Arsenio Hall

Mike Gminski and Rick Mahorn showed up at the 76ers' practice yesterday wearing diamond-studded earrings. They seem determined to take teammate Charles Barkley with them to jewelers' row. Two weeks ago, after the Sixers won their 10th consecutive game, Barkley announced that he, Gminski, Mahorn, Derek Smith and rookie Lanard Copeland had made a pact to get their ears pierced. "I guess Rick and I have to take Charles by the hand," Gminski said. "I just want to make it clear this isn't a lifestyle commitment.

If you caught Arsenio Hall's act on Letterman last week, you know this guy has just been bursting to get back on the air. In his first TV appearance since "The Arsenio Hall Show" went off the air in May 1994, Arsenio couldn't stop talking. He was so full of nervous energy he could barely stay in his chair. He had year-old O.J. jokes he'd been longing to tell. Arsenio wants badly to come back from oblivion - and we know he's sincere, because he's making noises about patching up his one remaining Hollywood feud.

Look out Fresh Prince and Young MC. You think you're bad? You think you're funny? Make way, dudes, for the biggest thing in rappin' comedy - Chunky A - hitting the stores today with his debut album, "Large and In Charge. " Three-hundred pounds of mouth in motion, when this sport comes around, he really comes a-round. Why, Chunky A's "got more moves than Ex-Lax," he proclaims. And when he sends up his musical rivals - not just the rappers but also Prince ("Very High Key"), Barry White ("Sorry")

SO MUCH FOR SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY . . . Residents in Greenville, S.C., are not taking too kindly to the barbs of "Pretty Woman" star Julia Roberts, who described life in northwestern South Carolina as boring and the people as racist. "The people were horribly racist, and I had a really hard time," Roberts told Rolling Stone magazine. She stayed in Spartanburg and Abbeville during the filming of her new movie, "Sleeping With the Enemy," in May. Some residents have gone on the counterattack, collecting money for a quarter-page advertisement in Variety and a billboard in the middle of Roberts' hometown of Smyrna, Ga. "We want this Julia Roberts character to know what we think of her," said talk-show host Mike Gallagher of WFBC-AM Radio, who is helping to organize the response.

HOW TO FAKE A SOB The advance word on the movie version of "The Joy Luck Club" is that you're supposed to cry at the end. Some theaters are even handing out Kleenex. So what if you're sitting there dry-eyed in the dark while the credits roll? Get a Life asked local acting coach Irene Baird for advice on how to cry on cue so that your date doesn't think you're subhuman. 1) Think of some terrible loss in your life. "Loss of a job, loss of a fiance, loss of a parent, loss of someone to a disease, loss of a house - all those things will prompt emotion," Baird says.

QUOTE "I'll kill people again on the screen. " - Emilio Estevez, on his change-of-pace role as a pee-wee hockey team coach in "The Mighty Ducks. " THE CLASSIEST AND TRASHIEST What's big and leather and red all over? If you guessed a recliner, you're outta luck. It's Roseanne Arnold. A picture of the comedian in the bright red leather and lace dress she wore to the Emmys graces People magazine's piece on the 10 classiest and trashiest dressers of 1992. Arnold looks "brighter than a fire truck and nearly as big," People sneers.

DEMOCRATIC INFIGHTING IN N.J. Gov. Florio has named a take-charge firebrand to the Delaware River Port Authority, a move that could inject some needed oomph into a complacent organization that is key to the future of the region's ports. But the appointment of Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin is being held up by a local state senator for reasons that have no apparent connection to her ability to do the job. Mayor Levin alienated Camden County Democratic leader George Norcross in 1989, when she fielded an independent slate of local candidates and beat the organization.