Hawaii keiki showcase artistic talents in ‘Sew a lei for Memorial Day' poster contest
More than 40 K-12 students from schools around the island participated in the contest led by the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Kawaii Kon returns to Hawaii Convention Center for 20th anniversary
Officials gave a special shoutout to Hōkūlani, Hanalani, 'Ewa Makai Middle and Kailua Intermediate schools for their support and contributions to the contest.
Thirteen keiki were recognized for their creative talents and will have their artwork featured on Memorial Day publications and posted within Kapolei Hale.
The top three winners from each age category will be recognized by Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Honolulu City Council and Councilmember Andria Tupola during an award ceremony in April.The contest kickstarts DPR's statewide initiative to sew and gather 38,000 lei for those buried at Pūowaina for Memorial Day.
Pūowaina holds significant importance as it was designated the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific after the first Memorial Day Ceremony was hosted in 1949.
Since then, the City committed to placing fresh lei on each of the 38,000 graves for service members who reside at the cemetery.
Check out more news from around Hawaii
DPR will begin lei sewing events the morning of Friday, May 23 with locations and times to be announced on the Mayor's Memorial Day Ceremony website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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NBC Sports
a day ago
- NBC Sports
Big Shield, available now
Here's the thing about having a stack of unfinished manuscripts. At some point, each one needs to have its ass kicked out of the nest. Big Shield gets its big shove today. The pre-orders were surprisingly solid. I have no idea whether anyone will like it. I'm too close to it to know whether it's any good. I've read it at least twenty times. Refined it. Added to it. Subtracted from it. It's ultimately a word-by-word exercise in reading and re-reading and re-re-reading with no clear ending point other than deciding one day that it has to end. On the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, the first thing I thought when I woke up (other than, 'I need to piss') was that it's time for Big Shield to leave the logjam. It has officially exited, joining Father of Mine, Son of Mine, and On Our Way Home. You can get the Big Shield ebook for only 99 cents. It's stupid, I know, to sell it for so little. I don't care about the money. (I really don't.) PFT pays the bills. I like having a creative outlet to balance out the endless stream of (as Simms calls it) copy/paste/snarky comment about football. Big Shield is the first one about football. Pro football (but for legal reasons not the NFL). Football, gambling, the mob. The goal is to tell a good story, with circumstances that seem realistic and dialogue that rings true. Conflict. Tension. Twists. Turns. An ending that is surprising but, in hindsight, inevitable. Big Shield has all of that. I hope you'll give it a try. I hope you'll like it. If you do, I hope you'll check out one of the other three. I hope you'll anticipate the next one. And the next one. And the next one. Currently, there are six others stuck in the hopper, and a seventh one is under construction. (There's also a short story that scared the shit out of me as I was writing it; I'm still figuring out what to do with that one.) The goal is 20 novels. If I get to 20, I'll probably go for 30. At some point over the past five years, writing became part of the routine, the same as doing PFT Live every weekday morning and then looking for things to write about here until I unplug from the real world around nine o'clock and spend a couple of hours in the strange realm of make believe. I never have writer's block. I start typing, and the words roll out. When it gets going, there's a trance that's as potent as any liquor or drug. And probably as addictive. I'll keep writing because it's fun. Hopefully, it's fun for you to read what I've written. I hope you will. I enjoy hearing from people who found themselves whisked away to a different time, different place. Wanting to know what happens next. Caring about characters who don't exist but who seem very real. If you haven't read anything I've written (other than the stuff you read here), Big Shield is the perfect place to start. Especially since, at 99 cents, I'm basically giving it away.

Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business Insider
Alex Warren's 'Ordinary' actually is the song of the summer — but nobody wants to admit it
Where is this year's song of the summer? It's the question that's haunted road trippers and pool partiers for months now. But like so many low-stakes mysteries, the answer has been hiding in plain sight (or, in this case, earshot) all along. If we're going with cold, hard facts — Billboard chart data — there's one song that's dominated the airwaves as the weather has warmed. It's just that a soaring love ballad a 24-year-old TikToker wrote about his wife is not exactly the ideal soundtrack for your day at the beach. Released in February, Alex Warren's "Ordinary" took a few months to take off, becoming a bona fide commercial juggernaut by June, when it ascended to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's remained atop the all-genre chart for nine weeks so far, and continues to dominate Billboard's Songs of the Summer chart, where it hasn't budged from its No. 1 position since Memorial Day. Though it makes every attempt to sound momentous, "Ordinary" is a love song that's true to its name. Dedicated to Warren's wife, Kouvr Annon, the song uses vaguely spiritual lyrics to describe their connection. His vocals backed by hymnal echoes and a pounding drum line, Warren insists "the angels up in the clouds are jealous" of his marital bliss and compares his wife to a sanctuary, a vineyard, and a sculptor. If the song's theme of divine love wasn't clear enough, the couple also costars in the music video, and Warren later released a "wedding version" of the song paired with footage from their real-life nuptials. That the song is generically gooey has worked to its advantage in the airplay department. "Ordinary" owes much of its longevity to companies like iHeartMedia, America's biggest radio network, which allocates tens of thousands of spins to the song each week. In its most recent week atop the Hot 100, "Ordinary" tallied over 73 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to Billboard, compared to only 12.4 million streams and 6,000 copies sold. The song's lack of specificity also makes it a broadly appealing soundtrack for lovey-dovey moments on TikTok, where both versions of "Ordinary" have been used in millions of videos with billions of cumulative views. Annon's own uses of the song, usually featuring sweet moments with Warren, frequently collect over 1 million likes. Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. Continue By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Call it the home court advantage: As a former YouTuber who joined Hype House, a flashy collective for big-name TikTokers, in 2020, Warren learned and then perfected the art of getting engagement. He and Annon briefly lived in the Los Angeles mansion together, constantly creating content, orchestrating David Dobrik-style pranks, and sharing glimpses of their lives together; Warren described the experience as "college, but for social media." "It helped me learn how to create content that resonates with an audience and can captivate people," he told Variety. Warren's self-conscious positioning as America's top new "wife guy" offers the media a tidy narrative to push while reporting on the song's success — and helps cement "Ordinary" as a favorite song choice for romantic montages and relationship content across the internet. But the differential between the song's commercial utility and its artistic value has perplexed critics and fans alike. "Genuinely WHO is listening to this," reads a recent tweet with over 27,000 likes. Even r/popheads, a Reddit community for recreational pop scholars whose self-appointed mission is to take the merits of the genre seriously, is full of cold contempt for the song's dominance. "I don't think you can deeply hate the song by itself," one commenter wrote, "because it's so fucking boring." Rolling Stone's Larisha Paul coined the phrase "'The Voice' Audition Core" to characterize the musical formula that "Ordinary" follows: ideal for soundtracking a throwaway emotional moment on reality TV, but devoid of any real personality. Indeed, Warren performed the song on the "Love Is Blind" season eight reunion special, slotting easily into a generic vision of happily ever after literally accompanied by a montage of couples. genuinely WHO is listening to this — kaitlyn⋆. 𐙚 ˚ (@kateawaycar) August 4, 2025 Still, there's no denying that "Ordinary" is the summer's defining hit. Remaining atop the Hot 100 for over two months is no small feat, and even as late-season challengers have emerged — most recently in the form of a fictional K-pop group from a Netflix film — there isn't enough time before the autumnal equinox for another song to challenge Warren's reign. It's just a shame that many excellent summertime jams actually have been released this year, they just lacked the radio push or market power to challenge "Ordinary" at the top of the charts. Addison Rae is Warren's fellow former TikToker-turned-singer, but the similarities end there; her cool-girl collaborators and creative curiosity resulted in a debut album, "Addison," that toes the line between nostalgic and eccentric. (The appropriately named "Summer Forever" is a standout.) Lorde's latest album, "Virgin," includes gems like "Shapeshifter" and "Favorite Daughter," which wrap arresting lyrics in melodic, highly accessible packages, the ghost of last year's " Brat summer" hovering on the margins. Care for something a little less personal, a little more irreverent? Tinashe and Disco Lines have you covered with the freshly remixed "No Broke Boys." And forget song of the summer, Haim's "Relationships" may be the song of the year. Danielle Haim and her sisters manage to spin the agony of indecision into flippant, funky magic. As the season winds down, a new Taylor Swift album draws closer, and the charts begin to change shape, may "Ordinary" serve as a reminder that summer trends may disappoint or underwhelm — but they never last forever.

Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business Insider
Alex Warren's 'Ordinary' actually is the song of the summer, but nobody wants to admit it
Where is this year's song of the summer? It's the question that's haunted road trippers and pool partiers for months now. But like so many low-stakes mysteries, the answer has been hiding in plain sight (or, in this case, earshot) all along. If we're going with cold, hard facts — Billboard chart data — there's one song that's dominated the airwaves as the weather has warmed. It's just that a soaring love ballad a 24-year-old TikToker wrote about his wife is not exactly the ideal soundtrack for your day at the beach. Released in February, Alex Warren's "Ordinary" took a few months to take off, becoming a bona fide commercial juggernaut by June, when it ascended to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's remained atop the all-genre chart for nine weeks so far, and continues to dominate Billboard's Songs of the Summer chart, where it hasn't budged from its No. 1 position since Memorial Day. Though it makes every attempt to sound momentous, "Ordinary" is a love song that's true to its name. Dedicated to Warren's wife, Kouvr Annon, the song uses vaguely spiritual lyrics to describe their connection. His vocals backed by hymnal echoes and a pounding drum line, Warren insists "the angels up in the clouds are jealous" of his marital bliss and compares his wife to a sanctuary, a vineyard, and a sculptor. If the song's theme of divine love wasn't clear enough, the couple also costars in the music video, and Warren later released a "wedding version" of the song paired with footage from their real-life nuptials. That the song is generically gooey has worked to its advantage in the airplay department. "Ordinary" owes much of its longevity to companies like iHeartMedia, America's biggest radio network, which allocates tens of thousands of spins to the song each week. In its most recent week atop the Hot 100, "Ordinary" tallied over 73 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to Billboard, compared to only 12.4 million streams and 6,000 copies sold. The song's lack of specificity also makes it a broadly appealing soundtrack for lovey-dovey moments on TikTok, where both versions of "Ordinary" have been used in millions of videos with billions of cumulative views. Annon's own uses of the song, usually featuring sweet moments with Warren, frequently collect over 1 million likes. Call it the home court advantage: As a former YouTuber who joined Hype House, a flashy collective for big-name TikTokers, in 2020, Warren learned and then perfected the art of getting engagement. He and Annon briefly lived in the Los Angeles mansion together, constantly creating content, orchestrating David Dobrik-style pranks, and sharing glimpses of their lives together; Warren described the experience as "college, but for social media." "It helped me learn how to create content that resonates with an audience and can captivate people," he told Variety. Warren's self-conscious positioning as America's top new "wife guy" offers the media a tidy narrative to push while reporting on the song's success — and helps cement "Ordinary" as a favorite song choice for romantic montages and relationship content across the internet. But the differential between the song's commercial utility and its artistic value has perplexed critics and fans alike. "Genuinely WHO is listening to this," reads a recent tweet with over 27,000 likes. Even r/popheads, a Reddit community for recreational pop scholars whose self-appointed mission is to take the merits of the genre seriously, is full of cold contempt for the song's dominance. "I don't think you can deeply hate the song by itself," one commenter wrote, "because it's so fucking boring." Rolling Stone's Larisha Paul coined the phrase "'The Voice' Audition Core" to characterize the musical formula that "Ordinary" follows: ideal for soundtracking a throwaway emotional moment on reality TV, but devoid of any real personality. Indeed, Warren performed the song on the "Love Is Blind" season eight reunion special, slotting easily into a generic vision of happily ever after literally accompanied by a montage of couples. genuinely WHO is listening to this — kaitlyn⋆. 𐙚 ˚ (@kateawaycar) August 4, 2025 Still, there's no denying that "Ordinary" is the summer's defining hit. Remaining atop the Hot 100 for over two months is no small feat, and even as late-season challengers have emerged — most recently in the form of a fictional K-pop group from a Netflix film — there isn't enough time before the autumnal equinox for another song to challenge Warren's reign. It's just a shame that many excellent summertime jams actually have been released this year, they just lacked the radio push or market power to challenge "Ordinary" at the top of the charts. Addison Rae is Warren's fellow former TikToker-turned-singer, but the similarities end there; her cool-girl collaborators and creative curiosity resulted in a debut album, "Addison," that toes the line between nostalgic and eccentric. (The appropriately named "Summer Forever" is a standout.) Lorde's latest album, "Virgin," includes gems like "Shapeshifter" and "Favorite Daughter," which wrap arresting lyrics in melodic, highly accessible packages, the ghost of last year's " Brat summer" hovering on the margins. Care for something a little less personal, a little more irreverent? Tinashe and Disco Lines have you covered with the freshly remixed "No Broke Boys." And forget song of the summer, Haim's "Relationships" may be the song of the year. Danielle Haim and her sisters manage to spin the agony of indecision into flippant, funky magic. As the season winds down, a new Taylor Swift album draws closer, and the charts begin to change shape, may "Ordinary" serve as a reminder that summer trends may disappoint or underwhelm — but they never last forever.