Behind the scenes at Food Network Challenge: part 2

Filed Under Food Finds, Hawaii TV, Hollywood in Hawaii | 2 Comments

When they near the end of the challenge they start doing some pick up lines which is when you hear them say things like “competitors you have 1 hour left” or “get your proteins out of the imu” well after the proteins have been taken out. People began showing up in droves and sat in all of the chairs. Wimps! We were good and red and we’d only been there 2 hours at the time things peaked at their fever pitch. As time winded down, all of the chefs were scrambling to make things look just right for the judges. With about 3 minutes left, Bill Yosses decides to whip out a chainsaw to present his drink or some aspect of his dish in an ice sculpture and his blade broke so that shot that idea! (They later had us “react” to his blade breaking as well as looking forward like we were watching the chefs when no one was up there at the time and clapping and getting audience shots. Ooh we were so big time) Regardless, everyone finished on time though technically they had an extra 20 seconds. We started the countdown and one of the producers ran in front of the camera to grab something and we had to stop. Then when they got situated, we began the 5 second countdown again. Everyone cheered wildly and were encouraged to be boisterous and loud. The chefs shook hands and hugged and were glad standing over boiling pots in 100+ degree heat was done. Bev and Sam were at his kitchen resting when he motioned us up to his kitchen. Ooh we felt so privileged going past the ropes! LOL He introduced us to Bev who was very nice and we all chit chatted. Then Keegan saunters up to all of us for an interview for the crowd. (See above pic)

I’d like to solve the puzzle, yeah?

Filed Under Hawaii TV, Hollywood in Hawaii | Leave a Comment

Pat and Vanna are making their way back to the islands at the end of the summer and you could be a part of it! Wheel of Fortune will be taping September 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. If you’d like information on tickets and taping, keep watching KHON2 and/or visit their website and look for the Wheel of Fortune logo.

If you’d like to be a contestant and you’re 18 or older, they are looking for “enthusiastic” islanders. To find out more about how to spin the wheel, click here.

If you’re a husband and wife team and would like to play as a couple, click here.

Dog Chapman set to return to the air waves

Filed Under Hawaii TV | Leave a Comment

Get ready ladies…Leland Chapman will be gracing the small screen once again. For fans of the show, reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter with begin airing Wednesday, June 25th and new episodes will begin airing Wednesday, July 16th on A&E.

Dog’s sidekick Tim “Youngblood” Chapman will not be returning for season five. Chapman (no relation to Dog) was charged with terrorist threatening and his case is still pending at this time.

Air times are 9pmET/PT and 6pm in Hawaii.

I’d like to solve the puzzle, yeah?

Filed Under Hawaii TV, Hollywood in Hawaii | Leave a Comment

Pat and Vanna are bringing Wheel of Fortune back to the islands when they tape at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island at the end of summer. Shows will be taped on September 12, 13, 15 and 16th and will air in November during sweeps on KHON2.

They are looking for “enthusiastic” islanders to appear so if you’re 18 or older and would like to be considered for a slot, click here for more info. If you and your spouse are looking to play as a team, click here for more information.

For tickets and taping info stay tuned to KHON and/or visit their website and look for the Wheel of Fortune logo.

New programs on Hawaii IPTV

Filed Under Hawaii TV | 1 Comment

As a subscriber to Hawaii IPTV, I got a notice that there are new programs available so I thought I’d share them with you.

Ohana Road Take a drive with Hawaii’s Premier Automotive TV magazine with our dynamic host, Dale Payson. This Telly Award winning program features local car enthusiasts and events, unique and outstanding cars, profiles on the local motorsports community and everything automotive.

Let’s Go Fishing Hook up with your host, Ben Wong, as he takes you to his favorites fishing spots around the Islands – and the world. Learn how to create fabulous fish dishes with your catch of the day with the Chef du Jour and On the Menu segments. Ono!

Go Green Hawaii A lively half-hour magazine-style program which covers what businesses, organizations and individuals are doing to keep our island-community green.

In Tune True Island Music with local favorites. Catch live performances by Riatea Helm, John Cruz, Keahiwai, Robi and many more in this musical series.

New Hope Ministries Enabling the Family of God to fulfill its mission to God, family, church, community and the world. New sermons from the When Life Leaves Questions series

Watch for new episodes of your old favorites and new programming over the coming months.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed a good amount of programs are being updated as this has been a pet peeve of mine as discussed before and they also had an outage of KGMB after they other newscasts were fixed. This technology can be a great thing and I hope with the edition of these new shows and constant updating of older favorites that it can be a service I can whole heartedly recommend to everyone for its consistency.

Hey mainland ladies…wanna meet Leland Chapman?

Filed Under Current Events, Hawaii TV | 1 Comment

**ATTN: This event has passed! For any upcoming appearances please go to www.dogthebountyhunter.com**

Ah yes, the chance many a-woman has been waiting for…to see Leland Chapman in person. According to Lyssa Chapman’s myspace (the only Dog the Bounty Hunter crew member with a real myspace page at current press time), they will be about 25 miles west of Chicago, Illinois on April 11 and 12 at a concert. Here’s are the details from her bulletin:

Duane Chapman, AKA DOG the Bounty Hunter from A&E’s #1 Reality TV Show, will be in concert with bands Echoing Angels, Emery, Inhabited, Flatfoot 56, and Will Duvall for two very different concert nights. He’ll speak for 45 minutes from his heart about his life, tragedies, triumphs, and faith. This is an extremely rare personal appearance. His wife Beth will also be in attendance. Come out and hear their incredible story of triumph as well as an evening of music and entertainment.

Also attending are Leland and Baby Lyssa
Concert Dates: April 11th and 12th At Mooseheart Child City and School, 25 miles west of Chicago, Illinois Presale date: Thursday, February 7, 2008 beginning at 9:00am.

Click here to buy tickets.

Hawaii IPTV review: Is it worth the money?

Filed Under Hawaii Resources, Hawaii TV | 21 Comments

There’s something about tv in Hawaii. It’s the warm aloha of local newscasts, cooking shows, various cable access shows and even the commercials. Whether you lived in Hawaii or visited on vacation, you find when you’re away, you yearn for the local flair. Enter Hawaii IPTV. I was so excited when I saw this because if there’s one thing I miss when I’m not in the islands, it’s watching Guy Hagi tell me the weather or Sam Choy tell me what local cuisine I can whip up. At Christmas time, I got $250 as a gift from my mother in law and saw this as a perfect opportunity to bite the bullet and put it toward subscribing to Hawaii IPTV for a year. (The start up cost including S&H is $344.99)

I was very glad to see they changed the set top box to a putty color rather than that hideous big bird yellow they had previously. We were so excited when it finally arrived. Immediately apparent is some of the broadband technology on which it runs on is outdated which the company needs to address. Now time to get to the good stuff, we tuned in to the “live” programming which is just the newscasts from KGMB, KHNL and KFVE. It’s implied you can watch the newscasts live from your time zone but we’ve yet to ever see one live. Over the past week, we are only able to see KGMB and none of the other two newscasts work for ANY of the days, only color bars and a delightful piercing audio. I emailed them a few days ago about it and have yet to hear back. I mean, KGMB is who we watch anyway but that’s not the point, we’re paying for all of the newscasts to be available.

Basically, in the course of a month you could watch every single program on there as nothing seems to be added since we’ve had it. We were especially excited to watch Sam Choy’s Kitchen cooking show and while there are probably 40+ shows, they’re all 11+ years old and the audio is bad to boot! The audio is bad on a lot of the shows. You have to do a lot of finagling with the audio on the remote that comes with it and your tv remote to get it to the point where its not completely grating. Some shows have a decent amounts of episodes like Sam Choy’s Kitchen and then you get Eh, U Da Kine, Ah? with Tony Solis and there are only 2 episodes and the audio is so bad you can barely hear what’s being said. I have to say that had the total cost been the bulk of my own money, I would be highly disappointed. Well, any amount, I’m still highly disappointed. The biggest reason I went ahead with it is the hint that they are negotiating to possibly get UH Sports for this year. If we could see Warrior Football, that would be a major plus but if that doesn’t happen, I have to wonder if this is worth keeping once the subscription is up.

Bottom line: Good idea, poor execution. I think the problems this system has are VERY fixable if the company wants to do so and build a good reputation. If the menu stays the same throughout the year with no new licensing agreements and added shows, people who are already subscribers are going to drop like flies. It’d be like deciding if you want to pay a monthly fee for newscasts which is nice but apparently not so much at this point in time for the KHNL and KFVE newscast viewers.

Local chef Sam Choy on Food Network tonight

Filed Under Hawaii TV | Leave a Comment

Make sure you tune in tonight to see adored local chef, Sam Choy on Dinner: Impossible on Food Network at 10pmEST. (Check local listings) The description as listed on Food Network’s website is as follows:

Late for the Luau
Robert is given his challenge oceanside and told that he will have to create a luau for 150 people including resort guests and Hawaii natives. Renowned Hawaiian chef Sam Choy will give him a lesson in luau food and Robert will have to create multiple dishes with the food and equipment provided and work with some special local help. Can Robert speed up Hawaiian Time or is this Dinner Impossible?

For those of you unfamiliar with Sam Choy, you’ll want to definitely make sure you tune in. If you ever wanted to see the aloha spirit in its physical form, Sam embodies it. We’ll be tuning in and hope you will too!

Jake Shimabukuro on Conan O’Brien tonight

Filed Under Hawaii TV | 4 Comments

Hawaii’s premier ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro will play on Late Night with Conan O’Brien tonight. If you’re not a stay up late kind of person then set the TiVo/DVR/VCR or whatever other recording apparatus you employ for your viewing pleasures. (Check local listings)

Any time a Hawaii artist can get national exposure its a good thing because people tend to completely rethink what they have always considered to be “authentic” Hawaiian music. Mainlanders and those who have never been to Hawaii seem to thing it’s all slack key of old Hawaii. While slack key is definitely a part of Hawaii and very popular as demonstrated by the Grammy’s the past few years, contemporary and instrumental remains largely undiscovered outside the islands. As we’ve seen with Iz’s “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” medley, all it takes is one song and many bought Facing Future because of that song that normally wouldn’t have bought a Hawaiian artist.

Here’s wishing Jake a great reception and opening up people’s minds to the ukulele’s potential when placed in the hands of a truly talented representation of Hawaii.

Update: In case anyone missed it, here’s the performance below. Check it out while you can as they tend to yank Conan’s stuff off YouTube pretty quickly.

WPvideo 1.10

Study up television shows and advertisers!

Filed Under Hawaii TV | Leave a Comment

I don’t know if any of you have seen the new Helio Up Flickr commercial featuring Hawaii but I know when I did, I was HIGHLY irked! Now I get that if you haven’t been to Hawaii that there are all kinds of misinformation floating around by people who would rather assume things. Like Honolulu is the name of the island where Waikiki is (you don’t know how many times I’ve heard that) or that you can take a 20 minute boat ride between all of the islands and all kinds of other assumptions that have people in the know shaking their heads. To me the worst offenders of perpetuating these myths are advertisers or television shows who find it easier to slap together a bunch of footage from various islands and call it Hawaii. Yes, it encompasses the STATE of Hawaii but when you’ve got Samantha Brown driving on Oahu and then have a shot of Ali’i Drive in Kona on the Big Island as filler as though “you too can find the *Kona Gallery* on Oahu,” then I get a little frustrated. (And Girl Meets Hawaii which has long since stopped taping there was one of the more accurate shows–the Travel Channel has thrown up some pretty pathetic and inaccurate “facts” about the islands onto our screens over the years.)

Now I see the new commercial for the Helio Up Flickr and I have to roll my eyes and mutter under my breath every time. If you want to see the commercial click here. On the right side under Services TV Spots, it’s the 3rd one down for Helio-Up Flickr. Go ahead and watch it real quick, I’ll wait.

Did you spot it? I thought so! If not, pay attention, I’m about to school you! LOL! Starts off with a beautiful shot of the Kalalau Valley on Kauai. Then they proceed to make up a name for Kalalau Valley which I believe was “Mount Wilia’nunun” and as he types in what to name the picture he types “Mt. Pu’u Ohulehule.” Then the guy tells him to look it up and it says “name your location” and he enters Oahu and when it maps it for him, it shows it on the Big Island around the Kamuela area. Really? I mean REALLY? It would’ve taken you what, 10 minutes to research that and actually put the *right* info in the commercial. Instead you have 3 islands that have all been misrepresented and believe me when I tell you that there are people out there that see that that are going to be looking for Mt. Pu’u Ohulehule on Oahu that looks oddly enough like the Big Island.

Advertisers…TV shows…anyone in the mainstream media…I beg of you, get it right or use somewhere else as your exotic locale! It only perpetuates the myriad of stereotypes mainlanders or people who haven’t visited the island have about Hawaii. People could get a nice little education in that 30 seconds instead of being mislead and it would’ve cost you what, 30 minutes MAX in someone doing and double checking the research. Hele on Helio, hele on.

*Stepping off soapbox*