The Decemberists, in November?

So you may have thought that after the Obama victory I set out on a whirlwind celebratory trip around the world. Or you might have thought I was kidnapped by Don Henley. Perhaps you thought I just went to Boston. If you guessed the later, you are correct. Just got back, I'll fill you in on the trip through the next series of posts.

The day I got into Boston I had the pleasure of seeing The Decemberists in concert (orchestra seats!!). And (tuna fruit goddamn) was it awesome. It was a really high energy show and Colin Meloy has a fantastically dynamic stage presence. I think part of it was that Meloy was basking in the Obama victory, he's been an open supporter of Obama and played a rally in Portland for him previously. The only word to describe him at the show is jubilant. He even brought out a cardboard cutout of the president elect which was thrust into the audience and crowd surfed for most of the show. There was of course the "Yes we did" cheers and Meloy even mentioned that for him many of the songs he has written and frequently performs have taken on a more hopeful meaning since the election. Sixteen Military Wives and Sons and Daughters were the more overt examples of what he meant. They actually performed Sons and Daughters as their encore and Meloy asked people to join him on stage for the chorus. The show closed with Meloy leading a few dozen people in an increasingly hushed chorus of "Hear all the bombs fade away". Like I said before, awesome.

They even played some of my favorites, O Valencia (I think that's everyones favorite) and The Engine Driver. The only downside was that I basically had this chorus playing in my head on a loop the entire trip: And I am a writer, writer of fictions, I am the heart that you call home. And I've written pages upon pages,trying to rid you from my bones.

It's official!!!

The two most powerful American politicians are an African American man (Obama) and a woman (Pelosi). FANTASTIC!

... love train, love train...

Do Your Duty

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to cast their ballot, but while in the voting booth, keep in mind how awesome it would be to have a President running the malasada booth at the next Punahou Carnival. Something to think about...

I wanna rock and roll 'til 11:00 at nite, and party selectively on special occasions following that!!

As promised, here is a Halloween 2008 wrap up.

Just as we did last year, Heather and I had two costumes each this Halloween. The first was for the office. Since Halloween fell on an (Aloha) Friday this year, we thought it would be both timely and hilarious if we dressed up as tutus. The costume assembly actually went pretty smoothly. Although, we did encounter a slight problem with the hairpieces. We had originally bought what we thought to be silver hairspray, but in testing it out a few days before Halloween, I found it only to be a clear spray with silver glitter. It did not give the desired effect. The day before Halloween Heather decided she would buy a white spider web and could make it work as a hairpiece. I think it turned out pretty awesome. I, on the other hand, managed to find a long gray wig that night. Check it out:



Surprisingly, the most popular response we go to our costume was an inquiry as to where we got our mu'umu'u. People seemed to sincerely find them stunning and wanted to own one (Savers, $6.99). I personally enjoyed some of the costume accessories. Specifically, Heather's bus pass lanyard and my TheCAB bag. To all those who enjoyed our costume, mahalo nui loa. I'll be by later with some homemade guava jelly. (Elementary school Hawaiian totally paid off, I can also roll a mean 'ulu maika).

Later that night we changed into our second costume. We opted to do KISS face paint but to dress in Eskimo and French garb, thus being an Eskimo Kiss and a French Kiss.

Here is Heather as an Eskimo KISS ala Paul Stanley:



Here I am as a French KISS ala Gene Simmons:



Initially, I was afraid people would mistake me for a mime with poor face painting abilities. Once dressed, I was afraid that people would think I was Venetian rather than French. The only person who mistook me for someone else, however, was a drunk guy who came up to me and said "Hey, Richard Simmons, alright". To which I responded, sorry I'm neither wearing dove shorts nor sweating to the oldies, I think you mean Gene Simmons. To which he turned to Heather and responded "Hey, another Gene Simmons, alright". At least he got it sort of right. On the whole, Heather and I were pretty disappointed in people's creativity. The one redeeming factor was the girl we saw dressed up as a box of Franzia. Best costume this Halloween, hands down.

Hey Yous Guys!!!!

My boss had a birthday this past Tuesday so Heather and I thought it would be nice if we got a cake. We opted for a cupcake cake from Safeway. Realizing that the other attorney I work for was in Europe for her birthday, we decided it would be a good idea if we presented it to the both of them. We intended to have the cake read "Happy Birthday, Yous Guys", but apparently Safeway had other ideas because this is what we ended up with:



I'm still trying to decide if Safeway ruined the cake or awesomified it. I'm leaning towards awesomified.

p.s. Mmmmmmmmmmm, cake!

Stuffed animals are cute. Unless they used to be alive. Then they are just dead.

I saw Demetri Martin last night and he lived up to expectation. Unfortunately, I did not get any good photos, so here is a reenactment.*


*Please note:
1) Reenactment is not to scale;
2) At the actually show Demetri had both hands and pants; and
3) I opted not to use glitter on this particular craft project.

You Should Read/Look At: Part Asian 100% Hapa

Whenever I'm at Borders or Barnes and Nobles I flip through this book. I have to admit I was initially kind of put off by the photographs being in the same vein as Michael Jackson's Black or White video. But I recently saw a interview with the author, Kip Fulbeck, wherein he explains his goal was to photograph the subjects uniformly and in their purest form, bare shoulders, without makeup and expressionless. Essentially, he wanted them to look like themselves, stripped of any artificially identity created by clothing and makeup. Now I get it.

I also just came across this video that I had not known existed. I think the video explains the project better than I have.



Being part Asian myself, I find the question of hapa identity particularly interesting. I guess the reason I keep coming back to this book is the same reason I always stare at the end photo display at the Japanese Culture Center here in Hawaii (in essence, the display is a pictorial timeline of Japanese in Hawaii. Starting with the Issei generation and ending with their grandchildren, many of whom are hapa or quapa-quarter Japanese). It's always been so strange for me that I can be so culturally Japanese, but physically not look it. Generally, people will be completely incredulous to my Asian ancestry or will know my exact nationality with out having to ask. The later tends to be people who have a similar background or grandparents who say I look exactly like their grandchildren. I guess this book offers me some reassurance that although I don't look completely or typically Japanese, I can still authentically be Japanese. Perhaps in the larger picture, the face of what we deem typical is changing.

Also, this book reminds me that hapa kids are super cute. Just saying...