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Oscars 2013 Fan Experience
Part 4 – Oscars Morning!
I arrived at the parking lot I chose (there are very few open and they will be sent by the Oscars Fan Experience organizers), which I believe cost me $10 or $12 for the day. Bring cash for the parking. Elizabeth and I had coordinated the parking lot we would park in (we drove separately since we live in opposite areas of Los Angeles). We met up at the parking lot and walked the 2 or 3 blocks to the check-in area. From this area, they will take you a group at a time (according to your assigned arrival time) to the actual check-in/security entrance area. We were about 15 minutes early, so we had to wait a bit. Then we were escorted as a group across Highland Avenue to the Hollywood and Highland Center to the security check-in.
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| Polishing the sign – I don\’t think I was supposed to take this picture. |
We placed our bags on the table for security to go through and walked through the metal detectors (there were two to help with the line speed), then retrieved our bags and checked in to receive our lanyards/ID badges. They were very firm telling us not to photograph our badges under any circumstances. Then we walked to the table of swag bags, which were placed on the table according to size (there were t-shirts inside). The Fan Experience was sponsored by People Magazine that year (and this year, I believe), and there were issues of the magazine for us to take. I do recommend taking one or two even if you’ve already read the issue. They can provide shade from the sun or you can tear out a few pages to fold into a fan like I used to do in grade school.
I took a lot of pictures of everything around me. I’m a scrapbooker so I tend to take lots of random pictures (seeming so much like a tourist more often than I would like), and this was one experience I wanted to make sure I captured everything that I could. We skipped the breakfast line and went to our seats (which were printed on our ID badges). We dropped off our stuff then, went back down to get some bagels and drinks.
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| Our seats were directly across from the El Capitan! |
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| Elizabeth & I before we started to bake. |
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| Hosts for E! and other shows are up on that overpass. |
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| Most of these press people were kicked off the Red Carpet by about 1pm. |
At one point during the day, I was pre-interviewed by Peter Castro with People.com. The live interview would happen live during the red carpet arrivals. I was, surprisingly, not nervous at all during the run-through nor during the live interview.
We happened to get seats pretty high up in the bleachers, but directly across from the El Capitan. I think we were the 3rd row from the top of the bleachers. There was a small stage set up directly across from us, and I was extremely grateful for this once the arrivals began.
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| This statue was on the stage directly across from our seats. |
There were quite a few military personnel in dress uniforms in the Bleachers whom I believe were part of another type of lottery system. Honestly, I think that was pretty cool. I felt bad for them as they were likely roasting in those uniforms sitting in the sun all day.
That year, they had taken an Oscar on a tour across the country. In the late morning, early afternoon, that team brought that Oscar into the Bleachers for a few of us to have an opportunity to hold the Oscar for a picture. I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with it.
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| The only time I\’ll ever get to hold a real OSCAR statue! |
I felt bad that Elizabeth didn’t get to do it, but she was all about letting me do everything. She said she was just glad I invited her to come with me. Honestly, she was the only friend who I could think of who loves the Oscars and movies. She usually goes to a big Oscars party her mom hosts every year, where they all dress up as characters from nominated films, but I was so glad she came with me!
TTFN,
V
TTFN,
V
Weird Life of V 