PAGE TWO

[The Rod]

Binary thinking is a convenient way to take comfort in uncomfortable ideas.

Obviously, only one of us can be right and the other must be wrong.

As the hippies would say, It’s all just a matter of perspective

[some seeing eye]

It is a famous aphorism in the (commodified) art world:

If you can't make it good, make it red.
If you can't make it red make it big.
If you can't make it big, send it out of the country and then import it back.

There is true comedy in the art world including the impossible to find Revenge of the Decorated Pigs: A Novel, by Lawrence Rinder. It's true samizdat, never printed beyond a few hundred copies, because it cut too close to the bone in the fundraising and patronage art world.

[The Rod]

In the modified car world everyone knows and accepts the universal truth that if you paint it red, it will make it go faster.

[mgb327]

Shit, my red '63 XKE gets speeding tickets while parked.

[Sham]

Shit, my red '63 XKE gets speeding tickets while parked.

My red art car never got a ticket, even when traveling long distance.

[ygmir]

the world is wobbling:
I find myself in agreement, and nodding while reading recent posts by both of them.

[The Rod]

0A64438A-2715-47CE-AD59-2A9A962CF4BC.jpeg

[kowtow]

...

But I will stand by my point, bringing "big art" to burning man does *usually* take money. And time. And under capitalism, time = money. So by default, bringing large scale art to burning man is often off limits to artists without large scale budgets or the connections to fund their large scale dreams. People can criticize "big art" as encouraging spectating rather than participating, but the argument that spectating and engaging on an emotional level with art is by definition an act of participation can also be made. Some examples of large scale art with participation (beyond mere emotional observation) built in: the Zeotropes, Alien Siege Machine, Trojan Horse, the car skewer stack thing until it got cordoned off etc

If someone is inspired to build and make a piece of huge imaginative art at burning man and they apply for a grant in order to do so, that is automatically relegated to "creating salable commodity and celebrity?"

For me, one of the best things to come from my years at burning man was realizing that the only thing separating me from the people building/doing crazy shit was the fact that I wasn't the one doing it and If i wanted to be, I just had to do it. That empowerment and subsequent trajectory altering combination of developing skills and cultivating resources to build a big stupid art project, changed my life for the better, and I'd bet good money that I'm not the only one who got inspired to do big things after seeing big things at burning man.

The argument that big art encourages spectating and spectating is bad for the event carries some validity, but to categorically dismiss efforts at supporting big art as vomit inducing just because the argument otherwise can be reduced to "spend shit tons of money or don't bother" misses several marks of what makes burning man so special.

And I'm the contrary one? Looking at art and culture through a lens of nuance rather than absolutism Isn't contrary..

I couldn’t agree more with the both of you! I am pleased by the simple, thoughtful, creative minds that are able to create art from nothing, the burner sitting in a chair just off esplanade and gifting bad advice, the girl who taught me to play a ukulele in 30 minutes, art on the trash fence in deep playa, or the woman who gave me a wiener to lift my kilt… it’s all magnificent and necessary for my burn..

In contrast my virgin burn when Yeah! (Jaye, Gaminwench,..) took me under her wing and showed me the magnificence of the playa at night, and drug me onto Bleachers for a ride around the playa and we visited a D. Best temple. She showed me Mayan Warrior for the first time. For me those were the mother of all awe inspiring moments. Those were the things that brought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps trying to frame up wtf I was really experiencing. Part of the allure was seeing just what expense these people were bringing to the desert and gifting to others.

Grants, gofundme, donations and big bucks, the gigantic installations are just as crucial to my burn as a lone phone booth on the playa that my dear friend introduced me to some years ago.

Art both expensive and nearly-free involve tremendous creativity, some witty, some shock and awe, but both are necessary for my burn to be a success.

I have spent embarrassing amounts of money creating art and coming to the playa, but for my burns it didn't matter the expense, because the smiles on the hundreds of peoples faces when I gave away laser cut necklaces, or gifted thousands of hot dogs to the city. For me this was what made my burn, MY BURN. Extremely personal, extremely expensive, but extremely rewarding. I learned how to make and do things that I could have never imagined prior to witnessing the contributions both big and small from others on the playa.

The expensive art and grandiose gifting days are in my past. Life’s dealt some hard blows in the last few years and I’ll be coming to the burn with much less this year. One thing I know for sure is that as long as I can come up with some creative and inexpensive art, gifts, contributions I can still make a lot of people happy.

[burner von braun]

Nicely stated kowtow!

Page Two seems to have temporarily jumped its tracks, but this is a good read, and certainly food for thought, deserving of its own thread.

[Lonesomebri]

So what big crazy original shit are you doing?

And we've actually reached a point where that ticket is going to go to a person connected to something huge, or to someone bringing their soul to spread wonder and joy. There is a choice. There are not infinite tickets.

[Simon of the Playa]

IMG_9231.jpeg

[kowtow]

So what big crazy original shit are you doing?

And we've actually reached a point where that ticket is going to go to a person connected to something huge, or to someone bringing their soul to spread wonder and joy. There is a choice. There are not infinite tickets.

Honestly gang, I met a lot of you at the M&G in 2014 and I’m embarrassed that the years between then and now have again clouded my recollection of faces to the names…

You’re one helluva snarky group of burners that I will always look up to and I can thank Jaye for my being able to look under your snark and admire your kickass experiences.

I’m not even gonna give you f**kers the luxury of callin’ me out for how trivial my life challenges have been, but I want to share my life has taken a 180 since 2014, but at least I’m present and I’m gonna really struggle without Jaye at my Burn this year.

I’ll be coming to the burn this year broke, broken and with little more than the shirt on my back thanks to a lot of shitty decisions. I still really want to have an impact on as many people as possible as that’s always been my goal.

I have three gifting plans that I am working. No 1., I will be bringing as many (50-100) disposable cameras (1,500-2,000+ images) to the playa, whatever I can afford and I want a large cross-section of different “types” of Burners to capture their burn and get the cameras back to me. I want to develop the pictures and compile them into a web site to share a grass roots reflection of this years Burn.

No., 2 I will be soliciting people willing to give me their anonymous story, their confessions, their pontifications, their deepest and darkest secrets.

No., 3 Most important, I want to solicit y’all. I want to solicit the people who Jaya introduced me to, the people whose lives Jaye touched, even the people who she mighta bent the wrong way. I want your personal stories, how she touched you and even slighted you.

Once back to Defaultia I will scan these handwritten submissions and post them alongside the photos as a remembrance of BM 2023 and as a lasting tribute to my dear friend Jaye.

You eplayan’s have always carried your twisted personalities as a badge of honor and that’s what makes you such a piece of BM lore. I hope to share with as many of you as possible this year. Every year we trudge out to the playa, we never knowing think it will be our last burn, but the Default world has a strange peculiar way of making that decision for us…

[Simon of the Playa]

F98FDD44-D3DE-4FF2-86A7-C0C6E764889A.jpeg

[Jackass]

WTF ever happened to just going to BM with whatever accommodations one is able to beg borrow or steal. Nobody ever had to have everything bought and planned to perfection before they went... Just get your ass out there and forget the fancy accoutrements. If you spring for a high dollar tent, a/c and generator, it'll probably end up being the coldest BM yet. Everyone gets their ass kicked out there in one way or another anyways, better off saving the $ for some unwinding and nourishment on the way home... trust me, you might not die

[FlyingMonkey]

Still no Barf emoji. Mods????

I will escalate this to the ePlaya IT Team.

I love it.

Thank you.

[FlyingMonkey]

Oh yeah, posting about politics here is all the rage these days. Yes, yes, we need more defaultia and division!

Now I remember why I seldom come here anymore.

The 12th principal: Fuck you if you don't think like me!













People are broken.

[Simon of the Playa]

too soon?

[Token]

Hahaha!

The escort service spam posts are weirdly appropriate …

[ygmir]

rules
restrictions
safety
"fair"
unnecessary risk

The use of these terms is what happened.
Take those terms out of the conversations, and a lot of the comfortburners would go home screaming, feeling at risk of a booboo.
And all the old time burners, that buy into it... yikes.

[lucky420]

rules
restrictions
safety
"fair"
unnecessary risk

The use of these terms is what happened.
Take those terms out of the conversations, and a lot of the comfortburners would go home screaming, feeling at risk of a booboo.
And all the old time burners, that buy into it... yikes.

+100

[Elorrum]

First come assholes, then come rules. I don’t know if it is simply reversible. I agree the tremendous availability and increase in desert camping comforts to eliminate the camping and desert and communing with strangers aspects of the experience has ruined it.

[Token]

Fist came assholes and we lingered for a decade +

Then came hippies and we brought hammers

Then came treehuggers and we started burning rubber for the cool smoke rings

Then Marion took over and brought in the Glitterati and everything went to shit

When the only tool you got is a hammer, every problem looks like a hippie

[Elorrum]

Not a party guy? You picked the perfect name, Donner Party Guy! No tent no sleeping bag, no food no water! Perfection!

[Simon of the Playa]

ok zoomers.

56A61025-0D24-42DC-8C27-61AE5051E00D.jpeg

[ygmir]

Fist came assholes and we lingered for a decade +

Then came hippies and we brought hammers

Then came treehuggers and we started burning rubber for the cool smoke rings

Then Marion took over and brought in the Glitterati and everything went to shit

When the only tool you got is a hammer, every problem looks like a hippie

I like what you say and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Elorrum]

ok zoomers.

56A61025-0D24-42DC-8C27-61AE5051E00D.jpeg

I always wondered about those two puppets: so bitter, mean spirited, and still always they’re complaining. And they don’t leave and are still always there. Maybe that theatre had been their happy place, where they invested a lot of their life. Now it sucks for them and they can’t let it go. Sure it’s a great comment on how generations can’t tolerate change, But maybe they are also heartbroken.

[Simon of the Playa]

well, we all know who watches fox news, now don't we...

[The Rod]

Equally distributing costs among all comrades? How characteristically un-communistic!

[FlyingMonkey]

well, we all know who watches fox news, now don't we...

People watch fox news?

[some seeing eye]

We are really going to be in trouble when someone trains up a large language model/chatgpt to make entitled community-yoga speak manifestations, then to compose outrage at rationality.

Extra credit for unusual narratives beyond the dog ate my homework.