Clear the area, Mario's approaching

Kat Braz, my friend I'm staying with in NYC, reminded me yesterday of 'Dell-o-dramas' , a phenomenon which has been occuring to me since university. Thursday certainly started them off, since poor Lols had to spend a whole day in New York Presbytarian Hospital ('don't worry, it's like ER only better!' her doctor said enthusiastically). Unfortunately after 17 hours, two issues of People magazine, two blood tests, a quarantine room, an X-Ray and a CAT scan, the conclusion was: she had the flu. The final kicker was, after losing my last day with my sister, I am now suffering from the same thing - luckily not half as badly. I'm typing this from my bed in Kat Braz's Hoboken apartment.

This has also meant I couldn't go to Salem, home of my friend Rose (and of course, set of Days of Our Lives). Yesterday, Kat tried to cheer me up by suggesting that we go to a movie as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. We went to see a brilliant Australian film called 'Bitter & Twisted'. (Kat and I were audibly excited to see Gary Sweet was one of the cast, much to the confusion of New Yorkers).

And then, the Dell-o-dramas began.

A friend of a friend who was with us asked if we'd like to go with her to a Nintendo event in town. Her friend was reporting on it for a certain well-known magazine so we'd get to meet Jason Priestley, every 20-something's childhood crush. Kat and I thought this was about the most bizarre proposal we were going to get for the day, so, probably high on Tylenol at this point and feeling unnaturally healthy, off I went.

The event was at the Rockefeller Center to promote Mario Kart. Being somewhat of a Mario Kart fan, I would like to point out to Nintendo that there was a distinct lack of Toad themed merchandise available. But the Jason Priestley thing was inspired - Priestley owns a racecar team, hence his presence. Also present, for lesser known reasons, was the very attractive Chace Crawford from new show Gossip Girl. Watching him talk to Jason Priestley was like watching some kind of showbiz baton being passed.

The combination of Jason Priestley and a giant Super Mario was inherently surreal. Add to this FBI-suited men saying very seriously into their walkie-talkies 'Clear the area, Mario's approaching' or 'Send Mario back, we need him for some b-roll' launching another waddling and seemingly blind Mario into the press area, had us in stitches.

After this Kat and our new-found friends (not including Jason, unfortunately, who had soundly beaten one of us who shall remain nameless at Mario Kart) went for a Mexican around the corner. (Londoners, the prices would have made you weep. $2.50 for an empanada). The discussion turned to celebrities and the surreal life of the magazine writer who had to sometimes stalk the rich and famous for a living. My favourite was her conclusion on Keira Knightley's weight: 'If you had to eat Keira Knightley you'd have to suck the marrow from her bones,' she said. Quite.

The surrealness was rounded off on our way back to Hoboken when a large Japanese gentleman on the train took a shine to us and proceeded to tell us all about the Doctor Who fan group in NYC. For a minute I was tempted to go and hunt them down today - purely for scientific research of course - but I think I'll just have a Lemsip and go back to bed.