Cinco de Mayonnaise

Today is the celebration of the miraculous victory of Mexican forces against the French (not Spanish!) infantry at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. I celebrated by making island-style fish tacos with ono (a type of mackerel; means "tasty" or "delicious" in Hawaiian) for the whole household, thus tying in Hawaiian cuisine with an observation of the Mexican holiday. Despite the fact that none of us is remotely Mexican (well, unless you count me and Cuz's smidgeons of Native American blood...which I do like to count). I'm sure this means we are misappropriating numerous cultures, and duly apologize to anyone offended. But I'm still going to finish my margarita.

Also, I had a job interview today - my first real interview in the month or so I've been job-hunting here - and it went really well. We talked for a full 45 minutes, longer than any interview I ever had in Portland. I'd say it's 50/50. I'll know by Friday.

We go to Hana tomorrow for a few nights. I'm excited. We'll be working, but there will be relaxation time, too, and I know from my brief taste before that Hana is the most enchanting place on Maui. Probably one of the most sensuously enchanting places in the world.

Aloha y feliz Cinco de Mayo


glam aka tony

An open letter to Animal Planet

Dear Animal Planet/Discovery Channel,

I am writing a letter of concern after watching the program "Killer Squid" on Animal Planet a couple nights ago. (I didn't see that program in the list so I just picked the first one.) I was disturbed by the treatment of the squid as depicted in this program, especially given that the majority of your viewers are impressionable young people. The program gave the impression that it is OK to barbarically kill predatory squid because they have been known to attack human beings. The divers went deep underwater and entered the squids' domain - the place where they live, and hunt - and then wonder why they were attacked? Then they proudly showed off a brutal lure made of many small hooks to catch the squid and haul it to the surface to die. Not only was this presented as acceptable, but as something the squid-hunters were excited about. I watch quite a bit of Animal Planet, and am frequently disturbed by how sensational and tabloid-like a lot of your programming is. This teaches kids to view animals as something to fear and that it's OK for us to kill them when they defend themselves from OUR advances. This is the attitude that resulted in grizzly bears, wolves, etc. nearly being wiped out in the frontier days. What about showing a documentary like "Sharkwater" that presents another view of animals that are constantly presented as monsters on your network? I would like to see Animal Planet move in the direction of more mature, balanced, and intelligent programming in the future.

Thank you for reading this comment

Idol Curiosity

Word on the street is the new Star Trek movie ("forget everything you know about Star Trek") is really good and completely reinvigorates the concept for a new generation. It's probably time for the original crew members to pass the torch. It was getting to be like going to a Rolling Stones concert. (I mean, the Stones NOW.) I will humbly own up to going through a phase as a Trekkie in my junior high/high school days. I never dressed up as a Vulcan or anything, but I did go to a convention ONCE...at the Hilton Hotel in Portland. (Must've been 1990 or something.) That phase is long over, but I may check the movie out, out of idle (/idol) curiosity...

Rimbaud reincarnated?

I should like to offer my belated congratulations to Mr. Ben Whishaw for winning the BAFTA award three nights ago for his work on BBC-produced TV show Criminal Justice. Et j'adore les cheveux ébouriffé comme ca. If you don't know who "Ben" is, you haven't been reading my blog.

Pig flu

Apparently the swine flu warrants more concern than I had apportioned it. Unlike avian flu, it can be spread person-to-person. J just told the whole house that it's worldwide now and we should carry Purell and a face mask with us everywhere we go and wash our hands after touching...anything. He's concerned about us on the islands because there have been outbreaks in New Zealand, and New Zealanders come here all the time. Ah well. Maybe the locusts are preparing to descend at last.

LiLo in Lahaina

So, I'm not usually one to waste bandwidth (is that what I'm wasting?) on shallow celebrity gossip, but...OH, who the fuck am I kidding. My roommate who works as a pearl-seller in Lahaina by day said Lindsay Lohan came into the shop yesterday. And would you believe the bitch only dropped $1100 in the store, and it was hard to pry that out of her. Took her two cards to add it up.

Sex and the Classics

Maybe everyone's already seen this, but I just did and it's hilarious: a "Sex and the City" parody starring the recently departed Mr. Bea Arthur.