Do it like they do on the 'Discovery Channel'...

[Killbuck]

"Kernul - You looked fantastic !

Ah! Yes, I know!

I think Chai and his friends should speak instead of using avoidance...

I would avoid avoidance at any cost

where's your OPINION? Is this the END or what?!
You mean to say we have to watch YOUR reality TV show to see what YOU think? Hmmmmm.....
Maybe this IS the end.
LOL"

Yes, look for my new reality TV Show- Dialing for Doom- this fall on the Tyrant Channel. (There's 10 minutes of content, interspersed with 50 minutes of glorious commercials for things like Erectile disfunction remedies and frozen pizza bites. Hell of a show.

[Killbuck]

Oh, and thanks for the kind words about Miniman-

He got to come out and play with "Controlled Burn" fire dance troupe last Thurday night at the Nevada Museum of art. The fellow can't stay away from a crowd.

[chromatest]

So it's otherwise peachy to obtain & distribute copies of someone else's video work via someone else's BBS?

Good work! That's the kind of pretzel logic I expect at Burning Man these days.

Actually.. I'm distributing copies of OUR work via MY computer.

The file is only hosted on MY computer right now. By tomorrow, it will be on many other computers. It has *NOTHING* to do with ANY BBS. You can download the torrent file from MY website, where I pay for the hosting costs.

Almost every image used in the tv program was created by US. I know for a fact that they never got permission to use my girlfriend's image. She's right in the beginning, very prominent riding with her friends on their art car (It's a yellow art car pulling a small yellow trailer).

The reason that I won't use those proprietary formats is because you are limited to using their software for playback. Not everybody can play back those files, so using some mostly open source codecs will ensure that most people can view it.

This is Burningman people... this is a do-acracy. If you want this file in PSP format, or MOV or whatever, go encode it. Upload and share it if you want.

I did what I did because I wanted to, not because a bunch of people wanted to watch the show but couldn't. Just like on the playa, if you really want something, better bring it yourself.

[EvilDustBooger]

It was an interesting show. Worth watching.
It was a fairly realistic look at Burning Man.

One comment he made pissed me off.
The one about it being a commercial free event except
for 3 things available for purchase:

ICE


COFFEE


DRUGS .....
...drugs are available for sale?
What the fuck kind of comment is that?
He made it SOUND like the place was crawling with drug dealers.
BULLSHIT!!
I don`t deny the drug use by some....but offering that drugs are readily available for purchase is really wrong.

Am I just feeling protective about that comment?
Or is there something going on around center camp that I don`t know about ?
If he was going to make a statement like that, it would have been nice if he would have clarified just a tiny fraction, and give an example of what or who he was talking about....

[MoisturePup]

Well, not that my opinion matters since no one here knows me, but I saw it, enjoyed it because it was all shot on the playa (and I'm powerless over my playa addiction), thought it was interesting, peppered in tv bullshit, and like the burning man experience itself, an interesting reflection on the narrator.

I found the episode fascinating. One of the things I found most interesting is that if you ignore the stupid post-event voice over commentary and just watch the reporter... you realize he had totally bought into BM.

Apparently he had been reading the discussions on Tribe about the Discovery Channel show before attending , and so he decided to embrace the whole idea of "Media Man" when he first got there. "Media Man" was his costume. But you could tell as the week went on he dropped that and became a burner. He wasn't really reporting as a reporter any longer. He was there and having a good time, and experiencing it.

The post-event voice over stuff was an obvious attempt on his part to reinsert the objectivism and perspective that he lost while he was there.

Let's not forget this guy is as human as we are... and was probably just as overwhelmed by what he experienced while there, especially since his job on the show is to experience the culture and not just observe it.

I personally found this to be a very true hour of TV in regards to BM, post-event commentary being the only downfall of the episode.

[MoisturePup]

It was an interesting show. Worth watching.
It was a fairly realistic look at Burning Man.

One comment he made pissed me off.
The one about it being a commercial free event except
for 3 things available for purchase:

ICE


COFFEE


DRUGS .....
...drugs are available for sale?
What the fuck kind of comment is that?
He made it SOUND like the place was crawling with drug dealers.
BULLSHIT!!
I don`t deny the drug use by some....but offering that drugs are readily available for purchase is really wrong.

.

I agree regarding that comment. That really pissed me off too. But, that was in the post-event commentary, which was clearly a lame attempt to add back in the objectivity he lost.

[Chai Guy]

Here is my personal review of the Discovery Times Channel piece on Burning Man. Again, I want to make it clear that my objection to this show was not about the content, but rather the nature of the show, (Reality TV), the undisclosed site fees, the behavior of the crew at the event, and the commodification of Burning Man.


The original concept of the “Only in America” show didn’t seem half bad. Follow a Burning Man virgin around as he experiences the event for the first time. Unfortunately that idea got lost somewhere. They replaced it with something ripped right out of the Official Burning Man Press Kit
“Become your alter ego or spoof the media itself.”
http://www.burningman.com/press/faq.html

The “spoof” being Media Man, and I can only guess that Charlie’s “alter-ego” must be Hunter S. Thompson??

You would think that a week on the playa would provide for more than an hour’s worth of spontaneous, film worthy events, apparently not for Charlie LeDuff. We see Charlie ride his bike through the Greeter Gate, why not just film him arriving in his vehicle? We see Charlie being given a Mohawk on the playa, but if you looked closely at the previous scenes, you’d have seen that he already had the Mohawk before he came to Black Rock City.

2 weeks prior to the event Charlie was set to spin fire in the circle before the man burned with the LA Fire Conclave, allegedly by invitation of their leader, Tedward. That idea (along with letting Charlie do a “ride along” with the Black Rock Rangers) was vetoed before he got to the Playa. So the next best thing apparently was to teach Charlie how to breathe fire. Tedward being the good self-promoter that he is, wears a t-shit with his company’s name on it (nice product placement Tedward!). He also works the phrase “Only in America”, the title of the series, into his interview with Charlie. Being the consummate L.A. actor, Tedward asks Charlie “Can we take 5?” when his friends show up in their RV.

A good deal of time is spent with Tedward teaching Charlie how to breathe fire. This is where the show degenerates into what “Only In America” is really about, which is placing Charlie in “Extreme” circumstances and allowing the reality tv show arch to happen.


Charlie rides his bike to the man saying “I’m worked up enough to egg the man to see if I get beaten to a pulp”. He even calls throwing eggs at the man his “Radical Self Expression”. We all know it was a staged event, he threw his first egg at the man and pissed off the pyro team who were busy getting the structure ready for the burn. A Black Rock Ranger intervened and convinced him to “pretend” to throw the egg from a distance further back, and that’s what you see on tv. He then gets into an altercation with someone, who cracks an egg over Charlie’s head, but look closely and you’ll see the producer secure the egg from Charlie after whispering in his ear before she hands it off to the “angry participant”. Aside from an admonishment by the Ranger to “pick up your egg shells” the Leave No Trace ethos of the event gets left in the dust.


Charlie interviews a couple who is about to be married by a “Shaman” (who, incidentally, gushes on camera “I really love the Discovery Channel!”). Charlie proceeds to make fun of the ceremony and the “Bio Chemist from the Northwest wearing black face, spouting half baked American Indian mysticism” apparently Charlie completely misses the irony that he’s been sporting a Mohawk the entire week.

Upon hearing the news of Hurricane Katrina, Charlie heads off to a radio station to get the word out. Talking on the air with the radio host, Charlie becomes rather incoherent as he drifts from discussion of the Hurricane to the war in Iraq to a potential military draft and after a requested moment of silence (for what, I’m not exactly sure, the war, the hurricane? both?) he launches into an acapella version of “This Land Is Your Land”. You kind of get the feeling here that Charlie thinks he’s missing the story of the century, but isn’t sure what to do about it. Unfortunately he doesn’t stick around to see the money raised by participants for hurricane relief as they leave BRC, or the support offered by members of the community in the weeks and months following.

For most of the show Charlie seems rather obsessed with drug use at the event. He mentions the word “drugs” five times, as well as statements like “Some people stay high for days on end”, “They like to get high”, “..some don’t care and just stay wasted”, “Mind Freak”,” Trip out”, and “Just Groovin”. Listening to his "Hippie Speak", it’s difficult for me to remember that he and I are of the same generation.

The show does have a few moments of saving grace. These occur when participants are allowed to express themselves to the camera, in their own words. Kernul Killbuck does an excellent job of tilting Charlie off his game (I don’t think Charlie likes to be touched), and delivering a great soliloquy on the event and the burning of the man. The interviews with artists like Matteo of “Head Space” were also well done.


Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. The flow is too often interrupted by Charlie’s narration which offers very little insight into Burning Man or even his own personal experience. His lack of research is readily apparent, he refers to the Black Rock Rangers as “cops”, the event as “Las Vegas North” (twice actually), and the Temples of Dreams as the “Faux Buddhist Temple”. The most interesting question he can think to ask Larry Harvey is “Why?” and then proceeds to look bored out of his mind during the response. I honestly expected a little more from a New York Times reporter.

[theCryptofishist]

I honestly expected a little more from a New York Times reporter.

Like what that he'd completely make up his material and then go to jail to cover for a high-ranking official of the Bush administration whilst hyping a cancer cure that he's going to write a book about? The gray lady has enough egg on her face already, otherwise I'd suggest a counter-egging.

[blueniteowl]

Ahahahaha!

[Chai Guy]

Hmm.. point taken fishy.

[Lassen Forge]

Well, not that my opinion matters since no one here knows me, but I saw it, enjoyed it because it was all shot on the playa (and I'm powerless over my playa addiction), thought it was interesting, peppered in tv bullshit, and like the burning man experience itself, an interesting reflection on the narrator.

I found the episode fascinating. One of the things I found most interesting is that if you ignore the stupid post-event voice over commentary and just watch the reporter... you realize he had totally bought into BM.

Apparently he had been reading the discussions on Tribe about the Discovery Channel show before attending , and so he decided to embrace the whole idea of "Media Man" when he first got there. "Media Man" was his costume. But you could tell as the week went on he dropped that and became a burner. He wasn't really reporting as a reporter any longer. He was there and having a good time, and experiencing it.

Now that I've seen the whole thing I think you're right on the money - where I had only met the "media man" character he was trying to portray in the beginning, After watching his morphication from virgin to burner, I think not only did he get it, but might even be back.

Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll not drag the film crew with him.

I wonder, however... the whole post production voice over thing - I wonder if that was his idea or some honcho at Discovery trying to put their "freak show" spin on BRC and basically told him to bring it back onto what they wanted the show to portray (and to be commercially viable).

'Cuz remember - it's not how accurately the media portrays something, it's how much value they can market it for. Try selling a show called.. hmmm... "Housewife Does the Wash" (women doing the family wash in a laundromat) to a network (or a sponsor) and you'd get laughed out the street (and prolly fired). Call it "Babes in Laundryland" and it'd probably be a 10%er.

From a marketing standpoint - yeah, were I the producer, I'd market it as (a) a freak show, or (b) a drug induced rave, and make damn sure the talent continued to portray it as such - regardless whether he "got it" or not. And if he started to sympathize with the "subject matter" betcha ass I'd have him revoiceover stuff to re-induce the freak show/drug party stuff to boost my ratings. That's the nature of the business - PSA's don't generate revenue or sell ads.

Back to Charlie - I bet he might even be fun to have around a theme kamp or 2... Too bad we didn't get to interrogate him. Heh heh heh...

bb

[Kinetic IV]

Now that I've seen the whole thing I think you're right on the money - where I had only met the "media man" character he was trying to portray in the beginning, After watching his morphication from virgin to burner, I think not only did he get it, but might even be back.

I have that feeling too...he'll be back. But without the camera crew.

[Chai Guy]

Apparently he had been reading the discussions on Tribe about the Discovery Channel show before attending , and so he decided to embrace the whole idea of "Media Man" when he first got there. "Media Man" was his costume.

Actually, the producers called me after the event and claimed they were totally unaware of any discussion about them. They had to re-edit the film to put in the screen shots of Savebrc.org and tribe.net.

I had a long talk with the producer Jonathan Stack after the event. It was an interesting conversation in which he basically stated that they do Reality TV so they can make money to do the kind of films they really want to do on stuff like Liberia's civil war. http://www.gabrielfilms.com/ Too bad there isn't a television market for these films, they seem much more interesting than the hastily thrown together "freak show" content of "Only in America". It was also interesting to note that Johnathan appeared to have almost as much love for Charlie and his reporting as I did.

[MoisturePup]

The “spoof” being Media Man, and I can only guess that Charlie’s “alter-ego” must be Hunter S. Thompson??


Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. The flow is too often interrupted by Charlie’s narration which offers very little insight into Burning Man or even his own personal experience. His lack of research is readily apparent, he refers to the Black Rock Rangers as “cops”, the event as “Las Vegas North” (twice actually), and the Temples of Dreams as the “Faux Buddhist Temple”. The most interesting question he can think to ask Larry Harvey is “Why?” and then proceeds to look bored out of his mind during the response. I honestly expected a little more from a New York Times reporter.

It strikes me that Charlie is a man who doesn't have much depth. Obviously choosen because he looks good on camera to be the person who would be in frame for almost an entire hour of each episode, not because he was particularly a star reporter, or intelligent. A quick search of the NYTimes website for stories written by Charlie LeDuff shows he is an entertainment reporter: http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?q ... ll&frow=10

His reporting is not on any topics of depth or importance, but rather on the trivial and inane.

Most pretty people I know have been handed just about everything they've wanted in their lives. They always whine about how hard they had to work for things that were just given to them because of how good looking they are.

Charlie is pretty. Hour long TV show pretty.

I can see how this all went down.... His producers think up a "Burning Man" episode of the show. Undoubtedly he'd had assurances that all of his needs would be taken care of once he arrived on playa. After all, you can't waste the on-camera talents time with the weeks of pre-playa preperations it takes to actually get to BM. Hell Charlie probably didn't even have to think about buying a ticket. I doubt he even read up on the culture of Burning Man before arriving.

So, this pretty man gets to the playa with the crew and is suddenly faced with more crazy shit than he has ever seen in his entire life. Suddenly this man who's entire career has been based on the trivial and inane is faced with things that are awe inspiring, beautiful, fear inducing, and alive. From watching the episode I can see that he became a burner in many ways, but at the same time had trouble dealing with the sudden depth of thought he'd been pushed into.

The scene in the radio station is the perfect example of somebody who hasn't used his brain in his life. During the radio interview he appears unable to comprehend the dual realities of the "default world" and the "BM world." He tries for depth and talks about people in Iraq while only seeming to have the slightest understanding of what the hell he is talking about. "People died man"... uh.. yeah... we know.

[Otisserie]

Good comments Chai Guy.

Regarding drugs: As I mentioned on Tribe, when are people going to realize that every major holiday or event in the US, whether it's a NASCAR race, rock concert, football game, New Years Eve, July 4th, whatever, involves massive and pervasive drug use. The drug is alcohol. And this self-righteous, hypocritical attitude of "Look at all those evil drug users. Tisk tisk. Where's my martini?" has just got to go.

[Killbuck]

Chai-

Thanks much for the kinds words. Onipotent despots like myself have considerable media training, and are well skilled in the arts of verbal judo.

You can spot those guys a mile away- Ha-YA!

But, I must admit, there was no contrivance on my part. You see, it was at that particular moment when Jellyfish and myself were about to realize a long sought artistic dream with our little 12 ft friend Miniman- and well--one might say- my pump was rather primed.

Nonetheless, it was a sincere moment, and in a way I was anxious to share with someone... even a professional media-culture blackhole... what this event- and everyone who makes it possible, and everyone who shares it with us- means.

At least to me.

So there.

[Killbuck]

(I still have not seen the damn show yet... but thanks to "you" who is sending me a copy)

[Sean]

I just watched it and was surprised by how it seemed everytime the reporter seemed to get into it he had to make himself sound more right wing conservative in the voice overs afterwards. He also made it sound like a glorified acid fest. Though I haven't been this does not seem to be an accurate representation of the populace at the event. Also when he was speaking on the radio it sounded as if he was trying to say what he thought would impress hippie college kids and ended up sounding lost as what he said weren't his true feelings.

[Bob]

Chai -- Thanks for the capsule review. Sounds like the majority of Burning Man articles, books, films and vanity websites I've seen over the years, wrt point-of-view skewness.

Do you have any evidence of harm to support your condemnation? It's not as if you can send a BLM inspector across America to do a mental moop survey.

[Chai Guy]

Do you have any evidence of harm to support your condemnation?

My brain hurts, does that count?

[mars]

Just like on the playa, if you really want something, better bring it yourself.

Just like on the playa, if you really want something bettter, bring it yourself.




////////////

[DaBomb]

I was wondering if Chai and Co. would weigh in on what they thought of the finished product. I'm surprised they haven't yet.

My apologies for the delay in responding to this earlier. I've actually been super busy putting together a podcast about media presence at Burning Man. Aside from learning to put the podcast together on the fly, I've also had to maintain my business. So needless to say, I've had a lot on my plate, the least of which was giving MHO of the show.

I'd like to take this moment to remind y'all that when we first brought up the issue of Discovery Channel's presence at Burning Man, I took issues with the commercialization and exploitation of the event, privacy rights and an artist's right and ownership to their art and performance. Like Chai mentioned, I did not set out to be an arbiter of taste of this show.

Therefore, the main mission in setting up SaveBRC.org is focused on these issues and not about our personal critique of this particular show.

That's my party line and I'm sticking to it.

Having said that, many of you have insisted: peee-shaw...what did ya REALLY think of the show?

Well...um...OK...here ya go:

I'm offended by people who are outsiders that try to appear to be an insider. Charlie LeDuff aka "Media Man" (who has provided further evidence that the New York Times isn't worth the paper that it is printed on) pretends to get involved, makes pseudo observations and interpretations and doesn't actually try to feel the environment that he parades around in. Media Man ends up being a saccharin caricature of sophomoric pretense and posture. His show is about himself, not the cultures that he purports to explore.

Of course he had the mohawk before arriving. He had already decided what Burning Man was before he arrived. His mind wasn't open. He wasn't experiencing the now. "Its like Vegas North." Why do small minds have so much trouble understanding what is around them? His mind couldn't see the Temple. Fire breathing wasn't elemental to him, it was a novelty. In Media Man's own words: "The more I see America, the less I get it."

Just my two cents. Your mileage may vary.

BTW, In the podcast, BMorg kindly sat down with us and discussed a lot of the issues that came as a result of our efforts with SaveBRC.org. It's coming out very, very soon, so stay tuned.

[the fire elf]

in responding

thank you for your perspective...

shed a lot of light

[DaBomb]

thank you for your perspective...

shed a lot of light

I'd like to add that an unauthorized use of my image was used in this show. In other words, they filmed me and used the footage without getting my consent.

WTF?

Andie told me in the podcast that all commercial media is contractually bound to have all models/artists/participants sign such a release before using said image.

I am concerned about a violation to my right to privacy. I am also concerned about the protection of my copyright specifically to the legal ownership of my art and performance and the unlawful appropriation of such.

As a result of this broadcast, I have received numerous phone calls saying they saw me on this show. This situation generates unwanted publicity for me and my business. The result of this has been enormously stressful.

This situation is is proof of our vulnerability. If ME, of all people, can have my image broadcast around the world without permission, what about the rest of us?

More importantly, the issue no longer has the abstract "potential" for happening. It HAS happened. It's now concrete. Given my position on this (before, during and after the event, as is well documented), the
hypothetical example could now be a glaring reality.

On the back of my ticket is says "You appoint Burning Man as your representative to take actions necessary to protect your intellectual property or privacy rights..."

So, in light of this development, I'm wondering what BMorg is going to do (if anything)? They are aware of the situation, but as of yet have not responded to this issue.

[spectabillis]

They are aware of the situation, but as of yet have not responded to this issue.

Did you bring this up at your meeting with them?

[DaBomb]

They are aware of the situation, but as of yet have not responded to this issue.

Did you bring this up at your meeting with them?

At the time of our meeting...at the time we recorded the podcasts...none of us knew that footage of me would be used in the broadcast.

Interestingly, Discovery took the completed show to BMHQ for them to sign off on before airing. Apparently no one at BMHQ noticed.

Oh, and for the record, I am a member of SAG/AFTRA.

[spectabillis]

Got it, but what is SAG/AFTRA?

[Chai Guy]

SAG = "Screen Actors Guild"

AFTRA= "American Federation of Television and Radio Artists"

[EvilDustBooger]

SAG/AFTRA.....?

I bet you could get some discovery pay if they heard about it.
I`d ask my agent if I were you.

[the fire elf]

get some discovery pay

i advise against selling out, and pin the bastards to the wall...

it's a matter of principle...

they didn't respect...but they did provide a nice context to make sure it doesn't happen again...