"You, too, can view the world through a cheap plastic souvenir. For $5 and a pick of the board, what do the movies Sleepless in Seattle, Hope Floats and Die Hard 2 have in common? ... tick ... tick ... tick ... ding! Yep, they all have snowdomes in them. As do Ghostbusters, Mary Poppins, Godzilla and Thelma and Louise, among many others. The reason I'm in a position to pass on this vital information is not because I've been working my way down the video store shelves, ranking movies on whether they contain plastic, water-filled souvenirs (though I can think of worse classification systems).  "

"Even in the midst of a Star Wars summer, fans can look forward to a flurry of exciting new snow globes now available for shoppers eager to get into the holiday spirit a few months early. With lights, sounds, and other cool features, this relatively new category in the field of Star Wars collectibles takes a giant leap forward with these exceptionally well-crafted additions to a growing hobby. Of course, most of these are not designed specifically for the holidays -- these can be successfully displayed year-round at home, in the office, or wherever a bit of Star Wars flair is needed."

"Gazing at the shimmering magic of snowfall is mesmerizing. Whether it's outside your window or inside a snow globe, the experience can be transcendent, allowing the viewer to enter a quiet world of dreams and mysteries. In their recent work, collaborators Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz subvert the cheerful conventions of the snowglobe by constructing desolate and sometimes sinister snowscapes."

"The woman inside Camille Utterback's Shaken snow globe responds to the physical gesture of being shaken. The device features an embedded LCD screen and tilt sensor. The more you shake the snow globe, the more momentum is added to a video of a woman shaking out of control."

"This Friday, November 26, Yahoo! Inc. brings snow to New York City with the Yahoo! Shopping Snow Globe, an interactive winter wonderland located in the heart of Times Square. Designed to "shake up" the traditional holiday shopping experience, the snow globe features Yahoo!'s Comparison Shopping Santa and his many elves, eager to show consumers how to search and compare products on Yahoo! to find a great deal without fighting the crowds."

"A lot of stories how come out over the years, even recent years, about the validity of Stonehenge. This makes no difference to me; whether or not it was an ancient timepiece or a modern tourism invention, it is powerful. No less so under the circumstances I visited there."

"I've had several snowglobes (or snowdomes) over the years, purchased as souvenirs or received as inexpensive gifts, but never really appreciated them until this Christmas when I received the loveliest one I've ever seen: the Eiffel Tower, flanked by rows of trees just like the Champs de Mars...when I shake it, and remember Paris, I realize this little gift will always be a treasure to me.."

"When Ruth Morris became one of 20 Scottish designers asked to create their very own snowdome, she thought of childhood. And childhood, for the Edinburgh clothing designer, was her white-haired Scottish terrier Snowy."

"Quite often a snow globe or snowdome collector receives their first snow globe during childhood. The instant gratification of shaking the globe and creating an instant snowstorm is fascinating to children. In recent years snow globes have become a popular collectible for adults in addition to the youngest generation."

"Displayed in a University of Cincinnati library is a growing collection that screams for a scholar who wants to specialize in tacky. It's the 300-plus snowglobes and snowglobe pens donated to the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning."

"The movie that many critics consider the best American film of all time begins with one. Charles Foster Kane holds out a glass, water-filled globe depicting a bucolic snowy landscape, utters his famous final word "Rosebud" and slowly expires. The snowglobe rolls from his dead fingers and smashes on the floor. Again and again throughout Citizen Kane, the globe subtly reappears."

""Some folks collect snowdomes because they're not as flat as stamps" (Ian Gordon, collector, Sydney). "It's a trip-in-miniature to a land which many of us may never otherwise visit but which we long to see. And in some small way, we have" (Nancy McMichael, author, 'Snowdomes', and collector of over 5,000 snowdomes, Washington)."

"Joseph Garaja is a local hero of mine, even though I know hardly anything about him. We should build a monument to him on the Point. If we do, it should be covered in plastic and filled with water flecked with faux snow.

Call them snowdomes, snow globes, shakies or blizzards in a bottle, those hollow glass or plastic, liquid-filled spheres containing figurines and fake flakes may be the ultimate in kitschy travel souvenirs."

"Snowglobe collectors Gordon Ung and Wylie Wong are currently duking it out over who has the most snowglobes. Wylie recently received two globes as gifts, one a snowglobe wristwatch and the other a McDonald's 101 Dalmatians globe. He wanted them counted as part of his collection. Gordon resisted, saying they weren't real globes. Their amused friends and colleagues watched on as the pair argued. Here now is an e-mail thread of the argument that ensued."