THE LEFT LANE
Tunes for planning a schlock-free wedding

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Songs the men's Internet mag says pass the muster? "Call and Answer" (Barenaked Ladies), "I Belong To You" (Lenny Kravitz), "By Your Side" (Sade), "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" (Bryan Adams), "She" (Elvis Costello), "And I Love Her" (The Beatles), "Knocks Me Off My Feet" (Stevie Wonder), "It Had To Be You" (Harry Connick Jr.), "You're Just Too Good To Be True" (Lauryn Hill) and "When I Fall In Love" (Nat King Cole).

The author admits some songs that passed still have a high cheese factor, but as in the case of Costello, "the originality of expression more than makes up for it."

Meet the directors; see their films

You can meet two Hawai'i movie-makers in a pair of upcoming Art House screening-related appearances this week and next at Restaurant Row.

David L. Cunningham, who directed "To End All Wars" on Kaua'i, in Scotland and Thailand in 2000, will appear at Sunset Grill's outdoor patio, from 5 to 7 p.m. tomorrow, before the 7 p.m. screening of his World War II film about a British prisoner of war who survived cruel treatment by the Japanese while building a railroad in the jungles of Burma. The film, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Robert Carlyle, Ciaran McMenamin, Masayuki Yui, continues at The Art House through July 10. It made its island debut in 2001 at the Hawai'i International Film Festival.

Eric Byler, the Hawai'i-born director of "Charlotte Sometimes" and a hit at film festival showings including the 2002 HIFF event, will appear in a question-and-answer session from 5 to 7 p.m. July 11 at the Meritage restaurant, before a screening of his film, which opens at the theater that evening.

Answers for kids about U.S. history

"Don't Know Much About American History" (HarperCollins) by Kenneth C. Davis can be a good place to start.

The book, written at a reading level for 8- to 12-year-olds, is organized by questions — and their answers — in chronological order.

For example: Who were the pilgrims?

"The pilgrims were part of a religious group of men and women called Puritans," the book explains.