unburning man

i just read this in the wired news article about the new orleans memorial at burning man:

joan baez was at burning man? are you kidding? tell me that they just sang along to a big boombox and not the actual joan baez.

otherwise, it’s true: everyone, their mother, and their favorite folk singer was at burning man this year.

ee went. w went. quarry went. cheryl went. hell, even tom, w’s straighter than straightedge brother went.

we, on the other hand, stayed at home. went to very nice restaurants to eat very nice meals. we took showers every day. at no point were we dirty, hot, or even vaguely uncomfortable.

on saturday we went to see three movies: an adaptation of the haruki murakami novella tony takatani, luc bresson’s pickpocket, and sam peckinpah’s bring me the head of alfredo garcia! each was perfectly as you’d expect it: quietly distant, close and nervous, loud and crazy. and each dealt with a different facet of obsession, oddly enough.

sunday we went to the monterey bay aquarium, to see the jellyfish and the giant octopus. only the giant octopus was hiding and making himself as un-giant as possible. the jellyfish didn’t seem to give a damn and just let it all hang out. there was one rare jellyfish they have to import from japan each year that resembled a hat with balls hanging off of it. i have to admit that it just reminded me of the draggin’ ball hat from kingdom of loathing.

flower hat jelly	draggin’ ball hat
This striking and rare jelly has brilliant, multicolored tentacles trailing from a translucent, pinstriped bell. It also has tentacles around the rim of its bell that it can quickly coil and uncoil. This mysterious jelly is semi-benthic, sometimes spending its time on the seafloor. Species Information Diet: small fishes Size: to about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter Range: off southern Japan, Brazil and Argentina Relatives: other hydromedusae Conservation Notes: Blooms of the flower hat jellies make swimming in waters off Argentina hazardous. The sting of this jelly is painful, leaving a bright rash. In Brazil, blooms of the flower hat jellies interfere with shrimp fishing; the jellies clog their nets and drive shrimp away, probably to deeper water.	This is a hat with heavy iron balls attached to it. It’s stylish, but really heavy. Type: hat Power: 100 Moxie Required: 35 Selling Price: 120 Meat. Enchantment: Intrinsic effect: Draggin’ Balls