Echoes of '11

With 2012 on our doorstep, it’s time for our annual last look back at some of the breaking news, the best memories and the strange notions that flowed through this space in the year now coming to an end:

Perhaps truth in advertising is finally catching up, like a cop waving our joy ride over to the curb. With an AARP card in your pocket, might it finally be time to take the “baby” out of baby boomer? (Jan. 6)

“We all know from watching movie credits that it takes hundreds of people to make a movie, and I am proud of the small part I played in exposing Maui County and its citizens to feature films.” (Benita Brazier, leaving her post as Maui County film commissioner, Jan. 13)

“Get a Job” was Maui’s answer to the Golden Globes on TV last weekend. Everyone knew everyone there, too — except they actually were stars. (Jan. 20)

The first rule for savvy tourists is not to look like a tourist. But for some locals, it’s just the reverse: Being a tourist on Maui is fun! That's the foundation for what we hope is going to finally turn the island’s economy around. So it’s reassuring to go to Tihati’s Tu Au Moana luau and be reminded it’s true. (Feb. 3)

In William S. Merwin’s simple, elegant phrases, time is measured in lifetimes of stars. Elegies are written to beloved dogs. Egrets speak. His poetry maps a state of consciousness where humans aren’t calling the shots. (Feb. 10)

We’ve long been in the business of selling fantasies here, although it sometimes gets tiring feeling like you’re wearing the grass skirt as the little cart goes by in the Small World ride at Disneyland. The name of the fantasy is Hawaii. That’s the name of the place we live, too. Other than the name, they don’t have much in common. (Feb. 17)

The guy may be a knight, Sir Elton John and all, but he definitely came to Maui to play. And a week later, Levon, Daniel, Rocket Man, Norma Jean, Benny and assorted Jets are still here, hanging out with Tiny Dancer under the palm trees in the concert hall of memories. (March 3)

“The whole object of KIPM is … to help draw the population of Hawaii together. We want to meet the social needs of a geographically challenged population and give them a common sense of place.” (Hawaii Public Radio President Michael Titterton, on bringing the new station to Maui, March 10)

In Scene, we have our own definition of attention deficit disorder. For us, it refers to people who can never get enough attention. (March 17, in a column about the controversy swirling around the Art Maui exhibit at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center)

It all began with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. When the whales knew the wave was coming, like the boat operators in the harbors of Maalaea and Lahaina, they set out for deeper waters to ride it out. How did they know? Questions like that should keep us humans in our place when we start making assumptions about being masters of the universe. (March 31)

Seventeen-year-old Lily Meola seems to have an old soul in a sweet young voice that knows how to make the corny lyrics of “Accentuate the Positive” sound not only relevant, but like essential advice. (April 7)

We need a new word to describe the rapid replacement of life as we know it by a new state of being. Let’s call it virtualocity …part human, but mostly not. (April 14) ‘Aumakua is “the embodiment of a loved one who has transitioned and come back as a form of nature. Nature continues to care for mankind in shelter, food, medicine. It’s our responsibility to see that nature continues.” (Hawaiian cultural adviser Clifford Nae‘ole, April 21)

The sky was clear, the water flat, when I noticed something moving in the water. Something black. A fin. And then more fins. Dolphins! A pod of them, stretching in all directions. I swam out from the beach and soon was surrounded. (April 28)

The Merrie Monarch is an annual reminder that we live in a place where culture isn’t a museum display but something vitally and vibrantly alive, a treasured part of daily life in these islands. (May 5)

Is the circus in town?Are there clown auditions going on? How else to explain the bad performance of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and other men in the national media this week? (May 19)

While Kris Kristofferson and Keali‘i Reichel are both prodigiously talented artists, it feels inadequate to describe what they do as entertainment. The work they do, the things they create come in the context of the lives they lead. Just as courage can be coaxed from fear, heroism can be constructed out of flaws. Being in the presence of people who have figured that one out is truly inspiring. (June 2)

My litmus test for entertainment is whether I can remember it the next day. If the show’s still there the morning after, turning my brain into a pinball machine with its echoes bouncing off the rails, it must have been good. (June 9)

The second thing you notice about Olivia Wilde is how smart she is. (What’s the first thing? Look at her picture and take your pick.) (June 16)

Just making eye contact with folks like Megan Fox, Olivia Wilde or Garrett Hedlund should come with a “Danger High Voltage” warning. (Coverage of the Maui Film Festival at Wailea, June 23)

“We reopened the film office because there’s so much activity going on. We have been mandated to create an industry rather than facilitate one.” (Harry Donenfeld, new director of the Maui County Film Office, Aug. 18)

The voice of chanter Charles Ka‘upu, who died July 13 at age 53, was a crystal-clear, high-voltage transmission line straight to the origin of Hawaiian culture. (Aug. 19)

The message of visiting 20-year-old Tibetan Buddhist master Yangsi Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche is basically to keep it simple, be good to yourself and be good to others. It sounds a lot like the Golden Rule, underscoring another of his ideas — that all the great teachings are basically saying the same thing. Which, for some strange reason, doesn’t make them any easier to learn. (Aug. 25)

Ten-year-old silver Toyota Tacomas like mine are so plentiful on the Valley Isle, I keep putting my key in the wrong one in parking lots. Since silver Tacomas are fairly likely to have a pit bull in the shotgun seat, this can be dangerous. (Sept. 1)

I have to applaud news that Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji turned down a chance to appear on “Hawaii Five-0” as — what else? — a college volleyball coach. He knows better than to get sucked into the show’s parallel universe … especially since he’s already working with the coolest women on TV. (Sept. 8)

Steven Soderbergh’s new film “Contagion” is based on the tried-and-true entertainment principle : We have nothing to sell but fear itself. (Sept. 15)

In light of The Yardbirds’ concert, the old joke that people who were really there in the ’60s can’t remember being there gains new poignancy as our generation has its challenges trying to remember much of anything. (Sept. 22)

It’s probably time to accept that whatever I write here isn’t going viral. Turns out the real viral stars are the communicators who can neither speak nor write. Babies are good, animals are better. (Sept. 29)

The media hubbub makes it hard, when it comes to Steve Jobs, to sort out the man, the myth and the product. (Oct. 13)

Rather than an aberration, “Get a Job's” film-festival successes look more like the tip of an iceberg, evidence that this is an auspicious time to be making movies on Maui. “Get a Job” producer Stefan Shaefer’s recently completed 22-minute short, “The Roundup” shows Hawaii not only has a proud paniolo tradition, but is also a natural Western movie set. Who knew? (Oct. 27)

When filmmaker Tom Vendetti asked me to help script his new film, “When the Mountain Calls • Nepal • Tibet • Bhutan,” I was honored. I was floored. I immediately agreed to do it. It wasn’t until little later that I remembered I didn’t have a clue how to write a movie. (Nov. 3)

While it’s taken several decades to realize how wrong Michael Douglas was when he said, “Greed is good” in the original “Wall Street,” it’s a lot harder to know what to do about it. Especially out here on our little island that sometimes feels like we’re all working on Oprah’s plantation. (Nov. 10)

After a five-decade career, 75-year-old Woody Allen is hitting new creative heights. Like Martin Scorsese, 69, and Clint Eastwood, 81, he refutes our cultural mythtakes about aging. Following your bliss can be good for your health. Of course, being an artistic genius helps. (Nov. 24)

The arrival of movie awards season reminds us that while picking the “best” of anything is always a matter of subjectivity, it’s more instructive to check out who’s there at the starting line. (Dec. 1)

Under his ’50s teenager-in-love hair, time has been good to Chris Isaak’s matinee idol face. From the forgiving distance of the balcony, he looked forever young, an impression reinforced by his high-octane playing. Slinky women from the audience staked out the stage as volunteer go-go dancers. Castle Theater was all honky-tonk that night. (Dec. 8)

When it comes to holiday movies, we give thanks for the blessing of FirstLight, Maui Film Festival’s annual gift to island film fanatics, and, arguably, the best film series on the planet. (Dec. 15)

In the most depressing development of the year, language is giving way to code. Paper is passé. We’ve got our heads in our screens and our brains in our pockets. Still, there are at least a half-dozen films I’d be happy to see win the best-picture prize.(Dec. 22)

• Happy new year to you all! • Contact Rick Chatenever at scene@mauinews.com.