[dan ze'l-ik-man] » Stoked

It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like – Oh You Know

Dan Zelikman — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:37:19 +0000

We like it – even though it doesn’t smell like Christmas.

The closest we get to snow on the Hawaiian Islands.

Sure they look cute, but there’s a healthy rivalry there. Look, just don’t bring up the 2000 Super Bowl OK?

A Good Day Ends With a Good View

Dan Zelikman — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:16:49 +0000

It was a good day. I was able to attend a keynote address by Pierre Omidyar. You know – that guy who founded eBay and donates billions to organizations that focus on social impact. Yeah that guy.

Sometimes I forget what an inspiration he is to people because I work with him. To the team at Civil Beat, he’s just Pierre – also known as our “headline guy.”

He covered a lot, but his advise on taking risks really resonated with me. I walked away with the feeling, ‘nobody ever accomplished anything while worrying about failing.’ Good advise.

You can catch his keynote here.

I was also able to talk with a bunch of great nonprofit folks about how social tools on the web can help them get their message out. I hope they found something useful from it, some of them are doing some really great things.

It was a long day but a good day. And it ended with a great view.

(And a homemade ice-cream sandwich from Kim).

Whale Watching Near Diamond Head

Dan Zelikman — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:17:02 +0000

There are a lot of different ways you can spend your weekends in Hawaii. Mine are mostly spent surfing, hiking or over eating at a barbecue.

But it’s nice to mix it up, which is why I was looking forward to my first whale watching tour with Atlantis. It was a gorgeous day and I didn’t need too many reasons to enjoy it on the water, but watching whales sounded as cool as any.

You board the vessel (I’m not sure if that’s what it supposed to be called but it sounds cool), and after a few announcements you set sail. Within about ten minutes the food is served and each table jumps in a buffet line. The food is good but that’s not why you’re there, so as soon as the first whale is spotted you drop your fork and run outside.

There are plenty of places to check out the whales. Multiple levels, areas and viewing decks. And surprisingly, there were a ton of whales. For some reason I thought you had to be quick to spot one, but in fact there seemed to be dozens and dozens of chances to see them.

Another nice touch is the expert on board that educates you about the whales and helps you point them out.

So you have beautiful weather, a day at sea, Diamond Head in the backdrop and all the whale watching you can handle. What are you waiting for?

Big mahalo to Atlantis for having me, it was a great time.

Life Through The Lens: February 2011

Dan Zelikman — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 07:14:48 +0000

Sunset in Waikiki… these never get old.

Kimmy and the beach.

A peaceful Waikiki Beach.

Just a palm tree… chilling.

A view from the Mokule’ia climb.

Cool looking tree, no big deal.

A tip of the hat to Instagram.

Thankful For Ohana – Thanksgiving 2010

Dan Zelikman — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 22:58:45 +0000

Autumn colors are a little tough to find in Hawaii – but they’re around if you look hard enough. This Thanksgiving we celebrated our second “orphan’s dinner,” a collection of all our friends and ohana who have families on different islands or on the mainland. Somehow when you get us all together, the feel of a family isn’t too far behind. We even had two cute twins and a puppy running around.

This year I’m thankful for all the amazing people in my life – here, there and everywhere… Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Happy Turkey Day, courtesy of Captain Jack!

Kimmy waiting for our Thanksgiving guests…

She eagerly welcomes an unexpected one!

Ed working in his office.

Ed’s “desk.”

Jack’s turkey…

Ed’s cooking has lead to some… “side effects.”

Cutting the turkey…

Our two cutest guests anticipate some turkey…

Our host green-lights our feast…

Here’s to good friends…

A scramble to the turkey line…

Not the best photo-op (when Kimmy’s hungry).

The spread…

More spread…

A little post-turkey slumber party – minus the pillow fight.

Stay Puft & Beaker’s Halloween in Waikiki

Dan Zelikman — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:48:35 +0000

So what happens when you take two home made, well known characters into the most crowded Halloween party in Hawaii? Photo-ops. Lots and lots of photo-ops! My final post on my Halloween extravaganza wraps up in Waikiki – although it could have been Times Square!

We clearly didn’t think this through.

I suppose it must have felt like what a Disney attraction character goes through. Lots of photos. Lots of sweating. And a false sense of popularity. But I gotta admit – it was also really fun. For the last time, Happy Halloween!

In case you missed it, here are the other Halloween posts from 2010:

Strike a pose.

“Not my gum drop buttons!”

Beaker’s distant relatives.

Princess rocking her escorts.

And Beaker rocking his…

Beaker knows how to bring all the girls to the yard…

Stay Puft Goes to Hallowbaloo – Halloween 2010

Dan Zelikman — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:40:25 +0000

You can’t make a s’more without melting some marshmallows – but don’t ever let Stay Puft hear you say that!

This Halloween, Kim and I re-lived one of my favorite films of all time, “Ghostbusters”. She went as a lady-Ghosbuster and I rocked one of the hippest monsters to ever terrorize New York – Mr. Stay Puft.

After a considerable number of hours of internet research, Walmart shopping, more internet research, cutting, taping and other various arts and crafts, we were ready to go. Our first stop, the annual block party Halloween festival in downtown Chinatown, the Hallowbaloo. Checkout the ‘madness’ from last year’s Hallowbaloo here.

Who you gonna’ call?

The ladies.

The Geek and the Hatter.

The boys.

Madness.

Midnight junk-food run – take your pick!

This guy was intense. I may or may not have pulled my back on this move.

More photos from the Hallowbaloo.

Pumpkins – Halloween 2010

Dan Zelikman — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:23:03 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I freaking love Halloween! This year’s was pretty jam packed, so here it goes.

We kicked off the Halloween early by attending the opening night of the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Haunted Lagoon. Basically it’s a terrifying lagoon ride through a dark and creepy jungle in the middle of the night. Scary things jump out to scare you and a woman dressed in white walks on water and then crawls into your canoe until you pee. You can check out the link above for more on that craziness.

Then, it was time for our traditional pumpkin carving carve-off! I just named it that and I’m not sure why. It’s a terrible name.
Prep is never any fun for me. I make a mess, my hands smell funny and Kim ends up cleaning out the pumpkins after me because I do such a crappy job.

You have take this stuff seriously if you want to have a good result. I know I did.

Kim’s was the cat (I say tiger) on the left and mine was the self portrait on the right.

Creepy night-light action.

Kim is doing some kind of magic trick here. We never did find that damn bunny.

Insert music, “One of these things is not like the other…”

“Bring me a diamond in the rough!” If you can name what movie that’s from (without Googling c’mon now) drop it in the comments below and I’ll send you a prize. Maybe.

Haunted Lagoons and Screaming Like a Man

Dan Zelikman — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:34:10 +0000

Everyone has heard it and most have said it at least once, “you scream like a girl!” Which got me thinking – can you even scream like a man? What is it, more baritone like? Instead of “ahhhhh” you’re doing more of an “arhhhh!” I don’t know, but the conversation lingered between myself and a few young-ins as we began our voyage into the Polynesian Cultural Center’s new haunted experience, The Haunted Lagoon. At this point, pants still dry.
But after seeing images like the one above, pants dry – not so much. The setting couldn’t have been much more perfect, the moon was so full it could have passed for a show prop. The sky was clear and full of stars. The rest was taken care of by the crazy looking characters and monsters from the the Haunted Lagoon. They had a little of everything and everything looked frightening. From killer clowns to a different play on Batman (below), there seemed to be hundreds of different creatures to make your skin crawl. Throw in some lighting, fog and some creepy audio, and you have one freaky show!
Folks screamed, giggled and some like Neenz & Noe actually jumped up in the air and somehow levitated for a while. All in all, it was a great way to kick off the Halloween experience! Big mahalo to the Polynesian Cultural Center for inviting me to their opening night and to Aimee for coordinating everything and making sure we got in (and out) all safe and sound. If you’re into some good old fashion scares on Halloween, I highly recommend you check it out!

Aloha Anthology, To Stache’ Or Not To Stache’

Dan Zelikman — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:01:37 +0000

For anyone who knows me well, this is your worst nightmare

As some of you already know, my time at Anthology Marketing has recently come to an end. I’ve taken on a new role as the Marketing/Community Host with an online news service start-up called The Honolulu Civil Beat. And although I will no longer be working at Anthology, I plan on (and hope to) see everyone there on a regular basis. The truth is that I never expected to find such an amazing group of friends at the same place that I worked, but seeing these people every day made it fairly impossible for that not to happen. Besides teaching me almost everything I know about Hawaii (including how to surf) the people at Anthology helped me grow my craft in digital marketing. They helped me understand what it meant to be local, and why Hawaii is different and so special in so many ways. They taught me about the history of Hawaii and what it means for its future. They also showed me how lucky I was to find a family like them, and to have had the privilege to work there for as long as I did.

I cannot say mahalo enough times to enough people, but I hope those folks know how much I truly do appreciate them. I have had so many great laughs, memories, experiences and photos with this group, but they wouldn’t let me leave without at least one more pau hana under the name ‘Anthology’.

My going away pau hana was amazing! It was unexpected, unique, and full of great people, much like the Anthology family in general. They decided to poke fun of my complete inability to stick with one look, and throw me a “Stache’ Party!” If some of you are shaking your head at the notion of me with a mustache you are correct in doing so. Regardless, everyone was handed a fake mustache to sport in whichever creative fashion they deemed the strangest. There were also full-size cutouts of my head (yes the cutouts were huge) so that everyone could show me exactly how many ridiculous looks I’ve had in the past. Other than that there was some delicious food, some cold drinks, and some great conversation as always. Many thanks to Rae, Napua, and Mary for putting on the event in such a special way. Please take a look at some of the shenanigans from the night with the photos below.

I will miss my days at Anthology very much, but I am convinced I will see all their smiling faces all over the island. Whether it’s on a wave, a rock wall, a hiking trail, or on a beach next to some delicious food and a fire, I look forward to the many great memories that we will continue to make. And as for their work, you’d be making a huge mistake by not taking advantage of their full service team in digital solutions, advertising, public relations, market research, or brand strategy. Trust me, they rock!

My extended family on Oahu

One lucky guy. Until I got photo-bombed

Bikini wax. Two for one special

Cupcakes with my (embarrassing) Tweets. Thanks to @digital_cupcake

They’re opening up a new pizzeria in town

The boys with the photographer herself

We took a poll, stache’ or no stache? What do you think won?

Too many Dan’s, and the coolest going away card ever!

Finally… speechless. Mahalo.

Slideshow from the rest of the night