C U ON DA PLAYA!

Alright ya dirty, dirty hippies. I'm coming up so you better have this party started!

You can follow my personal audio/video blogging on the Road To Burning Man 2010 at Posterous.

Save some bacon for meeeeeeee!

Check it: Burning Man Webcast!

Playing With FIRE Part 2 - Burning Man 2009

This, the second installment in the "Playing With FIRE" series, is a ten minute cut of the complete 2009 "man burn" from Martin Darbyshir of Hyperbreed Media.

This about wraps up our pre-Burning Man postings. I leave for Black Rock City on Tuesday night.  Look for the BURNcast logo in the Fandango Camp at 3:30 and Esplanade and let's have a toast to community! DRINK!

C U on the playa!

Take Flat Smiley To Burning Man 2010

The Flat Smiley Project is collaborative new media project and community building activity for Burning Man using Web 2.0 and social media tools.

Flat Smiley invites participants to befriend him and take him along on your travels to Black Rock City as well as other regional burner events. Flat Smiley's message is: "No Burner left behind!" Using Flat Smiley is like sending a postcard from the playa for many burners who are not able to attend the event this year due to the nation's prevailing economic downturn. It's also a really fun project to get kids involved with, too.

Flat Smiley is now posting to Posterous and anybody who is participating on this project can easily contribute.

Directions are dead simple:

1. Get yourself your Flat Smiley template from his website here or from Posterous here.
2. Send an email to "post@flatsmiley.posterous.com". In the subject write your title. In the body write your message. BE SURE to attach your file (be it a photo, video, or audio file) to the email so it will post.
3. All spam will be modded and removed.

Destination Black Rock City 2010: Nevada Highway Road Information

Below is highway information is taken from the Nevada Department of Transportation and is current as of Friday, August 27, 2010 at 13:32 .

Location: NV SR447 between Wadsworth and Gerlach

Road Report: Controls as of 1:30 PM PDT on Friday, August 27 are as follows: open with no controls.

Weather: The forecast until 7:00 PM PDT on Friday, August 27: Skies will be clear becoming mostly clear. Visibility will be two miles in dust changing to five miles. No precipitation is expected. Winds will be 6 mph gusting to 16 mph from the south-southeast changing to 16 mph gusting to 26 mph from the west. Temperatures will range from 76 to 86 F increasing to 80 to 88 F.

Location: NV IR80 between Painted Rock Exit 40 and 0.50 mile east of Mustang Exit 23

Construction: The following road construction project is in progress: paving in the passing lane with speed limit 55 mph, flaggers, no passing, lanes reduced to 1, and width limit 14 ft westbound Sunday through Friday until 8:00 AM PDT Friday, September 3, 2010.

Location: NV US395 at Junction Glendale Avenue Exit 67

Construction: The following road construction project is in progress: miscellaneous construction on ramps with speed limit, on-ramp closed, and off-ramp closed northbound daily between 8:00 PM and 5:00 AM until 5:00 AM PDT Monday, August 30, 2010.

Destination Black Rock City 2010: California Highway Road Information

Below is highway information is taken from CalTrans and is current as of Friday, August 27, 2010 at 13:22 .

US 395

[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA] THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL IS ESCORTING SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC FROM 5.3 MI SOUTH TO 3.3 MI SOUTH OF DUNMOVIN (INYO CO) - DUE TO A MUD SLIDE - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO DRIVE WITH CAUTION

1-WAY CONTROLLED TRAFFIC AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS FROM 5.2 MI NORTH OF COLEVILLE (MONO CO) TO THE NEVADA STATE LINE FROM 0700 HRS TO 1700 HRS MONDAYTHRU FRIDAY THRU 8/27/10 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION - MOTORISTS ARE SUBJECT TODELAYS OF UP TO 20 MINUTES

Below is highway information is taken from CalTrans and is current as of Friday, August 27, 2010 at 13:24 .

I 80

[IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA]

THE EASTBOUND CONNECTOR TO EASTBOUND SR 12 /IN FAIRFIELD/ (SOLANO CO) IS CLOSED FROM 2000 HRS EACH NIGHT TO 0500 HRS EACH MORNING MONDAY THRU FRIDAY THRU 9/3/10 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION - A DETOUR IS AVAILABLE

[IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & THE SIERRA NEVADA]

EASTBOUND TRAFFIC IS REDUCED TO 1 LANE FROM THE DONNER LAKE INTERCHANGE TO TRUCKEE (NEVADA CO) 24 HRS A DAY FROM 2200 HRS ON MONDAY TO 0900 HRS ON FRIDAY THRU 9/24/10 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION -MOTORISTS ARE SUBJECT TO DELAYS OF UP TO 30 MINUTES.

ALL TRACTOR-SEMI TRAILER COMBINATIONS 9 FEET OR WIDER ARE PROHIBITED FROM 7 MI EAST OF TRUCKEE (NEVADA CO) TO THE NEVADA STATE LINE - ALTERNATE ROUTES ARE AVAILABLE.

Burning Man 2010 Weather Advisories, Watches & Warnings

A warning from the National Weather Service for Gerlach, NV and surroundings is available below:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
in effect until Friday, Aug 27, 5:00 PM

...BREEZY TODAY FOLLOWED BY MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES THIS WEEKEND...

STRONG...COLD LOW PRESSURE IN THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL MOVE INTO THE THE SIERRA AND WESTERN NEVADA ON SATURDAY. THIS LOW WILL PUSH A STRONG COLD FRONT THROUGH THE AREA SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. AHEAD OF THE STRONG COLD FRONT TODAY...GUSTY SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS WILL REACH 30 TO 40 MPH IN MANY AREAS.

BEHIND THE FRONT...MUCH COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR THIS WEEKEND. HIGH TEMPERATURES ON SUNDAY WILL BE IN THE 60S TO AROUND 70 FOR THE NEVADA VALLEYS AND IN THE MID 50S TO LOW 60S FOR THE SIERRA VALLEYS...WHICH IS 25 TO 35 DEGREES COLDER THAN HIGHS ON THURSDAY.

IN ADDITION TO MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AS THE LOW SETTLES OVERHEAD SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. IN THE LAKE TAHOE BASIN...SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE ABOVE 8500 FEET. ANYONE PLANNING TRAVEL OR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES IN THE HIGH SIERRA THIS WEEKEND SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR COLD CONDITIONS.

This in from Liz of Camp Fandango:

Just wanted to make sure you all know to bring cold weather clothes to the Burn this year.  Temperatures are predicted to be in the 40's at night for the week, with the coldest night being this Sunday, and gradual warming over the week. 

There is a weather system coming through tomorrow/Sunday that may even bring rain.  The likelihood of that on the playa is slim, but it will be cold and blustery.  A general rule of thumb for deserts is about a 40 degree difference between day and night temperatures.  The highest temperature predicted for next week is 91 degrees during the day, so you get the idea.  

Most weather forecasting gets a little inaccurate after about 3 days, so it is possible conditions will change.   

That said, if you want to get a feel for developing weather conditions we recommend the Accuweather Forecast -- oh and say "Fuck your day!" to community (drink!) member Steve who can't make it this year to Burning Man.

Lamplighting 101: How to be a Lifter

Lamplighter Training video #1: Lifting from Karl Soule on Vimeo.

Wanna participate at Burning Man? Lamplighters would love your help. This video from Gideon who writes in to say: "If you are coming out and are planning on being a Lamplighter, watch this informative video to see if the job of Lifting is for you. Lamplighters are the largest and oldest running Moving Art project on the playa, and you can be a part of it. Every day, we start Lamplighting around 5pm. Come early, kick back in our Lounge, and then sign up for a role in the evening procession. We take care of costumes, equipment, and more."

Burning Man: They Have An App For That!

Attention Burners with iPhones & iPads! Get iBurn 2010 (Burning Man App & Guide) now available in iTunes!

Get your iPhone app here.

And your iPad app here.

Please share this post!

Burning Man 2009: Look! Up In The Sky!

So in our last post we showed you the future of Burning Man 2010 and in this post we'll show you the past at Burning Man 2009. This video documents a helicopter towing an advertising banner across the sky on Saturday afternoon.

According to the Burning Man website the helicopter "did not land or take off from our strip, and the pilot did not reply to radio calls. Outraged Burners contacted the business owner post-event. He has promised to never do it again and is now much more knowledgeable about Burning Man culture's, do's and don'ts."

It sounds to me like the dude thought it was better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. But whatever. Remember: no advertising is permitted at Burning Man and logos are frowned upon. Unless it happens to be the Burning Man logo! )'(

Burning Man 2010: Look! Up In The Sky!

Jeffrey Johnson from the Burning Man Earth team has arranged for GeoEye to take a satellite image of Black Rock City on September 2, 2010 at precisely 11:41 a.m.

GeoEye is a commercial satellite imagery company that provides exclusive on-line mapping use to Google, which has its logo on the side of one of GeoEye's rockets.

How it works is that the Ikonos satellite orbits the earth every 98 minutes. When you book a location, GeoEye gives you a time when it is over that spot, and it will snap a picture. So everything there at that exact second will show up.

Spy satellites can deliver imagery of objects about a foot across. GeoEye is capable of imagery with details the size of 16" (41 cm), however that level of resolution is only be available to the government. Google has access to details of 20" (50 cm) and maximum commercial imagery was 24" (60 cm).  Any installation that is on the ground will have a nice top down view of it.

One thing that's really important (so pay attention hippies): you can't slow down or speed up a satellite. You MUST be ready at the exact scheduled time because that is when the picture is taken.

So again, save the date: September 2, 2010 at precisely 11:41 a.m.

Any artist that wants to do a project that is captured from space (as in not from the airplanes) must have their installation prepared and ready for the satellite capture at precisely that time.

Johnson says: "That is NOT!!! playa time ... as in, not at 12:00, not 12:15, not "oh shit where is my watch?". I will get the imagery roughly 24 hours later and it will be posted soon thereafter."

BURNcast.TV #61 - The Balsa Man Regional Burn, BRC 2009

This video features a series of clips strung together from the 2009 Balsa Man regional burn in Black Rock City (Balsa Man officially takes place in San Francisco). The event comprises a diminutive version of Burning Man for a reduced community (drink!) complete with a 3' tall effigy fabricated entirely from balsa wood.

It's worth noting that media outlets such as BURNcast are welcome. The management of Balsa Man do not require camera tags from participants who wish to video or photograph the event. However, the Balsa Man Photo Policy claims rights to all thumbnails.

The theme for 2010 is “The Forged Village” and several Tiny Art Grants have been awarded through the Black Pebble Arts Foundation (BPAF). This year's event takes place Saturday, September 4th. If you're planning to attend the Balsa Man festival, we strongly urge you to download a copy of the Balsa Man 2010 Survival Guide.

BURNcast.TV #60 - Peat Ibarra's "Mytropolis"

Peat Ibarra's "Mytropolis" is a social experiment much like Burning Man. When you say the word “My-trop-ol-is” you take ownership. More info at Mytropolis.com

BURNcast.TV #59 - The Double Rainbow of Burning Man 2007

Happy Hump Day everyone! Somebody please tell me: What does this video mean?

BURNcast.TV #58 - Stephanie @ the Memortrees

I met Stephanie for the first (and only time) inside the Memortrees installation at Burning Man 2009 as I was attempting to escape the heat of the afternoon playa. In this video we have a chat about Burning Man.  It's worth noting that Stephanie was topless during this recording and as part of our agreement to shoot the video was to respect her modesty.  Just as we began wrapping things up a dust storm began whipping up around Black Rock City so my apologies if the audio gets muffled.

As mentioned in this episode of BURNcast is this awesome video called "Burning Question" by Shanandaorg. Part 1 is embedded below:

Are you going to Burning Man this year?

A frank conversation between burners from MarkRoemer.

The Interglactic Disco Police

The Intergalactic Disco Police restore freedom and justice to Black Rock City, chase down a run away disco ball man and get down with the disco at Burning Man 2008.