When someone did arrive, they started to pull in the people at the head of the line, not necessarily people with early call times (even though the directions clearly stated that you were not to come after your call time, nor before, people still did.) We pushed ahead though, with me saying that we had a 7:50 call time, so we should be allowed in ahead of people with 8:30 call times. The guy who seemed to be in charge did concede and ushered a small group of us across the street. We then had to present our driver's licenses to get our passes and go through security. This was also highly unorganized, as people pushed things onto a little section between the two screeners (there wasn't a conveyor belt to push things like you would at the airport.) Dad and I got in line at the same time and he didn't get through until well after me because people were pushing. Once through the line, we were handed our gift bags of goodies and ushered to our seating assignment.
We were in the last row of our section of bleachers, and those we saw up close, looked familiar to Dad, because he had seen them in pictures of this event. We asked this woman how many years she'd be coming and she told us she and her friends have been coming and camping out for 30+ years -- even longer than they have been offering bleacher seats. Apparently the Academy now invites her and her friends. She says they usually sit up front, but last year were in the back. We also counted more than 300 seats, which is supposedly how many seats are available through the lottery.
The people directly in front of us seemed particularly bitter about our rear "random" assignment. Although Dad's telephoto lens was the only real way we could get up close photos, there were some perks. We able to stand up when the celebrities were on the red carpet (everyone else had to sit down because otherwise, you would be blocking people) so we didn't have as many heads in our shots, and since not everyone in our row showed up, we got to spread out.
We were able to get some photos up close before the celebrities arrived.
Although there were women in evening gowns on the red carpet even before we got there, it wasn't until after our free box lunch (turkey on ciabatta bread - SO good - apple, and a cookie) that the first recognizable celebrity appeared... Mary Hart. Check out her entourage! I think she was recording scripted ins and outs for pieces on Entertainment Tonight as she had a teleprompter.
There was a guy who sat a few rows up and to the right who would scream out celebrities' names so that was really helpful in terms of knowing who was coming. We could use him to "spot" for NASCAR races!
The next big name to arrive was Ryan Seacrest. He was moving too fast for me to get a good picture of him, but this photo is a good opportunity to point out what Dad and I decided was the "rope" system. Where Ryan is walking is where the "dates" and lesser-knowns seemed to walk. Above that top rope is where the big celebrities would walk - with media kept behind that wall (that is why so many of our shots have the backs of heads). Very few people walked down that black stripe - unless they were in a big hurry.
Speaking of media, I swear Erin Andrews was texting the whole time before her interview subjects arrived and she had to go behind the wall.
After the media was in position, it was time for the actors and actresses to arrive.
We had a couple of spots where we could watch for celebrities. The first was on a stage with Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger, who was specifically there to interview celebs for the benefit of the bleacher crowd. The interviews were piped through the loud speaker. Most of the early gets were filmmakers of the best foreign films, but check out who was among the first to stop by the stage.
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| Project Runway's Tim Gunn |
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| The Today Show's Al Roker interviews Michelle Williams |
Because celebrities mostly had their backs to us, pretty much the only times you could get a good head-on shot was when people called their names and they turned and addressed the crowd.
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| Hillary Swank |
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| Kevin Spacey |
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| Jeff Bridges |
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| Sandra Bullock |
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| Donald Trump |
Although she was all business, I loved Reese Witherspoon's hair.
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| Reese Witherspoon |
It would be hard to tell which of these guys were more popular:
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| Matthew McConaughey |
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| Robin Roberts interviewing Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban |
But I think this guy got the most reaction when he walked by:
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| Justin Timberlake |
I was excited to see my cousin and Hornell's own, but the person I was most excited to see was my friend, Diana Alvear, covering the event for ABC affiliates.
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| Yes, she's in my family tree -- Halle Berry |
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| Bill Pullman |
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| Diana Alvear |
Christian Bale and Natalie Portman arrived just before the ceremony was supposed to start, but they graciously did an interview for the bleacher fans.
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| Dave Karger interviewing Natalie Portman while Christian Bale looks on |
We missed most of the opening sequence because we were in transit, but overall I enjoyed the show. I did feel as if some of the bits were a bit awkward, and I wish Amy Adams would have won for "The Fighter." But it was an experience for which I am extremely grateful! Thanks, Dad! -- POSTED BY COLLEEN
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