Ego Leonard 9
Sensitized by my younger sister's kids, nephews Grant and Raine, to all things Lego I found my self unable to turn away from this story from the other week
Giant Lego man found in Dutch sea | Oddly Enough | Reuters. All things Lego covers a lot of ground: Bionicles (piraka's, baraki each spikier than the last) Star Wars, urban security geographies, all equally hail from the Lego universe (legoverse). Most featuring the ubiquitous 3 inch articulated figurines. To have a six or seven foot one wash up on a beach was cause for bemusement or possible alarm. My nephews were on vacation in Vancouver at the time. I showed them the picture when they got back. For myself the story was complete: Lego man was rescued from the tide brought up on a beach in the Netherlands where he was apparently made the mascot of a soda stand. His name was Ego Leonard 9, this was written on his back. On his front the legend "no real than you are." All this from one Youtube link. I discovered; however, you can't tell a story like that to kids. Their curiosity is of a larger nature.
I had to bother the sleeping internets to find out more. In the wake of the initial stories there was some commentary on various forums - not particularly illuminating
Giant Lego man found in Dutch sea - The Something Awful Forums. I began to think this was a genuine mystery
Mystery of Ego Leonard | Planetizen Radar rather than a laid plan gone awry
THE BEAT » Blog Archive » Giant Lego Man Pulled From Sea. Then I came across an article in a Syracuse newspaper which had shook some information loose
Monday PostScript: Giant Lego man - News Tracker on Syracuse.com. There is a Dutch Art collective Du Fois (Welkom op de website van DuFois Schilderkunst) which seems to have created these things and dispatched them to the alternative corners of europe this summer (dj dance, and solar power festivals) Ego Leonard 9 seems to have lost his way, while on the way back from the UK. There is a web site www.egoleanard.nl/ whose index page is named "No real than you are" which tells their story. From the the pictures here there seem to be at least three of them and I suspect now as many as nine - all named ego leonard. Their web page says they come to us as emissaries from the virtual world. As we have increasingly gone into their world, they have come to ours to see what beauty and experiences can be obtained here. They ask us to share our experiences with them.
From the mission statement (the ego Leonard's have a mission statement) they seek to know what it is to have an authentic and singular identity, that can be held back by being within or without a particular group. How this be overcome and mitigated while maintaining an essential self to move through the physical world and see its beauty in new ways. I can tell you this because some of the pages on this site can be switched back and forth between dutch and english. The page of travels cannot, but there are plenty of pictures. What ought be made of this all. I am inclined to like these ego Leonard's and their charge for this world. I will do what I can to help them. If I can figure out what that is. The physically world has always seemed to me to be overly dense at times and made of inferior gossamer at others. In passing, perhaps by way of contrast, I see at this years Burning Man some independent thinker decided that the wicker man needed to be set alight four days early
Burning Man burns too soon, man charged with arson | U.S. | Reuters. Setting off a ball of confusion that may never be contained
Burning Man Comes Early This Year - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog. It will be rebuilt and set alight properly at the end of the festival. Some will leave feeling the anarchy was doubted. A moment of irreligion. I'll have to talk this over with Ego Leonard.
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