Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

A friend and I watched a late Sunday (5/28/17) afternoon showing of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at the Ward Theater.

This movie is a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy, it might be useful to either have watched this movie or go with someone who has.

Movie has a good mixture of comedy, action and references to 1980's.

In this movie after the Guardians of the Galaxy saves a planet from an interdimensional creature, Rocket steals some stuff from this planet, so naturally the people from this planet get upset and starts to go after the Guardians in their spaceship, during the battle they get saved by someone else who claims to be Starlord's father.

Another group also goes after the Guardians.

If you do go please stay past the credits, there are 5 scenes that get shown during the ending credits.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Uber

I've been trying to use Uber instead of calling a cab. So far, it's been okay. I have a question for those who use this company.

When I enter in the 'from' and 'to' on their website to see the fare estimate, I sometimes get a convoluted route. For example, I enter in from: '226 N. Kuakini St Honolulu', to: 'Honolulu International Airport, Rogers Blvd' the route goes all the way to Hickam before going to the airport. https://www.uber.com/

Am I doing this wrong?

Thanks.

Uber

Alien: Covenant

Plan on seeing the movie Alien: Covenant later on today. This movie is a sequel to Prometheus.

Alien: Covenant

Colossal

Saw the movie Colossal at the Dole Cannery Theater on Monday (5/22/17) night. It was shown in one their small theaters and it was attend by me and another person who came in about 5 minutes before the trailers started.

There was also a short clip after the trailers and before the movie that dealt with people using smartphones in humorous way. I had the feeling this was done by the same production company as the main movie.

As far Colossal goes it is about two people, Gloria and Oscar who went to elementary school 25 years prior to the events of this movie (which is shown in flashbacks) that they shared an event back then that somehow allows them at a certain time of day in a certain place in their home town that makes them manifest huge monsters that show up Seoul, South Korea for a short period of time.

For Gloria her monster is bipedal lizard creature, while Oscar is a robot.

The movie is a mixed bag of genres.

Colossal

Aloha

I actually joined about 10 years ago but only posted a few times and I don't think I ever introduced myself. It looks like this board has suffered the same fate as many other message boards since social media came on the scene, but here goes anyway...

I live in northern California and first visited Oahu when I was 16 with my high school baseball team, in 1985. Next visit was in 1992 for a friend's wedding, and my wife and I became engaged on that trip as well. Next was Maui and Kauai for our honeymoon in 1995, and then pretty regular trips since then. We don't quite make it every year, but almost. We usually visit Maui now and we have a timeshare there. We can trade it out to visit other places, but we never have.

Hawaii grabbed me from that first trip. The people, the feel, everything. I know us mainlanders can cause problems, but my family and our friends always try to be respectful of everyone and everything when we visit.

Mahalo!

Aloha

Sandwich place in Kahului?

Just wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions for where to get good sandwiches in the Kahului area on Maui? We visit almost once a year and we used to go to Sub Paradise, and then Home Made Deli which replaced it. But it is closed now.

We get the sandwiches when we are taking day trips, like Hana or Haleakala and I would prefer a local place over the chains like Subway or Quiznos.

Mahalo!

Sandwich place in Kahului?

How much to tip taxi?

I usually take short cab trips. If the fare is only $11.60, and it's just me and no luggage, how much tip should I give? I've been giving $14.00, which is 20%... do you think it's fair?

How much to tip taxi?

Tokyo Trash Baby (2000)

Tokyo Trash Baby (Tokyo Gomi Onna, 2000)
Mami Nakamura, Kazuma Suzuki, Ko Shibasaki. Directed by Ryuichi Hiroki. Written by Shotaro Oikawa.

In Tokyo Trash Baby, Miyuki, a twenty-something woman living alone in Tokyo, has a crush on Yoshinori, the musician who lives a few floors up. Whenever Yoshinori adds his trash to the pile behind the building, Miyuki swipes the whole bag and takes it to her apartment, where she sorts through the day’s trash-treasure. She saves the empty drink bottles, the discarded cigarette boxes, even the cigarette butts themselves, collecting it all in jars, plastic bags, or murals taped to her wall. She knows which brands of instant noodles, breakfast cereal, and smokes he prefers, all of which she adds to her own lifestyle in an effort to get closer to the object of her unrequited affection.

Her apartment takes on the appearance of a shrine, a few items of garbage at a time, her crush growing first into infatuation and then obsession, as the orderly piles of his refuse also grow, covering walls and floor space.

At first, the rest of her life seems pleasant, if unexciting. She waits tables in a cafe, where her sexually adventurous coworker shares updates on her latest encounter, and where a boring young businessman asks her nearly every day for a date.

It’s difficult at times to tell whether Miyuki is going crazy or if she’s living safely within her fantasies. I’m inclined to look the other way on losing her grip on reality if she’s neither hurting anyone nor letting her fantasies wreck her life. If her imagination makes her sad, it at least gives her self-created purpose and an occasional interaction with the object of her dreams. It doesn’t seem to be much better or worse than her coworker’s romances or her regular customer’s similarly unrequited affection.

The acting by Mami Nakamura is good, and I like the way director Ryuichi Hiroki frames a lot of his shots. Some may find it unnecessarily voyeuristic (Miyuki’s preferred alone-at-home attire is underwear and t-shirts), but it seems appropriate given the themes. Hiroki also lets things descend into unquestionable ickiness and (worse) meanness, but the film is mostly a hopeful experience.

72/100 (Criticker rating)
7/10 (IMDb rating)

Tokyo Trash Baby (2000)

Passengers in the back of pickups

In the news today is an article about a youth (age 16) who fell out of the back of a moving pickup. First off, let's hope he recovers quickly. This topic is NOT meant to be a commentary on the actions of children/youth. It is about adults in the role of decision makers.

This type of accident would be avoidable if passengers where not allowed to ride in the back of pickups. Or perhaps disallow children/youth from riding in the back of a pickup, meaning those under 18.

What do other states do? Some have no laws, some have restrictions. Attorneys.com states, "States with Restrictions: The remaining 30 states have laws primarily designed for the protection of children. Some of them extend to ages as old as 19, while a few prohibit any riding in the back."

In Hawaii, when is it is allowed? "Hawaii (no room in the passenger compartment)". Additionally, the passenger must be over age 12 [Justia].

Do we have a societal obligation to pass laws to protect the general public?
Is there a higher standard of obligation in respect to protecting youth (those under 18)?
Does the supposed "necessity" of needing to use the back of a pickup for transportation outweigh the safety factor?

Passengers in the back of pickups

Rank the Star Wars Films

Happy May 4. This year the Star Wars franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary. Way back in the summer of 1977 millions flocked to the theatres to watch the first Star Wars movie, which in later years was retitled Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Little did we know 40 years ago, that Star Wars would become such a huge, successful franchise, enough for original creator George Lucas to sell it all to Disney in 2012.

Today with the observance of the 40th anniversary near, it is time for you to rank your top Star Wars movies.

I will list them here in order of release.

Original Trilogy

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Prequel Trilogy

Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Sequel Trilogy (so far)

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars Anthology Series

Rouge One (2016)

We're not counting the TV series or made for TV movies, some of which have been classified by Disney as "legend" and not part of the official canon. Also not counting movies that have not been released... but you can include after December 2017 for The Last Jedi.

Have at, rank your favorite Star Wars movies.

May the 4th Be With You.

Rank the Star Wars Films

Hep A in imported raw tuna

Recently there was a Hep A outbreak at Genki Sushi from raw imported seafood. Now there is a different Hep A scare from "Imported frozen raw tuna or ahi cubes", sold at some restaurants and markets. [list]

Eating imported raw seafood seems to bring exposure to nasty contaminants. It's a sad reality.

Meanwhile, still in the news is that raw veggies grown in Hawaii can be a problem too, if not washed properly (see the Rat LungWorm thread).

That sort of gives indication that its best to stick to fully cooked foods when eating out. For home prepped food of which the ingredients are bought at stores, the buyer can see where the product is from (avoiding foreign raw seafood unless it is to be fully cooked), and the buyer can fully wash produce at home before consumption.

Anyone taking new precautions that they didn't used to?

Hep A in imported raw tuna