HART Road Closure

Farrington Highway between Kualakai Parkway (North-South Road) and Old Fort Weaver Road Loop will be closed in both directions, said Scott Ishikawa the spokesman for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART). 

 The road closure, which started 10 p.m. yesterday, will go on until April of next year due to Kiewit work crews relocating major utility lines as part of the construction for the Honolulu rail transit project, said Ishikawa. 

Commuters who routinely use Farrington Highway should provide themselves extra time for their commute, said Ishikawa. There are no estimation on how long it will change drivers commutes time, he said. 

The drivers that use Farrington Highway and Old Fort Weaver Road will have to use H1 freeway as an alternative route, said Ishikawa. The employees who work on Aloun Farms will be provided with private shuttles to ensure that employees can still access the area, he added.

Following the utility relocation work, contractor Kiewit will install shaft and column work near the roadside as part of the rail transit guide way, said Ishikawa. After finishing in the area, the next column building will continue in Waipahu, he said. 

The Honolulu Rail Transit Project is a 20-mile elevated rail system with 21 stations, said Ishikawa. It will start from Kapolei and end at Ala Moana Center, he said. The rail from Kapolei to Aloha Stadium will be expected to open in 2017 and the entire route will be expected to finish in 2019, said Ishikawa.

The Great Giraffe Challenge!

Recently, a trend on Facebook has people changing their profile picture to images of giraffes after failing to solve a tough riddle.

The riddle goes like this: "3:00 am, the doorbell rings and you wake up. Unexpected visitors, It's your parents and they are there for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What is the first thing you open?”

Here’s how it works: Someone posts the riddle on Facebook in which they challenge their family and friends to answer the riddle in a private message. If the person gets it right, he or she keeps their profile picture as it is. But, if the person gets it wrong, the unfortunate friend or family member must change his or her profile picture to a giraffe for 3 days. He or she must also post the riddle for their friends and family to guess, thus creating this Great Giraffe Challenge epidemic. 

According to mooseradio.com the answer to the riddle is, “Your eyes. While the food items distract you, you most likely would open your eyes first upon waking and before opening the door.” Also, another acceptable answer is “the door.”

The origin of this riddle is unknown but the origin of The Great Giraffe Challenge comes from New Zealander vlogger Andrew Strugnell. Strugnell both posted a video to Youtube and created a Facebook fan page dedicated to the challenge on October 26, 2013, according to knowyourmeme.com. 

Watch on Youtube:
The Great Giraffe Challenge -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E3GnUw2MZm0

Interview with Strugnell about the Great Giraffe Challenge -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PYl2tEWGNFY

Trail of Terror...No Hype was Brought!

Dole Plantation’s Trial of Terror failed to live up to the hype for first timers, Joanne Gagarin and her boyfriend, Donavan Hendricks.

Nightmare at Dole Plantation presented three heart-pounding attractions at the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa during the entire month of October.

It featured the Nightmare Express where passengers got a fright-filled train ride around the pineapple field, the Trial of Terror where it offered a frightening maze with no escape and the 13 Haunted House told the story of 13 unlucky plantation curses which are all suppose to scare the pants off many attendees from all over the island.

Gagarin, 22 and Hendricks, 24 walked through the world’s largest maze in pitch black as crazed creatures lurk behind every turn expecting to get scared. “The maze wasn’t all that scary,” said Hendricks. He was disappointed with the outcome.

Gagarin on the other hand, got frightened when she walked through the maze and a monster popped out at her. “I got scared the most because when we got to a dead end, a monster popped out and I jumped, screamed, and ran away leaving my brother and boyfriend behind,” said Gagarin.

Both Hendricks and Gagarin agreed that the Trial of Terror could use improvements. “The maze could use a lot more monsters around the turns and in the dead ends to scare people,” said Gagarin. “Also, the organization should open the other part of the maze as they were only using a small part of it,” she said. 

Even though Hendricks and Gagarin didn’t get as frightened, as they would have liked to, “we still had a good time with good company,” said Hendricks. 

They plan on returning next year when Nightmares Live presents another event but might try a different attraction. “Yeah, we’ll come back,” said Hendricks. “But next time we might try the haunted house though and see if that’s scarier than the maze,” he said.

Classmate Interview: with Daniel Vogt

Daniel Joseph Vogt aka Dj

Dj was born in California but has been raised in Hawaii from his adopted parents since three months old. He is 27 years old and attends Hawaii Pacific University majoring in Integrated Multimedia. Dj has always been computer savvy. He's always on the computer and just knew that what he's going to school for will take him places. After he graduates, he plans to get a job at a video production company in Hawaii to build his experience in the field and then move to the mainland to further his career. Dj plans to be well rounded in every aspect of producing a video in hopes that one day he becomes a director/producer. On his free time he loves to watch movies, play video games, and spend time with his son (age 2) and daughter (age 6). 

Gretchen in a Nutshell...

Name: Gretchen Raralio
Age: 22 years old
DOB: October 17, 1990

I was born and raised on Oahu, HI. My ethnicities only consist of Filipino…I know, I know, I don’t look it (or so many people have said) but I’ll let you make your own opinion about that. I am the youngest of three. I have twin brothers that are a year older than I am. I attend Hawaii Pacific University as a senior and I’m majoring in Integrated Multimedia. When I'm not learning ways to up my skills in cinematography and design I love hanging out with friends and family doing pretty much anything indoors and out. I also love to travel and hope to travel the world some day.

Reaction - Act of War - The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation

The 1993 film, The Act of War – The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation, I thought was definitely a compelling yet devastating documentary about the annexation of Hawaii from the Hawaiian’s point of view. The documentary told the story of Hawaii’s history from pre-Western contact up until the annexation through many old photographs, voice-overs (as if Queen Lili’oukalani, King Kalakaua, etc. were speaking), interviews by well-educated scholars, stage reenactments of the event, etc. This documentary was definitely important especially for the Hawaiians to know the genealogy and make sense of what Hawaii had loss many years ago. I thought it also impacted people more especially since it came out on the anniversary when this tragic event happened. 

Up until now, I never actually learned much about the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy simply because they never taught about Hawaii’s history in my secondary school. Watching this documentary, The Act of War, and learning what happened 120 so years ago is very fascinating to know the history of Hawaii considering HPU is so close to where this whole event took place. I never really noticed how much history surrounds me until I saw this documentary. In the beginning of the documentary, a woman speaking to a crowd says, “We are not American. We are not American. We are not American. We will die as Hawaiians. We will never be American” was a very powerful start to go into the history of Hawaii’s annexation. The overthrow of Queen Lili’oukalani was definitely a great tragedy for her and for her people. I felt that it was unethical that the US American troops trespassed on Hawaiian soil prepared to threaten to take down the monarchy when they had no right to do so (violation of international law).  It was disappointing to know that they took away everything from the Hawaiian nation – their land, their monarchy, their culture, their language, and their independence. To have all those things stripped from you – not being able to speak your native tongue, being taught to be ashamed of your culture, and letting America do what they want with their land completely sucks. Due respect for Queen Lili’oukalani though for keeping her composure to ensure that her and her people were safe from bloodshed and still fighting and hoping for the US to restore her back to her throne. 

All in all, for what Hawaii is now, I think that the Hawaiian culture (learning the language, the history, etc) should be more emphasized in elementary, middle, and high schools not just an option to take classes learning about it in college. Also, what’s left of Hawaii’s sacred land should be left untouched to still keep the beauty of Hawaii for what there’s left of it. There’s so much Hawaiian history and Hawaiian culture that surrounds us and people should learn and know about it.