And it was amazing as a Second Life animation as well.
Naturally, your ever alert, ever on-time reporter arrived 5 minutes late and couldn’t even get near The Man perched up high in the cold desert night.
And naturally The Man was already ablaze when I arrived. But fortunately I brought my telephoto lenses, opened up my Draw Distance to 1024 (SL for a long way). There I zoomed in and out, positioning the camera from different angles, and catching the Man as he burned. I snapped away, shot after shot, as pieces of the Man began falling off.
First the Man lost his arms, then his head. Parts of the base were crumbling like crazy and another 10 minutes everything was reduced to a pile burnt timbers and cinders, smoldering. It happened that fast and I couldn’t help thinking about what a well done job of SL building and software engineering.
Once again, I pictured myself emersed in the Nevada desert.
Some structures had already been burnt and there were more structures left to burn. Today, the final act in the show, the burning of The Temple. Can’t make the first burning? Through the magic of Second Life, the burning ritual is repeated three times that day.
I enjoyed many of the activities but didn’t make it to many others. My favorite activity turned out to be the Lamplighters ritual lighting of the lamps, but I enjoyed many of the performances spread around the camp.
If you’ve read my other posts about BURN2, you know I declared myself a “Burner” this year. I still can’t I completely understand all that being a Burner entails, but I suspect that part of it is the tradition itself. I’ll have to wait till next year to experience that.
For compete information about BURN2 2012, check the BURN2.org site. For more photos from my trips to BURN2, please check my set on Yordie Sands Flickr Photostream.
Agnes Sharple
Botgirl Questi
Bumblebee (Wendz Tempest)
Canary Beck
Carissa Arthurine Somerset
Eva Marie
Fuschia Nightfire
George Coghill
Ironyca Lee
Jeremy Owen Turner
Joseph DeLappe
Kathleen Cool
Katie Vizenor
Krista Hoefle
Kristine Schomaker
Lizzie Gudkov
Aero Bigboots
RMarie Beedit
Marmaduke Arado
Isabella Medici
Nadya Tolokonnikova
Nathan Shafer
Pixel Reanimator
Ravanel Griffon
Scarlett Luv
Strawberry Singh
Tabitha Raincloud
Toni Tyldesley
Trilby Minotaur
Vanessa Blaylock
Xue Faith
Yordie Sands
Fantastic Yordie! I went in ’09. They Burned The Man at the intersection of 4 sims, but there were still so many peeps and so much lag – I’d never experienced anything like it!
Crazy event! Thanks so much for covering it!
Thanks so much for these posts, Yordie. And I was glad to have you as a buddy as a Burn noob. I missed the man burn, but made it to the temple burn on Sunday. I really agree with you about this being not only a fun social event but also a testament to Second Life building and animation skills. As the temple fell apart, I really had this real appreciation for the efforts of these bright and creative builders/engineers. This entire event reminds me just how important these annual ritualized events are in invigorating our support and appreciation for our community.
here, here!
I know Yordie’s our “real” cheerleader, but as a recovering burnout, I’ve gotta say, SL rocks! It’s a bigger universe than just that one glorious virtual rock, and I definitely don’t want to go through life, or virtual life, or the 21st century, with blinders on, but I’m also a little saddened by the self-fulfilling prophecy of “Linden Lab sucks! They made some choice I don’t like again! SL is scorched earth now! C-Ya!”
Second Life probably won’t live forever: neither Blue Whales, nor Giant Redwoods, nor the planet Earth itself, live forever, but as long as it’s still going, let’s celebrate the power of the platform, the amazing blank canvas filled with creative tools, that Philip Rosedale imagined when he went to Burning Man (the physical world version) and all the many creative people who make Art, Architecture, Fashion, Culture, Lifestyle, Spectacle, Small Poetic Moments, and sometimes even Romance, in this amazing Virtual World!