Tag: festivals

Burning Man Is Over, but Regional Burns Keep the Party Going Year-Round

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These regionals give out grants for art, though the creations are not as monumental or abundant as at the Big Burn. People do wear fantastic costumes, but more for their own fun, not to get a pic for the ‘gram.

For shelter, people tent camp, stay in yurts, or bring RVs. “It’s a gifting, interactive amusement park for adults,” Levy says of these regionals. “If you want to meet cool people and have interactive experiences and dance, it’s perfect. Because it doesn’t have the challenges.”

Pacific Northwest Burns

Latimer, who lives in the Seattle area, favors SOAK, held over Memorial Day weekend outside Portland in the Tygh Valley for about 2,500 people, and Critical NW outside of Seattle in July for about 1,300 people. The weather for both is usually gorgeous.

This past year, Latimer brought her “typical retired boomer” dad to SOAK to help build the effigy structure for burning. “He was blown away to see that many people of all ages and all walks of life are drawn to burns, which goes against the typical, young, rich, attractive stereotype that’s prevalent on social media.”

At both, it’s easy to walk around and see all the art and meet up with local burners that are active in Seattle and Portland. “You can easily plan multi-camp shenanigans and events ahead of time, which makes it all the more fun,” Latimer says.

On the site for Critical NW, she says, “you literally get to frolic around the forest with your fellow weirdos and not have to deal with cleaning up massive amounts of playa dust once you’re home.”

Element 11

June in Utah

Even though it’s small—about 2,000 attendees—this event has an excellent reputation among burners. “The vibe deserves a standing ovation,” says Candice Snow.

Element 11 is held on Stargazer Ranch, private land that was bought for this purpose by a group of burners, so there are year-round structures, instead of everything being dismantled and burned at the end. “The landscape of Stargazer very closely resembles the conditions of Black Rock City,” Snow says. In fact, there is only one effigy burn, because of the arid, brushy conditions.

Attendees also report that curious current and former Mormons find their way to the festival. “I noticed quite a few are ex-LDS,” says Rowdy. “They tend to let loose their inhibitions.”

“Watching their transformation over the week is kind of magic,” Snow agrees.

There’s less prep to do for the five days of Element 11, though you do need to bring shelter, food, and plenty of hydration. While a bike can add to your experience, you don’t need one to get around.

Fuego Austral

February in Argentina

“I would definitely recommend Fuego Austral to someone who is burnt out from Burning Man,” says Daniel Hugo Miceli, who is based between Buenos Aires and Berlin. “FA is the best of Latin America mixed with a burn—the people are super warm, friendly, and there is plenty of maté, asados [grilled meats], and an overall welcoming atmosphere that starts to feel a bit like a family.”

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September 17, 2024
Online Action Movie Fandom Birthed a New Film Fest Era

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Young and Robinson weren’t planning on entering the exhibition space back when they were touring their movies, but those experiences did end up planting seeds for Big Bad later on. “The napkin scribbles were really our experiences with Kay [Lynch] at Salem Horror Fest and Mitch [Harrod] at Soho Horror,” Robinson says. “They’ve been really great resources for us in terms of how to put together a semi-home grown festival.”

Group Chat

Besides being the ultimate in communal cinematic experiences, another way action movies mirror scary ones is the infinite shareability of bite-size nuggets pulled from their choicest scenes. A standalone clip of a fight scene or even just a GIF of a single, eye-popping kick to the face can be thrilling enough to draw people into watching a whole movie so they can catch that one moment. This makes Twitter, where you have the speed of a scroll to grab someone’s attention, fertile ground for action movie fandom. Sometimes, entire conversations are built around fans just saying names back and forth to each other with awesome media attached.

Boyka! *GIF of spinning kick through the air*
Fist of the Condor?! *clip of Marko Zoror destroying a guy*
CYNTHIA ROTHROCK! *still of her with Michelle Yeoh in Yes, Madam!*

Dropping into the right Action Twitter thread can feel like falling into a greatest hits playlist of the coolest looking movies you’ve never heard of. You can either sink your teeth in and go the deeply technical route with accounts like Shogun Supreme, an Action Twitter megamind known for their granular color grade and audio comparisons across the various physical media releases for a single film. Or you can just punch in and have a ball with handles like Exploding Helicopter, which truly exists to document every time a helicopter has ever exploded in a movie.

Young says that account expanded his personal watch list by “hundreds” of titles when he first wandered into Action Twitter, and it was one of the feeds he got hooked on back in the days when everyone was living almost exclusively online: the 2020 Covid lockdown. “I was waking up very early and throwing on the El Rey Network,” says Young, referencing the genre-heavy cable channel. “From five in the morning to 10 in the morning all they played was Shaw Brothers films, and I got obsessed with them and started looking for people to talk about them.”

From there Young started following writers on Twitter like Brandon Streussnig, who spearheads the now-annual Vulture Stunt awards; Priscilla Page, who does rigorous close reads into movies like Top Gun: Maverick and Mad Max: Fury Road; and Outlaw Vern, a veteran of Ain’t It Cool News and independent critic who has written books on the movies of Steven Seagal and Bruce Willis. Young discovered accounts like One Perfect Headshot that were spreading the gospel of things like Chinese DTV action movies. He started learning about how those Shaw Brothers classics he was mainlining “go hand-in-hand with the Scott Adkins and Isaac Florentines of the world.”

We’re Gonna Need a Montage

Twitter was teaching Young the language of action beyond what gets the most showtimes at your local AMC theater, and even though Big Bad Film Fest wouldn’t go live until 2023, it was those terrible, halcyon days of pre-Elon Twitter that spawned the idea of a festival made just for action fans. A prompt went around on the platform at one point for people to create their own month of dream programming at Quentin Tarantino’s famous L.A. repertory theater, the New Beverly Cinema. Young’s slate ended up being almost entirely action movies, and that got him thinking enough to message Robinson about it.

“Patrick just texted me one day. I feel like all of our collaboration has been the drunken theme of talking to your buddy and you’re like, ‘We should start a bar!’ Except we do it dead sober and go ‘We should start a film festival!’” But unlike most bros who dream of opening a bar, the longtime creative partners started doing the leg work to figure out actual logistics: which theater to set up at (one they live close to!), getting DCPs (Digital Cinema Package files that play on projectors) made of movies so they weren’t just putting Blu-rays up on a screen; and corralling enough filmmakers to say yes to their unknown, untested festival to build out a whole weekend of programming.

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August 23, 2024
How to Go to Burning Man in an Extreme Climate and Feel Good About It

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“Stay away from camps that are providing ‘services’ like stylists, hair and makeup, staff, or anyone bundling housing and tickets,” Feldman says. “These are red flags. The people who will be camping there probably won’t be as much fun, and the whole camp could get shut down mid-burn and you’ll be stuck without shelter, food, water, etc.”

If you want a more sustainable camp, look for one that brings their food scraps to a composting camp, collects cans to bring to Recycle Camp, and has some sort of solar array.

One trick to determine how good a camp is, is to check how the camp did in terms of Leaving No Trace last year. When the Burning Man crew does a sweep of the playa after it’s all over, they note down how much MOOP (matter out of place, or litter) is left on each camp’s site. If the camp is in the red, that’s a bad sign.

Determine Your Shelter

Your options for shelter include a tent, an RV or a trailer. You could also try a Shiftpod, a reflective shelter designed by burners for desert camping.

Hardcore burners will swear up and down that you don’t need air-conditioning to enjoy your burn—just a battery-powered fan for your tent—but that might not be true for much longer. Nearby Reno, Nevada, is heating up faster than any other city due to climate change.

“As much as I hate AC units because they’re bad for the environment, they can be seriously life-saving depending on the heat,” says Collins. She says you can find a used AC unit for between $200 and $500. If your camp doesn’t provide power, you’ll need to bring a small generator—solar panels can’t handle an AC unit.

If you do tent camp, make sure your camp has a quiet, well shaded, or even air-conditioned shared lounge area where you can nap during the day. Or know where your friends with air-conditioning are staying, in case of emergencies.

The hexayurt built from taped insulation panels used to be more popular, but it’s annoying to build and transport, so the Shiftpod, an insulated dome that sleeps two comfortably, has largely taken its place. In fact, both Collins and Rueben Pacheco, who attended his first burn in 2009 and brings a gnome-themed art car to the playa, own a Shiftpod. Feldman bought a trailer many years ago but might get a Shiftpod in the future.

The Shiftpod sells for $1,600, comes in a large duffel, and can be set up in 20 minutes. It keeps dust out pretty well, and folks who stayed in them during last year’s deluge reported that their floors stayed dry. “Seriously, a great investment,” Collins says.

Many burners who fly into a nearby city opt to pick up an RV to complete the journey. With its built-in AC, beds, kitchen, and fridge, it makes for more comfort and lighter packing. It’s also way more comfortable than a car in a 12-hour-long exodus line. The downside is the expense (budget at least $2,000 per person for rental, fees, and gas), and the stress of piloting that lumbering monster around Reno and into and out of Black Rock City, especially since Burning Man’s governing body, the Org, banned RV delivery starting last year. Oh, and RVs are hands-down the most polluting shelter at Burning Man, with a large carbon footprint and a large generator draw, which means more noise and particulate pollution on the playa.

Decide How You’ll Get There

You can get to the burn (in order of cost) by taking the Burner Bus, driving your own car in, driving an RV in, or flying in.

Expect long lines of traffic on the way in and out—unless you arrive by air or by bus.

JULIE JAMMOT/Getty Images

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August 6, 2024
16 Best Festival Accessories and Gear (2024): Fanny Packs, Inflatable Couches, and More

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Of course, it’s good to be prepared with the essentials. But ultimately, festivals are about having fun. Here’s a list of festival accessories you might like to have on hand purely for the joy of them.

Kandi-making kits: Trading beaded bracelets is a hallmark of electronic music, but thanks to the Taylor Swift Eras tour, more music genres are joining in. Any beads will work, but I highly recommend Stretch Magic elastic ($20)—the cheap stuff falls apart way too easily.

Flow props: There are tons of toys that some dancers like to use. I’m partial to the Fiberflies Pixel Whip ($85), but the Flowtoys PodPoi ($135) are another popular choice. You can even get levitating wands and light-up staffs. These are super fun to dance with (and they’ll entertain your fellow attendees).

An instant camera: Most of us have a perfectly capable camera in our pockets. But I like bringing my Instax along when attending festivals. You’ll get physical, tangible memories, and they can also be fun to photograph strangers (with their permission).

Little gifts: Tiny ducks. Sprouts for your hair. Squishy animals. Festivals often have a culture of gift-giving. It’s not expected, but it can be nice to have something to pass out to the folks you meet. Consider bringing some trinkets with you—you might even make a new friend or seven.

A night-light: If you’re at a camping fest, moving around in the dark can be treacherous. And sometimes you just want to grab a snack from the cooler without shining a flashlight around. I like this nightlight because it provides a gentle glow—enough to see with but not so bright that I wake up everyone in the vicinity.

A camping towel: Sometimes it rains outside. Sometimes you accidentally spill an entire Beatbox in your tent. Whatever the case may be, a camping towel is handy. They’re super absorbent, and they dry quickly.

Fun clothes: When it comes to festival clothing, you can be as bold or as practical as you’d like. Don’t sacrifice comfort in the name of fashion! But if you’re looking for fun clothes to wear, I recommend checking out IHeartRaves and Rave Wonderland. These are EDM-adjacent, but they’ll work for everything from Bonnaroo to Burning Man to EDC. Your favorite artists’ merch is probably a good starting point, too. And when in doubt, you can always accessorize—consider a bucket hat or a Pashmina-style shawl to make your outfit a little more adventurous.

A bandana: We have a lot of feelings about the importance of a small multipurpose cloth. Music festivals are often dusty and dirty. A bandana works as a face covering, a sweat absorber, a quick place to sit, and an easy way to wipe up spilled drinks. Stash a few in your bag and you’ll be better prepared.

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June 2, 2024