first application for space to Burning Man by the end of May, so if you are at all interested in joining us in building Camp Nomadia, let us know ASAP so we can start to gauge the size of the plot of land we'll need. I imagine that this first year, Camp Nomadia will likely start out rather small.
There is no need to commit 100% now - we'll certainly be making changes to our roster right up until the end.
So - who wants to play out in the dust with us??? *grin*
There is some amazing photography here, and I am thrilled that several of our photos were picked for inclusion. So far, we've seen seven of ours pop up, out of the 1485 photos featured.
You can download the 2007 edition of the screen saver here.
Here are the seven photos of ours that we've seen show up - let us know if you see any more:
16th-Jan-2008 02:18 pm - Burning Man 2008 - The American Dream
serolynne and I just purchased our tickets for Burning Man!!!
I am really intrigued about what will come from this years art them - The American Dream:
This year's art theme is about nationality, identity and the nature of patriotism. One species of the patriotic urge conflates the nation state with mass identity. Governments, as actors on a worldwide stage, become a surrogate for self, a vast projection of collective ego. And yet, there is another type of patriotic feeling that attaches us to place and people, to a home and its culture. Both these feeling states (and their attendant ironies) are relevant to this year's theme.
In 2008, leave narrow and exclusive ideologies at home; forget the blue states and the red; let parties, factions and divisive issues fall away, and carefully consider your immediate experience. What has America achieved that you admire? What has it done or failed to do that fills you with dismay? What is laudatory? What is ludicrous? Put blame aside, let humor thrive, and dare to contemplate a larger question: What can America, this stumbling, roused, half-conscious giant, still contribute to the world?
When I first saw photographs from a Royal Del Luxe performance several years ago, I was blown away, touched, and inspired.
This is monumental art - interactive and alive in ways that I had only ever before encountered at Burning Man. But Royal De Luxe creates this magic in the middle of cities, turning the mundane world into a stage and the awestruck bystanders into participants.
I was trying to describe Royal De Luxe last night while hanging out for New Years Eve, and words failed me. Only pictures and video could explain this, so YouTube came to my rescue.
The video above is from the visit of "The Sultan's Elephant", when a giant girl and a time-traveling elephant visited London in the summer of 2006.
The entire room had their jaws on the floor after watching this video, so I think it is worth sharing here. Enjoy, and be amazed.
You can read a great article with lots more details about the Royal De Luxe here.
Here's another video clip, this one focusing on the elephant. Amazing!
When serolynne and I set off to travel together in May, we committed to each other that we would stay together trying out a fully intertwined life at least through Burning Man.
Clearly the experiment has been a success. We fit together, incredibly and amazingly well.
The highlight of Burning Man this year was us taking our relationship and commitment to the next level, in a private ceremony between the two of us on Thursday night - with the Man as our witness.
We've now set our sights on a much further horizon, and we are officially considering each other "unionized" life partners. We plan to renew this commitment and our intentions every prime numbered year here on out - 1,2,3,5,7 years, etc... (What else do you expect from two geeks?)
While the ceremony was just between the two of us, we did get some pictures: Before we left Florida, Cherie's father gave me a genuine Krewe of Zeus Mardi Gras captain's outfit to wear at Burning Man. We passed it on to the talented seamstress mladypain, along with Cherie's old wedding dress. Laura did an amazing job adding el-wire to both outfits for us. As Burning Man approached and Cherie and I started to contemplate a ceremony, we realized that we had the perfect outfits for our Unionization already waiting for us. Thank you Laura!
We managed to manifest a photographer to capture the moment for us. Just moments later the rebuilt Man's green neon re-lit.
I love you Cherie. I look forward to the many years of adventure ahead of us.
6th-Sep-2007 10:29 am - Happy New Year... (BM 2007)
One thing that strikes me every year at Burning Man is how many people on the final day are wishing each other "Happy New Year".
And indeed, I've come to discover that the Burn is a personally much more meaningful year divider than watching some silly ball in Times Square ever has been.
Burning Man has become the uber-holiday, wrapping up the best elements of many traditional celebrations into one intense week. Consider...
New Year's Eve: Imagine the biggest, wildest, most intense, and most cathartic New Year's Eve party you can ever possibly imagine, without Dick Clark and his New Year's Rockin Eve nor any of the other commercial nonsense or pointless traditions. And then imagine the next morning seeing the partygoers personally wandering Times Square picking up every piece of trash left behind by the revelry...
Christmas: Imagine experiencing the "Christmas Spirit" without the crass commercialization, consumer orgy, and non-stop shopping. Imagine getting beautiful heartfelt gifts given to you by both friends and strangers, often spontaneously. Getting gifts given with NO expectation of getting anything in return. Getting gifts given reflecting a person's art or personal passions, not just things from your "list".
The "Gift Economy" of Burning Man is perhaps one of the hardest things to explain or understand until you actually feel it and participate in it. This is not a barter system. A true gift does not come with any sense of obligation about needing to give one back of your own.
The giving / receiving that I have experienced at Burning Man always leaves me feeling inspired.
Halloween: Imagine if Halloween lasted all week, day and night... Imagine if vehicles and machines were just as decked out in costume as the people... Imagine seeing things around every bend that push the limits of your imagination... And imagine LOTS of glowing EL wire and fire belching everywhere...
After having been to Burning Man, "Default World" Halloween parties will never again be able to compare...
Fourth of July: Of course there are world-class fireworks and pyrotechnics at Burning Man. "Crude Awaking" this year was by far the largest and longest fire-spectacular I have ever seen.
But Burning Man is much more than just fire. Nowhere on earth is "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" taken more seriously - and I certainly feel more connected to these core American values in Black Rock City than anywhere else.
Next year's art theme has been announced as "The American Dream". Like good art often does, the theme is already provoking conversation and controversy. I am really curious to see what will emerge from this...
Easter: Well, this year - the Man did rise on the third day after being burned early... And there are always a disturbingly large number of folks running around in rabbit outfits...
I feel like I have a million stories to tell from Burning Man this year. Hopefully I will be able to get a few of them written down while they are still fresh. serolynne has also started to share her reflections, and she's been uploading some great photos too. Expect LOTS more from both of us soon!
UPDATE: Since I never managed to post the detailed stories from Burning Man 2007, I instead offer up some highlights from my Burning Man 2007 flickr Set:
24th-Aug-2007 11:16 pm - Broken, Busted, or Sprained...
Last night as we were setting up camp at Beales Point State Park (near Folsom Lake, CA) - serolynne asked me "what is that beeping?"
The beeping turned out to be our Xantrex XM1000 Inverter - flashing an "E05 - OL" code, indicating an overload condition and depriving us of AC power. *ugh*
I spent the evening tearing apart the electrical system to try and isolate the problem, only to conclude that the inverter was internally broken. It was still giving us an "overload" with no load at all...
Perfect timing, just two days before Burning Man. If only that were the only glitch I was dealing with...
Here is a rundown of all the broken, busted, or sprained things I've got to worry about - and how I am dealing with them:
Xantrex XM1000 Inverter: Perpetually overloaded, but still under warranty. Xantrex gave me an RMA without much fuss, so hopefully I'll have it mailed off tomorrow and repaired within a few weeks. In the meantime - I spent today rewiring the electric system to use the old 400W inverter. It is up and working after a day of hard work - BUT - there is not enough power to drive the blender. (No SolarSmoothies on the playa!!!)
MacBook Pro: Kent called back today, and after consulting with engineering he has decided to authorize "a special one-time-only out of warranty repair." He set up an appointment for me to drop off my Mac at the Apple store in Reno on Sunday - with luck it should be fully functional by the time I return from BRC.
Treo 650: My Treo has been flaky ever since I dunked it in Monster Kaos a year ago. But over the past few weeks it has gotten significantly worse, and now in addition to the fiddly keyboard - my phone is now only holding a charge for at most a few minutes. And just this afternoon I reached into my pocket to grab it - and the antenna popped off! *ugh*
It is time for a new phone - but what? The iPhone looks like lots of fun, now that it has been hacked wide open... But the costs and the downsides are pretty extreme too... Also worth considering is a Treo 755P (Palm OS), a HTC 6800 (Pocket PC), or perhaps even a BlackBerry. Whatever I get, I need to decide soon...
HP PSC 2510 Printer: I've always hauled a printer around with me in Tab, and last year at Burning Man I set up the "Solar Studio" and did photo portraits and 8x10 printouts right on the playa. This afternoon Cherie and I set up the printer to test out our ink supply, and print out a new stack of business cards. But... All the printer does now is click. It never even fully wakes up when you turn it on. Dead. *ugh*
Casio Exilim EX750: The other core component of the Solar Studio is my uber-sweet Casio digital camera. But... Ever since Oklahoma (May), there has been a faint black dot in the upper left corner of every picture I have taken. No amount of lens cleaning seems to make a difference either. It is probably time for a new camera, but not until after Burning Man. *ugh*
Email: The email server I share with the Geeks has imploded again, and though our email backup is working to forward all my incoming mail to Gmail, all my filters and spam prevention tools are now broken. *ugh* I think it is time to move my mail hosting to DreamHost...
Bike: The chain on my bike is jammed. I can probably fix it myself, but I had hoped to have time to do so (or have a professional do it) before Burning Man. But with so much else to do, it will just have to wait until I get there. Hopefully I can find one of the bike repair camps for help if I end up needing it...
Jeep: The dimmed AC light is now back to full brightness, and Jeep seems to be running great. But... I worry whenever an electrical problem (like a dim light) miraculously heals. It will be a while before I fully trust the work done by Great Valley Jeep...
Girl: And even my girlfriend is broken. Well, not broken - just sprained. Cherie took a bad step out of Tab last weekend at SolFest, and ever since she has been hobbled. Though fortunately - she has been healing rapidly. I am hoping that she is back to full speed by the time we arrive in Black Rock City on Sunday.
Egads, that is a long list...
But - surprisingly, I am feeling great. Last night was full of growling, snarling, and frustration... But today I've just been plugging away getting stuff fixed and handled. And - there is nothing here that I can't handle. It actually feels good to face down challenges, and not be stopped by them.
23rd-Aug-2007 11:14 am - Address @ Burning Man (Our Lil' Camp)
My original plan for Burning Man this year was to again be a part of Conexus - and there had been some talk months ago of once again creating some sort of on-playa Cathedral. But after such a massive undertaking last year, the energy to take on another big project was lacking - and Conexus this year has fragmented into several smaller camps.
Our particular fragment is calling itself "Our Lil' Camp" and will consist of about 25 folks sharing some shade and a shower structure. Low stress, chill, and minimal infrastructure to build and tear down.
Sounds nice.
A few of our camp-mates have already arrived and secured some space for us.
Our Lil' Camp: Our exact location is 3:33 and Freshwater (on the left between 4:00 and 3:30). Identifiers include big blue shade structure with a smaller, round shade structure attached to it (with a silver roof and a gold flag). Directly across from our camp is a camp with a mailbox reading 3:33. If you're going down 3:30 toward the Man, turn LEFT on freshwater, Our Lil' Camp will be on the right almost immediately. We did not get the corner plot but we are just one camp in from the corner on the man side. Our plot spans from Estuary to Freshwater (approx 100x150 foot).
We also just got a playa condition report from our advance team:
There was a week of dust storms culminating in Sunday's 6-7 hour white out.
It was still pretty windy and dusty on Monday morning when Kevin and I rolled into the city but we prevailed putting up kitchen structure. On Monday night it lifted (beautiful skies) and cooled to nice and balmy night under the stars. Tuesday was gorgeously hot, clear, no wind. Got the shower structure up and reinforced kitchen with walls of tarp in a light wind. Today, Wednesday, again, optimal conditions -- hot, clear, light breeze. Got the shade structure up.
In other words - the conditions were extreme, now they are perfect, and who knows what they will be like next week. Be prepared for anything - as usual.
I'll try to get an LJ post out on Monday after Cherie and I arrive with the exact coordinates of Camp Technomadia within Our Lil Camp.
20th-Aug-2007 02:08 pm - Extra energy for Burning Man...
My good friend Mark Lewis has this past year founded an energy drink company - and he's created what I consider to be the perfect Burning Man fuel.
Mark's "SmartPower" drink tastes to me a bit like Low-Carb Monster, but less "fake" - and it is by far the best energy drink I've ever had. It tastes great, gives a good buzz, mixes well, and it has none of the typical caffeine jitters or crash. It is pretty amazing stuff.
As Mark describes it: Its a "smart" energy drink that balances the dance-all-night energy of drinks like Monster, Red Bull, and Rock Star - with supplements that counteract their negative side-effects. This means that the drink just feels better while it is active (smooth energy, no jitters), AND feels better when it wears off (no crash, soft landing).
serolynne and I have gotten addicted to the stuff, and we've been working with Mark this week helping him set up a special deal for Burning Man camps.
If you are going to Burning Man, you can order a few cases below wholesale ASAP (by Wednesday or Thursday!) and he'll make sure that you have them this weekend for Burning Man loadout. Here are the details:
Burning Man 2007 Offer: (Bay Area only!) (Regular price - $50 per case of 24 16oz cans)
1 case - $35 or 2 cases - $60 free shipping 4 cases - $100 ($25 per case)** free delivery 8 cases - $175 ($22 per case)** 10 cases - $200 ($20 per case)**
If you had been planning on Monster, Rock Star, or Red Bull to help keep you dancing all night on the playa - this is way better stuff. Try it - you'll be impressed.
Even if you aren't going to Burning Man - this is an incredible price (good this week only), so take advantage of it and give this drink a try. Spread the word too.
PS: It mixes great. Try it with Tequila, or blended in a smoothie... (Or try both at once! *grin*)
5th-Jul-2007 01:13 pm - Movie Review: Transformers
The goal of Geek Week out here in the Black Rock Desert is to load test the WiFi network that will be deployed for Burning Man in August.
Someone out here put the network to the test yesterday by downloading a bootleg copy of the just released Transformers movie - and late last night after most of the fireworks had died down, well over a dozen people attended the Black Rock City premiere.
It was totally surreal to be sitting out munching popcorn in a dessert watching a just-released movie on a big outdoor projection screen. Cherie dozed asleep on my lap while we watched, only to be stirred awake periodically by the sound of flame throwers, explosions, and buzzing glowing UFOs overhead.
Oh - and those sounds weren't coming from the movie BTW... *grin*
The movie itself absolutely sucked. The plot wasn't even worthy of a cartoon episode. The special effects were rather run of the mill. And the acting and dialog??? *ugh*
But even thought the movie sucked, you sure couldn't beat the coolness of the theater.
There has been hardly any wind since we arrived in the Black Rock on Monday night. Amazingly calm and dust-free.
Also - amazingly HOT!
The calm winds did allow for a brief paramotor flight last evening though. I am looking forward to a longer flight later today. It felt GREAT to get back in the air. I haven't flown my paramotor since last year at Burning Man. *grin*
4th-Jul-2007 02:06 am - Roughing it in the Black Rock Desert....
serolynne and I are camped out in the Black Rock Desert this week - my first time on the playa other than for Burning Man, and her first time ever.
The plan was to come volunteer for "Geek Week" - a beta-test for the temporary wireless network that will be installed for the week of Burning Man, used during the event for ticketing and many other official and unofficial purposes. The unofficial "Fourth of Juplaya" celebration is also going on - something I've heard about and been curious to check out.
We expected to be roughing it. We loaded down with food and water, and made sure that the solar system was ready and the batteries were fully charged. We were even looking forward to finding out how well Tab's small porta-potty and solar shower would work for us - we haven't needed to use either yet.
The only thing we expected to have available for us when we arrived Monday evening was a usable wireless internet connection.
We were not expecting to have AC power available, a tanker truck full of shared water, full-size porta-potties, and HOT pressurized showers. Wow.
The only thing that wasn't ready Monday night was the internet connection. That went live an hour ago. Cherie and I are now in bed together, happily sucking down bits.
The weather today was perfect - and the night is warm and still. The sky is amazing. The Milky Way seems to be hanging over us, and we've already each seen several shooting stars.
We are in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we have fast internet and hot showers.
Saturday night mladypain was over and serolynne and I introduced her to the Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock documentary. This year's burn will be the first for both Cherie and Laura - and all three of us spent Saturday night getting excited dreaming up some awesome costume ideas.
Googling around today, I stumbled on another recently released Burning Man documentary called Journey to the Flames - featuring EIGHT years of Burning Man footage. They have some great samples from 2006 up on the website, including footage of the Conexus Cathedral, Alex Gray painting, Megavolt playing with lightning, a flaming tuba, and much more:
(These are low-res YouTube versions - better quality can be found by following the link above...)
Bad news though... The Burning Man theme has been changed from "The Green Man" to "Sports" this year. Ugh.
This year's proposed art theme "The Green Man" has created as much controversy in the Burning Man community as it has garnered praise. Clearly, no other theme we have offered has generated as much debate, particularly because it is so much more than a theme around which art may be created ... it is truly a challenge to our way of thinking, and our very way of life. It is a call to action on a scale well beyond the borders of Black Rock City, and one of vital importance to the survival of humankind.
And it seems as though you people just couldn't hack it. The perceived "encroachment of politics" on our little vacation in the desert seems to have spiraled many people into tight little tailspins aimed at the playa floor. Additionally, so much of what's being done in the scientific field with regard to environmental solutions (on a large enough scale to actually impact global warming) is necessarily happening in the corporate arena ... and the idea of these innovators being present on the playa seems to have caused people to go off the deep end.
Well, fine. We're going to make this easier for you, because it's vastly apparent we need things to be easy. As of today, April 1st, this year's art theme will be "Sports". This has been a longtime dream of ours ... to celebrate man's relationship to games of skill, and competitive challenges with small round balls.
The Man in years past has spun around and moved up and down ... this year, he will perform all 26 poses of a full Bikram yoga class, in their traditional order. Our structural engineers are currently working out the complex dynamics of the floor postures of the regimen, so those are not yet assured to be part of his practice.
The Man will practice morning, noon and night, as he stands atop a Pavilion in which we shall celebrate all the wonders of blood sport. We will construct a regulation-size boxing ring, topped by a Plexiglas ceiling, over which participants may stroll and watch the carnage below. This square circle will host bare-knuckle boxing, kickboxing, WWF-style wrestling, Greco-roman wrestling and old tyme fisticuffs. Furries and other animal fetishists will be thrown in the ring with representatives of Death Guild for our gladiator exhibitions. On Burn night, we will construct a cage of chain link and razor-wire fencing for the grand finale, no-holds-barred "Ultimate Fighting Smack-Down". If you'd like to participate in these activities, email bloodsport@burningman.com.
serolynne, Fritz, and I watched the Blue Man Group's The Complex live concert DVD tonight over dinner. It was overall pretty good, but this one song totally stole the show.
The energy and intensity of I Feel Love featuring special guests Venus Hum had Cherie and I rocking out all over the living room listening to it a dozen times over. What an awesome song!
And what an uber-cool light up dress she is wearing too. And how totally perfect for Burning Man! Cherie is already scouring the net trying to figure out how to make something similar. *grin*
Because the servers literally melted down under the load last year, this year they are using a virtual queueing system where you wait "in line" until they are ready to process you.
I clicked the "Buy" button within the first 30 seconds of the site being live, and there were already 2052 people "in line" in front of me. serolynne clicked a few seconds earlier - she is 1500 or so.
Wow.
Watching the orders tick down, it looks like they will be ready for us in a few more minutes. Odds are good that we'll score $195 tickets - the price goes up after the first 10,000 are sold, and again after the second 10,000.
10th-Oct-2006 07:33 pm - Conexus Party in SF - Saturday Night!
Come party with me this weekend, and help get the Cathedral out of debt while you are at it....
I will have some of my photos on display as well. I was thrilled at how well they were received at Decompression yesterday - I can't wait to get more 8x10's printed out to show off at the party!
Conexus presents... ** ComeUnion ** A Conexus Cathedral Fundraiser Saturday, October 14 10pm `til late night
@ Resurrection Theater a newly renovated space in the heart of SF's SOMA club district 314 11th Street, San Francisco
2nd-Oct-2006 06:07 pm - Burning Man can be good for your career...
This article from Business 2.0 (and reprinted by CNN) provides rather unique perspective on Burning Man.
In summary - Burning Man is a great place to find and hire brilliant out-of-the-box thinkers... (no, really?)
I love this tidbit about how Eric Schmidt ended up getting hired as the CEO of Google:
Google's known for its exacting hiring requirements, which include a degree from a top-notch university and a stratospheric GPA. But Page and Brin also have a preference for hiring Burning Man attendees - a practice that other talent-seekers would be wise to imitate. ... The Google guys have been going for almost as many years as they've been running Google. When this correspondent hung out with them in the desert in 2000, they were body-painted blue and green, respectively. After the pair hired Eric Schmidt as CEO in 2001, Brin explained their choice thus: "He was the only candidate who had been to Burning Man."
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live concert DVD tonight over dinner. It was overall pretty good, but this one song totally stole the show.
