---

Hawaii site of 2 ads
during Super Bowl

Hawaii will be an unsung hero of two 30-second television commercials that air during today's Super Bowl broadcast.

Honda will debut its new Ridgeline truck during spots titled "Peaks" to appear at the end of the first quarter and "Buckles" scheduled at the end of the third quarter, according to a media announcement.

Both were shot in mid-January on the Big Island and both culminate with the truck atop a ridge. Scenery in the opening sequence of "Peaks" was enhanced, in a way we'll see today, by special effects company the Orphanage, which also worked on the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."

The voice-over, ending with the line, "Above all, it's a Honda," is done by actor Clancy Brown from the HBO series "Carnivale."

Loopy newsletter

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism apologized for its last "Trade Invest" newsletter Thursday.

The newsletter bore no wardrobe malfunctions or embarrassing typos. It simply announced the department's next mission to China in June, extending an invitation to Hawaii businesses to participate.

However, it was sent -- and sent -- and sent -- from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.

"The server had a software loop in it," apologized Dave Young, the department's information specialist. It was "looping all night" for the 400 people on the newsletter distribution list.

"It wasn't until people started screaming (Thursday) morning," that the department became aware of the problem.

With the first notification, DBEDT's information technology people investigated, found and isolated the problem before 10 a.m., Young said.

As many as 122 of the 214-kilobyte newsletters wound up in some e-mail inboxes.

"We sincerely apologize and ask for electronic forgiveness," Young said. "We hope all of our people we have on that list server also have a sense of humor and can understand the foibles of our technological generation."