THE LEFT LANE
Your ultimate reality: Win $1 billion on TV

Advertiser Staff and News Services

So, do you want to be a billionaire?

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" producer Michael Davies and the WB network are collaborating with Pepsi-Cola on a TV game in September that could bring someone a billion dollars.

The plans, reported in Monday's Variety, were confirmed by two executives close to the deal.

One thousand contestants will qualify for the game by purchasing marked Pepsi products next summer. They will be whittled down to one winner through what is being described as a game of nerve. The winner, as part of a two-hour live special, will have the chance at the largest prize in television history.

Though there's no guarantee that there will be a $1 billion winner, Variety said Pepsi is talking to insurers in case someone takes the prize.

More thoughts from the Rev. Paul Osumi

Island dancer to join 'The Lion King' tour

Audrey Renee Wicklund of Manoa will join the national tour of the Disney musical "The Lion King."

She was selected by Mark Brandon of Binder Casting, which held auditions here last October for singers, actors and dancers.

Wicklund, who taught dance at Iolani School last year, has appeared with the University of Hawai'i, the Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy, Big City Productions and 24/7 DanceForce, among other groups.

Samurai novel being spun into new forms

Meanwhile, Matsuoka reports, he is mopping up commas and semicolons on the sequel and just got a look at the book cover, which he likes even better than the first. The second book focuses on descendants of "Sparrows" characters Lord Genji and his lover, the beautiful (but not always scrupulously honest) geisha Heiko.