Weekend Recap
As advertised, I spent both Saturday and Sunday at FPAC. After last year's bigtime downsizing, I didn't know what to expect here. We got another price increase. The daily admission price is now $7, up from $5 for the past two years. Is it worth it. I dunno anymore, but here is the recap with a few photos.
I'm serious about the backyard thing. This park is about a 5 minute drive from my apartment. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of parking here, so I have to take a shuttle bus. This year, the shuttle bus parking lot is about 3 blocks away from where I live, so I'm lucky. Saturday is usually a slow day. While the online schedule was correct, the schedules that appeared in the printed program was wrong. The daily schedules for the main stage were switched. Yeah, they make you pay for programs.
I usually eat lunch before taking out my camera equipment. It's just easier. It's easy to chose what booth I get my food from. It's usually one with a really short line. It's all good so why wait in a massive line. This band said that they were dressed as sailors from the future.
A lot of Filipino-American entertainers are really angry rappers. This is an event attended by people of all ages--very young to very old. Some rap acts know how to clean up their language. Some do not. It's always funny when these guys start swearing like sailors in front of kids not even old enough to go to school or old folks in wheelchairs.
Kaba Modern is the best! That's all I have to say about that.
It took until mid-afternoon, but I finally saw some cultural dancing. There was a lot less of it this year. I thought this festival was supposed to teach us about our heritage and stuff. There were a record number of swearing rappers though. Yeah, way to represent!
I'll take the string beans and onions, but honestly, I don't eat most of this stuff. I don't understand how anybody can like bittermelon. There's a reason why it's called bittermelon. It's no joke.
The day ended with some band I've never heard of. It turned out to be ugh...reggae. I can't stand reggae, so I left. I had some grocery shopping to do.
Sunday was really busy. It was also supposed to be cooler, but it wasn't. It was kinda hot. In this mass of humanity, I was somehow able to find x_angel_wings_x. Yay!
This is the smaller stage, called the "Generations Stage". There's always some really interesting stuff going on here. Honestly, this band was the best sounding band that I heard during the two days. They played a lot of rock covers and they played very well and sounded great. Not bad considering the oldest member is 15. They've obviously been trained well.
I don't subscribe to this TV channel, but maybe I should. This TV show looks very interesting. Is it subtitled? I should have asked.
MMA fighter Mark Munoz taught us how to beat the crap out of people.
He's back. Rex Navarrete missed last year after coming for many consecutive years. His comedy routine was shorter than usual but still very funny. It was all stuff that I've never heard before.
This was the last act I saw. The crowd seemed to really like these guys. I had no idea who they were but supposedly they are popular on Myspace or YouTube or something like that. Eh...they can sing well. I'll give them that.
There's more photos to come when I do my complete report, but you get the idea. I was entertained this year. As far as performances went, I was glad to see a lot of new performers. I felt that in the past few years, this event has been in a rut and brought in the same acts year after year and it was getting old. New stuff is good. After last year's decline, it looks like things area starting to go back up. There was more booth space sold. More clothing and jewelry, more food, more services, etc. That's good. I love this festival and hope it continues to survive despite all of the financial challenges.
Because I've been coming here for so long, a lot of people are used to seeing me around. Although I'm not there in any official capacity, people are aware of what I do and I get along well with all of the other press and staff photographers. I also met a really sexy female photographer from bakitwhy.com. I think I've found my soul mate. Just kidding. hahaha Anyways, I had a great time this year. I'm a bit sunburned, but other than that, I have no other battle damage.
In other news, editing for Cosplay Underground v. 004 is just about over. I have one set left and that's it. It will definitely be finished and sent for layout before this weekend. Before I started heavily editing this issue last week, I haven't seen a lot of these photos. After Fanime, I transferred them to my computer and I never looked at some of them. Everybody did an awesome job and I was really amazed by all of you. Thanks for participating in my little project.
Finally, BEYONCE HAD ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME! Just kidding. I'm not a fan of either performer and really don't care at all, but I don't like rudeness.
I'm glad pro football is back. When people ask me what team do I root for since we don't have a team in LA, my answer is always "whoever the Raiders are playing."
I'm serious about the backyard thing. This park is about a 5 minute drive from my apartment. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of parking here, so I have to take a shuttle bus. This year, the shuttle bus parking lot is about 3 blocks away from where I live, so I'm lucky. Saturday is usually a slow day. While the online schedule was correct, the schedules that appeared in the printed program was wrong. The daily schedules for the main stage were switched. Yeah, they make you pay for programs.
I usually eat lunch before taking out my camera equipment. It's just easier. It's easy to chose what booth I get my food from. It's usually one with a really short line. It's all good so why wait in a massive line. This band said that they were dressed as sailors from the future.
A lot of Filipino-American entertainers are really angry rappers. This is an event attended by people of all ages--very young to very old. Some rap acts know how to clean up their language. Some do not. It's always funny when these guys start swearing like sailors in front of kids not even old enough to go to school or old folks in wheelchairs.
Kaba Modern is the best! That's all I have to say about that.
It took until mid-afternoon, but I finally saw some cultural dancing. There was a lot less of it this year. I thought this festival was supposed to teach us about our heritage and stuff. There were a record number of swearing rappers though. Yeah, way to represent!
I'll take the string beans and onions, but honestly, I don't eat most of this stuff. I don't understand how anybody can like bittermelon. There's a reason why it's called bittermelon. It's no joke.
The day ended with some band I've never heard of. It turned out to be ugh...reggae. I can't stand reggae, so I left. I had some grocery shopping to do.
Sunday was really busy. It was also supposed to be cooler, but it wasn't. It was kinda hot. In this mass of humanity, I was somehow able to find x_angel_wings_x. Yay!
This is the smaller stage, called the "Generations Stage". There's always some really interesting stuff going on here. Honestly, this band was the best sounding band that I heard during the two days. They played a lot of rock covers and they played very well and sounded great. Not bad considering the oldest member is 15. They've obviously been trained well.
I don't subscribe to this TV channel, but maybe I should. This TV show looks very interesting. Is it subtitled? I should have asked.
MMA fighter Mark Munoz taught us how to beat the crap out of people.
He's back. Rex Navarrete missed last year after coming for many consecutive years. His comedy routine was shorter than usual but still very funny. It was all stuff that I've never heard before.
This was the last act I saw. The crowd seemed to really like these guys. I had no idea who they were but supposedly they are popular on Myspace or YouTube or something like that. Eh...they can sing well. I'll give them that.
There's more photos to come when I do my complete report, but you get the idea. I was entertained this year. As far as performances went, I was glad to see a lot of new performers. I felt that in the past few years, this event has been in a rut and brought in the same acts year after year and it was getting old. New stuff is good. After last year's decline, it looks like things area starting to go back up. There was more booth space sold. More clothing and jewelry, more food, more services, etc. That's good. I love this festival and hope it continues to survive despite all of the financial challenges.
Because I've been coming here for so long, a lot of people are used to seeing me around. Although I'm not there in any official capacity, people are aware of what I do and I get along well with all of the other press and staff photographers. I also met a really sexy female photographer from bakitwhy.com. I think I've found my soul mate. Just kidding. hahaha Anyways, I had a great time this year. I'm a bit sunburned, but other than that, I have no other battle damage.
In other news, editing for Cosplay Underground v. 004 is just about over. I have one set left and that's it. It will definitely be finished and sent for layout before this weekend. Before I started heavily editing this issue last week, I haven't seen a lot of these photos. After Fanime, I transferred them to my computer and I never looked at some of them. Everybody did an awesome job and I was really amazed by all of you. Thanks for participating in my little project.
Finally, BEYONCE HAD ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME! Just kidding. I'm not a fan of either performer and really don't care at all, but I don't like rudeness.
I'm glad pro football is back. When people ask me what team do I root for since we don't have a team in LA, my answer is always "whoever the Raiders are playing."