Superbowl XLVIII Halftime

Of course, lots of folks back home must have been feeling proud yesterday during the halftime show.  I was watching it on a big screen at the house of a Seattle friend who now lives in Saitama, just a few miles north of Tokyo's northern limits.  To watch the Superbowl live in Japan you have to get up early Monday morning; it's kind of a big day for Sports bars in Tokyo, with their Bowl buffets and satellite set-ups; and it isn't just Americans who go.  I remember my first Superbowl Monday fondly.  One of my Japanese friends, Akio, a very very diehard Bears fan, invited me to a bar in Roppongi.  I got there during the second quarter and it seemed half the crowd was already kind of drunk, the other half consuming more moderately, as we watched the Patriots win their first title.  After the game, most people picked up their briefcases and took the subway to work; I guessed that they were the ones who were drinking moderately.

Thankfully, my Seattle-Saitama friend records his Superbowls onto hard-disk now, so we don't have to get up all that early.  We avoid all news sites and social media for the morning, "go off-grid," as he likes to say, and watch it at our leisure.  He was pretty amped up, though.  Obviously that first play, the safety, got him more so.  With every score, he'd say something like "The albatross is being lifted off my neck, baby!" referring to Seattle's long wait for an NFL championship.  I've known the guy for over a decade and had no idea he felt that way.  His family sent him a bunch of Seahawk t-shirts, even Seahawk napkins.  He made me wear a Wilson shirt.  Before the game started, he mentioned that in all the nation there was only one city that had two or more professional sports organizations (playing at the major level) who have yet to win a single championship.  "And it isn't Seattle," he announced proudly , as the Sonics had won the NBA in 1979, surely a memorable day for my Saitama buddy.  I thought for a while and took multiple guesses as to the city, all of them wrong.  (My lack of MLB knowledge is pretty drastic.)  The answer?  San Diego.  At least, that's he says.

As I watched Bruno's show and they launched into the third song, I felt that there was something about it that seemed. . .I can't quite place the word.  Not otherworldly, not timeless, not surreal. . .But I felt somehow that Bruno Mars could have fit into a lot of different musical eras with that show.  I could picture him in Motown, obviously, with the James Brown thing; I could see him in the 70s, performing with P-Funk; or in the 90s as kind of his own Billboard chart thing, existing outside of the Alternative Rock genre that was being defined at the time.  If he'd performed this halftime show in the 60s, I could imagine Hendrix kind of liking him for his versatility, and the Beatles for his songwriting, but of course I don't know any of this, nor would I know why my thoughts were wandering there.  It's funny, I also had this flash of him performing in the movie Streets of Fire.  I guess it's because his band's dressed in a similar fashion to the Sorels.  (I'm just talking about a passing visual resemblance.  Also, the setting of that movie is left purposely ambiguous and undefined, which gives it a slight otherworldliness and out-of-timeness.) 


                       


I thought about these things as l watched the halftime show.  I also thought  Wow, you know whenever I read anything about Bruno Mars, I almost never see the subject of ethnicity come up.  I mean  lots of the Filipino community in Hawai'i and probably many other places feel a great deal of pride at seeing how he's emerged onto this world's music scene, and lots of the local community in Hawai'i , whatever ethnicity, feels the same; but in the general media, I don't see writers paying much attention to cultural or ethnic background.  If it comes up, it's usually just a blurb at the beginning  of the article when they open with a brief bio.  Having the name Mars may be well conducive to all of this.  I wonder if the world would have viewed him any differently had he released all of his records under the name Peter Gene Hernandez.  I don't know the answer, and I don't think it's a very important question, but it popped up as I watched.  Personally I think that Mars was a good choice for him.  I don't mind talking about ethnicity and race and in fact think it's good to talk about them, but I also like that the idea of a post-racialness or post-racialism evolving naturally, just because people care more about the person or his/her actions more (or, in Bruno Mars' case, his music).

And I did like it when the Chili Peppers came out onstage.  It evoked memories of college days, after RHC'd just broken through on MTV and were part of an exciting, initially spontaneous change in what concerts during that era came to be.  I'm talking about the early to mid-90s, when the Pit had just become the thing to do at just about everyone's show.  I could so vividly imagine guys now in their thirties and forties shouting out "Yeeeaaahhh!  Givitaway, givitaway, givitaway now!!  Flea!!!  Yeahhh!!!"  
I was like, "Hey, Flea's wearing pants!"




And, oh man, I just read this article on Forbes.  None of these Superbowl acts get paid.  Man, that is what I call weight.  Gravitas!  It's perhaps the biggest single gig in the world and everyone wants to do it for free.  I really like that.

Article on Forbes site:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/02/03/what-bruno-mars-super-bowl-show-means-for-his-earnings/

Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka to Everyone!  (Hawaiian for Merry Christmas, in case you haven't heard this song or phrase. . .)

luggage carts

Although I can't speak for my state, I can say that I'm sorry and slightly embarrassed that my state does this.  I can hardly believe that they charge $4 for luggage carts at the airport.  I've been traveling around Asia for the last ten years, and everywhere I go the luggage carts are free.

Bruno Mars to Perform at Superbowl XLVII

See the article here.

I don't know nearly as much about Bruno Mars as a lot of other people I know seem to know.  Just read about him on Wikipedia and found out that he went to Roosevelt; I can't believe I never heard that before.   Now that I think about it, I haven't talked to many of my Hawai'i friends about him..  I know a lot of people back home who like his music, mostly girls I guess--I think that's true pretty much wherever I go.  I think a lot of local people are proud of him for his success, but I'm not sure if he's seen by everyone as exactly representing Hawai'i, since he's taken things so far past his local roots, past the Hawaiian music scene.  I wonder how he feels about it. 

To tell the truth, I don't know his music very well, but I'm glad he writes his own songs.  It's also great that he likes Hendrix.

Waimānalo camping

I've been beach camping a few times, most recently on the Waimānalo side.  A great place, never overly crowded, clear water that reflects a fine blue, and soft sand.  Not far away is Kailua, which was the first beach that showed me powdery fine sand, I think back in the seventh grade, on a school trip.  Waimānalo is more out of the way for most people, and so a bit more secluded.  

We pitch tents, BBQ, swim (this beach isn't the best for surfing or boarding, but if you want to do those things, Sherwoods is down the road), go crab-seeking at night, and sleep with the ocean next to us.  When we wake up the air and water usually seem a little cold or at least cool, our sleepiness becomes laziness, and we often don't want the bother of getting wet and needing a shower afterwards; but whenever we do push ourselves from tent to water, we feel that it was worth it.  The morning swim here is very fine; the sun rises on this side of the island.

Liliha Bakery

I've been going to Liliha Bakery for the coco puffs for, I don't know, twenty or twenty-five years, but I'd never eaten in.  This week I had a chance to sit at that counter.  It was 1030am on a weekday but there was already a line snaking back to the refrigerated goods, and it was a bit of a put-off at first.  (When I'm in Tokyo and see a line like that, it usually sends me on my way.  I get that it's exciting for a lot of people to wait for something popular and that the wait builds anticipation, but not so much, for me.)  

Part of the reason that the line gets so long is that the eat-in area is all counter and when single spaces open up, customers who have come in twos and threes will often opt to endure until adjacent seats are vacated, that their group can eat together.  A system exists to accommodate this situation; a waitress will ask if there are any lone customers standing down the line who would like to be bumped ahead and make use of the single empty counter spots.  If there are no such lone patrons, the space goes unfilled for a little while.  It's one of those things that can't be helped; in any case, the line moved and the waitresses (there was no host/hostess to seat people) were very alert in monitoring the line.  We got to sit down after twenty minutes.

 

Liliha Bakery, parking lot

the counter

When we asked for menus, our waitress slapped them down in front of us without looking at us or saying anything, and this caused me to have a bit of a cautious first impression, but she (and everybody) turned out to be really nice.  They were busy but tried to look after everybody.  The stoves are in open view, which I quite like, in general.  I tend to like places with open stoves.  I like watching how they cook things, how they prepare ingredients, what bits of shorthand they might use in their on-the-job communications.  Maybe another part of me feels assured in being able to witness the sanitary conditions.  (This place was quite clean.)

the kitchen

The food was pretty good.  The butter rolls were great.  I chose toast when I ordered but saw someone else's rolls and changed my mind; our food servers were nice about it.  Definitely, go with the butter rolls.  The jelly's great too.

blurry picture of the butter rolls

 The country-style omelet with fried potatoes didn't really look like an omelet to me.  At first sight I did not find it appetizing because I love the way omelets usually look.  Something about the color, the soft visual texture and fluffiness.  But this omelet was tasty; I chose bacon for its meat ingredient (you can also choose from ham, pork sausage, Vienna sausage, Portuguese sausage, hamburger patty, and of course Spam).  Additional ingredients were round and green onions, diced tomatoes.

the country-style omelet, $7.99

My aunty, who lived in Alewa for many years, used to like the hamburger steak.  It was good. 

the hamburger steak, $9.39

A few days later I went again.  I had the vegetable omelet (mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and green bell peppers), which is pretty good, if you like those kinds of vegetables.  We also tried the 2-egg breakfast with corn beef hash (good stuff!).

the vegetable omelet, $7.99

2-egg breakfast with corn beef hash and fried potatoes, $7.39

I was surprised to find out that this place is open 24 hours from Wednesday to Saturday.  There aren't all that many places in Hawai'i (outside of Waikīkī) that are open 24 hours, and this one is in kind of a residential location (not far from Chinatown/downtown if you're driving, and close to Kuakini hospital, but mostly close to houses).  They close early on Sunday (counter 730pm, bakery 8pm), are closed all Monday and open at 6am on Tuesday.



http://lilihabakeryhawaii.com/

Sizzler and others things that disappear

It wasn't my favorite steak place, but now that it's closed down, I'm sorry to see Sizzler go.  They announced bankruptcy last week Wednesday, I think.  Well, it isn't Sizzler closing down, but its locations on O'ahu, all of which had already changed in name from Sizzler to GoKo Steak and Salad Bar.  Sometime back in May this year, GoKo bought the restaurants and renamed them, but from what I hear it was largely a continuance of the establishments.  But  now those are gone.  One of the inevitable things about living abroad is coming home to find things disappearing.  It is of course a sad occurrence, but especially so when they're things that you consciously look forward to seeing again.  You might think about them right after you've booked your flight home, anticipation building as the vacation ahead starts to materialize, as you start to visualize. . .Or perhaps in the middle of a hectic workday, you might long for these creature comforts, buoyed by the assurance that you'll return to them in a matter of months or weeks.  For me, the biggest blow was when all the Borders closed.  (May the Force be with Ala Moana's Barnes & Nobles--please stay with us.)  Sizzler's closing is an end to one of those things that I can't remember ever not being there.

Growing up, I lived near a Sizzler and used to go past it every day on my way to and from school.  I interviewed for a job as a teenager and even had a chance to work there; only, I declined because they said I'd have to wear black slacks and dress shoes every day, and I didn't want to do that.  I had kind of an attitude during my teen years, and it was sometimes unfortunate.  After moving to Tokyo, I had a few Sizzler experiences there--the steaks there are thinner and the salad bars have fewer options, although the produce is quite fresh--which made me appreciate our island versions more.  In recent years, I'd pay a visit to the Pearlridge Sizzler salad bar at least once a trip.  I will miss it.  I also started going to the one on Dillingham every now and then for breakfast.  It seemed like a lot of retirees were regulars who will no doubt feel the absence of the senior specials.

My sympathies to the employees. . .

Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

url link 
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/22986362/www.hawaiinewsnow.com?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9153374

P.S.  If you're ever in Tokyo, there are Sizzlers in Shinjuku and Odaiba.