Off the couch, kids | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Off the couch, kids | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Wednesday, July 24, 2002

THE LEFT LANE
Off the couch, kids

Advertiser Staff and News Services

"Verb" is no longer something kids will hear about only in English class. The federal government has launched a $190 million national campaign to promote physical activity and other positive activities for 9- to 13-year-olds. It's called "VERB: It's What You Do." The message is simple: Verbs are active and kids should be, too, so pick your favorite verb — run, skip, swim, dance, play, volunteer, join clubs — and do it.

"We need to get our children away from PlayStation and onto the playground," said Tommy Thompson, health and human services secretary. The campaign will include ads on TV and in children's magazines. Ironically, given the big sendoff, Congress axed financing for the project in 2003. Activists are trying to get it restored.

No names, please

Recognize this face?

New Line publicists are asking that film critics and journalists who have laughed at the cameos in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" to "zip it" when it comes to their reviews and stories about the film, which opens tomorrow. There's a celebrity's face at almost every turn of the third installment of the Mike Myers movie, and, although a few Internet sites and other places have reported on the high-profile cameos, the studio is trying to maintain the surprise humor.

"Please don't spoil the surprise guest appearances for fans and moviegoers," reads a flyer handed to journalists at a recent screening. It included a photo of Myers' bald Dr. Evil character who's known for telling his son to "zip it" again and again.

He's a 'Somebody'

Mark Allen Mauricio of 'Ewa Beach, who occasionally performs as magician Mark Allen at the Hale Koa hotel, is the winner of The Honolulu Advertiser's "Be Somebody" contest.

His prize: a dinner this week with The Advertiser's Wayne Harada, at 3660 on the Rise, where chef-owner Russell Siu will prepare a special menu. Mauricio also won four tickets to the Lee Cataluna-Keola Beamer original musical, "You Somebody," playing at Diamond Head Theatre; he attended the show last week with his guests.

The contest was triggered by the premise of the play: To what extent would someone go, to be a "somebody"? Or, in context of the musical, what would you do to get a taste of celebrity by getting your name into the "Show Biz" column Harada writes?

The winning entry had poetic merits:

"I'd be O.J.'s live-in house boy,
"I'd be Lorena Bobbit's spouse,
"I would let Mike Tyson bite my ear,
"Intern at the White House.

"I would be nude on 'Survivor,'
"Let my teacher serve her time,
"Wed a millionaire on TV,
"Then I'd say, 'I changed my mind.'

"I would want to be somebody,
"So, the first thing I would do
"Is to write a crazy poem
"Then I'd hand it in to you."

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