The Left Lane

Advertiser Staff

The mom deal

A recent DealTime survey of Americans reveals a little about our attitudes toward Mother's Day:

• Asked what their ideal Mother's Day gift would be if money wasn't an object, the majority of moms surveyed (42 percent) selected paying off the mortgage over a spa day, expensive jewels or Ricky Martin as maid for a day.

• Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said they would buy a Mother's Day gift online.

• Mrs. Cunningham from "Happy Days" was chosen as favorite TV mom (by 25 percent), followed by Mrs. Brady from "The Brady Bunch" (16 percent).

Salon Selectives asked the question and Americans answered: Which actress would look most beautiful, even if she were bald?

Thirty-two percent of those surveyed said Julia Roberts. Others included:

Ashley Judd — 28 percent
Angelina Jolie — 18 percent
Drew Barrymore — 11 percent
Kate Hudson — 6 percent

Talent call

So you want to sing on the same bill as the Makaha Sons?

You can, if you're the winner of the Battle of the Bash, a talent search now under way, open to musical groups and soloists, who will win an opening slot on the May 27 Makaha Bash at the Waikiki Shell, as well as a Tropical Music CD single recording contract.

The contest is open to amateurs and professionals ages 19 or older, who must be a Hawai'i resident. A cassette or CD must be submitted, along with an entry form (available at KCCN/KINE radio).

Submissions of the recorded music are due by 5 p.m. Friday at KCCN/KINE or mailed to Mt. Kalihi Productions, P.O. Box 1494, Honolulu HI, 96806-1494. Finalists will be selected by a panel of judges, with a runoff set from 6 to 8 p.m. May 11 at the Ocean Club at Restaurant Row.

Wind talking

"Windtalkers," John Woo's action flick partly shot in Hawai'i, has been set for national release on Nov. 9, to coincide with Veteran's Day.

The film about Navajo soldiers who used their unwritten language to protect and transmit Allied secrets stars two guys who aren't strangers to the genre — Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater — as well as indie fave Mark Ruffalo.

Although both MGM's "Windtalkers" and Disney's "Pearl Harbor" are set in World War II and feature big budgets and even bigger names, it wasn't the fear of going head-to-head as war spectacles that has their release dates so far apart. The film is still in post-production; Woo has yet to show MGM a finished "Windtalkers," though the dailies and script seem to be strong, according to some who've seen it.

Could the fall date portend an Oscar run? No one will say until screenings begin in early summer.