December 16, 2007

Johnny Depp at his best

I first fell in love with Johnny Depp when he played the title role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. His portrayal of the angst-ridden, too young father-figure to three siblings was masterful. The role must have been very challenging as Gilbert interacted with tenderness and sensitivity to his morbidly obese mother and mentally and emotionally challenged brother, then with anger and indignation at his overbearing mistress and obtuse neighbors. Yet Johnny Depp brought Gilbert deftly to life and made him very real, very human. I’m not sure how others reacted, but I kept wanting to hug him and tell him that his life was going to turn out okay. I guess he brought out the mother in me. I had to divest myself of those feeling, though, when I fell in a different kind of love with Depp’s Don Juan DeMarco. His over-the-top portrayal of the self-proclaimed world’s greatest lover made me a Depp fan for life. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Answer me honestly ladies: when he boldly declared that no woman had ever left him unsatisfied, didn’t you want to test the premise, right that very minute? I may give the impression of stodgy old-maidishness, but I melt every time I listen to his opening monolog in which he seductively describes the tenderness and attention that a woman desires. Yes, oh yes! Surely I’m not the only one who could, without conscience, strangle the object of his affections for the opportunity slip into her place. I’ll admit I’m vulnerable to bringing loathsome situation ethics into play where Johnny Depp is concerned.

It’s only natural, then, that I had to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to see what my heart throb has in store fo us next. The combination of Tim Burton directing Johnny Depp is simply irresistable! I’m not looking forward to my favorite romantic lead depicting a murderous fiend - surely that will wreak havoc on my fantasy life. But it’s a musical, so the prospect of Johnny singing and dancing through my dreams, even with murderous intent, holds promise. I think I could learn to love him as a villain, just this this once.

Sweeny Todd will be in theaters everwhere on December 21st, just in time for Christmas. If you don’t know why Johnny Depp makes my heart race and my head spin, check out the official website, then visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace for another peek at Hollywood’s hottest hunk. A little dark drama is just what’s needed to bring balance to an oversweetened holiday season, don’t you think? I’ll see you at the theater on opening day!

Technorati Tags: entertainment, Johnny Depp, movies, Sweeny Todd

November 28, 2007

Measuredup.com gets in the last word

How are you doing with your holiday shopping? Are you one of those horribly efficient people who had eveything bought, wrapped and shipped before the Thanksgiving turkey was carved? Yeah, me neither. I’m still trying to work up my nerve to face the hordes at the malls. I’m not crazy about shopping crowds on any given day, but during the holiday season? Ai, ai, ai!

I’ll go, of course. The only way I know to keep my sanity, though, is to do some homework first. I’ll read the Sunday papers and do some surfing around the net to find specific items I want and to find out where I can get them. I’ll ask friends and family about their experiences with the things I want to buy and the merchants that carry them. And now that I know about MeasuredUp.com I’ll go there too, to find out how real people have rated the products and services I’m interested in.

Rate and Review Customer Service. Free, Fun and Easy

Wouldn’t you rather know how actual consumers feel about something than to have to rely on the information in a slick advertising campaign? That’s what MeasuredUp.com provides! Real people like you and me provide ratings based on real-world experiences. If the surly barista at a certain coffee shop always gets the orders wrong, wouldn’t you like to know that ahead of time so you can go to the one around the corner where friendly and efficient personnel take good care of the customers? If your favorite department store’s return policy is to wear you down with red tape so you’ll give up, don’t you want to spare others from the same ordeal? Of course you do! That’s kind of information you’re not going to find on the company website, but you’ll find it on MeasuredUp.com. I’ve already bookmarked MeasuredUp.com and know I’ll be visiting there before I do my shopping. I’ll be going back afterwards, too, so I can share my own experiences and help others. It’s the least I can do, since they’ll be helping me avoid some shopping nightmares!

MeasuredUp.com - where shoppers have the last word!

Technorati Tags: consumer complaints, consumer ratings, consumer service

November 19, 2007

What’s in The Mist?

Have you ever been caught in a dense fog? Back in the 1980’s I provided some services for an entire parish school system in Southeast Louisiana. Because the area of service was large I couldn’t go just once a month and service the entire contract. Instead I had to spend a whole day of each week taking care of just that one account. I had to leave my home about four-thirty or five in the morning on those days and wend my down Highway 90, alongside bayous and through swamps to get to my destinations. The highway was completely shrouded in mist as I started my journey each week. Many times it was so dense that you couldn’t see tail lights in front of you. The drive was terrifying. There were other dangers in the mist in addition to the very real possibility of a collision with another vehicle. I don’t think I ever took that drive without having to slam on my brakes to avoid wildlife cutting across the road in front of me. Snakes, racoons, skunks, oppossums and armadillo were most common, but the swamps were full of alligators too. My greatest fear was that I would get in a wreck or have car trouble and find myself stsnding on the shoulder of the road at the mercy of whatever was in The Mist. It eventually came to the point that I was having anxiety attacks even contemplating the drive.

It was around that time that I first became acquainted with The Mist by Stephen King. Whatever possessed me to read it I’ll never know. I was already terrified of the mist, so it was a sure thing that the story would only highten my anxiety. I already knew what terrors could await in the mist that I had to travel through much too often, so it was foolhardy indeed to feed my imagination with even worse possible scenarios. I was young and foolish in those days, though, and had been allowing Stephen King to scare me half to death for years, so of course I dug into the story. I distinctly remember that I was unable sleep without nightmares about other things that I might encounter on that horrific drive. When I was promoted to a management position shortly after reading the story, my greatest glee was not because of the additional money I would be making or the prestige of the new position. I was overwhelmed with relief that I would no longer have to take the horrifying drive through the mist.

The Mist has now been made into a movie. I’m not sure if I’ll go see it. Well, actually, I’m pretty sure I won’t. Stephen King has the ability to scare the whey out of me. Add in cinematic effects and a tension-building musical score (as you know they have) and I think the terror would just be too much for me. I’m old. My heart, as far as I know, is in reasonably good shape, but the Mist could easily push me over the edge. All Stephen King movies should carry a warning: “This movie may literally scare you to death. Watch it at your own risk.” I’m not so much into risk-taking these days. Some of you are, I know. Some of you are young and healthy enough to stand the total assault of nerves strung as tight as piano wire for an hour or more. As for me, I think I owe it to myself, my friends and my family to sit this one out.

The Mist opens in theaters everywhere on November 21st. Go at your own risk.

Technorati Tags: entertainment, movies, Stephen King, suspense, The Mist

November 14, 2007

A day at the theatre

My friend had to cancel our theatre date at the last minute. I remembered as I was driving towards town that I had programmed the phone number for one of the Table of Contents members into my new phone - the only number I’ve stored so far. Dustyflint was just leaving an event in Waikiki when I reached her. She’s a supporter of several local theatre groups and was thrilled with the serendipitous timing of my call. Yes, she’d love to join me for the Sunday matinee performance of Ola Na Iwi at Kumu Kahua Theatre. We had barely finished our call when I came to a slow-down in traffic. Muddy water was deeply pooled in a dip in the road, and a disturbing quantity was still gushing up and out under pressure. I dialed 911 and suggested that traffice control was needed immediately. It was obvious that the situation was dire enough that the roadbed would be damaged pretty quickly and it might not be possible for drivers to see through the mud if they were driving into a sinkhole. By the time I reached town the radio was reporting that the highway had been closed and traffic was at a stand-still. I’d missed a major traffic jam due to fortuitous timing. The good feelings that engendered continued as the afternoon progressed.

Dustyflint was waiting on the lanai of the theatre when I arrived and introduced me to some of her theatre friends. We chatted for a bit, then went inside when the doors opened. I was excitedly awaiting the arrival of someone else. I knew she was bringing her mother who was in a wheelchair so I approached the only likely couple and introduced myself. Nope - not my friend. I made a quick call and learned that she was across the street in the parking structure on her way to our first meeting. I discussed logistics with a theatre staff member who helped us make arrangements for the four of us to sit together. A few minutes later I met Sprite, who blogs at Homespun Honolulu, and her delightful mother. There’s something magical about meeting someone you’ve become acquainted with online, but I worry that I will be a disappointment when my online friends discover that I’m rather ordinary and drab in real life. I didn’t know that Sprite is a truely beautiful woman, so that was a little intimidating, too. She’s as warm and friendly in real life as she comes across through her writing, though, and there was no awkwardness. We had a few minutes of conversation before the house lights went down and the play began.

Ola Na Iwi (The Bones Live) is a look at Hawaiian tradition and culture, specifically as it relates to the sacredness of the bones of the ancestors. The mana, the essence and power of the individual, lives on in the iwi, the bones. They are treated with respect and handled with great care. Ola Na Iwi opens with the “liberation” of some bones from a German museum by a member of a visiting Hawaiian theatre group. Theatre prop bones are substituted for the real ones to protect them from discovery while their rescuer contemplates how to proceed. A comedy of errors ensues as the real and fake bones are swapped back and forth by several groups who each have their own agenda. These contemporary scenes are interspersed with historical scenes that highlight the motiviations and methods of past graverobbers, museums officials, archaeologists and explorers boasting of their acquisitions and “justifying” their actions. Their outrageous behavior and insensitivity are clearly communicated through Barnum-esq portrayals. Underlying these several layers of the story is the theme of the treatment of indigenous cultural artifacts by arrogant and ignorant outsiders. Humor and theatricality engage the audience but do not disguise the importance of the issues raised.

I enjoyed this play, as I have the others I have seen by playwright Victoria Kneubuhl. She tells a good story. There is a choppiness to Ola Na Iwi, though, that I found distracting, as did others. I would not have consulted a watch had I been wearing one, but there are numerous brief scenes which each “felt” about two to five minutes long. Kill the lights, quickly change out the scenery and the characters, house lights up, another brief scene, then characters and props are once again shuffled around in the dark. It became quite confusing as scene after scene was thus enacted. Several actors played multiple roles, adding to the confusion as we, the audience, tried to keep straight who belonged to which faction and what each of them had done. All was nicely sorted in the end, but it was a laborious task for the playgoers. I will say, though, that the final scene, a monolog, resonated with such poignancy that it left us all in tears and was, by itself, worth the cost of admission.

Performance of Ola Na Iwi will continue Thursdays through Sundays until the final matinee on Sunday, December 2nd. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online or through the Kumu Kahua Theatre box office.

My friends and I paused just long enough to take a few pictures and enjoy a brief conversation before we had to part. Dustyflint had interrupted some errands to join us and I have night blindness and needed to get home before darkness made me a menace on the roads. I was thrilled to have had the chance to meet Sprite and hope we’ll have more time to get to know each other next time. Dustyflint and I introduced her to the concept of BookCrossing, so there’s a possibility that she’ll eventually join that madness and becomea part of the Table of Contents. I can only hope!

Sprite, Skeeterbess and Dustyflint at Kumu Kahua Theatre.

Art credit: Kumu Kahua Theatre

Technorati Tags: BookCrossing, friends, Hawaiian theatre, Hawaiian stories, iwi, Kumu Kahua Theatre, Ola Na Iwi, plays, theatre

November 3, 2007

Gather round, puzzle fans

I don’t have a new hidden object game download to tell you about this week. I’ve been haunting all of my favorite game sites and haven’t found any, but I did find something you’ll like. It’s very cool website that is satisfying my lust for puzzles. SmartKit publishes new puzzles every day and many of them are hidden object puzzles. Not the find-point-click kind we usually talk about. These are mostly static puzzles, including lots of reproductions of the original hidden object games that are the progenitors of the ones we download today. Check out the hidden object category. You’ll find vintage postcards and old advertising that used the puzzles to capture a customers’s attention.

This vintage puzzle card states “That’s great, master Lafleur, but where are your three patients?” Can you find them? Follow the link to see a full-sized verison and to read the comments that supply the answer.

SmatKit is more than just hidden object puzzles. It’s a very classy collection of brain teasers, optical illusions, flash games and other puzzles guaranteed to make your little gray cells work and keep you on your toes. Make sure you have a chunk of time for leisure before you go over there, though. It’s hard to leave once you start playing.

Photo credit: SmartKit.com

Technorati Tags: brain teasers, hidden object puzzles, puzzles, SmartKit.com,

October 15, 2007

IndieMV teams with UNICEF against AIDS

UNICEF has been improving the lives of children around the world for over sixty years. I first learned of them when, as a school child in the fifties, I was asked to “Trick or Treat for UNICEF.” Children today still support that effort on Halloween, and numerous other campaigns also support this important work. Facing the problems of today with todays technology, UNICEF has partnered with IndieMV to raise funds and awareness in a campaign that is sure to appeal to young people and adults alike. IndieMV - Music+People, along with UNICEF, will present the United Against AIDS benefit concert on November 28, 2007 in Montreal. You’re invited to browse a selection of music and video clips and use them to put together your own video to help promote the concert and spread awareness for the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” campaign. My own brother died of AIDS shortly before he would havbe been fifty. How much more tragic it is that this terrible disease afflicts thousands of children around the world. Your video-editing skills can be put to good use as you combine music, video footage and your own thoughts about AIDS and children with HIV/AIDS. Details are in the press release below. Take a look, then follow the link to use INDIEMV’s tools to make and upload your own video. Let your voice and your artistry shine as you do your part!

IndieMV.com Launches and Partners With UNICEF for Upcoming, Star-Studded, ‘Unite Against AIDS’ Benefit Concert

Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and Others to Perform at UNICEF AIDS Benefit Concert as IndieMV Provides Music-Video Based Contests to Promote Awareness

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–IndieMV Media Group announced today the official launch of the Company’s web site www.IndieMV.com and shared details about their recent partnership with UNICEF to provide music-video based contests surrounding the upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert on November 28, 2007.

IndieMV.com, is a video-based website that has been designed to connect independent music artists, fans, and labels through social networking. The website is not only a video marketplace for musicians but also a social networking service for students, music lovers, and users that simply want to connect. Services to users are based around networking tools such as video blogging (or ‘vlogging’), private web-cam messaging, photo sharing, as well as access to music videos, interviews, and much more. Services to musicians include digital distribution with revenue share on video downloads along with access to all user-based features.

IndieMV also offers users a new technology called ‘Sliders’. Sliders are an advanced tagging system that allows users to easily search content on a more personalized level. It is a filtering system that each user can customize to their personal interests and preferences.

Concurrent with the website launch, the Company is also pleased to announce their new relationship with UNICEF surrounding music-video based contests that have been organized to help promote their upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert in Montreal, Canada on November 28, 2007, as well as promote independent music while spreading awareness for the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” campaign. IndieMV will be hosting a music-video contest in conjunction with UNICEF. It has been designed to give youth the opportunity to share their impressions and thoughts on issues regarding AIDS and its effect on the world. UNICEF will provide audio tracks and visual footage, and IndieMV will provide the platform for uploading, viewing, and voting for the music videos. Over the next couple of months, the Company’s campus development efforts will carry the UNICEF message and encourage thousands to support the campaign and to build their scene on IndieMV.com.

Confirmed feature performers already include headliner Avril Lavigne, Grammy Award winner Sarah McLachlan, Corneille, Marie-Mai, Angelique Kidjo, and DJ Dino Lenny, as well as the winner of the IndieMV “Unite” band contest. Net proceeds from the concert will benefit UNICEF’s international ‘Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS’ campaign, which is the largest ever mounted to bring the world’s attention to the global impact of HIV and AIDS on children and young people. Please visit www.IndieMV.com for more details surrounding the contests and concert.

Technorati Tags: Children with HIV/AIDS, contest, indie music, IndieMV, UNICEF

September 25, 2007

Kumu Kahua Theatre kicks off 37th season

This post has been submitted to the Carnival of Aloha for Monday, October 1, 2007.

Kumu Kahua Theatre kicked off their 37th season with Ala Wai, a Hawaiian Pidgin comedy by Bryan Hiroshi Wake that takes place in its entirety around a bench on the Ala Wai Canal. As the play opens , a fire has destroyed Bertram and Ernesto’s apartment. They meet up at Bert’s favorite spot beside the canal and Bert falls into the water, only to emerge with a Portugese man-o-war cinging to his testicles. It’s soon discovered that the sting has given Bert’s urine miraculous properties to clean and heal. Ernie sees an opportunity to cash in, while Bert wants to use his super powers for the good of humanity (or at least for the good of the Ala Wai!) There’s a lot of little-boy bathroom humor, as you can imagine, but I didn’t find it offensive. To the contrary, I laughed throughout the play. Supporting characters are as bizarre as our two protagonists and the resulting story brings to mind the laugh-a-minute slapstick of Laurel and Hardy.

Kumu Kahua Theatre is housed in the old Kamehameha V Post Office building on the edge of Chinatown. The space is small and audience size is limited to about a hundred patrons per performance. Many of the plays are performed in the round; all of them have an intimate feel, with the audience frequently being invited to contribute to performances. I am a season subsciber and usually attend the second-weekend Sunday matinees. Life got in the way this time and I just barely managed to catch the final performance of Ala Wai last weekend. My review is too late to encourage you to see Ala Wai, but there’s still time for you to catch the rest of the season.

Kumu Kahua Theatre

46 Merchant Street, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813
Box Office Phone: (808) 536-4441

Plays about life in Hawaii.
Plays by Hawaii’s playwrights
Plays for Hawaii’s people

Please note that it’s not “plays about Hawaiians.” It’s an important distinction. Kumu Kahua recognizes and celebrates the diverse cultures that make up Hawaii’s people. Plays in recent years have featured Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Samoan and Hawaiian stories, among others. The common factor is that all of them reflect the lives of the neighbors we know and honor the contributions that each culture has brought to that wonderful stew we call “local.” The characters are as familiar as old friends, and the stories are embued with the local flavor we all know and love. The season runs through June, so there’s still plenty of time for you to enjoy some culture, local style. You can call the box office (above) for tickets, or order them online. And hey - if you make reservations for second-Sunday matinees, give me a shout so we can share the experience.

Bert & Ernie photo by Brad Goda

Technorati Tags: entertainment, Hawaii entertainment, Hawaii theatre, Kumu Kahua Theatre, live theatre, theatre

September 9, 2007

Be still my heart - Duncan is back!

It’s entirely indecent for an old gal like me to lust after a complete stranger. Kind of silly, too, considering that I probably haven’t had any hormones at all for ten years or so now. Nevertheless, Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod makes my heart skip a beat and the rest of me feel all warm and tingly. I don’t understand how there can be another Highlander movie, since there can be only one and Duncan McLeod is already that one. I mean, who is he going to fight for the title now? Wasn’t that the focus of the story all along? I’m rejoicing anyway, because yumminess is returning.

Highlander: The Source will debut next week on The SciFi Channel and I’ll be watching. A lot of fan sites are filled with controversy right now about the new movie. Small-minded people are worried about things like continuity and the whole reprise of the “There can be only one” storyline. {shrug} They’re missing the point. The point is that Duncan is back. I don’t care whether the movie is fabulous or a load of tripe. Duncan is back. I’m happy.

You can check the SciFi schedule for broadcast times in your area.

Technorati Tags: Adrian Paul, Duncan MacLeod, Highlander: The Source, scifi.com, The Highlander

July 13, 2007

Sunset on the Beach is coming!

I don’t have many Oahu readers but I know a few of you are our there. I hope you’ll all consider a trip out to the Waianae Coast this weekend for Sunset on the Beach. I took a walk around the grounds this afternoon and watched crews cleaning and setting up booths and tables. I counted over thirty merchants and food vendors on the agenda, and there will be more than a dozen entertainment acts featured. The movie Saturday night will be Happy Feet, and on Sunday it’s Dream Girls. Fireworks will precede the Sunday movie. If you’ll be bringing children, wristbands for the “keiki corner” rides and bouncers are just ten dollars for unlimited access. There will also be a keiki watermelon-eating contest on Sturday and a keiki beachwear contest on Sunday.

I’ll be going back with my camera so I can share the fun with you all. I hope some of my blogging friends will be coming out to support our local community and enjoy a fun family weekend! It all happens at Maili Beach Park his Saturday and Sunday, July 14th and 15th. Shuttle buses will begin running at noon both days, from Waianae Mall, Nanakuli Butler Building and the Makaha Marketplace. Hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: family entertainment, Hawaii, photos, Sunset on the Beach, Maili

June 28, 2007

New Police CD

If you haven’t seen the televison ad above that’s probably because you’re in the US. The ad is currently running in the UK. The whole world is celebrating the release of the new Police CD. It was released in the US on June 5th, so maybe you already have your copy. If you don’t have it yet, what are you waiting for? Actually, it’s not a CD. It’s a 2-disc compilation of all of their greatest music. I’m embarrassed to admit that there are a few songs in the set that I’m not familiar with, but only a few. It’s a generational thing. The Police were my son’s music, but they played a part in my own life, too. This is the music that’s woven through our memories, the music that topped the charts for many years. The new Police CD has all of your favorites and will remind you why you fell in love with them in the first place. Here’s the play list:

Track Listings
Disc: 1

1. Fallout
2. Can’t Stand Losing You
3. Next to You
4. Roxanne
5. Truth Hits Everybody
6. Hole in My Life
7. So Lonely
8. Message in a Bottle
9. Reggatta de Blanc
10. Bring on the Night
11. Walking on the Moon
12. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
13. Driven to Tears
14. Canary in a Coalmine

Disc: 2

1. Do Do Do de da da Da
2. Voices Inside My Head
3. Invisible Sun
4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
5. Spirits in the Material World
6. Demolition Man
7. Every Breath You Take
8. Synchronicity I
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
10. Walking in Your Footsteps
11. Synchronicity II
12. King of Pain
13. Murder by Numbers
14. Tea in the Sahara

Every CD set comes with an added bonus, a vintage poster of The Police the way we remember them best, as the young men who kept us singing and scripted our most romantic moments. It’s on sale everywhere, so you don’t have any excuse for not buying your own copy. Get going! We can talk about it later, after you’ve had your stroll down memory lane.

Technorati Tags: music, sponsored posts, The Police, video