February 2004 Archives

Same-Sex Marriage

With all of the recent same-sex marriages that have been taking place in San Francisco, I'm reminded when the subject was being debated in the islands and it became a voting issue as to whether the legislature should have the power to amend the State Constitution and reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.

I opposed the amendment, as I didn't believe it was right to seclude couples from marriage based solely on their sexual orientation. Now, six years later, President Bush is pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage throughout the country. Some are suggesting that the Bush proposal is nothing more than his catering to his political base in an election year. It's tough to argue against that point, as Bush himself said he was against such an amendment when he ran for election in 2000.

Personally, I don't think such an amendment should be made to the Constitution. When I think of the Constitution, I'm reminded how it has advanced the rights of people in this country, not taken rights away. Such a discriminatory amendment would not only deminish the entire Constitutional document, but it would chip away at all of our civil liberties.

Free music from Pepsi-iTunes

Ever since Feb. 1, with the debut of contest advertising on the Super Bowl, I've been looking for Pepsi bottles with the telltale yellow cap and Apple iTunes logo signifying that the Pepsi-iTunes promotion had reached Hawaii.

For the uninitiated, Pepsi is giving away 100,000,000 free songs on Apple's iTunes via secret codes on the inside of the yellow Pepsi bottle caps.

Skunk! Nada. Zip. Leftover ProBowl promo bottles, that's all. Until Feb. 22, when I went into the Chevron convenience store in the Stadium Sack-n-Save parking lot... Bought four botles of yellow-capped sugar water with the promise that "One in three wins a free song on iTunes"!

I got THREE out of four! Let the free music downloads begin!

Is Ralph Crazy? Or Just A Spoiler?

He's Back! Ralph Nader is running for President of the United States as a Green Party candidate. So there is a third choice in the 04 election other than Bush and Kerry, or Bush and Edwards, or Bush and Sharpton.. Yeah right. I'm sick of the corrupt two party system and all of the corporate interests that are guiding their policies on state and federal levels. America is not being led by the brightest and certainly not the most honest or moral individuals. I think Ralph Nader is genuinely sincere when it comes to the issues he believes in and even though he most definately will not get elected, I'm voting for him.

Swap Stuff

Social software sites are everywhere. Friendster, Tribe.net, Orkut... keeping track of them all is practically a full time job. And what good are most of them? Beyond the elusive "business networking" benefit, most are simply goofy ego-boosting fun.

Enter Mediachest.com.

Third Watch

Is anyone a regular watcher of the NBC series Third Watch?

Fluffy TV

I admit it, I watch American Idol. Seeing three locals make it to the final 32 is awesome. I'm waiting until I see all three perform before I pick a favorite.

Considering the way the judges seemed to enjoy the Hawai'i auditions, who could blame them, I wonder if the producers are kicking themselves for not making the trip sooner. I also wonder if they'll be back next year.

But most of all, I wonder where I can find a "Big Girls Rock" t-shirt.

Caucus or crocus? It's spring!

The Advertiser has a story about party fundraising today; to no one's surprise, Bush leads everybody by dint of his $750K event here earlier this year. Hawai'i's Democratic caucus is Feb. 24, when Democrats will battle for the state's 29 delegates.

Anybody here besides me going? Find your precinct here.

The Massie/Kahahawai Play

The production is done by the Kumu Kahua Theater, a venue well-known for their local adaptations and original plays. Historically, the Massie/Kahahawai story is pure controversy, wrapped in intrigue, but besides the fact that it's content and dialogue was extracted from historic sources (newspaper articles, books, etc), the play doesn't do it much justice. Pardon the pun.

A Planetary Makeover

Fairly recently, one of Honolulu's smaller publications, The Downtown Planet, got a makeover courtesy of Pacific Basin Communications, the media moguls responsible for such notable magazines such as Honolulu Magazine, Hawaii Business and Hawaii Home.

Thanks to the award-winning creative team, the once shoddy-looking publication (which we actually used for packing material when shipping products at work) now looks fabulous: where there was once a chaotic mix of typefaces and punctuation, there's now a uniform flow, providing an infotaining weekly that's easy on the eyes with information that's easy to consume (with no additional carbs, for you Atkin's dieters).

The questions is: how do you think the publication will do, now that it's more evenly matched with the Honolulu Weekly, the also weekly paper that has gained street-cred for being the source for the hip, jet-set and cool? Or is it even fair to compare it to the Honolulu Weekly?

From .AVI to VHS?

Been messing around with a few digital cameras that are capable of taking video images.

A List Challenge!

I like to read other people's ranking lists but loathe to do my own, on anything. I just take too long and think too much about it. However, I've recently taken up a list challenge.

Since I've been living in Honolulu, I've gone to many eating places. Last week my boyfriend challenged me to create my own buffet using dishes from any restaurant that I'd been to (no home cooked food). There is no theme, the foods don't need to go together - the only rule is that there are a set number of each type of dish: 4 appetizer/soup/salad; 3 sides; 8 entrees; 3 desserts. I know, the ratios are weird but he set the rules. Questionable dishes should be stuck into the closest applicable category.

So I pose his question to everybody out there. If anything, it's a quick way to get suggestions for new places to eat. I'm curious to find out what other people would list. Care to share the fruits of your culinary adventures?

Dodge disses local diction

Dodge is releasing a new car modelled after the retro "Woody" station wagons, made popular by surfers during the 60's. The car was to be called the Dodge Kahuna. Upon getting wind of this, a local resident got infuriated and started an online petition. His goal was to rally the masses and alert locals (and the Dodge company) to the ongoing misuse of the ancient Hawaiian word which is meant to describe a priest or shaman.

Clearly, the natives are restless.