Burning Life
GavinLeigh Wake did a very nice writeup of my Burning Life build, "Babel Two." There's also a picture of the Finger of God in action here. I managed to net a very prominent spot right next to the Burning Man itself, as you can see in the link.

And, in other news, I finished my build tonight! Drop by and take a look. It's at (Rocco) 114, 224, 41. I'd planned on doing more, but there was some confusion about the opening date. Not having been to Burning Man, I assumed that the burning of the efficy from which it takes its name was the kickoff of the event, not an event somewhere in the middle. (This is not an unreasonable assumption, I still maintain.) So, I assumed Burning Life opened on September 15, the day of the in-world simulated burn. Thus, it was a bit of a surprise when I saw the notice on September 5 that Burning Life was open to the public. I may add little details to it in the next couple days, but for now I'd consider it complete.

As promised earlier, I'll post pictures and a writeup here soon. But, now that my work is done, I'm going to kick back and enjoy wandering around Burning Life as a tourist for a few days first.

Addendum, 9/8/06
This morning, I went into my office to take my morning walk on the grid, and was greeted by several instant messages saying variations of "How tall is this tower?! I've been flying forever!" These were the latest of several such IMs, each with varying levels of literacy and cordiality. (My favorite was delivered a week ago: "y u waste my time, assohle [sic]," presumably sent after falling back down the length of the tower. Ignorant and illogical on more levels than I can enumerate.) So, instead of walking and sweating for half an hour (oh, darn), I logged in to add a message to the elevator inside the base of the tower. Now, it says:
Touch
to
Summon Wrath
(Elevator to 4000m)
So at least that's settled. I'm mildly irked about having to do this. I mean, I had something clearly labeled "Touch me!" It seems like that would be enough for folks to get the hint and realize the exhibit has more to offer, with a little bit of interaction. But, somehow, it doesn't occur to some people to, you know, touch it. I really don't get this, especially at Burning Life. Half the exhibits have touch-reactive scripts built into them, and most don't have a label of any sort.

I really wrestled with myself about putting in the elevation. It originally said "...Wrath (Elevator)." It's not that I mind talking to people, of course. But when the answer is easily available (Q: "This elevator ride takes forever! How long is it?" A: "Ride it and find out!"), and the time investment (a bit over 60 seconds- faster, and the tower won't render properly as you fly by) is so minimal... Sigh. Where's the curiousity? Where's the patience? Where's the love?!

I once took a trip to see the San Jacinto Monument. There is an elevator that runs up to an observation deck at the top of the tower. You have to buy tickets to enter, and the elevators are run by live attendants (as opposed to, you know, just pressing the button yourself). Mounted on the wall of the elevator cabs are cheap plastic signs stating the height (in feet and stories), the expected duration of the ride, and a few other facts. I suppose the elevator attendants got sick of answering the same questions, day after day. At the time, I remember thinking how obnoxious that was. How much energy does it take to answer a couple of questions? Now, I begin to understand why the signage was there.

Sorry, I guess I'm being a bit churlish here. I think it's the end result of two straight weeks of being alternately griefed and harassed as I built this thing. I'd almost forgotten why I stopped going to sandboxes.

Pictures of the Tower, and probably many more exhibits, to come.

Addendum, 9/11/06
And, incidentally, they just announced that the Burning Man event will now be on September 16th at 3pm SLT. (As opposed 9/15/06, as originally scheduled.) I'm more than a bit irked about this. I'd taken the afternoon of the 15th off to attend (since I'm actually a participant in the whole BL thing, and kind of wanted to be a part of the titular event), and I have to attend a wedding starting at 2:30pm SLT on the 16th. Here I manage to draw a plot right next door to the Burning Man, work my ass off to get it ready, and now I can't even attend the main event. Yeah, I know, saturday is more convenient for most people. And if they'd decided this from the beginning, it wouldn't be so bad. But changing it at the last minute kind of sucks. This is the first SL event in a very long time that I've been even mildly excited about, and now I'm screwed out of even that. Forget "irked." I'm pissed off.

Oh well. I'm sure it'll be too laggy to enjoy, anyway.
Posted by Moriash Moreau at 11:27 PM