Found Vs. PostSecret

A few weeks ago I had to choose between Found Vs. PostSecret, a live show by the people from the Found and PostSecret websites, and an annual poker tournament with the Jaycees. By chance, both were to raise money for charity. Procrastinator that I am, I waited until last week to decide PostSecret may never come to town again and I really wanted to go. Others had the same idea and both the 7 and 9:30 show were sold out by the time I decided. All that was left was a $65 VIP ticket for the 9:30 show. Oh well, its for a good cause - I bought the ticket.

So the VIP ticket included a goody bag, a front row seat, and a 6 o'clock reception with Frank Warren of PostSecret, the Found guys and Brett Loudermilk, an 18 year old sideshow performer they picked up on the road. After grabbing some pizza I poured myself a glass of white wine. Just as I slammed the cork back home, someone else grabbed a glass. I started to push the bottle over and then thought the cork thing might be perceived as rudeness so I pulled it back out. The woman was holding her cup close by so I went ahead and poured her glass. Hmm...shes pretty cute.

The Found guys emcee'd. They were a riot. Man, that girl is cute. They introduced Brett who did some stand-up and a homoerotic audience participation trick. His bit was deliciously awkward due to the fact that there were just over a dozen quiet VIPs in a fairly big room. I really should talk to that girl. Then Frank came out and talked about PostSecret, did some Q&A, and showed us some unpublished secrets. One VIP told how a roommate's PostSecret was returned for lack of postage. She secretly added the postage and mailed it back but the secret she learned about her roommate was pretty outrageous. Stuffed full of wine and pizza, I went out to the lobby to wait my turn for the 9:30 show. I wonder if she's going to the later show as well.

At first I was a bit of a bummed at the prospect of downtime between the reception and the second show, but the goody bag had a Found magazine that kept me busy. Found is a magazine/website/project/community where people send in random notes they find. They might be love/hate letters, diary entries, receipts, posted signs...whatever. Some are funny, some are sad but they provide a window into something that was at one time important to someone you will never know, but can somehow relate to. I haven't followed Found too much (I don't relate to all of the stuff on the website) but I enjoyed the magazine.

After an hour or so Frank and Brett wandered into the lobby and had a conversation nearby. It was just the three of us there and, since both PostSecret and Found are both ultimately voyeuristic endeavors, I didn't particularly hide or feel bad about listening in. Brett grew up in "the business"...his parents were entertainers. He had lots of good stories involving David Copperfield, cleft pallets, Penn and Teller, sword swallowing, freak shows, billiard balls and more. He'd been a performer since he was 8. Good guy. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on TV one day.

Later that girl and her friend took a seat in the lobby with us and paged through their own Found magazines. They were going to the 9:30 show after all.! I noticed their magazines were a different issue than mine. Perhaps I could ask if they wanted to trade after they'd read theirs. Perfect! Soon the lobby became noisy with the incoming 9:30 folks and people started lining at the door. Since I had a reserved front row seat I stayed in my lobby chair for a bit and let the riff-raff fight over scraps. They filed in and I went to take a leak only to find out they started the show immediately. I had to grab a seat on the far edge of the auditorium. Then I noticed that my empty reserved seat was right next to her!

Brett was up first. He performed such feats as eating a light bulb, hammering a five inch spike all the way into his nostril (gross!), swallowing a twenty inch sword, snapping his tongue in a mousetrap and swallowing a two foot long inflated balloon. He also told some good jokes...his show was a lot of fun. As the Found guys were introducing Frank, I used the lull to claim my rightful seat next to her. Frank said that he gets a thousand secrets a week and posts just twenty. That's a tougher screen than the Ivy Leagues! He talked about the project and how much his readers have helped support a suicide hotline. He related some anecdotes that people have told him about how PostSecret gave them the courage to make changes in their lives. His own life was changed when, upon seeing how deeply people cared about PS, his father told him one of his own secrets. Of course he showed us plenty of postcards, too.

The Found guys went last. Davy, the main one, talked about the project and read some of his favorite found notes. He was clearly very passionate about conveying something universal in these discarded scraps of paper. He also seemed to be pretty much drunk which made the added jokes and commentary that much better. One of the early finds was a cassette tape with some low budget homemade rap songs. Davy's brother came out and played some songs inspired by the tape on his guitar. His soulful rendition of "The Booty Don't Stop" was a big crowd pleaser.

At the end of the show Davy reminded us that both Found and PostSecret couldn't exist without community participation and that we really should think of ourselves as a community. He told us to take a moment and introduce ourselves to the people sitting beside us.

Gulp!

As the nanoseconds raced by I scrambled to think of something, anything, interesting to say to her.

   Me: "Hi."

 Her: "Hi."

That's it. That's my game. I couldn't even manage "Hi, I'm Ed!", let alone "So, did you come here tonight for Found or PostSecret?" when the opportunity was delivered on a silver platter. In my defense she seemed mostly interested in talking to her friend on the other side, but I was mad at myself. I don't particularly care about being rejected but I get paralyzed by the thought of coming across as a creep. Sigh.


(Video report on Found. Found on Letterman.)

Apple Inc.

I'm a computer nerd and a wannabe economics nerd but somehow I missed it last month when Apple became a more valuable company than IBM. Apple is now worth $150B and IBM is worth $143B. Not bad for a company written off for dead in the '90s. Can Apple now dethrone Microsoft at $319B? Is Red Hat ($3.6B) going to get into the game?

See SmartMoney for more fun with market caps.

Posted from my totally awesome MacBook.

Brothers

Climax at Burning Man

One of the central tenets of Burning Man is participating rather than spectating. Everyone is encouraged to contribute - in whatever way they see fit. On Saturday morning Ju-Hui and I volunteered at the ice concession. (I mentioned previously that ice and coffee are the only things for sale at BM for the benefit of area schools.) On a hot day (i.e. all of them) the line of customers can be 30 minutes deep so we tried to keep the ice moving as fast as possible. During a three hour shift our crew of ten people sold almost an entire semi trailer worth of ice and kept the line down to a short or no wait. Two of the guys and I were in the trailer the whole time lugging and breaking up five packs of bags of ice. Ju-Hui and others would take the ice from the edge of the trailer up to the counter. It was funny to watch her wrestle the occasional intact five pack up to the counter. She did not break in half as I feared she would.

It was a fun, if exhausting, shift. Our frozen hands developed dozens small cuts from the mounds of jagged ice and packaging they handled and our backs protested mightily - but we were happy. It was good to get to know the other volunteers and give a little bit back to the event. As an unexpected bonus they distributed the contents of a tip jar yielding a bit over $20 and a bag of ice each. Getting paid for volunteering felt weird but oh well. Then again, two shifts a day for the whole week would cover the $280 BM ticket price (at the cost of leaving my oh-so-delicate hands in tatters.)

Following our shift we returned to our tent to find a note from Pepper and Sarah. They'd arrived! After a bit of tent-tag we met up. Ju-Hui and I had actually stayed with them for a night in San Francisco (thanks again!) and it was good to see them again. They had left SF after work the previous evening and arrived around 1am. They'd wandered around until 4am and had already seen several of the highlights. As an added bonus they brought us the requested emergency rations of bananas, a playa-proof comb and four bottles of vodka. Just the basics.

As we loaded our backpacks for the day the wind kicked up bit and blew dust around. Ju-Hui and I, now grizzled veterans of the playa, shrugged it of while the newbies zipped themselves inside their tent. Soon it passed and we were on our way to the Petting Zoo with some precious cargo.

Pepper and I, being ever so gallant, let the girls take the bikes on ahead while we walked to opposite side of Black Rock City. Somehow we beat them to the Zoo leaving Pepper charmingly concerned and me using the opportunity to make fart noises with my armpit. It turned out Ju-Hui had just taken Sarah to the Temple and some other landmarks on the way. In the meantime I had given three bottles of Absolut to the good folks at the Zoo and got some hearty appreciation. Between volunteering and the vodka I felt much more relaxed about not being a leech on the gift economy.

We spent a good chunk of the afternoon laughing, drinking and eating goldfish crackers at the Zoo. Apart from a disturbing episode where a guy on some serious drugs had to be restrained and removed, a good time was had by all. Unfortunately Sarah started feeling poorly and went back to their camp with Pepper. Ju-Hui and I stuck it out until night fell and it was time to grab a spot to watch the Man burn.

Burning Man started in 1986 on a San Francisco beach when a few friends got together to burn a small wooden effigy. Each following year the Man and the crowds got bigger and bigger; eventually the whole thing was moved to the desert and the event took on a life of its own. Through it all the burning of the Man remained the central, communal - almost religious - event. Ju-Hui and I and tens of thousands of our closest friends sat on the ground around the perimeter with reverence and anticipation.

A procession of a hundred or so people dressed in white slowly entered the inner circle. The tension was palpable. They fanned out and began spinning flaming balls at the end of a rope, frantically gyrating to the beat of deep drums. The tempo went faster and faster as the entire troupe revolved around the Man and ended in a finale capped by the beginning of a violent fireworks display. The fireworks themselves were capped by a mushroom cloud style explosion which engulfed the man in flames and set the crowd cheering even louder than before. (YouTube video)

The minutes ticked by slowly as the man burned. Euphoria was replaced by deep introspection. What does this mean? Why are we here? Why do we even exist? How can we be better people? The intense heat of the burn kicked off a few dust devils - 40 foot tall tornadoes of spinning dust and smoke. Eventually the Man collapsed, and calm was replaced by a mad dash toward still burning remains.

Crude Awakening was the name of the giant oil derrick and worshipers art installation. Later that night we watched it, too, go up in flames after a fireworks display. The central pipe on the oil derrick actually carried high pressure propane and jet fuel. This created an absolutely immense explosion sending a billowing ball of fire hundreds feet into the night sky. We were told it would be a big explosion but we were unprepared for the true scale. (YouTube video)

After Crude Awakening Ju-Hui and I got separated and I was lucky enough to go by Thunderdome while they had fights going on. Thunderdome is an absolutely spectacular recreation of the gladiatorial arena from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. In both, bloodthirsty spectators climb all over the dome to watch a pair of tethered combatants fight to the death.

Two men enter. One man leaves.

Even though the sticks were padded a bit, people were really going at it. Anyone was welcome to sign up and try their luck. The whole thing struck me as a breath of fresh air in our society where people file and win lawsuits because coffee is hot. (YouTube video)

On the ride back to the tent I felt profoundly happy after the days events. I also felt profoundly tired. The Temple would be burned the next night but I didn't see how another day at BM could top this one. I was ready to not be hot and dirty and bombarded by stimulus. Back at the tent was a note from Pepper and Sarah saying they had headed home. Ju-Hui was fine with not staying the last day and we had a whole string of national parks to visit besides. It was settled. The next morning we packed up, left Dav a gift of the last bottle of vodka and hit the road. Many others had the same idea, unfortunately, and it took us an hour and a half to reach the highway.

Burning Man was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I got a chance to go. Thanks to everyone I met there and especially to Ju-Hui for putting up with me.

Rainbows at Burning Man

Friday began with pancakes prepared by a friendly and fast working crew of volunteers. They had a queue of people fifty deep all morning long eating their pancakes as soon as they could scrape them off the skillet. Ju-Hui and I washed that down with some banana and strawberry smoothie that one camp was making with their solar powered blender. Yum!

Around noon we went on our typical wander through Black Rock City before heading out into the open playa. Notable sights included mini golf, a roller skating rink, a fiercely contested (by people of both sexes) Best Penis Contest and a truck sized motorized shopping cart. (You may wish to refer back to the pictures.) Out on the playa we stumbled into the path of the annual Critical Tits parade where many hundreds of women rode their bikes with either latex paint or nothing at all on above the waist. It took 8-10 minutes for the whole procession to pass us by. I almost reached the point where I didn't care to see any more boobs. Almost.

Just after the last of those intrepid women passed us by, the wind started gusting irregularly. Unlike the previous day's dust storm which arrived in a sudden, solid wall, the dust came and went as if on a dimmer switch controlled by an eight year old. Luckily we were right next to the canvass covered pavilion underneath The Man because soon we were in a "can't see you hand in front of your face" whiteout even more fierce than the last time. I'm not sure where the paraders ended up but I really felt bad for them getting caught out in the open like that (not to mention the amount of skin exposed to blowing sand.)

For the next couple hours the wind and dust continued to vary wildly. At one point it started to sprinkle lightly and I went a few steps outside the pavilion to bask in it. The contrast with the 100+ degree wind made each cool drop actually felt like it burned...glorious. Apparently a decent rain will turn the whole playa (ancient dry lake bed) into a mud pit but that day it evaporated as quickly as it landed. Though still irregular, the wind eventually calmed down enough that we felt safe enough to leave the shelter.

We found some guys flying a two line stunt kite and giving turns to passers by. It was amazing how fast the kite would zip across the sky...it had to be 50 mph at times. I seemed to be a quick study and was able to make it do loops and tricks after just a few minutes. Ju-Hui, at 85 pounds after a big meal, put on a nice show despite being pulled a good distance downwind. I'm just glad she didn't blow away.

The wind and dust had mostly given way to an overcast gloom when we found ourselves at The Temple. The Temple had a peaceful/zen/Asian feel and the silhouette was reminiscent of a pagoda. As we got closer and closer the simple beams resolved into intricate carved patterns over the entire surface of the structure. Visitors were encouraged to write heartfelt messages to loved ones on it...a communal Postsecret. Come Sunday night The Temple would burn and send those messages out into the cosmos. For the moment, it was an island of the sacred in a sea of the profane.

We watched two real life weddings happen there, one with 30 or so in the wedding party all dressed in bright red, the other with just the bride and groom and scores of random, supportive onlookers. Rather suddenly the gloom fell away and The Temple was bathed in bright afternoon sunlight. Mother Nature was giving us a break. A spontaneous round of cheers went up and the shutterbugs among us wasted no time getting some good photos of the light on the white pine. Ten or so minutes later an even bigger cheer went up and the previous shots became obsolete. A bright, full double rainbow filled the sky, perfectly framing The Temple.

Now even the casual photographers were frantically digging their cameras out of their backpacks. I ran around frantically trying to get that one iconic shot to go on the cover of Time magazine. In my haste I completely forgot the optics section from my physics classes and ran ever further away. My intent was to get the full arc of the rainbow coming down on either side of the Temple in a single frame. The reality is that a rainbow takes up a fixed proportion of the sky regardless of where the observer is and all I succeeded in doing was making the Temple really small. Ju-Hui and I each got some good rainbow pics, but none that truly captured the extreme beauty of that one moment in time. Regardless, I think it was my favorite experience at Burning Man.

Paging Nurse Daisy

I've uploaded my Halloween 2007 pics from both a house party in Asheville and the Jaycee haunted house. I've discovered my camera doesn't do too well in spooky low-light situations. Oh well.


Nurse Daisy



Nurse Daisy's daughter Maisy with Amy of WCRT fame



My brother Ryan with Lindsey

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Today is the anniversary of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English Parliament building. Guy Fawkes was tortured and executed for his roll in the plot. Guy was the inspiration for the terrorist/patriot anti-hero in V for Vendetta. V is a spectacular movie and I'd encourage everyone to see it. Many art theaters will having a one day only re-screening today.

The fifth of November has been adopted by the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul 2008. Paul is presidential candidate running as a Republican, though he is getting support from people who describe themselves as libertarians, constitutionalists and conservatives. He doesn't get nearly the press that the "machine" candidates like Clinton, Giuliani or Romney but his campaign has been slowly gathering steam and donations at the grassroots level. He doesn't hold fancy corporate fund-raising events or let special interest groups dictate his campaign. He just says it like it is, whether people want to hear it or not. He voted against the Iraq war when even most Democrats just went with whatever Bush wanted. He votes against spending more then we've collected in taxes. He does what's right, not what is popular.

I find both the Republican and Democratic parties to be hopelessly corrupt. Congresspeople of all stripes are only interested in getting reelected. The Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006 largely in protest of the handling of the Iraq War. What has changed since then? Though I previously had no particular leaning I now get chills even hearing the word Republican. The ideals of limited government and being fiscally conservative have been replaced with evangelical meddling, nation building, financial recklessness, gross incompetence, 100,000 dead Iraqis, entrenched political divisiveness, and the erosion of our rights as American citizens.

In the early 90's I watched intently as billionaire Ross Perot came on the scene and shook up the '92 election. He ran on fiscal responsibility and a disgust of the corrupted two-party system. He led the polls at times before making a blunder due to threats to his family. He ended up with a still impressive 19% of the popular vote. In '93, though too young to vote, I joined Perot's United We Stand - a precursor to the Reform Party. As the presidential primary for North Carolina approaches, I intend to register as a Republican so that I can vote for Ron Paul in the hope that it will help bring end to this sad era in American History. I think Paul can succeed, where Perot fell short.

In memory of Guy Fawkes, the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul have organized a one day fund raising drive. So far it has raised $2.5 million (by 5pm) including a donation by yours truly (chart). I encourage you to check out ronpaul2008.com and consider voting for him in your state's primary. The likely alternative is more party machine politics and business as usual.