Anderson Cooper on his fridge and his travels
We chatted with Anderson Cooper (at left) a few months ago for the Who's News page, where he told us he'd be a lot less tired if he had a different job. But writer Monica Collins just spent the morning with the CNN anchor for an upcoming cover story. Here's what she had to say about one of cable news’ most talked about anchors:
July 17, 2008
Inside the renovation of American History museum
We told you yesterday about the big donation of objects from The X-Files to the same Smithsonian museum here in Washington that keeps The Fonz's leather jacket and Dorothy's ruby red slippers. What we didn’t tell you about was the thrill our intern Lisa Gartner got as she was led through the very popular, very interesting and very closed-for-renovation National Museum of American History. Millions of tourists denied entrance during a two-year renovation would love to see what Lisa saw after entering through a sneaky staff entrance in the underground garage of the museum. "One moment I was looking at a model of the first automobile; the next I was discovering electricity," Lisa says. "In a dim room, the first people to ever cross the United States are draped with plastic furniture covers. The whole place is dark, but clean and spacious, and the reopening in the fall will be exciting. Look for new architectural features and a state-of-the-art gallery for the famous Star-Spangled Banner, the original flag that inspired the National Anthem."
March 04, 2008
An inside look at new museum in Washington
I got an insider's tour yesterday of the newest museum in Washington, D.C., the soon-to-open Newseum -- a comprehensive museum of news right on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of downtown (it's pictured at left). Of course, I'm biased because a) I'm a journalist and b) I have friends and former colleagues who work there. But I must say it's an impressive place -- or it will be when it opens to the public on April 11. Galleries and exhibits are not yet in place, but I did get to see the piece of the fallen Berlin Wall that is part of the permanent collection, as well as a piece of the fallen World Trade Center towers. And a memorial to journalists killed in the course of reporting news, dating back to 1837, is moving even though still incomplete.
George Stephanopoulos will broadcast his Sunday ABC talk show This Week with George Stephanopoulos from his new studio in the Newseum and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has opened The Source, an airy, modern, very California-looking restaurant in the building. The man who masterminds the menu for the Academy Awards Governor's Ball also is the official caterer for events at the Newseum. If you want a sneak peek at the place yourself, click here.
(photo by Maria Bryk/Newseum)
