worst fad of the 21st century so far. it's steampunk, right?

imo burning man as a fun zone for moneyed types and burners as a tiring people are two different issues

the event as whole still isn't necessarily for moneyed people afaik and there's probably some "no true burner" arguments going on in that sphere

I am aware of how the Burning Man organization is structured.

this is prob the worst part
http://www.furtherfuture.com/

blurring the line between work and play

btw if ilx wants to crowdfund my trip to the further future thing for research purposes I will accept donations

they have exclusive mixes!!

http://www.furtherfuture.com/ff002-music

actually this doesn't look as bad as I expected and the musical lineup isn't too far from what I've seen live

please send me to the desert

I vow to wear an outfit similar to this
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5692b3604bf1182ee60156fe/t/57292c6cb6aa60d43fc47aa9/1462316153868/Speaker-Lineup-Final-WEB.jpg?format=750w

Burning Man perpetually one of those things I am mildly curious about, and can imagine how it would be fun, but then think again about how I probably wouldn't be able to stand a single person I met there, and do I really want to waste my molly experience on EDM and "visuals" anyway?

dunno how the top would work for you, I'd reconsider.

lol "Beyond Vegas"

I have some canadian friends who went maybe three-ish years ago? and a coworker who is older and went somewhere five or six years ago

I've gotten the impression it's changed a lot, which would make sense considering the size and makeup of the attendees shifting. "Events" were a lot more ad hoc or arranged on the fly and now it's definitely a thing where people plan things to do while there.

the coworker who went is kind of an odd guy, in a good way, and he traveled with his brother who had some sort of (mutant) vehicle repair-and-construction rig. their other brother had recently died in a freak accident and they decided to spend time together at this thing. coworker is probably in his 50s and has kids in their teens/20s iirc

to burning man, that is. not this ff thing

do Paris Hilton and Grover Norquist party w poor people?

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Paris-Hilton-Burning-Man-2016-Twitter-braids-9192622.php

Steampunk, it's er neither steam nor punk. Burlesque is another dreadful development of the modern age.

would love a christopher guest burning man parody movie.

omg

no, Paris Hilton and Grover Norquist take private shuttle services or helicopters to air conditioned trailers with private security and have stage-side areas to hang out where others aren't allowed in

it's like asking "does Paris Hilton go to the same Drake concert that everyone else does?" and yeah, to an extent, the private seating w/unlimited food and drinks, table service, an unobstructed view of the stage (or even being on the stage) is the same concert but it's not the same

on the other hand, I guess Steven Tyler played the state fair and went to the midway to ride the ferris wheel and eat a corn dog after his performance, so yeah, I guess he does party w/poor people

imo the tiered experiences of music and cultural festivals is definitely something that has been refined in the last couple decades. there have always been guest lists, VIP access, whatever, but now it seems like any event with more than a handful of people has at least three ticket tiers with varying levels of access and amenities

depends on how you define "poor people," too. were there ever significant numbers of burners below the actual poverty level? idk

I guess I should just ask: Shakey, what's the premise you're snarking about here? That burning man is corporate and for rich people, and that it has always been that way, or is this some change? I snark about burners and that event all the time but I'm not getting what you're trying to imply about the whole enterprise.

what i don't understand is if you're going to do the luxury corporate weekend experience why do it at some shitty festival?

mh - upthread I was just otm' chaki's "burning man is also something you need to be wealthy to do" claim. That didn't used to be true, pre-2000 or so. I think it is def true now. that is all.

how wealthy

prob getting hung up on the terminology, I'm thinking $$$ and middle class is technically pretty wealthy

https://www.utilikilts.com/

The Utilikilts website helpfully informs people: "We will be closed for Burning Man from 9/3-9/5."

Maybe that only applies to their retail store. But maybe you should take that under advisement even if you planned to order online.

You know, if you should have an urgent man-kilt need during those TWO DAYS.

it takes money to buy a ticket (tickets are >$400 iirc?) and be there for more than a couple days. If you want to do an art project, the scale/cost of projects has increased exponentially over the years to the point where someone who's gonna do something that doesn't cost thousands of dollars + hours of labor probably shouldn't even bother. And over the years the number of wealthy celebrities and techbros has also increased exponentially. And the majority of the attendees as far as I know are, yes, middle class and $$$ ("technically wealthy").

This is pretty different from how it was in the 90s, when there were no tickets, no rules (for the most part), tons of relatively poor artist types and tons of low-tech projects/camps/exhibits. It isn't like that anymore.

xp

thanks!

what I was getting at is that the celebrity/moneyed types *do* think the majority of ppl there are poor and erect barriers to differentiate their experience, but the reality is it's only accessible to the middle class so the anger about class (rich people ruining it, "poor" people complaining about the rich) really misses the point. so we're on the same page

imo the middle class should be the ones to gut the super-rich anyway, genuinely poor ppl lack the time and resources

how does a man-kilt differ from a regular kilt

it has "man" in the name so you know for sure it's not a rebranded skirt

imagine a kilt fused with a pair of cargo shorts, I see guys wearing these quite frequently in Austin, they are a clear sign to steer clear

clearly

Tickets are $390, there's thousands available at half-price if you can't afford that - the only people I know who've gone are skint students, they did a thing and people liked their thing, but their thing definitely did not require thousands of dollars. Hours of labour, I'll give you.

it takes money to buy a ticket (tickets are >$400 iirc?) and be there for more than a couple days. If you want to do an art project, the scale/cost of projects has increased exponentially over the years to the point where someone who's gonna do something that doesn't cost thousands of dollars + hours of labor probably shouldn't even bother.

as far as the projects go, some of them are funded/paid for by the festival's non-profit foundation, essentially an art grant, and even in the past, pre-foundation, artists making featured projects were compensated for materials and time. And there are people: featured artists, various crew members, volunteers, that get in free in exchange for working the event. One of my co-workers is there this year, and she's far from rich or even middle class. I'm not even a supporter of Burning Man in its current form, but saying that only wealthy people can go because of the cost ... it isn't any more expensive than going to Disneyland or Hawaii or your standard proletarian vacation.

prob cheaper than when I stayed in an actual hotel in downtown SF for a long weekend

some of them are funded/paid for by the festival's non-profit foundation, essentially an art grant, and even in the past, pre-foundation, artists making featured projects were compensated for materials and time. And there are people: featured artists, various crew members, volunteers, that get in free in exchange for working the event. One of my co-workers is there this year, and she's far from rich or even middle class. I'm not even a supporter of Burning Man in its current form, but saying that only wealthy people can go because of the cost

idk this is like saying Ivy League schools aren't for the rich because they have scholarship programs and employ janitors

I also don't personally know anybody who goes anymore, apart from the random neighbor or two. People I know who used to work for BM org quit several years ago in disgust, mostly about the shift in attendee audience but also just the way its run and their priorities.

A shortish plaid wool wrap skirt worn by a woman - often with one of those comically large safety pins - may still be called a kilt. I specified mankilt when referring to Utilikilts because they're marketed to men.

In my world, these men were in Drama Club in high school, but they did a manly crew-thing like set building or lights. Now they have man-buns and they are big into the Renaissance Festival. Not judging too much, as I'm not so culturally far off this demographic in my own life - but it IS a recognizable type.

idk this is like saying Ivy League schools aren't for the rich because they have scholarship programs and employ janitors

Ivy League schools are a bad example of this, because they are almost entirely need-blind. You're better off using 3rd tier liberal arts schools who give very little scholarship aid.

not to mention Ivy League schools are giving out scholarships for tens of thousands of dollars, vs the price of a Burning Man ticket.

I don't really associate Burning Man w/rich people per se. But its rep seems to have gone the same way as Bay Area culture in general -- used to be good and free and hippies and drugs, now it's tech and bros and too expensive, etc etc. This is perception, mind you, I'm sure it would be possible to have fun there, just like it's possible to afford living in the Bay these days.

ok fine

i would go or would have gone to burning man at some point if it weren't in the fucking desert. I'm not going into the desert for any reason unless there's AC and a pool

also most of the people I know who still go there are not wealthy by any means.

sounds like it's gone from a DIY/direct peer patronage even to an event-based patronage/sponsorship thing

ppl hate when that happens, both seem fine to me

There seems to be an assumption somewhere in this thread that middle class and wealthy are the same thing? Which is bizarre.

"wealthy" means anyone with more money than you iirc

burning man started like 30 years ago

reaction gifs

reaction videos

we totally forgot about flash mobs.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y_YcDmv5gIY/maxresdefault.jpg