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Spirit
of Aloha | Articles
| Aloha Shorts | January/Feburary
2006
Aloha
Shorts
News
and Notes from Around our World
How to Talk
to the One
You Love
A new Web site called airtroductions.com claims to be able to match
any airplane passenger with the perfect seatmate. We’ll believe this
when we test it, but the site founder, Peter Shankman, says that his
voluntary site really works. According to Shankman, the premise of
his site is simple: After you buy your ticket, you enter your flight
data, including the flight number and date of travel at his site,
and then you can see everyone else who’s entered their information
for that flight as well. It’s completely private, because you provide
only as much info about yourself as you wish. The browsing process is
free until you decide to make a connection. If you decide to connect,
you can choose from a variety of payment options. The charge per
round trip is $5, “less than 50 cents an hour to possibly meet the
person of your dreams,” says Shankman.
No comment yet about this site from airline gate attendants. |
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Belly Up to the Water Bar
Believe it or not, one of Hawai‘i’s fastest growing exports is bottled, desalinated ocean water, a drink that Japanese consumers can’t seem to get enough of. Now, everybody can try it and buy it. With the opening late last year of the state’s first Water Bar—an $80 million investment in Waikïkï, complete with three 120-gallon water tanks of light-green, light-red and blue—Koyo USA Corp. is touting its MaHaLo Hawai‘i Deep Sea Drinking Water as “clean, pure, cold and filled with healthful nutrients, with the mystery in the minerals.”
MaHaLo water is extracted from the Water Rejuvenation Zone off the coast of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. It’s then pumped to Koyo’s processing plant from over 3,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, where it is filtered, tested for purity and content, and bottled in light-blue, specially designed bottles for worldwide shipment.
The company is today producing more than a quarter-of-a-million bottles a day, most earmarked for shipment to Japan, where the water sells for up to $6 a bottle.
The Water Bar, located in the Waikïkï Shopping Plaza, serves specially brewed coffee and tea made from MaHaLo water, in addition to, of course, water—which, according to Koyo, is nearly 2,000 years old at the point of ocean extraction, having traveled under polar ice caps, gathering ancient minerals that, over the years, have been leached out of our current farmland and surface water.
In other words, this is perfect water, the way it’s supposed to be, and probably the way it used to be, before we made it run out of a tap. |
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An Artist’s Plate Lunch
Since 1993, David Paul’s Lahaina Grill (voted “Best Maui Restaurant” for 12 consecutive years by readers of Honolulu magazine) has hung the colorful floral paintings of the distinguished local artist Jan Kasprzycki. Now, the restaurant has combined the art of fine dining with the art of fine painting, by creating a limited, numbered edition of 500 Kasprzycki Charger Plates for collectors. The plates are faithfully reproduced
on durable clay in Germany and China. The original design of the shape of each plate is created on Maui by Aloha Haiku Pottery, a worldwide leader in special ceramics products.
Each of the four limited-edition designs comprises 500 signed and numbered plates, including 50 artist proofs, 70 factory proofs and 10 hors de commerce (a French term meaning not for resale). Although replicated from the same master design and glazes, each plate is numbered differently. Each edition also features a signature remarque, a small artist’s mark or sketch, to lend greater value.
The first series of plates is entitled Adventure, Dawn, Grandeur and Popcorn. Offered exclusively by the restaurant, each set of four plates costs $1,195 plus shipping, handling and insurance. Visit lahainagrill.com or call 667-5117 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. |
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The Best Island in the World
In a competition as heated and spirited as the college football BCS standings, we are informed that Maui was recently named the “Best Island in the World” for the 12th year in a row by readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. With a score of 91.6, Maui edged out Kaua‘i (89.5) and Bora Bora (84.8). Dream on.
We don’t know how these scores are compiled, but we do know, from long experience, that these are all great islands and, perhaps, in fairness, they all should share the title. |
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The Toughest Island in the World
An adventure boot camp, focusing on fitness, weight loss and overall well-being, has started up on the island of Kaua‘i for visitors who are battling the bulge of the briefest bikinis. Pure Kaua‘i, located on the North Shore of this drama-filled island, focuses on what are called “intensive pleasurable physical workouts, healthy cuisine and massage.” Guests go through a five-night program under the trained eyes of guides, surf instructors, fitness trainers and workout specialists. The things that you do—which most visitors to Hawai‘i never think of wanting to do—are extreme hikes, surfing, weight training and yoga. But all of this hard work is buffered by the amenities of an orchid-strewn villa, a private chef, a personal trainer and massages. Tough enough for this? Rates start at $3,075 per person, double occupancy, including all training sessions, activities, accommodations, chef and transportation for the five-night stay. More info at www.purekauai.com or call 866-457-7873. |
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Kids and Poetry
Though people think sharks who bite people are worse,
More people eat sharks than the reverse.
Shark parents all warn their sons and daughters,
“No swimming in shark-ingested waters!”
Poems like this, and many others, are the feast of the day for youngsters who like to read funny things in the book My Dog Has Flies: Poetry for Hawai‘i’s Kids, written by Sue Cowing and illustrated by Jon J. Murakami (Beach House Publishing, ‘Ewa Beach, Hawai‘i, 2005).
This is a book in which elephants run loose in the waving grass, mynah birds sing and everybody drinks in the sky.
So let’s have another poem:
We can float on the ocean
And gaze at the sky
(that’s surf you hear,
not cars going by),
or imagine we’re hang-gliding
off a cliff.
It’s a perfect place to ask
“What if … ?” |
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The Ways Things Will Look
As work continues on the redevelopment of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Waikïkï, new brand-name retailers have announced their intention to locate in this premier shopping, dining and entertainment destination. Among them is the award-winning production of ‘Ulalena, a spectacular show that honors the history and legends of Waikïkï and Helumoa with its special performances, lighting and staging technology. Other new tenants slated for the center in the year 2006 are Señor Frog’s, the Mexican restaurant; Tourneau, America’s largest watch store; Kate Spade, the trendy retailer; Furla, the Italian leather goods store; and Pacific Harley-Davidson, reving up its retail engine. The center is part of the great change under way in Waikïkï and when it’s all finished it’s going to look quite beautiful—like this: |
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MUSIC:
Listen Up
Brickwood Galuteria, Hawaiian 105 KINE’s “Aloha
Morning Show” radio host, chooses this list of recommended
music from the Islands, with all selections widely available
at Island record stores:
• Various Artists—Kanikapila: Producer Jon de Mello (Mr. Mountain Apple himself) takes us around O‘ahu on a special holoholo (cruise) to honor the “Heart of Hawai‘i.” And he’s all heart. The Makaha Sons of Ni‘ihau kick things off with “Take a Walk in the Country,” an all-time contemporary favorite. Nä Leo inspires with “North Shore Serenade,” while the Brothers Cazimero explore the natural wonders of Mänoa on “Ka Beauty A‘o Mänoa.” Other outstanding artists include Amy Hänaiali‘i, Willy K., Dennis Pavao and Sean Na‘auao. Pop this gem in your CD player, lay down the convertible top and score the magic of O‘ahu.
• Brittni Paiva—hear …: “Brittni is different,” says master musician Eddie Kamae. “You can see it in her face and in the way she plays her music. It comes from her soul.” Different and multitalented, he might have said. A composer who excels on the ‘ukulele, guitar and keyboard, Brittni appeals to both jazz and pop music fans. Her rendition of Dave Brubeck’s big-time classic “Take Five” and the caffeine alternative “‘Ukulele Boogie” will help you keep an ear on her talents.
• Various Artists—Hawaiian Classics: Pure treasure! Toss away those scratched, vinyl dinosaurs and add this great collection of your Hawaiian favorites. Now, with 14 of the 16 selections on CD for the first time, you can enjoy Nälani Olds, the Lim Family, Kaimana, Peter Ahia, Kealoha Kaalama, Tina Ka‘apana and the Ho‘opi‘i Brothers. These jewels were all produced by the legendary Bill Murata, who spent his life searching for Hawai‘i’s finest talent. He found it. It’s all here. Pass it on to future generations. |
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Books
Hawai‘i In Flight
The geographical remoteness of the Islands of Hawai‘i combined with the pioneering, intrepid nature of aviators and the men who support them with money, has through the years been the source of many fine Pacific aviation histories. But perhaps none are as detailed, romantic or full of such fascinating stories and characters, the agonies and the ecstasies, as Wings of Paradise: Hawai‘i’s Incomparable Airlines, (Barnstormer Books, Kailua, Hawai‘i, 2005) written by Peter N. Forman, a longtime pilot, in the Islands and elsewhere.
This is a rousing history, replete with superb corporate shenanigans and unconventional men of the skies. What makes it a book to savor if you love to fly and appreciate the complexity of the airline business is the many tales it tells out of the boardrooms, which airline corporate PR people and their bosses would rather not, in a manner of speaking, be associated with.
Do you remember Inter-Island Airways? S-43 Sikorsky flying ships? Miss Jet Power? Mid Pacific Air? Macon freight dogs? Mahalo Air? The author spent 20 years researching and writing the book, to keep you up in the air for a few nights or more.
Starlight Star Bright
The story of astronomy in Hawai‘i deals in the main with the giant telescopes built on the summit of Mauna Kea. Professor Michael J. West, of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, who teaches classes and makes frequent journeys to the university’s telescope on Mauna Kea, where he studies the formation and evolution of galaxies, has written a history for the layman that describes how and why the giant tools were brought to the summit of a place long held sacred to the Hawaiian people. A Gentle Rain of Starlight: The Story of Astronomy of Mauna Kea (Island Heritage, Honolulu, 2005) is profusely illustrated, with more than a hundred entrancing photos of the stars, the skies and life in and about Hawai‘i’s cosmic home.
Hawai‘i Day by Day
Hawai‘i’s Forgotten History: The Good, the Bad, the Embarrassing (Aloha Press, Honolulu, 2005), compiled by Rich Budnick, is a 250-page timeline of the state’s history from 1900 to 1999. It purports to document “2,001 important and little-known events in Hawai‘i in the 20th century. The author claims to have researched the book by reading 200 other books and 8,000 newspapers “so you don’t have to.” There are hundreds of things in this book that you either never knew about Hawai‘i or have forgotten. For example, on Nov. 23, 1935, Pan Am’s China Clipper brought the first airmail from the Mainland to Hawai‘i, but no passengers. On May 10, 1964, Frank Sinatra nearly drowned at
Wailua Bay on Kaua‘i, but was rescued by residents with surfboards and the fire department. Dozens of tidbits on every page.  |
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