I've been in the mood for the love of strangers lately, e-love that is. I think I've gotten it out of my system, but I've learned a few things along the way and had some things confirmed.
It began over the weekend when I decided to offer my journal to the fine folks in
the_reviewers. It's a ratings community where you ask for your journal to be scrutinized by their crack-team of reviewers. I have been known to go to my own journal and look through the last 20 entries and think to myself "If I came across this randomly or by recommendation, would I be interested in my own journal?" Of course, there's no way one can objectively answer that question, nor does it really matter to me. My journal serves two specific purposes for me: it provides me with a social outlet while on the road and it serves to chronicle my experience since I began this little adventure. The fact that it may appeal to a broader audience outside of those I choose to lj-dot-friend is only gravy, but a secret dream. I've always harbored this little fantasy of being one of those sumbitches with the disproportionate friends/friends-of registers, but it's hardly my source of motivation.Before submitting my request for review, I took a peek at two things: the quality of recent submissions and the quality of the reviewers themselves. Based on these two things, I came to the conclusion that I would land in the "C" or "B" grade. I know my journal's not hotshit, but it's better than most of the swill which likely resides in directories all around my own on the LJ server. My hunch was confirmed over the course of the week, with what appears will be a fairly solid "B". I did get one "A" in the process though, and it was the best review ever, really. All I'm waiting on now is my STAMP of REJECTION/APPROVAL, but if my tally of the grades is accurate, I think this means I'm like a member and stuff. If you're at all interested in the process, feel free to check-out what I put myself through. In the end, though, I've made a couple of new lj.friends, picked-up some additional readers, and received some objective criticism about the nature of my journal and writing.
The other thing I did this week was to make another foray into
found_objects armed with the art-cars from Goldfield from back in March. As you may recall, I got all stupid over the attention the shoetree got over the winter, stemming from an entry I made there. After making the Goldfield entries here in my journal, I did make an entry about Cloneworld, but it sorta bombed. I think it was because I made the mistake of posting it on a Sunday. I had not intended to post there about the cars as I wasn't exactly thrilled about the somewhat bland narrative I had provided for it, but this week I decided what the hell and made an entry about it. Yow, 50 comments in the first 24 hours. But that's not the best part.I know who made the clones.
In a small comment discussion with someone who really dug the entry about the cars, I mentioned the clones in Goldfield to him as well. Since Google is apparently his bitch, he produced this:
Svein "Slim" Sirnes
[Goldfield, NV] :: I stopped in to visit Slim Sirnes and his wife Carol. Slim has been coming to Burning Man since 1997. He retired to the ghost town of Goldfield about 23 years ago and is a folk artist/ journalist/ inventor. He makes things out of aluminum cans. Lots of things. Much of his house is sheathed with cans- and his car and his trailer. He also cuts the cans into long strips and weaves them with a home-made loom into an aluminum fabric which is turned into purses, clothing and animal sculptures
It turns out that the art-cars are apparently Burning Man-related as well, although it's not apparent if Slim is involved with them in anyway. Another commenter in the community turned-up this photo of the exact. same. van. that appears in my photos, in a photo gallery dedicated to Burning Man events:
