punahou blues

there's nothing better than kicking back with a good book on a lazy summer afternoon. add a little island flavor to your summer book list with the latest novel from kirby wright (another uc san diego alum!). punahou blues is a coming of age story set in honolulu and molokai during the 1960's & 70's and is filled with plenty of colorful local characters and stories that could happen only in hawaii.

it's a perfect beach read . . . although you just may wish you had a bag of hot malasadas from the punahou carnival to enjoy while flipping through the pages.

picture bride

if your family arrived in hawaii at the turn of the 20th century there's a good chance that your (great) grandmother may have been a picture bride. the late filmmaker kayo hatta's 1995 film won the audience award at sundance when it was released and takes a poignant look at the journey of a young girl who arrives from japan to enter into an arranged marriage to a plantation worker.

it's a good look at a time that many of us have heard stories about while growing up so add it to your netflix queue and immerse yourself in a little local history.

add a little bumatai on boy's day

if you're from hawaii and have been online for awhile it is safe to say that you have received one of those you know you're from hawaii when . . . emails. as agent smith said in the matrix, "it is inevitable." and, if you are a guy who grew up in the islands in the 80's, i'll wager that you can slam down more than a few lines from the andy bumatai specials that aired on kgmb.

find out if your memory served you well and pick up a copy of andy bumatai's all in the 'ohana dvd. step back in time and savor that long awaited reunion with honey girl, junior boy, tutu and linda coble (the recipient of one of my other half's favorite lines).

the hapa project

as a hapa girl, i have been eagerly following kip fulbeck's hapa project for the past year and i am happy to announce that his book was recently published. part asian, 100% hapa is a series of photographs asking subjects that eternal hapa question, "what are you?"

the great thing about growing up in hawaii is that it is much easier to fit in (although even in the 1970's & 80's there weren't that many of us around) but it still would have been nice to have a book like this to flip through.

in the immortal words of thomas magnum: trust me

if you lived on oahu in the 80's i guarantee either you or someone you know has a story about a chance encounter with the production of magnum p.i. when i was a kid i remember seeing magnum's ferrari at the corner store in hawaii kai and meeting one of magnum's enemies (who was also an acquaintence of my mom) while shopping at the ala moana liberty house.

not only does shirts & ladders' tom selleck tee bring back all those oh-so-fond memories from the 80's but it's also the perfect thing to wear during your magnum marathon.