Auriette's Trip to Hollywood

In March, 2002, I won a trip to Hollywood through a sweepstakes held by msn.com. The prize included airfare, two nights at the Universal Hilton, a VIP tour of Universal Studios, and tickets to the premiere and party for "The Scorpion King".

Right Auriette in front of the Chandler Hotel on the Universal Backlot. The Chandler was a regular meeting place for the group in the TV series "Sliders".

As an added bonus, Tim and I spent our last day in California at the home of Bob Burns. Bob is a big fan of science fiction, as well as an actor and author, and all around nice guy. He owns a massive collection of film and TV treasures, which he shared with us for several hours.

The first time I remember seeing Bob's name on TV, and maybe some of you will recall this as well, was in a 70s Saturday morning series called "The Ghost Busters". Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch and a gorilla starred as paranormal investigators Spenser, Tracy and Kong. Bob was credited as Tracy's "Trainer". I'm still not quite convinced it wasn't a real gorilla.

Bob's memories and collection are featured in his book, It Came from Bob's Basement : Exploring the Science Fiction and Monster Movie Archive of Bob Burns.

Left Auriette with Bob Burns

Above Auriette with one of the "Star Wars" Cantina aliens

Right Auriette holding Harrison Ford's gun from "Blade Runner" - in the background, you can see one of the robots from the movie serial "The Phantom Empire"

Left In October 2007, I was the lucky winner of a trip to Lucky Magazine's "Lucky Shops" expo
in New York City. The prize, provide by Coty, included $10,000 cash and a selection of
products from Sarah Jessica Parker's fragrance line. SJP wasn't there, but Sarah Michelle
Gellar was. I couldn't get a picture with the real SMG; the blow-up magazine cover was the
next best thing, and I did snap a couple of good pics of Ms. Gellar.