Honolulu Lite Charles Memminger

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Lite notebook filled with TV, rats and joy

WELCOME to Honolulu Lite Tuesday Notebook (wherein we display, discuss, dissemble, disseminate and/or disavow various items of possible disinterest to discerning readers):

» "I am looking for your cooperation in building a Tourist Hotel or Real Estate in your country. I need an experienced person like you to set up, develop the project." That's part of an e-mail I received from a Mr. James Smith, one of the few people in the world who recognize my expertise in building tourist hotels and, more important, building Real Estate. Some folks would laugh off this e-mail as a version of the "Nigerian banking scam" in which someone is merely trying to take my money. Hah! I have no money! But Mr. Smith knows I'm an expert at building Real Estate. As soon as he sends me $1 million (U.S., not euros, Mr. Smith), I'm going to start building a Real Estate or two.

» Rats will be the next hot pet for kids, according to Emily Boak, PR flack for some magazine whose name escapes me.

"Like the craze for clown fish after "Finding Nemo," don't be surprised if the next thing your child wants to bring home is a pet rat!" she wrote me. That's allegedly because the Pixar movie "Ratatouille" stars a rat who wants to be a French chef. She lists all the great things about pet rats, like "they do tricks and love attention." Right. I like the trick rats did during the 1300s in Europe. What was it called? Oh, yeah, the Black Death. The plague got rats lots of attention. Hey, if that groundbreaking rat movie "Ben" (with the creepy title song by Michael Jackson) didn't get kids wanting rats for pets, I doubt a cartoon French chef rat will.

» One of the weirdest yet strangely enjoyable shows on TV now is HBO's "John from Cincinnati." It's almost impossible to describe other than it is set in a California surfing town, has frequent references to Hawaii and involves a mysterious visitor who is either Jesus, the devil or an alien who most definitely isn't from Cincinnati. It's produced by the people who made "Deadwood," and it's just as quirky. If you miss "Deadwood" (including some of the same actors), drop in on this metaphysical Endless Stunner.

» Critics also are raving about the NEXT hot summer TV series, "Mad Men." It's set in the 1960s world of Madison Avenue advertising, but it has a Hawaii connection. Two of its writers, Andre and Maria Jacquemetton, also wrote for "Baywatch Hawaii." The husband-and-wife writing team was extremely kind to me when I joined the "Baywatch" writing staff, even though the show was canceled 12 weeks after I was hired. See Andre and Maria in the documentary "The Making of Mad Men," airing this week on AMC, Oceanic Channel 42.

» It is nice to know we can still find amazement and joy in this cynical world. I found them in an utterly glorious online video clip KHON anchor Joe Moore e-mailed me. Check it out at www.biertijd.com/ mediaplayer/?itemid=3193. It takes a few minutes to play, but the results are breathtaking.