In case any of you are up at 8 a.m. on Thursdays and want to hear me yammer for a few minutes, tune in to Mix 103.7-FM, where I hang every week with my morning show pals, Jack and Jen.

In the nearly-a-year that I’ve been on the show, I’ve learned that Jen and I have share a deep love of animals, so I’m all about this cool contest she’s doing with the Richmond Animal League. Check out the details here.

OK, so it was 9 degrees last Friday night.

That doesn’t mean you can’t slap on a hat and scarf and still eat something chill-inducing like frozen yogurt.

While Richmond doesn’t have a Pinkberry—the hip frozen yogurt franchise that exists only in New York and Los Angeles—it does have the new Verry Berry (yes, that is the correct spelling), which opened in the VCU vicinity last week.

The concept is simple: Six machines featuring 12 flavors allow you to mix and match for personal taste (mango, dark chocolate and strawberry cheesecake are some choices) and a toppings bar can make your snack either healthy (fresh fruit) or not (M&Ms, Cap’n Crunch). At only 39 cents per ounce, this sounds like a reasonable lunch/snack alternative.

The locally owned and operated shop is across from the Siegel Center at 1311 W. Broad Street and currently open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

Check out Table Talk in Thursday’s Weekend section for more info on Verry Berry.

Depending upon my mood and level of exhaustion when I arrive at a hotel, my reaction to a cruddy room falls anywhere between shut-up-and-take-it and I’m sorry, do I maintain a silver Marriott card so you can stick me in the equivalent of a dorm room and charge $250 for it?

In Las Vegas, where I travel most often, slipping the clerk a $20 (or even a $10, depending upon the hotel) will usually net you a slight upgrade—maybe a corner room or one with a view of The Strip if you contort your body at just the right angle.

In other cities, such as New York or Philly, I’ve complained about my room maybe four out of 10 times and yes, I am always as pleasant as I can muster. At some point, you just know when a front desk clerk has stuck you in a dank room with a view of the parking garage wall just because he couldn’t be bothered to type a few extra keystrokes but, frankly, as annoyng as that is, I realize that being surly isn’t going to get me anywhere.

Recently, a friend and I visited Philly and stayed at the downtown Marriott Courtyard. The woman at the front desk was curt and distracted, and when we schlepped upstairs to find our room next to the elevator, the size of my laundry room and, yes, with a view of the parking garage wall, I immediately called downstairs to ask if there might be something else available. How interesting that this new person on the phone apologized for putting us in such sub-par accomodations and within minutes, we were relocated to a room twice the size with a view of Philly’s gorgeous City Hall building.

Hey, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Besides, you’re paying for it, so why not try to get the best for your dollar?

Check out this great New York Times story for some more tips:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/travel/31heads.html?ref=travel

Hey, kids.

Greetings from New York, where I train-ed up yesterday to catch Ricky Gervais and Bon Jovi.

Only in New York could it be so convenient to be able to see all but the last 10 minutes of Gervais’ set at the Theater at Madison Square Garden (technically now called something like WaMu Theater, but I don’t buy into that sponsorship nonsense), then take two escalators and arrive inside the actual Madison Square Garden (kill me when the day comes that it’s renamed the Dunkin Donuts Arena at MSG) to see the last night of Bon Jovi’s tour, only having missed about 15 minutes of that show.

Wow, that’s a long sentence. But that’s kind of how my day went.

I guess I’m so used to flying into New York lately that I had forgotten that the six and a half hour train ride from Richmond to Penn Station feels like 36 hours – especially when every train car is filled with squealing, seat-climbing children (really, parents, could you put down the cell phone for 20 seconds and, like, parent?).

Anyway, the real reason for this trip (funded by moi, BTW – I’m technically on vacation) is to attend tonight’s Last Play at Shea concert with Billy Joel.

So after a paltry 10 weeks or so writing this blog with my friend and co-worker Melissa Ruggieri ... I’m outta here. I enjoyed it while it lasted!

It’s my last day at the Richmond Times-Dispatch; on June 30, I report to Virginia Commonwealth University as director of public relations and communications for the School of Pharmacy. It’s a brand new job and a great opportunity. And no, it doesn’t involve free drugs. (Yeah, people keep asking.)

Luckily for everyone, Melissa will still be around to keep the Pop! Culture blog up and running. I look forward to reading it from “the outside.“ Keep those cards and comments comin’! And tell all your friends ...

Stylelist.com has published a list of the Top 15 hottest celebrity dads. What do you think, girls? Hot or not? One thing’s for sure, they’re all celeb dads.

Who’s your daddy?

Here’s the list, from rockers to actors to ... what’s that, a presidential candidate? Why, so it is.

#15 - Mark Consuelos

#14 - Tobey Maguire
#13 - Tom Cruise
#12 - Gavin Rossdale
#11 - Barack Obama

#10 - Patrick Dempsey
#9 -  Seal
#8 -  Joel Madden
#7 -  Ben Affleck
#6 -  Ryan Phillipe
#5 -  Matt Damon
#4 -  Will Smith
#3 -  Johnny Depp
#2 -  David Beckham
#1 -  Brad Pitt

Fran Martin, Smithfield the painting pig’s “mom,“ had this to say about their “America’s Got Talent” experience in New York. Kind of whets your appetite, eh? For the TV show, I mean. Stay tuned!

Fran is a colorful writer, to say the least:

“Can’t tell you the results, but want to let you know we are back, and not going anywhere, anytime soon. 

“Crashed and burned. Pulled pork, crispy bacon.  Took a long time to get started, finally painted, then wouldn’t stop. Finally stopped and then would not get off the stage!  What a mess.  Pig-headed. He laid down on the stage and refused to get up and leave. 

“They wanted TV, well by golly, leave up to me and Smithfield to give them just what they wanted.  But I would do it all over again.  I had so much fun.  It was an experience.“

Smithfield, Richmond’s most famous painting pig—make that Richmond’s ONLY painting pig—is back on the celebrity circuit. He and his human, Fran Martin of Chesterfield, made the trek to New York recently to check out the “America’s Got Talent” auditions.

It should come as no surprise that Smithfield made the grade. “AGT” is clearly an equal opportunity show, given the, er, inhuman nature of some of its previous contestants. (Leonid the Magnificent, anyone? Surely you haven’t forgotten the scary, 7-foot “angel boy.“)

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At any rate, check out the third-season premiere on NBC Tuesday, a two-hour special that begins at 9 p.m. You’ve seen the commercials, right? Smithfield is one of the featured performers in a quick montage of what’s-to-come.

The-powers-that-be-at-NBC told Martin that Smithfield might be on Tuesday night. But it’s more likely the little porker will make his “AGT” debut the following week, June 24.

So set the TiVo and plan to root (ha! pig humor!) for the local talent.

I have tried chocolate-covered ants, mostly because you can’t tell what you’re eating other than that there’s a slight, slight crunch. And, I believe, because somebody dared me.

But these giant water bug-eating, caterpillar-crunching, slug-swallowing dishes are just not for me, Ms. Squeamish of 2008. Still, kudos to Richmond on making Time magazine for the bug chefs featured recently at the first Broad Appetit food festival.

Check out your June 9 copy of Time or visit online: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810336,00.html

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< Mmmmm.
Choco-cricket-licious!

And credit Kathy Emerson of Quirk Gallery on Broad Street, who first brought the bug chefs to the 17th Street Farmers Market—and then thought they should come back for more.

Kathy’s a big fan of the bug guys, but now that I think of it ... I never saw her dipping into the cricket orzo.

Hmm. Next time these dudes with the creepy-crawly recipes bug out to Richmond, let’s make sure the sponsors put their money where their mouths are. Ack! Ptoeey! Arrrrggggh.

I’ve always liked Sarah Jessica Parker, but I’m sensing some spoilage. To wit, from wire reports:

“Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker is not happy with design house Nina Ricci. The fashionista says she was led to believe that the silver dress she wore for the movie’s premiere in New York had never before been donned in public—but it had. Socialite Lauren David Santo Domingo wore the gown to a ball on May 5.

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“What they did was so short-sighted,“ Parker told the New York Times. “It’s just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again.“

There’s a couple of things going on here. First, I’d just like to say I love this gown. And SJP is absolutely right that the designer should have given her a heads up if the dress had been worn before. If someone at Nina Ricci—including the dress’ designer, Olivier Theyskens—really did lead her to believe otherwise, then that was unethical, especially given the high-wattage event to which SJP was planning to wear it.

Lauren David Santo Domingo (and Olivier Theyskens) >>>

But “disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again”? Not so much. It’s a sad day when stars can’t deal with the fact that clothing is made to be worn more than once. And let’s face it, SJP borrowed the dress. It would’ve been much easier to understand her dismay if she’d paid good money for it.

So designers are making couture that can’t be borrowed more than once? Sure, they’re getting exposure and excellent publicity (assuming people like the dress), but if it works once ... why not twice (as long as they let the borrower know)?

It’s all too rich for my blood. Of course, it could be SJP is afraid she’ll show up in the pages of In Touch magazine, a cutout of her New York premiere appearance juxtaposed with Santo Domingo’s in the “Who wore it better?“ feature. Not that that would be tragic—SJP is likely to trump LDSD (interesting initials!) on general principle.

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But wait! THERE’S MORE! According to the L.A. Times, Lindsay Lohan wore the dress to a Harper’s Bazaar fashion shoot, as well. The horror. The horror!

So as never to offend a celeb again, perhaps Nina Ricci should auction the dress and give the money to—oh, I don’t know—children who can’t remember when their last meal was.