The week Trias was eliminated, call volume topped off at 5.9 million calls in two hours. (Call volumes also were high on weeks when fellow Hawai'i finalists Camille Velasco and Jonah Moananu appeared.)

With nary a plumeria adorning any of this year's "Idol" finalists, Verizon Hawaii logged just 336,000 call attempts during the March 22 voting window.

FEAR NO FACTOR

On Monday's "Fear Factor," former WAC soccer star Malia Beter bit into a donut filled with rotten squid, but couldn't wash it down with sour milk. Brian Kenison • NBC

The one-time terror of Western Athletic Conference defenders won $1,000 for picking up three flags in 53 seconds during her first stunt, but was eliminated when she was called on first in the gross-out stunt No. 2. The trouble started when she bit into a donut filled with rotten squid, then quit after failing to wash it down with rotten milk. Only one contestant survived the eating stunt (winning $25,000), so Beter and the other contestants were brought back for the final stunt, walking on a high beam. She completed the task, but in 1:16, 13 seconds behind the winner.

HIFF sets record

The Hawaii International Film Festival's Spring Showcase is enjoying record ticket sales.

More than 2,500 tickets were sold in the first two days, thanks in part to the festival's online ticketing system, conveniently developed by Showcase sponsor Commercial Data Systems.

About 40 percent of tickets for last year's main fall event were ordered online.

"Oldboy," a Korean revenge thriller, is part of the Hawaii International Film Festival. Photo provided by HIFF

Speaking of "Oldboy," the Cannes Film Festival revelation (runner-up to "Fahrenheit 9/11" for the top award), is doing well in very limited release on the Mainland.

The film took in $75,000 in five theaters last week.

Park Chan-wook directed the unsettling thriller about a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years with no explanation (he learns of his wife's murder while trapped in the makeshift prison), only to be released with a money-filled wallet, a mobile phone and five days to figure out why it all happened.

Lead actor Choi Min-sik eats a live octopus on screen if you need another excuse to run to or run from this one.

Bolly high

Local producer Aria Arari is taking her popular Bollywood music show "America Goes Bollywood" from 'Olelo to KIKU.

The new show, renamed "World Music Entertainment," premieres May 29 and will feature the best of music and dance sequences from Bollywood film as well as music videos from the Middle East.

Arari, 30, started "America Goes Bollywood" two years ago as a way to share the Bombay-produced singing and dancing spectacles she loved and to help promote cross-cultural understanding in the wake of 9/11.

"There's a lot of ignorance about the other side of the world," says Arari, who was born in Afghanistan.

Arari's move to KIKU comes at a time when Bollywood productions are finding a larger more appreciative local audience. "Bride and Prejudice," starring Naveen Andrews of "Lost," has enjoyed a long run at the Varsity Theatre and many local fans are looking forward to "Veer-Zara" at the Hawai'i International Film Festival.

Arari is still looking for sponsors for the new show. She's also putting together plans for a documentary that would examine her life in Hawai'i and the life she might have led if her family stayed in Afghanistan.