Famous paintings on vacation

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The latest addition to Wayne Takazono's 'Famous Paintings On Vacation' series. Buy a cool print of this original for $29 from the man himself, email wtakazono at hawaii dot rr dot com

Ah, my Hawaii sojourn is drawing to a close.

Before I jet off to Arizona for the annual Bike Friday Desert Camp I'm making a quick trip over to check on my postage-stamp-sized piece of Hawaii and dream about what I can do with it. I was thinking of investing in a condo of some sort (using coconuts and bike parts for currency) but this is one alternative to consider - build your own shack, rather than pay dearly for someone else's shack. Especially when the sun and rain are free and plentiful in Hawaii. No insulation needed, no heating or airconditioning if you build it right. Land has dropped down to around 10-15k a lot, but you don't buy there to make a killing. You buy because it's just one killer place to live. Take a look at my photos from '05-06. The lava is slow flowing, so you can outrun it if you happen to fall to the 50/700 year odds of it bubbling up underfoot. And a structure only has to last my lifetime. When I'm gone, I want no trace of me and my carbon footprint to remain. 

I read that the Hawaii government are offering tax rebates for people to convert to solar energy. Apparently only 30,000 people are doing it. With all the sun here it should be a requirement. I'm told that rebates bring the cost down to around $1500. And what about wave power? Put those surfers to work ...



My friend, the artist currently known as Wayne Takazono, has come up with another cool painting in his 'Famous Paintings on Vacation' series. Some will remember me talking about his 'American Gothic' interpretation last year, see below. Above is his latest 'Cherubs' execution. The caption? How about Dear Lord, where the @#$% is the surf? 

To the right is his Moana Lisa, although he doesn't like me referring to it like that. The original is in a North Shore gallery priced at $2500, but you can have an identical print for $29. That's Diamond head in the background, and she's wearing a sarong and sunglasses. 

It would be so easy to make this cheesy, but because Wayne is a master portrait artist, he knows how to do it with the right amount of restraint. 




I bought a couple of prints from him and my sister immediately hijacked them. Great gifts, and no, I'm not taking a commission, I'm just happy he's taking me to the airport and back because there's no cheap way to do it in Hawaii.

In other news, I've been blogging for FastCompany, attempting to write useful business related posts rather than the fanciful drivel you read here. Today I read that Saatchi & Saatchi's annual Big Idea prize ($100k) went to a drinking straw that purifies water. Tres brilliant. Except as I type this the toilet cistern is roaring away, the floating ball thing is clearly off center AGAIN. They can build a spaceship that goes to the moon, a stick of chewing gum that plays 50,000 songs, a straw that purifies water ... why has the humble toilet cistern never gotten past version 2 (version 1 being a hold in the ground covered with leaves).

I propose a contest to fix, once and for all, the plasticky, silly, annoying things in life that are still plasticky, silly and annoying.

Off to Australia March 23 for more downunder hard yakka like this.



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