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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Burning Man

Burning Man was held this last week near the town of Black Rock City, Nevada. For those of you who don't know what it is, from everything that I've read about it...all seem to agree that it is a festival for the "tragically hip".

Now...you won't find a definition online of "tragically hip".  It's only two words but they say a lot.  I have wrestled in my "writer/authorial" mind as to how I would define the condition of "tragically hip".  In a discussion that I had with my friend James, we came up with this definition:

Tragically hip ==> When a person is so artistic, so completely creative, that their talent strangles them. It makes them "weird" to normal folk.  And this end result is "tragic".  Think of people with horns implanted in their heads, teeth filed into those of a reptile and tattoos that cover all of their body.

Thus, Burning Man is made for the "tragically hip".

Do you agree with my definition?

Take a look at some of these pictures taken at Burning Man and posted online.
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29 comments:

  1. David P. KingSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Looks like fun. And that third picture reminds me of those long-legged creatures from The Dark Crystal. Man. I haven't seen that in a long time. Where's my rental cue?

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  2. Angela AckermanSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    Wow...so cool. Some call things weird, but others say the same thing is genius. It's all in the eye of the beholder. :)

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  3. Misha GerrickSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:33 AM

    Some of it looks pretty cool. ^_^ Although I think I might not be seen there.

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  4. MunkSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    I have always wanted to attend Burning Man, but I am afraid if I do, I will soon feel as if I am at a high-tech renaissance festival and the charm will wear off after an hour.

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  5. Heather JustesenSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    I'm very not tragically hip (or even a little hip), but those photos are seriously cool.

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    I love the creativity on display, but three things keep me from going to Burning Man:

    - The desert
    - Lack of bathrooms
    - People who go to Burning Man

    I kid, I kid! I have friends who go, and they're lovely people. I think it's a great time for people--non-violent and non-commercial. While I wouldn't go myself, I fully support such endeavors!

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  7. TonjaSeptember 8, 2011 at 11:26 AM

    Wow. That looks awesome. I'm definitely not hip in the normal world, maybe that's the place for me. Or not.

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  8. Steph SchmidtSeptember 8, 2011 at 11:44 AM

    I. Want. Those. Jellyfish. Lanterns.

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  9. Charlie PulsipherSeptember 8, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    I immediately thought of The Dark Crystal too. Love that movie. And who doesn't enjoy a giant flaming octomonster?

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  10. Andrew LeonSeptember 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    Of course, the worst thing about burning man is that it no longer has anything to do with what it started out being. Because it bacame "tragically hip." It's all -about- going and -saying- you went. About making people look at you differently. In reality, it's supposed to be a, for lack of a better term, religious celebration. But leave it to American culture to rip the actual meaning from anything that becomes seen as "cool."

    I didn't see any in the pictures, but I bet there were plenty of commercial food vendors there and other like businesses.

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  11. PT DillowaySeptember 8, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    Has the band The Tragically Hip ever played there? I've heard of Burning Man, but I hate festivals like that. Too many people all packed together. Ick.

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  12. Jennie BennettSeptember 8, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    I want to be tragically hip :( just kidding, looks fun!!

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  13. JessSeptember 8, 2011 at 2:51 PM

    I can't top tamarapaulin's comment above :)

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  14. smashbravoSeptember 8, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    Almost weird and creepy but at the same time way cool?? Yes this is definitely tragically hip. I agree with your definition.

    It's about time I got my butt over here to get to know you blog. I have been meaning to, and now here I am. Thanks for your wonderful comments on my sometimes redundant and very boring paid posts..LOL. I look forward to getting to read more cool stuff on here.

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  15. Miho LiSeptember 8, 2011 at 4:59 PM

    Whoa, that looks wicked fun. I think it'd be awesome to be tragically hip =P

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  16. Elana JohnsonSeptember 8, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    I have a friend in CA that goes to this every year! I'm sure I'll see an update on her blog very soon. Cool pics!

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  17. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 6:46 PM

    Wow. Neat.

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  18. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 7:54 PM

    Wow, some of these photos are so amazing... very creative in deed...

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  19. Sandwiched WriterSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:10 PM

    My husband, my 17-year-old daughter, and I ... have wanted to go to this, sans the drugs. It's only a few hours away. I'd say we're more of the tragically un-hip variety. Fellow campaigner stopping by to say hello!

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  20. Susan FieldsSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:21 PM

    I agree with the above comment - I'm tragically un-hip. Love your definition, though. :)

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  21. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    Wow they are awesome. Some remind me of that Wild Wild West film with Will Smith!

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  22. Neil VoglerSeptember 9, 2011 at 2:33 AM

    Yeah, this looks amazing. I love festivals, so yes, I'd love to go. Even in a sea of posers, with this amount of creativity on display you're bound to bump into some intriguing people. And I'm pretty sure you'd have a great time too.

    I hear the best stuff in Burning Man happens at night...

    The photos make it look like Mad Max with hipsters.

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  23. CrystalSeptember 9, 2011 at 5:33 AM

    Ooooh, definitely looks interesting! I'm not much of a festival person (don't like crowds) but some of those scenes definitely look like fun.

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  24. Deniz BevanSeptember 9, 2011 at 5:05 PM

    And what about the Canadian band called The Tragically Hip? :-)

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  25. catherinemjohnson.comSeptember 10, 2011 at 5:22 AM

    I'd never heard of that before, it looks interesting! Great for inspiration.

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  26. Sher A. HartSeptember 10, 2011 at 11:06 PM

    Hey, from a fellowess campaigner. I never heard of this either. Been in Florida too long. Here the big thing is DragonCon up in Atlanta. Two of my sons go every year, chips (or ships) off my old SF block. At least when I dressed up in my Queen Borg outfit (won an autographed orginal Star Trek cast poster) I knew I was dressing up. Still, it's often a strange day at the beach here: http://sherahart.blogspot.com If my flash fiction isn't a shoe-in, there's a link after to my chocolate contest for followers. Or you can scroll down past the chicken zombies and vampires.

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  27. Michael HaynesSeptember 11, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    Those are some FANTASTIC photos, even if it does make you wonder about what would lead someone to put all of their energy into some of those things. (Pot and kettle, though... Plenty of other people would wonder what leads me to put energy into writing, so...)

    Anyway, I had to stop by and comment since I recently wrote a flash fiction that was set on the perimeter of an unnamed festival which was intended to suggest Burning Man. So, the synchronicity was too much for me to pass up.

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  28. Brent WescottSeptember 11, 2011 at 7:30 PM

    That all seems like so much work to impress a bunch of homeless people. (Did I just say that out loud?)

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  29. Sarah AhiersSeptember 13, 2011 at 7:56 AM

    oh man, tragically hip is such a great term. That's a perfect definition

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