Good Bye October.. And With It The Fest!

Good Bye October.. And With It The Fest!

October has come and gone. All Hollow's eve has turned into All Hallows Day. Which is today, by the way. November 1st. The Catholic Church wanted to get rid of that Pagan holiday's popularity by making it all saints day today... thus all Hallow's Day.

But enough about Halloween, it's time to look back at October and lament over the things that didn't happen. I didn't eat my weight in pumpkin milk shakes (which it's not too late to do) and most of all, I didn't do the Oktoberfest drinking. Which I am greatly disappointed in myself about.



I mean, I'm a heavy drinker. Ask anyone who knows me, I clearly have a problem and I missed Alpine Village's Oktoberfest! What the shit is that?!? Though I have heard a lot of problems with this years festivities. From the lack of Angel city brewery to high prices for poor quality food. So perhaps it wasn't much of a loss on that one.

Then there was the first inaugrual Downtown Los Angeles Oktoberfest that was heavily promoted. Though that seemed worse off than Alpine Village as they ran out of steins and of the one thing no Oktoberfest should ever run out of... Booze. Yes, so there wasn't any love loss in missing out on that one. I mean, what kind of Oktoberfest runs out of beer? It was so bad that they were issuing massive amounts of refunds to people who bought the tickets, which ranged from $20-100 for the VIP..



I heard all about the Costa Mesa Oktoberfest, but that one was all sorts of a let down from what I heard as well. The only one that showed actual promise was in Downey, a city that has more Cuban inflation than anything else. Their Oktoberfest ran on a weekend that I had a lot of things planned already and I ended up missing it.

Oh well. So what am I getting at here? I want beer. Lots of it. I also want an excuse to drink. Again, I have a problem. But there really needs a better option for Oktoberfesting in Los Angeles. I shouldn't have to go far to get wasted.



Then again, this is a good excuse for me to go to Germany one year for the massive Oktoberfest they have going on. Why settle for Samual Adams' Oktoberfest when I can get the real thing, right? That's the mentality that goes the distance. It would be nice if L.A. got its collected ass together and had a proper Oktoberfest. But like the old saying goes, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. That's why I better start brewing more of my own beer. Make my own Oktoberfest. All I need now is them beer wenches. You know, the type that you've seen tossed around in the blog post. Yup, like them.

Now if only I could get my gal into one of those outfits..

Dawn Of The Dead

Dawn Of The Dead



Dia De Los Muertos is the day after Halloween. So while all you ghouls and ghost are trick or treating and you "sexy ______" costume wearers are feeding a hangover you'll be nursing, us Mexicans are preparing our menudo and getting ready to go to the next celebration, Day of the Dead



The idea of the day is that the dead come back to wander the earth for one day. While everyone is wearing costumes and has their face painted up as skeletons and other such things, the dead slip on by without being noticed to just chill. To appease them, family members build a shrine in their honor as well as leave out their favorite meal and other trinkets that remind them of the dead. It's a celebration of life, as morbid as it may sound on paper and it's a festive holiday that I rather enjoy for my own reasons.

Those may include such instances were I love skeletons, sugar skulls and the celebration of loved ones who have passed. Old memories and new ones made. In all, it's a time where you can dress up like the dead in a non-sexy manner. The Hollywood Forever Cemetery does it all in style. A good place to really soak in the culture of it all. Since I really don't want to type anymore, here's a lot of pictures so you get some idea of what this is like








Utterly awe inspiring to have a cemetery turn into a shrine for the dead.. Oh wait, that's what it is normally. Hey, it's just bringing some life to the joint, is all.


Disney is jumping in on the Dead wagon and are commemorating the holiday with displays of skeletons and flowers on day of the dead alters near the Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland. Guest can get their spirit on by getting their face painted. They even went so far as to offer something for those hardcore Disney zombies, the button collectors by giving them a special button to try to capture.



In all, it's really interesting that it's getting more media attention. Then again, we are in Southern California. With a large Spanish population, it would be hard to remain silent to the mass population of SoCal residents. Here's more pictures in light of me just not wanting to type more content.






If that's not awesome at the same time being terrifying to any child within reach, well, I don't know what is. Good job Disney. Way to get on the ball. If I said we mounr the dead on this day, I'll have to correct myself. This day isn't so much about mourning the dead as it is celebrating with them. When we go out and party, drink up, eat up and take part of these festivities, those loved ones are with us. Enjoying the good times together. With that I'll leave you with quote.. but don't worry, I'll be coming back from the dead.

“Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Mark Twain