5-0 magazine roundup

here's one last ditch effort to save you from the madness that will be the mall this weekend with a few magazine subscription ideas for the style mavens & surfers on your gift list.

smart made its debut a few years ago as a lifestyle glossie for island fashionistas. flip through its pages to find out what's hot in hawaii and get the scoop on the local designers & shop proprietors on a mission to bring more style to the islands.

it's truly surprising that even though hawaii is the birthplace of surfing that not one surf magazine called hawaii home until nalu hit the newsstands a few years back. it's filled with tons of slick photos with an emphasis on local surfers who are making waves around the world.

and you gotta love how both publishers show a little island pride on the covers of their magazines!

{update | jan 2010: smart magazine folded in 2009 and nalu underground stopped publishing in 2008}

hawaiian legends of dreams

while wandering through the stacks at the bookstore, i discovered that one of my favorite artists, caren loebel-fried, has published another book delving into the mythology of ancient hawaii. her stunning block prints are sprinkled throughout hawaiian legends of dreams which is a treat for both young and old.

keola beamer sums up the book very nicely in his foreward:

"dreams are the beginning. they are the seed of our ambitions, the source of our inspiration, and the impetus for our creations. the book you hold in your hands is the manifestation of caren loebel-fried's dream to share the mana`o of traditional hawaiians on the amorphous world of dreams.

in this book, her love of our culture is evident in her research and beautiful art. she has captured the spirit of our view of the world, in which all things are connected and there is no distance between souls, alive or passed over, which cannot be bridged. we believe that mana, or life force, flows through the universe, and all things have a voice . . . even in our dreams."

the companion book, hawaiian legends of the guardian spirits, is also perfect for bedtime stories so definitely check them out if you want to share the hawaiians' love of storytelling with the little ones in your life.

secrets of hawaiian warriors

aloha from hawaii! yep, by the time you read this i hope to be kicking it on the beach and enjoying ani's sweetbread & papaya for breakfast. the trip this summer was way too short so among the things on my hit list is a field trip to the bookstore. until then, i thought a few readers may be interested in a book we picked up on the last trip home called lua: art of the hawaiian warrior.

if you fancy yourself a lover of hawaiian history, you may want to pick up a copy of this fascinating book which delves into the centuries old secret martial art that has survived into modern times. the book features background on the philosophy of this almost lost art plus legends, gods & chants, and illustrations depicting techniques still used by lua practioners today.

hawaii international film festival

tickets for the hawaii international film festival (oct 19th-29th) go on sale to the general public today! with 254 films being screened throughout the islands, it shouldn't be hard to find something to lure you to the movie theater. the festival has even created its first ever limited edition aloha shirt to celebrate.

opening night features a peek at alejandro innarritu's (amores perros, 21 grams) babel before its stateside release. the trailer looks intriguing and i'm sure many will flock to the hawaii theater simply to watch pretty boy pitt on the big screen (gael garcia bernal is reason enough for me).

highlights include a talk with the cast & crew from lost, an evening with actor ken watanabe (featuring a screening of the last samurai) and, for film geeks, a q+a session with director kevin smith. also, if you prefer films with more of a focus on the pacific islands and its people then you will definitely want to make
time for the hawaiinuiakea film festival at uh.

you can check out trailers on the hiff website or, even better, oceanic digital cable subscribers can tune in to the film festival's video on demand channel (no. 680).

• oct 21st: lost seminar
• oct 21st-23rd: sunset on the beach screenings
• oct 23rd, nov 1st-4th: hawaiinuiakea film festival
• oct 26th: hawaii night with john cruz & keola beamer
• oct 27th: an evening with ken watanabe
• oct 28th: an evening with kevin smith
• oct 29th: hula girls (special guest: jake shimabukuro)

makana rocks the hawaiian vote

when you consider how long previous generations struggled to secure the right to vote for everyone who could not be categorized as a white land owning man, it is pretty shameful that voter turnout is so low (fact: only 50% of hawaii voters turned out in the 2004 election). know someone who can be counted amongst the other 50% who were "too busy" to vote? let them in on the little secret of the absentee ballot aka the handy dandy voting tool for time crunched citizens.

there is a long overdue effort underway to rock the hawaiian vote so if you want to support the movement then hit the convention center on friday night for a concert featuring makana, barefoot natives & willie k. tickets are $15 and can be purchased at jelly's - aiea, hungry ear records - kailua & the uh campus center. all proceeds will benefit the hawaiian way fund & 2006 native votes count campaign.

p.s. if you're not familiar with slack key virtuoso makana then check out his latest album ki ho'alu over on itunes.