Hawaii

The College Football Review, Week Nine: Is Hawaii the Next Boise State?

Spam Musubi at Aloha Grill on Westheimer

The College Football Review, Week 13: Why You Gotta Be Hatin' on the Coogs?

The College Football Preview, Week 14: All These Bowls Are Making Us Groggy

The College Football Review, Week 14: The BCS System Blows

College Football Preview, Ashley Judd Edition

Bora! Bora! Bora!

Pearl Harbor's sound and fury signify nothing

College Bowl Season: Previews By A Real Expert

The college football bowl season is here, and it's become such a confusing mess of odd-sounding games played in smallish towns with mediocre teams that you need an expert to figure it out. And nothing says "expert" more than a teen-aged kid, whether the subject is football, driving, or how inutterab ... More >>

Surfing Safari

Bruce Brown goes back to the beach to hang ten, again

Love for Sale

Bruce Brown goes back to the beach to hang ten, again

For February: The Five Best Blaxploitation Epics

It's Black History Month, when America commemorates Africa-American culture with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns on TBS and wholly unpredictable jokes about Februrary being the shortest month of the year. Here at Hair Balls, we know that the 1970s marked the first point when the black community made ... More >>

Press Picks

It's Black History Month, when America commemorates Africa-American culture with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns on TBS and wholly unpredictable jokes about Februrary being the shortest month of the year. Here at Hair Balls, we know that the 1970s marked the first point when the black community made ... More >>

Taking the Waves

A tale of love, life and longboarding

Letters

A tale of love, life and longboarding

Obama's Lunch Fave: Spam Musubi

This Spam musubi cost me $1.68 at a grocery store on the North Kona coast. It wasn't the best Spam musubi I've ever had--the Spam was cut too thin, I think there was a little teriyaki sauce between the meat and the rice.The guy behind the counter told me I would have to get there a lot earlier in ... More >>

This Week In Deliciousness

Robb Walsh has been vacationing in Hawaii. He had beer for breakfast and Spam musubi that actually looked really tasty. We hate him. A lot of restaurants are closing. A lot of GOOD restaurants. It sucks. Rodeo food: Give us fried or on a stick. Both would be best. That'll shut that ulcer up.

Dragonfruit at the Keauhou Farmer's Market

Photos by Robb WalshYellow Dragonfruit Going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning is one of those habits that's fun to engage in while you're on the road. And since I am staying in a condo with a kitchen this week in Kailua-Kona, it was great to buy some fresh local produce. The vegetables lo ... More >>

Cowboy in the Kitchen

Welcome The Houston Press's new food critic, Robb Walsh

Fungus Alert

In search of "wild mushrooms"

Disney on Ice

Web exclusive!

College Bowl Season: Previews By A Real Expert

The college football bowl season is here, and it's become such a confusing mess of odd-sounding games played in smallish towns with mediocre teams that you need an expert to figure it out. And nothing says "expert" more than a teen-aged kid, whether the subject is football, driving, or how inutterab ... More >>

Paradise Lost in Surfwise

Parenting off the grid — and eventually off the reservation — in this alt-family portrait

Poi Dog Pondering

The Chicago band visits the Continental Club

“I Land”

Keo Woolford dances his way out of Hawaiian myths

Our top DVD picks for the week of March 1

Keo Woolford dances his way out of Hawaiian myths

Wet Kisses

Riding Giants gushes over the legends of "big wave" surfing

Golden Boy

Morgan Faulkner may be the best surfer Texas ever kicked out

Asian In-fusion

East meets West

Hawaiian at Heart

One Texas hula school proves to skeptical islanders that dancers do sometimes wear socks

For the Fourth Of July: Worst Cinematic Attempts At Patriotism

This weekend, as we come together to celebrate Independence Day, let's do our best to remember what this holiday is all about. It's more than merely dodging DWI checkpoints on your way home from backyard barbecues and trying to decide between the Jon & Kate 8 or Deadliest Catch marathons on TV ... More >>

Game Time: The Week In Tweets

​Maybe I'm biased because I use it all the time, but I'm going to make the bold statement that Twitter has surpassed "fad" status and that it's here to stay. Even at this point, people who don't use Twitter recognize kinda sorta how it works, and even recognize a Tweet when they see it -- "it's go ... More >>

Please Make Obama Eat Some Cabbage

​I am worried about whether or not Barack Obama will be eating black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year's. As everybody knows, you have to eat black-eyed peas for good luck and cabbage for prosperity on January first. I am not sure they have black-eyed peas in Hawaii (if that's where the Obamas ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Just Create A Sex-Tape Channel Already

​The celebrity world was rocked yesterday by news that country singer Mindy McCready's sex tape was about to hit the streets. Okay, maybe "rocked" is the wrong word. How about "briefly distracted from Kate Gosselin's behavior on Dancing with the Stars?" Time was, a sex-tape scandal was cause for ... More >>

Andrew Karnavas

​The celebrity world was rocked yesterday by news that country singer Mindy McCready's sex tape was about to hit the streets. Okay, maybe "rocked" is the wrong word. How about "briefly distracted from Kate Gosselin's behavior on Dancing with the Stars?" Time was, a sex-tape scandal was cause for ... More >>

5 Songs That Are No Day At The Beach

This past weekend, Craig's Hlist spent a good solid two days at the beach playing in the surf down off Mustang Island just south of Corpus Christi. It was one of those mental-health weekends that if we hadn't have taken, we would have ended up throwing beer bottles against the wall at an old folks' ... More >>

Random Ingredient: Octopus

​What is it? With the World Cup finally coming to a close, there's been a lot of chatter about a certain cephalopod named Paul that resides in Germany. With all due respect to the "octopus oracle," we present today's random ingredient. Octopi are actually in the mollusk family. They're eaten ... More >>

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): TV Pilot Edition

Hair Balls was excited to learn that one of its favorite old TV shows, Hawaii 5-0, is returning to the air this fall. That show's success was attributable not just to the swaggering awesomeness of Jack Lord and his haircut, but because the show included a certain timeless element that appeals to peo ... More >>

Five Things We're Not Looking Forward To In The Upcoming Fall TV Season

​Just when you were afraid the lack of fresh content on your television might finally force you to get up off your couches and engage in some meaningful interaction with your loved ones, here comes the 2010 fall season and its annual helping of canned laughter, reality shenanigans, and FCC-app ... More >>

NFL & College Football -- Weekend's Best Bets (with Tales of Deceit, Adultery and Ron Artest)

We see....FAIL in Ron Artest's future​Drayton McLane apparently has plans to sell the Astros. This comes as no surprise, those rumors have been swirling for some time. Now I don't know if he'll get his $800 million asking price, but I did call Drayton and make an offer and we now know that $9 ... More >>

Java Pura: Insanely Good Coffee

​ Ken Palmer, Master Roaster, probably knows more about coffee than almost anyone else in this city. He stumbled into the industry several decades ago while out in Hawaii. Palmer had a natural intuition about coffee and was educated by Alfred Peet, who had taught his style of roasting beans ... More >>

Fruitcake and 4 Other Foods with a Bad Reputation

jeleneDiscouraged by its bad reputation: the fruitcake. ​How does a food item get a bad reputation? Does it cut class to smoke with trans-fats in the parking lot? Sleep around with carbohydrates? Often it's an association with a particular era in history or social class that gets a food placed ... More >>

Prison Pays

Despite a history of abuse and bad conditions, private prison corporation GEO keeps getting contracts from the state.

Ingredient of the Week: Axis Deer

ironammonite​

Scam Alert: Shady "Baseball Players" Looking for Tix to Hawaii

Yeah, Hawaii -- that's where I need to go​So I just happened to be working from home yesterday afternoon when, a little before 3 p.m., there was a loud knock at the door followed by an insistent ring. I got up to answer, and the caller seemed to be shocked to see me, and not a woman, answerin ... More >>

Patio Perfection at Brenner's Blue Bar

brennerssteakhouse.com​A college roommate once theorized that the best times are often had near bodies of water. It's not surprising that she went on to live for many years in Hawaii. I, on the other hand, moved to Houston. In the land of freeways, strip malls and suburban sprawl, it's easy ... More >>

The United States Of Music

Monica FuentesFull-size image below​Rocks Off's sister blog Hair Balls did it with murderers and serial killers. Food blog Eating Our Words, riled the beer snobs with one about the best beers from each state in the union, and a teetotaling follow-up chronicling the best soda pops. For the pas ... More >>

Brew Blog: Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter

Just as good as a Hawaiian vacation. Right?​My sisters in law are in Maui this week. They're vegetarians. And teetotalers. And afraid of foods with weird names. I have no doubt they're doing it wrong. They wanted us to go with them, but I didn't have $10,000 to spend on a tropical vacation. ... More >>

Mickey and Minnie’s Magical Journey

Just as good as a Hawaiian vacation. Right?​My sisters in law are in Maui this week. They're vegetarians. And teetotalers. And afraid of foods with weird names. I have no doubt they're doing it wrong. They wanted us to go with them, but I didn't have $10,000 to spend on a tropical vacation. ... More >>

Top Five Fantasy Lunch Mates

The single greatest entertainer the world has ever known, Mr. Don Ho.​Driving home from work the other day, I found myself making a mental list. I wondered: Who would I have lunch with if time, money and social standing got thrown out the window? Would I pick an actor, singer, artist, politici ... More >>