5(-0) Media Notes From Hawaii

Just got back from a few days in Hawaii, because A) the trip was already booked and B) somebody has to do something to try to stimulate the economy, and this is my last significant contribution for awhile before joining the rest of America and curling into a fetal position.

Anyway, here are 5 (-0 -- book 'em, Danno!) brief notes and observations regarding the trip and media in the islands:

1) To the two women who stared at me as I left that restaurant in Wailea, no, you did not see film critic/historian Leonard Maltin on your vacation in Hawaii.

2) There's a restaurant in Maui (Kihei, to be precise) called the Bada Bing, but I heard enough bad things about the food that I chickened out on going, even as a feeble excuse to try writing off part of the trip. However, if anyone has eaten there, please let me (or "The Sopranos" creator David Chase's attorneys) know.

3) Why is every local news anchor team in Honolulu an attractive young Asian woman paired with a much older white guy? Watching TV there (and admittedly, I didn't watch a lot) is sort of like revisiting Los Angeles in the 1990s, before most of the older white-guy anchors either died or were shitcanned to reduce overhead. On the plus side, I do like that some of the sports guys wear Hawaiian shirts. Now if they could just get the KTLA and KTTV morning newscasts in L.A. to wear funny hats and clown shoes.

4) The Maui News runs so many Associated Press stories that I temporarily thought I was reading the Los Angeles Times, except that the Maui paper has a better sports section.

5) Although I vowed to mostly avoid TV while away except to check weather and sports scores, I do wish somebody had reminded me that Hawaii's primetime is on the same schedule as Central time. It's annoying to get back to your hotel room at 9 p.m. with pretty much nothing to do and realizing that you've just missed "Lost."

Mahalo for your attention.