Tarantino dives in
IT was "Gulp Fiction" time at Mokuleia last week when actor/ director Quentin Tarantino and some friends gathered at Air Tugie's drop zone and made tandem skydives. Ken Anderson, who uses a headcam to take pictures of the dives, showed the sometimes moody perfectionist the finished product and Tarantino was so happy with it that they toasted with champagne as they watched the videos. Wally Sugenaga, owner of Commercial Flyer Inc., the planes Anderson and his cohorts use for their jumps, went out personally to fly Tarantino. And after signing CDs of both "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown," Taran-tino took some direction of his own and followed Anderson's suggestion that Jameson's by the Sea would be a good place for a bite ...
WHILE the Hawaii International Film Festival does the rounds of the Neighbor Isles this week, six Hawaii teen-agers have a lasting memory of the Maile Awards ceremony for best films at the Royal Hawaiian Monarch Room. There was former Miss Universe, Brook Lee, sitting frozen in the pose of the film festival poster, staring dreamily off into the distance and thinking of what, Casablanca? Henry Kapono serenaded her, appropriately, with "Pretty Face," and as he segued into "Pretty Red Hibiscus," Lee suddenly "came alive" and did a graceful hula, much to the crowd's delight. It was also the moment of the thrill for the six teenagers, all from Dana Henderson's Hula Halau. They were Kehaulani Mesiona (St. Francis senior), Kristen Hirota (Mililani junior), Jaci Van Blarcom (Sacred Hearts junior), Harolyn Arakaki (Moanalua junior), Sheena Victorino (Holy Family eighth grader) and Brandi Kokubun (Kamehameha freshman.) They were doubly thrilled when Brook gave them each an autographed film fest poster...
Bumpy road
THE Nov. 2 issue of AutoWeek has an article about Isuzu introducing its new VehiCROSS sport/utility "on the island of Kona." But the magazine did nail Isuzu for bragging about its "direct attack" valve system. They quote a "grizzled scribe" as quipping, "This is not the kind of language you want to be using if you're Japanese in Hawaii." Honolulu Ford's own grizzled veteran, Eddie O'Toole, found the comments of Isuzu V.P. Bob Reilly amusing when he was asked what "direct attack" valves are. "We're not sure what it means," hem-hawed Reilly, "but we thought a vehicle that looked like this should have it."...RETIRED sumo star Konishiki is back on Oahu this week to film a commercial for Suntory. Now that he's retired, he can continue to rake in big bucks by throwing his weight around as a TV huckster. Japanese visitors in Hawaii, if they find what hotel he's in, are likely to mob him, Konishiki is that popular in Japan. You'd think he wouldn't be hard to spot, weighing in at something like 600 pounds ...
Choy of tailgating
SOME 700-plus people are expected to turn up at the Stan Sheriff Center tonight, proceeds to endow athletic scholarships. You can bet all will be well fed. Those making silent auction bids for various luxury items will be munching on goodies provided by Chef Sam Choy and his "Let's Eat Hawaii" company. He'll have 12 food stations sprinkled around the place, dispensing various items such as poke, loco moco, stuffed shrimp, pulehu tri-tip steak, lamb chops with kapakahi mashed potatoes and Big Aloha Beer. Sam knows the gridiron as well as the kitchen -- he played football at Kahuku High and his staff includes former UH players Grant Sim and Tyler Tanigawa ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.