Kona Trip

Did a weekend trip (4 days, 3 nights) in Kona this past weekend. I haven't been there since my early college years so I was looking forward to checking things out.

Stayed at the Keahou Bay Sheraton Resort. Hotel was a bit on the older side but had great amenities such as a huge pool, outdoor tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts, a fitness club, and great views. The 2 whirlpool jacuzzis were awesome as well! Going back and forth between the scorching hot jacuzzis and the cool water of the swimming pool during evening swims was great!

Here's the pool in the middle of the hotel.
The huge water slide in the outer pool. Unfortunately, was not able to partake on this ride as it was only open 9-5 each day and I was always out during those times.
Crystal blue water!
View of the bay from the hotel's huge viewing deck
Checked out the Farmer's Market on Ali'i Drive
Lots of fresh produce!
Went snorkeling at Kahalu'u Beach in Kailua-Kona. Water was so clear and had so many fish! Was way better than the crappyHanauma Bay!
All these people are gazing at the honu feeding on the rocks. Had 2 when I was in the area.
Closeup of the honu
After snorkeling, had a late lunch at some cafe at a local shopping center. This was a spinach, mushroom, shrimp, and calamari crepe. Very interesting idea, but the end product was a bit bland.
This salad was very tasty though.
Went to Waikoloa on the 3rd day. This is the Queen's Market Place.
Had lunch at Merriman's Market Cafe at the King's Shops. Doesn't it look like a cafe in Europe? Food was good! Tried the meatball sandwich and Angus burger. They also serve their fries with homemade ketchup!
View of the golf course from the King's Shops.
After lunch, went body boarding at Bones Beach (I think that's what it was called). Got gnarled by the reef though. These are just 2 of my numerous cuts
On the last day, drove to Hilo to check out the volcano activity. After the 2 hour drive to Volcano National Park, was informed that there was no activity in the park and that another hour drive to Pahoa was required to see the lava flow. Aw man!

On the way to Volcano, stopped by this diner in Ocean View. Was ono!
Check out the loco moco!
Ono roast pork! My favorite!
After finally getting to Pahoa, gotta "hike" about 10 minutes down to the lava viewing area.
But this is basically all you can see. Kind of a disappointment but still fun nonetheless.

My Sassy Girl Trailer

A trailer for the Hollywood remake of South Korea's My Sassy Girl is up on Youtube. The trailer is pretty bland and if it weren't a remake of one of my favorite Korean films, I probably wouldn't go watch it. But curiosity will get the better of me and will probably check this out whenever they decide to release it.

Good to see they kept a lot of the story aspects of the original film such as how they met, the kendo, the racquetball, the slapping game, the piano and rose ceremony, the subway hug scene, etc. I hope they remained as faithful as they could while still making an entertaining film!

Rumor is that they gave the "Sassy Girl" a name in this movie. Damn...that sucks. Jeon Ji Hyun's sassy girl character's name in the original film was never revealed. Oh well.....

March Madness

It's that time of year again! NCAA Tournament time! This year, I filled out my bracket in literally 2 minutes. No longer am I analyzing matchups, who's hot coming in to the tournament, who has higher RPI rankings, etc. I'm just going with my gut. And this is what I came up with:

My Final Four: North Carolina, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, and UCLA.

And yes, I'm being boring and joining the bandwagon. I picked UCLA to win it all in the championship game vs. North Carolina. (Also notice that I chose #3 seed Stanfurd to lose in the 1st round. Yeah, go Cornell!)

So your boys better come through for me, Tabasco Man! I'm investing a full $30 on them!

I'm Blu

Well...I did it! I've officially turned over to the Blu-Ray camp. I'm too much of a movie fan to stay away. After investing in a HD DVD player and about 30+ HD DVD movies, that format is now dead and it's now time to join the winning team.

I've already purchased several Blu-Rays even though I don't have a player yet cuz I knew it'd just be a matter of time till I got one and I didn't want to lose the big sale opportunities that are out there for the Blu-Ray movies. These are the movies I've ordered so far:

Into The Blue (Jessica Alba in HD! WW...wanna come over and watch?) $14.95
House of Flying Daggers $14.95
Donnie Brasco $14.95
Speed $17.95
Replacement Killers $16.49
Terminator 2 $13.95
Hitch $14.95
District 13 $14.49
Superbad $14
Underworld: Evolution $13

That's 10 Blu-Ray movies for an average of $14.97 each. Not bad, huh?

Now it was just a matter of getting a player. The cheapest and one of the better players out there is the PS3, which goes for $400 plus tax. But I don't need or want the game playing capacity of it and I don't like the look or orienatation of the unit either. So I was looking at getting a Panasonic BD30 player which has gotten solid all around reviews but I couldn't find one for cheaper than $500.

Then all of a sudden this morning I came across an opportunity to buy one from Panasonic directly using a special group code and was able to get it for $386! Sweet! Add on shipping and tax and the total is about $440, which is what the PS3 woulda cost me but I get a much better looking player without the unnecessary gaming aspect. I'm so stoked. Can't wait till it gets here.

Now I just gotta try and unload my HD DVDs and hopefully even my HD DVD player. Optimistically, if I can sell my HD DVDs for an average of let's say $12, then that will bring in about $370 assuming I can sell them all. Not bad, almost paying for the Blu-ray player by itself.

Hooray for Blu-Ray!

Lea Salonga Concert

I caught the Lea Salonga concert this past Saturday night and had a really good time. Lea is a world famous singer whose rise to fame started with her performance as Kim in Miss Saigon when she was just 18 years old. From there, she's starred in other Broadway musicals including Les Miz and has also recorded songs for the Disney films Aladdin and Mulan.

The concert was a very fun event and it was a sold out crowd. Her band was great and I liked how she talked to the audience between each song, sharing some of her experiences as well as explaining where each song came from. This was important as there were no programs for the event.

Some of her more well known songs were from the aforementioned musicals Miss Saigon and Les Miz, as well as "Reflections" from the Disney movie soundtrack. Before she sang "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, she asked the audience for a male volunteer to sing the male part and this young guy got the chance to go up and sing with her. At first we all thought, man, this guy is really good! But then you realize that it was staged cuz there's no way he knows all the words, sings that well, and can harmonize with Lea if he was just some Joe off the street.

She also sang 2 Filipino songs that the Filipinos in the crowd seemed to enjoy. A song about a cute guy at Starbucks who she calls "Latte Boy" was also funny and a hit with the crowd.

My favorites were a song she sang from the musical "Guys and Dolls" (I think it was called "I've Never Been in Love Before") and "Someone to Watch Over Me". Of course, her Broadway and Disney numbers were very good too.

Lea has an amazing voice and the quality of her live singing was better than listening to a CD. She was also very articulate in her interaction with the audience as well. To be honest, I was thinking that the concert might be a bore before going in but was happy that it was not.

So the next time she's in town, I'd definitely recommend checking it out!

Heart in Hawaii!

Thanks to Evil Bunny for giving me the heads up on this latest concert announcement. One of my favorite groups ever, Heart will be having a concert at the NBC. Ticket prices are $85, $70, $55, and $10. Tickets go on sale at the end of the month.

I've attended one of their concerts while I was living in the Bay Area in 1990 and it rocked! Can't wait!

Wow....1990....my freshman year of college....18 years already! Auwe!

What's Up With Hanauma Bay?

Went to Hanauma Bay yesterday. It was lots of fun as I haven't gone snorkeling in a long while (I think the last time was last April or May) but where'd all the fish go? I seem to remember that when I went when I was a kid and even up to a few years ago there'd be tons of fish all over but yesterday, they were so few and far in between! Is it just me or is the number of fish at Hanauma Bay dwindling? And that video they make you watch before you can enter the Bay shows squid and octopus in the waters. I've never seen either at the Bay. Hmm.....

Any other good snorkeling spots out there on Oahu?