By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Ashley Layfield is the Spanish jellyfish in “Atlantika.”

Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre presented its splashy fundraiser “Atlantika” Saturday night at the Kahala Hotel & Resort, an event guests won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Guests followed a procession of mermen, draped in blue veils, into the pool area where they were greeted by the spectacle of dancers reimagined as sea creatures, from a mermaid and feathery anemone at the entrance, to a towering sea dragon on stilts and covered with yards of streaming fabric. This may be one of Iona’s most elaborate events ever, the vision of creative director Cheryl Flaharty.

Among the guests was Henry Ian Cusick (that’s Desmond to non-”Losties”). Many of the guests dressed in blues, greens and other aqua tones to suit the night’s theme, so it didn’t surprise me that some of those I photographed at the beginning of the event ended up in the pool at the end of the night. I was just praying I didn’t end up in the pool by accident while running around the pool to shoot video. I was only sorry that I didn’t capture the moment the guests made their running leap into the pool. I had overheard them plotting, but thought they’d wait until after dessert.

Among those who ended up in the pool was Kenwei Chong, who also tried to get Cheryl into the pool. Dressed in white, she wisely ran for shelter.

Others inched closed to the pool and its warm water when presented with windup toys, that swam away, sometimes too far for them to reclaim, causing much sadness among the big “kids.”At a typical event, I might shoot 20 video clips, but because of the costumes and because the dancers move so well, I ended up with 66, a lot to go through.We were treated to s sound track of bubbly and psychedelic music of the ’60s by DJ Julien Palmarini. Hair, including Summer Partlon’s towering Octopussy beehive, was by Dack Quigley. Meanwhile, the part of the Ethereal Jellyfish, in white in the video, was played by the Star-Bulletin’s Michelle Poppler, who I totally didn’t recognize while shooting the video, even though she was an inch away from my face!

Rain arrived with dinner, sending some guests running for cover, which was weird, this being a water-themed event and all, but I had no doubt that in sunny Kahala, it would pass quickly, and it did, just a light blessing.

Food — such as sea critter fritters (baccalao) and pan-roasted kampachi with sea foam, mussels and clams — was rather slow to arrive and Cheryl said later, while toasting marshmallows beachside, that they had trouble getting started because no one seemed to want to sit down. Everyone was too busy strolling around, admiring the dancers and their extravagant costumes, photographing and videotaping all that was happening.

It was great fun an you can read the who’s and why’s about the event in my earlier story at http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/08/21/features/story01.html

And original blog post at: http://blogs.starbulletin.com/fashiontribe

The living fountain, Robyn Franklin. (more…)

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam videoWe tend to consider dance more in terms of performing than visual arts, but there’s a fashionable element connected to costume design, which takes creativity and construction expertise. It’s not that easy, as evidenced by this week’s drag queen episode of “Project Runway.”

Out of all the creative occupations, I’d consider a dancer’s life the toughest because of limited opportunities combined with a short shelf life, so I’d imagine you’d find a lot of tough, can-do attitudes in dance. That seems to characterize the mindset of Cheryl Flaharty, artistic director for Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre, who’s busily imagining all manner of creatures for the troupe’s Oct. 4, 2008, fundraiser, “Atlantika.”

While she envisions a human fountain with arms continuously spouting water, and an Octopussy making her arrival by popping out of the center of a table and spreading her arms across dinner plates, Flaharty has no idea how they’ll be constructed. She only knows it’ll be done.

Eight weeks ahead of the party, it’s make it work time!

Tables are $3,000 to $10,000 for 10. Call 262-0110.

By Nadine Kam

Video by Jason Genegabus and Nadine KamWent to Dan Weaver’s Fall 2008 Fashion Show Friday night at the Loft where the room was abuzz to see what he’d been working on over the past five months.

For his first full fashion show, it went amazingly well, without a glitch with models or music, as far as I could tell. (I know, behind the scenes there’s probably always thoughts things could have been better.)

He definitely showed he is someone to watch and you can see some of the collection in the video above. My co-conspirator Jason Genegabus did the camera 1 setup and interview with Dan, and I shot secondary video and closeups for our first attempt at a two-camera fashion video. Then he did all the work editing so I could have a weekend off. Yay! Thanks Jason!

I’m usually the last to arrive but I showed up somewhat early that night to save my seat. I felt lucky that I did because a couple came in and, displeased that they were placed in the second row, started switching name tags around so they could be in the front row. Naughty. Maybe for Weaver’s Spring ‘09 show he’ll have some gigantic male bouncers and really make it feel like a N.Y. show.

By Nadine Kam

Hi JK!Here’s the Skaffs vid you asked for from last night’s event at Split Obsession, where, because Luke dropped in rather suddenly, fans were unprepared. They actually had to ask him for paper, and then people resorted to passing him dollar bills to sign.

Split Obsession owner Bruce Chin really dug deep when he whipped out a crispy $10 bill. Whoo-hoo!

Geez I’m supposed to be writing a story now, but I turned once again to Animoto.com, which is like Hamburger Helper for your photos and video stills, mashing them together with music and special effects the average person just doesn’t have access to, and coming up with something worth serving.

Try it on fashion, girl’s night out photos, whatever!

Photo by Nadine Kam
Skaffs’ Luke Feldman at work. Check out his site at http://skaffs.com/

By Nadine Kam

www.Ravenstake.com

Timed to the “Lost” season finale, Benny and Rafi Fine have posted the finale for their parody of the series as well, this time with a guest appearance by Indiana Jones. You can see it on YouTube, where the series has drawn 3.5 million views over the season.

YouTube has made it OK for any boy to play with dolls! … even if they still insist on calling them “action figures.”

By Nadine Kam

If you have a handful of photos, no video editing skills whatsoever and about an hour, Animoto.com can create an instant video clip for you. Tried the service yesterday as soon as I read about it in the Sunday NY Times. Sounded like something fun and easy.

I uploaded 30 photos of a trip I took to Vancouver, B.C., Canada in 2006, which took some time because I had to downsize them to upload quickly. As it happens, instead of shuffling them around, Animoto simply uses them in the order that you enter the photos. After you upload them, you can shuffle them around yourself.

Being something of a control freak, it was difficult for me to accept what they do, and I wanted it to end on a particular photo. You never know exactly how many photos are going to be used, but for a 30-second free video clip, it’s about 6 or 8. (Thirty seconds is really short, but afterward, you have to start paying somehow.) I ended up mashing it up about 10 times, and I don’t 100 percent love the final result, but it’s certainly easier than doing all that work of setting your photos to music (you choose from a handful of their clips), provided you even have all the video-editing tools available to these guys.

Afterward, it’s easy to post to YouTube or FaceBook, which are linked to Animoto.

Try it now that you have a day off to play. Use my referral code — ejqnplmd — to get $5 off an all-access pass and help me get free access :)!

By Nadine Kam

ABC
Who said the next “American Idol” needs to be a singer? How about a designer? Christian Siriano is a natural.

Missed last week’s return of “Ugly Betty.” I don’t know why but Thursday has to be the most fashionable day of the week because that’s when a lot of parties take place. Last season I had to keep up with Betty and Henry by watching them on Internet.

I’m staying home this week (I think), to catch His Royal Fierceness Christian Siriano as he commands the staff at Mode to, “Worship me, bitches.” Acting? He doesn’t need to act. That is so pure Christian!

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Jennifer Tunoa is Kurenai Yuuhi from “Naruto.”

Back from Kawaii Kon at Hawai’i Convention Center where the cosplayers were out in full, colorful force.

Strangely enough, I was in street clothes and they were looking at me like I was the
odd one. It was noticeable when I was getting names of some people and others were around me doing the “oohh,” purr-y thing. I felt like Dorothy in “Wizard of Oz” when she’s discovered by the Munchkins, who come out of the bushes to check her out. SB photographer Cindy Ellen Russell was there and filled me in: “They think you would be a great cosplayer because you’re tiny like the characters.”Hmm, come to think of it I already have a pink Betsey Johnson dress and corset that looks like a Misa Amane outfit.The event goes on to 9 p.m. April 19 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 20 if you want to check it out or be checked out.

Kanoe, front, is Suiseiseki from “Rozen Maiden,” with Chani, from left standing, Ursula, Cynthia, Amanda and Blair. Amanda, in red, is Shinku, the main character. Kanoe paid $300 to have his costume made by a dressmaker. I asked him if it felt weird to wear a dress. “Kind of,” he said, “but you get used to it.” Below, the original Shinku and Suiseiseki.

Ashley Silao is Misa Amane of “Death Note.” Her lenses look like one called “Red Wolf” from Exotic.lenses.com’s stock.

Theatrical contact lenses are part of the costume for many. The Contact Lens Co., was among the dealers offering every style and color of lens. The most popular is the white with black pupil “Zombie.” Lenses were selling for $40 to $80. Check out www.exoticlenses.com

I was tempted to get a pair, but I already wear normal lenses and they do need upkeep and cleaning, so I probably wouldn’t unless I had a specific event in mind. The woman there said once a month cleaning is recommended, but that sounded like too little.

In the dealer’s room, Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga — who I met online at Twitter.com — were behind the table showing their nemu*nemu books and T-shirts. At left, Krystine Nakano helped drum up business by strolling the grounds with a handmade, stuffed version of Anpan on her head. She has really great posture because that pup wasn’t secured. Other people had to tie their animals to their heads.
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By Nadine Kam

Kahala Hotel & Resort photo
Hoku celebrates his 17th birthday March 30 at the Kahala Hotel & Resort.

Way back last November, I was at the Kahala Hotel & Resort to check out its “Kahala Chic” makeover of guestrooms and suites done up in muted ocean and sand colors.

While there, I shot some video of the Dolphin Quest activities, and was just waiting for a good time to post it. I thought now would be a good time because one of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, Hoku, will be celebrating his 17th birthday Sunday morning from 10 to 10:30 a.m., with a performance and birthday cake for human guests.

The Dolphin Quest program brings humans and dolphins together for research and educational purposes.The dolphin in the video is Liho, and the Marine Animal Supervisor working with him is Nicole West.

Nadine Kam video

By Nadine Kam

Fans of “Lost” who need a fix while awaiting new episodes in late April may want to check out the Fine Bros.—Benny’s and Rafi’s—latest “Lost” parody:

The bros. report the series of three videos have already drawn more than 3 million hits, which seems to be sending a lot more adults back to their toy boxes for inspiration. Check out more at www.RavenStake.com