Art at Windward Community College Part 2...

Well,

This beauty is not actually at Windward Community College, but stands near the entrance of the campus, and actually stands at the Court Building on the Windward side.  The title of this piece is "Mamala Hoe" and it's one of my personal fav Hawaiian statue pieces. 

It depicts the story of King Kamehameha, as he was walking the trails one day.  Upon walking along the trail he came upon a fisherman and called on to him without letting the fisherman know who he was, and what his intentions were.  In fear of the stranger, the fisherman grabbed his paddle and struck it over Kamehameha's head.  After that was said and done, the fisherman was searched out by Kamehameha's troop and brought before the chief.  The fisherman feared for his life and pleaded before the chief.

After contemplation, King Kamehameha had let the fisherman know that he was at fault for not letting the fisherman know who he was and what his intentions were as he was walking about.  From that, the "Mamala Hoe" (Law of the Splintered Paddle) was created, which was created to protect all people from harm.  (That's the super abstract version of it.)  But feel free to check out these pics below, but to give you a lil perspective, the male statue stands at least 10 feet tall...

Art at Windward Community College Part 1...

So I headed on out,

To good old Windward Community College.  They got some construction going on, and around the perimeter of the construction site, there's a whole bunch of graff goin on, and if you ask me, I loves it!

It's about time...

It's about time,

That I finally get around to things and do a lil blog on a good friend of mine, NinjaSkills.  Ninja, has been a longtime buddy, while he was living here in the 808, and we've become good friends as collectors.  I totally remember the first time I met the guy, it was at the old Urbanz Toys, as I was standing in line waiting for a figure release.

Ninja came up to me n was all "Is this the line?"
And I was all, "Yup man, sure is."
And he was all "Daaammn...sup man, I'm Ninjaskills." and we shook hands.
"Sup man, I'm Haynmade."
"Holy s*it, you're that collector guy aren't you?!"
I cracked up and I was all "Ya man, that's me."

It was history from then on.  We've become good friends ever since.  We often helped each other out in finding deals and Ninja helped me acquire a whooooole buncha figs in my collection.  At the time when we were first in the collection game, Ninja had one of the most craziest Amanda Visell collections out there...

He was also known for his crazy army of Joe Ledbetter Teeter figs, gotta love it...

Whenever we'd meet up, we would talk forever about figs, figs, figs, and boy was it hella fun.  We'd talk about the latest releases and what not.  And then one day, Ninja cashed in nearly his entire collection to go traveling to pursue a "personal interest" and then a new career opportunity in Boston.  So for a lil while, I haven't heard from the guy, but all the while, I knew the dude was okay.

Ninja has since been keeping me posted, and is back in the collecting game, and boy am I stoked.  He now has one of the most sickest MadL collections, 99% of 'em all customized by some of the world's best urban artists.  Check out some of his figs below, and you'll see how monster Ninja is...

See, I wasn't kidding, lol.  But to a good friend with a killer collection, here's to you Ninjaskills!

A Presidential Day...

This morning I woke up,

Enthused about the presidential day that I was going to be having with a bunch of my buddies, and boy was it much needed...you gotta love divine intervention.  But anywho, we all headed on out to my neck of the woods to the west side of O'ahu to attend the celebration of Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao Charter School's 10th year anniversary, try saying that one 10 times fast, lol. 

Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao is a school based out in Nanakuli, where part of my family is from, and it overlooks the beautiful Pacific Ocean, which is literally just feet away from the school, you can't ask for anything better, aside from the awesome staff and students there.

The school is run under the fearless leadership of a good friend and graduate college friend of mine, Mr. Alvin Parker, the principal of Ka Waihona o Ka Na'auao.  Some ten years ago, Alvin invited my over to his place to get my opinion about what I thought about him wanting to open a charter school out on the west side.  He asked me, "Brother, do you think it's a doable thing for me to open a charter school out here?  Or am I jus' crazy?"  And I kindly responded, "Yes, you're crazy, and yes it's very doable."  And look at where the school is now, where students are on a waiting list to get the opportunity to attend.  I gotta give it to the guy, he has great vision, and high expectations, and the man is well respected in our community.

So there we were at the school campus for their 10th year anniversary celebration.  The festivity included super great weather, with nice sunny skies, a few minutes of morning's blessings with light rain and an awesome cool breeze.  Staff spoke about Ka Waihona o Ka Na'auao School and the entertainment filled the air with hula, Hawaiian and contemporary music, gotta love it.  There was also Hawaiian food for all of the guests, and get this, we were served by the students, and truly treated with Hawaiian style hospitality, where the food was brought to us...unreal.  The food was super good and the highlight of the meal was dessert, which was this killer rainbow cake with this frozen upside down pineapple action goin on with, this guava layer and this frozen custard layer...friggen unreal we're talking peopz.

After the killer meal we went over to my friend's classroom, she teaches music there.  As we walked to her room, you can't help but awe at the school's awesome campus which overlooks the ocean and around nearly every corner, there's art of the school's walls to be admired.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.  So after that adventure was said n done, we all booked it into town, and then had us some killer sushi for dinner and then a night at the movies.  Man, what a killer day!  It was a day of awesome food, awesome entertainment, and awesome company and laugh sessions, what a presidential day it was indeed.  Werd...