Andy Irons dies; I'm in shock

By • November 2, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

The news came in an e-mail.

Jodi Wilmott, longtime surfer and media director of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, sent out a media alert that Andy Irons, three-time World Champion, died today. He was just 32.

I’m in complete shock. He was young, he was at the top of his game — he wasn’t supposed to die. Surfers don’t die.

And yet, the surfing world is mourning this loss, and I still can’t get my head around it.

Irons missed his Round 1 and 2 heats at the Rip Curl Search Puerto Rico stop on the ASP Men’s World Tour due to illness and was traveling back to Hawaii when he passed away.

According to the Associated Press, Irons was found dead in a hotel room in Dallas, where he was on a layover en route to his home on Kauai.

According to Wilmott, he had reportedly been battling with dengue fever. But other news reports are saying the cause is still unknown.

Irons was scheduled to compete in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing in Hawaii, which is scheduled to begin next week.

“The thing that I think many of us appreciated the most about Andy was that he was an incredibly real person,” Wilmott told the Associated Press. “Where a lot of champions in sports and celebrities become very guarded and you just wonder sometimes if you’re really seeing who they are, you’ve got Andy Irons 100 percent of the time.”

Despite our close ages — and both growing up and surfing in Hawaii — I never got a chance to meet Irons. But I did see him surf. And let me tell you, he ripped. No question. It didn’t matter which side you were on — Kelly Slater or Andy Irons — you couldn’t deny that the guy could surf.

And to make it worse, his wife, Lyndie, is pregnant and scheduled to give birth to their son and first child in December.

My thoughts are with his family and friends. He will be missed.

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

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How annoying is product placement?

By • November 1, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

It’s not a recent phenomenon.

Product placement has been around for decades, gaining popularity in the ’80s with movies such as “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” which prominently featured Reese’s Pieces.

These days two-thirds of advertisers employ what’s called “branded entertainment” — or product placement — with most of that in TV shows.

So it’s no surprise that CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” is littered with product placement, from the shot of Hawaiian Airlines in the opening credits to the excessive use of the Apple iPhone 4. In last night’s episode, other advertisers featured included Body Glove, First Hawaiian Bank and, of course, Chevrolet, which has a product integration deal with CBS.

Most consumers understand now that product placement is part of the movie-going or TV-viewing experience. But can it be too much?

“The Island” featured at least 35 individual products and brands, including cars, bottled water, shoes and credit cards. In a scene from “The Matrix Reloaded,” a car chase included a Cadillac CTS and Escalade EXT. Minute Maid was placed in “Beetlejuice” and Pizza Hut in “Back to the Future.” Don’t forget NBC’s “Heroes,” which featured Nissan cars.

And don’t get me started on reality TV.

So is today’s onslaught of product placement making TV shows and movies feel more like big-budget advertisements? Or are we numb to it?

***

For the #H50 fans, here’s a recap of last night’s episode:

Lowlights:

• Detective Steve McGarrett talking to Danny “Danno” Williams while on the U.S.S. Missouri — with the accused murdered within earshot. I think he could hear you, McGarrett.
• It seemed a bit too easy that McGarrett 1) boarded the Mighty Mo during a hostage crisis and 2) could get the Navy SEAL to open up so easily. He’s not the warmest guy.
• McGarrett gets patted down for weapons but the suspect doesn’t feel his iPhone.
• How Kono Kalakaua could lose Lily, the daughter of the woman murdered, right at the beach.

Highlights:

• During that useless phone conversation — couldn’t they just text each other? — McGarrett asked Williams, “Do you miss me?” I’m loving this bromance.
• Go Kim Gennaula, former TV anchor now psychologist on the show. She looked great in fatigues!
• Kelly Hu has got a recurring role as the governor’s public safety liaison. Believable.
• Best line, from Williams: “What, I’m here for the entertainment?” Uh, yeah.

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

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'Long hair not appropriate for grown-ups'

By • November 1, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

The New York Times published an essay by writer Dominique Browning last week that begged the question, “Why can’t middle-aged women have long hair?”

Especially long gray hair.

It got me thinking about middle-aged (or older) women I knew and, hmm, she had a point. I couldn’t think of one woman over 50 who had gloriously long hair a la 63-year-old country singer Emmylou Harris. Not one.

Why?

Browning says people judge middle-age long hair so harshly, like they’re trying to cling to their youth. “I’ve heard enough by now,” she wrote, “to catalog the multitudinous complaints into several broad categories.

“Long hair,” she added, “is not the appropriate choice of grown-ups.”

(The story garnered more than 1,200 comments, by the way.)

Even Good Housekeeping, in posting a gallery of gray-haired celebrities, included just one photo of a long-haired woman — Harris — with the rest in age-appropriate lengths, varying from shoulder-length to pixie cuts.

Or, what we call the “Mom Haircut.” (You know what I’m talking about.)

So what’s going on here? Are women chopping their locks because it’s more socially acceptable — or because they don’t want to deal with long hair anymore? Someone tell me!

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

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FUUD: Chef Mavro on King Street

By • October 29, 2010 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

The last time I ate at Chef Mavro on the corner of King and McCully streets was several years ago — well before the high-end restaurant received national accolades like the AAA Five Diamond Award or the designation of Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. by Gayot Guide.

And it was still damn good.

Now the restaurant is dripping with awards and recognition, from receiving the the prestigious AAA Five Diamond Award three years in a row, being named everything from Top 10 Seafood Restaurants in the World (Destination Fish) to 10 Most Romantic Honeymoon Hot Spots (TheKnot.com), to getting impressive reviews from restaurant critics at the New York Times, Gourmet and the Los Angeles Times.

So, inspired by our recent jaunt to Paris this month, we decided to head back to Mavro from some French-inspired cuisine, where small plates explode with flavors and the personally selected wines pair perfectly with the seasonal selections. It was like being back in Avignon — only we were feasting on freshly caught opakapaka and the James Beard Award-winning chef George “Chef Mavro” Mavrothalassitis read my tweet about it and came to my table to personally thank me. (Seriously. He reads his tweets.)

Here’s what we ate:

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Chef Mavro, 1969 S. King St. Hours: 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Phone: 808-944-4714, www.chefmavro.com, www.facebook.com/chef.mavro. Follow Chef Mavro on Twitter @chefmavro

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

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Scare my costume off

By • October 28, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

I’ve never been a big horror movie fan.

Sure, I’ve seen the classics such as “The Exorcist,” “Psycho” and “Scream.” But I probably only saw 20 percent of each film, my head usually ducked into my lap and my fingers jammed into my ears. I couldn’t sleep with the lights off for months after watching “Child’s Play,” thinking some crazed red-headed doll was going to chase me with a butcher knife.

Seriously, scary movies aren’t for me.

But every year, around this time, I think about watching something that will make me flinch at every noise outside. And this year is no exception, as Halloween falls on a Sunday, making it almost impossible to fully enjoy the evening-only holiday.

So I’m guessing a lot of you will be staying in this Halloween. And what better way than with a DVD of your favorite scary movie. (Unless you’re heading to the theaters to watch “Paranormal Activity 2,” which earned $41.5 million in its debut.)

The Chicago Tribune released its picks for the 25 scariest Halloween movies. Here’s its Top 10:

  • “Psycho” (1960)
  • “The Omen” (1976)
  • “The Amityville Horror” (1979)
  • “The Ring” (2002)
  • “The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
  • “The Evil Dead” (1981)
  • “The Exorcist” (1973)
  • “Saw” (2004)
  • “The Fog” (1980)
  • “An American Werewolf in London” (1981)

I found it interesting that only two movies on that Top 10 were released in this century. Meaning, the best scary flicks were done decades ago, without the gory computer-generated graphics and shocking visuals so prevalent in today’s horror movies. Before, it was about creating the suspension and anticipation, about developing plots and making you actually feel scared. Nowadays, it’s about overt gore — think “Saw” and “Hostel” — and less about that true scare factor.

Got a favorite must-watch scary movie to watch this weekend? Or are you going to be like me and watch “Hot Tube Time Machine”?

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

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