Oscar

I have a friend who works for the Academy and was in charge of part of the Oscars this year so she asked me if I wanted a job working the bleachers. I said yes.

In September of 08 hundreds of people submitted online for a chance to be randomly selected for attendance to the Oscars in the bleachers. Only 700 were chosen. Some flew in from England. Some lived in LA. Some had never been--then there were the "bleacher creatures" who had been there like 30 years in a row or something.

I arrived at 6:15 a.m. to get a walkie talkie, talk about logistics and grab a few doughnuts. People started arriving around 8 and my job was to usher them in. Later we provided lunch and a goodie bag with a t-shirt, sunscreen, and some bits of information.

It was pretty cool. I must say it was neat to see the curtains pulled back on the whole ordeal.

One thing that struck me as interesting was that they have strobes along the walkway out of the shot of the camera so when you see the stars walking it looks like there are tons of photographers snapping shots all the time. Not true. There is one section that has all the press photographers but that is a very small area right as they walk out onto the carpet.

Before they get to the carpet and after they get out of their car is a tent where they get 'last looks' where they are re-styled, applied and readied. Then they step out to see the camera crew.

I found that whole thing to be very interesting.

Admittedly, there were a few celebrities it was neat to see: Anne Hathaway (whom I'll be marrying in a few years), Brad and Angelina, Beyonce' and Kate Winslet.

These are few shots from the night.