Cultures of Pangea

Matt and I were talking this morning while we were getting ready to go to the swap meet. He was telling me his dream of making a rainforest dome with misters and jungle features and ruins. I laughed and showed him my last blog. Obviously we share a brain. (The pictures above show the Pangea sign Matt made for the Burning Man Village in 2005. The pictures were taken at Xara Dulzura 2006.)

On the way to the swap meet we talked more and he mentioned wanting to take the Elysium mushrooms out to put them in a very big dome to make a fantasy rain forest where DJs could come to spin and people could dance or lounge around. Maybe it could be something like the Elysian Paradise… I am sure a big dome decorated like a trippy forest would be very well received and would probably help us secure a place on the Esplanade.

We followed on with the possible “cultures” of Pangea. For those who don’t know, Pangea (also spelled Pangeae) was the super continent made up of all today’s continents at the beginning of earth. We thought it may be fun to also have a pyramid similar to the Egyptian pyramids at Giza. Perhaps that could be the hedonistic area with a hookah, belly dancing area, drums etc. Like Cleopatra’s lair maybe! Or we could take it all the way to a kink lair with crosses etc. Maybe that should be its own little “island”.

The final structure we made up in our minds was a smaller dome, maybe a 20 or 25 footer… It would have a white cover on it painted to look like blocks of ice, and be hooked up to a big swamp cooler. Inside would be all white and fluffy to look like an igloo and perhaps have video projected on the inside or outside at various times during the event. Inside it would be awesome to have a snow-cone machine or a blended iced drink mixer like the ones at the bar at Elysium. Talk about a cooling experience and a change of pace from the Playa!

Anyway, those are our ideas for some areas in Pangea. It would be great if different groups would handle building different themed structures and events. Thinking of this sort of reminds me of the books Abarat: Days of Magic Nights of War by Clive Barker. They’re actually children’s books but well worth the read for the creative ideas about the islands of the hours. I highly recommend these books – make sure to get the fully illustrated versions! (If you run a search for Abarat images you’ll get a very brief taste of some of the loony ideas from that book, like a fishbowl hat, complete with fish, and the magician who wears the 6 hats of his contemporaries, and the guy who is sustained by his nightmares drawn directly out of his own head…) The images below are from Abarat, done by Clive Barker.

Feel free to comment and add your spin to all this. As always, you can comment here or if you are in the yahoo group for the 2009 camp, post in there to brainstorm and discuss.

This one time, at Brand Camp?

Hi all,

This is just a quick blog of ideas Matt and I have brainstormed over the past couple of years. Feel free to comment. If you are in the yahoo group for the 2009 village, please post comments there to share your ideas so we can bounce ideas around.

Brand Camp: a suitably offensive theme where we could make fun of the big brand names. And the best movie line ever "Then this one time at Brand Camp.... ?" This would make for fun accessorizing since I am sure we could get plenty of advertising banners to use as shade structures or dome covers etc. The brands shown should all be distorted somehow. Like Pepsi to Poopsie, Coke to Cock, Budweiser to Buttweiser (not necessarily in that theme, those are just the easier to come up with) etc. I think it would be very funny at the camp entrance to have a mannequin of a girl with her bathing suit being pulled down like the Coppertone girl but rather than a dog have a dwarf. Maybe we could do the much discussed Ass Gnome (a 12" tall black vinyl gnome-shaped butt plug shown in the pictures below. Mitja, our friend from Germany, looked confused about this product at Venus Berlin).

I also thought it would be very helpful to people who are lost on the Playa to have a "mallmanac" (mall directory) with a big sign that says "You Are Here". That's it, no pointer on the map or anything, just You Are Here.

I also have a dream of a warped carnival midway with stupid games like whack-a-mole, or water guns to shoot whatever is appropriate to the 2009 Burn theme, miniature golf etc. Oh, and of course a ball pit - a portable swimming pool filled with blinky LED koosh balls.

On a more serious note, I would absolutely love to do a resting dome or structure where we could go to keep cool. It would have a dark interior with LED "stars" and inside would be like a jungle over ruins complete with misters. Think RainForest Cafe meets Elysium style.

Matt and I spent much of the day talking about the camp and possibilities so I'll post more on that later. Happy Temple Burn Day.

P O Box is no good

Hi All,

If you're viewing this blog and considering sending in one of the postcards, please feel free to write as much as you like but hold onto the card for a while. The P.O.Box is no good anymore. I'll post the new address when we get one!

Happy Burn Night everyone.

Burning Man asked for our opinions...

Here's what they got:

Hello everyone in the BM organization!

This year was my 3rd year and my boyfriend's 3rd year at Burning Man. It was also our least favorite. Oddly, however, the fact that this Burn was bad has made us reconsider our previous position that we would not be back in 2008. Let me explain:

We come with a theme camp so we don't use the public johns too much although the one time I did on Wednesday night I was mortified. My boyfriend had pretty nasty experiences the few times he used the public loos too because they were always filthy. Yuck. But we understand there were SO many people and the cleaning guys are punctual and efficient but the toilets were probably overwhelmed a bit. So overall, the infrastructure of the city as a whole we find to be good.

These are the things we found to be unsettling this year:

1) The whole vibe of the event felt very different - negative, unsocial, unfriendly, a lack of community, chronic over-abundance of spectators and "frat boys"

2) Litter and piss ALL over the Playa!!! I spent half of Friday night picking up other people's mud-caked beer cans. Especially offensive for a person who doesn't drink alcohol...

3) The Esplanade didn't seem to end this year. The previous years we've been (mine were 2004 and 2006, his were 2005 and 2006) there was a sort of horseshoe shape to the Esplanade when you were out at the Man or the Temple. This year, it seemed like the Esplanade, camps and structures went in a complete circle. It obliterated the night skies and made finding your way virtually impossible because the ends of the Esplanade weren't obvious. If it was that way for sober people I have no idea how anyone else found their way anywhere.

4) Overall, the event just felt too full of people. As much as I never thought I'd say this, it feels too big. I know you guys hear this every year but the vibe was so different and so damaged this year that it feels like it's time to put a cap on the number of entrants.

Many of these points I've made have been echoed by the 180 or so people in our theme camp and also many of the 400 + or - in our local Burn community. There is a large group so offended by the poor feel of the event this year that they've planned to do something else as a group next year, like heading to Costa Rica. Personally, I think that's a mistake. So here's where I explain why my partner and I would come back in '08 instead of going to Europe as planned. We feel responsible for the community we're a part of. The reason we became part of our regional community and continued to go back to Burning Man was because of the social and spiritual renewal we experienced there. It's sort of like our annual pilgrimage to reset ourselves. This year, we left feeling empty, drawn and generally miserable. Fortunately, we ran into some other burners in Reno on the way home where the warm-fuzzies were somewhat restored. Because of our feelings for the community, we believe it's our responsibility to recover what was lost in 2007. We feel that to risk it being lost forever is unacceptable and as a result we are considering hosting a theme camp in 2008 that makes a point of engaging passers by and welcoming people in. Maybe sharing the sense of togetherness and welcome will help bring back what was missing this year.

We also feel that the Burning Man foundation should try to recover what was so special about this event. We aren't naive and we get that this is a for-profit business which is fine. But limiting the number of participants to something like 42,000 wouldn't exactly be killing your budget. Also going back to the design of the camps which allows that gorgeous expanse of open blackness to the Playa between 9:00 and 2:00 with just the Man and the Temple to break it. Not seeing the stars at Burning Man because there was light in every direction was horribly disappointing. Some of the over-bright mess could also have been the ridiculous number of art cars flying around. Since they all have to be registered anyway, it might not be a bad idea to limit the number of those (in various size categories?). If the numbers are limited the cars that make it to the Playa will be the ones that have hopefully been carefully thought about and built.

I don't have any suggestions for better educating the newbies other than the involvement of veteran burners to guide them. I don't know what happened between 2006 and 2007 that we had so many onlookers this year who disrespected the city, the inhabitants, the environment... I tried on 3 occasions to engage people out by the Temple and help them be a part of things instead of just looking and dropping their beer cans. I failed on all 3 occasions and all I got was the boneheads making inappropriate sexual advances. I should mention that I was fully clothed and physically touching my boyfriend when these guys started acting like the same old jerks from night clubs. I'm no longer used to that sort of behavior having immersed myself in burner culture for 3 years.

We, my boyfriend and I and many members of the San Diego & LA communities, feel that a combined effort from the Burning Man foundation and the community of veteran burners as a whole can bring this back around. Unfortunately, if 2008 goes the way of 2007, it seems like this will turn into just another "downtown party night" for the "shiny shirts" and all the diverse, rich, artistic, radically self-reliant, expressive, inviting and revitalizing aspects of this incredible event will be lost.

So as much as we were dissatisfied with the 2007 experience it may well be the thing that brings us back in 2008. Maybe we'll go to NoWhere in Spain in July to see what that sparks. We hope that somehow all the newbies this year either realized the way to be a part of things and will come back next year prepared and ready to be involved, or they hated this year so much they'll tell all their friends it was hell and we wont see any of them again. We don't have any major inspiration on how to get the love back but maybe if enough people express similar sentiments from this year the tide can by changed by publications from Burning Man and through those of us in regional communities who care...

Thanks for the opportunity to give our feedback.

Bronwen & Matt

San Diego, CA

I strongly encourage any of you who read this to contribute your thoughts to Burning Man as well. Whether your experience was good or bad, your input can help shape future events. See more about their Feedback Loop here.

First post to TTEOB; thanks to Socks

Hi there!
I read your post about the whole take on Post-Secret and stuff, and I wanted to share with you my poem I wrote on the ride home from the playa (I live in TX so it was about 33 hours of driving.. yuck)
thank you, friend
Socks

I am a burner. I arrive in Black Rock on Monday, in total awe and wonder.

I am a virgin burner no more. I rang the bell and screamed it to the heavens.

I am a burner. I wear nothing but a bra and underwear and butterfly wings, and that’s okay and very much acceptable.

I am a burner. I drink lots of water (or rather don’t drink enough) and I piss clear.

I am a burner. I am not afraid of the porta-potties anymore. When you gotta go you gotta go.
I am a burner. I love my neighbors, and share my extra food with them.

I am a burner. I get excited with shiny things.

I am a burner. I get turned on by soft furry clothing, especially at night.

I am a burner. I get excited when I can’t see five feet in front of me due to a major white out. It feels like I am on a different planet, more-so than normal.

I am a burner. El Wire, Glowsticks, and Blinkies are a staple and a neccecity, not a novelty.

I am a burner. 2007 was my first year, and it sure as hell won’t be my last.

I am a burner. I watched performers from all around the world do what makes their heart beat fast.

I am a burner. I think of the Man as a symbol of hope, love and spirituality. A father figure who watches over us all.

I am a burner. I cried when the man burned when he wasn’t supposed to on Monday.

I am a burner. I cried when the man burned when he was actually supposed to on Saturday.

I am a burner. I pick up more after myself in the real world, as to not create MOOP around the house, around the school and around me.

I am a burner. I connected with people I have never met before, as well as reconnected with people I realized I cannot live without

I am a burner. I practice the peace, the community, and the love off the playa.

I am a burner. I am Burning (Wo)man.

The postcards are in!

Well, this project feels like it's already taking on a life of its own. I got the postcards in on Thursday which was really exciting. The projected delivery date through www.PrintsMadeEasy.com was this coming Monday so getting the cards early was excellent. It certainly was an easy process to get the cards and it felt great to have them in my hands. I ended up ordering 1,000 of them to hand out. The images are unfortunately a little grainy but they'll do what they were intended for just fine.

Matt and I had a trunk show in San Diego yesterday with some FANTASTIC vendors of Burning man gear, costuming, jewelry and art. It was very successful and so exciting to be with the other Burners. Everyone is ridiculously excited about the Burn. We cant believe most of us will be leaving within the week. I gave out some of the postcards while we were working the trunk show and the project was very warmly received. Matt and I are very excited about the potential of this project and the reaction its received so far. We hope to be innundated with short stories, explanations of what Burning Man means to you etc. We're looking forward to reading about your thoughts and experiences, and - in the case of those who send pictures - to seeing what you see when you're on the Playa. (Maybe Book 2 would have to be Living the Burn; a year-round look at regional Burning Man events...)

See you all out there! Stop by the RLD at 4:30 and Coral Reef to say "hello" if you're in the neighbourhood.

♥ Bronwen

The postcard