The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 57

Sunday, February 20, 2000 DIVERSIONS Dining FS I lome technology F2 Movies F7 Performing Arts F4 Television F6 Travel F9-12 Visual Arts F3 i Books i i esert ethcDcscrtSun Life Book retells Holocaust story The tale at the heart the slim volume "Yosl Rakover Talks to God" (Pantheon, 105 pages, 818) is slimmer still barely 25 pages. But its content is Sunday Features Editor Fielding Buck Phone 778-4645 Fax 778-4654 immense. In Zvi Kolitz's story (translated by Carol Brown Janeway), a Job-like Polish Jew recounts and comes to terms with his sufferings as he prepares for inevitable death in the Warsaw Ghetto. Written soon after World War II and first published in 1946, this powerful fiction quickly disconnected from its author's byline and took on a life of its own as a supposedly true Holocaust testimony. It is followed here by German journalist Paul Badde's account of his successful search for Zvi Kolitz in the early 1990s.

In two afterwords, written 36 years apart, a pair of readable philosophers debate the story's meaning. The writer's art, which articulates the power of belief despite human horrors and perceived desertion by God, casts Yosl Rakover as a subject worthy of continued discussion. More books: This week's best-sellersF3 be a millionaire? Wanna Players get chance to give final answers Home tech i 'f I IP Ml Ion the aw a I I Perfect for grandparents: Ceiva Logic created a $249 picture frame that uses a flat-panel LCD screen and an Internet connection to display photographs sent electronically to Ceiva's Web site. E-picture frames boot up Ceiva Logic, a start-up company in Los Angeles, has just shipped a S249 picture frame that uses a flat-panel LCD screen and an Internet connection to dis-. play photographs you've sent electronically to Ceiva's World Wide Web site.

These "digital picture frames" could be the ultimate Grandma gift: You buy the frame for Grandma, set it up in her house on the other side of the country, and occasionally upload new pictures of the grandkids. The pictures appear in the frame without Grandma having to do a thing. Retrieving images from Ceiva's Web site costs S2.99 a month. The frame automatically calls a local access number in the middle of the night, typically betweJn midnight and 4 a.m., to check for new pictures, then downloads them. But Ceiva Logic shows first-generation limitations.

Images are washed out, with muddy colors, and darken dramatically if your head is anywhere other than directiy in front of the screen. (877-693-7263) www.ceiva.com More home tech: Digital television sales slowF2 FRANCKSCA DONI-AN 1 111-: 111 Kl SUN Game Show mania has hit home. Sparked by the phenomenal success of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" families are glued to the tube and thousands are jamming phone lines to win a shot as a contestant. Palm Springs native, Curtis Warren, knows all about hitting it big. Warren won $1.4 million on a "Millionaire" spin off Fox's "Greed." He is one of a handful of Coachella Valley residents who have gambled live on a game show.

Warren, 40, represents the lucky one. The home boy that made it big. The guy who knew the answer that many people were screaming out loud in their living rooms. The country has gone bonkers for prime time game shows, and the reasons are becoming clear. If your old Palm Springs High School classmate can win a million why can't you? ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," is tromping its rivals including Fox's game show "Greed" and NBC's, "Twenty-One." Last week "Millionaire" captured 28 million viewers and one evening it even trounced "Fraser." For the first time in almost two decades, ABC walloped a popular NBC show in the ratings.

Warren understands what the fuss is all about. He has been hooked on game shows since he can remember. He calls himself the "quintessential game show contestant" and has been on almost half a dozen game shows. "I'm on the crest of the wave," he said. "I have always had a natural talent for esoteric knowledge and trivial things." Nine days ago he won.

$1 .4 million during a million dollar moment on "Greed." (Feb. 1 1) The terminator question that came before the million dollar question was: "Name the automobile maker who is the parent company of Lexis?" The question that made him a fortune asked him choose what television shows were made into theatrical movies. "As soon as I saw the question I knew I was a millionaire," Warren said. "You know your whole life from that moment on is going to change. You know you can provide for your family for the rest of your life.

The crescendo of emotions almost debilitates you." Warren is a familiar face with the distinctive rock and roll hair cut. Not only is he Palm Springs born and raised, but he's been highly visible as a spokesman for the Palm Springs chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He has two children and his wife is pregnant with number three. He. does not plan on quitting his $80,000 job or buying anything extravagant.

He won't cut his hair either. He will take home anywhere from 28-35 percent of his total earnings. He doesn't plan on blowing his "minor fortune" on anything like a Mercedes Benz. He's going to buy his wife a truck. "I have a level-headed wife, son, daughter, a baby on the way, elderly parents, and close relatives that could definitely use some help," he said.

The very first thing he is going to do is get his mother out of debt and pay her bills. "You're ultimately not going to be judged by success on a game show," he said. "In the end it's how you treat the people closest to you in your Warren had some experience getting into game shows. He has been on "Jeopardy," "Debt," "Win Ben Stein's Money" and "Sale of the Century." But nothing compared with his success on "Greed." There are clearly perks to fame and fortune! They don't have to worry about qualifying for the Please see MILLIONAIRE, F8 Food Cookbook offers favorites More than 200 recipes, from soul food classics to trendy ethnic dishes, fill die pages of "The New Ebony Cookbook" (Johnson Publishing, by Charlotte Lyons, food editor of Ebony MAMA IM-Sl-HT SUN Tricks for becoming a millionaire magazine. Dishes include chicken and sausage jambalaya, marinated catfish salad, and bourbon pecan cake.

The recipes are clearly written; helpful Today is your lucky day. The toll-free number for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is open to the public. A touch-tone phone, patience and rapid answers to three questions are all you must do to qualify. The phone game opens Today and runs through March during the network's search to find contestants for their March shows. Eager millionaires-to-be must call (800) 433-8321 between 3 and 1 1 p.m.

The line could be busy it's estimated that 240,000 players (18 and older) will participate in the first round game. Palm Springs musician Matthew Shaker knows a little bit about persistence. He's gotten through twice and actually qualified the last time the phone lines were opened to the public. The first thing you do once you get through is punch in your birth date and the last four digits of your social security number. Then the heat is on.

You will be asked to correctly answer three general knowledge questions. Shaker said you have about 1 0 seconds to punch in the right answers. If you make a mistake the call is terminated. If you can keep your cool and answer the questions correctly, you are eligible for a random drawing with all the players who passed the test on the same day. While Shaker answered all the questions correctly on two separate occasions, he was never one of the 40 players selected from the entire pool of winners.

Those 40 advance and participate in a playoff phone The object of the playoff game is to answer all the questions accurately and in the shortest time. The top 10 winners fly to New York and compete on the program. That's when the real fun begins! Formoredetailscheckoutabc.com. color photos complement many of them. More food and drink: Wines make great giftsF5 Outdoors Wow! What a hat Sailors, kayakeA and canoeists swear by tough Tilley Hats.

Some anglers wear them, too. Wide brims keep the rain off; 10-ounce cotton duck breathes to keep you cool. The rivets are brass. A hat overboard floats. A TiHey Hat is the only hat we know of that comes with an owner's manual, and it's worth reading.

The cost is about about $55 for the model with 2-inch brim; $62 for the model with 3-inch brim. www.tilley.com More outdoors: Snow peak power stove is put to the testF8 One-Tank Trip i 1 1 iii. 2V Fast Facts Set celebrates board game They say that real estate is'always a pretty good Investment, and with the new Monopoly Citylights Collection by Department 56, it's affordable for just about everyone. In celebration of Monopoly's 65th anniversary, each of the eight resin buildings has been sculpted in 1930s urban architectural style. Selections include the Yorkshire Grand Hotel, Opera du Jardin, Old St.

James Hospital, and the Newsstand Daily. Each hand-painted building features a game word token within its design, and front entrances are fashioned to resemble deed cards. Phoenix show spotlights curios The Phoenix Antique Art Show returns for its third year March- 3-5 A the Phpenix Art Museum. The event features 41 galleries from around the world exhibiting thousands of items, including American and English furniture, porcelain, folk art, quilts, fabrics and photographs. Among the more unusual items are 1 8th-century jewelry pieces created from miniature portraits that depicted only lovers' eyes and "Birds of America" engravings by 1 9th century naturalist John James Audubon.

Specialists from Butterfield and Butterfield will be on hand 10 a.m.-3 p.m. March 4 to provide appraisals at $10 per item. General admission is $10. The museum is at 1625 N. Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ.

(602) 307-2050. www.phxart.org' More art: Painter's poetics on edge of surrealismF3 mmm bl'LClAl. lO IMI-. ULMiKI SLN American Indians create educational showcase. TRAVELF12 Getting bigger: In celebration of Monopoly's 65th anniversary, each of the eight resin buildings has been sculpted in 1930s urban architectural style..