Filed under: Random
Filed under: Activities, Events, Family, Hawaii | Tags: art after dark, buzzing, fleur
On Friday evening I took the whole family out to the latest installment of Art After Dark. It seemed quite a bit more packed than the last time I went. Maybe a little too packed for the kids, but again I was blown away by the beauty of the Academy’s space, and by the buzzing energy of the event itself.
Why yes, yes I have. Just last week I saw you and your friends invade my bedroom in the middle of the night. You are a bird mite, if I am not mistaken.
We’ve had a long week. After complaining to our landlord for several weeks about the myna birds roosting above our bedroom window, he finally had his wife take action. Or rather, he had his wife have me take action, asking me to spray out the inside of the nest with poison to kill all the bird mites and drive out the remaining nestlings. Well the spray drove out the last of the baby birds, and it also drove out the mites. I awoke to discover them migrating across my body in the middle of the night, an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. To make a long story short, we evacuated the room, then the house, had the entire place tented and fumigated, our bodies inspected by medical professionals, and spent half the week in a hotel.
Moral of the story? In the natural kingdom, you don’t make friends with the wildlife. It’s either you or them.
I imagine the pitch coming across Danny Boyle’s desk: The Tourism Bureau of India invites you to film a movie in our country for the advancement of tourism to our developing nation. For the sum of _billion rupees, we propose to commission you to do for us what you did for heroin with Trainspotting. Do what you want for a story, we don’t particularly care. Just make us look damn sexy.
Danny Boyle, you have earned your money. Begging street urchins and extreme poverty never looked so unthreatening and, well, beautiful. And the Taj Mahal money shot was a real winner. Sure, it’s a rough and tumble culture, but none of that is actually real, because in this world evil thugs suddenly have convenient and unexplained changes of heart and die in a shootout, lying in a bathtub full of money to protect two other characters you barely even care about.
Slumdog clearly deserved the Oscar, because it fit so perfectly the archetypal Best Picture mold. It pantomimes depth without actually leaving the surface, it favors cheap emotion-tugging tactics over story and character development. I’d put it in the same category as Titanic.
Oh, and that dance scene at the end would appear pathetic to anyone who had ever seen a real Bollywood film – what were they thinking?
For a long time I had been avoiding Teddy’s although I knew they had a reputation for mean burgers. I think it was the sad-looking attempt at 50’s nostalgia with the decor that put me off. It couldn’t have been the location, because we practically lived around the corner from it for nine months. Well, I will no longer avoid the place, because I am here to announce that pound for pound their burgers rate among the best on this island. The special sauce, a kind of honey mustard thing reminiscent of Big Mac sauce (but way better) gives it a unique character, and the fries ain’t too shabby either. Of course, if anyone local happens to read this blog, I’ll just be preaching to the choir. You can’t mention the place without someone gushing with praise.
Filed under: Activities, Events, Family, Hawaii, Honolulu, Kids | Tags: iolani fair, rusting tilt-a-whirls
We were able to escape the human cattle pasture that is Punahou Fair, but with not much happening on a Saturday afternoon, we decided to hit Iolani Fair and find out what these school-sponsored fundraisers were all about. Now that I’ve survived the experience, I can share it with you: rusting tilt-a-whirls, half the inflatable slide/bouncing castles on the island, and raising funds, lots of funds. I guess the kids enjoyed it, but we left considerably lighter of pocket and weary of mind.
Insightful argument for those wondering when Obama’s going to give us some of that nice bailout moneys.
One man dares to utter the unspoken truth about Twitter. Hilarious.
This year’s Webby nominees have been announced. I’d like to spend more time perusing the entries, but I did enjoy this site very much – I used it to purchase a birthday present for my brother, as well as a little something for our new abode.
There have been many movies made in and about Hawaii. This is the worst of them all.
I can’t get over how cool this is. I must’ve listened to “Mother of All Funk Chords” about 100x last week.
Just when you’ve read enough admar hype to make you wanna puke, along comes the antidote.
I’m already a little fatigued by the pre-hype around Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Fortunately, someone else is, too.
Filed under: Activities, Family, Hawaii, Honolulu, Kids | Tags: comfortable shoes, discovery center
Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center. You can’t go wrong (assuming your kids are in the 3-8 age range). Enough themed play areas to keep them occupied for half a day. Wear comfortable shoes.
The Williamson clan has relocated. We lost a view and gained two bedrooms – and new views of Diamond Head, the ocean, and the Waikiki skyline. I think we did alright.
