Oscars Red Carpet 2012

So back in late September, I received an email telling me that I had been selected to be one of the fans in the bleacher seats at the red carpet for the 84th Academy Awards. Cool. Earlier in the year I had registered for their lottery and really didn't give it much thought. Even after I got picked, I never thought too much about it. It was only later that I found out that it is quite hard to get in. I was allowed to bring one person with me. After passing background checks and submitting the necessary stuff, we were ready to go! We were in the 8:30am group. I guess I was pretty excited to go as I got to Hollywood at about 7am. The parking lot attendant wasn't even there yet. As I walked to the theater formerly known as the Kodak Theatre, I took a peek at the various crew still setting up for the evening's festivities. Lots of fences were being put up and parts of the red carpet had yet to be rolled out. Since I was too early, I walked around some more and ended up at Starbucks.

Rolling out the red carpet

Hollywood and Highland Center

I drink coffee maybe 3 times a year. When I do, I almost always order a white chocolate mocha. The caffeine kick is pretty nice when you don't normally drink caffeinated drinks. I waited here and use their free WiFi until my friend showed up. There must be a lot of French people in Hollywood. The lady wrote the French spelling of my name.

After going through the metal detector and having our bags searched, we were in! Other than the security screening, the whole check-in process was very similar to checking in for a race. We felt right at home. We were all given huge swag bags filled mostly with junk food. It did include a t-shirt and a cap. On our way to our seats, we both laughed at the sight of portapotties. This was too much like being at a race. There was also a makeup station in case you needed a touch-up.

Packet pickup/Check-in

Swag bag

Portapotties

Makeup station

Most of the time we were just sitting around and watching the news reporters set up their stations. It got pretty warm during the first half of the day. We were given box meals for breakfast and lunch. It wasn't until around 3pm that the stars started to show up. We had to entertain ourselves with magazines, Kindles, cellphones, etc. The bleacher seats were pretty tight. So in order not to be climbing over people, we sort of had to time our visits to the portapotties and the unofficial iPhone charging station located right next to the smoking section behind the bleachers. :)

Once the stars showed up, it was just a whole lot of trying to spot the bigger stars. Here were some of the better photos that I took with my point and shoot camera. If I ever come back again, I'll have to bring a better camera. But not too good because giant telescopic lenses were not allowed in the bleacher seats.

Maria Menounos

Lea Thompson

Milla Jovovich

Zachary Quinto

Michelle Williams

Melissa McCarthy

Sacha Baron Cohen

Tina Fey

Sean P Diddy Combs

Emma Stone

Meryl Streep

J Lo

Glenn Close

Natalie Portman

Stacy Keibler and George Clooney

Cameron Diaz

Brad and Angelina

Most if not all of the stars acknowledged the bleacher fans when we shouted out their names. Brad and Angelina were among the latest to arrive. They really stole the show with their late entrance. People really clamored for George Clooney, Brad and Angelina. I know that they're just people like you and I, but there's something about them. After everyone had entered the Kodak Theatre, we were excused from our seats to head across the street to the El Capitan for the Oscars viewing on the movie screen.

Box seats inside the El Capitan

It was pretty cool watching the Oscars on the movie screen, like a giant widescreen TV. They fed us pretty well. There was salad, sliders, mini hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and Coke. I think I had one too many dogs and Coke. My stomach was somewhat unhappy probably because I've been abstaining from Coke and trying to cut down on processed food. On the way out, they gave us a parting gift bag. Inside the box was a $50 gift card from JCP! We pretty much made money just showing up. I'm going to have to remember to sign up again next year!

$50 JCP gift card

Leftover snacks