theme authorship

Share your views on the policies, philosophies, and spirit of Burning Man.

Should the theme be put to a community-wide vote?

no
40
38%
no
40
38%
yes
13
12%
yes
13
12%
 
Total votes: 106

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PJ
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Post by PJ » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:26 am

TestesInSac wrote:...finding ways to allow everyone optimum artistic expression in a complicated project can, in itself, be an artform.
Excellent point. Some people make great managers; I think part of the trick is to not have a big ego. You can get a lot done if you don't give a shit about getting credit for yourself and instead make sure to heap sincere praise on your worthy people.

Side issue that pops into my head, apropos of nothing in this thread: many people don't realize that managing the efforts of volunteers is not like bossing employees. You have to treat them like somebody that's brought you a present. Perhaps because they have. YOUR job is mostly to thank them and make sure they're getting everything they need to keep working without time-wasting interruption. More drywall screws! Longer extension cord! Junk food!

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stuart
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Post by stuart » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:31 am

I think part of the trick is to not have a big ego.
this gets tough where creativity is involved. People tend to feel a little vulnerable. Also, there tends to be a pretty high corellation between great art and ego-maniacs.

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Lydia Love
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Post by Lydia Love » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:39 am

IMO there's a difference between collaborative art and a decision making process *about* art.

I may not have the words to express this sufficiently.

My experience is that with a collaborative artform such as theater (the only one I have any experience with) there is a very subtle power balance necessary to pull it off. If the director (the one high authority) doesn't dictate enough then everyone else involved from actor to technician just does whatever the hell they want to... and the show sucks. Then again if the director dictate's his or her vision too stringently everyone else's artisitc vision and ability get's squelched, they give less of a shit about the show ... and the show sucks.

I've worked with groups that collaborate very very well - playing the power shifts with seeming effortlessness- and then seen those same groups sit down to try and make committee decisions about the process (mission statement, season line up, codifying the rules, yada yada yada) and it goes tits up. I have yet to see a success.

That's not to say it doesn't happen, this is my very limited experience.
It's all about the squirrels.

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PJ
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Post by PJ » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:45 am

stuart scanlon wrote:...there tends to be a pretty high corellation between great art and ego-maniacs.
I wonder if it's any higher than the correlation between mediocre art and egomania? And it's not just art: most Engineering requires concurrent collaboration between multiple individuals. I've seen plenty of products (mostly industrial) that were OK but could have been so much better if only the one jerk associated with the product hadn't been so insistent on doing his portion just so at the expense of deleterious compromises others had to make to accommodate his design fetish.

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Bob
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Post by Bob » Fri Sep 26, 2003 8:20 pm

The day you fuckwits with stick figure logos on your minivans and knowing mid-traffic smiley-face glances actually leave without trace of trash, leftover art, pyro sputum, glowsticks, butts, couches, carpet fuzz, pee stains, etc. pick a theme is the day I give up and go fishing.

MEMO FROM BURNER

Didn't I see you down in San Antone on a hot and dusty night?
We were eating eggs in Sammy's when the black man there drew his knife.
Aw, you drowned that Jew in Rampton as he washed his sleeveless shirt,
You know, that Spanish-speaking gentlemen, the one we all called "Kurt."

Come now, gentleman, I know there's some mistake.
How forgetful I'm becoming, now you fixed your bus'ness straight.

I remember you in Hemlock Road in nineteen fifty-six.
You're a faggy little leather boy with a smaller piece of stick.
You're a lashing, smashing hunk of man;
Your sweat shines sweet and strong.
Your organs working perfectly, but there's a part that's not screwed on.

Weren't you at the Coke convention back on nineteen sixty-five
You're the misbred, grey executive I've seen heavily advertised.
You're the great, gray man whose daughter licks policemen's buttons clean.
You're the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine.

Come now, gentleman, your love is all I crave.
You'll still be in the circus when I'm laughing, laughing on my grave.

When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on.
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon.
Be wary of these my gentle friends of all the skins you breed.
They have a tasty habit - they eat the hands that bleed.

So remember who you say you are and keep your noses clean.
Boys will be boys and play with toys so be strong with your beast.
Oh Rosie dear, doncha think it's queer, so stop me if you please.
The baby is dead, my lady said, "You gentlemen, why you all work for me?"

Jagger/Richards
Amazing desert structures & stuff: http://sites.google.com/site/potatotrap/

"Let us say I suggest you may be human." -- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

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TestesInSac
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Post by TestesInSac » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:00 pm

What'rya sayin', Bob? Would it be like tourists deciding what should be there to tour?
I am my own sock puppet.

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PJ
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Post by PJ » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:11 pm

TestesInSac wrote:Would it be like tourists deciding what should be there to tour?
That concept has made cruise line owners very rich.

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Zona
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Post by Zona » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:11 pm

Bob....you are a trip......<g>
Laika and me went on a ride.

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Zona
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Yes

Post by Zona » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:16 pm

And that is why airplanes are so cool....
On a ship you see what you pay for and no more...
In an airplane you see the world as it really is....awesome.
Of course this frightens some....
Laika and me went on a ride.

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TestesInSac
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Post by TestesInSac » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:28 pm

PJ wrote:
TestesInSac wrote:Would it be like tourists deciding what should be there to tour?
That concept has made cruise line owners very rich.
We'll see if that happens for the owners of the Queen Mary 2.
I am my own sock puppet.

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Stormy
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Post by Stormy » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:28 pm

Maybe we should simplify things with a sweepstakes. Mail your themes to Larry and if we can get him to take off the hat, he could put the ideas in there and just pick one and get it over with.
Be the change you seek in the world.

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JezebelinHell
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Post by JezebelinHell » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:43 pm

Except that at least 1,000 people would mail in "Hot Naked Chicks" as the theme for next year. Not that I don't appreciate the hot naked chicks or anything...
"The future is a whore, she promises herself to everyone."
--Poe

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III
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Post by III » Sat Sep 27, 2003 11:46 am

>"Hot Naked Chicks"

i'm going with "hot naked chicks give blowjobs to old fat guys" myself...
[url]http://3playa.cultureshark.net/[/url]

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Lydia Love
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Post by Lydia Love » Sat Sep 27, 2003 11:47 am

i'm going with "hot naked chicks give blowjobs to old fat guys" myself...
I bet that's a popular one.
It's all about the squirrels.

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TestesInSac
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Post by TestesInSac » Sat Sep 27, 2003 11:49 am

Lydia Love wrote:
i'm going with "hot naked chicks give blowjobs to old fat guys" myself...
I bet that's a popular one.
On the internet, it is.
I am my own sock puppet.

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III
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Post by III » Sat Sep 27, 2003 11:53 am

>popular

ayup. i bet i can get it to come out pretty high up regardless of which democratic method we use. larry will *have* to use it.
[url]http://3playa.cultureshark.net/[/url]

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x why z
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Post by x why z » Sun Sep 28, 2003 12:03 pm

Well, this thread has come to a fairly effective refutation of my original intentions-- so I guess it's time to flip it around:

A democractic vote for the theme? It'd be a tyranny of the masses, masses of fat, old guys in need of blow jobs. The death of burningman in a hand basket...

Thesis <-> Antithesis, eh?
Ask not what your country can consume for you,
but what you can consume for your country.

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nipples
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Post by nipples » Sun Sep 28, 2003 5:38 pm

sorry about the pee stains, mr. montoya

i do walk backwards
zig-zag swagger
as it rips
into the playa

hoping to leave
a trail

for carpenters
of johns

i blame
for no
two holers

yet i know
within my heart
that i
am
wrong

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PJ
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Post by PJ » Sun Sep 28, 2003 5:56 pm

x why z wrote:...the theme?...masses of fat, old guys in need of blow jobs...
No need to travel to The Playa to find that. It's pretty much the theme of the whole world.

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Badger
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Post by Badger » Sun Sep 28, 2003 6:19 pm

Or at least half of it.
Desert dogs drink deep.

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Chimp
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Post by Chimp » Mon Jan 19, 2004 6:42 am

Hi all, this is a blatant crossthread attempt to push certain crossthread irritants to the bottom of the pile.

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Apollonaris Zeus
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Post by Apollonaris Zeus » Wed May 26, 2004 8:32 pm

NOt a vote but a lottery!


5 bucks each per vote!


A II Z

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knowmad
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Post by knowmad » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:04 pm

PJ wrote:
TestesInSac wrote:Would it be like tourists deciding what should be there to tour?
That concept has made cruise line owners very rich.
Didn't work out so well for the Titanic.

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theCryptofishist
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Post by theCryptofishist » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:13 pm

knowmad wrote:
PJ wrote:
TestesInSac wrote:Would it be like tourists deciding what should be there to tour?
That concept has made cruise line owners very rich.
Didn't work out so well for the Titanic.
Not a cruise ship.
The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

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theCryptofishist
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Post by theCryptofishist » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:14 pm

OH damn, resurrecting the dead...
The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

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Ugly Dougly
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Post by Ugly Dougly » Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:02 pm

We feel awfully comfortable having orders passed to us from above, then?

Oldguy
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Post by Oldguy » Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:39 am

yes, DRINK THE KOOL-AID.

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Simon of the Playa
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Post by Simon of the Playa » Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:37 am

Image
Frida Be You & Me

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mdmf007
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Post by mdmf007 » Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:11 am

Fortunately or Unfortunately - however you want to look at it, BMORG is a private company putting on an event. The theme is completely at their discretion.

I don't buy tix to a Clapton concert, and get pissed that Dave Mathews isnt playing. It is what it is.

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