No words necessary. A must see. Worth every minute.

One of the most interesting gallery shows I've seen is up at Cafe Che Pasta. The work is by painter, Jon Hamblin, who has been creating drawings, hanging sculpture, prints, paintings in acrylic, graphite, metal, mixed media, wood and likely anything he fancies at the time of inspiration. Whether abstract or figurative even his most whimsical imagery contains universal messages (at times quite literal ones) embedded in fields of brightly colored very approachable visuals and full of humor and irony. See his show up close and personal at Cafe Che Pasta (1001 Bishop St., ground floor, 524.0004) where owner, Marc Cohen, continues to turn his restaurants into local galleries (for the past 20 years). Book lunch and enjoy both the paintings and pasta. Bravo to both.

Thanks to io9.com (and Wennie Wang) for this story. It's just hilarious. "Refusing to leave his abandoned apartment building in Jilin City, China, Wen Hsu feared that the uninsulated pipes running through his building would freeze during the winter. His solution? Just leave the tap running."
Read the full story at http://io9.com/dude-creates-an-ice-waterfall-after-leaving-the-tap-on-475896327

Broadcasting from the International Space Station, Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, inspires and educates a group of high school students about of life in space, and in response to a question posed by 10th graders, he reveals what it looks like when you wring out a washcloth in deep space. In zero gravity, he starts the demo by taking a vacuum-packed NASA washcloth and soaks it with water. That in itself is pretty amazing to watch. Then he wrings out the washcloth, the water hovers and clings to his hands, nothing drips, instead you see a horizontal bubble of water clinging to his hands. The simple and fascinating experiment was a grand prize winning suggestion by a group of 10th grade Canadian students during a recent national science contest. Life is Good!

My good buddy Frank B. Shaner just completed a series of paintings in wax, a tribute to Merrie Monarch Festival in its' 50th year. We're doing the event today in Honolulu at Hilo Hattie (Nimitz) as it's also their 50th Birthday. His paintings will be on display during a dvd signing for our film
The Hawaiians - Reflecting Spirit. Come and meet Frankie B, Kaleo Pilanca, Lehua Kalima, Shawn Pimentel, glam photographer Michi Moore... Live music, gallery showing, and film will be screening. Watch the movie, have a glass of wine, and buy plate lunch same time! Hope to see you there... 3p - 7:30p, at Hilo Hattie on Nimitz in Honolulu. DVD signing, live music, gallery and pau hana fun. Hilo Hattie: 700 Nimitz Hwy. Phone (808) 535-6500

I had blogged earlier when Brenda Chapman was en route to Honolulu as her presentation at Kapiolani Community College was free and what an opportunity for the public to meet a great talent, the creator of the hit animated film, Brave. Her vision, "Brave", was financed by animation giant, Pixar, and she shared her experiences in workshops, “Story to Script/Script to Story”.
Brenda had been a successful animator prior to creating, writing, and directing the Academy Award-winning film, Brave -- featuring Pixar’s first-ever female protagonist. Surprising? One year prior to the film's release Pixar really surprised her by "letting her go" as director of the production, due to "creative differences". Brenda has since then left PIxar to return to Disney where she began her career working on several projects including The Little Mermaid and Lion King. She continues to move forward in her creative endeavors and says she really enjoys mentoring young filmmakers.

I highly recommend checking out Sharon Sussman's classes at Kapiolani Community College. If you're interested in animation, also visit www.PacificNetwork.tv where you can view other great artists in the field of animation, storyboard design, and character design. Thanks to Pacific Network & Jacob Johnson.

The Hawaiians - Reflecting Spirit will air on April 3, Wednesday night at 7p on KFVE, in a special commercial - free screening for local Hawaii audiences. The film premiered at the Smithsonian's new Museum of the American Indian and at that time it aired nationally on American Public TV. Since then, it has not been televised so this is a rare broadcast. It is scheduled just prior to the 50th anniversary of Merrie Monarch Festival and a dvd signing is also set for Hilo (Apr 9th all day) and in Honolulu at Hilo Hattie (Apr 19, 3p - 7p) with live music (Lehua Kalima, Sean Pimentel), food and drink, a gallery show in tribute to the MMF with Frank B. Shaner, and mc is Kaleo Pilanca so come down and join us! For our friends outside of Hawaii please visit the PacificNetwork.tv site to purchase a copy of the film. Proceeds help us produce more authentic films and books, made in and about Hawaii! Mahalo.

Mahalo to Jonathan Watts (guardian.co.uk) for his coverage on Brazil running out of time to prep for FIFA's World Cup event. Stadiums are far behind schedule. The £300m renovation of the Maracanã was to have been presented to Fifa last month, but after storms and floods installation of seating and roofing has been postponed to 24 May, just nine days before a scheduled game with England. Meanwhile, Brazilian riot police are busy evicting indigenous people near Rio's Maracanã stadium.

Hosts of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil, react harshly. Photo is of a supporter of the indigenous community arrested outside the Brazilian Indian museum in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by: Sergio Moraes/Reuters). Brazilian riot police are armed with batons, tear gas and pepper spray while they forcibly evict an indigenous community from a dilapidated museum complex next to the Maracanã football stadium. The forced relocation, leading to arrests and accusations of brutality, comes amid growing pressure on the hosts of the next World Cup to accelerate preparations that have fallen far behind schedule. (Does this remind us of any other "world games" held in China who managed clean up of neighboring areas near their newly built Olympic stadium in similar fashion?)

The museum has been the focus of a protracted legal battle between squatters, who claim the site should be used to promote indigenous culture, and the municipal authorities, who want to knock down a graffiti-covered eyesore before the world's attention moves to Rio de Janeiro.

"It was shocking," said Ingrid Paul, an Argentinian who has lived in the community for the past three weeks. "The police were obviously preparing for a fight. They came in with masks at 2:30am. We were all affected by the gas, even a three-year-old child."
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