Oscar Weekend 2009!

Oh, how I love the smell of Awards Season in the morning! And let me tell you – this was the Academy Awards Weekend to end all Academy Awards Weekends for me! I had the absolute time of my life!!!!!!!!!!! It was so incredible that I am still pinching myself today. Bright and early Saturday morning I dragged my boyfriend out to Hollywood and Highland Mall to stalk Oscar’s red carpet and we didn’t make it home until after 3am the following morning. AND I still cannot believe this but we saw 128 stars! YES you read that right – ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT MOVIE STARS! There were so many stars out and about that at times I didn’t know which way to look. My boyfriend said he thought my head was about to explode. LOL I almost feel like I should just throw in my stalking towel now as it just doesn’t get any better than this weekend – but don’t worry, I won’t! 🙂

Our first stop on Saturday morning was the Kodak Theatre where we got to check out the most famous carpet in the world. Although I have done this for three years in a row now, I don’t think I will ever get tired of it! For someone who grew up so far away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, to get to be that close to the Academy Awards red carpet is a dream come true. It’s almost surreal. And I LOVE every minute of it! I can’t wait for the day when I am walking down that red carpet for real. 🙂 A few of the pics I took at the Kodak:

Although the Oscar set-up was beautiful, as always, for some reason this year they had the red carpet area blocked off and fans could not walk across it. 🙁 Such a bummer! If you’ll notice in the above pics the carpet is completely tarped in plastic during the set-up, so that the hundreds of crew members traipsing across it don’t ruin it.

I was stoked to see a little champage stand set up alongside the red carpet, since champagne is my favorite drink – and it was my girl Marilyn Monroe’s, too. 🙂 How cool to be able to grab a glass of champagne, while making your way down the red carpet! LOVE IT! 🙂

Mr. Oscar looking pretty drab outside the Kodak – notice the blemishes on his arms. LOL

What they don’t show you on TV! LOL The ugly road closures and chain link fences at the start of the red carpet.

The massive press bridge built over Hollywood Boulevard

What the red carpet looks like from Hollywood Boulevard.

After stalking the red carpet, I dragged my boyfried out to do some stalking of the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica – and, yes, the carpet there really is blue! Much more relaxed than the Oscars, the Spirit Awards are held each year under a plastic tent that is set up in a public parking lot next to the beach in Santa Monica. We showed up just as the awards were ending this year and got to see a whole slew of celebs walking the short half-block from the show to the after-party. And, let me tell you, it was absolute pandemonium! There were about a million paparazzi and fans alike swarming the stars as they made their way to the Shutters Hotel where the afterparty was being held. You can see in the above pics the massive amount of paps that were on the scene. It was insane!!! While there we saw . . .

Rosie Perez

Mad Men star John Hamm and his girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. They were super nice and stopped to take pictures with every fan who asked!

Elisabeth Rohn from Law and Order – she seemed very sweet. 🙂

A very heavily made up Teri Hatcher – you can just barely see her in the above pic. She is standing behind the guy in the suit. As soon as she drove up, the paps went ABSOLUTELY NUTS and completely surrounded her, so I wasn’t able to get a very good pic. 🙁

The Office’s Rainn Wilson

Elisha Dushku (who you can just barely see in the above pics)

Ron Livingston (aka SATC’s Jack Berger) who looked to have just been in an accident of some sort. Ugh, it broke my heart to see him like that! 🙁 Poor Berger!

Film critic Leonard Maltin

And this guy who the paps and fans went absolutely CRAZY for – like so crazy I thought it might be Brad Pitt pulling up! – but I have no idea who he is!!!! LOL Does anyone recognize him?

And, finally, this actor who I am sad to say I also didn’t recognize. 🙁 Does anyone know who he is?

After stalking the Spirit Awards, I dragged my boyfriend from one end of L.A. to the other, hotel and bar hopping. There were Oscar parties galore going on literally every hundred feet or so and the celebs were out in full force! And I just about died over two celeb run-ins that I had. My personal fave was when my girl Jen Aniston came up and stood about two feet away from me for a good six minutes. Unfortunately we were inside a hotel at the time, and no hotels were allowing any sort of pictures to be taken last night. But even though I didn’t get to snap a pic of her, I was still in heaven. Jen looked A-MA-ZING! I’ve seen Jen in person on two other occasions and I have to say this was the best I’ve ever seen her. She seemed very healthy and happy. Forty years old suits her. 🙂 She is just so freaking adorable I can’t stand it! And she has the best laugh ever – it’s this huge guffaw that fills the whole room. And she was doing a lot of laughing last night. Needless to say I was mesmerized! 🙂

A bit earlier in the evening I just happened to spot Ginnifer Goodwin who stars in my favorite movie as of late He’s Just Not That Into You. She was the only celeb I saw yesterday that I just HAD to go up to. In a situation like yesterday, where there are tons of celebs around and hotels aren’t allowing photographs, I am very content to just sit and observe their comings and goings. Sort of like being in a celebrity zoo. LOL But when Ginnifer Goodwin walked by, I just couldn’t help myself! So I walked up to her and told her how amazing she was in He’s Just Not That Into You and how I absolutely loved the movie. And she was SO SWEET! She thanked me for coming up to her, shook my hand, and introduced herself. I just about died. She is completely adorable in person, too! I mean, does it get any better than that??

But I’d have to say that THE most exciting part of the night for me was when I got recognized! Yes, I got recognized!!!!! While I was eating dinner last night a lady came up to me and asked if I was the “I Am Not A Stalker Girl”! I am not kidding!!!! Someone actually recognized me and I just about died! I think I was more excited about that than the fact that Nicole Kidman was eating just a few tables away. LOL I’m always amazed to hear that people actually read my blog, as most of my loved ones just barely tolerate my stalking addiction. So the fact that there are people that actually care what I have to say is AMAZING! It’s nice to know that there really are other people like me out there. 🙂 My fan (and new best friend! LOL ) introduced me to her friends and one of them asked me how my dad was doing! I was like “Wow, you guys really do read my blog!” LOL They were the NICEST group of ladies, but unfortunately they live in another state – otherwise I think we’d all make a great stalking team! 🙂 When I woke up this morning I really had to think for a minute to be sure that that part of my evening wasn’t just a dream. LOL

Anyway, without further ado, here is the list of stars I saw in and around Hollywood on Saturday:

1. Nicole Kidman
2. La Toya Jackson – my boyfriend and I kept going back and forth as to whether it was La Toya or Janet. LOL
3. Mickey Rourke
4. Robin Wright Penn
5. Olivia Wilde
6. Sarah Silverman
7. Seth Rogan
8. Dax Shepard
9. Kristen Bell
10. Topher Grace
11. Dennis Leary
12. Amy Adams
13. Darren Le Gallo
14. Jason Bateman
15. Amanda Anka
16. Josh Radnor
17. Lindsay Price
18. Forest Whitaker
19. Zach Braff
20. Kevin Connolly – said hi to me as he walked by 🙂
21. Molly Sims
22. Chace Crawford
23. Deborah Messing – super pretty in person
24. Amy Poehler
25. Will Arnett
26. Tina Fey – sooooo short and tiny
27. Eric McCormack
28. Neil Patrick Harris
29. Kristin Davis – said “Hi” as she walked by and I was floored to see that she walked with a little bounce JUST LIKE Charlotte does on SATC!
30. Aaron Eckhart
31. Holly Robinson Peete
32. Rodney Peete (NFL)
33. Gwen Stefani – absolutely stunning in person!
34. Christian Siriano (Project Runway winner)
35. Elle Macpherson
36. Nikki Hilton
37. Christopher Walken
38. Ben Stiller
39. Christine Taylor
40. Laura Dern
41. Tobey Macguire
42. Jennifer Meyer
43. Kimora Lee Simmons
44. Djimon Hounsou (Kimora Lee Simmon’s baby daddy)
45. Victor Garber
46. Kathy Hilton
47. Jessica Alba – had the coolest red sequin shoes on! and she made my boyfriend practically drool!
48. Kerry Washington
49. Leo!!! – I can finally, finally cross Leo off my must-see celebrity list. SIGH! 🙂
50. Breckin Meyer
51. Rachel Bilson
52. Adam Rodriquez
53. Michael Chiklis
54. Andy MacDowell
55. Debra Winger
56. Sally Field
57. Ron Livingston (Jack Berger on SATC)
58. Tim Allen
59. James Marsden
60. William Shatner
61. Eddie Murphy
62. Kate Bosworth
63. Anne Hathaway
64. Christine Ricci
65. James Caan
66. Robert De Niro
67. Bill Maher – with his twelve year old looking girlfriend
68. Wentworth Miller
69. Michael Buble (sigh!) – such a cutie in person! I was practically swooning! 🙂
70. Josh Hartnett
71. Ellen Pompeo
72. Ellen Pompeo’s husband Chris Ivery
73. Jack Black
74. Tanya Haden (Jack Black’s wife – she’s a model)
75. Alyssa Milano
76. Michelle Monaghan (from The Best Man and Eagle Eye)
77. Chris Pine
78. Ron Howard
79. Josh Brolin
80. Diane Lane
81. Kathy Najimy
82. Michael Moore – just as unattractive in person as he appears in his movies
83. Chris Rock
84. Jenna Fisher
85. Heather Locklear
86. Jennifer Aniston
87. Josh Duhamel
88. Bridget Moynahan
89. Elton John
90. Steven Spielberg – thanks to a red fedora he looked like a total douchebag! LOL
91. Kate Capshaw
92. Hugh Laurie
93. Cameron Diaz
94. Brian Grazer
95. Stacy Keibler
96. Geoff Stults
97. Bradley Cooper
98. Whoopi Goldberg
99. Shirley MacLaine
100. Ginnifer Goodwin
101. Elisha Cuthbert
102. Fred Savage – looked really old!
103. Frances Fisher
104. Richard Jenkins
105. Melissa Leo
106. Taraji P. Henson
107. Claire Danes
108. Hugh Dancy
109. Josh Grobin
110. Prince Frederick von Anhalt (Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ex)
111. Steven Baldwin
112. Dule Hill
113. Kiersten Warren (At least I think it was her!)
114. Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire star)
115. Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire star)
116. Kirk Kerkorkian
117. Ralph Lauren
118. Valentino Garavano
119. Terri Hatcher
120. Elisabeth Rohn (D.A. from Law and Order)
121. Rosie Perez
122. John Hamm
123. Jennifer Westfeldt (star of Kissing Jessica Stein)
124. Michael Bolton
125. Leonard Maltin (movie critic)
126. Elisha Dushku
127. Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award winner for Milk screenplay)
128. Rainn Wilson

There were just so many that I am sure I forgot some of them somewhere along the way! LOL All in all an absolutely AMAZING DAY! And I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: I stalked so many hotels and bars this Oscar Weekend, that there are far too many to list here. For a detailed list of places to go to see movie stars, check out this blog post. The Spirit Awards are held the Saturday before the Oscars each year on the beach in Santa Monica just South of Shutters Hotel.