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Entries tagged with 'Kauai'
Posted Oct. 25, 2007,
Jack Black's Bloody Arm On the Set of Ben Stiller's New Movie Tropic Thunder (Not Co-Starring Owen Wilson)
By Ann Magnuson
Since the winds have died down and firefighters seem to be gaining an edge on the catastrophic wildfires (at least in L.A. County), we can now return to our regularly scheduled programming here in the Land of Make Believe. The photo above is about as much as I was allowed to photograph while visiting the set of Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller's war-movie-parody-blockbuster for Summer 2008 . Most of the film was shot on the island of Kauai where we went on vacation this past July. It is also the Hawaiian island where many celebs frolic and Mr. Stiller has a second home. He told us the island often conjured up images of Vietnam which inspired the script (co-written by the talented Justin Theroux and Ethan Cohen who helped pen Mike Judge's genius movie Idiocracy).
Posted Aug. 2, 2007,
Helicopters (Even in Kauai) Scare the Sh*t Outta Me!
By Ann Magnuson
You can't go to Kauai and NOT take a helicopter ride. But I did during last week's vacation there. That is, NOT take one. (And when I heard the news of those Phoenix telechoppers colliding the day after we returned I was happy I didn't!) However, I could've been talked into it but my significant other decided to pass on it -- too many horror stories of tourists slamming into extinct volcanos. It happens at least once a year.
The reason I might have been persuaded to do so is that even though the very thought of lifting off in one of these whirlybirds induces a tsunami-sized adrenaline rush of fear, I DID take a helicopter tour of Kauai back in 1989 (when I went to "The Garden Isle" with my father and brother). It was the first and last time I've been in a chopper and, scared as I was, it was an exhilerating thrill! And really the only way to really see the island (where Jurassic Park, MIghty Joe Young and the Jessica Lange/ Jeff Bridges version of King Kong were filmed.)
Posted Jul. 30, 2007,
L.A. Woman Back from Hawaiian Dream Vacation
By Ann Magnuson
Aloha! This L.A. Woman is back from vacation on Kauai, a.k.a. "The Garden Isle." I was going to post a series of Hawaiian-themed YouTube nuggets while I was gone but the central PAPER blog station was screwed up the day before we left so... we shall post them after the fact along with highlights from the trip! Needless to say, the island was a slice of Technicolor heaven. Yes, it looked just like it does in this clip from the Elvis Presley classic Blue Hawaii.
There is so much to tell but, honestly, the re-entry into mainland reality has been rather traumatic and so we must keep this short. We're desperately trying to hold onto the serenity we discovered there in the middle of the Pacific... as well as re-live memories of hiking the Na Pali coast, riding horses, eating fresh mangoes, luxuriating on one gorgeous beach after another AND watching things explode while visiting the set of the new Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder. Kauai is doubling for Vietnam in Mr. Stiller's new action/comedy, a send-up of Apocalypse Now (and every Hollywood war movie ever made). But more on that in later postings. For now, allow Elvis to lull us back to Paradise where the tropical island breezes wash away the sins of the world. Oh yeah... we also had a full week of no TV, blogs, internet, cell phones or Lindsay Lohan. What in the hell am I doing back here????