First World Festival problems

[Shrinker]

That AI website is deranged (e.g. "ukxepcted twits"!). I can't believe this entire episode was put together by a mentally sound person. I would not be surprised to hear that the 3rd party supplier who massively let down the organiser was Mr. Willy Wonka himself who had been communicating grand promises through an enchanted chatbot session.

 

[catsmate]

A "pasadise of sweet teats" does sound fun though

I'm remindedof that art exhibition where visitors squeezed past naked models at the entrance.

 

[commandlinegamer]

There's now a Facebook group "House of Illuminati scam" providing more detail.

If people get refunds, I'm not sure there's much else that feasibly can be done. The organiser has been outed as, at least, incompetent.

But, if they don't get money back* then I think there needs to be a fraud investigation and the organiser ought to be required to provide evidence there was a genuine attempt to host an event of the quality expected (by any reasonable individual).


* Some reports suggest that banks have refunded provisionally, but may reverse that if the organiser confirms the event went ahead (which it did appear to do, regardless of how poor it was).

 

[Lplus]

Another scam by some lowlife chancer who lives by the motto "everyone's a sucker but me"

It wouldn't be so bad if those who were scammed were allowed to drag the bastard kicking and screaming to the nearest lampost for a bout of semi terminal neck stretching.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Also in the news recently a minor update regarding the failure of another festival from last year, which ended with performers not being paid (though at the time of collapse I'm pretty sure promises were made, etc, etc).

Apologies for the link, you need to wade the usual rubbish to get to the story (it is a tabloid after all):

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/doune-rabbit-hole-festival-boss-32204592

Somewhat notable in that the organiser's father who apparently said plans were in place to sort out payments if the festival went ahead next year is former diplomat, and now controversial* commentator on public events, Craig Murray.

* - Qv the Salisbury poisonings, Julian Assange, Alex Salmond.

 

[Delvo]

Videos of Willy Wonka's Warehouse are even worse than still pictures make it seem. It not only looks empty with the big spaces of blank gray floor between objects, but also sounds very empty & echo-y. Even if it had looked better, there'd be no way, in a place which sounded like that, to feel like you're anywhere but a big abandoned modern concrete building.

 

[Checkmite]

It may amuse you to know that the day after the event it had already been given a Wikipedia page which was initially sparse but in the days since has been fleshed out with quite a bit of interesting information, sourced from the continuing local coverage.

For instance, although initial reporting - especially across the Atlantic - has always only described the fiasco as a "Willy Wonka event", it turns out the organizer was at least cautious enough to make it a proper knockoff, with the Wonka stand-in being named "Willy McDuff", and with "wonkidoodles" rather than "oompa-loompas". A lot more information has been found out about the proprietor as well, who has - unsurprisingly - deleted his website and social media accounts.

 

[Shrinker]

The complete script is available at awful website Gizmodo, and just makes the whole affair even more bizarre. There's no way sane human read that and decided it was worth printing out and stapling together.

https://gizmodo.com/heres-the-full-ai-generated-script-from-the-willy-wonka-1851295448

 

[Checkmite]

I like how the script helpfully includes stage directions for the audience members, who are never intended to read it.

According to the Wikipedia page, it turned out the guy "running" this show has published several AI-written "books" online that are similarly bad. Online booksellers have been slammed with a whole flood of this sort of content; the "books" are not edited or proofread by their makers, nor the content checked for accuracy or cohesiveness, because that is work and requires specialist knowledge while the whole point of AI publishing is to make money by copy-pasting a bunch of freely-generated content into PDFs and posting them on Amazon. It would not surprise me if this person had never read enough of his own script to even be aware that it referenced a stage and props that didn't exist.

 

[pipelineaudio]

No mention of the epic fail that was the Blue Ridge Festival? https://loudwire.com/blue-ridge-rock-festival-2023-disaster-photos-videos/

 

[Puppycow]

He's Back!!

'A lot of red flags': Fyre Festival investor fears reboot disaster

An investor in the disastrous Fyre Festival has issued a warning to anyone interested in going to its planned reboot: "Proceed with caution."

Andy King's comment comes after Billy McFarland announced Fyre II, after only recently being released from prison for scamming millions from the original.
. . .

McFarland told US media last week that "Fyre II has to work". He claimed he had spent a year planning it, and had already sold 100 tickets at an 'early bird' rate of $499.
. . .

According to McFarland, tickets for next year will start at $1,400 but will go as high as $1.1m.

The most expensive package will include scuba diving, island hopping and luxury yachts.

He said the event was "not going to be just music" and could include sideshows like a live karate combat pit.

He admitted, however, that he has yet to book any talent.

A live karate combat pit? Sign me up!!

 

[Craig4]

He's Back!!

'A lot of red flags': Fyre Festival investor fears reboot disaster



A live karate combat pit? Sign me up!!

I would love to be a fly on the wall during his meetings with his probation office.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Fool me once, etc...

What gets me is that if you're rich enough, you could do all these activities at your leisure, ensuring somebody competent runs it. And if you're really rich, hire musicians, entertainers to perform for you at your whim. Why bother with a middle-man?

 

[Checkmite]

Oh don't be silly, there's no way it could be a scam twice in a row.

 

[shemp]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, we won't get fooled again.

 

[commandlinegamer]

And here's another one, this time a Bridgerton themed event. Not having seen the programme (apart from trailers), I presume this was a Victorian/Edwardian era-type ball.

The reality, say some attendees, was a disorganized and bare-bones event that left costumed attendees sitting on the floor amid vendors selling Kit Kats and watching a stripper who was hired as the evening’s entertainment. The event is drawing comparisons to the infamous (and unofficial) Willy Wonka Experience that earned global headlines back in March.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bridgerton-ball-experience-detroit-scam-1236011207/

Twitter thread:

https://x.com/rayleearts/status/1838588221006967112

At $300 a ticket I'd expect a lot more than just a regular conference hall: a stately home at least; for what they got I think even $50 would've hard to justify.

 

[Checkmite]

The event is drawing comparisons to the infamous (and unofficial) Willy Wonka Experience that earned global headlines back in March.

Maybe a digression, but this is really bad journalism. Is the reporter just drawing on memory and making up a name for the faux-Willy Wonka thing? He capitalizes it and everything, but that's not what the name of the event was.

 

[ponderingturtle]

And here's another one, this time a Bridgerton themed event. Not having seen the programme (apart from trailers), I presume this was a Victorian/Edwardian era-type ball.

I thought Bridgerton was Georgian not Victorian or Edwardian. 1800 vs 1880 or 1910.

 

[Thermal]

I hope the stripper make out OK with tips and all. Probably got nervous seeing a crowd of all pompous dressed women. "Oh, they're expecting one of those shows..."

 

[crescent]

I thought Bridgerton was Georgian not Victorian or Edwardian. 1800 vs 1880 or 1910.

The promoter referred to it as a "Regency Era" ball, for whatever that's worth. I'm not exactly a student of English history but I'll admit to being surprised to find out the pole dancing was popular entertainment in that era.