Wyland paints final Whaling Wall in China

World famous marine life artist and 2008 Olympic Artist Wyland will announce plans for his 100th and final Whaling Wall project at a press conference tomorrow - July 2 at 11 a.m. HST - at The Wyland Waikiki. Since the hotel is my client, our agency has been assisting in the coordination of the event.

Vernon Brown with 808Talk.com will be live-streaming the press conference so those interested can tune in an be a part of history. The live stream will also be carried on the front page of USTREAM.TV. A big mahalo to V. Brown for his kokua!

The mile-long mural will be painted this summer in Beijing, China with the help of thousands of children from around the world celebrate the Green Olympics. Wyland, 51, has painted murals in more than 75 cities in fourteen countries that are seen by a billion people each year. The artist, who recently completed murals in American Samoa, England, and Brazil, is an official artist of United States Olympic Team for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Wyland’s efforts for conservation awareness have been recognized by the United Nations, Sierra Club, Rotary International, Riverkeeper Alliance, and Surfrider Foundation. His Wyland Foundation, in partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is actively engaged in teaching millions of students around the world to become caring, informed stewards of our oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.

-NGK

[Photo courtesy of The Wyland Foundation.]

For all beer lovers like me out there…

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a special insert this past Sunday focusing on Hawaii’s growing beer scene. Those close to me know I enjoy drinking local brews whenever I get the chance and have become a fan of Maui Brewing Company’s award-winning line of beers, particularly its Coconut Porter.

Many folks out ther may not realize how many breweries we have in the islands, so to all the beer lovers out there I share this link with you. Bud Light, Heineken, and Coors Light may be the regular beers seen at most local parties, but give the local guys a try if you haven’t already done so and let me know if you agree that Hawaii’s got some great homegrown brew!

-NGK

“Chicken Skin” Moment at Tim Russert’s Funeral

I heard the other day on the radio that Bruddah IZ’s rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” concluded Tim Russert’s funeral services. That in itself was a “chicken skin” moment for me. But when they said a huge rainbow appeared over the Capitol after the song was done, that nearly made me jump out of my own skin. A friend shared this link to the Fox News coverage that shows the moment. Even the anchors are moved by what happened. Now that’s what the Aloha Spirit is all about!

R.I.P Tim Russert and Bruddah IZ!

-NGK

WE MADE ALLTOP! NO WAY!

Way! We got the good news this morning that the Kam Family Blog made the Alltop list in the Hawaii and Life categories. This is pretty awesome considering some of the heavyweights we now share company with on the site.

This little experiment started off as an online family photo album following the birth of our son Ensen last June. It has since evolved into a space to share the things we love about living and working in Hawaii.

So what is Alltop? According to the website:

You can think of an Alltop site as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. We help you explore your passions by collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web. We’ve grouped these collections — “aggregations” — into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, Muslim, celebrity gossip, military, fashion, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, and Macintosh. At each Alltop site, we display the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs.

So in celebration, we’ll keep the nifty Alltop badge displayed on the right hand side of this site until we need to take it down. Mahalo Alltop…you made our day!

-NGK

No April fools joke, Aloha means goodbye!

1946 – 2008

The Story of Aloha Airlines

 

The Ides of March claims another one…

Beware the Ides of March! This month has not been kind to Hawaii businesses and the superstition that bad things happen in threes was confirmed once more.

First it was Weyerhaeuser announcing it was closing its doors after 50 years in Hawaii. Then Molokai Ranch shocked the islands with the same news last week. And today, the news we were all hoping we weren’t going to get came down.

Aloha Airlines today announced it is ceasing passenger operations at close of business tomorrow. What does that mean? No more Aloha Airlines interisland or transpacific service come Tuesday. But sadder, it means roughly 1,900 Aloha Airlines employees will lose their jobs in less than 48 hours. I wish all of the Aloha Airlines employees the best and a heartfelt mahalo for everything they’ve done over the past 61 years.

On a brighter note, Hawaiian Airlines and go! Airlines are stepping up its service to accommodate the void left by Aloha Airlines in the interisland marketplace. Hawaiian said today it is increasing its interisland capacity by 6,000 seats starting on Tuesday, so it good to know we won’t be hung out to dry.

If you’re following the story as a local or visitor heading to or currently here in Hawaii, the best source for updated information is the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau’s website. It’s a one-stop-shop for the latest updates from the Governor’s office, Hawaii Tourism Authority, airlines, hotels, and visitor industry.

-NGK

[Photo courtesy of Boeing]

Were go! airlines pilots “sleep flying”?

I can certainly understand people sleep walking, but “sleep flying” would be a whole different ballgame. A story in today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin titled “Tapes show go! pilots unresponsive in flight” got me thinking if such a medical condition exists and could it be a possible reason go! airlines pilots overshot Hilo Airport by 15 miles on February 13.

A quick search of the term “sleep flying” on WebMD came back with negative results. But all media reports thus far suggest there’s a good possibility the pilots were asleep at the wheel that day. Or “busy” doing other things instead of paying attention to the task at hand.

Regardless of whether pilots were sleeping or not has solidified my position to never fly go! airlines as long as Hawaiian and Aloha airlines are here.

-NGK

[Photo courtesy of Honolulu Star-Bulletin]