Wherefore art thou, romantic comedies?

By • September 27, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

The other day my gal pal posted an interesting status update on Facebook.

She had just finished watching “Letters to Juliet,” a romantic comedy about an American girl on vacation in Italy who finds an unanswered letter to a woman named Juliet and goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in that letter. (Read the review in Time.)

She enthusiastically endorsed the movie, saying in her post, “To my gal pals that believe in destiny, do yourselves a favor and watch this chick flick. Makes me want to go to Italy … like tomorrow.”

I haven’t seen the movie. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little disappointed by the romantic comedy offerings lately.

Right now the only movie resembling a romantic comedy in theaters is “You Again,” a mediocre comedy that’s more about high school rivalry than true love.

So where have all the good romantic comedies gone? I’m talking about such timeless classics as “Say Anything,” “While You Were Sleeping” and — the masterpiece — “When Harry Met Sally.”

I scoured the blogosphere last night to come up with a list of top romantic comedies and found that they’re a lot more varied than I had anticipated.

Some blogs listed strange-but-considered-romantic flicks like “So I Married an Axe Murderer” and “Chasing Amy”; others featured the embarrassingly bad “Splash” and “Mannequin.”

BoxOfficeCritic had a pretty decent list of its Top 10 Romantic Comedies:

1. “It Happened One Night” (1934)
2. “Bringing Up Baby” (1938)
3. “Some Like it Hot” (1959)
4. “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993)
5. “The Philadelphia Story” (1940)
6. “While You Were Sleeping” (1995)
7. “Moonstruck” (1987)
8. “The Goodbye Girl” (1977)
9. “When Harry Met Sally” (1989)
10. “The Wedding Singer” (1998)

I started thinking about this last night after watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” — and was disappointed. Not so much in the movie as in the fact that I wasted about two hours of my night. It was horribly structured, filled with questions and loopholes, and confusing. It left me feeling unmoved and unchanged — or, at the very least, interested in reading the book (which I heard was better).

You got any picks on your favorite romantic comedies? And what’s the formula for a romantic comedy, anyway? Seems like you have to laugh and cry at the same time…

***

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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WEEKEND FUUD: Asahi Grill

By • September 26, 2010 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

It was a, well, challenging week.

So my boyfriend needed some comfort food, like, STAT.

So we headed to Asahi Grill, a little restaurant on Ward Avenue popular for its oxtail soup. Which was exactly what we had in mind.

The oxtail soup here is the same one from Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which used to be located in Kam Bowl (now a Walgreens) and in Kapalama City Square. Folks who crave this version — arguable the best on the island — now flock to Ward Avenue to feast on this classic island dish.

Here’s what our Saturday food fest looked like:

Moena Cafe

Image 1 of 8

This little cafe in Koko Marina Center opened in May to rave reviews. It's one of the few places in East Honolulu that serves breakfast — and all day long.

Asahi Grill, 515 Ward Ave. Phone: 593-2800.

***

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: Bella Mia Pizzeria in McCully

By • September 24, 2010 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

You can’t have too many pizza shops. Bella Mia Pizzeria, which opened the third week of September, offers pizza and more, including oven-baked pastas, hot sub sandwiches and these pizza fries ($5.95). And like all good pizza shops, this one delivers within a five-mile radius.

Credit the great advertising: the only reason we pulled into the lot on Beretania Street — a couple of blocks from Champion Malasadas, where I had been earlier getting my malassada fix — was because there were flags on the sidewalk that read, “Pizza.”

Of course I’m going to stop!

I’m not much of a food snob when it comes to pizza. I pretty much like anything set in front of me that’s oozing with cheese and tomato sauce. I mean, every pizza in Mari Taketa’s gallery of the Best Pizzas in Town looked good to me! (Don’t get me started on Totino’s Pizza Rolls!)

While this place didn’t blow me away — the pizza could have been better — I did love the open-air ambiance, the friendly staff and the oven-baked pasta. It was enough to convince me that I need to go back.

Here’s what we ate:

Goodbye, Lumeria

Image 1 of 22

We took one last walk around the grounds at Lumeria Maui in Paia. We spend just one night here — and wished our stay could've been longer.

Bella Mia Pizzeria, 2222 S. Beretania St. (808) 941-4400.

***

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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Call me, but don't leave a message

By • September 22, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

The other day I called a friend of mine only to be left with this message:

“Thanks for your call but do NOT leave a voicemail. You can e-mail or text me. No voicemail.”

Interesting. And, let’s face it, exactly how a lot of us feel. (There’s even a Facebook page devoted to this.)

I hatehatehate voicemails. In fact, I used to joke at work that whenever I’d see the red light on my phone indicating I had a voicemail, it would put me into a bad mood.

Maybe it’s because people tend to leave such useless voicemail messages. Like when people say, “Call me back,” but don’t tell you why or what they need. (I hate that.)

But it’s also because there are more efficient ways of communicating with people these days that don’t require me to listen to a long, drawn-out message that could have been more effectively communicated in a text or e-mail.

In fact, most of my friends now Facebook or Twitter me — much more effective than leaving voicemails.

And telecommunication companies are picking up on this trend, offering new services such as visual voicemail or an app that transcribes voicemail message into texts.

A survey done by Sprint found that people younger than 65 responded much faster to a text than a voicemail. Another tech design firm found that 30 percent of messages can linger for three or more days before being retrieved and — worse yet — about 20 percent of people check their voicemail box once a month. If that.

So I got curious: how many of you loathe voicemail messages and prefer texts, e-mails or some other form of communication? And why? What is it about voicemail that makes us cringe?

***

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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ASK DR. DISH: Scoop on poop

By • September 22, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Question: I think you might have written about this before, but I am going to ask anyways. There is somebody in the neighborhood that does not pick up his dog’s poop. It is disgusting that people will leave dog poop on the side of the road and not even pick it up! Is there something we can do about it?

Answer: Yes, there is! I know because we have the same problem where I live.

I walk my dogs — Sunny and Indy — every day around our neighborhood. And there isn’t a single day that I haven’t seen abandoned dog poop on grassy spots along the roadway. Not a single day. I can’t imagine why people just leave their dog poop there. It’s not like they didn’t notice it. So why leave it there? What’s so hard about picking it up and throwing it away?

Not only is it neighborly — it’s also the law. According to the Hawaiian Humane Society, the city ordinance against littering includes a provision that applies to animals. It states that if a pet deposits feces on private or public property, owners are required to clean it up. You can call the Honolulu Police Department and report it.

Aside from the law, there’s a health reason to pick up your dog poop. It has been estimated that a single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which are known to cause cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness and serious kidney disorders in humans. Two or three days worth of poop from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria to temporary close a bay to swimming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

That’s serious.

So what can you do? I’d confront the culprit, if you ever find him or her. I’d order them to pick up their dog poop, otherwise you’ll have to report the incident. It’s only fair that pet owners do their part. They’re making the rest of us look bad!

Anyone got advice to add?

***

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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