while it's only an 80mn flight from San Jose, CA (and an expensive one at this, $450 due to the other 400,000 people also going for that time), it's a bit tough to have virtually a 8-10H jetlag for just 3 days (EDC going from 18:00 to 05:30 and you ideally sleeping from 08:00 to 14-16:00). Without prescription drugs (or otherwise) and caffeine to help with sleep and awakeness, it must be hard :) But before you ask, daytime weather in Vegas was unbearably hot (45C / 112F), so doing this during the day would not work.
Also, people ask me what camera I use. First, that is a correct question :) Cell phones are very poor night cameras due to the insufficient room they have for a good size sensor. I actually carry 2 handheld cameras that I keep on my belt:
This gave me a good chance to try my LED shoes I had hacked to add extra battery life (12H) along with lit shoe laces, and my portable blinky lights for my shirt:
It was a good time to try my shoes I had hacked to have 12H battery life :)
As for how big EDC is, saying it's big doesn't quite explain it, and neither does the map, but maybe this night shot from a heli, will:
map of the grounds, might look small on the map, but it's big :)
Getting 400,000 people there and back is no small feat. I took uber the first night because I only arrived around 03:30 (having gone to Omnia to see Armin just before that), and even then the traffic was not clear. The shuttles work ok, except for the loading that is super inefficient in both directions. I really hope Insomniac gets to fix that because it adds substantial unnecessary delays. The wristbands were by color with RFID to verify single use and spot fakes:
many wristbands, spot the fakes :)
Before starting on the report of the 3 days, I'll start with a few misc pictures of signs and people:
I ran into Dito Milian, who usually takes my picture at Thunderhill :)
system failure!
my hoola hoop wielding trance loving fan I run into at all events I go to, was here again :)
The first day, the Trance lineup was light (as in nothing before 03:30, just two hours before end of the evening), and I was interested in seeing Omnia where Armin was playing anyway, so I went to see Armin 1h30 (sadly not his whole set), from 01:00 to 02:30, and took an uber to EDC, getting me at Stage 7 just after 03:30. By then, I was able to see John O'Callaghan, Jordan Suckley, and W&W
I stayed until 05:30 when John O Callaghan finished after sunset
back to the inefficient shuttle line to get to bed by 08:00
Quick video summary of Day #1:
Day #2, I arrived earlier (22:30-ish) to enjoy the sights and different stages before Above and Beyond and Armin at 01:30 and 03:00 (both of whom played an excellent set at Cirtcuit Grounds), to be followed by Dash Berlin from 04:19 to 05:30 at Kinetic Fields. There were lots of carnival rides, even a water ride!
the ball swimming pool was always fun :)
help, I'm drowning! :)
EDC also has great fireworks. Check out the 5mn clip of fireworks the 3rd day (they start getting crazy around 02:40):
Some other random pictures of the grounds:
And then it was time for Above and Beyond at Circuit Grounds where they played an awesome set again:
taken with an 85x zoom, sorry that it's a big blocky
Armin was next, he played somewhat harder trance, starting with repeating his opening track from Omnia: "I am the dominator, there is no other". Very subtle indeed :)
After Armin, I went back to Kinetic Fields for Dash Berlin for a sunrise set:
90m of Day #2 highlights I filmed:
Then it was time to get back to my hotel room and catch some sleep before the 3rd day (yeah for a 12H jetlag by just going to Vegas). I arrived a bit earlier on the 3rd day since Paul Oakenfold started at 22:30. Before that, went to check out the grounds a bit more:
Bass Pod caught fire, doh!
Then was time for Paul, who played an OK set, but I've heard better from him, then came Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Markus Schultz, Gaia (to be fair I preferred GAIA's set last year), Gareth Mery and Aly & Fila. An awesome lineup:
85X zoom again, sorry
I took a detour to see Pendulum at Bass Pod. Not the same genre, but I'm also a fan since their essential mix in 2005.
And back for a bit of Aly and Fila before I had to duck out early to catch a shuttle back to Vegas to get a cab back to the airport for a 07:25 flight home. Was in bed by 09:30 for some much needed sleep :) (although I was a bit sad to have missed the last 45mn).
this shot almost looks like burning man :)
90mn highlights video of day #3 I filmed:
Needless to say I had an awesome time, more than last year even (likely due to a more complete trance lineup). This is likely the biggest electronic music festival in the world, and it's pretty spectacular!
So Omnia is not that simple to get into. First I thankfully had bought tickets online a few days earlier, or I'd have been in an even longer line that might or might not have gotten in that night. Next, they have a pretty strict dress code. For one they stopped me from even getting in with a small black fanny pack that I was carrying the battery pack and lights for my shirt, which of course I was not even going to be allowed to use inside.
Worse, they told me I could not take my small digital camera and that I'd have to use an inferior cell phone to take pictures if I so wished. That was total bullshit, so I snuck it in anyway, but I really don't like having to do stuff like this (their security included a metal detector, like South Los Angeles crime laden location...).
Anyway, despite all the BS, I eventually got in with one of my 2 cameras, which is good because there were good shots to be taken.
there were so many different lines to get in, it was pretty silly and fairly confusing
The main lighting contraption in the middle was very configurable and at times looked like a spaceship was landing to come abduct you and beam you up. It was pretty cool :)
I don't know how many got abducted by the tractor beam :)
I told you, it looks scary :)
I think whoever was below this got vapourized :)
Oh yeah, right, I almost forgot: Armin started playing at 01:00. I was able to stay until 02:30 when I had to duck out to get at EDC by 03:30 2 trance sets
Even if I only saw about half of it, it was a good set. Glad that I got to see Omnia, even if with the BS to get in, and how crowded it gets considering it's not actually that big.
The cool thing was that smack as I was going to Vegas to attend EDC, my dad was also in Vegas for the week to see shows. We went to the Caesar's Palace Buffet, which at 14:30 still had a 1H line, but thankfully they had the express line we were able to use:
balanced lunch :)
After a bit of time to plan the coming days, we went to see Spoofical, the Musical, which was properly terrible:
Later, I took a bit of a rest in my room at the Casino Royale (no stupid resort fees) before heading out to see Armin at Omnia and spend the rest of the night at EDC:
the next "morning", I barely got up at 14:30 to meet my dad at Harrah's and see Mac King (whom we had both seen before but was fun to see again):
Next, we went to Bellagio to visit a bit and have dinner before seeing O, which neither of us had seen in a long time:
Right after O, which was quite good, I head out and went directly to EDC for the 2nd night.
The 3rd day, I slept as long as I could before having to check out my room, and went to burn a bit of time at the Venetian next door:
Next, I had to to the MGM to drop off my luggage so that I could pick it up directly on the way back from EDC to the airport, and stopped by the New York - New York before going to the Rio to meet my dad there for the Fish Buffet and Father's Day:
The next morning, after EDC, stumbled my way back to the airport to catch a 07:25 flight back to SJC. It's cool to see the heat concentrators on that flight (lots of mirrors redirecting the sun towards molten salts to make electricity):
we flew past Mt Whitney on the way back
Attila made me look bad, I don't match my car :)
This was my first track day of the year, I was a bit rusty and my tires were not new, so as they got hot, I quickly got slower through a given session. Also, sadly my brand new pads would pseudo-randomly brake long maybe just once out of an entire session, but enough to keep me on the edge of not knowing if I could brake late or not (so I mostly didn't).
End result of all this is that I only got down to a 2:00, way short of my time of 1:56, but that's fine, not all days are best days :)
It is a very welcome update, the older mirror. The camera is nicely integrated now, the screen bigger, and most importantly, the android system has more memory, so you can now easily run other apps like google maps (with the old mirror, you ran out of memory all the time). This is really the update I was waiting for. The old mirror has a super annoying start and stop music and voice. They have now been removed. This is great!
After connecting to Wifi (2.4Ghz only), you can run google maps or google play store, sign in your google account, and get your saved location searches on google maps (so that you don't have to type them on the mirror, the software keyboard is not very easy to use). As a trick type "ok maps" in the google maps search window, and in most countries, it will download maps for offline use. You can install other apps from the android market, bit it waze, or whatever else you fancy.
Let's compare the form factor, the mirrors are almost the same size (but the new mirror has nice straps built in), however the main difference is where the display goes. The old mirror put it on the side so that you could read the screen on the left, and see cars behind you on the center and right. The new mirror has a bigger display in the middle and I'm not sure if I prefer that, I think it may be a matter of getting used to it. This is because you're now supposed to look at cars behind you by looking through the display and unfocussing your eyes. It works, but I think you don't see as well. Also, if there is a lot of daylight behind you, the daylight will not make it possible to read the screen (but at least you'll see the cars behind you). I think I kind of prefered the android screen on the side like in the 5" version, but the tradeoff is that you get a small screen which may be harder to read depending on your eyes (I have excellent vision, so in my case I can read both screens fine, but you may not be able to read the 5" one as well):
this gives you an idea of how you see cars through the screen
The camera is built in and more tidy, that's definitely a plus:
Here are the main points:
Downsides:
So, my verdict?
Shots from the camera:
in some cases of moving cars, you can barely read the plate
most times, it's almost readable, but not quite
same here
low speed, close to car, but not close enough
finally