and the winner is . . .

alessa from hilo who will be enjoying the story of the descendants during her next rainy day read.

mahalo again to all who entered the giveaway! for a peek on how the descendants made the leap from the bookstore to the big screen, click over to the wall street journal which also shared a fascinating history of the old timey land trusts of hawaii.

here's hoping the island crew who toiled behind the camera receive a little oscar love should the descendants go home with a gold statue on sunday!

happy congratulations alessa!

beach reads: the descendants (& a giveaway!)

my mister and i finally escaped to our neighborhood movie house to watch the descendants on what turned into a blustery winter day here on the mainland. dear hawaii, your breathtaking beauty certainly shined on the big screen . . . a lush love note to our island home!

the story, if you have yet to page through the debut novel by kaui hart hemmings, juxtaposes two life changing scenarios - the impending sale of a land trust inherited by the ancestors of a hawaiian princess and her banker husband while the 21st century branch of the king 'ohana (a.k.a. the clooney clan if the movie trailer is your only introduction to this unconventional tale) deals with the agonizing wait of losing their adventure-seeking first lady who traded her heart to a secret sweetheart.

cue sticky predicaments.

read on for more love for the descendants + giveaway details after the jump!

Click to read more ...

morning crush: hot club of hulaville

. . . i'm pau by hot club of hulaville . . .

the swingy melodies by hot club of hulaville never fail to brighten my day so i was thrilled when the honolulu quintet's django would go! scooped up a hoku for jazz album of the year this weekend.

hooray for gypsy jazz!

the perfect remedy if your tuesday has a case of the mondays after the long holiday weekend.

$15 online + $9.99 itunes.

sytycd x hi - take two

the new season of so you think you can dance is in full swing and for the second year in a row hawaii is well represented with kailua dancer kuponohi'iwoi aweau. last night the kamehameha alum and his partner ashley performed a delightfully quirky choreography featuring two dancing crash test dummies.

yes, crash test dummies. gotta love wade robson.

we'll find out tonight if the islands lit up enough phone lines to keep kupono in for another round.

p.s. click over to the star-bulletin which reveals kupono's connection to season 4 favorite mark kanemura.

hawaiian hotel gets rock'd

. . . hawaiian hotel . . .

with tourism in a slump, one can only suspect the peeps over at the hvcb are none too pleased about an snl skit featuring the rock, er, dwayne johnson who offered up quite the giggle this weekend.

definitely for locals only.