MetLA

Kyle and I are on Maui for Christmas. Jack & Jan (my inlaws) got a condo here in August, and we’re here to break it in. Christmas in a tropical location is not as different as you may imagine. There are still lots of lights, lots of carols on the radio, and lots of Holiday cheer. I’ve had many Christmases in Hawaii, going back to when we would be on Oahu with Tutu. My Mom said Santa would ride in on a surfboard, and I believed her. So I’m used to a Hawaiian Christmas.

We’ve been playing golf, snorkeling, whale watching, and best of all, eating. As soon as we got off the plane, Jack & Jan took us to Pita Paradise in Kihei. There’s nothing like a Kalua pork pita just dripping with goodness. Jack and Kyle had those, I had a teriyaki chicken pita, which was good, but not as good as the pork one. Jan had the mahi mahi pita. All of them came with fixings (including some yummy special sauce) and roasted potatoes. The meats had been marinated and grilled, and the fresh pita bread just enhanced the flavor. And it’s not terribly expensive (but this is Maui, everything is expensive).

The next morning we took a walk along Keawakapu Beach, which is dotted with multi-million dollar homes and has a beautiful shoreline. At the top of the beach, in the Mana Kai resort, is the Five Palms restaurant, where we had breakfast. We ordered 3 dishes for the 4 of us because we heard how big the portions were. Oh yeah, they’re big. The first was Banana Foster buttermilk pancakes. Next was A banana upside down pancake, then we had a Kalua pork omelet (if you haven’t guessed, Kalua pork is big here). Only the banana Foster pancakes disappointed, they were a little dry and had a granola crust that didn’t quite go together. But the upside down pancake was a hit – it was more like a cake and had the fresh bananas baked in. And I can’t get enough of Kalua pork – Kalua must be Hawaiian for tender, moist, and full of a mystery flavor. We sat on the patio with a full view of the beach. I give the Five Palms a big thumbs up.

Well, the reviews are out and the word is good, so let me just say GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It's not about two guys having sex, it's about love. It's why I responded to "Urbania" so strongly - it's a purely universal love story. And let's just give Heath Ledger the Oscar right now - wow, he quietly steals the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal's part is flashier, and he does a fantastic job too. But Ledger's performance as Ennis puts him in another league of actor. This is hands down my favorite film of the year, and my favorite for the Oscars. What will the rest of America think.....?

I have to try this on Kyle. Because "Brokeback Mountain" the best movie I've seen all year. Maybe since "Urbania". More on this and a review later.

I just spent 5 days working on an industrial video for a Japanese company. It's designed to show Japanese businesspeople how to give a deposition in the US. It was interesting for about 5 minutes, but then the minutia took over and it became very, very, boring. But the good thing about industrial videos like this is that they are contained in 1 location and the days are short. I felt sorry for the actors - the lines were so technical and boring that we had to bring in a teleprompter for them to get through it. The good news is that if I ever need to give a deposition about rear axle vehicle fuel tanks exploding, I'll know that to say.