The Left Lane
Sweet and porky
Advertiser Staff
We might like to think that Spam came to Hawai'i and found a home here, but really, it's just on an extended vacation. The true hometown of the luncheon meat is Austin, a town in chilly Minnesota that's also the headquarters for Spam's maker, Hormel. And that's where, on Sept. 15, a Spam Museum is set to open.
This is no museum in a can, either. The exhibits are being housed in 16,500 square feet of brick. Visitors (there already are frequent tours of the Spam factory by Hawai'i residents) can learn about the role of the "mystery meat" in World War II, play an interactive game show with Spam trivia and participate in a simulated Spam production line. And among the displays: A world map illuminated with recipes from Spam hot spots. Hawai'i is among them, and one of chef Sam Choy's recipes will be immortalized here. It's for Spam musubi, of course.
— Vicki Viotti, Advertiser staff writer
Second hula conference?
Leina'ala Kalama Heine said she can barely set foot anywhere in Hilo this week without being asked a question she can't answer yet: Is there going to be another Ka 'Aha Hula O Halauaola after the world hula conference ends today?
Heine is president of Lalakea Foundation, one of the organizers, who derived the event's name from a legend about conferring new life in the hopes that hula will be reinvigorated. But whether and when such a large event will be repeated remains a matter for discussion.
Leina'ala Kalama Heine was part of organizing the world hula conference.
Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, the conference director, said she has also heard from Mainland participants who want to plan their own series of workshops closer to home. Whatever the decision on the future, the conference leaders are taking all this as a supreme compliment.
— Vicki Viotti, Advertiser Staff Writer
Theater going dark
The Honolulu Academy of Arts theater, site of films and cultural programs, will be closed for renovation Aug. 6-25. New carpeting will be installed, along with lighting and sound improvements, a museum spokesman said.
The facility will reopen at 4 p.m. Aug. 26 with a film from Taiwan, "The Personals." Information: 532-8768.
— Wayne Harada, Advertiser Entertainment Editor
Hairsplitting findings
Women think about their hair almost as much as they think about sex. That's 43 vs. 48 minutes a day, a new poll says. And 20 percent would give up great sex or personal wealth if some genie would grant them eternally perfect hair.
More than three-fifths (65 percent) of women fix their hair in the rearview mirror while driving. And that's after fussing over it at home for an average of 33 minutes a day.
Men's opinions count. Forty-one percent have changed their hairstyles to please a guy.
For the hairsplitters out there, the Yankelovich poll of 1,000 women 18 to 28 years old has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Salon Selectives, a hair products company, sponsored it.
— USA Today
