How beary cute is this

Magnet #68 - Bears

Dudes. Still not feeling well. So this will be short, sweet and CUTE.

I'll confess - I haven't a clue where this magnet's from. I mean, I have two other bear magnets (both from Canada), but this one's apropos, because how gosh-darn-CUTE is this little bear cub who just needs to get some sleep.

Psst - never mind the weird dead thing under the cart at the :22 mark. Just keep lookin' at the bear cub. Every time he starts to fall facedown, his nose gets all squnchy and smooshed. Sigh.

I just want to hug him and squeeze him and call him:

Balthazar.

Mr. Sandeman, bring me a dream

Magnet #67 - Sandeman

Still not feeling well, so short and sweet.

I'll tell you what's not sweet - Sandeman port and sherry. Oiy. I gotta say, I'm a liquor kinda girl, but give me the supergood stuff, and I don't know what to do with it. I mean, I once had to be taught how to enjoy an after-dinner brandy and chocolate on the Forbes yacht, for goodness sake.

I picked this magnet up at the Chocolate Fair (magnet forthcoming, of course) - it's basically a trade show that's grown into a mass of humanity walking from booth to booth sampling and buying chocolates from all over the world and all walks of life.

Yes. Bliss. It's the only place in the world where you can literally OD on chocolate.

Oh, should I have warned you that the Sandeman Web site plays Mr. Sandman (pum-pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum-pum-pumpum-pum-pum-pummmm?) Loudly? Oops. Sorry. Of course, now, that song's stuck in my head.

Hello Pekkle

Magnet #66 - Pekkle and Friends

Not feeling well, so today's a short one.

It's superstereotypical for me to like the cutesy Sanrio stuff, but I guess those folks know what they're doing, because frankly, I love all of their characters. From Bonjour Kitty (the french Hello Kitty who loves chocolate) to Deery Lou (the little Bambi knock-off), they're all so cute and adorable.

But, my favorite is, and always will be, Pekkle. He's an Aussie lifeguard who loves to surf. Funny how I can't stand birds and I can't stand the beach, but I love this little guy. I mean, seriously, how cute is this duck!

Ghandi shouldn't be on a cell!

Magnet #65 - New York Joy

So, after September 11th, Robert DeNiro (and a few others) conceived the Tribeca Film Festival to help revitalize lower Manhattan. Seven years later, the festival's still going strong, and lower Manhattan's all the better for it. I've volunteered for five of those seven years, and have had fun every year.

One of the best things about New York, is our ability to just be walking down the street and pass famous people, and just keep walking. I've never been one for accosting said famous people - I like to recognize them, but ignore them as they walk past. This has everything to do with my summer semester in London, when my friends and I passed Brendan Fraser just after the theatre. To my everlasting mortification, one of them actually said to him "Gee, you're swell." His response was a nonplussed, "I am?"

And so, this is one of the best things about TFF - the ability to work the red carpet events, collect people's ballots, and just ignore the fact that someone famous (anyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Tiffani [Amber] Thiessen) walked right by you. It's then you find out how nice (or not nice) they are.

Every year, there's a long list of stars to add to my celeb sightings list...but I gotta tell you. Last night's was just the most freaky. After five years of working these events, I finally saw DeNiro actually in attendance. I love how the razzi all yelled out Bob-beee! Like they're best buds. Who knows, maybe they are.

But, what's going down as the all-time weirdest sighting:

Ben Kingsley! On a cell!

Ghandi shouldn't be on a cell!

My favorite town in America

Magnet #64 - Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh is my favorite city in the United States. No, I swear! I've always said that I'd live in Pittsburgh, if it weren't in Pittsburgh. Which sounds mean, but really, it's just that it'd be harder to get to my family who lives pretty much up and down the eastern seaboard in NC/DC/NY/Boston.

It's the twentieth largest city in America, second largest in Pennsylvania. Which is why I'm surprised by how much there is to do there.

I have to travel to Pittsburgh every once in a while for work, but I discovered how terrific this town is when I went to a friend's wedding there several years ago. I will also admit here to only a very touristy, cursory exposure. I don't know the different neighborhoods, I don't really know their people (aside from my fab coworkers), and I don't really know the area.

So what is it about this town?

The architecture. For such a small town, it's a veritable grab bag of terrific buildings. There's the PPG building, with its gothic look and feel, adorned in glass. (PPG stands for Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.) There's the U.S. Steel building, made of...well, steel. The Alcoa building, made of...well, aluminum. There's even the gorgeous and historic William Penn Hotel, built in 1916. (And down the highways are three Frank Lloyd Wright houses!) OK, if I keep going this whole post will be about buildings.

The tourist attractions. The Duquesne incline: Ride up the side of the mountain in a somewhat scary tram car and see the gorgeous views. The Warhol Museum: Spend several minutes walking around the Silver Clouds exhibit - it really makes you feel like you're flying. The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens: Well, I went for a wedding, so of course it was beautiful. The Carnegie Museum of Art: Went for the reception, but was able to enjoy some of the museum. The Heinz Museum of History: Ok, stopped in, but it was too late to really enjoy the Lewis & Clark exhibit.

The confluence. Hello, how cool is it that three rivers meet here - the Allegheny and Monongahela actually meet here to form the Ohio.

The bridges. Apparently? There are 446 bridges...thus earning Pittsburgh the moniker of The City of Bridges.

The teams. Pirates. Steelers. Ok, and the Penguins. There's a magnet later, but taking a tour of Heinz stadium is so impressive - even if you're not a fan.

Oh, there's a ton more about Pittsburgh that I could wax poetic about (I could even go on and on about their terrific airport), but there's still a lot for me to discover. I still have yet to see the Cathedral of Learning, the birthplace of the Big Mac, and I'm making a list for the rest.

See? And you wonder why more people haven't been to Pittsburgh.

Here's looking at you, kid

Magnet #63 - Warner Brothers Studios

If you've been keeping up, faithful reader, you know I love tours. Luckily, so does my family. (I should start tagging "tours," just to keep track of how many tours I mention in this blog.)

So, it's no surprise that when one of my sisters had a conference in LA, I dragged two friends of mine across the country, and we stayed with her at the Renaissance Hotel at Hollywood & Highland. We spent all week doing studio tours, walking tours, movie star tours and self-guided driving tours.

But, out of all those tours, the Warner Brothers Studios tour is the best - hands down. It's actually quite possibly my favorite tour in the entire world - ever. Not surprisingly, I've done it twice. But, there's the regular tour. And then...there's the superduperawesome Deluxe VIP tour.

Well, it wasn't so much VIP, as much as they were able to charge us like $140 for an extra couple of hours on top of the regular tour - it's like 5 hours! Brilliant! For anyone who loves movie history, who loves Warners, who loves being in a place where so much was filmed, and where so many great actors have walked, this is the tour for you.

Some highlights, in no particular order:

• Eating in the WB commissary. Could not tell you how the food tasted, don't even remember ordering, but the atmosphere was fab. Plus, even though you know it's just the regular WB employees chowing down, it doesn't stop you from actually looking for someone famous.
• Saying "Lookit that boob driving that golf cart like a crazy person!" It was Timothy Busfield.
• Sitting through some of the sound edit of Mr. & Mrs. Smith - the elevator scene where Angelina blowed up Pitt.
• Extra time in the WB museum. They have a wonderful museum full of Warners memorabilia including letters from Ronald Reagan and Clint Eastwood, (when we were there) a whole The WB retrospective, and a superawesome Harry Potter room. (I was a Slytherin under the Sorting Hat. They let me get re-sorted into Hufflepuff.)
• Freaking out over Clooney's parking spot. Freaking out even more when a car approached and parked in it. It was Grant Heslov, his producing partner...close, but no cigar.
• Wandering the costumes and props warehouses.
• Wandering around the vaults, and seeing the art department at work.
• Wandering around Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow, visiting Lorelai's house, Suki's house, the Kims, the Gazebo and Luke's.
• Wandering around ER's County General Hospital in fake Chicago.
• Visiting Friends' Central Perk, standing behind the bar where Gunther served coffee, and sitting on the sofa.

Seriously. I dare you to tell me of a better tour for an entertainment-phile like me. And yes, we're planning on doing it again...once a new show has firmly ensconced themselves on to the WB lot.

Ummmm.

HURRY UP!

I cannot live without books

Magnet #62 - Library of Congress

Today's the day (in 1800) that John Adams approved a whopping $5,000 to establish the Library of Congress, now the largest library in the world. A year later, we had the first books ordered (from London, natch), shipped and delivered. A year after that, Jefferson got our nation's library in order.

Back in my publishing days, I used to submit manuscripts to the LOC to get a catalog number. And in my head, I pictured dusty tomes and very, very, very slow people sending me information.

Three things changed my mind (about the dusty tomes, I mean, never about the slow people):

1) That really good, but not executed so great Jerry Bruckheimer reality show about the teams running around the world on a treasure hunt. (Supercool clues that they had to solve, but stupid teams.) They filmed an episode here, where they had to run around the stacks to find the next clue.

2) That really good, but not executed so great Jerry Bruckheimer movie, National Treasure 2, where they filmed in the vast space of the LOC. Where they had to run around the stacks to find the supersecret Presidential book of, well, secrets.

3) A really good - no, I mean really good - (and free!) tour of the LOC. Sometimes I love how you can just take free tours of our government buildings. I find that AWEsome - it's our government! And we can see our government! In action! Too loving of big government? Sorry.

Anyway, would highly recommend the LOC tour. It's just too cool to hear about its earnest beginnings, and the money we've spent over the years - just to make sure that we have, and are preserving, the most "universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations."

This magnet is what they call the Jefferson Doors - actually, it's the main entrance to the TJ Building. There's three of them, and they weigh like 3 tons. You can't see them very well in this tiny thing, but they are supposed to show Tradition, Writing and Printing (and something about how man has preserved and disseminated history, religion, the sciences and literature).

Ok. Fine. They're supercool doors.