It’s cool that ocean water can keep us cool

Never thought of low temperatures as one of Hawaii’s natural resources. But under the deep blue sea it is quite chilly, and it’s great to hear that Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning LLC has hired Seattle’s Frank Coluccio Construction Co. to start laying the pipes on its long-awaited seawater air-conditioning project.

The magical ingredient in this fairly simple concept is proximity: A lot of high-rise downtown Honolulu buildings are located fairly close to the chilled H2O, with the sea floor plunging to a depth of 1,700 feet off Kakaako’s shoreline. How cool is that?

A mere $12 will get you to a foreign country, sort of

The greatest thing about the annual Hawaii International Film Festival, which starts Thursday and runs through Oct. 21, is that you get to see films from all over the world. It’s a way to travel and learn about other places and cultures without actually going anywhere, except to the theater houses in Honolulu where the films are being shown (the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18, Hawaii Theatre and the Doris Duke Theatre).

It’s cheaper than traveling abroad, too: $12 each to see movies from Japan, Australia, China, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Germany, Sweden, and even the good old United States. For more information, call 477-0577 or go online to hiff.org. Happy traveling.