The Left Lane
Keeping paper boats afloat

Paper Boats" (Chronicle Books, $18.95 paperback) by Jerry Roberts of New York. It includes not only the lore behind 18 real-life boats, but provides

"waterproof" paper cut-outs, vividly drawn and colored by English artist Willy Bullock, to enable you to build your own in style.

HBO passes on 'Lessons Learned'

Donne Dawson, manager for the Hawai'i Film Office, said HBO has decided not to pick up "Lessons Learned," a Vietnam War-era dramatic series whose pilot was filmed on a Maunawili banana farm.

The series' $4 million pilot had been written by Patrick Shane Duncan, who penned "Courage Under Fire" and "Mr. Holland's Opus." Duncan had planned to direct the series. There had been hopes that the series would be picked up for another 12 hour-long episodes by the premium cable network.

Mara Mikialian, HBO's vice president of program publicity, confirmed that the decision was purely a programming one, not related to strike talk or — especially — the chance to work in Hawai'i.

Destiny's Child, Jenny McCarthy, 98 Degrees and 'NSYNC may make their living off their sexy images, but soon they'll be among the celebrities doing public announcements for what some might consider an incongruent cause: preventing teenage pregnancy.

Sponsored by The Candie's Foundation, the ads will appear this fall in lifestyle magazines such as Teen People, YM, CosmoGirl, InStyle and Honey. The messages will include "be independent — don't depend on him" and "be sexy — it doesn't mean you have to have sex."

'Island Weddings' has debut tomorrow

"Island Weddings" — a local TV production that's part how-to show and part infomercial — airs its pilot in the Islands tomorrow, with its creators hoping one day to go national and international.

The show, which consists of short segments about Hawai'i bridal salons, caterers, florists and other wedding vendors, is produced by inspirational/ family station KWHE-14. Because the vendors buy the air time, they are portrayed in a flattering light. See it in Honolulu on broadcast channel 14, Oceanic channel 11 and GTE Americast channel 11; on Maui, broadcast channel 21 and Hawaiian Cablevision channel 3; and in Hilo, broadcast channel 14 and Hawaiian Cablevision channel 11, all repeating four times a month on Saturdays.