Live-blogging the Burning Man. See earlier post about the occult nature of this ritual, which has been well demonstrated by the video and audio feed of it tonight.

[8/30/14 9:50pm ] The Giant  is taking a long time to burn. Strangely, his face is not visible at all. The Burning headless Man is made all the eerier by Isis-related events on the outside world. Not that the Ancient Babylonian mysteries could have anything to do with the other events going on in Babylon right now. Right?

This it what they are doing. This is what they are broadcasting to the world, with words and music and fire – so the words are kind of important.

First, the Luminferrous lamplighters bring the flame (photos from justburnus via Facebook, from earlier burns):

The LUMINFERROUS is lit at 8pm on the playa by Crimson Rose, officially marking the beginning of the man burn festivities.

 

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When The Man’s torso initially lit up, a face did appear. My photo’s not that great, but maybe you can see it too.

 

 

When the music ended, a quote was played. 17577 were watching with me on the live stream “Behold a white horse” – they are quoting the Book of Revelation.

“When the Man comes around”, was the song that then played. Johnny Cash. “It’s Alpha and Omega‘s kingdom come”.

The audio broadcast switched back to the book of Revelation again

And I looked, and behold a pale horse;

And his name that sat on him was Death.

And Hell followed with him.

They just had to get that in there, didn’t they. Hell. They’re always bringing it up.

The verse from the Bible’s Book of Revelations, its prophecy section, that they quote actually says:

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

– King James Bible “Authorized Version”, Cambridge Edition

 

“I don’t want to set the world on fire. I just want to start a flame in your heart”, sings the next jazzy song.

 

What sounds like Nine Inch Nails or Tool.

And then the feed goes dark. “I am become death, destroyer of worlds”. Which is actually:

I am all-powerful Time which destroys all things, and I have come here to slay these men. Even if thou doest not fight, all the warriors facing thee shall die.

And now we have Joy Division. I love Joy Division. The name of the song is “Dead Souls”

The Man is still Burning, the entire structure is still in place and slowly burning. The stream audience has dropped in half already.

Someone take these dreams away
That point me to another day
A duel of personalities
They stretch all true realities

That keep calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me

Where figures from the past stand tall
And mocking voices ring the hall
Imperialistic house of prayer
Conquistadors who took their share

That keep calling me
They keep calling me

Read more: Joy Division – Dead Souls Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Now someone is shooting it with a laser. Perhpas trying to help light the face.

Pearl Jam

can’t find a Better Man…perhaps that’s why he’s not Burning much and looks kinda unimaginative this year.

[10:21pm] Now it looks like the Eiffel tower. Looks like some art cars are leaving

When’s Free Bird coming on?

In the meantime, check out the latest Rap News:

[10:31] I’ve had time to watch that brilliant Rap News episode twice. The Man is still not really Burning. Just a big pile of headless dead wood. Bits art starting to fall, so hopefully something soo.

Black Sabbath is playing: Iron Man

When he travelled time

For the future of Mankind

[10:35] Burning Man burns…”coming soon”

[10:37] They’ve put a clock on the feed now…what does that mean? This is a bit like watching paint dry right now. It was better when the lasers were on it.

[10:45] so strange to see a clock, when Burning Man is supposed to be about no clocks. Is there something scheduled for 11:11 maybe?

Commenters online have suggested that if they could get the Moon landing stream right, in 1968, with the Google brains trust on hand htey might have been able to get the stream and audio a little better for the 7000 or so viewers who are still hanging in there online.

[10:50] If I had to sum up last year’s Man and Burn, it would be “spectacular”. This one: “G-Rated”.

The Man was pronounced burned at 10:50pm.

Exodus has now officially opened, follow us on @burnersdotme because @burningman and @bmantraffic haven’t been updated for days. BMIR is playing “Blow the man down”, pirate drinking songs.

Here’s the man finally falling:

 

There’s 3836 people on the stream now.

 

[0:56am] 8/31/14

the song now is “we all die young” – thrash rock. Kind of inappropriate given the terrible tragedy that just happened.

2408 on the stream.

[0:58am] Snoop and Dre – that’s more like it!

 

Thanks to Masha for these screen caps:

[Update 9/1/14  10:16am] Justburnus has pointed out that the first 3 photos are his, posted to Facebook. He took them at previous burns.

I’m watching it live on the UStream feed, listening to it live on the radio stream, reading about it on social media, and blogging about it as it happens. If “live-blogging” is not the right word for this then please suggest some alternatives.