“LOST” landed in Kaimuki this morning, at St. Patrick Catholic Church on Waialae Avenue. The parking lot was staged with shiny BMWs and Mercedes (and a couple of black stretch limousines) with California plates. And as an unusually large number of extras arrived, all dressed in black, it became clear they were there to film a funeral scene.
The actors were on the set soon enough. Jorge Garcia, Naveen Andrews, and Evangeline Lilly were tended to by wardrobe and make-up, along with another young female actress I didn’t recognize. There was also a young baby getting the star treatment.
Other fans that had gathered speculated that the funeral was for Claire, but I spotted by chance a large portrait being carried into the church. A staid older gentleman with gray hair was depicted. Can’t say for sure, but my mind flashed instantly to Someone on the inside later confirmed: it’s the funeral for Christian Shephard.
The exterior scene involved Sayid and KateNadia standing outside the church as mourners filed in. A limo arrives, and Hurley exits along with the aforementioned young woman carrying the baby. The group hugs and talks briefly at the top of the stairs before heading inside. Though it looked like a flash forward involving many of the “Oceanic Six” (Matthew Fox was en route inside), there was no flock of press.
Frankly I was more intrigued by Hurley’s companion than the identity of the person being laid to rest. And were they bringing Aaron, or another baby entirely? A friend I saw there said the woman bore a slight resemblance to Marguerite Moreau, a.k.a. Hurley’s crush Starla. But I admit that could just be wishful thinking on my part!
UPDATE: Eagle-eyed fans at The Fuselage have spotted Andrea Gabriel (Nadia) in the photos. And I’m now wondering if the baby-carrying woman with Hurley was just Evangeline Lilly’s stand-in.
Alltop offers quick, clean overviews of headlines from a variety of subjects, from venture capital to music to gaming. Described as “dashboards” or “virtual magazine racks,” the site’s pages allow you to easily browse the day’s hottest topics.
The hawaii.alltop.com page features a mix of independent blogs and mainstream media outlets based in or focused on the Aloha State. Writings by investigative journalist Ian Lind appear alongside headlines from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Alex Salkever’s travel-centric Hawaiirama is included, as is Raising Islands, the blog of veteran science reporter Jan Tenbruggencate.
The Hawaii collection was curated by local blogger and Kawasaki staffer L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine, who also assists with Kawasaki’s Truemors site. Neenz notes that while headline aggregation is hardly anything new for geeks, Alltop aims to make the concept accessible to everyone. And that was evident in its early focus.
“Alltop was originally to be an aggregation of celebrity gossip sites, but that idea evolved into the ‘online magazine rack’ that it is today: a collection of the all of the top sites, neatly categorized for the non-RSS user,” Neenz explains. “You know the majority of the world!”
As for the Hawaii page? “The sites featured are not your typical tourist magnets. (For that visit Travel.alltop.com.) The hand-picked sites feature news of and about Hawaii from the mainstream media, citizen journalists and some of Hawai’i’s top bloggers.”
I was certainly honored to find Hawaii Blog among the sources included. But the island magazine rack isn’t a static thing. If you know of a website that would mix well, just send Alltop an e-mail, or get in touch with Neenz!
Web strategist Jeremiah Owyang has been “on the grid” for over 900 days, and after a presentation to a Cisco partner conference in Honolulu yesterday, he began a much needed vacation. As he unplugged from the web, however, he spent the first hours of his time off plugging into the local geek community. I helped organize a “Blogger Dinner” to introduce local web heads to Jeremiah and each other, and we had a fantastic time.
Jeremiah specifically sought an off-the-beaten-path experience, so we ventured out of urban Honolulu into the plantation town of Waipahu. (On our way to the event, in fact, we visited the Waipahu Soto Zen Taiyoji, my family’s Buddhist temple, which I suspect sees one tourist a year.) The mission was to find authentic Hawaiian food, and it doesn’t get much more authentic than at Highway Inn. Situated in an small and unassuming strip mall off the highway and a stone’s throw from the interstate, the eatery has been a local institution for over 60 years.
The food, of course, was fantastic. Among us, I think every dish on the menu was served. Laulau, kalua pig, pipikaula, tripe stew, poke, lomi salmon, and poi, of course. Gadgets of all kinds were in abundance, ranging from the Flip Video camera to a Nokia N95. And the conversation flowed freely and widely, from kids and family to cutting-edge web services. Of course, Twitter was a hot topic, as the event was as much a Twitter meetup as it was a blogger gathering. Twitter was how most of us were connected, and how I’d spread the word of Jeremiah’s visit.
We were a large group for the small restaurant, but fortunately Neenz and family warmed the staff up early. The manager remembered me and my blog entry about the restaurant’s 60th anniversary, and said it had brought some new customers. And our server, Mapuana (a.k.a. Malia), turned out to be an integral part of the evening. She was more than friendly and patient, she was completely fired up. Her tale of discovering MySpace had the group in stitches, and we helped flesh out her Internet acronym vocabulary. “LOL?” she said, incredulously. “Why not just type, ‘Ha ha ha ha’?” We all vowed to make her a MySpace friend.
Jeremiah made a video introducing everyone (including Mapuana). He also and rallied us to post the hashtag “#hawaiiblog” to Twitter and to tag our Flickr photos with “hawaiiblog” so we could find each other online. Ian Kitajima was broadcasting live video from the gathering. And the thoughtful and resourceful Kara Baker ventured out to bring back a flower lei for Jeremiah… and a box of ice cream cones for everyone else.
It was a wonderful evening spent with wonderful people, many of whom met in person for the first time (despite knowing each other well online). We wished Jeremiah the best on his well-deserved vacation, and vowed to get together again soon.
Here’s who was there (and their Twitter accounts):
Mark your calendars and brace your palates: the annual “Waikiki Spam Jam” is returning on May 3, 2008. Hawaii residents consume more Spam per capita than any other state in the union: nearly seven million cans a year. So it makes sense that we celebrate everyone’s favorite brand of “mystery meat.” How? With a big party full of live music and food booths selling creative (if sometimes too creative) Spam-enhanced dishes. Video after the jump! [Read more →]
On Sunday, my family and I met up with an old college friend and her kids in Kailua on the Windward side of O’ahu. It was a gray, rainy day, and at first it seemed as if our beach picnic plans had been scuttled. But a patch of blue sky inspired us to head out anyway, and we spent a perfect hour at Lanikai Beach.
Lanikai is frequently voted by locals and travel experts alike as one of Hawaii’s best beaches. And even on this overcast, windy spring day, it was easy to see why this stretch of sand has so many fans. Our kids had a blast frolicking in the surf and playing in the soft sand. This beach trip was also a landmark one for our youngest son, Alex, who up until now had an inexplicable fear of the ocean. Though he kept his distance from the waves at first, he was eventually won over by Lanikai’s gentle waves.
Alex’s costars in this short video include his 10-year-old sister Katie and 5-year-old brother Zac. There’s even a brief cameo by our friend’s son, Tyler. The music is by Kimo Watanabe.
SPOILER ALERT! It’s been a busy week for the “LOST” production team, and with five episodes to produce in a little over a month, that’s hardly surprising. We’re deep into the production of Episode 4×11, which is apparently Locke-centric, and “LOST” crews have been spotted all over the island working hard to bring the story to your TV screens.
On Thursday, workers returned to the old Waimano Home in Pearl City, where Locke’s birth (and an apparent visit by Richard Alpert) was filmed the day before. I’m told the folks on set were much less talkative on day two, and the set was apparently a different part of the facility… but both Terry O’Quinn and Lance Reddick (Matthew Abbadon) were seen in the neighborhood.
That same day, visiting German student and fan Marcel again caught “LOST” at work, this time high in the mountains. They were filming an on-island scene along Manoa Falls Trail, complete with mysterious DHARMA door in the grassy hillside. He saw Josh Holloway and Emilie DeRavin in the morning, and when I joined him during my lunch break, we watched Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Rebecca Mader and Jeremy Davies traipse through the jungle, over and over and over again. Making television is hard work!
But that’s not all. Word quickly spread on the coconut wireless thanks to some excited Teach for America workers, a handful of which were thrilled to find “LOST” setting up shop at Leilehua High School in Wahiawa (just one town over from where we live in Mililani). I headed up to the campus after work, and was able to watch them film a couple of scenes.
The young extras were dressed in 1960s fashions (brown gingham dresses and high socks), including several cheerleaders… much to the delight of some Leilehua High School boys that were hanging around. And attention was focused on a young man with brown hair, a collared shirt, and a severe countenance. It was John Locke at sixteen, having an intense conversation with a teacher, a green “Cowan Heights Knights” school crest hanging over his shoulder. Let’s just say our “Man of Faith” has had issues with science for a long time.
“LOST” returned to Wahiawa today, filming more at Leilehua High, and filming another scene elsewhere in the neighborhood. No sign of any actors, but the sight of some classic American cars was hard to miss.
UPDATE: Late word from Wahiawa United Methodist Church, reporting several “gorgeous” 1950s or 1960s cars. And one of them was apparently enlisted to film a dramatic scene in which a little girl (perhaps five years of age) runs out of a house and gets struck in the street.
The above Aloha Airlines tribute has been airing on local television all week, courtesy the “Friends of Aloha,” likely burning up airtime already paid for by the airline. It was produced by Montaj9, based in part on a video montage created two years ago to celebrate Aloha Airlines’ 60th year of service. Now, the scenes from the company’s rich history are part of farewell message… and one that still gets me a little misty-eyed every time I see it.
For most people in Hawaii, Aloha Airlines has always been around. Part of a powerful binary star system of interisland travel, the Pepsi to Hawaiian Airlines‘ Coke. People were usually loyal to one or the other (I’m a Hawaiian man, myself). But when the two competitors started to cooperate (some would say collude), and when ticket prices skyrocketed, the love affair ended. With the entry of newcomer go! Airlines and the Hawaii Superferry, and huge increases in fuel costs, collapse was inevitable.
SPOILER ALERT! “LOST” found its way deep in the forest above Pearl City today at the old Waimano Home complex. The area is known today mostly for great ridge and valley hiking, and the drab buildings — formerly a mental institution — now house offices for the state’s public safety and health departments. As it turns out, the drab, decrepit concrete structures were exactly the look “LOST” was going for. The scene being filmed takes place in a hospital maternity ward, but the mood was anything but joyous.
Wardrobe seemed decidedly rooted in the 1950s, from the hospital staff to the dapperly dressed men and women scattered around the set. One of the main faces was familiar, the other was not. Nestor Carbonell (the much-missed Richard Alpert) was spotted, looking especially stylish in a suit. But the center of attention was a distraught woman in her 20s. I have no idea who the actress was, but her character’s name may ring a bell: Emily.
Emily who? Well, it would be one of the (real, not TV) nurses who would help connect the final dots, just mentioning offhand one of the babies on the set today. A baby whose adult incarnation was apparently expected to be on the scene tomorrow. And a baby whose mother we have seen before… just much, much older: Emily Locke. Yes, the very one who sold her son out, and who also spent some time in Santa Rosa.
Imagining the eerily ageless Richard Alpert off-island in the 1950s is amazing enough. But could it be that he was there for John Locke’s birth? The mind boggles.
With Paul Edwards in the director’s chair, my guess is that this is all for Episode 4×11.
SPOILER ALERT! I know that I’m fortunate to be a “LOST” fan living in Honolulu, able to watch the cast and crew behind the fantastic ABC series right here in my proverbial backyard. But sometimes, even travelers from far off places have better luck than I do in getting close to the action.
Yesterday, on my way to meet a friend downtown, I drove past a “LOST” shoot near Hawaii Pacific University on Fort Street. I sent text messages to a few other fans who I figured might be in the area, and continued onto lunch. Now, I returned later in the afternoon to find the set, built inside HPU’s Frear Center on the second floor of 1132 Bishop Street. But they’d put in several false walls and erected heavy curtains (both to control the light and to discourage looky-loos like me), and the best I could do was chat with other fans.
Well, it turns out that two of the fans I’d alerted earlier in the day were also on the scene, and stuck around to see a lot more than I did. And they were both fans from Europe who’d only recently e-mailed me about their visits to Hawaii. Terje from Norway and Marcel from Germany were kind enough to share their observations from this otherwise closed set.
The scene was set inside St. Sebastian Neurology Clinic, bustling with doctors and nurses in scrubs and white smocks. Matthew Fox was there, of course. But so was John Terry. One scene took place at the hospital’s front desk, and another inside Dr. Jack Shephard’s office. More than a few minds were blown when Sam Anderson showed up… but he was apparently just visiting with his wife and kids. It’s good to know he’s back in town, though!
Curiously enough, Marcel and I actually chatted for a moment while I was there, but we didn’t realize it until connecting the dots afterward. Just like “LOST,” people cross paths in the most unexpected places, and often don’t even know it.
It’s not too late to catch some of Hawaii’s brightest young minds in action in one of the most surprisingly exciting competitions you’ll likely ever see. And admission is free! Today is the last day of the FIRST in Hawai`i Regional Robotics Competition, taking place at the Stan Sheriff Center on the UH-Manoa campus.
Teams from schools across the state and across the country have built complex and sturdy robots to battle head-to-head, moving and tossing 40-inch balls around and over an obstacle course. And today is by far the most popular and dramatic day of competition. Qualifying rounds wrap up in the morning, with the finals beginning at 1 p.m.
Of course, there’s a lot more to FIRST than spectacular robot battles. Founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, its mission is “to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.”
“LOST” landed in Kaimuki this morning, at St. Patrick Catholic Church on Waialae Avenue. The parking lot was staged with shiny BMWs and Mercedes (and a couple of black stretch limousines) with California plates. And as an unusually large number of extras arrived, all dressed in black, it became clear they were there to film a funeral scene.
