So uh, how do you describe Burning Man to people?

Rob the Wop · Post by **Rob the Wop** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:20 pm

the sordid underside of the Testicles of Chaos.

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:33 pm

depending on the audience:

dusty (you know who you are)

family reunion (oncologist and/or boss)

survival camping (casual acquaintences, mormon neighbors)

art festival (my niece to her high school)

Seriously? I start with pictures, then Gifting It, then the on-line site. Verbally? I just start telling playa tales, kinda like sea stories, move on to art festival and then survival camping, then just begin mumbling when asked about drunken nudity. Although lots of the seas stories involve drunken nudity too ... just less art.

Anti M,
Lying by omission since 2001

orangepeelmoses · Post by **orangepeelmoses** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:09 am

choreographed chaos.

opm

jesus was an alien ReMiX

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 4:30 pm

Thinning out more and more with each passing year.

Sensei · Post by **Sensei** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 5:00 pm

I'd say it has the kick of a rum ball. A so-so rum ball. But compared to the M&Ms that are left out there... What can be done to, ya' know, downsize? No coffee? No ice? No man? I'm willing to bargain, folks, and nothin's off the table... and yes, that includes staying home.

thoughtsurfer · Post by **thoughtsurfer** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:14 pm

To those that sorta "know me,"
(and think of me as a freak)
I say, "it's a gathering of over 30,000 (just like me or seriously different) freaks, from my long, lost tribe.

To those that don't know me,
I refer them to the website...

(and I mean "freak" in the most loving and honoring sense of the word, cause I'd feel seriously alone without ya'll!)

shitmouse · Post by **shitmouse** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:04 pm

Badger wrote:Thinning out more and more with each passing year.

so true...
-b

Burp! · Post by **Burp!** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:26 pm

I find the easiest way is to tell them it's a pot-luck festivala nd that everyone is expected to contribute to it.

Then I scream in their face, knock the drink out out of their hand do a wierd dance and run away.

They usually get it after that.

NoFlash

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:44 am

Thinning out more and more with each passing year.

are you talking about my hair?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:49 am

Burp! wrote:I find the easiest way is to tell them it's a pot-luck festivala nd that everyone is expected to contribute to it.

Then I scream in their face, knock the drink out out of their hand do a wierd dance and run away.

That's pretty good. (Both parts)

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:27 pm

After seven years, I've given up. Honestly, I tell them it's a sucky hippie festival for naked old men. Don't go. Then I spend the rest of day wishing I were there.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:31 pm

...I've been toying with the idea of telling people I'm going off into the desert to join a cult...

Silver 2 · Post by **Silver 2** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:17 am

...I've been toying with the idea of telling people I'm going off into the desert to join a cult...

That's always fun but be warned, it can scare people. About 40 of us went to see Bad Santa to get fired up for Santarchy the next weekend. After the movie we went to a bar/resterant and took over two large tables. One of the servers eventually asked me if we were some kind of club or something. I replied without thinking 'Oh, we're a cult'. I thought that she was going to bolt from the room screaming. Took a while to settle her down.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:07 am

True. I once had a supervisor who went around telling people I was a Scientologist. As near as I can figure, he had decided that because he had enjoyed "yanking the chain" of one of my co-workers who had come from the Ivory Coast and had a different view of Chrisianity than Doug (the supervisor) was used to. I got tired of Doug giving this guy a hard time, and corrected him on some points about religion, mentioning Scientology and some other religions as examples. Doug at that point had asked me if I was a Scientologist, and I told him no, and if I were to join a cult I would probably join the Church of the Sub-Genuis. He had asked me what that was, and I had told him "It's a parody of Scientology." (Which I realise is a gross over-simplification, the Sub-Genuises parody ALL religion.) Apparently Doug did NOT know what "parody" meant, and decided it meant "the same as". It took me a long time find out that 1) he was telling people I was a Scientologist, and 2) to convince him I wasn't! (I recall something like three occasions where I told him that I wasn't. I finally bought a "Scientology Kills!" shirt and wore it in to work one day!)

(Just for the record, I am an agnostic, apparently with leanings towards the Unitarian Universalist beliefs.)

Last Real Burner · Post by **Last Real Burner** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:46 am

All the christians in the house say "Aaaaaa-mennnnnnn"

All the agnostics in the house say, "Ooooooo-kayyyyyy"

religiosly,
the rebbi

honeyfire · Post by **honeyfire** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:14 pm

"um, it's a big ole art party way the hell out in this really gnarly hot desert where you have to bring every last thing you need and then take it all back with you and there's, like, 30,00 total freaks all running around for a week doing what moves them. It's not for the faint of heart."

My kinda place...

Rob the Wop · Post by **Rob the Wop** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:30 pm

Simple.

Just stop talking, stare at them solemnly for a few seconds, then say, "We of The Burn do not speak of our rituals to the unannointed. Heed this warning well."

Then walk away rapidly. Stabbing your hand with a pencil occasinally while leaving helps too.

Soul_Mongo · Post by **Soul_Mongo** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:14 pm

Not sure how we got started talking about burning man, but my co-worker mentioned she was going for the first time. When I asked what it was all about, she said that's why she was going and while we're on the subject, why don't I go too? So, I'm going to answer my own question.

Soul_Mongo · Post by **Soul_Mongo** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:19 pm

Not sure how we got started talking about burning man, but my co-worker mentioned she was going for the first time. When I asked what it was all about, she said that's why she was going and while we're on the subject, why don't I go too? So, I'm going to answer my own question - neo-fight club style. Whose ready to throw down with me?

diode · Post by **diode** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 7:23 pm

I try not to talk about BM to people who have never been. I've tried too many times to describe the indescribable. How to describe the ambience at night, the weirdness, the strange beauty? It's impossible. If you've been there you know, if you haven't you can't imagine what's it is like.

Also, I'm a little leery of being classified by people I probably don't know all that well. As well, starting a conversation in the direction of BM tends to dominate the discussion from that point on. People certainly are curious about it and once you begin the stories just start to pour out.

Of course, the kid-friendly Burn is so much more healthy and wholesome than the bad old Burn that my church group is starting to inquire about where they can find good shade structures.

Nyuk, nyuk!

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:14 pm

Q: So what is Burning Man.
A: That depends on what your definition of "is" is.

Burningman is what it turns out to be. The minute you show up, it just got different from it was. Sometimes shit works, sometimes it doesn't. Anyone see that AWESOME sunset Monday evening? Sometimes what burningman is has nothing to do with the people. Sometimes it is an alignment of the elements, the people, the energy and the state of the potty contract.

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:57 am

With less success than before I went!

I tell them about our camp and neighbours, Camp Arachnid, the guy in the rickshaw with his slave horsechick, Jiffy Lube, Thunderdome, popcorn camp, El Circo, the bouncy bouncers, flight to mars, my hothothot young neighbour wearing a cheerleading shirt, glow sticks on bikes, the Deep End, and the weather. So, I don't tell them much!

kookie · Post by **kookie** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 10:11 pm

Dork wrote:I've been to the Playa 3 years now, but I'm still at a loss to describe the event to people who've never been. People seem to want a few sentences with the general concept but it just doesn't fit into any of the normal boxes. Telling them it's an arts and music festival rave temporary hippie commune survivalist camping trip nudist colony freakshow orgy pagan ritual drugfest temporary utopian city doesn't seem to do the trick.

How do you introduce the idea to people who've never heard of Burning Man before?

Ive found, mile upon mile upon mile of the madest shit on the planet usually does the trick.....

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:23 am

The Island of Misfit Toys

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:31 pm

Most of all, what I am trying to tell people who have never been is that Burningman is about art. The city itself is created on a blank canvas of playa, built up over the week. The inhabitants celebrate their deed on Saturday and the whole thing is then wiped from the face of the Earth.

BRC itself is a work of art consiting of many smaller indivual pieces of art that incude the people themselves and it is the coolest piece of art I have ever been allowed to be a part of.

The art portion does not stop at the senses. There is another art going on that touches the soul and that no photograph can capture and has to be experianced, no, participated in to understand. There is a spirit that binds the people together (if they choose to open themselves to it) and replentishes the soul with a basic goodness that is hard to find anywhere else.

To really get the most of it, one must arrive early, the weekend before the celebratory events. At first the place has an intimate small-town feel to it. People get to know their neighbors, there is a buzz of industry as the town is being assembled. Every day the skyline and character of the neighborhood changes as the city matures. The islands of inhabitation are filled in as more camps arrive and set up and it begins to merge into a city that goes day and night with light and sound and laughter.

By afternoon Thursday, the city is nearly built and like any other major city, the tourists begin to arrive to absorb it's cultural ooze. And like any other city, visiting for a couple of days, arriving at a city nearly completed, gives a different experiance to the tourists than to those that built it. To the "inhabitants", the tourists themselves are a part of the art. Tourists unknowingly participate in a way they can't see, just by being there they become a part of the art that is Black Rock City.

There is the art that touches the soul. The experimental community with values such as extreme self-reliance, leave no trace, extreme self-expression, and giving without expectation that fosters a bond between the inhabitants that I won't try to describe but rather will simply acknowledge. Surviving the harsh elements that range from extreme heat to near-freezing cold and dryness that will crack the toughest feet, hands, and lips or maybe a sudden deluge that turns the playa into a sea of goop brings the inhabitants together with a shared experiance. A sense that they survived it together binds them.

No description can do the entire experiance justice. One can use words to describe almost an outline but to fill it all in, one must make the pilgrimage. Twice. The second time in order to understand the "Welcome Home" they got upon entry the first time.

Kristy Kreme · Post by **Kristy Kreme** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 2:21 am

geekster wrote:Most of all, what I am trying to tell people who have never been is that Burningman is about art. The city itself is created on a blank canvas of playa, built up over the week. The inhabitants celebrate their deed on Saturday and the whole thing is then wiped from the face of the Earth.

BRC itself is a work of art consiting of many smaller indivual pieces of art that incude the people themselves and it is the coolest piece of art I have ever been allowed to be a part of.

The art portion does not stop at the senses. There is another art going on that touches the soul and that no photograph can capture and has to be experianced, no, participated in to understand. There is a spirit that binds the people together (if they choose to open themselves to it) and replentishes the soul with a basic goodness that is hard to find anywhere else.

To really get the most of it, one must arrive early, the weekend before the celebratory events. At first the place has an intimate small-town feel to it. People get to know their neighbors, there is a buzz of industry as the town is being assembled. Every day the skyline and character of the neighborhood changes as the city matures. The islands of inhabitation are filled in as more camps arrive and set up and it begins to merge into a city that goes day and night with light and sound and laughter.

By afternoon Thursday, the city is nearly built and like any other major city, the tourists begin to arrive to absorb it's cultural ooze. And like any other city, visiting for a couple of days, arriving at a city nearly completed, gives a different experiance to the tourists than to those that built it. To the "inhabitants", the tourists themselves are a part of the art. Tourists unknowingly participate in a way they can't see, just by being there they become a part of the art that is Black Rock City.

There is the art that touches the soul. The experimental community with values such as extreme self-reliance, leave no trace, extreme self-expression, and giving without expectation that fosters a bond between the inhabitants that I won't try to describe but rather will simply acknowledge. Surviving the harsh elements that range from extreme heat to near-freezing cold and dryness that will crack the toughest feet, hands, and lips or maybe a sudden deluge that turns the playa into a sea of goop brings the inhabitants together with a shared experiance. A sense that they survived it together binds them.

No description can do the entire experiance justice. One can use words to describe almost an outline but to fill it all in, one must make the pilgrimage. Twice. The second time in order to understand the "Welcome Home" they got upon entry the first time.

Hi Geekster !

Marvelously put. I hope to meet you on the playa!

Kisses, Kristy Kreme

sissylala29 · Post by **sissylala29** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:17 am

DVD Burner wrote:
Bob wrote:No one had to describe much to me to get me interested. I'd already been all over the rest of the western desert, friends of mine had gone for a few years, and eventually they tricked me into helping them do a little plumbing.
Jeez I hate to say this but seems you and I have something in common there.

I got tricked into doing sound my first time to the BRC. ( and I got paid to go. That included hotel and travel.)

Getting paid to go to Burning Man? That is a dream come true!
I've been in search of my dream job all of my working life.....thanks DVD Burner! No other jobs come close to that.
My friends and I get asked this question constantly in the months before and after the burn
To the people who say, "How can you stand going? Isn't it just a big orgy/drug fest?" We say, "Yep, but there's also the Satanic Rituals where they sacrifice anyone who doesn't participate or the first idiot who says, 'What do you mean no cel service?"
To the people who ask, "So what's it REALLY like?" with a light in their eyes, we send them to the website and suggest they read the forum because posts like this one give a real indication of what type of person 'gets' Burning Man.....you guys are all great.

vividvortex · Post by **vividvortex** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:55 am

DVD Burner wrote:
unjonharley wrote:I for one am tired of people looking at me like I'm weirder than I am. So I tell em: Burnig man sucks. They already have there own idea and expect me to change it for then. That sucks. Fuck em and feed em fish heads.
or just serve fish head soup with a side of balut.

Balut! I'm impressed you know what that is?!?

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:03 pm

Balut
At night, they are peddled by ambulant vendors carrying baskets and calling out in their singsong voices, "Baluuuut...baluuuuuut..." The uninitiated may find it repulsive. I used to. Until I tried it and and got hooked.

Balut is a delicacy; balut-making is an important Philippine industry.

Mallard duck locally known as ‘Pateros itik’ (Anas platyrynchos) is commonly used by duck farmers in the Philippines. The eggs from this duck are processed to "balut" and salted eggs. "Balut" is an incubated egg with developed embryo of 17 to 19 days which is boiled and eaten with or without salt. It is a Filipino delicacy that commands a good price. Fresh duck eggs are also used to prepare a dessert called "leche flan" (egg custard).
According to Ti Sencia (a traditional balut-maker ), the best balut – also known as “balut sa puti” – is made by allowing the eggs to incubate from 16 to 17 days. Eighteen days is still okay, but go beyond that and the sisiw will be too large for leisurely consumption. Egg shell thickness is also a very important factor in the handling and processing of "balut" and salted eggs.

Those who think that balut is one for The Fear Factor do not know what they're missing.

vividvortex · Post by **vividvortex** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:54 pm

balutifully put! if you like balut you might like dinuguan...dugo = blood....dinuguan = blood soup....or papait ...pait = bitter.....papait = bitter soup made of bile and tripe and all kinds of things that piggies can do without.

So uh, how do you describe Burning Man to people?

Burning Man is...

burning descriptions

...

....gimmy dat ol' time religon........

i usually say

Do it...do iT

Do it neo-fight club style

~

Re: So uh, how do you describe Burning Man to people?

1st time, 1st try

WOW!

Where do I apply????

definition