There’s one thing you can count on every year—a family reunion on New Year’s Eve! My photo booth makes an appearance; hopefully, it becomes a mainstay for future NYE parties.
I suggested to have a costume party, but my cousin Emee suggested we should ease our family into this new idea of a theme party. We settled on funny hats, &, well…it was a hit! Last I heard, we may do a funny t-shirt party next.
One of the souvenirs we took back from Cindy’s Google party were these photo booth pictures. They set up the Academy of Sciences with those small black photo booths, equipped with random head props. We went nuts, as we should.
You know Google does it big! This year, Cindy brought me along to tear it up at their annual party (Google is huge, so they split the parties up by departments/buildings). This year, her team was invited to celebrate at the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
I finally got to meet Cindy’s team; a lovely bunch, as demonstrated by their choice of accessories for the party (above).
I thought this photo would be appropriate to upload in light of the big day coming up in a week. It also gives me a reason to share some of my old photos from my stint in Japan.
On December 14, 2003 (nearly seven years ago), we just got back from Kobe—a three-hour trip from my old hometown of Okayama—to check out the gorgeous light show, the Luminarie. Back at home, we hit up a karaoke spot after dinner to unwind. It was just a bit past midnight when all my friends pulled out a makeshift cake: a chocolate log ice cream cake with pieces of Pocky as the ‘candles.’ The Pocky wouldn’t stay lit, so T-Bone held a lighter flame next to it so I could make my 20th birthday wish.
Late night karaoke? Pocky? When in Rome…do as the Japanese do!
What makes the Jabbawockeez so great are their unified choreographed movement & their iconic white masks. Well, French dancing duo Laurent & Larry Bourgeois, famously known as Les Twins, are kicking it up a notch—dual ‘fros are the new white masks.
The story started on Twitter with a tweet about dancers in Oakland, which linked to a YouTube video with Oakland’s Turf Feinz, shot by this local group called YAK Films. Their production value was pretty top-notch, so I browsed around their collection & found this gem:
Before you know it, the fanaticism begins. I start scouring YouTube for more videos. My excitement goes through the roof when I hear they’re performing at Mezzanine up in the City! I was totally bummed when the weather prevented us from seeing the show, though.
These days, I’ve been finding myself busy working with my friends at the 3rd Floor Collective & Honorable Mention in maintaining a photo booth at different events in the Bay. When our buddy Jayvee booked us to be vendors at the World of Dance in Vallejo, not only was I excited because not only did I know YAK Films was going to cover the event, Les Twins were slated to perform!
Jayvee even did me one better. He promised that he would bring Les Twins to my photobooth so I can meet them (& to add them to my portfolio, of course). The first photo I took with them was, well…
…yeah, it’s really Les Twins, not just two random tall guys with ‘fros.
Rondo, Mr. Man-of-many-languages, got to talk to them in their native French. From what he understood, they’re from a family of nine siblings, & they all are dancers. Incredible, they’re the Jackson family of dancing.
As expected, their Vallejo performance was surreal:
I worked a total of ten straight hours that day & walked away with a smile. I hope we get a chance to see them again next year (if they’re not gonna be mega superstars by then).
