Well, this is a little hard to explain,

"It is your birthday."

but here goes.

On Friday, I threw Dev a birthday party.

With help from Travis, Aubrey, and Zac, I planned a party whose theme was The Simulacra, or as Aubrey so eloquently put it, "a hollow, ersatz version of a birthday party." Basically, replacing conventional party elements with abstract signifiers of those elements, and the resultant dissolution of the implicit connection between signifier and signified.

A good way to consider it is to imagine, as Aubrey said, "It's the post-apocalypse and we've decided to throw a birthday party, but all we have is some vague half-memories of what birthdays even are and some torn out pages from a party supply catalogue. So we cobble together this cruel caricature of a birthday party using the limited supplies we have and shuffle around amidst the smoldering ruins."

So, what does this mean? I was trying to create a party that felt simultaneously boring and menacing.

First, I posted an ad on Craigslist seeking actors to play the parts of Dev's absent friends. Four actors attended the party, representing Travis, Aubrey, Sam, and Monty. The presence of total strangers at a small gathering created a nice undercurrent of awkwardness and tension.

"Monty"

"Aubrey"

"Travis"

The party was held in the L.A. River (a fake river).

The party was held in total silence, strictly observed - everyone (except the actors) was wearing headphones and listening to the same prerecorded audio file of sounds and instructions. You can find the recording here. The party began with 17 minutes of no activity, just silently standing and listening to the recording. This did a good job of putting people on edge.

Everyone wore matching white jumpsuits, name tags, and temporary tattoos with the number 33.

Decorations included translucent balloons, translucent streamers, and flat facades of traditional birthday party elements like decorations, presents, and a cake.

Refreshments were water, pure grain alcohol, and cake and ice cream served in pill form.

Making the cake pills

Cake pills

Ice cream pills

The bar. Choices are blends of Everclear and water labelled as 0%, 5%, 10%, 50%, or 100% and served in the appropriate glass for each concentration (tumblers, beer glasses, wine glasses, martini glasses, or shot glasses, all made of translucent plastic).

Dev received four gifts: three empty boxes and one containing a tie he already owned.
We enjoyed some classic party games like Musical Chairs, Spin the Bottle, Twister, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

"Twister" where every circle has been painted a uniform shade of gray.

Playing Spin the Bottle with a bottle that has been glued to the ground and cannot spin.

Waiting in line to Pin the Tail on the Donkey: no one is blindfolded.

A large photo of a donkey's tail, into which people placed clear pushpins

"Now is the time to destroy the pinata."

The pinata was a featureless gray sphere, totally empty.

Happy Birthday, Dev!

Instagram photos courtesy of J. Ryan.