HotForWords at Borders in NYC! August 20, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, I took the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) out to Manhattan for Marina Orlova’s book signing at Borders in The Shops at Columbus Circle.  She was promoting her new book Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings, which was released on Tuesday.

Leading up to the signing, she posted this video and appeared on the CBS Early Show and PIX 11 Morning News (WPIX-TV, a CW affiliate).

Once on W. 34th St. from Penn Station, I walked to 6th Ave. and turned left. I wanted to pass some major media buildings that were on that street. Among them were HBO, News Corporation (FOX, New York Post, etc.), and SNY (SportsNet York).

Across from SNY is Radio City Music Hall:

I then turned left at W. 49th St. and turned right on Broadway.

Before reaching Columbus Circle, I passed the CBS Store…

…and Ed Sullivan Theater, home to The Late Show with David Letterman:

Last night’s taping was in progress as I walked by.

At Columbus Circle:

Almost at Borders:

Inside Borders, shortly after 7PM, Marina made her grand entrance:

She was accompanied by her dog Gorby (as in Mikhail Gorbachev), a male miniature Maltese:

Gorby has been featured in many of her videos.

Before addressing the crowd, Carlos Sanchez of SneakGeekz presented Marina with a pair of sneakers:

After thanking everyone for coming, the floor was opened up to questions.

Gorby:

Next, the signing.

When it was my turn to have my book signed, I introduced myself as MCLIJazz from her website, where I’m a semi-regular commenter.  She knew exactly who I was and that I was initially up in the air about going, but decided to go and made it.

We took two pictures together:

In this one, I laughed nervously as Gorby put his paw on my shoulder and sniffed my right ear (or he licked it):

After that, it was a whirlwind.  Minutes later, a little after 8PM, I went down to the [extremely hot] subway station, which was mere steps from The Shops.

The last picture I took:

I boarded the [air conditioned] C train to [equally extremely hot] Penn Station.  A few minutes after that, I was able to catch the [air conditioned] LIRR Babylon train and headed back to Wantagh.  I was in Wantagh 50 minutes later.

I had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet Marina (and Gorby) in person.

Before heading back to Los Angeles, Marina wrote a talked about the signing on her website:

Hi guys!!  The turnout at the book signing was AMAZING!!!  I got some great footage, so I will be posting that as soon as I get back to LA and edit it!  It was so great to meet you all! Thank you so much for coming out!

And I might even show up in that footage.

8/31 UPDATE: While at Borders, Marina was interviewed by Predicto TV:

9/28 UPDATE: Footage from this appearance was finally shown on Marina’s website today.  It was part of a video promoting her appearance at Book Soup in Los Angeles on Thursday.  I was only featured for two seconds saying “It’s-it’s great to be here.”  That’s good enough for me.