Joining Univision in making presentations of new programming in order to sell upfront advertising are Discovery US Hispanic, Telemundo, Fox Hispanic Media, V-ME and Tr3s, an MTV property.

Thrown into the mix Tuesday night are the Clio Awards, the top honors in the advertising world, which will be presented in gala ceremonies at theAmericanMuseumof Natural History. Who said traditional advertising was a dinosaur?

NBC kicks things off Monday at Radio City Music Hall with its always star-studded presentation. Last year, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera performed and Seth Meyers did a special live upfront edition of Weekend Update.

The Peacock Network has already announced some new shows that it is picking up. They include “1600 Penn,” with Bill Pullman playing the president, and “Animal Practice,” about a veterinarian who loves animals, but not their owners. Also heading for a TV screen near you, “Next Caller Please” with Dane Cook.

The network is renewing its comedies “Parks and Recreation,” “Up All Night” and” Whitney.” Those losing their berths– that’s a nice way of saying they got cancellation slips – are “Chelsea,” “Bent,” “Harry’s Law,” “Awake” and “Best Friends Forever.”

Monday afternoon, Fox takes over the Beacon theater for its upfront, which historically is over in about an hour and features Kevin Reilly and a couple of top show talent– and usually a surprise performance. Several years ago, the network took over a side street and made the whole thing into a “Glee for all,” complete with cheerleaders, in order to make a big splash before the show premiered. Before “24” ended its successful run, star Kiefer Sutherland was a perennial and crowd-pleasing presence despite any altercations or arrests he’d recently been involved in.

Fox is also known for its afterparty that goes into the later part of the evening at Central Park’s Wollman Rink.

On Tuesday, Univision occupies the New Amsterdam Theater for its high-energy presentation. This year it comes on the heels of the major announcement that it is partnering with ABC news. In previous years, performers have included Ricky Martin and Pit Bull making this probably the only upfront where attendees walked out dancing in their shoes.

Tuesday afternoon, it’s ABC at Lincoln Center with Jimmy Kimmel and his always cutting remarks aimed at his own network, and other people in the business, making this one a don’t-miss affair.

The networks generally respect each other’s boundaries and territories and scheduling so that attendees don’t have to miss anything. But on Wednesday morning, it’s Turner versus FHM, Fox Hispanic Media, both at11 AM. Last year’s Turner presentation featured Conan O’Brien plying the crowd with his brand of humor and it’s a good bet he’ll play a starring role again.

We’re anxious to check out Tr3s, being held at the Highline Ballroom later on Wednesday.

Thursday morning brings the CW at New York City Center, which usually features a high-energy musical performance. Last year it was Katy Perry who took the stage and revved things up on the last day of upfronts before a parade of talent came across the stage to tout their new shows. Chuck Bass of “Gossip Girl” as previously played a leading role at the presentation, but this year he may be too consumed with finding out that his father is actually alive and healing their fractitious relationship.

The week wraps up with USA Networks at Lincoln Center. The popular cable network’s presentation is a new entry and has the enviable spot of being the last official gig of the week– and the host of the final party.

After that, it’s time to pony up the advertising dollars—an estimated $9.5 billion.

RockCenter’s “Inside the Situation Room” was as dramatic as any television procedural—but with the otherwise incomparable resonance that the NBC News program chronicled what Barack Obama called “the most important day of his presidency.”

Talk about keeping secrets from your spouse. Obama revealed to anchor Brian Williams – who got unprecedented access to the president, his top advisers and the two rooms where they watched the secret Navy SEALs operation that killed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden at his lair inPakistan–that the first lady had no idea what was going down until after it happened.

The hour-long program also revealed the president to be an A-list actor, giving off no outward signs that he greenlighted the operation as he toured tornado damage that day in Alabama, and that night attended the White House Correspondents Dinner. Even when comedian Seth Meyers made a prescient joke about finding bin Laden, Obama just laughed along, keeping the history-making secret close to the vest.

As a viewer, I was riveted as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Leon Panetta—then head of the CIA–and the few other advisors who were privy described in emotional detail their thoughts and feelings about the raid– and the especially dramatic moments when the first helicopter to land at the bin Laden complex crashed.

It was known as “Operation Neptune’s Spear,” and some of those advisers were dead set against it, including Biden, but despite the lack of verifiable evidence of bin Laden’s presence, Obama was resolute in his decision. “The reason I was willing to make that decision of sending in our SEALs to try to capture or kill bin Laden rather than to take some other options was ultimately because I had 100 percent faith in the Navy SEALs themselves,” Obama told Williams in the exclusive interview.

Killing or capturing the man behind the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing had been a top priority of two previous administrations, and after the choppers flew successfully back to their base in Afghanistan with bin Laden’s dead body on board, Obama called both former presidents Bush and Clinton with earth-shattering news that came in from the field as (OBL code name) “Geronimo KIA.”

Hillary Clinton had also kept the plans secret from her husband. She had to keep a straight face as she attended a wedding the night before the raid and was asked if theU.S.was ever going to get bin Laden, to which she replied that we’d keep trying. “This was such an important secret to keep,” she told Williams. “No one in the State Department knew. I just felt a personal responsibility to keep it close, but that meant that I was basically, you know, having to consult with myself, to be honest.”

It’s a shame that “24” isn’t still on the air to incorporate some of these details into its terrorist-hunting storylines, even the one about getting food from Costco and multiple pizza places so no one would be aware of the high-powered gathering of national security advisers in The West Wing.

During their tense 40 minutes on the ground and after the firefight that killed the remorseless terrorist leader, the SEALs gathered up five computers, ten hard drives and a trove of other storage devices. The content of some of them, just released, showed bin Laden plotting more attacks even as his organization was being decimated, lamenting the incompetence of some of his Al Queda lieutenants and affiliates and even the media-savviness of the terrorist organization, which apparently had a dislike for Fox News.

One of the letters just published by U.S. Army’s Combating Terrorism Center discusses the circumstances of an Al Queda spokesman releasing a message to the media. In it, he tells bin Laden, “I suggest that we should distribute it to more than one channel, so that there will be healthy competition between the channels in broadcasting the material, so that no other channel takes the lead. It should be sent for example to ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and maybe PBS and VOA. As for Fox News, let her die in her anger.”

But bin Laden had much bigger targets in his crosshairs. He even strategized on how to kill Obama and thus make Biden president, calling him “utterly unprepared” to be the leader of the free world, thus precipitating a crisis.

What he couldn’t have factored into that diabolical plot was Biden’s hours-long twisting of a rosary ring around his finger as he and the other insiders watched the raid go down in real-time.  That, and the skillful team of U.S. operatives that was finally able to take him down in short order.

As we look back a year later, and even as the triumph of getting bin Laden gets politicized and criticized, we can never forget the bravery of the commando team and the bold decision to launch their mission in the face of improbable odds.

Williams and Co. added invaluable insight into a day in history that ended in an unscripted manner, with hordes of people jubillantly descending on the White House to laud the demise of a man who represented pure evil.

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It was event designed to give the deans of reality television even more time in the spotlight, so it seemed only fitting that a cold, hard dose of ear-splitting reality disrupted the proceedings at the Hollywood Radio and Television Society’s Unscripted Hitmakers luncheon last week at the Beverly Hilton.

In response, host and moderator Tom Bergeron uttered words that would not normally come out of his mouth on “Dancing with the Stars” during an insightful panel discussion, part of HRTS’s ongoing newsmaker luncheon series.

A fire alarm and strobe lights went off in the hotel’s International Ballroom as Bergeron sat on stage with the people behind some of television’s most successful reality programs.

Conrad Green, “Dancing with the Stars,” Kris Jenner, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” Mike Fleiss, “The Bachelor,” ” Eli Holzman, “Undercover Boss,” Brent Montgomery, “Pawn Stars” and Bertram van Munster of “The Amazing Race” were in the midst of discussing their respective shows when they were interrupted by what at first seemed like a stunt worthy of a reality show.

Several dozen people made their way quickly to the exits– but most stayed put – as Bergeron tried to assess the situation, which included a PA announcement that the commotion was in fact a fire alarm. With an expletive, the experienced host urged everyone to stay, and it turns out he was right. In short order, the PA system declared that it was indeed a false alarm.

“The headline: idiot reality people don’t leave burning building,” Bergeron said, to laughter from the crowd.

What is in fact a bit alarming to those on stage was that ratings have leveled off for reality shows as the genre enters middle age– or at least teenage-hood– and producers search for new ideas.

“Competitive shows require a huge audience,” said Green. “It’s concerning because such shows rely on being special. It’s crowded. The stronger ones will survive, but the challenge is to innovate.”

Bergeron asked Jenner, whose family lives not only with camera crews but in the glare of an intense media spotlight, if there is a line that cannot be crossed.

“We won’t do bathroom shots,” she said. “We let it all hang out. We’re strong personalities and we let it fly. I stop myself from editing. That’s what makes it successful.”

She noted that the program only shows 22 minutes out of a 24-hour period of moments in the lives of 12 people. “If there’s a crazy moment, we see smiles on the faces of the crew,” she said, revealing that the family actually feels strange when they are not around. “I’m always patting my chest to see if a mic is on,” Jenner revealed.

“There’s enough weird stuff that comes out of people naturally to keep it interesting,” said Fleiss of “The Bachelor” series. “Just look at the number of people who come away heartbroken. It’s incredibly high.”

As for other low points, he admitted that the season shot inNew Yorkwas not one of its best, that the main participant was inebriated much of the time and that the crew was burnt out.

“I feel that the audience could sense that, and moving forward, we had more sincere participants, both on and off camera,” he said.

Casting is always a key issue for unscripted programs and for shows like “Dancing,” it’s a nearly constant process. “The key is the feel of each cast. The danger is homogenizing it,” said Green. “We are looking for marquee booking. We have the opportunity to change 12 faces.”

“If I don’t have a good cast, I have nothing,” said van Munster of “The Amazing Race.”  He continually lauded CBS’s support of his award-winning program, which wins the Emmy in the reality category almost like clockwork.

CBS has also been very successful with “Undercover Boss,” whose producer Holzman has just launched “The Pitch” onAMC, after its acclaimed drama “Mad Men.”

“It’s hard work. We embedded filmmakers into the offices, “said Holzman of the program, which pits advertising agencies against each other to win a prized account. He said he’s working on a new show about turning a home recipe into a supermarket product based upon his own experiences with a dessert treat.

“Are you taking jobs away from actors?,” asked Bergeron of his panel– a notion which they almost uniformly laughed off–with some positing that the reality genre may have even served to make dramas better in what many have termed a new golden age of television.

“It’s a misconception that you don’t work as hard [as dramatic actors],” Jenner said, and Fleiss agreed, citing the long hours. “Every person has a strong work ethic and our show employs hundreds of people,” said Jenner.” It makes me feel good–and we’re having the time of our lives.”

Proving once again that it takes a lot to keep up with the Kardashians.

It was billed as a hot night, and although the predicted Southern California heat wave did not materialize, things were rocking on Wisteria Lane for a block party benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

More than 500 people turned out for the fundraiser on the back lot of Universal Studios to close the curtain on the award-winning drama “Desperate Housewives,” which will conclude its eight-year run with a two-hour season finale on ABC on Sunday, May 13.

The show’s recently killed off character Mike Delfino (James Denton) fronted a rollicking set from Band from TV– and his on-air wife Teri Hatcher sang a few numbers as guests enjoyed the backyard barbecue provided by Stonefire Grill and wine from NapaValley’s Hope & Grace, along with other libations and delicious desserts.

Although people were clustered around heat lamps as the night chill descended on the festivities, ice cream bars were a popular treat.

The evening featured live and silent auctions, the opportunity to wander through the Housewives’ homes on what is actually the lot’s Colonial Street, and mingle with the show’s stars, including Felicity Huffman.

Other regular and recurring cast members including Lainie Kazan, Andrea Bowen, Darcy Rose Byrnes, Madison De La Garza, Kevin Rahm, Daniella Baltodano and Mason Vale Cotton also made the scene.

Along with Denton, Band from TV is made up of other television actors, including Greg Grunberg, Jesse Spencer, Scott Grimes and Bob Guiney and their performance also featured a blistering horns section and backup singers.

Cystic Fibrosis is North America’s number one genetic killer of children and young adults. More than 10 million Americans are unknowing carriers of the CF gene. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the world’s leader in the search for a cure and funds more CF research than any other organization.

Sushi lovers will delight in this inspirational tale of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He runs the 10-seat Tokyo restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro which is located in an unlikely place for such an acclaimed establishment, a subway station.

Fans and foodies from around the world make reservations months in advance and shell out big bucks for one of the coveted seats to have the meal of their dreams. To do so, they put themselves in Jiro’s trustworthy hand for a dining experience that is choreographed beautifully from beginning to end.

It’s even tougher to get in since that the restaurant has been awarded a three-star Michelin review.

The documentary, directed by David Gelb, tells the story of a life that’s been spent mastering the art of making sushi. It’s hard to believe that even with all the accolades, even at his age, Jiro is still striving for perfection– working meticulously to train his employees to carefully mold the impeccable presentation of each of his creations.

“You have to fall in love with your job,” Jiro says. “You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill.” It’s an inspirational message that cuts across all endeavors, not just the culinary in which Jiro lives his life, only taking a rare day off for holidays when the restaurant is closed.

“Jiro hates holidays. They’re too long for him,” says Yamamoto, a food critic who’s interviewed extensively in the film and who says the restaurant is absolutely the best he has ever eaten in, time and time again.

As you’ll see in the film, it’s a tough road for both of his sons to follow in Jiro’s footsteps. The oldest one, Yoshikazu, has been tapped to run the restaurant after his father retires and has taken over the task of going to the fish market every morning to pick out the absolute best of the catch.

As Yamamoto notes, Yoshikazu may have to be three times as good as his father to live up to his legacy. Jiro’s ghost will always be hanging over him. Instead of exhibiting bitterness towards his aging father, Yoshikazu allows himself to absorb as much knowledge as possible from this master chef.  He is preparing himself so that when the time eventually comes, he will be ready. 

The other son runs a restaurant in a different location, and thus is slightly out of his father’s shadow.

The relationship amongst the three is complicated, yet loving. Interestingly, the wife and mother is never mentioned.

Gelb spent eight weeks in Tokyo over the course of two years, shooting footage and delving headfirst into Jiro’s world, driven to decipher what makes him run and why he never stops to rest on his reputation.

“What I saw in Jiro was not just his culinary technique – not just his work,” Gelb says.  ” I want to show people that sushi is so much more than putting fish on rice.  Jiro has created an art form.  And his philosophy is to always improve your craft, to always look ahead to the future.  That is something that anyone can relate to.”  

Based upon his experiences with Jiro, Yamamoto says there are five steps toward becoming a master: taking your work seriously, aspiring to improve, maintaining cleanliness, being a better leader than a collaborator and being passionate about your work.

In addition to embodying all of these qualities, Jiro still mentally prepares himself to consistently find the best ingredients, the best staff and to tirelessly serve the best dishes to his patrons.

As each dish is presented, the cinematography makes you wish you could grab through the screen and indulge in Jiro’s edible art–and that he stays around for a long time.
 “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” unrated, runs 1:21, http://www.magpictures.com/jirodreamsofsushi/

It’s pretty rare to get excited about a cleaning product, but that’s exactly what happened with something called Deo-Go. Imported from the UK, the almond-scented liquid removes those yucky, yellow underarm stains that come from using deodorant and antiperspirant.

Yeah, that’s right. It’s probably not your own perspiration that is staining light-colored garments – it’s the chemicals we use that stop us from sweating. Now, you don’t have to throw those close away. You can bring them to life again very easily. And what could be more economical and ecological than that?

With warmer weather approaching, I got out a pretty white tank top that had such stains and tried out the product. It’s really easy to use–you spray it on the stain, scrub it with, in my case, a toothbrush, let it sit for 30 minutes and then wash it.

I hand-washed this top, just for safety, but machine washing is fine as well. Voila! Amazing results. The stains are completely gone, making the top look absolutely brand-new. I will be using this on all my other white and light-colored clothing that need the treatment.

Deo-go comes in a clear, 9 ounce bottle with a spray pump and is available for about  $11  at Drugstore.com and Amazon.com as well as at www.getdeogo.com where you can also get more information.

The product offers a money-back guarantee and is also certified by the Good Housekeeping Institute.

There have been many projects done about the late, great Bob Marley, but “Marley” is the first to be not only officially sanctioned by his family, but to involve their major participation, both on and off screen.  Ziggy Marley, the reggae star’s oldest son, is an executive producer, along with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

There’s another first for this nearly two-and-a-half hour long documentary, directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“One Day in September,” “The Last King of Scotland,” “State ofPlay”). Because it’s being released on April 20 by Magnolia Pictures, whose parent company owns Landmark Theaters, the film will also be available onVOD and, get this, on Facebook for rental at $6.99. Normally, theater chains would go ape about the other distribution venues providing the movie on the same day and date, but this remains all in the (Mark Cuban) family.

However, we still recommend seeing it on the big screen, where you’ll have an up front seat at the thrilling performances of Bob Marley and the Wailers on stages from London and Zimbabwe to Kingston and New York as they rose to worldwide acclaim in the early 1970s, and continuing until their reggae reign was cut short in 1981 by Marley’s untimely death of melanoma at the age of 36.

But “Marley” encompasses much more than music. The film is a revelatory examination of Marley’s entire life – from the rejection and ridicule he suffered for being mixed-race to the assassination attempt that also landed a bullet in his wife’s head just days before a politically charged concert in Jamaica and the disease that felled him– and why decades later, he is still idolized by people around the world and sells millions of records–50 million worldwide since 1992 alone.

And speaking of records, the soundtrack of the film, a two-disc set, was just released, and includes 24 cuts chosen by the Marley family and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. The collection includes live and studio versions of Marley’s classics like “No Woman, No Cry,” “Could You Be Loved,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Get Up Stand Up,” “Stir It up” and “One Love.”

There’s such a timeless quality to the music that politically-inspired movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring uprisings have used some of the songs as anthems– not to mention that the universally beloved messages of peace and love that go out of style.

The documentary gives you a comprehensive look at Marley’s beginnings in a dirt-poor rural area of Jamaica, before he moved with his mother to Trench Town, a shantytown district of Kingston, where Marley made many of the connections that would stay with him through his lifetime.

The film reveals the rejection and ridicule he suffered for being of mixed race. His mother, who was interviewed in the film, is black, while his father was a white Englishman who had a short relationship with her. There is apparently only one known photograph of the man, Norval Marley, and he’s on horseback.

Director Macdonald says that in making the film he wanted to find out why Bob Marley still speaks to people around the world so much more profoundly than any other rock star or popular musical artist.

“What I was fascinated to try to do in this film was to make something very personal,” he says. “Who is this man? Why did he become so successful? What was his message that he had to give out people?”

The result is a definitive life story of the musician, the revolutionary, and the legend,  told with rare or unseen footage and revealing interviews with family members and others who knew Bob Marley well, including one of his school teachers who talks about his early musical talent. In fact, Marley released his first record at the tender age of 16.

The documentary delivers a depth of insight that would have been impossible without the cooperation of the Marley family, including Bob’s wife, Rita and their children, including Ziggy and his sister Cedella, several of his girlfriends, friends and musical colleagues who opened up on camera about his life and times.

One of the biggest challenges was the lack of archival footage from early years. Macdonald says that from 1962 until 1973– when Bob Marley first attained worldwide recognition– there’s not a single piece of footage and only a handful of photographs.

The Wailers, the group Bob formed with the late Peter Tosh and Neville “Bunny” Livingston– who is extensively interviewed and also served as associate producer of the documentary – once had five of the top 10 singles on Jamaican charts early in their career. But despite their prominence, the infrastructure necessary to document their career was sadly lacking at the time.

“It just shows a lot about what Jamaica was like then,” says Macdonald.

For Ziggy, looking at the footage provided new insights into his father’s life. He was just shy of 13 years old when Bob Marley died of melanoma inMiami.

“I learned a lot about his early life in Trench Town and the hard time he suffered as a result of his skin color,” says Marley. “I never knew anything about his time in Germany, where he went for treatment of his melanoma, so that was very emotional and insightful.  I learned a lot about his illness that I didn’t know.”

Ziggy says that like some of his brothers and sisters still do, he used to call Bob Marley “daddy.”

“He’s like a brother, father, teacher and uncle to me now,” Marley says. “I feel enough closeness to his life and emotional feelings that will always be part of me. We have a relationship that continues to evolve and grow. When I was younger, I wanted to be just like him. I used to try, now I don’t try, but I feel his spirit within me.”

That spirit comes through loudly and clearly through the documentary and brings a new appreciation and respect for one of the greatest musical artists of our time whose legacy continues to inspire people around the world.

A sold-out opening-night crowd was on hand to see the ultra-fit, ruggedly handsome actor in a groundbreaking play based on a Russian short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Ivan Bunin.

Those expecting a traditional theatrical experience were in for a delightful surprise. Firstly, the play is performed in French and in Russian – and although those languages were heard amongst the guests at the pre-show cocktail party, naturally, most of the audience was English-speaking. Problem solved, beautifully, with innovative “supertitles” that scrolled over the stage, the actors, the props, a large screen and often times, smaller handheld screens.

It took a bit of adjustment, but it turned out to be an experience that enhanced the drama.

“InParis,” directed by Dmitry Krymov, tells the story of two Russian immigrants whose lives intersect in the City of Lights during the 1930s. Baryshnikov is a former general, impeccably dressed and well-mannered, who happens into a neighborhood café and meets the winsome waitress played by actress Anna Sinyakina, whose husband is away at war inYugoslavia.

At this point, we already know that Baryshnikov’s character is divorced and that his young wife left him for a much younger and presumably wealthier Greek in Constantinople, that he’s on his own in Paris and quite lonely.

Sparks start slowly, and then they fly.  We won’t issue any spoilers on the story, which is brought to life in multiple locations by innovative props on a stage that spins, another metaphor for what’s occurring in the lives of the two main characters.

But “In Paris” isn’t all serious and intense. Laughter ensues many times during the performance—which runs1:20 without an intermission—particularly during some of Baryshnikov’s bits getting dressed, or undressed.

There are also a few supporting characters as well as a Greek chorus of sorts that provides musical commentary to what’s going on. And then there is the mouse….nothing like Disney’s version.

Baryshnikov is also a producer of the play and invested about a quarter of a million dollars in it, raising a like amount from a Russian friend to mount the production, which had its world premiere in Helsinki last August. He describes it as a personal project done out of love. Baryshnikov’s father was a lieutenant colonel and he has said he drew inspiration for his character from unhappy memories of his father’s military mannerisms.

In the play, Baryshnikov speaks Russian onstage for the first time in his career. “He was not a very pleasant man,” he said of his father to the New York Times. “I did not have the happiest of childhoods. His mannerisms, his military habits, I put them in my interpretation.”

As one of the world’s greatest ballet dancers, Baryshnikov defected to the United States in 1974 and soon also achieved fame on screen. He garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his 1977 role in the brilliant ballet film The Turning Point. In 1989, he appeared on Broadway in an adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis; and recently played on his formidable reputation as an “artiste” by indelibly depicting a self-absorbed Russian artist in the popular HBO series Sex and the City as Carrie’s international Prince Charming, who turned out to be anything but.  

In this venue, his romantic interest is Anna Sinyakina. With her soulful beauty and graceful presence, not to mention some unexpected costume changes and some thrilling acrobatics, she brings a poignant resonance to their love story.  

“In Paris” runs through April 21 with evening shows and weekend matinees. Tickets range from $65-$135.

If you miss it inLos Angeles, additional tour dates include: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, April 25-May 13, 2012; Spoleto Festival,Italy, June 30-July 1, 2012; and New York’s Lincoln Center Festival, August 1-August 5, 2012.

The Broad Stage, 1310 11^th Street, Santa Monica, (310) 434-3200 www.TheBroadStage.com.

You wouldn’t necessarily think that hardware could be sexy, or that an invitation to a store party would be the most coveted one of the night. When that hardware consists of high-end decor at the flagship Restoration Hardware store, all bets are off.

After last year’s mobbed opening bash at the Beverly Boulevardl ocation, the bar was raised pretty high as the store recently hosted another lively soirée to launch its Spring 2012 line, called Exposed. Unless you count lighting fixtures as hardware, none seem to be in evidence either upstairs or downstairs at the sprawling store, which boasts an extensive side patio tricked out with trellises and of course, outdoor furniture.

But what you did see were several of Hollywood’s most beautiful women including Malin Ackerman, Elizabeth Banks, Milla Jovovich (who had looked absolutely incredible at the Oscars) and Abbie Cornish, all members of the host committee, who partied up a storm with hundreds of others.

The event benefited the The Prints and Drawing Council (PDC) of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and featured a live performance by New York duo The Pierces.

The champagne cocktails were flowing nonstop and the tray passed hors d’oeuvres kept coming, including some succulent lamb chops, as guests checked out the new home furnishings collection.

The only downside of the evening, and one that was predictable with the large crowd (estimated at nearly 1,000 people): the long wait to retrieve cars from valet.

 The California Arts Council is preaching to the choir in these vehicular quarters with its recently launched “Create a State/Million Plates Drive” to raise money for arts education and programs by selling California arts license plates – with the goal of raising $40 million.

We’ve been proudly driving the California arts plate with its iconic Golden State sunset and palm tree design created by California artist Wayne Thiebaud for about a decade now, knowing the renewal fees go to those worthy programs.

The drive kicked off with a special event at Sony Pictures studios in Culver City, one of its corporate supporters, with a performance by Ozomatli. Celebrity “Arts Drivers” including Maria Shriver, Russell Simmons, Frank Gehry, Wolfgang Puck, Annette Bening, Debbie Allen, Quincy Jones, Macy Gray, David Geffen, Steve Martin, Robert Redford, Tim Robbins, Ed Ruscha and Alice Waters are among those who have signed on, as well as the cast of  “Glee.”

You may have already seen the billboards with some of those people and their license plates, courtesy of a sizable donation of space by Clear Channel Outdoor. Each will use a personal catchphrase to emphasize the “create a state” theme. For Jones, it will be “create a state of harmony.” Jack Black’s slogan says “create a state of awesomeness” and Redford’s will be “create a state of independents,” a reference to the independent film world promoted by his Sundance Institute.

We all know California is home to cars and stars, but the sad fact is that the Golden State is near the bottom of the list when it comes to per capita spending for state-funded arts programs.

So the state’s Arts Council, which gets 60% of its budget from the plates, decided to mobilize some celebrity glamour and corporate donors to up the ante in an effort to boost license plate sales from their current level of about 70,000 a year to 1 million a year. That would mean about 3% of the state’ s vehicles would sport the cool plates–and would boost arts spending to one dollar per capita from the current, and woefully inadequate 13 cents.

That’s still below the spending of other states, including Minnesota, Wyoming,Vermont, Hawaii and New York.

The council is also working to get car rental companies and other businesses with fleets to equip their vehicles with the arts plates, which will enable them not only to make a statement in support of the arts, but to receive a tax deduction.

The money raised will support programs that bring artists into the schools as well as restoring community arts programs at boys’ and girls’ clubs, senior centers and prisons.

Personalized plates with a maximum of 6 letters or numbers cost $98 for the initial fee and $78 for annual renewals, while regular plates go for $50 initially and $40 for renewals. You can find more information at www.artsplate.org and create your own state of artfully driving.