Week one of the 2014 South by Southwest festival is nearly in the books. The festival kicked off on Saturday, March 8 and concludes next week on Monday the 17th. To summarize what has taken place so far all let's start by saying that it has been an up-and-down experience thus far. All the music, film and technology fans visiting Austin for the festivities couldn't imagine the week's events in a million years.

So what exactly went down? Well, sandwiched in between amazing musical acts such as Coldplay and Imagine Dragons performing on the iTunes Festival stage, a tragic accident took the lives of two festival goers. A drunk driver lost control of his vehicle and plowed through a crowded sidewalk. In addition to the two fatalities, many others were injured in the regrettable incident. Luckily police and paramedics rushed to the scene and were able to prevent further carnage. The driver was almost immediately apprehended and is now in custody.

But SXSW is much too important to let one incident mar the entire festival. Amazing artists and innovators converge on the Texas capital each year to display the fruits of their labor. SXSW is about community and nowhere was that more on display than at the appropriately named BBQ Crash Course. For a small fee festival pass holders could partake in the best Tex-Mex food known to humankind.

Continuing SXSW's policy of inclusiveness are the varied after parties. From Cirque de Soleil acrobatics to LGBT mixers and epic fraternity style blowouts with mechanical bulls and enough booze to make you fly, SXSW truly caters to everyone and everything. But the parties aren't the main reason why people attend the festival. It's all about the film premieres, the CEO talks, the networking, advice, the tunes and devices being revealed to the public for the very first time.

The only downside to all this fun is that SXSW is mega-expensive. Like, seriously, a film badge (the cheapest kind) starts at $495 and soar to a total cost of $1,695 is your buy your badge late. Plus, the badges don't take into account the food costs, the BBQ, the transportation and lodging costs. But when people like Lady Gaga perform it's pretty easy to justify running up your credit cards and draining your savings accounts.

So what are your impressions of SXSW 2014 thus far? Also, feel free to share your condolences for the two victims and their families in the comments section below. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your time reading Latin Post.