TATTOO ANTHROPOLOGIST TO BURN WITH DISCOVERY CHANNEL?

[Isotopia]

Doesn't seem very burning man, the attitudes I am reading on this board.

I for one would appreciate it if you wouldn't try defining the event for us based on your personal observations/perceptions.

That is all.

[MikeVDS]

As for the cases of a--holitis on full display it's very entrenched here and many have tried...and failed to make changes. Short of the LLC pulling the plug on the place or the hatted one himself asking for changes, I doubt there's a powerful enough character available that can clean this place up.

I'm still of the opinion the we need more "assholes" out there who use it to defend their and their companions beliefs. I think too many fucknuts sit around and watch people do messed up things and don't step in. It takes a lot to get me going, but don't do it because I'm persistent and stubborn. Mess with me, I don't care, mess with people who can't or are unwilling to defend themselves and you'll be pushing my buttons and I'll do whatever I can to make sure you get back twice as much of what you give.

Yes people can be crass and rude on here, but I think most people agree with many of their points, which is why no one steps in. To try to change it, would be taking down one line of defence we have against other people spewing things that go against the 10 principals. Being an asshole is fine as far as I know, but using burningman for commerce isn't. Another reason it's like that on here is because it's the internet and you can say what you want with few repercussions, so more people step up. Also the people they are dealing with are complete strangers who'll they'll probably never have to deal with. Off the internet, the people you meet are often friends of friends and you don't want to cause troubles for your friends.

Doesn't seem very burning man, the attitudes I am reading on this board.

You can most definitely find those attitudes on the playa, but most of the time they are not needed. When people get out there they tend to figure things out pretty quick and adapt to the event. If you want to see some of those attitudes, go in front of a crowd and start littering. Or throw a pile of wood on the esplanade and start a campfire. No, the amount of attitude is not representative of the playa considering the medium we're using, it's to be expected.

[trilobyte]

From what I've been able to gather from the original post and your subsequent responses, for you it's all about the camera crew. Lars sounds like a great masthead, and a nice show concept, but you're there for the filming.

Ironically, I'm not completely opposed to the idea of Burning Man being filmed, or that those films are shown to those who've never been. I do, however, have a great deal of concern about how it's presented. After all, we live in a day where you can tell whatever story you want in the editing room, and the kind of footage you're likely to capture isn't going to garner ratings unless you sensationalize it.

So here's my suggestion - to both Lars and you. As artists and people of science. If you really care about the craft, if you really care about what you're doing, you'll come to the event and explore. But don't film it the first time. And by first time, I mean the first time you come. Make 2007 your exploratory voyage. Then spend the next year exploring the culture (yes, it lives all year) and planning your shoot in 2008. If you can actually do that - put the art and science ahead of the media exposure and profiteering (since presumably you guys are being paid to produce this series), then I'm all in favor. If you can't, well, then that speaks to both your quality as well as the odds you'll actually understand anything or shoot anything meaningful.

~Trilo~

[tutuuq]

If ya'll thought that Discovery wanted to infiltrate your community and ridicule it, then you were completely mislead! They were hoping to tell your stories, with your own words (and tattoos), to get at the essence of what the Burning Man community means to you...For your info, Krutak attended Burning Man back in the mid-90s when it was a completely different animal...It is soooo damn commercial (and popular) now, that he probably wouldn't even recognize it today. Case in point: You should compare 2006 B-man with footage from 95’. Now that would be educational. Perhaps even the focus of a Ph.D. dissertation!

FACTOID: This writer/researcher has been told by dozens of B-man pioneers that they will not, in fact, even set foot there TODAY because the spirit of community has dissolved amidst the “spectacleâ€

[Flammepus]

Short answer: Good.

Mid-lenght answer: We will tell our own stories thank you.

Longer answer: Yeah, it was always better last year. A person would have to be a total retard to want to go this year! What, no smelly pile of poo coming out of a porta-potty that hasn't been cleaned for days? SELL OUTS! BRAF? Screw those guys and their organized art grants! Not to mention the demise of the drive-by shooting range or the yahoos showing up with cases and cases of beer on Saturday night ready to have a motorpsyco ralley through our city and maybe run over a couple of participants! Mr. "I Was There When It Was Real" can go climb back under his rock and take his Longer Than Thou 'cred' with him (for the record, though 2 yrs. longer than mine, it is CONSIDERABLY THINNER, and long and thin just isn't as impressive imo).

Longest answer: (Wahhhh x 100)100. Listen Cub Scout: If we wanted to 'Tell the world our stories', we, as a community, have more than enough competence and resources to produce those stories ourselves. In fact, we have whole networks of people who interact with their communities on a personal, interactive level that does not subject them to countless commercials at the same time. It is, to me, so bloody amusing to see people show up (on this board, at events, etc.) assuming, somehow, that there is no one among us who knows how to operate a video editing suite, nobody who can operate a professional video or film camera, and certainly no one with connections to organized consumer media. WTF? That is insulting! It is a matter of prioritization and producing compelling video content for the 8-10pm timeslot that the Ford marketing dept. wants for their eco-friendly hybrid RoadCloggerâ„¢ advertisement isn’t it. Especially when the whole Ego-Trip of a TV concept is a Tattooed Anthropologist running around and asking what their tattoos mean to them…â€

[tutuuq]

all great responses! Yes, I am sure there are plenty of people who could do this themselves and Youtube it (probably has been done already?) if they wanted to.

I think it's awesome how this discussion has struck such a strong cord with so many. Perhaps that was the goal in the first place?!

[Flammepus]

Didn't look like a troll to me, but certainly helped me to formulate ideas on what the non-profit who I am involved with should hold as standards when it comes to Imperial Entanglements... So whether or not this Tattooed Anthropologist exists, the thread has been of use to me.

[Badger]

If ya'll thought that Discovery wanted to infiltrate your community and ridicule it, then you were completely mislead!

Bullshit pal. Pure and simple. My opinion and those of a others here are informed not so much by hand-wringing speculation as much as by experience. One need only view a re-run of Discovery's last piece when they made their sojourn to the playa to see that ridicule, cluelessness and ill-informed stereotypes masquerading as reportage']/i] were the hallmarks of most of the people that composed the documentary crew.

I am sure Isotopic’s retort would be: “Who needs those f*ckers, anyway.â€

[misfit]

>>>>>If we <<<<<

please don't speak for me,,, i welcome anyone to the playa that wants to be there....

[skygod]

"We have met the enemy, and they are us"- Pogo

[Bob]

In my experience, photographers & video artists the org has hired, funded or otherwise mollycoddled over the years have been plenty obnoxious, rude, in-your-face, misrepresenting the event in any number of ways. Do I want proprietary editorial control over what or whether they shoot at Burning Man? Fuck no. People are stupid, and I accept that.

How exactly do you people want to exert editorial control?

BTW, when was the last time you saw a media story anywhere about a normal, average buhrner, as opposed to some megalomaniacal funded artist? Maybe you people should write stories about yourselves instead of whining & peeping like baby birds about other people's forms of expression.

[Isotopia]

Shush Bob and go get mommy a drink.

[flipper]

[quote="Bob"] BTW, when was the last time you saw a media story anywhere about a normal, average buhrner, as opposed to some megalomaniacal funded artist? Maybe you people should write stories about yourselves instead of whining & peeping like baby birds about other people's forms of expression.[/quote]

I'll dispute the concept that there is a "normal, average" burner. And "normal and average" isn't newsworthy anyhow

But here's an few items I hope fit your description:
http://www.airspacemag.com/issues/2007/ ... php?page=1
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06 ... 6_3_07.txt
And do you count against Borg2 funded work
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... Q8VCC1.DTL
http://citybeat.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A139676

all from
http://www.burningman.com/blackrockcity ... erage.html

[dragonfly Jafe]

...And "normal and average" isn't newsworthy anyhow

Yeah, exactly why I don't care to speak with any reporters or "documentarists" - all they care about is "their angle" (that plus 10 years of bad taste from reporters misrepresenting facts and chopping up quotes during SAR to make a sensation where there was none)

Just say NO!, then show your genitals.....

[gyre]

Synthetic Aperture Radar?
SAR?

Search and rescue maybe?
I can think of a few others too.

[actiongrl]

Plenty of everyday "Burners" in this coverage: http://www.current.tv/burningman/

Then again, that's because they're the crew that hands you the camera and lets you tell the story yourself.

[honeyfire]

I think it's easy to forget that BRC is still a public place and that we are as able to be photo'd/filmed on the playa as anywhere else.
That courtesy requires asking before shooting guarantees nothing, and some people will assume that they needn't ask permission of a large group of people, the logistics of such being questionable at best.
Many years at the Renaissance Faire taught me that if i'm not willing to be on film doing something or looking a particular way, then it's on me not to do it anyplace that someone can take my picture without me realising it.
This is not to say that people should go around filming willynilly with nary a clearance.
Just that we are far more able to control what we do in front of a camera than what the camera does...


*bracing for tomatoes*

[madmatt]

Just curious if they ever came. Anyone know?

[BitterDan]

Yes, Discovery Channel (and it's other stations like The Science Channel and TLC) puts on the most intellectually stimulating programming on television. You know, things like Monster Garage, American Chopper, Cash Cab, Flip that House, LA Ink, Property Ladder, and What Not To Wear....

And you wonder why we would jump all over your attempt to exploit our community?

[Ugly Dougly]

well....

[Bob]

Are you implying that burners should terminate their employment with such productions? Or vice versa?

[actiongrl]

This show was not approved to film, so no.

[bigbluedoggy]

Thank you, Action Girl