Green Streen Hooligans - Good movie. Sometimes I say a movie is good but that I wouldn't watch it again. I would watch this one again - in fact, I did. It's full of cussing and street fights, but I liked it anyway.
Well, I guess if you read Steve's blog, then you'd know that I'm married to an MMA guy - so I'm kinda attracted to movies with good fights. Like I've said, I didn't care for Brad Pitt before I saw Fight Club.
~~~~~~
I didn't go to the Flame Tree Festival this year because there would be some major smack talked about me if "they" saw me take my almost-two-week-old son out to any place other than the doctor's. Well, I took him out. We had to go grocery shopping so Jacob came along for the ride and stayed in the car with James while Katelyn and I went shopping.
But the point of this is not that I took Jacob out of the house or that I went shopping, the point is that I didn't go to the Flame Tree Festival. And I think if I didn't have a newborn, I still wouldn't have gone. OK, that's not true, I would have gone yesterday at 1pm to watch the best Polynesian dancers on island, Alana'ia, perform a Hawaiian tribute to my former instructor and my brother-in-law's mother, the late Lorraine Johnson; and I would go again tonight at 9 to watch them perform a full Polynesian show. But if my sister's group weren't performing, I wouldn't go.
We went shopping at Carmen Safeway so we passed by the civic center twice....and twice I was not impressed. There appeared to be a lot of empty tents, it was dusty, it looked dry and hot, there were almost no spectators, it appeared to be about 1/3 the size it was last year...it was a sad sight. I know that A LOT of hard work goes into the annual festival and I'm not trying to criticize anyone's efforts. And as I said, I didn't stop in at the festival, so perhaps it was quite different from the view on the road, but nothing about this year's venue invited me to check out the festivities.
I don't know why it was moved back to Civic Center, was it the cost? It really doesn't matter to me. Just please move the Flame Tree Festival back to American Memorial Park.
You didn't miss much. It was a sad collection of booths, not organized to really show off the island's beauty. Like you said, dust and empty tents. I went because I thought I'd feel badly if I didn't go. I was wrong. BeautifyCNMI tent was up and we saw some old friends,but no great cultural experience.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh. I was hoping that I was wrong - that once you cross over from the street onto the festival grounds that the culture and arts would come alive.
ReplyDeleteIs this how we want to showcase our islands and culture to our guests?
You didn't miss much. It was basically just as you saw. We went on Saturday am so that we could go to the farmers market also. Dry, dusty, empty booths and not much on display at all. All we bought besides our veggies & bananas was a pearl shake. And that even kinda sucked.
ReplyDeleteI heard that it was something about the cost of having it at AMP since it is a National Park or something. I dunno.
: )
I think our island did a good job showcasing our culture as well as providing a great venue for the other islands to do the same. Like most weekend long events, the crowds came in waves. I was there opening night and the crowds, energy, and pride in our island culture were all in place.
ReplyDeleteWho cares what people say? I took Nathan out to Target when he was three days old!
ReplyDeleteChief Magof - Thank you for your comment. I'm glad that what I saw wasn't for the duration for the event.
ReplyDeleteBut I would still like to see it moved - I just don't want to go to the festival at such a dry location and with it being so close to a main road.
Mona - you're crazy! ;) I could barely stand up on my own when my son was three days old.
ReplyDelete**dreaming of Target**
I don't think there's ever a shortage of pride, and people did come-it's true. The show was beautiful, and people were smiling despite the heat. I'm just saying that it seemed very sparse. It bothers me to see the little cheapy cheapy tents, especially at a cultural fair. Kids need to see island ware, not 50 cent knick knacks. They get enough of that at every retail store on island. Just my thoughts. I also did not see our brothers and sisters from around the Pacific region, Why?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Borego. Even if the crowds were there, I would have liked to see more done with the venue.
ReplyDelete