Burn2 - People, Cities & A Burning Man

Only in Second Life could you stand on a playa at dusk and ask directions from a Tasmanian Devil. Luckily for me you can and Leia Cale was not only cute but charming and knowledgeable and saved my aching bunions considerable pain by knowing exactly where I needed to go to find my next destination.

Miso Susanowa's House of Cards is fun and a wonderful trip down memory lane ..... for me at least. For many younger people it will be an education. :)

Miso explains the inspiration for her build on her blog:

The theme and inspiration of this build is based on personal experience in the growth stages of the social networking scene leading up to Second Life and the present virtual worlds.

Beginning with the earliest BBS and MUD environments, through the VRML and 2D progenitors of the mid-90s to the current VWs, the birth and growth of virtual worlds and communities is imagined as a tenuous structure: a house of cards.

An Avatar has climbed these shaky and transitive platforms and is reaching for the future hypergrid/worlds.

Allow yourself some time to linger in this build - it's a fabulous experience.

Given the Burn2 theme of Metropolis - Civilization in the Desert it's no surprise that cityscapes pop up frequently. One of the most interesting is Big Towns - Growing Up by Maryva Mayo.

As Maryva explains, her build links the Burn2 theme to the movie Metropolis by Fritz Lang:

A sentence of the protagonist gave me the inspiration ... from the desert, from cave with fire ... through subsequent steps, ... we arrived at today's metropolis; but let's not forget ourself, ... the feelings ... and fantasy, if not, it will all end in nothing ... like the Burning Man.

In addition to concrete, cards, light and sound there is a cityscape made primarily from cardboard. The Inner Child Camp 2010 - A Child's Metropolis is the ultimate box fort. Not only is it huge and complex but there are hidden surprises inside that any age will find intriguing.

Built by Marianne McCann (with Pygar Bu and Robin Howe) this "city" has taken whimsy to a level few achieve. I enjoyed it thoroughly (and my poor feet appreciated the lawn chairs).

This is the second to the last official day of Burn2 and the big event involves setting the Man on fire. He will actually burn three times - today at noon and 8:00 pm and then 4:00 am Sunday the 24th (all times SLT).

The first year I was in Second Life I went to the Man Burn with what seemed like hundreds of others - robots and snails and furries and hunks and witches and warriors and more. A couple of the sims crashed of course and the rest of us watched while a helicopter slowly dove nose first into what suddenly became ocean. The procession was joyous and using a dragon to light the fire was inspired. I don't know what is planned for this Burn but I intend to enjoy it.

Check out the Burn2 Calendar to see what else is on and go experience it for yourself.