No vote, no grumble! Are you registered to vote? There are currently a few movements focused on getting Hawaii people (especially young people) to register and exercise their right to vote.

Kanu Hawaii, for example, is working with Common Cause Hawaii on Your Vision. Your Vote. - to get 1,000 young people to lead the charge in the 2010 elections by volunteering to work the polls, helping register voters, and voting themselves.

One of the coolest things I've seen was graffiti artist Estria Miyashiro (originally from Hawaii, now in Oakland, CA) who came home to express his support of Neil Abercrombie--and to encourage other artists to get involved in politics--by painting a mural.

He even let kids passing by try their hand at painting, as he taught them how to properly hold the spray cans and create even strokes.

During his time here, Estria also coordinated an event to bring awareness to local artists and encourage people to register to vote. Rep. Della Au Bellati dropped by to say hi, and Sen. Carol Fukunaga came by as she was filing her nomination papers (she even met some new, young constituents in the process!).

Sen. Fukunaga was so jazzed about the event, she came back with a pair of shoes to be graffiti-ed. Can you see the "Carol" on her shoe?

One of the artists tried his hand at a campaign Tshirt for Neenz....

...but non-partisan, non-political messages were popular, too.

But, I digress. Through social media, Estria encouraged people to help him paint, and finished the mural the other day.

Finishing touches.

A true artist always tags his work.

If you want to see the finished mural, you can drop by Neil Abercrombie headquarters during business hours.

Mahalo, Estria, for your work!

Are you registered to vote? According to Kanu Hawaii, when Hawaii became a state in 1959, voter turnout was 84% in the primary election – one of the highest in the U.S. By the 2008 primary, turnout was down to 37% – among the lowest in the country. Do your part to help elect the kind of leaders who will address our concerns.

Have you ever been to the annual Gridiron show? It's a variety show full of singing, dancing, and a little acting to poke fun at just about anyone and anything in Hawaii’s headlines over the past year--done by a cast comprised of (mostly) local media.

For us, the audience, it's a chance to see the local media like we've never seen them before. For the last eight years, for example, Dan Cooke has dressed in drag as Governor Linda Lingle. Last year, a chorus line of TV news personalities sang & danced across the stage. This year's theme, in light of the massive layoffs, is "There's No Business like NO Business!" Some of the cast, in fact, have lost their jobs at least once in the last two years.

I was lucky to get a preview the other day when I sat in on the rehearsals--OK, partly because my niece Ahnya has been the director for the last several years! But lucky nonetheless! That's her on the left, making sure the guys hit their marks.

Local composer Roslyn Catracchia is the music director, and harnesses the media's singing talent. Here's my homeboy Ben Gutierrez belting out one of several numbers he has during the evening.

It's a pretty exciting show! They physically get into their roles and, as you can see, put their whole selves into it.

I don't know if I could fall back like this! Yow!

They pull every move possible on stage. It's a well-choreographed performance!

Artistic director Keoki Kerr, left, with my J-school classmate Gordon Pang, practicing a dialogue to segue into the next dance number.

You'll see a few PR people in there, too. Moani Wright-Van Alst is one of the cast who can tap dance and sing!

Anyway, after watching a little bit of rehearsal, I'm looking forward to another fantastic show! It was cool to see people that we know from different media outlets working together in a totally different environment. It was even cooler to see them taking directions from Ahnya.

Go see the show! You'll be laughing the whole time. They usually sell out, so they added a Saturday matinee. Also, it's a creative fundraiser for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Hawaii Chapter student internships and scholarships.Shows:

8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13
3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14
8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14

Diamond Head Theatre
For more information, go to the SPJ site or the Gridiron Facebook page.

For tickets:
To charge tickets by phone, call (800) 745-3000 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Hawaiian Standard Time) Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Hawaiian Standard Time) Sunday.

TICKETS MAY ALSO BE PURCHASED AT:
Ticketmaster outlets: Blaisdell Arena box office, Sports Gear at Windward Mall and Walmart stores at the following locations:
 Keeaumoku St., Honolulu
 94-595 Kupuohi St., Waipahu
 95-550 Lanikuhana Ave., Mililani
 1131 Kuala St., Pearl City
 101 Pakaula St., Kahului, Maui,
 3-3300 Kuhio Hwy., Lihue, Kauai
 325 Makaala St., Hilo
 75-1015 Henry St., Kailua-Kona
Tickets are $60 for Super Good Seats (lowered from 2008’s $65) and $40 for Really Good Seats.
Fees charged by Ticketmaster are: $5 per ticket for $40/$60 tickets, $3 per order

Mahalo to Robbie Dingeman and my niece Ahnya Chang for letting me sneak in to your rehearsal!

This is a little late (surprise, surprise!), but I wanted to get this out anyway! So last week, our fellow blogger Alan Okami of Ka Leo O Kalihi and his family had their 15th Anniversary party at the Willows. (pictured here with me and Ed Sugimoto, who already blogged about it!)

Papa Okami with Alan's cousin/fellow blogger, Lori Okami.

It was kind of a mini-reunion for our blogger ohana!

The party was also like a "who's who" of local entertainers, young and old. Look who I saw! Remember TJ Maeshiro, who won Aloha Tower Marketplace's first ukulele contest? He's 17 now, and so big! I feel so old!

Check out some of the food:

Check out some of the entertainment! Soul Sisters were so talented!

And here's an all-star kanikapila group at the party!

Congratulations to the Okamis and especially to my bruddah Alan! Wishing you many more generations of success.

This seems a little self-serving to be MIA for weeks and then pop back up to talk about an award, but one of the main reasons I was busy was preparing my speech! Christa Wittmier made me feel better by saying, "Blogging is so two thousand and late!"

Last night, I was honored by the Public Relations Society of America-Hawaii Chapter (PRSA Hawaii)--more specifically, by Nathan Kam--with the President's Leadership Award. Unlike the Gregg Perry PR Person of the Year, which is awarded by a jury of one's peers, this one is given at the sole discretion of the president (which Nathan is).

The theme of the night was social media, and although many of us use it, not so many PR pros are super active on it. In fact, compared to our mainland counterparts, Hawaii lags far behind in social media activity. I could go into all the reasons why more PR people here won't get more involved in the use of social media or get others into it, but my--and Nathan's--hope is that they will.

With Conchita Malaqui of Waikiki Beach Walk

In a volatile economy, having the network created by social media is what saved me. I lost my job at the end of 2008, but because I had carved a niche through my overactive Twittering, I was able to pick up clients, like Pearlridge and Waikiki Beach Walk, who needed that service. We're looking ahead to the end of the year and the opportunities seem endless. So my question to my peers was, "If you lost your job tomorrow, is your personal brand and network strong enough to keep you working?"

Maybe. If they've embraced the technology and actually do some social things, the transition is easier. Even if they're not tech savvy, if they reach out to others to help them learn, that's social in itself. I can't say enough about how I've met so many wonderful people via social media that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a sermon on social media, although I do wish more of our readers were also more into it. I'm grateful for the opportunities that this blog and my Twitter have brought me, and I'm so grateful to Nathan and PRSA for this once in a lifetime award. I'm truly honored.

Congratulations to the winners of the Koa Anvil program awards, too!

Last night I had a real treat! Consolidated Theatres launched their new big-screen concept, titan Extreme Cinema, at Ward 16 with the premiere of Toy Story 3. This new theatre has a new, huge, wall-to-wall movie screen that shows "pristine, eye-popping 3D images," according to Consolidated. I would guess it's similar to the technology that brings us HDTV.

I went with media maven Pam Davis, who loves eating movie popcorn for dinner! Photo by Burt Lum.

The Ozawa Family with their 3D glasses. From left, Ryan, Zack (? can't tell with the glasses on), Jennifer and Katie.

Can you see the theatre seats? They're leather! The seats are soft and comfy, like sitting in an armchair. Each seat is numbered, so they can assign seats. Consolidated Theatres has installed 18 surround speakers in teh walls, 14 surround speakers in the ceiling, and doubled the number & size of woofers. There are 7.1 audio channels, powered by a 75,000-watt digital sound system, providing five times the power available at a typical auditorium.

Oh, and the movie! Toy Story 3 was really cute, and as Ryan said, it was reminiscent of many jailbreak movies. Like Avatar, though, it didn't do a ton of 3D effects, like when you want to reach out and touch something floating in front of you.

Overall, though, we had a great time!