Showing posts with label hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hawaii. Show all posts

Blondie Gets Her Own

This will be my last guest post on the MNLJ. I am embarking on my own blog, something I never thought I would enjoy until the MNLJ made me do this.

Highlights to come in order of appearance:

1. My Final Days Here

2. Month or two of severe seasonal depression when I leave this tropical paradise. Location: New Haven, CT

3. BC/Notre Dame Game in Chicago: Sequel to Lindsay & Conor’s wedding?? I sure hope so because we all had a feeling that that night was a good, good night.

4. Costa Rica: MNLJ & I are jet-set there in November for close friend Liza’s wedding

5. Becca & Steve’s First Hosting of a Family Thanksgiving in HOTlanta

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

Gus: I am getting a puppy after Thanksgiving. He will be a pug and he will be awesome.



COMING SOON: http://iamblondie.blogspot.com/

Blonde and Dangerous

Day 5:
Without the MNLJ around, I haven’t been hitting the booze much (we drank for 16 days straight so this hiatus is welcomed with open arms) which means I am able to do things on Sunday morning that involve physical activity. Things I wouldn’t even fathom doing back East after say, a 7AM night at Mona’s like the MNLJ had on Saturday night…he was in bed after me WITH the 6 hour time change.

So this fine Sunday I decided it was time to run the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path. It is 4.1 miles from end to end so 8.2 if you go there and back. The path wraps around the ‘Coconut Coast’ which comprises the Eastern shore of Kauai. I woke up to the roosters cooing at 6:20 AM, had a delightful bowl of yogurt with papaya & honey-roasted macadamia nuts, hopped in the ‘stang and hit the road. With Bob Marley resonating from my car’s dope sound system and my blonde pony blowing in the wind, I drove 20 miles to the head of the trail:
the beautiful beginning

A few noteworthy things happened during this epic undertaking:

1) I was off to a great start. This was by far the most beautiful and breathtaking run I had ever been on. Winding turns brought me around and through private beaches and I got a front row view of many ridiculous ocean-front mansions. I was thinking to myself, is this what running is like in Heaven? I felt like I was floating, light as a feather….until I realized that the floating feeling was more like light-headedness and that I no longer was in Heaven, I was overheating, much like you would do if you were running in Hell. Luckily I was hitting mile 4 which brought me back to my car where I dumped a Nalgene’s worth of H20 over my head,. I proceeded to drink another full Nalgene while contemplating quitting but put my best (left) foot forward and carried on for the 2nd half.

2) Along the way I passed signs like this:
watch out!

Lesson here: When rocks are falling, dance like Blondie:
you can also yell out a woo or two

3) I also saw things like this:
just your average hawaiian sitting in a tree, not an unusual sighting

4) And to top it off I saw this around mile 6:

You may be wondering why this is a noteworthy spotting…a trailer with the word Unlimited on the side?? Well the humor here is that this was my office for the past 5 weeks. It was towed from the St. Regis parking lot on Friday (an eye-sore such as this is no longer welcome on the property – hotshots from Starwood ordered it gone before the employees started). I have noticed that the Hawaiian culture is not one of urgency so my guess is that the tow driver decided to stop for a surf and never picked it back up. Classic.

5) I trekked on in the 88 degree blazing sun for the final 2 miles, passing many a bikers, joggers, and walkers, most of whom offered up an “aloha”. I leave you with a final victory fist pump back at the ‘stang. I lived to tell the story of the 8.2 mile journey along the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path.
shortly before this picture was taken, a dread-locked hippie by the name of judah introduced himself to me and asked in a pot-induced haze if my car was fast. when I replied ‘yes’ he said “coooool, see you around” and kept on walking

Mahalo!

Guest Post: Blondie Tells Her Side

Blondie here, making my first guest appearance on the MNLJ show. It has been 4 days since the MNLJ left and besides crying myself to sleep every night, I have been quite busy. Since he did a fantastic job documenting our lovely 2 weeks in Paradise together, I will not bother recapping any of it. So below is an update of what I have been up to sans the MNLJ.

Day 1: Wept in bed all day…didn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, you get the gist.
PYSCH!
Woke up 6 am, ran 7 miles, went to work, yelled at a bunch of people, hit the beach for a sunset swim, made myself a tropical burger and retired to episode 1 of My So Called Life (MSCL) on Hulu. I forgot how phenomenal that show was:
jordan catalano is so dreamy. i forgot how much i loved early 90’s plaid.

Skip to Day 4:
Saturday morning I took a trip to the Hanalei Farmer’s Market. How I love fresh fruit and veggies. These beautiful pink things are called Dragon Fruit:

yum!

After filling up my satchel I headed into work for a few hours then took a drive to one of my favorite beaches and spent the afternoon swimming/sunbathing. Came home to a big fresh salad and retired to episode 2 of MSCL, drooling over Jordan:
yum again!

Second guest appearance will be featured tomorrow. Mahalo!

Come Back Home

Ah, back in the City. Quite a long flight home, made only longer by President Obama; apparently, no planes can take-off or land in NYC when he's in town. So while he was paying tribute to Cronkite, I was in the air reading SkyMall for the 3rd time. Speaking of, I ordered this awesome speaker set that looks like boulders. Burger's going to love it:
hey i like rocks...

After coming from gorgeous weather, and having left NYC in the oppressive August humidity, It's fall apparently. I was repeatedly reminded on my way home by all the Facebook status updates: "OMG totes freezing! where is my cardigan LOL" or "i know i complained about the heat, but I miss the summer a lot ;( wahh." These are my friends?

Anyway, I miss Kaua'i, but I'm glad to be back. Blondie is out there for another 2+ weeks finishing up the ol' Saint Regis, so I'm going to give her a guest blog next. Stay tuned for that gem. But you know what? I am happy it's Fall. Giants Football, BC Football, new TV season, less sweating, not getting looked at weird for wearing jeans all the time, and Thanksgiving: it's going to be mighty fine. I'm putting together a nice early-autumn playlist for you guys, hopefully for next week. Until then, aloha.

Bumped Along

One more day in Paradiso. AA overbooked and filled my Monday night flight, so I'm here until tonight. Then I fly into LAX, and from there to JFK, arriving Wednesday evening. Fun Times! I was going to post this last night, but here is a snippet of our last few days:

We went hiking on the Kalalau Trail, which is like 8 miles long if you do the whole thing. We, however, only did the first leg, into a secluded beach where hippies camp out frequently. Despite this, it was gorgeous and did not smell like patchouli oil. The hike wasn't crazy difficult, but it was long and uphill both ways (how does that work?) and definitely not easy. I feel on my ass a few times on the way back down, proving that I am not as outdoors-y as I may have thought (this must be why I was a horrible boyscout, and eventual dropout):
But it was worth it for views like this:
And this:
And despite this warning:
I had some fun:
And to top it all off, Blondie and I went to our favorite sushi place (and home of the as yet to be named "best Mai Tai") Hanalei Dolphin. And much to my chagrin, she finally got me to wear the Hawaiian shirt she bought me:
oh god, please take my eyes, but not the shirt!

So it's been a riot of a time. I'll do a bunch of recaps and reflections from the road/home. But one more thing before I start my return home; something of particular interest to me. I've been eating it on sandwiches the whole time, but I just noticed that Hellman's (the ONLY kind of mayonnaise) is called "Best Food" out here. Weird right?

Labor Day Music Giveaway! Act Now!

Just a quick post with some Labor Day music for you, to enjoy on your long weekend. I gotta get this out fast since it's past 1PM there and I know most of you are leaving work soon (lucky basterds. oh wait, nevermind; I forgot where I was). It's a mix of songs that are this past summer to me. Pete Yorn, Wilco, Deer Tick, and some others to rock your last weekend. Get after it:

The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
Real Afro-pop. Yes, the Vampire Weekend guy sings on it too, don't worry.

The Dirty Projectors - Stillness is The Move
A funky, off beat, bop song. Sunset music.

Deer Tick - Straight into a Storm
Throwback 1950's 12-bar rock n' roll that sounds like your buddy's band drunkenly playing outside.

Passion Pit - Seaweed Song
I still don't love these guys, but this song has that endless summer feel.

Wilco - You Never Know
Best song of the summer. Feels like you've known this rock song forever.

Wilco - Sonny Feeling
More nostalgic rock with another Travelling Wilburys-esque solo. But different, and great.

Pete Yorn - Last Summer
As overproduced as Pete will ever sound, but it works. Has a 80's teen movie vibe to it.

Pete Yorn - Rooftop
Blondie loves this song. Makes the summer in NYC seem like you should have stuck around for it instead of going to the goddamn Hamptons.

Pete Yorn (with Scarlett J) - Relator
The fuzzy guitar, upbeat tempo, and sexy/humid lyrics sound like a hot August day.

Brendan Benson - Poised and Ready
Fast Paced and urgent. Drive to it. Fast.

Brendan Benson - Eyes on the Horizon
Elvis Costello meets the Raconteurs.

Helicopter Hangover

For my birthday, Blondie gifted me a helicopter ride over Kaua'i on the nicest fleet of choppers this island has to offer (Blue Hawaiian, PLUG!). It was yesterday. I was nervous. I'm not a huge fan of heights; it's not a crazy phobia by any means, but I prefer to stay closer to Mother Earth if given the option. But there's really only one way to see most of this island, which is only 15% inhabited and reachable by road; on a whirlybird (lets see how many other nicknames for helicopter I can fit in here). So I went off to Lihue to board the craft, which I was assured is the safest, newest, and most green of all available: the Eco-Star.

We got on, and were given a flotation device in a fanny-pack. Because you know, if you fall out of an autogiro into the water, you'd want a place to store your chapstick and small change. Then, a headset, so I could listen to the Hungarian family on board with me translate everything our pilot/tour guide pointed out to us.
nézd meg a vízesés!

We took off, and it was thrilling. Giros fly at that height where everything below looks like a train set miniature. So it's quite surreal. Also, they're turbulent as hell. We were all over the place. But it was all worth it for views like these:


And it was all going great, until about 40 min into the flight. I started to feel, well, hungover. Really hungover. Not just "oh my god I drank so much last night you guys" hungover, but "is this the swine flu, and why is there a goat in the bathroom" hungover. I started to sweat, then get chilly. I felt a balloon start to inflate inside my head. I got the pre-hurl feeling in my throat. I reached for the thankfully provided barf bag. I opened it up, and prepared for the worst. And then...we landed.
vomit averted. mission accomplished.

It was a one in a lifetime thrill (I'll post more pics, especially the ones from my film camera, on Flickr soon). I cant say I'd rush to do it again; but given some time to let this nausea pass in full, I'd give it another go. Maybe with Blondie this time. Though I'd hate to hurl on her.

Questions Answered

1) What time is it there?
It's 5:18AM on Monday August 29th, give or take, depending upon Daylight Savings. Kidding, we're 6 hours behind you on the East Coast. So if it's noon in NYC, its 6AM here.

2) Whats the weather like?
It rains every night, finishes by about 8AM, then its 85 all day. But it's not too hot, because there's a very pleasant humidity in the air. Not the North East humidity that makes you feel like you're covered in latex, but a cooling, healthy humidity. It also sets us up for the best sunsets I've ever seen:

3) What's with the roosters?
Apparently, a big hurricane in 1992 hit Kaua'i directly, and it broke open a ton of chicken coops. They escaped, eventually became wild, and with no natural predator, they flourished. Some say that they may have come from cock-fighting roosters, which is why they are so resilient in the wild. Like this guy, who I assume is Little Yerry's cousin:

4) How is it going?
Awesome. Pretty, pretty awesome.

5) Have you learned to surf yet?
No. It's kind of expensive actually. Still debating if it's going to happen, since I'll most likely not even be able to get up.

6) Have you had poi yet?
No! We can't find it on any menu. It's crazy. I might have to buy a bag of it from the grocery store and make it myself.

7) What's in a Mai Tai?
It varies. But usually: light rum, a dark rum floater, orange curaçao, pineapple/orange/guava juice, and a pineapple/maraschino cherry garnish. Sun and sand are optional.

8) How are the scripts coming?
What are you, my editor? Lay off; they're coming along fine, ok?

9) How's Blondie doing at work?
She's killing it. I get to listen to her yell at people every morning on conference calls. Don't mess with her installations.

10) When are you coming back?
Never. And by that I mean next Tuesday.
is that a tan? no, i guess not. but it's close

Week 2 - Now With More Mai Tais!

Well gosh darnit, I sure hope you had a great weekend. Blondie and I did indeed. We went Kayaking along the Wailua River, which was gorgeous. They filmed some scenes from Jurassic Park there. We swam under a waterfall too; something I can honestly say I've never done before:
watch out for the raptors

We also had some real-ass Hawaiian Pizza Pie. It was scrumtralescent:

And speaking of pineapple, we've had a ton of Mai Tais lately. We had so many on Sunday night, that Monday was kind of a wash. I call it an Island Hangover. We were up, it was gorgeous, Blondie worked and I did some errands, but we were both zombies in the sun. We napped twice and didn't do much but eat. So I apologize for this Monday blog post being yours on Tuesday. It's hard to lift your fingers when you're staring at a beautiful landscape with a cloudy mind and have nothing to do but relax.

We've begun try one at every place we visit, and rate them. We're not quite done with our findings, but here is how, in graph form, it's generally going:
We'll have a full report later, depending upon how drunk we get.

More than Ukulele Music Around Here

I'm writing this on Thursday, but it's already Friday for you. Consider this a Time Capsule of Pop. Happy Weekend.

I've got some new music, as promised, to rock your weekend. Most of you probably know Brendan Benson as the other singer in The Raconteurs. But you may not know that he is an accomplished pop-rock songwriter and musician in his own right. And it makes sense when you look at a band like the Racs, where the songs mix bluesy, heavy guitar engine (Jack White) with very tight pop melodies and rhythms (Benson). The best examples of this fusion are "Intimate Secretary" from their first record, or "Many Shades of Black" from their second.

hey, that's my hat!

But enough about them, this is about Brendan's new solo record My Old, Familiar Friend. It's an 11 song tour-de-pop, full of melodious vocal lines, slickly blended verses and choruses, easy lyrics, and tightly written chord progressions. Think of it as a really catchy mixtape of The Who, Joe Jackson, and ELO covers. Brendan stands out on this record with "Garbage Day" (very 70's pop rock) "Gonowhere" (a bit of McCartney), and "Eyes On The Horizon" (Elvis Costello-esque).

And if you can, grab his previous LP, 2005's The Alternative To Love. The title track remains my personal favorite across all his various groups.

Then who's having sex with the hen??

A few videos for your Thursday morning/afternoon.

First, I woke up to Dr. Noisewater this morning:
we're getting dangerously close to a rooster-only blog.

Secondly, starting as an offhand comment during an epic GChat, The Stame "uncovered" this timeless gem from the comedy vault:

And a final thought: Blondie and I have limited TV choices here at night (local Hawaiian TV is unintentionally hilarious, but that's a whole other post), so we're working our way through Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, and her DVD collection on my laptop. Last night, we took in the cinematic tour-de-force known as "Cocktail." My God it's awful. But did Elisabeth Shue ever looked hotter than in that movie? BTTF and Leaving Las Vegas pale in comparison. That waterfall scene is one for the books:

And why the hell are our two favorite shows out there right now, Top Chef and Mad Men, not on Hulu/any official websites? I'm resorting to these Nordic Bootleg sites to watch, and it makes me feel like a pirate (and not the good kind). To help my sanity, feel free to send/email any movies/shows you have ripped for iTunes. I can only watch so much Intergalactic Commander Cruise before weeping.

I Did It

I bought a cheap little ukulele. I didn't think I'd be able to play it with my giant hands, but its surprisingly comfortable. Here's a quick video of me playing "Something" by The Beatles on it this morning:
not bad for the first time, though i'm sure someone will comment on my stupid hat.

Otherwise, I've been checking out the beaches, tooling around in the 'Stang, and taking photos. Hoping to get some of my B&W developed today, and switch to color permanently. This place is just too colorful to stay in B&W. NYC looks good in monochrome; Hawaii deserves the full Kodachrome 800 spectrum.

On the food front, Blondie and I have been out to sushi twice, and it is out of this world. We've been to two places in Hanalei, Bouchon's and Dolphin, and sat at the sushi bar both times. What's odd is that we've only had non-Japanese sushi chefs so far. That's the first we've ever encountered such an occurrence. And they were great; we let them make for us whatever they thought we'd like the most: quite a delicious decision. Most importantly to me, we tried "uni" for the first time. What exactly is uni? Well, it's raw sea urchin (removed from that spiny body of course), and it's really fuckin' good. I've been seeing it on Food Network and Top Chef for so long, we had to try it. And the best part about Hawaii sushi? It's considerably cheaper, and fresher, than it's NYC counterpart. So they've got that going for them. Which is nice.

Or a "patio," if you want to be a dick about it.

First of all, I got some vernacular in last post wrong. Liz Roth graciously informed me that the word for "patio" in Hawaiian is "lanai." How did she know this? Well, she's insane, and remembers it from an episode of the Golden Girls when the irreverent post-menopausal ladies went to Hawaii. Liz Roth everybody, a Golden Girl in her 20's.

This is what Blondie and I have been barrelling around the narrow roads of Kaua'i in:
A 2009 Ford Mustang. It's a sweet ride. After driving a 1994 Chevy Suburban for all of my life, its amazing to find out that cars can actually do a U-ey without requiring a 3 point turn, and that acceleration doesn't require violent shaking and gurgling sound coming from the engine. But hey, I don't mean to get down on Big Blue; who else can carry 9 kegs and 7 guys across Boston at the same time?

Speaking of Big Blue, she hit 200,000 miles not long ago. I couldn't be more proud of the old girl:
The only annoying part of the 'Stang is the fact that it intermittently rains every so often here. Not "oh crap our day is ruined because it's raining" rain, but "oh here's another 10 minute sun shower that creates a gorgeous rainbow and cools everything off" rain. Yet, since it's a rental, and I don't want to have to pay for water damage to the plush leather seats, we have to constantly put the top up and down. Life is hard, isn't it?

It also has that Microsoft Sync thing, where I can stream music to the stereo from my iPhone via bluetooth. It's an awesome feature, but it's got this weird hiccup problem, where it skips a beat every minute or so, much like old discmans (discmen?) used to do back before "shockwave technology." Again, life's a bitch here in paradise, ain't it?

I'm jonesing to try some Poi son. What's poi you ask? It's a local Hawaiian dip/sidedish, and once I try it I'll report back. For now, I just enjoy saying it. Poi. Poi. Pe-pio-pe.

Monday, I'm Alright

What a weekend getting settled. Blondie has the life here, despite the crazy hours she's working. Here's a little slice of the life in the Kapua Suite.

This is the view from our patio:

This is the view from our patio during sunset:

This is the view from our patio when the most magical rainbow appears:

This is the view from our patio at dinner time. We made an awesome Mango, Ahi, Macademia Nut & Tomato salad:


We're on this cliff overlooking the beginning of Hanaeli Bay, on the very north side of Kaua'i:

View Larger Map

Also, for some reason that even Wikipedia has trouble explaining, this island is goddamn overrun with roosters. Seriously. NYC has pigeons and rats, New NYC has owls (that's for you Inkpen), and Kaua'i has roosters. This is our resident cock, who I have effectionately named Dr. Kenneth Noisewater:
i could kill you, pal.

The Travel Recap

Aloha beetches, I made it. Just woke up from a 3 sleeping pill induced sleep. Its 8AM here, so we're 6 hours behind NYC time. Set your clocks.

All in all, that was the best long-term flight experience I've ever had. And to top it all off, I woke up to this:
this from the patio. right outside. we're on a fuckin' cliff. hell yes.

A flight recap:
- The old "recent knee surgery" trick worked TWICE in getting me an exit row seat. Incredibly clutch. That made the trip.
- The NYC-LA leg had that GoGo WiFi on the plane, and it was free. The future is now, and it is awesome.
- A bartender at Chili's in LAX asked me "Should I know you?" when I ordered a beer and charged my laptop. I really wanted to say "Yes, I'm Don Draper."
- I sat next to this crazy 30-something lady from LA-Kaua'i who talked the entire time. Even when I had my headphones in. She tried to convince me that I should go to Burning Man.

So that's that. Thanks for following along. Now, off to explore while Blondie works for a bit. Any suggestions?

Mile Hi Wi Fi

First of all, this GoGo free wireless is clutch. Not that my battery can last long enough to keep me online all day, but it's sweet I can post from the sky. The future is now, dammit!

Also, I pulled the old "recent knee surgery" trick and got myself an exit row, so no bruised knees for this leg of the trip. Everything is starting out nicely.

The only negative: "My Life in Ruins" is the in-flight movie. Richard Dreyfuss, Rachel Dratch and Harland Williams' careers have hit a low it seems. I liked it better the first time, when it was called "My Big Fat Obnoxious Greek Wedding Movie!" Right Tom? Right?

Speaking of Tom jokes...um, stewardess?

I'm listening to Brendan Benson's new album "My Old, Familiar Friend" and it's awesome. Just a well written, well produced, pop rock record full of hooks and simple melodies. He's the guy who isn't Jack White in the Raconteurs, and you can see where that band gets some of its pop sensibility. I'll post it up when I get to the archipelago.

And speaking of Hawaii, serendipitously enough, today is the 50th Anniversary of it's Statehood. There's a great article in the NY Times by Paul Theroux. Definitely give it a read.

"What I cant go to Hawaii now because Sarah Marshall has heard of Hawaii?"

Sorry for the cliché blog hiatus; musically, 2009 turned out to be a turkey compared to 2008. But let us not dwell, there is an important reason for this relaunch. I'm going to Hawaii for 18 beautiful days starting tomorrow, and I'm going to write about it. Blondie is stationed on the picturesque isle of Kauai for two months opening a ritzy hotel, and I couldn't pass up the trip.


A few goals:
- Finish at least a first draft of the 4 scripts I've been working on (1 feature, 2 pilots, 1 short story)
- Photo much pretty things a lot
- Take a surfing lesson
- Get tan? (I doubt it's possible, but dammit I'm going to try)
- Eat like a local
- Drink like a local
- Find new music for you
- Buy a ukulele

Those is de plans. I will keep you updated, I plan on using this as a conversation with the Contiguous 48. Any suggestions/dares/ideas for me to do while in Polynesia, please let me know. I'll try it all.

Just call me `Ula.