Hangin' out with da boyz...Part 3

And the adventure continues,

Back to the "Host" of our lil shin dig.  This time I snapped away at his prized Scribe Dunny figs.  These guys are friggen photogenic to the max, unreal how these photos came out.

Some of the Pow Wow goodness...

Damn,

It's been seriously 2 months since I've posted anything on here?  Man, I need to get a life, lol.  Anyhow, last week was one awesome one with Pow Wow.  For those of you who don't know what Pow Wow is, it's become a yearly event here in the 808 where artists from Hawai'i and beyond fly on in and hit up Kaka'ako with their work on a number of the buildings there.

Along with the art, this year, there was a lil push with the fig world, thanks to a bunch of folks from Lightsleepers, Silent Stage, Cardboard Spaceship, etc. etc. A few figures were sold by some of the greats like Scribe and Alisa Ross, Angry Woebots and Yoskay Yamamoto, to name a few.  Below are a couple (of the many) goodies I got from Pow Wow from Scribe and Woes.

The shark bee, was done as a special Hawai'i release for Pow Wow, man, I had to bring my camera out and snap some pics, which came out (in my opinion) stunning.  Woes' dunny wasn't a special release for Pow Wow, I brought it along with me for Woes to hit up and what he did was amazing, unreal what a splash of gold can do.

Wheeeeeee!...

Wheeeeeee!,

That's what I call this pic, which features Doktor A's Mechtorian and Dunny figure.

On the Big Isle part 3...

So in the midst of my nap,

My celly blew up, and it was another one of my good friends from college.  "What you up to?  I'm gonna kidnap you and we're gonna hit it to Kalapana."  My reply was a simple, "We're on!"  Haha, so that's exactly what we did.  So we headed on over to the country side of Kalapana, a nice and calm place, we're talking no huge buildings, no cars, no traffic, which was nice for a change.  For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Kalapana is famous for the huge lava flow that took over the area.  Jus' a side note, through foreigner eyes, one would call that devistation, through Native eyes, we call it creation, word.

My friend showed me around, crib n all, which is very simplistic.  My friend also lives a pretty clean and earth friendly life out there in Kalapana, with electricity generating solar panels, ice packed coolers (versus refrigerators), and a personal garden where fresh veggies are grown and harvested as needed.  I was hella impressed.  We went walking around the area, and I snapped a few more pics.

Old Kalapana lava flow...

Red 'ohi'a lehua tree...

On the way to the beach...

Black (yes black) sand beach...

 

After coming from the beach, my friend and I met up with another good friend of ours, now a college lecturer, who conicidentally was bringing her students to Kalapanaas part of their class.  So her students went to the beach with some guest speakers (also friends of mine) and she stayed back at the main gathering area, being that she's expecting.  So that gave us a good window to catch up and talk story at the Kalapana bar/pub.

So after that was all done, her students came back and my friend had them do their speeches as part of her class, entirely in Hawaiian.  Man, it was so good to be immersed in that.  After that was done, everyone left, and I wished my friend a safe journey back to Hilo with her students.

So by then it was dinner, and my friend and I along with yet another one of my friends (haha) jumped in my friend's truck and headed on over to Pahoa Town for some Thai food.   Oh man, their food was so super good, I'm craving it now as we speak.

After dinner was done it was pretty late and it was time to head back home to my friend's place.  So I hopped in the back of her truck and back to Hilo we went.  Man, I can't remember when was the last time I rode in back of a truck, but it was super good to be breathing fresh clean crisp air with the wind breezing by, with the moon glowing over Pahoa Town as we were departing there, hella awesome.

When we got home, my friend's husband (also my friend haha) had just gotten home from work in his new Nissan Leaf car, which runs entirely on electricity.  I got to ride in that bad boy, and it's unreal how super quiet it is.  But ya, if you look in the front of the car, there's an area where you plug in and charge, super sick.

So came Sunday, it was time for me to head back to reality, after one awesome weekend on Hawai'i Island.  Man I can't wait to go back again.

On the Big Isle part 2...

So came Saturday,

My friend, her daughter and I went to hit Downtown Hilo, something I haven't done in ages to check it all out.  First on the list...eat, haha.  I had me a kalbi plate at Pa'ina's which was hella good and I sampled my friend's seared ahi, which was jus' as delish.  At Pa'ina's there's a mural, so I went ahead and snapped this pic.

After that, we went and explored Downtown Hilo.  I was drawn to this one store Sugar Coast Candy.  Man, they way they had it set up inside was hella cool, with lots of vivid colors from the candies and what not, we're talking major visual stimulation along with the sweet smells of confections of every sort, hot diggity.  But I had to bust out my camera and snap away.

Then we went on over to a mini ocean conservation museum nearby, and I snapped this, see the fishy in the background?

After that was over, we headed on over to an art gallery, and I snapped this pic of my fig with a glass sculpture of a wave.

And after that was all done, we headed home.  My friend and her daughter went to a baby shower and I stayed back and crashed out.

And the adventure doesn't end there...

On the Big Isle part 1...

So from Wendesday to Friday,

I was on the Big Isle for work, and I stayed a few extra days and chilled with some of my good friends.  Came Friday, I was dropped off by my boss at my good friends' place and had a nap.  After a lil recharge action we headed on to the Hilo Carnival.  When we got there, there was a whole bunch of old friends from the area which was pretty cool.

In true carnival action, it was all about the food for me.  I know it's the recipe for one mean stomach ache but I had me a shrimp and garlic plate, funnel cake, lemonade and my latest friggen addiction...Bradda Pops.  Bradda Pops is the local version of Otter Pops, but they're bigger and more 'ono (delicous) in my opinion.

They come in a bunch of different flavors, but my ultimate fav is Li Hing Mui Strawberry and Li Hing Mui Blueberry, oh man, super delish.  Li hing mui is a Chinese-based plum preserve that has both a nice salty and sweet taste at the same time.  But ya, the people who make 'em are from Hilo, and they're super find on O'ahu, so whenever I fly to the Big Isle, I always have at least one.  But what I was especially stoked about was that there was a booth at the carnival that wasn't only selling 'em, but also selling packs of 'em to take home, oh man I was such a happy camper, so I snatched up a box to take back home with me.  And ya, I had me one right then and there at the carnival too, haha.

It's yo birthday part 3, a staycation we will go...

So my really good friends,

Gave me a ring to let me know that they were gonna be taking me along to Kahala Hotel and Resort for my belated birthday gift on Labor Day, damn, who woulda thunk.  Seizing the opportunity of a lifetime, I packed my bag and headed on out with them.

Not too long after we got there, my friend's son was hooked up from my friend's professional partner with some lessons with the dolphins there, I swear that's one lucky kid.  Shortly after, we headed to the beach side and lounged in the little cabanas there until sunset, while my friends munched on a late lunch.

My friend had her a cobb salad, which looked pretty good, but I just wasn't hungry enough to even try it.  But it had all kind of goodies in it, yumz.

We then headed back to the room and kicked up our feet for a bit, which was nice.  A few hours later, we all showered and freshened up and it was time for dinner, so we headed on over to the resort's restaurant.

My friends had steamed fish and chicken while my friend's son and I had steamed seafood.  While waiitng for our order I had me a plantation iced tea, my latest beverage addiction, a nice refreshing blennd of iced tea, pineapple juice and liquid sugar, mmm, delish.

In the meantime, my friend had him a blue Hawai'i, a sweet concoction of rum and fruit flavors.  It's the kind of drink that sneaks up to you from nowhere, and sweep you right off of your feet, which it did for my friend haha.

Our dinner arrived and it was super delish.  A nice steamed bake of clams, shrimp, potatoes, corn, mussels and crab, I was a happy camper.

And what's dinner without dessert?  My friend's son had him guava and haupia cake...

And I had me a hot fudge sundae with Kona coffee icecream, hold the whipped cream...

After dinner it was all about belly up on the bed and crashage.  The following morning we headed back to the restaurant for their brunch buffet, again I was a happy camper.  All in all it was super cool of my friends to treat me on a very unexpected staycation, and ya, I gotta humbly admit, that I'm super lucky to have the belated birthday opportunity of a lifetime.

A day for Huck...

It was a day for Huck,

Along with the Swatch and Kidrobot figure and watch collab release, also yesterday was the release of Huck Gee's "Gold Life" mini Dunny series.  Here in the 808, Prototype was the only place that released these bad boys, and split their order in half and released them at the same time at their Ala Moana and Pearlridge store locations.  A bunch of the 808 heads like Missan and Fox headed to the Pearlridge store location, and Zonrboy, MakiMaki and I booked it for the Ala Moana Store location.  As always it's cool to talk about figs while we're waiting in the line.

I purchased me a case along with the two-pack of Huck Gee's Dunny goodness.  Came time for me to open my treasure box, I was pretty pleased with what I got, which was pretty much everything but the Rifleman chase and the red samurai.  I must admit, I really liked some of the special sculpts, acessories and varied characters for this release.  I was up late at night configuring my Huck setup and puttin 'em all together like one big happy family.

Swatch out...

Swatch out,

There were two what I consider huge releases on Kidrobot's behalf, one, Kidrobot's Gold Life Dunny series, an entire beautious batch of Dunnys all created from the mind of OG fig customizer n artist Huck Gee.  I'll be talking about that tomorrow.  The second release is a collab release from Kidrobot and Swatch, three words, mmm, hot, damn!

After hitting up Prototype to get my case and two-pack of Dunny's a fellow diehard collector Maki Maki and I passed the Swatch store, a couple of shops down.  I walked by, and Maki Maki was the one who pointed it out to me, "That's right today was also the release of the Kidrobot and Swatch collab."  I took a step back, check out the display and went right in.  I knew right off of the bat that I wanted the Joe Ledbetter design, because of it's simplicity, it was a must have for my collection.

There's a total of 8 Swatch and Dunny combo designs, and 1 Swatch only design designed by Kidrobot.  For the high rollers, there's a complete set (minus the pure white design) for $1500, which also includes a whopping 20 inch Dunny by Kozik.  For $100 and a sign up with the Kidrobot Swatch Club, you'll get an 8 inch yellow Kozik Dunny.  Below are all of the designs for the release.

Limited set...

Tic Toc Boom by SSUR...

The So Far Away by Jeremyville...

The Eyes are Watching by Tara McPherson...

Ski Instructor by Kozik...

Shout Out by Mad...

Midnight Magi by Gary Baseman...

Love Song by Tilt...

Bengali by Joe Ledbetter...

Dunny Exclusive by Triston Eaton...

So if you're thinking about getting a pair, I'd say do it, I was really impressed with the packaging, and for $70, that's a pretty right on price, $60 for the watch, $10 for the Dunny, if you really think about it.

Here's the beauty in the bag...

And here's the beauty in a simple box...

This is what it looks like with the white box opened...

With the booklet removed, there's sexy white tissue to hold in the contents...

And here's the sexiness with the booklets, waranty, etc...

I really really like the plastic casing of the watch n fig, here's a closer look...

A bird's eye view of the watch in fig in the case...

I like how there's special casing for the Dunny figure, sick...