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This question got me to thinking about the possibility of a meet-up at Black Rock City this year.

It's been a handful of years since I've been to Burning Man, and this year's theme makes me want to vomit, but it seems to me like it would be an ideal opportunity for a meet-up with MeFites from various corners of the globe. Anyone else interested?

posted by Parasite Unseen to MetaFilter gatherings at 12:07 PM (29 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

Is this the semiannual thread in which a third of the people mock Burning Man mercilessly, a third of the people get really defensive, and a third of the people look on amusedly? Because if so, count me in!
posted by dersins at 12:21 PM on May 8

So we can count you in as "that pasty guy who won't take his shirt off" then, dersins?
posted by jessamyn at 12:25 PM on May 8 [1 favorite]

I'm just trying to protect you all from being blinded by my radiance.
posted by dersins at 12:35 PM on May 8

Oh, fuck, I almost forgot! BRB.

*Drives SUV to the import district, buys half a ton of assorted plastic junk to barter for boobies, drinks a case of PBR, pees on the playa, distributes color-printed, glossy-coated leaflet on the unsustainability of Burning Man*

Err, I mean. Burning Man is awesome. Please do go. San Francisco is such a more awesome place during the burn. It's quieter. Your chances of meeting an artist that doesn't spin fire while wearing fun fur increases dramatically. We have this series of secret parties whilst you're all gone worshipping the idol. Everyone brings out their best food, drink and smoke. People read poetry. There's way less cars and traffic. And the whole week of the burn there's no fog at all.

It's awesome, well, except for the two weeks leading up to it when there's cargo vans doubleparked all over the city and the price of hipster-friendly beers triples.
posted by loquacious at 12:57 PM on May 8 [6 favorites]

Count me in.
posted by donovan at 1:12 PM on May 8

thanks dersins and loquacious for setting the tone!
posted by jessamyn at 1:23 PM on May 8

I like to do my part. But that's pretty much it for this year. I might be able to write something annoying about the lamplighters and how the Blackrock Rangers all shag sheep, but we'll see.

*sneaks into neighbor's warehouse to infest piles of fun fur with the crotchlice he bought on the internet*
posted by loquacious at 1:30 PM on May 8

why you gotta be a playa hater?

I will probably be at a wedding in DC, though this summer finds me awfully available and equipped to return to BRC and I'M NOT A PISSING WINGED MORAN. I would certainly prefer to go in a camp with someone from Mefi (I'm looking at you, aubie.)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:31 PM on May 8

Who could have predicted that BM wouldn't have petered out by 2008? I've always wanted to go, but the older I get, the less I'd fit in with the hipsters. Have some magic mushrooms for me.
posted by Dave Faris at 1:35 PM on May 8

Good luck with the meetup, but scale back your expectations. Despite the interest shown in last year's planning thread there were all of 4 of us who showed up. drd and I almost blew it off but we were camped within spitting distance and didn't really have an excuse not to wander over. Not that it wasn't lovely meeting aubilenon and everything, and he made a great pancake sign so we could find each other amid the crowd at the cafe, but I think appointments and schedules pretty much fly out the window once you're in the gate. Way, way too many distractions.
posted by tula at 1:52 PM on May 8

Shoot, Burning Flipside is only 2 weeks away. I know I'm not the only one going.
posted by adamrice at 1:52 PM on May 8

Given that the Burning Man meet-up will probably be drawing from a wider geographical base than most MeFi meet-ups, it might be a good idea for us to start a second thread for all of the people who feel the need to announce that they won't be attending. That should clear up some room in this thread for people who have an interest in actually meeting.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:53 PM on May 8

Relatedly, is anyone (else) going to Wickerman?
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:55 PM on May 8

why you gotta be a playa hater?

Because it's an unsustainable activity from people who should know better, and I see these people adapting the environment to themselves by way of RVs, domes and generators rather than adapting themselves to the environment.

Because people shouldn't go scurrying off to the desert to hide to be weird - they should do that here, and now, in their daily lives, rather than in the easy, nonconfrontational comfort of groupthink.

Because the whole thing smells like the perfect COINTELPRO. Start a cult-of-sorts that causes potentially revolutionary thinkers to squander their whole year preparing for a single week-long orgy, thereby diverting up their time, their resources and energy from more important things, with the end bonus that it gathers all these people together in a "target rich", easily recorded environment for monitoring purposes.

Because over two decades I've watched BM go from a small, eclectic art ritual - evolving into an extremely dangerous gathering of fire and pyrotechnic hobbyists who actually would go out and get hella drunk and then start shooting guns at stuff, blowing things up and otherwise being actually dangerous - to the sanctified, licensed, overly-safe, Disneyfied and dogmatic thing it is today where people write safety manuals and willingly become the cops themselves.

I think I'd rather go to this version of Black Rock City: The XPRS high-altitude rocketry launches.
posted by loquacious at 1:55 PM on May 8 [6 favorites]

clear up some room in this thread

The fascinating thing about metafilter threads, PU, is that they expand to accommodate all the comments.
posted by Dave Faris at 1:56 PM on May 8

is that they expand to accommodate all the comments

Well, not exactly.

Granted, from a strict perspective they do, but human attention is limited. Therefore, there is a limited thread volume that is useful; beyond that point it doesn't matter if someone posts, because only a small percentage of viewers will see it.

If threads were infinitely expandable, flooding threads with spam wouldn't be a bannable offense.

Which it is. Someone braver/more foolish than I can test my premise, but I ain't gonna. No sir.
posted by aramaic at 2:19 PM on May 8

1. People who go to BRC in RVs are gonna be spending their vacations hemorrhaging money and energy on unsustainable pursuits anyway. In fact, all travel and recreation excursions tend to be more unsustainable than staying home and eating homegrown beets with the lights off. That just gets old, fast.

2. People like doing things in groups, and until the freakery regime is running our administration, gathering in a consensual freakery arena to freak around is a novel and delightful time for those so inclined to it. It's not a license to freak around, it's a safari in freak-dense territory. Implying that people who go to BRC are somehow failing to do a good job at being progressive in their quotidian lives is obviously insulting (TO ME) as well as baseless.

3. People who are paranoid about governmental surveillance are probably not that good at having fun anyway. I would rather not be partying with them anywhere.

4. That doesn't mean it isn't fun for the rest of us. Live and let live, by which I mean to say mind your own business.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:43 PM on May 8 [4 favorites]

I'll be there again. We can do center camp again, but I'd also be happy to host it at my camp, the Snack Food Glory Hole. Location TBD. (we'll be in the what where when thing)
posted by aubilenon at 2:52 PM on May 8

Relatedly, is anyone (else) going to Wickerman?

Bastard. This is the first summer in years I won't be making it to Four Quarters, and now you've got to rub it in.

(Seriously, though, it looks like that thing's gonna be a blast. Have fun!)
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:11 PM on May 8

. . .mind your own business.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:43 PM on May 8 [2 favorites +] [!]

What's the opposite of eponysterical?
posted by The Bellman at 4:12 PM on May 8

Therefore, there is a limited thread volume that is useful; beyond that point it doesn't matter if someone posts, because only a small percentage of viewers will see it.

This statement clearly indicates either ignorance of site features or willful obtuseness. Use Recent Activity.

Hey, have fun everybody. Party over there, crazy over there, hugs right here hell yeah.
posted by carsonb at 4:13 PM on May 8

I may be going this year. If I go, a meetup would be fun. I have no idea when I'm going to decide whether or not I'm actually going (and being ok with that is the beginning of my buttoned-up, lame attempts at being wiiiiild and crrrrazy. Next up, excel sheets sorted in DESCENDING order, whoa!)
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:28 PM on May 8

Ambrosia Voyeur: In fact, all travel and recreation excursions tend to be more unsustainable than staying home and eating homegrown beets with the lights off. That just gets old, fast.

Hey. Don't piss on my version of fun. (You forgot the quiet weeping.)
posted by loiseau at 4:38 PM on May 8

Use Recent Activity

Missing the point, for the win! Gooooooaaaaallllllll!
posted by aramaic at 6:26 PM on May 8

I'd love to host the MeFi meetup at Autosub. We're usually placed right on the Esplanade. Unfortunately, we're still a few months away from BRC's official placements, so I suspect this thread will be closed by the time I can tell you where we'll be this year.

Consider it, though. We have a great bar!
posted by mykescipark at 8:10 PM on May 8

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