Burn2

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Linden Lab is out of the Burning Life business, and the Burning Man organization will be leasing regions from Linden Lab for “Burn2.” It’s not going to be close to last year’s amazing 34 regions, the BM folks will lease at least 2 regions, and they hope to lease 6-10 regions. So if they’re lucky the event might be as big as 1/4 of last year. Whether this is too small to achieve critical mass, I don’t know. What I do know is that Burning Life ’09 was a hilite of the year for me, and even diminished I’d like to see us participate.

Arts participation will include a, presumably small, amount of “curated in” art, and another group of pay-to-exhibit artists who will pay an over-Linden-Lab lease rate for space to cover their own space as well as some of the other event space.

IDK if it’s even worth VB/CO submitting a land proposal, but I’d love to see us do something along the lines of last year which featured a “Zombie Crawl” flashmob thru the event, and a performance on the Burn Stage. One thing that IS better than last year already… we have actual dates for the event! October 16 – 24.

You can watch an interview with M2Danger Ranger about Burn2 here:
(LAME that treet.tv won’t let you embed their video! but anyway… follow the link… M2Danger is the 1st 15 mins of the show
http://treet.tv/shows/metaverse-arts/episodes/mva-31jul10

And here’s the text of the notecard that the BURN2 Ops Team sent out today:

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Dear Burner Community,

As you may know, last week the Burning Man organization assumed oversight of the Burning Life festival in Second Life. This is exciting news in the evolution of our virtual event. Linden Lab has been a great partner all these years. We thank the Lab for their past sponsorship and leadership of the event.

The festival’s name has changed to BURN2, and it will be a more intimate gathering than in previous years.

What will not change is the essence, the spirit, the soul of the celebration you have known as Burning Life. BURN2 is a festival of community, art and fire. It is creativity, it is energy, it is harmony. And this year it will push the boundaries of Second Life as it never has before.

BURN2 will be held October 16 – 24, as scheduled. Our Burning Man-inspired theme is “Metropolis: Civilization in the desert.”

The Operations Team for BURN2 consists of ChatBrat Pippita, Countess Decosta, Doctor Gascoigne, EmCee Widget, JeanBaptiste Eilde, Kev Sweetwater, Ronon Carver, and M2Danger Ranger who represents the Burning Man organization.

This change in leadership also means a change in groups. It’s time, once again, to sign up for the new BURN2 group; “BurningMan 2.0.” (No space between Burning and Man.) You can find it by searching groups, or by checking out the profile of any of the people listed above. Simply double-click the group name, and then click the Join button.

For news updates, check out http://www.burn2.org/. This site is as barren as the BURN2 Playa at the moment, but we’re busy working behind the scenes. Land distribution starts in September. Look for news about volunteer opportunities, art submissions, and calls for performers through the BURN2 site.

Click here to watch an interview with M2Danger Ranger: http://treet.tv/shows/metaverse-arts/episodes/mva-31jul10

BURN2, like Burning Man, is an inclusive community where you are truly free to express yourself within the bounds of civic responsibility. We are bound not by commerce, but by a burning desire to evolve and create. This year’s smaller, leaner festival is a new beginning. It is an opportunity for you to be part of a groundbreaking movement that will only become larger, stronger, and more innovative every year.

Burn on!

The virtual Man burns October 23rd. Woohoo!

- BURN2 Ops Team

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And speaking of videos you’ve already seen… just for the record… here’s Philip’s speech from SLCC over the weekend. I do have to say, he’s an inspiring guy. To be honest I never really heard M speak, but Philip has a compelling combination of charisma and technical knowledge. Especially with all the troubles, I couldn’t help but be inspired by this speech.

His deliverables on lag were like an oasis in the desert. We just took our Field Trip to WoW on Saturday — we were in WoW at the same time most peeps were in Boston listening to Philip! — I’ll post the WoW Trip Report on Wednesday, but suffice to say, THEY know about Frame Rate!!!

Philip can even make “real” last names sound good, even though I think they’re really bad. I know it’s weird to say that more choice is bad, but in this case I think it is. The truth is, if “real” last names had been an option when I joined SL, I very likely would have chosen mine… and then… IDK… I’m not sure if any of this amazing journey would have transpired. Not allowing you the easy out of your “real” name is, I think, a subtle invitation to RP, and while the amazing builds, and the glorious shoes, and the peeps making millions selling those shoes and real estate and sex beds, are all nice… I think the invitation to be immersed in this world and experience it thru RP, is the best of this place.

Many won’t immerse no matter what… and many will immerse no matter what… but I think there are those in the middle… like… me! for whom the “restriction” of last names represents an incredible “freedom”

Anyway, it’s a fantastic speech. Philip sure makes living here seem like a more hopeful experience.

Oh crap! I can’t get this Ustream video to embed on WordPress EITHER!
Anyway, here’s the link: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8922472