Anyone else think this year was better than last?

domitron · Post by **domitron** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:54 pm

I was wondering if the downward trend of the art from last year would continue leaving us with a big rave eventually, but I was pleasantly surprised that did not happen in my opinion! In fact there were some pieces that totally blew my mind! Passage, Synapses, and Inner Mind all come to mind as just fantastic! In particular I loved the fire footsteps of the Passage piece! And I thought the music this year was more varied than last too. I was just so impressed by everything! And the burn was more intense this year too with enough fireworks to blow up a small house. I hope next year it continues!

falk · Post by **falk** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 1:22 pm

A

MEN

!

Yurtle-the-Turtle · Post by **Yurtle-the-Turtle** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:27 pm

2004 was my least favorite year, and I've been going since '97. TGe playa seemed dead. THis year it seemed very alive! More fire, more movement, more people, more participation, and more COOL ART. I'd like to think Borg2 had something to do with it. Having only one "curation" organization seems kinda liek a dictatorship to me..

simcoe · Post by **simcoe** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:41 pm

I completely agree. After last year I'd lost a lot of faith in the whole shebang and was 24 hrs from not even attending this year. What a mistake that would have been! This year's added influx of woo woo greatly enhanced the hoo ha, and my faith has been restored.

I firmly believe the energy of Borg2 had a lot to do with it.

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:45 pm

Any year would be better than last year for me. That aside, I had a blast this year, although the Floating World is still up around my favorite year.

Orghua · Post by **Orghua** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:45 pm

10-4 agreed.

This was my 4th. Last year I brought my girl for her 1st and it was strange. I ended up feeling like I had to say … “no really … it really is amazing, you’ll see!!!” This year I didn’t have to say anything. She saw for herself, and was blown away. It’s a shame this year wasn’t her first. I can’t help but think that Borg 2 had an influence. I gave $100.00 and feel really good about it.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 3:06 pm

Definately the best year ever for me (although the "ages of man" was my first...) - we had a kick-ass camp (Blunderland @ 2:00 & delirium), my vehicle breakdowns were not catastrophic, and my art car actually worked more than not! Oh yeah, and the art was actually there again! And the weather was darn near perfect, with a hard-packed playa. Seemed like less LEO's than in 2004 also. And even though our bar got targeted for the old under age drinking rap, our cagey bartender picked-out the would-be imbiber and refused her service until she showed her ID (which she had none), just like he was trained to. So yeah, it was the best BM ever!

Wavemage · Post by **Wavemage** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:10 pm

I thought last year was waaaay better.

The music wasn't as good this year (although there did seem to be more variety--heard more hip-hop and country-western, for one thing! ha!). The art was better this year, I think--I liked that part. But the people SUCKED this year. Why? I dunno. I didnt' meet hardly ANYBODY this year, and the previous 2 years I met tons of people. Why? I can't figure out why. Its certainly not for lack of trying!

People just seemed to have either pissy attitudes, or they were depressed, or they were friendly enough but doing their own thing/in their own world/on their way somewhere in a hurry. ANybody else have this experience?

domitron · Post by **domitron** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:37 pm

A few poeple might have been down about the thousands dead and uprooted in the south. I know it was on many people's mind. It didn't bother me, but I can see how it could have bothered some.

mars · Post by **mars** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:49 pm

This was my best of three. If ya wanna meet people come to our International Coffeeshop and ChillZone. This year it was called FigMint (of your imagination) Cafe', next year it will be called.....

(stay tuned for '06 theme)

MikeNY · Post by **MikeNY** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:23 pm

We were at 8:30 and Bipolar. We thought it was much more quite than last year. The art was incedible and I was absolutely blown away at some of it. I just remember last year as more lively.

Bitterman · Post by **Bitterman** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:26 am

Hell yes a thousand times better. The wind didn't tear everybody's shit to pieces. (except that freakish blast that took out many metal domes on Suday/Monday A.M.) No white outs. Better Art. More nice people to meet. More interesting people to meet. I loved the plaza X 2. I didn't turn into Bitterman this year. I didn't yell as much about Springbreakers leaving their bottles and tampons and leather pants in the potties this year. No one pissed on my "art" this year. We weren't camped next to date rape cock camp this year. My camp mates didn't fight like old married people this year. Yahooo! (pun intended)

Topcat · Post by **Topcat** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:17 pm

I've done some numerical calculations and this year was actually 14.3 percent better than last year.

Of course I wasn't there last year. Read into that what you will.

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:18 pm

Yurtle-the-Turtle wrote:2004 The playa seemed dead. THis year it seemed very alive! More fire, more movement, more people, more participation, and more COOL ART. I'd like to think Borg2 had something to do with it. Having only one "curation" organization seems kinda liek a dictatorship to me..

I totally concur. I had a great time in 2004, but that was becuase I had all my best friends in my camp, many reasons to celebrate and I stayed 10 days. But there was way more, and cooler art this year, and there seemed to be an unbreakably positive, happy, energetic vibe.

Otisserie · Post by **Otisserie** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:28 pm

I think the weather, people, and art were all better this year. And suprisingly, even the porta-potties seemed cleaner, fewer trashed, and no TP stolen. My theory is that the crappy weather last year scared off some of the frat boys and sorority girls of 2004.

But I mostly judge BM by the art, and this was a good year for it. The Mother & Daughter sculpture was a knockout. And the purple head, and the unicorn,and the Transponder bus (the bus that goes 'ping'!).

Now we'll see if we can survive the crowds next year, after everyone tells all their friends how great it was.

d6 · Post by d6 » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:34 am

00-02 were all good in their own ways, but 03-04 seemed to be steadily declining in many ways.
starting to lose motivation until
seeing all of the early works when we arrived to set-up camp saturday, and seven days later still happy to see all of the mighty works this year........
hopefully this upward artistic trend continues.

d6, robotronian 2:45/bipolar

i say youre gonna get it............

Janka · Post by **Janka** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:33 am

Objectively, I think this year and last were kinda equivalent. Subjectively... well, it felt more relaxed this year, in a way. I am not certain if it was, or if it was just me - last year was my first and it was pretty intense. Relaxed here is neither negative or positive, just different (well, different is positive as such, I suppose, just repeating the same stuff would get boring fast).

There was more cool interactive stuff on the playa this year, maybe, I'll give you that - but I ended up spending more time talking to cool people than watching the art, anyway.

I think BM is so big now that opinions are bound to vary to all directions. It's not as if two people could experience the same event in such a crowd, which so much stuff around. I am not certain if it is even sensible to talk about the quality of Burning Man in general, really.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:40 am

domitron wrote:A few poeple might have been down about the thousands dead and uprooted in the south. I know it was on many people's mind.

I think the event is about (as much as it's "about" anything) the impermance of life. And I've heard rumor that New Orleans has a little event of it's own every winter that might touch some of the same issues.
I'm proud that we were able to raise money while still on playa and that some of our DPW staffers are putting their skills to good use down there. More stakes to drive in the hot sun. At least one medic went down directly from BRC and the MrFishist will be down there in a few days as well. Radical community!

Cosworth Magellan · Post by **Cosworth Magellan** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:13 am

I think the new city layout had a lot to do with my feeling that this year was better than last. The whole esplanade-as-tourist-destination thing was somewhat decreased by spreading out the theme camps. I know we had a hell of a lot of stuff going on in our neighborhood, and even back into the outer streets.

And yeah, the art was better. It couldn't have gotten much worse. That whole art-lined-up-along-the-axes thing really bothered me last year. Fucking tour buses for the art...

Sometimes I think BMorg has nothing better to do than reinvent a perfectly functional wheel, and then they go and do something really smart (the new theme camp placements.) I had a blast.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:54 am

I keep thinking (rightly or wrongly) that maybe one reason this year was "better" than in the past few is because there was a media EXPLOSION about Burning Man (after 1998's event?) that lasted for a few years that I think might have caused an influx of people who went to see the event instead of going to participate in the event (which leads to actual particpants not going as much because they think the vibe is different than it was). So maybe we're past the media hype/spectator boom and getting back to basics...?

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:05 pm

The art was way better. The people were way better. It would be hard to top this year.

I personally didn't like the theme camp scatterization this year. Didn't really effect our village or anything but made finding other theme camps a little harder. Not sure it was worth it.

S3

ZaphodBurner · Post by **ZaphodBurner** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 12:56 pm

YES!

Previously I gave our camp standing orders that anybody caught coming through our camp saying "It was better last year" (particularly since our camp didn't exist last year) would be tied to our post and executed.

No executions took place. We dispensed 16 kegs of rootbeer, 8-12 ounces at a time, talked about the burn to everybody we could, and I don't remember a single person uttering the fateful claim that last year was better.

Stay amazing.

-c

kilngod · Post by **kilngod** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:32 pm

Burningman was infinitely better this year than last. Well, that's probably because I wasn't at Burningman last year, as this was my 1st burn. But in the months leading up to the event, constantly reading this here bbs with all the griping and bitching, I began to wonder if it would be as great as I was hoping.

Don't get me wrong -- there's a wonderful community here on the e-playa, and I'd love to know you all better. But the discussion certainly isn't always positive. Being there, though, washed all that away ...

One thing that had to make a huge difference this year was the condition of the Playa, and pretty much the weather, too. The playa surface seemed pretty intact through most of the week. I was expecting to be walking through inches thick moon dust all week with Saharan heat and constant wind-driven white-outs. Admittedly, it was a bit breezy on Sunday and Monday, and the world did diasppear a few times later in the week, but it really wasn't too bad. It never got really hot -- did it ever get over 100? It didn't rain. On Burn night it was eerily balmy and clear.

Now I s'pose you think I'm some kind of wuss for not having to brave any really pronged adverse conditions. And there were plenty of tales from my dusty and seasoned camp mates about hardships of prior years ... "2000 was the year it rained all week... or was that 2001? Last year the art sucked." Etc. All told, I thank the weather gods for adding to my fantastic first year at BRC.

Here this: On Burn nite I installed myself in the Playa contraption called Eye-On-a-Sphere or something like that (anyone else try this? like putting your head inside a big ping pong ball), and had a random bit of tv blather projected onto my head. Wouldn't you know, I get an old Simpson's episode, and the furtune cookie comment that I was blessed with (kind of a Playa version of the Tao Te Ching) was the line: "It's time to take off the tops of our heads and feast on each others' brains." It was a wonderful feast indeed! Thank you all!

Peace.

ravenluv · Post by **ravenluv** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:44 pm

from the beginning ('02), i have been able to see strong coorelations between that which was in my mind and that which occurs at BM. this year was no exception. in fact, it was more true than ever before.

i had believed that this year would be better because i did not bring my ex-girlfriend. she came with me in '03 and '04. our relationship was in a state of deep tension by '04. this was reflected in what i saw on the playa.
i felt that the energy we brought to the event was a drain on it and that this drain was far worse in '04 than it was in '03.

i dreamed last fall that the man could move and that the event had a carnival aspect to it. i guessed before any hint of knowing that the theme would be centered on the mind or psyche. i didn't intend to make the effort to come this year, but the link between my dreams and intuitions and the reality of BM made me curious. a cathartic event a week before the gates opened convinced me to go, though i had not packed at all and would have to make the 5,500 mile journey alone.

i made the journey and arrived just before the winds died down, just as i had imagined would happen. through accidents of fate, i camped between catharsis and delusion. something i did not foresee, but which seemed quite appropriate.

as i journeyed to brc, i imagined that the art, weather and general energy of the event would improve vis-a-vis last year. i intuited that it would be a deeply personal journal for me and that the prevailing mood of both me and the event would be one of calm. that is what i experienced as well.

in my dream, the man could walk - not merely turn (though i was still impressed by the 'movement' connection). imagine my surprise when i saw mini-man walking around the man. even more surprising was the way the man looked so much like he did in the dream at that moment when he was burning and dropped down without falling. from my perspective, his arms and body were shaking and swaying in such a way as to momentary mimic the movement of walking that i had seen in the dream.

there was more. so much more that i find it ridiculous in a way and can easily understand why others would see it as ridiculous to believe that all such occurences should be attributed to anything but random coincidences.

all i know for sure is that i can only speak subjectively. from an objective point of view, my experience of bm is deeply subjective. some sages tell us that this is true of our entire reality, and certainly i've had the same sorts of experiences in the default world that i've described here. i call this psychic feedback. for me, this feedback seems more pronounced at bm than anywhere else. this year, i sought to see the beauty of the event and so saw much beauty.

having my subjective conclusions reinforced by the objective world allows for the cathartic moment in which my most cherished delusions are embraced as real.

thank you all for encouraging my delusions.

(sorry i ramble so much. i come from an age when people had more time to waste...)

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:09 pm

This much better than last year was. Yoda so me told.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:12 pm

Next year was better than last. And vice-versa. This year just was...

bb

philosopher · Post by **philosopher** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:09 am

I can't wrap my mind around the whole event, but I can say that I was better this year than last.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:32 pm

This was a great year for me, primarily because I interacted more with people than I had before. I stayed in Hushville, which is a damned good bunch of folks, and I got to know a few more of them and a few more of them more than I already did. And I got to spend time with a friend from many years ago, and enjoy his company and the pleasure of my first artcar rides. (Thanks, Jafe!) And I got to play with the Beautiful Fascists in Apokiliptika, and Marvelous Mad Scientist and MiniMan "stepfather" (he and his REAL dad barely speak...) Senor Jellyfish. I thought that the art quality/quantity was up over '04, but it was the people that made it truly great. Where's the ticket line?

jadewombat · Post by **jadewombat** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:11 pm

I've been going since 2000, but didn't go last year because of work. This year seemed pretty good, although I had to leave mid-week to go to Reno to pick up my girlfriend at the airport. I will NEVER, NEVAAARRR do that again!! Completely sapped my energy and I had to start all over again.
Some notes though, this year seemed like a lot of first-timers, not bad but every year we seem to be right at 32-35K in attendance. This really makes me wonder why there are so many one-timers. What I noticed was a very, very large percentage of people who don't dress up, especially around center camp. Admittedly so, my first time I didn't dress up, and again I attribute this to there being a lot of 1st timers. Still, I think the BM website could do a much better job of reviving the 'no spectators' theme. Yes, we all know participation is idly mentioned in the 1st timers guide, and dressing up is not for everyone, blah, blah,...even a better guide as to what to expect through pictures, etc. would help a lot. I also find the official stuff that BM inc. puts out very stale and very removed from what BM is. It is the people that make BM what it is, not full of eccentrics--more like on St. Patty's Day everyone is Irish for a day, everyone lets loose for a week out in the desert.
Artwork seemed pretty good on the playa this year, not as good as the nighttime stuff in 03, not quite as good as the daytime stuff in 00. Artcars were the best in 02(underwater world) esplanade theme camps were pretty awesome in 01 and 02. Is it me though or did it seem like everything, absolutely everything shutdown the last Sunday this year?! Even a bad year at BM is still the best vacation I'd like to take. I vow to see it all next year :D

Anyone else think this year was better than last?

Anyone else think this year was better than last?

I agree

Re: I agree

better

In My Subjective Opinion...