August 2002 Archives

Restaurants and Bars We Miss

Since we kept mentioning a lot of restaurants, bars, and other places for food in the "Stores We Miss" thread, a separate thread on late, lamented watering holes is practically in order.

Stores that I miss

I know it's been awhile but whatever happen to the Rand McNally store at Ala Moana?

Precedent in Paradise

Hawaiian Airlines pilot Robert Konop, who has an undergraduate degree in television and film production and is a prolific online movie reviewer, this week won a "partial victory" from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case that might set a landmark precedent in how existing federal law is applied to this newfangled technology known as the web.

In reporting on the case last year, Matt Gallaway, legal correspondent for Business 2.0, wrote, "Big Brother lost one."

V.92 modems

I'm suspecting that my current modem is dying and needs to be replaced. While checking out CompUSA they are selling modems that support the V.92 standard.

All Computers Go To China, Not Heaven

In all my years as a programmer, I've never owned a computer. Well, except for that old Atari 800 (48k RAM, 90K floppy) my dad bought me back in 1979. The Atari didn't count, though. It was a game machine for things like Star Raider and Galahad and the Holy Grail, games I wanted to play after I outgrew their Atari game console. As much as I would like to say that I knew where all the dead and outdated computers I ever used went, I didn't. At least not until now--and it's not a pretty sight.

I wish Brad Pitt would do one

Weblogs of the Stars

and the winner is...

So last night we bought a new car. A 2002 silver Jetta 1.8T with sunroof, to be exact. We chose the Jetta since it met our qualifications best- safe, reliable, affordable, fun to drive (pretend you have a stickshift on your automatic car!), has a sunroof, and doesn't get stolen (I'm told the only way to take it is to tow it). After visiting Cutter, McKenna, and Tony VW, we went with Tony, since they seemed the most human (ie nicest and most reasonable).

Asians Version 2.X

It seems that throughout Asia, the Asians are re-inventing themselves with medical science. If I was single and had the stamina to make the rounds with the babes, I might have considered a version 2.0 of myself to make life and a night out a bit easier and certainly more interesting.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, make me a stud or a babe by Fall.

I did, BTW, do very well with just ver. 1.0 of myself. :)

simone@fear.com

Two upcoming movies dealing with computer related stuff are opening soon. Other than watching the previews on TV I have no idea how good or bad these movies are going to be as far as being accurate in dealing with the computer related matter.

Vitural gathering

For those of us who can't make it there phyiscally and are waiting on-line for photos of the event, I figured it would be nice to start a new thread here and invite comments from the rest of us to cheer them on!

Call Me

I'm continually pondering getting a wireless phone. After a trip to San Francisco's Virgin Megastore opened my eyes to prepaid service, I've been salivating over getting customized ringtones and text messaging. So I figure I should ask people's opinions of wireless phone services?

byrd of paradise

Newsarama.com has a feature article about Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise, a new comic book series set for a December debut. It's a film noir inspired private detective series set in 1950s-era Honolulu.

"It's set in a stylized reality, if that reality also includes zombies and the ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors," said [creator B. Clay] Moore. "What we're doing here is taking a film noir approach to 1950s Hawaii, and then tying Hawaiian folklore and mythology into each story."

There are comments below the article, including a few responses by the comic's writer in response to suggestions that the book will just be a cheap tiki/hula girl/grass shack bastardization of Hawaiian culture. Personally, I think the art samples look great and the premise is intriguing. I love gritty crime stories, and I always thought that Honolulu would make for a great setting for a series of private detective novels.

Hawaii's Country Music

"Hawaii's Country Music" as the station calls itself is now on the air. The call letters are KHCM; used to be KJPN until last week. The station was bought by Salem Media from its previous owners for $650,000.

If you're familiar with contemporary country music of the last 20 years you'll be familiar with the music and artists... George Strait, The Judds, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Garth Brooks, and others. The programming is being beamed from a Colorado syndication service. KHCM is at 940 on the AM dial.

American Idol

Okay, then: so it's not exactly news that I've been watching American Idol, and I'm sure there's a few of us who are just as hopelessly addicted to the show as well, for a lot of other reasons.

But nothing makes me love American Idol more than the fact that this show, more than anything else I know of in all these years that I've lived in Hawaii, has whipped up the stalwarts of Hawaii's media in such a rabid frenzy.

Not since the last episode of Seinfeld has a show inspired so many column inches of editorial space and so much worthless banter in between headlines to fill in broadcast air time.

Blue Crush

Michelle Rodriguez (from 2000's Girlfight) was on Leno tonight to promote Blue Crush, a movie about three female surfers working their way through life on the North Shore of O`ahu. She mentioned Foodland, compared the quirky aura of the islands to "Northern Exposure," and described Hawaii as a "fountain of youth." She clearly was affected by her time in the islands, which isn't surprising. One thing that did surprise me a little, though, was Leno's comment that the surf flick is getting pretty good reviews.

"I expected another mindless surfing movie," Ebert said. "Blue Crush is anything but."

She Can Bring Home the Lup Cheong

The inaugural issue of Hawai`i Woman magazine is out, and probably on newsstands now (although I haven't seen it anywhere).

Fifteen Minutes

Apologies to Lee Cataluna, but... we somebody! Burt Lum, weekly tech writer for The Honolulu Advertiser, featured our little talkstory spot in this week's "Byte Marks" column.

So, hello world! Make yourself at home!

Cars and Crime

At 1:30am Monday morning, firefighters put out a car fire in Waimanalo as I slept, 2500 miles away. Less than 24 hours later, I found myself at the end of a long country road staring at the charred remains of my car.

While I can think of worse ways to return from a vacation, coming home to find your car missing is definitely in the top 5. The morbidly curious and the bored can see the results here.

Bu on the Ballot

While most assume the race for Hawaii governor is between Linda Lingle and three Democratic somebodies, there are in fact seventeen candidates on the ballot this year, including Kaui Hill, a.k.a. "Bu La`ia."

Last time, he ran as a Green Party candidate, and they didn't like it. This time he filed under the Natural Law party... and big surprise, they're not fans either.

HawaiiStories question

I am just wondering but why is it that when I make a new entry here and then people comment to it I also get a copy of those comments via email?

Sights, Sounds, Stuff

HawaiiStories is barely four months old, and has continued to tap the talkstory tendencies of island-loving techies. We've linked more than a dozen kama`aina (and kama`aina-at-heart) escribitionists, and discussed hundreds of topics. We've also been able to provide a home to a few wonderful writers.

But, I've made no secret of wanting to go beyond the blog, as I know with the `ohana we've built the potential is there for all sorts of wonderful things. So. What's next for our little green hypertext hut?

Signs

If directing movies was like playing baseball, M. Night Shyamalan is not the kind of director that makes home run kind of hits, however if you ever needed a double to win a game, call this guy up to bat, he will do it and will cause some ruckus in the left outfield just to make the game interesting.

Oh Boy! Obon!

There are only a few weeks left in this year's Obon season, which began in mid-June. Since my father's side of the family is very active in the Buddhist church community, of course it's a tradition for me to enjoy at least one bon dance every year. But, the Buddhist way of honoring the dead through music and dance draws people from all backgrounds, as much a local tradition as a Japanese one.

Ah, the music, the colors, the crowds, and yes, the food! Have any fond Obon memories? Thinking of making more?

Translation

Can anyone translate "melepuamanuiikehaolemakaala"?

Cartoons going to live action

The past few years some cartoons made the cross over to live action like this year's Scooby Doo movie. While I have no connections to the powers to be that make such movies I would like to make the following suggestions.

Cartoons and Life

The August 3-9, 2002 issue of TV Guide features the "50 greatest cartoon characters of all time" in 4 different covers.