Burning Man, more good things
Sep. 12th, 2011 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidMore this and that.
Camping in the Boston Hive this year not only felt like a comfortable place to come home to, with more known faces, but also gave me the chance to make more solid Boston-based connections, which felt good. Now to see whether they translate home or not for real....
Every year, there's the tendency to say that there's more tourists, and of course this year that might be true, especially with the persistent stories of people who throw money at the event (not only for tickets, but having someone else arrange RV, meals, bike, everything, then just arriving to party) :-/. There were a lot of people who didn't light themselves or their bikes at night, which can be ok if in lit parts of the city (still not ideal), but more problematic out in deep playa when people (or their temporarily-abandoned bikes) can't be seen by others. It felt easy to figure out those people during the day: the ones who'd look at me when I smiled at them as if to say "I don't know you, why are you smiling at me?" Anyone who'd look at me as a fellow human being ended up being interesting to talk to, and I was lucky enough to have some great conversations with random people around the city, ones that went to ideas and feelings faster than they would out in the default world, not hedged by slower getting-to-know-you talk, such as with North, from Toronto, who I ran into out in deep playa.
Every year, these conversations end up being some of the best part of the experience for me.
One day I wore my orange (last year) FIGMENT T-shirt, and I was surprised by how many people I didn't already know recognized the shirt, asking me whether it was from New York or Boston, saying something about the event.
There's music all over the playa. I missed a number of sets by Beats Antique (I have yet to hear them live, unfortunately), but made it to a couple of sets by Encanti (some with Zebbler, for the full Zebbler Encanti Experience), at Opulent Temple, the Black Rock Film Festival, and at Automatic Subconscious.
The weather this year was amazing. It was very hot during the day the first few days, which meant a number of still-warm hours after dark. Thursday the weather shifted, so it was cold soon after the sun set, enough to make silk long johns useful. However, there was no precipitation during the week, and no dust storms at all. There were a few dust devils, and dusk seemed to bring out the dust haze, but there weren't any storms; I barely used my mask, just breathing through layers of a bandanna when it felt dustier around me. That's probably why I had a bit of a cough later in the week, but nothing serious. This was the first time I've been there with no dust storm or serious brown out (quite a contrast to two years ago, with daily hours-long storms!).
Something I totally should have taken a picture of: the tent next to me (Springbar in shape, covered in silvery stuff to keep it cooler inside, a slit in it at the door) had three stuffed Angry Birds placed facing the door of the tent, waiting for.....? Totally cute, there for over a day, patient in their waiting.
I missed seeing the PacMan and ghosts bikes this year, but was pleased to see some of the bikes decorated with a flag off the back saying "YAY!" They always make me happy. I saw other bikes decorated in interesting ways, but nothing that stood out so much as these simple enhancements, for some reason.
My most frequent walk to the Portapotties often included walking by a military-looking camp playing the sound track (and likely the video, though I never saw it) to episodes of M*A*S*H, a camp offering darned impressive body painting, a place that offered an art adoption service, the Booby Bar that sometimes had a puppeteer with marionettes on the corner, a karaoke bar, a camp that sometimes had people holding a sign saying "you're wonderful" (or something similar; totally great to see in passing :-), and more.
More art, now with some links to images!
Camping in the Boston Hive this year not only felt like a comfortable place to come home to, with more known faces, but also gave me the chance to make more solid Boston-based connections, which felt good. Now to see whether they translate home or not for real....
Every year, there's the tendency to say that there's more tourists, and of course this year that might be true, especially with the persistent stories of people who throw money at the event (not only for tickets, but having someone else arrange RV, meals, bike, everything, then just arriving to party) :-/. There were a lot of people who didn't light themselves or their bikes at night, which can be ok if in lit parts of the city (still not ideal), but more problematic out in deep playa when people (or their temporarily-abandoned bikes) can't be seen by others. It felt easy to figure out those people during the day: the ones who'd look at me when I smiled at them as if to say "I don't know you, why are you smiling at me?" Anyone who'd look at me as a fellow human being ended up being interesting to talk to, and I was lucky enough to have some great conversations with random people around the city, ones that went to ideas and feelings faster than they would out in the default world, not hedged by slower getting-to-know-you talk, such as with North, from Toronto, who I ran into out in deep playa.
Every year, these conversations end up being some of the best part of the experience for me.
One day I wore my orange (last year) FIGMENT T-shirt, and I was surprised by how many people I didn't already know recognized the shirt, asking me whether it was from New York or Boston, saying something about the event.
There's music all over the playa. I missed a number of sets by Beats Antique (I have yet to hear them live, unfortunately), but made it to a couple of sets by Encanti (some with Zebbler, for the full Zebbler Encanti Experience), at Opulent Temple, the Black Rock Film Festival, and at Automatic Subconscious.
The weather this year was amazing. It was very hot during the day the first few days, which meant a number of still-warm hours after dark. Thursday the weather shifted, so it was cold soon after the sun set, enough to make silk long johns useful. However, there was no precipitation during the week, and no dust storms at all. There were a few dust devils, and dusk seemed to bring out the dust haze, but there weren't any storms; I barely used my mask, just breathing through layers of a bandanna when it felt dustier around me. That's probably why I had a bit of a cough later in the week, but nothing serious. This was the first time I've been there with no dust storm or serious brown out (quite a contrast to two years ago, with daily hours-long storms!).
Something I totally should have taken a picture of: the tent next to me (Springbar in shape, covered in silvery stuff to keep it cooler inside, a slit in it at the door) had three stuffed Angry Birds placed facing the door of the tent, waiting for.....? Totally cute, there for over a day, patient in their waiting.
I missed seeing the PacMan and ghosts bikes this year, but was pleased to see some of the bikes decorated with a flag off the back saying "YAY!" They always make me happy. I saw other bikes decorated in interesting ways, but nothing that stood out so much as these simple enhancements, for some reason.
My most frequent walk to the Portapotties often included walking by a military-looking camp playing the sound track (and likely the video, though I never saw it) to episodes of M*A*S*H, a camp offering darned impressive body painting, a place that offered an art adoption service, the Booby Bar that sometimes had a puppeteer with marionettes on the corner, a karaoke bar, a camp that sometimes had people holding a sign saying "you're wonderful" (or something similar; totally great to see in passing :-), and more.
More art, now with some links to images!
- candy-cane tree known as Aurora
- the zoetrope Charon that everyone was talking about (PS a video)
- the Black Rock City cemetery had markers for many (all?) Burning Men past, each a different shape based on theme
- this year's Flaming Lotus Girls sculpture Tympani Lambada
- fractal Constellation of One that I saw last year too
- a huge Face on the Playa with individual features hanging from a rectangular frame, the rest of the 'skin' allowing a view through it
- a woman's torso Truth Is Beauty
- Georgie Boy, a wonderful interactive piece that had people pushing a button that spun a wheel for one of a number of different musical numbers done with an animatronic figure lounging on the bed in a low-class hotel room, sometimes with some rats that appeared to sing back up (My favorite piece was a filk on "If I Were a Rich Man" that the creator programmed to play for a just-engaged couple called "If I Were a Hetro Man" that I couldn't stop laughing about.)
- the pier that people could 'fish for Burners' off the end of; I resisted the people fishing off the end of the pier when I meandered by, but did make a fish face at those dangling swag :-)
- this year's temple of transition, which then burned
- black and white serpent twins
- a huge LOVE of perforated metal people could climb
- Let's Go Fly a Bike (Boston-based), that had two bikes on the ends of a circling seesaw, basically
- an impressive totem pole of a progression of rainbow colors, a variety of different figures, the top one with outspread wings, which on closer inspection turned out to be apparently made from reused pieces of plastic
- Walkabout Woods (concept art, not a photo, but enough to evoke what I saw)
- Zonotopia (or here or here)
- the variously programmed tensor (Boston-based)
- an umbrella light installation (no clue the name; I tried and failed to get a decent photo of this myself)
- steampunk octopus car El Pulpo Mecanico
- life-size origami T. Rex
- horse and carriage car
- PS some amazing photos (warning: some NSFW)
