The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 41

2ffie JPfitlaklpfitaKngmrer Section Family Life When scandal becomes too much, there's a way to make it all disappear. Lucia Herndon, D3. Fringe Festival events blur boundaries. D4. Ann Landers D2 Comics D10 In Performance D4 Ms.

Demeanor .02 Personal Briefing D9 Prime-Time TV Grid D8 Radio Highlights 09 Weekend Box Office 05 Lifestyle Entertainment Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Philadelphia Online: http:www.phillynews.com Mike Gaynor, the coach of the Little League World Series champions from Toms River, has thrived by keeping things in perspective: "It's all about the kids and having fun." HAVING ike Gaynor is proud of lilai what his teara did in I 7 1 wmiamsPrt. Pa- the I 1 I way these spunky all-I American boys "put it all together" and won five straight to capture the Little League World Series. But with heart, but they were also the youngest and smallest. Going into the tournament, they were smarting from five losses. Because they were considered underdogs, bigger, better, older teams didn't take them seriously.

They played Toms River with their No. 2 pitchers, a costly miscalculation. Says Gaynor: "We just kind of slid through the back door." The assessment seems typical of the man. In this season of disgust with presidential leadership and the legalistic sophistry of $400-an-hour Beltway barristers in tasseled Guccis, how refreshing to meet a Middle American hero like Mike Gaynor, who stands for straight-arrow decency, no bull, no excuses and is as direct as a line drive. All the hoopla the parades, the See MIKE GAYNOR on D3 there's also part of him that can't believe it.

To hear him tell it, the team he managed the Toms River East American League All-Stars wasn't all that formidable, at least on paper. Oh, the boys played For the eyes, the October issue of Glamour offers a sample from the Clinique line. Makeup samples hit the newsstand Associated Press REMY de la MAUVINIERE Bruce Willis is a psychologist in "The Sixth Sense," which starts shooting here Monday. Phila. to be Willis' movie set once more Art Carey This Life V.

By Denise Cowie INQUIRER STAFF WRITER So you're reading all about the newest makeup colors for fall, and the magazine is recommending a glimmer of gold on the cheekbone or a luscious berry on the lips or maybe a khaki shadow around the eyes, and you're thinking: "Yeah, but what would it look like on me?" If the magazine you're reading happens to be September's Allure or October's Glamour, you can find out without getting out of your chair. For the first time, the blushes, shadows, lipsticks and liners the magazine editors are recommending are right there, at your fingertips. Literally. Lift a flap on Page 257 of the Glamour issue that reached newsstands yesterday, and there's Clinique's Touchliner in Olive Luxe. Flip the page and peel back the tab to try Elizabeth Arden's Cheekcolor in Rosy, side by side with Lancome's Light-Reflecting Compact Powder.

And maybe you'd like a dab of the two eyeshadows recommended with this look Maybelline Expert Eyes in Gray Suede on the inner eyelid, and Aveda's Shadow Plus Vitamins in Cobalt on the outer corner. All the powders are lightly pressed onto the page and covered by a flap; lip colors are encapsulated in tiny pouches under a paper tab. See COSMETICS on D6 By Carrie Rickey INQUIRER MOVIE CRITIC Some heroes go to Disney World. Bruce Willis, having saved the planet in Armageddon, chose Philadelphia. The pride of Penns Grove is in towri the next two months to shoot The Sixth Sense for screenwriter-director M.

Night Shyamalan, himself the pride of Penn Valley. Principals with the production have had their lips superglued shut by Disney whose Hollywood Pictures will release the movie but the Greater Philadelphia Film Office confirms that Sixth Sense commences photography on Monday and is scheduled to wrap Nov. 13. Insiders describe the $30 million thriller as "a cross between nary People and The Exorcist." Willis stars as a child psychologist who suspects that his haunted 10-year-old client (Haley Joel Osmet, the young Forrest in Forrest Gump) is the victim of abuse and may possess intuitive powers. Sixth Sense also features Toni Col-lette (star of Muriel's Wedding) as the boy's mother, Olivia Williams (Kevin Costner's gal in The Postman) as Willis' estranged wife, arid Donnie Wahlberg (ex- of New Kids on the Block) as a mystery man.

See FILM on D5 Associated Press PAUL VATHIS "Too often coaches blame the kids for their own shortcomings," says Mike Gaynor, shown in August with players (from left) Eric Campesi, Mike Belevick, Gaynor's son Casey, and R.J. Johansen. I For Shaq, name of game and CD is 'Respect' Discussing and dishing long before Oprah did 77 group has been around four years. For this session, a heal author was invited for a return visit. "I take all my work seriously," says the NBA superstar, who also acts.

As a rapper, he presents his case in a just-released fifth album. on the Willow Grove lawn. "We were established long before Oprah started her club," Chenita Brooks proclaimed. Laughter erupted. Stacey Marshall, Valarie Everett, Wendy Crawford, Ursula Butler, and Angela Pompey sat with Chenita visiting, catching up.

Lisa Grasty, Sherrie's sister-in-law, served fruit in plastic bowls, while April Bush hustled back and forth between kitchen and yard. Valerie See BOOK CLUB on D7 By Magpie Galehouse FOR THE INQUIRER Buzzing around in the bright yellow African dress and head scarf she brought back from her trip to Senegal, Sherrie Grasty offered iced tea and introductions to the throng of women gathering in her backyard. Her sister, Robin Johnson, was on her way over, and most of the other members of their book club, Expressions, were getting settled on folding chairs that had been arranged 't j. fi cause people think I just do this as a fad," says the part-time entertainer, in whose palm a cassette recorder resembles a matchbox. "This is my fifth album I don't think people know that.

And nothing is a fad to me. If I'm going to do a movie or an album, it's the same as it is in basketball. Once I step into that game, I have to come correct." The hours spent working on his flow in his L.A. home studio have yielded results: He a more credible rapper now than on his 1993 debut, Shaq Diesel. And though his own party-hearty rhymes on Respect are nothing special generic jams "Heat It Up," "Blaq Superman" and "Pool Party" are inoffensive, but far from exemplary O'Neal gets props for his taste in associates, who include producers Clark Kent and DJ Quik, rapper Peter Gunz (signed to O'Neal's TWIsM label), over-sized emcees Big Pun and Fat Joe, and most promisingly, newcomer Sonja Blade, whose wicked delivery steals the show on "Deeper" and "3 X's Dope." O'Neal cares what hip-hop fans think.

Shaq Diesel sold over 800,000 copies, but with each of his subse-See O'NEAL on D6 By Dan DeLuca INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Short of an NBA championship ring, Shaquille O'Neal would seem to have everything he could want: a $120 million contract, a film career, a share in the All-Star Cafe restaurant and soon-to-be hotel chain. All that, and summers off. But for the 7-foot-l, 315-pound Los Angeles Lakers center, it's not enough. There's one more thing Siiaq warns thai neither money nor fame nor the ability to dunk on Patrick Ewing's head can bring. The precious quantity O'Neal seeks is the title of his new album, Respect, and only hip-hop fans can decide if he's deserving.

Or so the basketball behemoth explained recently, folded into a suddenly puny chair in a Rittenhouse Square hotel one sunny Saturday last month, He was in town to talk up Respect and coach a benefit basketball game at Temple's McGonigle Hall. "I take all my work seriously," says O'Neal, 26, who has grown hair on his head and chin and over his lips since the Utah Jazz swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals in May. "I called this album Respect be iV.it A)t --vr 4- i i '''c jf'Sl Mie Philadelphia Inquirer CHARLES FOX Shaquille O'Neal scored well with "Shaq Diesel, but sales of subsequent albums have decreased. He was in Phila. last month to promote his latest CD.

The Philadelphia Inquuer i REBECCA BARGER Author Diane McKinney-Whetstone speaks to Expressions group..