Blogs List
Making the Scene
 Rick Chatenever |
That super feelingThu, May 8, 2008 @ 5:27PM It’s Robert Downey Jr. who puts on the suit, but it’s Gwyneth Paltrow who makes “Iron Man” fly. As Pepper Potts, she is so dewy, so big-screen gorgeous, so smart, so clever … and yet vulnerable, she makes Downey’s job that much easier. All he really has to do, like everyone watching this surprisingly enjoyable first Really Big Hit of the Summer, is fall in love with her. Not that Downey isn’t up to the other challenges of his role, like saving the world and such. The superhero in “Iron Man,” apparently originally inspired by Howard Hughes, is a brilliant inventor-entrepreneur in a jet-propelled suit of armor. In the hands of a less gifted actor, it would just be a case of clothes make the man. But Downey makes him fascinating … and a whole lot of fun. While not an obvious first choice to play the latest action hero in the Marvel Comics cosmos, the actor’s well-publicized personal battles with his
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The Bald-Headed Truth
 Robert Collias |
MIL baseball making big ‘‘state’’mentFri, May 9, 2008 @ 10:46AM This is the first year of the Division II state tournament, so it is safe to say that this has never happened before. The MIL has three teams — D-I champion Maui High and D-II champ St. Anthony, along with D-II runner-up Molokai — in the semifinals of the state tournaments. That is more than any other league in the state, including the vaunted ILH (2). The KIF, BIIF, and OIA all have one team in the state’s two final fours. It is a pretty startling accomplishment for any league, especially from a Neighbor Island, but not out of whack when looking at history. The MIL has seven state champions in the previous 49 state tournaments, while the 32-team OIA has 13 state titles, the ILH 28 and the Big Island one. And all of this with four-time state champion Baldwin, which has been to more state baseball tournaments than any other team in the state, losing in the first round. That continued a trend the MIL would like to see change — the Bears haven’t won a champ
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Restating the Obvious
 Harry Eagar |
Droppin outWed, May 7, 2008 @ 12:14PM I notice that a retailing chain I never heard of, Linens 'n Things, is closing 120 stores and may be closing for good and all, unable to compete with the T. Rex of the notions business, Bed, Bath & Beyond, a store I've never been in. One of the things you give up by living on Maui is participation in national consumption patterns. About 15 years ago, when K mart first came to the island, the Main Street Association brought in a small retail business consultant to advise Maui operators how to compete. I've forgotten his name, but I recall he said that there were 140 national chains that did not have operations in Hawaii. Since then, chains have sprung up and died (Bombay), died from inanition on the Mainland although they were doing OK on Maui (Heartfields) and just died (Woolworth). And chains that weren't here 15 years ago are here in force (Wal-Mart, Tiffany and many others). Yet I'd bet that there are now more than 140 Mainl
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F.O.P (Fresh Off da Plane)
 Chris Hamilton |
"Maui Reviled"Thu, May 8, 2008 @ 2:27AM I had to happen eventually, I figure. I was at a recent public meeting when someone got up to testify and brought with him a little blue book. Just the sight of it immediately drew murmurs and then quite audible guffaws before this nice man, who has community ties and appears to have lived here for some time, began to actually quote from it -- in what was meant to be a good way. The gentleman was making an argument to keep Honoapiilani Highway close to the highway when it’s realigned mauka to avoid ocean erosion. The little blue book he held with highlighted passages, he said, praised the views of the ocean from the highway, calling such proximity to the water a rarity while driving in Hawaii. But it’s hard to imagine that most people in the room were really listening to him since they were pretty busy talking to each other about either his audacity or ignorance. The book was “Maui Revealed” or “Maui Reviled” as
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Writer's Block
 Ilima Loomis |
Goin' somewhereThu, May 8, 2008 @ 5:09PM Mike Molina saw my story coming a mile away. "So, working on your annual travel story?" he asked when he picked up the line. Yup. Each year we get a copy of the mayor's and council members' travel records and do a roundup of where everyone went and what they spent. There's never been anything jaw-dropping in there -- no $10,000 "research" cruises, no outrageous hotel bills -- just the usual assortment of trips to lobby the Legislature and a smattering of Mainland conferences. So why do we keep doing it? Just to keep tabs, I guess. With nothing else to go on, it's those conferences people usually end up talking about. Some question whether they're an unnecessary waste of time and money, while others say they're a valuable way to keep in touch with how the wider world is addressing common problems of water, development and infrastructure. So I suppose that's the purpose of doing the story every year -- if people care enough to have an opinion ab
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