Shake it up: Snowglobes are one of those anomalous things in life. Cheap and tacky beyond mortal comprehension, even the most orthodoxly cool person feels the need to shake one up and let the unearthly polyurethane snow cover its aquatic inhabitants. But what if there was life in your snowglobe, life that could be completely disrupted with a little shaking? Watch out, little people, at http://ww12.e-tractions.com/snowglobe/globe.htm.

Snow job: When Erwin Perzy, an Austrian toymaker, created the first snowglobe in 1900, the snow was made out of rice. One of the earliest designs was a cathedral with a Ferris wheel, expressing Perzy's disdain for separation of church and amusement park. Perzy even created the Rosebud snowglobe for the movie Citizen Kane. Give it a shake at www.viennasnowglobe.at.

Comments? Michael Citrome