We set out to go to Berverly Hills this morning bt got somewhat distracted by the delights of Hollywood. In front of the Kodak Theatre and the adjacent Chinese Theatre were (apart from lots of tourists) were people dressed up as movie characters posing for photos. There were alsomany camera crews. We immediately got accosted by a guy who asked us if we wanted free audience tickets to the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson; no idea who are what they are but it was free entertainment for a Friday night. He then asked us if we had an hour to spare we could go on a free tour of Holywood which was being filmed as part of a new reality TV show. So after we signed waiver forms (we could have been signing our lives away but I think it was just so we wouldn't claimany rights or payment) we were shown to a big red open-topped London bus which had a team of cheerleaders forthe LA Lakers stood outside signing autographs. Who the h*** would want an autographed poster of some cheerleaders? I didn't know who they were until a poster was thrust into my hand as I boarded the bus. The tour guides were crazy and loud. The woman looked like a sexy secretary froma dodgy Channel 5 adult movie- she had glasses perched right at the end of her nose the entire time and about 3 inches of make-up. When the bus was full the cheerleaders waived us off by shouting 'sincerely' "you guys have a great time now, have a great day", but only after a long discussion about how much air there was on the bus;the secretary wanted to keep the folding side doors open but the camera crews siad they'dfallout when moving around, and she couldn't seem to understand what the problem was with that. So,the tour finally started and proceeded to drive us in a cirlce around about 3blocks of Hollywood. It was called Famous Places, Beautiful Faces and proposed to show us places that feautured in movies. What it actually did was show us the fire escape Richard Gere used in Pretty Woman then a church which was used for an audition once. The church,according to the secretary, was REALLY old (built in 1927) and was made of SOLID STONE. Wow......... The rest of the tour was just driving round and getting stuck in a car park, oh and randomly dropping off Ivana Trump's daughter on a side street (even she looked embarrased). Wierd. But it was free. After leaving the bus we were looking at the hand prints in concrete outside the Chinese Theatre and were approached by another camera crew who were filming a promo for a new film 'Snakes on Planes' (or something) So they interviewed me about phobias; I rambled on and on and completely missed the cues about whether I was scared of flying or snakes (I said no to both) and I only realised after when I thought about the title of the film. I don't think they'll be using me! We caught the bus down to Beverly Boulevard to the CBS studios for the Late Late Show at 4pm,only to be told that the audience was full now,which was annoying. So we went to the cinema instead. It stands to reason that a cinema in Hollywood should be quite impressive but was the coolest place ever. It was quite 50s/60s but so stylish. The bar had one wall covered in photos of movie stars in lots of different shapes and sizes of frames. There was a shop full of things I wanted to buy. Those kitsch things that you don't need but really want, like Wizard of Oz t-shirts and books of quotes. I resisted. Once up the huge carpeted staircase and having bought our popcorn we went to the screen and were greeted and shown to our seats by an usher. The seats were huge and so comfortable and we'd eaten most of the popcorn (best popcorn ever) by the time the head usher walked in front of the screen and welcomed everyone to 'Arclight' (name of cinema) and said if we wanted anything to talkto an usher and that the film (The Break Up) was really good and that we'd all enjoy it. Then everyone cheered and clapped! Only in Hollywood...... Throughout the film people actually laughed and cried,it was like being at the theatre rather than the cinema. Brilliant!!!