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rumple04 · 1 year

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Alchemy & Late Shows

OS Reader x Christoph Waltz

(Only fluff, no smut)

Inspired by “Emotional Interview” by @headoverhiddles

You are late to the studios of Jimmy Kimmel's Late Show. The traffic jams on the streets of New York got the better of your organization. You hate arriving late, especially when you are not responsible for it. Hair in the wind you hurry to join your dressing room so that the make-up artists try to hide your drawn features due to fatigue. Tonight, like every past and upcoming nights this week, you have to promote a film in which you shot. Yesterday you were alone against David Letterman, tonight at Jimmy Kimmel's and tomorrow at Jimmy Fallon's. Fortunately, tonight and tomorrow you are not alone since you are accompanied by your co-star Christoph Waltz. It is also the moment you come out of your dressing room perfectly prepared with a bun that you see it waiting in the backstage, tapping from the heel.

- Hi Christoph, you say as you approached to kiss him.

- Hi y/n, how are you?

- I was stuck in traffic jams at the height of Grande Avenue, I thought I would never arrive on time ! And you?

- I would rather be everywhere else than here, in fact. But I'm glad to see you.

You blush at these last words. You've been blushing for months at every sweet attention of your co-star. And, in fact - you've been trying for months to hide what you feel deep inside.

- Everywhere else, are you sure? Even in the burger restaurant where Joe (Whrite, the director of the film you just shot) brought us to last week?

- ... don't say that. But really, Kimmel's interviews...

- I know... Get ready, tomorrow is Fallon’s one.

- Dear me...

You know how much, Christoph hates these big Late Show, you don't like them so much either. Like him, promoting your work is not what you like to do the most, but you can't help but have a certain enthusiasm for sharing these shows with him. A man approaches to hang the microphones on your clothes. Christoph is always perfectly dressed. You think that you haven't seen him a single day badly dressed since you worked with him. Perfectly ironed shirt, perfectly cut pants, well-cut suit shirt. You're not bad either with your fitted blouse and your long high-waisted skirt. Without consulting you before, your outfits are in the same shade of color. Another man signals us not to speak anymore because our microphones are activated, and in the same movement we are invited to move forward. You hear Kimmel announce:

- And now, I know that you expect them as much as I do. They are featured in the new drama period by Joe Whrite: Pride and Prejudice. A thunder of cheers for y/n and Christoph Waltz!

You walk on the stage, a polite smile for Christoph, a shy smile for you. Christoph signals you to sit down first, to which you answer a complicit smile towards the audience with a hand wave to mimic a fan.

- Ah Christoph, always so polite! I must tell you that I’m really happy to receive you tonight, says Kimmel when the public stopped the applause.

- And we are delighted to be there, you hasten to reply.

-Yes, we will say that, adds Christoph, winning the laughter of the public.

- But I hope you are happy to be there! This is not the first time you have come Christoph since I had the pleasure of welcoming you a few months ago for the release of Django Unchained, and you there some time ago for the release of Sense and Sensibility.

- Indeed, you answer.

- I saw your film, of course, and what a pleasure to see you both shoot together! What an alchemy! Did you like to play together?

- No, really not. I can't stand the presence of y/n. Ironizes Christoph, still winning the laughter of the public.

- Really? Ask for dazed Kimmel.

- Stupid question, stupid answer, adds Christoph, crossing his legs.

You smile at him timidly and look at yourself a few seconds before you decide to add:

- No, you’re right. We really enjoyed working on this project.

- And it shows, precisely we have a small excerpt to show you! Answer Kimmel by turning to the camera.

The screen above us then shows the first images that your production communicated for the promotion.

"You appear reading letters in an Old England-style living room. You hear ringing and get up. A maid opens the door and reveals Christoph who seems confused, stressed and eager.

- Forgive me. I hope you are better, he says, walking mechanically towards the fireplace with the missing air.

- I'm better, thank you. Aren't you going to sit down? Answer by sitting near the living room table.

He doesn't answer you and an embarrassing silence takes place. He remains standing as stressed as ever. He looks in turn at the emptiness and your eyes, then he takes the hundred steps. His discomfort is really palpable and you look at him not knowing what to say. He wants to say something but seems sick at the idea of opening his mouth. He sits down not letting go of your eyes. Then gets up. Finally, after a fierce internal struggle, he declares:

- In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

You remain speechless for several seconds in silence. He adds:

- By declaring myself in this way, I am fully aware of speaking against the judgment of my family, my friends, and I must say it - of my own judgment. The respective situations of our families are such that an alliance between you and me could only be perceived as highly reprehensible by society. My reason dictates me to consider it as such but I don't bring myself to it. No sooner had I met you than I felt an admiration and a passionate inclination for you that, despite my efforts - defeated any rational objection. I therefore beg you fervently to put an end to my suffering by agreeing to become my wife.

Eyes full of tears, you don't answer right away. Christoph is standing in front of you, in faith relieved to have delivered his burdens but at the same time anxious to see you not answer him right away. You finally answer:

- In such circumstances, I think it is customary to express gratitude, to feel gratitude. But I can't.

Christoph's shoulders sag slightly. He is hanging from your lips and it seems that this last sentence surprises and hurts him deeply. You add:

- I have never desired your affection and it is even reluctantly that you give it to me. I regret having caused you trouble but I did it unintentionally and I hope it will be short-lived, you add.

A heavy silence takes place in the room. He turns his back on you and joins the chimney on which he leans for a few seconds. Then straightens up. He is upset by your answer and turns to you.

- So this is the whole answer I would have the honor to receive. Can I at least know why I am repulsed with so little politeness?

- And can I know why with the obvious intention of offending me, insulting me you come to tell me that you love me against your will, against the concern of your reputation? ».

The screen turns off and you are covered with applauds from the public and Kimmel.

- Wow! It's breathtaking. What is the effect of dismiss Christoph?

You laugh and seem embarrassed. Christoph smiles gently and says nothing.

- This is only possible because it is written on the script, in fact ! You say by not daring to turn to your co-star.

- And you Christoph, how does it feel to be put back in place by y/n?

- My heart was just as broken as Mr. Darcy's, he replied to the heated applause of the public.

You laugh to hide the embarrassment you feel. You know that Christoph is joking, he always does it, but deep down you would like him to be simply delivering the bottom of his thought. Kimmel then adds to close the show:

- I am really delighted to discover you together in this new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and I hope it marks the first collaboration in a long series. Ladies and gentlemen, y/n and Christoph Waltz!

You leave the stage and Christoph hastens to get rid of his microphone. You go side by side to your respective dressing rooms and he declares:

- Frankly, what did this interview bring? No relevant questions.

- It's true... you know that's what the public is always looking for. Showmen simply respond to the demand.

- You're right...

It stops at the height of your dressing room and you look at yourself for a few seconds. He adds:

- I would have invited you to eat somewhere but tomorrow is as busy for you as it is for me.

- Yes, unfortunately I think it would be wiser for us to go to bed early enough tonight. But we can see it at the end of the week, it would be a pleasure.

He doesn't answer, just smiles at you. He takes your hand and puts a kiss on it.

- See you tomorrow y/n.

———

Indeed, the day that awaits you is not easy. Each on your side has several trays to turn for the promo. It is only in the evening that you finally find yourself in Jimmy Fallon's studios. This is the last interview you have to give on your program. Unlike the day before you arrive early on site and while you are heading to your dressing room, some members of the technical team stop you to ask you for autographs and selfies.

- I'm really a fan of what you do. I love Jane Austen's adaptations and I find that your work really pays tribute to her, throws you a woman of engineer.

- Thank you very much, it's really nice!

- Can I ask you something?

- Yes, of course.

- Is... Christoph Waltz as grumpy as he lets it seem?

You can't help but let out a laugh. It's true that Christoph gives this impression. Moreover, he gives a lot of his person to always seem grumpy and sarcastic. However, this is not the attitude you know him on the set and behind the scenes. You don't want to undermine all the hard work of your co-star and you answer:

- He is adorable, but yes he is often grumpy!

The whole team laughs and with these words you enter your dressing room. It is only several minutes later, and after an intense makeup session that someone knocks on your door.

- Come in!

- So like that I'm grumpy? Announce Christoph by theatrically entering your dressing room.

- Wow, definitely the information circulates well here!

- Am I grumpy?

- I also said you were adorable!

- I hope so!

He smiles maliciously and comes to put a kiss on your forehead.

- We have to go, the team is waiting for us to put on the microphones, he says kindly.

You finish hanging your earring, you get up and you follow him. The team puts the microphones on you and just before he turns them on you touch Christoph's arm by whispering to him:

- Come on, it's the last one!

He smiles at you gently by placing his hand on yours. You don't have time to feel your heart beating the chamade you hear Jimmy Fallon announce to you.

- You loved him in Inglorious Basterds, and you loved her in Sense and Sensibility! They form an iconic couple in Joe Whrite's new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice! Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure to welcome y/n and Christoph Waltz!

As the day before you enter the stage under a thunder of applaud and as the day before Christoph shows gallantry by letting you sit first. You find your colleague more relaxed than the day before.

- Wow! You are both beautiful, begins Fallon with a glittering smile. I'm really delighted to see you here!

- Same! You answer with a polite smile.

- You are definitely subscribed to the roles of the drama periods, aren't you?

- Maybe well, indeed. I'm not going to complain about it, it's an area that I really like both in audiovisual and literature.

- You Christoph, it's the first time we have seen you in this register. How does it feel to have played the legendary Mr. Darcy?

- It's...somewhat unexpected. I did not expect to one day be led to play such a "British" role as this one.

- And yet! You are brilliant in this role. Would you be interested in continuing to shoot films in this same register?

- I didn't know how to oppose it. What interests me is the story that a director has to tell. As long as I like the script and is good, I'm always in.

- The alchemy between the two of you is powerful. Did it feel on the set ?

Christoph lets you answer, his head slightly bent and a shy smile digging the wrinkle of his cheek.

- Uh... I think so. In any case, it's true that I had never felt such complicity on a set, you answer timidly.

The audience whistles at this statement and the musical group on the set plays some sexy notes. Fallon reacts:

- Wouuu! It's hot this way! Have you seen what is being said on social medias about you?

- Dear lords, answers Christoph. I don't have social medias and it's very good for me.

The audience laughs for several seconds after which you add.

- I'm on Twitter, but I was careful not to show him what is said there, you reply laughing behind your hand, timidly.

- It's very good because I have here some incredible tweets that concern you both.

- My god... answer Christoph by collapsing on his chair.

- Come on, I'm starting!

On the screen above them displays a screen of tweets :

"Who would have thought that an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice would be as hot as that of @y/n and Christoph Waltz?! ”

"Thank you @JoeWhrite for bringing us together @y/n and Christoph Waltz on a set! I don't know if I ship more Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy or literally the two actors! ”

"Joe Whrite: You're going to play the mythical couple of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy!

Literally Y/n & Christoph Waltz being the hottest couple of Jane Austen's universe. ”

You couldn't be more red and more delighted than right now. You turn - enthusiastic - to Christoph who against all odds wears a small satisfied smile. Jimmy Fallon notices it and adds on top of the enthusiastic applause of the audience:

- You see, there are not only bad things on social medias!

- I’m certainly satisfied to have done my job correctly, he answers a little timidly.

- You are incorrigible! But you are not as reserved on other TV sets. Replica Fallon bursting with laughter. I have a small excerpt to refresh your memory.

"On the same screen appears an excerpt from Christoph on Ellen DeGeneres' set. The latter declares:

- You have great complicity with y/n, it's quite striking on the screen. Did you feel it on the set?

- Yes, in fact I must admit that I even have a big crush on her...

Christoph smiles slightly and Ellen opens her mouth wide laughing to the applause of an amused audience. ”

- What do you have to declare in your defense, applies Jimmy Fallon?

- Absolutely nothing, answers Christoph with a smile.

- And you there y/n?

- You will never be able to laugh at Christoph, you say, turning to him.

He looks at you with great complicity and puts his hand on yours. Fallon does not pay attention to it and starts the end of the interview.

- You can find these two lovebirds on the bill of Joe Whrite's latest film Pride and Prejudice of which here is a short trailer. Thank you for coming tonight!

Under the applause you get up and go behind the scenes. You do not dare to speak while you reach your dressing rooms. As you approach yours, Christoph approaches you and asks you:

- Do you feel like coming to dinner with me tonight?

- With pleasure, Christoph...

You find him disturbed, and gently you put your hand on his arm:

- Is everything all right?

He looks at your hand on his arm and in the same movement grabs it and kisses you tenderly. You feel all your muscles relax one after the other. You realize that for several months now, your whole body has been tense and was only waiting for that. He barely detaches himself from you and whispers:

-I'm sorry... I've wanted to do this for a while.

- Don't apologize, I've been dreaming about it for months.

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Biz Markie

Marcel Theo Hall (born April 8, 1964), better known by his stage name Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, actor, comedian, television personality and spokesperson. He is best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in several countries. In 2008, "Just a Friend" made #100 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time.

Markie has been called the "Clown Prince of Hip Hop."

Early life

Markie's career began on Long Island and he graduated from Patchogue Medford High School in 1982."Biz Markie Shows, Concerts, & Tickets 2020". EventBrite.com. Retrieved March 29, 2020.

Career

1980s

Biz Markie was interviewed in the 1986 cult documentary Big Fun In The Big Town. Markie released his debut album, Goin' Off, in 1988, which attracted a fair amount of attention, largely due to the lead single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz". The album also featured the underground hit singles "Nobody Beats The Biz", "Vapors", and "Pickin' Boogers".

On October 10, 1989, Biz Markie's second studio album, The Biz Never Sleeps, was released on Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. Records, produced by Biz, his cousin Cool V and Paul C. The single "Just a Friend", in which he alternates between rap and singing, became Markie's most successful single, reaching #9 on the Billboard charts.

The song interpolates the 1968 song "You Got What I Need" by singer/songwriter Freddie Scott, whose basic chord and melody provided the base for the song's chorus. "Just A Friend" was ranked 81st on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders in 2000, and later as number 100 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop in 2008.

The music video, directed by Lionel C. Martin, chronicles the rapper's woman problems.

1990s

Markie's third studio album I Need a Haircut was released on August 27, 1991, on Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. Records and was produced by Biz Markie and his cousin Cool V. Sales of the album were already low when Markie was served a lawsuit by Gilbert O'Sullivan, who claimed that the album's "Alone Again" featured an unauthorized sample from his hit "Alone Again (Naturally)". O'Sullivan's claim was upheld in a landmark ruling, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., that altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used. In accordance with the ruling, Warner Bros., the parent company of Cold Chillin', had to pull I Need a Haircut from circulation, and all companies had to clear samples with the samples' creators before releasing the records. This development reflected the increasing popularity of hip-hop and the financial stakes over which releases were set. Biz responded in 1993 with the mischievously titled All Samples Cleared!, but his career had been hurt by the publicity emanating from the lawsuit, and the record suffered accordingly. Additional bad news came when the video for the track 'Toilet Stool Rap' was labeled Worst Video of the Year on the Fromage show from Canada's MuchMusic.

For the remainder of the decade, Markie occasionally made television appearances, including guest appearances on In Living Color (including as contestant Damian "Foosball" Franklin in the recurring game show sketch "The Dirty Dozens" and as Marlon Cain in "Ed Bacon: Guidance Counselor") and in a 1996 freestyle rap commercial on MTV2. He also made numerous guest appearances with the Beastie Boys on Check Your Head (1992), Ill Communication (1994), Hello Nasty (1998), and their anthology The Sounds of Science (1999). He also rapped on the song "Schizo Jam", on Don Byron's 1998 release, Nu Blaxploitation (Blue Note/Capitol) and worked with Canibus on the first track on the Office Space soundtrack (1999). He also rapped on the track "So Fresh" alongside Slick Rick on Will Smith's 1999 album Willennium.

In 1996, Markie appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, and Fat Joe, among others. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as a masterpiece by The Source magazine.

In 1997, a sample of a Markie recording appeared in the Rolling Stones' song "Anybody Seen My Baby?" from their album Bridges to Babylon. His part was shortened on some radio versions. Biz also teamed up with Frankie Cutlass on his third single and music video titled "The Cypher Part 3" with some of Marley Marl's Juice Crew veterans.

In 1999, Markie appeared on Len's song "Beautiful Day" on their album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush, as well as on Alliance Ethnik's album Fat Comeback.

2000s

In 2002, Markie appeared in Men in Black II, with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, essentially playing an alien parody of himself, whose native language sounded exactly like beatboxing. Between 2002 and 2003 he appeared in episode 5 of the TV series Fastlane playing himself as a nightclub DJ. In 2003 he appeared in the international television series titled Kung Faux performing a series of voice over characters featured in a variety of episodes. In 2004, his song Vapors appeared on the soundtrack of Rockstar's popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which featured an old school hip hop radio station, Playback FM. In 2005, Biz detoured from his recording duties to appear on the first season of the television show Celebrity Fit Club which challenged celebrities to lose weight by a combination of diet and exercise. Biz Markie lost more weight than anybody else in the competition. That year, he was also in an episode of The Andy Milonakis Show.

Biz Markie was a cast member on Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out, seasons 1 and 3. Biz also does the beatboxing segment, Biz's Beat of the Day on the Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Biz Markie began 2008 opening for Chris Rock's "No Apologies" tour. Biz Markie's act includes spinning records ranging from old school hip hop to Lynyrd Skynyrd and then performing "Just a Friend". Biz Markie's playlist includes the following: "Children's Story" by Slick Rick, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Holiday" by Madonna, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow and "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk.

In December 2009, Biz Markie appeared in a RadioShack commercial, repeating the line: "Oh Snap! Guess what I saw!" from his song "Just A Friend". That same year saw his debut with Andy Milonakis in television commercials for the commercial Internet service Tune Up.

2010s

In 2010, Biz Markie appeared on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, providing commentary throughout the series. Biz Markie himself was not included on the list. On November 9, 2010, Biz appeared on The Aquabats! new EP, Radio Down! in the title track. On November 11, 2010, Biz sat in with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and performed "Just a Friend" with actor Jeff Goldblum.

In 2017, Markie appeared several times on the MTV2 game show Hip Hop Squares, a spin-off of the popular game show Hollywood Squares. That same year he made an appearance in the track "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" by The Flaming Lips, alongside Ke$ha.

In 2013 Markie toured with the Yo Gabba Gabba! live show. That year, his song, "Just a Friend" was featured in Saints Row IV, which included a Pop station 107.77 The Mix FM.

He appeared on the CN show Mad, as the Hip Hop Hobbit.

He voiced rapper Rhymez and his DJ, Tiny Timmy Scratch It, in the Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja episode "Hip Hopocalypse Now".

He guest starred in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Kenny the Cat", in the episode's title role. His voice acting work also includes the voice of Snorlock the Beatboxing Slug in an episode of Adventure Time.

In 2014, he appeared in the Syfy network movie Sharknado 2: The Second One. That same year, he threw a ceremonial first pitch for an Oakland Athletics baseball game.

In 2016, his song, "Just a Friend" was featured in the Netflix Series Love as an ending theme for episode 4. He also makes an appearance in a song titled "The Noisy Eater" off the album Wildflower by The Avalanches.

In 2016, he appeared on the Fox TV series Empire as himself, where he performed the song, "Just A Friend."

In 2017, he appeared in the season 3 finale of the ABC series Black-ish. He performed a personal version of the song, "Just a Friend", in which he added the names of the characters.

Discography

Studio albums

1988: Goin' Off

1989: The Biz Never Sleeps

1991: I Need a Haircut

1993: All Samples Cleared!

2003: Weekend Warrior

Compilations

1994: Biz's Baddest Beats

1996: Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks

1998: On the Turntable

2000: On the Turntable 2

2002: Greatest Hits

2006: Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz

2009: Ultimate Diabolical

2009: "Yo Gabba Gabba"

2010: The Aquabats Radio Down!

#04/08

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networkingdefinition · 5 years

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Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

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• A dreaming vortex is a place where it’s easy to change. You come to a dreaming vortex like Hawaii to step from one dream into another, from one world into another, to change, in other words. – Frederick Lenz • A travel agent told I could spend 7 nights in HAWAII no days just nights. – Rodney Dangerfield • According to a new study, Hawaii is the happiest place in America to live. And I thought it was just a great place to pretend you were born in. – Craig Ferguson • America has always been the richest and most secure, and sometimes the most dangerous country in the world. In the early years, the danger was to everybody near us, slaves, Native Americans, Mexicans. It finally expanded in 1898 to the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. – Noam Chomsky • Apparently President Obama’s favorite cocktail is a martini. When asked how he likes it, he said, ‘On the beach, in Hawaii, in 2017.’ – Jimmy Fallon • Are we as willing to go into debt for the work of God as we are for a vacation to Hawaii? – Erwin W. Lutzer • Are we going to New Orleans?” “No”, she said, backing out of the spot. “We’re going to West Virginia.” “I assume by ‘West Virginia,’ you actually mean ‘Hawaii,'” I said. “Or some place equally exciting. – Richelle Mead • As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii. – Tim McCarver • As a territory, American Samoa has no representation in the U.S. Senate, and we Samoans lost a respected and powerful ally with the passing of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. – Troy Polamalu • Barack H. Obama is a landmark presidential figure as the first black, multiracial, multicultural president from Hawaii and the Pacific. – Dinesh Sharma

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hawaii', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Barack Obama isn’t pointing to anyone, and certainly doesn’t like it when others note (correctly) that his influences were the likes of Saul Alinsky, the Chicagoan and modern founder of community organizing, or Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist and agitator from Chicago who mentored Obama in Hawaii in the latter 1970s, and who Obama warmly acknowledges in his memoirs. – Paul Kengor • Beating the drums for Hawaii is not hard to do… the place just grows on you. – James MacArthur • Before I became a fighter pilot, everyone said that women didn’t have the physical strength. Well, I had just completed the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. – Martha McSally • Being in Hawaii, it’s almost impossible not to be fit, I think. – Henry Ian Cusick • Come with me while the moon is on the sea The night is young and so are we Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii And mine could all come true This magic night of nights with you – Leo Robin • Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. – John Lewis • Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back. – Manti Te’o • Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it’s Omaha or Hawaii. – Tony Bennett • Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life. – Joe Eszterhas • For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read “American Caesar” by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener and then because of that reading his “Hawaii.” That is what happens. – Dave Barry • For many years I had allowed my second husband to take credit for my paintings. But one day, unable to continue the deception any longer, I left him and my home in California and moved to Hawaii. – Margaret Keane • For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars. – Joanne Harris • For some reason my father saw no problem with us pplaying “barbie and ken go to hawaii to save their marriage by picking up another couple for sexy good times,” but if barbie and ken had gone to hawaii to “rescue another couple from a crazed kidnapper,” that would have been wrong. – Michele Jaffe • Good schools, good jobs, good government. These are not unreasonable demands. But sadly, some of our people have already lost heart and have left Hawaii to look for these things elsewhere. – Linda Lingle • Grew up in Hawaii that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could. – Ta-Nehisi Coates • Growing up, the ukulele was always a respected instrument. It’s a big part of our culture. It wasn’t until I started traveling outside of Hawaii that I realized people didn’t really consider the ukulele to be a real instrument. – Jake Shimabukuro • Have you guys ever ghost hunted in Hawaii? No? Well, I have this fat friend… I shouldn’t say fat, that might offend him, but he’s Samoan and claims to have seen ghosts. – CM Punk • Hawaii ain’t a bad place to work. – T.I. • Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell. – Jeff Goldblum • Hawaii doesn’t win many games in the United States. – Lee Corso • Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. – Henry Ian Cusick • Hawaii is a small, close community. – Jake Shimabukuro • Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views. – Tulsi Gabbard • Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a-it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it’s got a particularly unique situation. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. – Rachelle Lefevre • Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. – Paul Theroux • Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there’s music in the air there. – Bruno Mars • Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property. – Richard Pryor • Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and many Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians surf, but in the rest of the United States it’s a pretty white sport. – William Finnegan • Hawaii made the mouth of her soul water. – Tom Robbins • Hawaii was beautiful of course, we played at Turtle Bay an amazing resort right on the ocean. – Natalie Gulbis • Hawaiis own Patsy Mink served as the first congresswoman of color and first Asian American woman in the House; she later sought the Democratic Party presidential nomination. – Colleen Hanabusa • Hawaii’s the 50th state? I thought it was a suburb of Guam. – Bobby Heenan • Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not. – Wayne Allyn Root • Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, which expresses all we see, smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience. It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear. – Robert Cazimero • I am privileged to be able to work for the people of Hawaii in whatever capacity. – Tulsi Gabbard • I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you’d never know. – Evangeline Lilly • I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii. – Bruno Mars • I decided that we’d have to take our chances with the law and get the hell out of Baltimore. I thought of seeking asylum in Canada or Australia or England, but I didn’t want to leave the United States, because for better or worse I’m an American, and this is my land; so I decided to fight it out on home ground, and finally we hit upon Hawaii, because of the liberal atmosphere created by its racial admixture, and because of its relatively large population of Buddhists, who are largely nontheistic. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • I dive all over the world: Fiji, Australia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other places. – Frederick Lenz • I don’t care about the money. I’m just interested in the perks. I’ll do a series if I am picked up by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii. – Harry Morgan • I don’t care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don’t care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay. – Joe Arpaio • I don’t have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I’m going to Hawaii and I’m asking myself “Do I pack it? It could be cold.” I’m inventing scenarios where I could wear it. – Shaun White • I don’t like to spend money when I’m traveling. I like to go places like Hawaii and not spend money. I splurge on time. – Jonny Weston • I don’t look down on tourism. I live in Hawaii where we have 7 million visitors a year. If they weren’t there, there would be no economy. So I understand why a tourist economy is necessary. – Paul Theroux • I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii. – Louis Zamperini • I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell – but then I can never bring myself to sell them. – Trey Parker • I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink. – Dwayne Johnson • I grew up in Hawaii and I think those islands are some of the most amazing places on the planet. – Mateus Ward • I grew up in Hawaii so I was outside a lot playing in the water. – Kelly Preston • I had actually been going to Hawaii for quite a while before I ever picked up the uke. I think with anything new you’re going to get more enjoyment out of it if it comes to you quickly, and the uke facilitates that. – Eddie Vedder • I had done ‘Die Hard’ and it was somebody’s franchise. I actually just got done with the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ pilot and I was developing some things of my own. So ‘Total Recall’ one of those projects that I read wanting more not to like it. – Len Wiseman • I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I’m in love with it and it’s home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place. – Shailene Woodley • I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins • I have never been afraid to tackle tough or controversial issues, but I have always done it with the intent to do what I was elected to do, and that is represent the interests of my constituents, the working people of Hawaii. I feel that we are facing some of the most difficult issues in recent history with regard to food security, a widening income gap, and the rapidly increasing rise of the cost of living in our State. I know that the office of Lieutenant Governor can do more to address these issues. – Clayton Hee • I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O’Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ] in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn’t even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, “This voice comes out of me, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s not me! Who is that? That doesn’t even sound like me!’ – Brent Spiner • I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday, and it’s so depressing how quickly all the stresses and the stressful energy of L.A. comes bombarding back. Everyone’s in a rush, you’re annoying everyone, get out of their way, everyone’s most important than you are, has got somewhere more important to be – very draining town. But I still love it in many ways. I wouldn’t leave California. I think it’s a fantastic state, if you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. – Natalie Maines • I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing. – Ed Case • I know that some of those plans [of the North Korea] could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. – Hillary Clinton • I love Hawaii. I really enjoy surfing in Oahu, and Waianae is such a great area. And Maui – I like Maui a lot, too. – Troy Polamalu • I mean, Hawaii is beautiful, but the world is full of beautiful places. – Robert Kiyosaki • I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought “I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day.” They weren’t all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas. – Joan Chen • I see life everywhere I look. I get the energy off the water. Hawaii really, when I am there, it feels like how we are supposed to live and how it’s supposed to be: slower, just appreciating our surroundings. I love the people there and the aloha, the history. They’re really rooted in something. – Natalie Maines • I shined off high school band, marching, jazz studies. At the time I was too cool for school, I had this professional gig and I was going home taking a shower and heading to downtown Hawaii, Waikiki. – Eric Hernandez • I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii. – Robert Kiyosaki • I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. One year we went to Hawaii. – Greg Maddux • I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don’t bring puka shells back. You’ve got to be careful of your vacation purchases. – Joshua Homme • I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere. – Ella Henderson • I think somebody like Wes [Anderson] has a very good sense of style and is original. I think my sense of style got a little bit better after I was exposed to you guys at Valentino. Because I’m just in Hawaii and Malibu; it’s just kind of T-shirts and surfing-type stuff. – Owen Wilson • I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they’re all so jaded. They don’t care. – Evangeline Lilly • I think there’s a really great amount of potential for Hawaii to become an example of what’s possible with renewable energy because there are so many renewable resources here: energy, solar energy, and wind energy. There’s so much potential here. – Jack Johnson • I thought my book was done, then we went to Hawaii and the whole last chapter happened. – Mariel Hemingway • I truly believe the brightest days lie ahead for the Great State of Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster – close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were. – Tulsi Gabbard • I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars. – Bruno Mars • I want to stay in Hawaii a little while. I’m kind of liking it over there. – Josh Holloway • I wanted to go back on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I did it. One of my favorite shows is ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did ‘Tasmanian Devils’ in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it. – Apolo Ohno • I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii – Steve Case • I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa. – Jason Momoa • I was in Jersey when the whole World Trade Center thing happened and I felt powerless. So, I went to Hawaii and did a surf movie. It’s kind of fluffy. – Michelle Rodriguez • I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50’s & 60’s in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60’s and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board. – Christian Hosoi • I was just asking Chad [Myers], how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. – Rick Sanchez • I was over there in Hawaii. I was there on the big island. The ‘Big Island’ – that name cracks me up. First of all, it’s not that big, so I’m pretty sure a guy came up with that name. – Carol Leifer • I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11. – Jeri Ryan • I would love to rent a little cottage or cabin in Colorado and learn to ski or snowboard. And on the warmer side, I also want to rent a house in Hawaii and learn to surf! – Karlie Kloss • I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. – Joni Mitchell • I`ve always thought of him [Barack Obama] and from conversations know him to be a guy who takes the long view, who doesn`t get too high, doesn`t get too low and seizes the opportunities when they`re there and knows how to ride the wave. I ascribe that to Hawaii. He`s a body surfer, so he knows how to get on the wave. He knows just the right time. – Howard Fineman • I’d left Hawaii twice in my life, so I’d been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn’t know how to live in a city. – Maggie Q • I’d love to be [one of MacGyver’s buddies]. I’d watch that one and just think, wow, what a life. Living in Hawaii, driving around in someone’s Ferrari, and solving mysteries. – Rhys Darby • I’d love to go somewhere warm, somewhere near the beach and somewhere with a cool culture. It could be Hawaii, Cuba, South America – anywhere that has a cool culture and a beautiful climate. – Steve Nash • If a nation’s security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation’s immigration policy. – Joe Arpaio • If there’s a Disney animated feature based in Hawaii, I knew I had to be part of it. I’m very proud to be from Hawaii. There was no question the role was mine. – Tia Carrere • If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco. – Lyndon B. Johnson • If you don’t have at least a working knowledge of the Hawaiian language… you can’t chant well. You cannot… receive the images of poetry paints for you. It’s like having peas and no pod. – Keali’i Reichel • If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. – Ricky Williams • I’m a surfer at heart. Both my parents moved to Hawaii in the 1970s, where they met and became Christians. Then they taught me and my two brothers how to love the Lord – and how to surf! – Bethany Hamilton • I’m not sure it’s possible to stay in Hawaii. It’s kind of impractical. – Terry O’Quinn • I’m of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent, and was raised on Hawaii. – Tia Carrere • I’m quadracontinental. I’ve got a life in London, New York, L.A. and Hawaii. – Rebecca Mader • I’m still a little girl in Hawaii, I have the same friends I had when I was a kid who love me for who I am – not what I do. I never got caught up in the club scene or took wrong roads. – Kiana Tom • Imagine, if you will, you’re sitting at my desk in Hawaii. You have access to the entire world, as far as you can see it. Last several days, content of internet communications. Every email that’s sent. Every website that’s visited by every individual. Every text message that somebody sends on their phone. Every phone call they make. – Edward Snowden • In Hawaii they say, “aloha.” That’s a nice one, It means both “hello” and “good-bye” Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don’t know whether you’re coming or going. – George Carlin • In Hawaii, if you’re invited to dinner, it’s assumed that the children are invited as well. On the islands, no one treats children like they’re not part of the conversation. People talk to children as people and include them in adventures and conversations. – Gabrielle Reece • In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. – Bruno Mars • In Hawaii, the environment is fabulous. In Malibu, the people are fabulous. Our family unity is tight, and we have the Pacific Ocean outside our door in both places, so there is consistency. – Laird Hamilton • In Hawaii, there are 50-year-old grandfathers, because they got married so early. – Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa • In Hawaii, they’re happy to hear that you’re filming a show. They love it that people actually come and make use of their beautiful landscapes. – Rachelle Lefevre • In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there. – Stephen Collins • In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you. – Duke Kahanamoku • In Hawaii, we have something called Ho’oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. – Duane Chapman • In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago. – Mark Twain • In the case of Five-O, I believe it was a combination of many ingredients – timing, chemistry, Hawaii. – James MacArthur • Indian-styled garments are very popular in the U.S., especially in areas near the beach, like Hawaii and Los Angeles. – Maggie Grace • Insiders say Obama’s pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been ‘acting’ like he was born in Hawaii for a long time. – Craig Ferguson • It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom. – Ed Silvoso • It doesn’t matter to me where Barack Obama goes. If he wants to go to Hawaii because it’s his home state, fine! Hunky-dory. Plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller dittos. – Rush Limbaugh • It is really so nice here-country-busy-busy with so many different kinds of things-… I must say I feel far away in another world here-… always we go to a new place…the people have a kind of gentleness that isn’t usual on the mainland. – Georgia O’Keeffe • It’s easier to be healthy in Hawaii than it is, almost anywhere else I’ve lived. You spend a lot of time outside, in the ocean and on the beach. – Terry O’Quinn • It’s good to visit Hawaii if you’re seeking power. You don’t really need to live here. Just to come over for a week is enough. Switzerland is another spot like this. It’s very similar. These are the two clearest spots, Switzerland and Hawaii. – Frederick Lenz • I’ve always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves. – Shaun White • I’ve been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I’m not very good, but it’s just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music… very few sports are as pure as that. – Troy Polamalu • I’ve enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap. – Grace Slick • Jason Lee is the most famous actor from Hawaii I can think of. – Tia Carrere • Life is very nice in Hawaii. I rent a place that has its own cottage so when my friends and family come to visit, they have somewhere nice to stay. – Jorge Garcia • Make good the good in you…and you will slowly steal into the Hawaiian heart, which is all of softness, and gentleness, and sweetness. – Jack London • Many believe that Hillary Clinton was channeling President Obama during her recent speech in New York City. She focused on equality, justice, and how hard it was for her growing up as a young black man in Hawaii. – Jimmy Fallon • Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii’s abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It’s also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. – John Grant • Most of my ukulele heroes were traditional players from Hawaii, like Eddie Kamae and Ohta-san. There may not be uke stars in popular culture, but there are certainly pop stars that play uke – George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Train, and Paul McCartney. – Jake Shimabukuro • Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii. – George Clooney • Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren’t alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don’t. That’s partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible – Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground. – Bette Midler • My boyfriend, who I love to death – he’s only 17 so he’s the youngest guy I’ve ever dated – he just moved here from Hawaii to be with me and I met him when I was 10. Anyway, in Hawaii they have such a different mentality and different priorities. – Nikki Reed • My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. – Mark Dacascos • My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer. – Bruno Mars • My husband is from Hawaii and his father who was also born in Hawaii was a teenager when Pearl Harbor happened, right before church and he ran up and got on the roof of his grandfather’s house and watched the planes go over. – Sigourney Weaver • My kids have never known me not working on The Bachelor. But they’ve lived in Paris and Italy and been to Hawaii and Bora-Bora with me, and it’s incredible to me that they’ve had these experiences. – Chris Harrison • Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger. – Joan Chen • Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. – Randy Alcorn • One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth’s crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot. – Jim Gibbons • Over the years, I’ve traveled to many places for inspiration and research, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and Hawaii. – Jennifer Chiaverini • President Obama and his family are spending the holidays in Hawaii, and while they’re gone, they got a fence jumper to house sit. Tomorrow, he will be in Hawaii playing golf with Raul Castro and the Pope. – David Letterman • President Obama has decided that he wants his presidential library to be in Chicago, not Hawaii. Today Hawaii’s governor said, ‘Great, who’s going to want to come to Hawaii now?’ – Conan O’Brien • Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world, and it makes me feel special. I’ve never been a traditional tourist. I’ve always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view things in a different way. Places look different in the early-morning hours, when the streets are deserted. – Grete Waitz • Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. – Isoroku Yamamoto • Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I’m always in touch with stuff going on. – Joan Chen • Six years ago, I completed the premier episode of Hawaii Five-O, and Jack Lord and I immediately realized that we had a good series, that this was a success such as we’d never hoped for! – James MacArthur • So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don’t know if you’ve heard that they’re going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I’ve actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch. – Brent Spiner • Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don’t think so. It’s modern. It’s a part of today’s world. – James MacArthur • Somehow, the love of the islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawaii. – Jack London • That isn’t to say that Hawaii’s better. On the mainland, everyone seems to be trying to get somewhere. Kids are taught to shoot for the moon, to believe in their ability to do anything, to follow their passions. In Hawaii, you’re stuck in the middle of the Pacific, and it can be difficult to see how you’re going to follow your passion from there. – Gabrielle Reece • That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time. – Dwayne Johnson • The Aloha spirit is something that is very special and very meaningful to us and our Polynesian culture. Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, or any of the Polynesian islands, know that it’s a very special thing. It’s an intangible, and when you get off the plane and have your feet on the ground there, it energetically takes you to a different place. – Dwayne Johnson • The band would play on the night off for the local hotel bands and we’d back all the different acts. So I’d been advised by good friends of mine to come back to Hawaii. Oh, I loved Honolulu, playing at a place right on the beach at Waikiki! – Martin Denny • The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out at the stars. – Buzz Aldrin • The best thing about wearing black is that you can hide pretty easily, unless you’re in like Hawaii, then you can’t hide. – Gerard Way • The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station. – Liliʻuokalani • The day before I left to fly in New York, I went in the ocean and was just lying on my black looking up at the sky, which was that Hawaii blue. Just that moment was worth the entire thing. The ocean is everything. It can heal you. – Gavin Rossdale • The five principles of aloha, when practiced together, awaken our awareness of our human potential and the sacredness of our life. – Paul Pearsall • The mindless rejoicing at home is really appalling; it makes me fear that the first blow against Tokyo will make them wilt at once…I only wish that [the Americans] had also had, say, three carriers at Hawaii. – Isoroku Yamamoto • The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii, you’re diving in the Pacific, you’re in a remote archipelago, or you’re in the middle of nowhere – I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean. – Jeff Corwin • The one we keep pitching and there are no takers is The Fabulous Baker Boys Go to Hawaii. There don’t seem to be any takers on that one! – Beau Bridges • The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii. – Buffy Sainte-Marie • The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? – Jack Kornfield • The sentiments in Hawaii about Washington’s failure of leadership are no different than the rest of the country. – Ed Case • The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an ancestral memory. The swells rose sluggishly and fell away, casting up dismal gleams between the boards of the pier. And the whole pier rose and fell in stiff and creaking mimicry, dancing its long slow dance of dissolution. I reached the end and saw no one, heard nothing but my footsteps and the creak of the beams, the slap of waves on the pilings. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the dim water. The nearest land ahead of me was Hawaii.- Ross Macdonald • The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it. – Francine du Plessix Gray • The U.S. started with no stars. In fact, it started with a completely different flag. The last two were added in 1959, Hawaii and Alaska. – Juan Enriquez • There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot! – Joe Bastianich • There are several states where you can get married. But I think I can say without fear of contradiction, ‘Paradise awaits.’ We’ll be happy to welcome you. And if you do get married in another state, think about honeymooning in Hawaii. – Neil Abercrombie • There are spirits in Hawaii. They’re very protective and very good and they watch over these islands. I must confess, they’re not entirely happy with what they see, with the way the civilization is moving. But they’re patient. They’ve been here for a long time, and they’ll be here long after the human beings have ceased to inhabit the islands. – Frederick Lenz • There is one bright side to this, said Fang. “Yeah? What’s that?” The new and improved Erasers would mutilate us before they killed us? He grinned at me so unexpectedly I gorgot to flap for a second and dropped several feet. “You looove me,” he crooned smugly. Holding his arms out wide, he added, “You love me this much.” My shriek of appalled rage could probably be heard in California, or maybe Hawaii. – James Patterson • There’s nothing – there’s nothing – as action-packed as ‘Hawaii Five-O.’ – Michelle Borth • This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, “I believe God is nature, there’s God in that tree” – and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood. – Natalie Maines • Though there is something cruel about being in Hawaii and you have a computer in front of you the whole time. – Justin Theroux • To be honest I don’t watch the show, I don’t watch any TV, so I have no idea what the show is about. I go to Hawaii, shot my scenes and script and ‘Ciao.’ I’m not a ‘Lost’ fanatic and it’s a disappointment for thousands people and friends that are dying to know what will happen. They know more than me. – Sonya Walger • Waterworld was the best time of my life. It was physically demanding, but it was fun. I mean, you’re in Hawaii for nine months shooting on the water every day. – David R. Ellis • We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of… Hawaii… to the beautiful sandy beaches of… Hawaii… America is our home. – Sarah Palin • We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road. Weary of cities? Then we’ll take to the wilds. To the islands of Hawaii and the mountains of Japan, to forests where Civil War dead still lie, and stretches of sea no mariner ever crossed. They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything. – Clive Barker • We have North Shore, Hawaii and Lost all there, so they have softball tournaments between the casts. It’s hilarious. – Josh Holloway • We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny. – William McKinley • We packed up all the worldly possessions we could carry with us and took the next flight to Hawaii from Washington. It took just about every cent my family had to our name just to pay the plane fare. When we arrived, we had about $15 left among us. We were really in pitiful shape. But we were together, and we were alive, and this was all that mattered. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We shot on location in our very first weeks, in our very first shows. I would like to go on location again, Hawaii would be good!! But normally, we tape five days a week in the studio starting at about 8:00 a.m. and continuing until about 8:00 p.m. – Juliet Mills • We were just floored by the kindness of the people here. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Honolulu invited my family over to his office the day we arrived and told us to make it our headquarters while we looked for a permanent residence. When we couldn’t find a place for about a week, he let us live in the church; that’s ironic, isn’t it? But it points up the vastly different intellectual atmosphere that prevails here in Hawaii. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films. – Bo Derek • Well, filming in Hawaii, you know, is a blessing. It’s one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It has a very mystic energy which informs you as an actor. – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje • Well, President-elect Barack Obama and his family are gonna spend the holidays in his home state of Hawaii. And you know who couldn’t be more thrilled with this? The press, the reporters who follow the president. Well, think about it. After eight years of spending every holiday cutting brush in Crawford, Texas, they get to go to Hawaii! – Jay Leno • We’ve had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. – Barack Obama • When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can’t tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico. – Desi Arnaz • When I’m in New York, I bike everywhere. I have a couple of bikes stored over at Ed Norton’s. It’s the only way to go. But in Hawaii, I drive. I have a little Volkswagen Bug, from the ‘Drive it? Hug it?’ phase. I run it on biodiesel. – Woody Harrelson • When Japanese went to Hawaii they would go straight and buy the same thing that they would buy in Japan. They just got it cheaper, which they liked. And so they would still eat the red bean ice cream or the green tea ice cream, but they didn’t really take advantage of the variety and it wasn’t clear that they cared. – Sheena Iyengar • When people are worried about the future, they don’t take trips to Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • When you go to Hawaii, it’s all about “Aloha.” It means hello, goodbye and I love you. – Gabriel Iglesias • Whenever I finish a book, I go off and have some kind of adventure. Having had an adventure in my writing chair or on my writing sofa, an internal adventure, then I need to balance that off with an external adventure, so I’ll go tramping through Africa or whitewater rafting or float to Hawaii in a martini shaker or something. – Tom Robbins • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? – Steven Wright • With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don’t really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me. – Bruno Mars • With the departure of Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D), who is running for the governorship of Hawaii, and with the tragic and very sad passing of my personal friend Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots. – Eric Massa • You are the lei I entwine with the beauty of your smile. – Robert Cazimero • You know, I think there was a point in time when people didn’t really understand how birth certificates were kept in the state of Hawaii, and now, I think that it’s been pretty much disclosed that they used to have a long form and now they don’t have a long form. Arizona used to have a long form, we now have a short form. – Jan Brewer • You know, or three kinds of ice cream bars and you’d see this and like this… okay they could clearly benefit from some more choices and I remember having these discussions with the Japanese because they you know they often like to go to Hawaii for vacation because it was definitely much cheaper for them and I would ask them, “So when you go to Hawaii, you know do eat all these other things?” – Sheena Iyengar • You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low? I’ll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! – Busta Rhymes [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

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jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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equitiesstocks · 5 years

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Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

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jaigeddes · 6 years

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Turn Up the Music in Studio

Architecture and Music … they go together extremely well as music frequently fuels the creative process and there are few things I enjoy more than turning on some music and jamming out in the studio.

Except I can’t do that … not really, because we have an open office plan and it’s already a lot louder than it should be without adding a driving bassline into the mix. The other thing that makes me happy is when I expose some music to somebody that they like. In my office, if you can believe it, just about every song I play nobody has ever heard of before, and I’m not talking about super deep cuts. I once put together a playlist and it took about 45 minutes before anybody recognized a song, and we had already played U2, Kool and the Gang, The Pretenders, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Seriously.

Last Friday, as Landon and I were preparing to record our next podcast, I mentioned that I used to put together posts where I listed off some of the music that I was currently listening too. He is currently going back through my old posts as we work on assembling our podcast editorial calendar, but he has yet to discover any of my “musical” posts so I thought I would take a look at my listening history and list the last handful of songs here in hopes of exposing you to something you like that maybe you’ve never heard before. Of course, if you are reading this via email, you are going to have to click through onto the website to get access to the videos.

So let’s get this party started – right?

Reignwolf – Are You Satisfied Canadian rocker Jordan Wolf has yet to release a full-length album (as far as I can tell) but I have stumbled across a handful of his songs dating back to 2014. If you like rock, then this is a song you should appreciate.

Joe Cocker – Feelin’ Alright I actually had this song on 45 back in my youth … and I feel somewhat positive that the majority of people reading this post have no idea what a 45 is. Joe Cocker has one of the more unique voices, but that’s not why I like this particular song. There is a lot going on in the rhythm section and I think this is just one of those songs that makes you want to open a bottle of wine and dance while your cooking dinner.

That’s an awfully specific description but if you take a moment and listen to the song, I think you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign I was actually just looking for a pure Albert King version of this song but since I am also a huge Stevie Ray Vaughn fan, I am still happy putting this song up for your enjoyment. A lot of people have actually recorded this song but Albert King was the first. Even if you don’t really like rhythm and blues, I think you’ll have a hard time not thinking this is a great song. It also has one of the best blues lyrics ever:

Born under a bad sign, been down since I began to crawl If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all

Perfection.

Vance Joy– We’re Going Home This is a new one for me and I have my daughter to thank for pointing it out. Of all the people I try to introduce “new” music to, my daughter tops the list. I’m sure she equally enjoys it when she is able to show me something new.

Eels – Fresh Blood This song has been in my rotation for quite a while but I remain a bit luke-warm on the rest of their songs. The band is really just front-man Mark Everett with a constant revolving door with all other members. This song supports my wife’s observation that if the song doesn’t have a driving bassline or a particularly clever drum pattern, you probably won’t hold my attention in the long run.

I gotta say … she’s not wrong.

The Roots – Break You Off While some people might only know The Roots as the band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, those people would be missing out on some incredibly innovative musicians. I will admit that I don’t really ever listen to the words of any song and if the video for Break You Off is any indication, this is a fairly dirty song. What I will point out is that the drum lick and the organ riffs in this song are what make this song worthy of today’s list … I dare you to tell me that I’m wrong.

Queens of the Stone Age – Feet Don’t Fail Me While I don’t really consider myself a “hard rocker”, I will admit that I am a sucker for just about every song Queens of the Stone Age have ever recorded. While this song takes a while to get going (at the 1:50 mark) the build-up to that moment is totally worth it. Of all the groups represented on today’s mini-playlist, this is the group that I want to see most in concert … with the possible exception of the next entry …

Silversun Pickups – Catch and Release I basically love all the songs this group has recorded – they definitely hit all my sweet spots (rhythmic drums and contributing bassline). In fact, if I could be in a band, it would be this one and I would be okay being either the bassist or the drummer (although, they would also have to still be the bassist and the drummer because I like them so much). This particular song, Catch and Release, was one of the first songs that I played for my daughter that she completely loved (learning all the words and singing the song to me the next day) and for that reason, this will always be one of my favorite songs.

Silversun Pickups – Substitution That’s right, I put a second song by the same group on this extremely short list … and “why” you ask? I felt that the live recording of the last song, as good as it was, might not have shown them in all their studio quality awesomeness.

And who wouldn’t get a kick out of watching the drummer flop around like a fish out of water while he’s perfectly rocking those asynchronous beats?!? And did you happen to notice how high he’s placed his crash cymbal?

Mazzy Star – Into Dust Mazzy Star is one of those singers that you either love … or don’t know that you love them yet. Mazzy Star, with the haunting lead vocals from Hope Sandoval, came into modest success in the very late 1980’s – the perfect time for me as this was the height of my “working up at studio 10-hours a day” period of architecture school. While their song Fade Into You was their biggest commercial hit, this song was always my most favorite. I always imagined that as beautiful as this song is, it is only people in absolute pain who would appreciate it the most.

Dave Brubeck – Take Five Dave Brubeck was a pianist known for the genre of “Cool Jazz” (yes, that’s a thing) and Take Five is probably one of the most recognizable jazz songs for people who don’t listen to jazz. This song was actually written for him by Paul Desmond, an alto saxophonist in his band, which you can tell because the alto sax has a pretty big role in this song. I always wondered if Dave liked that one his most popular song a) wasn’t written by him, and b) didn’t heavily feature the piano.

Interpol – Obstacle 1 I gotta say, Interpol gets props for possibly having the best band name of all time. A band that came onto the scene in the late 90’s, they quickly became one of my all-time favorites. They check my drum and bassline boxes and when I saw them live in 2007, it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. When bassist Carlos Dengler left the group sometime around 2010 the band wasn’t ever really the same … still good, even great at times, but not the same. Carlos is in the song I picked for today’s playlist.

First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining I can’t recall how I stumbled upon First Aid Kit but I’m glad I did. The group is basically a Swedish Folk duo made up of two sisters.

I know … crazy, right?!?

For someone like me who doesn’t really ever listen to the singing or to the words in a song, I’m not entirely sure how I became a fan, but I did. A pretty big fan as well.

Wow … I love these sorts of posts even though I am pretty sure that few people really care about what I’m currently listening to at the moment. I occasionally get an email asking for a playlist of what we are currently playing in the office but for me, these are the sort of posts that definitely fall into the “Life” portion of the site and I quite honestly have a lot of fun putting them together. If by some chance you like them, please let me know so I won’t feel quite as quilty the next time I’m sitting down on Sunday evening putting together a blog post.

I am also going to include a few liks to past entries into my “What Am I listening to” series just in case you make it through today’s list and you’re hungry for more.

here you go:

Turn up the music in the studio

What am I listening to anyways?

Architects and their Deserted Island Music

Turns those speakers up to 11 and have a great week!

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ottawagolfcourses-blog · 6 years

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When Patrick Reed's past and present merge, a question of what's fair game

When the polite applause stopped Sunday evening, it wasn’t Patrick Reed’s gritty finish that inspired headlines and tweets in the hours following his victory. No, more than any major champion in recent memory, the stories that surrounded Reed’s win moved remarkably quickly toward the unflattering mistakes and the personal crises of his pre-green jacket life. In short, the minute he was putting his arms in the sleeves of the coat, many were pointing out all the reasons he didn’t quite fit the suit.

And yet that seems just fine with Reed, who is quick to dismiss the questions of a life conflicted and of conflict, of family union and familial strife. “I mean, I'm just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments,” he said flatly from the podium that night.

Still, that answer was no match for the growing media and public sentiment that was quick to look behind Reed’s facade, sorting through his past uncertainties with a certainty that nowadays seems as essential to journalism as a notebook used to be. It’s new and awkward territory for a game whose champions, and its image as a whole, have largely remained sweet confections and comfortably predictable.

While Reed’s is not the typical backstory golf likes to tell, this highly personal exegesis seemed bigger than the moment or the man before the moment even happened, before the man could have his say. It was telling that the most popular story on GolfDigest.com throughout its weekend of Masters coverage was Ryan Herrington’s reminder piece of Reed’s twisty personal history. Asking simply but even-handedly if we should hold Reed’s past against him, the piece was posted hours before he teed off in the final round yet remained the most read story long after he had holed his final putt. Even more dramatically, the most shared story on Golf.com in its history was Alan Shipnuck’s trip inside Reed’s estranged family’s melancholy Masters celebration at the house in Augusta where Reed once lived.

In a generation past, one that for many of us only seems like a week ago, those stories might have been written eventually, but in today’s TMZ world where Twitter forms our opinions even before we’ve had a time to internalize what they really mean, stories emerge more quickly and fully formed than ever before. That’s new for golf, but it’s not new, said Joe Favorito, a professor in strategic communications in Columbia’s school of sports management.

“I think anyone in the limelight is viewed with feet of clay these days,” said Favorito, a consultant in crisis communications who in the past has directed communications for the Women’s Tennis Association, the U.S. Tennis Association, the New York Knicks. “You can go through every sport, every political campaign, every person in the media. It’s just much easier to attack because the negative sells more than the positive.”

Indeed, instead of celebrating Reed as that most American of archetypes, the underdog, we fell over ourselves to show him as the mongrel. Every third click online showed us the yappy rescue mutt of a man with the family dynamic straight out of an unfinished Tennessee Williams’ play.

For almost as long as there have been champions in golf, there have been the winners we wanted and liked, and the ones that at best filled the gaps between the heroes. But it has never been the case when such a winner has been almost equally celebrated and denuded the way Reed was in the afterglow of his remarkable victory. In the post Tiger Woods’ era, our major champions have largely been of a kind, almost treacly sweet, shiny or scruffy but always in the right way. Movie stars all of them, albeit in different film genres. Now, we have Reed who seemingly can only be a soap opera we’re only too happy to gossip about.

Of course, the reason is that Reed’s inconvenient story carries with it the heavy patina of being not only mostly true but previously well-documented. The simple fact is it can’t be covered up with one size 44 green three-button blazer.

“Our history follows us more publicly than it used to,” said Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Culver noted that maybe two decades ago if Reed’s final round had been marred by a scoring discrepancy or lost-ball kerfuffle, the stories of his past might have surfaced briefly and merely as footnotes. But today those stories face boldly forward in the midst of an essentially flawless performance.

Still, Reed’s past did happen, and very publicly.

“The public has a right to know when there are controversies, where those controversies come from,” Culver said, noting it would be tough to justify any story about Reed that didn’t talk about his family being escorted off the grounds at the U.S. Open at the request of his wife.

“To the extent that they’re doing a story about public reaction to his victory, it’s important to explain where that reaction comes from. It’s not as if they’re scraping old divorce records or some old juvenile case that are unrelated. We’re talking about family matters that played out on the scene of the sport itself.”

But unlike John Daly of a generation ago, where the confluence of his beer bottle past with his champagne glass victory toasts struck us as almost endearing, Reed’s chord rings with a harsher tone. This one has an edge to it that cuts deeper.

Culver heard the groans in her own household as Reed won the title over the more popular Rory McIlroy, Spieth and Rickie Fowler.

“That’s a really interesting conversation that we need to have about sports in this society,” she said. “How much are we celebrating the athleticism and skill and strategy, and how much are we celebrating a squeaky clean image that puts you on a commercial or a Wheaties box?”

Of course, Favorito wonders if that image ever was accurate, that all those perfect champions of the past may have as much Reed in them as they have Spieth: “I imagine if you went back and put other Masters champions from different eras in the crucible that today’s young players are in that they may not have pristine stories around them either.”

But Favorito also thinks Reed may be more of what golf needs, even if it’s not what the tastemakers necessarily want. These uncomfortable Reed stories fuel a fire that might be productive.

“Golf needs to grow and needs to expand its fan base,” he said. “For better or worse, one of things that drives interest are heroes and villains. The story arcs in sports are the things that drive interest. You want people to root for and you want people to root against.

"Rivalries are very good for sports. If this is going to create a rivalry among all those young guys, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the sport.”

That decision to cast one athlete in a certain light maybe allows a dangerous freedom in sportswriters to emphasize one aspect and overlook another, especially now when social media is fomenting at full throat.

“How quickly we go down that road is one of the biggest concerns we have in journalism ethics today,” Culver said, speaking of the get-it-first stress of the up-to-the-minute news cycle. “It’s not as if people set out to do their jobs without integrity. Most people try to be ethical in their work. But there are these countervailing forces and speed is one of them and competition is one of them.”

Reed’s past problems make for good copy now. They were revealing portraits of a family at once celebrating and tortured by a lost son’s victory. But dysfunctional families and boys behaving badly aren’t the exclusive domain of golf or even professional athletes in general. We’ve all got our baggage. As storytellers, there’s something larger in play.

The Masters - Final Round David Cannon “There could be a truly justifiable way to tell this story of estrangement in a way that’s valuable,” Culver said. “It’s not just reporting the story so that everyone can ogle the difficult family life that Patrick Reed faces, but maybe in a way they can relate to their own difficult family life.

“To the extent that we can cover things with depth and empathy and care, those stories can have a good effect, not just sort of that leering look kind of effect.”

Of course, the biggest player in what will turn out to be the rest of Reed’s story is Reed himself. He likes wearing the black hat, and as much as he talks about “Team Reed,” its roster is not really expanding. With the wolves now at Reed’s door, he and his team are so far keeping them at bay. But that’s a lot of self to shield. Right now, it seems easy to simply not answer questions about your past like he did on Sunday at the Masters, to even stipulate what questions won’t be answered before granting an interview (as he has done) or simply abruptly canceling a media event on his Masters media tour (also done).

“He embraces that confrontational role now at 27, but maybe that will change,” Favorito said. “Lots of athletes and celebrities kind of become benevolent dictators when they get to their 30s.

“If he chooses to not let anybody in and it’s an us-against-them thing that’s worked for him, that’s his choice. Life might be a little bit easier if he were a little more open and maybe played the game a little bit. It certainly makes you a little more marketable if you do choose to do those things.”

This week’s media tour saw no Norah O’Donnell or Jimmy Fallon or Kelly Ripa or even Chris Rock courtside at the Knicks game asking Reed the hard questions. Probably wouldn’t even matter if they did. Reed will just stare straight ahead and say, “I’m just going to do me.”

But as Reed is finding out this week, that’s not going to prevent the media from doing something else, maybe something he doesn’t right now think he wants done. As Culver says, “The ‘No’ from one side can’t always be the veto. You can’t spike the story because someone refuses to talk to you about it. That would be silencing the people who said ‘Yes.’”

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4seasonscountryclub · 6 years

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When Patrick Reed's past and present merge, a question of what's fair game

Still, Reed’s past did happen, and very publicly.

Culver heard the groans in her own household as Reed won the title over the more popular Rory McIlroy, Spieth and Rickie Fowler.

But Favorito also thinks Reed may be more of what golf needs, even if it’s not what the tastemakers necessarily want. These uncomfortable Reed stories fuel a fire that might be productive.

"Rivalries are very good for sports. If this is going to create a rivalry among all those young guys, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the sport.”

“To the extent that we can cover things with depth and empathy and care, those stories can have a good effect, not just sort of that leering look kind of effect.”

“He embraces that confrontational role now at 27, but maybe that will change,” Favorito said. “Lots of athletes and celebrities kind of become benevolent dictators when they get to their 30s.

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hamiltongolfcourses · 6 years

Text

When Patrick Reed's past and present merge, a question of what's fair game

Still, Reed’s past did happen, and very publicly.

Culver heard the groans in her own household as Reed won the title over the more popular Rory McIlroy, Spieth and Rickie Fowler.

But Favorito also thinks Reed may be more of what golf needs, even if it’s not what the tastemakers necessarily want. These uncomfortable Reed stories fuel a fire that might be productive.

"Rivalries are very good for sports. If this is going to create a rivalry among all those young guys, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the sport.”

“To the extent that we can cover things with depth and empathy and care, those stories can have a good effect, not just sort of that leering look kind of effect.”

“He embraces that confrontational role now at 27, but maybe that will change,” Favorito said. “Lots of athletes and celebrities kind of become benevolent dictators when they get to their 30s.

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tortuga-aak · 7 years

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The downfall of Kinect: Why Microsoft gave up on its most promising product

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced it had discontinued the Kinect sensor, a pioneering motion-sensing accessory line for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One that sold almost 30 million units in its lifetime.

The Kinect was a huge bet for Microsoft, but it didn't pay off — the technology wasn't quite reliable enough, the games weren't as good as they could be, and the novelty wore off.

The death of the Kinect has been a long time coming, with Microsoft removing the Kinect port from its most recent model of Xbox One consoles.

On Tuesday, Fast Company reported that Microsoft is killing the Kinect, the ahead-of-its-time motion sensor for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Back in 2015, we took a deep look at the history of the Kinect and its downfall. The story below was originally published on September 8th, 2015, now updated to reflect current facts.

When the Kinect for Xbox 360 was first demonstrated in June 2009, it looked like the future of technology.

By tracking your body with an advanced infrared camera, sensors, and a microphone, the $150 Kinect accessory let you control games and media using just your body and voice.

But then, after Microsoft sold about 29 million of them for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, it just kind of faded away.

Even Microsoft appears to have given up on it — the Xbox One originally required Kinect to function, but Microsoft dropped that requirement last year.

There are only a handful of Kinect games available for the Xbox One. And the current-model Xbox One S, and the forthcoming Xbox One X, no longer have the correct port to directly plug in a Kinect — you need an optional $40 adapter.

What happened?

It looked like the future

The goal of Kinect was to broaden the Xbox 360 console's appeal beyond who you would typically think of as "gamers." Instead of playing games with intimidating and complicated controllers, you just had to move.

The Xbox 360 had been selling well since its 2005 introduction, but now needed something to set itself apart, as the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii were providing stiff competition.

The Kinect was intended to be a shot in the arm, extending the Xbox 360's appeal and providing a new platform for games and content that could take it into the future. Microsoft Corporate Vice President Shane Kim once claimed that the Kinect would mean that the Xbox 360 could stay on the market through 2015.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even tellingly referred to the Kinect as a "new Xbox" in one presentation.

Flickr

At first, everything looked like it was going according to plan.

The Kinect launched with tons of fanfare — and a $500 million marketing budget — November 4, 2010, with the tagline "You Are the Controller." Oprah Winfrey even gave away Xbox 360s and Kinects on an episode of her show.

You could either buy it separately for $150 or with an Xbox 360 in bundles starting at $299. The Xbox 360 interface itself was given a revamp to be more Kinect-friendly.

The press, especially the non-gaming mainstream media, ate it up and gave the Kinect glowing reviews. And within 60 days, Microsoft sold 8 million Kinects, earning it the Guinness World Record of "fastest-selling consumer device."

Developers started to line up to make games for the device, too, with 17 available at launch, including "Kinect Adventures," a Microsoft-made game that came packaged with the Kinect sensor.

Most of those games were panned by reviewers: "Critics are complaining about a lack of solid launch titles for the new control system; only 'Dance Central' seems to have anything to recommend it," said a Metacritic roundup of launch titles at the time.

But people realized it was new technology, and they were willing to give it time. Even when people noticed that you needed a lot of space to make good use of the Kinect sensor, nobody seemed to mind moving their furniture.

At least, not at first.

Problem #1: Not enough great games

A slow but steady trickle of Kinect games came out over the following months, but a lot of them fell into the "family entertainment" or "fitness trainer" veins, far from the core gamer demographic that made up most of the Xbox 360-owning audience.

Worse, a lot of the titles got poor reviews, alienating those many who bought an Xbox 360 just to play Kinect games.

Microsoft convinced a lot of larger publishers of marquee franchise games to integrate Kinect features into their gameplay, but they were largely gimmicky — I'll never forget the time my friend got a red card in "FIFA 15" soccer for the Xbox 360 because the Kinect's microphone caught him swearing.

We asked a former Xbox insider familiar with the development of the Kinect why it was so hard to find any good games that did cool things with the sensor.

The simple answer is that the best of the best developers simply weren't interested because they had invested so much in making their existing, lucrative, big-budget franchises work frighteningly well with a traditional controller.

"'Halo' doesn’t need Kinect — it has an incredibly precise and detailed control set, and further, can’t give a Kinect user an unfair advantage over non-Kinect owners," the former Xbox insider says.

In other words, even if top-tier developers thought it was cool, they weren't going to blow the time and budget to make it work with their existing games.

Plus, you didn't need a Kinect to play those games, so many players likely didn't even know there was any integration in those games at all.

Capcom

At the same time, circa the early 2010s, those developers who were best suited to creating really new, innovative games for non-gaming crowds were starting to shift their efforts toward the iPhone and Android platforms, where there was cash and a rapidly growing audience to be found, the insider says.

Problem #2: "85% magic, 15% frustrating"

The Kinect also introduced voice commands and a gesture interface to the Xbox 360 itself. You could pause a movie with your voice, or log in to your account on the console by standing in front of the camera.

But as cool as that all sounded, the Kinect was still a new technology, and there were some glitches with those cool new interface tricks.

"It does do magic, but only 85% correctly. When you encounter the 15%, it’s frustrating," the former Xbox insider said.

Xbox

Serious gamers care about precise movements, like landing a perfect Super Combo in "Street Fighter IV" or nailing a headshot in "Call of Duty." Similarly, if you have voice controls for a movie, it had better work the first time, or else you're just shouting "pause" at your TV over and over.

In both cases, it wasn't quite the totally accurate experience that people wanted.

"It’s essentially a less precise replacement for a lot of things which, once the novelty wears off, is not valued by the market. So it’s real value is for new experiences impossible before without it. There isn’t enough interest or investment in those," the ex-insider says.

Problem #3: It required a lot of space.

Worse, the longer people used Kinect, the more they found places and situations where it just fell short and didn't work as well as it should have.

In my apartment, playing a Kinect game requires moving furniture around to give the sensor the field of view that it needs to work well. It's a big problem for lots of gamers, since you need 6 to 10 feet between you and the sensor.

Try playing that in a dorm room or small apartment.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon / NBC screenshot

"I'd be surprised if even 20% of rooms with Xboxes 'work well' for the really new/fun experiences," the former Xbox insider says.

Meanwhile, you can sit on a couch in a room of any size and play a more traditional video game.

A second push with the Xbox One

Despite these pros, Kinect adoption was fairly strong, at least partially because Microsoft was pushing it as part of those bundles with the wildly popular Xbox 360 console.

But not every Xbox 360 owner took the plunge: In January 2012, Microsoft announced that it had sold 18 million Kinects versus 66 million total Xbox 360 consoles.

A year after later, in February 2013, Microsoft Xbox community relations head Larry Hryb announced on Twitter that the company had sold 24 million Kinects for 76-million-plus Xbox 360 consoles, which suggests — but doesn't prove — that most of them were sold bundled with the console.

Microsoft / Xbox One via YouTube

Microsoft wasn't ready to give up on the Kinect just yet, though.

When the Xbox One was first introduced in November 2013, Microsoft made the shocking announcement that the new console would come with and require a new version of the Kinect sensor. That meant the Xbox One would cost $499 versus the competing Sony PlayStation 4's $399 price tag.

In exchange for the $100 premium over the competition, Microsoft promised that the new system would provide an unprecedented user experience, including immersive games and television shows that you could actually interact with. Plus, it shipped with Bing-powered search and the Internet Explorer browser preinstalled.

For Microsoft, it was all part of its long-time ambition to place a computer in the living room. With the Kinect, Microsoft thought it had made a user-friendly multimedia hub with a natural interface that anybody could use for both games and media.

The Xbox One's core gamer demographic hated the idea. When the Xbox One hit the market in November 2013, it was quickly outsold by the cheaper PlayStation 4 for months after its launch. At one point, the PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One at a factor of 3 to 1. That early lead means PlayStation 4 still dominates the Xbox One in sales.

Microsoft refused to relent and doubled down on its message that the Kinect was the future.

That message was undercut by the fact that the Xbox One only launched with one game that needed the Kinect: The incredibly, poorly reviewed "Fighter Within," with a 23% average on review aggregation site Metacritic.

Furthermore, the actual Kinect for Xbox One sensor itself turned out to only be a minor improvement on the first, with some new, but still gimmicky, integrations with the interface. For instance, you could take a screenshot in a game by asking the Kinect, nicely, to do so.

YouTube/IGN

The final retreat

In April 2014, the flagship "Kinect Sports Rivals" came out for the Xbox One. Published by Microsoft, it was going to be a big, if belated, showcase for what the new Kinect could do. It was a big bet for the company, with a team of 150 working on the title.

Instead, it ended up wildly underselling, ultimately getting written off as a massive loss that led to layoffs at developer studio Rare, according to reports at the time.

In May 2014, Microsoft finally relented on its insistence on the Kinect sensor and announced that it would sell a version of the Xbox One console without it for $399 — recently marked down again to $349. You can still buy a Kinect bundled with the Xbox One system for $499 or by itself for $150.

The move has significantly helped Xbox One's sales, and the gap between it and the leading Sony PlayStation 4 is getting smaller by the quarter.

YouTube/The Podmeister

But it meant that the estimated 5 million Xbox One owners who had bought their console before the Kinect unbundling were stuck with an accessory they didn't necessarily want in the first place. Meanwhile, only a handful of games support Kinect for Xbox One at all, and of those only a few received decent reviews.

And with the novelty gone after the first generation of Kinect for Xbox 360, even the most optimistic Xbox fans were out of patience with the device.

"Microsoft has only itself to blame for Kinect's failure," said a headline on Microsoft news site Neowin in May 2014.

The gloves were off.

The article's author noted that no new big flagship games had been announced for the Kinect for Xbox One — not even from Microsoft itself. That remained true for the rest of the lifetime of the Kinect.

In addition, Microsoft actually closed the TV studio it had opened to provide interactive TV content with Kinect in October 2014. In 2016, with the release of the Xbox One S, Microsoft removed the built-in Kinect port, requiring users to use an external USB adapter.

In other words, it really seems like Kinect had been swept under a rug, even before the official discontinuation.

Not game over

There's an interesting coda here: The Kinect has found a strange second life outside gaming.

Its nifty motion-tracking tech has a ton of other applications. In 2010, Adafruit CEO Limor Fried released a set of unofficial drivers to make the Kinect for Xbox 360 work with Windows — which allegedly annoyed Microsoft at first, but they came around and released an official version down the line.

From there, artists and robotics hobbyists started working the Kinect into all kinds of projects, Fried tells Business Insider.

This bizarre "PomPom Mirror" art piece uses a Kinect to match your motion, for example:

Vimeo Embed: http://ift.tt/2h89rN4 Width: 500px Height: 281px

Elements of the Kinect made it into Windows itself: Windows Hello, the facial recognition system built into select Windows 10 PCs, uses similar infrared-tracking technology as the Kinect to work.

In short, with 23 million Kinects sold for the Xbox 360, and at least 5 million Xbox Ones sold that included the sensor, it's a little funny, and a little sad, that Microsoft couldn't make it work as the future of gaming.

But at least it's getting good use somewhere.

And when the Microsoft HoloLens, its futuristic wearable computer, comes out with a consumer version down the line, it's going to face a lot of the same problems with finding a niche. Notably, Kinect's product lead, Alex Kipman, is also responsible for the HoloLens.

But where Kinect led with gaming, Microsoft is being careful to reaffirm that the HoloLens has lots of commercial applications for business users, even as it shows off holographic "Minecraft" demos.

Microsoft has become wary of trying to appease hardcore gamers alone, it seems.

NOW WATCH: The head of Xbox says this one product is 'critical' to the future of gaming

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Greg Autore & The Toy Design of Jewel Riders - Part Two

We’ve got a really special interview to share with all of you today! You may remember back in December we had the opportunity to feature several of the toy designs for the never-produced third wave of toys (http://www.jewelridersarchive.com/posts/greg-autore-and-the-toy-design-of-jewel-riders/). We reached out to Greg Autore, the Art Director behind Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, with a few more questions after featuring the designs, and are so, so excited to share his responses with you. Please enjoy!

The Jewel Riders Archive: First off, can you tell us about your history as a toy designer?

Greg Autore: I started in 1984 as an intern with Mattel and am still designing toys and children’s products. Toys I have worked on (a short list): All of Sabrina the Teenage witch, All Disney fashion dolls from 1989 to 1994 (that is a bigger story to tell sometime), first year of Disney Musical Princesses (I used those bodies and heads for the first Gwen dolls), Star Wars, Popples, Hooks, Peppermint Rose, GI Joe, Trolls…and tons more. In those cases I had a major impact on all those lines. But there are many other smaller things, for instance, I created the very first Barbie’s little sister doll Stacie. I saw a gap in the play pattern since there was no child doll close to the age of the children buying Barbie. (Skipper was a young teen and the babies from Heart Family were toddlers.) So, when I was put on a short term team of cross functional designers to come up with new concepts, Stacie is one thing I did. I used the body from Lady Lovely Locks and took the head from Skipper and chemically shrunk the head to fit. After it was accepted, one of the Barbie designers cleaned it up. She was originally designed to be wearing her big sister Barbie’s pink letter jacket. It still has the basic look from what I designed.

JRA: Wow, that’s an incredible background in toy design. But how did you get involved with Jewel Riders?

GA: Part of the Kenner process is to always look for new properties or inventions. When they arrive, Design and Marketing review them and some are picked to go to the next step to make test models and get early consumer feedback. I was given several scripts and loved “Enchanted Camelot” when I first read it. So, I pushed for getting it into the tests and was assigned to adapt it into a viable toy line. I was told that the production company was willing to work with us (Kenner) to make it better. It was not until after the test results came back favorable and we decided to push forward that I met Robert Mandell and really dug into the project.

Incidentally, “Princess Tenko” was in the same round of testing, and I did make the models for that also, but it did not score as high. Later, Mattel picked up that line but it did not perform well.

Other reasons why I was given the line was probably due to my work with Disney dolls at Mattel. At that time, Disney NEVER cross branded their properties. I was given the assignment to turn Cinderella into a fashion doll. After I had been working on it a little while it occurred to me it could work well for 2 to 3 years but it would be even better if we could rotate the characters through a line in the same way Disney was re-releasing its movies to video – every 7 years. So, with the backing of the Design VP, I pitched the concept to Disney with glorious models. They were very apprehensive at first when I showed them the first two (Cinderella and Snow White) but by the time I showed them all 10 female properties together – they were hooked. The next year after Mattel’s successful launch of Cinderella and Snow White, Disney launched a new branding program “Disney Princesses.” My fingerprints are still on Disney Princesses every time you see Sleeping Beauty wearing pink. I presented a doll to them with a dress that transformed from pink to blue so the kids could replay that scene from the film. They liked it but wanted it blue in the package. Having all the models in front of me I showed them how many Disney female characters they had that were blond with blue dresses and won them over. Now you almost never see Princess Aurora depicted in blue.

There were many unproduced models for the original Disney Classics (purple box) dolls. There are many very cool ones. A centaurette from Fantasia, all the other Peter Pan characters, transforming soft catapillar/butterfly, the original wax model of the white rabbit that I sculpted.

JRA: Very awesome! You also mentioned the Disney Musical Princesses and their connection to PGJR, we were wondering if you could expand on that a little?

GA: The bodies for the musical princesses were originally sculpted and tooled for the “Wonder Woman and the Star Riders.” But it died at toy fair and never shipped. Most of [the Wonder Woman and the Star Riders] doll samples were destroyed because I made the Musical Princesses out of them.

Gwen is the same size as musical princesses but different tools (Editor’s note: Tools are steel molds created from prototypes that are used to manufacture the toy in the factory) since they were made by Mattel’s biggest competitor. If you look carefully, all the Mattel poses are straight and rigid (like a super heroine) but Gwen bodies all have one cocked knee and bent arms for a more natural stance.

JRA: Fun! This looks like it was made from the pre-existing Jasmine Musical Princess Doll. Did Jasmine have that style shoes? Or are those a Jewel Riders exclusive design?

GA: Jasmine would not have worn those shoes. Most likely, I sculpted those onto the existing legs with Sculpy, the heated them with a fine point heat gun. That was one of my typical techniques.

JRA: Were there any other pre-existing toys that fed into Jewel Riders toy design?

GA: The Gwen horses were Fashion Star Fillies with the rump jewels added to the tooling.

JRA: Can you describe your creative process?

The other thing I had going for me [in addition to having worked on Disney dolls] was my imagination. When I mentioned to my supervisor one day about, “Can’t you see there must be a Fair that Gwenevere is going to right over that hill?” I thought everyone could do that. My supervisor informed me, “Uh… No… that is not how MOST people think.”

This came in very handy for Gwenevere. When the second set of episodes was turned on, the only two directions to start with were – 1) Search for wild magic jewels since the first set was all found 2) Use Morgana as the ultimate villainess instead of Lady Kale. One thing I wanted to do was to create a visible use of jewel power other than just shining. I wanted something more like what certain superheroes can do with their power rings and create shapes to solve the issue. This lead directly to suggesting the trio has an episode underwater to find a wild water jewel and use that opportunity to have them use jewel power mermaid fins. Fortunately, Director Robert Mandell was open to many of my suggestions. That second season had many episodes that grew from my concepts and a very rough storyline suggestion.

JRA: We love that “Jewel of the Sea” sprung from one of your concepts. It has long been a fan favorite episode judging by the social media reactions! Next, we’d love to know what your favorite product that you designed for Jewel Riders is?

My favorite Princess Gwenevere toy was probably the Zebracorn. Gwen and Fallon already had special animals. I know Tamara had her small animal friends but she was always limited to having to ride in the carriage. I wanted her to have a special animal friend like Sunstar – but how do you compete with a unicorn and a flying horse. I wanted the new friend to be totally unique and stunning in its own way. Somehow the idea of a Zebra striped unicorn came to me and we made a rough model. The model was especially cool. One of my goals was to try to get as many of the really fun toy ideas into the show. Since Robert Mandell was still working through the rest of the scripts, I suggested the idea. He was unsure but when I suggested the story line to go with it, then he saw the magic and emotion of it and had a script written based on my basic plot outline. There were many other features I was able to convince Robert and the writers to add in, but that character and episode were still my favorite. The whole concept that “some things are more special than you can possibly imagine if you take time to care” was dear to my heart and I hoped others would get it also.

JRA: That’s really touching, and we definitely think your message got across in the fan-favorite episode “Shadowsong.” So we’ve talked about your favorite product – now we’re curious which provided the greatest challenge?

GA: I noticed that Fallon was very popular also. This is gratifying as we put much work into her so she would not be just a tag along character with a different skin tone. During the time I was at Mattel since they did so many dolls that they were very restrictive on flesh tones. They had only 3 – pink flesh, suntan and black. The black skin tone Mattel used, I thought, was very dull, chalky and lifeless. Kenner did not have set skin tones so I worked very hard to find just the right skin tone for her. I did not want her to look specifically African American since we were in a fantasy setting. I also wanted her to appeal to more people. So the skin tone I picked could have made her Caribbean, North African or many other darker skin tones. But the color was alive and vibrant. Robert bought into the idea and gave her an accent that was hard to place – more like Creole. She was one of my favorites to design for since she did not have to look pink and pretty. She was more mysterious and really was the smartest of the three. Tamara was the most empathetic. Gwen was the leader – trying to find her way.

My hard work to get Fallon just right paid off for me personally when I found the Deluxe Fallon doll on a list of “The 10 Best Black Dolls Every Made.” Ironically, a second one on that list was the mother/Queen from Prince of Egypt which I also worked very hard to get right. Both took the time and energy to fight to get them unique and just right.

JRA: To your knowledge, was there any development done for a third season of Jewel Riders beyond your toy design work?

GA: There was never a plan to do more episodes… yet. If anything was done on it, I never saw or heard of it. Originally, they were just going to do the first 13. Then Bohbot wanted European distribution which required 26. So they made the next 13. They would have made more but were waiting to see how it succeeded.

JRA: Do you know why Gwenevere was renamed Starla outside of North America?

GA: Two reasons for the question: 1) international names often have to have minor spelling changes or conjunction changes so a simple less specific name translates better (too many ways to translate “princess”). 2) Guenevere was probably being used legally in a country they wanted to release it in.

Tamara was supposed to be Melody but that name was trademarked in the US

JRA: We were wondering if you could speak to rumors that any possible playsets were in development?

GA: 1) The castle playset shown to consumers in the original testing. Very cool model and design (even if I hand made most of it). It was more like a castle keep but expanded up and out to make a good backdrop for play. But the castle eventually designed for the show did not match it all. I know for a fact that it was destroyed along with many things just before I left. (People starting digging through the Kenner garbage cans looking for Star Wars discarded samples so a grinder was put in place to destroy all trash).

2) Carriage playset – It was okay. A real plastic model was never made of it. 90% sure it was destroyed.

3) Enchanted Forest playset – very basic clamshell sculpted magical trees that open up with jewels to add that would work like a combination of light-pipes (in basic Gwen figures) and light brite. Nothing exists from it that I know of. It was only a foam core model.

4) Pavilion Playset – the only one management ever took seriously. It was approved to move forward but the line was dropped soon after that decision (since the show could never be found and kept moving its time slot and not notifying TV and other publications). Only one model ever existed.

JRA: Very cool! We would have loved any one of those to be produced.

Next, we were wondering about the color scheme for the show. Tamara as a pink-haired magical girl was an inspired choice, as it has been one of the things people remember most vividly from the show. Were you involved in this aspect at all?

GA: Tamara – I would have to double check but she either started with red hair and I made it pink or it was pink to start. The teal color was the best color to balance her hair. Pink was a cuter way to depict a red-head. It also gave me, two pink characters – one with pink hair and one with pink clothing -Win/Win!

Gwen – As the main character, she needed to be in pink. Girls OVERWHELMINGLY prefer pink. But I chose her skin tones and hair color to be as golden as I could as if she was infused with the sunstone’s power. (Side note: when we were trying to determine the colors for Popples, they pulled in about 10 designers and we used the same sketch, then created as many color variations/styles as we could. Then 100 were shown to consumers. The top 3 chosen were all different shades of pink.)

Purple/lavender is the second best selling color so I used it for Fallon’s primary accent. It also led to her mysterious quality.

When I met with the Aladdin TV show team to do some product, they mentioned that very young kids would have a hard time following a character if they changed outfits. For instance, when Jasmine was put in her brown townsperson clothes, the younger viewers did not get it was her. So when I had the chance to do Jewel Riders, I specifically created a palette for each character and stayed with it religiously so the hair color and costume color would always make it easier for younger viewers to follow. It was absolutely intentional.

JRA: Greg, we absolutely can’t thank you for taking the time to speak with us about all your amazing memories of Jewel Riders. We really can’t thank you enough for your generosity in sharing so many amazing insights with the fan community. Any special message you’d like to share?

GA: I just went through the work you and Chris have been putting into the Jewel Riders Archive site. It is nicely done. Reading the comments of what it meant to others is touching. For what it is worth, the day I was told the line was officially dropped and I no longer was allowed to play and build in that world, was a very sad day for me. There was so much more I wanted to do with those characters.

JRA: Thank you Greg. That means a lot to us too! Even though we aren’t the creators of the series, we definitely feel invested in the characters, the story, and the integrity of the show. What started out as just a love for a cartoon turned into a dedicated… passionate to say the least, commitment that we get a great joy from.

Read the complete blog at The Jewel Riders Archive! http://www.jewelridersarchive.com/posts/greg-autore-and-the-toy-design-of-jewel-riders-part-two/

#jewel riders #kenner #disney #barbie #doll #dolls #mattel #toys #toy #interview

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