The Highest Place by rongo rongo
October 21st, 2008 6:56 AM / Location: -27.12119,-109.3664The reason that the moai concentration is highest at this location is that a special type of rock found here (a soft volcanic tuft) was the favorite material for carving monumental statues. This is the quarry where nearly all the statues were painstakingly chipped out of the rock. About 95% of the moai are carved out of this yellowish tuft, and nearly half of the moai on the island are still located on either the interior or exterior slope of Ranu Raraku.
Rather than being arranged formally in a row, as they are upon the ceremonial platforms, the statues here are scattered around in haphazard groupings. Some are fully carved and half-buried in an upright position, others lie around half-finished, and some are toppled over and broken. Because so many of them are partially buried or laying down, this is also the place where you can get eye-to-eye with these tremendous sculptures. (You can see the details on their earlobes and their nostrils, and if you were irresponsible about archaeological preservation, you could kiss them on the lips.)
In addition to being the highest point of moai concentration, I think this is also a high point of most peoples' visit to Easter Island, and the most astonishing place I've ever seen. I was enthralled to sit and sketch for hours. (After most of the sketches, I took a quick photo for comparison.)
18 vote(s)
Morte
5
saille is planting praxis
5
The Found Walrus
4
emma ungoldman
5
Mr Everyday
5
Optical Dave
5
Tøm
5
Zephyr
5
Augustus deCorbeau
2
Loki
1
Charlie Fish
1
Stark
1
Waldo Cheerio
5
Ben Yamiin
5
Not Here No More
4
Mistress MeiMei
3
Bethany Juju
2
the trace
Terms
drawing, statue, artifact14 comment(s)
Macchu Pichu sounds great. What I love is the idea that long ago, people created a location of awesomeness, and many years later, the mood is still transmitted.
See, i have been developing this thing where i never want to vote for things people were going to do anyway, and never expect people to vote for mine (because if i post something like that, I really just want to share something spiffy.) But this, the sketches, all the little bits of the trip you've shared, are made of so much awesome. So. much. awesome. And now I have points....
Ooh, not really praxis if people were going to do it anyway? I like the idea a lot. It is a good thing to think about, I am not even sure if I agree or not yet, but I really like it as a parameter.
i have seen praxis Awesome enough to count anyway, (i did give this as many points as i could, after all), and things people would have done anyway but do slightly differently, more grandly, with more attention and purpose because there is a related task, which I consider very much point-worthy and part of the point of the game. i'm trying to figure out where my own lines are and whether I agree with it or not. i suspect i will be chewing on my own thoughts on this one for quite a while.
I know what you mean, as far as things people were going to do anyway. I was kind of waffling about whether to do some of these write ups, because they weren't necessarily things that I did solely to achieve a specific task. But I decided that since the entire idea of going on this trip originated from playing SF0, I wanted to have some parts of the experience documented here. But yeah, an interesting question to think over.
And of course, one of the strange and wonderful aspects of the game is that it permeates and integrates with life, in a Don't play SF0, live SF0 kind of way.
My voting patterns have always been colored by the same sense that things ought to be done *for a task.*
And yet, I really enjoy reading these Rongo Rongo tasks. They're a lot more interesting than many of the things that *are* explicitly done in response to a task prompt.
If an activity is fun to do, and it satisfies the task requirements, and it brings us pleasure to read it. . . then why on earth should we devalue it as a task? I can't think of a good reason. And "please keep on doing this because I really enjoy it, but I'm not going to vote for it" seems like a hard position to defend.
I think a beautiful write-up can be as much of an investment of time and love as a task.
And therefore often deserving of points even if you were going to do the task-activity anyway.
I award you a Norton dollar vote in exchange for viewing the awesomeness.
note, I would give you as many points as I could if i had them.
Your sketches are beautiful, and your enthusiasm is totally catching.
Thanks! I started bringing a sketch book along for museums and vacations because sometimes it's hard for me to really see something until I try to draw it.
Getting to see sketches of these famous sculptures is a delight, and I thank you for it. The technical altitude restrictions do nothing to damper the fun of reading the praxis, so I'm voting in thanks, but trying to limit my personal enthusiasm for the sketches and photographs to a single-point tip of the hat to your completion.
That's great. I was thinking that they need to make Easter Island head chewable vitamins.
Wow.
I mean just......
Wow.
I've never been, and you've renewed my desire to go.
In a trade for desires, you should go to Macchu Pichu some day. But make sure you get up early and make the hike up the mountain to be there in time for sunrise, and before the tourists show up. It's one of the most amazing feelings in the world, and I think it might be pretty similar to what you got to experience here.