Our Picks for the Weekend
Star-Bulletin staff
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MOVIES
Shorts screened free from young director
The still-growing oeuvre (great word, huh?) of Kevin Inouye's film work will be shown Saturday at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Considered a promising young filmmaker, Inouye's two short films to date, and another short titled "Wake," will be screened for free at 8 p.m. in Crawford Hall, room 115. First will be 2004's "The Tale of Haiku Jones," the Academy for Creative Media-produced film about a stoic poet, followed by its new sequel, "Epic." Two years after the original, our man gets into a blood feud with a rising star of a slam poet. "Epic" stars Eric Callahan, Scott Henderson, Stevie Yoo, Anne Misawa and Amanda Young. Both cast and crew will be present for a Q&A session after the screening.
FAMILY
Chinese extravaganza premieres at Blaisdell
This is the last weekend to experience the Chinese action-musical "Heartbeat," which made its U.S. premiere at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall Dec. 20.
Sixty dancers and nine musicians, all trained in Beijing, will amaze the audience with their combination of martial arts, drums and dance depicting the dynasties of China.
» Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall
» Time: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
» Tickets: $19 to $49
» Call: (877) 750-4400 or visit www.ticketmaster.com
LAST MINUTE FUN
No reservations needed for Chinatown hotspot
Somehow, with Christmas a week before New Year's Eve, the chance to make plans for the year-end celebration gets lost in the hectic world of shopping, gift giving, baking, preparing Christmas dinner and for, some, returning of gifts that didn't quite fit or suit their taste.
Well, have no fear. The Ong King Arts Center is having a New Year's Eve celebration and tickets are available only at the door. The Ditch Surfers headline the evening, which also includes a lineup of The Kevin Hughes Jazz Trio, Drum Jam, MC See and The Honolulu Underground Theatre Collective.
There will be a vegetarian dinner provided by India Café. For more last-minute places to go, see In the Mix on Page 22.
» Place: Ong King Arts Center, 184 N. King St.
» Time: 8 p.m. (performances begin at 9 p.m.)
» Cost: $15 with dinner; $10 without
» Call: 306-7823 or visit www.ongking.com
FREEBIE
'Temple crawl' stop offers traditional holiday soup
When the clock strikes midnight on Sunday, many people will already be lined up for their annual hatsumode, a traditional New Year's blessing.
For some, this is the first stop of a "temple crawl," where they visit various temples to the wee hours of dawn.
If you want to experience this religious practice, Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha and Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu, 1239 Olomea St., will be holding their hatsumode from midnight to 5 a.m. They will offer toshikoshi soba until 1 a.m. and ozoni mochi soup until 2 a.m. For information, call 841-4755.
FOOD
Sweet Nothings
1218 Waimanu St. #102 / 593-1234
This is the year you may actually turn your resolution to go on a diet into a success, thanks to Darin Yokoyama, Alan Takahata, Craig Arakaki and Patti Garrett, who teamed up to open Sweet Nothings, billed as a "one-stop sugar-free shop" for pastries, candies and beverages.
Initially created to address Hawaii's vast diabetic population, the bakery is also winning over those who can eat sugar, but don't want the guilt.
You'll have no feeling of sacrifice either, because the recipes were tweaked over a yearlong period to come as close to the real deal -- that means cream-cheese brownies, fruit-preserve-filled turnovers, cheesecake, pies, cream puffs, Napoleons and more -- as possible. Sweet. (Full story is at starbulletin.com/2006/12/24/features/eater.html)
FOR THE other kind of sweets, check out a couple of new offerings in town:
» Satura Cakes: This new bakery cafe offers light Japanese-style, European artisan cakes and pastries, as well as coffee and espresso. One of its most popular offerings is strawberry shortcake. The first bakery is open weekdays on the ground floor of the Harbor Court business tower lobby at 55 Merchant St. If you can't make it, others are coming to Ward Centre (Jan. 15) and Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (March 2007).
» La Palme D'Or: Ultra-fine Japanese-influenced French pastries are beautifully presented -- to the point you don't want to ruin the artistry by sticking a fork in them -- and given gentle fine gem treatment in this luxe patisserie at Ala Moana Center, mall level, where JC Penney used to be. Unfortunately, construction closing off part of the parking garage has prevented many from finding Palme D'Or, but it's worth the trouble for the Sicilly ($4.50 slice), a raspberry mousse cake flecked with ground almonds and pistachios. Call 941-6161.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Treats available at Palme D'Or include, from left, La Maacha ($4.25) green tea and chocolate mousse sponge cake, the Sicilly ($4.50), and Mont Blanc ($4.75) chestnut cream on tart.
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