WHAT'S COOL WHAT'S HOT.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

While we're waiting for Tom Cruise to tell us it's twins, try these:

CURIOUS SYSTEM

Classic children's books like ``Curious George'' and ``Where the Wild Things Are'' can now play on your TV screen in DVD format with a new remote-control system from Fisher-Price. The Read With Me DVD System, which costs $34.95, is an improvement over the InteracTV learning system that Fisher-Price introduced last year. This new controller has large, easy-to-press buttons, including two prominent ``page turn'' controls that invite a child to flip through a digital storybook. Besides the disc included with the remote control - ``The Little Engine That Could'' - eight additional titles are available ($15 each) from Scholastic Media. These include ``Corduroy,'' ``Green Eggs and Ham'' and ``Miss Spider's Tea Party.'' Each has orchestrated musical scores and ``follow the bouncing ball'' text highlighting. Although the extent of the interactivity is limited, each story offers questions for a child to answer, as well as some simple games like Concentration. The controller, powered by three AA batteries, must first be programmed for your brand of DVD player by beaming commands from your existing controller when they are lined up nose-to-nose.

GRAPHIC ART

Consider Chris Ware's perverse aesthetic: The most acclaimed graphic novelist (``Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth'') in, well, ever, is celebrated for his gorgeously and laboriously designed pages and illustrations serving stories of wry melancholy. But he also seems hellbent on inflicting severe eyestrain upon the fans of his most visual of media, if not blinding them altogether. Check out his latest handsomely bound masterwork, ``The Acme Novelty Library'' (Pantheon; $27.50), which repackages previously published pages. Amid the eye-popping splashes of intricately wrought comic strips, there are pages upon pages of hilarious fake ads parodying those in Silver-Age comic books hawking seed catalogs, low-rent amusement parks and scam art schools.

KING BLING

When ``Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs'' closes its run at LACMA West on Nov. 15, so goes your easiest opportunity to purchase those fabulous necklaces, earrings and other ornaments inspired by King Tut's appetite for finery. John Norman, president and CEO of Arts and Exhibitions International, says while the coffee-table book and T-shirts are the top overall sellers in the museum store, he was surprised by the popularity of the jewelry line. ``There was a large demand for Egyptian-themed jewelry,'' he said last week from Chicago, where he is planning the third stop on the Tut exhibit's final U.S tour. ``We had a small amount at the beginning, but it sold out in a week. We had to reorder more and more because the demand was there. When the staff would get in a new order and load it on the cart to take it down to the shop, before they could even get to the shelves to put it on the shelves, they would have a swarm of people picking up all this stuff.'' One of the must-haves: a tiered necklace of black onyx, amethyst and red and green aventurine beads, $104. Museum members get a 10 percent discount.

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(1 -- 4 -- color) THAT TOUCH OF LACE

It's sexy to have a touch of lace showing this fall. Whether it peeks out from under a sweater or accents a camisole (both from T.J. Maxx) or draws attention to shapely legs (like the lace-patterned hose from Ann Taylor Loft), it certainly attracts attention. But why wear just a touch? Go for maximum impact. Even Hollywood starlets know cameras turn their way when they lace it up. Maybe that's why Helena Bonham Carter wore this black lace dress to the premiere of ``Corpse Bride,'' far right.

(5 -- color) no caption (King Tut necklace)

(6 -- color) no caption (Read with Me DVD system)

(7 -- color) no caption (book: ``The Acne Novelty Library'')