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Yesterday we went to the Okinawan Festival at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center.

I didn’t take a lot of photos, but I loved this hand-drawn map.

There was a large stage that hosted taiko and sanshin performances.

There was a bingata dyeing workshop.

There was a genealogy workshop where folks could look up their ancestors.

The evening concluded with a bon dance and live sanshin music.

Pōhakuloa: A Land Besieged:

Hawaiʻi is one of the most militarized states in the United States. Overall, the U.S. military controls almost 223,000 acres (about 5%) of land in the pae ʻāina – and fully 21% of the land on the island of Oʻahu.

[...]

“So much money to the military,” grieved Kahaulelio. “We got hungry kids and schools falling apart, but the military gets millions? To what? Make more bombs to kill and keep killing?

“The military is even using our Hawaiian home lands – Mākua, Bellows, Pōhakuloa – while our people wait 40 years on the waiting list. How much more are they going to take from us?”

It can’t be this way forever.

Thanks to @nileane@nileane.fr’s suggestion I am trying out Lucky for Safari. I absolutely LOVE the way the results look, but after using DuckDuckGo for several years, I have gotten so used to bangs that !g, !gi, !yt, and !w are all well-established muscle memory. Change is difficult.

I love variegated plants so much.

My Wishy cassettes arrived today. They are a perfect blend of melodic shoegaze and dream pop. Their excellent full-length album is out now, but check out “Spinning” from their EP. It feels so much like my favorite parts of Chapterhouse and Slowdive.

What Kamala Harris Meant by “Most Lethal Fighting Force” in Her DNC Speech:

As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., highlighted in a criticism of Harris’s speech, the nebulous goal of lethality can also justify seemingly endless military spending.

“In all due respect, the United States is now spending more than the next 10 nations combined on defense,” said Sanders on ABC’s “This Week.” “We want the strongest defense in the world, but I do think enough is enough. You’re seeing military contractors profits soaring, and I think we can have the strongest defense in the world without spending a trillion dollars a year.”

I appreciate this line getting the attention that it deserves. Straight up, I hated that speech.

Who decided that teacher training books and books about pedagogy and progressive education must be cursed with the most godawful design choices and typography?

I had a great time at Capitol Modern for their Super Saturday event. First exhibit we saw was on puppets used in hula telling stories of old. The craftsmanship was beautiful.

There was an exhibit on Liminal Spaces that featured photos of locations in Hawaiʻi similar to the phenomenon of The Backrooms.

It was a delight to sit in airport chairs and watch a CRT of weird footage.

We then went to see Solomon Enos who is working on a community art piece for the reflecting pools at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol. We added our contribution of a few brush strokes.

There were some Carl Pao pieces on display and kiʻi as well.

Then we went upstairs and saw the massive kiʻi.

There was a hall with images of Kanaka Māoli activists dedicated to making Hawaiʻi more and more sovereign.

My favorite piece was this leiomano made from a surfboard and fins.

There were several other rooms, but I didn’t think photos would do them any justice. If you are visiting Honolulu, first educate yourself prior to boarding that plane. When you are here, make sure to visit museums like Capitol Modern and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum to understand what had to happen historically for you to be here.

99.97% of poetry makes me cringe. Do I have no soul?

Naka Nathaniel: We Need To Foster A Culture Of Belonging In A Land Of Inequality:

I was reminded of a previous conversation with a very wise uncle. He said that decades ago, Hawaii had become too welcoming. He said that most cultures prioritize protection first and hospitality second. 

Somehow, in Hawaii we had it flipped. Unlike the Maori, we put our dancers out in front and not the warriors.

He said he couldn’t understand it: When a stranger arrives on your shores you should determine if they’re there to invade you and take what you have. Instead, in Hawaii we sidelined our warriors and, to him, were too hospitable.

Naka Nathaniel is brilliant and challenging in so many ways. One example of this is, to my understanding places like Aotearoa have a short list of what can be brought into the nation where Hawaiʻi has a short list of what cannot. Two very different ways of approaching introduced elements to culture and environment.

Wikipedia:Meetup/Black Lunch Table/SixtyCriticsCollab:

Black Lunch Table (BLT) Wikipedia initiative mobilizes the creation and improvement of Wikipedia articles that pertain to the lives and works of Black artists.

I am so inspired by the work of Black Lunch Table on expanding the scope of Wikipedia and publishing so much excellent work.

The new Little Joel video, Why do conservatives love AI art, asks an excellent question. There are no real answers, but it speaks to how derivative fascist art is and how it is always ends up several steps behind.

Maui’s Identity Crisis Is On Display At Kahului Airport:

Maybe that hotly debated wall display in Maui’s Kahului Airport is actually perfect.

No, really. It shows visitors arriving on Maui exactly what the island has become: a place where wealthy entertainers from the 1980s who bought property on the island are seen as better than regular local people.

Exactly. Why the hell would you do this?

Community pushes back on military land lease renewals on Oʻahu:

The Conversation's intern Alyssa Salcedo spoke with Healani Sonoda-Pale, a Native Hawaiian activist who argues that the state leases should not be renewed.

"Hundreds of people have come out over the past three nights, and the overwhelming message they were sending every single night, with the exception of one or two, was literally telling the Army to clean up and get out," Sonoda-Pale told HPR at the community meeting.

I love to hear this. Check out John Oliver’s segment this week to learn more.

Why I Finally Quit Spotify:

Issues with the listening technology create issues with the music itself; bombarded by generic suggestions and repeats of recent listening, listeners are being conditioned to rely on what Spotify feeds them rather than on what they seek out for themselves.

[...]

Listeners become alienated from their own tastes; when you never encounter things you don’t like, it’s harder to know what you really do.

I have no idea how folks can remain on music streaming services.

Folders full of MP3s and a halfway decent collection of music on a physical format is a beautiful way to live.

Classic:

Chapterhouse - Pearl

Chapterhouse - Mesmerise

Ride - Taste

Slowdive - Waves

Starflyer 59 - Fell in Love at 22

Emo/Punk-inflected:

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Nothing - Vertigo Flowers

Title Fight - Head in the Ceiling Fan

Turnover - Cutting My Fingers Off

On the dream pop side:

Tamaryn - Hands All Over Me

Hatchie - The Rhythm

Maikotobranco - Detail Invisible

M83 - Kim and Jessie

Pinkyshinyultrablast - Umi

Electronic:

Ulrich Schnauss - Stars

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk - Sirocco

Instrumental:

Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd - Loitering

Hammock - Breathturn

Metal-inflected:

Alcest - Opale

Astronoid - Up and Atom

Lantlos - Melting Sun I: Azure Chimes

Shyy - As I Fly

Rock band Metallica’s foundation supports scholarships at Honolulu CC:

Honolulu Community College is the first in Hawaiʻi selected to the Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI), which was launched by the rock band Metallica through its All Within My Hands Foundation. The initiative is designed to support and elevate career and technical education across the nation.

Well that is super cool.

I just learned about Plok! and its mind-bending soundtrack. This version of “Akrillic” is gorgeously rendered.

Here is the original for reference.

I know that Yes and Genesis are claimed as influences, but I definitely hear the highly-underrated Canadian prog-rock band Alpha Ralpha as an influence, particularly the songs “Genèse” and “Lagune Ouest” with the vibraphone parts.

One year of using the paid plan of Raycast and it is so absolutely worth it. I have never been more satisfied with software.

“There Will Be No More Scum” is still so damn good.