Woods turned into timepieces

We’re lucky to have so many Hawaii-themed products to choose from when buying gifts for friends and family, but after a while the obvious choices can get predictable. Martin & MacArthur has stepped outside that with watches made from island woods.

The timepieces have stainless-steel quartz movements but the cases and adjustable bands are crafted from sandalwood and other varieties. Martin & MacArthur CEO Michael Tam, who wore one at the recent Friends of ‘Iolani Palace garden party, says the wood’s color becomes deeper and richer with wear. Priced from $99 to $160. — John Berger

A taste of honey sweetens toil

Days are long and full of toil for us worker bees, but I sweeten mine up with — what else? — honey. Big Island Bees’ organic Ohia Lehua Blossom honey, to be exact. I use the delicately flavored honey in my morning cup of coffee for just the right amount of sweetness — the perfect way to start a productive day.

It’s available in 9-ounce jars at Whole Foods Market, R. Fields Wine Co. inside Foodland markets on Beretania Street and in Kailua and Aina Haina, where it sells for $8.99, and other specialty stores. Big Island Bees also sells its honey in quarts at Kapiolani Community College’s farmers’ market on first and third Saturdays. Visit www.bigislandbees.com. — Joleen Oshiro

Tags for your bags

These tags will make your luggage stand out in the sea of black suitcases at the baggage carousel and give them a bit of personality. They’re available for $9.99 (plus $3.50 shipping and handling) at pamelabarsky.com, or you can pick them up at Red Pineapple at Ward Centre for $15. Skip the website, though, and you’ll miss other travel-centered gifts with a humorous twist, including a sleep mask ($19.99) that says "Please don’t wake me until we land" on one side and "Please wake me for meals" on the other, and a bag of good-luck charms ($13) that would make the perfect gift for your aunty before she leaves on her next Vegas trip. — Donica Kaneshiro

Maui mochi no ka oi

The Vikings senior softball team of Oahu may have lost its tournament title on Maui this month, but players soothed the agony of defeat with tasty mochi from Maui Specialty Chocolates at 180 E. Wakea Ave., close to Kahului Airport.

Team members were skeptical when one of the player’s wives bought the glutinous rice balls of rich chocolate ganache and chocolate-peanut butter as a consolation prize, but one bite and $300 worth of omiyage later, they proclaimed that business owners Anthony and Valerie Jones had hit it out of the park. Call 871-1222 or e-mail msc@shaka.com. — Allison Schaefers

‘Star Wars’ reimagined

I imagine that 15 seconds is probably a legal length to lift from a commercial movie as "fair use." I imagine also that any 15 seconds from the original "Star Wars" movie — now called "Episode IV — A New Hope" — is pretty much imprinted upon our brains. Which makes it the ideal subject for the www.starwarsuncut.com website. It’s the ultimate fan tribute. Essentially, the entire movie has been dissected into 15-second snippets that fans refilmed any way they wanted, and the segments were reintegrated into a kind of "Star Wars" pastiche. Some of the segments are very high in quality, some show nerds wrapped in gold foil stumbling down college dorm corridors, some feature vegetables as planets and slices of pizza as spaceships. It’s grand, goofy fun, and, above all, a fond tribute to the film’s effect on our imaginations. — Burl Burlingame