Lion Face

Lemon Face

Finding a shady spot.

Hard at play.

Happy 4th of July.

I took this on Waikiki Beach after the epic 4th weekend. After posting it on Facebook, some folks really seemed to “like” it (pun intended), but I actually thought it was kind of simple. Either way, it was a nice cap off to a weekend I won’t forget. Until next year that is. Happy Fourth everyone!

This past year was a riot. I got to enjoy another amazing year of living in Hawaii. Working, playing, and exploring. I traveled. From exciting business pitches in Seattle to my first trip to Las Vegas. Food shows in New York, and visiting family and friends back East. I got to talk. I know that’s no surprise to anyone that knows me but this past year I got to do it for work, and all around Hawaii. All that talking somehow landed me my first appearances on television news shows. Two of them actually. Not to mention my debut on the television show “Lost,” where I had a very exciting two second appearance as an extra. Anyone want an autograph? No? OK. Then, Hawaii Business had the the strange initiative of placing me in their magazine. Their audience is still complaining about that. All in all it was a fun year, but in 2010… I have work to do.

So what’s in store for 2010?

• I know it’s cliche, but I have to get back into some kind of fitness routine. I’ve been copping out under, “I surf, no need to workout,” but that really isn’t cutting it. On top of that I have to start eating better. I hope Kim and her Food Network obsession can help me out with that.

• After I get healthy I need to get back to giving back. Say that three times fast. I did some work with a few non-profits this year but I wasn’t really able to create any routines with them. This year I hope to remedy that. Access Surf is on top of that list because I really believe in what they’re trying to get accomplished.

• Get entrepreneurial. Work on a business plan, write a screenplay, something! My head is always in the clouds and I’m blessed and cursed with having constant ideas flood my mind. Instead of talking about them this year I plan on choosing a few projects to work on and actually working on them. I majored in Entrepreneurship for God’s sake!

• Smile more. I do plenty of this but lately I have been realizing how damn lucky I am. It doesn’t happen that much but I still need to drop the stress and the random complaints about meaningless crap. Instead, I’m going to grab my board and go surfing while the sun goes down behind me.

• There are a list of others that have to do with staying in better touch with friends and family, pushing the needle at work, getting in the water more, reading more, etc. etc. but I don’t want to bore you folks with too many details.

Anyway, wish me luck.

Although Halloween 08′ in Waikiki had its fun and jokes, The Halloween Hallowballoo in Chinatown of 09′ was surely an upgrade. The enormous costume party played host to our treats and trickery (you see what I did there) throughout the night! It was a fantastic array of costumed crazy’s walking out and about the Chinatown streets. The Hallowballoo consisted of seven blocked off streets filled with drink and food vendors supplying the ammo for our festivities. It was fun filled to say the least, as Alice and I spent the night exploring the streets and the seven bars that sponsored the event. We were able to document some of our time spent in “Wonderland,” with the photos below, but as we all know, “What happens in Wonderland, stays in Wonderland.” For the full array of the the 2009 Halloween pictures, click here.

The naked guy from “The Hangover” and “The Hoff” stopped by to party.

“The Hangover”

KISS rocking out.

Hmm… apparently there were more “mad” folks than I thought…

People are strange… when you’re a stranger.

Alice looking sneaky while holding the FroYo’s spoon.

]]> http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/11/honolulu-halloween-09/feed/ 2 http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/08/a-round-of-golf/ http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/08/a-round-of-golf/#comments Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:37:55 +0000 Dan Zelikman http://danzelikman.wordpress.com/?p=540 Living in Hawaii, there is a smorgasbord (if you will) of activities to spend your time with. For me, my preference lies with all things ocean and wilderness so naturally I tend to choose surfing and hiking as my weekend adventures. However, there is one activity that Hawaii provides some of the best resources for other than hiking and surfing, and that’s golf.

I’ll admit, growing up I always saw golf as a reason for folks to wear funny hats and pants, and I treated it more of a punch line than a sport. When Tiger came to the scene he definitely brought an element of “cool” to the sport, by my interest was still mild at best. But as of late, I am beginning to realize that not only is golf one of the most challenging and interesting sports I’ve tried, but also one that combines social activities, athletics, and relaxation into some glorious and frustrating combination.

Last week, I was lucky enough to play a course with a few friends that one friend described as “fairly ghetto.” I’m not sure if I just haven’t played enough courses, or if he has played too many nice ones on the island, but I thought it was sweet. We lucked out with beautiful weather and a course that was low in traffic. No pressure from groups behind us or any targets in front for me to hit, just a chance to really learn the game. I won’t say who won or lost, or even share my score (let’s just say that if it was a quarterback rating, mine would be near perfect) but I will share some quick shots from the day.

Mr. Chat checking out his next shot.

Jeremy rocking his best “Tiger.”

“Dude, I have no idea where that went.”

Like a champ.

This year I wanted to dignify my birthday with a coming of age. A celebration that suits my maturity level if you will. So naturally, Kim and my closest friends planned a BBQ in the park that included food, drink, horseshoes, flying kites, and of course… kickball!

I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday! Not only did my Mom fly over from New Jersey to spend the week with us but my closest friends rallied under Kim who secretly planned the entire day! Huge thanks to all who attended, it was too fun! To those who wanted to stop by but were unable to make it, we missed ya! To check out some more pictures from day click here.

Not sure what it is about the 80′s but the music, the clothes, the TV shows, all winners. I definitely would have fit in with that crowd rocking out to Guns N’ Roses, Scorpions, Foreigner, and Poison. All the while wearing bright neon colors that keep joggers safe from being hit by cars when they’re out running at night. It’s true, that’s why neon was invented. I’m not sure if that’s true.

The party was at a bar in NYC when at the time the temperature was in the low 20′s and the winds were in the high 40′s (or so it felt like). For the Hawaii folks who don’t know its an incredible feeling and I highly recommend it to all of you *evil grin*. The bar was hooked up 80′s style with music, decorations, and constant 80′s movies playing all over the walls (that last part may have been a figment of my imagination, I can’t be completely sure).

In the interest of remaining ridiculous, I asked the 80′s group to pose in one of my favorite poses, the “Lion Face.” If you have no clue what I’m talking about please check out the quick clip below where Matt Damon and Ben Affleck prepare for a movie scene by practicing both extremes, “Lemon Face,” and my favorite, “Lion Face.”

The move is a way to clear your face of all expressions so that the actor is ready for the scene. For those of you doubting my “industry knowledge” you can recive your confirmation from my 0:02 shot from my scene as an extra in last week’s episode of Lost.

OK 80′s party, everyone at once now, LION FACE!

About my college buddies… well it’s complicated. I don’t really like them but they have too much dirt on me for me to tell them that in person. Just kidding! There is nothing like getting back together with the people you laughed, cried, and lets face it… drank with for those four amazing years. It was a great turnout with over a dozen folks coming in from Boston, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

It really is funny how the years go by and the details change a bit but the people always stay the same. We all let loose, forgot about life for a while, and pretended we were back in college with some classic games of cards, baseball, and of course the feared “drink card.” Some people danced when they probably shouldn’t have, some wished they weren’t smokers because they had to go outside and freeze for 3-5 minutes, and others just focused on breathing from there absurd allergies to Kip’s cat. Yes, that included me.

Both times were super fun and it was hard knowing I wouldn’t be able to repeat them for a while. What was reassuring was knowing that all those amazing people are always there when we come home. Cheers everyone!

There were a bunch of families enjoying the festivities which included some giant Christmas figurines, an assortment of Christmas tree designs, some loud buses filled with singing tourists, a bag pipes concert, and some great Christmas lights. They had a few dozen Christmas trees that were decorated by different schools and city organizations, a favorite of mine had some Batman ornaments. Even in the warm Hawaii weather surrounded by palm trees, Hawaii has a great way of spreading the Aloha through some Christmas cheer.

Our Christmas festivities continued in Times Square in New York. I took my Mom and Kimmy into the city for a day of eating, shopping, and a Broadway show. Living in Waikiki for the past year I grew accustom to the tourists walking about but somehow I completely forgot about the intense crowds in New York during the Holidays, nuts! I honestly felt like cattle walking about, so much so that I cranked a few “Mooooo’s” while passing an unsuspecting passerby. It was fun being back in the city, especially now as a visitor and not a resident. It was one of the first times I pulled out my camera and took some shots. I don’t know, I guess sometimes we have to embrace the stereotype tourist in all of us.

We didn’t get any snow that day like I hoped, but almost everything else went perfectly. I got to eat breakfast at a typical New York diner where you get served and billed in about sixty seconds, yum! We window shopped at all the Christmas window displays and imitated the ridiculous poses that the mannequins were performing. I don’t mean to pat my own back, but I think I have a career in mannequin modeling if I lose my interactive marketing touch.

Considering it was the holidays, we had to stop by Rockefeller Center and see the largest Christmas tree on the planet. It was a lot of fun seeing all my usual holiday spots again, especially since I wasn’t able to in the Christmas of 2007. We watched some folks skate and watched a whole lot more folks that were waiting in a long line to skate. Then like other typical Rockefeller on-goers, we took one too many photos of us and the tree!

After that we tried standing in line at a TKTS (a booth where you can buy Broadway tickets for almost half the price) but decided to ditch that idea when we realized the line wrapped around a few buildings and ended somewhere in Wyoming. Instead, we called Ticketmaster and got last minute tickets to Avenue Q, a play made up of puppets living life and tackling issues like making money, dating, racism, and homosexuality. Basically it was a hilarious grown up version of Sesame Street that had some major inappropriate scenes. I definitely recommend it if you are in New York and itching for a show. It was a great day in the city, Kimmy and Mom were both stoked so mission accomplished.

Otherwise, in terms of Christmas on the East, everything was great. Hopped around a lot between Jersey, New York, and Maryland. For whatever reason I don’t have too many pics from Maryland from when we visited Kimmy’s family, we’ll have to remedy that for next year. In MD we ate a lot (big surprise) played and watched some football, and finally gave Rock Band a try which Kimmy became borderline addicted too. In Jersey we ate a lot too, and somehow got addicted to a fun little board game called Apples to Apples.

All in all great times! Its amazing how a little family and friends can defrost you after stepping out in the miserable winter chill!

The rest of the weekend was made up of a few surf sessions at Diamond Head and watching the Giants pummel the Redskins. The north swell was huge so we enjoyed the shoulder and head high waves at the windward side. As for the North Shore, my buddy Jack and I decided to check out the rainy, stormy, and windy day at the Triple Crown. Despite the chilling 75 degree temperature (ha) and the wet conditions it was good fun. The waves were peaking at around 10ft (Hawaiian) but because of the wind there were a lot of close outs. We caught some great sets from a few Brazilian surfers going against a few of our own locals.

I haven’t been to a major tournament before so it was fun just being up there during all the madness. It’s cool being around so many people stoked on surfing at the same time. From 70 something year old women to 4 year old kids, everyone was cheering on the surfers while getting soaked in the storm. Although we had to catch the end via the web, on Wednesday December 4th, CJ Hobgood took the crown, congrats!

Ambitious maybe, but mostly true. Like anyone else I have my bad days but for the most part I’m stoked. Here’s proof:

See? That’s me stoked while dropping in on a right at Wailupe, a favorite surf break of mine. Surfing is a huge source of my stoke and from what I’ve heard that’s where the term originated from. I moved to Hawaii just over a year ago and the stokes have been pretty consistent ever since. It has been an absolute privilege to live and play here, and I continue to envy all those who were born in Hawaii. Those are the folks who pass that stoke on to me everyday, cheers!

Other than surfing, I get stoked on doing anything outside. Probably makes sense why I love living in Hawaii so much. I also get stoked on work stuff. I work for StarrTech Interactive a division of Anthology Marketing. I dig interactive media planning, digital new media, social media, media media, and some more media. If you don’t believe me, check my Twitter page. 

So what can you expect from this piece of interactive literature? Sarcasm, and lots of it. Other than that there should be some surf session posts, movie posts, new media posts, exploring Hawaii posts, some rants, some raves, and some randoms. What do I expect from you? To laugh, to learn, and to vicariously earn a stoke of your own through mine. I also want to hear your comments, thoughts, and arguments. I love to argue, so bring it.

Speaking of bringing it (have you brought it yet?) I would love to hear where your stokes stem from. So… what’s your stoke? 

Cheers,

Dan Zelikman. (1)