What have I gotten myself into...

I've installed World of Warcraft (not World of Whorecraft - that's an entirely different game, and probably due to be a porn movie sometime soon, if not already) on both my desktop machine (it needed a new video card, but the new one smokes) and my laptop. I was a bit surprised to find it works on the laptop; I'd had negative expectations.

Anyway, yeah. World of Warcrack. If you're playing, let me know where you are - my learning character is on Dragonblight - a Night Elf Druid named Whunder. Or you can just join me.

An iPod meme

On shuffle, the song answers the question. You know the drill.

1) What does this year have in store for me?
"This is Halloween" - Marilyn Manson

2) What's my love life like?
"Memo From Turner" - Dramarama

3) What do I say when life gets hard?
"Life in a Glass House" - Radiohead

4) What do I think when I get up in the morning?
"Straight to the Top" - Tom Waits

5) What song will I dance to at my "I got published!" party?
"Helpless Dancer" - The Who

6) What do I want as a career?
"Emabhaceni" - Miriam Makeba (Now if I could only figure out what it means...)

7) My favorite saying?
"Don't Touch My Hat" - Lyle Lovett

8) Favorite place?
"You Still Believe in Me" - The Beach Boys

9) What do I think of my parents?
"Changes" - Yes

10) Where would I go on a first date?
"Part 7" - Rick Reynolds

11) Describe myself:
"Real Men" - Tori Amos

12) What is the thing I like doing the most?
"Where I End and You Begin (The Sky is Falling In)" - Radiohead

13) What is the state of my mind at the moment?
"Invisible War" - Julia Fordham

14) How will I die?
"Crocodile" - XTC

15) What do I do when I see my friends?
"Count to Ten" - Timbuk 3

16) How does my girlfriend make me feel?
"Slow Marimbas" - Peter Gabriel

17) How does my ex- make me feel?
"Night Peece" - Traditional

18) If I were to die today, what would I feel like?
"Bedroom Slippers" - Bill Cosby

Bonus 19) What song would they play at my funeral?
"The Ballad of Cedric Fruvous" - Moxy Fruvous

Pictures, for the sake of reference...

If I post pictures, I tend to put them on my Picasaweb site: picasaweb.google.com/tsgeisel

If this changes (because I move to Flickr, most likely), this message will self-destruct and be replaced with one that is completely different in content, yet similar in form.

Free Paul Addis? Why?

For the record, I've never been to Burning Man. I'd like to go, but I can't make the commitment, either time-wise or resource-wise. I respect what I consider to be the original spirit of Burning Man, which is that you should go to add something to it, other than just body count. Since I can't really do that, I haven't faked it, going there.

That said, what Paul Addis "allegedly" did pisses me off to no end. Here is a man who said "I don't like the way this event has been going, so I'm going to ruin it for a bunch of people." He is a man who says "I'm more important that 20,000 (plus) other people. My vision of a multi-day celebration of whatever people want to celebrate is so much better than your vision of it, that I can take it into my own hands to rewrite the very nature of it. I will impose my will upon you." It is akin to burning down an apartment project to fight gentrification. In fact, I would argue that it's *exactly* like burning down an apartment project to fight gentrification.

From the stories I've heard, and what I've read, I have no doubt that there's been a hardening of the arteries in how BM is run. I have little doubt that many of the early Burners no longer feel the same sense of freedom at BM that they used to. That they're tired of the tourists, there only to watch naked people, and say that they've been. But it's their own fault - they succeeded too well, too quickly. Would there be a Burning Man if the current set of rules weren't in place? What would happen if the various and sundry permits and such weren't acquired. What would the effect on the environment be if you had a BM style event with nobody to deal with the Port-a-Potties. Burning Man could no longer simply "happen", and at that point, it probably did become something else.

But for Paul Addis to say that this "something else" is so offensive that it must be burnt, that it must be torn down, that the work and enjoyment people get must be nearly ruined? I'm sorry, but calling it a "prank" just doesn't cut it for me. If he doesn't like what BM has become he's perfectly free to find his own piece of desert or snowfield or empty land somewhere and start all over again. But, obviously, he shouldn't tell anyone about it, because then it might become popular, and the whole thing would start all over again.

As I recall, Burning Man was a "participatory" event. Addis seems to have forgotten that critical elements of "participation" are "collaboration" and "cooperation".

There is a line between Civil Disobedience and Arson, and Paul Addis crossed it, and frankly, if he serves time in prison (which I don't think will happen), I won't shed a tear.

A place to change in SF, 8/25?

The Hubba Hubba Revue will be at the DNA on 8/25. During the day, there will be a Faire in Golden Gate park.

Does anyone have someplace I can change between the two events? I'd rather not attend the show in faire clothing, and I'm not sure where I'd be able to change otherwise. The ability to shower in between would be really nice, too.

Compensation can be arranged - I'll buy you an overpriced drink or something, if you decide to go as well.