Shmee.Me

As many of you may have noticed, Shmee.me has been silent as of late, and that is because I have been on vacation, and as you may have seen in the title I was/am in Kauai. It has been a great trip to the Garden Island, and I am going to give you some “Best of”s.

Best Snorkeling: Ke’e Beach

Ke’e beach is great (pictured above)! Tons of sand and shade, plus it has a large protective reef around it, so it is safe to swim in. The reef is full of fish and coral, and for the most part is only waist deep, so being a strong swimmer is not necessary. The fish are used to people, so they come right up to you and beg for food like dogs, but sadly for them, I am cheap and never brought any food.

Fun story about one of our trips to Ke’e. We went there on stormy day and there were twenty foot swells beyond the reef, but some ocean kayakers decided it would be a good place to come in at, and like most times when you make a mistake: you pay for it. They got pummeled against the reef, but luckily they paid for their ignorance with cuts and bruises and a good story, but they gave the life guards a good scare.

The beach is easy to find since it is literally at the end of the highway. Just head north and when the road stops you are there.

Best Adventure: Princeville Ranch Adventures: Zip and Dip

This was my first time zip-lining, but it probably will not be my last. It was a blast! There are nine zip-lines, and towards the end there is a nice swimming hole to cool off in with a small ledge to jump off.

The guides were a ton of fun, and kept everyone in good spirits. The views as the guides put it are Jurassic Park, and Tropic Thunder, but after the long hot day of hiking and zipping, the lagoon to swim in was the best part.

Best Fish Taco: Happy Taco

Happy Taco is a truck in Kapa’a, but their fish tacos are wonderful. With big chunks of ahi tuna, and some sort of sauce all for $3, and if you get two, you get free rice and beans!

Best Restaurant with a View: The Beach House

The view from The Beach House is unreal, and all the surfers coming in with the sun setting it doesn’t get more Hawaii than that. Duke’s was in the running and it may have had better food, but if you want a view with your expensive tropical drink (well expensive everything really), there is none better than The Beach House.

Best (And Only) Luau: Smith’s Family Luau

This award isn’t fair since it is the only Luau we went too, but food was really good, and they put on a decent show. I only wish that they had better seats for the show because the padded bleachers get uncomfortable real quick, especially after I stuffed myself on the all you can eat buffet and bar.

Best Surf: Hanalei Bay

The surf in Hanalei is perfect. The waves keep coming in just like clockwork. Not to big, and not to small. Though every now and then a monster wave would come in and destroy me, but it is part of the fun, and a good way to prove the worth of my Waviator floating sunglasses! The rip tide can be strong here, so don’t go too far out in to the water unless you are a strong swimmer.

Best Tourist Trap: Hanalei Town

My wife loved it there and it is easy to see why. Cute shops and restaurants all framed in by Kauai’s famous giant cliffs. My wife would love to spend our next trip to Kauai exclusively in this little town. I have no objections (my wallet might).

Best Hiking: Everywhere

HA! I have no reviews on Kauai’s legendary hiking because if you know me, you that hiking is not a thing that I like to do, but if you are a hiker you will have fun in Kauai, but I would rather be snorkeling, but to each their own I suppose (but I am in the right here).

It was a wonderful trip, and it saddens me to leave it tomorrow, but as they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I just hope that it is not a long absence.

I was reading a report about this summer’s box office busts and a surprising title was listed: Pacific Rim. True Pacific Rim did not light up the North American box office, but it made over $400 Million world wide in box office receipts, so I have decided to dig in to this number a little more and see what it means to truly decide if Pacific Rim was a bust or not.

First off lets break apart that $400 million. Just over $100 million came from North America, and about $110 million came from China. The remaining $190 million from the rest of the world. In most parts of the world the studios take 60% of the receipt price with the remaining 40% going to the theater, but in China the studios only take in 25%. This is because piracy is rampant in China, so the ticket price has to be low for people to go to the movies. Over all Legendary/Warner Bros took in $174 million from most of the world, and only $27.5 million from China, but still that is $201.5 million, not bad for a box office bust, but there is still more to dig in too.

The budget for the movie is estimated at $190 million. That means the studio has only cleared $11.5 million, and of that they are still probably paying for the advertising costs which are usually about a quarter the budget of the film, so in this case it would be about $50 million, so the studios are still in the hole about $38.5 million dollars. That sounds bad, but there is still money on the table.

The movie has yet to come out on home video. This used to be a major earner for films, but as streaming video and the internet has taken off, fewer people are ponying up for the price of a DVD or Blu-Ray. Still, $38.5 is well within reach, and they still get to sell the TV rights to various TV stations around the world, plus random merchandising like comic books, t-shirts, and toys. This movie will make a small amount of money, and considering the make or break nature of the film business, I bet a lot of executives are happy about that.

But the major money maker is still to come: the sequel. Very rarely does the first movie in a franchise make tons of money. Batman Begins only took in $375 million world wide, and sure that was eight years ago, and it didn’t have the China tax, but still had they stopped there Warner Bros would have walked away from billions. The reason is, as much as people complain about sequels and the lack of creativity, they like a sure thing. Once a movie has proven it is good and worth their money usually the second and third movies make bank.

In the end I think Pacific Rim was a success, critically and financially, and it makes sense why Guillermo del Toro is talking sequel, so if anyone else wants to call Pacific Rim a bust they should look at the numbers first.

Month: September 2013

Kauai Wrap-Up!

When is a Movie a Success?