THE LEFT LANE
Postal Service gets into party mood

To obtain first-day official postmarks of the "Happy Birthday" stamp, call (800) STAMP-24, toll free. The Postal Service also will provide a comprehensive catalog. In addition you can visit its online store at usps.com.

You can ride across the rolling ranchlands of Waimea on the Big Island ... or you can take a balloon ride. Parker Ranch and Paradise Balloons have joined forces for the "Paniolo Paluna over Parker Ranch" adventure. (In Hawaiian, paniolo is cowboy, and paluna is balloon.) Three hot air balloons, sporting Hawaiian designs, float above the ranch every morning, weather and winds permitting, with up to 16 passengers on one-hour rides. A champagne brunch follows. The novel experience doesn't come cheap, though: $240 for adults, $190 for children ages 12 and younger. Reservations required, (866) 887-6455 or visit parkerranch.com.

Star with Bruce Willis

A casting call for a Bruce Willis movie was canceled two weeks ago, but the rescheduled call promises to be the real deal. In "Man of War," a $70 million movie scheduled to film here from March through July, O'ahu will double as site of a West African village where Willis' character is sent to rescue an American doctor before civil war reaches her. The doctor (Italian actress Monica Bellucci) refuses to leave unless villagers are evacuated, too.

The project will need up to 3,500 extras. Among the "types" needed: West African men, women, children; military personnel, male and female, of all ethnicities; others to play a variety of roles, from guards to hotel employees.

O'ahu auditions will be from 2 to 7 p.m. today, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow, at the Renaissance 'Ilikai Hotel. Call 949-3811.

Big Island tryouts will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Naniloa Resort. Call (808) 969-3333.

Kaua'i auditions will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. Call (808) 823-6000.

Maui sessions will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Outrigger Wailea Resort. Call (808) 879-1922.

Information hotline: 593-3737.

BASS: Plans to make more movies

The transition of Lance Bass from boy-band singer to movie star in "On the Line" was bad enough that critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper named the film one of "Worst of 2001." But when confronted at the People's Choice Awards, where his band 'N Sync was accepting the award for favorite band or musical group, Bass was blissfully unaware of Ebert and Roeper's dissing. "I plan to do more movies, and I love it," he declared.