fyre festival is going well

like you can bet that every time one of these shitbags witnessed Billy make some completely ludicrous claim or prognostication, they all thought to themselves "well, he's rich, so on some level he must be right!"

"and if I can only figure out what that level is, *I* will be rich too!"

my take was that Andy is a guy who has done what it takes to make things happen and this seemed like a more dire situation that he was used to, but he's seen and done some shit and by god we've got to get the water to the campsite

I can’t stop laughing at this:

http://i63.tinypic.com/ngom8p.jpg

Heh, reminds me of the Mr Show law firm interview sketch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTRBUnjAgq8

it really says something that we're floating over the part where they bought really expensive water that resulted in a $175K customs bill... for water

also floating over the part where this guy thought he could *give a blowjob that was worth $175k*

I just went online to a currency converter, and $175K in Bahamian dollars is currently worth ... $175K in US dollars.

are Manhattan-based scams of a distinct flavor compared to other scams?

guys the $175K goes to the *government*, the blowjob goes to the customs agent who forgets to charge you and doesn't tell the government about your evian

Did you know that Evian is Naive spelled backwards? I learned that from Elon Musk, the Billy of the tech industry.

Musk's pitch is basically variations of Fyre Festival ... in Space!

if I could hand Billy some money and received a working music festival that was overbilled but only *might* catch fire, maybe

i almost just linked to a billy but then thought better of it, feel free to ilxmail if you're super curious

xpost the naive/evian thing was also in the movie Reality Bites.

I'm going to make a third Fyre doc called Reality Bites ... You in the ASS!

This all makes me wonder when we're going to get the tell-all ATP doc, the final word on the UK's own lo-fi Ponzi scheme festival.

The feeling I get from most of the Netflix doc’s talking heads is that they think that the clarity of their hindsight somehow absolves them. you don’t get a lot of insight into their actions so I’m a little skeptical of their framing of themselves vs Billy etc . idk

they got him the clicks. the rest was up to him

just watched the Netflix one.

all I can say is

"that's not fraud! that's not fraud! That's...I would say...false advertising".

I remember when I was working for a firm that was designing and opening all the 4m3rican 4pparel stores. AA had no money. They kept thinking that opening new stores would somehow create the cashflow they needed and save them. Every single week we would be on a call with corporate about who to pay first based on who was threatening to sue or place a lien. It was ridiculous. AA had apartments in certain cities for all the photogenic salespeople that were favorites to crash at and hang out. It was the worst environment I have ever worked in. I could not get someone from AA to show up before 5pm. And all these poor local contractors and suppliers who thought they landed this big contract who were providing things for free with expected payment 2-4 weeks out. Shit just gets out of control because you expect most people know what the fuck they are doing.

I lasted 5 months. It was insanity.

It bothers me that they keep saying Billy was very charismatic and convincing when everyone involved was simply blinded by greed.

This all makes me wonder when we're going to get the tell-all ATP doc, the final word on the UK's own lo-fi Ponzi scheme festival.

and let's not forget the other UK based entitled generation festival story :

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/festival-fraud-aristocrat-still-paying-355k-back-to-parents-a3591381.html

went to one of the earlier ones before the fraud was revealed.
we were the only people (with kids no less!) drinking beer, the bar was mainly stocked with bottles champagne.

Come on guys, this is clearly the UK analogue: http://www.grubstreet.com/2017/08/cheese-festival-disaster.html

Some justice. And a kicker of a final paragraph.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/world/americas/maryann-rolle-fyre-festival-gofundme.html

As in new Gawker

Of course this photo of Gawker's editorial director with Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland exists. Of course it does. pic.twitter.com/Bn8PFfF5LC

— Kim Bhasin (@KimBhasin) January 23, 2019

And if you want an update on that person:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gawker-writers-quit-over-editorial-director-carson-griffiths-offensive-tweets-workplace-comments

fyre media is going well

It bothers me that they keep saying Billy was very charismatic and convincing when everyone involved was simply blinded by greed.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 03:23 (fourteen hours ago) Permalink

When will the NYT stop calling McFarland an entrepreneur and start calling him “convicted scam artist” or “jailed con man”?

When he stops being rich and white

The first is more likely imo

only one man can end the government shutdown pic.twitter.com/zcxHKZeOeZ

— #TheRamsistance 🐏 (@MilesKlee) January 25, 2019

haha he did like mushrooms

yeraC wrote:

AA had apartments in certain cities for all the photogenic salespeople that were favorites to crash at and hang out.

I used to live across from one of these, it was nuts!

Billy McFarland (entrepreneur)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been requested that the title of this article be changed to Bill McFarland (fraudster). Please see the relevant discussion on the discussion page. The page should not be moved unless the discussion is closed; summarizing the consensus achieved in support of the move.

This seemed very much in line with the Madoff phenomenon of scamming people by making them believe they are in on a different kind of scam

It seems like a disaster even as a scam/con, though. How could you invite rich and well-connected to an event, charge them through the nose, not deliver, and then expect no consequences? My partner compared the doc to Moby Dick, where all these people were on this quasi-suicide mission led by a madman with a singular, but insane, vision.

Netflix doc was better probably. Nthing that the footage from the NYC VIP Access apartment was fuckin nuts.

This thing cost me $300 and it’s an empty box pic.twitter.com/gJ9T6arw1m

— adam.the.creator (@AdamPadilla) January 27, 2019

the Netflix doc was really good. Having been involved with at least one project where it got a jump-start via a slick, well-produced video and then turned into (on a much smaller scale) a mini Fyre Festival-type disaster, I can understand where all of the involved parties are coming from. If someone is doing a job, even if they think the people above them are fucking up completely, there yet remains a stubbornness at play, in that they want to see it through and do their part and not abandon it. And only later after the fact do a lot of people really see the full scale of the disaster. My particularly disastrous job involved a bit of embezzlement and con artistry and complete unpreparedness and lawsuits as well. Fortunately I was a freelance hired hand who wasn't involved in any of that, and they sent me off in the same way they sent the pilot off in this documentary.

Can u dish further

sounds a little like a certain presidential administration we all know /trench

lol, remembered and found this fb update I had posted:

J_________
September 11, 2015
I keep seeing ads for "Magnises." Is that the latin word for assholes?

9/11 never forget

yeah hate to make everything about this asshole but the whole doc felt like an incredibly specific parable about the Trump era and the SV-style "think big and fail fast!" style of management

Can u dish further

― Norm’s Superego (silby), Monday, January 28, 2019 9:31 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

very minor, very small scale compared to Fyre. and not a festival, it was TV. the vague details i can give is it was a TV show that literally no one saw, one the company tried to save by stealing money from another show they were producing for a competing network, but that just led to both shows being canceled and the company folding. the head of the company was similarly a panicky sociopath who put on a good front but was a total failure.

If I were Ned I would post this and say

"I have questions"

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7x9wvb/blink-182-matt-skiba-fyre-fest-witchcraft-cancellation?utm_source=vicefbus&fbclid=IwAR0orbNaV3323tb2BJk9nX4BslkNEyPSjWTTJjJjlv3Ok-GYoWVIOcwNwSw

I put all the electricity and energy in my body against that thing happening

The good news was that so did its founder