Festival Galleries
San Diego Comic-Con 2023
2023 was an odd year for SDCC due to both the writers' and actors' strikes. Actors were not allowed to promote their projects, so a ton of appearances were cancelled. Definitely put a damper on the whole thing. Almost all the photos here are from Friday/Sunday, as I wasn't able to grab a Saturday badge and didn't attend much of Thursday.
Las Fallas 2023
It was a bit of an upset this year, as Falla Exposicion - Micer Masco, which took 7th place in the 2022 Special Section, came out of nowhere to win first place. Falla Convento Jerusalen, having won it the past two years, ended up taking third place with a American West theme. And the crowds seemed larger than usual - this year the final two days fell on a weekend and the weather was pretty nice the whole time, so it got pretty nuts. Also, check out the Plaza del Ayuntamieno falla - they got fancy at night with a light & sound show every half hour of a beating heart.
Venice Carnevale 2023
My first time back to Carnevale since 2020, when I was standing in Piazza San Marco and they suddenly announced Carnevale was canceled early due to the northern Italy COVID outbreak. There were a few really foggy days this year, but crowds seemed to have returned back to pre-COVID levels.
Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023
SWCE 2023 was a 4-day convention that took place April 7-10, 2023 at the ExCeL London convention center. A lot of focus on The Mandalorian and Andor, and at the opening ceremonies they announced they will try to rescue the franchise from the realm of TV-only and finally start making movies again. Next up - Tokyo, Japan in 2025.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2022
The first post-COVID festival, and my third time attending. Lots of rain this time as Thailand was soaked with the remnants of Typhoon Noru after it slammed into Vietnam, but it didn't slow down the proceedings at all.
San Diego Comic-Con 2022
First time ever at San Diego Comic-Con, after trying for 6 years to get a badge and then when it finally happened, COVID delayed it for another 2 years. According to people who go every year, this was somewhat scaled-down from pre-COVID both in terms of convention center presence and cosplayers, probably because people were hesitant to fully commit to something that was not guaranteed to happen in 2022.
WonderCon 2022
First post-COVID WonderCon. Attendance seemed to be noticeably down from pre-COVID, but it was still good to be back.
Las Fallas 2021
What should have been a March 2020 festival became a September 2021 festival courtesy of COVID-19. A lot of the fallas seemed to be not in the best shape after 18 months in storage, and the night before the official start a huge thunderstorm rolled through with high winds and caused a bit of damage and broke off some limbs and heads. It was a very different feel this time with outdoor mask mandates, a 1 am curfew that limited the nighttime viewing, and a greatly reduced number of food stalls.
Venice Carnevale 2020
Carnevale was going great, the weather was pretty much perfect, and then Europe got its first taste of the coronavirus. Carnevale was supposed to go through Tuesday, February 25th. But over the weekend news broke of a coronavirus outbreak in the Lombardy region, and on Sunday afternoon the Venice government announced that the final two days of Carnevale were canceled.
WonderCon 2019
Highlight of this year was an Archer panel with the entire cast on stage, followed by an early showing of the first episode of the upcoming season. The panel discussion was mostly making fun of H. Jon Benjamin's Arby commercials, saying horribly inappropriate sentences to see how the sign language interpreter would handle them, and a little bit of actual Archer discussion.
Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019
Star Wars Celebration headed to Chicago this year to hype the Rise of Skywalker, the Mandalorian, and Jedi: Fallen Order.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2019
My second time attending the Vegetarian Festival, where each morning for 8 days shrines throughout Phuket hold street processions with Ma Songs who suffer for the good luck of the community. This time I had a better sense of what was going on, so I arrived early enough each morning to actually witness a lot of the facial impalings take place. So just a warning, some of the photos are pretty graphic. There are also a few videos here that show the process from start to finish.
Venice Carnevale 2019
This was my second time in Venice for carnevale, and it was pretty cool to see that there was not a lot of repeat costumes from my 2017 trip (gallery below). Still my favorite carnival, and I've already booked my trip to go back for 2020.
Las Fallas 2019
I was an hour away from my first ever rain-free Las Fallas, but around 11:30pm the final night it started raining pretty hard, and it was a legit downpour by the time the falla in Plaza del Ayuntamiento started to burn (I watched it on tv from my hotel). There were a few Star Wars themed smaller fallas this year, a couple Aladdin themed fallas, a little full-frontal Trump nudity, and some pretty cool fallas infantiles.
Austria Christmas Markets
A mix of Christmas markets in Salzburg and Vienna, part of the same trip as the Krampuslauf events. I think I went the entire week surviving on strudel, pretzels, and gluhwein.
Carnaval Vegano 2016
Every Sunday in February, diablos conjuelos (limping devils) run through the streets of La Vega in central Dominican Republic and beat people with vejigas. The carnaval dates back to the 1500s with strong African and Taino influences, and the outfits of the diablos conjuelos were meant to make fun of the Spanish that had first landed on the island with Christopher Columbus is 1492.
Disney World Christmas 2018
Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom for a few days the week after Thanksgiving. Crowds weren't too bad, the Avatar Flight of Passage ride was awesome, and all the Christmas decor was up. But I was horribly unprepared for the temperature to drop below 50 degrees at night during the nighttime Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Las Fallas 2018
Third year in a row attending the Las Fallas festival. The most frequent theme this year... Mary Poppins. Plus a couple Star Wars fallas, one Game of Thrones, and a giant Braveheart falla especial.
Anime Expo 2018
My first time at Anime Expo, welcomed with 100+ degree temperatures each day.
WonderCon 2018
WonderCon round 3, in Anaheim again this year. A lot of Pennywise cosplays this year, any Mary Poppins making a comeback thanks to the new movie coming out in December.
Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017
The Celebration that took place in 2017 between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Some great Collector Track panels, the 501st Legion was out in force, and this is when they dropped the teaser for The Last Jedi.
Venice Carnevale 2017
By far my favorite Carnival I've been to. A lot less booze and a lot more clothing than most Carnivals, but the costumes are absolutely incredible (so are the frittelles).
Las Fallas 2017
Four days of wandering around Valencia fueled on churros, chorizo, and caipirinhas. You've got about 90 hours to see as many of the fallas scattered around the city as you can, and then at midnight on the fourth night they all get torched. The next year, entirely new themes and designs will take their place.
Katsucon 2018
Poor planning on my part meant I was only able to spend about 5 hours at Katsucon over Friday/Saturday - I had to work 12 hour night shifts every night that weekend so I had to actually get some sleep during the day. So I'm sure I saw less than 1% of all the cosplayers there, but the ones I did manage to run into are here (and pretty impressive).
Carnaval de Barranquilla 2016
After a quick stop in Medellin, it was off to Barranquilla, Colombia for four days of Carnaval parades and a lot of aguardiente.
WonderCon 2017
My second time at WonderCon, this time in Anaheim instead of downtown Los Angeles.
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2017
My third time at the balloon fiesta. Got a bit unlucky with the weather, with 2 of 3 evening glows canceled and the Sunday mass ascension scrubbed due to high winds. But the Saturday balloon flight was perfect, with near box-like conditions putting us down just a few blocks from the balloon field (once we were finally able to find a landing site).
Austrian Krampuslauf
'Tis the season for Austria to turn into a nightmarish hell...
Las Fallas 2016
For 4 days each March, Valencia erects hundred of monuments that make it seem like you're wandering around a cartoon. And then on the final night, they burn them all to the ground.
WonderCon 2016
Three days of sci-fi/fantasy panels and cosplay in downtown Los Angeles.
2016 Festival of Lights
Every December, the LDS Temple just outside Washington D.C. goes all out to make Clark Griswold look like a total amateur.
Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016
The Force Awakens had shattered every box office record imaginable, so now it was time to hype Rogue One in London.
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015
The Star Wars convention held the spring before The Force Awakens was released.
Trinidad Carnival 2013
Lots of soca music, lots of Carib beer, not a lot of clothing.
Carnaval Vegano 2015
Head to La Vega, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in the Dominican Republic, so that Diablos Cojuelos can beat the crap out of you.
Rio Zombie Walk 2014
Zombies take over Copacabana Beach in Rio the day after Halloween.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2015
If you have ever looked at a bike tire pump and thought someone really should cut their cheek open and shove the pump through, then this gallery is for you.
Bangkok Motor Show
Expensive cars and the "pretties" that cause controversy every year - this was the first year the government ordered them to be more modest. You be the judge.
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2014
Round 2 for the International Balloon Fiesta. The balloon flight this year resulted in a landing on the railroad tracks!
Albuquerque Baloon Fiesta 2013
My first time going to the International Balloon Fiesta. Had box conditions for my flight, so I ended up landing 50 meters from where I took off after an hour in the air.