The Tiki Outpost

Movie Review: Our Family Wedding

2010-03-12T16:11:00.007-10:00

This weeks rom-com is Our Family Wedding starring America Ferrera and Lance Gross from Ugly Betty and House of Payne. After finishing the movie I went up to the refreshment counter to get a refill of my large soda before heading out to the bus stop. I was asked by the person behind the counter what movie I saw and what I thought of it. Speaking to the concession person I told her it was good, not worth the price of a full ticket but maybe a matinee price. While sitting on the bus and taking the ride from the Dole Cannery where I usually see my movies to Downtown Honolulu I had a chance to reflect on what I had seen.

Then I got distracted. As the bus was passing by I'olani Palace and the Kamehameha the Great statue there were all sorts of vehicles parked along Mililani Street and around Ali'i 0 Hale indicating that some sort of filming was going on. I got off at the stop and poked for a moment. Turns out the remake of Hawaii Five-O was there doing filming. I took a picture of some trailers and posted up to my Twitter, Flickr and Facebook accounts.

The trailers were for "Danny Williams", "Chin Ho Kelly", "Steve McGarrett" and "Mary McGarrett". I then got back on the bus to complete the ride home. In case you're wondering, if you have one of the new state quarters, the Hawaii quarter has the statue on the back of the quarter and Iolani Palace is the location used for the Five-O office in the original series. On the bus I pulled myself back into thought and as I reviewed the movie in my mind realized this movie was neither romantic or a comedy, it's really a tragedy.

Ferrera plays Lucia who is in love with Marcus (Gross) but neither has told their parents the game plan to get married. The two families get together for dinner where Lucia's Mexican family gets to meet Marcus's African-American father. The two dads, Lucia's dad Miguel (Carlos Mencia) and Marcus' dad Brad (Forest Whitaker) immediately start to clash for various reasons. Even in a posh restaurant the two dads start throwing around stereotypes raising voices and embarrassing everyone. Have we seen this before? Yes we have. Take part of Guess Who and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, try to fix them into the formulaic rom-com but don't develop character depth or put in comedy and go light on the romance and you end up with this flick.

I really like Ferrera and hopefully once Ugly Betty ends, she'll have more time to pick roles better than what the role of Lucia offered her. The character didn't get enough development for us to care about her decision and why she thought standing by Marcus was a good decision.

As I watched Gross, I really didn't see much apart from what he's done as Calvin Payne. He had a lot of help around him. Taye Diggs makes a cameo. Charlie Murphy in his role talks about being a whipped husband. Warren Sapp has a moment of screen time. Ultimately, it was Calvin Payne on the screen and not a fully formed Marcus.

Mencia was not inspired at all. Every time he was on the screen I was hoping he'd soon get off the screen. Enough said about him.

Whitaker's character didn't seem realistic. As a DJ, would he really make that kind of money to support the life style that was shown. Highly doubtful.

The set up and premises were not in any way believable. From the police department to the modern bathroom to how to combine traditions the plot didn't flow. But like most romance stories, Act One thru Three: boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl were followed.

One scene that I found difficult to take in was during the boy loses girl act. In my head, I have a heard time wrapping my brain around a dad trying to sooth his own problems with alcohol and when the son shows up with his problems the dad offers the son alcohol so they both could try to wash away their troubles with 100 proof on the rocks. Just because their personal lives are on the rocks doesn't mean you should use the same metaphor while drinking.

Was it 100% bad. No, but there was way more bad than good. The ending of the movie showing the blending of the traditions between the two cultures seemed forced. The one scene that I thought was really good was in the planning of who sits where at the reception. They had a peg board of sorts that represented the layout of tables. Using pegs to represent people and the "What if?" scenarios did get some of the biggest laughs from me and other people in the theater.

The movie ran 90 minutes and rated PG-13 for some language and some sexual content. From what I understand, Red Box on the mainland rents for a dollar a movie. That price seems about right for this instead of the price of a matinee.

Why we love Sandra Bullock

2010-03-09T07:01:00.003-10:00

I'm sure that out in the vast expanse of the cold cosmos there is a star. It's a bright shinning star that you look at it in wonder and amazement. It is so beautiful and inspiring you go "oooooh". Right next to it is a black hole. We can't see it directly because no light can escape it. We know it's there because it does have an influence upon the bright shining star next door giving the star extra flare as it deals with the sucking gravitational influence of the hole. Over the weekend we got to see a live example of these two opposing forces here on Earth focused into one body known as Sandra Bullock.

Award seasons are funny. Watching who gets ignored for their work who gets fingers pointed at them so other people will notice them or others who get lifted up on platforms for all to see. Sometimes the finger pointing is good as in the case of The Oscars when the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says these are the best that Hollywood has to offer. On the flip side are the Golden Raspberry Awards more affectionately known as The Razzies which points the finger at someones work and says "Dude (or dudette), that really sucked!"

In the cinematic year that was 2009 the mystical forces came together in the right proportions to allow the Magellanic Cloud to part, streams of flowing protons to filter through, the hand of god to reach through the heavens with his outstretched finger to point at Sandra Bullock and say "This year, you will be the best and the worst that Hollywood has to offer!" Sandra tosses her long brown hair about, shining in the celestial glow as choirs of angels sing "aaaaaahhhhh".

The worst as recognized by the Razzies was Sandra's portrayal of Mary Horowitz, a not all too hip crossword puzzle creator who is smitten and stalks TV news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper) in the movie appropriately named All About Steve. It was painful to watch this intelligent woman mindlessly chase a man across the country and be lead on by a no good news reporter feeding her lines to advance his own cause. While Mary has a heart of gold her self-esteem she doesn't feel is as valuable. This was not a story about self empowerment and I'm sure feminists everywhere were cringing if they watched this movie. For her efforts in this film, the Razzies awarded her two awards: the first being the Worst Screen Couple which she shared with Bradley Cooper and the second being Worst Actress.

At the other end of the spectrum was the portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, a no nonsense southern lady who took a homeless black child off the street and provided him a stable home life. Fierce, determined, strict, gutsy, nurturing and loving describe the women Bullock brought to the big screen. To see Bullock stand at 5'7" next to Quinton Aaron who portrayed Michael Oher at 6'8" and close to 400 pounds was like seeing a poodle stand next to an elephant, an interesting combination whose story pulled at the heart strings in The Blind Side. It was a role that Bullock turned down several times. It wasn't until meeting Tuohy did Bullock decide to accept the role. It was almost a lost opportunity. Now, I'm sure she's glad she decided to accept the role!

So for the first time in the history of cinema, one person, one actress was recognized on one weekend for the two sides of the good/bad coin that is Hollywood Cinema. After being nominated for the Razzie, Bullock said she would show up if she won and true to her word she showed up and accepted the award with grace, humility and humor, lots of humor!

When she was called on stage to accept the Oscar for the Best Actress, it was heart warming, heart felt and again very humorous.

(Here's hoping this video doesn't get taken down by YouTube)

I'm sure there will be a very special case in the Bullock household. It will hold the 13.5" 8.5 lb 24K gold plated Oscar Statuette and right next to it will be the empty 8mm film reel with the glued on raspberry that is spray painted gold for a cost of $4.97 (at least according to the founder of the Razzies John Wilson) The bright shining star and the sucking black hole poised next to each other in that case. Sandra gave us her best and worst performances in 2009 and accepted both in a very genuine and sincere way. For this how could you not love this women Sandra Bullock.

Movie Review: Shinjuku Incident

2010-03-04T21:30:00.001-10:00

For American audiences, we don't get to see Jackie Chan in the light that this movie casts. We see him in movies like Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour, The Tuxedo or his latest US flick, The Spy Next Door. He plays a likable guy with killer martial arts skills who is able to use whatever is around him clay pots, sofas, scaffolding, clock works to move around and vanquish his opponent. He uses comedy throughout to bring smiles to the audience's faces. Shinjuku Incident is not like that at all. Released in April 2009 in Hong Kong it is just making its way into US theaters. Done in Japanese and Mandarin, we watch the action and are lead via the subtitles.

I had two people in the theater with me who kept talking back and forth trying to figure out the language and that they had to read the subtitles. After the first two minutes if they didn't like reading subtitles they always had the option to leave.

Chan plays Steelhead an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan. Back in China he used to repair engines. His fiance Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei) moved to Japan to try to find a better life saying that she'll come back but when she doesn't and communication stops, he follows his heart to try to find her. After escaping the authorities on the Japanese beach he meets up with his brother Jie (Daniel Wu) who introduces him to other illegals who are picking up odd jobs and stealing in order to survive.

During an immigration bust Steelhead saves the life of Detective Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) who is greatful and wishes to repay Steelhead. When he discovers his fiance is now the wife of a Yakuza boss Steelhead decides to become a legal citizen of Japan. In the process he gets caught up in Chinese gangs and the Yakuza. To keep his brother out of trouble Steelhead buys Jie a chestnut cart. Jie unfortunately has a run in with another gang and ends up with severe injuries. Steelhead while trying to exact revenge for Jie ends up saving the life of his ex's husband. Eguchi (Masaya Kato) hires Steelhead to kill those people who were trying to kill him.

For the first time we see Jackie Chan, not in defensive mode but playing offense. While trying to play protector he ends up being aggressor. It's not what we American audiences think of when someone drops the name of Jackie Chan. We see a side to him that we haven't been presented. Instead of this coordinated flailing martial arts master that deflects blows, we see a man who gets hurt and shows emotions.

After taking care of Eguchi's request and being rewarded with control of specific districts including Shinkuku, Steelhead tries to lead a normal life going back to repairing engines leaving the control of the Chinese gang to the people who originally helped him. Without his sense of fairness the other immigrants start to fall into illegal activities that Steelhead never would have imagined. One of the corrupt leaders is none other that his brother Jie.

Detective Kitano gets called upon to crackdown on the illegal activities at the same time parts of the Yakuza decide they want to take back control of the areas that were given to the Chinese. The undercurrent of racism rears it head and comes out. Kitano thinks it's Steelhead not realizing Steelhead has stepped back from control but wants to work with him to pay back his personal debt he owes to Steelhead. All hell breaks out as the Yakuza and formerly illegal immigrants fight for control.

Chan plays good guy and he plays bad guy. The good guy isn't like what we see with his movies made for America. There were some typical Chan traits, but not over the top. The bad guy we haven't seen before. This is a drama not a comedy or martial arts flick although there is some martial arts involved. One of the challenges with watching foreign flicks with subtitles is having to focus on the bottom of the screen. Without understanding the languages involved the nuances of the vocal part of the performance is lost.

The movie was an interesting story of immigration challenges set in Japan. It presented something that we normally see with issues between the US and Mexico. Presented with another culture and location but similar reasoning we're given another level of interest to draw us into the story. If this two hours which is rated R due to graphic violence, brief sexuality and drug use is playing in your area, I would recommend checking it out for another side of Jackie Chan's acting abilities.

Trapped in Paradise EP0110 - Kauai Beauty

2010-02-26T10:08:00.003-10:00

In my newest episode of Trapped in Paradise let's take a look at some of the sights around the island of Kauai starting in Waimea Town and going all the way to the end of the road at the base of the Napali cliffs on the north shore of the island where the road dead ends at Ke'e beach park.

First is a tour of the beach cottage where I stayed in Waimea Town. Check out Inn Waimea at www.innwaimea.com. The cottage was three houses from the beach and you could hear the surf in the living room at night.

The Captain Cook monument is also located in Waimea.

Between Waimea and Poipu are the salt ponds which stand as a testament to the old ways of deriving salt from the sea.

In Poipu along the crags of the volcanic shore the sea enters following a tube up to the surface. The water pushes the air forcefully expelling it with a whistle and a whoosh!

The Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge houses a lighthouse used to guide the ships at sea and is home to a number of birds including the red-footed boobie, Laysan Albatross and wedge-tailed shears. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1976 to be replaced by automated beacons.

Lastly we travel as far as we can on State Highway 560 stopping at the wet and dry caves before arriving at Ke'e Beach.

Hope you enjoy!

Download the file here

Memories of Captain EO

2010-02-22T01:21:00.007-10:00

Well, it's official, Disney has announced the opening of the Captain EO Tribute at Disneyland. Michael Jackson as Captain EO and his rag tag band will once again grace a big screen on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Instead of living on the small, grainy digital files of YouTube a reconditioned large version will be projected for everyone to enjoy.

My first experience with Captain EO was in 1986 at the then EPCOT Center in the Magic Eye Theater the day after Christmas that year. I had worked for Disney on the Walt Disney World College Program on the Spring 1986 program and then stayed on through the summer. I had left a week before Labor Day to return back home to UMass Amherst to finish up my degree. At school my cast member friend Martha mailed me a copy of the internal cast member news letter the Eyes & Ears that announced the opening of Captain EO as well as the flier given to people going to the Captain EO Blast Off event.

I had flown down on Christmas day with another WDWCPer Bob to work at Disney during the Christmas break and we were joined by Sheilagh who had flying privileges through her dad, a pilot. Bob and I had convinced Sheilagh to stay another day, Friday, in order to go into the parks, enjoy ourselves and see the show. She pulled a couple of strings and we enjoyed the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center that busy holiday season. We spent the morning at the Kingdom and then moved over to EPCOT that afternoon.

The crowds at the Journey into Imagination were huge for two reasons. The first was just being that time of year for crowds and the second being the new show staring Michael Jackson who was as at the height of his popularity. The line was LONG and took close to two hours of patience and hanging in a hot, crowded pre-show area. We finally got into the main theater and put on our purple 3D glasses. I'll never forget the lights dimming and stars appearing on the screen spreading around the side of the theater and then all of a sudden becoming 3D with stars pushing back towards negative infinity, the swirling galaxy, the floating rock and the laser blast clearing the way for Captain EO's ship.

We startled and watched intently as to when we'd see Michael appear. When he finally appeared everyone cheered and clapped. It was an exciting show watching his ship crash, spot lights searching for him, his capture, his rag tag band turning into the band, the singing, the whips, the dancing, Angelica Houston turning from the Evil Supreme Leader to a beautiful Grecian-like ruler. We had a good time!

I remembered towards the end of the movie Michael walking out and smacking the back of one hand into the palm of the other as well as yelling OOOOOOOHHH in his high pitched voice several times. I didn't know it at the time, but these combined action would be used over and over again while I was working at The Land pavilion by my leads Jay and Kathy to call us to action when they wanted to get something done.

Over the next month I saw Captain EO several more times as the crowds died down a bit. It was so popular that the two characters Fuzzball and Hooter were made into plush figures that many people, including myself purchased. They are in my trunk back at my parents house. I checked ebay and didn't find any Hooter plushes but a Fuzzball plush was going for $50 buy it now!

I was fortunate as another MKCPer Joe had stayed on to work the 15th Anniversary event that kicked off on October 1. He had sent me a copy of the press kit they were giving out. Included were 2 promotional photos dealing with Captain EO. The first was Captain EO with Fuzzball sitting on his right shoulder and the second was of Hooter. Those two got all the attention, Major and Minor Domo and Idee and Odee didn't get much fanfare at all as far as merchandise was concerned.

So something that I never thought I would see again outside of YouTube is coming back. While I know that it won't be the same, with the Captain EO Tribute Show releasing in Disneyland, I look forward to reliving the experience that was Captain EO. Michael Jackson is no longer with us, but we can enjoy what he left behind. I'll be at Disneyland for the Disney Podcast Network Westfest Event and a couple of days before and after. If you'll happen to be in Anaheim from April 28 to May 5 and you'd like to get together with other Disney and Michael Jackson fans to either experience Captain EO for the first time or you're hundredth time, use one of the contact options on the side of the column to let me know you'd be interested in seeing Captain EO.

In the mean time as Captain EO might suggest remember to give people the key to unlock the beauty that is within side them just waiting to get out!

All pictures copyright Disney 1986. Watermarks added by me.

Movie Review: Shutter Island

2010-02-19T19:00:00.002-10:00

Eleven miles off the coast in Boston Harbor is Shutter Island a place where the really bad of the bad of the criminally insane are being treated.

A women goes missing and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) of the US Marshals are called in to investigate the disappearance. This woman murdered her three children and doesn't acknowledge that she killed her offspring, she treats the facility like its her home in the Berkshires. As Daniels attempts to investigate he gets stalled by Dr Crawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr Naehring (Max von Sydow) who refuse to turn over inmate and staff records. As severe weather barrels down on the facility Daniels investigates further the motives and methods of the doctors is called into question on Shutter Island.

Martin Scorsese directs this movie. After The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Departed and now Shutter Island, this is the fourth time Scorsese has directed DiCaprio. The movie has tight shots give a claustrophobic feeling following Daniels. When the winds blow and the rain pours down, you almost feel wet yourself. With the topic of mental illness and trying to figure out what is real from what is fake there are shots that jump back and forth. Continuity is not always facing forward. You wonder what is happening drawing you into the story as the image perspectives move about in setting and reality.

While questioning inmates Daniels and Aule get the feeling that something isn't right between people giving almost verbatim answers to questions or getting nervous when certain other questions are asked. They question if Crawley and Naehring are hiding something. Aside from trying to find out what happened to the missing prisoner, excuse me patient as Dr Crawley keeps reminding Daniels, he has ulterior motives for being on the island. His wife was killed in a fire set by a fire bug. Daniels has tracked him down to Shutter Island and is looking for him. In a series of dreams we meet Daniels wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) who gives him warnings. Daniels background as a solider during WWII who helped liberate Dachau are shown in flashback sequences. The images of Holocaust victims discarded as trash have an impact on Daniels bringing his own state of mind into question. Nine years had passed since Daniels helped with Dachau's liberation and the images still haunt him.

Can a crazy person prove they're sane? Can a sane person prove they're not crazy? Can a psychiatrist make a sane person crazy? How good are they at helping crazy people become sane. With Dr Naehring, a former Nazi on staff, are experiments from the days of Nazi experimentation part of Dr Crawley's new methods of treating the mentally ill? As the story line got further in depth, what was real, what was imagined, who is sane, who is crazy, what is really happening there at Shutter Island got convoluted. This is a thinking movie to try to follow and I have to admit that my brain hurt trying to keep track of everything and may need a second viewing to catch all the details put into story.

Some of the images are tough to look at between images of concentration camp captives and poor treatment of the 1950s mentally ill including slight nudity. This earned the movie an R rating for the two hour eighteen minute presentation. Heavily present in the movie is smoking; it seems to be in a number of movies lately. Even though tobacco is a legal product a disclaimer stating that they weren't paid to portray tobacco usage is tacked into the credits. Alcohol can be just as detrimental to a person's health and yet they don't put any disclaimers about alcohol products and byproducts disclaimers in the credits. I wonder how long it will be before that has to be put in there along with the no animals were harmed disclaimer.

Movie Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

2010-02-13T23:20:00.005-10:00

Chris Columbus the man who brought us the fictional worlds of a kid left behind saving his house from robbers, a father who is able to get in and out of a fat suit in five minutes to pretend he's his kid's nanny and a boy scarred for life using magical powers to try to dispatch a bad guy now brings us into the world of Greek gods about to wreak havoc on Earth because the head guy's biggest, baddest weapon, has gone missing; someone has stolen it.

So before the remake of The Clash of the Titans comes out, a movie based on the Greek gods and their kids hits the screen first, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

This story takes place in today's world except the Greek gods, their children by mortals otherwise known as demigods, minotaurs, satyrs, centaurs and other such beings exist. Maybe not widely known to all, but living among us. Just as Chris Columbus brought the first two Harry Potter movies to life with the magical wizarding world living among us he works his skills to bring the gods alive. Columbus knows how to work the mystic creatures and locations to life on the screen to breath life into this fantasy world.

Zeus (Sean Bean) is ticked off because his lightning bolt has been stolen. He accuses his brother Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) of taking it. He reminds Zeus that he cannot have taken it but Zeus reminds Poseidon that it's possible for their children to take it. Zeus sets a deadline. If he doesn't have the lightning bolt back by the summer solstice the gods will be going to war. Enter Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), a boy who is having problems in school with dyslexia and ADHD, doesn't like his step dad (Joe Pantoliano), and has a best friend Grover (Brandon T Jackson) who times Percy staying under water for over seven minutes. Could Percy and Poseidon be related? Well, heck yeah otherwise we wouldn't have a film now would we?

Early on it's obvious that Percy couldn't have stolen the lighting bolt but everyone thinks he has. Hades (Steve Coogan), Zeus' and Poseidon's other brother, believes it enough that he kidnaps Percy's mother Sally (Catherine Keener) who he holds captive in the underworld with him. Hades wants to trade the lightning bolt for her. Thus like any hero Percy sets off on his own odyssey to get his mother from the underworld back into the world of the living with Grover and another helper by the name of Annabelle (Alexandra Daddario) joining him in his quest. But will he figure out what going on before the Olympians deadline causing heaven and earth to clash? Therein lies Percy's problem.

The movie has a lot of fun in it. Just the idea that the Olympian gods still exist presents an idea to ponder. During Percy's quest he comes up against people and creatures that are the savory parts of stories that I enjoyed as a kid. I wanted to learn more about theses characters from young kid days that I took a course in Greek and Roman mythology in college. With the computing power that is available Columbus gets us to believe that controlling water, Mt Olympus and these fantastical creatures do come to life in our world. If you aren't careful, you might actually learn a little bit about Greek mythology during the course of the two hour running time of the film. A number of other stars including Pierce Brosnan, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman, and Melina Kanakaredes add to the cast to bring more of the mythical world to life.

In the way of flaws, the acting at times did seem a little stiff between crusaders as they worked their way out of tight situations. The editing could have been a little smoother as there were a couple of scenes that seemed like some part of the set up was missing. Kinda like in Goonies when Data mentions battling the giant squid. What squid, we didn't see any squid, never mind a GIANT squid. Maybe they'll be on the directors cut when the DVD and Blu-Ray discs come out in a few months. AND if Disney gets their way with the Alice in Wonderland movie coming out on March 5, several weeks will be taken off the waiting time from film release until a person could own the film for their own library.

Columbus did a good set up with the movie explaining relationships and characters so that if the box office numbers are good, and I think they will be good, there will be a sequel based on one of the other books in the series written by Rick Riordan.

The movie is rated PG for some scary images, action violence, peril and some suggestive scenes. Make sure you stay after the end of the story and the credits role. There is an Easter egg that was pretty good!

As a side note, someone who saw the picture before I posted it into this posting asked, "What's 3D golf?" The kids play center had just opened a month or two ago so I asked. Apparently you wear 3D glasses as you play mini golf. Along the course are pictures that will appear 3D. I didn't verify this as I didn't want to pay $5 bucks or so to find out.

Movie Review: The Wolfman

2010-02-12T23:15:00.001-10:00

At Universal Studios Hollywood is the House of Horrors, a place where you walk through many scary scenes from classic horror movies like The Mummy, Psycho, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolfman.

As I was walking through I managed to get by the wolfma's area unscathed but after I rounded the corner and was exploring the world of Frankenstein, the Wolfman came up behind me and gave me a good startle. Some of those same startles got me as I watched the new updated version of The Wolfman.

In this version of Benicio del Toro gets the lead as Lawrence Talbot who will eventually end up as "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." Lawrence has come home to at the behest of his brother's fiance Gwen (Emily Blunt) as his brother Ben has gone missing. Anthony Hopkins plays his father Sir John Talbot who greets him as he enters the dark, large and brooding Talbot Manor in the English countryside.

After the funeral Lawrence wants to find his brother's killer for himself and for Gwen.

Inspector Abbeline (Hugo Weaving) comes in from London to officially investigate the murder. His father recommends that since the moon was full he stay at the manor but does Lawrence listen, no. Gypsies are in town so he goes to their encampment to talk to them about a medallion that was found among his brother's personal effects. He's told to stay in the encampment by the gypsy Maleva; does he listen No. The encampment is attacked by something big, fast, strong and brutal and when Lawrence chases whatever it is, he gets attacked and wounded. So by not listening to people Lawrence ends up in deep kimchi as the saying goes.

Most people watching knows what is coming. At the next full moon Lawrence turns into the wolfman bringing hysteria, death and destruction to the local populace. The movie has an R rating due to the violence and the gore of primal violence displayed by the beast. Between his bite and several turnings Lawrence develops feelings for Gwen who tries to rescue him from his curse. Like all good monster movies the monster is sacrificed for the love of the women. Lawrence does it for Gwen like King Kong did for Fay Wray. "It was beauty killed the beast."

The makeup for the monster was done by Rick Baker. He's the same guy who did the make up for Michael Jackson's transformation in Thriller and David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London. Del Toro's Wolfman is not as animal like as Naughton but not quiet as human as Jackson but somewhere in between. Baker makes a cameo in the movie as one of the gypsies. The transformations are relatively short and it takes a while to see the monster's face but when you do, it's a good homage to Lon Chaney's look in the 1941 original.

Del Toro doesn't fully emote a man conflicted between the man who says his prayers by night and one who has knowledge that he shreds people just as a beast has sliced his brother. A sense of urgency doesn't seem to be there. Hopkins comes across as the man who knows more than he is telling since he lived in the countryside for so many decades.

The plot moves along. I didn't look at my watch because I was bored. While watching I had a couple of questions that did lead to a section of plot that I wasn't expecting within the familiar wolfman story. There were a few points where I got startled and jumped in my seat which is what I hope will happen when the movie genre is horror. Being a remake one hopes that it will be much better than the original. This didn't reach that level, but it was good enough to keep me engrossed for the two hour and five minute movie worthy of the matinee admission that I paid.

A LOST evening in Waikiki

2010-02-01T11:30:00.007-10:00

Living in Hawaii has its perks. The 50th state has events happening all the time. Some times it's local and other times it's on a national or even world wide state. This past weekend was one of those times when one of those world wide events happened.

The TV series LOST has been filming on O'ahu since the series started in 2004. My understanding is that all but a handful of scenes have been done here on O'ahu. Saturday night, January 30, 2010 ABC held the premiere of the final season at the Sunset on the Beach event in Waikiki.

There's been a lot of hype about this TV show and it's gained fans from all over the world. Many of whom flown from all over the world to experience this event. Luckily from my Apt in Paradise to the premiere site is only 1.5 miles as the crow flies. I hopped on the number four bus and was there in 15 minutes.

Living in Honolulu often time as I was travelling I'd see the production trucks some where. It might be in Downtown Honolulu or at the Hawaii Convention Center. It was always exciting to see them and with the advent of Twitter, Plurk and Facebook, being able to tweet out LOST is filming at such and such location. Watching the show and being able to spot locations added more excitement. Looking at a location and seeing how they might have changed it slightly to represent another location somewhere in the world added still another dimension. It's been a fun ride spotting locations.

Anticipation has been building for the closure of LOST for some time. Since Damon Linderloff and Carlton Cuse got the number of remaining episodes that ABC and their parent company Disney were going to allow, the timer started. They now knew what they had to do in order to complete the series in the time allowed. At first you would put it out of your mind, but on Saturday it hit a high point.

People were on the beach all day getting ready for the show that night. Chairs were set up in a reserved VIP area and then there was the open sand. I saw tweets that said people were already set up prior to 8AM. The day started a bit overcast, but by the time I got there it had pretty well cleared up. By the time the stars started to arrive at 5pm, it was beautiful with some clouds and the sun shining through. There was a little bit of a breeze and off shore a catamaran, and a couple of sail boats were observing the festivities as they bobbed up and down in the waves.

One by one the stars arrived to cheers from the crowd. It was funny to hear people going "who's that?" Calls to the stars by their real names and their characters names rang out to try to get their attention. My location was near the hospitality tent, but not along the main path. Some of the stars came over to our side so we could get shots. Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) and his wife Carrie Preston who were one of first to arrive came over and stood for shots. Naveen Andrews (Sayid) stopped off at the hospitality tent for a smoke. He then came over a little later and held his sun glasses, cigarettes and lighter behind his back as he got right up to the barricade to take photos with and sign autographs with fans. Terry O'Quinn (John Locke) even came over to one fan, took off his lei and placed it over her head. Some of the stars just rushed back and forth between the back of the stage and the hospitality tent where one of the handlers had them doing what looked like signing t-shirts.

As the sun was setting the stars gathered up by the stage and screen getting ready for introductions. Stephen McPherson President of ABC Entertainment along with Damon and Carlton took the stage to make introductions. In addition to those already mentioned, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lily, Henry Ian Cusick, Daniel Dae Kim, Emily De Ravine, Harold Parrineau, Jorge Garcia, Yujin Kim, Nestor Carbonell, Josh Hollaway, Jeff Fahey, and Ken Leung all took their place on the stage and took their bows to the cheers and clapping of the fans. After a couple of commercials they got everyone caught up with the series by playing Everything you need to know about LOST in 8:15. Then the main event, the first hour of the two hour premiere with NO commercials! All I'm going to say is....it was *GREAT*!

After the main event was over people were scrambling to get a commemorative T-shirt. By filling out an evaluation of the episode there was a tent where you could redeem the eval for a white t-shirt. As the next episode of Modern Family played on the screen thousands of people crowded around the half dozen or so people in the tent. They had enough for everyone so there was no fighting pushing or shoving. It was very calm.

Let me say right here that if you're reading this and you made the trip to O'ahu to see the premiere, Mahalo nui! Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to visit us here. We hope that you had a great experience and will come back again. You'll need to come back and take a tour to see new locations that were used for the sixth and final season!

I would expect that locally, there will be two more times when there will be a lot of LOST activity in the news. First will be the last day of filming. When they make the call "That's a wrap" bringing the final scene to a close it will probably be all over the local media. The second would be when the final show airs sometime in May. I expect this event to play out on a world wide scale. Who knows, maybe they'll do a Sunset on the Beach on a Tuesday for the last episode. Here's hoping!

Movie Review: Extraordinary Measures

2010-01-23T20:30:00.003-10:00

We all like feel good movies. We love watching the under dog overcome struggles making it through, not only enduring, but prevailing to reach that goal. We loved Revenge of the Nerds as the nerds rocked out to their synthesized 80's pop music to overcome the high and mighty Alpha Betas and Pi Delta Pis. OK, I'm dating myself.

But we love it even more when the story isn't made up but "inspired by actual events" such as the case of The Blind Side, Invictus or the new Harrison Ford and Brandon Fraser movie Extraordinary Measures, based on the book The Cure.

Fraser plays husband John Crowley with Keri Russell playing his wife Aileen. They have three children, two of which have a form of muscular dystrophy called Pompe. The older of the two sick siblings, Megan is eight and her younger brother Patrick is six. John is climbing the corporate ladder at his company. After a close brush with the death of Megan he decides to go to Dr Robert Stonehill (Ford) who is approaching treatment for Pompe differently that anyone else in a theoretical manner. The problem is it's still theoretical and in order to save his children from the fatal disease, it has to be practical. This trip puts John's job and insurance at risk.

Stonehill is hampered by being in a college that controls the purse strings for his funding. He complains that the salary of the football coach is more than his entire department. Rings true in real life as the football coach at the University of Hawaii is the highest paid public employee in the State of Hawaii. Stonehill suggests to John that they start their own company with Stonehill focusing on the science and John focusing on the funding since he has an MBA from Harvard. John leaves his company to entice venture capitalist to gain funding for the new company. The two fuss and feud as they have different goals and go through different machinations in order to get from theory to reality.

This role was a stretch for Fraser. Remember he was Encino Man and George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right as well as Dr Rick O'Connell. Fraser is usually cast as a caricature of a character caught in imaginary worlds with lots of action and special effects surrounding him. This time there was none of that. He had to play in the real world. He can't play comic relief to a CGI figure or background. He has to play a father desperate to do what ever it takes in order to save his children. Could he pull it off, for the most part yes without being over the top.

On the other hand you have Ford. I found myself at times thinking of him playing his dad from the Indiana Jones series. Eccentric and consumed. Just as Henry Jones was focused on the Holy Grail, Robert Stonehill was focused on his theories. Here's the white board and the phone is ringing and ringing....ignore the phone while you work. The door buzzer is blaring and you keep working. Give the guy who's trying to get you funding smarty pants answers when you can't pull in the bucks yourself due to interpersonal issues. Cantankerous older scientist who likes to blare his music on a Bose Wave sound system, that was Stonehill.

I'm sure for the movie besides the role of Stonehill being synthesized for scripting purposes there were a number of other situations that were fictionalized to show the struggle to get a drug from concept to clinical trials. The battles to be waged between investment and profitability outcomes, what are acceptable losses, how large a market, what sort of trials. I don't know if I'll read the book to find out what actually happened, maybe I should. How do I know this? At the end of the credits there was a paragraph stating that although the Crowleys were real, that a lot of artistic license was used (my paraphrase). With health care being debated in America, I hope that people who see this movie keep this in mind and don't think this is a literal case to use as many of the situations were idealized and romanticized.

While not as gripping as The Blind Side, it was an enjoyable movie worthy of the matinee price that I paid to see it. The emotions displayed didn't totally suck me in, but there were moments both on the sad and funny that did engage me, but it wasn't ratcheted up enough where you really were pulled in completely to the struggle. This 105 minute movie is rated PG for thematic elements, a ~barely~ suggestive moment, and language. As a side note, Harrison Ford while one of the executive producers for this film allowed Fraser to have his name first in the credits. Look closely at the picture to see this.

Movie Review: Legion

2010-01-22T22:00:00.001-10:00

The end of the world as we know it movies seem to be running rampant. From Zombieland to 2012, The Book of Eli, Day Breakers, Twilight (well, maybe not Twilight, but by watching Bella, you would think it was the end of the world) and now Legion. Don't know why the preoccupation with the end of the world. These movies were put into production before we had the big melt down in 2009 so why so many "downer" movie? But they are coming out and we get to observe all sorts of why that the world will end between diseases, vampires, man made disasters, cosmic alignment and now it appears that god himself is mad with man and wants to destroy him using his angels.

Opening scene, in LA the sky opens up and with a bit of a flash a man appears out of nowhere. Hmmmm...kinda reminiscent of the start of Terminator. In shadow against a stone wall we see wings and then a knife, pain, blood. Hmmmm....didn't I see that in X-Men 2? Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) has come to Earth to help save it. God is mad at man and wants to wipe him off the face of the planet. Gee, the story of Noah's ark and the flood comes to mind. So in 2006 Bettany plays an albino trying to save the Catholic Church from people. Now he's trying to save the people from god. Oh, and the date is December 23.

In a corner of the Mohave desert is a po dunk diner where a rag tag group of people are together when there are problems with radio and tv reception. The diner is owned by Bob (Dennis Quaid) with his son Jeep (Lucas Black), a pregnant woman who goes by the name of Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), cook Percy (Charlie Dutton) and a family dad Howard (Jon Tenney), Mom Sandra (Kate Walsh) and wayward daughter Audrey (Willa Holland). They are joined by lost father trying to get to LA Kyle (Tyrese Gibson). They realize somethings wrong when old lady with walker comes in and tells Charlie that her baby is going to burn in hell in a weird voice and then starts to crawl along the ceiling. One skillet throw and a couple shots later ceiling walking grandma now with lots of small pointy sharp teeth is laying on the ground in a pool of blood.

Later that day Michael arrives dum da dum to save the day! He could care less about the rest of the people, only the baby within eight month pregnant Charlie. The baby is going to be able to save humanity he tells them along with all hell is about to break loose, but it isn't hell, it's the angels from heaven that are causing the problems by using the shells of people who have weak minds to try to get to Charlie's unborn baby. People inside the diner, aptly called Paradise Falls are trying to make it to the next day as the angels attack. Miraculously, on Christmas Day Charlie gives birth during the blowing of the trumpets signaling Gabriel's (Kevin Durand) coming. Funny, Durand played Keamy on LOST who killed Ben's daughter and here he is playing an angel trying to kill Charlie's baby where on LOST Charlie was trying to save Clarie's baby. Weird I know.

Michael and Gabriel battle it out. Lots of bodies get wasted along the way. Questions of anger, wrath, love and faith get put out there. Some get answered, some don't. Does the baby make it to be able to save the world ala John Connor in Terminator or does god's wrath and the angels instructions to smite man by killing Charlie's baby win out?

As a christian, the were SOOOOO much wrong with this movie it isn't even funny. If you believe anything in the Bible you know that God did wipe out mankind because they were so wicked with only Noah and his family being saved with a 40 plus day open ocean cruise. The first part of the trip was ruined by rain, but afterward the sun shone bright. Once the flood waters disappeared He created the rainbow to seal a covenant that He would never destroy man again. Scott Stewart as co-writer and director, not sure what he was going for here. It was such a hodge podge going back and forth between fate, free will, hopelessness and faith. If God already saved mankind one time with his own Son, why would it need to be saved a second time? There are just too many questions that aren't answered to make the story somewhat believable with it's own weird logic. Wouldn't it just have been easier to flood the world again and not tell anyone to build an ark? I guess if they did that it would have looked too much like 2012.

While Stewart is credited with visual effects on some other movies, he wasn't credited on this one. He is credited with a company The Orphanage which did work on this movie. Some of the visuals were pretty good. The looks of Michael and Gabriel were something that was believable if you take to the notion that angels are part of God's army. They accomplished the overall look of doom and gloom and pestilence needed for an end of the world movie.

Was it a great movie...no way. It was meh for overall entertainment unless you like end of the world stuff and then it was OK. The movie runs one hour and 40 minutes and is rated R for foul language and lots of blood. If you stay to the end of the credits there is a slight easter egg but nothing huge if you decided not to stay.

Movie Review: A Serious....oops Single Man

2010-01-16T20:20:00.003-10:00

Had a little surprise today. Heading to the movie theater, I bought my ticket expecting to see the Coen Brother's movie. I had seen previews a couple of times for A Serious Man. I made it just in time missing some of the upcoming previews when the feature movie starts. As a side note, Consolidated Theaters in Hawaii changed their trailer for the chain during their 75th anniversary. It was a big deal at the time getting all sorts of press. This year, they have been running the chain trailer for 18 years. Hard to believe....Anyway, back to the movie review.

Eyes adjusting for the sudden darkness I located a seat and the starting credits start to roll and on the screen is a man struggling in water. It's obvious that he's not wearing anything. I scratch my head and then see the title. It took me a moment to realize that I was in the wrong movie. It's not that I went into the wrong theater, I just got my wires crossed with the titles as they are very close and I didn't pay attention. I was watching A Single Man. Single...serious...six letters vs seven letters both beginning with the letter s, an easy mistake to understand.

The man is no longer in the water but in a snowy field where next to an overturned car is the body of a dead man. The man walks through the snow and kisses the dead man on the lips. He then wakes up from the dream. He gets up and starts a narration. It sounds bleak and the colors are muted. He starts to get ready for the day and that it's going to be a chore for him to make it through the day. In a series of flash backs, we find out that it was his partner for 16 years Jim has died in a car crash eight months earlier. It's November 1962 with the Cuba Missile crisis in full motion. Being a homosexual male is something that society is not willing to confront. The man, George (Collin Firth) is a professor of English at a college in the Los Angeles area.

When the phone rings as he's dressing George flashes back to the call when he learns that Jim (Matthew Goode) has been killed. The caller says that he shouldn't have called George but thought he had a right to know that Jim had died. When George suggested catching a plane he's told that the service is for family only. The grief is obvious. As he packs his satchel for the day he puts in a gun that has no bullets.

As George goes through the day the look on his face is that of a lost man. Before he leaves his house he has an anxiety attack. When his house keeper arrives she says he doesn't look good. He says he's fine. At work one of his male students Kenny (Nicholas Hoult) talks to him after class and says that he doesn't look good. George says he's fine. He has dinner with his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore) and she say he doesn't look good. George says he's fine. As we follow George through the day it's apparent that he knows that he's not fine.

That night when he's having dinner with his best female friend Charley, the colors become bright. She talks about her situation with her ex-husband and wonders what could have been between the two of them had George not met Jim after the end of the second world war. What could have been but would not be between them.

Over the course of the day as George interacts with people they are concerned for him but he neither seems to want to or need to talk to them. He really doesn't have an outlet for his emotions. Even though they ask, would they really be able to comprehend what he is going through? Would they really want him using their shoulder to cry on with the circumstances of his life?

Tom Ford directed this as his first movie. He's a clothing designer who showcases his designs via George's wardrobe. Just as the use of color and texture is important in fashion, he used the textures and colors to help tell this story. The colors through the day are dull, drab and not in sharp focus. When George is having his flash backs, images are in focus and colorful just as he has a few moments in his day where he is enjoying life images are bright and colorful, but they fade back into a textured drab blur when those moments pass.

There is talk of Colin Firth receiving an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of George. The nomination would be fully justified for Best Male Actor. Seeing the emotions when George receives the call or watching his zombie like emotions as he tries to make it through the day you feel for him. While watching such raw emotions and some actions are tough to take, I was glad I got the titles mixed up and ended up watching A Single Man.

The movie is rated R for disturbing images and sexual/nudity content and runs 101 minutes.

Movie Review: Youth in Revolt

2010-01-11T21:30:00.008-10:00

When it comes to the youth having awkwardness and angst, Michael Cera is the goto guy when you want to make your film. If he's not available, then you goto Jessie Eisenberg. For Youth in Revolt, this might have been a case where Jessie would have been a better selection.

Nick Twisp (Cera) is caught in a bad situation. He hates his name. His parents are divorced. His mom (Jean Smart) is hooked up with a looser truck driver Jerry (Zack Galifianakis). His dad (Steve Buschemi) is hanging with a trophy girlfriend (Ari Graynor). After Jerry does a bad transaction with some sailors, Nick, his mom and Jerry have to high tail it to a trailer park to avoid a confrontation with the sailors. It's here at the trailer park that Nick meets Sheeni (Portia Doubleday) who lives in a two story trailer and falls head over heals for a girl who lives with ultra conservative parents. Boy finds girl.

As typically portrayed, when the reins are held too tight, the youth rebels. In this case, it's not Nick. It's Sheeni. But she wants a bad boy and Nick is not all that and a bag of chips. She speaks her mind and knows what she wants as she's already seeing someone. She likes Nick but plays with him. She wants more of a bad boy she plays Nick against her current boy friend Trent. Nick and Sheeni are separated. In order to get the girl he takes on a second persona, Francios Dillinger. Boy looses girl, boy attempts to regain girl.

The rest of the movie is spent showing the events, plans and schemings that Nick will go through in order to get the girl back. I sat there watching the screen as Nick was having conversations with Francios. I was confused as to why he wasn't under psychiatric supervision and medications. The conversations at times were funny, often sad. Cera seems to make a living playing the guy in the awkward sexual situations like Juno or Superbad. Some of the situations were so over the top they were funny. Some just plain sad.

Most of the talent in this movie wasn't used very well. Galifianakis didn't get to do much. He was so funny in The Hangover, but here he didn't get to be funny. Ray Liotta came in playing his usual tough guy although I felt I saw this character before from Wild Hogs. Fred Willard and Justin Long has small roles as well.

Does the boy get the girl because ultimately isn't that what all romantic comedies are about? We'll you'll need to watch the film. Paying for a matinee would seem a little extravagant for this movie. I might suggest it on a rental. The movie runs 90 minutes and has an R rating for sexual content, language, and drug use.

Movie Review: Nine

2010-01-02T21:30:00.001-10:00

Just as Rob Marshall took Chicago from the Broadway stage and directed the big screen adaptation, this Christmas he's taken Nine from Broadway which was based on Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2 to give us the big screen adaptation of Nine. Don't confuse this with the movie 9 that both sound the same when you say them but one is written as the numeral and the other is the word. On a scale of one to ten with ten being the bad side, the title fits about what I would rate this movie.

It's the story of fictional director Guido Contini, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. He's had some good films and the last ones stinkers. It's 1965 and he's about to start a new film in ten days without a plot or script. He's looking back at the women who have been his muses in the past, and there's lots of them. There is his Mom (Sophia Loren), a prostitute Saraghina (Fergie), his wife/actress Luisa (Marion Cotillard), the mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz), the reporter Stephanie (Kate Hudson), the starlet Claudia (Nicole Kidman) and the costume designer/confidant Lilli (Judi Dench). Guido wants to be inspired once again for his new movie. Which one will do it for him? All of the women look hot. But then again, he's a successful Italian director, what other sort of women would you expect to be in his life?

He looks to the women one at a time for the development of the new movie named Italia. Some connections are in real time and some are visualized or remembered. For those women they tell their story on a set that sort of looks like architecture in the Coliseum that is supposed to be used in his new movie. Through flash backs and dreams each of the muses has played a part in his past directorial directions. Each told through a song and dance so there are seven in the movie.

Penelope Cruz looks like she got instruction from those new popular stripper pole community dance classes, or maybe it was Miley Cyrus, not sure. In any case, she does her best and her movements keep your attention. She kept mine for her story. Did I mention the women look Hot in this film? The best line in the film belongs to Carla as she sincerely wants Guido and to help him and will be waiting for him with....well, I won't spoil that here.

A young Guido gets taught about love with his young male classmates on the beach by Fergi told in flashback form. They pay her and she sings to him and the boys to "Be Italian". He's taught was is good and what is bad but ultimately, they'll know what to do "it is in your blood" because he's Italian. Fergie and a chorus of singers and dancers demonstrate on the Coliseum stage with sand and tambourines. She and the dancers looks Hot.

This goes on and on for each of the women. Several times during the movie I ended up closing my eyes. The use of color and at times black and white were used to help along the story line, but not enough to keep my attention. The music for the most part was forgettable but the women really looked good. Did I mention they looked Hot with a capital H? Sophia still looks smokin' hot at 75!

Speaking of smoking, there is more cigarette smoking in this movie than I have seen in a long time. Between that and some of the sexual content the movie is rated PG-13. Clocking in at one hour and fifty minutes, it seemed a lot longer. While I didn't look at the time, I did wonder when it would end.

One positive aspect of the movie for me was that it was filmed in Italy in several locations. I always like to see real locations and not just recreations or CGI mock ups. So if you want to see Hot women and beautiful Italian locations, this is the movie for you. If you want an engaging movie, well, maybe the other movie 9 with the numeral would be better suited for you.

The end of the year and Oughts review

2009-12-30T23:00:00.007-10:00

It's that time of year again. The timer on the current year is expiring and the clock of the new year is about to begin ticking. Funny thing about time passing. It was just ten years ago that we were celebrating the new millennium. Many people were worried about the Y2K bug and would our world continue to function as it always has. At the same time we were looking forward to what the new millennium would have for us. Now the Oughts Decade has passed. I'm trying to avoid the debate whether this was the first decade of the new millennium or not, if the decade goes from 0 to 9 or 1 to 0 so I'll stick with the Decade of the Oughts; you know, where the first three digits were 200. In the blink of an eye ten years has come and gone, what has happened during that time. Time for reflection and planning.

I remember on December 31, 1999 watching the TV, glued to see the celebrations around the world. From Chatham Island to the Samoas, the new millennium swept across the globe. Standing on Waikiki Beach that night feet in the sand, feeling the breeze on my face and watching the fireworks both there off shore and down at Honolulu Harbor I was in debt, going through a buy out at work, and wondering if the lights would go off on the island. Luckily, the lights stayed on.

In July of Ought One, me and 60+ other employees were pulled into a meeting with the VP of Customer Care of the company who had flown in from Texas. After being bought out a bit over a year earlier they were shutting us down. Was I mad. No. I had learned that as an employee you are just like the copier paper. You are there to be used for the business to make money. I gave them my time and skills and they gave me a pay check. They had also sent me to Kansas on several occasions to work on a project for the company.

As people were leaving the call center, on Friday, September 7, I interviewed and was hired on the spot for a position with a computer training company. That was the last day the Honolulu Call Center was in operation. I started on Monday, September 10. The next day, the equivalent of this generation's Pearl Harbor happened with the attack at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I was able to keep my position.

In Ought Four a major mile stone had been accomplished with getting out of debt. My last credit card was paid off and I started a savings account. The feeling was something that I hope more people can feel. I had to fight with the credit card company to send out a last bill showing the zero balance. I wanted proof that I had cleared my obligation to them! Since then people have poked fun at me because I did things like not have cable and for a long time I had dial up and not high speed internet access.

Technology was changing and in Ought Five I bought my first digital camera. It was exciting to come into the age of downloading photos instead of developing film. Podcasts entered my life, specifically Disney podcasts. Then it happened again. The company that I was working for was going out of business. Luckily I was hired by the training company that bought the customer list from the old training company. I worked there just three days and my first extended trip to Disneyland occurred. It was a great time taking over fifteen hundred pictures with the new camera. It was at this time I discovered that dial up wasn't going to cut it anymore. Uploading the pictures made me realize that I needed high speed internet so I signed up for DSL access.

Another first in Ought Five was my first Honolulu Marathon. I hadn't done race training so I walked it. There is a huge sense of accomplishment crossing that finish line for the first time. Just seconds under nine hours, hurting feet, chaffing, sun burn and blisters didn't diminish the feeling. It was almost as intense as the feeling of paying off the last credit card.

Ought Six brought another technology toy to me. I purchased my first video camera with my tax return and started posting videos up on YouTube. The new job had some advantages, the first was it was only four fifths of a mile from my house. When my car died I didn't worry since work was so close. It was easy enough to catch the bus or take the twenty minute walk. The second advantage was the company's international conference was taking place in Orlando. I was given the opportunity to attend. The trip allowed me to visit Walt Disney World for the first time in seventeen years. Ten days at Walt Disney World in Florida was followed up by six days at Disneyland in Anaheim. It was here that I met in person the head of the Disney Podcast Network which is a collection of Disney podcasts and a forum for discussion along with other members of the discussion boards. Friendships had been born on that trip I know will last a life time.

Meandering Mouse Club TV, my Disney podcast came about in Ought Seven as a result of an event at Disneyland, the first official DPN Westfest. I was asked by the head of the DPN to join the DPN as a video podcaster. He liked the videos that I had posted up on YouTube. The influence of the DPN helped me go to the Hong Kong and Tokyo Disneyland resorts in a single trip. I then headed back to Walt Disney World that same year with a new high definition camera. It was the year of the Disney trips. In October with all the videos of Hawaii up on YouTube I actually started the Trapped in Paradise podcast, a video podcast about Hawaii that I had been talking about for several months.

Ought Eight was the year of the social network. Plurk and Twitter were coming into their own. Facebook was taking off. I had upgraded my phone to a camera phone with data and internet access. It was amazing to start seeing people's real time updates from their daily lives or in my case their Disney trips. Work was getting tough with the downturn in the economy. There were signs happening that the company was in trouble. This year had a trip to Disneyland for the DPN Westfest event and then in October a trip to Disneyland Paris. In about eighteen months I had managed to travel to all the Disney parks around the globe. To the best of my knowledge, I was the first podcaster to travel to all the parks. Through social media, I heard of all sorts of people that I know personally or indirectly loosing their job.

The big change for Ought Nine was being laid off from my job in March. Frankly, it was all for the best. I was happy! Since I didn't have a job, I have been able to do all sorts of things including taking a creative writing class, going to all sorts events and places that before I wouldn't or couldn't do, wrote a novel and did the Honolulu Marathon for a third time. Without the restriction of working regular hours I was asked to be part of the In The Loop podcast which talks about the amusement park industry in general. Thanks to Clint and Pat for the opportunity. Being debt free and having a savings account has enabled me a level of freedom that I wish could go on forever.

Standing on the beach during the waning moments of the twentieth century, did I know that I would be participating in marathons, traveling to the global Disney parks, to personally produce video content or be part of audio content that could be consumed globally, to meet friends around the globe via the internet, write a novel, be debt free, be involuntarily shuffled between four employers like vegetable cans at the grocery store, be traveling for work to Kansas, Texas and other locations in the US or end the Oughts by writing a blog post and tweeting to friends welcoming in the new year as it passes though the different time zones? No way, not in my wildest imagination.

When the clock rolls from December 31, 2009 11:59:59 to 12:00:00 on January 1, 2010 the Oughts decade come to the end. What will future hold, who knows at this point. I do remember someone telling me, the best way to predict the future is to create it. I hope to accomplish many things. I realize that I need to set goals and not resolutions. Having strong enough goals will lead to the discipline necessary to accomplish those goals. One goal is to write a book that will be published. The other is to be self employed. With four involuntary job transitions over ten years, I want to create my future instead of leaving it to someone else, letting them dictate my future. Let it be on my shoulders, not some board of directors or other business owner.

Traveling is another option that I really want to embrace. Visiting overseas locations in Asia and Europe was so exciting! I hope to have more experiences that are just as exciting! Developing myself so that I can help others needs to be a priority. Since being laid off, I have realized that I hadn't spent time to work on myself as a person. If I don't improve myself, how can I expect to help others?

I've been so very blessed. Back in 1999, my future was bright and I didn't know it. I believe this statement from Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the thoughts I think of you says the Lord, thoughts of good and not evil, thoughts for a hope and a future". I stand on this promise. I expect 2010 and beyond to be even brighter than the Decade of the Oughts. I wish for and believe the same for you. As we say in Hawaii, Hau'oli Makahkihi Hou!

Movie Review: Avatar in IMAX 3D

2009-12-19T00:20:00.005-10:00

So I finally did it, I broke down and paid the $15.00 to see Avatar in IMAX 3D. On the back side, Regal Theaters isn't going to get any soda money out of me for a few more shows. Although Regal claims to have IMAX, it's not the huge screen like we used to have in Waikiki or the one at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I guess could be called IMAX Lite, check out the details here. I ended up missing the first show of the day and went to the second. When I arrived 30 minutes before the movie, there was a huge line ticket line and once I headed inside, there was a big line to get into the theater. About ten minutes before the show started the theater was already so crowded that groups of people were breaking up into single seats. I haven't seen a show pack out like that in a l-o-n-g time.

Directed by James Cameron, the same guy who directed the highest grossing film of all time, Titanic; this film has been reported to cost between$300 and $500 million dollars to create. If you're going to spend that kind of money, why not make it a long one, 162 minutes running time so if you split the difference it cost about two and a half million dollars per minute. In the area of gee whiz incredible looking film, this has it. For the story, the dialogue and plot run a little long. It could have been tightened up. (Side note: As I write this James Cameron is on Jimmy Kimmel and the number of $500 million was bandied about between the two, so that would mean about $3.1 million per minute to make)

A former jar head, Jake Sulley (Sam Worthington) is brought to the planet Pandora. He's part of a plan to move the Na'vi natives to another area so that his employer can get into an area to mine for rare and very lucrative mineral. The idea is to put his conscience into an avatar, a body that is composed of the DNA material of the natives and his own. The avatar project is controlled by Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). Once in a body that can handle the environment, Jake can mingle with the locals. While roaming the landscape, he meets Neytiri of the Na'vi (Zoe Saldana) who teaches him about the planet. But that plan takes time and the Colonel (Stephen Lang) would just like to use firepower and might to take what they want.

The Na'vi are produced using motion capture like Robert Zemeckis did in Disney's A Christmas Carol. The result is much different since the Na'vi are humanoid but not humans. With their blue skin and extended height, it works where it didn't quite in Christmas Carol.

As you get to see Pandora, the imagery is breath taking. The types of plants, animals, and the scope of the different environs are simply amazing. The look of many of the flora and fauna remind me of vertebrae and invertebrates that you would find in the deep ocean where no light exist. They appear to have bioluminescence and at times look like the planet was splashed with those special paints and then someone turned on the black light. Ever see Michael Jackson's Billy Jean where he walks the street lights up? The Na'vi's footsteps produce the same effect on Pandora.

At times the visuals are overwhelming and that contributed to the feeling that the movie was too long. I'm not saying they were bad just that my mind spent time trying to comprehend just how massive objects and locations on Pandora really were. A couple of times I had to shut down my mind from trying to figure out "how would that be possible?" and trying to work out the physics. I had to remind myself just to accept it and Cameron did a good job not trying to get caught up in those details.

As mentioned earlier, the plot needed some help . Some times the details weren't given which was good but at other times too much was given. I really think something that would have helped out is if Cameron took a clue from Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the guys from South Park) in Team America: World Police. " When you need to put yourself to the test, and show us a passage of time We're gonna need a montage! MONTAGE!"

Cameron has also taken a page out of Hayao Miyazaki's story background as shown in Ponyo and Princess Mononoke using Gia or Mother Earth or in this case, Mother Pandora. This subject often included in a plot when the antagonist wants to take resources from the planet. They don't hit you over the head like An Inconvenient Truth, but they don't let it pass either.

Come Oscar time, I'm sure that this movie will be up for a number of awards. Just like Titanic, I feel confident in that they will take awards in the area of technology and background. Awards like sound effects editing, best editing, and best sound will probably go to Avatar. If it doesn't win best visuals, I'd be shocked. I don't think that any of the acting awards will be heaped upon the actors in this movie although they may be nominated.

When it comes time to head out to the theater, you'll have the choice of regular 2D, 3D, or IMAX 3D. I did enjoy the 3D with the depth that it added to the movie. It wasn't the 3D that comes out of the screen, but having the depth really added to the experience with the huge scopes they were trying to convey. When I came out of my show there were lines for each format waiting outside of the lobby to get in and enjoy with the IMAX 3D line being the longest. Too bad the Polynesian Cultural Center didn't show Avatar on their IMAX screen this weekend. They could have made a killing!

The show was rated PG-13 due to some of the violence of the battle scenes and fighting.

Honolulu Marathon Mania!

2009-12-13T23:20:00.002-10:00

Today, December 13, 2009 was the 37th annual Honolulu Marathon. Let me say right up front, a big mahalo nui to all the people who have supported me through Plurk, Twitter, or Facebook Status updates. You don't know how much it means to me. Even Jeff on his trip to Tokyo checked in. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This unemployment "thing" has allowed me to do some things that I've wanted to do but hadn't. I've done the marathon twice before but walked the course in 2005 and 2006. With a thanks to Trace over at the Disney Dudes podcast, he clued me into the Couch to 5K program. Long story short, with the program I am able to run 5K or just over three miles in about 35 minutes.

The game plan for the marathon was to run one mile, walk one mile then repeat the last two steps until course is complete. The target time was 6.5 hours. That's what I was hoping to do! Ahh the Dream!

So night before the race, I headed to bed at 7pm in order to get 8 hours sleep. Unfortunately, I was woken twice by some one in the neighborhood shooting of aerial fireworks. Hawaii does allow fire works, but only for the Fourth of July and New Years but aerials are as they say in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Right Out!

The alarm went off at 3am. Got up and walked down to the course. I wish I could get credit for that walking. It's 1.25 miles from The Apartment in Paradise to the starting area. Arrived at 4:15am. The Hawaii Kai Jaycees help with the starting line and I know them. It was then I realized that I had forgotten my bus pass to either 1) allow me to get a bus off the course if I didn't complete or 2) take the bus from the finish line. Mahalo to my friend Peggy who loaned me three bucks!

The starters gun when off and the fireworks that they use to start the marathon immediately followed. It happened at 5am but it took me almost 19 minutes to get across the starting mats with almost 24,000 entrants. Thank god for chip technology! I clicked the i-pod to kick off the Nike+ to record the event and provide music.

Everything was going well. Down Ala Moana blvd, up Nuuanu onto King, turn onto Piikoi back onto Ala Moana Blvd then Kalakaua Ave which is the main drag through Waikiki. One of the parts that I like about this walk is heading past all the buildings in the downtown area that are decorated for the Christmas season. I love watching all the tourists, especially Japanese tourists stop to take pictures of the sights.

At the end of main section of Kalakaua Ave is Kapiolani Park where the marathon ends. For those people doing the Marathon walk, they left at this point and the rest of us heading up Monsarrat Ave and turned right onto Paki Ave. From Paki Ave, participants turn left to head up Diamond Head Road. By the time I had got to this point, the winner had already crossed the finish line. I still had 20 miles to go. At this point, I discovered, while I had music from the i-pod, it wasn't recording the run data. DANG it! Diamond Head Road has the steepest incline and highest elevation, about 125 feet above sea level for this course. Everything is on track except for the i-pod mix up.

At mile 8 and 9 is where my problems started. I slowed down to grab Gatorade and water. I then tried to start running again and my outside of my knees were giving me issues. When I started down the slope of 18th Ave, I could really feel the pain on the outside of the joints. UGH!

Onto Kilauea Ave and then Kalanianaole Hwy.

I hit the wall in that I was sort of like a car in idol that wouldn't shift into gear. I couldn't get my body to bend the knees high enough to get into a running mode. Well, I could keep walking anyway. By this time the sun was high and my coconut woven hat was providing protection from the sun.

The only thing that is really giving me an issue at this point is the knees. The feet seem to be OK and the new Under Armor shorts are doing their thing. Energy gels are being consumed and no need for that biological break. Along the way I'm taking a few pictures and video and tweeting them up to the Internet.

Four more miles and I'm heading into Hawaii Kai. My fingers are starting to swell. Part of running a marathon for the time that I'm on the course.

I realize at this point as I go by the 30K timer (about 16 miles) that I am WAY off pace and that dream of 6.5 hours to finish is not going to happen. My fingers become sausages and I really can't bend them anymore to send text messages or push buttons.

Travel around Hawaii Kai and then back out to Kalanianaole Hwy for the return trip. As I'm approaching the Waialea Country Club and Kealaolu I'm thinking that I'm not going to be able to beat my last time and maybe not even the time for the first marathon. Crap!

Onto Kahala Ave and I start to feel some things. The Under Armor has done its best but between the sweat, heat on my back and the time, the chaffing starts. I can also start to feel a blister on my foot. I have four miles to go. Heading up the slow incline to Diamond Head I feel argh-y (for lack of a better term). Two kilometers and I'm heading down the steeper incline. My knees are screaming at me and I feel a blister on my right foot and toe. I'm beating myself up because my grand plan to better my time hasn't worked out the way I had hoped.

As I entered Kapiolani Park, there are some people on the side cheering runners onto the finish line. I wanted to try to run the last part of the marathon, but my knees would not cooperate. As I approached the finish line, my coconut hat got noticed by the announcers. They thought I was someone else, a local businessman that created the "Live Aloha" bumper sticker, but they finally looked at the roster and got my name and announce it. I crossed the finish line at 8:34:13 which was 9 seconds shorter than my chip time from my first race. The chip time brought it down to 8:15:31. Almost two hours longer than I had hoped.

I took my winner shot and then hobbled off the course and out into the park. I wasn't able to get a winner t-shirt as I was late coming in and they ran out of 2XL. But I did get my winner medal. And an apple! And some oatmeal cookies! I'm not worried about the t-shirt as I'm not a t-shirt type of person with the opu (stomach) that I carry. I headed to the bus stop to go home. I then tried to text message but the fingers were still fat so I said "swollen fingers...can't txt" in a tweet. Easier to tweet when you're not walking and waiting on a bench. It was painful going up the bus stairs and the driver was kind enough to only have me pay $2.00 since I didn't have $0.25 in change, only another dollar bill. I couldn't wait to get home to clean up and start treating my body.

It took me 25 minutes to get from the bus stop to The Apartment in Paradise. Normally when I'm not in pain it is a four minute walk. I had to thank the drivers on the second side of the road for waiting for me while I was still crossing and they had the green light after I had received the white walking guy and then the flashing red hand.

Once home I took inventory of the body. I learned on my first marathon, don't remove the shoes. The feet swell and the blisters form. Leave them alone until you want to take off the shoes and not put them back on because trying to stuff swollen blistered fee back in there creates more pain. I love looking at the kaleidoscope of colors the feet turn. I have blisters on the side of the ball of each foot. Left foot, small toe blister on the inside between toes. Left foot big toe fine, but toe next door, blister under the toe nail. On the right foot, blister under the big toe nail and all around the toe nail next door as well as the small toe. No blisters on the bottom of the feet. All the toe nails that have blisters around them, will probably fall out. First time it happened was freaky, but I know what to expect now.

Knees are stiff, but better than during the race. Under Armor did as good as it could. Forearms, slightly sunburned as well as the side of the neck. My back is fine as well as my neck. I've learned to keep upright during the marathon. But, I didn't relax my shoulders and they are sore. On my inside right upper arm and left chest under the arm I do have some chaffing there from the seams of the shirt. I should be back to normal in less than a week for all but the toe nail issues. With walking and stand being difficult, I ordered pizza and chicken wings for dinner.

To the people who serve Hawaii by volunteering to hand out sponges, spray water, give out drinks, man the starting line, helping at the first aid stations and finish line or just cheer along the course encouraging people, a Big Mahalo Nui to all of you.

The students at Hawaii Pacific University say that the marathon has over a $100,000,000 economic impact to the State of Hawaii. I don't think you know how much your smiles, cups of cold water, sticks of Vaseline (no they are not serving energy gel on a stick at the aid stations), shaka signs or other words of encouragement mean to the people on the course.

Lastly, part of the marathon experience in Hawaii is the way that people dress to run. We have Maori and Hawaiian worries, brides and grooms, regular and sexy Santas with accompanying elves, and a plethora of animated characters including Pikachu and Dragon Ball Z denizens. One person that amazes me is Geta Man. He runs with the traditional Japanese wooden sandals (see example here). In the past I couldn't imagine what it does to his feet. Well, today I could. He was sitting down in the area leading up to the finish line. The place where the velvet straps cover his foot was rubbed raw and looked nasty. But he still does it every year. Hope to see him there next year!

Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-11T21:15:00.001-10:00

For many months now we've been bombarded with stories both on TV and in writing about Disney's return to hand drawn animation and their first African-American princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog. The movie has been playing in limited release in Los Angeles and New York and today (December 11, 2009) finally was made available in general release. While there was a hint the movie would be hit with Tiana costumes selling out at Halloween, I can say that the movie was worth the wait.

The last attempt at hand drawn animation done by Disney was back in 2004 with Home on the Range. That movie was forgettable. It was so forgettable that I had to look up the movie on IMDB to remember what it was. Since then John Lasseter and the Pixar gang came on board with Disney. One of the qualities that Pixar is known for is having a story with a solid plot and characters that have depth and emotions. With Lasseter as the Chief Creative Officer, that philosophy rubbed off and wa-la, we have a story with charm, character, depth and that holds your attention.

The original story from the Brothers Grimm had been reworked to bring us the story of Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), an African-American waitress in 1920's New Orleans who dreams of owning her own restaurant. In steps Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) and his assistant Lawrence (Peter Bartlett) who run into Voodoo practitioner Dr Facilier (Keith David) who wants to bring over his friends "from the other side" and turns Naveen into a frog. In the twist to the story instead of the kiss returning Naveen to his human form, Tiana turns into a frog. Some twist as it's been in every preview and ad for the movie. Naveen and Tiana in their journey to transform out of their amphibian form meet Ray the firefly (Jim Cummings) with a heart bigger than his butt and Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), an alligator who blows a mean horn and has the dream to join a jazz band.

Dr Facilier is right up there with the Disney villains. Called by Tiana, The Shadow Man, with voodoo magic on his side, he uses it to his advantage. While the movie is rated G, the minions that he is able to use to help carry out his plans were somewhat scary. As shadows that were able to grab people and objects, it was a dark side that is normally not explored in these sort of movies.

The scenery is detailed and beautiful. The mansions, the riverboat, downtown New Orleans, and the French Quarter look amazing. Out in the bayou, the greens and other vegetation draw you in. When Tiana and Naveen meet Ray and Ray introduces the rest of his firefly family I sat their with my mouth open. I loved the use of light and the points of light to tell the story and accent points in the journey. Marvelous! There was some computer animation to add to the movie. Just as the ballroom was computer generated in Beauty and the Beast, the computer was an adjunct tool rather than the only tool used.

With Randy Newman providing the music, it filled in the missing pieces to round out the experience. New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz so of course that was included along with Zydeco and a gospel choir selection. While for me no one song stood out, they all combined to move the story forward.

The one sequence that did stand out for me was "Almost There". Tiana is working hard as a waitress saving her money to be able to achieve her own dream. She is telling her mom about her plans to take a broken down location and turn it into an experience for good food with good friends. The animation changes to a stylized form and the dream that she is passionate about leaps off the screen with the music, lyrics, animation, imagery and color that make you almost taste the gumbo that she wants to serve in her new eatery.

In regards to how the bad guy is finally taken down, I was thrilled that they didn't resort to the age old, time tested and honored method of dispatching the baddy. The Evil Queen, Maleficent, Clayton, and Gaston all met their end falling over some sort of precipice. When Dr Facilier met his end I was like "Yes! This is different!!" A definite thumbs up on how the bad guy was vanquished!

There have been some comments in the press and online about The Princess and the Frog riding on the coattails of the election of Barrack Hussein Obama as the first African-American President. This is a bunch of hog hooey. This movie has been in the making for over three years and then Senator Obama announced on February 10, 2007 his Presidential aspirations. In the second half of 2006 Randy Newman was selected for the music and casting calls went out. Both events predating any announcement of and election of now President Obama. Who knows, maybe he was inspired by the movie to run for the highest office in the land?

Off my soap box. It's a wonderful story about both wishing and working for your dreams to come true. I'll be seeing the movie a second time as I know there were a lot of details that I missed the first time. There are many visuals to absorb in the 97 minute running time.

Movie Review: Transylmania

2009-12-05T09:30:00.004-10:00

Well, it was bound to happen. With vampires showing up in both the movies and on TV, someone was bound to make a spoof movie. Transylmania is that movie. I was expecting something along the lines of the Scary Movie franchise. Turns out they were trying to take themselves a little more seriously having a legitimate plot and some legitimate laughs. Neither were very consistent.

The basic premise of the movie is that Rusty (Oren Skoog) has met Draguta (Irena Hoffman), a hot looking Romanian chick on the Internet. He decides to study abroad in Romania in order to hook up with her. In the processes he has managed to convince a number of his friends to go with him. As they travel over they find out that the school, Razvan U, is located in a castle that has a vampire history in a book written about the school by one of the school's professors, a vampire slayer, Teodora van Sloan (Musetta Vander). Skoog gets double duty playing Radu, the head vampire.

So initially the movie starts of as a road trip, then a buddy movie with LOTS of buddies. Usually buddy movies are two friends, or maybe four with couple pairings; this movie had ten. Two of the students are stoners. There is the vampire lore set up at by the telling of the castle history and several love stories both with human and vampires included. Add in some of the physical and visual "humor" of a Scary Movie and mix well. Unfortunately, when the cupcaskets come out of this oven, some are topped very nicely and others are half baked.

The stoners are Pete (Patrick Cavanaugh) and Wang (Paul Hansen Kim) who are always looking for the good buzz. They add the Harold and Kumar element to this movie. Funny thing is Wang's hair is a tribute to Bride of Frankenstein. They were the funniest thing about this movie.

As the vampire slayer van Sloan, Vander does an OK job. Although watching her where she is out trying to kill Radu or teaching her students about self defense reminded me of Catherine Zeta Jones in The Legend of Zorro. Very feisty and sexy dressed up in all the leather. They just needed to add the soft light filter. Grrrr.

The cornerstone of the movie was about Radu and his love Stephania and a music box. This sets up all the conflict for the movie as Radu searches for the music box in order to get Stephania back. This by itself as the plot for a regular not satiric vampire movie would have worked on it's own. Vampire finds sorceress, vampire looses sorceress, vampire works to get sorceress back, a tale as old as time. The majority of the rest of the plot seems to be taken from recycled Scooby Doo scripts. "I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those dang kids!"

With the castle, I'm not sure how much was stage and how much was real. In the credits they did thank various Romanian agencies. There were a number of scenes both inside and outside the castle where you could see the actor's breath. For this movie, I have to believe it was real. I couldn't see them visually adding this as a special effect especially since no one was complaining that the place was cold or uncomfortable that way. Think Jack and Rose as they became ice cubes, that was an added visual.

The movie has fart jokes (sorry, but do they ever get old? and a small tip of the hat to Young Frankenstein), getting stoned, buddy misunderstandings, good guy/bad guy look a likes, weird sex positions, bared breasts and vomiting that all earn this one hour thirty two minute movie its R rating.

Should you go see this? Well, if you have some loose change at the bottom of you pocket that adds up to the price of the matinee ticket and you really, really have to do something with it, eh, why not. If you're tastes are a little bit higher, I think Planet 51 is still playing.

Fear and excitement about the Honolulu Marathon

2009-11-24T21:54:00.002-10:00

Today I received my packet for the Honolulu Marathon. It brought some feelings to the surface that I haven't had in a while.

I remember my first marathon back in 2005.

I was excited. I did a lot of walking so I figured 26.2 miles shouldn't be a problem About half way through I had some pains in my foot. What do to? Well, half way done...gonna complete it. When I finished, I took the bus home and big blisters on my feet and under my toe nails, chafing that was bad, sunburn and overall soreness. But I had done it. I had problems walking for two days. I had walked the course just seconds under 9 hours from the time the gun went off but in 8:35:22 chip time. I hurt for a week and a couple of weeks later I lost a toe nail. BUT, I had done it!

In 2006 I did the marathon again, but this time I was better prepared to walk the course, learning lessons from the previous year to be applied to this year. I spent a little bit of money to help avoid the pain. I had under armour compression shorts, under armour shirt, energy gels, better shoes and music, sun screen, and a woven coconut hat (Hey, it got me noticed at the finish line besides keeping the sun off my face). I did much better and only ended up forming blisters during the last mile. I didn't improve the socks from the previous year. As a result, I ended up with 7:51:42 chip time. I didn't run as I had hoped but again, I had completed the task at hand.

I went to Walt Disney World during the 2007 marathon. It was good that I didn't participate even though I had paid for my entry. It rained and there were problems with the timing chips. Last year, 2008 I was asked by a group of JCs to help at the starting line. I was part of a group of people that helped the runners get started and then cheered them on as they came down Piikoi Street and turned onto Ala Moana Blvd heading into Waikiki.

This year, I once again signed up. A slight difference for this outing is that I had been laid off. As a result, I actually had a chance to do some training. I was clued into a program called from Couch to 5K. Again, Mahalo nui to Trace over at the Disney Dudes podcast. In nine weeks I went from not being able to run a minute without heavy gasping and pain to being able to run for 3.1 miles, a 5K distance. I wish I could say it was a breeze for the 5K but not quite. I just know that I can run consistently for a 5K distance and not end up doing a technicolor yawn.

So the pickup packet notice arrives today and I had both fear and excitement flood my body. I will be attempting to run part of the course. The game plan is to run a mile and walk a mile repeat last two steps until course is completed. My target is 6.5 hours chip time. That would put me crossing the finish line between 11:30am and noon HST. I have excitement because I'll be taking on a challenge that I haven't done before...RUNNING on the marathon course. But I have fear because I know what sort of pain just walking the course provided the first year.

Then why do it? Because as much as I hurt the first time I participated, it didn't compare to the elation that I felt when I crossed that finish line. The prize of self accomplishment outweighs the pain. If you'd like to follow me, my runner number is 584. On Sunday, December 13, you'll be able to go to www.honolulumarathon.org and put in my number. As I cross the various check points (starting line, 10K, half marathon, 40K and finish line) you'll be able to see the times posted almost in real time. In addition, I'll have a camera phone with me on this go around and I plan on posting up to the web to my facebook, twitter and flickr accounts. I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

2009-11-20T22:30:00.001-10:00

New Moon is supposed to have a big opening weekend leading into the Thanksgiving holiday. It probably will regardless of what I write here. Team Vampire Edward or Team Werewolf Jacob? Could care less, I just wanted to see a good movie. I saw the first movie and only know the story by the movies.

The first movie Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) meets this mysterious person, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). I bit of mystery, a bit of intrigue until the big reveal, he's a vampire. He can read other peoples thoughts but not hers. She's attracted to the bad boy vampire who pulls her bacon out of the fire a couple of times (avoids getting crushed by a car and possible brutalization by some thugs). They get along. Alright, I can deal with that.

We get into this episode the heroine Bella is all moody. She's having her birthday getting older but Edward being a vampire is permanently frozen physically at age 17 although he's really now 109. She doesn't want to loose him so she's asking him to turn her into a vampire. He says no because she doesn't understand the ramifications of becoming a blood sucker including the state of her soul.

Through a series of events Edward says that he must leave her forever in order to protect her. She wants to go. He says no and disappears. She chases after him but he can move super fast and she can't so there's no way she's going to catch him. She figures he'll come back to protect her so she decides to sleep in the forest. Never mind about her dad and his concern that his daughter is missing.

Bella gets all depressed and hangs in her bed room ignoring the world as it passes by. She finally decides to join the living. While out with a classmate she ignores the classmate for another reckless act with possible thugs on a motorcycle. During the escapade Edward appears to her. She figures that the adrenaline rush causes the Edward image. She decides that she'll trying riding a motorcycle to try to get Edward back. She enlists her childhood friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to help her repair a motor cycle. During the process she starts to fall for him.

When the bike is finally finished Jacob tries to help her to ride and she ignores him and speeds off. She does see Edward images again before skidding into a rock where she hurts her head. Jacob comes over and takes off his shirt to wipe up the blood. In the theater, the ladies went wild and made cat calls since Taylor put on 30 pounds of muscle in order to keep the role.

Turns out Jacob has a gene as part of his American Indian heritage that is responsible for his transformation within the storyline. He and several others can transform into werewolves at will. They don't like vampires and there is a treaty between the two sides. He tries to protect her and shows his love towards her.

Jacob cares for Bella, but she used him to get her rush via the motorcycle. Through out the movie everything that people tell Bella not to do, she does. She has feelings for Jacob, she has feelings for Edward, she ignores her father, she dismisses the warnings of both the vampires and the werewolves. That is what put me off on this episode of the series was Bella's character.

She was self centered not caring about the feelings of her classmates, her dad, Jacob or Edward. She wanted what she wanted and screw the consequences or who she might hurt either physically or emotionally in the process. She didn't even care about the state of her soul as long as she could be with Edward. I found that me, me, me attitude extremely annoying and as a result it was hard for me to watch this film. Although I didn't look at my watch, I sat there wondering why this movie was dragging on and when it would be over. Ever been to the party and there's that ONE person who annoys you and you can't get away? Yeah, I'm sure you know what I mean. This selfish self absorbed character just grated on me and caused me to not enjoy the movie.

Was the movie good? With the "the world has got to center around me" attitude of Bella, I found it hard to watch this 2 hour and 10 minute "love" story.

Something that I did find interesting during this movie experience was the number of young kids in this movie. Even with the PG-13 rating, the themes were a little advanced for the number of 4-8 year olds that were in the theater. Another distraction though the movie were cell phones. I didn't hear anyone talking on them or having them ring, but the number of cell phone screen lights that were present through the movie was a little surprising.

Sight Lines

2009-11-17T10:00:00.001-10:00

Living in Hawaii for 20 years, I've watched a lot of changes happen to the local landscape. When Hawaii became a territory the main source of revenue was the plantations for sugar and pineapple. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, tourism took over as the main economic engine that drives the state. Throughout the architecture has reflected these influences and now with the amount of people living here and changes in technology, the landscape changes are more pronounced.

Hawaii has always been known for its natural beauty. Tropical rain forests, white sand beaches, streams running from the mountains to the ocean, and rainbows are very symbolic of what people expect to find in the older islands. Images of spouting lava, red glowing rivers and steam plumes as these lava rivers hit the ocean creating new land describe the Big Island of Hawaii. Native Hawaiian built structures based on the environment on each island.

When statehood happened, Polynesian Pop was an architectural style that had wide influence. Lush outdoor setting with lots of vegetation, A-frame buildings, tikis, hanging colored lights, fish nets, wood carvings and tiki torches punctuated the style in Waikiki. Many of the residences both in and outside Waikiki were one story plantation style homes.

As more and more people flocked to Hawaii more and more buildings were constructed. More and more land converted from agriculture to some other use whether residential or commercial. In Waikiki, the hotels which were spread out started to go up. Where you used to be able to see multiple vistas, the views got limited. The buildings sprang up and the views went down.

On the Big Island large lava fields are receiving building and turfs. The sugar cane and pineapple fields on Oahu are making way for shopping malls and planned communities.

In my own neighborhood, construction has been happening again. This time it's been taking down some of the medium sized buildings and taller buildings are going to be built. In the mean time, as the structures are ripped down beautiful views are returned. While I know that I won't be able to enjoy these views forever, I've got to take advantage of them while they exist.

On the corner of Kapiolani and McCully there used to be a strip mall that contained the Supercuts that I patronized for many, many years. It was sold, and ripped down. For a time, travelling Diamond Head on Kapiolani, there was a view of the back end of Diamond Head that hadn't been seen in years.

Another location on Kapiolani that is just being torn down over the past two weeks has revealed a view to the back of the Manoa Valley. As the building was coming down in parts, I'd sit at the bus stop across the street and over the passing days have more of that beautiful vista revealed sort of like the curtain being pulled back to reveal what's on the stage.

In Waikiki at the International Market Place they have removed some of the buildings revealing other buildings that haven't been seen in decades. Some of the old Polynesian Pop design of old Waikiki gets to see the light of day again. I wonder how long I'll get to see them as I know that change is constantly happening. I feel confident that somewhere there are plans just waiting for the economy to turn around before they'll be executed and the sights I get to see now will be gone.

Change is going to happen, there is nothing we can do to stop it. With the beauty of Hawaii I just need to make sure that as these once hidden vistas are revealed, to take advantage of them and enjoy them before they once again disappear.

Movie Review: Pirate Radio

2009-11-15T09:45:00.004-10:00

These days when you think of pirates, Johnny Depp is probably what comes to mind. In Pirate Radio you have Bill Nighy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Nick frost, probably not anything like you would have thought of in a million years. The year is 1966 and these pirates are not plundering and looting for treasure, they are pirating the airwaves. The Rock in Roll world is alive with The Kinks, The Who, The Hollys and lots of other groups that begin with the word "The". The British government won't allow this music on the regular radio so a rogue band of DJs organized by Quentin (Nighy) start broadcasting 24 hours a day from a ship off the coast of Britain that is outside of the jurisdiction of the government.

We follow Carl (Tom Sturridge) , a expelled high school teenager who is sent to the boat by his mother. He is introduced to the the eclectic, colorful band of DJs by his god father Quentin. Most of the DJs are British with the exception of The Count (Hoffman) who is from America. The only female on the boat is Felecity. She's the cook and a lesbian. To make up for the shortage of available women, they have Sexturdays where a supply boat brings over not only food and mail but women who stay for the weekend.

While the station hangs out on the North Sea, back in Parliament, they are trying to figure out a way to get these people off the air. They considered them immoral and reprobates among other things. This falls to Sir Alister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) who in turn hires a gentleman by the name of Twatt (Jack Davenport) to actually come up with the details of how to do it. These two were wound very tight. Actually, they were wound so tight they could have doubled for the rubber bands on a balsa wood airplane.

The government tries different machinations to get them off the air waves while at the same time we watch and hear what is happening on the boat. Just how to you play table football on a boat that is rocking? While Carl is not a DJ, we see the various DJs working the microphone and turn tables. Some DJs with mouths constantly moving and some hardly saying anything at all. As they are on the air we hear a selection of music from the time. In turn we see how their listeners are reacting to the music. As some of life's events happen to the crew they in turn share it with their listeners. One of the editing decisions that I liked was they had several groups of listeners that they revisited with each of these events.

In the end, the government finally passes a law that will outlaw the pirates because one of the neat things about being the government is that if you don't like something you just pass a law to make it illegal according to Dormandy. Will the government be successful with their attempt, will the pirates being pirates find a way to keep going? You'll have to go see the movie to find out.

This movie for me was very enjoyable. Along the lines of 2003's Love Actually (another Bill Nighy film), this was very British from the clothing (broad vertical stripes) to the language (snogging) and the culture (Boxing Day). The ensemble cast and their interactions, the editing, the music pull together for a fast moving 138 minute movie. The editing of the audience actions and reactions gave the movie a great energy. These are rogue DJs in both action and language so the R rating is well deserved, but don't let this be a distraction for not going to see this movie.

Movie Review: 2012

2009-11-14T10:55:00.000-10:00

2012 is probably what you'll spend on this movie for ticket, popcorn and soda if you go by yourself to a matinee show. My cost was $20.75, so pretty close. Why do I mention popcorn? Because this is a good popcorn movie. Roland Emmerich who brought us Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow brings us his latest "Look out world, something bad is about to happen" movie. Clocking in at 2 hours and 38 minutes, you could go through a LOT of popcorn. For me about about 90 minutes into the movie that large soda needed some attention, if you know what I mean other than that, it moved right along.

In this apocalyptic movie the reason the world is going to end has nothing to do with aliens as in Independence Day or nature getting back at mean old nasty man for not treating the earth like a goddess from The Day After Tomorrow. This time, it's pure physics and science with a bit of spiritual thrown in on the side. At least science and physics that make for the storyline. The planets are about to align and sun spot activity is throwing off neutrinos bombarding the earth's core heating it up causing the destabilization of the crust which is as you know where man lives. This end of time is tied in with Mayan calendar which stops in 2012 and the beliefs of other indigenous peoples. Based on this movie we know why their calendars stopped.

We are given a glimpse back in 2009 of what's happening. A scientist in India played by Jimi Mistry of The Guru (cute movie worth a look on rental) calls scientist friend Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to the world's deepest copper mine. Satnam (Mistry) shows Adrian some pretty shocking evidence and theorizes as to what's going to happen to the earth. Adrian runs back to Washington DC and informs the President's Chief of Staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) of the bad situation. We then get glimpses over the following years of things happening like the evacuation of people from Chinese highlands to make way for a dam and the replacement of the Mona Lisa with a copy to keep if safe from vandals.

We jump to the year 2012 where we meet our hero Jackson Curtis played by John Cussack who is a published author lives in the LA area who lost his family in the process of ignoring them while be focused on his book. Since his book didn't do all that well, he drives a limo to help make ends meet. Through a series of events he ends up meeting Adrian in Yellow Stone National Park and Charlie Frost a conspiracy theorist. Charlie (Woody Herrelson) has been broadcasting to the world that it's about to end, the world governments know about it but are leaving the people clueless.

Jackson ends up back in LA just as all hell breaks loose. Apparently Adrian's time lines and calculatons aren't right, a recurring theme along the way. They have less time than expected. Jackson gets his old family along with the new husband in the limo and then navigates through a crumbling LA avoiding fissures, upheavals of land, falling highways, sky scrapers being reduced to pebbles and scattered cars better then any professional stunt driver. How does he know how to do this? It's never explained. He's either very, very skilled or just one massively lucky son of a gun!

He gets to the airport and again, oh so lucky, Gordon, the new husband has an inkiling on how to fly a plane. Time and time again, this family is very lucky to miss massive disaster after disaster. They have to go back to Yellow Stone and then Las Vegas and finally over to China where the G8 have been building giant arks to save people.

All through out the film, time tables get pushed up. Decisions have to be made. Do you be very pragmatic as Carl does throughout or do you take the humanistic approach which is Adrian's part of the movie. These are questions dotted throughout the movie. Do you just forget about people and worry about yourself, do you risk your life for family and what about strangers people that have had no connections prior to this moment.

There are several tsunamis in this film as crust breaks and the mantle of the earth shifts. There is one scene reminiscent of Deep Impact where the wave is coming and one person stands there knowing what their fate will be in 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds. I can't help but think, back in 2004 in Indonesia and more recently the Samoas while they didn't have a 1500ft wave heading towards them, they had to make decisions like these as water was rushing in and around them. While I hope that no of us ever have to make these kinds of decisions you have to wonder what would I and what could I do if placed in this sort of situation.

Enough of the reality for a moment let's jump back to fantasy. For this film you really have to suspend a lot of what you know in order for this movie to work. Cars jumping over things and not damaging the under carriage, that a plane can fly through an ash cloud and not have the engines get choked out, that the secret can be kept and that ships the size shown in the movie could have enough natural resources, technology and man power to build them in the given time frame are among some of the points that you leave scratching your head.

The special effects were incredible. The film is rated PG-13. While we see hundreds and thousands of people dying enmasse, you don't see it happen directly. You see a body afterward or just before, but you don't see that last second directly. Emmerich likes to take out the White House in his movies and this was no exception. Seeing large land masses ending up bobbing in a sense like ice cubes in a glass or a wave washing over part of the Himalayas were eye candy. Irwin Allen would be proud of the ocean liner meets big wave scene. For me, seeing his interpretation of what would happen to my home in Hawaii was interesting. If this one tower near me was gone I could see Diamond Head from my Apartment in Paradise which would definitely be a hot spot!

So take a healthy does of suspension of belief, grab that large soda and popcorn, sit down and just have a good time. If you buy some of those white cheese, cheddar cheese or kettle corn sprinkle toppings for the pop corn, it will be all that much more fun!

Movie Review: A Christmas Carol

2009-11-07T09:33:00.001-10:00

Let's get something straight right off the bat: Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is a ghost story. Everyone over the age of four should know the basic story of how meaney Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts to help him find his humanity again.

This version is done by Robert Zemeckis of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Back to The Future fame. He used the Motion Capture (MoCap) method like he used in Polar Express, another Christmas story and Beowulf. For those of you who don't know, the actors wear a special suit with all sorts of sensing devices that are picked up by cameras set around the stage. The computer catches the location of the sensors and thereby captures the actor's movements. This allows the director to place the actors actions in a virtual world to be mimicked on a virtual actor. We'll talk a bit later about how this MoCap affects performance.

The movie was released in regular, 3D and IMAX 3D formats. In my area, the IMAX costs $15.00 per show and has no matinee prices. The 3D version has a $3.50 upcharge on either matinee or full price. I really don't find that the 3D adds a whole lot so I chose the regular format.

The movie started off like some of the old Disney classics. They zoom into a book which opens and the story is told. After that, they started in a place that I had not seen before done in a movie. Granted, I haven't seen all versions, but I've seen many of them. My favorite is the 1970 musical version entitled Scrooge with Albert Finney and Alec Guinness. Zemeckis' starts with Marley's death and then jumps to the point where most people are familiar with the story.

Jim Carrey provides the performance for Scrooge and Gary Oldman handles the role of Bob Cratchit who we now get to see in the office of Scrooge and Marley. From here, it was obvious what Zemeckis wanted to do with the 3D. The soaring over old London bringing you through the streets, showing people in their everyday affairs and just how mean Scrooge is.

Scrooge goes home and runs into the ghost of Jacob Marley, also done by Oldman, who in an attempt to save Scrooge from his fate tells him about vists from three other ghosts, which were all done by Carrey. For the first encounter with Marley, you get an idea of why the movie has a PG rating. After Marley leaves and Scrooge views some of the specters roaming the earth, you fully understand that the PG rating was justified. There were several gasps from the audience during Marley's visit.

The ghost of Christmas Past is symbolized by a floating flame. This was an interesting interpretation. What I didn't like was the ticks that were added by Carrey to the character. They seemed out of place.

The Ghost of Christmas Present was represented as most productions have shown him as a large jovial man with a hearty laugh. What impressed me about this sequence is that instead of Scrooge and the Ghost flying to the different scenes by themselves, the Ghost turns Scrooges building into a space ship of sorts and transforms the floor into a transparent portal from which they can observe the action. Scrooge doesn't leave his living room.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was also represented well. Many shots of this Ghost weren't a solid figure, but of a shadowy malevolent presence. It was very effective. This part also had the one item that I didn't like and that was a funeral carriage and black horses with red eyes driven by the Ghost chasing Scrooge through the streets of London all while Scrooge is shrinking in size until he's the size of the rat.

Finally we end up back in Scrooge's abode with him being exuberant that he's alive feeling "as light a feather" as he determines to make up for all that he's lost. As the movie ends he heads over to his nephew Fred's (Colin Firth) to reconnect with the only family he has.

While the story is not new, Zemeckis decided to play straighter to the original text. Usually the part of Ignorance and Want are ignored as well as showing just they kind of person Bob Cratchit is as he attempts to slide on an icy street.

The looks of London and settings are wonderfully set with the cobble stone streets, the lights of the buildings, the smoke eminating from chimneys and the opulence of some and the needs of others are established early. It adds to the beauty and expressiveness of the film.

What was disconcerting at time was the MoCap and some of Carrey's actions. When Scrooge discovers that he's still alive, some of the actions that Carrey performed for the character is something that I don't think they would preform during the time frame. At other times there were actions and vocals that just didn't match. We catch little things like the slight movement of a mouth while laughing. The computer didn't catch them and the post production didn't added in those subtle movements. The eyes for this production were better than some of the other MoCap movies already done, but not quite right. Lastly were some of the skins. Scrooge himself looked great. Several of the other characters looked like they were plastic with colors painted on. They really didn't look textured. For the couple of characters with flawless beautiful skin, they looked too shiny like they were porcelain, not a flesh.

Was the movie worth the price? I say yes, despite some of the looks of the characters and their actions, the overall story told and the settings were engaging enough to overcome those flawed items. Reminder it is a ghost story with a PG rating for this 96 minute film.