text:
The Lighter Side Of The Cloud Illustration By David Fletcher Of CloudTweaks
Cloud Computing
Drive Marketing ROI in the Cloud with Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Online Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Online provides end-to-end management of marketing programs, from data acquisition and segmentation, to campaign management and analysis of responses and activities, to tracking campaign opportunity return on investment (ROI). Attend this webcast to see Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in action, including integration to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS), and learn about customers who have used Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to address areas such as: Internet marketing and Web-to-lead capture, campaign planning and budgeting, marketing list data management, event management, marketing workflow, lead distribution and qualification,
Cloud Computing Deal between Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom and Inventec By Sourya Biswas of CloudTweaks Every day brings with it news of yet another deal in the cloud computing space. The latest such development occurred in Taiwan just before the end of the last year when Taiwan-based companies Chunghwa Telecom and Inventec signed a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-develop and promote cloud computing services. Chunghwa Telecom is the largest telecommunication service provider in Taiwan and a leading provider of cloud computing services, while Inventec is the largest server manufacturer in the country and one of the top four notebook
New White Papers Provided By CA Technologies The Best of Both Worlds: The Hybrid Cloud To handle the demands of modern business, CIOs must manage their internal data centers more effectively and learn how to leverage public cloud resources. The solution: a hybrid cloud strategy facilitated by a dynamic data center. Who knew that a video marketing campaign featuring a donkey, a baby and a bunch of helium balloons would catch fire, going viral after ending up on YouTube and driving an unprecedented amount of traffic to your company's Web site? Hats off to the marketing folks, but are you
Partnership Arms Customers to Optimize Performance of Key Applications, Meet Growth Objectives and Service Level Agreements DETROIT, Jan. 4, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), the technology performance company, and HTC Global Services, Inc. (HTC) announced today that they have partnered to provide application performance management (APM) solutions to customers worldwide. HTC customers will benefit from Compuware's enterprise to Internet APM solution through HTC's systems integration and product implementation services. HTC is a Troy, Michigan-based global provider of IT solutions and business process outsourcing services. "Combining HTC's service delivery and Compuware's market-leading APM solution will give customers visibility into
Plex Online Cloud ERP Offers Customers Expanded Integration Plex Systems Partners With Revolution Group to Offer Seamless ERP, CRM AUBURN HILLS, MI–(Source: Marketwire – January 4, 2011) – Plex Systems, Inc., provider of the No. 1 rated manufacturing ERP software, today announced additional functionality options for its Plex Online customers who use Salesforce.com. With a range of ERP features in its comprehensive system, Plex Online is already one of the top SaaS / cloud computing manufacturing solutions. Manufacturers that use both Salesforce.com and Plex Online in their business operations will benefit from the seamless integration of the two applications. Together
Dell's New Cloud Computing Buy By Sourya Biswas of CloudTweaks Having already made several acquisitions in the cloud computing space this year, Dell took another step in that direction when it announced on Wednesday, 29 December 2010, its intention to buy medical archive services company InSite One Inc. Terms of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed. InSite One is a private company based in Wallingford, Connecticut, with about 40 employees. It offers cloud-based healthcare applications that archive medical records and share images. Its offerings will be complementary to Dell's Unified Clinical Archive service.The combination
Skytap Secures $10 Million to Accelerate Business Growth for Cloud Automation OpenView Venture Partners Leads Round With Participation From Current Investors — Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Washington Research Foundation SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwire – January 3, 2011) – Skytap, the leading provider of self-service cloud automation solutions, today announced an oversubscribed $10 million Series C round of funding led by OpenView Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Washington Research Foundation. The investment will be used to scale sales and marketing, and accelerate innovation of the company's flagship cloud automation platform. Scott Maxwell, senior


text:
Review: MyCalendar TopSecrete Free hides your photos, videos, and notes
MyCalendar TopSecrete is not a calendar app at all but a way to hide your personal images, videos, and more on your iPhone. The app uses a calendar overlay and a clever password system to lock out those images and "hide" them behind a facade that most people won't see through, over a casual glance. The setup process can be a bit confusing, but it generally works quite well.
When you open the app for the first time, there is no indication of what you're supposed to do. There is a blank calendar onscreen with no … Read more

subset: commoncrawl


text:
5 Reasons to be excited
Ultimate New Year's Eve party!
Twinkling lights, mulled wine
At our Tourist Offices
Discover beyond the city
Dublin's newest 5 star hotel
Its beginning to look a lot li...
Funny, quirky & unique statues
Dublin's best cocktail bars
Start planning ahead to 2014!
Soak up the atmosphere
Helping you discover the city
Visiting on a shoestring?
15% off 2, 3 and 6 Day Passes
Train and ferry to Dublin with...
Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1
+353 1 283 firstname.lastname@example.com
Ireland's fist Gourmet Food Hall enjoys a multiplicity of food from all corners of the globe including Mexican, Italian, Greek, and traditional Irish. With 12 units offering cuisine from around the world and all under one roof there is something to suit even the most discerning taste and pocket. It offers outstanding value in contemporary surroundings and is open 7 days a week.


text:
Knock! Knock!
Who's there?
It's Tim Bozon at the backdoor and he just scored.
Oh, look, he did it again!
And now he's at the front door and he's scored again.
Bozon, the WHL Western Conference's rookie of the year last season, scored three times Friday night at Interior Savings Centre, his third goal giving the Kamloops Blazers a 6-5 victory over an overly aggressive squad of Kelowna Rockets.
Bozon scored two backdoor power-play goals - the home boys were 3-for-11 with the man advantage - and then fought off two defenders and beat Rockets goaltender Jordon Cooke with a wrist shot from 30 feet out in the slot at 2:49 of extra time.
"We work a lot on the power play with the boys in practice," Bozon said, referring to himself and linemates Colin Smith and JC Lipon. "We stay longer on the ice in practice and work on those plays. I know it's going to work. We've just got to keep working on it because it's important.
"Tonight, if we don't have the power play, we're probably down."
Bozon scored 36 times last season; this was the first three-goal night of his brief WHL career.
The victory may have been a costly one for the Blazers, who watched as defenceman Tyler Bell and goaltender Cole Cheveldave both left with injuries.
Bell departed late in the first period after being hit from behind by Kelowna forward Henrik Nyberg, who then fell on him. Bell appeared to injure his right knee. He did return to the bench for the last two periods but didn't play again.
Cheveldave stopped 23 of 26 shots through two periods but was replaced by Taran Kozun to start the third period. Kamloops head coach Guy Charron would only allow that Cheveldave had a "lower body injury." The sophomore goaltender may have been injured at 12:08 of the second period when Kelowna centre Colton Sissons crashed into him in the crease.
Neither Bell nor Cheveldave is expected to play in tonight's rematch in the Little Apple.
If there was a message from this game it was sent by Charron, who let the WHL's other 21 teams know that his team is coming at you.
The Blazers frequently used four forwards on their power play. And, on one PP opportunity in OT, he again put four forwards on the ice.
"Our depth is up front," Charron said. "This is where the strength of our team is - the offence. If you have the puck, they can't score. Consequently, if youhave those kind of players on the ice, chances are you will have the puck."
Of course, as Charron pointed out, "The way our defence played tonight, I'm not sure any of those guys deserved an opportunity to play in those situations."
Smith's line had a big night, finishing with 10 points. Smith added a goal and three assists and Lipon had three helpers. Centre Matt Needham and defenceman Landon Cross also scored for Kamloops. Cross, who had six points in 46 games last season, also picked up two assists.
The Rockets got goals from Ryan Olsen, Tyson Baillie, Nyberg, Myles Bell and Dylen McKinlay. The last two scored at 13:30 and 15:13 of the third period to erase a 5-3 deficit and force OT.
In the end, though, the Rockets were done in by their propensity for penalties.
"For us," Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska said, "that was the problem with our game. I liked the way we played a lot of other parts of it. I thought we were physical, I thought we skated and I thought 5-on-5 we were pretty good. We took too many penalties against a good power play."
Charron agreed.
"To me, that's the difference in the game," he said. "We had so many power plays and that's what allowed us to win the hockey game, as far as I'm concerned.
"It wasn't our play by any means."
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 5,239. . . . Kelowna was 1-for-5 on the PP. . . . Kozun stopped six of eight shots and got the victory. . . . Cooke turned aside 29 shots. . . . The game was preceded by the hoisting of the 2012 B.C. Division pennant into the ISC rafters. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Bozon: Loves to score; 2. Smith: One of WHL's best; 3. Cooke: Got his guys a point. . . . The Blazers next play at home on Oct. 5 against the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Rockets F J.T. Barnett threw a check on his first shift, was slow going to the bench and didn't return. Huska said Barnett "tweaked a knee." . . . Kelowna D Mitchell Chapman, 20, is expected to miss the first month of the season with an ankle injury. . . . F Brock Balson, 19, who was released by the Blazers this week, is back with the BCHL's Salmon Arm SilverBacks. Balson was released by the Prince Albert Raiders prior to the start of last season. He joined the SilverBacks, put up 19 points in 20 games, and then signed on with his hometown Blazers. He had six points in 42 games last season with the Blazers. . . . Former Kamloops F Ryan Hanes, 20, scored all three of his club's goals as the Cowichan Valley Capitals dropped a 4-3 BCHL decision to the Nanaimo Clippers last night.


text:
Architecture Tours
Explore the Rio Tinto Center's unique design, materials, green features and public art on a guided architecture tour, included with Museum admission..
Follow Us on Facebook
You are here
Home » Elkweed
Frasera speciosa
East northeast of Beaver on slope below Mud Lake in the Tushar Mountains, 1.48 miles east northeast of Shelly Baldy Peak, Beaver County, Utah.
Elevation: 10,925 feet
Collected by: M.D. Windham
June 19, 2001


text:
Submit a file
Our awards
Link to us
RSS Feeds
Popular search phrases
:: over
short descriptions
full descriptions
Recovery Toolbox for Project 2.0.2
Recovery Toolbox for Project is a perfect solution for quick and efficient recovery of data from damaged or corrupted Microsoft Project (*.mpp) files. Based on a proprietary recovery engine and an unambiguous wizard-style interface, it combines outstanding performance and efficiency with remarkable ease of use. If you are facing the problem of a damaged MPP file and urgently need to restore your data, Recovery Toolbox for Project will be your sav
Download now
SoftAmbulance Office Recovery 1.44
Restore damaged and deleted office files from safe and corrupted storage device of any type with damaged file systems. It scans the file system and a hard drive separately, combining the recovery results afterwords. Supports 113 file types, created in Microsoft Office, StartOffice, OpenOffice. Installed office software isn't necessary. Smart filters provide you with an opportunity to sort files by file type, date, author, title etc.
Download now
iDisksoft File Recovery 2.6.42
With iDisksoft File Recovery, you can find and recover any lost or deleted file, including doc, images, emails, video, etc., from your hard drive or usb storage devices. You can get back your lost partitions as well as the lost data on them. Its user-friendly design and fast speed make it a perfect tool to recover files.
Download now
Money-Pal 2014.1.2
Money-pal is Personal Finance Software installed on your Windows home computer. Money-pal can import your financial information from a file downloaded from your bank to help you track your spending and savings. Money-pal has a very powerful budgeting feature which uses the envelope method of budgeting. Once Money-pal is installed it can then be accessed from anywhere with smartphones , tablets or computers over the internet or using wifi
Download now
JokeBank 6.7.0
If you receive Email, then you know that friends like to share their Jokes. How often do you clean out your mailbox, only to discover that you've lost that one Joke, you swore you'd never forget? With the JokeBank, you'll never have to worry about where to look for any of the Jokes that you want to keep. The JokeBank eliminates the hassle of digging through files or Email to find a Joke you'd like to forward to a friend.
Download now
Free Keylogger 2014 1.0
With Free Keylogger 2014 you have a chance to uncover the truth. Record all user activities, including keystrokes, clipboard changes; monitor Web navigation and capture screen; record both sides of IM chats. This programs operates invisibly, allowing you to stay away from computer. It records every key typed on keyboard along with other activities, into special reports, every day. You can view recorded information later, using an special Viewer.
Download now
PowerPoint Repair Toolbox 2.2.1
PowerPoint Repair Toolbox is the market leading recovery tool for repairing damaged or corrupted Microsoft PowerPoint files in .ppt or .pptx formats. Using artificial intelligence, you can repair PowerPoint files created under Microsoft PowerPoint 1997 through to 2010 with ease. Repair text, graphics and other file attributes including restoring charts and hand-made graphics. PowerPoint Repair Toolbox is the best PowerPoint repair online solution
Download now
Audials Radiotracker 11
+++ Record specific MP3s. Enjoy all Radio Stations, Music and Podcasts anywhere +++ ++ At a glance ++ Radio Recorder & Player with 70,000 Internet Radios records targeted Music from Radios of 10,000,000 Songs of 1,000,000 Album of 870,000 Artists and taggs Music automatically with ID3-Tags, Album Cover and Songtext. Including Music Organizer, Audio- and Ringtone-Editor. Connects your devices to a Personal Media Cloud. Music Univers finds similar Music. Cloud-Manager. 120,000 of the best Podcasts. All Music-TV channels of the Internet. ++ The Biggest Selection: 10,000,000 MP3s & 1,000,000 Albums ++ Radiotracker fulfills music requests fully automatically and legally using unique technology: simply select the title, artist, album, genre or station and press ?start'. Radiotracker simultaneously monitors many thousands of Internet radio stations using the Audials network, thus finding the specific radio station in the blink of an eye in order to automatically record your desired m ...
Download now
SoftAmbulance Access Recovery 1.31
Repair damaged Microsoft Access 2000-2007 .mdb and .accdb database files with Access Recovery. It takes care of a database structure as a whole. Access Recovery does not intrude into the structure of original .mdb database, copying all necessary information and exporting recovery results into a newly created MS Access database. Even if your hard drive is severely corrupted or a file system is damaged, it will do the job properly.
Download now
Space Trip 3D Screensaver 1.11.4
Get to the very center of the Universe and discover new bright stars and mysterious planets on your way. See huge space stations and magnificent battleships on a voyage to conquer new civilizations. Turn your screen into a teleport gateway to another world. The outstanding graphics and the enchanting space scenery with fascinating special effects and music make it very difficult to believe you are not actually there.
Download now
Undelete Wizard 2.60.9
Undelete Wizard automates the process of locating and undeleting files with a simple step-by-step wizard. Recover all types of files easily and completely automatically! Special attention is paid to the recovery of certain Office documents such as RTF, DOC and PDF files, digital pictures, including RAW files from digital SLR cameras, music and video files. Download Undelete Wizard and welcome back your deleted files!
Download now
3D Mild Winter Screensaver 1.12
Take a trip to a quiet winter night in a forest. The small wood house placed at the midst of the snowy meadow surrounded with fuzzy firs. Snow falls silently and smoothly on the ground, covering it with light lambent blanket. It looks like the Christmas is near. Fly around this beautiful winter scenery and feel peace sense of joy and warmth. Imagine that you are a snowflake that is falling moved by slight wind.
Download now
SoftAmbulance MySQL Recovery 1.47
Recover deleted database with MySQL Recovery. Even if your hard disk is damaged and inaccessible, MySQL Recovery will restore databases in InnoDB and MyISAM formats. Full automatic and manual operating modes help to solve various recovery problems. Smart recovery algorithms fix tables and system information records, extract necessary data from database parts and fill missing structural components with it, to make pieces work as a solid database.
Download now
A VIP Task Manager Standard Edition 4.2.21
Professional client/server software for task management and team collaboration. All users can simultaneously access the common database through Local Network (LAN) and Low Speed Net to see, add, edit and delete their team or personal tasks. It is the best tool to plan, track and report tasks, appointments, projects, and any company activities in small business, government and non-government institutes, non-profit and educational organizations.
Download now
Flash Media Data Recovery 18.104.22.168
Now it is quite easy to recollect all misplaced data from virus infected USB data storage devices by using advanced Flash Media Data Recovery tool quickly. USB drive file restoration program recoups lost multimedia files like images, photographs, pictures, videos, movies, snapshots, favorite songs, audios, text documents etc from removable USB drive instantly. Data salvage program facilitates user with attractive GUI for simplest and easiest recovery of fully formatted data instantly.
Download now
Advanced Email2RSS Personal 3.61.84
Advanced Email2RSS converts incoming emails into custom RSS feeds. Statistics shows that over 55% of all email gets undelivered or filtered by AntiSPAM software and therefore unread by your clients. Advanced Email2RSS gets your email through! Advanced Email2RSS can automatically download new emails, filter them based on pre-defined rules, convert all incoming emails into RSS feeds and upload them to your server - all without your intervention.
Download now
PayWindow Payroll System 12.0.0
Winner of People's Choice for Best Business Application Award at the 2009 Shareware Industry Conference Awards. Pay by any pay period; hourly, salaried, commissioned, non-employee workers; prints Checks, 941, W2s, 1099-MISC forms and reports galore! Built-in data backup and restore. You can pay an employee in as little as three clicks of the mouse! Over 25 years of experience make this the most user friendly and easiest to use payroll ever.
Download now
PDF Repair Toolbox 2.2.1
PDF Repair Toolbox is the leading recovery tool which uses special algorithms for PDF file repair and supports saving restored PDF files which are both compressed an uncompressed. When you are looking for a PDF repair software download you should look no further than the user friendly PDF Repair Toolbox - the fast download PDF repair and recovery solution. Full after sales and installation support is provided - download PDF Repair Toolbox today!
Download now
Download Accelerator Plus 10.0.5.7
Download Accelerator Plus (DAP 10)- A new version of the fastest and most popular free Download Manager and Accelerator with over 300 million installs and new features. DAP is powered by Speedbit's patented multi-channel technology to deliver the fastest possible downloads. Use DAP's expansions to download and save social web videos and watch smooth video streaming without waiting for the videos to load with Speedbit Video Accelerator.
Download now
Christmas Season 3D Screensaver 1.03
This terrific 3D screensaver will help you feel the magic of the Holiday Season. You will find yourself in a quiet winter forest with a few cottages scattered around. Everything is covered with snow and the nature is waiting for a miracle to happen. A huge Christmas tree in the middle of this peaceful setting and the outstanding background music add to this unique holiday mood. Santa is definitely paying a visit to this place! How about you?
Download now
Funny Aquaworld Screensaver 1.0
This screensaver will surely attract the attention of underwater kingdom lovers. It suits both for adults and children who love our funny and comic inhabitants. It includes three animated scenes, that change each other beautifully and smoothly. Analog clock, made in the form of a wheel, the underwater flora and fauna. You will also see funny fish, sharks, dolphins, turtles, starfish and seahorses, corals and jellyfish and even a submarine.
Download now
GetRadio Basic 3.9.91
GetRadio plays online radio stations and records their music to mp3 tracks. With over 25,000 free web radio stations out there, and the ability to add even more, you can listen to music of almost any genre and flavor while recording it to your hard drive. In fact, GetRadio can even silently record several radio stations simultaneously. Leave it recording a couple of stations (as many as you want) and you'll rack up a huge collection of free legal mp3 tracks in no time.
Download now
Facebook Timeline Slicer Pro 2015191
Facebook Timeline Slicer Pro Is The World's Leading Timeline Cover Creator. Start up Timeline Slicer Pro and create covers like a pro. No photo editing experience needed. Anyone can use this. In just minutes you can have professional looking covers in your timeline. It's that easy!
Download now
Data Recovery Pro 2013.91
ParetoLogic Data Recovery enables you to recover previously deleted files. You can recover deleted items using a quick or full scan and look for specific files using the Advanced Scan. Data Recovery also offers the ability to scan and recover email messages. Along with email recovery you can scan and recover files from freshly partitioned or formatted media, and partial files. Data Recovery Pro can recover a wide variety of file types. It has the ability to retrieve missing files from many peripheral storage devices, including your iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and iPod Classic. A completely updated filter technology allows you to easily search for "lost" text, allowing you to find files by searching for just a key word or phrase. Data Recovery Pro is so powerful it can even recover files from freshly formatted or partitioned drives and also recover partial files due to bad sectors. Using ParetoLogic's easy-to-use interface, Data Recovery Pro guides you through the steps of finding files ...
Download now
MaxiaSoft OST to PST 1.0
MaxiaSoft Outlook OST converter tool is the smart application which is designed with advance technology to repair corrupt OST file and convert Exchange OST to PST conveniently. This is the only way to read OST file into various formats like PST, EML, MSG and HTML format without any complexity. MaxiaSoft OST to PST recovery program is the best choice for recovering OST data to PST and other format.
Download now
MP3 & Audio
Home & Desktop
Multimedia & Design
Software Developer
Web Developer
Another tags
office 2000
office xp
office xp mail merge
online forms
outlook express
Page 1 of 10
Legal disclaimer
Privacy policy
© 2004-2013 IT Shareware


text:
Paul Theroux's Quest to Define Hawaii
For this renowned travel writer, no place has proved harder to decipher than his home for the past 22 years
- By Paul Theroux
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2012, Subscribe
Hawaii seems a robust archipelago, a paradise pinned like a bouquet to the middle of the Pacific, fragrant, sniffable and easy of access. But in 50 years of traveling the world, I have found the inner life of these islands to be difficult to penetrate, partly because this is not one place but many, but most of all because of the fragile and floral way in which it is structured. Yet it is my home, and home is always the impossible subject, multilayered and maddening.
Two thousand miles from any great landmass, Hawaii was once utterly unpeopled. Its insularity was its salvation; and then, in installments, the world washed ashore and its Edenic uniqueness was lost in a process of disenchantment. There was first the discovery of Hawaii by Polynesian voyagers, who brought with them their dogs, their plants, their fables, their cosmology, their hierarchies, their rivalries and their predilection for plucking the feathers of birds; the much later barging in of Europeans and their rats and diseases and junk food; the introduction of the mosquito, which brought avian flu and devastated the native birds; the paving over of Honolulu; the bombing of Pearl Harbor; and many hurricanes and tsunamis. Anything but robust, Hawaii is a stark illustration of Proust's melancholy observation: "The true paradises are the paradises we have lost."
I think of a simple native plant, the alula, or cabbage plant, which is found only in Hawaii. In maturity, as an eight-foot specimen, you might mistake it for a tall, pale, skinny creature with a cabbage for a head ("cabbage on a stick" is its common description, Brighamia insignis its proper name). In the 1990s an outcrop of it was found growing on a high cliff on the Na Pali Coast in Kauai by some intrepid botanists. A long-tongued moth, a species of hawk moth, its natural pollinator, had gone extinct, and because of this the plant itself was facing extinction. But some rapelling botanists, dangling from ropes, pollinated it with their dabbling fingers; in time, they collected the seeds and germinated them.
Like most of Hawaii's plants, an early form of the alula was probably carried to the volcanic rock in the ocean in the Paleozoic era as a seed in the feathers of a migratory bird. But the eons altered it, made it milder, more precious, dependent on a single pollinator. That's the way with flora on remote islands. Plants, so to speak, lose their sense of danger, their survival skills—their thorns and poisons. Isolated, without competition and natural enemies, they become sportive and odder and special—and far more vulnerable to anything new or introduced. Now there are many alula plants—though each one is the result of having been propagated by hand.
This is the precarious fate of much of Hawaii's flora, and its birds—its native mammals are just two, the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus), Hawaii's only native land mammal, and the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi), both severely endangered and needlessly so. I have seen the slumber of a monk seal on a Hawaii beach interrupted by a dithering dog walker with an unleashed pet, and by onlookers in bathing suits hooting gleefully. There are fewer than 1,100 monk seals in the islands and the numbers are decreasing. The poor creature is undoubtedly doomed.
Hawaii offers peculiar challenges to anyone wishing to write about the place or its people. Of course, many writers do, arriving for a week or so and gushing about the marvelous beaches, the excellent food, the heavenly weather, filling travel pages with holiday hyperbole. Hawaii has a well-deserved reputation as a special set of islands, a place apart, fragrant with blossoms, caressed by trade winds, vibrant with the plucking of ukuleles, effulgent with sunshine spanking the water—see how easy it is? None of this is wrong; but there is more, and it is difficult to find or describe.
I have spent my life on the road waking in a pleasant, or not so pleasant hotel, and setting off every morning after breakfast hoping to discover something new and repeatable, something worth writing about. I think other serious travelers do the same, looking for a story, facing the world, tramping out a book with their feet—a far cry from sitting at a desk and staring mutely at a glowing screen or a blank page. The traveler physically enacts the narrative, chases the story, often becomes part of the story. This is the way most travel narratives happen.
Because of my capacity for listening to strangers' tales, or the details of their lives, my patience with their food and their crotchets, my curiosity that borders on nosiness, I am told that anyone traveling with me experiences an unbelievable tedium, and this is why I choose to travel alone. Where I have found a place, or its people, to be unyielding I have moved on. But this is a rare happenstance. The wider world in my experience is anything but unyielding. I seldom meet uncooperative people. In traditional societies, especially, I've found folks to be hospitable, helpful, talkative, grateful for my interest, and curious about me, too—who I am, where I'm from, and by the way where's my wife? I have sometimes encountered hostility, but in each case I have found that conflict dramatic enough to write about—a rifle muzzle in my face in Malawi, a predatory shifta bandit in the northern Kenya desert, a pickpocket in Florence, a drunken policeman at a roadblock in rural Angola, a mob in India, teenaged boys jabbing spears at me in a shallow lagoon where I was paddling in Papua New Guinea. Such confrontations go with the territory.
My love for traveling to islands amounts to a pathological condition known as nesomania, an obsession with islands. This craze seems reasonable to me, because islands are small self-contained worlds that can help us understand larger ones. For example, in Easter Island, Earth Island, the authors Paul Bahn and John Flenley convincingly argue that the fate of the world has been prefigured by the eco-disaster of Easter Island, the history of this small rock standing as a parable of the earth. Literature is full of island parables too, from The Tempest through Robinson Crusoe to Lord of the Flies, and notably in each case the drama arises from people who have arrived on the island from the outside world.
One of the traits that I've found in many island cultures is a deep suspicion of the outsiders, palangi, as such people are called in Samoa, suggesting they've dropped from the sky; a haole in Hawaii, meaning "of another breath"; the "wash-ashore" as non-islanders are dismissively termed in Martha's Vineyard and other islands. Of course it's understandable that an islander would regard a visitor with a degree of suspicion. An island is a fixed and finite piece of geography, and usually the whole place has been carved up and claimed. It is inconceivable that a newcomer, invariably superfluous, could bring a benefit to such a place; suspicion seems justified. The very presence of the visitor, the new arrival, the settler, suggests self-interest and scheming.
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Related topics: Travel Communities Rituals and Traditions Hawaii
Comments (64) |
I just read Bernard Elliker's comment. Bernard has it EXACTLY right. By the way, the coolest cats were the Samoans .. friendly giants, but if you DID get on their bad side, you had best move away. The most racist locals .. racist as in they would beat you with cops looking the other way if you dared use a restroom not assigned to your race, were the Mokes. The most consistently positive Hawaiians were the Japanese.
Posted by Bob on October 2,2013 | 10:39 PM
Mr. Theroux puts a romantic spin on a nasty attribute of the local peoples. I attended Leilehua High School in Wahiawa on Oahu. There is no sugarcoating the fact that worst racism of the Old Deep South pales in comparison with the racism still found in Hawaii. The truism was that the ten races who attended Hawaiian public schools do not get along but the one thing that brings them together is that special day of the year, "Kill Haole Day". Woe be the white or black mainlander who does not phone in sick on that day.
Posted by Bob on October 2,2013 | 10:22 PM
Mr. Theroux, With all my respect to you, you probably are not to familiar how far The State of Hawaii can go just to make someone out of Honolulu if that someone had no connection, no friends and most important no one will never look for. Relocating to Honolulu after 12 years in New York, 5 years in Miami Beach, arriving with one way ticket from Europe, I was placed under surveillance 24/7. From first day in Nordstrom: discrimination,intimidation, humiliation, isolation and: Go, go, go home.Finally, after 2years in Nordstrom my coworker Charlsea Martiny mention:" Alessandra, you didn't get it. You will see, you will be surrounded." -By who? -You will see. The lady was absolutely right. I was stalked and manipulated by Police Department of Honolulu and all citizens(or probably snitches)everywhere I use to turn or walk in. Did I do something? NO. The reason:" Get out or we will trap you. We will clean everything in front of you. We don't like you".I had an opportunity to experience kind of Stasi tactics. After relocating to Virginia on july,2012 , nothing changed much except Police cars around and civilian with:" Don't talk, don't talk..". I left the country I love so much, just because: One person, single lady, blonde, from Moldova." I am wondering what could be happened that I am tracked worldwide:Hawaii- Vienna,VA-Moldova? Hawaii should be prosecuted. Sir, I admire your all righting on this side. Basically,as a fairytale Hawaiian story. Nice to read, motivating. United States is a Beautiful country. Hawaii is blast to be a part of the best country in the world. Should grab and learn something. Show love no Alohahaha.World loves you and your land.Hawaii is a beautiful clean land.To bed on people knack in a door, door is not opening. "Mahalo".
Posted by Alessandra Revenko on September 20,2013 | 03:43 PM
It's simple: some of the local people in Hawaii could have sometimes nastiness, meanness, badness towards travelers, white people, etc. Why ? Something is wrong with them. It's not enough to say "Aloha" and "Mahalo", you need to have these concepts in your heart. Just to be nice and kind to other people from other places. It's simple ! They, local people, make their life complicated and they are not happy because of that ! It's a fake smile and life !
Posted by "Goodness Concept " on October 27,2012 | 08:32 PM
having lived on the island of Molokai for 45yrs of the 69yrs that I have been alive and being 60% native hawaiian....early childhood in kalia waikiki...tourist had to be wealthy to travel by boat to oahu where only the royal hawaiian hotel and moana hotel was WAIKIKI back then...relatives on all island......no haole...translation ole..no more the haaa breath...can write about place and people that have been here for generations and understand the kanaka maoli...to call hawaii your home for a mere 22 years you are speaking the truthwhen you say you feel unable to simulate and penetrate the wisdom of these island we know and feel sorry for you,hope you made a killing on your article.....aloha
Posted by Kimo Kalaniopuu Mcpherson on September 26,2012 | 03:33 PM
I too lived in Hawaii for many years. The Hawaiian people have HUGE HEARTS. Your author is about as welcome as an archaeologist in Indian Country collecting information of special even spiritual significance to publish for self importance and money. Face it man, they just don't like you.
Posted by Mary Ann Dow on August 29,2012 | 12:19 PM
I've been on the big island for 20 years and could write my own book on the complicated social study that is life in Hawaii. I greatly appreciate Mr Theroux's writing and world-view. (Dark Star Safari was the best travel book I've ever read.) Here, he is being criticized by americans who don't always appreciate his sometimes less than cheery attitude. There was a European influence in Mr Theroux's formative years and I suspect this different view is a source of misunderstanding. I've experienced this all my life.
Posted by Robert on July 23,2012 | 07:47 PM
Collectively, the comments are pretty fascinating. Many of the angry reactions have the whiff of a tribal blame-the-messenger attitude. Emphasis on tribal. There's a casual crankiness in Theroux's writing that often comes through when he uses individual interaction, singular events, to support his grander theories. He is consistent – he always does this – fairly or unfairly.
Posted by Bostonia on July 10,2012 | 08:56 AM
It is indeed sobering to see Paul, and i am sure there are more individuals of the same conviction and experience, has the candid, courage and deep self reflection to get himself to write such a iconoclastic article about his home and his land. Yes, there is wrong among us and hiding and trying to hid it wont make it go away.
As anticlimactic and myth busting as it might sounds to some of us, as some of us have actually lived on Island for many years and invariably get to see and feel what Paul wrote about, this article is perhaps merely the tip of a giant iceberg. Islands are a multiverse within another with people who say and do things not always out of the spirit of Aloha. Aloha has been usurped as a term and as an identifier by some to define others and sun categorize them to their liking. The "blood drop" is the right that sets about making many wrongs look right. Hawaiian homeland as oppose to Haoles taking over the land, as presumed and sold within sub groups and resurfaced in state debate, only to exacerbate the already unhappy relationship among the settlers.
The pervasiveness of mistrust and entitlement seem to have imbued some settlers, as i wish to call them settlers rather than citizens since some of us peoples coming earlier rather than later to this land should not inherently bestow the right to call the land more mine than yours, nor the blood line can do the favor for that matter, has caused the rifts and walls of cultural separation.
In my experience the pervasiveness of the mistrust and non aloha has find its way in to written laws and institutions so much as on the surface and depth of our cultural subconsciousness.
Posted by I'o on June 28,2012 | 03:46 PM
I think it is interesting that Mr. Theroux pays $60 a year for a University Library card. I wonder is he is aware that you can get a Public Library Card for a one time price of $5 and you can borrow books from any Library in the state. You can even order them online and pick them up at your local library. It would be interesting to know if Mr. Theroux has spent any time on the Island of Lanai. His views do not seem to match our experience.
Posted by Nancy on June 7,2012 | 10:46 PM
I got a kick out of the comment here from the white 30-year resident of Hawaii who "actually welcomed" being discriminated against, because it so perfectly sums up white political correctness as a competitive altruistic status-symbol strategy and as the disease that is destroying Western civilization. Obviously Hawaii is a breathtakingly beautiful state with many fine people. I have friends and relatives there. However Paul Theroux and the Smithsonian are to be commended for trying to get to the core truth of things--and isn't that a big part of what the Smithsonian is all about?--and cast aside the myth that many have propagandized, that Hawaii represents our future warm and welcoming, merrily ever more multicultural and vibrant future. On the other hand, despite how different areas of the world might welcome wealthy Westerners, such as visiting travel writers, Hawaii is obviously much more the norm than the exception, as far as most humans preferring to be comfortably tucked within their their own economic, cultural, ethnic and racial enclaves, as readily can be demonstrated by housing patterns in mainland USA, even when it comes to those most vehemently screaming "Diversity is our greatest strength!" As we saw in the case of the Soviet Union, no system can function for all that many decades when it is based on a top-down utopian fantasy.
Posted by Thomas Michael Andres on May 26,2012 | 12:14 AM
I concur with Lena on this. In true colonial form, Theroux has completely de-historicized Hawaii's modern condition. Entitlement oozes from between his words, dressed up in feigned understanding and sympathy. Nowhere does he address the socioeconomic conditions created out of the US' illegal annexation of the islands and its accompanying capitalism that has made Hawaii an impossible place to live for people of Hawaiian heritage, whose home Hawaii truly is. It is people like Theroux himself who calls Hawaii "home" who make it so that Hawaiians comprise the largest homeless population in the islands, and many more who must leave to find a more affordable life. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that those conditions might cause resentment in the indigenous population. Theroux himself is part of the problem, certainly not part of the solution just because he thinks of himself as "culturally sensitive." This is to say nothing of his anecdotal use of the term "one-drop rule" which is actually quite incorrect in the Hawaiian context. To the contrary; the US government does not engage the one-drop rule as a way to recognize Hawaiian identity (which would mean much more land would have to have been given back under the Hawaiian Homes Act). But that's another story with not enough room here.
Posted by Dina GW on May 24,2012 | 11:24 AM
Maybe the author cannot find acceptance because he presents himself as aloof and a little better than the average cat. He appears to be trying to learn because it's of his benefit, not because of innate desire to become part of a community. I lived in Hawaii and found the local folks to be friendly and accepting. And I loved the music, history, culture, and traditions. At a one year old birthday party with 300 locals, I was the only haole, but never felt in the minority, just part of a fun-loving group of folks. Theroux might set people off with his snobishness; he did the same thing in "The Happy Peoples of Oceana" and in Australia. Maybe he should stop working at understanding too many social complexities, and just start living.
Posted by Andy Voikos on May 23,2012 | 06:09 PM
I came to Maui thirty years ago, a 52 year old haole female. I originally felt "discriminated against"(more from Japanese than Hawaiians), which I actually welcomed since I had never before experienced it, and felt it helped me understand friends on the mainland who had experienced discrimination. I also felt, like "Annie", a strong spiritual connection to the land -- for the first time, this is "home". I do live on "an island within an island", (a good phrase), but agree with other commenters that Theroux comes across as arrogant and "entitled", not wanting to share and connect to individuals, but to exploit them for commercial reasons. Theroux does not comment on the American complicity in the totally illegal overthrow of the monarchy, or the many many years of "quiet title" actions by which the Big Five picked up so many small holdings belonging to Hawaiian families. Thirty years ago there were legal notices in the papers every week for multiple "quiet title" actions. I see the hostility evident on Molokai etc as part of the Hawaiians becoming aware of how much they have been robbed by haoles. Shortly after I arrived on Maui, the splintered Hawaiian factions came together to protest the unearthing of over 1000 burials in the digging of the Ritz Carlton foundations in a sand dune. The reversal of that action, moving the Ritz Carlton to a different site, was the first time I know of that Hawaiians found an effective voice. Next the protests, over many years, of the bombing runs on Kaho'olawe, were successful and the island was returned to Hawaiian control. Every time I drive to Hana I am overwhelmingly aware that this island and its flora and fauna developed for over a million years without any human presence. I and my ancestors come from lands that were covered in glaciers hundreds of feet deep, only 18,000 years ago. To me, the Native Hawaiians are newcomers, like me, and we share a spiritual connection to this island.
Posted by Sally Raisbeck on May 21,2012 | 11:53 PM
When I first visited these islands I was overwhelmed by a spiritual connection that has endured to this day. I was standing in a pasture on Parker Ranch on the Big Island, cows all around and I knew I was home. Now that I am home, maybe like others who have come before I feel very protective of this place. I dread all the poorly planned development that trashes the islands. The misuse and abuse of the ocean and the burning cane fields irk me. When the Superferry began service between Oahu and Maui I donated funds for the court battle and wrote letters to the editor. Hated the intrusion of "others" stripping our reefs and stealing our moss rocks. Our friends here are from all over the world but not Hawiian. The discrimination is a sad useless behavior mostly grown out of ignorance. If it divides the population it sets up a wedge for bad policy decisions by our civil servants. We all get screwed. I have enjoyed Paul's writing because he rarely sugar-coats his experiences. Like many places,Hawaii has a dark side too. Remember the wars between the islands when the Iao Valley River ran red with warriors blood? This place is unique and we should continue to celebrate it, warts and all.
Posted by Annie on May 18,2012 | 02:23 AM
Regarding "Hawaiian Mormons" - We are interested in your reference for the "Land of Joshua (now California)" Hagoth and the Land of Joshua are both mentioned in the Book of Mormon. What is the reference for the land of Joshua being connected with California (or the "land northward" mentioned in Alma 63:5-8 which you cited)?
Posted by JH Todd on May 18,2012 | 05:07 PM
We lived on Oahu for three years in the early 70s. It was so beautiful in places. Waikiki and Honolulu were tourist traps, shiny and dingy all at the same time. Our Kailua house was within walking distance of what we considered the loveliest beach on the island. Emerging from the tunnel coming over the Pali each evening on my way home from work as a civilian federal employee at Pearl Harbor, I was always moved nearly to tears by the majestic panorama spread before me. Sadly, underneath this surface veneer lurked the reality of this "melting pot:" a sea of restlessness, suspicion, seething resentment and studied aloofness that bordered at times on seeming paranoia. There was no love between natives and Haoles to put it mildly, nor for that matter, between Portuguese and Samoans or the Chinese and other Asians. Presumably, this innate hostility was mostly held in check by the knowledge that the economy rose and fell with tourism so the Aloha welcomes were trundled out along with the tours, while the locals laughed behind their hands at the tourists lapping it up and spending freely. Our daughters were middle school and high school age. Our youngest, blonde and petite, didn't stand a chance in the environment of hate and physical confrontation. We placed her in a private religious school until departing for home. The oldest made cheerleader at the local high school, an almost unprecedented achievement for a haole but it did not protect her from being struck in the head by a rock throwing, intensely jealous local. There was constant tension and innumerable incidents. Paul Theroux's piece is the first I have read in all these years that actually tells it like it is. Living there without children and clustered with your own ethnic or cultural kind, it could be tolerated and would no doubt be accommodating to an easy, beach-bound existence. Hawaii is a truly beautiful place. A paradise - it is not.
Posted by Bernard Elliker on May 18,2012 | 03:42 PM
Aloha Smithsonian, Aloha is Love and Respect. This well traveled author has no "Aloha" for his home of 22 years. "I had become used to strolling CONFIDENTLY into the oddest places—approaching a village, a district, a slum, a shantytown, a neighborhood—and, observing the dress code, the niceties, the protocol, asking frank questions" This attitude is detestable.Ignorance of social graces in respect to Hawaii's people has diminished my respect for you.Your observations are clearly subjective like a child. Why won't anyone play with me?It is obvious the world revolves around thee!The keys to our Kingdom is Aloha Aina.Love and respect for the people and the land.Be ever thankful of this gift we all share.Spread Aloha!!Mahalo!!
Posted by d. lee on May 17,2012 | 11:32 PM
Unless you have been to Hawaii, not just Oahu but the other islands too, it is difficult to understand how different it is from the rest of the U.S. But amazingly there has been very little written about this - why Hawaii is different, what it means in terms of interaction with the other states, and how it affects Americans from the mainland who go there to live. In this article Mr. Theroux is making a brave attempt to start this conversation. Having lived there for 22 years he obviously loves the place, and naturally wants to understand it more. I enjoyed the article and it got me to start thinking about Hawaii as a unique society with its own history.
Posted by Doug Kelly on May 17,2012 | 01:36 PM
Mr.Theroux is romanticizing what is actually generally racist, xenophobic attitude that permeates these islands. It doesn't matter how humble you are, how long you've been there, or how hard you try to embrace the culture, local non-whites will ostracize the "haoles". Im a fifth generation Hawaiian, and I like my mother and grandmother have experienced harassment due to the color of my skin throughout public grade school.A "colonial" past does nothing to justify this sort of treatment of innocent white Hawaiians in this day and age. I'm glad Theroux at least addressed this issue vaguely, even he does sugar coat things a bit.
Posted by John on May 16,2012 | 12:18 AM
Ah, Hawaiian hackles. Best served with a bitter sauce.
Posted by John Enright on May 16,2012 | 04:49 PM
I was only ever once called a haole in Hawaii, and that was after driving to a beach we had been warned was more or less a "locals only" beach near South Point. Other than that everyone was very courteous and always friendly, especially in the smaller towns that are more off the beaten path and really appreciate getting some business. It's the same as being told Parisians are impolite, yet when we were there everyone was lovely to us except one English boy working there for the summer. Any people can be standoffish, even if you live among them, if you don't acknowledge them as people first and native, foreigner, visitor, or whatever second. And anyone who is familiar with Hawaii's history and cultures certainly understands the reluctance of natives to share what little is left that is "theirs". I often feel the same way when I go back "home" to Arizona or even in San Diego where I've lived for 28 years. You get protective of what you see disappearing before your eyes, whether it's native plants, native species, your heritage or your culture. But I did find this an interesting read.
Posted by Donna on May 16,2012 | 04:47 PM
Hawaiians do not treat strangers badly. They treat strangers who seek to understand Hawaiian culture not from a desire to connect, but rather from a desire to profit from it badly--and are sophisticated enough to know the difference. From the article it appears that the author's main attempts to integrate or understand local culture was solely in conjunction with his work as a writer, not as a neighbor, regardless of how long he's owned property there. His mistakes with the culture--assuming if he gave honey, he'd get to go--revealed to others his true motivation. If he'd given the honey freely and wished the canoers well, and offered it again and again with the same good wishes, it would have shown that he truly cared and didn't expect quid pro quo--and probably gotten him an invitation. His actions in pursuing knowledge for the expressed purpose of writing about it for money demonstrated an attitude of outsider arrogance and entitlement--enough to raise any local's (let alone Hawaiian's) hackles.
Posted by Lehua Parker on May 15,2012 | 01:49 PM
It is telling that all of the above (or is it below?) attacks upon Mr. Theroux's musings are apologia for treating a stranger badly, rather proving his premise but not solving anything. Not that Mr. Theroux solves anything either; he is humble enough to admit that impossibility. But he does supply many experienced observations of how things are in the islands, most of which I can vouch for after a quarter of a century in American Samoa (Hawaii's little brother U.S. colonization-wise) with many visits and stays in Hawaii. The defensiveness of the self-appointed Hawaiian culture bearers—Mr, Theroux's theme vis-à-vis other cultures he has studied—is the give away. Why the barriers and self-censorship? The secrecy and seeming insecurity? The history is complex, but the questions are valid. The story of the United States' subjugation—or is it absorption—of Pacific cultures is one unknown to most mainland readers. Mr. Theroux should be thanked—even by native Hawaiians—for changing the topic from mai-tais with little umbrellas and paradise tours to what happens when cultures collide.
Posted by John Enright on May 14,2012 | 01:31 AM
There is much to like about Mr. Theroux's article and it is not difficult to know where to begin. Unlike other pieces on Hawaii the author tackles a complex and somewhat mysterious issue and examines kapu (the Hawaiian term for the forbidden)as it applies to social and spacial interactions. Here we are allowed to take a peek under the covers of contemporary island society and what we see is an unvarnished and little-discussed aspect of multicultural insular protectiveness and separation. His convincing "islands within islands" thesis probes a continuing condition that gets one thinking hard about the well-used "melting pot" glad tag that is bandied about by The Hawaii Visitor's Bureau and some others. This is not an especially happy article, but what Mr. Theroux offers is one that is well-thought-out, reflective, comparative, and perhaps most importantly, it dares to be honest - and everyone on all islands everywhere can use a little bit more of that.
Posted by Joseph Kennedy on May 14,2012 | 07:10 PM
It is the height of arrogance to assume because you ask politely, people have to tell you the most personal and sacred parts of their lives, particularly when your intent is to re-interpret it, spin it, and sell it for money. How can you as a world traveler have missed this important fact? You are not inquiring because you value what Hawaiians believe, feel, or do and want to understand how they view the world in order to enrich your own life. You are inquiring as a writer in order to sell what they have told you for a profit. In the Hawaiian world view that is the basest, meanest reason of all. Of course no one would waste their breath on you! Your very arrogance confirms the worst of their suspicions about outsiders and reaffirms the correctness of their decisions not to share cultural information. Comparing your experiences in third world cultures with first world Hawaii only highlights how truly clueless you are. Hawaiians know very well what it means to be exploited and are consciously choosing not be exploited again.
Posted by Lehua Parker on May 14,2012 | 04:24 AM
I am a "one drop" Hawaiian who was born and raised in Hawaii. I live on the mainland now, but I miss my island home terribly. Paul Theroux's article struck many chords with me, but some were quite sour. People should understand that while Hawaii is part of the United States, it is not part of America, it is part of the blue continent called Oceania. Most Americans do not know the true history of the Hawaiian Islands. Native Hawaiians have lived in the islands for at least 1500 years---contrast that to 53 years as a "state." American history books have long described the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy as "peaceful annexation." Perhaps this explains the lack of trust and openness encountered by Mr. Theroux. Despite a century of global dominance by American culture and perspectives, many people do not share a love for "The American Way." It is often accompanied by cultural exploitation for self-serving material gain. Our generation witnessed what happened when our grandparents and great grandparents welcomed "outsiders" with their sincere aloha. People should not confuse reticence with racism or privacy with prejudice.
Posted by ChuChu on May 11,2012 | 09:59 PM
Like Mr Theroux in my traveling the world I have found a simple rule: if you are open and respectful people return the favor. Not in Hawaii. My daughter and grand daughter move moved to Oahu an hour north of Honolulu. My granddaughter went to school where almost everyone was a native of Mormon (also famous for their clannishness) This is a 12 year old who has always been widely liked wherever she traveled or went to school. Here she was literally shunned. People would not sit with her at school or in the bus. They purposely gathered in small groups nearby and talked about her loudly. She was bullied. This was not just a school thing. On Halloween she went trick or treating and a number of people literally give her bags full of nothing. It is well and good to see a sociological phenomenon here or native clannishness as holding out against forces of social imperialism but this is the United States. Racism is against the law and actively rooted out anywhere else. How people can treat children in such a fashion in this day and age is beyond me. There is no excuse in any culture to purposely make a child's life a misery. It has left me with a complete disgust for the culture. The Aloha Spirit? It's there to take all the tourist money they can get. To paraphrase Phil Oakes, "Hawaii find yourself another country to be part of.
Posted by James Martin on May 10,2012 | 11:54 AM
I'm sure it's never occurred to Mr. Theroux that the reason "locals" aren't warming up to him is quite possibly that he is arrogant and offensive and it puts people off. Perhaps that is more plausible explanation for the rampant wariness/dismissiveness he seems to experience from everyone with whom he has contact. As a local, I know I would not want to talk to him either since he would inevitably twist everything and put his negative spin on it.
Posted by Sandra on May 9,2012 | 12:04 AM
The most honest, perceptive portrait of the social reality of the Hawaiian Islands. Those born here are socially awkward and feel inferior. The vast majority can't even swim. It is a result of the relatively recent decline of a feudal plantation economy and their extreme dependence on goods, services and people from elsewhere.
Posted by Manoa Kahuna on May 8,2012 | 01:30 AM
This is just another example of a Haole (Hāʻole - no breath) that expects everything to be there on the pedestal for him to take and use to make his own profit. This isnʻt America. People come to Hawaiʻi to either enjoy the beaches or buy our land. Why do you think some Hawaiians would want to share the most sacred stories about their lives or Hawaiʻiʻs history? Some things just shouldnʻt be asked at all. Itʻs called protocol! You donʻt walk into a kupunaʻs house and just ask for things and expect to get it. Thatʻs a big NO NO in Hawaiʻi. You help her clean the yard, help her with her groceries, do stuff for her that is PONO. Until you learn the meaning of pono, you will never understand Hawaiʻiʻs true history. ʻO ia wale ihola nō kuʻu manaʻo, aloha nō.
Posted by ʻŌiwi on May 8,2012 | 01:03 AM
My guess is that if Mr. Theroux had actually lived in any of the places he has traveled to, he would feel the same way. I find that one's experience of life is a reflection of who we are. I don't know you Mr. Theroux, and I have enjoyed some of your "40 plus books," but you have plied your way through life as a professional outsider, offering your opinions of the places you visit. You can write well, but you -- even you -- can't put a place -- any place -- in a nutshell. In the spirit of giving, you get what you give. If you are patient, that 60 pounds of honey will come back to you in a way that will surprise you, even though you gave it with the expectation that you should get something in return. Right now, this very minute -- like they do on the East Coast, where you came from. I know, because I came here, like you did, from a wealthy family, like yours is, more than forty years ago. With few exceptions, everyone here is an outsider. The people are not the place. And that is just the beginning.
Posted by Gloria Garvey on May 8,2012 | 11:43 PM
Why would the smithsonian publish this rubbish on their website?
Posted by Daniel on May 8,2012 | 11:26 PM
I work in the library at UH Manoa where Mr. Theroux says he frequently conducts research. I organized the Peace Corps exhibit celebrating 50 years of the organization and Hawaii's role in training of Peace Corp volunteers for posting in Asia. Mr. Theroux was a Peace Corps volunteer and the UH Librarian had invited him to present a special lecture in conjunction with the exhibit. She also corresponded very politely with Mr. Theroux trying to find a way to meet his demands for inter-library loan of books at another branch library in the UH system. Given the efforts that were made on his behalf, I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Theroux so negatively portrayed our Library in an international online publication. I have a copy of the email correspondence from that time and would be most happy to share it with the world to correct a grave error and injustice that his article does to the Librarian and the UH Manoa Library. I think retractions and apologies are in order.
Posted by Kala S-K on May 8,2012 | 02:22 PM
Right on the money Mr.Theroux. After you have lived in Hawai'i another 10-15 years you will find it even more nonsensical.
Posted by carl on May 7,2012 | 06:45 AM
Kalaha'amai's comment is spot-on. Theroux seems to be ignoring Hawaii's entire colonial history, as well, and absolutely reeks of entitlement with regards to native knowledge and cooperation. If you don't enter a society respectfully, humbly, and openly, while demanding cooperation, you really don't deserve it.
Posted by Lena on May 5,2012 | 08:31 PM
The whole library scenario Mr. Theroux is intriguing to me as a librarian. I'll second the comments above. You have to be affiliated to get certain types of access. I wonder if he's ever offered to teach a writing class. I'm fairly certain, that he offered to teach one, he would be welcomed. He would then be faculty and would have access to interlibrary loan. I've read a bit of his writing and he seems to view his point of view as his intellectual property rather than the words he writes. I haven't spent a ton of time in Hawai'i and my ancestry is super duper haole but I noticed pretty quickly that giving without expecting return seems to be a big part of life there. From this piece, it doesn't seem like Mr. Theroux has noticed that yet. Something as small as letting someone go in front of you in traffic is greatly rewarded with a smile and a shaka. Our neighbors give us there backyard fruit just to be friendly. Someone I consider wise once told me that 'aloha' is what you give not what you get.
Posted by Jay B on May 5,2012 | 12:20 PM
It seems that Hawaiians have recognized the one feature that ties together all of Mr. Theroux's writing: an astonishing level of arrogance; clearly summed up in the phrase from this article: "my patience with their food." Additionally it is truly disappointing that there is no interesting information about Hawaii in this article; it is entirely concentrated on Mr. Theroux's whining that no one will talk to him. Perhaps readers should take a look at "Unfamiliar Fishes," Sarah Vowell's recent book on Hawaii. It seems that some of the same people who shun Mr. Theroux are very willing to talk with others. I am suspecting is is all in how you approach people.
Posted by stephen field on May 5,2012 | 11:43 AM
I lived in Kaneohe from 2005-2008; I remember trying to register to vote, only to be told "We're not United States, ya". This was at the "register here" sign. Walking into work one day I was met with "Here comes our Haole boy" from the people I worked for-Japan Airlines-coming from yes, a Japanese person. Then there's the time getting pulled over on my bike & told "It's illegal to be on the Pali". I replied it wasn't, and the Hawaiian-born cop said... "you're right-now just leave". it's a beautiful place to visit. But move there & it's the closest any caucasian will ever get to understanding discrimination.
Posted by Bob on May 4,2012 | 02:42 PM
I am disappointed that the Smithsonian online magazine should print Theroux's article. The article is yet one more layer in the colonial narrative against Hawaii. Mr. Theroux, please take your shoes off and leave them at the door! It is easy for one to own a house in Hawaii for 22 years but not reside here throughout the year. Many people are not invested in our communities in the islands. There are many who are seasonal residents, like the migratory bird, the plover, they visit, eat, get fat and leave. In Hawai'i it is very important to be a contributing member of a community, to be invested in what happens to the the community, to get your elbows dirty, and help others. Mr. Theroux may like to try that before he writes with authority on Hawai'i again. I don't think he understands that being a famous writer isn't the key to unlocking the door. Investing time, giving (not taking), helping neighbors without expectation, and observing, not being the focal point, would go a long way! Given that he doesn't feel comfortable, how can he write with understanding? Who is he to speak for and about Hawaii when he clearly is still an outsider who hasn't been able to bridge the gap?
Posted by Kalaha'amai on May 3,2012 | 04:12 PM
When I spent time in Japan, members of the American press used to advise young journalists to write their observation piece within the first month. After that your early impressions start to unravel, everything is the opposite of what it first seemed, and you can no longer be sure of anything. Paul writes beautifully and perceptively about places he visits for relatively short periods of time. In this article he faces squarely the difficulty about writing about his adopted home. Chuck Tampio
Posted by charles tampio on May 3,2012 | 12:26 PM
I have to agree with much of what Paul Theroux is saying here. I lived on both Maui and the Big Island for several years. One local told me they don't like to share too much because I was going to move back to where I came from some day. He said I was one of too many people coming and going all the time. Several people told me they didn't want invest in a long conversation with someone who could be so transitory. Also, so much has been taken from the Hawaiians themselves, one man told me he just wanted to keep his life and culture to himself. I love to travel and was amazed how many people had not visited other islands in the chain. Many people in Hilo never bothered to drive to the Kona side of the Big Island. I would suggest a drive and no one seemed to care. I took Hawaiian Language classes (my classmates were wary of me), read as much history as I could about Hawaii, studied the flora and fauna, the land and culture, but most I had to read or observe myself. A couple of "native" Hawaiians at work told me I knew more than they did about their culture, but I don't think so. I may have learned some facts, but it is rare for anyone to share their story.
Posted by Andie Moen on May 2,2012 | 02:20 AM
There is a very good reason that many people in Hawaii don't want anything to do with him (aside that is from the arrogant notion that people would gladly share their traditions for a jar of honey, with someone who intends to profit from what he believes should be freely given). That he does not recognize what it is about him in particular that bothers so many people here in the Islands, and consequently causes them to rebuff his questions, should be evidenced by the fact that he would no doubt view this comment as further evidence of Hawaii's insularity rather than notice the true cause.
Posted by Janus Brauer on May 2,2012 | 01:53 AM
I have lived on Oahu for over a year now. As a tall, pale, blonde woman it has been quite an experience. Upon moving here from the "mainland", I took it upon myself to be respectful of Hawaii and the culture. I try to learn about the culture, the language, etc. and am constantly asking people at work "Am I pronouncing this properly?", "Is this a tradition?", "Can you tell me the history behind that?", etc. I was met with a lot of resistenace at first. People ignored me, would not sit next to me on the bus, called me a "Haole" to my face (during work meetings even!), etc. But, the more I asked, the more I displayed that I was genuinely interested and sincerely respectful. "I buy local", "I dry my clothes on the line to save energy", "I would like to learn Hawaiian and Japanese...anyone want to learn with me?" etc. ... These were all key in showing them that I wanted to learn about and support, not take over or change, their culture. It's been a lot of work. But, it is SO worth it. The Hawaiian people are generous, loving, and facinating especially once you gain their trust. Sadly, I am leaving my current job for another on the island. Yesterday afternoon, after I made the announcement to my team, I found a small gold foil origami crane on my desk. It was left by one of the most senior members of my team, a native Hawaiian who has always been very quiet and most judgmental of my management practices. "Wow!" I thought. Although she would never tell me in person, that crane screamed as loud as a little origami gift could... "We will miss you, awkward pale haloe that tried so hard". I agree with everything the author had to say in his piece. I did not find it offensive or outlandish. Hawaii is its own distinct culture and while it may be difficult to penetrate, it is possible if one employs an open, loving, respectful, and humble spirit.
Posted by Benney on May 2,2012 | 05:07 PM
We have been to "the Islands" many times since the 60's. I have visited five plus snorkeling on Molokini. Our visits are primarily enjoying the sun, sand, and water and this time really good organic food, too! Our most recent visit was three weeks on Maui. We were asked by a shop owner if we were considering moving there since we love it so much? Before we could answer she said, "don't! She had about 8 years ago and went through a terrible time. Locals were not nice to her.". We left somewhat perplexed since we had never considered such a possibility, afterall, how could Paradise be mean? Your essay on the Islands was very timely and informative. Thank you.
Posted by Joanne Fitzwilson on May 2,2012 | 04:38 PM
It would be helpful if Mr. Theroux would tell us where he got his definition of the word haole. I have lived in Maui for over 16 years and have not come across this "of another breath" explanation. Mary Kawena Pukui's Hawaiian Dictionary defines haole as "White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; formerly, any foreigner..." etc. One of the meanings of the word ha is breath, and the word ole means without or lacking. A traditional, respectful Hawaiian way of greeting is to touch noses and breathe in. I've been told by several Hawaiians that, since people like Captain Cook and his men didn't do that, these strangers were considered to be "without breath".
Posted by Jan Welda on May 2,2012 | 02:22 PM
I want to echo the sentiments of an earlier commenter. As a University Librarian, I can say with confidence that academic libraries do not extend inter-library loan privileges to patrons (even those that pay for guest borrower cards) that are not faculty, staff or student at the institution. I don't think that particular piece of evidence should be used to characterize either the University or the UH library system as any less helpful or friendly. It's a usual practice and has to do with the cost and labor involved with borrowing and managing ILL, not to mention the liability of borrowing books from somewhere else and giving them to someone with whom you have a very minimal relationship. I can incur that 'risk' with my own materials but not with materials that do not belong to me, where I have little recourse to recover them or their replacement cost should the guest borrower never return them. Students, faculty and staff...well, I can fine them. :)
Posted by Carrie R on May 1,2012 | 08:31 PM
This article is a guilty pleasure for me, mostly because its not about the island I come from, but also because while I appreciate how beautifully articulated it is, I know its vastly inaccurate. My condolences. Donna K. Cundy
Posted by Donna K. Cundy on May 1,2012 | 07:28 PM
I agree with a lot that has been said previously...Mr. Theroux cannot let go a lot of his tendencies. He has been living in Hawaii for 22 years and cannot grasp the true meaning of aloha, the 'aina, the kanaka maoli or any past wrongdoings done to the Hawaiian people. Living there all my life I cannot wrap my head around how this guy loves hawaii so much but is still so dumb to what it really is about. Sounds like bruddah man was throwing is weight around like he's some infamous author and therefore has a right to information because he has earned international fame. Doesn't sound like he's tried to truly get to know the Hawaiian people, or any other ethnic group here because he's walking around all himakamaka, high and mighty like we are supposed to respect him without any respect for the information he is seeking. Clearly-he gets what he puts out. Hawaiians aren't trying to hide our culture and keep it to ourselves. Perpetuate, yes, hide-no. Just funny how he's never tried to immerse himself in the culture, more tried to push his way in and understandably never got too far!
Posted by Lils on May 1,2012 | 04:34 PM
Mr. Theroux needs to check his ego at the door. Having been born Caucasian and raised in Hawaii, I know that humility goes a long way in reaching out to a culture that has been conditioned to distrust people harkening from Western Europe and America. It is the attitude of entitlement that keeps people away from making connection in Hawaii. If you think you own more than yourself, you will not be accepted well here. It isn't native Hawaiian culture, or Asian culture, it's local culture. Take your shoes off at the door, Mr. Theroux. Instead of rattling off about your library of authorship, maybe you should sit down and listen. People talk when others are willing to listen. It sounds like your opinion about Hawaii was formed before you even opened the door.
Posted by Cade Roster on April 30,2012 | 05:29 PM
Interesting perspective from a writer who is 'on the outside peering in'. From living on the Big Island for over 10 years if you are an unknown, particularly a 'haole', you will be rebuffed politely if you ask personal questions about ancestry or 'life in the islands.' But that is no different than an outsider traveling the back roads of Kentucky, or say Nova Scotia. Riding through Kentucky with an old friend who grew up on a farm there, he pointed out various public roads that he warned me not to travel down, as "they don't like outsiders." Why should Hawai`i be any different? I would have thought Mr. Theroux would have understood that being a famous writer means nothing to a local.
Posted by charlie stanton on April 30,2012 | 01:22 PM
I am a professor at the University of Hawaii, and I completely disagree with the characterization of UH. The faculty and graduate students I know spend a great deal of time in the community. I work with local teachers every month, and several colleagues visit local schools just as regularly. Others work with the Institute for Human Services, and still others are starting businesses to employ UH graduates so they don't have to leave home to find good jobs. All of this is on top of the long hours university faculty and grad students already work. I wonder if Mr. Theroux spoke with a single faculty member during his visits to campus to take advantage of our libraries. I should also mention that I have experienced the initial coolness and wariness that Mr. Theroux describes. But working with folks in the community -- having something to offer rather than just expecting them to help you with your job (and approaching with humility as others have mentioned) -- makes all the difference. I wonder what besides honey Mr. Theroux has given back to the community? Why should they share their stories with him? What does he share with them? I'll also point out that I don't know a single university anywhere that allows non-affiliated folks to borrow books and use the interlibrary loan system. The public libraries in Hawaii will happily get books through ILL for an admittedly substantial fee. But this is one more example of Mr. Theroux expecting the community to serve him simply because he is (in his own mind) an Important Writer. Surely the fee he was paid for this article will cover the ILL costs, especially since it was out of the question to share the fee with any of his interviewees.
Posted by Michelle on April 28,2012 | 11:34 PM
I just read Paul Theroux's bio on Wikipedia. Everything becomes clear.
Posted by Philip Kessel on April 28,2012 | 10:34 PM
I don't claim to know anything about Hawaii or its people. But in my experience journalists never get the story quite right and often get it quite wrong. Perhaps the impression he made left the people he talked to with a strong desire to be left alone.
Posted by Philip Kessel on April 28,2012 | 10:11 PM
While I am a great admirer of Mr Theroux, I can't help but wonder how he can write an entire article about Hawaii without ever mentioning the word "colonisation". Hawaii is an invaded country, with a colonised indigenous population. No wonder they feel wary of outsiders! Mr Theroux might do well to reflect on his own manner of approach, which may have contributed to the reaction he describes. How naive is he in his approach? How demanding, how disrespectful? Reading the comments from other Hawaiians here, I am led to believe that Mr Theroux is experiencing a reaction based on how he behaves, how he approaches people. It would pay to reflect on that, instead of ascribing it to some "island mentality".
Posted by Sarah Newman on April 26,2012 | 10:11 PM
This is my 18th year of living on the island of Maui as a transplanted haole. I have plenty of Hawaiian friends, some of whom are separatists. My experience has been the opposite of the writer, and I find that Hawaiians have a strong desire to have their culture understood. I am surprised at Mr. Theroux's difficulty. There is a thin defensive membrane that locals have towards mainlanders, but it usually disappears completely once respect is shown. The Hawaiians are working hard to preserve a culture which is in danger of being completely absorbed. They are educating their children with Hawaiian customs and language and, as I mentioned, will tell their story to outsiders with a genuinely respectful ear. They are the kindest, most generous people I have ever known. I have seen dirt poor, unemployed Hawaiians offer the proverbial "the shirt off their backs" to strangers invariably. This article does not ring true for me......
Posted by John Absalom on April 26,2012 | 03:35 PM
My own experience is that the matrix that forms the Hawaiian language does not translate at all to the western way of thinking. This is very hard to grasp for a modern culture that thinks it can quantify and describe anything at all with mere " definitions". Thankyou for a great article.
Posted by tai on April 26,2012 | 02:20 PM
Although I agree with Paul Theroux on much of what he says, I have a different perspective. I came to the islands in 1964 to work WITH whomever might be in charge of any project. I did not come to write ABOUT them. Yes I was always a bit of an outsider. But the difference was a lack of local knowledge, not racial and any local I ever met was anxious to bring me up to speed on our common interest. I dealt with a significant portion of the 'aina', the forests. This was a contentious time with a blossoming of concern about native species. And yet, when one of the 'local' foresters visited my house, and I proudly showed him my native plants, his reply was "I don't know why anybody plants something they can't eat". I am not sue how Mr. Theroux would comment on that.
Posted by Robert Merriam on April 25,2012 | 01:49 AM
I've read the article and visited several of the islands. It seems to me Mr. Theroux can't set aside his Mainland tendencies and see the islands as they are. He tends to present his views through his lens (his right) but can't understand why anyone would view Hawaii differently and wouldn't want to talk with a writer (him). Maybe a writer with a wider view of human differences and motives would serve the Smithsonian Magazine better. I have to wonder why a person who felt so unwelcome would regard the place as his home.
Posted by Jimmie Froehlich on April 24,2012 | 01:17 AM
Maybe the natives are reluctant to speak because there is nothing to say. The natives may be afraid that the stranger will discover that they know their own culture the way the stranger knows it: second, third, or fourth hand. They speak the language, they know some of the rituals, but the deeper meaning of these things has been lost or mislaid over the decades. Many native American cultures have this problem. They learn what it means to be an Indian from movies or non-Indian scholars. It would be a shameful thing to have to admit this.
Posted by Faze on April 23,2012 | 05:54 PM
Perhaps there might be some accuracy in M Irani's perception of Paul Theroux but not knowing the man I can comment.
I am a "local haole", born and raised on Oahu over six decades ago (I remember the statehood celebrations) and also as an adult lived on the Big Island for many years. It was the outer island we most went to for vacations small keed time. Currently residing in Oregon due to economic circumstances but hope to get back home before too long to finish out my life tenure. And I really, really miss being in the ocean.
It was interesting being raised a caucasian minority-not a circumstance most US caucasians could ever relate to, but it was rare I ever got into a hassle because of that. An intuitive person learns how to adjust, get along, and make friends.
But there are indeed the subtile and not so subtile differences between the neighborhoods, valleys, and districts. Also between the islands there is a different "vibe" for each. The stories of Hawaii and the different ethnicities coexisting is not an easy one to tell. Mr. Theroux has done a decent primer job in the small space allowed in this magazine.
Posted by Ken Condon on April 22,2012 | 06:30 PM
I lived on both Maui and the Big Island as a teen and young adult and also read some of Mr. Theroux books during that time. The general vibe I came away with was kind of negative and whiny overall.
I would agree with him that there is a good deal of division in Hawaiian society, however, there is also a chance that like the tone of his writing, there is something off-putting about him.
Sometimes when a person is socially awkward or negative in a new culture, they are given the benefit of the doubt. When they are that way in their own culture, or a culture that recognizes the dominant culture, as is in the case in Hawaii, they are not as forgiving.
In other words, maybe people in Hawaii just don't like him that much.
Posted by M Irani on April 20,2012 | 05:35 AM
Having lived in Hawaii for 13 years, the comment "the longer I live here the more the mystery deepens" totally rings true.
Paul is very unique among local residents (and to be commended) for trying to write about the entire complex experience of living in Hawaii, as opposed to the storybook illusion presented to tourists. His novel 'Hotel Honolulu' was not taken well by the local press, both mainstream and alternative. But it was spot on in it's observations of the complexity of the place.
I lived on Oahu for 10 years and only went to the west side once.
I now live on Maui, and it's a totally different universe than Oahu. As are all of the other islands, each one is very different from the others, both physically, and culturally.
Posted by lou per on April 19,2012 | 05:57 PM
Having had the good fortune to reside on three of the Hawaiian islands for a period of ten years. I must say Mr. Theroux, in a few words, has truly well depicted what eludes many of the islands visitors - a Paradise which, if left unchecked, will be lost.
Posted by Patrick Blangy on April 18,2012 | 12:23 AM


text:
Eight Sixty
Long Sleeve Blouse
Eight Sixty features a modern collection of trendy prints in colorful palettes. Their tops and dresses feature ruffles and color blocks with fun trims and embellishments that are sure to catch your eye.
- 100% poly
- Hand wash cold
- Shirred shoulder seams
- Cuffed sleeves
- Semi sheer fabric
- Styled with Current/Elliott The Ankle Leather Skinny in Fig.
- Styled with House of Harlow Double Arrowhead Cuff in Gold.
- Styled with Giles & Brother Hook Cuff in Gold.
- Styled with Low Luv Erin Wasson Triangle Bangle in Antique Gold.
- Modeled in size S. See fit guide for model's dimensions.
- Revolve Style No. EIGH-WS145
- Manufacturer Style No. CHV84261


text:
Hi everybody,
Here is my latest creation, a realistic and functional medieval crane, that will be presented at the french convention Fanabriques 2012, in june/july, on the medieval diorama, Archenval.
Bigger photo on my Flickr galery
mencot wrote:A very good design and it looks realistic. That wheal looks very good. And that it actually works is awesome
soccerkid6 wrote:Great work! I will probably be doing one of these myself pretty soon. The fact that this one works makes it that much better
AK_Brickster wrote:Really nice wheel design. Pretty fragile though?
lord_of_orks wrote:very cool I like how it looks like there are metal bands wrapped around the wooden parts of the weel, was that intentional or just because they don't make those parts in brown?
Users browsing this forum: blufiji and 3 guests


text:
Quick Covers - Buckled Cover illustrated by Rick Hershey
This is a collection of 4 print quality covers available for use by publishers, gamers, websites, etc. Each cover is designed to act as a stand alone graphic or to have images inserted in them from other Standard Stock Art sets. All covers are colored, 250 dpi tiff images siz... [click here for more]


text:
updated | rating | ||
ps3 ps4 PSVita Your new MLB The Show cover athlete is in -- it's Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera. I didn't vote for him, but he's my cover athlete. Cabrera was revealed this evening on MLB Network at the Player's Choice Awards. Play... | 11-04-2013 | ||
pc ps3 ps4 Xbox One xbox360 There are a fair few games that will be released on both current- and next-gen consoles, but Mirror's Edge 2 won't be among them. EA Games Label executive VP Patrick Söderlund tells Polygon that "It just happened to be a... | 08-21-2013 | ||
android ds ipad iphone mac pc ps3 ps4 PSVita xbox360 Minecraft version 1.7.4 is out today, and this update will let you stream to Twitch with a simple key press. To set this up, you'll need to link your Twitch and Mojang accounts together, which only takes a few minutes. Just h... | 11-11-2013 | ||
3ds mac pc ps3 ps4 PSVita Wii-U Xbox One xbox360 If you backed Mighty No. 9, you should be getting an email soon with your login information for the new website, which has officially launched. Right now there isn't a whole lot you can actually do on it, but news updates wil... | 10-01-2013 | ||
ps4 As the second film in The Hobbit trilogy is set to release next month, WB Games is gearing up for its return to Middle-earth. In the upcoming December issue of Game Informer, the publisher lays out its vision for this brand n... | 11-12-2013 | ||
ps3 ps4 Xbox One xbox360 Back in September, Hideo Kojima tweeted that he was making Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's Quiet "more erotic" to entice cosplay. He shared designs of the character's backside and almost seemed to taunt ... | 11-10-2013 | ||
ps3 ps4 Xbox One xbox360 Speaking with Famitsu magazine, Hideo Kojima talked a bit about the decision to split the upcoming Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain into two games, and how he would have rather "released it all at once." Kojima hints that ... | 12-03-2013 | ||
ps3 ps4 PSVita xbox360 If you can live without the inclusion of Peace Walker in the PlayStation Vita version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, you'll be pleased to know that Konami has set the game's launch for Tuesday, June 12. While I'm not a Vi... | 09-14-2011 | ||
mac pc ps4 It is a thing for games which feature big guns and explosions to have at least one trailer that pairs the imagery with a slow jam. We have just that in this latest video for Mercenary Kings, currently available in Steam Earl... | 11-04-2013 | ||
3ds android iphone ps3 ps4 PSVita The Avengers is hitting theaters this week and to celebrate, Zen Studios has dropped the price of all their Marvel-themed pinball tables for mobile devices! On iOS, that means the Captain America, Wolverine and Thor tables ar... | 07-23-2011 | ||
ps3 ps4 Xbox One xbox360 It's tough to feel the need to upgrade to a "next-gen" version of a game when so many of them are practically identical to the product you already bought. Though some PS4 and Xbox One titles have drastic differences like a va... | 12-05-2013 | ||
pc ps3 ps4 Xbox One xbox360 Here's a sensual new trailer for Warner Bros' upcoming Mad Max, set to be released on absolutely anything not made by Nintendo. It has footage of punks hanging off buggies, and leather jackets being worn by men with shotguns... | 07-15-2013 |
updated | rating | ||


text:
((The OOC for this one can be found here))
And, nobody's here yet.
Sketch lay down on the couch sitting off to the side in her garage-turned-den with a game controller in her hand. On-screen her virtual soldier ran around, stopping to blast enemies with their shotgun and duck behind cover. The horned girl on the couch yawned loudly, taking her attention away from the screen for a moment, letting her character take a fatal shot. "Dammit," she muttered, watching her death play back from her killers point of view.
Summer was coming to an end, only one week to go, and Sketch planned to make the most of it... Once she improved the k/d ratio and the others showed up, that was...


text:
Important Links
Online Chat
Have you seen ...
Party Time drinking party game
party gifts shot glasses giant wine glasses Alcohol Shot Gun Party ShootersAlcohol Shot Gun Armed with the Alcohol Shot Gun, you can... $19.95 ... more info Antique Handcuffs Real working HandcuffsAntique Handcuffs Real working Handcuffs Halloween Handcuffs or... $17.95 ... more info Antique poker shadow box wall artAntique History of Poker Players Tournament Shadowbox wood... $189.00 ... more info Bar Tools Construction Gift KitBar Tools Construction Gift Kit in Case Is this not the perfect... $24.95 ... more info Barnoculars Binocular Shaped FlaskBarnocular binoculars flask with two sections for your beverages... $17.95 ... more info Beer Bottle Molded into a Beer GlassHOPSIDE DOWN viva la longneck! Fred likes to glug his beer right... $18.79 ... more info Beer Goggles Drinking Straw GlassesGet your own pair of Beer Goggles ! Sold 2 at a time and a great... $9.99 $2.50 Save: 75% off ... more info Beer Mug Shaped Wine Stein GlassWINESTEIN a beer-lover's wine glass or a wine-lover's beer... $19.89 ... more info Beer Rules Ruler OpenerBeer Rules Ruler bottle ! 6" ruler which also serves as a... $9.99 ... more info Big Wine Glass for Party Fun Decor or more ...Huge XL Wine Glass What a fun display or party idea Merlot ? ... $29.95 ... more info Bomb Shaped Shot GlassesBOMBS AWAY party molds make your next party a real blow-out The... $19.95 ... more info Brain Freeze Ice MoldBRAIN FREEZE ice molds this is your brain on ice We humans are... $8.50 ... more info Buck Shot Glass for HuntersAn awesome way to keep it southern and exciting with the friends... $11.95 ... more info Cast Iron Vintage Beer Drinkers SignCast Iron Humorous Beer Drinkers Sign 24 hours in a day 24 beers... $11.95 ... more info Cigar Tip Cutters - guilotine - bullet and moreSelection of Cigar Cutters and Guilotine / Bullet Cutters ... $19.95 ... more info Classic Silver Champagne Wine Ice BucketSILVER PLATED over solid brass WINE BUCKET 10"H tall... $49.00 $39.00 Save: 20% off ... more info Collapsable Drinking GlassPORT-A-PINT collapsable drink glass the anytime anywhere beer... $8.79 ... more info Cow Utter Creamer Glass DispenserCALF & HALF the udderly irresistible creamer Generally... $19.95 $8.95 Save: 55% off ... more info Digital Photo Mug Thermos"Digi-Mug" - Digital Photo Frame Mug Share your photos... $29.95 $12.25 Save: 59% off ... more info Drink Drunk Bottoms Up Shot GlassesBOTTOMS UP SHOT drink up, drunk down Each Bottoms Up shot glass... $11.99 ... more info Eiffel Tower Paris French Toast StampFRENCH TOAST It's the toast of Paris Just stamp your baguette,... $5.99 ... more info Fish Shaped Stunning Glass Bowl or Ice BucketStunning Hand Blown Glass Fish Bowl but do not limit yourself to... $56.95 ... more info Freds Stacked Diner Espresso Coffee Cups Fred's STACKED coffee cafe cup and it's 3 cups in one Stacked... $13.95 $8.95 Save: 36% off ... more info Gargoyle BIRDMAN naughty griffin statue The " Birdman " gargoyle griffin cement statue with... $35.95 ... more info Giant Padlock for Treasure Chest Pirate Decor ?Giant Treasure Chest PADLOCK YES ALMOST ONE FOOT TALL this one... $89.00 ... more info Giant XL Cocktail Shaker Stainless SteelXL Big Giant Cocktail Shaker Stainless Steel Construction with... $32.95 ... more info Half Full Glass for Positive DrinkersHALF FULL drink glass drink positively ! Is your glass half full... $11.95 ... more info Holy Toast with Mary InspirationHOLY TOAST!?the visionary bread stamper In the beginning...there... $5.99 ... more info HUGE giant ball and chainBig GIANT ball and chain For bachelor party or to keepyour kids... $79.00 ... more info Ice Diamonds MoldDiamond Shaped Ice Mold Diamonds are a girl's best friend! Add... $9.95 ... more info Ice Luge Party ServerIce Luge Party TrayFill Ice Luge with waterPlace in freezer for... $22.95 $17.50 Save: 24% off ... more info Ice Martini Glass with Cocktail ShakerMini Ice Martini Glasses with Cocktail Shaker Quite literally... $19.95 ... more info Ice Straw MoldsThese ice straws are refreshing and will never run out as long... $11.95 $5.00 Save: 58% off ... more info Iced Coffee Beans Ice MoldCOOL BEANS coffee ice makes a cooler brew Love the chilly... $8.95 ... more info Meat Mark-It Barbecue Personalized Branding IronMeat Mark-It Steak or Cooks Metal BrandingIron (personalized)... $18.75 ... more info Mug Shaped Cool ShootersCOOL SHOOTERS Cool Shooters Shot Glasses Ice Mold the fill and... $9.89 ... more info Nude Shot Glasses (boy only available)PEEPSHOW Retro Nude Peep Show Shot Glasses get an eyeful Two... $19.95 ... more info Old Ball and Chain bride groom gag giftThe old ball and chain Antique or Old style Ball and Chain from... $34.95 $30.00 Save: 14% off ... more info Old Staffordshire English Flow Blue Ice BucketAntique REPLICA flow blue pottery center piece or ice bucket... $189.00 ... more info Peace Sign Ice MoldsPeace Sign Ice Tray Made of flexible silicone Makes 10 cubes. A... $16.95 ... more info Pick Your Nose Party CupsPICK YOUR NOSE party cups with personality and flare Who knows... $8.99 ... more info Picnic Table Condiment SetPicnic Table Condiment Set - 5 piece set in a gift box. Includes... $18.95 ... more info Pirate Ship Bar Man Cave Tavern FurnitureAyyye Matey! Shimmy on up to this pirate themed galleon... $2,295.00 $1,850.00 Save: 19% off ... more info Polluted Drinking Glasses Toxic Bio Hazard WastePOLLUTED barrel drinking glasses , choose your poison! There's... $14.95 ... more info Russian Roulette Party Beer BongRussian Roulette Beer Bong brings the excitement to drinking.... $29.95 $15.00 Save: 50% off ... more info Screwed By Wall Street CorkscrewScrewed by Wall Street Cork Screw winebottle opener Yup, kind of... $14.79 $8.50 Save: 43% off ... more info Spilled Milk BowlSPILT MILK the splish splash cereal bowl Don't cry over spilled... $15.95 ... more info Strong Man Circus Wine Cork ScrewStrongman Corkscrew Wine bottle Opener Screw the Strongman into... $19.95 ... more info T Rex Giant Dinosaur Statue tyrannosaurus rexTyrannosaurus T Rex Dinosaur Statue / Sculpture LIFESIZE Yes he... $9,995.00 ... more info Vinerator (Wine Aaerator) wine oxygen deviceWine Air Aerator Vinaerator This product is the best thing that... $27.95 ... more info Votive Decorative Fruit CutterVotive Candle Fruit Carving Tool This tools carves out a small... $9.95 $4.50 Save: 55% off ... more info While you were Passed OUT Note PadsOUT COLD notable events you missed Had a few too many last... $5.99 ... more info Wine Bottle Sock MonkeyWINE Sock MONKEY bring a monkey to dinner Next time you're... $9.99 ... more info Zamboni Desk VacuumZamboni Desk Vacuum Ever wish you could clean your desk and... $23.95 ... more info Zombie Head Skull Glass Flask DecanterZombie Head Skull Flask Decanter Glass Skull Flask with cork... $18.95 $12.50 Save: 34% off ... more info |