Blogging the Aloha State and Beyond
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December 10th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Links

When I’m not blogging, I’m browsing. Here are sites and pages that I bookmarked on December 10th:

Check out all my bookmarks on Delicious.

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December 3rd, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Events, Pop Culture, Television

Sarah Wayne Callies | Photo by Gage Skidmore/FlickrZombies are in. AMC’s drama series “The Walking Dead,” based on a graphic novel series of the same name, is a huge hit. And Kennedy Theatre at the University of Hawaii has just wrapped a presentation of “Uncle Vanya and Zombies,” a post-apocalyptic zombie story set on the UH campus.

This Saturday, ‘Walking Dead’ star Sarah Wayne Callies will be in Honolulu to share her unique insights on the topic of zombies and their place in historical art and pop culture.

Callies grew up in the islands, arriving on O’ahu from Illinois when she was one year old. Her parents were professors at UH Manoa (professor of English Valerie Wayne and Richardson School of Law professor David Callies, per the Honolulu Star-Bulletin) and she graduated from Punahou School, where she got her start in the performing arts.

She went on to earn a masters degree in fine arts, then roles in a number of films and TV shows, including “Tarzan” on The WB and “Prison Break” on Fox. But she is now perhaps best known as Lori Grimes, the wife of former cop protagonist of “The Walking Dead.”

In fact, Callies — who holds a masters degree in Fine Arts — will be speaking on the connection between the zombie phenomenon and the Russian author Anton Chekhov. Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” inspired “Uncle Vanya and Zombies,” a mash-up similar to 2009′s “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

Saturday’s presentation at Kennedy Theatre is the grand finale in a series of a series of zombie-themed events spearheaded by theatre director Markus Wessendorf. Tickets are required, and are free, but will only be issued on the day of the event, beginning at 5 p.m.

For more information, call (808) 956-7655.

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December 3rd, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Links

When I’m not blogging, I’m browsing. Here are sites and pages that I bookmarked on December 3rd:

Check out all my bookmarks on Delicious.

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November 28th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Events, Government, Technology

HON*CELERATORCapping off a historic year of government transformation and grassroots innovation, the first HON*CELERATOR competition aims to inspire the best apps and online tools that use open data to improve the day-to-day lives of Honolulu residents.

Local software developers, designers, and entrepreneurs are being encouraged to tap into a growing library of government data to conceptualize, code, and ultimately demonstrate a useful or novel new app. HON*CELERATOR participants will have to present their work before the public and a panel of judges on Dec. 1 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

That “demo day,” taking place at The Box Jelly coworking space in Kakaako, will mark the culmination of public, private, and non-profit efforts to harness technology to streamline government services and encourage civic engagement. These include the first-ever CityCamp in January, launching the year-long engagement between the national Code for America organization and the City & County of Honolulu, and a series of community events that have earned national recognition and coverage.

Working independently or as a team, entrants will vie for a $5,000 first place prize, $3,000 second place prize and $2,000 third place prize, which will be provided by event sponsors that include Google, Hawaiian Telcom, ESRI, Socrata, and AIIM Aloha Chapter.

“You could say this will be the Superbowl of Hawaii hackathons,” said Forest Frizzell, deputy director of the city’s Department of IT and a member of the inaugural class of Omidyar Foundation Fellows. “And all this great work on behalf of local residents is happening at no cost to taxpayers, being powered by enthusiastic volunteers and sponsors that see the great value and potential in what we’re doing.”

The HON*CELERATOR event is similar to other open, collaborative and competitive tech gatherings taking place around the world — from Silicon Valley “hackathons” to Startup Weekend — but with a civic-minded focus. It is part of a global movement to increase transparency, collaboration, and innovation at all levels of government and businesses.

“We’ve had a great year, opening up data sets and inspiring creative thinking across the board, from government workers to independent hackers,” said Burt Lum, executive director of Hawaii Open Data, Inc. and co-organizer of HON*CELERATOR. “With that momentum, and of course some cash prizes, we hope to see the best of the best.”

In addition, a video crew from IBM’s “Smarter Cities” group (in partnership with Centerline Digital) will be on hand to document the city government’s open government community engagement efforts.

For more information on HON*CELERATOR, visit hon.celerator.org.

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November 27th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Media, Pop Culture, The Web

Catching Fire On Set - Katniss-Peeta.com

Production on ‘Catching Fire,’ the sequel to the ‘Hunger Games‘ movie, has moved to Hawaii. While shooting started in Atlanta in September, it’s expected to wrap here in the islands before the end of the year.

The first film, based on the bestselling novel, has grossed over $400 million since its release in March, so anticipation is high. And as the production takes advantage of the natural beauty of Hawaii, fans and paparazzi were able to take advantage of the wide open set.

Fan site Katniss & Peeta Online yesterday posted a gallery of over 50 photos from the set near Turtle Bay, nabbed with what must be a spectacularly good zoom lens. (They’re credited to Renee, who runs a Dianna Agron fansite.) The folks at Hypable note that you can see Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Sam Claflin (Finnick), and Lynn Cohen (Mags) at work.

These and other images surfacing online, along with the fan frenzy that accompanies them, reminds me of the good ol’ days of tracking the production of ABC’s “LOST” a few years back. But I think the global audience of the “Hunger Games” book and movie series is at an entirely different level.

Catching Fire On Set - Katniss-Peeta.com

Catching Fire On Set - Katniss-Peeta.com

Catching Fire On Set - Katniss-Peeta.com

Check out the rest of the photos here, and keep your eye on the KPO “On Set” gallery. I think Renee may have more good stuff to share in the coming days.

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November 26th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Links

When I’m not blogging, I’m browsing. Here are sites and pages that I bookmarked on November 26th:

Check out all my bookmarks on Delicious.

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November 25th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Food, The Web

Kathy Sills, the culinary artist behind the former Mission Houses Museum Cafe & Tea Parlor, says the Aloha Ice Cream Tricycle came to her in a dream. And she, her custom-made tricycle, and her handmade popsicles have become a fixture around town ever since her debut at “Eat the Street” last July.

She even became a civic crusader after Honolulu police cited her for violating a 1979 street vending law, helping to lead the charge to pass Bill 59, giving more breathing room to her and the many food trucks on Honolulu streets.

The momentum helped propel her popsicle business forward, and boosted demand for her cool treats. So now she has launched a Kickstarter campaign to take things to the next level.

“I need to purchase commercial level equipment that will help me to produce Aloha Pops more efficiently,” she writes. “I also need to purchase another custom tricycle so I can deliver Aloha Pops all over the island, and need packaging to help with our branding.”

She’s hoping to raise a modest $7,500, and is offering rewards for backers ranging from an Aloha Pop ($2.00) to a custom Aloha Pop flavor and design ($2,500). With less than three weeks to go, 20 backers have raised about a grand. To back Aloha Pops, visit the Kickstarter page:

Meanwhile, another delicious local project popped up on Kickstarter last week. Honolulu actor and model Christopher Moon, named “Mr. Hawaii 2013″ at the “Hawaii’s Most Beautiful Man” competition earlier this year, is now trying to turn a family recipe into a business.

Moon's Sauce

“I’m releasing my family kal-bi sauce that many believe is the best they’ve ever tried,” he writes. “It comes in both ‘traditional’ and ‘hot.’”

His goal is to raise $25,000 by the end of the year to go toward “bottling, labels, ingredients, and all the costs associated with this type of business.” Pledge awards include a 16 oz. bottle of Moon’s Sauce for $10, a 100 percent organic T-shirt for $30, a six pack of 16 oz. bottles for $75, and a six pack of 32 oz. bottles for $130.

To learn more about Moon’s Korean BBQ Sauces, and to watch a brief promotional video, visit the Kickstarter page:

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November 24th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Government, Technology

MyMERCI Disaster Reporting ToolLast year, Hawaii-based consulting engineering firm Oceanit showed off an iPhone app that it had developed to help Hawaii State Civil Defense speed up disaster documentation. Dubbed MERCI, or Mobile Emergency Response and Command Interface, the app is designed to facilitate rapid assessments following a natural disaster, allowing responders to collect text notes, photos, and video, and send them to a command center for real-time analysis.

After its first field tests, State Civil Defense Vice Director Ed Teixeira told HawaiiNewsNow that “it is perhaps the best system we’ve seen.”

Oceanit built MERCI for the state civil defense agency with the support of federal funding, basing the app on its INSPECTA database platform. It uses geolocation features to improve data collection and can even run in “local” mode when cellular data service is unavailable.

By streamlining a process that’s still often conducted with pen and paper and manual compilation, the company estimates that it can save up to $30,000 per month during a disaster.

Up until now, MERCI was used only by government and emergency agencies and other official personnel. But last week, Oceanit director Ian Kitajima revealed that the company is preparing to release a citizen-facing version of the app called MyMERCI. Described as “a disaster reporting tool,” it’s expected to be available in early December, pending Apple’s traditional review and approval.

Since the advent of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the potential power of crowdsourced disaster information collection and dissemination has been clear. Training programs focused on social media in disaster preparedness are in full swing, and communities spring to life online when an emergency arises (from local tsunami scares to Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast. But such unfiltered, unorganized torrents of information can be difficult to parse for usable data (which is sometimes intentionally inaccurate).

Hopefully an approach like MyMERCI can provide a more direct connection between citizen reporters and responders and official emergency agencies, and collect more standardized and usable real-time information to help decision makers do their jobs.

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September 26th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Technology, The Web

Google Maps Underwater

Google announced yesterday the first underwater imagery in Google Maps. And among the locations you can explore are Hanauma Bay on O’ahu, and Molokini crater off Maui. Evan Rapoport, former island resident and now Google employee, wrote: “This is definitely the coolest thing you’ve seen in a long time. You can now use Street View to swim with sea turtles, manta rays, and tropical fish in some of the ocean’s most magical locations. Of course, my favorite place in the world, Hawaii, has two spots for you to snorkel along.”

Also included in the underwater rollout are the Apo Islands in the Philippines, and three locations along the Great Barrier Reef off Australia: Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island, and Wilson Island. Check out the new oceans collection on Google Maps, or click through the Hawaii views below.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

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August 28th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · Video

Last weekend’s bon dance at the Jodo Mission of Hawaii in Makiki, where I serve on the board, afforded an excellent opportunity to create a time-lapse video of the event. I used only my iPhone, the free version of the “iMotion HD” app [iTunes], and iMovie. And I was helped greatly by having access to the roof of the temple, and by having a Rokform iPhone case and tripod mount.

As a finishing touch, I placed regular-time audio from a longer clip of a live music performance as a bed below the time-lapse footage, making this my favorite (so far) of several recent forays into the fun world of time-lapse videos. I was mostly taken by how much easier they are to make using basic tools than they usually are.

This latest flurry of experimentation started during the setup for the bon dance a few weeks ago. Fellow Jodo Mission board member Ian Kitajima had set up his own iPhone time-lapse rig (as he had done last year), so on a whim, I followed suit with the first decently-rated app I found in the Apple App Store.

Happy with the results, the very next morning I headed over to Ala Moana Beach Park before work to try and capture the sunrise. Note that I even spent a few minutes doing a quick pan to capture the clouds over Kakaako:

Not content to stop there, I set up my iPhone and tripod on my dashboard the next day to capture my pre-dawn drive from Mililani to my office in Iwilei. I capped off the trip with the view from atop the parking garage at Dole Cannery (with another cloud pan):

That video prompted a fair amount of conversation among my friends about the ridiculousness of traffic in Honolulu. And a friend suggested I capture the same commute, but instead take the apparently more popular eastbound route along H-201 (a.k.a. “Red Hill”) rather than the H-1 airport viaduct. Since I wanted a new ending, I drove through downtown Honolulu and back to Ala Moana Beach Park.

Once you’ve got time-lapse on the brain, it’s hard to not come up with a hundred ideas as you go about your average day. My videos have had intervals of a few seconds at most, and The iMotion HD app lets you set intervals ranging from a second to a full day, which opens up a lot of possibilities. So I’m actually glad that I rely on my iPhone too much to leave it in one place for very long.

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