Cleanest carving | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Cleanest carving | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Wednesday, October 16, 2002

THE LEFT LANE
Cleanest carving

Advertiser staff and news services

There is a way for children to decorate Halloween pumpkins without making a mess: They can do it online. The virtual pumpkin patch at Starfall.com allows kids to choose from a variety of pumpkin shapes and jack o'lantern decorative features that are clicked into place using a computer's mouse.

The Halloween feature is part of the Starfall reading method, which uses games, "speaking" books and short movies to encourage reading. The program was developed by Stephen Schultz, who, with his wife, poet Susan Polis Schultz, founded Blue Mountain Arts Publishing.

Four in the morning

SMITH

After months in flux, CBS' struggling "The Early Show" has announced that it will adopt a four-anchor format that returns Harry Smith to the morning slot and pledged "a more spontaneous broadcast."

Smith was co-anchor of "CBS This Morning" 1987-96, then left the network to host A&E's "Biography" series, which he will continue. He will be joined on "The Early Show" by Hannah Storm, an NBC Sports anchor/reporter for 10 years; Rene Syler, an anchor at CBS-owned Dallas station KTVT; and Julie Chen, the news reader for "The Early Show" since its debut in November 1999.

Chen is the lone holdover from the original "Early Show," which was co-anchored by Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson after CBS spent $30 million to build a new studio near Central Park. The broadcast has never seriously challenged "Today" or "Good Morning America" in the ratings.

TV-product paradise

From Oxi Clean and Space Bags to Nad's No-Heat Hair Removal Gel and Flat Hose, the aptly named As Seen On TV Store at Ala Moana Center sells all those infomercial products you've secretly wanted to try, minus the shipping and handling fees. Among the stuff: Kaboom cleaners, Perfect Pancake, Gopher Pick Up & Reaching Tool, Steam Xpress and Darrin's Dance Grooves on both video and DVD.

Before opening the store Sept. 17, owner Hashem Sharifi's company, Pioneer Promotions Inc., sold the same kinds of products in various stores. Now the company offers a wider selection at the new location, between the food court and the center stage. For details, phone 942-3865.

No time for Emmy

LENO

Jay Leno, king of the late-night ratings and creature of habit, has declined to host the Emmy Awards broadcast because it doesn't fit into his routine. His routine: No. 1: Host the "Tonight Show" No. 2: Tinker with a vast collection of motorcycles and cars. No. 3: Do upwards of 120 off-camera standup gigs a year.

"To do the Emmys," he said, "you need to sort of take the week off before and work on it. Hosting an awards show is one of those jobs where you're either too funny for the room or not funny enough."

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