Hawaii
Board needs
some new digsTHE Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Neighborhood Board is being displaced from its Ala Wai Clubhouse meeting site by a ballroom dance group. This makes the board a bit more disgruntled than usual. A Star-Bulletin story reports board members are afraid fewer people will attend meetings. One might feel more sorry for them except that they don't always recognize people when they do show up. Mike Palcic, for example. At the August meeting they ruled that he was not present at the June meeting, even though he'd signed in. According to Palcic, board chairwoman Karen Ah Mai instructed the board that technically, if he were there for even a minute and signed in, he had to be considered present. She then turned around and voted with the majority that he wasn't there. Said Palcic, "You should have heard the hollerin'." ...
YET another island beauty queen is going to be on national television tomorrow. Aureana Tseu, Miss Hawaii Teen USA, will be representing Hawaii at the national pageant in Shreveport, La., to be aired at 8 p.m. (same day tape) on KGMB-TV. Aureana, an honors student at Kamehameha, speaks conversational Hawaiian and has traveled all over the world promoting the culture of Hawaii through song and dance ...
Life imitates art
BEFORE attending the wedding of Hollywood agent Adam Venit and Trina Young at the Lodge at Koele on Lanai, some of the actors on hand gathered for a round of cigars and clay shooting at Lanai Pine Sporting Clays. For David Spade it was "Just (Don't!) Shoot Me," and avoiding hazards on the golf course was Adam Sandler, who had no intention of being called "Water Boy." Neither was he "The Wedding Singer," as a violin and cello accompanied the outdoor nuptials. Lisa Kudrow was there making new "Friends," as was big screen "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Kristy Swanson, and Peter Strauss avoiding waltzes at all costs ...
Get rich slowly
HANDS down, the dumbest quiz show ever to find its way to the tube -- in prime time, yet! -- was the Regis Philbin turkey for people who want to become millionaires. I watched one episode, more or less in awe, as the contestant had to guess which of four choices was correct on a multiple-choice question. He wasn't sure, so they simply eliminated two wrong answers. Faced with 50-50 odds, he was still stumped, so they polled the audience to get their guess. He remained skeptical of their selection, so Philbin allowed him to call anyone in America he wanted to ask for the answer. He selected his father-in-law. The call was placed and the guy didn't know, but guessed. The contestant probably ruined his home life by voting against his wife's dad, but it turned out he was right. The whole process took so much time, they had to hold it over to the next day, making the amount of money potentially given away more difficult to come by. It's impossible, if you live in Hawaii or Alaska, to call the 1-900 number (which costs would-be players, helping build the pot, no doubt) which only allows calls from the 48 contiguous states. And if you don't know what "contiguous" means, I'll give you numerous guesses, but no money ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com