SATURDAY SCOOPS
Find your feng-shui colors

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Out with the red! Feng shui master Clarence Lau, left, advises Michele Lee that red is an unfavorable color for her because she is a water person. Lau recommends instead blue or black to energize her water element. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

She wasn't surprised when he told her how to arrange the furniture, where to place a fountain and what color to paint the walls. She was a little surprised, however, when he told her that her choice of a black chair was a good thing but a red T-shirt was not.

While red had seemed like a good color for her (her bridesmaids wore it), she always felt it overpowered her (the marriage was short-lived). According to the principles of feng shui, there's a reason for that.

When Lau analyzed Lee's birth year, month, day and time, he informed her that she is a water person. Red is not auspicious for water people.

It's all part of personal feng shui, a practice that is just catching on in the Islands. Based on the belief that each color has its own frequency or wavelength, Lau says a color will send a signal to the eye and then to the brain, triggering an emotion (sadness, happiness, anxiety, calm) or a particular energy (tiredness, vivacity, dullness, creativity).

Each person is born under one of five elements, and these elements determine the individual's most auspicious colors:

1. Fire: red, orange, burgundy, pink, purple.
2. Earth: brown, yellow, off-white, gray.
3. Metal: white, silver, gold, bronze.
4. Water: black, blue.
5. Wood: green, jade.

There are two cycles in the universe, the destructive cycle and the producing or enhancing cycle. Here's the breakdown of the destructive cycle:

• Water puts out fire.
• Fire melts metal.
• Metal cuts wood.
• Wood blocks earth.
• Earth controls water.

And the productive or enhancing cycle:

• Water generates wood.
• Wood makes fire.
• Fire makes earth.
• Earth produces metal.
• Metal condenses water.

It's all about yin and yang, balancing the elements. A water person, such as Lee, should wear blue or black to energize her water element. Silver, gold and white also work for her because metal condenses water. Earth tones are not good because earth blocks water. Red is bad because fire evaporates water.

While in China, personal feng shui has been used for matchmaking, Lau says a modern Western application involves Las Vegas lovers — learning what colors they should wear to court Lady Luck.

For those who want to research their own personal feng shui, Lau recommends "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui" by Elizabeth Moran. Lau warns that the book will give you your "four pillars of destiny," but will not teach you to apply them to your life. For that, he said, you need an expert.

Feng-shui file

Red or black? Water or earth? You, too, can have your personal feng shui analyzed. Consult the experts:

Clarence Lau

• Address: 1707 Kalakaua Ave.
• Phone: 947-4988; cell, 226-3098
• Time required: About 15 minutes
• Cost: $30

Lily Siou

• Address: 1110 University Ave., Suite 308
• Phone: 947-4788
• Time required: One hour
• Cost: $75

Can’t wait for an appointment? Get an introduction to feng shui today by going online to www.wofs.com.

Reach Paula Rath at prath@honoluluadvertiser.com.

'Rings' favored in tomorrow's Oscars

One of the weekend's biggest events is on television: The 76th Academy Awards will be broadcast from 6:30 p.m. tomorrow on KITV, the ABC affiliate in Honolulu (a "Countdown to the Oscars" program begins at 6 p.m.).

The front runner is "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which is nominated for 11 awards, including best picture and best director (Peter Jackson). Billy Crystal will host the awards.

AIDS benefit walk tomorrow still open for registration

It's not too late to take part in tomorrow's Starbucks AIDS Walk for Life 2004, a benefit for the Life Foundation. The five-kilometer walk around Kapi'olani Park begins at 9 a.m. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

Pick up forms at any Starbucks or go online at www.lifefoundation.org. The walk is free, but those who raise $75 or more receive a T-shirt. Bring those donation forms to the registration desk at the bandstand.

There'll also be entertainment, prizes, Starbucks and Jamba Juice samples. And artist Yvonne Cheng will sign the T-shirts and posters that bear her artwork created for the occasion. Organizers say the walk goes on, rain or shine, but if you have doubts, call 375-8743 or 521-2437.

Just out on DVD: 'Spy Kids,' western and Nicolas Cage

And while we're talking about movies, what's new on the DVD shelf this week? If you're looking for recently released films, here they are:

• "Spy Kids 3-D" (Dimension), the alleged final chapter in the family-film series, comes with 3-D glasses, but can be viewed in regular old 2-D as well.
• "My Life Without Me" (Columbia Tristar), has a strong, unsentimental performance by Sarah Polley as a young woman who, upon learning she has cancer, decides to try everything before she dies.
• "The Missing" (Columbia Tristar) is Ron Howard's western thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.
• "Matchstick Men" (Warner), Ridley Scott's entertaining story of an obsessive-compulsive con man trying to make a connection with a teenage daughter he never knew he had, stars Nicolas Cage.

Keep the kids amused indoors with fun Web sites

If the weather outside is frightful, what can one do to keep the weekend delightful? Well, there's always your home computer.

For instance, when we did a Google on "rainy day activities," we came up with, among other sites, the Rainy Day Resource Page for youngsters (www.cpinternet.com/~sarah/). Goodies here include mini lessons on dinosaurs, science experiments such as the Geodesic Gumdrops, arts and crafts (yow! "Edible Peanut Butter Playdough"!), recipes, and you can even e-mail the president of these United States.

Then there's Family Fun, from Disney Online (familyfun.go.com), full of indoor activity ideas such as Bean Mosaics, Haiku Scrolls and Pasta Art. In keeping with Academy Awards fever, there's a section on creating your own Family Movie Night, with recipes (Chocolate Peanut Butter Pizza, Chocolate Toads, Popcorn Balls), movie reviews and activities such as making your own movie-star costume.

Cherry Blossom Festival celebrating in Kapi'olani Park

"Strength in Unity" is the theme of the 52rd annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which is staging its Heritage Fair 9 a.m.-3 p.m. today at the Kapi'olani Park bandstand. It's a family-friendly event that includes kenpo martial-arts demonstrations, taiko, enka (traditional Japanese music), bon dance and mochi-pounding. And there are educational booths, arts and crafts, food and an appearance by Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Heather Suehiro, right, and her court. Admission is free. This event is scheduled to go on, rain or shine, but call 542-5439 if you're wondering.

Reggae and ska part of tonight's nightclub scene

A couple of noteworthy concerts will highlight tonight's musical landscape in the downtown area:

• Sister Nancy, from Kingston, Jamaica, is in the reggae spotlight at Don Ho's at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Born Nancy Russell, she is the sister of Robert Russell, better known as Brigadier Jerry, a top DJ at the dawn of the dancehall era, but is a recording artist and performer in her own right. Doors open at 9 p.m., the band starts up at 10 p.m. Cover charge is $10; for those 21 and older. 528-0807.
• A favorite Island ska band, Go Jimmy Go (below), will be playing just down the street, at Studio 1. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover: $6; for 21 and older. 550-8701.