Other competitors are located within China and Japan but are being challenged by the dominant cheap and reliable alternative transportation means. So will Maglev trains develop into actual transportation for public access? Perhaps, although not in the near future unfortunately. But the technology is there and the possibilities are endless.

By: Scott Sidhu

Waikiki, a popular area in Honolulu for shopping, eating, and nightlife, is renowned for both its fun party scene and late night violence.

Despite the increased security for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a fatal shooting occurred inside the Waikiki McDonalds on Kuhio Avenue, early in the morning on Nov. 12.

The late night occurrence of the McDonalds shooting is not uncommon for Waikiki. According to the Honolulu Police Department, most assaults in Waikiki occur between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM.

Adrian Phillips, a visiting tourist from Eugene, Oregon, explains, “During the day I think Waikiki is super nice and friendly…but at night, I dunno, it seems to get pretty sketchy.”

Some Honolulu residents avoid Waikiki entirely during late night hours.

According to Dave Moskowitz, a manager of Sun News Hawaii, “I’ve been seeing increasing violence in Waikiki, very scary these places at night…people who work professionally will not come out after eleven in Waikiki…I don’t feel threatened…but I don’t want to be near…like you know stuff is going to happen eventually right.”

Dave Moskowitz, who also use to be a Caesar Palace Bartender, proclaims that the violence in Waikiki is a direct result of alcohol consumption, “it’s all because of those bars over there frankly…and attraction of the bars and the night life here…the bars should be in hotels not private owners…because their very competitive they purposely over pour two or three shots to get people really drunk because they want to keep them in the bar, the bartenders do it and the owners let them get away with it…so they getting them really drunk…they keep them in to get all the money…and they have no control of over pouring over here they have no responsible beverage serving, none, there’s no enforcement here, and then you get all people crowded together and confrontations occur.”

For visiting tourists concerned about crime and safety in Waikiki, researching online police records and statistics are not entirely accurate when it comes to assaults.

According to Dave Moskowitzs, “A lot of people don’t file complaints about these assaults…so the assault rates are not real, there fraudulent, because not that they intend to do it that way but because people don’t file the paper work.”

According to the police records, whether accurate of not, crime in Waikiki is showing no sign of decreasing. Therefore, people partying in Waikiki into the late night should attempt to do so responsibly.

Booze and $$$, the fuel that drives Waikiki @ night

Pusha Buntin: A Life of Art

By: Scott Sidhu

Pusha Buntin has dedicated his life to arts and antiquities, owning and operating with his father, Robyn Buntin, “Robyn Buntin of Honolulu,” a gallery dedicated to the fine arts and antiques of Asia and the Pacific.

Unlike some, Pusha Buntin wasn’t introduced to the world of art, but born into it. His family owned an art business in the small town of Kea’au on the Big Island of Hawaii, successfully selling local antiques until it was accidently burnt down in 1978.

Moving to Japan after the fire, Pusha and his family quickly fell in love with the arts of Asia and began collecting.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Pusha played a valuable role in the family business by conversing with art dealers and reading inscriptions.

“Being completely immersed in Japanese culture at such a young age, it was easier for me to pick up the language,” Pusha claimed.

Moving back to Hawai‘i, the Buntin’s opened “Robyn Buntin of Honolulu,” strategically located a few buildings down from the Honolulu Academy of Arts, where they would eventually own items ranging from the hundreds to millions of dollars.

For Pusha, it’s not just about selling art to a client for money, but trying to share with them the magical world of art.

Every year, Pusha travels to different antique shows all over the world, gaining valuable exposure to different works, enabling him to have a very keen eye for spotting quality.

Over the years Pusha developed a specific interest in Jade, a valuable type of stone that has been used in Chinese art for thousands of years. “Pure white Jade is worth more than its weight in gold,” Pusha informed.

One of Pusha’s favorite Jade items in his collection is a Pi disk from 3,000 B.C, an ancient Chinese symbol of heaven.

Pusha even sports a small white Jade carving on his belt, some believe that doing so brings good health.

More than just an aesthetic object, Pusha believes art is an experience, providing meaning to the world and humanity.

Pusha Buntin at his antiques and art store in Honolulu, HI

HPN sits down with Andrew Worthen to discuss school, hobbies, and family.

Andrew Worthen in the HPU Media Lab

Kony 2012: Viral by Design

By: Scott Sidhu

In the age of social-media, every marketer wants viral success; it’s free and people choose to watch it. Charlie Bit My Finger 450,357,084 views, David After Dentist 110,351,716 views, Sneezing Panda 135,889,293 views; what do all these viral videos have in common? They were accidents. Viral videos are a spontaneous phenomenon that cannot be intentionally manufactured, they just happen! Right? Not anymore. On March 1, 2012, the San Diego based non-profit group Invisible Children uploaded Kony 2012 on YouTube, receiving 70 million views in five days and becoming the fastest-growing viral video to date. Unlike its other viral counterparts, Kony 2012, a film drawing attention to atrocities committed by African warlord Joseph Kony, was no fluke…it was handcrafted and strategically executed by masterminds in the art of persuasion.

Emotional appeals fuel the Kony 2012 video. Through pity, pride and warmth appeals, along with flattery, Kony 2012 grabs viewers by the heart and does not let go. The poetically filmed scene of Jacob, a child victim of Kony, speaking out about how he would rather die than continue living under such brutality, followed by breaking into tears over his Kony-murdered brother whom he misses so much, is an instant tear jerker. Jason Russell, the video’s director and narrator proclaims, “This has been happening for years? If that happened one night in America it would be on the cover of Newsweek.”

While Jacob triggers pity, another child victim triggers pride in viewers, “Joseph Kony now knows of the United States’ plan to stop the LRA and he is going to change his tactics to avoid capture, now that the great power is after him,” AMERICA F*CK YA! Warm-fuzzy images of youthful Kony 2012 activists uniting around the world, dancing, smiling, making a difference, further lifts the spirit of viewers. In order to give viewers the confidence to take action, flattery dominates Kony 2012.  Watch the nearly 30-minute video, and you will note that so much of it is not about Mr. Kony, but about the viewer, especially the untapped power of the viewer. From the video’s get go, it highlights the power of social-media and its ability to unite individuals and drive change. “One individual can make an impact!” proclaims the video’s director and narrator Jason Russell.

The emotional appeals of Kony 2012 cleverly tie into its compliance-gaining strategy of activating impersonal commitments. After pitying Kony’s victims, and feeling powerful enough to make a difference, viewers feel bad if they do not comply to the “things you can do right now” list shown at the videos end:

Ÿ Sign the pledge to show your support

Ÿ Get the bracelet & action kit

Ÿ Sign up for Tri to donate a few dollars a month

Ÿ Above all share this movie online its free.

The ordering of the list itself is persuasive as it starts with a large request, donate money, and follows up with a smaller one, share online for free. Brilliant!

Viewing the heart-warming footage of thousands of enthusiastic activists working together establishes a social proof (doing something because everyone’s doing it). Humans tend to feel that when a lot of people are doing something, it is the right thing to do. Therefore, when viewers witness footage of everyone getting in on the movement, they feel compelled to join. Even better, as Kony 2012 turned viral, it became a social proof in and of itself.

Along with emotionally provocative content, Kony 2012 persuades through emotionally provocative language and vivid information. Specific words that carry a unique cultural power are strategically placed throughout the video. When discussing Kony and his rebel army, words such as warlord, rape, and slavery are used. On the other side of the spectrum, when discussing the Kony 2012 campaign, charismatic words such as justice, freedom, and peace are used. Vivid information captures and holds viewers by using emotionally interesting and imagery-provoking language to describe the atrocities carried out by Joseph Kony. For example, when describing Jacobs’s violent life, the following phrases are used: “He was running for his life…they kill his brother using panga…they cut his neck…(rebels) makes them mutilate people faces.”

Being a video, powerful visual persuasion is used throughout Kony 2012. Disturdbing images of mutilated Kony victims grab attention through shock appeal. Shock appeal was also used when communicating the number of abducted child soldiers. Instead of showing them as a number, Invisible Children digitally represented them individually as an alarmingly huge army. Another scene re-creates one of Kony’s soldiers abducting a young boy. “If there’s no way to tell the story through footage, we use animation or reenactment,” says Invisible Children CEO Keesey.

Image-based advertising was used in the opposite sense, to create a negative association. For example, the video played footage of Hitler and his mass executions while discussing the urgency to “stop Kony now.”

The various song tracks played throughout Kony 2012 deliver huge emotional impact to viewers. A dark and sinister sound reinforced the evil of Joseph Kony, while an uplifting Irish pub song reinforced the energetic and optimistic spirit of youth activists. One song in particular, “I Can’t Stop,” a dubstep act by Flux Pavilion, conjured up a particularly favorable association between young viewers and the Kony 2012 campaign. Dubstep, a genre of music consisting of a heavy bass wobble, just gained mainstream popularity in the past two years. By blasting dubstep, Kony 2012 instantly positioned itself as a youthful campaign.

If emotional appeals fuel the Kony 2012 campaign, celebrities drive it. Despite the stickiness, sociability, and effortless transfer of the video, it never would have gone viral if it were not for the right kinds of people spreading it. The film was posted March 1 and had 58,000 views by March 5. On March 6, Kim Kardashian sent a tweet with a link to the film to her 13 million Twitter followers, the same day Oprah Winfrey tweeted the link to her 9.7 million followers. That day, Kony 2012 hit 8.2 million views on YouTube. Views then continued to grow over the weekend, from 50 million Friday to 71 million by Sunday (Oren, n.d). From their, outgoing individuals acted as salespeople, further sharing the video to their smaller social groups.

As Kony 2012 went viral, one persuasive technique utilized by Invisible Children resulted in a backlash for the campaign: deception. Many viewers caught on to various deceptive strategies utilized throughout the video, particularly manipulation of the quantity and quality of information. The manipulative core of the video features Russell explaining to his 5-year-old son the story of Kony. Reducing complex African geopolitics into something a child can grasp, however, vastly oversimplifies an issue that has broad implications.

Despite the backlash of its deceptive tactics, Kony 2012 fellowship could have stayed strong if it pre-defended itself against criticism. By forewarning viewers ahead of time about possible counterattitudinal attacks, they would not have been so vulnerable to the criticism. If the following sentence was inserted into the video it could have turned into an entirely different beast: People are going to tell you its not that simple, that Africa is a complex situation…well everything in this world is a complex situation, if we keep hiding behind politics nothing will ever get done…Joseph Kony must be stopped, it’s that simple.

Kony 2012 dispelled the myth that videos turn viral only through luck. Through an emotionally charged narrative, graphic visuals, celebrity promotion, and the exponential power of social media, Invisible Children created a viral sensation that spread like wild fire across the world. Although declared simplistic and shallow by critiques, can the video really be considered counterproductive if it prompts young people to ask why a well-known warlord with 30 years of atrocities to his name has not been caught and prosecuted? No one can deny that it brought Joseph Kony to world attention. The digital age is among us. Combined with social-media, the art of persuasion has never been more powerful. Fortunately, Invisible Children used it with good intentions; in the wrong hands the damage could be catastrophic. Spiderman’s grandfather said it best, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

KONY 2012 Posters

This is an edit that my best friend made. His name is Abbitt Wilkerson aka: AWFilms. Some of the footage includes clips from when he came to Oahu this last September. He may be the most passionate person I know when it comes to filming and editing. As a 14 year old he started making videos of us riding our bikes around neighborhoods. The moment he picked up a video camera he was hooked. Along our adolescence Abbitt was able to obtain several thousand dollars in camera equipment (lenses, bodies, filters, tripods, sliders, software…etc.) to continue his learning and ability to film (Abbitt now shoots with a Canon 7D).

A question one might ask is; what does he film? To answer that, filming isn’t the only passion that Abbitt has taken to in his twenty years of existence. This passion, he shares with me.

Above is a photo of Abbitt standing next to his other hobby, Import Tuners. Brilliantly, Abbitt was able to combine his love of filming and fitted cars all into one. Driving and customizing his own Subaru Sti, he has met some big heads in the import community of the northwest. Originally Abbitt filmed because he liked doing it, so he would casually shoot events. Where he would freely film people, cars, and the setting. He captured and even created “the scene” of our small community. His work spread on the internet so much that now, filming is his job, and AWFilms is his company. Now,  AWFilms is not only his filming company, but it is also a brand. Consisting of stickers being sold that are cut by Abbitt himself, along with tee’s and sweatshirts with the logo he designed.

I can say that Abbitt has truly been an inspiring person to know. Nothing has ever gotten in his way of filming and doing what he wanted to do. Through his hard work and commitment, he has gotten to meet so many people not only in the US, but internationally in the filming and car industry. I see a bright future ahead of him and I am proud of my friend. I wish him the best of luck in his filming career (although I doubt he will need it). I titled this “Be Somebody” mainly because that is something we all say and do, but he does it in bold.

Abbitt’s logo and sites:
Vimeo Channel

Clothing/Stickers

Facebook Page (like it)

This is a video and interview that I produced about my classmate Zach Ramos. It was an assignment that we received in our New Media class. I interview and film him and vise versa. We speak of our basic information such as our DOB, where we are from, our hobbies, our major, and some post college plans. But talking off camera with Zach let me know is real personality (he is shy in front of the camera vs. being behind it). He often spends his time on a raging beach here on Oahu with fellow local and friend Armani Deocampo. Zach is always found with his surfboard and camera equipment stored in his rock crawler Toyota as he travels the island.Through conducting this interview I now know, that Zach has not only a passion, but obvious skill for photography.

In the photo above, you can see the very young handsome photographer Zachary Ramos himself standing next to his tastefully captured images. They can even be yours! He sells them at respectable price for their worth. The place of sale may be one of two; 3rd Cup Cafe (in Waipahu) or on his website: ShutterRAGE.So if you desire some Oahu inside of your home, contact Zach via website. I hope you can all read about and support his brand!

A good friend of mine and fellow classmate here at HPU recently left the islands for a special get-a-way deep in the hills of Southern California, to Coachella Valley. Why leave paradise to go to the middle of the desert? Well, it may be because of the biggest music festivals in the world was going on that weekend. hundreds of artists, dozens stages, hundreds of thoudands of people, and NON-STOP music from the get-go till the sun rose on Monday morning.

I spoke with her about what she had expeirenced and she claims to have left California that weekend awakened and full of life. “It was definitely the best 48 hrs of my life, it was nonstop fun and music. I wish every weekend was like this, but UNfortunately I had to leave and return to paradise.” Coachella isnt the only world wide known music festival to hit the United States. This upcoming June the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) hits Las Vegas which is rumor’d to be even bigger and more out of control compared to Coachella. These concerts are a modern day/somewhat modeled after woodstock type setting. All of the attendants camp for the weekend, while music plays all day and all night. There are schedules and maps for the guests to plan out and navigate their weekend.

Coachella overall, is a very great investment. The festival ran two weekends in April, and raises tens of millions of dollars that are used to donate to several charities such as; Indie Teen Task Force/Youth Center/Senior Center, Silverlake Conservatory of Music, The Painted Turtle, Martha’s Village, Desert Rearch Center, and Global Inheritance. Not only is this an oppertunity for charity, it creates an oppertunity for upcoming artists, a check mark for known artists, entertainment for hundreds of thousands of people, and an overall unforgettable experience.

As current as, April 26th 2012 it has been publicly announced that 9,000 Marines (plus family) are to be stationed out of Okinawa, Japan. Out of the 9K, 2,700 are being re-stationed right here in Hawai’i. Another chunk, 1,300 troops are being re-stationed in Darwin, Australia. A bulk of this number (5,000 troops/families) will be sent to Guam where the US Military is making room for a much larger and advanced military base. Okinawa residents have been pressing for the absence of US Military in their home since our presence since 1945. There have been decades of discussion on cutting Military presence in Tokyo and it has finally begun.

This is a map of our current military occupation in all of Japan. From this diagram you can clearly see that over a vast amount of their country we have taken over with military. After WWII it has been very difficult for our country to give Japan much actual freedom. Although we don’t directly control the countries actions, we have been babysitting them for the past 67 years by squatting in their backyard. Japan has been pushing for US Military downsizing in Japan for decades. Okinawa is a very valued place to them. There have been many clashes between Okinawa residents and US Military personnel. The most horrendous one being the rape of a 12 year old girl by three US Marines in 1995. This outraged the Japanese people and even then persuaded several troops to leave the island because of the ordeal.

However our military absence is not coming at a low price, literally. It is going to cost our military a rough 8.6 billion dollars just to move out of Okinawa. Japan was “encouraged” to pay for 3.1 billion of the total cost. I suppose everyone and everything has it’s price, and Japan found theirs for what they want.

Every year thousands flock to Hawai’i to experience its natural beauty whether it be hiking at Kokohead or enjoying a relaxing day at Kailua beach. What many of these tourists are unaware of however is that millions of years into the future the islands are predicted to be sunken beneath the sea. For the past century, 70% of Hawai’i’s beaches have been eroding at a rate of about 0.4 feet a year.

While a small percentage of beaches in Hawaii have built up or maintained themselves, the most extreme case of erosion was nearly 6 feet per year near Kualoa Point on the east of O’ahu. Of the three islands Kaua’i, O’ahu, and Maui, the latter experienced the greatest shore loss with 85% of its beaches eroding. Following is Kaua’i with 71% and last O’ahu with 60%. according to a report released today by the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Hawai’i.

What Is Erosion?

Runner trying to enjoy his jog with no shore

To better explain what can be considered a “natural disaster” to the beach lovers of the islands, coastal erosion is the wearing away of land or removing of beach by wave action or currents. Coastal erosion can either be the long-term loss of sediment and rocks (components of sand) or can just be temporary redistribution of these sediments to other locations.

What Are Some Contributing Factors?

Although erosion is a natural process, there are some factors that can contribute to the acceleration of beach loss. A few include the transport of sediment to the shoreline, as we often see in Waikiki as workers dump tons of sand onto the beach, human interference, and waves generated by storms, wind, or fast moving motor crafts. Among all the factors to coastal loss however, climate change is the most threatening as it is accompanied by increased sea levels and the possibility of harsh storms, both of which are detrimental to our beaches.

What Can Be Done?

Such data regarding annual shore loss can be used by both coastal erosion specialists and government officials to communicate a wide variety of coastal management decisions. The currentcoastal management structure of Hawai’i consists of three layers of jurisdiction: federal, state, and county. While manmade techniques such as sand replenishment and implication of erosion barriers may slow erosion, it is a natural process unstoppable by any means short of global cooling or a similar and huge geomorphic change. To some it may seem a hopeless situation, but efforts made by local residents to leave the sand undisturbed and avoid causing waves via motor crafts are nevertheless helpful. To find out more about beach erosion among our islands and what can be done, visit the Hawai’i Coastal Erosion Website  And watch the remaining two parts of Rep. Cynthia Thielen’s discussion with Professor Charles Fletcher, the Department Chair of Earth science and technology at University of Hawai’i: Part 2 and Part 3.